City of Diamond, стр. 13
Tal was shuffling rapidly through the messages. “Was the response from a station source, or one of the planet-side reps?”
“It was from the Kestrel. A visiting Republic ship in dock at Baret Station.”
Tal looked up. “You didn’t say it was a Republic ship.”
“Well, I didn’t know it was important to you. If you’d keep me better informed—”
“It will make things complicated.”
“I don’t see why. Adrian lets you in and out of the City whenever you want. You can slip over to Baret Station, meet this person,” he pulled one comer of Tal’s papers back and consulted the message, “this Cyr Vesant, and be back here in just a few hours.”
Tal looked around and sat down on a boulder. His expression was distant. Spider went on, “Look, I know the Republic police want you, but you don’t have to set foot on their territory. ‘Cyr’ is an Empire title, right? So this Vesant person’s no Republican. I mean, technically, the ship’s owners might be Republican, but they’re a long way from home.”
“Not that long.”
“Sure they are. Hell, probably the ship’s passengers are all Empire, and the Empire’s never even heard of you.” He paused uncertainly. “So you’ve always said.”
“Spider, Adrian’s intelligence was out of date: Baret System’s a half-and-half.”
Looking taken aback, Spider sat down, too. “That can’t last.”
“No. Baret One went over to the Republic twenty years ago. They probably have provocateurs on Baret Two now, trying to get it to secede from the Empire.”
Spider’s boulder was wet, and his pants started to transmit the dampness to his skin. He’d never imagined himself hanging around under a bridge like a damned troll, talking interstellar politics. Maybe his mother was right about bad companions. “Won’t that piss the Empire off? We’re not getting into a war, are we? Shifting uncomfortably on his rock, he noted that moss was growing on the underside of the stone bridgework; typical of the nasty, messy places Tal liked to go to.
“This far from the action, the Imperial Senate doesn’t care all that much. They have other things on their minds.” The footsteps of two pedestrians clattered overhead. They waited till the sounds passed. “Try to grasp this, Spider: The reason the Kestrel is a Republic ship is because it’s registered out of Baret One, a Republic planet. They have friends within hailing distance, armed friends.”
“Well, I mean, still … what difference does it make to us? Since when do we care about politics?”
“Since I’ll be alone on the Kestrel, we care.”
Spider stared. “You’re going to board the bloody ship? In the name of God, why?”
“It’s a half-and-half system, Spider. The Republic will want to keep all its little chicks in one basket. That means they won’t let passengers off at the station unless the station is their official destination—which it isn’t for Vesant. I’ll have to board the ship for a meeting.”
“Forget Vesant! How important can this information be? It’s not worth risking your life, is it?” When Tal didn’t answer, he said, “For God’s sake, you’re perfectly safe on the Diamond! Isn’t walking around on a Republic ship just asking for trouble?”
“I’ll be wearing my lenses, Spider. But thank you for your concern.”
“You’re an illegal person in the Republic! Anybody can do anything to you! And they know you, Tal—”
“Not individually. I doubt if the twelve billion Republicans in this system have even heard of me … beyond a few in the police net, anyhow.”
Spider hit the side of the bridge in frustration. “It’s not fair! My safety depends on yours, you know.”
“Does it?” Tal smiled.
“The City Guards are just waiting to pounce. I’d have to run for the ghosts again, and the ghosts don’t want me.
“From what I hear, that’s putting it mildly. Cheer up, Spider, I won’t be taking any chances. Believe me, my safety is even more important to me than it is to you.” He folded up the messages and slipped them into an inside pocket. Then he turned, left the darkness beneath the bridge, and began making his way up the side of the hill, leaving Spider to follow at a discreet interval.
Tal started over the bridge. It was an early spring day, designed to please, with a carefully generated series of breezes that brought the scent of wildflowers over the river. He could appreciate the aesthetics, intellectually, as well as the intricacy of planning on the part of the ancient engineers. But the lifting of the heart it was claimed to engender was beyond him, or possibly he was beyond it; biological slavery to their roots, he thought, not without contempt, glancing at the crocuses on the bank across the way.
A group of young gentlemen, well-dressed, laughing, emerged from the trees and started across the bridge from the other side. One of them had a guitar strapped to his back. Tal focused on the edge of the riverbank, a piece of body motion he had learned was useful in not provoking human males; there had been several unfortunate experiences in his past.
They met in the middle. There were five of them, and two moved to block Tal’s way.
“What have we here?” called one merrily to his companions. “A Diamond in the rough, it looks like.”
“Demon in the rough, I think,” replied the young man with the guitar. “Don’t you recognize him? It’s Adrian’s Outsider.”
“Is that true?” asked the first speaker, a large, lighthaired boy, twenty at the most. The butt-end of a pistol showed beneath his cape. “Are you a demon? They’re sending them out of Hell young, aren’t they?”
Tal knew this dance, the display dance of young human males as they worked themselves up to acts of violence. Tal himself did not require working up, and he always carried a Keith pistol where he could easily reach it. However,