gaian consortium 03 - the gaia gambit

by Pope, Christine

  “The weird thing is,” Miala continued, “there’s only one person I know of who could even begin to write code like this.”

  “I would think that would make it easier. That is, if you know who wrote it, then you’d also know where it came from.”

  “True,” Miala admitted, continuing to type away. “I guess I’m just trying to figure out why a Stacian admiral would have an Eridani hacker covering his tracks.”

  * * *

  After reiterating that he wouldn’t be flying the Chinook any time soon — and also pointing out that it was Lira who would be doing the actual flying — Rast followed Jerem into the house, where both Eryk Thorn and the baby had disappeared. Maybe she had settled down enough that she’d be able to sleep for a while.

  “Are you going to be eating dinner with us?” Jerem asked, after pouring himself a glass of water and then belatedly asking Rast if he wanted one, too.

  “I don’t know. I somewhat doubt it. That’s really impinging on your parents’ hospitality, especially since they’d never even met us before today.”

  The boy looked disappointed, and Rast supposed he couldn’t really blame him. They were so isolated out here, and he probably went weeks or even months without seeing anybody except his parents…and a six-month-old baby wasn’t exactly a very good companion.

  Rast heard footsteps on the stairs, and Lira came into the kitchen a minute later, her face a study in worry and confusion. She hesitated a moment when she spied Jerem, but then smiled a little and said, “I don’t think we’ve met yet. I’m Lira Jannholm.”

  “I know,” the boy said. “I mean, who else could you be? Rast was already telling me about you and your ship.”

  “Oh, he was?”

  “I was saying how you were the real pilot, and how I sort of doubted we’d be flying the Chinook until it was time to leave.”

  “Well, of course not,” she remarked, as if that should be obvious.

  “Jerem was also wondering if we’d be staying to dinner, and I said I thought not. We have plenty of rations in the Chinook, don’t we?”

  “Yes, of course. Tomas made sure the ship was always well-stocked.”

  “Best freeze-dried rations money can buy, I’ll bet,” said Eryk Thorn as he entered the kitchen, sans baby. “We have plenty. You can take some over to your ship.”

  “That’s very generous,” Rast said, noting that the invitation was only to share the food, and not actually to sit down to dinner with the family. Not that he could really blame the man; if he’d been in Thorn’s position, he doubted he’d be inviting a couple of strangers, one of them from a hostile alien race, to break bread with his family.

  “But Dad — ”

  “Don’t ‘but Dad’ me. Put together a couple of packets for our visitors.”

  As the boy did as his father ordered, reluctance obvious in his dragging footsteps, Thorn directed his next words to Lira. “Working, is she?”

  “Yes. She said it’s tough but that she thinks she can do it. Could be four or five days, though.”

  If Thorn was disturbed by the thought of the two interlopers parking themselves on his property for the greater part of a standard week, he didn’t show it. He only nodded, then said, “I’ll take a tray up to her later. When she gets like this, I know better than to ask her to drop everything and come down. Best you eat that before it gets cold.”

  It was a clear dismissal, and Rast took it as such. He shot Jerem a quick grin, to show he wasn’t put off by Eryk Thorn’s brusque tone, took the packets of food from the boy, and made the smallest of nods toward the back door. Luckily Lira took the hint, thanking Thorn for the food before she followed Rast out to the ship.

  They went inside, and she paused to close the door behind them and lock it. She waited until he had set the food down on the low table in front of one of the couches before asking in acid tones, “You think that’s poisoned?”

  Since he knew she was joking…or at least he hoped she was…he replied with a grin, “I think we’re safe. I have a feeling Miala Thorn might be a trifle irritated if her husband knocked off a couple of guests that way. Besides, I doubt poison is really his style. He seems to be more of a ‘shoot you between the eyes’ sort of person. Or maybe the back of the head, if that’s more convenient.”

  She gave an unwilling laugh. “You’re probably right. So what did they send over?”

  “You’d probably have a better idea of that than I would. I don’t know much about Gaian cuisine.”

