Part of Todd’s bewilderment reflected a droll amusement at the sheer volume of purloined valuables that Hrriss and he were supposed to have assembled. But any amusement was soon drowned by the obvious fact that a lot of trouble had gone into framing them with such a widespread cache of illegal treasures.
“I have no idea where any of this came from,” Todd said in staunch repudiation as he suppressed the rising anger he felt at such long-planned treachery.
“Such a display would have taken weeks to gather. We did not,” Hrriss said with stiff dignity, his tail tip twitching with indignation. He turned to the Councillor. “We answered a Mayday call. The tapes will verify this.”
“Then how did those get there?” Rogitel demanded as yet another cache was discovered.
“We are not responsible for their presence on the Albatross,” Todd said, his tone as expressionless as Hrriss’s. “There were no such illegal items on board this ship when we left Doona. I oversaw the check myself.”
Rogitel’s heavy lids lowered over cold blue eyes. “Then where did they come aboard?” Rogitel asked in a poisonously reasonable tone.
“The Hrrethans insisted on a complimentary service of the Albatross while we were attending the ceremonies there,” Todd said, making no accusations. “When we landed, we reported the incident to my father. The portmaster’s deputy, Linc Newry, had properly affixed the seal.”
“That is the lamest explanation you’ve yet advanced, Reeve,” Rogitel said. “The seals on the hatch were intact. They were placed there not half an hour after the ship had landed, according to the portmaster’s log. It would have taken far longer than half an hour for anyone to secrete all these items. Therefore, you two are the only ones capable of concealing the artifacts on this ship—sometime between your departure from Doona and your return, via the Hrrilnorr system!” Rogitel was winding himself up to a good display of outraged anger. “Councillor Dupuis, these young men, so trusted by their parents, have been using their privileged position as trusted messengers of Alreldep to pillage treasures from interdicted planets. Alreldep will be shocked at the abuse of their trust.”
“I am not Alreldep,” Hrriss said coldly. “I am a Hrruban, a citizen of Rrala, on whose behalf I made the journey with Todd Reeve to Hrretha. I answer to the Hrruban High Council of Speakers and to the Treaty Councillors. Not to Spacedep.”
“I stand reproved,” Rogitel said with noticeable sarcasm. “You shall indeed answer to the Treaty Councillors and your own High Council of Speakers.”
Just then, one of the marines pulled the panel from the last cabinet, the ship’s log recorder. Behind the metal sheet, some of the equipment had been moved to one side to make room for an ovoid white stone, at least a meter high. It resembled Terran alabaster, except that it had an inner illumination of its own. The Spacedep official regarded it from a safe distance.
“The very presence of such a gem,” and Hrriss extended his forefinger, claw fully sheathed, at the luminous Byzanian Glow Stone, “supports our innocence. They are only found deep inside the caverns of the planet. The log will show how little time we spent in that system: far too short a span to have landed, searched, and found a Glow Stone of that quality. Further,” he went on, holding up his hand, “they are why the system is proscribed. The effects of the mineral’s emissions are not yet fully investigated.”
“But their possible danger makes them all the more collectible,” Rogitel said, an air of triumph in his stance. “Arrest them!” he ordered the marines who bracketed Hrriss and Todd, weapons drawn.
“We are innocent,” Todd said, standing erect and ignoring his escort.
Hu Shih stepped forward to block the exit. “I protest, Madam Councillor. I have known these young men far too long to entertain for one moment that they are guilty of transgressing a Treaty whose terms they have scrupulously obeyed and upheld for twenty-four years. Or,” and Hu Shih straightened his shoulders in denial, “jeopardize themselves and the world they hold dear by pilfering baubles.”
“You call that,” and Rogitel pointed at the Byzanian Glow Stone, “a bauble?”
“It is in my eyes,” Hu Shih said in measured contempt.
“Perhaps,” said Councillor Dupuis, “but this matter has gone from a minor infraction to systematic robbery and the arrest is to proceed.”
