Dragon and Judge

The bits of white Alison had seen turned out to be the outer boundary of their destination estate. But instead of being just a simple vertical slab, the wall was shaped like a breaking ocean wave, with the bottom section angling inward while the top section angled back out. The very tip of the top part curved over and downward, in fact, curving nearly back up beneath itself, again exactly like a breaking wave. The whole thing was about thirty feet high and appeared to be made of some sort of hardened ceramic.

Which meant she and Taneem wouldn't be going through the wall, either. They were, she noted uncomfortably, starting to run low on exit options.

The estate's main entrance gate was as impressive as the wall itself, and just as intimidating. It was made of more white ceramic, with gold-colored metal straps that were probably mostly there to impress visitors. Eight armed Brummgas were waiting in front of it, all of them dressed in the same red/black/white uniforms.

The car stopped by the guards and each passenger showed an ID card. One of the guards looked ominously at Alison after her failure to do likewise, but he nevertheless waved them through.

The gate opened and they continued on into the sort of elaborately designed and beautifully sculpted landscape Alison had expected. Half turning, she saw that each of the other cars in their convoy was undergoing the same ID check.

She also saw that the breaking-wave shape of the wall was duplicated on its inner side. An overall X shape, then, with an overhang on both sides to discourage trespassers and escapees alike.

Or maybe she was being unfair. Maybe the Brummgas just liked the look of a frozen white ocean on their property. Offhand, she wouldn't bet on it.

The house was also impressive, in a stone-faced mausoleum sort of way. The driver stopped at the front door, and with another group of Brummgan guards in attendance Alison and Frost went inside.

Standing in the middle of a huge foyer, glowering at their approach, was Arthur Neverlin.

Alison swallowed hard as they walked toward him, Frost's hand pressing against the small of her back to make sure she didn't dawdle. "So here she is," Neverlin said as they came up to him. His eyes flicked briefly to the bag over her shoulder, then back to her face. "The little girl who's going to solve all our problems."

"Kayna, this is my associate, Mr. Arthur," Frost introduced her. "Mr. Arthur, Alison Kayna."

"Really," Neverlin said. "How do you know?"

Frost's forehead wrinkled slightly. "What do you mean?"

"I mean this little girl apparently doesn't exist," Neverlin said coldly. "I've done a complete check of all official Internos systems. There's no record of her anywhere."

"And this surprises you?" Alison countered calmly. "I wouldn't be much use if anyone could just punch in my name and pull up my life story."

"Don't be a fool," Neverlin growled. "You think your name means anything? I also put in your age range, your full description, and those two scars on your left shoulder and lower rib cage."

Alison looked sharply at Frost in sudden understanding. "That's right," he confirmed. "You didn't think Dumbarton and Mrishpaw were just looking for cheap thrills when they made you take your clothes off, did you?"

"So who are you?" Neverlin asked.

"I'm Alison Kayna," Alison said, looking back at him. "As for the records, maybe you just didn't look hard enough."

"Or not in the right places," Frost said. "Let me guess. You were born and raised on an non-Internos world?"

Alison shrugged. "Could be."

"Perhaps Colonel Frost didn't make the situation clear, Kayna," Neverlin said, his voice quiet and very snakelike. "We aren't playing games here. You play games, and you don't live to see the sun go down. Do you understand?"

"Very well," Alison assured him, her mouth suddenly dry. "I also understand that you need my services." With a supreme effort, she forced herself to look Neverlin straight in the eye. "And if it comes to that, I doubt Mr. Arthur is your real name, either."

For a long minute no one spoke. Alison could feel Taneem sliding restlessly across her skin, and quietly put a hand against her ribs. Under the reassuring touch, the K'da settled back down. "You take chances, girl," Neverlin said at last, his voice dark. "Far too many of them."

"I wouldn't be in this business if I didn't like taking chances," Alison said. "So where's this safe you want me to open?"

Neverlin looked at Frost, a small smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. "You certainly picked yourself a wildcat here, Colonel."

"I think she can pull it off, sir," Frost said.

"We'll find out." Neverlin turned back to Alison. "After she has a proper field test."

Briefly, Alison wondered what would happen if she mentioned that Frost had already given her such a test. Two of them, in fact.