  “Neither do I. Everything on Ganymede was grown hydroponically or so processed you really couldn’t tell what it started out as.” Even so, she opened one of the packets, sniffed, and tilted her head to one side, considering. “I think there might be actual meat in there. Not sure what, though. It smells good.”

  It did smell good, a savory aroma that sent his stomach juices turning. The second packet held some creamy-looking white stuff that Lira said was mashed potatoes…whatever those were.

  “And since Tomas kept everything on this ship well-stocked, we can eat like civilized people. Well, mostly,” she added, after casting a critical eye on the table where their food rested. “That table’s a little low, even for me. But I suppose you’ll make do.”

  “Oh, I will.” He watched as she fetched plates and cutlery from a low cabinet on the far side of the passenger compartment, and cheered up even more when she produced two glasses and a bottle of dark-hued wine on her second trip to the cabinet. “Tomas didn’t hide much from you, did he?”

  Abruptly, her expression darkened. “Oh, he hid plenty. But since he expected me to be his flight attendant in addition to his pilot, I do know where he kept all his dining necessities.” She pushed the tab on the cork so it would self-extricate, then poured a measure of wine into each glass. “Dinner is served, I guess.”

  It was a little awkward to sit on the couch and lean over the table to eat, but the food itself was delicious, if unfamiliar, and the wine smooth and dark and heavy, a good complement to the rich gravy that covered the meat. Since there was no place else for her to sit down, Lira perched on the edge of the couch next to him, distinctly uncomfortable with their proximity.

  Rast could not say the same for himself. She was so close he could feel the warmth of her leg next to his, smell the sweet scent of her hair as she leaned over to pick up her glass of wine.

  “Miala says she thinks the hacker is Eridani,” she said abruptly, after she took a sip.

  He hadn’t been expecting that. “How can she tell?” He lifted his shoulders, drank of his own wine. Gared Tomas might have been a bastard, but he knew how to choose his liquor.

  “Says she only knows of one person who can write code like that, and apparently he’s an Eridani.”

  That remark sent the wheels in Rast’s mind spinning. He refused to believe that the Eridanis might be involved in this mess. They were a peaceful, long-civilized race, known for their generosity in sharing their knowledge, their tech. Stacia would still be a backwater world, its inhabitants scratching out a bare subsistence, if it weren’t for the Eridanis. No, the most likely explanation was simply that Admiral sen Trannick had hired the best to obfuscate this records…and that “best” just happened to be Eridani.

  “Probably doesn’t mean anything,” he said after a long pause, which he tried to hide by drinking some more of his wine.

  Lira’s tone was also noncommittal. “Probably.”

  They both lapsed into silence then, bites of food punctuated by sips of drink. He had no idea what might be going through her mind. His own was preoccupied by her presence, the warmth of her body, the way her hair gleamed in the cabin’s overhead lights. How he wished he could pluck the wine glass from her fingers, press her down into the cushions, taste her again. He knew better, though. The day might come when Lira Jannholm would come to him willingly, but it was not this night.

  He could only hope that tomorrow might be better.

  CHAPTER TEN

  A day passed, and then
another. Hard to believe that she could share cramped quarters like those on board the Chinook with a Stacian, of all people, but Rast turned out to be a more than tolerable shipmate, not using inordinate amounts of water in the bathroom, and picking up after himself without having to be asked. She had no idea whether that was normal behavior for him, or whether he simply wanted to make a good impression so she might soften her attitude toward him.

  Not that simple, Rast, she thought on the morning of the third day, as he volunteered to take her soiled clothing into the Thorn homestead, where Miala had offered them the use of their laundry setup. Maybe it’s all domestic tranquility now, but once we get back out there… She gazed up into the blue skies, which had begun to cloud over. Thorn had said it might rain today.

  Rain. There was a novelty. She could count the times she’d felt real rain on her face on the fingers of one hand.

  Rast returned from the house and paused a few feet away from where she stood, still staring upward.

