The Icarus Plot by Timothy Zahn

Author:Timothy Zahn [Zahn, Timothy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, Action & Adventure, Space Opera, Crime & Mystery
ISBN: 9781982191955
Google: QLywzgEACAAJ
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2022-07-05T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

—❖—

It wasn’t easy to swivel around and draw while seated in a pilot’s chair. But inspiration and sudden shock are remarkable enablers. An instant later I was facing the bridge hatchway, plasmic leveled at the woman standing there.

Standing motionlessly, with her hands visible. Luckily for her. “What the hell are you doing here?” I snarled, lowering my plasmic to my lap.

She raised her eyebrows with the same coolness as if I’d just asked for a weather report. “You invited me, remember?”

“You know what I mean.” I raised my voice. “Selene? Come join the party.”

There was a footstep from the corridor. Tera glanced over her shoulder, then returned her attention to me. “I assumed that just because Freki hadn’t seen me come through the hatch didn’t mean he wouldn’t eventually want a look for himself,” she said as if I should have expected that, too. “So I stayed in the crawlway ready to duck back out the rabbit hole and hide at the bottom of the cradle if I heard him work the lock.” She sent a lopsided smile back over her shoulder at Selene. “Lucky for him, he doesn’t have anyone with your abilities on the payroll.”

“I’m sorry, Gregory,” Selene’s somewhat mortified voice came from behind her. “I should have smelled her. I wasn’t paying enough attention.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I assured her. “Anyway, there was probably enough of her scent already here even if you’d been specifically looking.” I felt my eyes narrow as I focused on Tera again. “So it was Jennifer who got onto that liner with Kifri.”

“Yes.” Tera considered. “And no.” She raised her eyebrows, silently inviting me to be clever.

Selene, for one, was apparently not interested in playing that game. “What does she mean?” she asked.

“She means that our diversion at the Patth freighter wasn’t to let them sneak aboard,” I said sourly, tasting bile and leftover bourbon. Damn these people, anyway. “Our diversion was to let them sneak off.” I raised my eyebrows at Tera. “So the Iykams and everyone else are now chasing a complete red herring?”

“It’s safer that way,” she said. “We don’t want either of them getting shot by some overeager bounty hunter.”

“Or some overeager Iykam,” I said. “By the way, Jennifer says Kifri’s real name is Ixil.”

“Yes, she told me you’d overheard that,” she said ruefully. “We were saving that particular name to spring on Geri during the con. But I suppose it doesn’t hurt that you also know it.”

“Real names are always so handy,” I said. And with that, I had my opening. “Speaking of names, it’s about time you gave us yours.”

A frown flicked across her face. “I already did. I’m Tera.”

“Fake Tera, anyway,” I said. “But okay. Let’s at least have the real Tera’s real name. You said it’s Tera C. What does the ‘C’ stand for?”

“As I said, it was never released.”

“Probably true,” I said. “At least, Selene didn’t catch it as a lie.”

“Of course it’s true,” Tera insisted.

“But it’s also misleading as hell,” I said.

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