Chain of Secrets

by Jaleta Clegg

  "I'd never make that assumption. I like to live with all my limbs intact."

  Paltronis laughed.

  "It still leaves us with a slight problem," Scholar said. "This ship can't land and I doubt they would risk one of their shuttles taking us down."

  "So what are they going to do with us?"

  The ship slid through transition to normal space. There was a sharp knock at their door soon after. This time it wasn't a single ensign but a full squad of armed troopers at their door. And the ship's captain.

  "I apologize for the inconvenience," she said, as Paltronis eyed her and the weapons her crew wore. "Please cooperate and no harm will come to you."

  "We figured out what you plan to do," Scholar said as he rolled up his comp pad and tucked it into his jumpsuit.

  The captain glanced nervously at him then back at Paltronis. "What are going to do about it?"

  "Nothing," Paltronis said. "As long as you get us and our gear to Tivor."

  The captain pursed her lips as she studied Paltronis. Deciding how far she could trust them, Paltronis knew.

  "My family lives on the Fringe," the captain said at last. "Most of my crew came from worlds that have already joined the Federation. We don't want to shoot our own people."

  "And that's what it's coming to," Paltronis said. "I know about the firefight at DeShua."

  "Then you won't report us?"

  "Who would I report it to here?" Paltronis shook her head. "I can't support what you're doing, but I do understand."

  "Then you won't cause us trouble?" the captain asked.

  Paltronis shook her head.

  "We'll send you down in an escape pod," the captain said. "It's the best we can do. We don't have much time."

  "The Seeker isn't here," Scholar said. "I was tapped into your ship's sensors as soon as you made transition. Lowell sent her somewhere on an errand. That means there are no ships currently in Tivor's space. Except yours."

  The captain eyed Scholar nervously. "You tapped into our system?"

  Scholar grinned. "It's what I do, captain."

  "And it's going to get you killed," Paltronis said.

  The crewmen fingered their weapons.

  The captain signaled them with one hand to hold. "We'll fly close to the planet and drop you there."

  Paltronis nodded, accepting what she couldn't change. It would have to do.

  "Until then, we'll have to keep you under guard. And confiscate your equipment," she added to Scholar.

  "He won't contact anyone," Paltronis said, stopping the captain from starting a fight. Scholar was never voluntarily separated from his computer. "You have my word on that," she assured the captain.

  The captain nodded. She turned away, leaving two of her men guarding the door. Paltronis could have disabled both of them in less time than it took to think about it, but she chose not to. It wouldn't have solved anything.

  "Ophir voted to secede two weeks ago," Scholar said at her shoulder.

  "I know. Why do you think it took so long for me to get to you? Things on Tivor aren't much better. The whole Empire's crumbling."

  "Lowell knows. He's known for a while."

  She didn't comment. Lowell's network had been crippled for a year now. Not even Lowell knew it all anymore. She packed her few belongings.

  Scholar watched her. He had a small duffel, a change of clothes and not much else in it. They were both ready in much too short a time. She turned to the guards.

  "We need to make contact," she said.

  The guard shook his head. "We can't allow that."

  "I promise not to say anything about you."

  The guard shook his head again.

  "Please," Paltronis grated through clenched teeth. "I promise not to break anything if you cooperate. Otherwise I won't guarantee anything."

  The guard blanched as he stared at her. She breathed danger.

  The captain came down the hall outside their cabin. She took in the confrontation with one quick glance.

  "What do you mean to do?" she demanded of Paltronis.

  "Contact Lowell, nothing more."

  "We confirmed the Seeker isn't here. There aren't any ships here." She studied Paltronis again, weighing what she knew. She finally nodded. "Take them to the com station," she told the men standing guard. "Watch what you say," she warned Paltronis.

  "Always," Paltronis answered.

  It took time to raise the Patrol base on Tivor. And then more time for them to find Lowell. Paltronis itched with nerves as she waited, though none of it showed. She stood impassive and immovable while the ship's com tech worked the equipment.