  “Jerem is going to teach me how to fish,” he said. “You want to come along?”

  She shook her head. The two of them had been spending a good amount of time together the past few days, Jerem obviously entranced with the novelty of having a friendly Stacian around…and his parents probably relieved that someone new was on board to keep him amused for a while.

  “You’re good with kids, aren’t you?” she asked abruptly.

  “I suppose so.” He shrugged. “I’ve been around enough of them.”

  “You? Around children?”

  His pained expression seemed to indicate that she didn’t know much about Stacians. “I have fifteen nieces and nephews. There might be more on the way…I’ve been out of contact the past month or so.”

  “Fifteen?” She tried to imagine fifteen nieces and nephews, all running around and carrying on the way she supposed small children did. The thought was vaguely horrifying.

  “I suppose it’s my turn to lecture you about your ignorance of Stacian history and culture.” He grinned, apparently overlooking the frown she felt etch itself on her forehead. “Family is everything to us. Life was so hard for so long that the biological imperative still remains. Children, and lots of them.”

  “That’s not ecologically sustainable,” she replied.

  “Now, perhaps. Why do you think my people are pushing so hard to colonize other worlds? You’re right — Stacia can’t support its current population. So we’re moving outward.”

  “No wonder the Gaians and Stacians are at each other’s throats.”

  “It is unfortunate, but true.”

  After digesting that for a few seconds, she asked, “And what about you?”

  “What about me?”

  “Have you been a good Stacian and been busy reproducing with the rest of them?” As soon as the words left her mouth, she wished she could take them back. True, Rast had been on his best behavior the past few days, but she wasn’t stupid. She could recognize sexual tension when she saw it. Or felt it, as the case may be. Like the times she caught him watching her. Or hell, the time she’d been in the shower with the warm water cascading over her, and somehow her thoughts had strayed to Rast and how his body had been this warm…and the next thing she knew, she’d been running her soapy hands over her breasts, wishing they had been his hands.

  She’d turned the water to cold right after that and gotten out as soon as she could.

  He lifted his shoulders. “No. My mother reminds me of my failure every time I speak with her. True, she and my father are proud of me, proud of the rank I’ve attained…but that does not count for as much with them as three or four children would.”

  Somehow she managed to keep her voice steady. “So why the delay?”

  The copper eyes didn’t waver. “I had never found the right mate.”

  Lira was saved from making a reply by the arrival of Jerem, who held a long, slender object that she supposed was a fishing pole in each hand. The boy looked a little discomfited by her presence, but then he straightened and asked, “Did you want to come fishing, too?”

  “No,” she said immediately. Even after a few days here, she wasn’t entirely comfortable in Jerem’s presence. He had so much energy, and she wasn’t sure how she should behave around him. But she didn’t want to sound rude, so she added, “Maybe next time. I think you’ll have your hands full just teaching Rast. There aren’t any fish on his world.”

  “There aren’t?” Jerem asked, eyes lighting up the way they always did whenever the conversation turned to life on other planets.

  “No,” said Rast, and over the top of the boy’s head his eyes met Lira’s for just a few seconds, as if acknowledging her diversion. “But we have these creatures that dwell in the pools in the caves, called dalgesh, that make good eating…”

  And the two of them moved off, leaving her there to watch them as they disappeared into the trees, Rast’s smooth baritone a counterpoint to Jerem’s treble. For a minute she wished she’d gone along with them. But no, that was silly. She should stay here, in case Miala made a breakthrough and needed to talk to her.

  Lira sighed, and was about to go back into the Chinook when she saw the other woman walking toward her. “You’ve got something?”

  “Sorry to get your hopes up.” Miala paused a few feet away and shook her head. “I just needed a break. Some fresh air to get my brain together.”

  Whether Lira was able to keep the disappointment out of her voice was anyone’s guess. “It’s not going well?”

