Chapter Sixteen
The path of honor is a narrow ridge, with deep crevasses on either side.
—Princess Meghina of Siriki
Dr. Hurk Bichette wanted his patient to get better. Certainly he was administering every technique known to medical science, some of them the result of advice he had received from experts he’d brought in for consultation. Money was no object; Prince Saito Watanabe had unlimited funds.
But in Bichette’s thoughts, grating on his conscience like sand between his skull and brain, he wished the Prince would just die, if that was going to occur anyway. It was irritating the way the old man kept straddling the fence between life and death, not heading in either direction.
From the foot of the bed, Bichette watched the regular breathing of the comatose man. Following brain surgery, the rotund patient had been fitted with a mediwrap around his head to enhance the healing of damaged functions, along with a clearplax life-support dome. The injury was severe, but with modern technology this patient could live indefinitely, well beyond his normal life span.
But this is not living, the doctor thought.
Two women stood on one side of the bed.… the Prince’s redheaded daughter Francella and the blonde Princess Meghina, who had a distinctive heart-shaped face. Occasionally they glared at one another, without saying anything.
Located within the Prince’s cliffside villa, this had been an elegant reception chamber, until its conversion to a high-tech hospital facility. The large room had gold Romanesque filigree on the walls, a vaulted ceiling with dark wood beams, and brightly-colored simoil murals. The paintings, by the renowned artist Tintovinci, depicted the life of Prince Saito Watanabe, from the time when he had been an itinerant street vendor to his years as a factory worker and his rise to the very highest echelons of merchant prince society.
Life-support equipment hummed and clicked softly as it kept the body’s vital functions going. The big man’s chest heaved up and down within the clearplax dome, and occasionally he coughed, but did not awaken.
Meghina wiped tears from her eyes, and appeared about to say something. Her generous lips parted, then clamped shut, as she seemed to change her mind. Though married to the Doge, she was also a well-known courtesan, and had relationships with a number of noblemen. She and her powerful husband lived separately—she in her Golden Palace on Siriki and he in his Palazzo Magnifico on Timian One. Though Bichette did not approve of such relationships himself, they were commonplace among MPA noblemen, and the source of much braggadocio.
Beside her, Francella Watanabe shifted uneasily on her feet. She had a reddish makeup splotch on her high forehead, but neither Meghina nor the doctor were about to tell her.
Dr. Bichette looked away from them, back at this great Prince who seemed so helpless now and so peaceful, with his eyes closed and a calm, almost pleased expression on his round face. Even if the doctor wanted to disconnect him for humanitarian reasons—or for other reasons—he could not do so. Watanabe had left specific, signed instructions that he was not to be taken off life support, not even if he became brain dead. He had not reached that stage yet, but his mental functions had been damaged by oxygen deprivation, and he seemed unlikely to recover. Since his injury he had lapsed in and out of consciousness several times, and had spoken a few garbled, unintelligible words.
Frustrated by the amount of time he had been required to spend here, Bichette would rather deal with Tesh instead, to see if they could resurrect their relationship … a relationship that might be in worse shape than this patient. Bichette didn’t like Anton Glavine, and didn’t trust him around his attractive girlfriend.
A method of tipping the medical balance occurred to him. If I make just a slight adjustment in the nutrient lines, or administer a quick injection of protofyt enzyme, Saito will slip away, with no evidence remaining of what I did.
Anxiously, the doctor weighed the possibilities. Certainly this client paid him high fees, but there were other nobles who wanted his medical services, and if he lost this one he would have more time for the others. Prince Saito was something of a hypochondriac anyway, constantly summoning him for perceived, but not real, ailments. If he died, Dr. Bichette could take on three or four additional important clients who would pay him more in total, and cause less trouble.
Of course, there must be no suspicions cast upon me … and no suggestions of incompetence, either.
He would decide what to do after speaking with Tesh. The conducci he had sent to retrieve her should be bringing her back at any moment, with or without Anton. If the maintenance man happened to get in the way and sustained an injury, so be it. Bichette would not even provide him with a healing pad.
* * * * *
Princess Meghina did not like the hard expressions on the faces of Francella and the doctor, the way they stared coldly at the man she loved, as if impatient for him to slip away. A highly sensitive woman, Meghina prided herself on her ability to detect the hidden emotions of others, picking up on little mannerisms, tones of voice, and ephemeral expressions that suggested hidden thoughts and motivations. It did not seem to her that either of these people were overly concerned about Saito’s welfare. Rather, they appeared to be thinking of other matters, of other priorities. Meghina didn’t see how that could be possible. Still, she was detecting this.
