Icarus Coda

Book : The Icarus Saga

by Timothy Zahn

Genres: Sci-fi Action & Adventure; Space Opera

Synopsis

NEW ENTRY IN THE ICARUS SAGA FROM NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR TIMOTHY ZAHN

For years Gregory Roarke and his Kadolian partner Selene have worked for the ultra-secret Icarus Group, hunting for the mysterious Icari teleportation portals so valued by the Commonwealth.

But their job has now come to a wrenching end. The two of them are fugitives, sought by the Commonwealth, the rival Patth, and the remnant of the ancient Ammei who once controlled the portals and who hunger for a return to those days of glory. All three groups want Selene and her unique ability to understand and deal with Icari technology.

Or is it unique?

In the shadow of an Ammei stronghold they stumble across an unfamiliar and badly confused alien named Bubloo who has the same ultrasensitive sense of smell as Selene and her fellow Kadolians. If the Ammei get hold of him, can they achieve their goal of domination without Selene?

Roarke doesn’t know. But he doesn’t dare take that chance.

Things are looking grim, with multiple puzzles and questions intertwined around Bubloo and the portals, and the future of the Spiral hanging in the balance.

And then, the Patth assassination squad arrives…

Release date: April 1, 2025

Publisher: Baen

Print pages: 384

Sample

Chapter 1

 

As my father used to say, You’ll never know how far you can go until you push the limits. When you reach that point, make sure you have a good exit strategy ready.

In this case, the limit for Selene and me turned out to be exactly two steps out the back door of the Mycene Ammei enclave’s export center and approximately three meters short of the two tall, armadillo-armored Ammei soldiers currently pointing lightning guns at us.

“Is there a problem?” I asked, making sure to keep my hands visible. I’d seen what those weapons could do, and had no interest in a replay. “Isn’t this the way out?”

Neither of the soldiers answered. Most Ammei we’d encountered had at least a modest grasp of English, but these two might be exceptions to that general rule. It could also be that they weren’t supposed to engage potential corpses in conversation.

Or maybe they just didn’t like us. The expressions on their wide, long-snouted faces were a mix of suspicion, irritation, and contempt.

In another place and time I’d probably have congratulated myself on that quick analysis. Ammei faces were similar enough that most of the non-Ammei species they interacted with relied on their wide array of clothing choices to distinguish between individuals. But after three months of quietly investigating the culture, politics, and technology of the Dulcet, Lassiter, and Mycene enclaves, I’d learned how to read the subtle patterns in their full-body scale coverings and the slight variations in snout width and length.

Selene had spent those same three months learning how to read the identity markers present in Ammei scents. She’d also started a mental library of emotional indicators, though a full reading of the species was still a long ways off.

None of that expertise was needed right now, of course. There was a universality to aimed weaponry that superseded cultural barriers.

Behind us, the door we’d just exited slammed open and the export clerk we’d been negotiating with charged out. “What do you do here?” he demanded, his voice and expression agitated. “You cannot be out here.”

“I’m so sorry,” I apologized profusely, taking one final look at the landscape behind the soldiers. Ten meters past them the flagstoned pedestrian path we were standing on curved out of sight behind a section of the forest that filled this side of the export center. There was no indication of anything special about the path, or that there might be anything more interesting than a Grove of Reflection at the far end. But a single glance at Selene’s pupils was all I needed to know that sneaking out the office’s back door had been worth the risk.

Somewhere along this path, somewhere very close, was the Mycene end of the Nexus Six Gemini portal.

“I thought this door led back to the main parking area,” I told the clerk.

“It does not,” he said stiffly. His agitation was quickly turning to anger and suspicion. “Come inside. Come inside now.”

“Of course,” I soothed, taking Selene’s arm. “I’m afraid I get turned around easily.”

“Come,” he said, pulling open the door. I gave him an embarrassed smile as Selene and I walked past. He strode in after us, the two armed soldiers close behind him.

“Have you had a chance to consider our offer?” I asked as the clerk led the way back toward his office. “We believe the terms to be very fair.”

The clerk didn’t answer. He led the way to his office door, but instead of ushering us inside, he continued along the hallway toward the reception room. We reached it, he opened the door, and we walked in.

I winced. Earlier, the room’s total occupancy had been a single greeter behind an ornate desk. She was still there, but she’d been joined by two more soldiers and a third armed Ammei wearing the distinguishing hat of a junior officer. “You will explain your actions,” the officer said, his voice and expression flat and determined.

“I understand, sir, and I’m extremely sorry for my carelessness,” I said. As my father used to say, Nothing in life is free, and the cost will usually come out of your wallet, your ego, or your hide. Considering

the other options, I would be more than happy to sacrifice whatever pride was necessary to get us out of here. “I know you think me a fool, and you’re absolutely right.”

