Dr. Wolfe nodded and stepped back.
Victor lost track of time, but when Rena sat up straight and squeezed Danny’s hand, he knew that the boy was awake.
“Mom . . . Dad.” Danny’s voice was weak, but he managed a smile.
“How do you feel, son?” Victor asked.
“Funny.”
“Funny ha-ha or funny peculiar?” Rena dropped back to a question from Danny’s childhood.
“Funny pec-u . . .” Danny couldn’t quite manage the word but his eyes said he understood the joke.
“We love you, Danny,” Victor said.
“’Course you do, Dad.”
Rena choked back a sob.
Danny squeezed her hand. “I love you, too. Can I go flying again, soon?”
“As soon as you get better. You can go flying as many times as you like,” Victor said. “I’ll come with you.”
“Me, too,” Rena said.
“Commander Benjamin will have to get a bigger flitter.” Danny smiled, but the expression froze on his face. The monitor flashed red, and Dr. Wolfe stepped forward to check it.
“Is he . . . ?” Rena asked.
“He’s sleeping again,” Dr. Wolfe said.
Twenty-six hours later, a day of Victor staring at Danny’s pale face willing him to live, Dr. Wolfe admitted that he was not going to wake up.
Victor sat and watched the machine recording the beat from his son’s artificial heart, but it wasn’t life. Rena still held onto Danny’s hand, but there was no longer any hope.
When Dr. Wolfe finally suggested switching off the machines, Rena broke down and howled over Danny’s still body. Victor tried to comfort her, but she shook him off and gave him a look of pure hatred.
She knows, he thought.
And he didn’t know what scared him most, losing Danny or losing Rena.
• • •
“Are you all right—really all right?” Ben asked when they were safe in their room, a lifetime later.
“I’d really begun to hope Danny would . . .”
“I know. Me, too.”
They’d spent the last few days between the clearing-up operation at the tank farm, the med-center and the riser where the two arsonists were behind a solid wall of Gupta’s guards. There was no way they were going to give those two over to the Ecolibrians without some assurances.
Jack Mario was desperately trying to keep a lid on the settler situation, but rumors already blamed the psi-techs for Danny Lorient’s injuries despite all Jack’s information to the contrary. Jack had eventually been forced to call a public meeting to calm down the crowds and, in Timbertown at least, had firmly reminded them that Danny had been shot by one of their own using an illegal weapon.
The death toll at the tanking station reached six, including both Calvin Tanaka and his wife. Two more were still on the critical list and there was one other with injuries that would keep her hospitalized for a long time.
“If you really want to know, I’m not all right at all,” Cara answered Ben’s question. “How about you?”
“I’ve been better.”
He held out his arms and she folded herself into them, their buddysuits rubbing together like thick hide.
“Here, let’s get out of these.” Ben unfastened Cara’s and helped her to peel it off and she did the same for him. Then they stripped off the lightweight undersuits and dropped them in the laundry. They shared the shower, soaping and massaging each other’s aches away. Cara’s left breast still showed a yellowing bruise where she’d landed on Taris’ boots.
“You should go to Ronan with that.” Ben ran his hand across the blotchy skin.
She shook her head. “I’ve got some arnica gel. It’s old-fashioned, but it works.”
“Here, then. Let me.”
They climbed into bed together and he smoothed the gel onto her skin, then held her very gently until they fell asleep.
Chapter Twenty-eight
ABANDONED
*The ark’s gone.* Cas Ritson cut into Cara’s first caff of the morning. She crossed to the bed and prodded Ben awake, linking him through to Cas before the importance of the words sank in.
*Gone?*
She felt Ben make the transition from sleep to full consciousness in a moment.
*I just tried to uplift today’s colony log to their matrix as usual and they’re not there.*
*Perhaps their system’s down,* Ben tried to rationalize.
*I tried everything before I called you. There’s no matrix, no mechanical comm-link, and no one within parsecs with an implant. In short—there’s no ark.*
Ben sat up and swung both legs out of bed.
