Chapter Twenty-Nine
Matthieu’s position at the Biodefense Task Force began in a control room with another lieutenant, monitoring all entries and exits. He had memorized the names and employee numbers within an hour, and by the end of the day he had analyzed the schedule so heavily he might as well have matrixed it.
The second day he memorized all procedures performed by everyone but the hot zone scientists in the entire building, and the third he memorized the layout, noting the particularly dangerous labs and calculating how far and fast he could evacuate from his position if necessary.
He had seen Vidya the weekend he moved to Ruya Duchy, as well as last weekend, but he was so bored with one full week on the job behind him that he was glad for the five-day Birthday Bash weekend. Since the June 25th Midsummer Birthday Bash was on a Tuesday, Wednesday was a public holiday, so he didn’t have to return to work until Thursday.
He flew the Ruyas and Grace to the Urban District himself. Four nights and three days of parties and family get-togethers ensued before the Bash, in which Theo occupied Kimaya’s time, and Matthieu and Grace showed Vidya everything from a complete walking tour of the Imperial Palace to some of Sir Stanley’s underground Imperial Archive vaults.
Vidya was even allowed to touch and examine most of the Imperial regalia, such as the robe-train Andrés Encino had designed for Anne for their wedding. It seemed to Matthieu that was when she realized just how seriously she was being considered as a candidate for Empress, for she was quietly grave throughout, asking many questions.
The dinner for the Birthday Bash didn’t overwhelm Vidya, but she listened in silence to so many dukes and duchesses, since Imperial Family members were interspersed among them. Their lesser table was close to the High Table, with Matthieu at the end, so he could tell she was listening to some of those conversations, too.
One of the duchesses asked her a question about her new studies. Vidya replied with a wonderful smile. “I’m so grateful Matthieu and Grace thought to arrange for her to help me. I’ve taken a number of online courses, but it’s so much easier to be in an actual class, able to ask questions and get immediate responses. And everyone at Ruya House is so gracious to accommodate me.”
“How so?” Duchess Bertarelli asked.
“Oh, I have a number of duties there. I help manage the duke’s household,” she said humbly. “Some people have been taking up some of my duties so Grace can take me to campus. She’s even learning household management so she can help when we return from my classes.”
“You must be a very busy young lady,” the duchess said politely, obviously writing Vidya off as a non-entity. Vidya smiled and said nothing as Matthieu snorted quietly. Duchess Bertarelli gave Matthieu a perplexed look at his amusement before turning to speak to people further down the table.
“If they only knew,” Matthieu whispered in her ear.
“Sh. I prefer that people underestimate me,” Vidya murmured, face near him but not quite toward his ear. Duke Emilio and Duchess Diana Encino, across from them, noticed and heard that remark, giving Matthieu huge smiles.
Duchess Diana asked which courses Vidya was taking, and Vidya poured out her enthusiasm over the management modeling class, avoiding discussion about the information systems technology class. Matthieu was willing to bet his entire personal trust fund that Vidya had memorized the vitae of every duke and duchess, knew Diana had been a Compton with a business degree, and decided not to bore her about the technology class. Duke Emilio asked about Matthieu’s new duties in turn, Duke Harold Bradley to Vidya’s side conversed with her several times, and dinner finished up in more pleasant companionship.
Matthieu walked Vidya around the perimeter of the Imperial Ballroom, standing before and in the center of each pavilion as he guided her arms to point to the dimensions, describing the seating arrangements with each new position of her arm. He made sure she knew which tables held which drinks and hors d’oeuvres, as well as where to find the ladies’ room.
They seated themselves in a booth until Grandfather and Grandmother could finish greeting the most important new guests, and several of Matthieu’s friends came up to chat. Theo escorted Kimaya up to visit. “I hope everyone gets a chance to dance with Kimaya tonight. She says she needs the practice, since this is her first major ball.”
Grandfather finally toasted his nine sons and daughters born at Midsummer via gestation chamber technology, and he and Grandmother opened the dance.
“I hope you don’t mind I want to take you out to dance. It gets very crowded, though, so don’t be alarmed if we occasionally bump into people. It happens to everyone,” Matthieu emphasized. “I remember when Grandmother was designing the hall, she thought to make it bigger than the former Palace’s ballroom, but Renee argued she would just end up inviting more people than ever to these events.” Vidya laughed quietly.
