Lily sighed. Even the breath seemed something she shared with Jehane, they stood so close, so intimately intertwined in this dance. “I ought to sleep with you,” she said finally, because she could not help but wonder what it might be like, caught under the ardent intensity of his gaze. “It would serve you right. I really don’t have the Formula, and I don’t know what its components are. And I don’t understand why you aren’t going to do as Robbie says: give it to everyone. Now. Unless you really are planning to use it to buy people’s loyalty, and to reward their service. But that would make you no better than—”
She broke off, gasping, as he tightened his grip on her arms. “No, you don’t understand. Sometimes difficult choices have to be made in order to bring about necessary changes.”
“Duty exacts a harsh price,” she muttered, echoing his words to Jenny those weeks ago.
“Yes. Believe me, I would far rather give the Formula to all, but it is naive to think that such a radical change won’t alter every facet, the entire fabric, of our society—”
But she thought she was beginning to understand, finally, and far too late. “I thought that was what this entire revolution was supposed to be about.”
He examined her with minute thoroughness, like a lover studies his beloved. The beauty of his face was not, she saw now, so much in the perfection of its features as in the single-minded desire he had focused and honed to such a fine point that it now engulfed his entire being. And woe betide, she thought, whatever—or whoever—came between him and his goal.
“Change takes time,” he murmured. “It can’t be hurried.” He stopped, shifting his head slightly as three figures came out on the balcony, bringing with them a brilliant stream of light through the door from inside. Lily recognized them immediately: Robbie, with Kuan-yin and Vanov two steps behind him.
Robbie, who would not have come here if she had not told him about the Hierakis Formula.
“—and it will give all people the chance,” Robbie was saying as he came out and laid his hands on the railing, lifting his head to take in the cool slap of the air and the dark blanket of stars above, “to sit back at some point and simply be with the world, and the stars, and see their beauty as an end in itself—”
Kuan-yin, still behind him, reached for the pistol at her waist.
If she hadn’t told him.
“Robbie!” Lily screamed.
She wrenched herself free for an instant from Jehane’s grip.
Robbie turned his head, surprised, at her voice. The open lines of his face gleamed briefly in the last light of the closing door.
Jehane tackled her. They fell to the ground, grappling. She arched her back, to throw him off, and watching in that split second as Kuan-yin grabbed Robbie by the shoulder and shot him in the back of the head.
Jehane slammed Lily’s head against the floor of the balcony. She lay, stunned but still conscious, staring. Kuan-yin stepped back, and Vanov hoisted Robbie’s legs and tipped him over the railing.
Lily heard her own breathing like a storm raging around her. She felt Jehane’s pulse where his throat lay pressed on one arm. Faint and far down, a splash shuddered the quiet. Even the distant sounds of the assault on Central seemed to have ceased for the moment, in deference to his passing. Only a soft drone drifted across the cool air, pitched low and steady.
“Just remember one thing,” said Lily in a hoarse whisper. Jehane shifted his head so that she could see the pale luminosity of his face suspended above her like one of the stars. “The Hierakis Formula has a side effect. For ten to thirty days you are sick. Delirious.” She bent her neck enough so that the gesture was clearly seen to include the silent, white-clad form of Kuan-yin, flanked by Vanov, standing at the railing, looking down at the gift she had given to the sea. “Who do you trust to watch over you?”
A bar of bright light splintered the darkness, began to close back in on itself as a new figure came out onto the balcony.
“I’m sorry,” said Senator Isaiah to Kuan-yin, obviously not yet seeing Jehane and Lily tangled on the ground at the other end of the balcony. “I thought I heard someone shouting out here.”
The fighting for Central had started up again. Lily could hear the muted sound of laser cannons, but over it all, beginning to drown it out, the high rumbling drone increased in volume. Even the night on the balcony seemed to lift slightly, as if the moon was rising. A wind rose off the sea, swirling Lily’s hair where it lay spread out on the hard, cold surface of the balcony.
“Tupping Hells,” swore Kuan-yin. “Whose tupping ship is that? Vanov, get back inside.” Into her com: “I want a ten up here at once!”
