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"You've been running for years for a decade, Tsin-nyeka. Didn't you realize that, in your flight from
what you feared, you became that which you most hated?"
She stared at him, unable to guess what he meant.
"A victim." He answered for her.
"You don't know that, Doetzier. You don't know what I am."
"I know you, Feather-guide. As well as I know my own sis-ter."
Her throat tightened at the term, but her eyes glinted. "Then tell me my name, if you know it."
For an instant, something like compassion flickered in his gaze. But his words were like bullets of ice.
"You are the rogue gate, Tsia Matsallen. The illegal guide of the Ciordani guild."
She stared at him as if she stared at a corpse, long-dead, that rose up to touch her face. Her throat
seemed to close; her breath cut off. The chill began in the bones of her toes and neck at the same time.
"Daughter of the guides Bayzon Matsallen and Ellyn Jadietz," he went on. "Granddaughter of the guide
and First Dropper Caitriona. Descendant of the Sirian guide Nordon Kadya. Of Niamh, of Jacob, of
Ciaran "
"Enough." Wren's voice stilled them both as he stepped be-tween Tsia and the other man.
Tsia did not move. Her eyes, like those of Ruka's, stared at Doetzier as if she waited for his words to
burn through her chest like a laze. "You're the Shield." Her voice was barely a whisper.
"Yes."
"Here for me?"
"No."
"For the biochips?"
He nodded.
"So you're customs, too."
"Yes." His voice was flat, but his eyes watched her closely, as if he were judging her responses to his
words. "I know about your sister."
She was silent for a moment. "And now you know about me. My gate. The cats." A wall inside her
seemed to break. Its bricks were fear, and its mortar anticipation. He knew her past; he knew about her
murder. And the meres, who had protected her, could no longer do that. The scent of the man was harsh
in her nose. Wren's hand flashed out to steady her.
Nitpicker's voice cut across Doetzier's expression. "Her link," the woman said quietly, as she moved
back into the doorway, "is clear and fully licensed."
Doetzier did not bother to look at the pilot; his gaze was locked on Tsia. "Her link," he said, "was stolen
from the art guild. She killed an artist to take it." His eyes flicked to Wren's cold face. "You're not
surprised."
Wren shrugged.
"You knew?"
"It didn't matter to me." His statement, quiet as it was, was almost a challenge to the Shield.
"And you?" Doetzier turned to Nitpicker.
"Why should I care for her past?" the pilot returned coldly. "She's been true to her guild. To my guild. I
owe her derori ka'eo. Ma'ke ka'eo." The debt of honor between friends. She met his eyes steadily. "As
do you," she added softly.
His eyes narrowed. "I acknowledge no such debt."
Tsia's eyes glinted. "Then what is it now that you want?"
"What is it that you need?" he returned softly.
"Are we bargaining now for something?" Inside her head, the cat feet crawled. "You want me to say that
I need my biogate?" Her voice almost shook with the quietness of the fury that seemed to swamp her.
"You could order a wipe through the node in an instant, and when you were done de-stroying my gate
and erasing my self, I wouldn't even know I'd been a guide."
'There's always something left," he said softly. "Even after a thorough wipe. Have you looked in Striker's
eyes? Do you want to be the same? Wondering where you came from? What crime had stripped away
your person? Questioning with every reaction you had whether it was an old, unsurfaced habit or some
new, conscious desire that pushed your emotions and thoughts? How often do you think she asks herself
if she's de-scended from the lifers herself? One image from me to the node, and you would be just like
that. But worse than a ghost; worse than a wipe you'd be a naught forever."
Tsia's jaw tightened. "If you have the authority, then you also have the authority to negotiate a link."
For a moment, he did not answer. "A clear link," he said slowly. "Protected status. What would you give
in return?"
Tsia's lips thinned. "No giving here, Doetzier." Her voice was almost a snarl. "No half bargains or
promises with me. A contract, legal and verified that's what I want from you."
"On what terms?"
"I get the biochips back. You give me a link."
"Those biochips represent a threat to your world, not just to yourself or your gate."
"A link," she repeated softly. "That's my price."
"Not your sister?"
Tsia's throat tightened. "I don't think my sister really ex-ists." Her voice was so low, he almost didn't hear
it. "She's gone from me. Giving up myself for her would not bring her back. It would only let her run
further and destroy me with her running. I want a link, Doetzier."
"You're a guide," he returned flatly. "You can't bargain for a link. It's not in your nature to allow
anyone even your sister to destroy your world through the use of the biochips."
She grinned, but the expression stretched her lips like a snarl. "The zeks are your responsibility, and your
workload is nothing to me. I want contract, Doetzier."
"I want the biochips back."
"In exchange for a protected link."
"If you testify at the trial for the blackjacks we take in," he shot back.
She hesitated.
"Afraid to take a chance?"
"On what?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]