The Matsumoto Trilogy: Omnibus Edition Read online

  THE MATSUMOTO TRILOGY

  Omnibus Edition

  Sarah K. L. Wilson

  All rights reserved. Aside from brief quotations for media coverage and reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form without the author’s permission. Thank you for supporting authors and a diverse, creative culture by purchasing this book and complying with copyright laws.

  Copyright © 2017 by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  Interior design by Pronoun

  ISBN: 9781508041603

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  The Ex-Pacifist: 1

  The Ex-Pacifist: 2

  The Ex-Pacifist: 3

  The Ex-Pacifist: 4

  The Ex-Pacifist: 5

  The Ex-Pacifist: 6

  The Ex-Pacifist: 7

  The Ex-Pacifist: 8

  The Ex-Pacifist: 9

  The Ex-Pacifist: 10

  The Ex-Pacifist: 11

  The Ex-Pacifist: 12

  The Ex-Pacifist: 13

  The Ex-Pacifist: 14

  The Ex-Pacifist: 15

  The Ex-Pacifist: 16

  The Ex-Pacifist: 17

  The Ex-Pacifist: 18

  The Ex-Pacifist: 19

  The Ex-Pacifist: 20

  The Ex-Pacifist: 21

  The Ex-Pacifist: 22

  The Ex-Pacifist: 23

  The Ex-Pacifist: 24

  The Ex-Pacifist: 25

  The Ex-Pacifist: 26

  The Ex-Pacifist: 27

  The Ex-Pacifist: 28

  The Ex-Pacifist: 29

  The Ex-Pacifist: 30

  The Ex-Pacifist: 31

  The Ex-Pacifist: 32

  The Ex-Pacifist: 33

  The Ex-Pacifist: 34

  The Ex-Pacifist: 35

  The Ex-Pacifist: 36

  The Ex-Pacifist: 37

  The Ex-Pacifist: 38

  The Ex-Pacifist: 39

  The Ex-Pacifist: 40

  The Ex-Pacifist: 41

  The Splitting: 1

  The Splitting: 2

  The Splitting: 3

  The Splitting: 4

  The Splitting: 5

  The Splitting: 6

  The Splitting: 7

  The Splitting: 8

  The Splitting: 9

  The Splitting: 10

  The Splitting: 11

  The Splitting: 12

  The Splitting: 13

  The Splitting: 14

  The Splitting: 15

  The Splitting: 16

  The Splitting: 17

  The Splitting: 18

  The Splitting: 19

  The Splitting: 20

  The Splitting: 21

  The Splitting: 22

  The Splitting: 23

  The Splitting: 24

  The Splitting: 25

  The Splitting: 26

  The Splitting: 27

  The Splitting: 28

  The Splitting: 29

  The Splitting: 30

  The Splitting: 31

  The Splitting: 32

  The Splitting: 33

  The Splitting: 34

  The Splitting: 35

  The Splitting: 36

  The Matsumoto: 1

  The Matsumoto: 2

  The Matsumoto: 3

  The Matsumoto: 4

  The Matsumoto: 5

  The Matsumoto: 6

  The Matsumoto: 7

  The Matsumoto: 8

  The Matsumoto: 9

  The Matsumoto: 10

  The Matsumoto: 11

  The Matsumoto: 12

  The Matsumoto: 13

  The Matsumoto: 14

  The Matsumoto: 15

  The Matsumoto: 16

  The Matsumoto: 17

  The Matsumoto: 18

  The Matsumoto: 19

  The Matsumoto: 20

  The Matsumoto: 21

  The Matsumoto: 22

  The Matsumoto: 23

  The Matsumoto: 24

  The Matsumoto: 25

  The Matsumoto: 26

  The Matsumoto: 27

  The Matsumoto: 28

  The Matsumoto: 29

  The Matsumoto: 30

  The Matsumoto: 31

  The Matsumoto: 32

  The Matsumoto: 33

  The Matsumoto: 34

  The Matsumoto: 35

  The Matsumoto: 36

  The Matsumoto: 37

  The Matsumoto: 38

  The Matsumoto: 39

  The Matsumoto: 40

  The Matsumoto: 41

  The Matsumoto: 42

  More by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  About the Author:

  Acknowledgements

  For Cale –

  who won’t read it until someone makes it

  into a movie.

