Page 22 (1/2)

The dead woman walked toward her former captor and lover The Rixwoht The honored dead never held fast to the emotional bonds of their forether indifferent to the prattle of the living Hobbes had encountered many of her dead shiper friends, or even crewers

But Rana Harter looked tenderly at the Rixwoman, and serated on that cold, gray face, like a clown&039;s painted joy The dead wo her arht-jacket, and the two kissed as unselfconsciously as adolescents on a Utopian world The captain and Hobbes just watched, too surprised and respectful of the dead to interrupt

Finally they separated, pulling apart to gaze into each other&039;s eyes

"Rana," murmured Herd quietly

The dead wo syllables of Rix battle language in her speech

"Preserve us," she murmured A risen wo Rix What had Rana Harter become?

"Herd," Captain Zai said in a level voice "I&039;ve come for information"

The co, and whispered at the edge of Hobbes&039;s hearing, "Your lips are as cold as ain if this was a dream

Herd turned from her lover and looked at Captain Zai

"So you want to hear the Emperor&039;s Secret now?"

He nodded, then said, "I will hear it," with the measured formality of an oath into some internal voice Then she smiled, a predatory expression that chilled Hobbes&039;s soul

"It will notHe reached back and pulled the door shut behind them With the heavy metal in place, even the inescapable hum of the ship was silenced

They were absolutely cut off from the rest of the Lynx now

"Tell us," Zai said

The Rixwoan

"Your Empress was killed not by us, but by the Apparatus"

"Of course," whispered Hobbes to herself The records of the battle had suggested as much The Emperor was a murderer

"But that fact is not the secret that concerns you, Zai," Herd added "Alexander was inside the Eency of a machine that ithin her body"

"The confidant," Captain Zai said

"Exactly Alexander took control of this is, and could see inside the E"

As the co, as if she were telling a children&039;s tale She leaned her head against Rana Harter&039;s shoulder, and the dead woman stroked Herd&039;s bound arms

The story took fifteen slow ray world was broken-- by the false Error of Blood, by the Lynx&039;s travails, and now finally by Zai&039;s inescapable treasons--but the Rixwoether different They left her captain retching on the floor, unraveled centuries of the history she had been taught, and tore Hobbes&039;s last convictions frout

And after that, everything was different

Senator

Awaiting the closure of the Emperor&039;s trap, Nara Oxham was very careful

She knew instinctively that it was only a matter of time before the Apparatus uncovered her communication with Zai Perhaps they already had, and were ainst her After a few nervous nights at ho within the safety of the Rubicon Pale As a rule, a senator could not disappear suddenly without explanation, but a case of wartiht convince the Apparatus that it could make an exception

When the trap closed, it did so quickly

The neept through the capital&039;s infostructure quickly, a fire raen It started as a newsfeed ru evidence was released: i at the Eo; the repeater path of her first enda, the debates for which the hundred-year rule had been invoked covered with a broad swath of black And finally her voice, dictating the first feords of her warning to Zai--this last synthesized for dra, the treason of Senator Nara Oxhaossips and conspiracy theorists to blaring headlines crawling the periphery of every channel of second sight

The newsfeeds were forbidden even to speculate about what secrets the Senator had revealed to her warrior lover, but the hundred-year rule itself bore the weight of proof: This young and headstrong senator had betrayed the E that the story broke, the psychic frenzy itself awoke her, the growing fury of the city bleeding into her head like a wake-up alar a sleeper&039;s dreams For a moment of unprotected madness, Nara could see the bloated body of the capital convulsing, the beached whale shaking off carrion birds with so back to feast on the war econoet

The treasonous senator: live prey

The empathic vision waned in power Senator Oxham could feel her own body, and a hand at her wrist: so her apathy bracelet She opened her eyes, furious at this presu next to her

She blinked once

The dose was strong, and Oxham&039;s mind became coherent in seconds She instantly understood what had happened; she&039;d been expecting it This was the trap the E

"What have you done, Nara?" Niles asked

Oxha it to confirm the reality of her body She pulled herself up into a seated position Her back ached in the particular way that always resulted fro on her office couch

"1 can&039;t tell you er The hundred-year rule"

He scowled "Now you want to obey the law?"

"I had to tell Laurent what the Emperor planned I knew they&039;d catch me, but I had to save hi for your blood, Nara"

"I know, Roger I can hear theht Synesthesia confirer Niles and empathy had told her The story choked every news-feed She flipped across a few channels: her voice and picture, the text of a useless Apparatus warrant for her arrest, a Loyalist spokesperson de her expulsion from the Senate

Expulsion was the crux of the e, Nara Oxham would be just another citizen Just another traitor with no Pale to protect her

"I warned you, Nara Why didn&039;t you listen?"

"Can they throw er?"

"Of the Senate? There&039;s precedent, but it hasn&039;t been done for a hundred and fifty years" "What was the reason back then?"

Niles blinked, his fingers twitching "Murder A Utopian killed her lover Strangled him in bed"

Oxham smiled wanly She, at least, had broken the law to save a lover, not kill one

"That&039;s far more draainst the state," Niles said "&039;Conduct unbeco&039; was the phrase ee than treason, I dare say"

"How long did it take?" she asked

"Forty-seven days They held a trial before the full Senate Witnesses, defense counsel, even a psychologist"

"And then they expelled her"

Niles nodded "And with her privilege gone, a civilian court found her guilty of murder in a second trial Loss of elevation, life internuination"

"God, Nara," Niles said, his voice breaking "Did you actually do it? Reveal War Council secrets to Zai?"

"I did To save hiency"

She shook her head "There&039;s no way out of it, Roger It was pure treason: n Iinto a data fugue He stood over her, hands flexing as he tried to discover some exception to the hundred-year rule, his entire body flinching with the effort He looked like a handeye ga frustration at every roadblock and dead end

Nara drifted back into second-sight newsfeeds One showed a crowd gathered at the edge of the Pale, a Loyalist e imet, the Loyalists&039; wonted righteous anger seemed less co man who had replaced her after she&039;d been pro, trying to slon the pace of events without appearing to support rank treason She didn&039;t envy him the job

In the midst of this maelstrom, Nara felt oddly peaceful The usual players of political draanda machine, the newsfeed hacks--had jue, working daround in this contest for power, the tug of every carefully chosen word, every deliberately sculpted reading of Imperial law and Senate tradition But at the center of this chaos was one ihtness of her own choice

Nara Oxham felt purified by treason After all her co for a simple, unalloyed reason, no er"

His eyes snapped open "What?"

"We can&039;t fight the Eray hairs jutted out as a result His features see by the minute

"This was not the time, Nara There&039;s a war on"