The doctor hurried up to me. “Please sit down, Lolia,” she said.
I sat back down in my chair. The doctor waved a scanner at me, concentrating on my face, before turning to Lolek.
“Only very minor bruising and a superficial scratch.”
“But it’s still legally second level assault,” said the lawyer. “Under Betan law, any drawing of blood automatically escalates an assault from first to second level. Use of a weapon would escalate it even further to third level, but it would be extremely hard to argue a fashionable ring counted as a weapon.”
The image consultant was studying my face now. “We could use more blood for the vid.”
My two cousins had finished unpacking vid bees from their carrying cases. Lolena picked up a makeup bag, and came over to me. I felt her dabbing some liquid on my face, while my other cousin watched critically.
“I wouldn’t overdo it,” he said. “I know face wounds bleed a lot but …”
“I’m not overdoing it,” said Lolena. She stepped back and studied me for a second. “Perfect.”
“We’ll need Lolia crying in the vid,” said the image consultant.
Three small, spherical vid bees floated up into the air, and hovered across to me. I saw their lights flash as they focused on me and started recording. What the chaos was going on here? Our clan business was making vids, but why were they making a vid of me?
I finally got over my shock enough to speak. “What’s happening?”
Lolek turned to glare at me. “What’s happening?” He repeated my words in a mocking voice. “What’s happening is we’re trying to limit the damage you’ve done to the clan, Lolia.”
I shrank back into my chair. “Damage? Me?”
“Are you completely brainless or merely totally self-centred?” Lolek gave an impatient sigh. “Ever since I formed this clan, I’ve been working towards getting us official recognition and a true clan name. Surely even you must understand that an important step on that path is to be in an alliance with clans who already have official status.”
He didn’t wait for me to reply, just swept on. “I spent years trying to negotiate our way into an alliance without success. We’re wealthy, so an alliance might have accepted us despite the fact we’re a mere clan cluster, but given our wealth comes from making what most of Beta sector regard as vulgar vids for export to other sectors …”
He shrugged. “When you got involved with Ardreath and Lolmack two years ago, I knew we had a golden opportunity. Ardreath belonged to the Eastreth clan, which was in an alliance of nearly thirty respectable clans, headed by the Breck clan of the middle rank. More than that, Ardreath was the adored son of the Eastreth clan leader, who indulged the boy’s every whim.”
Yes, Ardreath had always been handed everything he wanted. Lolmack and I had often joked about it, but the jokes didn’t seem funny any longer. If Ardreath hadn’t had such an easy life, he might have reacted differently to the current crisis.
“The Eastreth clan leader wanted to indulge his son this time too,” said Lolek, “but he was faced with a big problem when Ardreath started talking about marriage to you and Lolmack. You belonged to a disreputable clan cluster. Lolmack, Mack as he was called back then, was even worse. A totally clanless nobody with a criminal record. The Eastreth clan council were prepared to consider solving the problem by adopting you, but they turned up their noses at the thought of adopting Mack as well.”
I remembered the arguments between Ardreath and his father back then. His father had suggested Ardreath should just marry me and forget Mack entirely. Ardreath had snapped back that Mack was the centre of our triad relationship. I’d been hurt by Ardreath’s words at the time. Something about the way he said them sounded as if he only wanted Mack, and I’d been forced on him as an unwelcome third.
Ardreath had laughed when I said that, told me I was being silly and of course he loved me as much as Mack. I’d believed him then, but now I wondered if he’d been lying. Perhaps our triad marriage had been flawed right from the start, doomed to break apart as soon as we hit a problem.
Lolek was still talking, indulging himself with a smug smile of reminiscence. “So I negotiated a solution. The Eastreth clan would get us into the Breck alliance, increasing our clan’s status. We’d adopt Mack into our clan as Lolmack during the marriage ceremony. It was perfect for all of us.”