  "Yes?" Lowell's voice came through the speakers.

  "We're here, sir," Paltronis answered. "Scholar took some persuading."

  "Don't come to base," Lowell said, his voice clipped. A warning for them, Paltronis knew.

  "Orders?"

  "She's in the mountains to the east," Lowell answered. "Find her. Keep her in one piece."

  The line went dead.

  "I lost the signal," the com tech said, shaking his head. "There's some kind of force field around the port. And energy bursts from the city."

  "Trouble?" the captain asked Paltronis.

  "Always," Paltronis answered. Every warning sense she had was tingling. Tivor was now a trap, she could smell it.

  "You could come with us," the captain offered. "You don't seem overly fond of the Empire yourself."

  Paltronis turned to the captain, searching her brown eyes. She saw only frankness there. Paltronis shook her head.

  "I don't care for the Empire," she admitted. "But there are people down there I do care for. I owe my loyalty to Commander Lowell. I'm doing this for him, not the Empire." She realized as she spoke that that had been true for a long time now. She was loyal to Lowell, not the Patrol or the Empire. She was willing to follow his lead just about anywhere.

  "We've got a pod ready for you," the captain said. "We'll launch you at our closest approach."

  Paltronis nodded.

  Scholar trailed behind her as they were escorted through the ship to the escape pods. Their equipment, two small packs, were waiting by an open hatch.

  "What of our other equipment?" Paltronis asked.

  "No room," the captain hedged.

  "Put it to good use," Paltronis said. She opened the two packs, checking their contents. They had a com unit, a multipurpose scanner, and her one package of explosives. Everything else had been confiscated. The other pack held only food and water. "I want my knife and my blaster back."

  The captain nodded. The items were fetched and given to her.

  She and Scholar crowded into one of the small escape pods, the packs heavy on their feet. The door was shut without another word. There was a sharp jolt and the pod was free. The automatic guidance system kicked on, pulling them away from the ship towards Tivor.

  "I've got Milaga on the screen," Scholar said.

  Paltronis appreciated that about the younger man. He never asked unnecessary questions, unless he was deliberately teasing her. He knew exactly what information she wanted and he could always get it for her. Almost always, she amended.

  "Aim for the mountains east of it," she said.

  "There are a lot of them. Any idea where to start looking?"

  "You don't have any? Dace doesn't have a beacon implant I don't know about? Lowell didn't hide her location in his last message?"

  "I won't know until we're down," Scholar said. "Then I can tap into the datanet and find traces of her. No one can hide from me there."

  The pod plunged into the atmosphere. Fire washed over their screens, blinding them for an interminable five minutes.

  "Weapons fire in the city," Scholar commented as his scans cleared and relayed new information.

  Hills flashed under them. They came in steep, aiming for the taller mountains beyond. Paltronis fidgeted as the pod flew itself. The rockets fired, slowing them.

  "I got the guidance system to put us in a val
ley to the south of the bigger mountain," Scholar commented. "There is some kind of road there, so it should be easy to get transportation."

  "Don't count on it," Paltronis said.

  "I saw the data," Scholar said. "There are settlements across the continent. It can't be as backwards as Ophir."

  "It's worse, trust me."

  The pod juddered and shook as it brushed across treetops. It landed hard, crunching to a stop half on its side. Paltronis popped her restraints and kicked the hatch until it opened. A blast of cold air blew through the pod.

  "You didn't mention it was winter," Scholar complained. "I knew I should have packed my coat."

  "There's one in the pack." Paltronis crawled out of the pod.

  They were at the far end of a meadow brown with winter. A drift of snow snaked across the valley. A single bird squawked from a tree. The sky overhead was thick with clouds.

  Scholar crawled out, pushing the packs in front of him. He was bundled in a Patrol issue jacket. She noticed he had the heater in it turned to high.

  "You'll burn the batteries out at that setting," she commented.

  "I'll freeze if I don't." He pulled his comp pad out of his suit and spread it over a pack. He frowned at it. "The cold's draining power." He glanced at the dark sky. "Unless the clouds break up, I've got maybe an hour."