“As a matter of fact, I would like to take you out as soon as the first dance is over so I can show everyone how well you dance. Would that be okay with you?”
“Yes, it would. That way everyone will be able to see that I may be disabled but I’m surely not handicapped.” Vidya’s smile was wry, but it brightened as Kimaya and Theo laughed with delight.
So Matthieu led her directly to the middle of the dance floor just after the first song, grinning with pure joy at the lovely Vidya’s gracious dancing, showing off his new lady love to all the most important people in the Empire. “Have you been practicing? You dance like a dream.”
“Lord Andrés was kind enough to provide me with dancing slippers instead of typical shoes. I love them at least as much as I love this gown.”
“Ah, yes, Kimaya says you do dramatic dancing. I would love to see it,” he purred.
Her face showed considerable doubt. “I don’t really like people to watch.”
“But surely you have someone help you avoid obstacles or walls and such.”
“No. I know the dimensions of my studio very well. It’s otherwise completely empty but for the small sound system I use. I put it on the floor centered along one wall so I know where I am at all times,” she explained. “Pass.” Matthieu laughed and passed her to his other arm.
Looking around, he noticed people were giving them a lot of room, staring at Vidya in amazement. He just grinned at them, winked, and went back to admiring his lady’s magnificent curves in another one of Andrés’s amazing creations.
Theo and Vic took Vidya out for dances, too, before Matthieu led her to Father’s pavilion to rest for a while in a small settee to the side. He snuggled her close.
“Everyone can see us, but the pavilions don’t have audio pickups. So we can speak freely, but I’ll have to hold your hand so you don’t accidentally grope me in public.”
Vidya laughed until he started telling her everything he would like to do to her that night. “You’d better tone down your breathing; that dress is doing amazing things to your cleavage, and everyone will be wondering what I’m saying to you to make you heave with excitement.”
“Oh God, you are such a tease. Are you sure no one can hear us?”
“Well, you should probably tilt your face more toward my ear, but otherwise, yes.” Matthieu almost blushed at what she said next, glancing down to see if his clothing hid his imminent arousal adequately. They giggled and teased each other for several more minutes until Father came over.
“Ah, Matthieu, I don’t know what you’re discussing with your lady, but the way you’re laughing together is rather unseemly,” Father said with some amusement. “It’s difficult to talk to a duke who is staring at your silliness. Lady Vidya, would you like to dance?”
“Thank you, Your Highness.” Vidya toned down her blazing grin a few notches as Father escorted her onto the dance floor. Matthieu went to speak to a few of his friends.
Theo showed up with another lady, handing her off to Frank. “Having fun yet?” he asked Matthieu and Dennis.
“Where’s Kimaya?”
“She’s dancing with everyone in the group,” Theo said with a grin. “We aren’t really dating, if that’s what you’re asking. We all agreed to bring ladies as friends tonight, and have a pool to share dancing, rather like a micro-singles ball-within-a-ball.”
“Ah, I see. Good thought. You can all dance with Vidya, if you like, but no poaching.”
“Got it.” Dennis gave him a thumbs-up. “We figured that was the case, but it’s good to know.”
Matthieu and Vidya danced with many other people, then. Several of his uncles danced with her, as well as Duke Encino, Duke Adamov, Duke Gottlieb, and even Duke Wooldridge, since Vidya’s mother was originally a Wooldridge.
They were in a booth they had taken over with their friends midway through the ball when Kimaya came up from a dance with Vic. She snuggled up to Vidya for some private conversation before saying, “Come, let’s go to the ladies room and freshen up. I’m hot from all this dancing.” They left, excusing themselves through the crowds of ladies in the eastern promenade.
Fifteen minutes later, Matthieu and Vic were talking about the Economic Evaluation Team trip the latter would be making in two days to the Seti III volume, for a one-month survey of the trade fleets to the Attican planet, Darian IV. A watchman approached to say gravely, “Your Highness, please come with me.”
He led Matthieu outside the ballroom to a servant’s area with access to the coat rooms, just down from the ladies’ restroom. The servant’s area had four plain chairs for resting between the occasional rush at winter balls to retrieve coats for the guests. Kimaya had her arm around Vidya, helping her drink a glass of water a retreating servant had just brought.
