Oppose (3 page)

She gave Rimash a tight nod, and he sent in the next petitioner.

Jill took a deep breath and let it out slowly as a tower of gelatinous goo and its interpreter came in to ask for the oldest contract in the Grimto system involving trade routes.

She went looking for the contract, but as she worked, she could feel the goo giving her strange looks.

Searching, she found the first mention of a trade-route contract for one of the worlds. It was a place named Limp. It was the only world under the Grimto system under ancient contract. The rest of the passages were far more recent.

She displayed the document. “This is the oldest contract in that system. It covers one world only. All other contracts go around this set trade route.”

The translator nodded. “It is a start. May we have a copy please?”

Sighing, she printed the copy out and affixed her seal to it. She handed it to the translator, and it and the goo creature were on their way.

She stopped for tea and some crackers with a protein spread.

Rimash nodded in approval.

She wondered if he had to eat and idly flicked through Drai contracts with the Alliance. She didn’t display it, but she blinked at the carte blanche that had been granted to the Drai that found suitable mates from other species. They were only allowed to find an alien to match them if they were already off world.

She shook off her fascinating course of personal study and got back to work.

The next woman wanted her bloodlines traced via legal contract. It was a cascade that ended up in the Nyal Imperium with a Drekolian shipwright.

Jill skipped from marriage to marriage, legal heir declaration to a world that acknowledged their bastards. It was bizarre and very educational.

“Did you wish for copies of all documents?”

“Yes, please. How far back did you go?”

“Eighteen generations. All legal on the worlds they were born on. Your family has moved around a little.”

Her client smiled. “We have. Shall I get those for you?”

“Yes please. My guard tenses every time I leave my desk.”

The client chuckled.

When the forms were on her desk, Jill did what she would have done on Earth. She read everything before she put her seal on it.

She needed to make sure that the original in the archives matched what had been printed, so she read everything all over again.

One by one, she sealed the copies. They were legal and her signature and confirmation identifiers were good in both the Alliance and the Nyal Imperium.

With her own grandparents’ legal immigrants, she was aware of the importance of having the right documentation on hand when it was necessary. She actually enjoyed handing over the documents to help people prove that they were what they thought they were. She knew that there would be some folks who determined that they were on the wrong side of an inheritance, but if she wasn’t going to tell women like Kilura that they were the ones with the illegitimacy in the family, she could stick to business and simply give them the contract they were looking for.

Exposing unasked-for secrets wasn’t in her job description.

The rest of the morning went by without more than a few minutes here or there. She plumbed history, and sometimes, there was nothing to find. The lost contract was a contract that never existed, and she really looked. Hours were spent looking for myth and legend. When Rimash finally called a halt for her to have a proper meal, she was exhausted.

She got up from her desk and put her hand on his wrist, “So, how did I do?”

“Excellent. You are offering the ideal blend of attention and empathy, as well as businesslike sternness when you tell the petitioners that you can find nothing.”

Jill nodded. “I need tea, caf and lunch.”

He chuckled. “I shall see that you get what you need.”

They walked out the way that she had come in, and the line down the petitioner’s hallway looked just as long as it had been when she started that morning.

“They never stop coming.” She sighed.

“No, they don’t. You have gone through ten this morning, and I believe that approaches a record for the first day.”

She nodded. Her mind was awake and spiralling to seek more information.

While Jill’s body was exhausted, her mind wanted to do it again and again.

Her escort took her to a private dining room where she was seated in a comfortable chair and a menu appeared in front of her.

“Aren’t you going to sit and eat?” She looked up at Rimash.

“I do not need to eat more than once a day. I eat in my quarters after you are asleep.”

He took up a stance on her left side and watched the room with his wings flared to hide her from anyone coming through the door.

With him looming over her, it was hard to concentrate, but she managed to order three times the amount of food she could eat on a normal day. To her shock, she consumed it all and ordered some desserts.

There was a smirk on Rimash’s face as he helped her to her feet. “That was impressive.”

“I do not know what came over me.”

“Your body is adjusting to the strange processing of the data connection. You are burning more calories than you are used to. It will settle soon.” He chuckled. “Or you will eat the entirety of the food in the Archive. It is up to you.”

She settled her hand on his wrist, and he nodded in silent satisfaction.

“Are you ready to return to your office?”

Jill nodded. “I am. Folks to talk to, contracts to locate.”

“Excellent.” He led the way back to her office and her new occupation.

After five more hours of seeking out obscure copies of ancient treaties, birth contracts and writs of peace, she was shaking.

Captain Rimash signalled the guard at the door and came over to her desk. “Enough for today. You are exhausting yourself.”

She looked at him, and his body blurred before it solidified again. “I think you are right.”

Jill pressed her hands on her desk and pushed upright. She swayed, and Rimash moved to support her.

When the world became fixed again, she was leaning against his armour and his hands were smoothing over her back. He was humming low in his throat, and the sound relaxed her.

“I should have been more careful with you.” He sighed and continued stroking her back.

“I am fine. Just a little dizzy.”

“You need to rest. Hold on.”

She gasped as he swung her up and carried her through the halls. She was tired enough that she didn’t make a fuss, and the way Rimash moved, he wasn’t bothered by her weight.

He took her back to her quarters, tucked her into bed and removed her jewellery. She simply sat, stunned from the inside out while he got her a bowl of soup and some rolls.

“Eat and rest. I will watch over you and check your vitals before you sleep. This is the most taxing day for you, and you have come through it wonderfully well.”

In full armour, he perched at the end of her bed with his wings draping back.

