Undercity by Catherine Asaro Read Free Book Online Page A

“Come back sometime when you don’t want anything.”
    I resisted the urge to kiss his fingers. I had no intention of asking him for anything except information. For some reason, though, when I opened my mouth, what came out was, “Might do that.”
    “Good,” Jak murmured. He tapped a panel by a gold-plated skull. The wall shimmered and vanished, revealing the junction outside where I had entered. I hadn’t felt the room turning, but that entrance was across the foyer from where I had entered.
    He spoke in a shadowed voice. “See you, Bhaaj.”
    “Yah.” I headed back out into the canals. Oddly, I felt lighter.
    Damned if I wasn’t glad to see Jak—which could only mean I had flitflies for brains.
    * * *
    I fell asleep on the couch in my new penthouse and woke up about seven hours into the forty-hour night. Through the window-wall across the room, I saw the lights of Cries glittering to the east. I went to the console, settled into its exorbitantly comfortable chair, and activated its EI. General Majda had promised me freedom from surveillance, but I believed that like I believed Jak was a paragon of virtue.
    At least I could do something about the EI. It took almost no time to find the spy codes they had installed to monitor me. It took a lot longer to deactivate them; Majda security did good work. After I finished neutralizing, blocking, or distracting the spies, I told the EI to search the Raylicon meshes and any offworld systems it could access. My goal: investigate the three Majda sisters.
    They made quite a trio. As General to the Pharaoh’s Army, Vaj Majda commanded the oldest branch of Imperial Space Command. The army had served the Ruby Dynasty for six thousand years. After the Imperator who oversaw the entire military, Vaj Majda was arguably the most powerful officer in ISC. I wondered how she felt about answering to a male Imperator. If she was against men serving in the military, she gave no public indication of that belief. She was no fool; to succeed in her career, she had to accept the realities of modern Skolia, where nearly as many men as women served in ISC. It even affected her staff, as evidenced by Major Ebersole’s position of authority on her staff, or the man who had brought me to Raylicon on the flyer, probably a retired military pilot.
    “EI,” I said.
    “Attending.” It spoke in slightly nasal voice.
    “Do you have a name?” I asked.
    “Not yet. I was installed this morning.”
    “What should I call you?”
    “I have no preference.”
    I’d have to think of a name. Anything was better than Hey, you. “Can you answer questions about the Majdas?”
    “Yes, I have a great deal of data on their House.”
    We would see about that. “I was wondering how the general reconciles the way her House treats Majda princes with the fact that most Skolian men have equal rights with women.”
    “Majda princes hold to a higher standard.”
    “That so?”
    “Yes.”
    “Who appointed the team that programmed you?”
    “General Vaj Majda.”
    That figured. I buckled down and set to work, researching the House. They had more corporations, investments, and financial connections than I could count—and as far as I could tell, it was all legit. I delved into data grottos unknown even to ISC intelligence and found nothing. Majda came by their wealth legally. It added to their invulnerability; they couldn’t be blackmailed. If someone wanted to manipulate them, kidnapping one of their princes might be the only way.
    They threw me a few surprises with their husbands. Prince Paolo had the rank, heredity, and looks expected of a Majda consort, but he lacked the supposed “moral” background. Granted, if all grooms among the aristocracy truly had to be virgins on their wedding night, the noble Houses would die out for lack of mates. They were discreet, however. Paolo, however, had openly enjoyed love affairs as a bachelor, yet Lavinda married him anyway. It didn’t take long to see why. He