Apex

by Robert Appleton

  “There’s a great view of the mountains from the top of the ridge,” Ruben pointed out to both women. “Just a quick hike. It’s worth it, I promise. The dogs can tire themselves out on the way. Flavia’s indefatigable today.”

  “If Jane’s on board…” said the freckled frau, hoping for a nod, which she got, “then by all means, lead the way, Doctor Intaglio.”

  “Ruben. Please, we’re all friends here.”

  Yeah, keep your friends close, but the suckers closer, thought Jan.

  And so it proved, in a series of blatant – but no less galling – efforts to one-up her and Stopper as they climbed the steep, winding trail up the ridge. First, he threw a stick up onto a high ledge, knowing both dogs would try to retrieve it. Flavia scaled the height in a couple of athletic bounds, while poor Stopper scrabbled bravely but ended up tumbling back down. A second attempt yielded the same result. To further heap humiliation on him, Ruben climbed up the same way – and made it look easy. So the female husky, perched proudly on the summit, had the gnarled prize as well as her master’s bragging rights.

  A bit farther on, Jan, knowing how much her boy loved frolicking on grassy plateaus, ran with him across a flat expanse of wispweed. But before she could reach top speed, the gruesome twosome overtook her at a frightening pace. Ruben almost outran Stopper at first, then laughed when the Boxer opened up his stride and pulled away – though not as quick as Flavia, whose state-of-the-art GenMod breeding was a wonder to behold.

  Stronger, quicker, more agile.

  All of it unspoken, of course, but Ruben was making it clear with his one-upmanship that as physical specimens it was a case of like ranger, like canine companion: he and his being superior in every way.

  A final fracas along the high ridge path, in full view of the gold-peaked Auric Range, resulted in an accidental wound to Stopper’s shoulder during a fall. It wasn’t serious, but it drew a little blood. Ruben roughed Flavia’s scruff, told her what a good girl she was, and ignored poor Stopper’s injury altogether. They left him alone on the path, panting, filthy and wounded. But he stood tall and waited obediently for Jan, his stub of a tail still wagging. He’d endure any ignominy, she knew, if it meant he could be at his mistress’s side afterwards.

  Screw that.

  It was time to put an end to this game.

  Jan crept up behind the gruesome twosome, and retrieved a handful of treats from her jacket pocket. She gave one to Stopper, and more importantly, made sure that Flavia had seen. Then she motioned to give one to the entitled husky but desisted when it was right under her nose – this one was to be Stopper’s as well. A third treat, denied Flavia in favor of the boy dog she’d bested every which way, provoked the desired result. Flavia let loose a little growl, far from intimidating, but in canine parlance its jealousy marked it as a threat. No matter how harmless and impetuous, it was a show of aggression aimed at Jan.

  Stopper flew at her with a savage fury that shocked the big husky. He flipped her, drove her off the path and roundly thrashed her every attempt to regain the upper hand. She might be bigger, stronger, more agile, but Stopper was fighting to protect his mistress, and that made him insuperable. He gave no quarter until she relented and cowered on a flattened bed of wispweed. Ruben was agog. He took the knee as he came between the two dogs – not only to keep them apart, but to nurse his crestfallen companion. That one penitent moment stole the stripes from his swagger and the strut from his stride.

  It was the first time Flavia had ever been subdued by another animal.

  Jan said nothing as she led Stopper back to camp, and onto the passenger seat beside her, where she tended his wound, uttering that phrase he lived to hear her speak: “Who’s my good boy?”

  “So how big is this tundra region? Does it ever ice over completely?”

  The wasteland whipped by. Frau Zeller had shut her digipad about twenty kilometers back and hadn’t opened it again. Jan’s repeated use of the phrase “mostly unexplored” had piqued her interest, and when the COVEX rep had shifted the topic of conversation onto the Hesperidian hydra – Jan’s published papers were among the most famous written about this planet – it had given Jan free license to go to town describing the more exotic life-forms she’d come across over the years. Several of them lived up here in the north, though the hydra’s domain lay far to the west, in a region of lakes and swamps forbidden to all Alien Safari tours.

