Stars Rise

LXIV. I Tell Cristo the Rest

The people's dial was not developed along with the rapid advancements.

To prevent an uprising, routers were disconnected, guns made useless without their star energy, no one could create links, shield themselves — licensing for magic was restricted to only what was necessary to industry. Meanwhile the guardia could execute a revolutionary with the wave of a gnomon and had no one to answer to but Marius.

I tell Cristo, if you can stop President Marius, the world will remember you as the only man who could save us all. But you and I will always remember the little girl who asked her father a question she couldn't find the answer to in any of her schoolbooks. It began as "What would happen if everyone was disconnected?" but over the years became, "What would happen if only some of us were?" and eventually, "What will happen to us?" If it weren't for those questions, maybe I would still be working for Constellation, unlocking the capabilities of the star dial for its president.

I didn't love Nova Dasilva — I didn't know her well enough. The pain of her death faded, believe it or not, and I married Candra Satiri, maybe even loved Candra before that fell apart. I love my daughter. I want to save my daughter from this fate, so I tell Cristo, you need to change the past, but you also need to keep the only things that matter in this present intact, the things we're fighting to save. No matter what happens, no matter what you change, Nova Dasilva needs to die within the next six hours, or my daughter will never be born. Should anything prevent her from dying, I tell him, you and I will lose the most important thing we're working to protect. In short, you need to make sure that Nova Dasilva dies.

Cristo pulls back out of my head again and shakes his, in disagreement as much as to orient himself back into the present. "You're talking about killing her myself?"

"If it should come to that," I say. "Someone is trying to murder her; and once succeeded."

Cristo gives me a thoughtful look, head tilted sideways. "So we're still better than Justin Marius."

"Undoubtedly," I say.

"Did you know Nova Dasilva connected the assassins to the tower's router the night your father died?"

I sigh, although Cristo probably expected a much more dramatic reaction. "No. How did you deduce that?"

"I made you read the router. You were a really stupid kid, Stephen, no offense. Genius, but stupid. It never occurred to you that someone had to have betrayed your father, and you were the only person who could see who it was."

"I never would have believed my own eyes anyways," I say. "Now you understand how crucial it is that you keep that aspect of history intact."

"Her betrayal is something else to worry about. You trusted her, thought she was a good person and loyal to Ilan, so there's a chance she really will help us to stop Justin Marius, especially since I brought her here to show her a future everyone regrets, even Candra, Sera, Cytheria, and many who really believed in what Marius was selling at the time. But on the other hand, if she had a good reason to betray the boss and fight against President Solin's reelection, she may continue to work against us. And at this point I clearly don't have the resources to figure out whether she'll work for us or against us. I figure I'll have to trust her until I don't."

"That's your call," I say. "And there's one more problem. If we succeed, and prevent Justin Marius from becoming company president, he won't bring about Nova's rebirth. You'll have to find a way to bring her back anyway, or make him or his faction do it. And, as we've discussed, if an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared. Marius needs to be taken down and put away. He can't be allowed to run for election a year from now."

One more thing, and he's not being forthcoming, so I prompt. "I doubt your questions about Nova were the only thing you returned to the present for — and if it was, I might have to hurt you."

"No," said Cristo. "I only have a few hours left before the election and the plan needs to be adjusted — drastically. I was supposed to secure the votes of Diana Aemilia, Liao Cytheria, and another two votes by this hour, hora sexta — I'm working on Tony Solari, you didn't think he was important enough but I'm positive Marius got to him. I eliminated Fortunato but I still have to make sure his son's on the right page. Cytheria thinks she knows how she'll react to the situation but it's not a sure thing, and she's the closest I've got to a sure thing. I haven't secured any of them, I have no idea where Milana Nox is or if she's even still alive, and I need a dozen more votes in under six hours, and to double check more voters too. The morning was dedicated to the tougher cases but everything rests on locking those down by now and I've failed."

"This plan was never going to work," I say.

"That's the spirit," says Cristo. "I've been working since before dawn and that's all you have to say? You're ready to pack it in and die?"

"No, but I was an idiot to green light this plan. I have a better one."

"Oh, now you tell me." Cristo shakes his head but then he started to feel hopeful. "What is it?" he asked with a smile.

I open a bottom drawer and rifle through for a file while I say, "Don't grin, you're not going to like this even a little bit."

"I like 'better plans.' I'm on board."

I slam the file down on the table. "You don't know what it is yet. Why do you think it became the contingency plan? It has a flaw. One you might not be able to live with."

"Pop, I woke up this morning and killed a man I never met. I've been lying my ass off all day and just last week I manipulated an old woman into telling me how to kidnap her children so they can be executed in front of her. I've all but agreed to murder Nova Dasilva if somebody else doesn't. Lay it on me."

"You're going to have to eliminate President Gaia Solin."

"You're drunk," says Cristo, and though it's the last thing I ever expected, that makes me smile.

"I'm ninety-nine years sober," I say.