Valhai (The Ammonite Galaxy) (19 page)

“You go.” Diva waved a dismissive hand. “I think I’ll stay here and soak for a while.”

So Grace went to find some new clothes on her own, dripping puddles of water all over the family chambers. She felt exhausted, but still highly charged with the adrenalin of success. It was a feeling she had never had before, and she liked it.

THERE WAS NO hero’s welcome for Grace. Quite the opposite. She had only been back an hour when Amanita appeared, thankfully not in person, but live and definitely kicking on the tridiscreen.

“Grace. Your brother, Xenon, has asked me to ascertain your decision about your career.”

‘Your brother, Xenon’, thought Grace. As if I don’t know my own brother’s name! Perhaps she thinks I might forget it? She dipped her own head in a mendacious mark of deference.

“I am . . . err . . . I am afraid I haven’t been able to make up my mind, Amanita. I need a bit longer.”

“Well you can’t have it,” snapped her sister-in-law. “Do you think I have got nothing better . . . that is, I regret to inform you that your brother is most anxious to terminate this uncertainty with a conclusion that is in agreement with his own wishes.”

Grace sighed. “I just can’t seem to find
anything
I want to study,” she admitted. “Perhaps I could do something else?”

“Something else?” Amanita’s brows lowered until they nearly touched her eyes. “Something else? What, if I may ask?”

“Something not university.” Grace opened her hands wide.

“There
isn’t
anything not university,” Amanita pointed out. “We are Sellites, not Sacrans, you know.” Then she considered what Grace had said again. “Really!” She shook her head.

Grace gave a gulp. “Then I would like to study art. I’d rather not go at all, though. And if I stay here I can lo . . . be with my mother.”

“I’m sure you would rather loll about at home all the time, Grace. It is quite clear that your being unmodified has left you with absolutely no motivation whatsoever. I will, however, pass on your request to Xenon 49 and he will no doubt pronounce on the matter in a few days. University matriculation starts next week, and your place must be reserved then. We are running out of time on this matter. Now, pass me over to your mother, please.”

“I’m not sure . . .”

“I
think
you will find that she is anxious to take my call.” The words came across as a threat to Grace, and so she obediently went in search of her mother.

“Tell her I’m asleep,” her mother instructed.

Grace gave a hollow laugh. “As if that would stop her! No, she is on the warpath today. It will be worse if you don’t go.”

“Oh very well.” Her mother pulled herself to her feet with reluctance. “Though why that woman can’t mind her own business I do not know!” She made her way into the viewing room.

“Well, I’m here now. What do you want?”

Amanita raised an eyebrow. “Nice to see you, too, Cimma. Xenon wishes me to inform you that he has arranged for a Commission of Investigation to look at your case.”

“What case? What on Almagest are you talking about?”

“We are all very worried about you, Cimma. He thinks that a Commission would be the proper way to decide your future. We all want only the best for you, as you know.”

“You hell-hag! You snide-tongued daughter of Sacras!” Grace opened her eyes wide. She had never heard her mother speak like that. “You will regret this . . .”

“Oh, I don’t think it will be
I
who regrets this,” promised Amanita, “After all, the Commission is not going to be investigating
me
, is it?”

“I have met Kwaidians with more decency than you!” snapped Cimma. And I definitely have, thought Grace secretly to herself. Cimma went on, “What are you expecting them to find, might I ask?”

“They
might
find that you would be better cared for on Cesis.” The small woman pulled her lips up in what would have been a smile on any other person. “Especially since your only daughter will be studying at the university this year, don’t you think? After all, sleeping in sarcophagi is not exactly
normal
behavior, is it Cimma? You know, I do believe you are just a sliver too far away from normal these days.” She tutted briefly. “Such a pity,” she smiled sadly. “Anyway, just to let you know about that appointment, Cimma. I will be in touch with the exact day and time. Cutting the connexion!”

Mother and daughter stared at each other, in perfect agreement for the first time in months.

“Why did Xenon ever marry that . . . that . . . viper?” lamented Cimma.

“Because he thought she would look after his house well,” Grace said. “And she is . . . she is going to get rid of the two of us at one fell swoop. You have got to admire her. No wonder she won six university prizes at house management!”

“I wouldn’t have given her the time of day!” Cimma showed her teeth. “She won’t get away with it. Just you wait and see. I have plenty of people who will support me. The cheek of it! And my own son! What his father will say I don’t know. He will be furious. I shall go and talk to him now.” And Cimma made her way in the direction of the tanato chamber, leaving her daughter with the distinct feeling that the foundations of the 48th floor were toppling about her.

The only thing that occurred to Grace was to get in touch with Vion. He agreed to a personal visit with an alacrity which surprised her. She hadn’t thought doctors so keen to treat non-virtually these days. As she waited for him by the main lift she wondered again if she should take him into her confidence about Arcan, deciding for the fiftieth time that it wasn’t really her secret to share, and that Arcan would have to be the judge of who was told. Since he had specifically requested that nobody else should be brought into the loop, she felt she couldn’t include Vion, however tempted she was.

