He saw something go through Tennal like a shock when Surit said we. “Lights,” Tennal said. He suppressed a flash of a smile. “You once told me you just do what you’re told, Lieutenant Yeni. I think that might be the biggest lie I’ve ever heard.”

Surit got to his feet, feeling the fog clear in his brain. He saluted.

After a long moment of stunned hesitation, Tennal raised his hand and saluted back.

“Let’s see,” Surit said, “what can be done.”

CHAPTER 17

It was hard to put his finger on it, but even Tennal, who had spent the past year dabbling in underground gambling rings, thought Archer Link Station seemed on edge.

He and Surit emerged into the bright artificial light of the bustling city on the station’s uppermost disc. Tennal enjoyed cities, and there was enough novelty about this one to keep his brain ticking over. It was the little things: the lack of road and air traffic, the cool haze of the artificial sky, and the way the food stalls used controlled heat packs and coated their awnings with spongelike absorbers to maintain air quality. Glass boxes rose at crossroads with tall, leafy plants inside them, waving fronds and flowers from their open tops. But there was an edge to the city’s bustle, and he could tell Surit felt it as well. Some people on the street withdrew from their uniforms. More than a few soldiers took a close look at Surit’s Cavalry tabs.

Tennal added Surit’s name to his own accommodation and took him on a quick orientation tour. Archer Link Station’s pride and joy were the enormous city-domes where most people lived beneath simulated skies. Below the city, the station had more functional levels that sat underneath it in a series of rings. The docks, where a steady stream of ships left for the galactic link, were on the lowest ring. Tennal hadn’t yet figured out a good excuse to get there. Instead he took Surit on a lightning tour of his part of the city: apartment blocks, governing halls, the local food district, and the ever-present tube car system that spiraled up from the floor into all major buildings and residences.

Surit was quiet and kept his head down, but Tennal could see him noting everything around him. There were a lot of soldiers. Archer Link Station had always been a military base with a civilian population—the military ran most of Orshan’s transport, and the link had to be protected—but normally governor was a civilian role. Now it was Governor-General Oma.

That wasn’t Tennal’s problem. Tennal was here to escape, not to get involved in Archer politics.

As they passed a blaring newslog screen, Surit said abruptly, “What happened to the old governor?”