Mandrake Company- The Complete Series

by Ruby Lionsdrake

  * * *

  A distant cry echoed through the cavern. It sounded like it came from something larger than a bat. Sedge, standing in the knee-height stubby plants of the ledge, dropped his hand to his pistol and looked in the direction of the noise.

  The two shuttles had landed, leaving only their running lamps on as they waited for Kalish’s ship to join them. Aside from a small amount of daylight filtering through a distant hole in the ceiling and the tunnel Thatcher had made, darkness filled the interior, and Sedge could not see a thing a hundred meters beyond their ledge. Whatever made that cry had to be adapted for the night conditions in here. He imagined a cavern equivalent to the big lizards that had attacked the night before, and his hand didn’t stray from his pistol.

  “More critters than you would think in here,” Tick drawled as he ambled up. He had been scouting around the ledge, which was about a half-mile long and a quarter-mile wide, while Thatcher finished enlarging the tunnel. “Seems funny, but I reckon these caves might be more hospitable than the cold and wind up top. Temperature isn’t bad. Wind is slight.” He chomped happily on his gum, as if he wouldn’t mind staying down here indefinitely. Of course, given his lack of enthusiasm for flying in combat shuttles and other small craft, he would probably be happy anywhere his boots were on the ground.

  Sedge did not feel the same way. He had taken his allergy medication before disembarking from the shuttle, and he hadn’t sneezed yet, but his eyes were watering, and a poky waist-high plant he had brushed against had raised hives on the back of his hand. When Val had checked for potentially toxic gases in the air, found none, and declared this part of the cavern safe for humans, Sedge had been moderately disappointed.

  He hoped the bumps went down quickly. Kalish wouldn’t want to hold hands with someone covered in hives. She was about a hundred feet away, looking for a suitable landing area for her ship. Since Sedge had yet to see it, he wasn’t sure how large it was. Presumably not huge if she thought it could maneuver down here. The cavern they had flown into might be expansive, but Sedge would be surprised if there weren’t tight spots ahead and passages that wouldn’t be accessible to ships.

  The area brightened as more lights shone out of the tunnel. A moment later, an older XJ-class freighter flew into sight, some of the brown paint being scraped off the round saucer as it escaped the narrow passage. Apparently the pilot hadn’t thought to raise shields, or maybe it wouldn’t have fit into the tunnel with them on. A rock was knocked free and tumbled thousands of feet before clattering to the floor below. The noise echoed oddly in the cavern and traveled far. If there were any hungry predators down here, they would know visitors had come.

  Kalish waved her ship down, then jogged back to join Sedge. Tick and Striker had come up to watch the ship’s approach too, so he allowed himself a modicum of satisfaction that she had come to stand beside him. That moment in the shuttle when she had been holding his hand and looking up at him, he had thought she might have something more than friendly camaraderie in mind.

  “Will you join us on the Divining Rod, Sedge?” Kalish waved to the approaching ship.

  “Yes,” he said promptly, before realizing he probably should have asked why. “Er, what do you need me for?” He doubted vigorous bedroom activity would be the answer.

  “You have the spots plotted on the map.” She smiled. Ah, he had been right.

  “I can transfer that information to you.”

  “Really?”

  Had she expected him to withhold the data? Or want to trade it for something?

  “Yes, it’s easy,” Sedge said, teasing her a little. “I press this button here, and off it goes.”

  “I thought you or your commander might insist on leading the way.”

  “We’re your employees, not the other way around.”

  “Good. Then I would like you to come along with us on our ship. In case we need some puzzle-solving help en route.” Kalish winked. “I’ll even buy you dinner.”

  It was silly to hope she had more than business in mind, but Sedge’s mind did drift in that direction. He couldn’t help but notice that the freighter was large enough for crew members to have their own cabins, especially if the crew was as small as he believed it to be.

  Stow your hormones, boy. All she mentioned was dinner.

  “Then I most assuredly accept,” Sedge said. “Especially if you have something besides prepackaged ration logs.”