I might as well have saved my breath. “You will provide identification,” the officer ordered. “Correct identification,” he added, having apparently concluded that what we’d showed the greeter earlier was false. Which it was, of course. “Afterward you will be brought before First Dominant Prucital for investigation and judgment.”

I suppressed a sigh. So that was that. We hadn’t yet had the honor of meeting Prucital, but as the leader of this enclave he was certain to have regular contact with First of Three and the rest of the Nexus Six leadership. That meant he would have heard about Selene and me, and had probably seen pictures.

When you reach that point, make sure you have a good exit strategy ready.

Fortunately, I had such an emergency trapdoor at hand. Unfortunately, it was a single-use ploy that I’d hoped to save for later.

But it couldn’t be helped. The export center was only a couple of hundred meters inside the enclave, but with three soldiers in front of us and two more behind it would be suicide to make a run for it. There was equally no way I could afford to let First Dominant Prucital get a good look at us.

“You want correct identification?” I asked, letting my voice go cold and hard. Probably a waste of time, given that the officer probably hadn’t bothered to learn human mannerisms and vocal tones. “Fine.” I pulled my wallet from my pocket and flipped it open toward him. “Major Thomas Aquinas, EarthGuard Special Investigations,” I continued in my most authoritative voice, making sure to angle the gold ID badge so that it sent the ceiling light into his eyes. “We’re looking for this man”—I slid out the picture that had been pressed up behind the ID—“and it was thought he might have taken refuge in your enclave.”

“No humans hide within our borders,” the officer said, his expression suddenly cautious. “What standing does EarthGuard have here?”

“I agree,” I said, voicing approval of his comment while ignoring his question. “We’ve seen enough to confirm he’s not here.”

Which wasn’t even remotely true, of course. We’d walked from the main gate to the export center, plus those two meters out the back door, and that was it. But the officer didn’t necessarily know that, not without working through whatever security cameras the enclave had in play. “We appreciate your cooperation, and will now be on our way. I assume your soldiers will provide proper escort to the gate?”

The officer stirred, as if he’d just remembered there was procedure for a situation like this. “Your identity must be verified before you will be permitted to leave.” He produced a compact scanner and held out his hand.

Silently, I slid the ID out of the wallet and handed it over, my heart picking up its

pace a bit. Depending on what kind of authentication the scanner checked for, we could be out of here in two minutes, or we could end up seated in a locked room for as long as it took for someone with real EarthGuard credentials to arrive from the Commonwealth diplomatic station.

Though even that worst-case scenario wouldn’t necessarily be the end of the world. Like every other bureaucracy, EarthGuard had its share of organizational blind alleys, deep-black secrets, and the normal social friction inherent in one person not knowing the next guy’s job. On top of that, my years as a bounty hunter had garnered me an extensive repertoire of excuses, misdirections, innuendoes, and flat-out lies suitable for any occasion. No matter who the Ammei persuaded to look us over, I was pretty sure I could talk our way out of it. “But be quick about it,” I warned as the officer inserted my ID into the slot. “We have three more locations to clear before the end of the week.”

“I will be as quick as assurance allows.”

He peered at the display, poking at the keys, and I found myself mentally crossing my fingers. I’d been assured the ID would pass any standard scrutiny check with flying colors. If we were lucky, this would be the end of it.

For once, we were. “Yes; Major Aquinas,” the officer said, removing the ID from his scanner and handing it back. “Your identity is confirmed.”

“Good,” I said briskly, tucking the card back in its wallet. “If you’ll now escort us back to the gate?”

“We shall do so,” the guard said. “Do you wish to first consult with your colleague?”

Long practice kept me from the sudden freeze that might have brought down the entire house of cards. Someone from EarthGuard was here? “No need,” I told him, taking Selene’s arm. “We’re running separate operations. The gate, please.”

It looked like we’d gotten away clean. But as my father used to say, When you’re trying to get away from something or someone, bear in mind that horseshoe rules don’t apply. Still, I could sense no unusual scrutiny or suspicion from the Ammei we passed on the walk back to the entrance, and if Selene smelled anything disquieting she didn’t signal me. We passed through the gate into the wide strip of farmland that lay between Ammei territory and the minor Drilie city to the north, and I turned us toward the parking area where we’d left our runaround—

Abruptly, Selene’s hand squeezed my arm. “Gregory, he’s here,” she murmured tensely.

“Who?” I murmured back, flicking a quick look across everything I could see without doing something suspicious like spinning to look behind us. There was nothing obvious.

