One Mind's Eye by Kathy Tyers

Author:Kathy Tyers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9781683702139
Publisher: Enclave Publishing
Published: 2019-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

19

Tdegans in formal dress clustered near a platform along the magnificent, wood-floored reception hall’s east wall. Several rows of heads separated Jahn and Alun from the platform. Most of the men sported thin, dignified black queues, and the women showed as much variety of hairstyle as Jahn would have expected at a formal Antaran affair.

A gold curtain on the back of the platform hid a door. Whispers echoed a silent excitement that Jahn heard full volume when he touched people around him with a shallow synch. Was she genuine? Had she been a prisoner? What would she be like?

Filip Salbari must have located Luene shortly after Jahn’s report arrived. Tonight’s festivities resulted from his own agency, which gave him a sense of professional satisfaction. Still, he worried. Gamal Casimir’s daughter would have been safer on Antar.

She’d arrived at Bkellan Base three days ago. Jahn and Alun had stood with a crowd as a shuttle settled to the ground behind a metal barricade. A slight young woman had appeared on the shuttle ramp, wearing Tdegan clothing, standing beside a woman in Outwatch blue-gray. She waved hesitantly.

The four Outwatch personnel vanished immediately as Luene was whisked to the Residence clinic. Jahn and Alun followed in a Residence maglev, speeding and jumping drive grooves like University students between terms. Then they waited in the grand hall with other staff. Medic Jackson emerged a few minutes later to announce that gene testing had proved the girl was unquestionably Luene Casimir.

Then she had vanished again, probably closeted with her father and his aides for a grueling debrief. Now guards stood outside Siah Casimir’s former suite, down the hall from Alun’s, but neither Jahn nor Alun had glimpsed her again.

Perhaps Gamal Casimir had secluded her—or worse—and was presenting someone else tonight, a substitute.

Bellik Casimir mounted the platform and strutted toward the gold curtain’s center, dressed in full formal blacks. They made him look like an unlit shadow beneath the tiers of light rods.

Next, Gamal stepped out from between two guards at the center of the long gold curtain, resplendent in his own gold-trimmed blacks. Gamal had declared himself Commander of Tdegan Forces several weeks ago, but tonight he appeared in the dazzling new uniform for the first time.

“Can we get closer?” Alun asked. For three days, he’d seemed almost desperate to see his cousin.

“I think so.” Jahn edged forward. Alun followed like a puppy. He looked gawky, all arms and legs, in his cutaway jacket. Even after all these weeks, Jahn felt equally conspicuous wearing clothing that fit so snugly.

Alun’s attention span and vocabulary had improved so much that they would be hard-pressed to conceal his progress much longer. Alun took enormous pleasure in surprising people, so Jahn had explained the need to “dumb up” as a long, complex prank to be sprung on Uncle Gamal. Tonight’s socialization would test Alun’s resolve and maturity to their limits.

Jahn looked for Antar’s gray-haired Ambassador. Several days ago, online news interpretations coming out of the embassy had been cut off.

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