The Spacer sat up. After a few seconds of contemplation, the man went to his cell door, placed his hand on the lock, and walked out. With a glance in the direction of the newcomer, he came quietly up to Derec's door, opened it, and entered the cell. The door slid shut and the Spacer sat down where Hofton had been sitting.
Derec stared at him. "You're one of Palen's people."
He grinned. "Right on the first guess. They didn't lie when they said you were bright." He extended his hand. "Masid Vorian, station security."
Derec shook Masid's hand. "So I suppose you heard everything we discussed?"
"Most of it. Don't worry about the TBI, though. The cell monitoring system is keyed to Sipha's password. She shut it down after Harwol and his eager fools showed up. So they'll never know what you discussed with your man, or what you and I talk about now."
Derec nodded toward the door. "What about the new prisoner?"
"Must be a legitimate arrest. His escorts would've given me some kind of warning if he was a plant or something. Don't worry-I doubt he can hear our conversation, either."
"And what are we talking about now?"
"The same thing." Masid leaned forward earnestly. "You need to understand one thing: Sipha Palen is a good cop. She's honest, dedicated, and a magnificent pain in the ass to work for as a result, but she's sincere about the job."
"I never doubted it."
Masid nodded once. "But it gets her in trouble. That's the reason she's up here and not running a department on the ground. "
"Honest to a fault."
"She doesn't always know when to shut up." He grinned. "In certain circles, it can be a real deficit."
"She planted you in the lab."
"No, I was already there. I'm a turned agent. I used to work for Settler security. Sipha found out and made a deal with me: work for her, at least part-time, or she'd expose me."
"Forgive me, but you look like a Spacer."
Masid made a mock bow. "Native of Proclas."
"Then how-?"
"It's a long story. The short version is, I was trained as an information specialist, but, frankly, it's boring work. Proclans are agrarian by temperament, but you can't maintain much of a civilization growing vegetables. I started freelancing. The government called it treason and I had to leave. I ran an independent merchant ship for a while, then went to work for the Theian intelligence service on Pax Commari-"
"That's a Settler colony."
"Yes, it is. Theia sponsored it. Anyway, I decided that what I was doing was crass and unethical, so I turned myself in to the local intelligence people. They had absolutely no use for me, but-lucky me-,..they knew someone who did. I ended up working for the Settler Coalition. "
"I didn't know they had an intelligence arm. "
"Not very many people do. Their biggest concern is smuggling. Post to post to post, I ended up here. " He raised his arms. "That's the short version. Some day when we have time and a good deal to drink, I'll give you the full version, which is a lot more interesting. "
"So you work for Palen part of the time."
"At this point, I'd have to say I work for Palen all of the time. She made me a good deal. Over the last few years, I've found myself with a growing case of loyalty to her. "
"That impressive?"
"I respect her," Masid said.
The way he said it, Derec got the immediate sense of a vast and profound commitment; that respect was something Masid Vorian esteemed above all else.
"All right," Derec said slowly. "I presume that the arrangement is, you work with the Aurorans for a time and when you have something to report you get yourself arrested."
"Basically. Most of the time information is easily sent through a secured comm channel. But sometimes something comes up that requires a personal meet."
"What prompted this one?"
"Baleys. Lots of very dead baleys." "There's a regular route, always has been," Masid explained. "The bays change, but usually they're Settler. Baleys have been leaving Kopernik for years via the same avenues-fifty, a hundred years. We estimated that on an average year maybe five, six thousand people leave Earth through clandestine channels. Occasionally, the number goes as high as ten or twelve thousand. ITE cracks down periodically, the numbers drop to less than a thousand, then pick back up.
"A couple of years ago we started seeing a massive surge: twelve, thirteen, fifteen thousand a year. I think this had to do with the politics, Eliton's whole Concessionism kick, and then the collapse of talks last year. I think a lot of baleys are afraid all the avenues are about to be shut down.
