Core Hall Conference Room
“Before we come to your topic, Mentor, I wonder after this Ren Stryker. The light keepers have assigned him a mooring, as you requested, but I would like to know why he is here, and why we should trust him.”
It was, Tolly thought, a reasonable question, it being the light keeper’s job to keep the station secure. He gave an easy nod, but before he could speak, Tocohl did.
“Shan asked Trader Carresens-Denobli to speak to Disian on my behalf,” she said from the upgraded speaker in the meeting room. Tolly saw Theo Waitley glance that way, eyebrows up and face thoughtful. Tolly sighed. There was a dangerous woman, right there. Saw too much, and didn’t bother to hide that she’d seen it.
“Further,” Tocohl continued, “Disian is one of Mentor Jones’s students and she knows he is at the Light. Ren Stryker states that Disian sent him to Mentor Jones, and provided him with appropriate identifications. I believe he is telling the truth.”
“He may be telling the truth,” Jen Sin said. “But that is far different from being safe, or trustworthy.”
“Ren Stryker has so far been everything that is accommodating. He is cheerful, and willing to work,” Tocohl answered, her voice a little sharp now. “He has not initiated any unwanted contact, and waits upon the station’s pleasure.
“We believe that the majority of commerce this station will enjoy in the future will be with and for Independent Logics. When will we begin to trust our clientele, if not now?”
A good point, Tolly allowed, but the conversation was veering wide. The big problem was Ahab-Esais, and Ren Stryker’s trustworthiness was tangential to the fact that he could be really useful on that front, right now.
“Couple things,” he said, pushing with his voice, like he could, but rarely did.
Eyes turned toward him, and that was good. He leaned forward, hands flat on the table in front of him, face as earnest and true as he could make it seem.
“Tocohl’s right. Disian knows where I am on account of she sent me here. She’d also been part of a group keeping an eye on the Old Light, when it happened to be where anybody could see it, and she knew it’d taken damage. The Free Ships have a stake in getting the New Light up and operating. I’m not having any trouble believing Ren Stryker’s here to help, nor that Disian sent him, likely before she got the master trader’s message. Ren Stryker’s not a problem.”
He paused and looked around the table.
“The problem is that Ahab-Esais is still docked here, and it’s certain the Lyre Institute is gonna come looking for her, sooner instead of later, on account of their own interest in the Old Light. Best thing I could figure was to send her away, but having Ren Stryker render her down for parts is even better—less waste, you might say.”
He took a breath and deliberately did not look at Haz, sitting across the table.
“But the stakes are a little higher than just the ship. The Lyre Institute’s looking for me, so it’s best I’m not here, when whoever they send to collect me gets here. Ren Stryker gives me someplace to be where it won’t be easy to get me out.”
“If you need to be somewhere else, and the ship needs to be somewhere else,” Theo Waitley said practically, “why not just take it and go?”
“Good question. Answer is that the Institute’s ships report back. I’d have to retrofit her from the skin in, and I still wouldn’t be able to trust her.”
She wrinkled her nose.
“So, what’s this Lyre Institute? An arm of the Department of the Interior?”
Tolly laughed.
“Fellow travelers, maybe. The full formal’s Lyre Institute for Exceptional Children. Operated as the Tanjalyre Institute in the Old Universe, and that right there’s how we’re not quite cousins, Cap’n Theo. Tanjalyre Institute was in the business of designing, developing, and refining biologic units optimized for certain kinds of work. Not much different from how the military was producing soldiers. I’m off of an old pattern, which happens to intersect with your Liaden-side family back near the roots. You can get the details from your brother, but that’s the short of why I might seem familiar to you.”
“You are a manufactured human,” Jen Sin didn’t sound shocked or horrified—of course he didn’t; the man’d been a Scout. However, in keeping with that, he did sound curious. Tolly turned to meet his eyes.
“That’s me. Walking violation of every word and punctuation mark in the Free Gene and Manumitted Human Act. Also got a strong interest in not going back to the Institute, the Directors being a bit peeved with me.”
“I understand,” Jen Sin said seriously, turning his hands palm up on the table. “Mentor, surely you know that we will not surrender you to enemies. There is no need to remove yourself from the station, or from the assistance of your allies.”
Tolly stared at him, and for an unusual couple of seconds couldn’t think of one thing to say. He took a breath, sighed it out, and answered with the plain truth, so they’d know exactly what they were up against.
“The Directors have the means to compel me to act against my own best interests,” he said slowly. “Now that there’s somewhere else to go, I can’t stay here. I’m a danger to everyone on this station and the station, too.”
“So.”
Jen Sin was staring at the table, though Tolly thought he was seeing something other than the handsome gold-striped wood. No one chattered, or fidgeted, for the slow count of two dozen.
Jen Sin raised his eyes.
“This is what we shall do,” he said quiet and calm. “First, we allow Ren Stryker to be a person of integrity, and honor him for his desire to assist.”
He paused.
“Mentor—do you have the key to Ahab-Esais?”
“I do,” Tolly admitted.
“Excellent. You will accompany me.”
Tolly blinked.
“Why?”
Jen Sin raised an eyebrow.
“You are suggesting that we summarily murder a ship which is under my care. As it happens, I know something about ships, including how best to kill them. Surely, it is still said that Korval is ships? I would examine Ahab-Esais in order to satisfy myself that she must die.
“Cousin Tocohl.”
“Cousin?”
“You arrived here in that ship—as the pilot, if I recall correctly?”
“Yes,” Tocohl said.
“Excellent. I will value your insights, as we do a walk-through.”
Tocohl hesitated. A sigh was heard before she answered, calmly.
“I will meet you there.”
“Well enough. Captain Waitley—”
“I need to touch base with my crew, and start planning how best to clear out the core,” Captain Waitley said, rising from her chair. “Am I right in thinking Ren Stryker can process the old racks and tiles?”
“Might have to get him a sample,” Tolly said.
“We’ll include that in our planning,” she said. She accorded the table a cordial, general nod, and left the room.
Hazenthull rose.
“I will offer myself as general labor to Seignur Veeoni,” she said, and also left.
“Well.” Jen Sin rose. “It would seem that we all have our tasks. Mentor, with me, please.”