  “Define ‘going well.’ I think I’m starting to see a ray of light, but it’s tough. I keep darting in and taking stabs at it, but then I have to dance back out of the way so I don’t give myself away. It’s exhausting.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. This is the best challenge I’ve had for a long time. I was starting to worry that too much domesticity was dulling my brain cells.”

  Miala’s tone was rueful, but she didn’t look all that concerned. Not sure of the best way to ask the question, Lira began, “And it doesn’t bother you? That is — ”

  “You mean, does it bother me, one of the galaxy’s best hackers, to be sitting here in the middle of nowhere with a boy whose middle name is Trouble and a teething infant and a retired mercenary?” The smile that lit up Miala’s face turned her from strikingly pretty to downright beautiful. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

  “Oh.” Even to her, Lira’s response sounded flat.

  “I don’t know why you’re surprised. I’ve had enough excitement to last me a long, long time. Besides, I still get enough clients to keep me occupied. It’s fine.”

  Her words reminded Lira that there had never been any mention of payment for Miala’s hacking services…never mind camping out on her property for days on end. “About that — I suppose you can help me access my savings without anyone knowing — ”

  “Please. I don’t need your money. Really. The challenge is payment enough.” She reached up underneath her long red ponytail to rub the back of her neck. “Although I’d really like it if I could make a dent in the damn thing. This hydra code is a bitch. I’m going to be really annoyed if I actually find my way through it, only to discover that the only thing this Stacian admiral is hiding is a mistress on Bathsheva or something.”

  Lira couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’m guessing it’s a little bit more than that.”

  “You’re probably right.” For a minute the hacker stared off in the distance, toward the trees that bordered her property. Then she asked, “Boys off fishing?”

  “Yes.”

  “See, I think I should be paying you two for babysitting services.” Her smile faded, though, and she gave Lira a sober look. “Mind if I give you a little piece of advice?”

  Probably. But Lira shrugged and said, “What about?”

  At first Miala was silent. With a lift of her shoulders, as if inwardly dismissing her own qualms, she said, “You probably guessed that at first I was less than thrilled
to have a Stacian here.”

  “I sort of gathered that.”

  Another smile. “And I’m guessing Jerem’s already filled you in on the gory details as to why, so I won’t bother with that, either. And anyway, I was wrong in my reaction to Rast. He’s a good man.”

  Not sure where exactly Miala was going with all this, Lira could only nod uncertainly and wait.

  Despite that wan encouragement, the other woman went on, “And I’ve seen how he looks at you…and how you look at him sometimes, when you think no one is watching. It’s probably none of my business, but this dance you’re doing around each other…you might want to reconsider whether it’s really working for you.”

  Lira found her voice. “You’re right. It is none of your business.”

  Surprisingly, Miala didn’t seem offended. “All right, then — I’ll finish my piece and get back to work. I’ve just got this to say: It’s a big, cold galaxy out there, Lira. If you have a chance for a little warmth, then I think you should take it.”

  And with that Miala turned and strode back toward the house, just as the first big drops of rain began to fall. But Lira didn’t bother to move, and only stood there as the downpour soaked her hair, her clothing, bringing it with it the sharp scent of damp earth and wet grass.

  Warmth. Perhaps that wasn’t such a bad idea.

  * * *

  They’d caught a fine string of some silvery fish that Jerem called “trout” by the time the rain began to fall. Jerem was all for staying on — “they bite better when it rains!” — but Rast judged their catch to be more than sufficient for five people.

  “Besides,” he added, as they gathered up their tackle, “I don’t think your parents would be too happy with me if I kept you out here in the rain.”

  Jerem’s expression was an odd mixture of mutiny and resignation. “Like they’d even notice. Mom’s busy on her computers, and there’s the baby, and — ” He broke off. “Anyway, I don’t think it’s a big deal.”

  So Jerem was less than thrilled with having a new sister. Well, that wasn’t so out of the ordinary, especially since he’d been the only child for so long. Carefully, Rast said, “Yes, but I did say we would try to bring back something for dinner, and your parents need time to prep the meal. So we wouldn’t have been able to stay out here all that much longer anyway.”