Asaro, Catherine - Skolian Empire 12 - The Final Key.pdf - Catherine Asaro - przemosta

Catherine Asaro

The

Final

Key

Part Two of Triad

A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK NEW YORK

NOTE: If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is

stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher, and neither the

author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book."

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are either

products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

THE FINAL KEY: PART TWO OF TRIAD

form.

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC 175 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10010

www.tor.com

Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

ISBN-13: 978-0-765-35209-5 ISBN-10:0-765-35209-5

First Edition: December 2005

First Mass Market Edition: December 2006

Printed in the United States of America

0987654321

To Louis, James, and Gina, with love

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the following readers for their much appreciated input. Their comments

have made this a better book. Any mistakes that remain are mine alone.

To Jeri Smith-Ready and Aly Parsons for their excellent reading and comments on the full

manuscript; to Aly's Writing Group for insightful critiques of scenes: Aly Parsons, Simcha

Kuritzky, Connie Warner, Al Carroll, J. G. Hucken-p6hler, John Hemry, Ben Rosenbaum, and

Bud Sparhawk.

A special thanks to my editors, Jim Minz and David Hartwell, for their support and

suggestions; to my publisher, Tom Doherty; to Denis Wong for all his help; to art director

Irene Gallo, publicist Jodi Rosoff, copyeditor Ed Chapman, production team Priscilla Flores,

Jim Kapp, Meryl Gross, Milenda Lee, and Nathan Weaver; and to all the other good people

at Tor and St. Martin's Press who did such a fine job making this book possible; to my

excellent agent, Eleanor Wood, of Spectrum Literary Agency; and to Binnie Braun-stein for

her enthusiasm and hard work on my behalf.

A heartfelt thanks to the shining lights in my life, my husband, John Cannizzo, and my

daughter, Cathy, for their love and support.

The

Final

Key

Prologue

Make it stop, Hoshpa." Tears ran down the small boy's face, and his eyes were swollen from

crying. "It will get better." Eldrin murmured the words, agonized by the anguish of his

six-year-old son, Taquinil. "It will get better." He sat on the floor cradling the boy in his arms,

rocking him back and forth. He extended his telepathic reach as a shield against the pain

that the boy couldn't block with his extraordinarily sensitive mind.

Gradually his mental shields muffled TaquiniPs distress. The boy's sobs eased and his body

relaxed. After several moments, Eldrin realized Taquinil had fallen asleep in his arms, his

head against his father's shoulder. Eldrin breathed with relief. They had made it through

another rough spell. He stood up, holding his son, and carried the boy to his room. After

Eldrin tucked him in, he sat watching Taquinil sleep. Black hair was tousled about his son's

face. Eldrin brushed back the disheveled bangs, and wished he could as easily brush away

the boy's night terrors.

Footsteps sounded in the living room of the royal apartments. Startled, Eldrin straightened

up. He glanced one last time to make sure Taquinil was peaceful. Then he went out to the

hallway. Low voices were coming from the living room at the end of the hall.

Eldrin found Dehya, his wife, sitting on the sofa with one of her doctors. She had slouched

down with her head thrown back, her eyes closed, and her long hair disarrayed like black

silk. The doctor, Alaj Rajindia, was a dark-haired nobleman. The House of Rajindia provided

the military with the neurological specialists who treated psions. Alaj was an expert in the

medical treatment of telops, the tele-

pathic operators who used the vast mesh of information that stretched across the Skolian

Imperialate, tying the interstellar civilization together into a coherent whole. The existence of

that mesh depended on the unique abilities of telops, and Dehya was the ultimate telop, the

most versatile operator alive.

Alaj was checking her with a scanner. Eldrin hesitated, unsure if he should interrupt. Dehya

had been in the webs for two days straight, working, and also chasing down clues about

Vitarex Raziquon, the sadistic monster who kept appearing in Eldrin's nightmares. Eldrin

hated that her concern about his dreams added to her exhaustion. In his nightmares,

Raziquon was torturing him, blinding him, crippling him, leaving him in unbearable pain,

except he had to bear it. But it wasn't him; he always awoke in the royal suite here on the

Orbiter space station where he lived with his family.

