Orion Shall Rise by Anderson Poul

Author:Anderson, Poul [Anderson, Poul]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: Science fiction
ISBN: 9781504024341
Publisher: Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Published: 2015-11-23T16:00:00+00:00

4

By the fourth day, Terai was barely able to maintain control, and Wairoa was showing signs of strain.

It was not that their confinement was onerous. They shared a vacated sluga cottage, simply but adequately furnished. The food and drink brought them were good, the crisp vegetables and lightly fried meat not unlike Awaiian cuisine, the herb tea and beer full-bodied. The armed watchmen at the single door were alert but genial, eager to talk in Unglish. Daily, under doubled guard, the internees were allowed out for an hour or two of exercise, which could well happen to be a game of handball played with soldiers off duty. For their private amusement, they were lent cards, chess and go sets, and any available books they wanted. Meanwhile they had assurance that the Maurai legate would soon arrive and negotiate their release.

‘The trouble is that Mikli swine,’ Terai had growled early on.

Wairoa nodded his striped head. ‘He was tense in the office, but basically confident. I could smell it. Unfortunately, he does not subvocalize, and his body language is peculiar to himself. I got no clue to his thoughts.’

‘He has a plan.’ Terai rumbled a laugh. ‘He didn’t send Ronica away to spite her lover! She’d have torn his ear off for suggesting it. But what is her errand, then?’

‘To report to a Northwestern agent and get help?’

‘What sort of help? A message, possibly, via the Yuanese connections we think the Norrmen may have. But a raid – ridiculous.’

Wairoa leaned elbows on a windowsill and considered the rainy, windy night. ‘The objective could be to silence us,’ he proposed.

‘He’s already done that, for the time being,’ Terai pointed out. He rose from his chair and prowled the clay floor. It was cold beneath his bare feet.

Wairoa’s glance trailed him. ‘I don’t actually understand why, or how. I admit I tend to be naive about human affairs in general, and about the Mong in particular. But why don’t we reveal it’s the Norrmen who are gathering fissionables? We could tell where to go, to dredge the evidence from the lake.’

‘Didn’t you hear? He threatened retaliation. He’d compromise our intelligence in the Five Nations by blabbing what he knows, and he may well know plenty. The Union’s been interacting with the Mong for centuries, they must have a network of agents who’d make it part of their jobs to keep track of ours, and Mikli personally must have operated here before, as familiar as he is with local situations. Stalemate.’ Terai smiled sourly. ‘As for Iern, he’s reliable. He won’t breathe a word that could get his dear Ronica in trouble. Plik will oblige his request.’

‘Are you certain Mikli isn’t bluffing?’

‘No, but I can’t take the risk while alternatives are open. Besides, in any case, I can’t predict how the Mong would react to the information – or the Domain, once word reached there, which it surely would – or our own Federation, for that matter. We could find a global, bloody mess on our hands.

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