Matthieu went on his knees before her, wrapping his arms around her thighs. “What’s wrong, my love?”
She wasn’t crying, but she sat still as a stone. Instead of head lifted the way she would usually face the world, like a smiling flower to the sun, she was slumped in the chair with her head low and face passive.
Kimaya answered. “I don’t know if you know how the ladies’ room is structured, but there are two areas with six stalls along the outside walls and a wall where all the sinks meet. We went to one side because it was almost empty, and the two ladies there left after we got into stalls. Five or six ladies came in soon thereafter, talking about one of their daughters.
“The lady said, ‘You would have thought Princess Sophia would have at least sent a note saying she got her resume. She’s still wandering back and forth in front of them even though I told her not to bother, the way he’s been slobbering over that Ruya girl all night.’” She nodded as Matthieu clenched his teeth in frustration. Vidya put her hands on his arms as he tightened his hands on her hips.
“They then began saying the most terrible things about us, taking turns in the stalls. I didn’t move, and I could tell Vidya wasn’t about to move. They were still slandering us, you, Theo, and all your friends as they went about washing up.
“I could see through the slit left by the stall door a bit, so I noticed when one lady said, ‘Look!’ and pointed at Vidya’s slippers, which were just visible under the stall. They all shut up and left quickly after that.”
Matthieu turned to the watchman. “Please get Theo.” The watchman bowed and left quickly. Turning back to the Ruyas, he growled, “We’ll figure out who they were and ban them from Palace events for a time.”
“No,” Vidya said quietly. “I would not have you shame them for their gossip. It’s natural they would be bitter if their daughters didn’t stand out to you or your friends. They know I heard them, and that’s enough.”
“We should do something, especially if they’re spreading slanderous lies,” he insisted.
“They weren’t so much lies as insinuations, looking for character faults and such. Please, Matthieu. I don’t want to make any scene about it whatsoever,” she said in her gentlest voice.
Theo arrived, and Kimaya briefed him as Matthieu took her place on the chair, putting his arms around his lovely lady. “What would you like to do, my love?”
Vidya sighed, sat up straight, and lifted her chin. “I’d like to leave, but I don’t think we should. I think we should go out there and pretend we’re unaffected by their malicious words.”
Matthieu’s heart swelled to nearly white out his mind. “Oh God, I’m so in love with you,” he moaned, giving her an immediate and prolonged kiss as Theo and Kimaya witnessed.
Since that made Vidya’s lovely smile return, he crooned, “I think that’s a great idea. Let’s go show them all that they have a reason to be jealous of you, for you are my golden dark goddess of the night.”
He raised her with both hands. “And I will be your adoring subject, for your soul is the sun that sustains me.” Giving her a hug, he groped her incredible ass, making her giggle and squawk.
Theo and Kimaya laughed, and they all returned to the ballroom for several more dances before Matthieu openly escorted her out the private Imperial entrance to the ballroom. In his suite, he loved her with a passion he never knew existed, and in the morning, he asked her to marry him.
Vidya laughed. “Rather precipitous, don’t you think? I thought we had until the end of summer to think about things. And it’s not like you have any competition to cut out.” She finished soaping his body.
Matthieu groaned. “Dammit, here I am, the most eligible man on four planets, ladies parading themselves before me to get my attention, and the second time I ask a lady to marry me, she tells me to think it over again.” He began pulling his hair, making sounds of frustration.
“Sh. Sh. I’m not saying no, Matthieu.” Vidya took his hands and placed them on her body once more. “I’m just saying we haven’t thought everything through, yet. It’s just hard for me to imagine you could have fallen in love with me in less than four weeks.
“And I would really like to spend some time talking to Renee about last night. Although you jollied me out of that mood, the whole episode still bothers me. Please, relax. We have time.” She ran her hands along his back. “How about we spend some time in bed after breakfast?”
“But you just said you wanted to talk to Renee,” he reminded her. “And we’re leaving after lunch.”
“We can get away with leaving after dinner, don’t you think?” She began rinsing her body, moving him into the spray to share it with her. “Let’s just relax. It’s going to be a while before we have time alone again.”
