🚀 go-pugleaf

                   [[Continued from Part Two]]


     "--check article two of the provisions," Eduard said to the
secretary next to him.  "I'm not sure the read of the agreement
will keep the Rialtons bound to their distribution agreement
regardless of who the su'Rialto is.  I don't want to validate this
with loopholes in place."
     "Yes, Mister Tombolo," he said, picking up the printout and
sitting at a far desk, scanning it.
     "You've got them well trained, don't you," Karleen asked
quietly.  "I can see why you wanted them to come with you."
     Eduard nodded.  "I've got them more or less displacing the
existing staff until the Le Guin gets here.  When it arrives, and
they take the place of *Edo's* staff... well, from this point
forward things should be different."
     "The Le Guin en route too... I'd forgotten that."  Karleen rose
and walked to the window.  "I expect there's been more ship traffic
-- not counting automated freighters carting off ore and melan-
based products -- at the Rialto Landing Field in the past three
months--"
     "Yes, I think you're right," Eduard said, rising as well.
"Though that's set to change.  Which brings up a question.  Are you
going to go with me tomorrow?  I'm going to have breakfast with the
captain of the Mnemonic, and then see them off as they launch.
Would you like to come with me?  It might be your last chance to
see--"
     "Jamison Stewart?" Karleen asked quietly.
     "If you like.  Or Jason Stuart.  Either way -- he's shipping
along with them."
     "I'd have thought...."
     "That he'd stay?  That he wouldn't leave Elizabeth alone with
all this?"
     "Essentially."
     Eduard nodded slightly.  "Karleen, I don't care how little this
is or how late it's been said... but Exocet shouldn't have
happened.  Not the way it did.  I'm sor--"
     "Spare me," Karleen said.  "I'm here to guard your life.  Not to
like you.  I'll never like you."
     Eduard regarded Karleen coolly.  "Of course," he said at last.
"Well, now that we've cleared *that* air... how surprised could you
be over Stewart leaving Elizabeth?  He left once, didn't he."
     "He had no choice."
     "And then he left you."
     "We couldn't be kept together.  It was too--"
     "And he left Clan McLeod."
     "He couldn't be expected to work for another corp--"
     "Karleen... Jason Stuart was horribly used.  I admit it.  But
since he escaped it, he's consistently looked out for his own skin
and no one else's.  He backed his father's power play.  He got an
agreement from us, thanks to his sister.  The two of them have at
least put a lien on their father's soul.  And now he's getting the
Hell out, because there's nothing more he can get out of staying."
     Karleen didn't answer.
     "Glad you concur," Eduard said.
     The door opened.  Melinda and Aber came in.  Aber looked upset.
     "Melinda?" Eduard asked, turning and frowning.  "What--"
     "Laddiebuck," Aber said.  "Karleen an' I have to go.  As soon as
possible."
     Karleen blinked.  "We've got a job we're doing here," she said.
"We--"
     "Leaving," Melinda said.  "You never -- you can't *leave!*
Karleen's guarding Eduard--"
     Eduard looked concerned, if unsurprised.  "What's happened," he
asked quietly.
     "There's been a bombing in the Clan McLeod Central Headquarters
on Edinburgh," Aber said hoarsely.  "Obvious terrorist act.  No
idea who or why though people're calling for Megacorp's heads on a
platter."
     Karleen paled.  "Rory...."
     "Ruiraidh McLeod was... one of the victims," Aber said, his eyes
stinging with tears.  "He's not dead yet, but he's in a coma and...
not expected to make it very long.  His son is safe.  Colleen
Piper... apparently threw herself on Rory before the blast and
took... she... "
     Karleen sat down, covering her face with her hands.
     "Karleen... Aber," Eduard said.  "I... just wanted to say--"
     And then he felt it -- the sudden snap of Karleen's thoughts in
his, the probing and scouring, searching him for any clue, any
sign....
     Eduard shuddered and fell backwards, missing the chair and
slapping against the floor, hard.
     "Eduard!" Melinda shouted, diving to him.
     "Well?" Eduard asked, looking in the telepath's tear-filled
eyes.
     "Karleen?" Aber asked.
     "He... knew nothing about it," Karleen whispered.  "But he's not
surprised.  It's... I don't understand you, Tombolo... you... feel
real regret and pain and even anger over Rory, but you're not--"
     "Take the Kessel," Eduard said curtly.  "Her engines will carry
to to Edinburgh in a fraction of the time any other ship within
weeks of Rialto will."
     Melinda blinked.  "Eduard," she snapped.  "No.  We need the
Kessel to get you to decent medical facilities -- to find an
antidote to the bio-agent Carmen Elarosa--"
     "There are priorities here, Melinda," Eduard snapped back.  "I
have months.  Rory has weeks or even days.  A telepath might help
where no one else can."
     "Tombolo," Aber said, "the Kessel's your escape hatch.  Without
it--"
     "I'll have the Le Guin, when it gets here, Fitch.  And you're
low on time.  Get moving.  Both of you."
     Karleen stared at Eduard as he sat down next to the secretary,
who was staring at the tableaux.  "I assume that you've finished
that word-check, since you're finding my private affairs so
*fascinating?*"
     "I -- sorry sir.  I'll... be right back."
     "What a *brilliant* idea," Eduard replied, then watched the man
file slowly out.
     "He... he's loyal," Karleen said quietly.
     "I'm aware of that," Eduard said.  "And you're running late."
     Karleen looked at Eduard again, then slowly walked out.
     "Bloody English," Aber said, shaking his head and following
Karleen.
     Eduard glanced back at the door.  "I think my status went up,"
he murmured.  "But how he gets English out of `Tombolo--'"
     "I think he means Karleen."
     "Dumont's French.  Melinda?"
     "Yes, my love?"
     "I... want you to take the Kessel with the others.  Get out of
here."
     Melinda nodded.  "I know you do."  She sat next to him.  "And
you're full of shit."
     "Mel--"
     "Eduard... I don't give a damn about dreams... or Edo... or
Rialto... or anything else.  If you order me to go, I'll quit.
You're my husband and you're fighting for your life.  I'm...
with... *you.*"
     Eduard looked at Melinda a long time, and finally nodded slowly.
"I know, Mel... it's not going to be easy."
     "Eduard... tell me this.  You said you knew how and when and
where you'd die.  You're letting your way out leave the planet.
*Level* with me."
     Eduard looked at his hands.  "I'm going to die in five years.
From today.  Right here on Rialto.  I will never leave Rialto
again.  But the universe will think I'm going to die at the hands
of the Other Son in less than a month.  And now... they're going to
think you're dead too... and in five years you're going to die with
me."
     Melinda looked at Eduard, her eyebrows raising.  "Eduard Richard
Tombolo, I could have told you *that* without dreams or anything
else."  She leaned against her husband.  "Can you tell me anything
else?"
     "Nothing that would make any sense... but we'll be happy after
all... *this* is over.  And our children will be strong... spinning
down the ages with a fire so bright it's almost... nuclear."