Alaj was speaking to Dehya. "I'm going to prescribe it anyway. Take it. Exactly the dose I

give. No more."

She sat up wearily. "I won't take it."

The doctor scowled at her. "You've tied your mind into knots. If you keep this up, you will

injure your brain."

"Neural relaxants are dangerous."

"I'll monitor you." He set down his scanner and took an air syringe off his belt. As he

programmed it, he said, "The molecules will form complexes with the neural structures and

transmitters in your brain that interpret telepathic or empathic input. It will block the process

enough to relax your mind."

"Relax." Dehya exhaled. "I've forgotten what that is like." She leaned back and closed her

eyes. "All right. Do it."

Alaj injected her with the syringe. "It doesn't need long to take effect."

"And tomorrow?" she asked. "When I want more?"

"You'll be fine." Alaj slid the syringe into its case on his belt "I've given you just enough to

release your neurological knots. You may be edgy tomorrow, but you'll think more clearly."

"All right." She already sounded calmer.

"Contact me if you have any problems," Alaj added.

"fifaimmm..."

"You shouldn't stay alone. Is your husband here?"

Eldrin walked over to them. "Yes, I'm here." He pushed down the tugs of suspicion he felt

any time another man came near his wife. "Is she all right?"

"I'm fine." Dehya opened her eyes dreamily. "Just fine."

Alaj looked up at him. "You'll need to tend her. Can you do that? Perhaps I should call in help

for you."

Eldrin stiffened. Even though he had been married to Dehya for seven years, her people still

patronized him. "Of course I can look after her." He hesitated, reluctant to reveal his

ignorance but fearing a lack of knowledge on his part could endanger his wife. "What did

you give her?"

- "It's a Kyle relaxant," Alaj said.

Eldrin had no idea what he meant. "I see."

Alaj was watching him closely. "It's analogous to a muscle relaxant. If you push yourself too

hard and too long, physically, your muscles can spasm. Keep pushing after that, and you

could do serious damage. You need something to relax the spasm. I gave her the neural

analog of that medicine."

Eldrin had never reached his physical limitations. In that sense, he didn't know what Alaj

meant. But he had seen his father's epileptic seizures. Although his father had been in

treatment for years, in his youth he had apparently almost died from the severity of his

attacks. Several times Eldrin had suffered similar episodes—not epilepsy, but still an

overload to his densely packed, overdeveloped neural structures. For him, it had happened

in combat. Battle lust, they called it, but it was actually a convulsion. He couldn't control it.

Dehya obviously had no desire to cause harm, nor did she suffer epilepsy, but he could see

how the tremendous neurological strain could cause her mind to tie itself into knots in a

manner similar to a muscle spasm. At his request, the Skolian doctors had treated him so

he would never again experience those rages.

"I understand," he told Alaj.

"Good. Just stay with her." He turned to Dehya, who smiled at them both, her black lashes

shading her eyes in a lush fringe. Alaj squinted at her, then turned back to Eldrin. "Make sure

she doesn't wander off or hurt herself."

"You worry too much, Doctor Alaj." Dehya languorously

rose to her feet and shooed him toward the door. "Go on. Go treat my nephew's

bodyguards. They always look stressed. Just imagine their lives, guarding him."

Although Alaj smiled, he seemed more alarmed than amused at the mention of her nephew,

Kurj Skolia, the Imperator—military dictator of an empire. Eldrin had never seen the

Imperator in that negative light; in many ways, Kurj was like a father to him.

"Call me if you have any trouble," Alaj told her.

"I will." Dehya pushed him out the door. "Go on."

Eldrin watched her, intrigued. She was far more relaxed this evening than was usual for his

restrained, aloof wife. He thought of how she had looked up at him through her dark lashes.

As he considered her, she turned and smiled slowly. Then she came over and put her arms

around his neck.

"My greetings, gorgeous," she murmured.

He grinned and slid his arms around her waist. "You should take this medicine more often."

A shudder went through her. "I hope not."

He didn't want her mood to darken. Bending his head, he kissed her cheek. "It's certainly put

you in good spirits."

She relaxed, pliant against him. "Doctor Alaj thinks I need to sleep more," she said softly.

"What do you say? Bedtime?"