“Kill them both,” said Jehane. He released Lily and sprang with preternatural speed to his feet.
Kuan-yin nodded. Vanov spun and with cool dispatch shot Senator Isaiah, who was standing stock-still, staring out to sea.
Lily lunged for Jehane’s legs, caught one ankle, and brought him down.
Wind screamed over them, tearing at her clothes. She could not even hear Kuan-yin’s curses over the pounding roar of engine. Blinding light shattered the last vestiges of darkness across the balcony, giving her a brief glimpse of Kuan-yin striding for the tangle of her and Jehane’s. bodies as they fought, of Senator Isaiah lying in a pool of blood.
A voice shouted her name.
“Min Ransome! Lily! Be quick!”
Kuan-yin grabbed her shoulders and jerked her up. Lily used the motion to drive back into her, and Kuan-yin lost her balance and her grip on her gun. Lily broke free of her and dove for the pistol.
Came up to find Jehane already at the door, which opened to admit a group of startled soldiers. Behind her, she felt rather than saw the bulk of one of the Forlorn Hope’s shuttles, coming in toward the balcony, an excruciatingly slow maneuver that had the engines screaming in protest.
Jehane grabbed a rifle from one of the soldiers and tossed it with unerring accuracy at Kuan-yin.
Then he said, quite clearly and with sincere feeling, “Damn, I could have managed it better.” And escaped inside.
Laser fire burst out from the shuttle, raking the soldiers in the doorway.
Lily leaped for the railing, shooting at Kuan-yin as she moved. But even as she swung her leg over the cold metal fence, the shuttle a vast rising wall behind her, Kuan-yin and the soldiers remaining in the doorway opened up on her.
It was like being shattered into pieces. A web of light, and she fell.
And then—nothing.
27 Jehane’s Triumph
THE WORLD RAN IN waves, melding with the sky until both were one. She found the far horizon, became it, really, and melted into the sun’s rising across the lap of the waters.
Far below in the depths, she could see Robbie’s face, paler than in life, but at peace. He seemed to be breathing. Each slight opening of his lips let escape a tiny current that spread, rising and rippling, until it became the waves that moved the ocean itself.
She would have waited, to see how far the waves rode onto the far shore of hills, but the brilliant whiteness at the heart of the sun drew her, and she drifted toward it, letting herself go as it drowned her in its light.
Except that somewhere out on the waters someone was singing. The sound, plaintive and achingly beautiful, caught her, and she paused.
Even as she paused the sun dimmed, its edges curling in as it sank into the waves, and she could make out the words of the song.
Ich will bei meinem Jesu wachen
So schlafen unsre Sünden ein
Meinen Tod büsset seiner Seelen Not
Sein Trauren machet mich voll Freuden.
Drum muss uns sein verdienstlich
Leiden recht bitter und duch süss sein.
I will watch beside my Jesus.
Then our sins go to sleep.
His soul’s distress atones for my death.
His mourning makes me full of joy.
So his meritorious Passion must for
us be tru
ly bitter and yet sweet.
It was dim, in this room, except for the gleaming curve of Bach. He floated next to her, singing softly. A single light shone on his surface.
For a long moment she just lay, staring at him, and then she realized that she was breathing, and alive, and that her eyes were open.
She blinked. A face appeared.
“Lily!” Soft, but triumphantly intense. “Lily-hae. You made it.”
“The Formula.” Lily gasped, fighting for breath against a vast pressure that weighed on her chest. “Got to get it out. Got to get the broadcast out—” She struggled to sit up, but could not manage it, too numb—or perhaps it was Jenny’s hand on her torso holding her down.
“It’s been done,” said Jenny. “Don’t worry, it’s been done.”
“You’re sure?” Her voice sounded harsh and muted to her ears. “The Hierakis Formula, I mean. It got out?”
“Yes.” Jenny’s voice had faded from its initial cheerfulness to something more soothing. “Yes. Hawk has been distributing the base for months, you know. Everywhere the Forlorn Hope traveled for Jehane. I sent Pinto down with a crate of the base, and we set up a message to go out on every net, but one got there ahead of us. Of Pero’s making, I believe.”
