Read Online The Rifter's Covenant by Sherwood Smith, Dave Trowbridge - Free Book Online

to touch the chip unless she
was in absolute darkness.
    Dressed at last,
she called for a shuttle. Felton usually attended Srivashti when he left the
ship, but she must nonetheless assume that he would shadow her when she
departed from the yacht.
    Memory chilled her,
but she fought the impulse to rub her arms. She had only tried once to visit
Jesimar in detention. Srivashti had smilingly warned her against it when she
first arrived, but he had also promised to use his influence to get Jes freed.
    She’d waited for
him to keep his word until the day after the Grozniy had departed on its mission to rescue the Panarch at
Gehenna. Vannis Scefi-Cartano had stepped to her side as they walked along the
lakeside to a picnic. “Torigan is having your brother tried for murder,” Vannis
had whispered, her voice low and eyes otherwhere. “With Srivashti’s
concurrence.”
    Vannis, it was
rumored, had once been one of Srivashti’s lovers. Her care not to be overheard
intensified Fierin’s anxiety as much as the news of Tau’s betrayal.
    She had used the
first opportunity to slip away to visit Jes, but just before she reached
Detention One, Felton had appeared from somewhere, bowed, and unsmilingly held
out his arm to escort her back.
    Being mute, he
could not speak. Afterward Srivashti did not refer to the incident, but he’d
summoned her to his inner chamber for one of his reminders of who had her best
interests at heart. It had lasted a very long time.
    Fear made Fierin’s
heart bang painfully as the shuttle arrived. She tabbed her boswell, and making
certain she had her breathing under control, she spoke a loving message for Srivashti.
Everything must be just as usual, with no variation. She then sent orders
concerning the repair of a gown she wished to wear to a social event that
evening.
    On the short ride
from the yacht to the oneill she composed herself for the imagers, gazing
outward. She gained no pleasure from the spectacular sight of the immense
cylinder glinting in the roseate light of the nearby red giant, and the cloud
of ships surrounding it. Behind the mask of her dreamy pose she reviewed again
her plans.
    The shuttle nestled
up against the lock, and when the hiss of air subsided and the light turned
green, she slipped inside. Beyond the lock a transtube waited, held by the
priority on Srivashti’s shuttle, despite the fact she’d docked at a Polloi
lock. It was already crammed with people, many frowning at her. There was
nowhere to sit, but she did not want to wait for the next, which might be just
as crowded.
    In an effort to
distract herself, she listened to the voices around her. What she heard was
little comfort: short rations, crowded dorms, and the steady increase in
brawling and petty crime.
    The crèche burgeoned
with noise and rambunctious children, but Fierin was used to it. She liked the
noise of happy children. She nodded to the Navy officer at the front desk who
logged her in, then she made her way through the wide, well-lit central area.
    The crèche was laid
out in a circle, with living areas built around the circumference. Work and
play spaces lay within the circle. Fierin headed for the older children’s work
space. In the center of the circle rose a complicated edifice reminiscent of
the Ascha Gardens, although its gravitational conformation was far simpler.
Children climbed, crawled, swung, and bounced through it, appearing and
disappearing, only their voices a constant, sounding like gulls over a beach.
    Fierin stepped down
into the work area. Efficient dampers high overhead reduced the noise to a
soft, distant murmur. Hidden tianqi encouraged alertness with Downsider
Summer’s End, a comfortingly familiar scent to Downsider and Highdweller alike.
    Young teens sat
absorbed in the row of consoles and simbooths. Fierin’s supervisor, Chlarmon,
an older woman dressed in mourning white, finished her circuit of the consoles
and headed Fierin’s way, her face relieved.
    “I’m glad