Certain Symmetry by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Read Free Book Online Page A

his chin to point at the dark screen. "If you permit, I
will call up the report from news service."
    She glanced at the screen, and stepped to
one side. "If you please."
    He moved to the desk, tapped the power key,
called up the public archive, and stood aside.
    Betea sen'Equa came forward, frowned at the
synopsis, reached down and called for more information, then stood
looking at it for far longer than it should have taken her to read
it. Eventually, however, she recalled herself and turned to Pat
Rin, her face somewhat paler than it had been.
    "What is written next to my name," she asked
steadily, "in Fal Den's debt-book?"
    She had offered him neither a chair nor
refreshment, which discourtesy was irritating. Pat Rin discovered
himself more inclined to believe the debt lay on the lady's side,
which did no honor to his duty. If Fal Den himself had not known
which of the two of them was owing and owed...
    Pat Rin inclined his head. "I regret. Only
your name appears. It is the very last notation in the book,
written on the day of his death, and it is very possible that the
process that ended with his self-murder was even then at work."
    She stared at him, eyes and face without
expression.
    Pat Rin sighed. "Perhaps if we speak
together of your dealings with Fal Den on the occasion of your last
meeting, we may discover between us both the fault and the Balance
owed."
    Still she stared at him, and she was not, by
Pat Rin's judgment, either a half-wit or a fool...
    "Self-murder," she said abruptly. "Are they
certain of that?"
    He frowned. "It is what his kin has sworn to
the Council. Have you reason to believe that Fal Den came by his
death in another fashion?"
    "Perhaps. I don't..." She spun aside,
rudely, and paced to the far end of the room, where she stood for
the slow count of six heartbeats, facing the wall, showing him her
back.
    At last, she took a deep breath, turned and
walked back to the center of the room. She stopped several paces
away and looked boldly into his eyes.
    "I know why my name is written in Fal Den's
book," she said, and her voice was as hard as her eyes. "I know who
owes and who is owing. I will tell you these things. For a
price."
    "A price?" Pat Rin raised
his eyebrows. "Madam, your name is written in a dead man's book.
You do not bargain price with me ."
    "But I do," she said
sharply. "You may be bound to play by High Port rules, lordship,
but I am not. My
mother died at the hand of a High Port lord. She had no book nor no
other high friends to call in her debt, and the lord himself said
the thing was outside of lawful Balance, for she had no Name to
protect her." She crossed her arms under her breasts and now the
bold gaze was a glare.
    "I am selling the information you need. You
will buy it, or you will not." She inclined her head, brusquely.
"Your throw, lordship."
    It was on the end of his tongue to tell her
that he had no need to buy anything from her -- but that was only
pique, such as would make Luken laugh and bid him to climb down
from the high branches.
    Mastering his irritation, he looked at her,
standing tall and stern before him.
    The lady has the winning
hand , he told himself, wryly, which rubbed
ill against his pride as a gamester. And he was not come here, he
reminded himself, as a gamester, but as the agent of Fal Den's
will, upon which the petty prides and irritations of Pat Rin
yos'Phelium had no right to intrude.
    He bowed to the lady, very slightly.
    "What is your price?"
    * * *
    VIEWED CORRECTLY, Pat Rin
thought, shaking his lace into order and frowning at his reflection
in the dressing-glass, the situation was piquant. Indeed, one was
persuaded that one's deplorable cousin Shan would find it rich in
hilarity. And, to be just, had it been Shan dressing just now to
attend, of all things, an express , Pat Rin might have found
himself more inclined toward laughter.
    His partner in this evening's enterprise
could not be dislodged from her conviction that he attended such
affairs as a