A Deepness in the Sky

"Bil and I will be running the show for some time now. It all depends on us." Trud looked from face to face, seeking comfort. His voice boasted and quailed at the same time.

They met later that day, in the buffer space beneath the temp's outer skin. This was a meeting agreed on long before the Lake Park open house. It was a meeting Ezr had waited for with impatience and fear—the meeting where he would lay it on the line to Pham Nuwen about Focus.I have mylittle speech, my little threats to make. Will they be enough?

Ezr moved quietly past Fong's sproutling trays. The bright lights and the smell of trebyun greens faded behind him. The dark that was left was too deep for unaided eyes. Eight years ago, on his first meeting with Nuwen, there had been faint sunlight. Now the hull plastic showed only darkness.

But nowadays, Ezr had other ways to see....He signaled the localizer that sat on his temple. A ghostly vision rose. The colors were just shades of yellow, such as you might see if you pressed your finger firmly against the side of your eye. But the light wasn't random patterns. Ezr had worked long and hard with Pham's exercises. Now the yellow light revealed the curving walls of the balloon membranes and the outer hull. Sometimes the view was distorted. Sometimes the perspective was from beneath his feet or behind his head. But with the right commands, and lots of concentration, he could see where no unaided person could.Pham can still see better. There had been hints, over the years. Nuwen used the localizers like a private empire.

Pham Nuwen was up ahead, standing behind a wall brace, invisible but for the fact that there were localizers beyond him, looking back. As Ezr closed the last few meters' distance between them, his vision wavered as the other swung his tiny servants into a different constellation.

"Okay, make it quick." Pham had stepped out to face him. The yellow pseudo-light painted his face haggard and drawn. He hadn't dropped the Trinli persona? No, this looked like the hangover Pham had shown in the parlor, but there was something deeper to it.

"You—You promised me two thousand seconds."

"Yeah, but things have changed. Or haven't you noticed?"

"I've noticed a lot of things. I think it's time we finally really talked about them. Nau, he truly admires you...you know that, don't you?"

"Nau is full of lies."

"True. But the stories he showed me, some large part of them is true. Pham, you and I have worked together through several Watches now. I've thought about things my aunt and my grand-uncles used to say about you. I'm past the hero worship. Finally, I realize how much you must...love...Focus. You've made me many promises, but they've always been so carefully framed. You want to beat Nau and take back what we lost—but more than anything, you want Focus, don't you?

The silence stretched out for five seconds.To the direct question, whathe will he say? When he finally spoke, his voice was grating: "Focus is the key to making a civilization that lasts—across all of Human Space."

"Focus is slavery, Pham." Ezr spoke the words softly. "Of course, you know that; and in your heart I think you hate it. Zamle Eng—you made him your inner cover story; I think that was your heart crying out to you."

Pham was silent for a second, glaring at him. His mouth twisted. "You're a fool, Ezr Vinh. You read Nau's stories and you still don't understand. I was betrayed once before by a Vinh. It won't happen again. Do you think I'll let you live if you cross me?"

Pham glided closer. Ezr's vision was abruptly snuffed out; he was cut off from all localizer input. Ezr raised his hands, palms up. "I don't know. But I am a Vinh, Sura's direct descendant, and also yours. We are a Family of secrets within secrets; someday I would have been told the truth about Brisgo Gap. But even as a child, I heard little things, hints. The Family has not forgotten you. There's even a motto that we never say on the outside: ‘We owe all to Pham Nuwen; be thou kind unto him.' So even if you kill me, I have to talk to you." Ezr stared into the silent dark; he didn't even know where the other was standing now. "And after yesterday...I think you will listen. I think I have nothing to fear."

"Afteryesterday ?" Pham's voice was angry and near. "My little Vinh snake, what can you possibly know about yesterday?"