"The starting point for the evolution of a mathematical solution." She made a circle in the air with her finger. "The calculations go around and around, never converging." She pointed at him. "Around you."
He gave her a wry smile. "As flattered as I am to play a role in your equations, Dehya, I"m afraid I have no idea what you are talking about."
"It"s about Soz. And you."
Eldrinson had been meditating to ensure he remained calm when faced with questions about Soz. Now he brought up images in his mind to invoke that tranquillity: Roca"s voice, Eldrin"s songs, Vyrl"s farm, Aniece"s laughter. Then he asked, "What about Soz and me?"
"It all comes back to you," she said. "The equations won"t converge. The initial conditions are wrong. I put Soz back in the model and it improved, but it still doesn"t converge. You"re a singularity."
"I don"t know what you mean," he said, which was honest.
She leaned forward. "Eldri, listen. This isn"t a game. In the future extrapolations I"m calculating, I cease to exist. I don"t die. I just stop."
He blinked. "How can you cease to exist?"
"I have no idea." She pushed her hair away from her eyes. "I can"t find what happens after the divergence."
"I don"t understand. What do you mean, "divergence"?"
"The future."
"It splits into different paths?"
"Mathematical divergence. It blows up."
"Your equations predict the future explodes?" He rubbed his chin. "I should hope not."
"I mean their solution becomes infinite."
"How can the future be infinite?"
"Not the future. The equations that predict what happens. They don"t behave in a logical way." She spread her hands. "My model is wrong."
He didn"t know what to make of the conversation. Although he had wondered if Dehya would suspect he had an involvement in Soz"s disappearance, he hadn"t expected this. "Equations are only abstractions. They aren"t real."
"They tell me that people we both love are in danger. Eldrin: my consort, your son. Taquinil: my son, your grandson."
He tensed. "In danger how?"
"I don"t know." Frustration shaded her voice. "The calculations are off. I"m missing something. Something important. Something about you."
"But why do you think Eldrin and Taquinil are in danger?"
"I get hints of it in the model. Just hints, almost buried in noise." She paused. "I"ve asked Taquinil to come home."
He understood the impulse to draw one"s children near when they were in danger. "Does his presence change your equations?"
"I can"t tell yet. There"s too much noise in the results."
What disquieted Eldrinson most was her fear. He had seen her in many moods, but this understated dread was something new.
"Why do you think I hide anything?" he asked.
She answered with a non sequitur. "Did you know that the Allied flotilla that will be taking you to Earth has arrived?"
The abrupt subject change puzzled him. "At the Orbiter?"
"Yes. They"re rendezvousing with the ISC forces that will be your escort." She tilted her head. "You must go to Earth. Soz is right. You"re safer there."
"Roca and Ami will go. I"m needed here."
"You should go too."
"I can"t. You know that."
"Please, Eldri. Do it."
He touched her arm, sensing more to this. "What else did you see in these equations?"
She swallowed. "If you stay here, you also cease to exist."
He smiled uneasily, unsure what to make of this. "I certainly have no desire to stop existing."
"It would be a loss."
Dryly he said, "I"m glad you think so. There have been more than a few times I"ve wondered."
Her smile sparkled, reminding him of less somber times. "Ah, well, think how boring our lives would be if we didn"t have each other to argue with about whether the inheritance of power should go through male or female lines."
He glowered at her. "I seem to be losing that argument lately, what with all these Imperators and Pharaohs and Empresses everywhere. I"m outnumbered."
Her voice gentled. "Then let us both survive to argue it another day."
In truth, he saw the logic in splitting up the Triad. The danger of all three Keys being in the same place was too great, and Earth was a sensible place to go, neutral ground, an unlikely target if the war escalated. His emotions, however, refused to acknowledge his logic.
"I can"t leave you to support the Web alone," he said.
"Soz is here."
"The Triad link isn"t stable."
"Even so. You have to go. You"re too valuable to risk."
"So are you. You go to Earth."
"Eldri, hear me." She looked genuinely frightened. "Kurj didn"t stay on Skyhammer. He died. I don"t want you to end."
