“Should we go outside?” Pamela wondered.
“I don’t know. I’m not sure what the hazards would be outside,” Kirk said. “We don’t have our own car so where would we sit? I suspect if the building were going to come down around our ears it would have done so already. I think the second was milder.”
Almost like an affirmation that things were calming down there was a final small shudder and they held on harder, but it became calm again.
“Look, the bees are breaking up and going in the hive like normal,” Pamela said.
Kirk watched but stayed anchored warily, ready for another shock.
“It’ll be sundown in ten minutes,” Pamela pointed out. “I’ll give them a few minutes after and close the port to seal them in the hive room. I’m not sure how but I think they felt something that told them that first shake was coming.”
“I think you might be right. It certainly seems over for the moment. I’d like to get out of here for a while,” Kirk said. “Why don’t I call a cab when the bees are shut away for the night and we can go across the ridge and get a bite to eat? I saw a weird sort of Korean place. I don’t know if they’re any good but at least it is Human food.”
Pamela was suddenly self-conscious that she was still squeezing Kirk around the waist with one arm and his arm was warm across her shoulders. It caused a little flutter of panic because it gave her a warm glow that had nothing to do with the Earth moving. She let go and was about to say something snarky, but bit it off, to not provoke him
“As long as I don’t have to cook it, I don’t care if it’s some kind of People Kibble.”
* * *
The scan Providence Control sent seemed to be accurate. It included the movement of the destroyer which was now identified as the USNA Maui. It was an older vessel but undoubtedly capable of killing them since the Kurofune didn’t carry anti-missile missiles or beam weapons. The two Fargone missiles they carried would undoubtedly avenge them, but they wouldn’t be around to appreciate that.
It was a benefit for at least a little while that the Kurofune was unique. Nobody could know for certain what she carried. The two large ship to ship missiles were rudely obvious being carried externally, but it would take time for images of her to filter back home to the analysts and an assessment made about what else she could fit in her hull. Until then the cruiser level of radar she carried would make most captains assume she had other cruiser level enhancements until assured otherwise. Not that Gordon wouldn’t like to have all that defense and firepower, there just was no way to carry it without being the size of a heavy cruiser. That wasn’t the purpose of a diplomatic boat. It would be nice however to sit and give some thought to what they could install and carry to give the opposition a nasty unexpected surprise. The idea made him smile. The situation seemed stable enough to take the weapons board off launch via deadman. But there was no point or advantage to telling the locals that.
The images of the destroyer leaving, and more importantly, the radio chatter about it from civilian captains would be difficult to edit in the short time frame they had, so Gordon concluded they were being honest. He felt safe and took the Kurofune to dock. He didn’t announce he was going to stay on board, but anyone with an unhealthy interest in them would be aware of it.
He’d spoken publicly with Traffic Control and anybody could hear he had two crew and a passenger. Anybody who could count would see only two of them left the ship at dock. One could arrange to leave the ship with freight or in a suit, but it would be difficult to pull off with no allies in a strange port. Gordon was comfortable keeping his own company. He had books and reports he wanted to read and art he’d been working on for years as he had time. It was really a bit of a vacation.
Chapter 12
“Some of the stuff is authentic, and some are reproductions like you would use in reenactments or movies,” the supply officer reported to Luca and John. “With a few of the pieces, there is no way to tell if they are original or fakes. The real original pieces are expensive as all get out, the paper money in particular. The leather is real leather but fake-old. There are ways to preserve leather now, but they have been invented since stuff this old would have been cracked and oxidizer too far to benefit from the treatments.
“What about the pistols?” John asked.
“They are real and the one marked as manufactured by Singer is worth more money than any of us make in a year. The ammo was made in Europe within the last few decades, however. Whoever did this wasn’t poor. The whole thing added up to a small fortune to pull off.”
“For a joke that demonstrates a sick sense of humor,” Luca protested.
“I suspect we are not the target of the humor,” his boss, John, said, “and indeed, we probably won’t ever know who this was supposed to bother or why. Likely it is a very important somebody or somebodies.”
“Some of it really surprised me,” the logistics expert said. “The documents are fake but whoever made them had an antique fountain pen and knew how to write with it. The marks it makes on the paper are different than art pens. The mechanical marks underneath, not the ink, and the forms on which they wrote are correct.
“The medical officer says there were traces of hypnotic drugs in both of them that will have removed short term memory so we can’t get a report from them about how they were transported and inserted on the station.
“It will be some months before we know if they have lost any long-term memories and the entire time they will be at risk of having false memories created if anyone attempts to interrogate them beyond reading their reactions to certain words and phrases. Just being in a strange place with new people their brains may incorporate the new material and try to integrate it. They were in a state of reduced cognition and awareness when confronted. That’s why they didn’t obey the commands.”
“All that is assuming the people holding them didn’t induce a false set of memories either deliberately or just in the process of bringing them here,” Luca said. “They may have been kept unconscious for part of that process too.”
