RR: Rialto #15 (2/3): Shadow of

[cloudbusting]

(continued from part two...)
>>>***-***<<<

"Diana," Rijaei whispered as she entered the oval, rough-hewn chamber
that had been her, and previously his, office of command of the resistance
against the UCP and Megacorp on Rialto. Her hazel-brown eyes were worn and
dim, her chi'pi almost invisible. No, not invisible... turned on itself,
wound tight in her muscles and bearing.
She did not remark on his informal greeting, or anything else, as she
passed him, taking the seat at her desk. A war seemed to be raging inside
her, one fought with words and blood-ragged hooks. He did not speak
further, waiting for her to resolve her inner conflict.
"Our plans," Diana said, finally, "have changed. Tami shall not be
sacrificing himself."
"He refused you?" Rijaei asked, startled.
"I... made a critical mistake," she said. "I believed he would submit
to me... in my heart, I believed he already had. He even said he would
have, had I arrived ten minutes before."
Rijaei waited, watching her face for clues.
"He blames me for the circumstances leading up to the disappearance of
his chief ko'velt, Leiphali. Not directly... I think he understands I
wasn't in a position to know about or prevent Leiphali's bond with
Elizabeth Stuart. But I bear the responsibility for having that bond used
to keep Leiphali silent, contributing to the pain that drove him-- Rijaei?"
He became aware that he had seated himself, abruptly.
"Chi'velt... is this true? Did my maneuver cause such pain?"
"According to Tami. I have no reason to doubt his view."
"And I believed..." The air felt thick and dusty to his throat.
"...I believed the threat would merely keep him silent, that a ko'velt who
could form a bond with an outsider, without his chi'velt's approval, could
not have a strong bond to begin with...."
"You thought he was no different than Rilia."
Rijaei nodded.
Diana folded her hands and rested her chin on her fingers. "He's on
the warpath now. I saw it in his eyes, even when we... I saw it. Mancoti
recorded our conversation without my knowledge -- he has that leverage
against me, on top of everything else. My visit could not have been more
disastrous."
"The failure is mine," said Rijaei. "I suggested the blackmail, and
carried it through. I gave you the recording of Leiphali's and Elizabeth's
bonding and encouraged you to use it as part of our plan."
"It's useless now. Had Tami agreed to our plan and allowed its
release to 'expose' him as Megacorp's puppet, the resulting backlash from
every corner of the world would have been unstoppable. Now, it would
merely confirm our crime."
"Our mistake."
"Of course."
They were silent for minutes. The sullen air sank into Rijaei's skin
and weighted his flesh. How tangled the web of deceit had become. What
had it netted, aside from themselves?
There was only one option remaining.
Diana looked up when he stood, watched as he circled her desk and
placed his hands upon her shoulders. The muscles were as taut as drums.
Gently, he began to knead, his strong fingers releasing her tension. As he
proceeded, he could have sworn he heard her purr.
"You do that well," she said at last.
"I enjoy pleasing my chi'velt," he replied.
"I'm sure you do. But you didn't come around here to make a pass at me."
"No." Rijaei paused, his fingers slowing briefly as well. "I have
another offering." He pulled a holocrystal out of an inside tunic pocket
and placed it on the desk, before Diana's eyes. "This is a recording of
one of my... meetings... with Rilia. She has some choice words to say
about him."
Diana reached out and touched the crystal, running a finger along its
smooth black surface.
"I had thought about enhancing her voice, to get rid of the slurring
sound, but authenticity is what we desire. The failure of his bond with
her will be clear... and his honor will be fatally compromised."
"As will yours," Diana noted. "As blackmail goes, it is not a useful
gambit...."
"I don't mean for it to be used in secret, chi'velt," said Rijaei.
"My desire is that it be made public. The damage to him would be far
greater than the damage to us. If we can successfully present it in a way
that suggests Megacorp released it, we could channel the firestorm we have
been building against them in that manner."
"I see," Diana replied. She withdrew her hand. "A good plan... but
one with the same fatal flaw."
"Chi'velt?"
"Tami told me that, for all my surface ability to dominate in the
Rialton fashion, I was not a true chi'velt. My chi is, it seems, corrupted
by UCP and Megacorp methods and secrecy. This is not true of you, I
realize...."
"My faults are entirely homegrown," Rijaei noted, wryly.
"...but it strikes to the heart of all that I have done since my
'death.' Tami was absolutely correct." Rijaei said nothing, but reached
for the crystal, intending to replace it in his pocket. Diana raised a
hand to stop the move. "I will still put it to use... but without deceit.
That's the key to everything... outmaneuvering Tami, pushing Megacorp off
Rialto...
"The truth will be our weapon."

