by Lindsay Peet
CHAPTER NINE
Aspe Iapmo met us in there, apparently to greet us and show us where things were, but more likely to keep us from snooping around under the tarps at the end of the stable. My quick take didn’t show bound-and-gagged Lordano and Jedub moving or groaning under the tarps, so we followed Aspe into the ranch house.
Other than a nice fire and comfortable seating, nothing and nobody awaited us. “Is Pex al-Pex here?” asked Sirah.
“I’m afraid not, she was called back unexpectedly,” Aspe replied.
“Have you seen our assistants” – that seemed a better label than ‘idiot flunkies’ – “who are known as Jedub and Lordano?” I asked.
“As a matter of fact, I have. What a coincidence! They wanted to see Solip City, and the center of the Planetary Union, so Pex al-Pex took them along on her return trip.”
I didn’t want to appear too upset, as I was supposed to be in charge of these two fools, but I was having a tough time. “How did they travel?” put in Wanliet.
“Your Excellency, because of the urgency of the Union summons, and the importance of your assistants to our goal of re-integrating Caliuga with the Empire, they all traveled in one of the Union’s speeders.”
“And how long will it take them to arrive at their destination?” I continued the circuit, calculating how long it would take me to catch up and kill them.
“They left a few hours ago, so I expect they’re about halfway there.”
“By horse it’s a four-day journey” Sirah volunteered.
“Have you another speeder for His Excellency? He, too, would like to visit Solip City, see the hub of the Union, and meet with its representatives,” I said, wondering about the tarps I’d seen in the stable. Wanliet’s eyes slightly bugged out, and I subtly gave him an elbow, urging him to play along.
“I’m afraid not, Mr. Daskal. However, we can have another speeder here soon if you like. It should return tomorrow, about midday, and you can be in Solip City by dark, tomorrow.”
“You have the means to communicate His Excellency’s desire so quickly? We would like to see something of that equipment, also. The ability to communicate across distances will be very useful.”
“I’m sorry not to oblige His Excellency, but I know nothing of such matters, and have only a short-range handset that is linked to a more powerful transmitter somewhere uphill, but I don’t know precisely where that is.”
I couldn’t very well call her a liar, not yet, but I did not doubt her insincerity.
“In the meantime, if you care to, you may rest here tonight. We have the room.”
Before anybody could accept, I declined. We had planning to do, and I wasn’t about to try it in that den. “Thank you, Ms. Iapmo, but if we must wait until tomorrow, we can make use of those hours back in Caliuga town.”
“City!” corrected Sirah.
“We shall return to the city tonight, and see you tomorrow at noon, Ms. Iapmo.”
“Call me Aspe, please. I’ll make the arrangements for the speeder and for you to meet the Ambassador, and I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a safe trip back, and I hope it doesn’t rain.”
“Thank you, Aspe” I answered, and we headed out again, Aspe taking care to herd us away from restricted areas in a most subtle and gentle fashion. Soon enough we were back on our mounts and headed home in the gathering gloom. Sirah went on ahead, since she knew the way best. It occurred to me that if she abandoned us, and the rain and hail cut loose as it looked like it would, Wanliet and I might never make it back to Caliuga City.
But it was essential that Wanliet and I prepare, because there was no way that Solip City would go as smoothly as Caliuga City had, and we both knew it. Already things were looking rocky and we could hardly count on Jedub and Lordano to smooth our path.
“Looks like a big floppy boot’s fixin’ to stomp down on us” said the Inspector General, looking at the boiling sky. I didn’t know if he meant just the weather or more, but either way I had to agree.
Following Sirah’s lead we rode like we were being pursued. In the madness of galloping over a darkling path on a strange planet it hit me that maybe we were being pursued; we had only Aspe’s word that she’d been alone and that she had no speeder available. Maybe there was another speeder, maybe there was more staff, maybe they had blasters, maybe we were being pursued, and maybe we’d all ‘disappear’ for a long time or forever, all very innocent and unfortunate. Hardly reassuring thoughts, but that’s the way my mind works when sorting through uncertainty.
Trying to see it from the PU’s perspective it seemed a little too early for such drastic action. For all they knew, or we knew, we all might become best buddies forever, and live to very comfortable dotages in the upper echelons of the PU. It was only happenstance that we’d landed where we did, and been hosted by the Caliugans, and in fact we might be useful in bringing the Caliugans into the Union, consolidating the PU’s hold. We could be useful, and weren’t too hard-nosed to negotiate an agreement.
So, it made no sense for them to harm us, not just yet, that I could see. This all had to play out a bit more, there were still angles to be found and worked, levers to test, weaknesses and strengths to exploit. It wasn’t like those in charge at either Caliuga or Solip City knew exactly what was going on with their planet at the moment. Far off in Solip City they were piecing together the scant data and evaluating plans, tendencies and contingencies, so I judged Aspe hadn’t had time enough to contact them and receive orders to dispose of us. So we should be safe, and we should be able to ride back to Caliuga, the greatest danger being a mishap on a horse in the wet. I just had to focus on riding safely, and sort the whole thing out later.