  His hands flew over the pad, calling up the ball of light. It stayed a clear yellow. He wove his fingers through it. The color never varied. He frowned, his fingers moving faster. He finally sighed and collapsed the ball with a tap on the pad.

  "Nothing," he said. "The hills must be blocking the signal or something. I can't believe they wouldn't have a datanet at all. I should be getting something."

  "They don't have a datanet," Paltronis said.

  He stared up at her. His hands tucked the pad away in his suit automatically. "No datanet? Then how do we know where to go? How can we trace her?"

  "We do it the old fashioned way." Paltronis picked up the heavier pack, the one stuffed with weaponry, and settled it on her shoulders.

  "How do you know which way to go?" Scholar picked up the other pack, grimacing at the weight.

  She started off across the meadow. "We trust to luck and start walking."

  He puffed after her. They climbed the ridge to the north, aiming for higher in the mountains. Scholar let her take the lead. He liked to pretend he was incompetent at such things as tracking, but he was fairly good. Not as good as she was, but respectable.

  She found footprints above, on the top of the ridge. She motioned him quiet. They followed the tracks up the ridge and down into another narrow valley.

  The light was fading fast into a snowy night. Flakes began to swirl around them. Paltronis concentrated on the tracks. Where there were footprints, there were people. And where there were people, someone might know something that would lead her to Dace.

  Paltronis felt a sting in her leg and glanced down. A tuft of brown feathers sprouted from her leg.

  "I think we've got a problem," Scholar said behind her.

  She turned, feeling the first wave of dizziness as she plucked the dart out of her leg. Scholar had a tuft showing in one arm. He staggered and fell as she reached to pull it out. Her own legs gave out at the same time. She collapsed to the frozen ground, the trees swirling and dancing dizzily around her.

  She muttered curses, angry and blaming herself as she lost consciousness.

  Her last sight was of ragged people in gray ghosting out of the trees to stand over her and Scholar. She gave in to the drug. She didn't have much choice.

  Chapter 19

  "Who?" Tunisia asked me, her voice sharp. "How could you know of them?"

  "The Hrissia'noru. The people of the mind. It makes sense."

  "Tell me," Tunisia ordered.

  "This is why Lowell sent me here, it has to be the real reason. Blast him." I slammed my hand against the table. Tunisia slapped me at the same time.

  "You will not curse in my home."

  I rubbed my cheek and wondered what she'd do if she knew the rest of my swearing vocabulary. Considering I'd spent a lot of my time around engineers, it was quite extensive.

  "They are the Forest People, spirits of the woods. How could you have known of them?"

  "My grandfather was one, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise."

  She blinked away tears. I immediately regretted my comment. I reached for her hand.

  "I'm sorry," I said. "It's just Lowell has set me up before. I should have expected it this time."

  Tunisia sat hunched at the table, smaller and older and more frail than before. "I thought of her as a gift from him, the one tangible evidence that he did exist. I never saw him again, after that summer."

  "I don't know much about them, but what I do know suggests they wouldn't tolerate his contact with you."

  "Tell me of them, give me what information you do have." She glared fiercely, tears sparkling forgotten on her wrinkled cheeks.

  "Lowell must have sent me hoping that I'd find the Hrissia'noru for him, at least the ones stranded here. They've been looking for them for several hundred years."

  It was her turn to hit the table. The sharp crack of her hand on the solid wood made me jump. "You talk in riddles."

  "The Hrissia'noru are a genetic experiment of a previous Emperor. They ran away when his ambitions were discovered. They were supposed to have heightened psychic powers. Most of them do, at least the ones I've met. When they were running, their ships were attacked. Some were lost. One of them probably crashed here, on Tivor. They must have hidden themselves in the mountains, waiting for rescue."

  "For hundreds of years?" Tunisia was skeptical.

