Geomancer (Well of Echoes) by Ian Irvine Page B

war.’
    ‘The guards say you’re the only one who went in there this morning.’
    ‘The night guard spends most of her shift gossiping by the furnaces. She’s never around when I finish work.’
    ‘The day guard says the same thing. And Irisis’s controller has been smashed in
your cubicle
.’
    ‘Maybe someone is trying to get rid of me,’ she said simply.
    ‘Are you accusing Irisis?’
    ‘I don’t believe she would wreck her controller, even to be rid of me. She loves her work too much.’
    ‘Then who?’ Gi-Had cried.
    ‘I don’t know, overseer.’
    ‘I suggest you try very hard to find out!’ Once Perquisitor Jal-Nish hears of this outrage he may decide to pay us a visit. He’s not as trusting as I am, Tiaan, and he’s quick to jump to conclusions. If he decides against you,
nothing
I say will change his mind. That’s all!’
    She went out, a black chill settling over her. She had heard all about the new perquisitor. Before she reached her cubicle Tiaan found another reason to be afraid. The perquisitor was Nish’s father. She had spurned the little artificer and now he was Irisis’s lover. There was no doubt whose word Jal-Nish would take.
    Her only refuge was work, though it could not stop her cycling thoughts. The new crystal needed no shaping; it was perfect as it was. After waking it with her pliance, Tiaan merely cleaned up a few sharp edges, then reconstructed the mounting on the front of her helm to fit. At dinnertime she slipped the crystal into place. It fitted perfectly. Pushing the clasps down, she sat back. It was a fine piece of work, as good as she could do, but it gave her no pleasure. And again, as she put her devices down, Tiaan had the feeling that someone, in some distant place, was trying to find her.
    Uncomfortable with that thought, she closed her eyes and lay her head on the bench. The door opened. Irisis stood there, the last person she wanted to see. ‘I heard about your controller –’ Tiaan began.
    Such fury passed across Irisis’s face that Tiaan froze. ‘Don’t say another word!’ Irisis snarled.
    Tiaan looked down at her helm, wondering what it was that Irisis wanted.
    ‘Have you found the answer yet?’ Irisis picked up one of the failed hedrons.
    ‘No, but I’m making progress. What about you?’
    ‘It’s not
my
controllers that failed.’
    ‘I thought you’d want to help, for the sake of the war,’ Tiaan said acidly. A tiny victory but it made her feel better.
    Irisis’s eyes darted to the globe and helm. ‘What’s that? Another toy for your bastard brothers and sisters?’
    As little as twenty years ago that would not have been an insult, in the days when women could choose to take a partner, or not. Tiaan clenched her fists. Irisis laughed openly. ‘You came from the breeding factory and that’s where you’ll end up. It’s all you’re good for anyway, lying on your back with your legs over your shoulders.’
    Tiaan gritted her teeth and said nothing, since that would annoy Irisis more than any reply she could think of.
    ‘Well, what is it?’ Irisis burst out.
    ‘I should have thought someone with your great crafter heritage would know at a glance.’
    ‘Just tell me!’
    ‘It’s a probe,’ Tiaan said, ‘to read the history of the faulty controllers and find out why they failed.’
    A spark lit in Irisis’s eyes. ‘It’ll never work.’ Picking up the helm, she weighed it in her hands and then put it on her head, where it sat like a pancake. ‘Doesn’t even fit.’
    ‘My head is smaller than yours.’
    Irisis rotated the helm, pushing its spidery legs down hard. She reached for the globe that still held the faulty hedron, but as she touched it the crystal in the helm flared white. There came a snapping sound, accompanied by a sizzle. Irisis screamed, tore the helm off and hurled it at the bench.
    ‘Are you all right?’ Tiaan could not comprehend what had happened.
    Irisis staggered drunkenly about, her eyes crossed. Her fingers