security forces at the moment, but I'll have a word with Vikram Singh. I'm sure I can convince him where his best in-terests lie. We're very old friends. After all"—Tokai smiled benevolently—"it really is for the best, Anand. A treasured alien visitor in the hands of a terrorist? No, no, no. We'll be doing everyone a favor if we secure Nihalani and invite the alien to make full use of our resources. And if the being proves hostile, then I'm sure all concerned will agree that it is better off under my control than Nihalani's. And the powers of the Japanese axis would much rather involve India than the West."
Of course they would, Tokai thought, watching Anand narrowly. Heavy investment on the part of the Japanese axis entailed a degree of control over the subcontinent, whereas influencing America and the European Union would be an entirely different story. "In recompense, I might be prepared to restore some of your fortunes to you." He glanced around the shabbily ornate room, leaving no doubt as to his meaning. "You'll want to marry that charming actress of yours, no doubt, and this really would be a delightful place to raise a family… Go back to Varanasi, Anand. Find out what you can and get back to me. And then we will consider our op-tions."
He watched as the tall figure made its way through the overgrown gardens, pushing aside the roses. The butcher-prince left a drift of petals in his wake, red as spilled blood. Tokai watched until he was out of sight, then crossed to the phone and called Tokyo.
3. Kasasatran system
Sirru was still ruffled by the time he reached the sprawl of black-domed buildings that was the Moyshekhali temenos. It seemed that the temenos already had some idea of what had happened.
Everyone was in the central chamber, all talking at once, and the house itself could be heard beneath the hubbub, trying ineffectually to calm down its inhabitants.
Sirru stepped through into a morass of /protest/doubt/ fulfillment/speculation/ . Bad as Naturals, he thought. He clapped his hands around his throat and said plaintively, "Quiet! Please ! I can't feel myself think."
"A new colony? Is it possible?"—this from Issari, his clade-sister, always careful with epistemological niceties.
"Yes. More than possible; fact. We have a new desqusai colony, a planet named Tekhei. I am to go there, to manage it."
"Tekhei has become active, then?"
"Apparently so."
"This can only be a good thing," Issari exulted, but a wave of doubt rustled around the chamber.
"More problems, you mean."
"The desqusai are always the poor relations. Tekhei is worthless, surely. There's nothing there—a handful of miner-als, a couple of seas…"
"Its people are desqusai ," Issari bristled. "They are kin. We have an obligation to them, as to all our colonies. This is the way it has always been done."
"We need to consolidate here in the inner systems, not out on the shores of the galaxy! And besides, look what happened to Sirru's poor friend. What about Arakrahali?"
That was the last thing Sirru wanted to discuss. "We can debate the matter all we like," he said, before the argument could get under way. "But the hltaithoi have decided that I go, and that is that. We'll just have to make the best of the matter and see how we can turn it to our advantage."
"Why should the hfiaithoi be the ones who decide?" a small, young voice cried from the back. The thought twinged painfully inside Sirru's neural cortex; his epistemic suppres-sants clamped down.
"Don't hurt us with heresy," Issari snapped. "Have you been missing your suppressants? Do you want the Prescriptors to pay you a visit and cost us a fortune?"
Sirru wondered, fleetingly, whether Tekhei might actually turn out to be more restful than home. The clade grumbled, but more as a matter of course than from any deep sense of vi-olation. Tekhei was a desqusai world, after all, and project de-velopment was what the EsMoyshekhali had been designed to do. The family saw his new role
Of course they would, Tokai thought, watching Anand narrowly. Heavy investment on the part of the Japanese axis entailed a degree of control over the subcontinent, whereas influencing America and the European Union would be an entirely different story. "In recompense, I might be prepared to restore some of your fortunes to you." He glanced around the shabbily ornate room, leaving no doubt as to his meaning. "You'll want to marry that charming actress of yours, no doubt, and this really would be a delightful place to raise a family… Go back to Varanasi, Anand. Find out what you can and get back to me. And then we will consider our op-tions."
He watched as the tall figure made its way through the overgrown gardens, pushing aside the roses. The butcher-prince left a drift of petals in his wake, red as spilled blood. Tokai watched until he was out of sight, then crossed to the phone and called Tokyo.
3. Kasasatran system
Sirru was still ruffled by the time he reached the sprawl of black-domed buildings that was the Moyshekhali temenos. It seemed that the temenos already had some idea of what had happened.
Everyone was in the central chamber, all talking at once, and the house itself could be heard beneath the hubbub, trying ineffectually to calm down its inhabitants.
Sirru stepped through into a morass of /protest/doubt/ fulfillment/speculation/ . Bad as Naturals, he thought. He clapped his hands around his throat and said plaintively, "Quiet! Please ! I can't feel myself think."
"A new colony? Is it possible?"—this from Issari, his clade-sister, always careful with epistemological niceties.
"Yes. More than possible; fact. We have a new desqusai colony, a planet named Tekhei. I am to go there, to manage it."
"Tekhei has become active, then?"
"Apparently so."
"This can only be a good thing," Issari exulted, but a wave of doubt rustled around the chamber.
"More problems, you mean."
"The desqusai are always the poor relations. Tekhei is worthless, surely. There's nothing there—a handful of miner-als, a couple of seas…"
"Its people are desqusai ," Issari bristled. "They are kin. We have an obligation to them, as to all our colonies. This is the way it has always been done."
"We need to consolidate here in the inner systems, not out on the shores of the galaxy! And besides, look what happened to Sirru's poor friend. What about Arakrahali?"
That was the last thing Sirru wanted to discuss. "We can debate the matter all we like," he said, before the argument could get under way. "But the hltaithoi have decided that I go, and that is that. We'll just have to make the best of the matter and see how we can turn it to our advantage."
"Why should the hfiaithoi be the ones who decide?" a small, young voice cried from the back. The thought twinged painfully inside Sirru's neural cortex; his epistemic suppres-sants clamped down.
"Don't hurt us with heresy," Issari snapped. "Have you been missing your suppressants? Do you want the Prescriptors to pay you a visit and cost us a fortune?"
Sirru wondered, fleetingly, whether Tekhei might actually turn out to be more restful than home. The clade grumbled, but more as a matter of course than from any deep sense of vi-olation. Tekhei was a desqusai world, after all, and project de-velopment was what the EsMoyshekhali had been designed to do. The family saw his new role
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