  “It’s vast,” she replied, “but barring a really freakish snowfall, it mostly just keeps its frosting.”

  “A permafrost.”

  “More or less. The Hesp wobbles quite a bit on its axis, so the seasons can be pretty erratic. Where we’re going, this time of year, we’ll see some snow for sure. It’s on the edge of a glacier – one of the oldest.”

  “Good thing I brought my twin-layer,” said Zeller, referring to her survival under-suit that, like a drysuit underwater, trapped a layer of body-heated air in between its two layers of insulating fabric.

  “Got your thermal gloves and socks?”

  “Check.”

  “Good. Frostbite is the number one health hazard up here for newcomers. That and crevasses.”

  “Have you ever—”

  “Excuse me just one minute,” Jan interrupted. “I’ve just received an incoming call. It’s—” Oh, hell yes! She was reluctant to say his name in case she sounded like a high schooler waiting for her prom date. Vaughn’s timing couldn’t have been better…or worse. Damn it, there was so much she wanted to tell him – and the idea of sharing a tent with him tonight—good god! – but going off-piste for a personal rendezvous with him in the middle of this assessment… “—Hold on, I need to take this.”

  Because she was piloting, she opened the audio-only channel on her omnipod. “Hey, you! What’s new?”

  “Hi Jan! Sorry for butting in. Control says you’re out on assignment. Is this a good time?”

  “What? Heck yes. I’m just heading north, chasing a meteorite. Shouldn’t be more than a day or two. Stops says hello, by the way.”

  “I’ve got a new flavor of Rip ’Ems for him to try. And a little something special for you as well – let’s just say some unwrapping will be required. Ahem.”

  With Frau Zeller watching her reflection in the mirror, Jan barely managed to suppress a grin. “Why, Detective, that sounds like my kind of investigation. If I can be of any help?”

  “I need to see you – more than you’ll ever know. But look, if this is your career at stake, I can always—”

  “Urgent? Well, if it’s urgent, who am I to argue? Why don’t you just meet me en route. I’m piloting a rover, hogging the humps, so you can overhaul us in a flash if you fly your shuttle.”

  “You’re on. I’ll need a couple of hours, though. I’ve got a few things to sort out first.”

  “Yeah, hold on a sec, I’ll send the coordinates for a place that…it’s a flat spot that’s directly on our vector. Well, almost. It’s near a river I know…”

  As she pulled up the topographical survey holomap, shivering in anticipation of Vaughn’s touch, Jan realized she’d done exactly what she promised herself she wouldn’t – treat this poxy expedition and audition with the contempt it deserved, and in full earshot of her assessor.

  “Okay, before you do, quick question,” said Vaughn. “Is your old home in the Keys occupied?”

  “Um, not permanently, I don’t think. It’s an overnight hostel for tourists now – the White Water cruises are much bigger deal than they used to be. Why?”

  “Do you think there’ll be any tourists out there now, after the sat net breach?”

  “I shouldn’t think so. The tours have been suspended, so they’ll have gathered all the White Water parties at the lighthouse station on Elegant Point. What’s this about?”

  “I’ll explain later. How are we doing with those coordinates?”

  “Better than you deserve. Seriously, you’re like the Whack-a-Mole of detective boyfriends. There’s no telling when or where
you’ll pop up, but it’s sure to make me jump.”

  “So that’s why you’re always taking a swing at me.”

  “Hard to miss. A head that big…”

  He laughed. “And the ETA for our rendezvous coordinates is…”

  “Hold your horses, Cochise.”

  “Maybe if I slip out for another round trip in the Star Binder, you’ll have them by the time I get back?”

  “Oh, I’m really gonna swing for you, Vaughn.”

  She shook her head as his simulated snoring filled the channel. Frau Zeller cleared her throat in the back seat, reminding Jan that a) she was still here, listening to every word, b) she wasn’t chopped liver, and c) this was in fact a professionally assessed exercise to determine the future stewardship of an entire planet.

  “Be with you in a minute,” Jan called back; and to Vaughn, “Okay, co-ordinates sent. The channel doesn’t have a name, but you’ll know it when you see it. Be there as soon as you can. I’ll detour and wait for you on the lakeshore.”

