The Sundering by Walter Jon Williams

Author:Walter Jon Williams [Williams, Walter Jon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-09-22T06:00:00+00:00

Sula's research on the Gene Bank uncovered no loopholes in the regulations that governed the place, and after a while her view of the display began to shimmer with tears. The chime of the comm made her gasp in surprise. She swiped at her swollen eyes with the back of her hand and answered. A few minutes later she signed for a packet of orders from the Commandery.

Her leave was now officially over, and on the morrow she was to join the staff of Fleet Commander Ro-dai, who headed something called the “Logistics Consolidation Executive,” run out of an office building in the Lower Town.

Sula reheated the morning's tea and stirred cane sugar syrup into it while she stared at the orders printed on the Commandery's crisp bond paper. You are required and directed to present yourself at 09:01 hours at Room 890 of the Dix Building…It was the reality of it, the creamy paper, the sharp outlines of the letters, the absolute directness and clarity of the Commandery's wording, that somehow made up Sula's mind.

She would walk around the corner to the Shelley Palace and see Martinez. She would force an interview, if necessary, by claiming to have orders from the Commandery-she had the envelope and paper in hand, after all. She would tell Martinez that she was not the genuine Lady Sula but an imposter who had taken her place, and throw herself on his mercy. Hit me, spit in my face, denounce me to the authorities…or marry me.

His choice.

The idea was so dangerous that she felt a welcome rush of adrenaline, and the hairs on the back of her neck prickled. A wild wind of liberation began to sing through her. To give up her secret seemed intoxicatingly like freedom.

Sula washed her face and applied cosmetic. She put her orders back in their envelope and tried to reattach the seal, then decided it didn't really matter. They weren't really Martinez's orders, after all.

The wind of hope blew strong in her heart. She squared her shoulders and put on her uniform cap and left the apartment with the crisp envelope held in her left hand. A drum rattled in her mind as she marched down the pavement in proper military style, executed a precise right-turn at the corner, and paraded to the front door of the Shelley Palace.

Her ring was answered by one of the Martinez sisters' homely maidservants. “Captain Martinez, please,” she said. “Orders from the Commandery.”

The servant was a little flushed, and the laughter that tried to tug at her face hinted that Sula had interrupted her in the middle of a good giggle.

“Captain Martinez isn't in, my lady,” she said. “I believe he may be with his fiancée.”

“Lord Gareth, I mean,” Sula corrected, “not Lord Roland.” And far too late thought, Roland's getting married?

The servant appeared a little surprised. “It's Lord Gareth who's getting married, my lady. To Lady Terza Chen. We've all just been told.” She seemed surprised at Sula's shock. “If it's urgent, you might try the Chen Palace, miss.

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