Read Online Palatine First (The Aurelian Archives) by Courtney Grace Powers - Free Book Online
Authors: Courtney Grace Powers
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isn’t right. Besides, you’re naturally inclined to blame things on Liem. You always have been.”
“True, but that’s only because he’s such a sisquick.”
“Reece?” a voice crackled over the interestate com speaker built into one of the four posts of the hovering dock. A small red button lit up beside it with a bleep.
Liem.
Hayden scrambled to hold Reece back, but Reece dodged him easily, punching the red button beside the speaker hard enough to hurt his knuckles.
“Fancy that! We were just talking about you, Liem, and Eldritch, too.”
The speaker was silent for a moment, and then Liem’s voice came again, a little edgier, “Can we meet? In private?”
Reece gave Hayden an “I told you so” look. As he reached to push the button again and tell Liem to go lie down on an airstrip, Hayden caught his wrist and held it at bay.
“Reece. Meet with him, but please don’t bully him. A whole ship of people are dead. You might be able to find out why. Remember that.”
Dropping his arm, Reece blew out a hard breath and closed his eyes. The blocks were tumbling in his head; he needed order, focus. A captain picked the farthest point on the horizon and watched it as he steered the ship. To see everything, rather than just the stars underfoot.
He pushed the button. “Meet me in the west library tower.”
“You’ll come alone?”
“I’ll leave my Pan behind, if that’s what you mean.”
The round library tower was narrow, lined with books accessible only by the vertical translocator running up and down its middle. Liem was waiting on the translocator platform with his dinner jacket folded over his elbow. He frowned impatiently as Reece took his time joining him on the platform and closing the gold carriage door behind him. At the push of a bright blue button on the panel inside the door, the translocator started grinding its way upward, hissing and occasionally spitting steam. Reece had always loved the tower. It was as close to the sky he could get without being in a ship.
“I never liked the tower,” Liem said, hanging his jacket over the carriage rail. “I never came here.”
Reece stared at the books sliding by just inches beyond the edges of the platform. “Why?”
Gesturing idly, Liem said, “They’re all fiction.”
It was time to gamble. “No. Why did Eldritch fail me?”
Liem’s eyes searched Reece’s face, and Reece noticed again how dark they were, almost black. “Eldritch didn’t fail you. The judges failed you because of your lack of professionalism in dealing with the meteorite and the failure of your Nyad’s systems.”
“Right. The meteorite. You really think that’s what it was?”
“What else would it be?”
“You were in the flight tower, you tell me.” After a pause, Reece ventured, only half-joking, “An alien escape pod?”
Liem’s eyes shot open wide, then narrowed dangerously. “Don’t say things like that.”
“We’re in a bleeding tower! Who’s going to hear?” Leaning his back against the carriage railing, Reece looped his arms over his chest. This must be really good. Liem was acting as skittish as Uncle Uriah on a bad day. “Liem…you know it’s not a meteorite, don’t you? Oh, quit acting like a ninny, no one’s listening.”
“You never can be too careful,” Liem whispered hoarsely as he thoughtlessly plucked at the silver cufflinks on his folded jacket.
The translocator shuddered to a stop at the top of the tower, where one solitary window looked out over the grounds. There was the pond, a wide grey rug on a floor of green, and there were Gideon and Hayden, two miniscule dots standing on its dock. The domed ceiling of the tower was painted with a depiction of the Streams that roped around the planet Honora and her neighbors, here portrayed as glittery oil slicks in space.
Liem slid a finger under his collar and pulled it away from his neck as it expanded with the deep breath he pulled in. It must have calmed him to some
“True, but that’s only because he’s such a sisquick.”
“Reece?” a voice crackled over the interestate com speaker built into one of the four posts of the hovering dock. A small red button lit up beside it with a bleep.
Liem.
Hayden scrambled to hold Reece back, but Reece dodged him easily, punching the red button beside the speaker hard enough to hurt his knuckles.
“Fancy that! We were just talking about you, Liem, and Eldritch, too.”
The speaker was silent for a moment, and then Liem’s voice came again, a little edgier, “Can we meet? In private?”
Reece gave Hayden an “I told you so” look. As he reached to push the button again and tell Liem to go lie down on an airstrip, Hayden caught his wrist and held it at bay.
“Reece. Meet with him, but please don’t bully him. A whole ship of people are dead. You might be able to find out why. Remember that.”
Dropping his arm, Reece blew out a hard breath and closed his eyes. The blocks were tumbling in his head; he needed order, focus. A captain picked the farthest point on the horizon and watched it as he steered the ship. To see everything, rather than just the stars underfoot.
He pushed the button. “Meet me in the west library tower.”
“You’ll come alone?”
“I’ll leave my Pan behind, if that’s what you mean.”
The round library tower was narrow, lined with books accessible only by the vertical translocator running up and down its middle. Liem was waiting on the translocator platform with his dinner jacket folded over his elbow. He frowned impatiently as Reece took his time joining him on the platform and closing the gold carriage door behind him. At the push of a bright blue button on the panel inside the door, the translocator started grinding its way upward, hissing and occasionally spitting steam. Reece had always loved the tower. It was as close to the sky he could get without being in a ship.
“I never liked the tower,” Liem said, hanging his jacket over the carriage rail. “I never came here.”
Reece stared at the books sliding by just inches beyond the edges of the platform. “Why?”
Gesturing idly, Liem said, “They’re all fiction.”
It was time to gamble. “No. Why did Eldritch fail me?”
Liem’s eyes searched Reece’s face, and Reece noticed again how dark they were, almost black. “Eldritch didn’t fail you. The judges failed you because of your lack of professionalism in dealing with the meteorite and the failure of your Nyad’s systems.”
“Right. The meteorite. You really think that’s what it was?”
“What else would it be?”
“You were in the flight tower, you tell me.” After a pause, Reece ventured, only half-joking, “An alien escape pod?”
Liem’s eyes shot open wide, then narrowed dangerously. “Don’t say things like that.”
“We’re in a bleeding tower! Who’s going to hear?” Leaning his back against the carriage railing, Reece looped his arms over his chest. This must be really good. Liem was acting as skittish as Uncle Uriah on a bad day. “Liem…you know it’s not a meteorite, don’t you? Oh, quit acting like a ninny, no one’s listening.”
“You never can be too careful,” Liem whispered hoarsely as he thoughtlessly plucked at the silver cufflinks on his folded jacket.
The translocator shuddered to a stop at the top of the tower, where one solitary window looked out over the grounds. There was the pond, a wide grey rug on a floor of green, and there were Gideon and Hayden, two miniscule dots standing on its dock. The domed ceiling of the tower was painted with a depiction of the Streams that roped around the planet Honora and her neighbors, here portrayed as glittery oil slicks in space.
Liem slid a finger under his collar and pulled it away from his neck as it expanded with the deep breath he pulled in. It must have calmed him to some
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