“Well, we should just have you stay at my hotel suite on the weekends. That’ll give everyone a damn good idea how serious I am about you,” he said with some gall.
“Sh, now, we’re trying to relax. We aren’t going to think about anyone else for now. Be here with me, and we’ll leave the others behind.”
She drew her mouth up his neck in some sloppy kisses. “Or do I have to go all goddess on your ass and demand your immediate, unswerving attention?”
The shock of hearing her using slang and cursing even that little caused Matthieu to cackle. They finished their ablutions, had breakfast, had an outright lusty encounter but loved each other sweetly again before lunch, and talked with almost everyone in the family before dinner.
Sitting with the ladies on the flight back to the Ruya Duchy, they told Grace about the incident. She lifted one eyebrow at Matthieu; he gave her a knowing smile, wondering what kinds of secrets she would discover about them. He had no doubt malicious gossip was about to attack those five ladies in the near future.
◊ ◊ ◊
Three Fridays later, Matthieu was sitting in his hotel suite, wondering when Grace and Vidya were going to get there. They had agreed to have Vidya finally spend the weekend at his hotel, and damn the gossips.
Dinner would be delivered to them there that evening so Grace could go out on a dinner date with Vidya’s cousin Sunay, an engineer who now worked at the power generation plant for Ruya City. Matthieu decided to run some computer searches about what other things they could do that weekend.
As soon as he opened his computer, a message flagged by Denise popped up. It was from Chaco, whose fleet had decided to take the Seti III run to Darian IV. Denise had made a note saying, ‘We’re on it’, so Matthieu relaxed before he started reading the message.
Hey, Martin. Hope you’re doing well. We’ve got a weird situation here. Since D.IV is a mining planet, fleets go in with food and come out with refined metals. Because of the interdiction, no jump beacons are used since only one fleet is allowed in and out at a time, unlike planets with lots of merchants and a variety of goods, which can take months to load.
The fleet from Belmont went in four days ago but hasn’t returned; turnaround is usually two days here. No one wants to risk the wormhole, and the captain of the cruiser guarding the wormhole is waffling on how long to wait before sending someone in. After all, no one wants the Atticans to cry, ‘Invasion!’ over a Demesne vessel.
Otherwise, the new Demesne eval teams are doing a good job; everyone has shaped up, even the Setians. Just thought you’d like to know why I don’t know when I’ll be able to send you the money. See you when I get home. Love, Luz.
Matthieu figured Fidel Makov would probably be sent there right away, since he was now the commander in charge of supervising the trade fleet cruisers for the reparations settlement. He wondered how long it would take for them to send a patrol boat in.
The few head-on collisions in a wormhole, well before beacon stations were established as standard, gave off distinctive characteristics in the wormhole events at either end. Almost a dozen small but gruesome experiments later, it was determined that every ship trying to pass through a wormhole with those odd wormhole events simply evaporated if they didn’t wait for those characteristics to subside completely.
That could take from a week to a month, unfortunately, an especial aggravation to the scientists on each side, for they had to defend their calculations to colonists demanding explanations and trade vessels, as well as wait for the wormhole to open before they could figure out if it was indeed a collision. Matthieu was surprised it only took a dozen missed ships, in truth.
He ran some searches about recent developments in wormhole science. Since Grandmother had released her wormhole mathematics textbook to the galaxy eighteen years ago, written by Aunt Anne and Uncles Stefan, Josef, and Evan, with Stefan’s lady Angelica as the editor, some terrific refinements had been made in jump technology.
Ships had not needed separate norm-space and wormhole navigators for ten years, and the enhancements made to the computers with Grandmother’s new mathematics had put most wormhole navigators out of a job. There were a few other improvements, but there hadn’t been a wormhole head-on collision for so many centuries, he couldn’t even discover the last one that had happened, just mentions in the history books of a span of years of experimentation before every traversable wormhole was assigned some kind of regular jump point crew, even if it were a small courier vessel on a six-hour timetable.
Matthieu tried to draw up a list of possible reasons why no one would return from Darian IV, but only one made sense. If it were a small convoy of cargo vessels, surely one would have been able to make it back to give warning if the others simply had malfunctions, unless there had been some kind of system-wide disaster, like an enormous solar flare that might have damaged all ships severely.
