Page 1 of Breaking Point
Chapter One
WHEN DEVAR TOUCHED HER ARMand discreetly pointed toward the group of tables at the back of the ballroom, Luciana’s plans for the evening abruptly changed.
“Remarkable,” Devar said with his precise pronunciation.“I thought nothing short of a hull breach would eject him from his ivory tower.”
Luciana watched Brice Falcon shaking hands around the big table where all the extra special guests were seated.He leaned over the table to do it, while gripping the handle of his cane.She guessed that he would rather lean over burning candles and vases of flowers and risk dipping the edges of his suit jacket into plates of food than take the effort to walk around the table, because for him that would actuallybean effort.
“I’d forgotten about the cane,” she murmured, as Falcon settled carefully on a chair that a waiter had scurried to provide.“It’s not in his photo on the Forum.”
“I guess it’s a thing for him, the cane,” Caelen said.She seemed to be just as interested in watching the President of the Tankball Association arrive at his own soiree.“Didn’t he hurt his leg in a tankball game, and that’s why he retired?”
Luciana liked Caelen.She wore a pretty dress in a deep green that made the most of her eyes and offset her dark hair.She was young, yet smart.Her personality dovetailed with Devar’s in a way that had made her son quietly content for the few weeks since they had met.That anyone could made Devar content was as remarkable as Brice Falcon attending the Tankball Association’s wildly popular annual soiree.
“It wasn’t a game that destroyed his leg,” Devar said.“It was a pod collision on the Artery.They put his leg back together, but a lot of muscle and function was lost.”
“Ouch,” Caelen murmured.“And he was a groundsman, too.”Groundsmen needed all the muscle they could build to play in up to two gees of gravity at the bottom of the tank.Caelen was a tankball fan, while Devar was not.He just remembered things.Small things, big things.
Luciana sipped her champagne and returned her attention to Brice Falcon, her mind moving into business mode.She always came to the soiree purely to enjoy herself.It was one of her few indulgences.Only now that Brice Falcon was here, that changed things.
This was an opportunity she should not let pass, because trying to deal with Falcon was next to impossible.He was surrounded by too many layers and besides, he didn’t want to deal withher.At least, the total silence and lack of response she got from his official channels of communication had demonstrated that he did not want to talk to her.
She had been trying to start a conversation with the man because he owned, among other things, five stalls in the Capitol market space that she wanted to buy.If she could acquire them, she would become the largest stall management company on the Endurance.
Besides, the five stalls were smack in the middle of the group of stalls she already managed.She wanted to remove the blight.Falcon’s stalls were not well managed.The displays of products and produce were badly laid out, and under-equipped, the signage poorly designed and the artisans selling their wares generally surly or too busy doing whatever it was behind their tables, instead of stepping out to greet potential customers and talk to them.
Yes, she wanted to change that.She would make them viable, well-producing stalls inside a month, even if she had to train the sellers and artisans herself.
And now the man himself was here, sitting barely thirty meters away.Luciana narrowed her eyes, wondering how she could wrangle an introduction.Should she go bold, and walk up to him and ask him for a dance?No, no, the cane…he didn’t dance.
“Uh-oh,” Devar said.“Mother, you’re wearing that look again.”
“What look?”Caelen asked.
“She’s thinking about money and hatching plans.”
“I am not,” Luciana protested.“Well, I’m not thinking about money.But Iamtrying to figure out how I can talk to Falcon.Do you know him, Devar?”
Devar’s smile was self-aware.“Why would I know him?”
“Well, youarethe new head coder for Aventine through-feeds,” she said.
Devar’s smile grew.“Almostright.Code Director for Aventine In Feeds.Throughfeeds don’t exist.”
While Caelen laughed, Luciana waved her hand at him.“I was close!”
“A lot closer than you’ve ever got so far.”Devar’s smile was warm—the little smile he seemed to keep just for people who were close to him, which was too few in Luciana’s estimation.Most people found her son off-putting.In that regard, he was too intelligent for his own good.He had no tolerance for stupidity, and even less patience for ignorance.As ignorance and stupidity were common commodities, he moved through his days growing increasingly more frustrated because everyone else failed to keep up with his speed of thought and leaps of reasoning.
He was a good man, all the same.Even though their hands were below the table, Luciana knew Devar was holding Caelen’s small clever hand in his.And this new promotion at the organic coding institute seemed to suit him.It at least challenged him a little, enough to hold his attention.
She wasn’t entirely sure what he did.It sounded important, only she didn’t care.To see him happy was enough.She didn’t need to know anything else.
“I thought that because you’re dealing with Aventine feeds,” Luciana said carefully, “that you might have met tankball people, as the arena is right here in the Aventine.”
“Ihavemet many Tankball Association people,” Devar said.“Brice Falcon is out of my league.I’m just a coder.”
“A code director,” Luciana corrected him.
Caelen laughed and rested her hand briefly on Devar’s shoulder.“She got you.”