“If Cas says they’ve gone, they’ve gone,” she said. “They could already be in the Folds if she can’t raise Molloy. I’d say that was a good definition of gone.” Cara let the link drop. “They weren’t supposed to leave before the second ark got here. Does this mean we’re stranded?”
Ben’s mouth compressed into a grim line. “Looks like it. Damn.” He reached for his buddysuit.
“You said Crowder was sitting on the platinum information,” Cara said.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions. It might be nothing to do with—.”
“He’s stranded us because he’s going to send in raiders.” Cara felt the color drain from her face.
“Not Crowder.” Ben pulled on his trousers and shrugged into his top.
“You sure you trust him?”
“I know Crowder. He’s devious, but he’s a friend. He’s not above being manipulative to get what he wants, but what he wants is always what he considers to be the right thing. He’s not out for personal profit. He’s a Trust man, through and through. Everything he does is to advance the Trust, and his only personal ambition is to sit on the Board. He says he’ll be chairman one day, and I believe him.”
Cara crushed her caff cup and threw it into the recycler. “What better way to get a seat on the Board than to deliver a whole planet-load of platinum?”
“No, you’re wrong. Dead wrong.”
“I’ve been searching Ari’s files. I’m beginning to understand devious. He talks to someone in the Trust, but he uses a code word.” She dragged on an undershirt and then hopped about pulling on the lightweight leggings she wore beneath her buddysuit. “I hope I’m wrong, but Crowder’s the one not answering messages. He’s the one not sending the transport ship to take us home. If it’s not Crowder, then who is it?”
“There’s always the chance that one of ours has put two and two together.”
Cara dragged on her buddysuit in two halves and locked them together. “Only a Psi-1 or a strong gestalt of class twos could send a message off planet and I doubt either Saedi or Cas could do it without me feeling their power usage, and certainly I’d feel the pull of a gestalt, so besides me, you, and Wenna . . . there’s only Crowder.” She fastened the shoulder clasps and stood up.
He looked at her steadily. “And I’ve got to believe it wasn’t you, if I want to stay sane.”
“It wasn’t me.”
“Maybe he’s let the information slip, or someone’s stolen it. Maybe the ark . . .”
“Crowder,” Cara said firmly. It was the only conclusion that fit. He was too good at what he did to let that kind of information slip.
Cara tasted Ben’s bitterness. It was an echo of how she’d felt when she’d discovered Ari’s duplicity. He shook his head.
“That’s what I thought about Ari, but I was wrong.”
“I need to talk to Crowder, direct. Not through Ishmael. Can you do it?”
She nodded, sending her thoughts snaking out into the blackness of space through the Folds, homing in on Chenon, searching for just one among thousands. She knew Crowder, knew his voice, his face. She’d been in his mind. She should be able to find him, no problem. Distance was only a barrier if she let herself believe it was. She searched and searched again. Nothing. At last there was a little flicker of surprise and then it was as if a gate slammed down.
>
“He’s shielding. His damper’s up to maximum.”
“Do whatever you have to do to crack through.”
“I might need a gestalt. I’m a Psi-1, not a miracle worker.”
“I don’t want to panic anyone else, yet. Maybe I can get reassurance from Crowder. Will you try alone first?”
“Okay.”
She sat on the floor and crossed her legs, finding a good mental balance, clearing all the rubbish and settling herself into a deep meditative state. Could she manage a triad with an uncooperative third at this kind of distance? There was no real reason why not. The only limitations were those she set herself. Believe it.
She drew her energy into the calm space she’d created in her center, pushed away thoughts of the enormous distance and instead she fixed on Chenon and then on Crowder himself, seeking outward, imagining herself like a missile locked onto its target.
She fired.
But the target wasn’t there. Instead of Crowder, Cara’s thought impacted on a queasy amorphous blob. It was him, but it wasn’t, and she certainly couldn’t communicate with it. If she’d been standing, she would have fallen. As it was, she rocked backward until Ben caught her and held her steady.