Could political problems on the surface have been responsible? Masses of miners who overwhelmed the crews? But that would leave at least a skipper, pilot, and engineer aboard a vessel, surely enough to bounce back and inform others of the chaos.
The thought of a plague naturally occurred to him, but someone was always on a ship, even if just the engineer, who could get information out to the galaxy. If some kind of plague was in progress on the planet, the cargo ships might be hesitant to land shuttles of food until they could be assured of enough healthy people to help unload and load the shuttles.
Matthieu wrote a generic message to Vic asking how his work on the evaluation team was going, and relaying that he himself was enjoying his new job. He made sure to mention how impressed he was with some of the cheap and effective solutions these scientists used to decontaminate their suits and other equipment they carted in and out of labs, sure Vic would pick up on that hint. He checked the message for any subconscious clues he might have given as to actual secret procedures before sending it on its way.
A knock came at the door, and one of his Sentinels opened it as Matthieu set the computer on the coffee table, leaving it open with Chaco’s message to show Grace. She and Vidya entered with Sunay and a servant carrying two small suitcases. “Welcome to my humble abode,” Matthieu said merrily. “How is everyone?”
“Fine, and how was your week?” Vidya stood still and held her arms out for his approach.
“Dull. The only excitement I’ve had is a glitch I just discovered on my computer, if you would care to look at it, Grace,” Matthieu hinted, pointing at his computer.
She slipped over to the couch and coffee table as he hugged Vidya, shook Sunay’s hand, and directed the servant to deposit the valises in the second bedroom. “Where are you taking Grace this evening?”
“We have a reservation for the Samhadi Retreat,” Sunay said. “It has a 16-hectare plot with walking paths, sculptures, and many gardens we can explore after dinner. It’s a 20-minute trip by air car, south-southeast of the city, but we should be back by 24:00 or 25:00.”
“Sounds great. We’ll have to go someday, Vidya,” Matthieu said cheerfully before turning to Grace. “Did you figure it out?”
“Yes, one of your more obscure settings simply got reset in a recent upload. It’s all fixed. I’m having more fun in Vidya’s information technology class than she is.” Grace grinned. “I help her study for it all the time.”
Vidya laughed. “You might as well have signed up for the class. You’re pretty amazing on the computer.”
Matthieu gave Grace a hug in passing, and she attached herself to Sunay’s arm. “Don’t bother to check in with us when you get back,” he said, handing Grace’s senior Sentinel his extra key card. Everyone laughed, and her Sentinels saw Grace and Sunay out the door.
Matthieu’s Sentinels stayed to scan the hotel’s food and supervise the servants during their dinner before stationing themselves outside the door to the suite. “I brought you something,” Vidya said when they were finally alone. “But you have to show me the bedrooms before I bring it to you.”
He showed her the doors to the first and second bedrooms and described their layouts while pointing at the furniture with her arms. “Now you have to go take off your clothes, lie on the bed, and close your eyes.” Her luminous face sported a mischievous grin.
“Close my eyes? I always have the bedroom dark for us. Why do I need to close my eyes, too? And how will you know if I don’t?”
“Just do it. And I’ll know because I’ll be able to hear your response,” Vidya teased. “Please put my suitcase on the bed for me, and I’ll be there in a bit.”
Matthieu kissed her and guided her to the nearest bed, setting both suitcases on top. “Okay, but this better be good.” He went to the first bedroom and did as his goddess asked.
When she entered the room, he said, “I’m over here.” Matthieu heard her approach the bed, feel for and slide something onto the night stand, sit down, and roll over until she found him.
He was about to put his arms around her when he felt the most amazing sensation on his torso. “What? What is that?”
Her hands moved up his torso to his face, and she rolled on top of him to give him a sweet kiss before running her hands down his sides again. “My God, what in the world? It’s like… it’s like I can see rainbows through my skin.”
Vidya laughed. “I can, too. You can open your eyes.”
He did, only to see the ugliest pair of gloves in his life from the hallway’s light. They looked like the skins of hundreds of small, warty frogs had been sewn together. “Ew, what are those things?”
“This is called angelskin, and it’s the newest product from Lethe. It’s not a chemical and it’s not a machine that causes the sensations. There’s something about the bioenergetic field in human hands that gets transformed somehow through these skins, which I gather are remarkably ugly, and creates the sensations.”
