“Well? Anything you’d care to let us in on?” Hawks asked.
“I—I’m not certain. Have any of you ever encountered a race that requires either water or some noxious atmosphere or excessive pressures to breathe and survive? Among the colonials, I mean.”
“There are several,” the insectlike Chun Wo Har responded. “They are not on the usual freebooter charts because they are of no practical value. Most cannot even have the level of technology the standard Centers use, and others exist under conditions that render them useless for any profit. Why?”
“I think I see where she’s headed,” Hawks told them. “Between us all we have represented here eight separate races. Combining your varying experiences, we have experience with perhaps a hundred and fifty or two hundred more through travels and business and contacts with other freebooters. Nowhere is there a trace of the lost ring, even as a legend or myth or totem of some kind. Yet we know that it is required by the core program of Master System to be in the possession of and under the control of a human being with power. If I were Master System and I wanted it as buried as possible, I might well place at least one under such conditions.”
Maria Santiago shrugged. “Why not all, then? It would make it next to impossible.”
“You are forgetting the transmuters,” Star Eagle broke in. “We can make what is required.”
“That may be true,” the San Cristobal captain responded, “but once you are remade you are that way for good, no? Because there are inevitable minor losses which become major, even catastrophic, in a second try. So you become these—people—and you get their rings, but what good does it do you? The sheer complexity of sustaining yourself in space or on another world is daunting, and the —how you say?—payoff, the insertion into Master System, is going to be under less than ideal conditions, if I guess right. You could steal them but not use them, and, I, for one, would not wish 19 be in the position of risking all to get the ring only to give it up and trust it to some, let us face it, alien kind of person who can offer only a promise of some ill-defined reward. If I were Master System it would be the logical thing to do.”
Hawks nodded, thinking furiously. “Unless—unless there aren’t five worlds where it would be safely done. I wish we had an analysis of any one of the rings rather than just a hologram of Chen’s. These things only look like rings, and they were designed by Earth-humans for Earth conditions using existing technology of the period. Below and in the setting are complex computer circuitry and instructions that, when combined with the other four at the correct interface, give access to the Master System core and override any existing instructions. What could they be made of? I think the gold is just that—gold. I have seen Chen’s and it looked like gold to me. The setting, which looks like stone, must be some sort of synthetic to contain and protect the electronics. Hence we can, for example, rule out any atmosphere where gold would be corroded or in any way deformed or broken down.”
Savaphoong nodded excitedly. “Si! Si! It is logical! If the rings contained anything active, they would be shorted out in water, for example, ruling that out.”
“They are most certainly passive,” Star Eagle commented. “It is asking too much to expect anything to hold a charge nine hundred-plus years, let alone indefinitely. They may be powered up when connected, but not individually and self-contained.”
“Water is looking better and better,” Hawks noted. “Gold is safe in water. It will tarnish, but it is easily restored even after centuries. The synthetic holding the electronics would certainly be watertight and airtight. And if they were water breathers, they would have virtually no contact with the freebooters. I would say we have a job and that is to check all the water breathers first. If we strike no gold, as it were, then we can begin to check the small number with deadly atmospheres.”
“I believe I can correlate the master files from the various ships and come up with most if not all the possible worlds for this,” Star Eagle told them. “However, it will not be easy to check on them all. Most will never have seen another kind of human before, and will consider us all, even Takya, as monsters.”
Hawks sighed. “These are the kind of problems we expected to have to solve, and we must solve them one way or another. It is the job of you all to work out methods and a system for doing so and then implement it when we approve. If Raven and Chen are correct in their interpretation of the ore commands, then it only must be possible. I do not believe there is any requirement that it be easy or guaranteed.”
Vulture had been down on Janipur for seven weeks when the Thunder finally heard from him again. The new voice was male, very highly accented, and occasionally difficult to understand, but the message came through.
“I have rigged up a repeater device to the fighter, then the relay. I hope it works,” Vulture said. “I also do not know how long this is safe to use, so I will be brief. This is a far different world from any I have ever known, but there is a cultural undercurrent that shows a human origin. Much of the world is primitive, pretechnological, and ignorant, as expected. The population is dense in the desirable areas —very dense, and very poor, by most standards. They are administered by five Centers employing a total of perhaps thirty thousand inside and in the field. As the good Indrus captain told us, the Centers are quite modern with full technology complexes. There is a complex and rigid caste system here, as well, which complicates matters. One cannot graduate to Center level; one must be born to it, and there are physical ways to tell.”
“All right, but have you seen the ring?” Hawks asked.
“I have. It is not difficult if you are of the Brahman caste. As the captain said, it is usually on public display, during which times it would be impossible to get to. Too many people and too much split-second security. After dark it is protected by a labyrinthine set of computer and mechanical devices and switches that bewilder me, and I am many engineers and computer personnel, if you remember. To remove it even if you had all the codes and keys would require at least three people. This is long enough for now. The rest of the data is being sent serially on my subcarrier direct to Star Eagle. I will call back when I can, but not before this time tomorrow.”
