by B. V. Larson
Someone had drawn their weapon and readied it to fire.
-13-
Kerr was quiet and quick, but not smooth enough. Sitting on my left side, he had drawn his weapon under the table and aimed it carefully.
I didn’t have any time to think, or I might have pulled the blow. He was only a normal human, and one in his fifties at that. He’d been nanotized, but it looked to me as if he needed a fresh dose.
I knew I didn’t have much time. A single second, possibly less. I had to move now.
Sandra had heard the sound as well. Her senses were enhanced and so was her speed of movement. But she was across the table from Kerr, a good six feet away. She couldn’t get there before I did.
But she did act. I could feel her rise up behind me, looming and blocking the light. I didn’t know exactly what she was doing, and I didn’t have a split second to turn and look. Instead, I lifted my arm and brought it down on Kerr’s wrist. I brought it down hard—too hard.
There was a snapping sound and a sharp intake of breath. The gun clattered to the floor, dropped by numb fingers.
Kerr lifted his arm into view in shock. It had snapped down at a right angle. Both the bones in his forearm, the ulna and the radius, had been broken. The arm hung limply, his hand twitching feebly in an unnatural position.
With Kerr disabled, I had time to turn my attention to Sandra and the rest of them. There she stood, my crazy woman, right on the dinner table. She loomed over Kerr and had a pistol in her hand, trained with unwavering precision on his left eye socket.
Alexa, for her part, still stood at attention. Kerr had been aiming his gun at her, planning to shoot up through the table to kill the defector. I realized with sudden clarity that I’d doomed her in his mind. When I’d said I had not yet accepted her application for asylum, that meant she was still under his command and still his to execute if he wished to. The situation had unfolded so fast that I’d been taken by surprise.
“You’ve assaulted an Imperial officer on a diplomatic mission,” Kerr said through gritted teeth.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But I’m not accustomed to having dinner guests shoot one another at my table—not unless I ordered the action myself.”
“Dinner is canceled,” Kerr said, hissing out the words in agony.
I looked at him and nodded. I couldn’t argue with that.
“Maybe we should adjourn for now,” I suggested. “We can pick up in a few days when you’ve recovered from this unfortunate accident.”
Kerr stood up, swaying slightly. Chairs rasped on flagstones. All his staff members stood up with him. The Imperials wore white faces that matched their uniforms.
“There might not be any further discussion,” Kerr said. “It’s up to you, Riggs. Do you want a deal, or do you want to abuse your guests and interfere with their internal politics? This is a serious diplomatic breach, and I can’t do anything more until I contact the Emperor and make a full report. I’m not sure how he will react.”
I looked glum. I knew exactly how Crow would react: with rage.
I stood up too, and now all the Star Force people stood with me. They were all as stiff and uncomfortable looking as the Imperials.
“I can understand that,” I said. “I don’t have a policy in this situation yet. I’ll arrest Lieutenant Brighton and place her in a holding cell.”
“Colonel Riggs?” called Alexa. “May I speak?”
“What is it?”
“I’m sorry to have caused you this difficulty. But may I point out you offered amnesty and protection to thousands of refugees from the Empire before this. They came out to you and found new homes. They’re all around us.”
I realized she was right, of course. But this situation was different. “Those people left with Earth’s blessing,” I said. “Once they entered our space I was obliged to protect them as civilians. You’re part of a military organization. You’ve sworn an oath to them.”
“Exactly,” interjected Kerr. “I demand that you remand the Lieutenant into my custody.”
I shook my head. “Given tonight’s incident, I can’t do that.”
“Then I must retire and seek medical aid.”
I watched him go and then turned back to Alexa with a grim expression. “That could have been handled better,” I said. “Couldn’t you at least have waited until after he made his proposals?”
“I’m sorry sir,” she said. “I was only thinking of myself. I’ve been building up my courage to make this move for months. I just had to try it tonight. I was afraid I’d lose heart and let the moment slide if I passed this by.”
I understood her, even if I was annoyed. It was a very human, emotional thing. I thought of her as a young woman in an abusive relationship. She had to move when she had the courage to do so.
But oh, how I wished now she had waited. I was in a dilemma now. The easy thing to do would be to quietly ship her back to the Empire. Perhaps to transfer her back to the battleship she’d come from bound and gagged. That way, very few would know what had transpired.
But the story would get out if I did that. I had to think about the future. This girl wouldn’t be the last of her kind. She wouldn’t be the only one to defect. We had a Cold War of our own going between Earth and Eden, and I couldn’t afford to frighten every future defector and refugee. If they knew I would turn them away and toss them back to Crow’s tender mercies, they would fear to even try it.
And then there was the lovely innocent girl herself. She’d come here to get this chance. She was the daughter of a high-ranking officer, a man who would be lucky to come out of this without being retired or even imprisoned. I doubted she realized what she’d done to her family back home. Crow had a jealousy of me that had grown over the years. He was also afraid of me. He wouldn’t go easy on her or her family if he got his hands on them.
I thought of sending her back to the Empire, handcuffed and terrified. What would they do to her? Torture? Mutilation? Quiet murder?