  “Copy that, Ranger Ruth. File received. You bring the picnic, I’ll bring the hot sauce.”

  “Uh, did you just refer to yourself as the hot sauce?”

  “Getting cooler by the second.”

  “Just haul your hunky ass there asap. And bundle up, Vaughn. Bring some of that cold weather gear I got for you back in the day – it’s in our storage locker. I’ll bring the hotness. Lusty Latino speaking. Over and out.”

  She ended the call before he could retort, and laughed imagining his laugh. It was one of their running jokes that she always had to have the last word on which to end each call unceremoniously. But their mirth was not reflected in the overcast freckled stone visage staring back at Jan in the rearview mirror.

  “So you’re pulling out of the contest?”

  Jan couldn’t decide if that was a genuine question or an ultimatum. “No,” she replied. “I’m just taking a detour. You can ride with Ruben the rest of the way. I’ll meet you at the meteorite crash site with Detective Vaughn.” Getting his job title on the record had to carry some weight. And he had been famous back in the day, though maybe before Frau Zeller’s time.

  “Can I ask what’s so urgent?”

  “You can ask, yes,” Jan replied, then sighed, reminding herself not to be too testy with the bureau-bums. “He didn’t say. But if he thinks it’s worth interrupting such an important expedition for…” Easy, Jan. For shame. “…then it must be critical. He and I go way back. We’ve done more for Hesperidia than COVEX will ever know. He wants to tag along, he’s tagging along. I’d vouch for him, but I don’t need to. Three generations of the entire freaking Omicron Bureau have already done that.”

  “I see. And if I report back that you’re making a mockery of this whole audition for First Ranger, using your lawman boyfriend as an excuse to make up the rules as you go…”

  Jan tightened her grip on the wheel. “Tynedale said there were no strict guidelines on how we were to proceed. A detective wanting to consult professionally with one of your candidates must tell you something about her credentials. No?”

  Frau Zeller stared blankly. “Consult professionally? All I heard was a couple wanting to bunk off for a private tryst.”

  “You’ve clearly never lived alone on a world for months at a time. And I’m done justifying myself to you or anyone else.”

  “Okay. Then we’re both clear where we stand.”

  “It would appear so.”

  “I think you’d better stop the rover. Doctor Intaglio can take me the rest of the way directly.”

  Jan shrugged. “Do you know how to fly one of these?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you can pilot it the rest of the way, after I get out at the river. Vaughn will fly me to the impact site in his bird. The rover will be all yours then. You can just follow Ruben.”

  A narrowing of the eyes from the freckled frau signaled she’d lost this battle, but the war was far from over. “It’s all going in my report,” she shot back.

  “That’s right. You see to your reports,” said Jan. “I’ll see to the planet.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about that.”

  “I never do,” she lied.

  Chapter Seven

  Vaughn had never seen such a sorry-looking crowd of tourists on Hesperidia. Over a hundred assembled on Miramar green, some of them already antsy with complaints, either flapping paperwork or frantically flagging clauses in their digipad contracts. Others moped into ranks like sluggish bees before a sick queen. The COVEX speaker, a balding man with an obvious combover, addressed them over the communal comm channel, introducing himself as something-something “Tynedale”. Vaughn wasn’t really listening as he scanned the forms and faces of rangers dotted around the crowd. The woman he wanted, Joyce Horrigan, was here somewhere – HQ had confirmed her tour had checked in at the Coriander Hotel a couple of days ago.

  Apart from Jan, not only was Joyce the only ranger he knew he could trust professionally, she was the only one he counted as a friend. She’d responded to his emergency hail on his return from the Star Binder, and had rescued him, taken care of him, and provided a temporary anchor to reality during the early stages of his time lag. After he’d moved back in with Jan, Joyce had come to visit him periodically. A part of her had felt sorry for him, a part of her was fascinated by his experience, but mostly she was just a good egg – the sort who would put herself out in order to make you comfortable, if she felt you deserved it.