“To that I must concur,” Hu Shih said, bowing to her, “but an armed escort is unnecessary and insulting. I can speak with full confidence that neither Todd nor Hrriss will resist the due process of law.”
Councillor Dupuis accepted his statement and gestured for the squad leader to have his men reholster their weapons.
“These ...” and Dupuis waved at the array of incriminating evidence, “are to be impounded, identified, and placed in the highest security.”
“Remove that Stone with care,” Hrrestan said to the two marines who were about to lift the Byzanian Stone out of its hiding place.
“Yes,” Rogitel said, stepping in front of Hrrestan and ostentatiously taking charge of the removal. “Don’t touch it with your bare hands or let it touch unprotected skin. Treat it as carefully as you would radioactive substances. And it’s heavy.”
“What, sir?” asked one of the marines, a glazed expression on his face. He had been standing right beside the Stone since the panel had been opened. Now the light seemed to pulse, drawing every eye to it.
Shading eyes with one hand and stepping quickly around Rogitel, Hrrestan pulled the man away from the white light. The marine shook his head, looking puzzled.
“He has been affected by it already. We must all leave before the Stone’s effect spreads,” Hrrestan said. “The most noticeable effect it has is an interference with short-term memory.”
As Hrriss and Todd dutifully proceeded with their escort, Todd caught a glimpse of Rogitel, disconnecting the flight log recorder. He carried it out of the ship cradled in his arms like a bubble made of glass.
Once the group was outside, technicians sealed the ship once more with fiberglass wafers, and Councillor Dupuis affixed her own seal. Hrriss and Todd were hustled to a shuttle which had landed while they were inside the Albatross.
“That Glow Stone,” Hrriss murmured as they were led to seats, “affects more than men.”
“Quiet there! No conversation between criminals,” Rogitel said, no more the suave diplomat but the acknowledged jailor.
“Criminality has yet to be proved,” Hrriss said as he was pushed into a seat while Todd was taken farther down the aisle before settled. They were advised to fasten their safety harnesses and were then studiously ignored by the marine guard.
During the entire journey to Treaty Island, no one even offered them anything to eat or drink, although Rogitel and the marines ate a light meal.
Perhaps, Todd thought, sunk in a negative mood, it was as well he and Hrriss could not speak. Rogitel would construe it as collusion to be sure their “explanations” tallied before interrogation. But Todd did not need to speak to Hrriss to know that his friend would be as puzzled as he that dozens of illegal items had been secreted on the Albatross, a ship used almost exclusively by themselves on official tours of duty.
And the positioning of the Byzanian Glow Stone indicated a good try at jamming the recorder. His kick must have tipped the Stone sufficiently to restore the function, but had the Stone’s radiation erased the tape? Would the all-important Mayday still be recorded? Surely machinery was a little less receptive to the Glow Stone’s effects than a Human? And the Mayday was the only proof of their innocence right now.
Once the shuttle landed on Treaty Island, the two prisoners were hurried inside the huge Federation Center. Hrriss had only a glimpse of the high, white stone facade before they were rushed up the stairs and through a maze of identical hallways. There was no sound but the clatter of boot heels on the smooth surface of the floors. The sergeant stopped before a door, its nameplate bl
ank and status sign registering “empty.”
“You’ll wait here until the Council is ready for you,” the sergeant said. “Food and drink will be brought in a bit.”
“That is most considerate,” Hrriss said in Terran Standard. The numbness of shock had receded sufficiently to make him aware of an intense thirst and, less insistent, some hunger.
“You’re a Treaty prisoner and the courtesies are observed,” the sergeant said, but Hrriss could see that the man approved of his use of Terran.
Hrriss knew that the military arm of both parent governments was made up of fierce patriots who preferred their own culture in all ways. It was one of the reasons there was no standing force of any kind of Doona, the symbol of compromise. As the Treaty Organization was trying to maintain a separate but equal method of expansion in trading and colonization, each culture needed to remain independent from the other. That would make a Doonan “army” an unacceptable third force.