  "They're strange," I said with a shrug. I didn't want to explore my memories of Jericho, Babylon, and Mart. I'd buried those as deep as I could. "Lowell is one of them. I found out a few years ago that I was one, at least in part. It had to have been you or my grandfather, Darus was completely human. Now I know." And it wasn't going to change anything. I was still stuck on Tivor.

  "You can try to find them," Tunisia said. "I'll go with you."

  I shook my head. "They won't be found unless they want to be. Although I suspect Lowell wants me to find them."

  Tunisia sat up suddenly, her head cocked to one side. She tapped my hand. "Shush," she whispered.

  I listened. I heard the wind gusting. The snow fell thickly outside, white and soft and muffling. The chickens cackled in their coop.

  "The hens," Tunisia said. "The wolves must have been driven down by the snow."

  "Wolves?"

  "They will eat whatever they can kill, if they are hungry. They have been known to eat those stupid enough to be caught in the snows."

  "So they are big and mean and have lots of teeth," I said as I stood up from the table.

  Tunisia lifted down the axe. She held it out to me. "They are very quick and at least partly intelligent." She didn't correct my statement.

  I took the axe, wishing I had a blaster instead.

  The night was very dark. Snow swirled into the light from the cabin and disappeared back into darkness. The hens were really worked up. I heard them fluttering inside the coop. I shifted my grip on the axe, my hands were cold and sweaty at the same time. I crept up slowly on the chicken coop looking for animals with large teeth.

  There was something near the door, a dark shape crouched low. I raised the axe high. The shape moved, turning towards me. The light from the cabin window fell across a face. I lowered the axe.

  "What are you doing here?" I asked Jhon.

  He straightened from his crouch near the coop. He tried smiling. He looked cold and pitiful, but there was something in his eyes I didn't trust.

  "I was looking for you," he said. "Just to see if you were being treated well. The place they sent me to was just awful."

  I turned away from him, headed back to the cabin. It was a mistake. He grabbed me from behind and jerked the axe away from me. His arm clamped around me
, trapping me against him.

  "You've got one chance," he said, his breath hot on my cheek. "Cooperate with me and I'll kill you quickly. Less pain for you."

  I closed my eyes briefly, looking for the will to fight again. I was so tired of it. But if I let him kill me, I'd never get to slap Lowell or see Jasyn's baby.

  I kicked backwards at the same time I sank my teeth into his arm. He growled and shoved me to the ground. I rolled quickly away. I wasn't fast enough. He caught me in the ribs with one boot. He leaned over me, hauling me up by my jacket.

  "Fight me," he whispered, "it's so much more exciting."

  "What do you want?"

  "Your death has been ordered. I want to enjoy it."

  My hand found the hilt of a knife in his belt. I yanked it free and stabbed him with it. He jumped back, shoving me back at the ground. I hit hard. The knife was knocked from my hand. It tumbled into the darkness.

  "That will cost you," Jhon said.

  "I never did trust you," I said as I scrambled away from him.

  "When I was so concerned for you?" He came after me, a shadow in the snowy night.

  I backed away and tripped over the log pile. My hand closed over a chunk of wood. I grabbed it and swung at the dark shape of Jhon. I connected. He swore and backed away. I scrambled up and turned to run.

  He grabbed the back of my jacket and pulled me against him. He had a knife in his hand. I felt it, cold and sharp and deadly, against my throat. I leaned back, my head against his shoulder. He pricked me with the blade.

  "That wasn't nice, Dace," he said. I shuddered as his breath tickled my ear. "Come quietly now. There's an abandoned cabin not far from here that should do nicely."

  There was a sharp crack and he jerked. The knife left a line of fire down my neck as he collapsed. I clamped a hand over the shallow cut and turned.

  The firelight from the open door silhouetted Tunisia. Jhon lay at her feet. She had her cane gripped tightly in one fist. She'd smacked him over the head with it, knocking him cold. He groaned and stirred.

  "Run," Tunisia ordered me.

  I shook my head. "He'll kill you."

  "It's you he's after. You don't have much time. I know places to hide. I'll be safe."