But as my father used to say—

“Hello, Gregory. Fancy meeting you here.”

I closed my eyes briefly, the utter ridiculousness of such a coincidence flooding over me. “Hello, Dad,” I said, not bothering to turn around. “Or should I be formal and address you as Sir Nicholas?”

“Dad is fine,” he assured me as he caught up with us and settled into step beside Selene. “Nice beard, by the way. Your new hair looks even better, Selene.”

“Thanks,” I said, glancing at the coal-black wig currently covering Selene’s blazing white Kadolian hair. “So how does that go again? Of all the gin joints—”

“—in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine,” my father finished the quote. “Sadly, Rick didn’t know to reference the Spiral in his complaint.”

“Sadly, indeed,” I agreed, wondering who Rick was and what he was complaining about. My father had a vast reservoir of quotes and sayings to draw from and seldom bothered to explain any of them. “Can we give you a lift somewhere?”

“Better idea,” he said, offering a genial smile that didn’t fool me for a second. “How about I buy you lunch?”

“Not hungry, and on a very tight schedule.”

His smile turned frosty. “Work me in. You’re going to want to hear what I have to say.”

“Let’s try the edited version.”

Beside me, Selene stirred. “Gregory, he’s serious.”

“Never known him not to be,” I said, my resolve wavering a little. Whatever Selene had picked up in his scent, it had clearly made an impression on her. That was always worth paying attention to.

On the other hand, we needed to make tracks out of here before some Amme took another look at whatever they used for wanted posters and realized Gregory Roarke, Public Enemy Number One, was still within spitting distance. And as my father also used to say, Another definition of spitting distance is that you’re close enough to be mounted on their rotisserie. On top of which, I frankly wasn’t feeling all that cooperative right now.

“Edited version it is,” my father said. “You and Selene have both picked up posts.”

Once again, I passed up the guilty starts. But it was a closer thing this time. “Bounty posts?”

“The good news is that both of you are on live-detain bounties,” he said. “The bad news is that they’re two million commarks each.”

I swallowed a curse that had once earned me a three-minute scolding. “So someone wants to talk to us,” I concluded. “Or else wants the privilege of killing us himself.”

“And is very invested in exercising one or both of those options,” my father confirmed. “There’s a nice, out-of-the-way barbeque place about ten kilometers north of here.”

I sighed and gestured to the runrarounds. “Lead the way.”

 

“The good news first,” he said when we were seated in a back corner of his chosen 

restaurant and had sent in our order. “Whoever’s behind this, it probably isn’t General Kinneman. I’m pretty sure it isn’t First of Three, either.”

“Reasons?” I asked, taking a small sip of my Dewar’s scotch. I had no intention of getting my mind fogged, especially not this close to enemy territory. But human rib places had a reputation among the Drilie locals for the liberal use of alcohol, and I didn’t want to draw attention by standing too far out of expectations.

“For Kinneman, it’s budget considerations,” my father said. “I’ve had a look at the Alien Portal Agency’s finances, and much as he’d like to throw a net around you there’s no way he can pull two million out of petty cash without it sending flags from here to Earth and back again. First of Three has the same budget restrictions plus logistics. Not only would he have to dig up money he hasn’t got, but he’d also have to navigate his way through the Commonwealth political and social structure, not to mention the hunter protocols.”

“I assume he has agents here in the Spiral he could use for all that,” Selene pointed out.

“I’m sure he does,” my father agreed. “If he trusts them, which is the likely centerpiece of his logistics headache. As I’m sure you noticed while you were on Nexus Six, the Ammei have a lot of internal politics going on.”

“We might have spotted an indication or two,” I agreed, deliberately keeping it vague. “So what’s your analysis? I assume after three months you have the whole thing down cold.”

He snorted. “You give me way too much credit, Gregory. All right. The data we’ve assembled suggests there are five Ammei enclaves in the Spiral, though one is so small it really doesn’t count. Officially, they all answer to First of Three and the Nexus Six leadership. Unofficially, there are at least two major factions—one each centered on Nexus Six and Juniper—with threads from both groups weaving through the other enclaves.”

“That was our conclusion, too,” I said.

“That same political stress also exists within each enclave’s leadership,” Selene added. “Here in Mycene, for example, First Dominant Prucital is a strong supporter of First of Three. But—”

“Which is why First of Three rewarded him by naming him Fourth of Three,” my father put in, “and adding him to—”

“Wait a minute,” I interrupted him right back. “Prucital is Fourth of Three?”

“You didn’t pick up on that?” my father asked, frowning. “No, of course you didn’t. Prucital generally prefers to stay in the background when he’s here on his own world. You probably never saw him.”