His smile abruptly vanished. “It was perfect, Lolia, but you’ve messed everything up now. Our clan was admitted into the Breck alliance because of your marriage to Ardreath. Now that marriage has broken down, there’s every chance the Eastreth clan will demand we leave. They’ve been members of the alliance since it was first formed sixty years ago. Our clan has only been in the alliance for two years. Who do you think will win that battle, Lolia?”
I stared at him. “B-b-but I haven’t done anything wrong. Ardreath is only b-b-blaming me b-b-because …”
“And stop that childish stammering!” shouted Lolek. “Didn’t those expensive hours of speech therapy achieve anything at all?”
I took a deep breath, and used the tactics my therapist had taught me. Speak with deliberate slowness, avoid contractions, and imagine you’re reciting a poem. “I am very sorry this has happened, Great-uncle, but I did not do anything wrong.”
“It’s your fault, Lolia. We’ll lose our place in the alliance. We’ll lose our chance at being recognized as a true clan.” Lolek’s words hammered relentlessly at me. “We’ll lose everything, and it’s all your fault!”
“But I did not do anything wrong!” I wailed the words yet again, and there was a moment of silence. I felt tears streaming down my face, and gulped for breath between sobs.
“That’s it!” said the image consultant. “Play me a clip of her face just then.”
A holo image of my head and shoulders appeared in midair. I was cowering in my chair, literally shaking in distress, with mingled blood and tears streaking my cheeks.
“That’s perfect!” said the image consultant.
Lolek nodded at the vid team. “Exactly what we needed. Send the vid clip to my lookup and pack up your equipment. We’re done here. I …”
He was interrupted by a bleeping sound. Lolek reached for his lookup, glanced at it, and pulled a face. “As I feared, the Eastreth clan have called an emergency meeting of the alliance council. They’ll have told them about the marriage breakdown, but they won’t have mentioned Ardreath hitting Lolia. They probably don’t even know about it. Ardreath must realize his clan would strongly disapprove of such behaviour, as both dishonourable and illegal, so it’s quite possible he hasn’t admitted it to them. If he hasn’t …”
Lolek put his lookup away and gave a cold smile. “If he hasn’t told them, then we still have one chance.”
He turned to me. “Give me your lookup, Lolia!”
“What? Why?”
“Your lookup, Lolia,” he repeated impatiently.
I handed it over.
“The doctor will care for you now. She’ll take you to a secret location where Ardreath’s clan can’t find you, and she’ll check all your incoming calls for you. That way you won’t be distressed by anyone, or tricked into saying something that you shouldn’t.” He passed my lookup to the doctor.
I shook my head. “A secret location? Where? Why can’t I go to our clan hall?”
He ignored my questions. “Remember, you’re to do exactly what the doctor tells you, Lolia.”
“I want to talk to my parents,” I said.
He ignored that too, turned, and went out through the door. The image consultant and lawyer hurried after him, followed by the vid team. I was alone with the doctor.
Part II
I sat there for a moment, silently absorbing what had just happened. All of my life, I’d been terrified of my great-uncle. When I met Ardreath and Mack, I’d been stunned by the way Lolek suddenly abandoned his usual stern, disapproving manner and started smiling at me. For a while, I’d even thought he genuinely cared fo
r me.
Now I knew I’d been right to start with. Great-uncle Lolek had started smiling at me back then, because he could use me to help his inter-clan political manoeuvring. Now I’d turned into a hindrance instead of a help, there were no more smiles. He hadn’t even …
I felt something cold against my face and instinctively recoiled.
The doctor sighed. “Please hold still, Lolia. I have to clean your cheek, and put a fluid patch on it.”
“But I don’t need a fluid patch for a simple scratch.”
She sighed again, finished cleaning up my face, then produced a fluid patch from her medical bag. She held it to my cheek and activated it. The ridiculously over-sized patch clung to my skin, and the newly released regen fluid made my whole face feel icy cold. This must be like the extra blood for the vids, intended to make it look as if Ardreath had seriously injured me.
I was tempted to rip the patch off, but then I remembered the things Ardreath had said to me, and the recorded message he’d sent. Let Lolek cause Ardreath all the trouble and embarrassment he could. He deserved it!
