Page 22 of Reaper Said Mine

"Has he reviewed any request from me specifically?"

"No."

"Then I would like my request placed in a queue he actually sees."

She smiles with all her teeth. "That queue is called becoming relevant."

I stare at her.

She stares back.

After a few seconds, I pick up my compad. "That is the first useful answer anyone has given me today."

Her smile fades slightly. "It was meant to be insulting."

"I have worked for Ted Dawson. You'll need sharper tools."

A laugh bursts out of the Reaper behind her before he turns it into a cough. The woman waves me away, but there is something like reluctant approval in the motion.

I leave the office and follow the noise upward, because politics always gathers where people can watch themselves being important.

The first reception is hosted in a diplomatic lounge overlooking the shipyards. Through a curved wall of reinforced glass, I can see repair crews swarming over a damaged freighter while drones weld new plating along its flank. Sparks fall in golden streams through low gravity. Tugs reposition cargo frames with delicate bursts of blue thrust. A skeletal cruiser sits in partial assembly farther out, its ribs exposed, its future uncertain but unmistakably real.

Inside the lounge, the refreshments are better, the smiles are worse, and every conversation has at least two meanings.

Ambassador Theryki finds me near the glass before I decide whether to approach her. The female Grolgath moves like a blade being drawn from silk, all green scales, golden eyes, and robes so perfectly draped they make everyone else in the room look unfinished.

"Ms. Ramone," she says. "I wondered when IHC would send you."

"Did you?"

"Of course. Your network enjoys symbols, and you are a valuable one."

I turn from the shipyards slowly. "That is usually the opening people choose when they want me irritated."

"Did it work?"

"Not enough to be useful."

Her smile is small and elegant. "Good. Irritation clouds observation, and I suspect you are more interesting when you observe."

"I hear the Coalition is offering Gnash a path toward legitimacy."

"The Coalition is offering Guyver Station stability, access, and protection under recognized authority."

"That sounds rehearsed."

"It is diplomacy. Rehearsal keeps foolishness from escaping."

"Does Gnash want protection?"

"All leaders want protection. The honest ones admit it."

"And the dishonest ones call it partnership?"

Theryki’s eyes brighten. "Careful, Ms. Ramone. That almost sounded like an opinion."

"It was a question."