Deception Well (The Nanotech Succession Book 2) by Linda Nagata Page B

said, recognizing the lilt of her voice even through the camera bee’s lousy audio. Yulyssa had taken an interest in him from that first day in the tunnel. Not a professional interest. Though she was a mediot, she’d never done a story on him. But in those first years she’d spent time with him, taking him on fun excursions to a soccer game or a concert, or to the surf pool in Spoken Verities, or for a wild ride in the VR crash chamber, which he hadn’t liked, or—most often—to lunch at tiny restaurants known only to the very real. She’d helped him with his accent and made sure he learned Silken table manners. He’d liked those times, but as he’d gotten older he’d seen her less, until finally she stopped coming around.
    But apparently she hadn’t forgotten him. “We came looking for Jupiter,” he told her resentfully.
    “ You didn’t find him. ”
    Lot glanced questioningly at Gent; caught the slight, negative shake of his head as he switched off his mate finder. “No. City authority lied. He’s not here. He never was here—”
    “Dumb ados will believe anything,” Urban interrupted. “But you’re one of them. You knew better, didn’t you?”
    The camera bee dipped slightly. Was that an answer? Lot stepped forward, a fist clenched in frustration. “I saw the elevator car descend,” he insisted.
    Yulyssa said, “ I saw it too. ”
    Doubt had eaten at Lot so many years, this simple confirmation left him stunned. “You knew? But you never said anything. . . .”
    The camera bee dipped again. “ It seemed right at the time. So many people had already died. ”
    “At the time . . . ?” Urban mused, a look of fine ado cynicism on his face.
    “ You weren’t there, Urban ,” Yulyssa said. “ You didn’t see it. ”
    Lot felt his guts twist. “So what did they do to everybody?” His hand swept out across the panels.
    “ That I don’t know. I don’t know why cold storage is empty. ”
    “I do,” Lot said. “It’s because Jupiter’s alive.”
    Yulyssa demurred. “ That wouldn’t be my first guess —”
    But Gent interrupted her. “It’s time to go. We only have a few minutes before—”
    Urban cut him off with a sharp look. He turned to the camera bee, his eyes dark with a feral excitement only half-concealed. “Do your story,” he told Yulyssa. “We’re not afraid of that, though of course it’ll lead to our arrest. But if you’ve got any sense of justice, you’ll hold off releasing it until the rally tonight.” He grinned. “After that, it won’t matter who knows.”
    He crooked two fingers at Lot. “Come on. Let’s go.”
    Lot hesitated, looking back at the camera bee. Yulyssa had seen the elevator descend and yet she’d never said anything. What else did she know?
    Gent touched his elbow. “Come on. Urban’s right. We don’t have any choice now.”
     

CHAPTER
    8
    I N L OT’S CARNIVOROUS-PLANT COLLECTION THERE WERE several sundews started from seeds that Netta had given him. The sundews were tiny. If Lot made a circle of his thumb and forefinger, each plant could fit within it. They had no stems, only thin petioles growing from a central bud, each petiole supporting a sticky paddle at its end.
    One of the seedling sundews had caught a small fly. Lot leaned closer, remote implications suddenly resonant in his mind. He had to wonder: Of what use were the tiny insects to the well-being of this city? They were pests. They dove into fruit salads and sweet wines and flew too close to people’s faces and died on countertops in untidy heaps. But they were here, having successfully tagged along with their human cousins through the waves of migration that had expanded the Hallowed Vasties, venturing uninvited all the way into the Chenzeme Intersection.
    He watched the tiny antennae of the trapped fly wriggle helplessly, while its legs sank deeper into the sticky goo that coated the paddle of the sundew. The paddle itself was no larger than the white crescent at the base