The image he made as seven feet of armoured warrior perched like a huge bird at the end of her bed was distracting to say the least. Eating with him staring at her was definitely tricky. When she finished, he took the tray away and asked, “Do you need to use the lav?”

She thought about it and nodded. “Probably. I can change into a sleep gown as well.”

He nodded and went to her wardrobe, lifting out a gown and handing it to her. She struggled out of bed and to her feet, stumbling with his help into the lav.

Once she was in, she pushed him out. There were things she didn’t need a guard for.

When she was dressed and ready for rest, she returned to the bedroom and wobbled back to bed.

“Can you tell me what is going on?”

He resumed his perch. “Your brain is creating new pathways and that causes some issues with your motor function. With food, rest and time, the symptoms will dissipate.”

“Are you going to watch me all night?”

“I need to remain close in case you have a seizure.”

She scooted down in bed and pulled a pillow under her cheek. “That’s encouraging. Don’t forget to have dinner.”

His chuckle was the last thing she heard before she slept.

“So, you can actually sleep, perched like that?” She finished setting the headpiece in place as he tidied up the dishes from breakfast.

“Of course. My wings balance me perfectly on any surface I choose to alight on. Even your footboard.” Rimash smiled and turned toward her, covering the space between them in easy strides.

He reached out and touched her headpiece, centring it with one small move.

“Wow. You really do take care of everything.”

Rimash chuckled. “I am responsible for your wellbeing. Mental and physical. That includes your appearance.”

“Oh. Good.”

He looked her up and down. “You are ready for work.”

She nodded. “Thank you. I feel better than yesterday.”

“As you should. Your mind will strengthen the pathways to the archive, and soon, you will simply be tired after a long day of work and not exhausted to the point of delirium.”

“I think that is a goal I should shoot for.”

“An excellent target. Are you ready?”

One deep breath in, one deep breath out. “I am ready.”

“Then, let us go.”

She placed her hand on his wrist, and they left her quarters and headed to the Contract Archive.

Jill sat at her desk, organized herself and placed her hands on the flat surface, preparing for her first search. Before she gave Rimash the nod, she brewed a cup of tea and kept it handy under her desk.

Cold tea was better than no tea.

When she was all set up, she nodded at Rimash, and he gestured for the guards to let in the first requestors.

Another deep breath and she was on.

As the morning wore on, she saw the theme. Contracts were frequently destroyed by those who wished to remove all traces of them. The Great Archive stood in the way of that destruction and was the last chance for folk to gain proof of the original agreement.

That was why Jill was here.

When she finished with a territory dispute and put her seals on the documents, she waited until they were gone before she asked, “Does that happen a lot?”

“Having contracts thrown into volcanoes, tied to a sacrifice? No. That was a new one.” He cracked a smile and then nodded for her to sit.

She settled her palms on her desk and the connection to the archive got brighter.

The next three appointments went fine, but the fourth caused a problem.

“I am sorry; there is no contract on file that allows your people access to the lake of Lapur. The lake Ompel, Yru and Nekma all have contracts, but Lapur was left in the hands of their original people.”

The man across from her flared his gill slits and rose to his feet. “Find the contract.”

“There is no contract.”

Her client slammed his fists down on her desk. “Find it!”

Rimash was behind him with his arm around the man’s throat, murmuring in a liquid language.

The man went limp and spoke calmly.

“Archive, he wants proof that no contract has ever been filed with the Alliance. His translator is a little off.”

She looked at the amphibious man who was standing calmly in her guard’s embrace.

“You want me to prove that the rights to Lapur Lake have never been signed away?”

He conferred with Rimash before nodding. “Yes.”

“That I can work with. Please, sit down.”

Rimash spoke to him and released him. As the man sat, Rimash added a few words that made her client look nervous and polite.

Jill put her hands on the desk and cast back through fifteen hundred years of Alliance contact. Her client watched it all with wide eyes.

When she found the first contact documents, she began with trade and vacation contracts that flared and dimmed, only to be renewed every hundred years. Lapur Lake was mentioned but only as a sovereign territory.

As the search concluded, she opened a new file that referenced all previous contracts, and she proclaimed that at no time—since contact had been initiated—had Lapur Lake been ceded for development to any non-indigenous or indigenous source.

When she had completed her listing of criteria with no room for anyone to intimate that anything else had been offered regarding their contracts, she asked, “What is the significance of the lake?”

Rimash answered without translating for the man whose skin darkened. “Mating ground.”

She quickly did a check and nodded, adding the importance of maintaining the population, as was promised in the initial contact contract. The current population was in danger of dipping below the levels of fifteen hundred years ago. That was cause for protection.

Her client watched the words appear, and he brightened.

When she was done, she signed virtually and printed a copy for him to take with him to the Legal Archive. Help would be available for him if he could prove his case. She had given him what she could.

Rimash watched carefully as she handed her client the seal-studded document. It was different from the standard contract copy.

Her client bowed and took the thick paper. Rimash explained what he needed to do and that he needed to get a proper translator before he proceeded.

Jill sat back and rubbed the back of her neck. Rimash looked her way. “Are you all right to continue? You look tired.”

She chuckled. “I am tired, but I have one more. They wait a long time to see the Contract Archive, and since I don’t know how many of us there are, I will do my part.”

He blinked. “I thought you knew. You are the only one. There is only one prime archivist for each department at any given time. When the previous archivist for contracts passed away, they had to find another suitable candidate.”

“When did he or she die?”

“He died twelve weeks ago.”

She sat back. “That was when I was offered my place in the Terran Volunteers.”

“Those who waited were sorted into the other departments as they were able. Those that could not be sent to another department were put up by the Great Archive until you arrived.”