Twenty-seven

 

The Earth Alliance headquarters in Henatan, the largest Peyti city on Peyla, sprawled across half a kilometer of land. The headquarters had several buildings, attached by what could only be called airlocks. Since the Peyti built the headquarters and they were housed in the Peyti’s largest city, the main areas all had a Peyti-safe atmosphere.

However, an Earth-type environment worked better for the bulk of Alliance members, so over the years, the oxygen-rich parts of the headquarters had grown to nearly fifty percent of the available space.

Rastigan stood in what the humans privately called the true office complex of the Earth Alliance Headquarters. In most ways, the layout was identical to the layout in the Peyti section. The conference rooms in this section were bigger since they got used more often, and the offices were smaller.

Rastigan stood in the Office of the Director of the Peyti Earth Alliance Headquarters, which was, in Rastigan’s opinion, a fancy way of saying that the Director had no real power outside of this building, a problem that Rastigan was butting her head against at this very moment.

The Director, a slight human man named Cyril Connab, stood in the center of his office, watching the habitat security vid for the third time. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back. His brown hair needed a trim, and he looked like he hadn’t eaten in a long time.

Granted, the food on Peyla left a lot to be desired, but people generally got used to it.

“Here’s my problem,” he said, still watching the cloned Peyti sail through the air, turn orange, and dissolve. “The Peyti haven’t contacted us. And this is their jurisdiction. Peyti-against-Peyti crime. I don’t think I have the authority to even comment on this.”

Rastigan felt a frustration so deep that she could only sigh. “Sir, Uzvot went out of her way to let us know the facts here—”

“Those aren’t facts, Jin,” he said. “It’s her speculation. We don’t even know that these Peyti are cloned.”

Rastigan resisted the urge to roll her eyes even though the director’s back was turned. She had done that once before and had gotten reprimanded. Apparently, he watched the security vids of all of his office interactions.

“We do know they’re cloned, sir,” Rastigan said. “I’ve shown you the images from my suit. The Peyti in the center of that group are identical. And the Peyti do not have multiple matching offspring, like twins, so there is no possible way that these Peyti could be anything other than clones.”

“I have to take your word for that, do I?” he asked, still not turning around.

“The Peyti reproductive capacities are in the database, sir,” she said, hoping her irritation did not show in her voice. “But it would be easier if you took my word.”

He turned around. “Why do you care so much about this? The Peyti are taking care of it.”

“It mirrors the Moon’s Anniversary Day, sir,” she said.

“I don’t see how,” he said. “No leaders have died. No bombs have gone off.”

“The clones are of a mass murderer, sir, and they are young adults. They were produced en masse, and they’re clearly training in murder.” She cut off the ends of all of her words. She couldn’t help it. He was a transfer here, and saw the post as a stepping stone to a better Earth Alliance position. Even though he’d been here nearly two years, he hadn’t bothered to learn much about the Peyti at all.

“Yes, but what kind of murder? We have no idea. We don’t know that they’re going to go kill Peyti leaders.” He raised his chin slightly. It still left him half a head shorter than she was. “And even if they do, Jin, it’s a Peyti matter. If they believe there’s a threat to the Alliance, then they have a duty to contact us. They haven’t, so they do not believe there is a threat.”

She wanted to shake him, but she knew that wouldn’t help her cause. Although it would make her feel better.

“Beg pardon, sir,” she said, “but the Peyti are very rule-oriented. They do things subtlely and when they do break a rule, as Uzvot did today, we have to pay attention. The Peyti do not do such things lightly.”

“I don’t know what you’re telling me,” he said.

“I’m telling you,” she said slowly so that she wouldn’t add you idiot each time she took a breath, “that Uzvot told me these things with the full knowledge that I work here, in Earth Alliance headquarters, and absent your presence at that habitat today, I was the top Earth Alliance official on site. Everything she said, she said with the full knowledge of my rank and position. I told her repeatedly that I would have to go to the Earth Alliance with this, and while she said she wished things could be different, she continued to tell me details about the deaths, the clones, and about the parallels between Uzvekmt and PierLuigi Frémont.”

The director studied her for a moment. She could almost hear his calculations. How much risk was he taking if he contacted the Earth alliance with this? Would he offend the Peyti? Would he have to leave Peyla in disgrace, sidelining his diplomatic career?

Careers had been destroyed for less.

“Sir,” she said, “if you fail to provide the Earth Alliance with this information and this is an important piece of the Anniversary Day puzzle, if this incident actually shows what direction the next attacks will move in, then your career will be over.”

He blinked at her. Clearly he hadn’t considered that side of the argument. He turned away from her and looked at that vid for the fourth time, his expression unchanging.

She had no idea how anyone could watch that repeatedly without becoming at least a little upset. But she had long suspected that Connab had a human bias, and that all other members of the Alliance were just not as important to him as humans were.

Apparently, he didn’t see them as individuals who could suffer and feel pain.

Or maybe this reaction of his came because they were clones, and not because they were Peyti.

Or perhaps it came from both.

He turned back to her. “If you believe this is so important,” he said, “then you have my permission to contact the Investigative Arm of the Alliance.”

“Your permission?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said.

He was distancing himself from the information in case it was tainted. He would blame her then.

“I think it would be better coming from you,” she said, “and I think it should go to the council.”

“If the investigative arm agrees, they will contact the council.”

“It’ll slow down the release of information,” she said.

“Which you have already told me the Peyti do not want,” he said.

Her breath caught. Damn him for using her words against her. He had missed the point, again.

Or maybe she had. At least she had gotten permission to contact the main branch of the Alliance.

If she didn’t know how to do it properly, if she accidentally included the council in her notification to the investigative arm, well then, it would be his fault, wouldn’t it, because he didn’t do it himself.

“I could rethink my entire position,” Connab said.

“No need, sir,” she said. “I would be happy to let the investigative arm know what happened here. Then they can deal with it as they see fit.”

“Exactly, Jin,” he said. Then he waved a hand at the holographic image. “Now, get this thing out of my office.”

“Yes, sir,” she said. She would gladly get this issue out of his office. And she would make sure it went to the people who needed to know about it.

The people who could follow up on it.

The people who might make sense of yet another group of clones with a sinister historic origin. A group of clones who killed and, unless she missed her guess, reveled in it.

Just like their originals had.