“No, we didn’t,” I said sourly. Fourth of Three had been an elderly Amme who had played translator between Second of Three, Selene, Huginn, and me during our first visit to Nexus Six. “Interesting. As I believe you used to say, If you can secure someone’s loyalty with

 a fancy title or a few flattering words, you’ve gotten off cheap.”

“Yes, that does sound familiar,” he agreed. “At any rate—”

“Hold it,” I said. “It’s still Selene’s turn.”

“Oh. Right.” My father turned to her. “Sorry. I sometimes slip into lecture mode. Bad habit. Please continue.”

“As I said, First Dominant Prucital is a supporter of Nexus Six,” she said, the brief flicker of annoyance fading from her pupils. She hated when people acted as if she wasn’t there. “But Second Dominant Nibagu and his faction are allied with First Dominant Yiuliob and the Juniper Glory political group.”

“Really,” my father said thoughtfully. “Prucital didn’t mention that part. I didn’t pick up on it, either.”

“You haven’t spent as much time poking around the enclaves’ edges as we have,” I said. After talking over Selene, he deserved a little dig. “Kinneman probably keeps you on a pretty tight leash. What’s that old saying about serving two masters?”

“Point taken,” my father conceded. “Let’s get back to your posts. Interesting that you bring up dualism, given that it appears your bounties originated from two different sources.”

“So we’re not being hunted as a pair?”

“Apparently not.” He nodded to Selene. “You, Selene, are the easy part. The only people who want you that badly are the Ammei, which leads me to suspect First Dominant Yiuliob is behind your post.”

“If First and Nexus Six don’t have that kind of money, what makes you think Yiuliob and Juniper do?” I asked.

His eyebrows went up a fraction. “You’re the ones who’ve been digging into the depths of Ammei society. You tell me.”

“If you insist,” I said. First his lecture mode, and now his pop-quiz thing. “We only saw Yiuliob’s distribution center for a few minutes, but it was pretty impressive. It looks like most of the exotic foodstuffs go straight there, where they’re treated and processed and then distributed back to the other enclaves via the Nexus Six portals.”

“Do you know where any of it comes from?” my father asked.

“No,” I said. “But Nexus Six has twelve portals, and we’ve only accounted for five of them. Plenty left for secret farms.”

“True.” My father took a sip from his glass. “Somewhat inefficient running everything through Nexus Six to Juniper and back, but that may be Yiuliob’s influence.”

“Or it may have just evolved that way,” Selene suggested. “We found indications that Juniper began as the main enclave, with Nexus Six the only other point of the distribution system. As the other enclaves grew and joined in the project, they were looped in.”

“Still rather inefficient,” my father said with a shrug. “But history and tradition are notoriously hard ruts to break out of. My point is that if any Amme is involved with Selene’s bounty post, it’s probably Yiuliob.” He gave me a speculative look. “Which brings us to you, Gregory. Who have you offended lately?”

“And who has that much spare cash to burn?” I shook my head. “No idea. You’re sure they’re from different sources?”

“The posts have different references and contact information,” he said. “Though that might not mean much in the hunter world. Any reason the Ammei might be after you, too?”

“Not that I know of,” I said, freshly aware of the two stolen pages from the Ammei

enhancement serum formula book hidden in my artificial left arm. “Unless they think I’ll be leverage to make Selene do what they want. Or, like I said, it’s someone who wants to watch me die.”

“Or just wants us neutralized,” Selene put in, her pupils showing heightened concern. She didn’t like casual talk of death.

“Could be,” I agreed. I didn’t much like talk of death, either, especially when I was the proposed guest of honor. “In that case, you can probably add Nask or various other Patth to the list.”

“Do Patth sub-directors have that much disposable income?” my father asked.

I thought about the ten hundred-thousand-commark certified bank checks tucked away in a fold of heat insulation in the Ruth’s engine room. I’d borrowed that money from Nask a while back and never found a way to get it back to him. Maybe this was his way of jogging my memory. “I don’t think that’s something they talk about publicly,” I said. “But the prevailing rumor suggests that’s a yes.”

“Interesting,” my father said thoughtfully. “So we have the Ammei, the Patth, and a sprinkling of targets you hunted back in the day. At least you can’t complain that your life’s been dull. Speaking of dull, I don’t suppose you’d care to share what exactly you were doing back there in the enclave?”

“Just more of the same,” I said. “I hoped we could get a look past the public areas and see what they’re doing behind the scenes.”

“And did you?”

“We got two steps before we were stopped,” I said. “But we’re reasonably sure those steps pointed us to their Gemini portal.”