Robbie.
“I shouldn’t have told him.” She could feel enough now to clench her fist in frustration. “I shouldn’t have told Robbie about the Formula, but it was the right thing to do. Hells, Jenny, if I hadn’t told Robbie about it Jehane wouldn’t have had him killed. I should have shot him that first time. I shouldn’t have saved his life on Blessings. I should have—”
“Hold on, Lily. Hold on. Hold on.” Jenny put a warm hand on her forehead and then Kyosti appeared abruptly beside Jenny and rather unceremoniously shoved her away. He laid a hand softly on Lily’s throat and just stood silent, breathing, for a long space.
At last he sighed and removed his hand. “Let me give you something to drink,” he said, and disappeared.
The entire ritual confused her enough to sidetrack her thoughts. As sensation returned slowly to her body, she discovered that her throat was already dry from talking. “Where am I?” she asked, feeling lost.
“You’re on the Hope,” replied Jenny, reverting to cheerfulness. She grinned. “And am I glad to see that you’re going to live. When they dragged you in here so shot up that your clothes were half-burned off you, we all thought Hawk was going to go berserk on the spot. He hasn’t left this room since you came in. He even slept at your feet.”
“When I came in?” Lily coughed. The movement racked painfully through her body, but it was sweet pain, because it proved finally to her satisfaction that she was alive, and whole. “But—Jehane—”
Jenny gave a quick, furtive glance around. “Finch was on comm when a message came in to Captain Machiko. He saw to it that it was acknowledged, but that the captain never got it, and then sent Nguyen down to alert me and Yehoshua and Hawk.”
“Got to think,” said Lily desperately. She tried to move, but she was encased in some kind of soft, clear plastine, like a wrapping.
A hand touched her cheek gently. Jenny moved aside to admit Kyosti again. “No thinking,” he said. “Drink this.”
The liquid was cool and tart. He moved away, busying himself at the couch she lay on, and she felt the touch of his hands as he examined her. The drink acted rather like a catalyst, clearing her mind.
“That’s better,” said Jenny, coming back into her restricted line of vision. “The only reason you’re not dead is because you picked the right friends. You were shot up this side of all Seven Hells. If Hawk wasn’t the best damned emergency doctor I’ve ever seen work. …He dragged you single-handedly back from the edge.”
Lily smiled, as well as she could. “I don’t doubt it.” She attempted to turn her head, and did. “Bach.” She did not try to whistle.
Patroness! His cadence in reply was brilliantly resonant with joy. I despaired, but I did not give up hope of thee.
“How did you find me?”
Patroness, indeed I waited, as thou instructed me, but when thou didst not return and I received a message from Herr Pinto that he had arrived at the port and awaited us there, I grew anxious. I then discovered several messages from thou on the net, relaying thy position. So did we find thee.
“Thank you,” replied Lily in a muted voice.
Kyosti returned to the head of the couch. “Out,” he ordered Jenny. “Give me a few moments in peace, please.”
Jenny glanced at Lily, for confirmation, and Lily managed to tilt her head slightly. Jenny snapped a salute, and retreated.
For a long moment, Kyosti just gazed at her.
“I guess I was shot up pretty badly,” Lily said. The fact of it seemed remote to her now. In the back of her thoughts, she kept seeing Kuan-yin reaching for her pistol and shooting Robbie. Vanov dumping him over the side.
“We won’t talk about that,” he replied, brusque. She saw a kind of wild desperation inform his face, and she shivered, wondering what kind of havoc he would wreak if he ever thought she was dead.
“All right.” It was better to think, to plan, than to dwell on the events that had led to Robbie’s murder. “What kind of communications are coming up from Arcadia now? Jenny told me that Finch intercepted. Wait.” She paused to catch her breath, went on. “How long has it been?”
“About forty-eight hours.”
“And Central?”
He shrugged. “Ask Finch. I think Central put up more resistance then Jehane expected. It’s kept him busy enough to neglect us for the moment. We’ve kept you well hidden here from Machiko. For now.”