“What do you need?”
She blinked and looked through him. Her focus had fractured completely, her temples beginning to throb.
He bent her arm and checked the vital signs on her cuff. She didn’t need the buddysuit readout to tell her that her adrenaline levels were at maximum and her heart rate was up and off the scale.
“Cara.”
“I’m all right.” She stumbled over the words. “But . . . but I couldn’t get through. He’s deactivated his implant. He definitely doesn’t want to talk to us.”
Ben bent her forward and shoved her head down between her knees, then he knelt behind her and rubbed her back and shoulders gently until she sighed and sat up.
“I’m sorry.” She put both hands over her eyes and tried to breathe away the disorientation.
“What happened?” he asked.
“It was like running through syrup.” She rubbed her eyes. “I couldn’t fasten on anything. It was definitely him, but not him. There was something blocking his implant—deliberately. Either his damper’s got a modification I’ve not come across before, or he’s on a suppressant drug—Reisercaine, perhaps. Someone with a basic receiving implant could survive on that for long periods if he really doesn’t want to talk to us.”
Ben swore. “He’d have to be desperate to do that.”
She nodded. “I think . . .” She waved at her handpad. “There might be answers here. Ari’s files.”
“See what you can find.” Ben squeezed her shoulder.
• • •
Cara settled herself at the table in their room and began systematically checking Ari’s files. If the answer was in there, she’d find it. She hoped for Ben’s sake that she was wrong about Crowder, but that brief noncontact had been enough to convince her that whatever was wrong involved their boss on some level. Why shield like that otherwise?
She was grateful that Ben left her to it. He brought her fruit tea midmorning, put it by her elbow, and left without saying a word. At noon he placed a bowl of chowder on the table, then dropped a kiss onto the top of her head. “Any luck?”
She didn’t raise her eyes from the holographic display. “Possibly. Ari definitely has an informer in the Trust, but I don’t know who, and he’s hired in mercenaries more than once. There’s a lot of routine stuff to filter out, but I’m looking for anything relevant to platinum or piracy or . . .” Her skin went clammy as her eyes spotted a name. “Oh . . .”
“Just ‘oh’?” Ben asked.
“When was Hera-3?”
“Hera-3? You’ve found something?”
“I think so. It says H-3 and it’s late ’94.” She turned her wrist and let Ben see the display.
He flicked to the next screen and the next and the next, then he bumped fists with Cara and copied files to his own handpad. “Got the bastards at last.”
The catch in his voice betrayed his emotions. She grabbed him and held him tight. “That’s good, isn’t it?”
He pulled back and sighed. “Yes. It’s good, but . . .”
“So Hera-3 was Alphacorp?”
“Alphacorp and the Trust. Combined. I knew that someone had to have sold us out, I just . . . I didn’t suspect . . . a combined job. That makes it a lot more complicated.”
“Why would you? I didn’t suspect Ari for the longest time. Even when I began to think something might be going on, I tried to find excuses for him. For a while I tried to convince myself it was Craike working alone.”
“We have to bring everyone together: section heads plus Lorient and Jack Mario. I’m not sure how I’m going to . . .” He let his hands fall limply to his knees. “Give me another half hour with those files and then I’ll bring what I’ve got to the LV.”
• • •
Cara stood outside the LV and watched the skies above Landing. What was she expecting? They’d known this would be a tricky assignment. The settler situation was critical enough; they didn’t need to be screwed by their own side, too. The warm summer wind ruffled her hair. The intense heat and humidity had already gone out of the season. Autumn wasn’t far away. For a change, Olyanda wasn’t trying to fry them or blow them away. It was hard to think that invaders from offworld might be on their way to rip minerals out of the planet.
Jack Mario walked across from stores. He’d dropped everything and hitched a ride on one of the regular supply cars. Cara led him into the meeting where Ben waited.
“Lorient?” Cara asked.
“He says whatever it is I can handle it. It’s only been three days since the funeral.”
“I understand, but this is big. He should be in on it.”
