part0035

The corporate logos of the five families gleamed on the walls of the newly-built chamber for the Council of Corporations on Olympus Station. The Rabh seal, an ancient Egyptian pyramid topped by an all-seeing eye, was especially well rendered with the embossed R on the pyramid done at exactly the right pitch. Forgers of the Rabh logo rarely got the pitch correct. Her father had taught her that trick early in life as a sure way to spot a fake Rabh seal.

The room was shaped like a hexagon, with one wall consumed by the grand double doors and the other five sides each carrying one corporate logo. Five families, five logos. No room for interlopers from the planet surface. Graves and that Corazon woman had no family seals, no corporate backing, no reason to be seen on these walls. They were outsiders.

The new room had been appended to the very top of Olympus Station, like a jewel on the top of a king’s crown. Above the walls was … nothing. A clear bubble of plastisteel. This was the very end of the space elevator tether. The top of the room faced directly away from the Earth’s surface, so there was no stunning view of the planet to distract Adriana’s gaze.

When council members looked up, they saw nothing but space. Opportunity. Asteroids to mine, planets to exploit, power to be had—all theirs for the taking.

When had Anthony ordered this built? she wondered. It had only been a few days since he’d come out of the coma, and even with his considerable resources, a room of this design and quality would take longer than that.

She followed that thought. Anthony had planned to shift his base of power from Mars back to Earth long before his sudden conversion to a humanitarian. Adriana flicked her gaze to Viktor, who was dozing in his chair, probably still drunk from dinner. Anthony sat stone-faced in his own chair, the one that was just a shade taller and wider than all the other ones parked around the translucent round table. First among peers was how he once described his position in the council.

Adriana said, “This new council chamber is beautiful, Anthony. How long did it take to build it?”

Anthony roused himself, automatically engaging his smile. “Oh … a while. I always liked the idea of a round table, like King Arthur, you know?”

“Of course.” Adriana nodded. She could barely contain the sneer that threatened to break out across her face. King Arthur, indeed. This was not Camelot they were building. This was Las Vegas in the desert.

She pushed the thought of the baby out of her mind. She was not a baby-killer, she was doing what needed to be done. The drug that Fischer had slipped into Elise’s drink could never be traced back to her. The child would die in labor. Unfortunate, but a fact of life even in these modern times.

Still, the sight of Elise’s bloody dress at the dining table had turned Adriana’s stomach. But not enough to make her rethink her plans. She was doing what needed to be done. Anthony had his angle and Tony had his. Ming was dead, Xi was pliable, and Viktor was an idiot. If she injected enough uncertainty into that combustible mixture, it might just create enough of an opening for her rise to the top of the heap.

The double doors opened and a woman strode in. Red hair, a little on the chunky side for Adriana’s liking, but with an air of purpose. A professional of some kind.

Anthony was out of his chair and across the room, shaking her hand in both of his. Ever the people pleaser. “Doctor, thank you for coming. How is she?”

Adriana sat up so suddenly that even Viktor roused himself to look at her. “A girl?” she said to cover up her surprise. Inside, she boiled with rage. Fischer had screwed up.

The doctor had a genuine smile, the kind that spread all the way to her eyes. “Yes, a girl. She’s with Ms. Santos now. If she hadn’t called for the medical team, Ms. Kisaan might have died.”

“I wanted to come see you personally, Mr. Taulke,” the doctor said. “The baby is not normal—not sure how to describe it, actually. She’s healthy, no physical issues at all.”

The doctor shook her head. “She shows brain activity that is off the charts. And her eyes are open, too. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she could understand what we were saying.”

“I know what it sounds like, sir, and I know what I saw. I don’t know the circumstances of Ms. Kisaan’s pregnancy, but this child is not normal.” She hesitated. “I know there’s a lot of talk about this child having religious significance to the New Earth Order. I’m not a believer, but I’m here to tell you as a doctor for over a quarter century, I have never seen anything like this child.”

After she left, Anthony sank down heavily into his chair. Where the hell was Tony? she wondered again.

She leaned back into chair cushions, crossing her legs, arranging the folds of her dress carefully across her knees. Using her retinal scan, she pulsed a message to Eugene Fischer.