Cardenas (Findlay IV), Findlay System, Eriuman Republic.
It took nearly three weeks for an investigation to be completed by the Eriuman Navy. In that time, Naval officers from the criminal justice division haunted Cardenas, combing through family records and interviewing everyone.
A cadre of them arrived in New Edsel two days after they had received the news. They were polite but insisted that Bellona speak with them. Bellona, in turn, insisted that Sang be included in the interview.
The Lieutenant, Hult, glanced at Sang. It was the first time she had looked directly at Sang since stepping into the foyer of the boarding house where Bellona was currently living. The lieutenant brushed down her uniform with a sweep of her hand. “Very well,” she said carelessly.
The interview took place aboard the Navy shuttle that had grounded in the middle of New Edsel’s town square, cracking and scorching the fused cobblestones and forcing townspeople to use the side roads to reach their destinations. Commerce had virtually halted. Sang suspected the townspeople would blame Bellona for that. They tucked the thought away for later consideration as Bellona was shown a seat located directly in front of the lieutenant’s.
Lieutenant Hult laid one hand over the other, both of them on her crossed knee. The posture displayed the shining toe of her boot. “May I first offer my condolences on the loss of your brother, Miss Cardenas?”
“Thank you,” Bellona said stiffly. It was the same tone she had used with every single person who had dared to mention Max in the last two days. As most of the townspeople were related by some degree, most of them had stopped to speak to Bellona.
“We will miss Maximilian,” Hult added. “He provided an insight and flair to naval affairs that was a breath of fresh air in some corners.” Hult’s smile was small, but it was there.
Bellona’s eyes narrowed. “You knew Max?”
Hult gave a very small shrug of her shoulders. “A little.”
Sang registered the lie.
“Does that make you an unsuitable investigator?” Bellona asked.
“It makes me keener to get to the bottom of this…mystery.” Hult crossed her arms. “What can you tell me about Max’s last hours on Cardenas?”
“What can you tell me about how he died?”
“That is not a part—”
“It is now,” Bellona said. She waited.
Hult smiled. “Miss Cardenas, I have been an investigator in this division for a very long time. There are certain kinds of information that cannot be shared with members of the public, not even close relatives or siblings, if the sharing of that information might jeopardize ongoing military matters. That is the reason the Navy investigates, not a civilian authority.”
“The civilian authority being the family enforcers,” Bellona replied. “Tell me, have you interviewed my father, yet?”
“As a matter of courtesy, we spoke with your father as soon as we landed.” Hult seemed to be amused by Bellona’s attempts to steer the conversation.
“Did you tell my father how Max died?”
“Some facts were shared.”
“Share those facts with me, then.”
“Your father can tell you what he knows.”
“I asked you.”
“Miss Cardenas—”
“Call me Bellona.” Bellona crossed her legs to match Hult. “It does not seem to have occurred to you, Lieutenant Hult, that with Max’s death, I am the sole remaining heir of my father’s estate.”
Hult’s smile was very small. “I hear that you and your father are recently estranged. Perhaps that inheritance is not as certain as you imply.”
Bellona nodded. “You’re good at your job. That pleases me. It means you will get to the bottom of this. Max called me stubborn, lieutenant. My father has recently learned exactly what that means. If you wish your investigation to proceed smoothly, I suggest you not attempt to discover the extent of my stubbornness today. If you have already learned about my exit from the family, then you will also know where I have been for the last ten years and what I have been doing.”
“I heard, yes,” Hult said evenly.
Sang stared at Bellona, surprised. It was not usual for her to raise the subject of Xenia herself. Now she was using it like a prod.
“Tell me how Max died,” Bellona said. “Then I will tell you what I know.”
Hult considered her. “Be careful what you ask for, Bellona.”
“I have learned that truth is less dangerous than ignorance, no matter how unpleasant it may be. Tell me. Did he die inside the Pleasure Dome?”
Hult hesitated. Then, “No. Just outside it, although his register shows he was inside at one point.”
“How did he die?”
Hult shook her head. “Really—”
“Tell me,” Bellona demanded.
Hult drew in a breath and let it out. “His limbs were severed. He was gutted. Then he was left to bleed out, while his remains were piled in front of him.” Hult looked away, then brought her gaze firmly back to Bellona. “You insisted,” she added.
Bellona sat very still for a moment. “Then it was not my father who arranged this.”
Hult looked stunned. “You thought your father did this?”
Bellona nodded. “It was a possibility,” she said coolly. “Max knew something that made him dangerous to my father. You look shocked, Lieutenant. Did you think the head of the Scordini clan would be a benevolent man?”
