Edge of Dark (47 page)

“Are you kidding?” Nona hissed back. “There are twenty of them.”

“And about that many of us. Besides, I don't think they'll kill the Councilors. Consider it calling their bluff. But for now say nothing.”

“When?”

“Soon.”

CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

CHARLIE

Morning light spilled gold across Charlie's bedspread and pooled on the floor. He contemplated cursing it after a restless night, but it was the first sunrise he'd seen in over a year so he stood up and stretched instead. He and Jean Paul had been up late talking. He'd expected to sleep like a baby on his first night home, but instead he had dreamed of shape-changing robots and high ships orbiting Lym.

An hour and a cup of stim later, he stood beside Cricket's crate. The soft growl that slipped between her clenched teeth made him sad. He gave in against his better judgment as a trainer and knelt down, looking into her brown eyes. “I'll be back in a few hours. I promise.”

Her expression implied that he might be both the most evil man in the world and the love of her life. “Sometimes,” he put a hand through the door and stroked her side, “sometimes you're worse than a human.”

“And if you don't step back she might find a way to make you stay,” Jean Paul commented from his position in the hallway behind the tongat. “For instance, she might bite the hand that feeds her.”

“Never.” Although a second glance at Cricket's face did reveal a slightly snarly upper lip. Charlie latched the door and stood up. “I have to go.”

He met Jason, Yi, the repair-bot, and Amfi beside Charlie's skimmer. Charlie was so busy feeling guilty about leaving Cricket contained that he almost tripped over the small repair-bot. Taking the thing everywhere was an inconvenience, but if he were built of technology no one else knew how to fix, he might want the strange little bot along as well. At least Jason and Yi did most of the bot-tending.

Before they boarded, Amfi stopped them all and said, “Do you promise to keep this location secret?”

Jason and Yi exchanged a glance. “No. But we promise not to tell anyone about it unless we need to for our safety, or for Charlie's safety.”

Amfi looked briefly irritated, but she climbed into the skimmer.

Charlie piloted, following Amfi's directions to a deep valley he'd mapped by satellite but never visited in person. By the time they arrived, it was nearly noon. They descended between steep walls covered in tall evergreens and bright red and gold deciduous trees. Almost every cliff spilled out long, thin waterfalls turned into brilliant ribbons by the full light of day. “It's so beautiful,” Jason said.

Amfi nearly glowed with pride. “Welcome to the Ice Fall Valley.”

Charlie had forgotten again that they had never before been to Lym. “Fly them around a bit? Let them see?”

Amfi shook her head. “Another time.” She pointed to a flat meadow beside an old and abandoned-looking building that might once have been a resort. “Land there.”

Outside, the air smelled of late fall, and breathing it cooled his chest. To Charlie's surprise, Amfi didn't lead them into the building. Instead, she took them down a short rocky path that wound behind a waterfall. They stood behind it a moment, looking out, the spray misting their hair and eyelashes and clinging to their lips. Charlie looked for a waterfall rainbow to show the soulbots, but the sun was at the wrong angle.

Amfi stopped in front of a massive metal door, balancing on a plate on the floor. Light flashed briefly across her face. “Welcome home,” a human male voice said, and a male gleaner with a bald head and a long bushy grey beard let them in to a laser-cut vestibule with rock walls. He almost closed the door before the little repair-bot made it in. He looked nervous of it, but didn't say anything.

They passed through a second matching door with equal security. The doors, and for that matter the light-based security system, smacked of old technology.

“What is this place?” Charlie asked. “Does anyone know it's here?”

“We do.” Amfi nodded toward the man who had let them in. “This is Davis Chow. He found this place about twenty years ago. We've had a small colony living in these caves ever since. There's old tech here, and much of it works. We haven't even figured out what it's all for yet. We think this might have been a secret installation where people or technologies were hidden. Maybe also stockpiles of some kind—there are two large rooms that are completely empty but have deep scuff marks all over the floor.”

Jason looked around the room in wonder. “How old do you think it is?”