"In the middle of this frantic running, though, we started hearing rumors from some of the Settler crews that a number of shipments went missing. I started doing a little digging among my old Settler contacts. I found out that transfers were being made mid-journey by certain ships-destinations changed, baleys offloaded and sent somewhere else. Too many claims to ignore. "
"Pirates?" Derec asked.
"That's an easy accusation to make. Tell me, what is pirate? Black market, certainly. But fine, let's assume for the sake of this discussion we're talking about pirates. Then what are they doing? A lot of so-called pirate ships are already dealing in baley running. A lot of them have quasilegal status and come into port regularly. No warrants, no evidence to hold them, we let them go. The ships offloading the baleys aren't doing so under duress, so it's a business deal. But for who? The money being paid by baleys and some of the recipient colonies is a lot, but I don't see how the margin makes it worthwhile stealing the baleys after they're already en route. So where are they being taken?"
"You found out?"
Masid shook his head. "Not exactly. A lot of talk has them going to Nova Levis. Of course, that's quarantined, so it's not likely we're going to find any ship's owners willing to admit they're making runs there. The pirate ships taking the baleys on never come to Kopernik. But let's assume that one or two colonies have hired mercenary shippers and are paying premiums to steal baleys. Why? What do baleys have that could be marketable under illicit conditions?"
"Labor. Possibly blackmail of family."
"No blackmail, not a single demand. Labor, sure. But you can buy cheap labor from companies like Imbitek and Morris and some of the others. There are some colonies buying robots from Spacers. So, if it's not labor, what is it?"
Derec shook his head.
"Bodies."
"Organs?"
"What else? On spec I recommended that a shipload of baleys be traced and intercepted en route. A joint Auroran-Terran venture was set up. It took four tries to find a transfer, but we found one and the ship was taken. The baleys were already dead, in stasis. Medical quality stasis. Eighty-three of them. We had a few arriving shipments intercepted here and at least three of them contained already dead baleys."
"Why didn't you shut it all down if you knew about the shipments?"
"Two reasons: we don't know about all the shipments, and we still don't know who's killing them and selling the corpses. Ongoing investigation; we need to keep it quiet till we can shut down the source. I know, it's terrible. People are dying. But that's the way it is."
"How many?" Derec asked.
"So far, three hundred plus. We've been trying to infiltrate baley groups, see where they're going. Our agents have been turning up dead, too. Some of them in very unpleasant ways. The worst was Chiava."
"Chiava?"
"The Brethe dealer you heard about. Right here, in her holding cell. "
"Chief Palen worked her the same way she works you?"
Masid nodded. "She worked dockside vice mostly, not this. She found something related to my investigation. "
"Did she have time to tell Palen?"
"No. She was brought in while Sipha was away. By the time Sipha returned…"
"What I don't understand," Derec said, "is where the market for this is. Organs can be grown-you don't have to do gross transplants. "
"Spacer medical tech is expensive. "<
br />
"That's facile. It's also safer. The only reason…" Derec caught his breath. "The baleys in question. You identified them?"
"As many as we could. Some had bought very expensive privacy locks on their pasts."
"How many of them were orphans?"
"Orphans?"
"Yes, orphans."
Masid blinked and shrugged. "I don't know."
"Find out."
"You have an idea what's going on?"
"Just an idea. A very tenuous idea. "
Masid nodded. "You look like you hope you're wrong. "
"That, too." Derec studied Masid for a time. "So what are you still doing in here?"
"Oh, that. Well." Masid smiled sheepishly. "I'm bait."
Twenty-One
I've called for an embassy limousine," Ariel said. "It should be here shortly."
Ree Wenithal gave her a gloomy look, as if now regretting to go along with them. He had drunk four cups of coffee and swallowed a stimulant pill, and his mood had grown ever more somber.
Coren scowled at him. "Don't tell us you've changed your mind and don't want to go. Would you rather wait for Tresha and Gamelin?"
Wenithal looked startled. "Who?"
Coren almost smiled. "Your collectors. The ones you've been waiting for."
Ariel watched them regard each other, Ree Wenithal clearly unsettled and Coren smugly observant.