“About two hundred meters behind the export center?”

I stared at him. “And you know that how?”

“Same way you did,” he said. “Observation and inference.” He paused. “Plus, I’ve been talking with First Dominant Prucital.”

“On whose behalf?”

“General Kinneman and First of Three are both eager to work out some understandings,” he said. “I’ve been asked to serve as liaison.” He raised his eyebrows a bit. “Speaking of official interactions, as I was leaving I overheard something about an EarthGuard special investigator. That wasn’t you, by any chance, was it?”

“You don’t seriously think I’ve joined EarthGuard, do you?” I asked, giving him my best innocent look.

“No, of course not,” he assured me. “Perish the thought. I trust McKell and Ixil didn’t get their hands caught in the cookie jar getting you that ID.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Of course not,” he said again. “Tell them I said hello next time you talk to them.”

“I tell everyone that,” I said. “What kind of understandings are we talking about?”

“Preliminary ones,” he said. “At this point it’s mostly just making the rounds of the various enclaves and introducing myself.”

“I trust the Ammei are properly impressed by you?”

“Some more than others,” he said. “I’m also poking at the edges the same way you are. The general wants to know how Ammei society is put together.”

“I’ll bet he does,” I said. “Speaking of edges, did you manage to get a look at any of the gossamers’ tethers?”

“Really, Gregory,” he said with mild reproach. “A man’s home is his castle.”

“I thought your most relevant saying was, People who live in glass houses should get their walls frosted.”

“There’s that, too,” he conceded. “Though to be fair, gossamers weren’t nearly as big a rage back when I said that.”

I shrugged. “Blame the intrusive society.”

“Not saying it’s wrong. Just saying they weren’t as popular.”

He was right on that count, anyway. The long rise of surveillance capabilities, whether from governments, companies, or general busybodies, had been a thorn in the sides of champions of privacy for decades. The invention of gossamer air shields seven years ago, which had given people the ability to protect anything they didn’t want other people looking at, was slowly but steadily reversing that trend. The spiderweb-thin sheets floated on the breeze over whatever territory needed protecting, their faintly glistening surfaces letting nearly a hundred percent of sunlight reach the ground while simultaneously reflecting just enough the other direction to mess with surveillance cameras.

There were rumors that the Patth were the gossamers’ true inventors, and that they owned the company that made the stuff. Given the Patth history of interesting and unique technologies—not to mention their obsession with secrecy—I wouldn’t be surprised if those rumors were true.

“As to your question, no, I didn’t spot any tethers,” my father continued. “You?”

“I could just make out the northern edge of the eastern gossamer, but the route we were taken on didn’t bring us within sight of anything useful.”

“Probably by design.” My father huffed out a breath. “Ten years ago we could have mapped every square centimeter of every Ammei enclave. Found their Geminis and everything else of interest. But back then, nobody cared enough to bother.”

“Plus, we also didn’t know about Gemini portals back then,” I pointed out. We didn’t, anyway. “Even if we had, I doubt anyone would have thought an enclave of obscure aliens might be home to any of them.”

“History is full of missed opportunities,” he said philosophically. “What’s next on your agenda?”

I looked at Selene, saw the caution in her pupils. Now that we had a better handle on what we were dealing with, our plan was to head to Juniper and start digging in earnest into the links between the Ammei, the Patth, the Kadolians, and the still-mysterious Gold Ones.

Which wasn’t to say I should tell any of that to my father. Not just for our safety, but also for his.

“Not sure,” I said. “There’s still a lot we don’t know about the Ammei, and I’m wary of going up against Yiuliob without a complete tool kit. You said there was a fifth enclave? I thought there were only four.”

“The fifth’s on Belshaz,” he said. “It’s very small, more like a neighborhood social club. They own about five square kilometers at the southwest part of Rirto City that stretches into the Suzem Desert.”

“Maybe we’ll look in on them,” I said. “Exotic sand sculptures are still pretty popular on Skriff. Maybe the Belshaz Ammei would welcome some fresh buyers.”

“Assuming they even do sand sculptures,” my father said. “At any rate, be careful. Watch your back and Selene’s. Selene, ditto.”

“Yes, Sir Nicholas,” Selene said, a hint of amusement in her pupils. “You, as well.”

“Count on it,” he promised as he fished four twenty-commark bills from his wallet and laid them on the table. “Enjoy your meal, and have another Dewar’s if you’d like. I’m sure we’ll bump into each other again soon.”

“Inevitable, I’d say,” I agreed. “Enjoy your frying pan, Dad.”

“Thank you, Gregory.” He gave me a tight smile. “Enjoy your fire.” ...