  If you enjoy this novel, don’t forget to sign up for my mailing list at

  www.sarahklwilson.com

  so we can keep in touch.

  THE EX-PACIFIST: 1

  I AM A SWORN PACIFIST, but the evidence of a very different reality was dripping from the edge of my evening gown and pooling on the perfect white marble floor beneath my feet.

  When they found me I was just standing there shaking, looking down at the corpse. I couldn’t have appeared to be much of a threat. I’m only sixteen and I’m short and slight. ‘Just a wisp of a girl’ is how Edward always put it.

  They put me under armed guard and took me into custody, but they didn’t transport me away from Haverman’s mansion or execute me right away, like I had expected. If I had sent this guard I would have ordered them to execute me. In fact, if I’d had any charge left in the nettlegun that was still in my hands when they found me I would have killed myself. My hands were shaking too badly to do it easily, but when you want something badly enough you can make it happen.

  I heard a quiet keening sound as I waited, and I knew it was me, slowly ticking away the moments of my life with high-pitched, whistling sobs. I wished I could pull myself together better, especially for the people watching me. Despite my deep selfloathing I couldn’t pull it together enough to stop mentally replaying the night’s events. Who, I wondered, would they send to execute me?

  THE EX-PACIFIST: 2

  It had started so simply.

  I arrived at Miles Haverman’s party with Mr. James Toyo, our permanent diplomat stationed here, and my guardian, Edward. The paparazzi were there, of course, snapping pictures for all they were worth. Before we even left the hover car they were on top of me, training cameras and microphones to record my every twitch.

  “Ambassador Matsumoto,” one of them said. “Is it true? You are the youngest Matsumoto to be made an Ambassador?”

  “No,” I replied. I turned sixteen six months ago, and I’d only been an Ambassador for two weeks. That made me the second youngest, and this was my first solo trip as an Ambassador for the Blackwatch Empire. I was not as a simple diplomat, like Mr. Toyo, but an Ambassador - the Emperor’s Voice.

  Blackwatch Ambassadors are born for the job. Literally. Every one of us is a blood relation to the Emperor. I might not have been the youngest Ambassador in our history, but no one had ever been sent on a solo mission at only sixteen. If Nigel Matsumoto, Emperor of Blackwatch and Lord of the Seven Planets had anyone else to send, I’m sure he would never have sent me. With so few relatives left who had been raised as Ambassadors, he needed every one he could find – even me. So I journeyed to the warm planet of Nagara where the flowers bloom all year round.

  “Is it true that Haverman is auctioning off his cobalt find in a secret bid tonight?” a husky reporter shouted. His recording device was hovering around my head. I ignored him, because he was spot on. I didn’t like encouraging them.

&nbs
p; Edward made a path so we could push through the crowd into the Haverman mansion. As soon as we entered, I let my eyes sweep through the palatial entranceway. I had expected the much more flamboyant affair that Haverman is usually known for, with fountains of wine, grandiose entertainers and exotic reptiles. Instead, his house was tastefully decorated in a sophisticated retro style, a throwback to the last century when elaborate wood carvings and inlaid tables were all the rage.

  The host swept over to greet us, flanked by a few cronies and admirers.

  “Ambassador Matsumoto! Mr. Toyo! What a pleasure,” he exclaimed, as if surprised to see us. Our invitation had been signed by him personally.

  “The pleasure is all ours,” I said with a smile and Mr. Toyo gave a smart half-bow. Technically Mr. Toyo was my subordinate, although today I was leaning on his experience.

  “Is this your new apprentice, James? She seems a little young!” one of Haverman’s cronies said, sounding like he’d already been into the champagne. He gestured to me and I felt myself begin to color. I had to expect these things, but that didn’t make it any less frustrating. It was worse when another woman began to chuckle in response.

  “Honored sir,” Mr. Toyo said, in his most dignified manner, “please let me present Ambassador Matsumoto of the Blackwatch Empire.”

