Chapter 34 Sanre-tay Day 27 – Deja Vu with a Spook
01
I awoke nine hours later, rested and ruthless. It was several hours before sunrise in CraterCity so the ship was in its dim-lit night mode. I could hear the subtle thumps as the fueling crew installed the extra fuel tanks in hold no.1. That was the engineers' and the fueling crew's concern, so I stayed clear and brewed a mug of cha. I'd decisions to make, unfortunately. The ancient warning about being careful what you wish for since it might come true had blindsided me. When I'd arrived in Sanre-tay anchorage, I'd hoped to be in the exact position I was in today and now I regret it. I'd choices I didn't care to make. Either Min, Vyn and Ten were naive, which I thought unlikely, careless, or simply thought I was too lazy, clueless or gutless to be concerned. So I'd choices.
Min didn't need me to look after her. And she'd made it clear she didn't want me to. But I'd a melted glob of gold that said I'd a stake in the game. Where did that leave me? Did I have a strong enough claim and sense of duty to ignore her clear wishes? And well, would it matter? I had this sense that her quest wasn't going to end well no matter what I did. Ending it now – for me – by saying goodbye, good luck, would leave me feeling very bad – I could sense that – but I'd have decades to get over it. On the other hand, playing Captain Brilliant Pax and taking a hand in the game would likely make no difference in the outcome – for I wasn't Captain Pax. In the end I'd likely be feeling a whole lot worse, though for a much shorter span of time.
I probably needed something stronger than cha, but I sucked a slug down anyway and decided to be ruthless. Or gutless. Could be seen either way. I'd play it her way. She'd go it alone. And to dull the sense that I was taking the easy, gutless way out, I'd say goodbye and good luck to her face. Today would end it.
As for Tenry and Vynnia, if they could manage to tag along with Min, there'd be no question. But I doubted they'd swing it and their services would be lost to both of us. On the other hand, arriving with a cargo in Zilantre orbit rather than hollow and begging for work, would likely make finding work that wouldn't involve the deep drifts a lot easier. With any luck, we'd be able to slip into the Aticor interplanetary trade in a year or two so their services would not be quite as necessary. It was the possibility of using the ship for Min's quest, with deep drift work and iffy dealings, that made them very valuable. In short, letting Min go her own way, made them replaceable. I'd see if Kan Kantis would consider abandoning his prospects with the Distant Star Line for a few years, to take the first mate's berth. Add a pilot with Aticor experience and we'd be set. I'd leave them to follow Min, if they could.
I drained my mug, Min goes on her quest alone. Vynnia and Ten choose their course and if necessary, I sign on two pilots and sail for Zilantre. Done. Yah, gutless.
02
After a quick meal from the bistro's selection, I called down to & Kin's to order the two drones Vynnia had picked out, arranging to have them delivered once we'd finished refueling. I'd forgotten all about them until Vynnia reminded me after we'd finished loading our cargo. We'd need them now that we had a deadline to meet.
I sent Leafa a broker's commission on the Isleta charter. Litang of the Lost Star was not one to forget favors. I hoped to be back to Azminn sooner or later and I wanted that known. Earlier I'd paid Dyn back and still had enough credits for a second quarter box of trade goods. I needed to go down to make those arrangements. Since you can't fly boats off the ship during refueling, I signaled Kan to meet me at the fueling station's landing stage for a lift down to CraterCity. I decided against saying anything to him about a possible berth until I knew how things played out, so we exchanged our final 'fair orbits', as this was his last fare of his day.
It was still night in CraterCity like when I first arrived, but many places operate around the clock so by mid-morning I finished my rounds of suppliers and had arranged delivery to the ship. I called Min to tell her I was on my way for final instructions, warning her I'd take precautions, so I'd call again when I arrived in Bramble Vale. We'd have lunch there.
An hour later it felt all wrong. Very wrong. My resolve faded as my unease grew. I may be a coward, but this dread seemed more than a simple reluctance to see Min one last time. Rather it was the dawning realization that I was putting her in danger. I took precautions and didn't think I was being followed, but my travels might be traced remotely. Though the alarm of the race track incident had faded, no one had visited Min since. I realized I shouldn't be taking the chance now, with her sole refuge, sailing in hours.
I was still wrestling with my fears when the levatrain slowed and passed through the airlock to glide to a stop. The doors opened to the Bramble Vale platform. I stared at them clinging to the armrests of my seat, unable to distinguish prudence from cowardice. After the longest pause, the doors slid closed and the train began to move. I closed my eyes and waited for my reaction.
