He rushed down into them, accidentally pushing three Jeweled and cloaked businessmen into an equal number of mini-gowned wives, stepping on the foot of a burly Acquatainian colonel, and jostling through the new arrivals to get to Geri Dulaq.
“You came,” he said, taking both her hands in his.
Her smile made his knees flutter. “I hoped you’d be here, Hector.”
“I… well,” he was grinning like an idiot, “I’m here.”
“I’m glad.”
They stood there at the air lock entrance, looking at each other, while people elbowed their way around them to get into the party.
“Hector, shouldn’t we move away from the air lock?” Geri suggested gently.
“Huh? Oh, sure. … He walked her toward a slightly sweaty servant (one of the posse who had chased Hector across the satellite) and then took a stabilizer belt from him.
“You’ll need one of these belts before you try to float Otherwise it’s, eh, kind of tricky trying to maneuver.”
The servant gritted his teeth and glared.
Geri blinked her large brown eyes at Hector. “Will you show me how it works? I’m terribly poor at things like this.”
Restraining an impulse to leap off the floor and do a triple somersault, Hector said simply, “Oh, there’s really nothing to it . . .” he glanced at the sweaty-faced servant, then added, “once you get the hang of it.”
Spencer was saying, with some edge to his voice, “But when you defeated Kerak, you had the Szarno Confederacy and several other star-nations on your side. Now your old alliances are gone. You are alone against Kerak.”
Martine sighed like a man being forced to exert great patience. “I repeat, Sir Harold, that Acquatainia is strong enough to defeat any Kerak attack without Star Watch assistance.”
Leoh shook his head, but said nothing.
Lal Ponte, floating beside his Prime Minister and looking like a small satellite near a large planet, said, “The Prime Minister is making plans for an impenetrable defense system, a network of fortified planets and star-ship fleets so strong that Kerak would never dare to attack it.”
“And suppose,” Spencer countered, “Kerak attacks before this defense line is completed? Or attacks from a different direction?”
“We will fight and win,” Martine said.
Spencer ran a hand through his shaggy hair. “Don’t you realize that an alliance with the Commonwealth-even a token alliance-will force Kanus to pause before he dares to attack? Your objective, it seems to me, should be to prevent a war from starting. Instead, you’re concentrating on plans to win the war, once it begins.”
“If Kanus wants war,” Martine said, “we will defeat him.”
“But he can be defeated without war,” Spencer insisted.
Leoh added, “No dictator can last long without the threat of war to keep his people frightened enough to serve him. And if it becomes clear that Acquatainia cannot be attacked successfully….”
“Kanus wants war,” Martine said.
“And so do you, apparently,” Spencer added.
The Prime Minister glared at Spencer for a long moment, then turned and said, “Excuse me, I am neglecting my other guests.”
He pushed away, accompanied by a half-dozen followers, leaving Spencer, Leoh, and Lal Ponte in the middle of a suddenly dissipating crowd.
Geri and Hector floated close to the transparent shell, looking out at the stars, barely aware of the music and voices from the party.
“Hector.”
“Yes?”
“Will you promise me something?”
“Sure. What is it?”
Her face was so serious, so beautiful, he could feel his pulse throbbing through his body.
“Do you think Odal will ever return to Acquatainia?”
The question surprised him. “Uh … I don’t know. Maybe. I sort of doubt it. I mean, well. …”
“If he ever does . ..” Geri’s voice trailed off.
“Don’t worry,” Hector said, holding her close to him. “I won’t let him hurt you … or anybody else.”
Her smile was overpowering. “Hector, dearest Hector. If Odal should ever return here, would you kill him for me?”
Without a microsecond’s thought, he replied, “I’d challenge him as soon as I saw him.”
Her face grew serious again. “No. I don’t mean in the dueling machine. I mean really. Kill him.”
“I don’t understand the Prime Minister’s attitude,” Leoh said to Spencer and Lal Ponte.