>>>***-***<<<

His rooms were as he had left them, fastidiously clean and orderly,
projecting an air of austerity despite the lavish nature of the individual
decorations. The wide, circular bed's desert-tan colors blended with the
slightly darker walls, the large windows overhead letting in the smooth
golden glow of dusk. Merhacha City, below, swam in the hazy light, a
silver-grey jewel settling into the cover of darkness. At one time, he
remembered thinking it was beautiful. Now, it spoke of danger and
desperation.
Mancoti had returned in the afternoon and plied him with questions.
Leiphali felt hesitant in answering -- Mancoti wasn't the one he had wanted
interrogation from. But it was an opportunity to test his answers, draw
out the questions that Tami would later ask, to see what conclusion would
be drawn.
The reaction from Mancoti was that he was a heretic, a lunatic, or
both. He was polite in his expression, as always, but his view was clear.
Leiphali had been driven mad by fear of Tami's wrath and had taken
philosophical musings not meant to be viewed literally to heart.
On Mancoti's departure, Leiphali turned to his MegaNet terminal,
knowing that every message waiting for him had undoubtedly been scrutinized
by security for messages, codes or any other minuscule clue to his
whereabouts. Most of what waited was dated the day he departed --
everything else had no doubt been routed directly to Mancoti, who acted as
Tami's chief ko'velt in his absence. What remained were messages from
acquaintances, nu'velt... even a childhood friend who now worked in a shop
in Suspire's capital. He read none of them... until he saw Elizabeth
Stuart's name.
The message was empty. He thought for an hour, gazing at the setting
suns, before sending his reply. It was a calculated risk -- he had gone to
great pains to keep his return a secret from everyone in the House -- but
one he had to take.
There was still much he wanted to do. Much had changed in the time he
had been absent; he could feel the shudder of tension in the air, hear it
in the voices of the ko'velts who passed his door. Reviewing the newsfeed
from the past months would give him what he needed to know. Still, he
hesitated, watching Merhacha begin to glow in the darkness. Now it *was*
beautiful, as it had always been.
The click of the door opening dragged his attention away. Mancoti
stood in the hall, his features etched with urgency.
"He is arriving."
Leiphali was out the door and walking toward the House Proper, the
structure in the center that was the heart of the su'Rialto's government.
Even here, the halls were empty, though from the many closed doors on all
sides, Leiphali deduced it was not due to the absence of velt'pi in the
building.
The western wing, the entirety of which was Tami's personal residence,
was similarly empty, though that was not unusual -- Tami seldom kept guards
so close to him at home. Beyond that was the landing pad for his personal
flyers. Mancoti placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.
They were to wait.
"Are you nervous, Ohm?" Mancoti asked.
"I am not yet Ohm," Leiphali replied. "And yes, I am."
Tami strode through the doors, barely allowing them to open
sufficiently before he was past. His eyes were shrouded with
contemplation, moving past Leiphali without apparent notice to settle on
Mancoti, who stood, unlike Leiphali, in the formal pose of submissive
greeting.
"Plans have been made to remove Rijaei from his seat on the council
and from rulership of Ciateli," Tami said, the words a blur from his lips.
"Borsi, Challisar and I have agreed upon this. Send word immediately to
Coda that... that...."
He looked back at Leiphali.
Leiphali wanted to speak, but the words would not come, all the
prepared answers and concise explanations dissolving into mist. Their time
would come, but it was not now.
As he sank into Tami's powerful embrace, he knew, for this one moment,
everything was right with his world.

