Floating Worlds by Cecelia Holland Read Free Book Online

asked him. But she did not want him. She would end up like her mother and father, alone all her life.
    “Paula?”
    “I’ll talk to you in the morning.” She went next door, to her room, turned on the light, and remembered the message.
    “Paula Mendoza,” it read. “Meeting room tomorrow at 10:30. Melleno has answered. RB.”
     
    When she went into the Committee office, half a dozen people were packed around the videone in the corner. She stopped to see what they were looking at.
    The screen was off; the newsband was on. “—Damage estimated in the millions. Thus far the reports list no dead and thirteen injured, with eighty-seven missing. Both attacking Styth ships escaped apparently without damage. Repeating the lead line: the Martian-ruled asteroid Vesta has sustained a space-to-surface attack by Styth ships. This is a—”
    She went down the corridor to the meeting room in the L. She was early. Only Michalski was there, sorting mail into stacks. Rubbing her sweating palms together, she went around the book-covered room.
    “What’s the message?”
    “Bunker has it. He was on night duty when it came in.” Michalski shook the papers before him into neat piles. “I don’t know anything, I just work here.”
    “Have you heard any jabber about the raid on Vesta?” She took off her jacket and dropped it across a chair. “There must be two brands of Styths, ones who shoot and ones who talk.” Or they were turning down the negotiation.
    Bunker came into the room, his papercase in one hand. He swung it flat onto the table and unsnapped the clasps. “I don’t follow all these large gestures.” He took out a transparent page. Paula reached for it and he held it away from her.
    “Don’t be grabby, junior.” He gave the page to Michalski. “Transcribe this.”
    Michalski left the room. Bunker sat down, his eyes on Paula. “I don’t know what it says, except that it’s relatively long. You heard about the attack on Vesta?”
    “Yes. What does that mean?”
    “Emphasis, I guess.”
    Talking behind her, Jefferson backed in the door. She wore a red suit that made her look massive. Michalski followed her in, his cheeks ruddy. He had a tape plug in one hand. He dropped it into the socket in the table and pressed a button.
    A sexless computer voice said, “By Melleno, in Saturn-Keda. We have received your message. We know what the Committee for the Revolution is and what your request really means. Since the beginning the Sun-worlds have robbed us and lied to us. Now when the Empire is great, you beg for our friendship. Nothing you can say will change the course of justice. If you want to talk, you must show the good faith. You submit the names of your people and the places you can meet us, and we will choose your agent and the place and moment. Answer by this light band. Ended. Melleno.”
    Paula bounced in her chair. The tape shut off with a double click. Jefferson settled herself in her chair. “Congratulations,” she said to Paula. She opened her purse and took out a hard-cooked egg and a paper twist. “I missed breakfast.”
    Bunker shook his head. “Curious.”
    “How many ships attacked Vesta?”
    “Two. One lured the patrols off and the other got in and out in eighty-five seconds, shooting all the way.”
    Paula stood up, excited. “Then Melleno must not be connected with the raiders.”
    “Not necessarily,” Bunker said. “At the moment, Vesta happens to be directly in line with Uranus and the Earth. It could be a warning.”
    Jefferson opened out the paper twist and rolled the egg in salt and pepper. “The message came from Saturn.”
    Bunker slid down in his chair, his hands on his flat stomach. “Uranus is the brain of the Empire.”
    “He didn’t say anything about the rAkellaron,” Paula said. Michalski was still standing at the foot of the table. “Give me a copy of that.” He bent over the recorder.
    “He said ‘ we .’”
    “He also said ‘Answer by this light band.’”