How could I order her away, knowing what her fate would be?
I couldn’t. I knew that with a sudden, crushing certainty. Like it or not, I was stuck with this young woman and I’d lost an opportunity to seal a new deal with the Empire. How could I claim to be the voice of freedom and justice in the universe if I crushed someone like this?
I knew I’d met my match. In battles, I felt at home. I understood how to face an enemy and destroy him. But this was different. This was a choice with no right answer and with bad consequences no matter what decision I made. There was no neat way to win—or at least, none that came easily to my mind.
Everyone was looking at me, I realized. They weren’t able to hear my thoughts, so I appeared to be dithering and indecisive. I didn’t want to look weak, so it was time to take action.
I flopped down in my chair and began eating roasted air-swimmer again. The dish didn’t taste quite as hot and good as it did a few minutes ago, but I wasn’t going to let anyone throw them away.
Around me, my staff sat and ate too. All except Alexa.
“Am I under arrest, Colonel?” she asked when I looked up at her.
“Yeah, I guess,” I said. “Now sit down and eat. Let’s not let all this good food go to waste.”
Alexa trembled slightly as she sat down and took up her fork for the first time. She took small bites and chewed each one for a long time. I could tell her heart wasn’t into the meal after her near-death experience. It was a shame, really. The air-swimmers were superb tonight.
My staff was subdued. Conversation was light and was kept to a minimum. To make matters less comfortable, Sandra leaned forward to glare at Alexa every few seconds for the rest of the meal. Both Alexa and I pretended not to notice this.
When I finally sighed and pushed back from the table, I felt relaxed for the first time this evening.
“Now that was some good food,” I said. “I’m going to go down to the kitchens and tell the cooks they outdid themselves.”
“Don’t you thi
nk there’s something more important to worry about right now?” Sandra asked in an acid voice. She nodded her head toward Alexa, who sat very still with big eyes.
I looked at Alexa and noticed her plate was only half-empty.
“You going to finish those?” I asked.
“Kyle, are you going to send her to the brig or not?” Sandra demanded.
I gave her a surprised look. “Why no, I’m not.”
“You said she was under arrest.”
“Yeah, she is. So what? She’s in the middle of Shadowguard, one of the highest security structures in the star system. She’s not going anywhere.”
Sandra looked pissed. I wasn’t quite sure why.
“So, by prisoner, you meant she’s a guest that can’t leave.”
I nodded. “Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. We have to decide how to handle this situation with Kerr. I’m hoping he’ll cool off by morning and we can get back to business.” I turned my attention back to Alexa. “You’re going to have to stay out of sight for now. We’ll give you new quarters, somewhere down with the enlisted people under the castle. Might as well let Kerr think you’re sitting in chains someplace. Could you take care of that, Miklos?”
“Of course, Colonel,” he said. He got up and left the chamber.
I could tell Sandra wanted to see real chains on the girl, but she was going to be disappointed. I didn’t want to mistreat her. She could be a valuable source of information. If we treated her like a guest under restriction, she would stay friendly. I didn’t know much about what was happening back on Earth, and she was connected to the people who did. I couldn’t explain all this to Sandra with Alexa sitting right there, so I took Alexa’s plate and finished it.
Somehow, this made Sandra more irritated. She watched me eat, wearing an expression that reminded me of an angry housecat.
I did my best to ignore her and enjoy the dish. Really, it was too much good food even for my gut to handle. I felt a bit uncomfortable when I’d finished.
Miklos came back as they rolled in the dessert trays. I waved them off. I was too full to enjoy something sugary now.
Miklos whispered at my shoulder. “There’s a problem, sir.”
When Miklos worried, I worried too. I didn’t ask him what the problem was. I got up, excused myself and followed him to the main gallery.
As we exited the room, Miklos paused. “Lieutenant Brighton? There is a new room for you on level seven. Please ask the stewards for directions.”
“Uh…okay,” she said.
Sandra stood up in our wake. She looked after me and then after Alexa. I could tell she was undecided who she should shadow. Finally, she followed me.
She walked a good thirty paces behind us, and Miklos was whispering, but I knew she could hear every word.
“Tell me what’s going on, Commodore,” I said.
“I apologize for further interrupting the dinner.”
“Never mind about that. It was a total disaster before you arrived. Just make your report.”
“We’ve received a message from Captain Sarin. She says there are strange signals emanating from the ring on the surface of Yale.”
“What kind of funny signals?”
“They’re communication signals, origin and destination unknown.”
“Any clue what they’re saying?”
“No, sir. No known code is being used. I’ve given all the data to Marvin, but he’s come up with nothing as well.”
We’d dealt with unknown signals being relayed by the rings before. The rings were communication devices after all, if used appropriately. Unlike radio signals however, they operated on a principle of entanglement, which was kind of like the way Voodoo dolls were supposed to work. If you jabbed one, the other felt it. Unlike radio, there was no way to detect the transmission’s source. You couldn’t easily figure out who was jabbing a needle into whose doll.
“Let’s go over the list of suspects,” I said. “Are either of the other rings in the system vibrating?”
“No sir. Just the seabed ring on Yale.”