  He found her sitting cross-legged on a travel blanket, with a little girl at her side, away from the crowd. Vaughn tapped her on the shoulder, returned her beaming smile, then mouthed, Can I have a word? He motioned to the landing zone.

  Give me one minute, she replied. After leading the girl back to her parents, Joyce followed him to his ship.

  “Sorry for barging in unannounced,” he said. “It’s all a bit nuts right now, I take it.”

  “Nah, it’s all just belly-aching. Soon as the meteorite crash sites are given the all-clear, and we get the sat net back online, we’ll be on program again.” She was a decent-looking young woman in her early twenties, with cropped chestnut hair and a figure that seemed trimmer, more toned every time he saw her. She blushed when he looked her up and down, then changed the subject. “Are you on with a case?”

  “Yeah. And I could really use your help.”

  “You got it.”

  “It’s sensitive. And it will mean you’ll have to leave your tour group for a while.”

  She cocked her head slightly to one side. “Words every ranger has been dying to hear for days now. What do I have to do?”

  “I’m taking a couple to the beach hostel on Avalon Key. They’ll have to stay there until I can make more permanent arrangements. None of them have been here before, so I need someone to give them a Hesp Survival One-Oh-One, generally babysit them until Jane returns from her trip. All off the books, of course. You can’t tell anyone, not even this…Risedale, is it?”

  “Tynedale. The head honcho from COVEX. He gave Nabakov the boot. Some of the guys are betting on who’ll get picked to replace him.”

  “Who’s your money on?”

  “Ha! I’m banned from the pot. My name came up for four out of the last five monthly sweepstakes. They’re saying I rigged the system somehow.” She shrugged. “The automatic randomizer cloned my entry, like, fifty-something times – keeps doing it. So I’m blacklisted! Still think you can trust me, Vaughn?”

  “I’ll take my chances.” He threw her a wink. “So what do you reckon? About the assignment? Just for a couple of days until Jane and I can take over.”

  “Like I said, you got it. I missed my White Water rotation this season, so I’m due a bit of beach time.”

  “Thanks, Joy. Let me know what supplies you think you’ll need. Whatever it is, I’ll square it with the quartermaster.”

  “Right-o.” She glanced up at his shuttle windows a few times. “So is it better if I don’t ask who they are? Fake na
mes and all that?”

  “The less you know, the safer it is for everyone.”

  “Thought so.”

  “Let me introduce you,” he said, “then we can sort out those supplies.”

  “Suits me.”

  Leading her round to the rear airlock, he asked, “So is Jane favorite for the job, do you think? Or is it this Ruben guy?”

  “Even money, I reckon. Everyone’s a bit intimidated by them, in different ways, professionally. Jane’s been published, like, a million times in xenozoology and xenobotany – that’s my field. She knows more about this planet than anyone alive, but she keeps herself to herself, doesn’t run the social circuit.”

  “Wait. There’s a social circuit on Hesperidia?”

  “Haha! Yeah, sort of. And that kinda proves my point. You wouldn’t know that because Jane doesn’t, or pretends she doesn’t. But Ruben is more, how shall I put this, more socially…more gregarious. I was going to say more socially intimate, but the truth is he’s all show and no go. A nice enough guy, but he’s a poser. And he’s got issues.” That last bit was delivered with deliberately enigmatic gusto.

  “You’ve dated him?”

  “If you could call it that. Look, I don’t want to badmouth a fellow ranger too much, but I’ve heard the same from other women he’s taken a shine to. He’s a charm machine at arm’s length, he can reel you in like he’s reading your mind, everything you could want from a guy; but he’s hot and cold. I picnicked with him one day, we got on real well, then I invited him back to my place. The kind of date you dream about out here. Only he made a lame excuse and left me at my front door like I was a lost cow he’d only wanted to lure back to the paddock for safety. It was bizarre. Cold feet ain’t in it – he hot-footed it out of there. And I’ve never felt cheaper in my life.”

  Again she shrugged.

  “But as a scientist and a ranger, he’s ridiculously smart. Probably knows more than anyone about the Hesp, apart from Jane. Whoever wins, it’ll be a close call. And then there’s…hel-lo!”