Read Online Palace by Katharine Kerr, Mark Kreighbaum - Free Book Online Page B

equal measure, briefly. ‘How are things out on the estates?’
    ‘Damp, cold and filthy, of course. They always are. Festivals mean so much to us poor farmers. It’s so rare that a swamp girl like me gets into Palace.’
    ‘Swamp girl.’ Hi raised his eyes heavenward. ‘Poor farmers.’
    ‘Well, rich farmers, then.’ She smiled, glancing slantwise at the man from Power Guild. ‘But farmers nonetheless. You’d all starve without us.’
    ‘Which is why you’re rich, yeah. Did you just come in for the festival?’
    ‘No, I’ve got a little scheme in mind.’
    ‘Oh, really?’
    ‘Yes, really.’ She raised an arch eyebrow. ‘And I can’t help thinking, Hivel, that it might in some way interest you.’
    She smiled, he smiled, and he was thinking of her hereditary vote on the Upper Council. The Cyberguild could always use another ally when the time came to appropriate public monies.
    ‘You’re always interesting, Olletta,’ Hi said. ‘We should meet while you’re in town. A lunch, maybe.’
    ‘Yes, indeed. I’ll have my factor call yours. It’s about the Magnus AI. I heard on the newsfeed that it’s going to be reprogrammed.’
    ‘That’s only talk. He’s too damn valuable to mess with. I know what you’ve heard. It’s those new robopumps that Industrial thinks can run the drainage system instead of Magnus. They haven’t been tested enough to suit me. If the pump system fails, this city drowns.’
    ‘Well, that’s true.’ The Countess allowed herself to look disappointed. ‘There’s just so many other things that an AI could be doing.’
    ‘And the Agricultural Guild can think of a few requests?’
    ‘Let’s have lunch.’
    ‘Okay, sure. I’ll look forward to it.’
    Around them the party began falling silent; the laughter faded, the talk stopped, sapients turned away. On the vidscreen on the far wall, the evening newsfeed had begun. A few at a time, the guests drifted over to watch the crack presenter team of Grid TransPalace. Each presenter, three humans and a Hirrel, appeared in a corner window, commenting back and forth on the windowed images that shuttered open and closed at centre screen. Hi, who got his newsfeed direct through an implant, raided the buffet.
    It was some while later that Tia finally appeared, smiling at his elbow to tell him that Aleen was back.
    ‘Shall I escort you, Patron Jons?’
    ‘No thanks. I know the way by now.’
    Tia’s smile barely hid her resentment. Hi strode down the long hall to the lift booth, then punched in a code that only a few of Aleen’s clients knew. Up under the spires lay a hidden fourth floor to The Close. Stepping out of the booth brought him into a tiny room that held only a door. Hi punched still another code. When it slid back, Hi walked through a pair of autogates into Aleen’s public bedroom, a suite, really - a bedroom, a washroom, a little bar for drinks.
    The bedroom had dissolved its walls with holoscreen views - a wide prospect of snow and mist from Tableau, a dense jungle from the Equatorial States of Belie, and a view of a garden, planted with life-forms he didn’t recognize; in its sky hung a double sun. When he glanced back, he saw a fourth screen powering on around the closing door - a view of deep space, a nebula gleaming behind a spangle of stars. The bed itself stood in the centre of the room, overhung by a canopied webbing, hand-knotted by Lep women from gold and silver threads. He heard movement and turned just in time to see Aleen walking through the garden holo. She wore a modest grey slithergown and a dark green cloak. Her emerald green hair hung loose, flowing down her back.
    ‘Where the hell have you been?’ Hi snapped.
    ‘Out cleaning up your mess.’ Aleen took off the cloak and dropped it onto a chair. ‘Or your nephew’s mess. You don’t want anyone to hear this.’
    Hi reached through the front slit of his robe to his shirt pocket and brought out a flat featureless black card that looked like