The Hunt for Pierre Jnr (13 page)

At this meeting only the inner circle of the family were in attendance. Sato arrived first, dashing in steps before Ryu. She was younger than him by two years and into freaking her appearance, though today she was restrained and hadn’t worn her tail.

Ryu could not hear what Sato and his father said to each other. The Regent simply straightened her kimono and made her pull her hair back from her face before admitting her.

At a gesture from his father he stepped forward. Ryu was immaculately dressed as usual. He’d been preparing as soon as the breakfast agenda came through and he had showered, shaved and groomed while maintaining his link with Takashi and monitoring the pulse of the Weave.

‘Good morning, Ryu.’

‘Good morning, Father.’

‘My son, soon to be my superior.’

‘Perhaps, Father.’

Hachiro embraced his son in a bold hug that was very unprofessional and was withdrawn after a moment.

‘Can you forgive an old man for his display?’ Hachiro asked.

‘It is welcomed, Father.’

‘It is earnt.’ They bowed to each other.

‘How is the Alpha receiving the news?’

‘She has some questions.’

‘But is she happy for me?’

‘As a mother I am sure she is, but she is Alpha Shima first. You must reassure her.’

‘What is her concern?’ Ryu asked, tilting his head slightly.

‘The Alpha will need to know your intentions toward the family.’

‘My intentions are only the best. Surely she does not question that?’

‘No, of course not. But she wonders if you will also be requiring leadership of the house.’ Hachiro raised his eyebrow to show the question.

‘I see. I had not considered it. I am a servant of the Will.’

‘As are we all.’

‘Thank you, Father.’

Yoshiko, his mother, was not born a Shima, but after bonding with Hachiro had risen quickly in the family and into the Primacy. It was not an overnight jump like Ryu’s, but still impressive. Her influence faded within a year, but her position as the leader of the house was affirmed.

The Alpha sat at the head of the table and then rank position dictated the seating position for the rest of the family. The Regent sat to her right, with Ryu on her left, leaving Sato and the youngest member at the foot. His mother sat peacefully, cross-legged. She acknowledged his entry with a bend of her neck and torso then returned her watch to the doorway. Yoshiko would sit this way until everyone was present. No discussion was allowed to commence until the family was together. Sato similarly sat without moving, her expression more amused than Mother’s.

Most high family meetings were planned for evenings, to accommodate all members, as Takashi wouldn’t normally be available at this time of day. In the mornings, he would still be in his chambers, nibbling sweet crisps and wrapped in a large quilted bedspread. And in this state of dress, he arrived.

Hachiro rejected him. ‘Taka, go put on some pants.’

‘I’m covered, Father,’ he protested, as if taking the reprimand for genuine concern. By ‘covered’, he meant the blanket around his shoulders and the symbiot that coated over eighty per cent of his body.

‘Taka, we are at table and you are a Shima. This is a special occasion for your brother. Please show appropriate respect.’

Takashi bowed abruptly, bumping a side table and a vase. ‘For Ryu san, I shall get pants, even though it discomforts me to do so.’ He bowed again and shuffled backward from the room.

The rest of the Shimas remained in their places, and this too was often part of the ritual. Taka’s rebellion against the strictures of the family he was born into was a constant amusement, and the bane of his parents.

Ryu and Sato exchanged looks. Through her make-up and cosmetic tweaks he found her expression difficult to gauge. Her eyelashes were as long as his fingers, shadowing blue bone-shaped irises. He was nearly sure the shape of her teeth had been altered, but her mouth wasn’t open enough to be certain.

‘It seems my children have spent the night awake again,’ Yoshiko said.

‘This is why we don’t have morning meetings,’ Sato responded.

‘Patience is divine, Sato. Hachiro, please order some tea while we wait for Taka.’

Each Shima wore the chameleon sigil of their family at all times. Even to bed. At the meeting table, and in public, it was expected that they wore it proudly, as a commissioned brooch of rubies as in the case of Sato, or embroidered into their robes as per the Alpha and Regent. Ryu wore a long jacket with a climbing chameleon e-ttooed on the lapels.

Takashi returned after a few minutes wearing a dress-robe to the thigh and a pleated skirt. Hachiro turned to the Alpha, who nodded acquiescence. With his full-body symbiot and the oculars on his head, Takashi seemed to be dressed in a full chameleon costume, though he also had the house sigil printed across the back of his robe.

‘Thank you, Taka. And thank you for helping your brother last night.’

The tea arrived and breakfast was ordered without pause. When the servants left the room, they closed it from outside sensors.

‘Takashi, is a wall in place?’ Yoshiko asked.

‘Yes, Alpha. None but I could get through.’

‘Good. Let me first thank you for your time this morning. It is only under extraordinary circumstances that I have upset the schedule.’ Everyone replied that it was an unnecessary apology.

‘Sato san, how did your liaison with the Alderson boy advance your position?’

‘Mother, I confess it did not. I had hoped it would bring me into contact with his friend Earl Grimshaw, but this Dome fiasco kept most of the scene home last night.’

‘I am sorry to hear that. Grimshaw has great potential, though you may be overstating his future position.’

‘Isn’t love worth the risk?’ Sato’s favourite gambit was met with a wry stare-off with her mother.

‘Something to consider in your rooms with your maids. It may depend on what you are willing to risk, daughter.’

‘Yes, Mother.’

‘Taka.’

‘Uh-oh.’

‘Your level has not been properly cleaned in two months.’

‘I don’t like to be disturbed. Are they not my chambers for private use?’

‘Of course, but if you don’t organise it within the week, we will have the servitors go through and who knows what will become of your toys. Are we clear?’

‘Yes, Mother.’