Davis looked pleased with Jason for asking. “Older than the age of explosive creation.”

“Wow,” Jason said. “And it hasn't been destroyed?”

“Not yet.”

They came off a main hallway into an unlocked room with straight-cut walls and high rock ceilings that looked natural. To Charlie's surprise, the Jhailing Jim sat casually at a large table, poking at the air. It appeared to be playing a game of some kind that only it could see. Jason and Yi often played physical games as well. Something to ask about.

It looked more male than female and slightly more robot than human. Its body had just enough soft edges not to be too scary, although Charlie assessed it as stronger than Yi or Jason.

Charlie glanced at the others. Amfi appeared pleased with herself. Jason had no obvious reaction. Yi looked curious. Maybe even relieved.

The Jhailing looked over as they came in and said, “Welcome,” in a way that sounded as if he were welcoming them into his own living room. It irritated Charlie a little. He had expected to find it bound.

Enough chairs ringed the table for everyone to sit down. A glass water pitcher and four exquisite glasses set with semiprecious stones sat on the table. Gleaner art.

After a short awkward silence, Jhailing Jim said, “Thank you for coming,” in a way that seemed to include them all, and then he focused on Jason and Yi. “How are you doing?”

Yi said, “Fine.”

Jason looked stubborn. “You mean without you? We're fine.”

Jhailing countered. “Your training has been interrupted. Do you feel well?” Jhailing looked pointedly at Jason.

“I'm worried about Chrystal.”

“There is nothing you can do from here, and you cannot get there fast enough to change her fate.”

Jason's voice came out clipped and cold. “I don't have to be pleased about that.”

“Nor do I,” Jhailing replied.

Yi narrowed his eyes. “Aren't there Next closer to the Deep? Can they help?”

“No.”

Even though Jhailing turned his attention to Charlie next, Charlie had the distinct feeling that the three robots were continuing the conversation they had started out loud silently. He couldn't have explained why he thought so—perhaps something in the way they sat, or the way that Jason, at least, looked slightly distracted. At any rate, Jhailing turned to him and said, “Thank you, Charlie. When you didn't show up on the Deep with Nona we were hoping that you'd come here.”

“This is my home. Of course I came here.”

“Lym is where we came from also; we share ancestors.”

Was Jhailing implying that the Next believed they had a right to Lym? A deep and profound anger had started crawling through Charlie's nerves and he didn't trust himself to speak.

The robot continued. “I asked Amfi to bring you quickly. We needed to speak with you before you go to Manna Springs, and before we do. All of the Next on Lym will be revealing ourselves shortly, and we would like to negotiate a peace agreement with you before that.”

The anger turned to ice. “With me? Why not the town leaders?”

The robot cocked its head at him, as if it were trying to imitate a human expression and failing. “Aren't you still the ambassador for Lym?”

Charlie glanced at Amfi, who watched, wide-eyed. She nodded so faintly he wasn't sure she did it on purpose. Davis was quieter and seemed to have turned inward. “Wouldn't that be Manny?” Charlie asked. “After all, I have no particular authority here.”

“Sure you do,” Amfi said. “You are related to Manny, and you are a founding family. You're widely acknowledged as the greatest ranger we have.”

“I doubt that.”

“Ask any of us.”

“I tolerate the gleaners. That doesn't make me great.”

Jhailing interrupted the conversation. “There is no reason for anyone to know that you did not negotiate this with my counterpart from the
Bleeding Edge
.”

Charlie sat back in his chair, furious. It took a while before he could even parse through the implications. He had already talked to Manny and he hadn't told him anything about a deal. But he hadn't seen him in person. So he could say he hadn't wanted to use open communications channels. Nona would know he hadn't negotiated anything on the Satwa.

He
might
be in the best position to have this conversation. He knew a lot more about the Glittering than he had before.

He couldn't lie to Manny or ask Nona to lie for him. “I might be able to get permission to negotiate with you.”

“There is no time. If you and I can't talk, we will simply reveal our terms in Manna Springs in a few days.”