>>>***-***<<<

Just when you think you've saved the world, along comes the paperwork,
Elizabeth Stuart thought. Between forcing the deal between Tami's
government and Eduard Tombolo's corporate megalith that would secure their
family's freedom on Rialto, being put through a battery of tests related to
her pregnancy, and coordinating her father's still-full schedule, she had
barely gotten a moment's peace. Of *course* her father couldn't resign --
it would be months before a replacement could arrive, unless Eduard Tombolo
sent the Le Guin to Earth as soon as its cargo and staff were unloaded. Of
*course* the doctors had to prod and scan and quantify -- with all the
genetic and chemical alterations to her body, the pregnancy *had* to be
monitored closely. Of *course* she and Jason and Karleen had to force the
issue between Tami and Eduard. Left to themselves they'd preen and posture
and strut while her family twisted in the wind.
All this for the price of a few ova. A devil's bargain: peace now...
but what of the future? A century from now, how many with powers beyond
mortal ken, under the thumb of Megacorp... or something worse?
The night before, she had gone to the theater with Duplassi. Henry
Stuart had virtually pushed her out the door, concerned about the stress of
her workload. He was trying to make up for everything, she realized, not
knowing the work was the only thing keeping the doubts from her.
Everything was worked *out,* damn it. The deal was struck. End of story.
Duplassi didn't seem to believe so.
"Remarkable, isn't it?" he asked, gesturing down at the stage. Upon
it, three actors, wearing garb that supposedly resembled that of the
Khai'khkkan followers who stole ships and escaped to the planet they would
come to know as Rialto, were involved in a vigorous debate concerning the
strategy that would be used to overwhelm security at the Phobos Shipyards.
It had been intensely boring in the vid of the play Elizabeth had watched
on the flight to Rialto; in person it was strangely intriguing. The
characters were pure stock, dominative and submissive without much shading,
yet the scene crackled with a sublime tension that had Elizabeth wishing
she had come without her 'date.'
"Yes," she agreed. "The scene made no sense in the vid, but--"
"The play is rubbish," Duplassi interrupted. "Laros was good for his
time, but his successors were the true masters." He shook his head. "It's
the interplay of the archetypes that is the fascinating part... as well as
who they're played by."
"What do you mean?"
"You see the one in the silver jumpsuit."
"Rialto Sun-Tei."
"That is her character's name. The actor playing her, however, is
Jalissi su'Mico...."
"A ko'velt?"
Duplassi nodded. "The others -- Haris, and his ko'velt, Robeson --
are played by a ko'velt and a chi'velt, respectively. A bonded pair, on
stage and in person."
"Then they're good actors. It's not uncommon for role reversals in
Rialton theater, right?"
"Yes, but Laros's retelling of the Great Flight is the only one where
it is complete. Rialto saw it in her last months before her death, and
suggested it to Laros."
"Were they bonded?"
"No... but at that point, it did not matter. Chi'velt and ko'velt
alike would treat her lightest words as directives from heaven."
"Why did she suggest it?" Elizabeth asked.
"A matter of conjecture," Duplassi replied. "It is thought by some
that she was trying to send a message... that every clear-cut solution
hides a secret, shadowing those involved just as the chi'pi shadows the
ko'pi." He shrugged. "For a people who pride ourselves on being concrete
and defined, we seem to be immersed in shadows."
Elizabeth folded her arms. It had to come out sometime, she realized.
The hard sell.
"You have no doubt guessed that I asked you here for a reason,"
Duplassi said, not looking at her. "It was so we could talk without
detection or intrusion. I had no means of securing that at the Embassy."
His head turned slowly, almost rolling to gaze at her. "I am here on
behalf of the underground."
"Huh. And here I was thinking you were representing MacLeod's Burger
World."
"I do not--"
"Nevermind. Continue."
"We wish to apologize for our earlier mistreatment of you at our hands."
"Accepted. Anything else?"
His jaw opened, shut, then opened. "You are being facetious," he
said, finally.
"Damn straight," Elizabeth snapped. "Nothing gets by you, does it?"
When Duplassi didn't reply, she sighed and shook her head. "I'm sor-- no,
I'm not sorry, but what the hell. Let's hear the whole spiel."
"As I said, we wish to apologize. Not for the kidnapping, as that
served our purposes and was conducted with respect to you. It is for
confining you in quarters with Leiphali, creating the conditions that
resulted in your Bonding, and the subsequent use of that Bond against you
that we are sorrowful for."
"Yeah. 'Course you are."
