Carpe Diem by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee Read Free Book Online

use would you be to Priscilla without a memory?"

    "The same use I'll be to her with impaired hearing. Do stop bellowing in my ear."

    She stuck her tongue in it.

    "That will do," he said. "Bring a chair over and sit nicely or leave."

    "Yes, Shan-brother."

    He glanced up as she moved away. "Tell me, denubia, did the contract-husband leave with all faculties intact? If yos'Galan owes for mental disability it would be best for me to settle it before the Passage leaves."

    "I was very nice to him, Shannie. Truly I was." She dragged the chair into place and sat primly, hands folded in her lap. "Like this?"

    "Precisely like that. Pretend you've had upbringing. Now if only the damned computer—Aha! Progress!"

    The screen filled with amber letters, scrolling. Shan let it run, then slapped PAUSE and was silent for longer than it should have taken him to read the information there.

    Anthora leaned back from her own perusal, frowning at his face and at his pattern, which had suddenly gone flat with pity.

    "The world shook apart?" she asked tentatively. "It is horrible, Shannie, but why are we looking at it? I thought you were trying to find out about Val Con's lady."

    "I am," he said expressionlessly, allowing the screen to continue a slow scroll. "She was there. Lizardi's Lunatics was one of the mercenary units hired to fight in the local civil war. A handful of people got off-planet before things went so unstable that rescue were hopeless. Countless people died, civilians and soldiers . . ." He touched PAUSE once more. "Survivors, Lizardi's Lunatics: Angela Lizardi, Senior Commander, Roth MacNealy, Brevet Lieutenant; Miri Robertson, Sergeant; Scandal Arbuckle, Private; Lassiter K. Winfield, Private. Five. Gods, a full-staffed unit is nearly three hundred!"

    "She has the luck," Anthora said gravely, and Shan felt the hairs rise on his neck.

    "Does she?"

    But his sister was frowning. "Isn't it odd? I always thought Val Con would chose a lady who was a musician, like he is."

    "We don't know that she's not," Shan pointed out. "Though gods alone know what she might have to sing about."

    Anthora turned wondering silver eyes on him. "She's alive."

    "So she is." He tapped another series, recalling the employment history. "Let's see what else she's done with her life, then, shall we?"

    Lizardi's Lunatics had been deactivated in 1384, and there was a two-year blank in Miri Robertson's record until she showed up again as sergeant with the Gyrfalks, under Senior Commander Suzuki Rialto and Junior Commander Jason Randolph Carmody. There followed another list of contracts accepted and fulfilled, interspersed with notations of the excellence of Sergeant Robertson's performance. In 1388 her rank was increased to sergeant master. In 1391 she resigned. Commanders Rialto and Carmody let the record show their sorrow at that decision and their willingness to take the sergeant back into the Gyrfalks at any time.

    Some months later Miri Robertson was certified as bodyguard to a Sire Baldwin of Naome, and there the record ended, except for a muted chime indicating that auxiliary information was available.

    Shan glanced at Anthora. "Well, sister? Do we press on?"

    "By all means!" she cried, and wriggled a little to show the intensity of her interest.

    Grinning, Shan touched the proper key. The auxiliary file clicked in and his grin faded.

    In 1392, five Standard months after Miri Robertson had become Sire Baldwin's bodyguard, a party of Juntavas attacked the estate, killing many of the household staff. Of those listed missing and presumed escaped: Baldwin himself . . .and Miri Robertson.

    The aux file faded, and Shan leaned back in his chair. "Well, sister? Does she still have the luck?"

    "It seems so," Anthora said softly. "After all, she got from Naome to Lufkit, and then from Lufkit to Lufkit Prime Station and as far as wherever she and Val Con are now, and they're both alive." She tipped her head. "Doesn't that sound like the