“Not to our knowledge,” Zak said. “And I certainly hope that it’s not the case.” He turned to his wife.
Maia shook her head. “I’m not aware of any such designs. Admiral Kalae? Laila?”
“If the Laonist government has such interests,” Admiral Kalae said, “then they’re being very quiet about it.”
Beside her, Laila nodded. “That’s true enough but it’s hard to account for the interests and motives of individuals.” She looked at the Kataran minister. “Have you heard anything to suggest such interests?”
Ismaer shook his head. “No. However, I find it hard to imagine that our planet, having now been so well established as a source for Itherian ore and Daelitheius crystals, with the infrastructure in place to not only mine it but to process it and prepare it for shipping, would interest no one but the Imraehi.”
“Well, one thing about the nations of the United Frontier, Minister,” Maia said, “is that many of them were either occupied or threatened with annexation during Corinthe’s campaigns of expansion around five or so years ago.”
“Yes, my fellow Katarans and I were on Laonist during its brief occupation,” Ismaer said.
“So you can imagine,” Maia said, “that for the most part, the people of the Frontier worlds are anti-imperialist. As our own independence has been threatened by an aggressor, we have no desire to become an aggressor ourselves.”
Ismaer was quiet, although there was a pensive gaze in his eyes.
Beside him, Lyla stirred. “Actually, that reminds me. I was talking to Mirinda Hayes the other day. She’s a semi-retired correspondent for Terasi Central, which is a Corsidan based broadcaster -”
“I know her,” Maia said. “She’s famous. What did she say?”
“She said there are a number of Federation journalists who are waiting to jump on the United Frontier if we go ahead with this.”
“Why do they want to jump on us?” Maia asked. “The Federation’s said they’re happy to leave this matter up to us and they haven’t condemned anything we’ve proposed so far. In fact, they’ve been quite supportive. So have the Minstrahn.” She glanced at Kael here, who gave her a nod in return. “And so have the Harskans,” she continued. “Even the central government of the Autonomous Levarc Territories have indicated support for such measures. If the Katarans are suffering and we have the means to assist them, especially when there’s little risk to ourselves in doing so, then we have a moral imperative to intervene. To do nothing would be like standing by while a robbery or a murder was taking place right in front of us.”
“Quite right,” Lyla said. “However, these journalists aren’t waiting to jump on us if this intervention goes ahead in the manner we all hope it does. What they’re waiting for is evidence, no matter how slight, that we’re acting to serve our own interests.”
Beside Maia, Zak nodded as he got it. “They’re not against us, Princess. They just want a good story. And to see the nations of the Frontier, after fighting to preserve their own sovereignty, turn around and violate the sovereignty of a weaker nation for their own gain... They’d have a field day with it.”
“Well, we’re not going to give them the satisfaction if I can help it,” Maia said. She turned to Lyla. “You talk to the civilians in our various governments. And you probably know who’s clean and who’s lining their pockets with corporate funds in exchange for favors.”
“I know a few of the more dubious characters who are corrupting the system,” Lyla said. “Although I don’t know all of them. The problem is that it wouldn’t take too many individuals to manipulate the liberation of Katara for their own ends.”
“Then we’ll have to keep a close eye on proceedings,” Zak said. “And on those individuals who, as you so aptly put it, corrupt the system. I don’t suppose I could trouble you for a list? Or would that be slander to provide me with something like that? An unwarranted assault on the character of upstanding Frontier citizens?”
Lyla smiled. “No. It’s only slander if it’s not true. I’ll get you your list. As many people to keep an eye on as I can think of. As long as you keep it to yourself, of course.”
“Thank you,” Zak said. “I appreciate it.”
14. Accomplices
Jiang set up the frequency, made the transmission and waited. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be waiting long. She’d secured a private communication station adjoining a small hotel and a café, and the hotel was of course not the one she was staying at.
“Albatross reads.”
The voice on the other end was Alia’s.
Jiang smiled. If Alia was back on the Albatross, then that meant she had alerted Drackson and Naima to what had happened.
“It’s me,” Jiang said.
“We’ve got a fix on you,” Alia said. “Are you safe?”
“For the moment,” Jiang said. “I don’t think anyone gives a damn about me being here one way or the other.” She then hesitated. “Actually, that’s not entirely true.”
“What does that mean when it’s home?”
“I’ve met a friend.” Jiang thought about how best to explain it. She didn’t have the Albatross’ encryption equipment so the frequency was open and Vismach’s name was not one to throw around in public.
“I met him on a trip to Eraecam,” she said. “And I met him later at Governor Lyana’s place on Nevarche, which was a bit of a surprise.”
“A friend?” Alia asked in a puzzled tone.
She knew who Jiang meant.
“Well, let’s say a familiar face.”
“What about your crewmates? The ones you flew in with.”
The dead crew of the Drifter’s Folly.
“We’ve gone our separate ways,” Jiang said. “I don’t think I’ll be seeing them again.”
“Cargo unloaded safely?”