"I understand your cynicism on this matter. You must understand, we
did not believe it would result in the extreme consequences it had."
"But it did. So what does the resistance want with me now?"
"We want you to break your deal with Tami su'Rialto and Eduard Tombolo."
"What deal?"
Duplassi smiled slightly. "We've been watching the movements of your
family, you know. Your father might as well broadcast to the world that
he's submitted to Coda. The message traffic and personnel moves in the
past weeks indicate something significant has transpired. All of it dates
from the day Henry Stuart, you, Tami, Eduard Tombolo, his bodyguard and a
crewmember from the Johnny Mnemonic met at Tami's residence. You've made a
deal. That much is obvious."
"If you say so."
"They will not keep their word, Elizabeth. Tombolo certainly will not
-- you are living proof of that. As for Tami... there are whispers in the
House of Merhacha that he is no longer in complete command of his
faculties. His obsession with Leiphali has pushed him over the edge. Can
you rely on one such as he to keep, or even remember, his word?"
"I don't seem to have much of a choice, if I want my family--"
"Your family, yes. Consider your father. The ruling Chi'velt he is
submitted to, Coda, has an agenda that Tami must be suspicious of. Would
he reward her so readily?"
"If--"
"No, he would not. But he would see it as a means of putting the
U.C.P. taint on Coda, make it more difficult for her to sway to Borsi's
side at the next Policad. Even now, he schemes against the schemers, not
realizing he has become what he despises."
"Cut to the bone," Elizabeth said. "What do you want from me?"
"We want you to kill Eduard Tombolo," Duplassi replied. "With your
power, you can do so quite easily. It need not be as messy as Daxton Smy--"
The force of her blow could have taken Duplassi's head off, she
thought, if she hadn't pulled the strike at the last microsecond. Were it
not for the sound-damping field surrounding the booth, the sound of the
impact would have brought guards, or at least ushers.
"You can take that as a 'no,'" Elizabeth told him, coldly.
"If you wish to kill me, that is in your power," Duplassi managed to
say, as he wiped the blood from his chin. "I knew I was placing my life in
your hands the moment I asked you to come here." She glared at him. "We
can give you what Tombolo falsely promises: a life on Rialto, free of *all*
Megacorp and U.C.P. influence. Tombolo's death will force the issue with
Megacorp -- they will have to respond with force. That will, in turn,
force the issue here. Our divided, intrigue-shrouded planet will be forced
to unite, to fight the invaders. Had they sent force earlier, following
Smythe's death, they would have conquered us, weak with indecision as we
were. But the underground has made inroads in the months since that day.
We have stoked their fires, built their tension. They are ready for the
spark."
"The answer's still 'no,' jackass. You want to know why?"
"If you wish to explain...."
"You're no different than anyone else on this planet. Megacorp, the
U.C.P., Tami, Borsi, Coda... maybe I can't trust them, but I sure as *hell*
can't trust you. Even if I did, I'm not about to murder someone to save
myself."
He considered her words, his index fingers resting against his lips.
"Your point is valid. Tomorrow, though, may find a different story."
"Fine," she said. "I... I can't stay here. Hate to say it, but
you've ruined an otherwise good night."
"I shall leave as well," Duplassi said. "I have business elsewhere.
Also, this scene bores me to tears."
Now, a day later, the conversation ran through her mind, a broken,
warped record without end. It was tomorrow, and the story was the same --
which wasn't to say the day was without event. There was an unusual number
of demonstrations in major cities occurring that day, on all the
continents, though the resistance frequently used such tactics to agitate
the populace. Just another Rialton day.
"Enough," she finally mumbled. "Go home before you start bouncing off
the walls, girl." She ran her fingers along the terminal screen, shutting
down her work accounts, and remembered she had yet to access her personal
account. It was rare that she bothered -- having little social life, she
had little social mail -- but Duplassi could have sent her a message.
She brought up the account, logged on, and accessed her mail. There
was one message... but it wasn't from Duplassi.
"Lei," she whispered. The body of the message was empty. A glitch?
No.
He was back.
Way up there in Tami's House.
"So much for a quiet evening," she mused, even as she shut down her
terminal, picked up her carrybag and charged out the door, barely
restraining herself from using her hyperkinetic abilities to race directly
to her destination. She needed the time in an aircar to think.

