to the Unity. That itself might be worse than a war. This is not an easy position to be in, Grandfather and Mother.”
“I can sympathize,” Ara murmured, then quickly added, “Imperial Majesty.”
The Empress leaned back without changing expression. “In any case, it is obvious the Unity knows of Sejal’s power. They would not normally offer war over a single, untrained Silent, even in these volatile circumstances. I am still not sure, however, how they learned of his existence.”
“Other Silent were sensing Sejal in the Dream before we left Rust,” Ara said. “Kendi was just the first. Premiere Yuganovi probably had every Silent in the Unity searching for Sejal, and they finally tracked him down. I suspect that when Sejal possessed the six guard at our ship, it provided the final flare of activity they needed to pinpoint his location.”
“That sounds reasonable,” the Empress said. “However, there is also the chance that a spy was feeding the Unity information. Is it possible this was one of your crewmembers, Mother Ara?”
“I very much doubt it,” Ara said. “Though if you have misgivings, we could question them-and me-in the Dream, since it’s impossible to lie there.”
“Do that,” the Empress ordered. “Though Brother Pitr Haddis died, correct? I do not wish to open wounds, Mother Ara, but is it possible he was the spy?”
Ara’s throat thickened with anger. Pitr a spy? Ludicrous! And now the Empress was questioning his sacrifice. The change in wording hadn’t been lost on Ara, either-”a spy” had become “the spy.” Witch hunt language.
“I don’t think,” Ara said with seething deliberateness, “that Pitr would have ensured our escape and saved our lives at the expense of his own if he were a Unity spy.”
The Empress nodded. “And what of Chin Fen?”
“He was a student at the monastery years ago,” Melthine spoke up, and Ara was glad. It gave her time to regain her composure. “But he left before completing his training. He never reached the Dream. He claims he fled to the Empire of Human Unity because it put humans first and because he was young and foolish.”
“Where is he now?”
“Under house arrest until I can decide what to do with him,” came the reply.
“Is it possible he is the spy? That he can indeed reach the Dream and report information to the Unity?”
Ara shook her head. “Fen figured out who Sejal was long before he leaped aboard my ship. If Fen were spying for the government, he would have turned us in the moment he even suspected we were harboring the wanted Silent.”
“What of your son Benjamin?” the Empress said.
Ara’s mouth fell open in utter shock, as if the Empress had dumped a load of icewater on her head.
“He ran communications on board the Post Script,” the Empress continued relentlessly. “It would have been easy for him to alert the Unity to anything he pleased.”
Ara did the unthinkable. Still kneeling, she turned her back on the Imperial Majesty. Black anger made every muscle as rigid as a brick, and Ara would have launched herself at the Empress’s throat if she had been forced to look at her for one moment more. She stared fixedly at the far end of the hall, boiling with rage.
Serene must you ever remain, she told herself. Serene. Serene.
“Benjamin Rymar,” Melthine answered quietly, “is one of your most faithful subjects, Imperial Majesty. He is devoted to the Children, even though he is not Silent. So are Harenn Mashib and Jack Jameson. I have utter confidence in them all.”
Ara did not turn around. She knew she was risking time in prison for her disrespect, but she couldn’t bring herself to act properly yet.
“Here is my decision, then,” the Empress said. She seemed to be ignoring Ara’s breach. “Two of my slaves will enter the Dream, where lies are impossible, and question all Silent who were on board the Post Script, including you, Mother Ara. I expect it to be a formality and I expect that the Unity learned of Sejal through its own Silent, but we must be sure. Since Chin Fen is not my subject but wishes to defect, he will answer questions under medication. We shall, for the moment, assume Benjamin, Jack, and Harenn are innocent.”
Melthine said nothing. Ara continued to stare at the far wall.
“Mother Ara,” the Empress said in a kinder tone, “I know this is difficult-”
Ara whirled, heedless of Imperial protocol. “You know nothing. First you order me to decide whether an innocent boy should live or die. Then you make a mockery of the Brother who gave his life for mine, and you accuse my son of high treason. Your ass is on a throne, but your head is in a toilet.”
“Ara!” Melthine gasped, horrified. “Imperial Majesty, I beg you to excuse-”
“Calm, Grandfather Melthine,” Empress Kan maja Kalii said gently. She turned her brown eyes on Ara. “I understand more than you know, Mother. Shall I tell you how I spent my day? This morning I ordered emergency famine relief for a suffering planet. The planet is remote, and in order to ensure relief arrives in time to do any good, foodstuffs, medical supplies, and other materials must be shipped in from the closest two planets without delay. Although the Confederation subsidizes everything, it will take time for the subsidies to catch up. This means the relief effort will put a temporary drain on these planets’ economies and there is a good chance it will spark economic recessions that will change hundreds of thousands of lives. It took me over two hours to analyze the factors involved and order the implementation of this plan. In those two hours, five thousand, two hundred and twenty-four of my subjects died of hunger.
“Next, I received word that a minor conflict between a Confederation planet and one of its colonies has escalated into full-scale war because my nephew, who I sent as a mediator, was kidnapped and tortured to death by agitants.”
Ara suppressed a gasp at these words. Kalii continued without changing tone or inflection.
“Hundreds of people have so far died in this war. Now I must send troups to put down this uprising, meaning still more lives will be lost or irrevocably changed, many of them innocent civilians. This is how I spent my afternoon.
“This evening, I sit here discussing the fate of a single boy and a handful of Silent monks while the nephew I loved like a son lies in a bloody grave a thousand light-years away. And I must discuss these things because if I do not, the Unity will declare a war that will make my nephew’s conflict a playground scuffle by comparison.”
With a single swift gesture, Kalii snatched the little jewels that orbited her head into her palm and flung them away. They bounced and scattered like marbles across the white stone floor. “I am long weary of this, Mother Ara. I inherited this crown seventy-two years ago from my father Bolivar the First, and in that time the burden has become no easier to bear. Billions of people live and die by my words, and I sleep with their ghosts every night.
“I am not asking for your pity. I am, however, asking you to understand that you are not the only one who must make difficult decisions or watch the ones you love pay for your mistakes.”
Ara had not moved. Now she bowed her head low, her anger replaced by a shame that flamed her cheeks red and raw. “My deepest apologies, Imperial Majesty. I often berate my former student Brother Kendi for speaking without thinking. It seems I must learn to take my own advice.”
Kan maja Kalii nodded. “You and I are much alike, Mother Adept Araceil. People of our kind see what must be done, and we do it. Only afterward do we find time for tears.”
Ara flushed at the praise, even though she recognized the words as those of a leader trying to raise the morale of a subordinate. Interesting, she thought, at how psychology works even when the recipient is aware of it.
“Have the ships returned, Imperial Majesty?” Melthine asked. “The ones that were sent to investigate the Silent enveloped by the disturbance in the Dream?”
The Empress shook her head. “Not yet. They have no doubt arrived by now and are investigating, but then it will take them some time to get back.”
“Once they arrive, can’t the Silent on board the ships simply report back?” Ara said.
“We have been studying the disturbance, Ara, and we advised the Empress not to send Silent to those planets,” Melthine put in.
“What?” Ara said, wondering, since she had already flouted Imperial protocol and gotten away with it, if she could push a little further and sit cross-legged instead of kneeling. Kendi must be rubbing off on her. “Why not?”
“Dream mechanics,” Melthine said. “Space means nothing to Silent within the Dream, but it does to non-