“That would actually have been a kindness to have kept them unaware while in that state. But they set up a situation here that could have resulted in fatalities,” John said.
“What irks me,” Luca said, “is once you pull a stunt like this, and it gets free in the wild, you never get rid of all the conspiracy theories and wild conjecture. If you try to suppress it, that actually makes it worse. It’s a pain in the butt and just the sort of rumor that interferes with legitimate governance.”
The supply master’s face froze for an instant, but if he disagreed he didn’t say anything. It wasn’t safe to take the other side of that.
The hatch opened without any notice on the intercom or their pads that they had visitors. John turned with an angry face to object to the intrusion, but his expression turned to horror.
The visitor in a black uniform was a single star Space Forces general with two of his own security behind him. Hanging further back in the corridor were two civilians with camera foiling masks. He stopped just inside the hatch with one security man stepping inside just far enough to scan the entire compartment. The civilians hung back but could listen.
“Gentlemen, I am here to relieve you of your two prisoners on behalf of offices above mine in Homeland Security. My men are presenting papers to your guards and signing receipts right now to remove them. We require all the artifacts associated with them. They are no longer your concern and all records of them will be purged from your system before we undock. I strongly suggest you purge your own memories as well as possible and refrain from directing unwanted questions to your superiors after we leave. There is no benefit to be had in discussing them among yourselves, and a risk doing so would result in leaks that would be regarded as a very serious breach of security. Are there any questions?”
All three of them shook their heads no. The one star gave them a smile that was more a snarl and turned on his heel. His guards let him pass through th
em before they also turned and left.
“Offices above his in Homeland,” John quoted, “those guys out in the corridor.”
“None of our business to even know what agency,” Luca agreed.
“Spooks,” their supply guy said out loud. Expressing what they couldn’t bring themselves to say.
Yeah, but whose spooks? John thought, but said nothing.
* * *
Pamela listened over dinner while Kirk related all the public records he was sifting through. The Foys were in temporary quarters and he set up surveillance of the embassy they were building. He was surprised there were native private eye services he could use to do that and other easy tasks. It might be important later to have their floor plan and easier to get now while it was framed out. He explained their principle contact and ally on Derfhome was Lee Anderson of the Red Tree clan and explained the tribal Derf Keeps were impenetrable to spying, but the girl lived in town and kept an apartment at a hotel. He confirmed she seemed to entertain the Foys on a regular basis. They had a lot of personal goods in storage and he put a camera watching that facility too. He ran down and had to eat before it was cold. She made small talk about growing and family trips in New Hampshire and Maine. It was really sweet that he nodded and made comments about her stories. She didn’t think it was of any real interest to him but he was polite. They really should eat out together more often instead of just fueling up at their building like college students on a budget. She wanted to know more about Kirk too, and it was easier to ask such questions over dinner that would be inappropriate at work.
* * *
Gordon set a sensor pack hanging on a stiff cable outstation from them. Two hundred meters was a safety zone into which you went at your own risk to give ships an envelope in which to do external repairs or off-load freight. He kept it well inside so nobody could object, but that gave coverage to alert him is anyone or anything approached the ship from outside. The lock on the dock had alarms of its own of course, and he went to bed without feeling any anxiety about his security.
When he got up he instructed the galley to make him breakfast and checked his screen for messages. The monitor showing their dock had a figure standing with its back to the ship, not close enough to trigger proximity alarms. It was a uniform Gordon decided because the pants and jacket were the same color and tailored tight. The figure had a pistol on both sides, the left one turned to be cross-drawn. One was probably a Taser and one a lethal weapon, he decided. Which was worn on the right side to be the primary choice would say a lot about their rules of engagement.
Lee said the locals were excruciatingly polite and they had transport arranged to the island, but the rates quoted for flying them there and for freight service from the station were ruinous. Nevertheless, she had said to expect a team to remove their goods for the survey team tomorrow and she agreed to their fee without an objection. She wondered if they hadn’t padded the bill on orders from the administration to discourage them.
Gordon smiled, he understood how Lee thought and she’d pay a million dollars Ceres dollars to move it without blinking if she had to, just to deny them the satisfaction of seeing her distress. They still might not understand how rich she was. Or maybe they did understand and figured they could gouge her.
After finishing his breakfast unhurriedly Gordon considered whether to satisfy his curiosity about the man stationed outside. He appeared to be a guard, but Gordon hadn’t ordered one for all the reasons he’s told Lee, and she wouldn’t have requested one if she didn’t agree without telling him. Like Lee he didn’t want to give anyone the satisfaction of seeming upset about anything, so he decided to go meet the fellow, but to forgo even the ax that was just normal social attire for his species, with no message or significance intended.
When he opened the lock, the Human turned. It was a woman and Gordon was irritated with himself for not perceiving that. As long as he’d lived with Humans he should have figured that out from her build. Other things like hair and jewelry were superficial and subject to local custom, but the wider hips and daintier hands should have informed him.
