The luncheon took longer than planned, since Sabrina was late, and by the time it was over she had no time to seek out Rayland and talk to him about Scotty, as she had planned, before meeting the planetary aid committee from an allied, non-Realm planet called Ssussur. They were huge, reptilian creatures reminding Sabrina of Chinese dragons, with small, flightless wings and a sharp intelligence combined with a sly sense of humor. Their ambassador, Haassaa, treated Sabrina to the traditional greeting of her people, which involved curling around the person to be greeted. Unnerved by the huge, muscular coils around her, Sabrina had to battle her deepest primal fears to stand still; Darice actually shifted from foot to foot in an effort to restrain her instinct to attack. Having passed the test, Sabrina found that Haassaa treated her like an equal, and she enjoyed the conversation after the shakes from her terror had passed.
Her next meeting, with Foreign Affairs Minister Leyahrt and Secretary of Intelligence Thala, did nothing to improve her mood. Thala reported that traffic out of the Wayfarer Homeworld system had increased threefold since Khediva's distress call; many of the departing vessels were headed in the direction of the Realm.
"But Realm space is interdicted to Homeworld," Leyahrt said, frowning.
"Yes, but the interdiction has always been maintained by the Guardian. Who is not here," Thala pointed out. "And it was violated frequently while Shariara was ill. It must have been at that time that Homeworld increased its intelligence-gathering activities here, when we were too busy to notice."
"How are you coming along in rooting out their intelligence network?" Sabrina asked.
"We've found several minor operatives," Thala said. "They were not of sufficient rank to furnish us with any information about Homeworld's plans, and I am certain there are more, better hidden operatives. The ones we have found, we may have been meant to find, to lull us into a sense of security. Commander Rayland is assisting us, since we believe there must be several operatives in strategic positions within our defense forces, but as of yet he has been unsuccessful." She paused. "I'd like to ask your opinion of requesting Lady Imari to begin an internal investigation into the Miahn hierarchy of Councils."
"She'd tell you it was impossible," Minister Leyahrt shrugged. "Miahns pride themselves on spotting non-Miahns among them. And no Wayfarer could fool them."
"The operatives in question are not Wayfarers, but Homeworld citizens," Thala said. "No operative would attempt to pass himself off as Miahn when such a claim would inevitably, and quickly, be disproved. But there are many non-Miahns among the Council structures at this time, serving as administrators and such."
"I cannot believe any of our citizens would agree to act as agents for our enemies," Leyahrt said.
"They may not have," Thala said. "Homeworld has many ways of gathering intelligence, sometimes without the operative's own knowledge. Remember the execution of Tassan IX's bodyguard for passing intelligence to Homeworld? The autopsy revealed that his brain had been chemically partitioned. There were, in effect, two people in his brain, one an operative, the other a loyal bodyguard, totally separate from each other and thus missed in his medical scans. And that was a thousand years ago. There is no telling what Homeworld has produced since then." She steepled her fingers in front of her and looked at Sabrina. "My lady, I have not brought this up before, because I believed—and King Baldaran believed—that even such an inadvertent operative could not live in proximity to the Guardian without discovery, even aboard a Wayship. But you and your brother would have been obvious candidates for forcible conversion to Homeworld's operatives."
Sabrina stiffened. "Could a medical scan set your mind at rest? Do you know what to look for now?"
"You have both been scanned thoroughly since your arrival here; there are no medical indications that we can find," Thala said. "I do not think it likely to be you; your position now is so prominent that you can hardly sigh without a dozen people knowing it. Certainly it would be difficult for you to be transmitting information."
Sabrina gave a sour smile. "That's true enough. And Scotty's in the military; not exactly a private life there either."
"Yes," Thala said dubiously.
"What?" Sabrina demanded.
"My lady...forgive me if I offend, but I did hear a rumor that your brother resigned this morning, after a rather vocal disagreement with you."