The doctor closed her bag and picked it up. “We have to go now, Lolia.”
I shook my head. “I can’t go outside looking like this. I need to fix my makeup, my hair, pack my things, and …”
“We have to go right now,” repeated the doctor. “There’s no need to worry about your things. Someone will pack all your belongings and bring them to us.”
“But …”
“Now, Lolia!” ordered the doctor. “Representatives of the Eastreth clan may arrive at any moment. Your head of clan will be very angry if they manage to talk to you.”
I reluctantly stood up and followed her to the door. I realized I didn’t even know this woman’s name, but I didn’t bother to ask it. I resented Lolek putting her in charge of me, giving an outsider, a member of a different clan, the right to order me around.
“Where are we going?” I asked as we went outside.
“A very comfortable hotel.”
“I’d rather go to my clan hall.”
“I’m just following the instructions of your head of clan, Lolia.” The doctor marched on at a rapid pace. “He said it would be easier to control the situation this way.”
We only passed two people on the way to the nearest portal. One was standing still, studying his lookup, so totally absorbed in the shimmer vision holo display floating above it that he didn’t even notice us walk by. The other gave the fluid patch on my face a single startled look before hurrying on.
The doctor dialled the portal code, blocking my view of it with her body. I wasn’t sure if that had been deliberate or accidental. Either way, once the portal established and we stepped through it into a hotel foyer, I had no idea where I was. The inhabited continent of Artemis was very long and thin. I could be in a hotel in the western highlands, the eastern marshes, or near the great rift itself. I automatically reached for my lookup to check my location, before I remembered the doctor had it. It felt oddly frightening to be somewhere unknown, cut off from the universe without my lookup.
The doctor led the way down a corridor to a door labelled 36, pressed her hand on the door plate, and it opened. “Room command lights,” she said.
Concealed glows came on, filling the room with a medley of coloured lights. The doctor led the way inside, giving an approving nod at the furnishings. “Very nice.”
I was less impressed. The room was comfortable enough, but the glittering wall decorations were a type that had gone out of fashion before I was born. I wouldn’t have been happy with any hotel room though, however modern and luxurious. I didn’t want to be in a hotel. I wanted to be in my clan hall with my parents and friends.
The doctor opened doors to reveal two bedrooms, and a food dispenser. “Would you like something to eat, Lolia?”
I gave her a disbelieving look. “You expect me to eat reconstituted food from a food dispenser?”
“I know your clan is extremely wealthy, but you must surely have eaten food from a food dispenser when you were a student.”
I’d eaten plenty of meals from food dispensers when I’d been studying at University Artemis, and most of them hadn’t been that bad, but I looked the doctor in the eyes and lied. “Of course I didn’t. Give me my lookup, so I can order some cartons of real food.”
She shook her head. “I can order them. What would you like?”
I listed a few random dishes, and watched sourly as she used her own lookup to order them. By now I was positive she’d deliberately blocked me from seeing our portal destination, and that whatever excuse I invented she wouldn’t let me touch my lookup. I didn’t like what was happening here. I didn’t like it at all. I wasn’t just being hidden from Ardreath’s clan; I was being cut off from my own.
Lolek had told the doctor that it would be easier to control the situation like this. I had a feeling he really meant it would be easier to control me.
The food cartons were delivered to our door, and I made an attempt at eating, then two people arrived, the same two cousins who’d made the vid of me earlier. They had a whole set of hover bags floating behind them.
“We’ve brought all your things, Lolia,” said Lolena. “I’ll help you with your hair and makeup.”
She opened one of the bags, and got out my makeup case and my best formal toga.
“I’m supposed to look respectable now instead of a terrified victim?” I asked. “What’s going on? Why do I need a toga? Are we going to a formal clan meeting?”
