A Murder of Clones: A Retrieval Artist Universe Novel by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

enclave. He has asked the Eaufasse for asylum. But his request was not for asylum from the Earth Alliance, but asylum ‘from humans.’ Realize that I got all of this from the Eaufasse through a Peyti translator, and that the Eaufasse do not know there are humans outside of the Earth Alliance. I’m not even certain that the word ‘asylum’ is the Eaufasse’s or the Peyti’s. But I do know if I do something wrong here, we will have repercussions for years.”
    Mishra ran a hand over his mouth. He tapped the table in front of him, so that it looked like his holographic image tapped the table Gomez’s arms were resting on. Only her table didn’t vibrate from his touch. His movement made him seem unreal, as if he were a figment of her imagination.
    “Your fear of repercussion, is that why you haven’t spoken to him directly?” Mishra asked.
    “I’m not sure I’m allowed to,” Gomez said. “In fact, I’m not sure I have any standing with the young man at all. Let me add that the Eaufasse are willing to let me speak to him, but they are also eager to become part of the Earth Alliance. They tried to sell me on Epriccom in the middle of our discussion about the enclave.”
    “You can’t trust them,” Mishra said.
    “I honestly don’t know what trust means in this circumstance,” Gomez said.
    Mishra sighed. He glanced sideways, maybe checking with that “best legal researcher” he said he was linked to. He looked grim.
    “Do you know who this kid is?”
    “We don’t know anything,” Gomez said. “We don’t even know what the enclave is.”
    “What information have you received from the Eaufasse?” he asked.
    “What I just gave you. Courtesy of the rather obnoxious Peyti translator, who admitted he was translating from Fasse to Peytin to Standard, which, as you can tell, is not the ideal way to talk with another species.”
    “Especially about something that turns on a word.” Mishra held up a finger, and this time, he turned most of his body sideways. His lips moved, but Gomez couldn’t hear anything. Then he nodded, as if he had just received an answer.
    He turned back toward her, and for once, their link was solid. He stopped flickering.
    “You were correct to contact us. I’d like about an hour to research your question. May I have it?”
    “Yeah,” she said. “I’d rather have you act on an educated guess instead of a hunch.”
    Mishra grinned again. “You think there’s a difference?”
    “Oh, maybe,” she said. “To some of the Multicultural Tribunals, anyway.”
    “Good point,” he said and signed off.
    The room actually felt bigger and emptier without his image floating on the other side of the table. The muscles in her shoulders were tight. She felt more alone at this moment than she had in years.
    There was a lot at stake in this one interaction. She could handle murder. She could handle an illegal enclave. She could handle a first- or second- or third-contact situation.
    She wasn’t sure she could handle a legal request from a government that her government didn’t yet recognize.
    She wasn’t sure what would happen—to all of them—if she got it wrong.

 
     
     
     
     
    SIX
     
     
    SHE’D TESTIFIED IN front of most of the Multicultural Tribunals, usually by hololink, and always in cases that she had resolved rather than ones in which she was an accused. She did not ever want to go in front of that part of the legal system because she had done something wrong. There wasn’t a lot of give in the Tribunal system. Most everyone she knew who went in front of the Tribunals accused of some heinous act were found guilty of that act—even if she knew for a fact that they were not. She’d heard rumors, ones she did not want to substantiate on her own, that if the accused had the backing of a large corporation and all of its wealth, the accused might go free. Or get off with a slap to the wrist.
    She had the Earth Alliance behind her, but she also had a sense that the