She stroked him further down his body until she came to his manhood. Not only were the colors in his mind unbelievable, but the sensations were unlike anything he had ever imagined. She set to work, taking perhaps two minutes to bring him to a very loud climax.
“Oh, God,” Matthieu eventually whispered as she stroked his torso some more. “Where did you get them?”
“Grace saw an ad on them in the local news two days ago, so we went shopping yesterday after class to get some. Amazing, hey?” Vidya laughed with delight.
“Oh yeah. Will those fit me? I’ve got to return the favor.”
She indicated the nightstand, which held a small box. “I bought you a men’s pair, too,” she said with more laughter.
They proceeded to experiment for all of two hours. Touching oneself produced very slight sensations, compared to being touched by one’s partner. Touching the other person’s hands without gloves was electrifying, but touching the other person’s hands when both had gloves was like connecting directly to their soul. He was thrilled to see the intensity of Vidya’s euphoric orgasms, wondering if they produced male and female sheaths of this angelskin.
Lying on the bed with her, exhausted after four bouts of sex, they simply held hands for a while, immersing themselves in the unbelievable sensation of being united as one soul. “I don’t know about this, my love,” Matthieu finally said, voice hoarse from all his previous ecstatic vocalizations.
“I mean, the appeal is undeniable, but I can see how it might get addictive. And it’s… not right, somehow. Rather like aphrodisiacs, an altered state. What if it becomes so addictive we don’t want regular physical contact anymore?”
Vidya lay for some time thinking about that. “You’re right. What if people became so addicted to them they couldn’t respond any other way? Or so used to them even the gloves wouldn’t stimulate them anymore? That would be a tragedy.”
“Not only that, how long have people been experimenting with them? If they amplify the bioenergetic field, what if someone touched another person with negative intent? Would that produce pain?”
Matthieu took his gloves off. “I think we should send these to Sentinel Command to be thoroughly investigated. Who knows what prolonged usage could do? What if it made a man sterile, for example?”
Vidya hastily shed her gloves. “Dear God, I never thought about that! I’m so sorry, my love.” She burst into tears. “I only wanted to please you.”
Tossing the gloves off the bed, he gathered her in his arms. “You do please me. You satisfy me. You nourish me.” Kissing her deeply, he proclaimed, “You are my goddess and I am your high priest. What more could I hope to have? I’m already blessed beyond measure, just having you in my life.”
He began to love on her but soon came to the realization that he was impotent. They tried for another two hours, but even Vidya couldn’t be aroused.
Matthieu put on his pants. “That’s it; they’re going to Sentinel Command this instant.” Vidya tearfully agreed.
He had just boxed them up and called his Sentinels into the living area, giving them instructions on calling Sentinel Command and having them investigated thoroughly, when Grace and Sunay arrived from their date. Grace smiled joyfully. “How was it?”
“Dangerous. Never again,” Matthieu growled. As Grace and Sunay gasped in surprise, he turned back to the Sentinels. “And make sure the unlucky sods who volunteer for experiments get their fertility levels checked afterwards.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” Major Elzy bowed and moved toward one corner of the room.
He had just lifted his wrist phone, saying, “Code 31,” when Grace yelled, “Stop!” Major Elzy glanced at her before looking at Matthieu for instructions.
“Let’s hear her out,” Matthieu said. “Ask for standby.” Major Elzy called for standby alert, and they all looked at Grace expectantly.
She turned to Sunay. “If you value your life, you will walk out of here this instant and never speak of anything but our pleasant date, having never heard a word since you walked in this door. Do you understand me?”
“Perfectly, Your Highness.” Sunay bowed and left immediately.
Grace ran to the bedroom to fall into Vidya’s arms. They were speaking very softly when Matthieu noticed Vidya had come to the bed nude. “I’ll get you some clothes.”
“Find her palm pad, too.” Grace gave him a dreadful look.
Both Vidya and Matthieu gasped at that sudden realization: what if Vidya couldn’t use her sense of touch? She relied so heavily on the subtle distinctions of heat and vibration to run her palm pad, since fingertips were one of the most nerve-rich areas of the body. It would incapacitate her tremendously not to have access to information on the datanets or book-disks, as much as being completely illiterate.