  The chuckles cut off with a strangled sound as the man bowed low to me. Now he was the one going crimson.

  “No offense is meant, Ambassador. It is always a pleasure to meet a member of the Matsumoto Dynasty.”

  I accepted his apology with a slight inclination of the head, and tried to maintain my dignity. I really wasn’t that young.

  Haverman laughed uproariously and he gave me a rather dramatic wink. I could already tell I was going to hate him. He was worse than his reputation.

  “Well, well,” Haverman said, “no bowing and scraping here. We’re among friends, and this is a party!” He gestured to a waiter who sped to his side with a drink tray. Haverman began to hand drinks around to his friends. “Please don’t let me detain you from the fun, Ambassador.”

  My eyebrows rose at the dismissal. He must have been very sure of himself to dismiss a Matsumoto.

  It’s to your honor to overlook an offense, Edward reminded me through our channel. We both had implanted computers, and through these we were able to communicate silently with one another, like text messaging in the privacy of your own brain.

  I mentally acknowledged his wisdom and swept further into the mansion with Mr. Toyo in tow.

  We glided into the main hall and then moved further out into the open terraces where the party was the most subdued. The string quartet was just loud enough to be heard, but not too loud for comfortable conversation. To the side were canapé tables where the exquisite culinary theme hinted at the nearby sea.

  Mr. Toyo, our permanent Nagaran diplomat, looked worried. His face was taut as a violin bow and he hardly seemed to even have noticed Miles Haverman’s rude behavior.

  “They still haven’t called?” I asked him.

  His scientists had been so far off the grid for the last seven days that we couldn’t reach them.

  “If they don’t call us soon we won’t know if Haverman is sitting on the next cobalt rush, or lying about exactly how much of the valuable mineral those asteroids of his really have,” Mr. Toyo said, adjusting his collar for the third time.

  “We could wait until we see what the other bidders are going to do,” I said, pretending to sip my drink so that no one would notice us whispering together.

  “If we have to bid against anyone else, Ambassador Matsumoto, we will not win the deal. Haverman has put us in a difficult spot, but his demands are not unreasonable. Besides, it is unlikely anyone else has thought to be as thorough as we are. They will bid for the cobalt regardless of whether we verify his claims.”

  I already knew that we were the only ones with the pull to get a secret team of scientists out to the cobalt asteroids, but Mr. Toyo had a tendency to repeat himself when he was worried.

  Follow Toyo’s lead, Edward said through our channel. He must have guessed what we were whispering about. He’s been negotiating trade deals since before you were born. There’s a lot you can learn from him.

  He was right, of course. I just wished Mr. Toyo wouldn’t get so preachy when he talked to me, like he was trying to convert me to some religion. He eased out of his tension for a moment to smile down at me.

  “You look lovely tonight Ambassador. You do our Empire proud.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Toyo,” I said with surprise. I hadn’t expected him to notice - or to care.

  If it was true, then it was due to my Elantra Ming original design dress. It was deep purple and off the shoulder with careful draping that added curves to my slender figure. I’d have to thank Elantra in person when I returned to New Greenland. As always, her taste was impeccable.

  “I’ll need to mingle tonight, and I’m afraid I’ll need to ask you to do the same. We’ll hear much more if we work separately. Don’t worry, though,” he said as my face fell, “I’ll call you before I speak with Haverman. I won’t let you miss the opportunity to be there when we close the deal.”

  “Of course. Thank you Mr. Toyo,” I said with a generous smile, relieved that he wasn’t planning to leave me out of it.

  I surveyed the room while he strode off. Edward was nowhere to be seen as he was carefully checking the perimeter. That’s his job – his life for mine – and also his mind and his eyes and his ears. He lives his whole life to protect me and the Matsumoto Dynasty.

  How does it look? I asked him.

  Implants are illegal in almost every world but the People’s Freehold. But I’m a Matsumoto. It’s the best kept secret in our Empire, and Matsumotos are above other people’s laws.