That’s how I read things, but I knew there might be facts or emotions that would change the calculations. Emotions, especially fear, can bollix up the most sensible arrangements. I also had to factor in that the PU group had likely been arms smugglers, and they’re a suspicious and impatient bunch at the best of times, and our arrival had pushed them out of their comfort zone. But there wasn’t much to do about it just then. I, too, needed more information, and more time.
We’d be neck-deep in information and intrigue soon enough in Solip City, or so I supposed, because I was in no frame of mind to try to deal with it all out there galloping for my life after the sky busted loose, first with the drenching rain, then lightning strikes smashing crags and trees, and then the pummeling hail. It all seemed like the heavens were giving us a foretaste of troubles to come, but I told myself I was just being pessimistic and dramatic.
Of course we weren’t dressed for any of this, and were miserable, but the horses just kept on, steam rising from their flanks when we paused to talk, or rather holler. “The horses can’t keep this pace up the whole way!” yelled Sirah. Although we were only a few meters apart, the hail raised such a racket that we had to yell.
“What are you saying?” asked Wanliet.
“There’s a tricky stretch coming up, we have to slow down in this weather in the dark, and it’ll give the horses a chance to cool off! Your Excellency!”
“Cool off?! I’m f-freezing!” chattered Wanliet.
“They’re doing most of the work, Your Excellency. Now, stay tight here, as the trail’s hard to spot and I wouldn’t want to lose you. Also, there’s a gully ahead that’s likely a creek or river by now, and we’d best treat it with respect.
“Oh, one more thing, keep an eye out for stones falling down in the cut up ahead!”
We looked at each other and nodded; there wasn’t much point to complaining here, not that there ever is. Sirah moved out and we trailed behind, getting colder by the minute. The cold and wet had seeped through our clothes, our underclothes, our skins and was now creeping into our bones. Far up ahead in the murk I could make out the cut, and my ever-active mind wondered just how the Caliugans had made it without heavy machinery, only animals and men and simple levers and pulleys and such, and as we entered it I tried doing some rough figuring in my head, all the while
keeping a ready eye for rocks tumbling down. Then my ever-active mind realized this would be a great place for us to have an ‘accident.’
Moment by moment I liked this less and less. Likely the wet and cold had darkened my sunny outlook, but I felt the hairs on the back of my neck bristle. Suppose Aspe had decided, or been told, to take us out? Maybe my kind calculations of PU self-interest were wrong – or maybe I was right, and they were wrong. Made no difference which or what, to get down to the brass of the matter -- if that had been a speeder under that tarp then right there she’d been lying to us, and why would she bother? Unless she was just a habitual liar she’d misled us only because she wanted to retain the option of betraying us, speeding after us in the storm and blasting us when we weren’t expecting it! No telling how long it would take to find us, and after being blasted and our remains washed away in the raging creek we’d just look like victims of a lightning strike – or strikes. The miserable cold and rain had worked their magic on my will, and I fretted earnestly about pursuit and destruction.
On cue then the sky turned white in the middle of the night and a tree exploded above us, shards and stones whistled past or pelted us, and the horses reared and raced on, I heard another explosion, and worked to square myself on my mad mount. Every adjustment I made to get on top backfired and I overshot, almost toppling over the other side. So it went, one panicked side to the other, clinging to the horn, the reins, the saddle, the mane to avoid catastrophe. Terror gave me strength and wits I never have otherwise; how I stayed aboard is a mystery to me. I’m sure Wanliet was having much the same frights on his gelding.
After some terrifying near-misses we reined them in, and we stopped again, shaking and chattering, more from fear and adrenaline crash than cold now. We looked each other over, I peered at the sky through the deluge, nodded, and we moved on warily. “Frozen bones and smoking stones,” muttered Wanliet under the hail’s roar.
Perhaps it was the flash, perhaps the explosion, but suddenly my whole take on everything firmed up. I decided to act as if we had being pursued, and those blasts weren’t lightning. Maybe Aspe only seemed to be an assistant, and was really in charge – after all, that’s the game I was running.
And maybe Sirah, my Sirah, was in on this. We’d just covered half a kilometer at top speed, even though we hadn’t planned on it, on a trail that Sirah had picked out. In fact, Sirah had forced us to go slow through that bit where we were blasted, and had even stopped us just before where what I’d just decided was an ambush had been. If ambush it had been.
But what if it hadn’t been? What if I was being too harsh, to paranoid? How much could I trust Sirah? What was Aspe Iapmo’s part in all this, and were they connected? Were we still being chased, if we’d been chased at all in the first place? How much of all this was overreaction to freezing, soaked, miserable and terrified, and how much was intuitive insights, my unconscious now running with the free surefootedness that the horses had?
Needless to say, since I’m telling this tale, we eventually made it back to Caliuga, exhausted and confused, for my part. Sirah took the lathered horses, but I was so chilled and tired that I had no thought of continuing riding on Sirah, but instead went up for a very long bath and bed, thinking and rethinking what we’d gotten ourselves into.
