by Moulton, CD
[ Don't start with that intentional misunderstanding crap, Z. Sarnof was attempting to kill them and they escaped. There's no evidence it happened anywhere else. There's certainly no evidence the traders, outlaw ships or not, would condone interference in other cultures in any form. We know damned well Sarnof wouldn't permit any such thing. He didn't know where they were or that there could even be any world the pod would reach. I think he'd take the chance of reporting it to Empire Police if he thought there was a realistic chance they made planetfall. It was one chance in millions and it turned out wrong. We can't blame anyone – certainly not all the outlaw traders! ]
*We need those traders. There is and always will be an element that exists around the fringes of the rules of a society. I know where they are and what they're into for the most part. I know who they are, which is vastly important at times. Break up what they have and they disperse among the regular societies. Then we DO have trouble! All Z is doing is trying to goad us into telling him what we plan. He has a kind of basic idea, but can't stand the thought it's not something he thought of first!*
"Maita manipulates the outlaws much the same as you did the pirates when you were establishing the first part of the empire," Tab said. "That's a lesson learned from you. Those outlaw worlds and the outlaw traders keep us up to date on a number of things we couldn't know about any other way if we didn't have them right where they are. Most of the danger and excitement is purely fantasy. They're actually hardworking laborers earning much lower than average wages – pretending they live in constant direct physical danger.
"Fantasy. They're probably safer overall than most legitimate traders simply because they don't want empire attention. They operate under their own set of laws, true, but do it quietly. Everyone knows the rules. The empire has its rules and they have theirs. Theirs are far more restrictive in most ways. Some are in physical danger, but from each other and not from any of the empire's police or anything.
"They ARE prone to senseless violence. This system keeps them away from peaceable people. We have to work out this thing here so there's a permanent lesson to the Saj. Precipitate handling of it could impact later in a very negative way. We're going to have to make the Jornians seem like schemers who started something without considering future consequences. They're going to have to appear complete fools, and they're going to have to end up paying a terribly high price for their greed.
"At least we don't have to pretend their motives are anything other than what they are!"
"The hard part is we're going to have to make those among the Saj who have fallen into the pattern of behavior this has set pay a high price, too," Kit cautioned. "We have to balance it so true science isn't stifled while making it plain that runaway greed and science don't mix."
[ We have to make it appear that science is one thing and what the Jornians are doing is another. If we act now the people will become antiscience orientated so the balance we must reach is a delicate one. You can see how much damage that could do if it's mishandled. We have far more opportunity to screw things up than to do it right. They have a religion, if a weak and indefinite one. If we do the wrong thing we could end up with another Kroon or Trat-il (Book two: Settling In) or worse. I don't have to tell you what that could do! If WE do the wrong thing now the cultural interference we're trying to negate will be accented to a degree we can't begin to understand. We have to act fast, but we have to be damned sure we know what we're doing and what'll come later. ]
*That's my greatest concern. If we do the wrong thing at the wrong time some charlatan will jump right in. I don't want to have to put up with that. I'm sure you don't, either. We can't get bogged down on this one world trying to slap down each little rockslug who finds a new clever trick. We have a whole empire to consider.*
"Okay, so don't tell me!" Z said. "What a ridiculous lot of verbiage to try to change the subject! I figured from the first we could appear to be helping the Jornians by bringing the rhodium to them in quantity and could force a little help for the people here with our little subtle blackmail. So long as they don't have the chrome the rhodium doesn't do them much good. These Jornians seem to be making a huge weapon and will have a huge generator to power it. It can't be for use against the Saj, so what IS it for? Have you stopped to consider that while you make your plans? Has it occurred to you that this isn't likely to all be here?"
Tab waved and pointed along the road so they chatted about the news from the mines and Z told a story until they were well past the travelers coming toward the city, then they resumed their talk.
[ It would seem they don't plan to stay on Savaraj forever and want a safe base they can defend against the traders and against those they betrayed in the hijacking incident. That means this definitely is NOT the only bunch of them we have to worry about so we'd better be sure they don't connect us with it yet. We have to get rid of these without letting on we're involved. We have to make it appear Sarnof was able to deduce who was behind it more than to use the actual words of our four here. They can figure Sarnof didn't tell anyone on Grlaq he worked backward from the hijacking. Kit says he knew the crowd these were running with on Grlaq so knew what was going on. They got rid of seventeen of them there. Lugac was the probable leader so we have that to add to the confusion. Maybe we can use Lugac's disappearance to our advantage when we get back. Maybe a story Larj heard on this road? Anyhow, this will mainly be a place for them to fall back to if anyone is still looking for them. They don't have frequent communication among the groups. Maybe there are only two, but we know there are AT LEAST two groups of them involved in whatever they're trying to do. It doesn't end here. ]
*I agree. They'll use any weapons to threaten the Saj, but they're to be built for some other purpose. The next thing the Jornians will want is chromium ore. They're stopped right where they are until they get it so we'll use the time when they feel they're making great progress because of the rhodium to set them up for some things that'll make them appear to be both old-type sorcerer-magician-showmen and fools. This isn't going to be as easy as it sounds because they really aren't so stupid as you might think. There are more people ahead so get into character.*
They went the rest of the way to the boat with Kit telling about his nights since he left Royal City and decrying the fact that Larj, old and feeble and not too smart, could get all the women he wanted anywhere, while young, handsome, brilliant Lape was lucky to have one allow him to buy her favors! They had the company of three people who were going to Royal City on the return trip so couldn't talk again, but they all were in contact except Z and he could handle things well enough. Thing used the opportunity to amuse the Saj and rode into Royal City on the shoulder of one of them.