The lift hissed to a stop on her floor. She found herself looking forward to seeing the amiable doctor again.

He was anything but amiable as he stepped out, however. “What is all this mumbo jumbo that wretched Amanita has cooked up?” he demanded.

“She asked for a Commission of Investigation. She thinks that they will send Matri to Cesis for hospitalization.”

“And she will conveniently have rid herself of two dependents, I suppose. Does she think no-one will see through this brilliant plan of hers?”

“I think she thinks nobody else will care.” Murmured Grace.

“That is outrageous! Of course people care!”

Grace looked at him steadily. “Who?” she asked simply.

“Well, me, for starters.”

“Who else?”

“I . . . err . . . there must be hundreds of people.”

Grace shook her head. “I don’t think there are. Not many people would dream of taking a stance against a reigning head of house. I think everybody else will just accept whatever result the Commission gives, that as long as protocol is followed they will believe whatever Amanita wants them to.”

“And what has she decided for you?”

“I’m to go to university. Nobody will find that in the least bit strange.”

“No, you’re right. You should have gone last year.” Vion gave a sigh. “It would be unheard of for a first daughter not to attend a university course. She will have complete Sellite support for that.”

Grace looked up. “And you?” she asked.

“Me what?”

“Do you think I am crazy not to want to go to university?”

Vion started to speak, and then stopped and thought for a long moment. “I was going to say yes, but I think that’s just because everybody here goes. You would learn a lot, of course—”

“Like Amanita did?” Grace interrupted.

He laughed and gave a small shrug. “She is a good reason not to go, I agree.” He pulled a face. “I think the biggest problem is that you would find yourself isolated from all the other Sellites your own age if you didn’t go. They aren’t going to accept someone who gave up their studies at your age. The university lowrise is the only communal building on Valhai, apart from the Valhai Voting Dome. You won’t meet anybody your own age if you don’t go.”

“As if I care about that!”

“Well, now you don’t,” he said earnestly. “But who are you going to commit to? If you don’t conform then I doubt anybody will ask for you.” He caught sight of her face, and said hurriedly, without thinking about the implication. “Well, I would of course, but then I am years too old for you.”

“You are not old!” she said heatedly, thinking how nice it was of him to say such a thing. And then to her shame she blushed. She felt the heat staining her face, starting at her cheeks and then spreading out and down to her neck. At that moment she totally hated herself.

He looked at her strangely. There was a long moment of silence between them. Vion looked as if he were going to say something more, but then he thought better of it.

“You will have to do whatever your brother decides for you,” he said abruptly, and turned away from her. Picking up his implement case, he made his way quickly off in the direction of the tanato chamber in search of her mother.

When Vion entered the tanato chamber he found Cimma resting in the sarcophagus. Gently, he tapped her shoulder.

“Go away. I don’t want to see anyone.” She turned from him.

“Do you want to make things easy for Amanita?” he said sternly. “You will be playing straight into her hands if you insist on isolating yourself like this.”

“I don’t care. Nothing matters anymore anyway.”

“What about Grace?”

“What about her? She is forever sneaking up and down in the back lift to the twenty-first floor. Thinks I don’t know. Hah! As if she would care!”

“She cares very much, Cimma.”

“. . . And you can send your father up next time! You aren’t even head of your own house, yet. Think you know everything, I suppose. But you don’t. I don’t want you to come anymore.”

“You need to look after yourself, Cimma.”

“I need to be ready for when they come.”

Vion scratched the back of his neck, and controlled the unavoidable feeling of irritation. He had been genetically modified to feel empathy with his patients, but in this case it wasn’t working. Cimma was making her daughter miserable and herself even more so. She wasn’t going to let anybody help her. And if his father came here, well, the dratted woman would probably find herself in hospital even before the Commission paid its visit! He knew she was grieving for her lost husband, but he wished he could get through to her.

“I would like to examine you again, Cimma,” he said.

“Get out! You are on Amanita’s side. I know. You all want to get rid of me. Leave me alone. I won’t listen to any of you.”

Suddenly he leant forward. “You
will
listen to me,” he said urgently. “You have to do something, Cimma. If you don’t you are going to find yourself in that hospital on Cesis, and Amanita will have won. You can’t want that. What would your husband have said to you? What would he have wanted you to do?”

She stared at him, taken aback. “I didn’t have to make up my mind about anything,” she said defensively. “He always made all of the decisions. He took care of it all.”

“I know. But he would have wanted you to protect his artifacts, wouldn’t he?”

“Of course.”

“And his sarcophagus?”

She gave him a look as if he were crazy himself. “Of course.”

“How will you do that if you allow Amanita to have you sent to a hospital on another planet?”

“It won’t come to that.”

“It will.”

“Go away!”

Vion gave a sigh. “All right.”

There was nothing else he could do. She needed to take the pills he had left for her, and he was pretty sure she wouldn’t.

He made his way back to the visitor’s room, where Grace was waiting for him. He shook his head.