Lolena ushered me to a chair. “The alliance council meeting is currently in session, and Lolek is showing them the vid we made of you after Ardreath’s attack. They may summon you to appear next. If they do, we want you to appear calm and immaculately presented, except for the fluid patch on your cheek. The alliance council members will compare your current appearance with your devastated state in the vid. The contrast should convince them of the brutality of Ardreath’s attack.”
I frowned at my reflection in the mirror. Despite all the other emotions already churning around inside me, I managed to feel panic at the idea of appearing before an alliance council meeting.
“Don’t wrinkle your forehead like that!” Lolena scolded me. “You’ll ruin your makeup.”
She worked on my hair and makeup with professional speed and skill, and was just helping me into my toga when her lookup chimed. She glanced at it and nodded. “You’re wanted now, Lolia. Follow me quickly, because alliance council won’t like being kept waiting.”
She hurried out into the corridor, and headed for the portal. I chased after her in a panic. “What do I have to say?”
“As little as possible,” she said. “Lolek will give you your cues.”
My cues? Everyone kept acting as if we were making a vid, and I should obediently follow the script I was given, but this was real life, this was my life!
When we reached the portal, Lolena dialled our destination. She didn’t bother to hide it from me, there was no point because I knew exactly where we’d be going. The Breck clan headed the alliance, so alliance council would be meeting in the Breck clan hall.
When we stepped through the portal into a corridor, I saw Lolek standing there waiting for us, wearing the white toga with thick gold edging that proclaimed his status as a head of clan.
“Lolia, listen carefully,” he said. “I was right about Ardreath. He hadn’t told his clan about hitting you. When I made the accusation, Ardreath’s father, Arden, denied it. I then showed alliance council the vid of you. Arden accused me of faking it. I challenged him, demanding both you and Ardreath should face a truth test, and he had no choice but to agree.”
A truth test? But what if I was asked about the fluid patch, or …?
“During the test, you must only answer my questions,” continued Lolek. “Don’t be drawn into responding to anything Ardreath or Arden says to you. Our clan’s position in the alliance depends on you following my instructions exactly. Do you understand?”
>
I gulped and nodded.
“And don’t shame our clan by stammering!” said Lolek.
He turned and swept off down the corridor. I followed him, glancing over my shoulder for Lolena, and saw her vanish off through the portal.
When I faced forward again, I discovered Lolek had stopped by some ornate double doors. I barely managed to avoid bumping into him, and he gave me a scathing look before lifting his right hand into the air.
The double doors opened in response to his gesture, and we went through them into a huge room. I saw a circle of gilt chairs, holding about thirty men and women in formal togas. Three chairs were bulkier and more imposing than the rest. The two women and one man in those chairs would be from the Breck clan. The other people must be the leaders of the other clans in the alliance.
Lolek sat down in the single empty chair, and I saw him look across the circle at where Arden Eastreth Calvart, the head of the Eastreth clan, was sitting. I felt a stab of pain when I saw Ardreath standing behind his father’s chair, looking classically handsome in an elegantly draped toga.
“The girl has no right to wear a toga,” said Arden. “Togas may only be worn by members of officially recognized clans. Now my son has registered his divorce, the girl has returned to her original status as a gutter clan brat.”
He paused. “In fairness though, she is merely following Lolek’s example. He has no right to wear his toga either.”
Gutter clan brat! I lifted my head and glared at Ardreath. Yesterday, I’d been his wife, and now he was standing there, calmly listening while his father insulted me! I knew I mustn’t say anything, but …
“Both Lolia and I wear togas to show proper respect for the alliance council,” said Lolek calmly. “If alliance council prefers, then we will happily remove them.”
“Unnecessary,” said the woman seated in the centre of the three Breck clan chairs. I’d seen enough images of her, to instantly recognize the formidable Marissa Breck Thane. Despite rejuvenation treatments, her skin was delicately lined with age, and her black hair had threads of silver in it. That meant she was over 80, automatically entitled to respect in age conscious Beta sector, but Marissa Breck Thane would be treated with respect anyway. She’d been the Breck clan leader, presiding over meetings like this, since before I was born.