Beyond the Burn Line by Paul McAuley
Author:Paul McAuley [McAuley, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781399603737
Publisher: Gollancz; Orion Publishing Group
Published: 2022-09-22T00:00:00+00:00
3.
âGoodwill reckoned that Solomon Firststar told me about the wager because he couldnât prevent me from interviewing Trina, and knew Iâd find out,â Ysbel told her boss, Mitkos Grimsson. âHe also said that Firststar had been making a point by meeting us in a room full of the mementoes of creatures who enslaved and hunted their people.â
âYour bailiff being a traditionalist, and Firststar a half-and-half accommodationist,â Mitkos said.
âI think that it was more to do with personal dislike than politics,â Ysbel said. âGoodwillâs pretty blunt, for a native. Heâd offended Firststar, and Firststar decided that heâd teach him a lesson. Let him know he was on the wrong side of history.â
She was in the stationâs office in Ogres Grave; Mitkos was in the Gathering Place, one of the islands of what had been called Hawaii in the long ago, attending a summit meeting about the growing hostility to the human presence in the Union and the New Territories. He was looking out of a window her link had drawn in the air, a slightly pouchy middle-aged man with close-shaved hair that came to a point above his forehead, telling her, âPut a note in the file, so weâll be covered if this spat jams thing up. Is there anything else?â
âIâm still waiting for Survey and Surveillance to confirm or deny if Trina Mersdaughter is some kind of undercover operative.â
âIf she is, they wonât admit it. And in any case, it isnât any of our business.â
âSo we just let it slide. Even though she admitted culpability.â
âDoes her story stand up?â
âPretty much,â Ysbel admitted. âAs far as it goes.â
Despite Solomon Firststarâs reservations, Trina Mersdaughter had not seemed especially doped. A slender young woman in her mid-twenties, around Ysbelâs age, with ringlets of glossy black hair wound with white thread, sheâd sat crosslegged on a bench seat in the cabin of her boat, barefoot in an oversized jumper and stretch hose, explaining that she was one of Survey and Surveillanceâs field operatives and had accepted the invitation to Solomon Firststarâs party because he had acquired an artefact of interest to her agency. Unfortunately, Joyous Hightower had also been interested in acquiring it, and outbid her.
âTo be clear, this was a copy of a bear carving,â Ysbel said. âSome kind of map.â
âI suppose Solomon told you all about it.â
âHe didnât tell me why you and S and S are interested in it.â
âThat I canât tell you.â
âIt shouldnât be necessary to remind you that you are involved in a wrongful-death investigation.â
âI canât talk about my work. Iâm sorry,â Trina said, not looking sorry at all.
âTell me about the race,â Ysbel said. âWas that really your idea?â
Goodwill was sitting beside her. They had agreed that he could sit in on the interview as an observer, and for his benefit they were talking in the nativesâ common tongue.
âIt was my fault,â Trina said. âAfter I beat Joyous in the time trials, he had to win the auction. It was a matter of pride. He named a price
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