Charlie got up and paced. He'd have to leave the cave to call. What if he called Manny and Manny said no? “What's the hurry? Why not wait a few weeks and negotiate with Manny?”

“There are many plans in motion. If they all wait for convenience, they will never all be accomplished.”

“What plans?”

“I am only able to talk to you about what will happen here,” the Jhailing Jim said. “Speaking of that is more than you and I can do well in the time we have left.”

Charlie stopped, looked at Amfi and Davis. A ranger and two gleaners. And maybe two people from the Glittering who used to be human. It wasn't the right team. But what would he throw away if he refused?

The Jhailing said, “We want to share Lym with you.”

He should just shut up and walk out. This wasn't diplomacy. It wasn't in the open. And he really, really didn't have any right to do this.

Someone had to do it.

God damn it. He paced all the way around the room before he spit out a question. “How long do you plan to be here?”

“We are not prepared to negotiate a specific time at the moment.”

“How many of you?”

To Charlie's surprise, Yi spoke. “How many physical incarnations is a better question. For example, I have now met four Jhailing Jim's, or perhaps three in four different bodies. You should negotiate over the amount of physical space on the ground.”

“Thank you.” So Yi wouldn't allow him to make a major mistake. Inter­esting. “Can you explain what you want in those terms?” he asked the senior Next.

The robot didn't hesitate. “We will need access to the spaceport and to be settled fairly close to your leaders. We would be happy to take the land adjacent to the spaceport to the west where it is empty.”

Charlie hadn't stopped pacing. His feet shuffled softly on the rock surface, his steps unable to keep up with his thoughts. What would Manny do? He tried to remember the bones of conversations across the years, most of them about topics he hadn't really cared for much at the time. “We need that land to expand the Spaceport. Can you pull up a map?”

He wasn't at all surprised when one appeared in the air between them. He drew a circle across some flat land used for growing food now. It was some distance from the spaceport, but they could grow food somewhere else. “Will this do? I suggest you request ingress and egress between this place and the spaceport.”

Jhailing Jim stared at the map. “If we also get access to the water, and permission to fashion a seaport.”

Charlie drew his brows together. “What do you need a seaport for?”

Jhailing didn't answer. “Our habitat will be walled. We will want a mixing zone—an area where we and humans do business together.” The robot drew a larger circle around the space that Charlie had just given him. “This will be big enough.”

“Will we be able to pass behind your wall?” Amfi asked.

Jhailing turned to her. “If invited.”

“Then that is how you can come here,” she said.

Charlie smiled. “And into Manna Springs. They are already frightened there, and they will want to know you won't invade them.”

“We should have free access to the capital of Lym.”

Charlie stiffened. “I cannot give that. I may not be able to give what I have given, but I know I cannot allow you to live and move easily in Manna Springs.”

Jhailing sat down and smiled. “There will come a day when this feels like prejudice, and when these rules are taken down.”

Charlie glanced at the soulbots. “That's not this day,” Charlie said. “You must also be invited into the restored areas.”

“There are some that we plan to mine.”

Charlie almost choked on the words he wanted to use to react to that. But Amfi had told him the Next had been searching the land for certain minerals. The demand was no surprise. He had to walk another full circle of the room before he managed to ask, “What places do you want?”

The list the robot started with was completely unacceptable.

“You may have two of those,” Charlie said. “Neville and,” he stopped, almost choking, “Neville and part of the Misted Rose Range on Goland.”

“We would also like three of the Palagi Islands.”

Charlie furrowed his brow. “Those are settled. The land is all owned.” He shouldn't be doing this. It should take far more time, and a bigger team.

Yi spoke up. “You can build your own islands off of Neville.”

Jhailing fell silent, and Charlie suddenly realized that they were almost certainly talking between themselves. Maybe they had been doing that the whole time. He couldn't let Yi to negotiate for Lym. He didn't know enough about it. “Look,” he said. “That's going to be all I can convince people to allow. I can't waltz into Manna Springs and announce that I've given up half of Lym to people's worst nightmares.”