The Icarus Hunt

The receptionist at Uncle Arthur's left me on hold for several minutes, whichwas a bad sign all by itself. It meant they were having to wake him up, andUncle Arthur roused from his beauty sleep was never even remotely at his best.

Add to that the news I was about to give him, and this was likely to be one ofour less pleasant conversations.

My first look at him, when the display finally cleared, was the firstindication that my assessment of the situation had been ominously off target. UncleArthur was not garbed in sleep shirt and hastily thrown-on robe, his hair tousledinto a multidirectional halo. He was instead immaculately groomed, every hair inplace, and dressed in the sort of upscale finery I hadn't seen him wear inyears.

Which meant that instead of hauling him out of bed, I'd instead interrupted ameeting with those higher up in the food chain than he was, out in those murkywaters he'd spent so much of his life swimming in. I tried to decide whetherthat was better or worse than waking him up, but my throbbing head wasn't upto the task.

And then I took my first look at his face, and felt an icy cold begin to seepinto my heart. It was a graveyard face, the look of a man who's been backedinto a corner by his enemies with nowhere else to go and no more tricks left touse.

The look of a chess master down to his king and one pawn, with the painfulknowledge that that pawn is about to be sacrificed.

"Jordan," he said, his voice studiously neutral. "We were just talking aboutyou. What's the situation?"

"Mine's not so hot," I said. "How's yours?"

"Not very good, I'm afraid," he conceded. "Where are you now?"

"In the middle of the Grand Feast celebration on Palmary," I told him. "Andhoping to get the hell out as fast as we can."

"I take it you had some trouble?"

"You might say that," I agreed tartly. "The Patth caught up with me and lettheir Iykami underlings play a brief drum solo on my head. My crew was able to spring me, but two of them took plasmic burns on the way out. I know you don'tlike getting overtly involved with my life, but we need some backup. And weneed it now."

His expression, if anything, went a little more neutral. "Do you have adestination in mind after you leave there?"

"One of the crew has a friend on Beyscrim with an isolated lodge he's notusing," I said, feeling the cold dread settling a little more deeply into me.

He hadn't responded to my call for reinforcements; and now the mention ofBeyscrimshould have had him busily punching his off-screen computer keys for data. Buthe wasn't. "It's supposed to be a five-day flight from here, which I figureshould put it within reach of at least some of your people."

"Yes, it would," he agreed heavily. "Jordan... I'm afraid there won't be anybackup."

I stared at him. "May I ask why not?"

"To be blunt, because Earth has caved," he said, his voice suddenly bitter.

"Not fifteen minutes ago Geneva issued a formal notice that no public, governmental, or private organizations or persons with citizenship ties to Earth orEarth-allied worlds are to offer information, perso

His lip twitched. "You were also specifically mentioned in the order, Jordan.

Along with Ixil and two or three others of your crew for whom they havenames."

"This is nonsense," I said, my voice sounding unreal through the noise of mysuddenly pounding heart. Uncle Arthur had been my absolute last chance. "Theycan't do that. The stakes here—"

"The stakes are precisely what they're thinking about," he said with agrimace.

"I didn't tell you the other part. Approximately ten minutes before Genevaissued their order the Patth issued one of their own. The entire Kalixiri populace has been declared anathema."

I stared at him, Nask's parting-shot curse against Ixil and his people echoingthrough my mind. "That was fast," I said. "It wasn't even an hour ago that thePatth ambassador made that threat."

"Yes," Uncle Arthur said. "Whatever you did to irritate them, it would seemthe Patth have suddenly decided to stop playing games."

I exhaled loudly. "I liked it better when they were skulking around nottellinganyone who or what they really wanted. Has Geneva forgotten that ArnoCameron's involved here?"

He shrugged. "I presume not. If Cameron himself were there I'm sure he'd bepulling strings and cashing out favors all over the city. But as far as I knowhe's still missing, and those kinds of strings don't pull themselves." Hiseyesnarrowed slightly. "Unless you know where he is."

"If I did, I certainly wouldn't tell you," I countered sourly. "At least notin the hearing of whoever the high-nosed flacks are back there who are listeningin."

He glanced down at his clothing. "I suppose this outfit is something of a giveaway; isn't it?" he conceded. "Yes, Geneva was thoughtful enough to send apair of representatives to deliver to me a personal copy of their edict.

However, they are not, in fact, listening in on us."

"I suppose I should be thankful for small favors," I grumbled. "So much forour private little arrangement."

"So much for it, indeed," he agreed. "I'm somewhat surprised the authoritieshadn't forgotten about me after all this time."

"A pity they hadn't," I said, probing carefully at the lump on the back of myhead. It felt about the size of a prize-wi

He sighed. "I'm afraid it means exactly what it says. I can't have anythingwhatsoever to do with you."

I snorted. "Oh, come on. Since when have you worried about what anyone saysyoucan or can't do? Especially anyone in Geneva?"

He shook his head. "You still don't understand, Jordan. This isn't somestrategic or political decision on the part of reasoned statesmen. This is thepanic reaction of people who are terrified of what the Patth might do to us ifany human in the Spiral—any human—is seen to be assisting you."

"That's ridiculous," I insisted. "The Patth are bluffing—they have to be.

Human-owned and -associated shipping must make up four to six percent of Patthcargoes. They can't afford to lose all that with the stroke of a pen."

"They did it with the Kalixiri," he reminded me. "And yes, I know the Kalixiritotal is minuscule compared to ours. But no one in Geneva is ready to callthat bluff." He hesitated. "And to be quite honest, I'm not convinced it is abluff.

Not when you consider that the Patth economic future could hinge on what theIcarus contains."

For perhaps half a minute neither of us spoke. Uncle Arthur broke the silencefirst. "What about Ryland or Antoniewicz?" he asked. "I doubt Geneva has beenable to deliver to them a personal copy of the edict."

"They didn't have to," I said, frowning as a sudden thought struck me. "ThePatth ambassador told me Brother John had already disavowed any co

"Too bad," he murmured. "No matter what you think of Antoniewicz, his groupmight have had the resources to help you out."

"Oddly enough, Tera made a similar suggestion," I said, thinking furiously asyet another layer of the Jones murder peeled away, onion-like, in my mind.

"Though unlike you, she didn't care for the idea of turning the Icarus over tocriminals."

"I can't say I care for it myself," Uncle Arthur admitted. "But if it comes toa choice of Antoniewicz or the Patth having the Icarus..." He shook his head.

I took a deep breath. This was it. All the pieces were finally in place, andit was time to make my pitch. "What if you could have it all?" I asked. "TheIcarus, and everything else? Everything you've always wanted. How far wouldyougo to get it?"