The Emperor of Everything

“Also,” she added, “we’ve recovered the corpses of two of the other slaves who were taken. Evidently they were carried only a short distance from the pens before someone burned a hole through their heads and dumped them. Fortunately, they weren’t terribly valuable, and were insured.” She sipped at her cordial, and then poured herself another serving. “So you see, I’m very interested in you… and in your enemies.” She smiled, again a very remote and abstract expression.

Ruiz realized, belatedly, that he might be in serious trouble. He had been so concerned with controlling the obvious lethality of Publius that he had almost forgotten that Sea-Stack was full of other dangerous folk. “Who else is interested?” he asked.

Her smile widened. “No one, presently. I’ve withheld some of this from the lords, though of course I had to give them the data regarding Remint — and they’ve organized a major headhunt throughout SeaStack. If he shows in any of his usual haunts, he’ll soon be apprehended.”

“When do you plan to tell them about me?”

“Perhaps never,” she said. “I can see certain advantages in cleaning up this situation without their help. My reputation has been badly damaged; that will cost me far more than replacing a few dozen dead security people and killmechs. I’m afraid the damage will be permanent, unless I can bring the lords a suitable present; say, Remint’s head on a platter.”

“Our goals converge, to some extent,” Ruiz said cautiously.

“Maybe. Tell me, who would you first suspect of wanting your people — and of being foolish enough to try to take them from me?”

Ruiz considered. The threads of the situation had become so tangled that he could no longer easily follow the one that might benefit him most. He was exhausted and confused; not only could he not see where his advantage lay, he couldn’t even decide where the deepest danger lurked. But he tried to gather his thoughts. Diamond Bob was a businessperson. Her interest in apprehending the raiders was obvious and understandable. Why not deal with her on a somewhat straightforward basis?

“If I tell you what I surmise, will you tell me what you can about Remint?”

She nodded.

“All right. As far as I know, my only enemy here — or anyway the only one who knows I’m in SeaStack — is a slaver whom I know as Corean Heiclaro. Do you know of her?” He couldn’t mention Publius; he was still dependent on the monster-maker. Any suspicion that fell on Publius would reduce Ruiz’s chances of exploiting the monster-maker’s connections to escape SeaStack.

“The name isn’t immediately familiar,” said Diamond Bob. She moved to a rosewood writing desk and tapped at the dataslate inset into the desktop. “No, I find no mention of her in my records. Description?”

Ruiz described Corean as dispassionately as he could — her mannerisms, her slender body, her priceless face. He thought he had kept the hatred from his voice, but Diamond Bob watched him with knowing eyes and a slight smile. When he was finished, she shook her head. “No. She must employ another pen, if she does business in SeaStack — or perhaps she uses a private facility. Or, it may be that she has always dealt with me through underlings. The Pharaohan Flomel was delivered to us by a felinoform who called himself Lensh — and here is another possible connection to Remint. One of the raiders was a catperson. We had almost captured him, when the raider we believe to be Remint took off the cat’s head with a graser. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough left to compare the ID with the one who left Flomel here, but I would think they might be the same person.

“Now. Tell me why you think Corean might have something to do with the raid. Why would she want these Pharaohans?”

Ruiz debated whether he should mention the Gencha, but decided that volunteering such volatile information might be foolish, even if Diamond Bob proved trustworthy beyond reasonable expectation.

“They once belonged to her, before I stole them.”

“Ah.”

“What happened to Flomel?”

She smiled. “He was also taken. We didn’t find his body.”

Ruiz thought. Corean began to seem the likely motivator behind the raid. If so, she now had regained her phoenix troupe, except for the dead Kroel. But was that financial consideration large enough for her to risk the wrath of the pirate lords? The rational answer was no. Was she rational?

He needed more information. “Tell me what you know of Remint?”