>>>***-***<<<

Carmen was waiting for him. Her elegant eyes, mediterranean skin,
jawbone-length black hair, unadorned lips, thin nose... a face composed for
a meeting she seemed aware would happen. The expression failed to change
as he stepped fully inside. The door did not close behind him.
"You know who I am."
"Yes." Voice cold, controlled. "You're Geld." She was staring at
him, eyes widening slightly. Recognition. "We've met before."
"Long before," Geld acknowledged. "I was but a refugee seeking work.
And you gave me one hell of a piece of work that night."
"You played your part," said Carmen. "Edo told me you would come to
see me. She's guessed a great deal about you."
"Such as?"
"You've got backing--"
"I have people who carry out my directives."
"More than that," Carmen insisted. "You're working for a terrorist
group that is interested in something Megacorp has. You've convinced them
only you can secure it. In exchange, they'll go along with your personal
desire to displace the ruling council of Rialto with your own domination."
"You believe you know a great deal about me," Geld replied, flexing
his fingers behind his back.
"Of course I do, Geld, brother of Tami su'Rialto."
The words died on Geld's lips. It took a moment for him to summon
replacements.
"You... how?"
"When I first encountered you," said Carmen, "we were already studying
Rialto as a potential testing ground for the Exocet project. Even though
Diana Dumont had only been on the ground there two years, its physical and
social conditions made for an ideal environment. You reminded me a great
deal of Tami, who at the time was consolidating his dominance of Merhacha's
chi'velt leaders and was beginning to eye rulership of the council. The
testing of the blood sample I took from you prior to your rendezvous with
Edo confirmed it."
"Is this how Miss Edo arrived at her conclusions?" Geld inquired.
"No. She had most of the clues, but not all. Her paranoia convinced
her, though, that you had to have outside backing, and that in return for
your services, you'd deliver the Exocet project to them."
"Hmmm." This could be trouble, he told himself. "Why did she want to
visit you?"
"She wanted my help," said Carmen. "You've proven she's unsafe here.
Until her plan goes through... you *do* know about her plan, do you not?"
"That is why I am here," Geld replied. "I have reports from the
President's office on Earth that she offered the farm to them. Molone's
interested."
"Of course he is." He kept his voice tight, to keep the bitterness
from seeping out. "She didn't need to do this. I would have given her
Megacorp... you were losing it, don't you realize? A *fool* could see
that."
"If you insist," she said. "What *you* don't seem to realize is that
Edo doesn't want Megacorp."
"Her actions say otherwise."
"She has acted to protect her creation. Eduard would have destroyed
it." Carmen sighed. "She thinks she's protecting us from our enemies with
this project. The possibility of it falling into enemy hands is enough to
make her take drastic action against you."
Geld shook his head. "She is weak...."
"Edo is *dedicated,*" Carmen insisted, vehemence breaking through her
composed shell. "Focused. How do you think I was able to successfully
manipulate her for so long? I used her, yes. Directed her. Nudged her on
the path that would take me to sole control of Megacorp. As for
foolishness... that's your domain."
His fingers, behind his back, reached for the butt of the lasgun
tucked into his belt. "How so?" he asked.
"You woke her up. My survival depended on keeping her oblivious,
focused on her creation. Your ego couldn't stand such subtlety. In your
place, you know what I'd do?"
He shook his head.
"I'd start running."
"But I won't do that," he answered. "What else did she tell you?"
"What makes you think there was something else?"
"She wouldn't have come here to gloat. What proposition did she make?"
Carmen looked down, briefly. "I was to lead you to her hiding place.
There, you'd be killed. In exchange for my assistance, I'd be cleared of
the charges against me. Those would be pinned on you... and Eduard
Tombolo."
"Indeed?" He thought, briefly, of the message Duplassi had sent him.
Contact made with the Stuart girl, the request made on the behalf of the
underground. She would not accept, of course, but the implication would be
of immense benefit in discrediting the underground, once it was revealed.
Duplassi, meanwhile, would handle the actual assassination, fingering the
hidden leader of the resistance, Diana Dumont, as his secret chi'velt. A
fine actor, that one.
The murder would help Edo -- or whoever administered Megacorp in her
absence -- as well. Eduard Tombolo was a formidable man, but dead, he
could hardly deny charges of conspiracy. That meant he had to get to Edo,
before she could move past his reach.
"You're coming with me," he told Carmen. "You know where she's set a
trap for me. You'll help me thwart her."
"What's in it for me?"
"Control of Megacorp. I have no desire for it. And while Edo may not
want it, you do."
Her eyes told him the answer. Yes, this one wanted... needed power.
But instead of giving him a direct yes, she asked another question.
"Who are your backers?"
"Does that matter?"
"It could."
He weighed the chance in his mind. It was possible she was trying to
manipulate him, certainly. It was possible she was getting information for
Edo. Then again, her willingness to assist might be sincere. She
certainly had the motive, and surely she had the intelligence to see she
couldn't rely on Edo to deliver Megacorp any more.
"I will explain in the aircar," Geld said. "My agents here have
arranged for me to leave undetected. For now, all I will tell you is that
they call themselves the Nin... and their strength is far greater than
yours."

(concluded in part three, following...)