Hult gnawed at her lip, her doubt plain. “I did not assume that, although I have never heard it spoken about so openly, especially by an inner family member.” Her eyes narrowed. “Did this dangerous knowledge have something to do with why you left the city?”
“Yes,” Bellona said flatly. “The manner of Max’s death, though…that is not the way my father would have arranged it. He loved Max. He would not have wanted him to suffer. It would have been quick and clean. Plus, he has made no move against me and I have the same knowledge.”
Hult looked uncomfortable and a little ill. Perspiration appeared on her upper lip and she wiped it away. “There is nothing to indicate that Reynard Cardenas was involved. Antini is a long way from here.”
“It is in free space, possibly the one truly neutral city in the entire galaxy,” Bellona said. “I am aware of the reason why.”
“The Pleasure Dome,” Hult said. Her mouth curled up. “Free sex with whatever partner you want, whenever you want it, however you want it. Karassians and free staters and Eriumans, biobots, androids. Every depravity is catered to, without question.”
“Is it possible…?” Bellona began. She looked at Hult. “Even the Karassians with their genetic enhancements have never been able to stamp out the worst of human nature. Is it possible a customer was interested in necrophilia and the Dome took Max to meet the customer’s demands?”
Hult paled. “I have an investigator with a stronger stomach than mine looking into that right now.”
“Good.” Bellona nodded again. “What was Max doing that far inside free space?”
Hult cleared her throat. “His aide says he took an abrupt leave of absence and jumped on a bus doing a Kalay-Antini-Cerce-Xindar run.”
“Max on a public bus?” Bellona shook her head. “Does that not strike you as unlikely? You knew him.”
Hult smiled. “It did seem odd to me,” she admitted. “However, Max was, above all, practical. A public bus is just that—public. If he thought he was in danger, then taking a free state shuttle would ensure no move was made against him while he was in transit.” Hult scowled. “I don’t suppose you know which of those stops would have been his destination? He bought a round ticket.”
“Cerce,” Bellona replied. “He knew someone there.”
“Captain Tatiana Wang?”
Bellona raised a brow. “Yes.”
Hult studied her. “Then you don’t know.”
Bellona shook her head. “I know she’s dead.”
“The Hathaway was lost, a week after you disappeared from Cardenas,” Hult added.
Bellona dropped her gaze to her knee. “The Karassians destroyed her, straight after taking me.” Her jaw flexed. “That is why no one came looking for me.”
“There was nothing left to trace you by,” Hult said. “Although Max made me keep looking for years afterward. Any clue, any hint.”
Bellona considered her. “Then why would he be heading for Cerce, so soon after learning…about Reynard?”
“That is a question I would like answered, too,” Hult said. She hesitated. “Normally, I would not share this with a civilian, but you’re not really a civilian anymore, are you?”
Bellona grimaced. “What do you want to share?”
“A concern. Even if it was not your father who did this, it is possible that the reason you left the family is the same reason that got Max killed, in some indirect way I have yet to uncover. You could be in danger yourself.”
“The thought had crossed my mind,” Bellona admitted. “Although I pity the fool who tries to attack me.”
Hult’s laugh pushed out of her in a breathy gasp, as if it caught her by surprise. Her gaze met Bellona’s. Then she got to her feet. Bellona followed suit. Hult thrust out her hand and Bellona gripped Hult’s elbow.
Sang moved to open the door. Hult shot them a startled glance, as if she had forgotten Sang was there. She pulled herself together and let go of Bellona’s arm. “I will be completing the investigation as swiftly as possible, although I should warn you that I do not foresee a conclusive outcome. There are too many questions and too few answers.” Hult grimaced. “That is not something I shared with your father.”
“A smart decision,” Bellona told her. “Thank you for your time, Lieutenant.”
Hult nodded.
Sang held the door for Bellona, while noting the inconsistency. It had been Hult who had demanded Bellona’s time. Apparently, Hult had forgotten that.
* * * * *
New Edsel stopped speaking to Bellona after that. They could not refuse a Cardenas service and had no troubles taking her money. They simply stopped talking to her. Sang overheard snatches of conversation as Bellona passed by and put it together.
“They believe you are involved in Max’s murder. They can see no other reason why the investigators sought you out so quickly, or why you have left the family home. They think Reynard cast you out.”
“I am involved in Max’s murder,” Bellona said. “I just don’t know how or why yet, but I know in my gut that this is my fault.”
