I would wait for responses before I contacted my Lord Rorken. I wanted to take things one step at a time. Not for the first time in my career, I wanted to stay out of sight, except to friends.
Of course, even sending communiques in another name was risky. Many or all of the people I was trying to contact might be under surveillance themselves – if they hadn't already been eliminated. But Glossia was a private code. Even if my messages were intercepted, they would be impossible to decipher.
The first responses arrived by noon the next day. Cielo's clerk came up from the Guild House to deliver them.
One was a message from Fischig, in Glossia, that essentially told me he was already en route from Durer and would arrive at Gudrun in about twenty days. I dispatched a reply that emphasised caution and told him to contact me when he was close.
The message 'Sanctum' had been answered with the words 'Sanctum arising, in fifteen'. There was no ident on the communique, and the source was deep space.
The clerk then passed me a data-slate. 'The communiques to Messina, Thracian Primaris, Hesperus and Cartol have all been returned as unde-liverable. That is strange. The message from Hesperus has a statement from the local arbites attached, recommending you get in touch with them directly. There has been no response from Sarum.'
After the clerk had left, I discussed it with Aemos. He was as alarmed as I was. 'Undeliverable? Most perturbatory. And the interest of the arbites is disturbing.'
'What progress with the names?' I asked. He had been at work on Crezia's codifier all morning.
'Nothing. No listing for a Maria Tarray and nothing on any Khanjar the Sharp. A khanjar is a blade weapon, of course. A curved dagger from ancient Terra. The word is occurs in several Imperium cultures.'
'Can you resource further?'
'Not using this machine. But your doctor friend is going to walk me to the universitariate this afternoon and get me access to their main data engines.'
He was gone for hours, until late in the evening. Crezia had teaching duties to perform, and Phabes was all but invisible. I was left alone with Eleena.
I checked the prisoner. He was awake but unresponsive. Crezia had left him a tray of food and some water before leaving, but it was untouched. I tried a few questions but he didn't stir. He was zoned out in a post-interrogation stupor.
Medea was still sleeping, but her life signs was good and there was no trace of post-operative infection. I kissed her forehead gently and went back to the kitchen.