“Good morning to you,” Gordon said. “I’m curious who stationed you here? We didn’t contract for any security services. I hope if anyone has actual business with us you don’t intend to turn them away, do you? We have people coming to off-load freight for the planet tomorrow.”
The young woman only turned half-way so she could still observe the public area over the dashed dock line. Gordon approved. She gave Gordon a salute and it seemed to honor him not be a sarcastic gesture.
“Sir! I’m from station security and was told to secure your dock from any unreasonable protests and alert you if anyone came demanding to register a complaint who seemed overly aggressive or violent.”
“You seem to have kept the crowds down nicely,” Gordon said, amused, looking up and down the near-empty dockage. “In honesty, I think any complaints originated in the vivid imagination of your commission administrator. If anyone has a gripe send him along and I’ll try to satisfy him. Meanwhile, I do understand you are following orders and appreciate your service. If you need some comfort like a good cup of coffee or a seat so you don’t need to stand, let me know.”
“I have a fellow who can relieve me from time to time,” the guard said. She turned her head fully so the back was to any dock cameras. “It has been pretty light duty so far,” she said with a wry smile and a big wink. “There are lots worse assignments that I’m happy not to be stuck on today.”
Gordon nodded. So the guard was aware this was a farce, and if she was aware of it at her organizational level, then probably most everybody knew it was a crock of crap except the idiot at the top.
“Will you be visiting the station? I can call a cart for you if you wish,” she offered.
“Nah, I just wanted to say hi and see what you were up to,” Gordon said. “Carry on. Hail me if you need anything. Be aware that besides some freight handlers my daughter Lee will be returning, but probably not for a few days – if you are still here.”
“I’m sure I will be or another who I’ll brief,” she said.
“Oh, I should mention my daughter is Human. She’s my stepdaughter although we don’t make that distinction in the Derf language.”
“That’s interesting. I’m sure it won’t be any problem,” she promised.
Gordon nodded again, the Human gesture an unthinking habit now, and turned back to the ship. His thought was – Why isn’t this polite, reasonable person, running the planet instead of the jackass they’ve put in charge? But it would never do to say that.
* * *
The Foys had a final tasting. Casimir and Walton thought most of the items picked to produce were palatable for Derf, something they thought important and Eileen didn’t correct them. The fact the entire stock might be transported to another star system for a Human population with few or no Derf wasn’t any of Capital Provision’s business. Their false assumption didn’t hurt their needs so Eileen ignored it.
Eileen was amused to think if she’d revealed that to them, they probably wouldn’t believe it. The economics of it were impossible with the drive tech the Derf and most Humans were using. Most of it would still be tasty in twenty-five years and safe to eat at fifty if not appealing in appearance and with reduced taste. The first shipments would start being delivered to storage in a week or two.
That storage was going to be a major cost factor and Eileen found a newer storage facility that was cheaper outside of the town proper across the southern ridge. She made sure the pallets were set on rollers and new stock could be pushed in one door and old cases taken out of the door on the opposite side of their warehouse when the time came to rotate their stock.
Capital Provision was happy to work on a cash basis with no contract as long as they got an advance on the first year’s production and the word of the Voice of the Sovereign of Central to make periodic payments to stay ahead of their sunk costs. A long-term contract would have locked in
commodity costs that might change on them from one scant harvest. Everybody was happy.
* * *
The Red Tree survey team had a landing strip leveled and safe for the sort of short take-off and landing haulers that were common on a new world. They hadn’t really needed to do much to create it, just found the flattest area that already existed from a satellite laser survey, removed patches of higher vegetation, and filled in a few dips and potholes that might catch even rugged landing gear. The cost of flying the supplies out was probably four or five times what they were worth, but that would have been true even if she’d bought them locally at a higher cost. With the cost to bring them down from orbit, it was probably a wash. Assuming they weren’t ripping her off.
Their base camp was nearby and the scenery from there was beautiful with the central mountains of the island visible in the distance. The area around the base camp though was relatively boring. The survey team had one report ready to take home. They initially followed a stream that had its headwaters in the plain of the landing strip to the coast and then circumnavigated the island noting where it might be feasible to make an artificial harbor with breakwaters. There was no natural harbor on the island.
None of the places the crew visited appealed to Lee as a home site. Lee was interested in a place up a mountainside far enough to have a dramatic view. She was kind of disappointed but didn’t want to take the time to do a hike as far as the mountain slopes with Gordon waiting for her. When she did come back she wanted to have a landing shuttle that could put her down directly on the island. No more chartering bush planes at tremendous cost. She’d also bring some small off-road vehicles, maybe a dirt bike and a couple of four-wheel ATVs. She’d have to learn to ride a bike but videos of people riding bicycles and motorcycles fascinated her and she wanted to learn.
The fact the Mothers left the survey team to do everything on foot irritated her. It was going to take them forever by her standards. She didn’t give any thought to how much bigger those vehicles would have to be for Derf and their equipment and that they didn’t use them at home either. She’d come to that conclusion later.
Friends in the Stars Page 18