"We standing around playing Who Knows," Jeta Fromm asked, "or moving somewhere safer?"
Coren laughed. "Come on. Is there anything else you want to bring?"
"No," Wenithal said grudgingly, and stepped to the door.
Ariel touched Coren's elbow. When he looked at her, she pointed to his shoulder. "Are you all right?"
"I could use some painblock and a stimulant right now," he said, "but I can move. "
They exited onto the balcony warily, Ariel coming out last. Third shift was still a few hours from ending and the quiet made the warren seem deserted. Coren led the way down the steps to the courtyard and out to the avenue. Ariel went last, glancing anxiously over her shoulder, trying unsuccessfully to see into the shadows. She gripped the stunner in her pocket, knowing it would be next to useless against the thing that attacked them earlier, but unwilling to release its illusion of effectiveness.
Far to the right, at the end of the avenue, music and laughter reached them from a bar; otherwise, the area was still. They pressed back against the wall and waited in silence.
Ariel jumped when the limousine pulled onto the avenue. The long black vehicle stopped and the rear door slid open. As they neared the vehicle, two men emerged and quickly flanked Wenithal and Jeta. Wenithal stopped short, but Jeta whirled around, glaring.
"What is this, gato?" she demanded.
Coren stopped before her. "It's for everyone's piece of mind…Tresha."
She frowned at him. "My name is Jeta Fromm."
"I doubt it," Coren said. "But we can sort it out later, when we're in comfort and security." He looked at Ariel. "Is this going to cause problems?"
"Nothing I'm not used to," Ariel said. She addressed the guards. "Screen them."
One of the men took out a pad and walked around the pair. He reached inside Jeta/Tresha's jacket and removed a pistol. "That's all, Ambassador."
"Good. In the limousine, please. "
The guard took Tresha's pack, then Wenithal and Tresha were ushered into the capacious backseat. The guards watched them from the facing seat. Ariel went around to the passenger side front and got in.
Coren closed the door and leaned against the jamb.
"I'm going somewhere else," he said.
Ariel wanted to protest, but held back. "I see. I'll stay with these people, then, and set them up at the embassy."
He nodded. His eyes shut briefly. "When I get there, I think I'd better sleep."
"You wouldn't want to tell me where you're going, would you?"
"Not now." He smiled wearily. "Deniability and all that. Besides, I really don't know just exactly where…" He shook his head. "Get them to the embassy and safe. I'll comm when I'm finished. "
He pushed away from the limo. The door closed. Ariel watched him walk wearily away. She felt a sharp reluctance to let him out of her sight. For a moment she wanted to get out of the limousine and go with him, trusting the limo and the guards to get her passengers to the embassy.
Not very responsible, she thought peevishly.
Coren rounded a distant comer, disappearing from sight. Ariel leaned back in the seat, wondering at her uneasy mix of emotions.
"Embassy," Ariel said. She glanced over her shoulder at Tresha and Wenithal, and wondered idly how much of a diplomatic mess she had just created. Only i/they complain, she thought.
"Yes, Ambassador," the car replied and rolled on.
"This is nonsense," Wenithal said.
"What's changed?" Ariel asked. "You were prepared to shoot whoever came through your door earlier."
He glowered, then let his head fall back. Within a couple of minutes his eyes closed and his breathing deepened. Ariel wondered just how much alcohol he had drunk before they had arrived. Then she wondered how often people had thought that about her.
Tresha glared at Ariel, straight-backed and on edge, hands pressed against her thighs. Her backpack lay on the seat between the guards.
"That looks heavy," Ariel said. "What do you have in there?"
"Why?"
"Just curious. "
Tresha frowned. "My chops. Code bummer, datum, decrypter. Some clothes."
Ariel waited to see if Tresha would volunteer more. When she remained silent, Ariel asked, "Why Nova Levis?"
"Time. There's a list and a schedule. Nova Levis had the earliest opening. Besides, you hear there's a lot of tech there."