“Yes, and this is where my acquaintance comes in. He’s interested in... taking care of such cargo and the buyers. He thinks I might be interested in helping him out with it.”
“Are you?”
“Maybe. It depends on how long I’ll be waiting around for you guys.”
“A few days. Maybe a week. But we’re on the way.”
Jiang sighed. “Then I guess I’ll keep an eye on things here for a while.”
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing? Can you trust this acquaintance of yours?”
“Oddly enough, I think so.”
“Well, be careful,” Alia said. “And look after yourself.”
“You too.”
“We’re coming.”
“I know.”
Once the transmission was ended, Jiang paid for the use of the communication station with some local currency - Vismach had shown her where the exchange office was - and then she left the building.
“Did you contact your friends?” Vismach asked as Jiang stepped inside.
Jiang nodded, craning her neck to see what the Hie’shi was up to. He appeared to be operating on a small box of computer chips and electrical wires. “It was no trouble.”
Vismach didn’t offer any explanation of the task that was occupying him. “How are your accommodations by the way?”
“They’re comfortable enough.”
“It would lessen the suspicion of anyone watching if you simply stayed here,” he pointed out.
Jiang smiled. “That’s very probably true. However, there’s no way in hell I’d sleep soundly in the same apartment as a murderous sociopath.”
“Pragmatist,” Vismach corrected her, picking up some pliers and tweaking a wire. “A murderous pragmatist.”
“If that’s what you tell yourself to sleep soundly,” Jiang said, not rising to his bait. “Speaking of suspicion, I imagine the authorities have found the crew of the Drifter’s Folly by now.”
“I imagine they have too,” Vismach said. “But I doubt they’ll be able to track us down from such a slight clue. Like the authorities in many cities throughout the Federation and the Frontier, they rely rather heavily on cameras and othe
r such gadgets to do their job for them. And the authorities of Port Alema have been having some technical problems with their automated surveillance networks for the past few days.”
Jiang nodded. “I see.”
“That’s more than the local authorities can say for themselves,” Vismach said. He made a cheerful clicking sound. “You know, it’s funny, but I always find it easier to outsmart the people who are better resourced and equipped. They tend to be more complacent. I had fun with the automated surveillance network here. There’s only one thing wrong with it at present but when they fix it, I have another problem set up for them. All up, I built in fourteen potential problems that could bring down the network and so far, they’ve only solved four of them.”
“So you’ve set off problem five,” Jiang said.
“Exactly,” Vismach replied, putting his pliers down and closing the box he was working on. “Tell me, Jiang, do you know how to remotely trigger a power surge in an unshielded device?”
“No,” Jiang replied, “but I’m sure you’re just dying to tell me all about it.”
Vismach shook his head. “No. I’m afraid it’s rather technical and explaining it would be a time consuming process.” He picked up the box. “However, I believe that, in this manner, I can cripple one of the Imraehi weapons satellites currently in orbit. If I’m successful, I may be able to duplicate the process with others. Would you like to accompany me?”
“Why do you need me?” Jiang asked, not unreasonably. “It seems like you’re doing just fine by yourself.”
“You will provide me with an extra pair of eyes,” Vismach said, “and an extra pair of hands. You can help me. Now, do you have a blaster?”
Jiang frowned. “No.”
“I’ll get you one.”
Asten slung his backpack onto the soft earth. “Hang on a minute.”
Selina frowned. “What is it?”
Asten tapped the trunk of the tree beside him and tilted his head.
Selina followed his gaze and saw more of their citrus-y fruit in the branches above. “One of our trees,” she said.
“One of our trees,” Asten repeated, getting a grip around the trunk and kicking the edge of his boot into the bark to gain some purchase. It was strong and it gave him a foothold so he continued, hand over hand, hauling himself up about two meters or so to reach the lowest branch.
Selina gasped when he slipped a little. “Be careful.”
“What?” Asten grunted, trying to sound nonchalant but having some difficulty in pulling it off while simultaneously attempting to pull himself up. “I’ve been sucked out the window of an air yacht and you’re worried about this?”
“You could fall and hit your head,” Selina told him tartly.
Asten laughed and shook his head. “All right, honey. I’ll be careful.” Then, reaching great clusters of their newfound favorite fruit, he started prying it from the tree. “Catch!” he called out, throwing the fruit down.
When he had got everything he could safely reach, he crawled his way back along the branch, swung down underneath and dropped to the ground.
“How about that?” he asked.
Selina sighed as she looked at the fresh pickings. “We can’t carry all this, Asten.”
“I can carry it. I don’t mind.”
Selina shook her head. “It won’t fit in your backpack.”
Asten crouched down and started packing. “We’ll see. But this is the first of our fruit trees I’ve seen this morning. Who knows when we’ll find another one? And we’ve got to keep following the Elise.”
“We’ve got the field rations,” Selina reminded him.