“Hear tell you all had some party last night,” the guard said, sounding almost friendly. “What’s keeping you?” he added, looking down the hall just as Todd, between his guards, reached the room. “In you go.” The escort stood aside to let Todd enter. “Food and drink coming.”
“Thanks, Sergeant,” Todd said, and his stomach rumbled. Whether the sergeant heard that or not was irrelevant, for he closed the door firmly. Both Hrriss and Todd heard the lock mechanism whirr, and the bulb over the door lit up redly. They also heard the stamp of boots as someone stood to attention outside the room.
The two prisoners turned to view the room. No more than three meters on a side, with a long window running along the wall opposite the door. A broad table was set underneath the window, a tape reader on its surface but no tapes in it or blanks ready to be used. There were three padded chairs against the wall: a cheerless functional cubicle.
“Are they likely to listen in?” Hrriss asked.
“I doubt it,” Todd said, glancing at the door. “Looks like a research room, not an interrogation facility, in spite of that tape reader.” He had been listening to the sound of his voice. “It’s soundproofed. Scholars insist on that as an aid to deep thought and concentration. Fardles, despite what they hauled out of cabinets and crannies on the Albatross, we’re still only alleged Treaty breakers, not actual criminals.”
“We might as well be, Zodd, with all the treasures Rogitel pulled out of hiding,” Hrriss said gloomily.
“Hu Shih didn’t believe we took them. Neither did your father!” Todd began to pace with some agitation. “All the way here I kept trying to remember every time we’ve left the Albie unguarded and open. Suffering snakes, Hrriss, that stuff could have been planted anytime the last few years.”
“Not if proper service checks were carried out, Zodd, and you supervised the last one yourself,” Hrriss reminded him.
“Yeah, so I did. Then the junk has to have been planted during that phony servicing on Hrretha. There’d’ve been time to platinum the hull. Furthermore,” and now Todd whirled on Hrriss, pointing his index finger at his friend, “Rogitel was on Hrretha, and lurking close to us all the time. To prevent us from going back to our ship to see just what sort of servicing was being done?” When Hrriss nodded agreement with that thought, Todd continued, “Furthermore, we filed our flight plan, same as always, and, despite that short detour to Hrrilnorr system, we weren’t much behind schedule landing back on Doona, were we?”
Though Hrriss recognized the validity of that logic, he knew that Todd was talking himself out of despair even as he offered the same hope to Hrriss.
“We always register flight plans,” Hrriss said. “We leave and arrive on time at all destinations.”
“So,” and Todd stopped pacing long enough to whirl back to Hrriss, “where do they think we had time to pick up all those juicy little rarities? Cotopoids are found on only three planets in two systems, if I remember rightly, and none of them on any route we’ve taken recently. I can’t identify half of the other stuff but,” and now he sighed, “that damned Byzanian Glow Stone is genuine and there’s only one place you can come by them and we were orbiting above it.”
“All our flight plans are on record,” Hrriss said, finding reassurance in that fact, “and they will prove our innocence. Come, stop pacing. It suggests a guilty mind.”
Todd plopped down next to Hrriss and shoved the third chair a short distance away so the two of them could share it to prop their feet. Hrriss disposed his tail comfortably through the opening in the rear of his chair and composed himself.
“There’s something nagging at me,” Todd said after a few moments. He circled his hand in the air, trying to catch hold of an elusive thought. “Something Councillor Dupuis said, that they had received information that the Albie had been identified by the Hrrilnorr beacon. Isn’t it a little soon for such to reach Hrruban Security? That beacon didn’t dispatch a robot probe when we passed it, which is the only way that the data would get here short of a month. It shouldn’t have been picked up for another few weeks even by digital rapid-transfer. That’s why my father thought that the matter could be deferred until after Snake Hunt.”
Hrriss yawned broadly, showing fangs, incisors, and grinders that Todd always found an impressive array. “We both know how interdict beacons operate. But there were other people using Hrrilnorr as a warp-jump coordinate. Perhaps they collected the message and reported the infraction.”