  “Hm, our rations are more of a brick shape than a log shape, but we do have some apples. My mom throws cinnamon and brown sugar on them and bakes them in the galley. Makes the whole ship smell fabulous.”

  “I look forward to it,” Sedge said, though a nervous jolt went through his belly at the mention of her mother. He hadn’t had to worry about impressing a woman’s parents for years, nor had he imagined family members in adjoining quarters when he had been picturing that private cabin. No, he would need to keep his mind on work and the dinner professional.

  With some guidance from Tick and Kalish, the freighter landed next to the shuttles, crunching some of the hive-inducing vegetation in the process. Sedge couldn’t feel upset about that.

  He turned, intending to grab his pack and tell Thatcher that he had been requested aboard the other ship, but he almost crashed into the commander’s chest. Er, how long had he been there? Had he heard them rambling about dinner plans?

  “Hello, sir,” Sedge said warily.

  “You will be traveling with Ms. Blackwell’s crew?” Thatcher asked.

  “She requested it.”

  Something Thatcher, as Sedge’s commanding officer, could veto.

  “You will remember that it would not be fitting to press a romantic suit on our employer, correct?”

  “Yes, sir. Her mother and sister are her crew. I’m sure Ka—Ms. Blackwell won’t have anything except a professional arrangement in mind.” Unfortunately, he feared that would be the case. It was just as well. “If this place is half as dangerous as she implied, we would be foolish to think of anything else.”

  “Dangerous?” Thatcher’s brows rose. “You have been briefed on the caverns?”

  “Uh, yes. Did I not share that information with you? She told me some stories.”

  “You will relay any data that you have before joining her crew,” Thatcher said. “I am the commanding officer on this mission, and I must be kept apprised.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Sedge glanced back and caught Kalish looking his way, a slight frown on her face. Had she heard? That he would need to relay all the information she had shared to his commander? The last time he had told Mandrake something, she had been irate. If not for the opportunity to rescue her from that creature, she might still be avoiding him.

  “Sergeant Tick,” Thatcher said, waving him over. “You are experienced with stealth and camouflage in a wilderness situation.”

  “Yes, sir, that’s me.”

  “The captain’s ruse aside, it is likely there will be ships searching for us.” Thatcher pointed toward the tunnel he had hollowed out. “Do you have any recommendations for camouflaging the entrance?”

  Tick’s mouth dangled open. “You want me to hide a hole in the side of a cliff? One big enough to fly a ship through? Sir, I can’t just toss a couple of branches across that.”

  “We could blow it up,” Striker said, ambling up and caressing one of the grenades on his belt as he did so.

  “Pardon?” Thatcher asked.

  “Didn’t you say someone had been blowing up all of the natural caves to hide the caverns? Maybe they would think that this is another spot they had closed up.”

  “You don’t see a problem with blowing up the only exit within a hundred miles?” Tick asked. “What happens if we need to leave in a hurry?”

  Striker shrugged. “Thatcher gets to practice penetrating things again.”

  Thatcher rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “We will leave the opening unsealed, in the event that we need to leave quickly. Sergeant Tick, please retriev
e some of the security cameras from the shuttle and set up a system to monitor movement at the entrance and alert us if anyone else uses the entrance.”

  “If we’ve traveled deep into the mountains, the transmitter might not be strong enough to reach us,” Sedge pointed out.

  “A risk we will have to take. If we’re that far away, it should not matter if someone enters, as they should be too far away to track us.” Thatcher headed for the nearest shuttle and waved for Sedge to follow, wanting his briefing, no doubt.

  A soft rain started to fall from the clouds hugging the cavern ceiling as Sedge walked up the ramp. This was a strange place, one that was only likely to get stranger. He glanced toward Kalish again, but she had disappeared into her own ship. He hoped her dinner invitation was still valid.

