Home Front (Star Kingdom #7) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,60
station?”
“I’ve offered you a job here, Professor,” Shayban said. “You’ve no need to fly to another system for asylum.”
“Of course, Sultan. I’m merely keeping my options open.”
“We on Shango Habitat are interested in seeing Princess Oku’s bee project be completed,” Tambora said. “The last I’d heard, robot bees were going to assist natural bees with bacterial enhancements.”
“Yes.” Casmir’s smile was more genuine as he realized she’d been talking to Oku about her—their—project at some point. “I hope all will be resolved with our war soon and that work may resume on that project.”
From wherever in the Twelve Systems he ended up doing it.
“Good. We are one of many habitats attempting to grow all of our food that would benefit from natural pollinators.” She nodded to him and to the sultan. “Have a good evening.”
“Enjoy the party tonight, Professor,” Shayban said when she’d gone, “and tomorrow, you will come look at my slydar detector and see if you can boost its range, yes? I will rest much easier once Dubashi is no more. I cared little when his sights were set on your Kingdom, but if he, like the rest of us, cannot escape this system, he may settle for a closer target.”
“I’ll be happy to take a look,” Casmir said.
“Excellent.” As Shayban clapped him on the shoulder and headed off to chat with other guests, a familiar android appeared out of the crowd, bland face, dark hair, and silver eyes.
Zee turned toward Tork as he approached. “Greetings, inferior android Tork.”
“Greetings, single-track killing machine Zee.”
“My tracks are many, as is proven by the fact that I am winning in our most recent strategy game.”
“You only think you are winning. I am using cunning subterfuge to lull you into this false belief.”
“Androids are as cunning as socks with holes in them. They were not designed to hunt down intelligent prey, but merely to do mindless tasks.”
“You will see my cunning when I best you at this game, as I have bested you in previous games, and you will be forced to accept that hunting requires only fast reflexes and enhanced olfactory sensors. There is no innate intelligence in crushers.”
Casmir would have left them to their bickering as he went to check on the contents of the buffet table, but since Zee was still on bodyguard duty, he followed. And Tork also followed so they could continue their discussion, if that was what it was. Casmir wondered what Zee would think if he posited that Tork might be the mechanical being he should select as a mate. Their interactions were much more spirited than any Zee engaged in with the other crushers.
14
Asger, having already seen the sights of Stardust Palace Station, remained on board the Dragon with his father, Qin, and Bonita. Bonita and his father were playing a holo game in the lounge. Asger and Qin sat cross-legged on the deck above the cargo ramp, looking out into the ship-filled bay. People watching, ostensibly, but Qin looked pensive, and Asger kept thinking about her sisters.
It bothered him that Casmir had been the one to suggest they might be able to find a way to facilitate their jailbreak. Asger was Qin’s friend—maybe more than friend—so he should have been eager to help her with this quest, and he wasn’t unwilling, but he’d encountered one of her sisters, such as they were, before he’d ever met Qin. She’d been from the older cohort, as he’d later learned, but had looked so similar that when he saw Qin the first time, he’d thought they were the same person. And that sister had killed one of his friends in battle. He was wrestling with the idea of risking his life to save the rest of them. Did he truly want to? They were the Druckers’ creatures, brainwashed from birth to be loyal to them. Qin was different, his Qin. The others were an unknown.
“Are you thinking about your sisters?” he asked, since her pensive expression hadn’t changed, not even when a boy had led an elephant off a ship and toward cargo doors in the back of the bay. A gift for the sultan, perhaps.
“Yes. Casmir said if we brainstormed a plan that could work, he would either go along, if it’s after he’s finished helping his people, or he would send some of his crushers.”
“He had better make sure he can get them back from Shayban before promising that.”
“I think he can get any robots he wants from anybody, whether he’s programmed them or not.”