Eldrin laughed, his lips against her ear. "I think he is a wise doctor."

"Is Taquinil all right for the night?"

His good mood faded. "I hope so." He lifted his head so he could look down at her. "He had

another attack. I got him to sleep just before you came home."

"Ah, no. I knew I felt something." She took his hand and headed down the hall. "It's no

wonder my mind was in such terrible knots, if he was hurting."

As they reached Taquinil's room, Eldrin heard the boy mumbling in his sleep. Light from the

living room filtered into the bedroom. Taquinil was a mound under the quilt, his cheek

against the pillow. Even with his son sleeping, Eldrin felt the boy's mental strain.

And yet, as they approached the bed, Taquinil breathed out, long and slow, his body losing

its rigid tension under the quilt He sighed and setded deeper into the covers. Even in

the dim light, Eldrin saw the dramatic change as the drawn lines of the boy's face smoothed

out.

Dehya sat on the bed, taking care not to jostle her son. When she took his hand, he turned

toward her, and his shoulders released their clenched posture. His fists uncurled and his

breathing deepened.

"That's amazing," Eldrin said.

Dehya pressed her lips against Taquinil's forehead. Then she carefully let go of his hand

and stood up so she and Eldrin were standing side by side. "He's so peaceful."

"He's a treasure." Eldrin drew her out of the room so they could talk without waking Taquinil.

"How did you do that? It's the first time in days I've seen him at peace."

She walked down the hall with him. "I didn't do anything."

"Maybe it's the Kyle relaxant. It affects Taquinil, too."

She came to a stop in the entrance of the living room. "Gods, I hope not. It's nothing Taquinil

should ever take."

"Not the drug. He has none of its chemicals in his body. But he's such a sensitive empath.

He senses your relief and it eases him." It wouldn't be that unusual; among the three of them,

they often affected one another with their moods and health. This was a more dramatic

effect than usual, but not unreasonable.

"If that helps, I'm glad." She pulled him close, and her body curved against him. Her voice

turned throaty. "We were discussing our own bedtime, if I remember correctly."

Eldrin's pulse surged. This wasn't his reserved wife, the restrained and distant Ruby

Pharaoh of the Skolian Imperi-alate. In the darkness of their bedroom, the ice queen often

melted in his arms, but tonight she was heating up before they came near their bed. He

pulled her into a kiss, hungry, and he was still kissing her when they stumbled into their

room. They fell onto the floater together, and the pillows bounced around them. Out of habit,

he and Dehya shielded their minds, giving them privacy from everyone but each other.

Eldrin ran his hands over her slight curves and scraped at the fastenings of her jumpsuit. The

cloth crinkled as he dragged the outfit off her body. Then he held her breasts, kneading

them, probably too hard, but she didn't object. As

her breathing quickened, she tugged at his clothes. Soon they were bare skin to bare skin,

and he knew only his hunger. He rolled her onto her back and settled on her body, trying to

restrain himself so he wouldn't bruise her. She was pulling him to herself with an urgency that

matched his own.

Later, they lay tangled together in the covers, sated and quiet. Dehya was sleeping on her

side, her body pressed against him. Eldrin slid his hand over her hip. He hadn't felt this

content in a long time. He closed his eyes and finally let go, unafraid of his dreams. Her

neural relaxant had done wonders, her euphoric mood affecting him, too. For the first time in

days he fell asleep without fear...

Asleep...

Dreaming...

Mind relaxing...

PAIN. Blindness. Such pain! Vitarex hungered for his agony, his grief, his torment. The

monster sat on his stool, brutal in his transcendence, and the agony went on and on, inside

his body, inside his soul...

A scream yanked Eldrin awake. He bolted upright, reaching for a sword he hadn't carried in

years. Bleary and dazed, he scrambled out of bed and yanked on his sleep trousers. As he

strode for the archway, shrugging into his shirt, another terrified cry broke the night. He ran

through the dark, down the hall.

"Lights on!" he called. The hallway lit up as he entered his son's room. Taquinil was sitting

up in bed, his terrified face stained with tears.

"It's all right," Eldrin said as he strode to the bed. "It's all right." He lifted the boy and cradled

him against his chest. "I'm here, Taqui. You're all right. It'll be all right."