In the darkness of the tube, my breath came easier and dread faded. I traveled two stations further, disembarked, and finding myself in a dissenting crater, opted to remain on the platform and take the next levatrain on to the next Unity Standard community and catch a bum boat back to the ship. Dissenting communities can be rather iffy. And they can be very iffy. An old spaceer claimed there's a community on Lontria where you can be publicly flogged for failing to stand on your left foot – like a stork – when a Phoenix Official of the Green Rank passes you on the street and flogged for standing on your left foot, if the Phoenix Official is of the Blue Rank, who, you see, requires you to stand on your right foot. In any event, dissenting craters are best avoided by casual travelers.
Having set no specific time to meet, I decided I'd call Min from the ship and get my instructions and say goodbye in my office rather than on a levatrain platform.
The next standard crater up the line was a farming one with a space boat landing field. I took a single car cable line that swung across the crater's patchwork of lush vegetable gardens and small villages to the crater top were I boarded a velowalk through a long tunnel to the space boat field on the outside.
The field was small in the bright unfiltered light of the sun, little more than a flat shelf carved out of the slope. It had a half moon shaped terminal with six spider-like gangplanks extensions to allow boats to pull up and disembark passengers. Two of the gangplanks had waiting bumboats with for hire notices. I made for the first one, but a large, burly spaceer all but shoved me out of the way to get it first, so I went on to the second boat.
'Buoy Victory 233...' I called out as I ducked through the hatch and stepped into the small gap between the open control console set aft and three double rows of seats facing forward. No one was at the console.
'Anyone aboard?' I asked, peering about the dim lit interior.
'Aye,' said a quiet voice and there was a stirring in one of the forward seats. A slim figure rose and turned, darter in hand. 'Welcome aboard, Captain Litang,' she said with a cold smile.
'Bloody Neb,' I muttered and leaped towards the open hatch. There was a flash of blue light.
03
A stinging pain.
'Wake up, Captain Litang. We've not all night,' said the quiet voice from the bumboat.
I thought I opened my eyes, but wasn't sure. It was dark and there was a sharp pain in my head. This wasn't the bumboat – I must have been taken... somewhere. Gravity? Yes. Still Lontria. It was cold. And as my eyes adjusted, I found I was wedged in the corner seat of a small, leathery smelling compartment with lighter squares on either side. Curtained windows, I decided when they stirred and I felt a faint breeze, scented of pines. Night in some crater, either far from where I started, or many hours later. I tried to move, but my hands were secured behind my back and perhaps to the seat as well.
A dark figure moved in the deep shadows in the opposite corner, bringing a sharp cutting lash across my knee – a strap or rod – snapping my chain of thought. I yipped a 'Neb-damn you!'
'Good, you're awake. We're pressed for tim
e. Let's focus on the business at hand. Are you willing to lead me to Tallith Min?' she asked leaning forward into the faint twilight from the curtained windows. She had to be the woman at the race course, the assassin at the yacht club.
Deciding it was best to say nothing, I earned two more deliberate slashes across my knee with the strap she held. The lashes burned long after they struck.
'Once more, Tallith Min?'
'On Calissant,' I muttered, deciding maybe I should talk after all.
'Oh, please, Captain, I haven't – time,' she panted between vicious slashes, this time across my shoulder and neck.
So much for talking.
'As much as I enjoy this, I know she's alive and here. I've had spy bots monitoring your ship so I've a good idea where to look. Your course today only confirms this. Too bad you decided not to meet her. I don't really need your help, but it'd make everything so much easier if you cooperated. I intend to get that cooperation – one way or another. So to save time, why don't you just tell me now where to find her.'
'Why, in the Dark Neb, would I?'
'Because you're fond of your life?' she replied lightly with a faintly seen smile. 'We've unfinished business between us. I thought perhaps we might settle it to our mutual satisfaction. You lead me to Tallith Min and I won't put a plasma dart between your eyes – where it should have gone the first time.'
'A bluff. You're desperate. You don't know where Min is and I'll wager your employers are very unhappy with you. Took the credits without delivering, did you? I bet you're looking at a plasma dart between your eyes as well.'
'Oh, I'm in a far better position than you,' she hissed while delivering several more stinging blows that I took on my shoulder. My lightweight clothing did little to soften them. 'See?'
I cursed and bracing my feet against the floor and seat, lunged at her, only to have it end in a painful jerk – my bound hands were indeed secured to the seat as were my legs. I toppled painfully into a heap on the seat. She gave me a few more vicious slashes on my other shoulder and neck.
'Need help?' said a gruff voice from the outside.
'No, thank you Max, we're just establishing an understanding.' said my captor. 'Now, as I was saying, we're both pressed for time, so here's the deal Captain Litang. Since you weren't my target, if you cooperate and help me find Tallith Min, I'll let that unfortunate miss slide. Once my business with Min is done I'll set you free. I have, however an alternative plan, which is to kill you and use your death as bait to draw Min out. Remember, I've a good idea where to look for her, and I suspect the death of her ship's captain will stir her from hiding. The choice is yours, but it must be made now.' Now being accompanied with another blow.