Shaken to his core, Matthieu gathered up the clothing she had merely draped across her suitcase. He found the palm pad in her vest pocket, fastened the suitcase, and brought that, too.
Grace demanded every article of clothing in a particular order as she helped Vidya sit up and get dressed. The vest was last, and Vidya’s hand dove for her palm pad as Grace buttoned it closed.
Matthieu stared in despair at the growing horror on his lady’s face. “Is it on?” she finally whispered.
Grace sat beside her and lifted the palm pad out of her hand, pulling up a graphic cartoon character of loud red, orange, yellow, and green colors with black outlines. “Here, try this.”
Vidya felt the face of the screen. “I can feel patches of violet, but I can’t tell what it is.”
Matthieu sat beside her and held her close. Grace said, “Matthieu, I need to use your computer.” She fled when he nodded.
“Matthieu?” Vidya whispered. “Please tell me what’s on the screen.”
“Sillyan the Mountain Man,” he said, heart breaking.
She appeared to stop breathing. Desperate, Matthieu babbled, “This could be a temporary thing, you know. Like pain; our nerves could recover completely. It just might take a while.” She nodded and began breathing again.
“Come, let’s get a drink and decide what to do. And see what Grace is up to.” He escorted her to the living area.
Matthieu said to Major Elzy, “Sink the ship, hoe the row, and call the Regional Support Center for relief. You are to escort those items personally.”
Major Elzy called in the codes as Matthieu got Vidya settled in a seat and brought her a softee. “What are you doing, Grace?”
“I set off an alarm on Denise’s computer, typed up the basic info for her, discovered it was a Setian ship that delivered the Lethean product since no trade fleets from Lethe have entered our volume for two months, disabled the quantum transmitter of one of the Setian ships still in orbit and man are they pissed about it, and right now I’m gathering all the files of the merchants who have purchased angelskin gloves, as well as the names of every customer who purchased them.” She typed fast and furious.
“Now those files are in Denise’s hands, and now all the merchants are going to accidentally suffer major computer failures for at least 26 hours until Sentinel can figure out how they want to approach the situation.” She typed a while longer. “There.”
A knock came on the door. The Regional Support Center had sent eight Sentinels. Major Elzy turned to Matthieu. “Any last thoughts?”
“Yes. See if anyone can determine whether this was intended to be an attack against me personally. I can’t tell you why, but I will tell the Chief when I next get to see him.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” Major Elzy bowed, collected two relief Sentinels to fly him immediately to the Urban District, assigned Matthieu’s junior Sentinel as detail leader, and left. Captain Stanton assigned the relief Sentinels positions outside the suite and the two nearest lifts, while Grace’s Sentinels stayed with them in the suite.
Vidya’s breathing was unsteady. “A… a personal attack?”
“Yes. They know I’ve been living in Ruya Duchy for a month, they know you are blind, and they know Grace is eager to help you in any way possible. Grace, did you delete your purchase record?”
“Of course, but there were patrons my Sentinels chased out of the store, and the owner will surely remember,” she reminded him. “He’s probably told half the city by now, since we bought them yesterday.”
Matthieu growled wordlessly. “If this was a deliberate attack, I would say the instigator expects us to get addicted. He or she will expect us to use them for an untold length of time before we find anything else out, if ever. So we have some time to figure out a response.” He turned back to Grace. “What did you tell Sunay?”
“Everything we knew from the dealer, as well as how we each put one on and touched each other’s arms to test them. I’m sure he’ll maintain silence in the matter, but I can’t believe I just waltzed us into a store and purchased them openly. And I should have had my Sentinels test them,” she said mournfully, looking at them with real humiliation on her face.
“Why did you disable one ship’s quantum transmitter?” Vidya asked.
“To keep the entire fleet in orbit until this is investigated thoroughly.” Grace gave Matthieu a piercing look. “I wonder if or why Setians might deliberately bring such a product to the Demesnes. If it were simply the latest galactic fad, that’s one thing. But if not….”
Matthieu remembered Chaco’s message. “I think we should go to the Imperial Palace, right now. We need to go to the infirmary, and I need to talk to Grandmother. In person.”