“Okay then, that eliminates Earth and the Blues—unless they’ve figured out some new way to bypass our jamming and detection systems. Assuming they haven’t, we’re down to two known participants in this conversation: the Crustaceans and the Macros.”
Miklos nodded slowly, frowning. “We went in there to help them, and they talk to the very monsters that are seeking to destroy them all. Why would they do that, Colonel? Why wouldn’t they side with us?”
“I can understand their reasoning. Look at it from their perspective. They just suffered hundreds of billions of civilian causalities. They aren’t interested in right or wrong or honor. They’re interested in survival. If they have to kiss up to their conquerors, they’re going to do it.”
“But they’ve seen us defeat the machines more than once…”
“Yes, but much of our military strength is based on our battle station. That doesn’t help them, because their three worlds are on the wrong side of it. The fleet we sent out there didn’t impress anyone. The Macros display ten times our fleet strength when they send out a wave of ships—no offense meant to Fleet, Commodore.”
“None taken,” he said stiffly. “I’ve tried relentlessly to convince you of our need for more ships.”
“Relentlessly, indeed. But that’s got to be it, then. The Crustaceans fear the Macros more than they do us. It’s as simple as that.”
“What do we do next, Colonel?”
“I’m not going to accuse them of anything or give them any ultimatums. If the Macros have given the Crustaceans new marching orders, I don’t want to be caught by surprise. Transfer all production to Fleet. Postpone all civilian and ground-force orders at the factories.”
Miklos’ eyes were shining as he took in these happy orders. I could tell he was excited to have his beloved Fleet back at the center of our strategy.
“I’ll make the preparations, sir!” he shouted, saluting.
He turned as if to trot away, but I called him back.
“There’s more,” I said. “We need a show of force. We’ll fly out there with every ship we can spare from the home front and prepare to do battle.”
“If you will excuse me, Colonel?”
I nodded. “Move fast. We fly out of here in three hours.”
He ran off like a kid that had to pee. The second he was gone, Sandra came out of the shadows. She’d been standing closer than I’d realized. This castle was lit in the old-fashioned way, with fewer, dimmer sources of illumination.
“We’re leaving so soon?” she asked.
“Did you hear everything?”
“Yes.”
“Well then you know the score. We have to get out there and find out what’s going on.”
I left the chamber and went downstairs to my quarters. Sandra followed me on silent feet.
Our quarters were sumptuously appointed. We had velvet draperies and thick soft carpets. The bed itself was a four-poster carved from local hardwoods. I’d looked forward to spending the night here again.
“This has become home, this castle of cool stone and cold winds,” I said, looking around. “Now it seems I’m not going to get to spend any time here.”
“I know. I’ll miss it too. But there’s something you’ll have to decide about before we go: Kerr and his entourage.”
I looked at her suddenly. “Right—the negotiations. Well, Kerr himself said that was on hold now until he could get new instructions from Crow. Since Earth is still jamming the ring to Sol, transmitting back and forth will take nearly two weeks. We might be back by then if we’re lucky. He’ll just have to sit here and eat our stocks of air-swimmers until we return.”
When the rings were jammed, we could still communicate using radio signals to relay a message across the systems themselves. Each message had to crawl across each system to a ship waiting at each ring. The ship then crossed to the other side and relayed the message. This way, the transmission followed
the chain until it reached its final destination. As radio signals traveled at the entirely inadequate speed of light, it took a long time for a message to reach across the stars. By the time Kerr did talk to Earth and get back a replay, the transmission would have crossed Alpha Centauri, Helios, Eden and the Solar System twice. The roundtrip time was about two weeks.
Sandra walked to the bed and swung herself around the nearest bedpost like a dancer. She paused, hanging upside down at an angle that would be impossible for nearly any normal human. I watched her with a mixture of amazement and alarm. My girlfriend was part pole-dancer and part bat.
“What about the girl?” she asked me suddenly. “Will you leave her here as well?”
“Oh, Alexa…right,” I said thoughtfully. “I’m not sure that would be a good idea with Kerr so near. There might be an incident. He nearly murdered her at dinner, after all.”
“What are you going to do with her then?”
“I guess we’ll have to take her with us. We can interrogate her on the flight out. She’s sure to have good intel on the Empire. This could be a boon for us. We’ve had very little information on the political and military situation of Earth since Captain Sarin defected. We’ve got to make the most of these opportunities.”
“Will you conduct these interrogations personally?” she purred.
My next breath froze in my lungs. I realized in that instant that I’d stepped out onto thin ice. Her questions had been calmly delivered, but I could see where they were going. She was feeling jealous again. I knew I needed to defuse her before Alexa and I both suffered.
“You know,” I began, thinking fast, “I think I’m going to be too busy for that. In fact, I’d like you to take over the task, if you could.”
“Me?” she asked. She looked at me, hanging upside down by one foot. Her hair nearly touched the flagstones.
“Yes. Don’t sweat her, just be her friend. Do the girl-talk thing. She’ll probably tell you all about her family and what’s going on back on Earth.”
“That’s a very sexist thing to say, Kyle.”
