Seignur Veeoni’s Private Laboratory
In retrospect, she shouldn’t have eaten that fruit Tolly’d given her. She’d intended to throw it in the nearest recycler, but somehow it stayed in her pocket, and there it was in her hand, when she’d gone to reach for a protein bar, and it had smelled…so good.
It had tasted good, too.
Better’n good.
Hadn’t seemed to do anything in particular. She’d finished her shift, took her downtime, and woke up feeling a little more spritely than she was accustomed to, but nothing off the meter.
Except now here she was, acting on impulse, and if it got her killed, she was damn sure gonna haunt Tolly Jones for the rest of his life.
Not that that was lookin’ to be too many more hours.
She pressed the announce button.
The door whisked open. M Traven looked at her for a long moment, then stepped back.
“Tech Bell. Seignur Veeoni is expecting you.”
“The racks I’m building are meant to subvert systems in place.”
She told it out straight and flat while the researcher ignored her in favor of studying her screen.
“There’s Directors on the station now,” she finished, “and more incoming. That means pretty soon I’m going to be attaching those modules I been building into the main array, and you’ll have some trouble.”
There, it was said. And here was a wonder, if you please. She didn’t feel even the twinge of a headache.
“I see.” Seignur Veeoni turned at last to look at her, frown forward. “Did you expect to realize any particular benefit from telling me this?”
Well, there was a question, wasn’t it?
Delia shrugged.
“I was kinda hopin’ not to be the one to make those connections.”
“Do you doubt your work? You told me you were a rack-and-tile specialist.”
“I am a rack-and-tile specialist. And so are you. I don’t doubt either of us did any less than her best on this project, and then some.”
“Ah.”
Seignur Veeoni’s frown faded somewhat.
“How do you suggest that I proceed? I have an important lesson to teach the Lyre Institute.”
“I can see that. I read the report. You lost people, and your base. Same time, you set the Directors up. Didn’t you have an endgame?”
“In fact, I did. Are you able to be of use to me?”
And there was another question.
A quick memory of knowing silver eyes sent a shiver through her.
I can fix that for you.
She took a breath and met Seignur Veeoni’s stare.
“What do you know about Anthora yos’Galan?”