Visitor: A Foreigner Novel Read Online Free

Abundance . . . and they arrive to a second-class citizen reception from Tillington here at Alpha. They’ve
no
reason to trust us. Not now. Tillington’s done a
lot
of damage. The Reunioners aren’t sure they won’t be handed over to the kyo on demand. That’s crazy. I don’t think that’s remotely what the kyo want. But rumors don’t have to be rational.”
    “Agreed,” Gin said, and drank a gulp of tea. “Tillington’s definitely on the list to ship out, and that’s going to be on the next shuttle, if there’s room. I expect there will be others going with him. My staff will be reviewing, auditing, and interviewing, but I’ll compose the final list.
We’ll
rout out and eliminate the problems in the human sector.
You
concentrate on the kyo, Bren. You just deal with that problem and trust me to manage this.”
    “I have every confidence in you. Needless to say, you’ll have my backing, as well as the aiji-dowager’s and Geigi’s. Anything you need that we can supply, you’ve got.”
    She dipped her chin, sipped the tea. “I understand you have custody of the three kids plus one. And their parents.”
    “Their parents minus one,” Bren said. “The girl’s mother is in custody, along with Braddock and his aides. Captains’ Council wants to keep it that way until there’s time to consider the cases.”
    “Are
they under charges?” Gin asked.
    “From both sides. They’re in atevi custody at the moment for endangering the kids who were under the aiji’s personal protection. Irene’s escape, her testimony regarding Braddock’s attempts to control the kids, gave Ilisidi the absolute freedom to go in and rescue them in her grandson’s name, and to arrest Braddock and his aides without involving the Mospheirans.”
    Gin gave a quick nod, complete understanding of the tangledpolitics involved . . . and the reason it wouldn’t be good, at the moment, to have Braddock sitting in Mospheiran
or
ship-folk custody.
    “On the human side, Braddock’s open to charges of threatening station integrity,” Bren continued, “insurrection and attempted kidnapping, under Mospheiran law, which is enough for a start on keeping him and his staff confined, but I assure you the atevi charges are quite as severe. Irene’s mother is being held primarily as a material witness at the moment. Ship security thinks she may have heard things of interest in Braddock’s prosecution if the ship-folk get their hands on him, which is a whole other nest of troubles. Right now the dowager isn’t interested in prosecuting her, but she’s not handing her daughter back into her custody, either. For my part, I don’t know what duress may have been involved with the woman, or whether she may come under charges herself from one party or another, but one thing I can’t forget. When she was arrested with the others, with her child missing for hours, and as atevi enforcement and ship-folk were hauling her and Braddock away—there was no point at which she protested her daughter was missing or asked where her daughter was.
That
bothers me. To this hour, it bothers me. I’d wanted to give the woman a chance for Irene’s sake, but at this point, I don’t know.”
    “It bothers
me,”
Gin said. “How are the kids now? How are the parents taking their new situation?”
    “Everybody’s been housed on the atevi side—they’re all guests in Geigi’s apartment, and they’re glad, I think, to be safe, out of the Reunioner sections, and well-fed, though naturally they have concerns. Their kids’ attachment to the young gentleman makes them all a special case among the Reunioners
and
on the Mospheiran side, and it’s possible Braddock’s not the only one wanting to take hostages, especially now that Braddock’s set the possibility in everyone’s mind.”
    “What a mess. Those kids have made a breakthrough in atevi and human relations, and that idiot turns it sour.”
    “True. On the other hand, the mess got that idiot