Nemesis Games

“Sure,” Alex said. “Okay. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. I mean, I’m a little shook, but they didn’t put me in the med bay,” she said. “What kind do you want? They’ve got orange pekoe, oolong, chamomile —”

“I don’t know what any of those are.”

“Me either. So. Okay, you get oolong.”

The machine hissed. She handed him a bulb. It felt warm in his hand and had a subtle smell of smoke and water. Alex sat at the table and tried a sip, but it was too hot. Bobbie sat beside him.

“That was some pretty amazing flying,” she said. “I’m almost sorry I wasn’t there to see it.”

“I would have warned you, but, you know. Heat of the moment.”

She shook her head. “No objections. If I’d been tensed up, I’d have probably popped open an old wound or stroked out or something. I watched the flight data. Seriously, I was in this room wearing a fresh suit and looking at recordings, and there were still a few seconds there I didn’t think we were going to make it.”

The admiration in her voice felt warmer than the tea. He was pretty sure he was blushing, and hoped it didn’t show. “Yeah, it was a squeaker. Good damned thing you remembered the convoy here too. I wasn’t coming up with anything. Do we know who the hell those ships are?”

“No. Most of the escort’s pulled off to cover us, and so far it looks like it’s working. But no transponder signals from the bad guys. No demands or threats or anything.”

“Creepy.” The tea had cooled enough now. “Any chance they’ll let me send a message back to the captain?”

Bobbie sighed and spread her hands. “Eventually, yeah. They’ve been treating us like friendlies, but it may be a while before they hand us access to the comm arrays. We’re still in a fight, even if we’re not at the middle of it.”

“What did you tell them?”

Bobbie’s brow furrowed. “The truth, only it doesn’t come out real well.”

“Meaning?”

“I said we were out there looking for missing ships hiding under new transponder signals because of a tip from James Holden.”

“Huh. Yeah, that does sound a little ominous when you say it out loud, doesn’t it?”

“They wanted to know how he knew to look there, and what my relationship was to Holden. I mean, they kind of knew about you, so it was more about why I was shipping with you.”

“What was the answer for that?”

“Old friends, and the fact that you were Navy. You know ships. I’m just a ground-pounder. But that got me into talking about looking at black market issues back at home, and you asking around on Hecate for me and the dead guy and the guys who attacked me.”

“So the other dead guys.”

“Well, yeah. And after that, it seemed like they were a little suspicious when I said I didn’t know anything.”

Alex leaned forward. His body still felt weak and shaky. “At least they don’t think we’re part of… you know. That.”

The door opened softly, almost apologetically. The man who came in was older, his hair a well-crafted white. He wore a suit instead of a uniform or jumpsuit. He looked like a particularly avuncular lawyer. Two marines came in behind him in full armor. They didn’t acknowledge Alex or Bobbie, just took positions at either side of the door. The white-haired man beamed at Alex and then Bobbie and then back at Alex again.

“Mr. Kamal!” he said. His voice matched his appearance. “I’m so glad to see that you’re up and around. I was hoping to have a word with you about this present unpleasantness, yes?”

Alex shot a glance at Bobbie. Her shrug was almost invisible. This wasn’t someone she knew.

“Of course,” Alex said. “Anything I can do to help.”

“Good, good, good,” the man said, then lifted a finger. “But first.”

He sat down at the table, and an oddly mild scowl came over his face. Alex felt like they were about to be gently chided by the head of school. “Sergeant Draper, I was wanting to ask you why the government of Earth is demanding to speak with you. Have you been in contact with them?”

Bobbie’s face went gray and pale. Her hand went to her mouth. “Oh, I am so sorry,” she said. “You look so different on video. I didn’t recognize you, sir. Alex, this is Prime Minister Smith.”

Alex hopped to his feet. “Oh! I’m sorry, sir. With everything going on out on Ilus and such, I didn’t follow the elections last time.”

One of the guards coughed in a way that might have hidden laughter. Prime Minister Smith’s scowl shifted to something slightly more authentic and nonplussed. He motioned Alex to sit back down. “Yes, well. No harm, of course. But, to the question. Have you been working with the government of Earth?”

“No,” Bobbie said. “I’ve had some conversations and I have a personal familiarity with one person. Chrisjen Avasarala. But that’s all.”

The prime minister nodded, his brows knitting. “Yes, I see. With the passing of the secretary-general and disarray of the assembly, Chrisjen Avasarala is the de facto legitimate government of Earth. And she has offered to… I believe the phrase was massage my balls with a paint scraper if anything happened to you.”

“That sounds like her,” Alex said.