  * * *

  Sedge had to turn sideways to keep from getting his pack caught in the narrow corridor of the Divining Rod. Protruding struts dotted the walls, and wires and conduits ran along on the low ceiling, with little attempt to hide any of it. The rest of the ship had a more inviting feel, though, with faded tapestries, framed sketches and poems, and quotations on landscapes hanging from the bulkheads. He didn’t know how long Kalish and her family had owned the vessel, but it definitely had a homier aesthetic than the stark gray corridors of the Albatross.

  “You can put your pack in there.” Kalish turned a wheel and opened a hatch. No automatic doors here. It reminded Sedge of a submarine he had been on back on Paradise. “It’s our guest room. Or guest closet, as Tia calls it.”

  A grinding lurch ran through the ship, and Sedge gripped the door frame for support. A groan and a rattle followed, then the deck tilted.

  “We’re taking off,” Kalish said calmly, raising an eyebrow at his alarmed expression.

  “Does it normally sound like that?” The deck tilted the other way, and he bent his knees, bracing himself to stay upright.

  Kalish put a hand out to steady him. “That was a relatively quiet take-off. Tia didn’t hit anything.”

  “Oh.” Perhaps he shouldn’t have been so excited about the dinner invitation. Or maybe he should have invited her to join him for a meal aboard one of the shuttles. Of course, the shuttles lacked in privacy, unless one counted the tiny lav behind the seats. Sedge had seen enough people throw up in there during stomach-tormenting combat maneuvers that he would never consider it a cozy place for romance.

  We’re not having romance here, either, remember?

  He sighed. Yes, he did remember, but having Kalish’s hand resting lightly on his shoulder made his mind wander in interesting directions.

  She lowered her hand and nodded toward the three narrow bunks bolted to the bulkhead. That was handy. The guest closet could accommodate multiple visitors. Sedge wondered if Kalish had her own cabin or shared it with her sister. They had walked through a spacious cargo area, but there were only a couple of hatches in the single narrow corridor that led to the bridge. The old freighter was designed to hold a substantial cargo, but not a substantial crew.

  Sedge set his bag on the bottom bunk. “Thatcher said he wanted to fly for a few hours before stopping for the night. Is there anything I can do to help in the meantime?”

  “You gave him the directions to the first location your program found, right?”

  “The closest one, yes. He’s less enthused about checking out the next two closest ones, because the maps suggest we’ll have to widen some passages and perhaps burn through some more walls to get the ships through, especially this ship.” Sedge waved to encompass the size of the freighter. As far as spaceships went, it wasn’t huge, but it was much wider than the sleek combat shuttles. “We brought extra fuel, since we didn’t know how long we would be down here or what exactly you had in mind, but the energy packs for the laser banks are expensive and awkward to change out in space, so nobody thought to bring extras.”

  “I’ve added weapons to the Divining Rod. We can do some of the blasting if necessary.”

  “Good. I get tired of hearing about Thatcher penetrating things.” He smiled.

  She smiled back, and he shivered, wishing she had left her hand on his shoulder. Or somewhere else.

  “We might as well have our dinner. I’ll introduce you to Mom and Tia, too.”

  “The rest of the crew?” He had heard voices coming from the bridge as they walked up here, but he hadn’t seen the other women yet.

  Kalish hesitated, looked in his eyes, then nodded. Maybe she had been thinking about lying, inventing some squad of infantry troops she kept hidden in the engine room, but they both knew the ship wouldn’t accommodate many more people and that she wouldn’t have hired the mercenaries if she had that many people at her disposal. “Yes, they’re it. It’s usually just me and Tia, actually, and... I had a colleague, almost a partner, not that long ago, too. Mom’s specialty is finances and stock trading, and she generally prefers to stay in her office back on Orion Prime, watching the stock tickers and listening to the pundits blather on ten different vid stations at once.” Kalish made a face.

  Sedge understood the sentiment. For a time, his parents had thought he might train in finances, to help with the family business, but he had never found accounting or listening to people speculate on the markets interesting.

  “Does your father have anything to do with your business?” Sedge asked, hoping for more information on his situation.

  But pain flashed through Kalish’s eyes before she masked her features and shook her head once. “No. He’s a history professor.”