“You have no evidence of that,” Sang said sharply. “Neither does New Edsel. Maybe Max simply wanted to visit the Dome and fell in with the wrong partner.”
Bellona rolled her eyes. “Sang, really, in all the time you have known Max, all the scrapes you got him out of, did you ever catch a hint of such perverse tastes?”
Sang grimace and shook their head. “Partners aplenty, including, we suspect, Lieutenant Hult. Just nothing like that.”
“Exactly,” Bellona replied. “We will just have to put up with New Edsel ignoring us. I refuse to go back to the city until I absolutely have to and there’s no point in finding somewhere else until after.”
Sang didn’t ask what “after” meant. The coming rites hung over them both just as the late summer monsoon clouds gathered overhead, turning every day into a dim sauna. They waited out the days until word came. The investigation had been closed, Max’s remains returned to Cardenas and the public interment would be held in three days’ time.
* * * * *
The city was filled to overflowing. Every inn, every boarding house, every hotel, was at capacity. On the five hour journey to the city, Sang connected with every reputable and less reputable accommodation in the city with no success. Bellona was philosophical. “We have the ground car. We can take turns sleeping in it, if we have to, but I don’t expect to be in the city long enough to make sleep a priority.”
The rites were held in the same grand hall as Bellona’s homecoming. There, all similarities ended. There were far more people thronging the street, surging in waves toward the hall, trying to get as close as possible. There were vastly more people inside the hall, too. There was no shouting. No cheering. The street was eerily quiet for having so many people squashed into it. The ground car pilot could not find a way through the morass, so Sang moved behind the controls and took command. They were more ruthless about nosing up against thighs and hips and clearing a path that way. It would be better to save Bellona as much walking as possible.
It became impossible to move forward any farther. They got out of the car and pushed their way through the crowd then, finally, up the wide steps to the hall itself. There were human sentries and greeters before the doors. Everyone moving into the hall was being scanned.
Gaubert was standing with the guards, his expression somber. When he saw Bellona, his jaw tightened. He pulled her aside. Sang moved closer.
“You are not expecting to join the family on the dais, are you?” he whispered loudly.
Bellona shook off his hand from her arm. “I am here for my brother, Gaubert. That is all. I can say my farewells from the back balcony as well as I can from the dais.”
Gaubert shook his head. “Your registration has been removed from the inner security zones. Neither you nor Sang will be allowed upstairs. You can join the general population in the hall, although…” He looked over his shoulder, into the hall itself. “I would hurry, if I were you. There isn’t a lot of room left in there.”
Bellona opened her mouth to argue. Sang could see the anger glinting in her eyes.
Gaubert looked at her steadily, waiting for her outburst.
Sang calculated the pressure of the bodies ahead, put their arm around Bellona’s waist and forced her forward, up the final broad step and into the crowd, shepherding her along as one would help the feeble or disabled.
Bellona gasped at the sudden movement, just barely keeping her feet under her. She glared at Sang.
They shook their head. “Anywhere inside will do. Max will understand. He might even approve.”
Bellona remained silent and pushed ahead as Sang was doing. It was a struggle to get through the great doors. Finally, they passed under the lintel and into the cavernous hall beyond. The pressure of bodies slackened and they worked their way to one side of the room, away from the surge of people pushing through the doors.
Bellona finally looked up at the dais and sucked in a deep breath, making everyone nearby glance at her. Some took a second glance, startled. She had been recognized.
The flame that was the symbol of Max’s life was already burning atop the pedestal. Surrounding the flame were all the familiar faces. Sang could name them all without hesitation—Reynard’s brothers and sisters, their spouses and their off-spring. It was a crowded dais.
Directly behind the pedestal stood Reynard Cardenas. He looked as though he had aged a decade since they had been gone from the city. His hair, which had still held black locks, was now almost pure silver. He was staring at the flame, with the gaze of a man searching for answers.
Iulia stood next to Reynard, her head covered by a heavy veil. There was at least a body’s width between them.
The twelve chimes began and the hall fell into complete silence.
Bellona hung her head.
Sang rested their hand on her shoulder and leaned close to murmur in her ear. “Guilt will not serve you here. Watch the flame go out. Honor him. Let everyone around you see that honor.”
Bellona raised her chin again and glanced at Sang. Then she looked ahead, her gaze steady. She did not move throughout the ceremony. When the flame was extinguished, she flinched, but that was the only reaction she gave.
* * * * *
On the way back to New Edsel, the rains began. Water thundered on the roof of the ground car and turned the last of the day into instant night and the silent interior into a muffled enclosure. Bellona appeared unmoved by the torrent. She had not spoken since the end of the ceremony. Neither did she sleep.