The meal began with an amuse-bouche of pickled caviar in rice cream. The Shimas preferred the tastes of a human chef over the sensors and calculations of a bot, and it was also considered much more civilised to employ humans where one could.

As they ate, other standard items of business were cursorily discussed. Hachiro’s health was reviewed and it was agreed that his diet would be adjusted. The spring weather would mean the opening of the ground floor to the public markets, and each member of the family was to be seen at least once a week purchasing from the locals. The Shimas lived by the principle of supporting those who supported you.

Sato was at last frustrated. ‘Aren’t we going to talk about what happened last night?’

‘It has happened, what more is there to say? Would you like to discuss the footage?’

‘This is crazy. The Weave is hectic.’

‘Hectic!’ Takashi repeated like a child, hearing his favourite word.

‘Taka, please. Sato, what is it that you need?’ The Regent leant forward.

‘She needs to understand what it is that has taken place.’ Ryu looked at his sister. ‘Isn’t that right, Sato? The lack of information leaves the majority unable to even know how important the incident was.’

‘Ryu, what do you think is happening?’ Hachiro asked. ‘Tell us what you can.’

Ryu paused a moment, filtering what he knew from his increased access and what each member of his family knew. He and the Alpha knew as much as each other, and Takashi knew all through him. How much Yoshiko had shared with her Regent was unknown, but he could guarantee that Sato was privileged to very little.

‘Yesterday in the Dome an unknown force destroyed a large area of a populated region. We do not know who did it or why. Without answers the Will of the people has reacted by deposing the existing hierarchy and is replacing it with one that is more defensive in nature.’

‘So was it important? Is this a war? Should we be bringing in the guards?’

‘Yes, Sato, it is important. The guards we have in place will be sufficient. This is why your boyfriends stayed home last night. In our lifetime there has never been a more important event.’

‘So who did it?’

‘There is only speculation. I cannot share any more.’ Ryu put his palms flat to the table.

‘Don’t be a donkey, Ryu. The room is closed.’

‘I am aware, but it will open again and I do not believe you have the restraint to remain silent on any information I share.’

‘Go —’

‘Sato, enough,’ Hachiro commanded. ‘Ryu san, please speak with respect to your sister.’

‘Yes, Father. I apologise, Sato san. I have been up all night. I let my emotions get the best of me.’

‘Ryu,’ Yoshiko raised her voice. ‘Are you convinced this was a psionic manifestation?’

‘I can see no other explanation.’

‘And do you believe the rumours that it was caused by Pierre Jnr?’

Ryu and Takashi looked at each other. They could never be sure how much Mother knew. He took the safe road. ‘I am not convinced. It seems more likely the act of a group.’

Both parents seemed to sag. Hachiro reached out and took one of Yoshiko’s hands.

‘I am not sure which is more worrying,’ Mother admitted. ‘I know you have long predicted an uprising in the psi population, so it comes as less of a surprise for you.’

‘If you knew it was going to happen, then why didn’t you do anything?’ Sato asked.

‘What do you think I have been doing the last five years?’ Ryu asked.

‘Sato, your brother has developed ways of finding and capturing psionic threats for a long time now. He has had much success,’ their father explained.

‘In provoking them maybe.’

‘Sato, I think that is enough. If the Will didn’t want Ryu to continue, his team would have been disbanded.’

‘What if the Will is wrong?’

Only Sato would ever ask such a question. ‘Now that really is enough. We will hear no more from you today.’

Takashi bounced in his seat. ‘It’s happening, Ryu. It’s happening now.’

Together they turned their attention to their symbiot feeds, their information streams watching as Ryu’s civic value rose until it joined the 0.00062 per cent that made up the World Union’s council of one hundred. A member of the Shima was once again part of the Primacy.

‘Takashi, Sato. We must speak with your brother alone for a moment. Please return to your rooms and have your staff double-check to make sure there is nothing in your recent activities or history that might negatively impact on the family. Alpha, do you have more to say?’ Hachiro turned to his wife.

‘We must all do what we can for Ryu, but no Shima must be seen at this time as hungry for power or to be taking advantage of the situation. The chameleon must tread silently for a time.’

‘Yes, Alpha.’ Sato bowed to their mother and father, and then after a moment to Ryu. ‘Do well, brother.’

~ * ~

With Sato and Takashi out of the room, the walls reconfigured, forming a much smaller box. Mother Shima slowly finished her breakfast, delicately plucking at morsels and keeping her nails clean. She would continue this way until Father had had his say.

Ryu knew they would have consulted beforehand. His father always followed instructions and was respectful about it. There had been a struggle for the Alpha Shima position when Yoshiko first became anointed as his wife; he was blood-born, after all, and hadn’t been raised to come second. But over the years he had learnt to enjoy his position as sidekick to the matriarch.

‘You have brought great honour on the house of Shima, Ryu san.’

‘Thank you, Father.’

‘You are poised for greatness. But even now you will need the support of your family to reach the position of Prime.’

‘Do you think I have a chance of reaching Prime?’

‘Only with our help,’ Hachiro spoke carefully.

‘Have I displeased you, Father? Mother?’ His mother did not look at him; she ate as if she was alone.

‘No, Ryu. It is nothing you have done. It is what you could do, if you attain your ambition.’ The Regent looked at him questioningly.

‘I do not understand.’

‘Being a member of the Primacy is both an honour and a most heavy burden. It is not a role all people are suited for.’

‘I have been preparing for this all my life,’ Ryu argued.

‘This is not something one can ever train for. The Prime is the Will, and the Will is the Prime. Do you understand that the Prime is nothing but the peak? That it is not a position of power, but a position of weakness? Which way will you choose to go, I wonder?’