'I’ll need dates,' Leethe said. 'And names.'
Ara gave him Cole and Dorna’s names and the date of their sale. Leethe opened his eyes.
'I thought you were looking for one person,' he said. His tone was petulant.
'He has an accomplice,' Ara told him. 'Hurry it up.'
Leethe shut his eyes again. A few moments later, he drew a deep breath and stood up. 'Cole and Dorna Keller were both sold to one Mr. Barry Yaree, a human on the planet Trafalgar. He’s a legal coordinator there, and his Silent slaves provide communication among circuit judges because Trafalgar is a low-tech world that doesn’t allow artificial long-distance communication.'
'And where can I find Mr. Barry Yaree?' Ara said.
'He usually creates a tropical beach for his turf,' Leethe explained. He described it further, and as he spoke, a pattern began to form in Ara’s mind. Eventually she received enough of Leethe’s thoughts to find Yaree in the Dream.
'Thank you, Manager,' she said when he was done.
Leethe vanished from his chair without further comment, leaving overlarge ripples and tears in his wake as a parting shot. Ara let the garden resettle before turning to Kendi.
'What was with the blindfold?' he demanded.
'There was no need for you to see it all again,' Ara said.
'You don’t have the right,' Kendi said levelly. 'You’re not my mother.'
'That’s correct. I’m your teacher. And it’s a teacher’s duty to prevent harm to her students, both in the Dream and out of it.'
'You don’t blindfold me in the Dream and you don’t stop up my ears,' Kendi said. The anger in his voice was clear. 'I’m not a slave, and I have the right to make my own choices about what I see and hear. If you don’t think I should see something, then I’ll leave. Horses and slaves are blindfolded. People are not.'
Ara opened her mouth to refute this, then snapped it shut. 'Point,' she conceded. 'I’ll remember that next time.'
Kendi looked surprised that she had given in. He nodded. 'So what’s next?'
'We’re going to talk to Barry Yaree.'
Barry Yaree happened to be in the Dream. He was a tall man, well over two meters, with an unruly shock of red-blond hair. Ara barely came up to the waist of his bathing suit. Behind them, a tranquil tropical sea lapped at a perfect white beach beneath a warm, benevolent sun.
'I remember those two,' Yaree told them. His voice was oddly high and flute-like. 'The girl was pliant enough, but her brother-what a lying little sack of trash. Lazy, mouthy. No matter how carefully we trained him, he couldn’t seem to get into the Dream. And he was always giving us headaches. Broke stuff, stole, kept trying to get the female slaves into bed. Finally one day he actually grabbed my wife’s rear end. I had the little shit beaten and then I sold him. He didn’t seem to care. I kept the sister around for another year or so, then got a good offer and sold her, too.'
'He never got into the Dream?' Ara said. She was already developing a crick in her neck from looking so far up.
Yaree shook his shaggy head. 'Not once. Went through a truckload of drugs and cost me a pretty set of credits, too.'
That was strange, Ara mused. Cole must have gotten in later, then. Or had he been faking the fact that he couldn’t get in? 'Did you change their names?' she asked.
Yaree nodded. 'To Jack and Jill. I thought it fit.'
'Who did you sell them to?'
'A private slave dealer on Traveler III,' the woman said. She had improbably blond hair, dark eyebrows, and a body that was slowly going to seed. Her turf looked like the grand ballroom of a fairy tale castle. 'I was actually a little sad to see him go.'
'Despite what he did to the cat,' Ara said.
'Well, nobody’s perfect.' The woman shifted position on the throne she occupied. Her long blue dress, slit high up the side, revealed a fair amount of leg. 'The little devil was insatiable, too.'
'Sorry?' Ara said. Beside her, Kendi shifted uncomfortably.
'He wanted it morning, noon, and night,' the woman said in a wistful voice. 'Couldn’t even bend over to adjust my stockings without him popping up behind me, the cutie. Hung like a donkey, too. God, what a time I had with him.'
'And still you sold him,' Ara said, unsure whether to laugh or be sick. Kendi stared.
'Well, you can only take so much,' she said. 'I mean, the cat was one thing, but the third time he set the greenhouse on fire-well, enough was enough. If you see him again, tell him I said hello.'
'Of course,' Ara said faintly. 'What did you change his name to, by the way?'
'Little Tadpole.' The humanoid lizard stuck out a long tongue and licked its own eyes. 'But I call all my new slaves that, and he may not remember it. I only had the little creep a couple weeks.'
'Why is that?' Ara asked.
'He kept yanking off my daughter’s tail,' the lizard said. 'Thought it was the most hilarious thing. I punished him, but he didn’t seem to give a shit. And his discipline was null. Couldn’t even get the bastard to meditate for ten minutes. No wonder he was such a bargain. He ain’t trainable, you ask me.'
'Who did you sell him to?'
Ara sighed as she and Kendi crossed the border into his Outback. They should leave the Dream long enough to take food and bathroom breaks, but Ara didn’t want to stop just yet, not when they had some good momentum going.
'He must have been lying,' Kendi said as they walked over sand and stone. The walking was a concession to Kendi’s teleportation nausea. 'All of his owners said Cole couldn’t reach the Dream, but he obviously did.'
Ara nodded. 'Cole couldn’t do what he’s been doing without a lot of practice. Sheer power can accomplish a lot, but it can only take you so far, and he’s shown a hell of a lot of skill. I’m willing to bet he lied about not being able to reach the Dream, then started hoarding the drugs from all the ‘extra practice’ his owners made him do so he’d have a handy supply for when he
The Outback sun lay hot and heavy on her back and Ara began to wonder how long this trail would go on. This set of drugs, her second, was starting to wear off, and she didn’t want to get a third hit-it would make her head-achy and out of sorts when she finally left the Dream. Her solid body was getting hungry, and the feeling was manifesting in her Dream body as well. Kendi was also looking tired and uncomfortable. It was growing difficult remaining civil to people who bought and sold Silent like cows or sheep. Still, she didn’t want to give up. Every moment it took to find the killer was another moment closer to the time when he would murder someone else.
The next person on the list of Cole’s owners was Betta Drew, a small, dark woman about as tall as Ara, though she was bone-thin and much older. Her hair was white and her teeth protruded. Her turf was a stark white room with three hard-backed chairs. The ladderback pressed uncomfortably against Ara’s spine, adding to her current discomfort. She was going to have to leave the Dream soon and give it up for the night. A glance at Kendi told her that he was remaining at her side by sheer will alone. She was tempted to tell him to leave, then decided not to. As he had pointed out, she was not his mother, and if his drugs wore off completely and he were yanked out of the Dream-well, being left flat on his back for a day or two would be a lesson he wouldn’t forget in a hurry and it would keep him out of trouble.
'That one!' Betta spat. 'I’m sorry I ever laid eyes on him. Backtalker, mouthy, lazy. And a destructive streak. My dog disappeared a week after he arrived, and I’m sure he was responsible, though I can’t prove it. Worthless, too-couldn’t get into the Dream no matter how many drugs I gave him.'
'Did you change his name when you bought him?' Ara asked. 'I’ll need to know so I can keep tracking him.'
'I always change their names,' Betta said irritably. 'Easier to keep them docile. Good psychology. All my slaves take my last name.'
'And his first name?' Ara prompted. The headache was growing and her stomach growled. She would have to