He s.h.i.+fted his weight. "You truly believe my life will end if I stay here?"
"Cease to exist."
"What does that mean?"
"I don"t know. Maybe you will start to exist again later."
He couldn"t help but smile. "Dehya, do you think perhaps you spend too much time with these equations of yours?"
"Eldri, please."
His voice gentled. "When does Taquinil arrive?"
"In a few days."
"And my son Eldrin will be here with you?"
"Yes."
He knew if he tried to stay, he would also have to fight the Inner a.s.sembly over it. For all that his tornado of a daughter disconcerted them, they agreed with her in this matter. Strange how life went, when the children began to protect the parents.
"Eldri?" Dehya asked.
He exhaled. "Very well. I will go to Earth."
Her relief suffused the chamber. "Good."
"Do your equations say whether or not my leaving helps Eldrin and Taquinil?"
"I don"t know. It"s buried in the noise."
He made an exasperated sound. "You keep saying this. The "noise." How can equations make noise?"
"It"s like static, but in the numbers. So much static I can"t find the solution."
The comm in the chair chimed. Eldrinson frowned at the interruption. "Yes?"
His bodyguard answered. "Lord Valdoria, we just had a message from First Councilor Tikal. The Allied flotilla has arrived. They"re rendezvousing with the ISC forces that will accompany you to Earth."
He raised his eyebrows at Dehya. He doubted she had "calculated" the flotilla"s arrival before Tikal let anyone know it was here. More likely, her spy monitors had told her. He spoke into the comm. "Have you notified my wife and daughter-in-law?"
"Yes, sir. They went to meet the Allied commander."
"Very well." Eldrinson closed the link and grimaced at Dehya. "Knowing Tikal, he will try to bustle us off right away."
She smiled. "Probably."
"I haven"t even packed."
"He"ll send people to do it for you." Softly she said, "You have to tell me before you go. What am I missing? What happened with Soz?"
"Did you ever think," he said, "that knowing answers may cause more damage than not knowing them?"
"What answers?"
"I have none for you. I"m sorry."
She stood up, her gaze intent as she leaned her hands on the arms of his chair. "And if those answers you don"t have could save the lives of people we love? Eldrin and Taquinil?"
The comm chimed again. Eldrinson resisted the urge to growl not now and instead flicked it on. "What is it?"
His bodyguard answered. "First Councilor Tikal requests you meet him and the Allied commanders in the Strategy Room."
Eldrinson scowled. He had experienced enough of Tikal"s "requests" to knew the councilor would continue haranguing him until he did what Tikal wanted. "I will be out in a moment."
"Very well, sir."
As he closed the link, Dehya said, "We can never know the answers for certain. But if making better guesses protects the people we love, isn"t it worth it?"
He thought of Eldrin, his firstborn, the son most like him; of Taquinil, the vulnerable genius, the grandson he loved. Standing up, he said, "Put Jaibriol Qox into your equations."
"I already have."
Softly he said, "Not in the right way."
She watched him, her eyes green behind the sunset. "What is the right way?"
"Gently."
"Gently?"
"Yes. Gently." He took her hands. "Take care, my sister."
She squeezed his hands. "And you, my brother."
23.
It was three in the morning when Seth Rockworth walked into the living room of his house. He found Jai standing in front of the gla.s.s doors that opened onto the patio, looking out at the Appalachian Mountains.
"Couldn"t you sleep?" Seth asked.
Jai turned to him. At sixteen, Jaibriol Qox Skolia stood six-foot-two and was still growing. His shoulders had filled out, and he had the strapping vigor of a youth who thrived outdoors. The horizontal ribbing on his sweater made his chest look even broader. His jeans were old-fas.h.i.+oned denim, which had been popular for centuries. Gold highlights streaked his black hair, looking for all the world as if he had done it on purpose, after a style popular among young people now. Although his red eyes were hidden behind lenses that turned them brown, anyone familiar with Eubian aristocracy would recognize his features as Highton. But who would think to look for such in an American schoolboy?