Root was excited about receiving the ore. He was acting insufferably smug and was getting a bit too arrogant again so Kit innocently asked him if he still wanted the green quartz.
Flale took both Root and Chart aside and argued awhile, then they acted like it may be nice to have some of the green quartz, but it wasn't too important. The arrogance and condescension stopped right there, though.
The Jornians tried to act actually friendly, but it was hard to pull it off when they insisted in staying hidden in the robes and cowls.
Thing climbed down into the cart when they delivered it to the palace. Chart and Flale pulled it into the courtyard and opened a complicated set of locks, then took it inside. They came out a few minutes later and relocked the door carefully.
Tab and Z went to check the ditches that would drain the city while Kit went to the square to talk with customers. They all returned a little after dark to ask if Zonn was still with Flale and Chart.
"Zonn?" Flale asked. "It wasn't with us."
"Oh, yeah," Z answered. "It was playing in the cart with the gold. It likes to have people pull it around. I thought you knew it was there."
Chart started visibly and ran to unlock the door and slip inside. He returned after a few minutes and said Zonn wasn't in there. He was about to
close the door when Thing squirted out of it and examined a chain, then climbed to Z's shoulder and began to inspect his ear.
"You got lost again little guy!" Z scolded. "One of these days you'll wander off and we won't be able to find you again!"
Chart and Flale exchanged looks, but Root shrugged and said pointedly that a dumb animal probably couldn't seriously damage anything in the laboratory so long as it didn't break anything.
"Oh, it didn't break anything," Chart said. "The lab door was shut so it couldn't very well get in there. It was playing in the supplies I guess. There are a lot of boxes to climb around on."
"Probably found a warm spot and fell asleep," Kit agreed. "It didn't sleep all the way to the boat and back.
"Speaking of sleep! I could use some after this day!"
They went off to the boarding house, cleaned up, ate and went to their rooms for the night. Thing climbed onto Tab's shoulder and used the direct communicator built into the robot while Tab gave the information to the ships and to Kit. They set up the floater screen from the cart base so Z could read what he should know. Kit put little devices by the two microphones in the room to make sounds like sleeping people might.
"This is a diagram of the basement," came on the screen. "The cart was pulled into here. This entire area is supplies of all types. There are two doors, both closed, but no problem to open. This lab is a processing room where the rhodium and chrome are extracted. They have some supply of platinum and indium from the pod, which is on this side. There's a door between the processing room and the lab by the pod portal. The pod is seriously damaged. It's not usable as it is now. It's definitely not repairable with the equipment they have here."
There were flashing lights as each point was described.
"I went inside the lab through this opening. They're building a fastcom set. They're using a moder, probably a spare backup from Sarnof's ship, as a carrier unit. It'll use a lot of energy, but should be effective. I memorized the settings. Maita can trace them. They obviously plan to contact a specific person somewhere so I can't believe we know as much as we thought we did. They planned to come to this world all along. I imagine they planned to keep Sarnof's ship, kill him and the crew and use this place for a base of some kind. They're building a phase disruptor beam cannon as well as quite a large number of smaller weapons. Heat lasers and such. I believe they plan to hold this world and to use the Saj in their plan."
This scheme was sounding worse and worse. If they had planned to subjugate this whole world all along this was some plot with quite a large number of others involved. It was a good thing they hadn't moved too fast or they might not have learned of it at all.
Did that mean they had moved the operation to another world? WAS there another like this – only held by a large contingent of Jornians?
"I see you thinking, Z. It could be like the pirate worlds, but worse. The pirates didn't try to take over planets that had indigenous populations."
Z nodded and sent worry and fear as strongly as he could to the little empath. It understood.
"There's a door from the lab here that's heavily locked. All the doors are armor steel. This one goes to the upper palace, I believe. I have made two very small adjustments to their work down there that they won't detect until too late. I see some of what they've done to put Narum and Hisla in their power so maybe we can make some demonstration of force necessary. When they try to impress everyone of their power it'll fail."
"How? What?" came on the screen from Tab.
"Many chemicals look very much alike. It seems some of their bottles have wrong labels. Heat control is critical for some reactions. A control thermostat is miscalibrated downward. That one could be spectacular."
"In what way?" came from Kit.