"You do?"
"They say, sure."
"It was an agrarian colony, started up by the Church of Organic Sapiens."
Tresha blinked at her. "They changed, then." She shrugged. "So, do you believe Mr. Lanra? That I'm not who I say I am?"
"Does it matter? Either you are and you need our help, or you aren't and we need to keep you under guard. "
Tresha shook her head. "Meddling. Spacers are always meddling. Why is that? What's all this to you?"
Ariel considered giving Tresha a glib answer, predigested and politic. It's my job, I was ordered to help. True as far as it went, but Ariel had never done anything purely for surface reasons. In this case, she felt she would have been justified to tell Setaris no and let herself be rotated back to Aurora as she expected to be.
She understood Derec's motives-he wanted to get his hands on a positronics lab one more time. The ground mission's lab was denied him and, though he still retained Thales, he simply could not do the research he wanted. And he wanted to stay on Earth, a desire about which she had grown ambivalent in the last year.
She understood Coren Lanra's motives, though she suspected there was more than he had admitted.
Ariel even understood Sen Setaris and the policy under which she had delegated the assignment.
But her own motives for going along with it?
"Until two hours ago I didn't know," she said. "Then I saw the enemy. " When they arrived at the embassy, Ariel summoned an extra security team to escort Wenithal and Tresha to separate apartments. "I want someone watching them full-time, highest level surveillance."
She went directly to her own apartment, then.
"Any messages, Jennie?" Ariel asked.
"Thales requests that you check in as soon as possible. "
"Thank you, Jennie." She tapped a code for the embassy security office. "I want an ID run, please. There is a woman just installed in the secure apartments calling herself Jeta Fromm. Verify. Check against records for a woman named Tresha, last name unknown."
As she stepped into the corridor, she felt a brief wave of weariness. She had been going for too long a stretch without more than ten minutes' sleep. Ariel shrugged it off and headed to Derec
's apartment.
"Thales, do you have something for me?" she asked as she entered Derec's workspace.
"A number of items, Ariel. I have completed the recovery from the subject. Derec and Hofton have already viewed the relevant memories."
Ariel's pulse quickened. She sat down. "Then show me."
Ariel watched the entire episode, from the point where Nyom Looms confronted the dockworker to the point when collapse occurred after the murders of all the baleys. She did not move when it was done, staring at the screen. She felt warm, and a distant anger she knew would only grow with time.
"Do you wish to review any part of the material, Ariel?" Thales finally asked.
"No. Where's Derec?"
"In custody. The TBI have intervened and assumed authority over the investigation on Kopernik."
Ariel stood. "Wait." She went to Derec's bathroom and found a container of stim pills. She swallowed two and returned to Thales. "All right, Thales, tell me what's happened. " She took the embassy shunt to Setaris's offices.
Unexpectedly, Ambassador Setaris was in.
"Come in, Ariel, come in," Setaris said as Ariel walked in. "My door is always open for interesting people, and you've been so very interesting lately. "
Setaris sat behind her desk, gazing at the subetheric. Ariel glanced at it and saw Jonis Taprin speaking to a reporter in a formal interview setting. The sound was off.
"Derec Avery is in custody," Setaris said. "The TBI have seized control of Kopernik security from Chief Sipha Palen and are making very loud noises about security leaks and subversion. I have a protest filed from Ambassador Chassik demanding you be censured and dismissed from all embassy duties, pending an investigation of your fitness for executive responsibilities." She gestured at the subetheric. "Senator Taprin has been making very obnoxious noises about the treaties concerning our embassy missions. What did you do to him, Ariel? He's been almost shrill about reviewing Spacer presence on Earth."
"Nothing recently."
Setaris smiled wanly. "It's been a very long day. You've been excessively diligent in your assignment."
"Why is Derec in custody?"
"The TBI said something about evidence tampering and hindering an investigation. It's the sort of charge they make when they don't know what really has them angry. You two have stirred up a lot of trouble."
Chimera (isaac asimov's robot mystery) Page 28