“Whose side are you on?” Todd demanded, half joking. Hrriss often played devil’s advocate when they had to reason through a problem. “A little too coincidental to please me, especially with the Treaty Renewal imminent.”
Hrriss yawned again.
“Who else was using the Hrrilnorr connection, Hrriss?”
“I do not remember, only that some were.”
“But I thought most of the top brass came by transport grid. And Rogitel is not the type to plan practical jokes. Nor is Landreau, and this thing was planned.”
Hrriss was working his bottom into the padded seat, trying to make himself comfortable enough to sleep. Todd often wished he had the Hrruban propensity for sleep. Despite their generally high level of activity when awake, they could, and did, take naps anytime opportunity offered.
“I agree,” Hrriss mumbled. He caught himself in the act of falling asleep. “We were promisssed food and drink. I could sleep better with a full belly. But I need sleep to make sense out of this situation. I had only an hour in my bed whenever this morning was.” He sat up, suddenly anxious. “I hope my mother will feed the ocelots when evening comes. If they’re not fed, they will go in search of food and raid my neighbor’s ssliss coop again.”
“You’ll be home to feed them yourself,” Todd said.
“I hope so but the ocelots do enjoy ssliss eggs.”
“Don’t talk about eggs. I’m starved.” When Hrriss yawned even more broadly than before, Todd regarded him in disgruntlement. “And, damn your lousy furred pelt, you can sleep. I can’t when I’m starving.”
“Then wake me when the meal comes,” Hrriss advised, and settling himself, his chin dropped to his chest, his hands, so oddly more human than the rest of him, relaxing in his lap while his tail hung slack behind him, the tip only occasionally twitching.
Todd sighed, settling back, legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles on the supporting chair, and began running over the day’s happenings. Who had placed those incriminating items on the Albie? He turned to ask what Hrriss thought. Hrriss’s breathing had slowed, become steady and shallow. The gentle oscillation of the tip of Hrriss’s tail attracted Todd’s attention. Its movement was hypnotic and soothing. As Todd watched it, his own eyes grew heavy. After a while, despite his hunger, he dozed off.
* * *
“As you can see, Madam Councillor,” Rogitel continued, running the recorded flight log back to the beginning, “the so-called rescue mission to Hrrilnorr was o
nly the last stop in a series of piracies these two young reprobates committed.” Landreau’s aide was able to act as prosecutor before the Treaty Council only because noncolonizable Human-claimed planets were kept under the aegis of his department. Entries in the log of the Albatross suggested that the ship had visited at least three in that category.
The log went through a further playback, projecting its holographic images onto a platform while sound was broadcast through wall speakers. Hu Shih, Hrrestan, Rogitel, and Ken Reeve glowered at the images while Councillor Dupuis’s expression was impassive.
That morning, as soon as the marines had left with Todd in custody, Ken had persuaded Martinson, the portmaster, to let him go to Treaty Island via transport grid, for Martinson had also been called to give a deposition. Now Martinson sat nervously hunched over his folded hands. Allowing the Albatross to go uninspected for so long was a black mark on his record. He, too, was risking censure, even dismissal, if a crime resulted from negligence even by his subordinate, Newry.
“No fewer than eight landings are recorded between the date the scout ship left Doona and the date on which it returned here,” Rogitel said. “Eight! And only the one on Hrretha legitimate. Here.” He stopped the tape and rewound it. “Here is their so-called rescue, after they had passed through the perimeter of Hrrilnorr.” The hologram showed the nose of the ship as it approached a distant sun. An audio signal for help crowded by static came out of the speakers. The audio monitors then erupted with the siren call of the interdict alarm, but the ship passed without stopping. Hrriss’s voice could be heard responding to the Mayday message. The print update on the screen showed Hrrilnorr’s identification number and location. Then the ship’s nose penetrated the cloud layer of the planet’s atmosphere.
Crisis On Doona Page 11