To protect Prince Saito, Meghina would spend more time at his side, to monitor what was being done for him. If he died, it would be a terrible tragedy, not only for him but for Meghina. Even though they were not married, they were deeply in love and by all rights should have at least another twenty-five years together. Yet, if this wonderful man was going to pass away, it seemed fitting for him to do it here, surrounded by murals depicting the stellar accomplishments of his life.
Fighting back tears, she envisioned one last painting of Saito Watanabe lying on his death bed, and her administering to him.
Hold on, my darling, she thought.
Princess Meghina loved the fine things that were provided for her by the Doge and other noblemen—fancy clothing and jewels, the best food and wine, luxurious living and travel arrangements. But above all, she had a special fondness for Saito, and had provided him with honest business and financial advice for CorpOne operations, in addition to her physical and mental comforts.
Meghina shot a sidelong glance at Francella, who gazed dispassionately at her father, a man she should care about. On a number of occasions, Saito had confided to Meghina that he suspected his daughter only wanted money and power from him, and nothing else. The woman seemed to bear no love for anyone but herself, but her father kept hoping he was wrong.
Princess Meghina shook her head sadly. Francella was probably everything he feared she was, and maybe even worse. It seemed obvious that she thought Meghina was interfering, preventing the old man from lavishing money on her. Francella treated the courtesan like an enemy, a competitor for her father’s affections and wealth.
We live in a universe of secrets, Meghina thought. Everyone has them.
She considered her own secrets, especially one that would send shock waves across the entire Merchant Prince Alliance if it was ever revealed. Only two people knew it, herself and Prince Saito.
In reality, Princess Meghina was a Mutati who could not change back because she had remained in one shape—Human—for too long, allowing her cells to form irreversible patterns. This did not make her internal chemistry, or the arrangement of her organs, Human at all. Her DNA was radically different, and her blood was of a purplish hue. Thus it was quite easy for her to be revealed through a medical examination or a security scan—none of which had ever been required of her, because of her purported noble status and lofty connections. Even a pin prick could reveal her true identity, so she had to take extra care to avoid injury.
Meghina had in her possession falsified documents attesting that she was of noble merchant prince blood, the last surviving member of the House of Nochi. In fact she was a princess, but a Mutati one … a distant cousin of Zultan Abal Meshdi. Ever since her childhood on Paradij she had wanted to be Human, and now she was living her dream under an elaborate subterfuge. And, making her task somewhat easier, she was one of the few people of her race who did not display any of the typical allergies that Mutatis felt toward Humans. She had discovered that benefit inadvertently, after her implanted allergy protector stopped functioning.
The Princess had spent a great deal of time and money setting up her clandestine life, and each day she paid close attention to how well the artifice was going, and what she might do to strengthen it. For her own sake, and for that of Prince Saito, it was necessary to remain on constant guard. If anyone ever discovered her, it would ruin her and the Prince, since he knew her true identity and sheltered her. Without any doubt, it would rock the foundations of the Merchant Prince Alliance if the dirty little secret ever got out—despite the fact that she was, at heart, more Human than Mutati.
Her husband Lorenzo was at risk as well, though she did not love him. He was a cruel, selfish man who cared nothing for anyone but himself. Still, he was enamored of her, and provided her with the luxuries of a queen. She used her feminine wiles to manipulate him, like a flesh-and-bone puppet.
Purportedly, Meghina had given birth to seven daughters for the Doge. But each of her pregnancies had been false, since Humans and Mutatis could not interbreed. The “births” were among the most elaborate of her subterfuges, since she paid for children that had been carried in the wombs of other women, and she always went away to a remote planet, without her husband or any of his cronies, to “give birth.”
Without realizing it, Princess Meghina had been holding one of the large, limp hands of Prince Saito, and had been massaging it. Suddenly he jerked free of her. His eyes opened wide, and his gaze darted around in all directions. Finally he looked in Meghina’s direction, but not directly at her. Instead, he fixed his attention on a point somewhere beyond.
“Noah?” he murmured in a ghostly voice. “Is that you, Noah?”
Without waiting for an answer, he closed his eyes suddenly and slumped back on the bed.
* * * * *
Watching this, Francella grimaced. Nothing, it seemed, could dissuade the foolish old man from loving Noah. She had not planned on her father surviving the attack, so now she had to work on a contingency plan. As in a game of nebula chess, she needed to visualize several moves ahead.
Moments passed while she let the game play out in her mind. When a particularly delicious possibility occurred to her she smiled, just a little. Then, remembering suddenly where she was, she stiffened, and looked directly into Meghina’s penetrating sea-green eyes.