  Sedge should have dropped the subject, but he found himself wanting to help, to figure out what had happened to the father and what exactly Kalish needed to do to get him back. “Is he the one responsible for your love of history?”

  Some of the pain seeped back onto her face again, and she looked away, studying the faded green paint covering the corridor floor. “You could say that. He took me to work with him sometimes, at Cabo University, ostensibly so I could listen to the lectures and learn. But I was more interested in exploring the attics full of historically significant... dusty junk. For a while, I wanted to be a philologist or an archaeologist, working for one of the relic hunting corporations, but they all wanted someone with an advanced degree. We didn’t have a lot of money back then, so that would have meant taking on a lot of debt, especially to go to the really good schools that would have assured me the job I wanted. Mom was still in the Fleet then, so I figured I would join the Fleet, too, and get them to pay for my advanced schooling.” She hitched a shoulder. “That didn’t work out. So I decided to figure out a way to finance my own education. I went off on my first treasure hunt with fifty aurums in my pocket and a ticket to Novus Earth. To both of my parents’ surprise, I was successful. I found the landing site for one of the original colony ships that came to the system, one that had been considered long lost by the flow of a volcano. It was deep in a jungle, but still accessible. There were data banks on there that were still salvageable even after fifteen hundred years, thanks to being preserved under a few feet of ash and lava that had hardened. Anyway, a corporation paid handsomely for the data banks—people are always wanting information on their ancestors so they can trace their lineage back to Old Earth. I made enough with that one expedition to pay for a couple of years of school. I went out on other trips during the holiday breaks and had more success, enough that by the time I graduated, I was more interested in going off on my own rather than working for someone else.”

  A clank came from beyond the open hatch at the end of the corridor, the one that led to the bridge. A younger version of Kalish walked past the doorway, glanced curiously in their direction, then disappeared.

  “Sorry,” Kalish said, “I didn’t mean to ramble about myself. What were you asking about?”

  “I... don’t remember,” Sedge said, even if he did. He wasn’t sure if she had deliberately diverted the conversation away from her father or if it had been accidental, but he sensed that he wouldn’t get more from her on th
e subject. He hadn’t minded hearing about her past, anyway. It sounded adventurous. “It’s impressive that you’ve found so many things. Especially that wreck on Novus Earth. That planet has a population of five billion. It’s not as if it’s some remote, forsaken world. I’m sure people are out there hunting in that jungle all the time.”

  Kalish shrugged, almost shyly. “Dad used to say that I had a mind that thought sideways and made connections where other people didn’t see them. It wasn’t really a compliment, since I sometimes struggled to make the more obvious connections that everyone else saw.” Her mouth twisted. “Anyway, let me give you the rest of the tour.”

  The ship lurched again.

  “This place is creepy, Kay,” came the sister’s call.

  “I know. It’s a cavern. It’s supposed to be.”

  Kalish waved for Sedge to follow her to the bridge.

  Bridge was an optimistic term for it. Perhaps cockpit would be more appropriate, since it wasn’t any larger than the navigation space in the combat shuttles. Equipment running overhead as well as along the walls on either side of the pilots’ chairs made it feel more cramped.

  The woman sitting in the main chair leaned forward, using an old flight stick controller for navigation instead of a holo-interface. Sedge wondered if he had misidentified the freighter. Maybe it was even older than he had originally thought and had simply been upgraded over time.

  “Tia, this is Sedgwick Thomlin,” Kalish said. “An intelligence officer from Mandrake Company. Sedge, Tia.”

  “Hi, Sedgy,” Tia said brightly, glancing backward only for a moment.

  He had a glimpse of dimples and an easy smile before she returned her focus to the task. The walls of the cavern had narrowed to a couple dozen meters, and she had a tight grip on the flight stick as she followed the two shuttles through the space. Here and there rock formations rose from the depths or descended from the ceiling, and she had to dip or rise to avoid them. Up ahead, a massive pillar in the center meant she would have to tilt the entire saucer sideways to skim past. Sedge made a note not to distract her.