The Valkyries of Andromeda

by Lindsay Peet

CHAPTER SIX

  Horribly bright and early An-Tine showed up again at my door. Or maybe he’d spent the night in the closet after all, and just sneaked out the door, turned about and knocked. I don’t know, the details aren’t important, what is important and vivid is that it was too damn early.

  Somehow Pex had managed to leave – maybe hours of mad coupling is easier on women than men, although I have to say she sure seemed to be writhing and moaning up a sweat the night, early morning, and mid-early morning, before.

  I let An-Tine cool his heels while I dragged myself through a shower and dressing, and a breakfast was sent up. Had An-Tine touched that breakfast I would have killed him – I was desperate and starving. As I scraped off last night from my skin and tongue I had a moment of panic as I realized An-Tine was probably doing a discreet search of my quarters, but then I calmed as I recalled all the awkward unexplainable stuff was back on the ship -- which still hadn’t called us with news of Caliuga’s spatial location. So I relaxed and enjoyed the shower, looking forward to breakfast and then brushing my teeth, and then I might feel ready to face Caliuga. Unless a pretty girl had some zoocaine, I thought, and in that case … no, no, NO! Amazing, powerful stuff, zoocaine. And women, too, for that matter.

  I thoroughly enjoyed a lengthy, leisurely and large breakfast as befitted the Inspector General’s aide and only then addressed An-Tine. “Today audit, right, An-Tine?” Until those words I’d said nothing to him, and my glaring at him each time his lips parted had maintained the silence.

  “Yes, Mr. Daskal. My apologies for arriving so early; I had no idea last night’s festivities had tired you so” he deadpanned. What an odd sense of humor, or something, he had. “We’re all so eager to move ahead with re-integration into the Empire, and moving ahead with our plans, that I may have jumped the gun a bit.”

  “Uh-huh,” I grunted and retired to the bathroom for a few minutes.When I opened the exterior door and with a jerk of my head bade him lead on, or shut up, I didn’t much care which, we found outside a stiff-looking goon lurking. “As these are delicate matters, Mr. Daskal, I thought it best to have Inspector Zeno An-Tuin accompany us. He’s in charge of security for the Treasury, and corruption.”

  “How’s corruption doing, An-Tuin?” I asked, my raised eyebrow seconding.

  “Too well. However, my investigations are approaching a conclusion.”

  “Good to hear. Look forward to results.” I wasn’t charged up enough yet to bother with complete sentences. An-Tine and An-Tuin exchanged looks as we walked along the corridor. “How far?”

  “Not far, we’ll walk, Mr. Daskal, if it’s all right with you.”

  “Make it okay. No talk. Think.” Still felt muzzy, full of good food and without a care, fuzzy but not dull. Silently we made our way along, around corners, down steps and underground, then through guarded doors and to a vault. Solip City hadn’t been around long, but this wasn’t slap-dash security. Clearly their years studying security from the outside had given them some ideas about how to do it right. Unless a ship of bank-robbers materialized in space, the money and records should be secure from any threats Caliuga might generate. “Impressive. Ledgers?” The walk had stirred my body but my mouth still struggled.

  I asked only because I was expected to; I had no idea what to look for in the damn things! On the other hand, I didn’t figure a bunch of smugglers had evolved, or needed, clever ways of embezzling. After all, ‘til we showed up, they would have seen it as stealing from themselves. Or one another. Still, what often works when you’re ‘examining’ something you have no clue about is to look for any apparent oddity, and work it to death. “I see the receipts here, and this looks fine. But these expenditures – I’ll need justification on these. For a planet with so little crime the costs of enforcement seem excessive. And, please, don’t tell me that’s why there’s so little crime – I know the history here.” When my mouth woke up, it went wide awake right away.

  From An-Tine’s posture I guessed I’d hit a nerve. Keepin’ ‘em on their heels. “This will not do. I’ll require the full, itemized listings of these costs, tied with results-targeted implementation programs and ongoing evaluations of cost/benefit … calculations.” I wasn’t sure what that all meant, but that’s the beauty of being a boss in a bureaucracy – it’s up to the listener to figure it out. “When can you have this ready for me?”

  “It will take a few days – Chief Adjutant Daskal.” An-Tine was angry, worried, and bitter; was it possible I wasn’t the type to play along and get along, that I was legitimate?

  You and I know the answer to that, but An-Tine was frozen by doubt and uncertainty. He was forced to follow along my script.

  “Let me know when they are ready. In the meantime, the Inspector General and I would like to see some of the other colonies. Can you arrange that, perhaps, Ambassador An-Tine?”

  “I’ll see to it immediately, Chief Adjutant. Will I find you in your quarters?”

  “Yes, I have to report this situation to the Inspector General, of course.”

  A short time later I was back in our rooms.

  “Inspector General, the books were not ready. They’ll be retrieving the documentation to support their expenditures, and promise to have them ready in a few days. In the meantime, I suggested that we tour Caliuga and the junior members of the Planetary Union.” Wanliet’s shoulders were being massaged by a young lady I hadn’t seen before. Our eyes locked; she was mine if I wanted her. But, after the last two nights, I wasn’t sure but that just a massage was what I really wanted. Still ….

  “Fine idea – take a ride, see some sights. How long a trip? Should I pack – or have someone pack for me?”

  “I don’t know yet. Enjoy your massage.”

  “Lordano and Jedub – are they coming?”

  “Another good question. What do you think?”

  “Bring Jedub. Keep him close. Let Lordano run around here, listening in, trying to hear. Even if he misspeaks, who can tell?”

  “It shall be so, Inspector General.” Wanliet smiled, blissfully. I left to make arrangements. This required some thought – I kind of remembered that An-Tine had told us something about the various colonies, but as that had been the night I was introduced to zoocaine, I remembered damned little of it.

  More importantly, who was going along with us? The trip was a risky stall, a scheme to get us out of the hothouse of intrigue that was Solip City, but into what? Sure, it would be fine fun to ferried about with deference and luxury, but I was wondering if I would ever be able to truly relax on Caliuga again. Caliuga had an odd way of casually tossing surprises and shocks my way, so much could go wrong, and then it would be the Valkyries of Andromeda all over again. I wondered if, should the Valkyries be coming after you twice, was it twice as bad, or was their fury squared?

  After a bit of back-and-forth with the PU, W and I got into the executive speeder again, but this time Pex, Wanliet, Jedub and I all rode in the back. Pex and I smiled uncertainly, wondering what was going on between us. The pilot and co-pilot were new, did security, and I figured they were spies, too, although the subject never had a chance to came up.

  Because as Jedub got on the co-pilot turned around, looked at him, and asked, “Jedub, what the hell are you doing here?” Jedub looked back at him, froze a moment, and then bolted.

  Wanliet and I looked at each other. There was no way this was going to end well.