“Yes,” Asten said. “They provide all our nutritional requirements in small handy snacks with a delightful hint of appetite suppressants. Yum yum.” He closed his backpack after getting in as much of the fruit as he could. “And I’m grateful for them, believe me. I know we’d never survive without them. But I’d just like to have a little bit of a treat now and then. Food we can enjoy.”
“Yeah,” Selina conceded. “Me too.” She crouched down beside him and put what was left of the fruit in her own backpack. “All right. We’ll bring it with us.” Then she smiled. “It looks like I was wrong. We can take all of it after all.”
“See?” Asten said, standing up and helping her to her feet too.
Selina turned to the little stream they’d been following since late morning the previous day. “All right. Let’s get back to it. We’re not going to get anywhere just standing around.”
Asten rolled his eyes as they started off again. “We’re not getting anywhere walking either. The scenery hasn’t changed a bit since we started. It’s like we’re going around in circles.”
Selina shrugged. “It’s possible. Streams and rivers often wind back and forth a bit before they reach the sea so this might be trailing back on itself a bit. But it’s the best hope we’ve got. If we leave it, we’ll get lost for sure.”
“I suppose,” Asten conceded. “Still though, it’d be nice to see something different. Anything.”
“Well, think of it this way,” Selina said. “If you’re right about Ardeis wanting us to survive so we can go back to the Frontier and tell everyone what a great guy he is, then we won’t be here longer than a fortnight. As you pointed out, we don’t have enough survival skills to get by without our field rations and he’d know that. So the two weeks’ worth he gave us are meant to last us all the way to the coast.”
“Maybe,” Asten said. “But he clearly wants to challenge us as well so this is might be some kind of game too. Reach the coast in two weeks or starve to death. That kind of thing.”
Selina nodded. “I suppose. Not much of a game though, is it?”
“Well, it’s just the kind of game a sick bastard like him would like to play,” Asten said, kicking a stick out of the way and looking up at the canopy above them, a broken shroud of green, with dappled light seeping through the tears. Under other circumstances, he might have found it quite beautiful but the endlessness of it all darkened his perception.
“He’s evil,” he continued, looking down again. “There’s no doubt about it. Because I’ve thought about this and I think you could define evil. You know, a real textbook definition.”
“All right,” Selina said. “Let’s hear it.”
“Well, my idea is this. I think it describes the behavior of inflicting suffering without caring. Without pity, guilt, remorse or any normal feeling. Whether it’s a petty boss like Big Blue, who makes everyone worry constantly about losing their job, or some prick like Corinthe, who’d start a war for his own ends. But Ardeis is toying with us and, whether we live or die, it’s just a game to him. That’s the very definition of evil.”
“That’s quite profound, Asten,” Selina said. Then she smiled. “I haven’t heard you mention Big Blue for quite a while now.”
“Well, I generally try to forget him,” Asten said. He started smiling too. “Although I would love to have been there when Drackson was shaking him down for information on the Kunlayn Elite. Just to see the look on his face.”
“I don’t think you would have added to the psychological effect Drackson was going for,” Selina told him.
Asten laughed. “No. Probably not. I don’t think Big Blue would have been intimidated by me. Still though, it would have been something to see.”
They talked on in this way throughout the morning and their progress, if it was not fast, was at least steady. As they walked though, the day grew hotter and hotter. The humidity stuck their clothing to their skin and they stripped down, Selina to her singlet and Asten going shirtless but, still, they couldn’t escape the clammy, almost suffocating feeling. Their skin was sticky with sweat and, although they occasionally splashed themselves with water from the stream to alleviate the sensation, they found themselves drenched with it again almost immediately. And the forest felt too close as well. All around them, the trunks of the trees, along with the dangling vines and occasional clumps
of undergrowth spanned into the distance until they became a solid wall of dark colors and indiscernible shapes, without a landmark or any sign of variation in the scene.
When they felt it was sometime in the early afternoon, they sat down to prepare their lunchtime field rations and found them improved somewhat by the appetite they had worked up over the course of the morning. Then they ate some of the fruit Asten had picked from the tree - they hadn’t come across any more of the fruit trees since then - and it restored their spirits a little, although the lack of any change in their surroundings was still wearing them both down. They also noticed that the silence was part of the problem. The silence of the forest was absolute, without the noise of insects or birds. However, when they finally settled down to camp for the night, they heard a buzzing sound that Asten thought was similar to the noise some beetles made back on Halea.
As they had the night before, they took out the portable shelters from their backpacks before doing anything else and unfolded them. In this way, they had two small tents they could lie in to keep dry. Then they prepared a fire to heat their evening rations; they didn’t exactly need it for the warmth. However, it also kept insects away, possibly made wary any nocturnal predators that were lurking about and gave them something else too. A little more hope.
“Well,” Asten said, raising his water bottle in the gesture of a toast, “we’ve made it another day through the jungles of Imraec Tarc. Here’s to us.”
Selina did her best to smile but couldn’t quite manage it. “Here’s to us,” she murmured.
Asten held her close and for a while, they watched their fire in silence.
“This is one of the Imraehi navy’s ground to space communication centers.”
Descent Page 14