“Wait! No chance you can get it without us?”
“None. I am third in rank in Security here and have much power, and I have even participated in unlocking the thing, but there is simply no way to do it alone and get away with it. One last thing. You were right about the trap. At least ten percent of security forces in this Center and possibly others are ringers. There may be more outside. Master System is just waiting for us to try for it. Good bye for now.”
“He has broken connections,” Star Eagle said. “I have the rest of his information under analysis now. It appears that the actual system is nearly identical to Earth’s, but the people there do not look anything like any of us, and the culture is a rather strange form of Hinduism. I believe with the help of the Indrus personnel we could create an effective linguistic mindprinter recording, but unlike Vulture, the rest of us would require a great deal of study to change. Culture aside, this will not be body or life style to easily get comfortable with.”
“But what about the ring defenses itself?” Hawks asked. “What are we facing?”
“Everything conventional, apparently nothing new. These people have very poor night vision, making for a daylight culture, and their regular visual range is even more restricted than yours. That works in our favor since their light-beam traps are invisible to them but not to us. The outer doors are locked with a large key, but the door has its own sensors and visual remote monitors as well. There is a secondary vaultlike door inside the first, with an open area that is monitored visually and with sensors. The second door is computer-operated by coded remote from the master console in Security. No one individual has the whole code, which is changed periodically.”
“I see. Go on.”
“The inner display museum is covered by light sensors and is also visually and aurally monitored. The display cases appear t
o have weight sensors under tiles around them, so we will have to find out what sort of weight will set them off. The display case itself is thick but transparent, most certainly bulletproof, and perhaps cutter resistant to anything but a laser torch. Cutting or breaking through would not work, however, since fine alarm wires run through it like thin mesh. The only way to open the case is with two conventional keys, one worn by the chief administrator himself and the other by the chief of Security.
Turning both simultaneously opens the case and sounds an alarm in Security. If it is legitimate, the alarm is simply ignored, but it cannot be turned off until the case is closed again and locked.”
“All right. Anything nasty waiting if you get that far and remove something?”
“No. It is a good alarm system, but not a spectacular one. You pick it up, close the case, and if you also miss the alarms on the way out and relock all the doors you have it.”
“I’d hate to see what you call a spectacular system, then. This sounds mean.”
“The alarms and locks are all conventional, which means traditional and essentially antique. The same sort is used at Earth Centers. The Vatican Center museum, for example, is far better defended.”
“Hmmm... I wonder if there’s any chance of Vulture being alone on duty in Center Security?”
“Not likely. If they follow the standard procedure there will probably be a duty officer and three or four others. You know the procedure, although if Master System has added personnel it is a good bet that one or more of those on duty down there will be its people. The area also has regular watchmen rounds, and the doors are checked. Bet on all the watchmen being Master System personnel. You won’t be able to bribe them or turn them, Hawks.”
“Dealing with the people is Vulture’s job, and I’m sure he can do a good enough cover to get help. It’s a sure bet that most of the regulars down there, and particularly the bureaucrats, are really going nuts under a near-occupation by Master System. Some of them might well cherish the idea of really helping embarrass the bastards—if they didn’t know the theft was for real. Any chance of doing it the easy way? Cutting in the C.A., for example?”
“Dubious. Any chance we might have had left when Master System placed its own personnel down there. The chief administrator is first and foremost a survivor with self-interest paramount. No, we will have to steal it, and that brings up the first and certainly not the last of the nasty problems we will face.”
Hawks sighed. “You have a plan and personnel in mind?”
“I have both, but let me work on it further. I will also need supplementary information for Vulture. Make no mistake, though. There is no getting around the fact that we will require at least some of our people as Janipurians if we are to get close enough to this to even have a crack at it. Others, with their own innate abilities, might not need anything drastic, but will require more than Vulture’s help to get where they are needed. It appears clear now that the late Arnold Nagy provided us with the ones best equipped for this particular job. I am merely building off his obvious intent with others he did not anticipate.”
“I know. Damn it, it shouldn’t be now, not for them. Later, perhaps—you are sure that full transmutation is the only way?”
“Hawks, think of it from the basis of what you know. Back at North American Center, what would be the chance of, say, the Kaotan crew sneaking in, looking over and examining Security areas in detail, inside and out, while they were open, then breaking in, stealing something, and getting out and away? Even if they had a senior Security official on their side? Now add ten precent Master System forces—and you can bet a Val is somewhere around to call the shots—and you see the problem.”
The leader of the pirate band sighed again and nodded. “You’re right. And in that case some excuse could be made for an open colonial visit—and they still wouldn’t be able to do it because they would be watched like, well, hawks around the chickens.”
“We are stuck. They were obviously provided to help solve this particular problem. We may try it without them, but we would be crippled if we did.”
“I agree. I’ll start easing into discussing it with them. In the meantime, do you have anything visual on what these Janipurians look like? I think I’d better know what I’m asking before I ask it.”
