A Deepness in the Sky

"I—" But Qiwi did look around, and Nau didn't like what he saw in her eyes.

"Qiwi," said Nau, "look at me. We're up against the same group that was behind Jimmy Diem."

"You murdered Jimmy!" shouted Vinh.

Qiwi wiped her bloody nose on the fine white fabric of her sleeve. For a moment she looked very young and lost, as lost as when he'd first taken her. She caught her foot on a wall stop and turned toward him, considering. Somehow, he had to make time, just a handful of seconds:

"Qiwi, think who's saying these things." Nau gestured in the direction of Vinh and Ali Lin. It was a terrible risk he was taking, a desperate manipulation. But it was working! She actually turned a bit, her gaze shifting away from him. He slipped his hand into the cabinet, feeling for the butt of a wire gun.

"Qiwi, think who's saying these things." Nau gestured in the direction of Ezr and Ali Lin. Poor Qiwi actually turned to look. Behind her, Ezr saw a smile flicker across Tomas Nau's face.

"You know Ezr. He tried to kill your father back at North Paw; he thought he could get at me through Ali. If he had a knife, he would be cutting into your father right now. You know what a sadist Ezr Vinh is. You remember the beating he gave you; you remember how I held you afterwards."

The words were for Qiwi, but they hit Ezr like battering rams, horrid truths mixed with deadly lies.

Qiwi was motionless for a moment. But now her fists were clenched; her shoulders seemed to hunch down with some terrible tension. And Ezr thought,Nau is going to win, and I'm the reason. He pushed back the grayness that seemed to close on him from all sides and made one last try: "Not for me, Qiwi. For all the others. For your mother. Please. Nau has lied to you for forty years. Whenever you learn the truth, he scrubs your mind. Over and over again. And you can never remember."

Recognition and stark horror spread across Qiwi's face. "This time Iwill remember." She turned as Nau pulled something from the cabinet behind them. Her elbow jabbed into his chest. There was a sound like snapping branches; Nau bounced back against the cabinet and floated outward, into the vault's open space. A wire gun floated after him. Nau lunged for the weapon, but it was centimeters beyond his reach and he had only thin air to brace upon.

Qiwi stood out from the wall, stretched, and snagged the wire gun. She pointed the muzzle at the Podmaster's head.

Nau was slowly tumbling; he twisted about to track on Qiwi. He opened his mouth, the mouth that had a persuasive lie for every occasion. "Qiwi, you can't—" he began, and then he must have seen the look on Qiwi's face. Nau's arrogance, the smooth cool arrogance that Ezr had watched for half a lifetime, was suddenly melted away. Nau's voice became a whisper. "No,no. "

Qiwi's head and shoulders trembled, but her words were stony hard. "I remember." She shifted her aim away from Nau's face, to below his waist...and fired a long burst. Nau's scream became a shriek that ended as the wire-fire spun him around and struck his head.

SIXTY-TWO

Things were very dark, and then there was light. She floated upward toward it.Who am I? The answer came quickly, on a crest of terror.AnneReynolt.

Memories. The retreat into the mountains. The final days of hide-and-seek, the Balacrean invaders finding her every cave. The traitor, unmasked too late. The last of her people ambushed from the air. Standing on a mountain hillside, circled by Balacrean armor. The stench of burnt flesh was strong even in the chill morning air, but the enemy had stopped shooting. They had captured her alive.

"Anne?" The voice was soft, solicitous. The voice of a torturer, building the mood toward greater horror. "Anne?"

She opened her eyes. Balacrean torture gear bulked large around her, just at the limits of her peripheral vision. It was all the horror she expected, except that they were in free fall.For fifteen years, they've owned our cities.Why take me into space?

Her interrogator drifted into view. Black hair, typical Balacrean skin tone, a young-old face. This must be a senior Podmaster. But he wore a strange fractille jacket, like no Podmaster Anne had ever seen. There was a look of false anxiety pasted on his face.A fool; he's overacting. He floated a bouquet of soft white flowers into her lap, as though making a gift. They smelled of warm summers passed.There must be some way to die. Theremust be some way to die. Her arms were tied down, of course. But if he came close enough, she still had her teeth. Maybe, if he was enough of a fool—

He reached out, gently touched her shoulder. Anne twisted hard around, caught a bite from the Podmaster's groping hand. He pulled back, leaving a trail of tiny red drops floating in the air between them. But he wasn't enough of a fool to kill her on the spot. Instead, he glared across the ranked equipment at someone out of sight. "Trud! What the devil have you done to her?"