Crown of Slaves

Judging from the little smile on her lips, Anton suspected that Berry was remembering the same conversation.

'I'd rather you did hear it, Berry,' he said. 'Whatever decision I make-we make-you'll be involved.' He looked at Du Havel, adding: 'I'd like to get your reactions, too.'

Du Havel nodded. 'For what they're worth. I warn you, Anton, I'm a theorist-not a practical-minded spy.'

By now, Ruth was perched on the edge of her chair. She, clearly enough, did not share any of Berry's misgivings. Nor, for that matter, any of Web Du Havel's easy relaxation. The princess seemed on the verge of bouncing up and down with impatience.

'What that Solarian lieutenant had to tell me was that he could provide me with the link to track down-try to, anyway-the origins of the mysterious Elaine Komandorski.'

The name obviously meant nothing to the two girls or Web. Anton would have been surprised if it had. So far as he was aware, even the woman's name was known only to a small number of Landing City's police force. And none of them had found out, as Anton had, what eventually happened to her.

'She doesn't use that name any longer. She changed identities quite some time ago. Nowadays, she's known as Lady Georgia Young, formerly Georgia Sakristos.'

Both girls knew that name, even if Du Havel didn't. Berry's eyes were wide; Ruth's, as wide as saucers.

'The wife of the Earl of North Hollow,' Anton continued. 'And the person who is considered by many people, me included, to be the gray eminence-at least when it comes to the dirty work-behind the current government of the Star Kingdom.' He gave the princess a glance. 'You can add her name to Kevin Usher's on that little list of the galaxy's top spies.'

Ruth stroked her throat. 'She controls North Hollow's black files, doesn't she?'

Anton nodded grimly. 'Yes, she does. For all practical purposes, anyway. Those damned files assembled by the old Earl North Hollow, which have been used to blackmail more of Manticore's politicians than I want to think about. And, I don't have any doubt, were all that enabled High Ridge and his cohorts to contain the damage which should have ensued after Cathy and I released the files we brought back from the Manpower Incident on Terra.'

'Who was 'Komandorski'?' asked Berry.

'Elaine Komandorski, in her heyday, was one of the most notorious criminals in Landing City-among the police, at any rate, even if her name wouldn't have meant anything to most Manticoran citizens. She was no crude armed robber, you understand. She specialized in things like industrial espionage, swindling; financial crimes, essentially. Except that the police are sure she was responsible for the murder of at least two people, and had something to do with the 'suicide' of yet another, in order to cover her tracks.'

'But-' Berry shook her head. 'If you could prove that the current Lady Young was-'

Anton shook his head. 'Not good enough. Yes, with DNA evidence it could be proved that Georgia Young and Elaine Komandorski were one and the same person. But Komandorski was never convicted of anything, despite being the subject of an amazing number of police investigations. The cops are morally certain that she committed most of the crimes she was suspected of, but they couldn't prove it.

'So'-shrugging-'the most we could get out of it, as it stands, would be publicly embarrassing the High Ridge regime. Big deal. As long as High Ridge has his hands on those black files, he can put enough pressure where it matters to keep a lid on it. Just like he did with the Manpower investigation.'

Ruth's quick mind had already raced ahead. 'The police, I take it, were never able to find out where Komandorski came from.'

'No. Neither have I. She just… appeared one day, in Landing City, and with enough of a bankroll to start her scams. And they weren't piker scams, either.'

'So if you could track down her origins, you might be able to break the thing wide open.'

'Sure. But-'

Ruth cut him off. 'Yes, I know, the question's obvious. Why did a Solarian junior officer hand you this juicy little tidbit? And who's he acting for? You can be dead sure-okay, ninety-nine percent dead sure-that altruism wasn't the motive. Which means, so far as I can see, only one of three alternatives.'

Anton leaned back. He was curious to see how far the girl could work the chain of logic.

The princess started ticking off her fingers. 'The first alternative-the best one, from our point of view-is that someone else has a grudge against Komandorski but, for whatever reason, isn't in a position to act on it. So they're setting up Captain Zilwicki as their hatchet man.'

'Good,' grunted Anton. 'Now tell me what's wrong with that picture.'

Ruth frowned. The expression made her thin face-well, Berry's thin face, if Anton wanted to be precise-look more intense than ever. Hunched over in her chair as she was, elbows on knees, her blue eyes peering intently at the floor, with her long dark hair spilling over her shoulders, she made Anton think of a young witch pondering her first major incantation. A very young witch, and a rather pretty one, true; but a witch sure and certain.

Anton, as he had many times since the nanotech transformation, found himself more than a little disconcerted. The fact that Ruth now looked like Berry, and Berry looked like Ruth, he could handle. But their personalities hadn't been transformed, a fact which often left him feeling confused. An intense-almost high-strung-'Berry' was a contradiction in terms.

'It's still… possible,' Ruth said after a few seconds' thought. 'But probably not very likely. I'd think it would be even harder to track whoever Komandorski used to be forward in time than it is to track Komandorski backward. Which was so hard to do-the latter, I mean-that neither you nor the LCPD was able to do it.'

Still with her head lowered, she cocked a questioning eye at Anton. He nodded approvingly.

'Yes. As long as someone's got the money-which Komandorski did, judging from the size of the war chest she had when she popped up in Landing City-it's very easy to break off an old life and create a new one, with almost no tracks left at all. It's a big galaxy, even the little part of it humans have explored and settled.'

'That's what I thought. And if that's the case, then anyone who was tracking her because they had a grudge to settle, presumably had plenty of resources of their own. Plenty enough, you'd think, to handle their own hatchet work.' She paused briefly, again. 'Which means that it's far more likely that whoever did spot the connection stumbled across it by accident.'

'Not necessarily 'by accident,' ' countered Anton. 'For their own reasons, they might have been investigating something Komandorski was involved in. Still, I agree with your main point. It's not at all likely that they were specifically looking for her.'

He made a little motion with his hand. 'Continue. What's the next alternative?'

'Well, that one's obvious. Whoever it is has a grudge against you, and is using Komandorski to bait the trap.' This time, when she looked at Anton she raised her head. 'And you'd be hard pressed not to take it, wouldn't you?'

Anton's jaws were set. 'There is no way in hell I would not take it, unless I was dead certain it was nothing but a trap. Getting rid of Georgia Young and those stinking North Hollow files would be the best political hygiene the Star Kingdom could possibly enjoy.'

Now it was Berry's turn to clutch her throat. 'But-Daddy-you can't-'

Anton shook his head. 'Relax, Berry. As it happens, I think that's the least likely variant. Not impossible, sure, but…'

Again, he waved his hand at Ruth. 'You explain, if you can.'

The princess didn't hesitate. 'It's not likely just because it's too convoluted. The problem with hacking up the Captain'-she gave Anton a smile-'is that there's so little you can hack at except himself. Most political dirty work involves ruining someone's reputation, and… ah…'

Anton grinned. 'My reputation is a great shambling pile of ruins to begin with. What are you going to threaten me with? Wrecking my naval career? Been done. Exposing my extramarital affair with a notorious countess? Been done. Accuse me of consorting with dangerous radicals? Been done.'

Berry was chuckling now. 'Can't even accuse you of adopting wayward orphans from God-knows-where. Been done.'

'Which only leaves attacking the Captain directly,' concluded the princess. 'And that's more than a bit dicey, as