Taquinil buried his head in his father's shoulder and wept, his small body shaking with silent

sobs. Eldrin walked from the room, gently bouncing his son in his arms, pacing down the hall

to the darkened living room. He searched the silent, darkened suite. No Dehya. It was

probably why Taquinil's distress had returned; the ameliorating effects of her relaxed mental

state were gone.

"Where is your mother?" Eldrin said, more to himself than his son. Alaj had warned him to

look out for her. "Laplace,"

he said, addressing the Evolving Intelligence, or EI, that served the royal apartments.

"Where is my wife?"

A well-modulated voice answered. "Pharaoh Dyhianna left about four hours ago."

Eldrin continued to walk, his head leaning against his son's head. "Where did she go?"

"I don't know," Laplace said. "However, she received a message. Do you wish to view the

log of your mesh-mail?"

He stopped by a console in the living room. "Yes." If the mail had come on Dehya's private

account, Laplace wouldn't show it to him. But most of her correspondence came over the

account she and Eldrin shared.

Taquinil was shaking in his arms with silent sobs, unable even to cry aloud. Eldrin held him

close. He didn't want Laplace to read aloud and disturb the boy, so he had the EI scroll

through the mail, pausing each one long enough for Eldrin to struggle through the message.

He could read well enough now to decipher most of them. Alaj's medical report had come in

with specifics of Dehya's treatment and advice that she rest So why wasn't she resting?

Where the hell was she?

Taquinil cried out and his small fists clenched in Eldrin's collar-length hair. "Hoshpa! The

man with the bad name!"

Eldrin knew he meant Vitarex, the Aristo in his nightmares, which had spilled into Taquinil's

painfully sensitive mind. Eldrin swayed back and forth, murmuring. "I won't let him get you.

You're safe, Taqui." On the console, mail continued to scroll by.

"Laplace, stop." He saw the message to Dehya: a major space station had lost many of its

primary systems due to a crisis in the Kyle web beyond the ability of their telops to fix.

Millions of people lived on that station, and they were losing environmental systems,

defenses, even port controls. They couldn't evacuate without launch bays. Dehya had been

called in to fix the web before the station died.

Eldrin swore under his breath. He knew she had a duty to help, but when would she ever get

to rest? This happened all too often, that she would disappear while he slept, dragged back

to her work by her endless responsibilities as pharaoh. He knew she didn't want to disturb

his sleep, but it unsettled him even more to awake alone.

"Was she all right when she left?" he asked. "She seemed fine," Laplace said.

Eldrin hoped so. He headed down the hall to Taquinil's room.

MaKe it stop/ Taquinil cried in his mind, please, Hoshpa.

I will, Taqui. I'll make It better. Guilt saturated Eldrin. His nightmare had done this. If only he

could take his son's torments into himself and free the boy. Dehya had helped; tonight was

the first time in days Taquinil had re-. laxed. But she was gone now, and so was the effect of

her medicine. Every time Eldrin fell asleep, he made it worse. He could handle the

nightmares; he had mental defenses to mute their effect Taquinil didn't. When he shielded

the boy with his mind, his son was all right, but in sleep, Eldrin lost his ability to provide that

protection. He didn't know why he was suffering these nightmares, but he feared someone

he loved was in trouble, someone in his family, for they were the only ones whose minds

linked strongly enough to his to affect him this way. When he slept, his barriers eased and

the connection could intensify. As far as he knew, everyone in his family was fine, yet the

dreams continued. Taquinil continued to tremble, his tears soaking into Eldrin's hair, and

Eldrin couldn't bear his misery.

He knew what he had to do.

Eldrin returned to the living room and brought up Alaj's medical report. He memorized the

details he needed, then carried Taquinil through the master bedroom and into a refresher

chamber beyond. Holding his son in one arm, Eldrin took Dehya's personal air syringe out of

a cabinet. Normally, someone who wasn't a doctor couldn't have a medical-grade

pharmaceutical supply in her possession. But as pharaoh, Dehya had a full dispensary, all in

a slender syringe that wasn't even the length of her forearm.

Asaro, Catherine - Skolian Empire 12 - The Final Key.pdf

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