“Min? Min!” Movement blurred the edges of Lily’s vision and then Paisley appeared, triumphantly furtive. “Sure, and glory, but we thought you had found ya kinnas for certain.” She reached past Hawk and grasped one of Lily’s hands in her own tattooed one. “Be it weren’t for Pinto catching you on ya wing as you fell—”
“And here I heard,” interposed Kyosti drily, “that you were the one who ran out on that convenient wing in the middle of all that fire and dragged her inside the shuttle.”
Paisley shrugged, a deprecating gesture. “Be it weren’t much, min. But have you heard? Central surrendered!”
She let go of Lily’s hand and moved away to switch on the com. Abruptly, Jehane’s voice permeated the tiny space.
“—and I am grieved to inform you, citizens, that in this moment of our greatest triumph, we have lost a man without whom we never could have won. Comrade Pero—and, yes, this time indeed Pero is gone, never to return—was murdered in a last act of defiance by Central. Even as we struck against their last stronghold, they sent a traitor into our midst, and he shot Pero.”
A long, potent pause brought about by the tremor of emotion in Jehane’s voice. “He was trying to prevent Pero’s last, greatest act. It is no consolation that this traitor is now dead, that his name will never again be spoken—but remember, citizens, Pero died a martyr to bring you what will prove to be the crowning glory of our triumph. The Formula that even now is being broadcast from every net to every planet, every habitation, in Reft space—”
“Wait.” Tears burned down Lily’s cheeks as she listened. “He’s lying. He never meant to broadcast the formula.”
“Then he was too late. Robbie set it in motion. Jehane can’t stop it now. Although it’s lucky you reminded me that in a place like this, people would still use that kind of gift for their own ends, instead of for the common good. Or I’d never have made the provisions I did.”
“—in every clinic, because this Formula is not a privilege, citizens, to be granted to a few, it is your right, each and every one of you, to—”
“Turn that off,” Lily snapped. Jehane’s voice vanished just as Jenny stormed back in.
“Paisley!” she muttered. “I told you no visitors.”
Paisley shrank back against the couch, seeking protection from Lily even though Lily was basically immobile and com
pletely without strength.
“You’d better go, Paisley,” said Lily gently. “But thank you, and thank Pinto. You saved my life.”
Paisley shrugged, embarrassed. “Be it kinnas returned, min. Weren’t nothing.” She cast a scorching glance at Jenny. “But it be poor o’ her not to even let Pinto in to see how you be, seeing as he were ya one as saved you.”
“Paisley,” Jenny began, warning, but Kyosti intervened.
“She’s right,” he said unexpectedly. “Pinto ought to come in for a moment.”
Jenny glared at him, but acquiesced. Paisley left with a grin.
“The very last thing he did,” Lily murmured.
“That who did?” Jenny asked, coming closer.
“Robbie. It was right to tell him about the Formula. And yet Jehane will get the credit for it. And the martyr he needs to seal his victory. Damn him.” She coughed. But it did not seem to her that Robbie would have blamed her for any part in his death; remembering, back to their days on Arcadia, she wondered if he had not expected—or even hoped—to die for the cause. “And you know,” she continued slowly, realizing only now that it was true, “Jehane would have had to kill him sooner or later, because of what they both are. And if Jehane didn’t, Kuan-yin would have.”
Instead of an answer, she got a sudden influx of company, all of them quiet as they crowded into the room: Paisley, Pinto, Yehoshua, Lia and Gregori, the Mule, Rainbow, Cursive, Diamond, Wei, and Nguyen, and even Blue, looking sullenly pleased to be included in the conspiracy.
“Finch would’a come,” murmured Paisley rebelliously, “but he be on ya comm, and he got to stay there for now.”
“I’ll give you five minutes, collectively,” said Hawk in a tone that no one would dare argue with.
But no one even spoke. They just gazed at her as if they were astonished that she was alive.
“Well?” she snapped when the silence grew long enough that it fueled her with enough energy to transfer the anger she felt at her own actions in leading them to this pass to the people now watching her. “What are you waiting for?”