Sabrina's lips twisted into a grimace. "He didn't mean it. He never does mean what he says when he's that mad. Give him a day or two to cool down, and he'll show up at my door with a stupid grin and say something like, 'Hey, Rina, sorry about what I said, I was having a bad day,' and I'll forgive him, like I always do."
Thala nodded. "Sibling quarrels are not unusual. Normally I would give no more weight to it than you have just done. But considering what has happened in the last few hours—"
"What?" Sabrina asked blankly.
Thala was taken aback. "I thought you had already been informed. Commander Rayland contacted me just before this meeting. He, too, had heard the rumors and was looking for Captain Devon. He was scheduled for outsystem patrol today; he is not on station, has not checked in, and does not answer repeated hails. At Commander Rayland's request, I have alerted our outsystem operatives to be on the lookout for him."
Sabrina jumped out of her chair, her face white. "He's out there by himself? Alone? We've got to find him! Before Homeworld does! The things he knows.... My own brother! They'd love to get their hands on him! I've got to call Mara, she can find him." She turned blindly to go.
Leyahrt and Thala were on their feet too. Thala reached out a hand to Sabrina and pulled her back into her seat. "My lady, we cannot contact the Queen; we have no way of doing so that will not alert Homeworld. If Homeworld does have your brother, or he is already an operative, then this could be a trap to make us do just that so they can attempt to capture or destroy Tirqwin and Khediva, as well as the Queen."
"We can't just let him wander around out there!"
"No, my lady. We are looking for him, as discreetly as we can. Commander Rayland is in the process of doubling our patrols, and I suggest we begin contacting Realm governments. We could say we think he has been kidnapped, or brainwashed," Thala said.
Leyahrt said, "An embarrassment, even as great as this, will still be better than allowing Homeworld access to the knowledge Captain Devon possesses or letting ourselves be goaded into baiting a trap for the Queen."
Sabrina hesitated, then nodded. "All right. Do what you think best. He...he might have gone to Allyria, if he just wanted to get away for a while. But he really wanted to find Khediva. I don't know where he would even start looking for them. I don't think I told him they'd been in the Outer Rim, and they won't have gone back there anyway, now." A sudden sob welled in her throat, and she pressed her hands to her mouth. After a moment she said, "I should have made Tirqwin take us back to Earth at the beginning."
"We'll find him, my lady," Thala said.
There was a small silence as Sabrina tried to stop her mind going in useless circles around the harsh fact that her brother was gone, perhaps forever. She knew if she let herself review their last encounter, she would cry, and she must not. "We had better get on with it, then," she said, rising again. "Notify me at once if there's any news, any at all."
"Yes, my lady," Leyahrt said.
Sabrina walked so quickly on her way back to her rooms that Darice had to jog to keep up. They met Justek just inside the door, with a pad in his hand; he opened his mouth to comment on her unscheduled arrival, then caught sight of her expression and refrained. Sehaèri and Aliza also watched in alarmed silence as she went past them into her bedroom and closed the door.
"What's happened?" Justek asked softly.
Darice looked grim. "Captain Devon is missing. They think he has left the system, but no one knows whether he went of his own accord, or was taken."
"Miah's breath!" Sehaèri swore.
"But how could anyone take him from here?" Aliza demanded, looking frightened.
"He was on patrol just outside the solar system," Darice replied.
"Oh, poor Lady Sabrina!" Aliza exclaimed. "Should one of us go to her?"
"Better let her be, at least for a while," Darice advised.
Justek frowned down at his pad. "I wonder if I should begin canceling her engagements. No, I had better wait for her to order it; she may wish to continue working as normal, especially if this is not widely known."
"I think it can't be hidden for long," Darice said.
They paused, looking up in surprise as Sabrina flung her bedroom door open and rushed back through the room. Justek began, "My lady, where—"
"I have to talk to Haaron!" Sabrina flung over her shoulder as Darice hurried to catch up.