Sang did not disturb her reflections. They attempted to pick up the strings of various research projects. Instead they found their thoughts circling around Max. They were intrusive thoughts. Petty ones. Max’s first hangover and the combined efforts of the family to hide the event from Reynard. Max’s first steps as a child, tottering to reach not his mother, but Bellona, still only a child herself yet already his constant companion. There were many memories that occurred to Sang. If they wanted to, they could review Max’s life moment by moment, a luxury that humans did not get to enjoy.
Sang recognized the desire to sink into review for what it was. Avoiding decisions would not help Bellona now. Descending to helplessness because the source of direction had gone would be a waste, which the Scordinii deplored.
We use the parameters that best suit the assignment. How many times had Sang said that to others? The assignment had not changed. Max had been clear. Help Bellona. Only the parameters had changed. Sang would not receive more explicit instructions. They must devise those for themselves.
Sang stared ahead, while in their mind they built a matrix of possible parameters, nodes of decision, potential outcomes and consequences.
When the car pulled up next to the boarding house in New Edsel, the matrix was as complete as current information could make it.
It was very dark outside. It was late and most of the lights, both external and internal, had been doused for the night. What few lights remained reflected off the wet surfaces, making them gleam. Nothing moved in the narrow street.
Bellona stirred and unsealed the car. Instantly, the sound of rain leapt and she recoiled, as if she had noticed the rain only now.
Sang went ahead, to unlock the outer door of the boarding house so she did not have to linger on the sidewalk. The rain was heavy enough that Sang was instantly soaked, even moving the few meters to the door. They palmed the lock and pushed. The door didn’t open.
Vexed, Sang tried again. A lot of water on the palm could interfere with the pad’s function.
Bellona stepped up beside them. “What’s the matter?” She had to raise her voice to be heard.
“It won’t open.” Sang moved back out onto the sidewalk to look up at the second floor, where the boarding house owner had their apartment. There were no lights showing on that floor. Even the minimal security lights that were usually left on in the front foyer were extinguished, for nothing showed through the ground floor windows.
Bellona pressed her hand against the pad and pushed. The door remained closed. She tried again, then grabbed the handlebar and put her shoulder to the door.
Sang watched as she threw herself against the door over and over. Under the noise of the rain, they could hear her swearing. Each bump against the door grew harder and heavier, until she was ramming herself against it, making the bomb-proof door rattle in its sealed frame. The impact drove her backward.
She grew still, staring at the door. The rain was pouring off her in rivulets. Then she ran at the door and kicked it. The kick used up the last of her energy. She put her head against the door and closed her eyes.
Sang hesitated. They knew what had to be done, only there was no one here to take the step. There was only Sang.
They moved to the door and eased Bellona away from it. They put their arms around her and spoke just loudly enough for her to hear above the rain. “It only feels like you are alone.”
Bellona hid her face against their shoulder. Her arms tightened around their neck.
* * * * *
The next day, Sang sold the ground car to a grasping tradesman who understood exactly what he was buying while pretending ignorance to drive the price down. Sang let him push the price down to just above Sang’s bottom line, then walked.
The trader caught up with Sang at the entrance to the trading post across the road and coaxed Sang back. Sang let him add another fifteen percent to the price then they grasped each other’s arms.
They used the money to buy essentials, as all their current possessions, clothes and supplies were still in the boarding house that had expelled them. Neither of them was interested in trying to get anything back.
They met Bellona at the eatery in the main square and listed their purchases, while Bellona played with the hot cakes on her plate.
“Semi-ballistic?” she asked, when Sang itemized the tickets. “To where?”
“Abilio.”
“Where is that?”
“Tertius.” The third continent was in the southern hemisphere. “It will be winter there.”
“Why Abilio?”
Sang grimaced. “It was the closest to a random flag on the map that I could generate. There is absolutely nothing connecting you to Tertius or Abilio. I have no idea what is there. It has no real history and barely enough infrastructure to support fewer than a handful of permanent buildings. We’ll have to figure it out when we get there. Money is going to be the first priority.”
Bellona looked at them. “You’re using first person singular.”
Sang nodded. “Where you and I are headed, they won’t be used to androids. They certainly won’t understand the neutral gender.”
Bellona looked at them for another long moment. “Don’t pretend, Sang. I’m sick of illusions. Let them deal with the truth. It’s not up to you to ease their way.”
Sang drew in a breath, for calmness and to center themselves. “I’m not pretending.”