“Come up to the bridge. I haven’t any such data from Vulture, but I have some recordings from Indrus’s files.”
He went on up and found several members of the various crews there working at some of the consoles, and Raven, cigar stuck in the side of his mouth, trying to look as if he were busy too. But when Star Eagle put up a picture of a Janipurian, all turned and stared.
“What the hell is that?” Raven asked.
The creature was more animal than human, yet it had some very human gestures. The face, light tan in coloration, was large and humanoid, although the nose had flap-covered nostrils, was too large and wide, and its porous skin glistened with dampness like many animal noses; the mouth seemed too wide and the chin too small, giving the face a blocky shape. The pointed ears were upright and seemed to be on a swivellike socket, able to turn in any direction. Most inhuman were the eyes, which were large, round bulges.
The whole body was covered in very short but thick hair. The torso was tapered, thinner near the thick neck than at the rear and shaped more like that of a four-footed animal than a bipedal human. The arms, too, were more like forelegs, and the hands, on incredibly thick wrists, were enormous, the fingers and thumb long and pointed and looking deceptively boneless. And from the back of each hand grew an enormous, thick prominence that looked hard as steel. The creature was standing more or less erect on its two feet, although it gave the appearance of being slightly bent over, as if ready to launch into a four-footed run. Arms and legs looked to be of equal length, and the feet had huge, splayed toes with deep, curved nails that seemed to dig into the ground. Again, on the back of the ankles there was that same steellike growth. Some kind of brief protective bit of clothing was draped above the thick, animalistic thighs, but there was no hiding the fact that the creature was a male.
“If that thing can walk like that, I’ll eat it,” Raven mumbled.
A young woman, one of the crew from the Indrus, laughed. “They do not walk like that, you are right,” she said. “The hands and balancing feet curl up, leaving the hooves for moving and running. They are quite fast, in fact. They do get around upright when inside, though, if they have something to hold on to or the distance to go is very short. Do not let it fool you, though. The hands are quite dexterous, and the people are excellent artisans. Those claws can also rip someone open with one try, and they can wield weapons with deadly accuracy. They do not see very well at all at night, but always their sense of smell and their hearing is far better than ours.”
Hawks shivered. What am I asking someone to do? he couldn’t help thinking. Do I have the right to even ask!
“You said ‘weapons,’“ Raven noted, not encumbered by such a duty. “Do they hunt or have prey?”
“Oh, no. They are vegetarians, strictly. Their mouths move more side to side, and their teeth are flat and big. Their design is based primarily on the fact that they came from a culture that was highly vegetarian to begin with—although not all—and this world developed warm as mostly grasslands, desert, and mountains. The grasslands can support a large population, but there are limits, so the system added some rather nasty predators once native to their old region—such as tigers—to maintain a balance in the early days. Today, however, most of the predators are strictly controlled and only occasionally escape from royal preserves. Much of the central grasslands is intensively farmed now, you see—those claws can also till soil. They have some domestic animals to aid them, but their tools are basically wood and stone. Useful metal is rare and prized there, and we traded a fair amount of it.”
Hawks tried to put his more personal concerns from his mind and concentrate on the problem at hand. If Cochin Center was anything like North Ame
rican Center, and he thought it probably was, its floors would be of smooth, hard synthetics. Those hooves would make quite a lot of noise on them. The aural sensors would be a real problem. On the other hand, if those long, pointed fingers were really all that dexterous, then they would be an advantage when it came time to deal quietly with the locks.
“This is a male,” he noted. “What do the females look like?”
“Slightly smaller, with firm breasts that hang down when she is on all fours,” the woman told him. “The children are born as four-footed creatures with only flaps where the hands and feet will be. These do not begin to really grow out and develop until they are about seven, and are not really useful until they’re ten or eleven. The standing, walking upright, and the developed use of the hands is something they must be taught. This was thought to be a protective innovation when the world was more dangerous, as they are still essentially self-sufficient from the age of two and can walk on all fours in a matter of hours or days after birth. But it is the hands that make them truly human, that allow them to manipulate and create and build. The hands and the mastery of them are the mark of being human there. Also, you note the coloring?”
“You mean the light tan, almost white hair?”
She nodded. “That indicates that this man is a Brahman. High caste, probably either a major religious leader or from a Center, as this one was. The castes are known by their coloring. A darker tan, a light brown, would be below this one and probably a professional or a politician or regional leader. Dark, reddish brown would be working class—farmers and laborers, mainly. Black is, well, untouchable. Unclean. They roam wild and are something of a danger to the others.”
“Wonderful,” Raven grumbled. “So what happens if two castes marry?”
“The effect is interesting, as they take on multiple rather than mixed or blended coloration. The half castes or less have the rights and duties of the lowest caste their coloration shows. Such mixing is rare, but it happens often enough to be noticeable even in a small village such as the one we used for our dealings.”
Pirates of the Thunder Page 26
