“You don’t want to travel on theFortitude?”
“No.”
Barney raised a brow. “Elijah Santiago is one of the best captains out there. Varkan work their way up to a pilot’s seat on his ships foryears. He only takes the very best. His safety record is impeccable. Whywouldn’tyou want to be on his flight?”
“I just…” Lucie smoothed out a wrinkle in the cover of her bunk, just in front of her.
“Was he rude to you?” Barney asked, his tone at once curious and empathetic.
“No!” She looked up quickly. “He was very polite, under the circumstances. I just…I would like to avoid running into him again.”
Barney’s lips thinned. The focus of his eyes shifted away from her. Then his lips parted. “Oh! Oh…I see.”
“See what?” Lucie demanded, her back straightening. “Did you look at the security feeds in the docking bay?”
“I could have, but that’s a bit tacky, isn’t it?” Barney shook his head. “While you were bumbling around, trying to get it out, I went through Elijah Santiago’s entire history, everything available in public records. There’s thousands of minutes of footage and images of him, cross referenced with Blake Bloodworth.” Barney gave Lucie a small smile that was more of a grimace. “Too bad, huh? You look exactly like her…well, except for the curls.”
Lucie touched her wavy hair. She had fought to manage it every day of the ten years she’d had it, and still hadn’t brought it completely under control. It was fine, auburn and thick. And it was down to her waist now, as she had thought that the extra length would make it more controllable. “She…didn’t have my hair?” It would be a relief if there wassomethingdifferent about her and her DNA donor. Santiago had been so upset. He’d hidden it well, as soon as he realized Lucie wasn’t this Blake Bloodworth.
Barney shook his head with an expression of regret. “No, her hair is your hair. She kept it shorter, though, and straightened. I guess because she was in zero gee a lot.”
“She was?”
Barney nodded. “There’s images of her when she didn’t bother with the straightening. You’re doubles, honey. Sorry.”
Lucie nodded. “I think it’s Captain Santiago you have to feel sorrier for.”
“Yeah, he would be upset.”
You’re alive! Santiago had ground that out, agony throbbing in each word.
“When did she die?” Lucie asked.
“Oh, years ago.”
Lucie tilted her head, considering Barney’s image on the screen. He hadn’t given her the years, months and days. It was a very human thing, that imprecision. She had been trying to formthat habit of generalizing for years, and still sometimes slipped and gave a precise answer that made humans look at her twice.
“Years ago and he’s still grieving?”
“Given what she must have meant to him,” Barney said, “and seeing you stepping off his ship…I don’t think there is a person alive who wouldn’t have reacted the way he did.”
“You’ve watched the security feed now,” Lucie said, vexed.
“I thought it prudent to understand why you’re unwilling to use the premier interstellar carrier on Charlton,” Barney said. “So I could suggest complaint procedures and contacts, if they were needed.”
She nodded, only slightly mollified. Her cheeks burned, though. “Did he…they were very close?”
“Not that anyone was aware at the time. They were enemies, you know.”
“Enemies?” The word escaped her in a rush. “But…people don’t have enemies, these days. Not even the Periglus are really an enemy.”
“Okay, then. Professional opponents.”
Lucie grimaced. “Who was she? Why were they opponents?”
“Do you want the public version, or the real version?” Barney asked.
“I’ve never heard of either of these people before. They’re public figures?”