“We’re all here now,” said Marta Mansoro, sliding in through the door. “What’s it all about, Boss?”
“You’re here because I trust you,” Ben said. “That’s trust with a small t. Right now Trust with a capital T is a dirty word.”
Cara counted bodies. Fourteen with herself and Ben. Wenna, Gen, Cas, Suzi, Serafin, Ronan, Gupta, Marta, Yan, Archie, Saedi, and Jack.
Jack looked uncomfortable, especially when Ben asked him if he’d told anyone about this meeting. “If you’re planning anything against Director Lorient, I should warn you that my loyalties have to lie firmly with the settlers.”
“We wouldn’t put you in that kind of position,” Ben said. “It’s much more serious than that and it directly concerns the long-term welfare of the whole colony. The director already knows about it.”
“So what gives, Boss?” Suzi spoke aloud out of respect for their silent guest.
“How much of a surprise would it be to any of you to know that this planet is rich—and I mean rich—in platinum?”
“Platinum? Wow.” Yan Gwenn whistled.
Cara watched all the faces. Wenna knew already, but by the look on her face, Gen had worked it out, too.
“What are the implications?” Ronan asked.
“Doesn’t that depend on who knows about it?” Suzi glanced at him sideways.
“Precisely,” Ben said. “I would have sworn that no one off this planet knew, except for . . .” He hesitated. “Crowder.”
“Crowder’s all right,” Wenna said. “He’s straight.”
“I agree. If we can’t trust Crowder, who can we trust?” Cas said.
Cara shuddered. She had her own views on that.
Ben continued, “I’m just telling you all the facts.” He took a deep breath. “We discovered the platinum early. Wenna spotted it in the logs from Gen’s flyer on the day of the first storm. At Lorient’s insistence we kept it quiet, but there are huge deposits on this continent. Who knows what else there is hidden under the polar icecaps and the glacial plain.”
“Boss, how big is huge?” Suzi asked.
“Difficult to estimate without a more detailed survey,
but it’s probably got the potential to be bigger than Suran Sixteen.”
“Shit! That’s the sort of thing any of us might risk a lifetime’s reputation on,” Yan said.
“We might, but we won’t,” Cas said. “It’s only money.”
“And it’s power for the corporations, and that’s what it’s all about.” Cara leaned forward. “They’ll do whatever they have to do to maintain power for themselves, especially if they can block a rival in the same move.”
“Look, what does this all mean?” Jack asked. “You say the director knows about it?”
“He does. I wanted him to sell the mineral rights and buy a new planet right at the beginning, but he wouldn’t. Platinum is good news and bad news. Yes, it’s worth a fortune, but everyone with a bigger stick than you is trying to take your lottery ticket before you can cash it in.
“Lorient decided to bury the information about the platinum, but that was dependent on Crowder cooperating. We thought—I thought—that Crowder was totally trustworthy, but now there are things happening that I don’t like,” Ben said. “I think there’s a major player looking to score, or even two major players.” He leaned forward. “Unless we tell the FPA about the platinum, which means we get legal pirates instead of illegal ones, we might as well be dead for all we can do from here.” Ben’s fist clenched.
“So what’s happened to bring all this to a head now?” Ronan asked.
“The ark’s gone and I’ve just been given answers to questions I’ve been asking for a long time.”
“The ark?” Jack half stood and then dropped back to his chair. “But that’s impossible. It hasn’t finished unloading our supplies.”
“I wish it was, Jack. We’re on our own.”
“The second ark?”
“If it arrives.”
“Crowder promised to send transport. What about the arrangements for us to go home?” Suzi Ruka said.
“I just get a load of waffle from Ishmael. I’ve had no response from Crowder at all. Cara’s tried to contact him, and he’s shielded.” Ben let that information sink in.
Cara had never seen so many stunned faces. Desolate would be a better word.
“The bastards don’t intend to let us leave, do they?” Serafin asked. “Not if we know about the platinum.”
Empire of Dust Page 41
