Burning Bright

“It’s fucking brilliant,” Ransome answered, and the amusement in his voice had a slight note of hysteria. “Oh, it’ll work, all right, no question.”

A faint expression of distaste flickered across Chauvelin’s face, vanished as he looked back at Lioe. “I wish you had seen fit to trust me with this information, Na Lioe.”

“Why the hell should I?” Lioe retorted. “I’m a Republican, you’re hsaia—and I don’t know you. Why should I trust my neck to you?”

“If I may interrupt,” Damian Chrestil said. “I think I can offer us all a way out.”

“Why not?” Lioe said, and heard Ransome laugh.

Chauvelin said, “Go on.”

“Na Lioe says she wants to be left alone—my goons off your back, you said, and your job to go to. And Ransome back, which is what Na Chauvelin wants, too.” Damian Chrestil looked directly at Chauvelin, his voice gone suddenly deadly cold. “Am I right in thinking you’d also like to see the Visiting Speaker’s influence curbed a little, N’Ambassador?”

Chauvelin nodded once.

“Then this is what I’m offering,” Damian Chrestil said. “You, N’Ambassador, will allow this shipment to proceed. Neither you nor Na Ransome will interfere with it—why should you care what happens to my money and clients, so long as ji-Imbaoa, and the je Tsinraan, are taken down a few notches? In return, I won’t act for the Visiting Speaker, or ask any awkward questions about his disgrace. As for you, Na Lioe, I want you to withdraw this scenario of yours, and to keep quiet about all of this. And I’d like you to stay away from Republican C-and-I at least until the statute of limitations runs out on any possible smuggling charges from that direction.”

I’m a pilot. That’s impossible. Lioe started to protest aloud, but Damian Chrestil held up his hand.

“In return, I’m willing to offer you my sponsorship to remain on Burning Bright, as a citizen. I daresay you can find work as a notable, in the Game clubs, but if you can’t, or if you don’t want to—if you want to follow Ransome’s example—I’ll provide you with a stipend, to continue until the statute runs out.”

To stay on Burning Bright. To live as a notable, as a Gamer, my income guaranteed… Lioe took a deep breath, fighting for calm. This was the last thing she had expected, something outside of all possibility, that she would play this game, and win, and be offered this reward.

“That’s very good, Damian,” Chauvelin said, and there was real admiration in his voice.

“Thank you. I think it serves all our needs,” Damian Chrestil said.

Maybe not mine, Lioe thought, indignant. There’s my piloting—I like my work—and, my God, there’s Kerestel. I can’t just leave him without warning. But there were plenty of pilots in the replacement pool, good ones, too. It was not impossible, not impossible at all. Will he keep his word? Will I find his goons still on my tail, or wake up dead some morning? Do I care? I could stay on Burning Bright, stay in the Game; most of all, if Ransome will teach me—and I think he will—I can see what else there is, beyond the Game. He and I can put an end to the Game, and see what happens then.

“I can agree to this,” Chauvelin said.

Damian nodded. “Na Lioe?”

She nodded, slowly. “I agree. But I want the money.”

“Wise move,” Ransome said. He was smiling again, without amusement. “And I’ll agree, because the rest of you do. But you owe me something for it, Damian.”

Damian Chrestil shook his head. “No. You’re getting something already. You’re getting yourself an apprentice, someone you can pass your skills to before you die. I think that’s reward enough for anyone.”

There was another silence, and Lioe held her breath, sure that Ransome would reject the offer, reject the reminder that he was going to die— reject me. Then, quite slowly, Ransome’s smile changed, became more real. “You are good, Damian,” he said.

“I’m not Bettisa,” Damian Chrestil answered, and there was an odd regret in his voice, as well as certainty. There was a little pause, and Ransome nodded.

“All right. I’ll agree.”

Lioe let out the breath she had been holding, leaned back and let the chair tilt with her, the images moving around her to hold their relative positions. It was done, it would work— and I will stay on Burning Bright, and in the Game. And I’ll have my chance, at last, to do something no one will want to change.

Day 2