"They're producing glycerol trinitrate, which is very easy IF you retain control well enough, and gives a spectacular show. It's absolutely vital the temperature not rise above twenty two degrees MGS nor fall below fourteen during the reaction with the nitric acid. It won't fall below fourteen. It won't fall below eighteen, as a matter of fact – but it'll react at twenty six degrees!"
Z grinned at Thing. He wouldn't want to be too close to that one! Nitroglycerin reacting at nearly eighty degrees Fahrenheit was nothing to play with!
"They are also making nitrogen tri-iodide as a spectacular explosive for their demonstrations. It seems they might find it was contaminated with a bit of potassium permanganate and glycerin. That should be great fun! I want to be there when they try whatever they do with that stuff!"
They discussed very little more through the screen so Z put it back into the cart base and slept with Thing curled up against him. In the morning they went to the square where Z told a very strange story designed to get the attention of the Jornians. He could fairly well determine who was there at the bequest of the scientists because he didn't really fit well with the people of the city who weren't part of the elite. Kit and Tab traded goods while Thing was ranging farther and farther from any of them. It would spend a little time with one, would be gone awhile, riding around on one of the Saj, then would spend time with another. Some of the time no one could say where it was.
The local shopkeepers would give it morsels of sweetcake and honey when it wandered in and the children loved to play with it. It was very good at hide-and-seek because it could hide in trees or on top of a wall or in a small space. It always played fair in those cases and left a tentacle showing or something – though there were times when it couldn't be found for hours.
The following day Canj came to ask Larj to go to the palace to talk with Hisla. Thing was playing nearby with several children and ignored Z when he called for it to come with him. He shrugged and went to the palace. He was taken to a large ornate room where Hisla was reclining on a divan. She smiled a tight little smile as she greeted him, rolled her eyes to the right and pointed behind her with her thumb. He nodded slightly in greeting, keeping his eyes directly on hers. She flashed a sour sign with her mouth as she reseated herself.
So the Jornians were listening from somewhere behind her. He expected that. This was working out very well according to plan.
"Larj, I hear the strangest stories!" Hisla said. "I would like to come to the square to hear you speak, but Narum says a queen isn't properly seen in such places."
She made a sour face and tossed her head a bit. The Jornians wouldn't allow it.
"What is this story of an elemental the bandits found on Northfork Road?
"A girl who helps me with my personal bath was there and said the story really scares her. I think perhaps you should be more careful about what you say around impressionable young girls – or maybe she simply didn't understand the story very well. You do tend to attract large crowds and it can be hard to hear every word if you're not close."
"It is indeed a strange story, My Lady," Z replied, using the storyteller voice and gestures. "The bandit Ja.... I shall use no names.
"There was a small band of bandits who roamed the area between Northfork and Kluws Roads on the Dockside Road, preying only on the wealthy travelers, relieving them of excess monies and trinkets of great value. They felt, shall we say, that there was great danger to anyone carrying large sums and they would be much less in peril should they not have those things on their persons when traveling lonely roads far from aid.
"The bandit band never harmed anyone except to occasionally defend themselves from attack. Some people are most unreasonable.
"One day recently these weary highwaymen were returning from Royal City, strolling on the Dockside Station Road with no thought of doing further business that day when they turned into Northfork Road for the last part of the journey back home to be with their mates and ... housekeepers. They were in bright and happy spirits as they had the night before met a very drunk and very wealthy person who was most pleased they would take him out of danger by lulling him to sleep under some safe foliage by the side of the road. They removed those items that were a temptation to others
as the poor sot could be hurt if someone lost control and attempted forcibly to separate those items from his person.
"The bandit leader, I shall call him 'X' for ease of telling, said he felt immediately upon rounding that sharp bend in the road that something was radically amiss there. The earlier mood of gaiety suddenly vanished from his entire clan there and a great foreboding sat heavily upon them all except for one individual of their happy little group. I shall call this rather unperceptive member 'Y' for the ease of better remembrance. `Y' was not known for the intelligence even to care for himself, though he was large and strong and could do many things that didn't require thought.
"Lo and behold! There was a troll or other evil demon standing beside the road! It was totally covered in strange garments of rich fabric, which was not a normal thing if the stories of old are true. Such beings wished great exposure because they wished to impr.... Well! Shall we simply comment that 'X' decided that, as they had no women along for the demon to take for sport there was little point in such exposure. Certainly anyone in his troop would not submit to the use of a demon while life was still in his body – except for `H' who was known to enjoy certain of the forms of entertainment that most find – but not with a demon!
"'X' made all the signs of exorcism he knew but, not being religious to a measurable extent they were few and to no avail. He called loudly for the being to begone back to the dark regions from whence it came.
"None could see the eyes of the demon, if indeed it had any, but they could feel its stare, a cold and clammy thing to terrify the strongest heart.
"Still this evil thing of old tales made no move to impede their progress and they had spent what sums they carried on their persons into Royal City so there was truly little point in its bothering them. Demons have no use of money, though they are known to have a fondness for certain jewels. The band carried no jewels, thus should find themselves in little danger.