                          >>>***_***<<<

     Leiphali slowly washed the dishes and set them to one side.  His
brow was wrinkled in thought.
     "What is it," Sen asked.  "You seem... rather disturbed.
Unbalanced."
     "Perhaps balance isn't what you think it is," he murmured.
"I'm... just realizing something, is all."
     "What?"
     "And with that something... I realize many other things.  Do you
have spies in the Resistance?"
     "Some."
     "Important ones?"
     "All beings are important, in their own way."
     "That's a no, isn't it.  You don't know the plans of the
Resistance."
     "I know what I must."
     Leiphali nodded.  "You know why Tami likes me so much?"
     "You are loyal, and serve well--"
     "No.  All his ko'velts but Rilia do that.  He likes me because I
balance Mancoti's deductive service.  I anticipate him.  I realize
his needs before he does, and I am always there... until now.  It's
why Elizabeth needed me.  She sensed I would be there, I would
understand what she needed.  I would lead her where she travelled."
     "Until now."
     "Yes..." he looked at Sen.  "Intuition, Sen.  That's what I
have, more than anything.  And it's realized something."
     Sen looked impassive.
     Leiphali turned and walked away from Sen, through the caves to
their mouth, where Rilia stared into the starry heavens, to the
Eyes of Rialto, which almost seemed to be peering into the mouth of
the cave itself.
     "Homesick," she asked quietly.
     "Tami knows of my bond to Elizabeth?"
     "Mm?  Not that he's told me, no."
     "But it's gossip?  Speculation in the halls?"
     Rilia laughs.  "As though *I* would hear that.  They hate me
there, Leiphali su'Tami ti'Stuart suti'Enlightenment.  Remember?"
     "I remember.  Then tell me this, Rilia su'Tami.  How did *you*
know?"
     Rilia turned.  "What?"
     "Sen told you?"
     "No..."
     "No, he didn't.  You told him, didn't you?  How did *you* know I
bonded to Elizabeth su'Leiphali ti'Embassy?  *How?*"
     "You're walking a path more important than--"
     Leiphali grabbed her wrist.  "My *path* requires that one, key
answer, su'Tami.  *How* did you know?  Who told you?"
     "Concern for your ko'velt, Leiphali?  How touching.  You need to
leave that behind too, if you are to find balance."
     "She is correct," Sen said, approaching from behind, eyes
catching the faint light and seeming to burn like pale stars.  "The
Ohm cannot be ko'pi or chi'pi, but instead must be the balance of--
"
     "Shut *up,*" he snapped to Sen.  "You ask me to balance Rialto
and in the same breath you tell me to abandon it?"
     "Like you abandoned Tami and Elizabeth," Sen said.  "Yes,
Leiphali tu'Rialto.  It is--"
     Leiphali whirled back to Rilia, pulling her close.  "How do you
know?!"
     "You don't want me to answer that, su'Tami."
     "*HOW?!*"
     Rilia slowly smiled.  "Rijaei told me," she purred.  "Just
before he dominated me into sheer, passionate, *orgasmic*
submission... are you glad to know that?"
     "You betrayed Tami with his enemy," Leiphali whispered.
     "My bond with Tami failed.  You know this.  I'm still there
because of political--"
     Leiphali threw the woman across the cave, slamming her into the
wall hard.  "You *betrayed* him," he shouted.  "I should kill you!"
     "But you won't, *tu'Rialto,*" Rilia spat back.  "You won't
because you can't *interfere--*"
     "I can drag you back by your damnable hair!  I can throw you at
his feet, and tell him of your crime.  I can expose it -- learning
that Rijaei betrayed another Chi'velt's bond will be *his* ruin,
not Tami's!  I will--"
     "You will *not,*" Sen shouted.  "Put your ko'velt's rage beyond
you, as you put your Chi'velt's responsibility beyond you!  You
must *balance* Rialto!  Do not let your ko'pi dominate you now!"
     "You stand there and speak of Rialto like it is something