  The only laws we have to obey are the Matsumoto Treaty Laws and they’re pretty easy to keep straight, since there are only three of them: never do violence against another human even in defense of your own life, obey whatever the Emperor tells you as if it were your own conscience speaking, never enter into a sexual relationship with anyone not formally approved of by the Emperor. The punishments are even simpler to remember. Execution. Execution. Execution.

  My mother broke the third rule and the Emperor in his mercy pardoned her, choosing to have my father bear the penalty in her place. That’s why I’ve never known my father. She kept the first rule, though, and died refusing to defend herself in a terrorist attack. She is still shown respect by all and I haven’t had a mother since I was five.

  Everything is perfect. Haverman’s security is always excellent. Don’t worry about my job, Vera. I can do it just fine. You have your own work to attend to.

  Edward is the closest thing to a parent I have ever had. We aren’t big on trust or intimacy in the Matsumoto family.

  Duly chastened, I returned my attention to the other guests and was immediately seized by a Duchess from the Chartwell Monarchy.

  “Ambassador Matsumoto,” she gushed, “What a pleasure. It is so nice to speak to someone with noble blood! So many people here are just business people and commoners. There are even a few people from the People’s Freehold. Who would have thought those brigands could pull their interests together long enough to get anything done! They are obscenely liberal!”

  The People’s Freehold the closest thing to a true democracy our galaxy has, and the biggest collection of misfits and hooligans I have ever heard of. Apparently I’m not alone in my opinions.

  When the Duchess left me I was scooped up by a senator from the United Holdings Worlds. Being a Matsumoto means that everyone wants to talk to you in the off chance that your royalty rubs off on them.

  “I knew your mother, you know,” he said through a mouthful of shrimp. “Such a beautiful woman. You favor her, of course. It was so tragic when she died. I was in my hairdressing unit when I saw in the news feeds how those terrorists killed her and I was so upset that I chose the wrong color for my hair and actually walked out int
o public like that. It was a complete tragedy.”

  I couldn’t tell if he meant the hair or my mother’s death. I probably should have been more civil, but the haughty look I gave him was the very best I could manage. He left looking a little put out, and I looked around with a guilty feeling. That wasn’t what an Ambassador was supposed to do - even one who is only sixteen.

  The party was large and at least four hundred people were milling around the gardens, terraces and ballrooms of the Haverman Mansion. On a balmy night like tonight it would be a mistake not to be in the gardens. I used the excuse of seeing the flowers to get away.

  Haverman’s gardens were bright with heliconias and orchids singled out by carefully positioned spotlights. The sound of the ocean waves was hypnotic. It must have been high tide. The scent of the ocean waves mixed in with the flowers to bring back memories I never had. Maybe Jung was right about a collective unconscious after all. I picked a scarlet flower, not even caring what anyone thought and twisted it into my hair.

  Over the next three hours, I drifted in and out of a dozen other conversations just as meaningless as the first two and I was starting to get impatient when my implant chirped a message to me.

  The time is 23:30 local time.

  That reminded me of Mr. Toyo’s promise and I suddenly felt anxious to find him to make sure he wasn’t leaving me out of his negotiations. This was my moment to shine and I wanted to make a good impression on my cousin Nigel. I scanned the area for Edward and caught a glimpse of him on the north side of the gardens.

  Have you seen Toyo? I asked.

  No, let me buzz him.

  I waited, fiddling with my dress and pretending to study one of Haverman’s more exotic flowers. It was a night bloomer, and its crimson petals seemed dark as blood in the moonlight. This part of the garden was almost monochrome, away from the carefully arranged lighting and the other guests. I drew a deep breath and looked around. Any minute now I should hear from Toyo and the games would begin.

  I was ready for this.

  I watched the moonlight twinkling over the ocean waves, breathed the mingled scent of salt and freesia deeply, and thought charitably about Haverman. He might be a flamboyant peacock of a man, but he knew how to throw a party. His deal made me wary: a demand that would compel us by intergalactic law to purchase our cobalt from him and only him at a fixed price until his supply ran out. If we accepted and everything worked out right, though, Blackwatch would be richer by trillions of dollars and I’d probably be spending a few more nights out in this beach garden. I could certainly get used to it.