I struggled to sit up. It was awkward with my hands tied, but I managed to brace my legs enough to get upright again in the low gravity.
'You're still bluffing,' I panted. 'You don't know anything. You may have tagged me at the race track, but it didn't work. I did a radio scan aboard the ship. Nothing. And all this talk about monitoring the ship and listening to crew – I'd be a fool to believe that. You wouldn't need me if it was all true.'
'Oh, it's amazing what just a mere sliver of a device under the skin can do. Some track, some listen and no one pays much attention to the little sting when it's inserted. You've one in your back, it simply doesn't transmit when it's out of range and would've been inactive inside the hull of your ship. Too bad you saw me, though. It would've made things easier for both of us if you hadn't.'
'Well, I did see you, and I must admit I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to try something like this now. It's your express ticket to Felons' Riff. A space boat crash on Calissant and a botched assassination two months ago both have the Azure Night in common. You're one of the Azure Night's system pilots. Up till now, that's just the fantasy of a babbling spaceer. But if I turn up dead, even if it's another so called accident, it'll be one too many coincidences. I've two Patrol Reservists on my crew, who'll make sure there's a swift investigation... And, well, I'd think Lontria's far from an ideal place for murder. There's too many security interfaces. Within half an hour of finding my body, they'll trace me to your space boat and to this crater, and you right back to the Azure Night. Bloody Neb, they won't even need to find my body. If I'm not back aboard ship by the time it's ready to sail, the alarm will be raised. You're hours away from being traced even now...'
'You're rather naïve, Captain,' she said with a faintly seen sneer. “Everything is in hand. I can deal with the security situation.'
'I don't think so.' I wasn't making this up on the fly. I'd given this scenario considerable thought – mostly to reassure myself I'd not have to worry about it. Still, it was largely a bluff. Vynnia and Tenry were out of the loop, so any effort to push a Patrol investigation would depend on Min, assuming she didn't fall for the trap. Still, the facts were in my favor. Lontria, with all its separate craters and rift sections has a vast number of transport intersections that track movement and act as security interfaces. Everyone boarding a levatrain or monorail or using the airlocks of space boat fields, have their data and bio-identities recorded. It was no exaggeration to say that within a half an hour, Lontria Security could trace not only my movements but those of anyone associated with my movement, so my bluff was not completely idle.
'You might have a little time to escape after you kill me,' I continued. 'But none if you delay to spring your trap. That'd be a certain ticket to Felons' Rift. And even if you decide to run, where will you run to? The drifts? After collecting a fee without fulfilling your contract? Can't be good for your business or your health. It was very unprofessional not to make sure.'
'Yes, Captain, it was very unprofessional. A hurried job. All the wharf rats had to do was disable you and disperse. But when it looked like they weren't even up to that simple task I had to intervene. And they panic when sparks started flying. Wouldn't do to kill them all,' she said quietly. 'So I allowed them to hustle me away without making certain. It was a mistake. However, as I'm honor bound to file an accurate report, my superiors know of my failures. I am now correcting them. I have you, I'm close to finding Min, and operating undetected in the shadows of the Unity is my specialty – I'm very good at it. And it's easier to operate on Lontria – its dissenting communities can hide many secrets. So you needn't worry about me, I'm in a far better position than you, at the moment. So what's it to be? Life or death?'
'Oh, it's death, either way. I'm not naïve. I know too much. My only hope is that you're a not a complete fool and realize that your one chance to live – with all your parts – is to give this whole affair a miss and run while you can, trusting any complaint I'd make would not be considered serious enough to be pursued with any dispatch. Really, letting me go and running is your only chance of avoiding ending up either a gelded muck-eater for the rest of your life or dead by the employer you failed.'
'I'm touched by your concern, Captain. However, I'm bound by honor to accept the consequences of my failures as well as my successes and sworn to succeed in my assignment or die trying. So you see, I've no options. I'll not let you go and I'll not run for cover. Last chance. Will you lead me to Min?'
'No. Can't. We took precautions from the beginning, I don't know where to find her,' I shrugged. 'Believe it or not.'
I was dead, but Min had a chance. That was some comfort. But candidly, not much. I shivered. It wasn't the cold.
She sighed. 'As a matter of fact, I do. Doesn't matter. It was worth a few minutes. I'm afraid I mislead you a little. I don't have a choice. Since you're a witness to my failure, I've been ordered to eliminate you as well.' And picking up the darter from the seat next to her, she shot me. Again.