*separate!*" Leiphali raged back into the cave.  "You stand there
and act as though Rialto is not the chains and links of the
velt'pa!  As though I am *not* a part of Elizabeth and Tami, like
they are not a part of--"
     And with a shudder, Leiphali felt his anger snap into sharp
focus... into an understanding that cut through Sen's teachings and
Rilia's proud rants and Rialto Sun-Tei's epigrams... with a
shudder, Leiphali *understood.*
     "What?  No more angry words," Rilia spat.  "You're no better
than I was, you yhong-sp--"
     "Silence," Sen said, peering.  "tu'Rialto, what--"
     "You call him that like he has already *become* an Ohm'velt,"
Rilia snapped.  "He is--"
     "Silence," Leiphali echoed, so softly... and Rilia felt herself
shiver and turn.
     "You... feel the Ohm?" Sen asked, eyes wide.
     "I did... for a second.  A fragment.  A moment.  It doesn't
matter.  I understand now.  In a way you don't, Sen.  Your path is
wrong.  Rialto Sun-Tei's words led me here as well... but they
can't lead me any further.  Rilia was right... I confronted the
desert."
     "Yes," Sen said.  "And now your training must--"
     "How can you train me, Sen?  You don't have the Ohm.  Your lack
failed Rilia... and led her to fail her own Chi'pi and Ko'pi.
Because you are *wrong.*"
     "What... do you mean," Rilia asked in a hushed breath."
     "I will be taking your vehicle, Rilia.  Stay here, and begin
training with Sen.  You must re-find the spiritual side Sen's
message exposed to the light."
     "You cannot leave *now,*" Sen said.  "Leiphali, you cannot face
the rage of those you abandoned without your balance!  You will be
crushed--"
     "No, Sen.  You're wrong.  Tami is my Chi'velt... even though I
am not his Ko'velt.  Elizabeth is my Ko'velt, even though I am not
her Chi'velt.  In fleeing them, I found the Truth... which is that
I cannot *be* balanced without them.  I am just... myself here.  I
have to face them.  I have to endure their pain... I have to
achieve their forgiveness.  Both of them.  In balance.  Because
Rialto is not cold words in books, or silent meditations in the
desert.  They can guide you... but the velt'pa *are* Rialto.  In
them I find me.  In them... I might be able to find the Ohm you
can't lead me to."
     "How do you know this," Rilia whispered.  "How, tu'Rialto?"
     "Because of you," he said with a slight smile, and no trace of
anger.  "Your words, my reaction... they led me to a flash of the
Ohm... because they led me back to thoughts of Elizabeth and Tami.
Where I found balance for myself in the desert, as I lay dying...
so I find balance in them when I *live.*"
     Sen slowly lifted his arm.  In his hand was the blue sash.
     Leiphali looked at it.  "I have not earned that yet, Sen.  I am
tu'Rialto.  I am not Ohm'velt."
     "You were, for that second."
     "Talk to me about that sash when it lasts longer than a second.
When I return for the training you'll have to give me."
     "What... will you tell Tami?" Rilia asked.
     Leiphali looked at her, and smiled sadly.  "The truth.  About
myself and Elizabeth.  About your betrayal with Rijaei.  About the
Ohm.  All of it.  I won't decry you.  But he has to know if we are
all to move on."
     Rilia nodded.
     "And if you fail," Sen asked.  "If it turns out I am right, and
you are wrong?"
     Leiphali thought for a moment, then walked and picked up the
hand-written book of Evolutions.  "Then I hope you don't have to
wait another twenty years for the next aspirant," he said quietly,
and walked slowly out of the cave to the flyer... towards home.
     "I don't understand," Sen whispered.
     "I think I do," Rilia said.  "Sen?"
     "Yes?"
     "Teach me, Sen.  Not balance.  Teach me... how to be a ko'velt
again.  How to be Tami's ko'velt again."
     Sen turned to Rilia, and smiled slightly.  "I submit," he said
quietly.  It seemed he would be busy while the tu'Rialto was gone.

                          >>>***_***<<<

     Nona su'Borsi looked at the monitor with shock, then ran
barefoot through the halls to the chambers where her husband and
Chi'velt Borsi slept.
     "Chi'velt," she hissed, pushing open the doors.  "Chi'velt.
Awaken!"
     Borsi threw himself sitting with a fluid motion.  "Speak," he
snapped.
     "The su'Rialto is here.  Without any ko'velts.  He comes
*alone.*"
     Borsi blinked.  "What is *he* doing here?"
     "I know not.  They landed without authorization--"
     "Clear the hallways.  Get dressed and listen to us as we
speak... I will see him."
     "Borsi--"
     "Do it, Nona.  He didn't come here alone to kill me."
     "Chi'velt subi."
     Borsi rose and put his own robe around himself.  Suspire was
warm at night, he needed nothing else.  He strode from his chambers
to the anteroom, where--
     Tami stood.  Unarmed, but his entire bearing was raw Chi'pi.
Borsi narrowed his eyes.  This man was not here for a light matter.
     "What do you want," Borsi demanded.
     "Stop your ko'velts from listening.  Stop recording.  I must
speak with you alone, Borsi.  For the sake of *all* Rialto."
     Borsi lifted his chin slightly.  "All of you," he said to those
in the room, "leave us."
     "And the recording?"
     "Nona is listening.  She will not record.  This is what I
demand, su'Rialto.  Do not press me on it."
     "As you wish."  Tami strode to an arched window, and looked over
Suspire.  "The resistance blackmailed Leiphali, using a Bond to a
new ko'velt to force him to hide knowledge from me."
     Borsi blinked, staring at Tami.  "Rijaei," he murmured.  "He...
is *insane.*"
     "Rijaei, yes.  And I suspected his hand.  Even as I realized you
had less and less to do with them with each day."  Tami turned.
"Borsi, we are opposed, mostly due to the UCP.  But you are an
honorable man.  I am as well.  Challisar is as well.  We are all
the honor *left,* it seems.  Even Coda has an agenda."
     "But we are opposed, as you say," Borsi said.
     "No longer.  Borsi... the UCP's ways have become the
Resistance's.  We cannot throw them from our world.  But we *must*
drive the UCP and Megacorp as far from us as we possibly can.  I
understand that now, even as you understand how... *corrupt* your
confederates are."
     "To... torture a ko'velt... I..." Borsi slammed his fist on his
table.  "This is out of control."
     "Agreed.  Borsi... we must ally on this.  We must dominate the
Policad.  Not for or against the UCP... but in the name of Rialto -
- in the name of our very morality and way of life!"
     Borsi turned to Tami.  "I have fought you for years," he said.
     "Yes, you have.  What of it?"
     "Nothing..." Borsi smiled a predator's smile.  "Save that I know
how vicious you can be."
     "As I know of you."
     "Well then," Borsi said.  "Our enemies have *no* idea how much
trouble they are in, do they?  Nona -- contact Challisar.  Get her
*here* and make it *quiet.*  The three of us are a Dominant
Coalition without either of the *schemers* needed.  We must plan."
     "Yes, we must," Tami agreed.  "It's time the Megacorps and the
UCPs and the Rijaeis and... everyone else learns just who and what
they're threatening here."



WILL THEY LEARN?
WILL BORSI AND TAMI REALLY ALLY?
IS LEIPHALI'S INTUITION RIGHT?
WILL RORY DIE?
WILL EDUARD AND MELINDA DIE?
WILL GELD SUCCEED?
WILL TAMLIN WORK WITH HIM?



Hey, it's not *my* problem.  It's Gary's.  He's up next here on
Rialto.  And he's got a nice shiny object to distract you with.


--
Beta-Cit Eric Alfred Burns    | "To write good satire, be sure that you
<sabre@awenet.com>            |  choose a target that truly bothers you.
(sabre@eyrie.org>             |  If you're indifferent to something, you
Writer Type, Poet Boy         |  lack the motivation to make fun of it
Maine Expatriate              |  effectively."
Gadfly-for-Hire               |                  --Esther M. Friesner