Conclave
Page 29
“What?” the escort responded, instantly awake.
“The controller has deviated from our flight path,” the woman said.
“Where are we headed?” the escort asked, alarm showing in his eyes.
“Into the dark. We’re dropping below the ecliptic,” the woman replied, as they both made their way toward the pilot’s cabin.
“Is our emergency beacon active?” the escort asked, dropping into a seat and donning a helmet.
“Negative,” the woman replied. “The controller’s not allowing it.”
The escort tried furiously for a quarter hour to circumvent the blocks that prevented him from rectifying their situation. When he pulled off his helmet and set it aside, the woman asked, “What do we do now?”
“We’re on elliptical course,” the escort pronounced. “The final destination is Oikos.”
“We’ve been sacrificed,” the woman declared, striking her fists on the arms of the co-pilot chair.
“I’d hoped she’d never do this to me,” the escort said sullenly.
“Daphne Lemoyne?” the woman asked. She’d never inquired about who assigned the escort’s dirty jobs. Her companion had hired her, paid her extremely well, and she’d kept her mouth shut. Although, she did have her suspicions. They’d grown as her companion occasionally mentioned the Lemoyne daughter. His tones were always warm.
“She’s getting grid of potentially incriminating individuals,” the escort admitted.
A stream of expletives escaped the woman’s mouth. She’d learned most of them on New Terra.
“Let me repeat,” the woman said, forcefully poking her companion in the arm. “What do we do now?”
The woman’s attitude galvanized the escort to find an alternative to being burned alive in the Oikos furnace.
The controller hadn’t locked him out of passive telemetry collection, and he scanned near and wide. Hours passed, while the man continued to search for an opportunity.
Later, it was the escort’s turn to rouse his companion. Rather than a slap across the face, he smacked the bottom of her boot.
“Find something?” the woman asked, sitting upright.
“A freighter transited about five point one million kilometers from us,” the escort replied. “It’s inbound for the smelting station.”
“Will we intersect it?” the woman asked hopefully.
“The closest we’ll come will be maybe one point three million kilometers,” the escort explained.
“A speck in the dark,” the woman complained.
“Maybe, and maybe not,” the man replied. “Time to take some huge risks.”
A few hours later, the two ships were on their nearest approach.
The man and woman were ensconced in environment suits with fully charged air packs. The controller hadn’t blocked the operation of main cabin lights, and the escort programmed the lights to alternately flash.
The final steps were to tie themselves together with safety line and to activate their beacons and lights. Suit energy would be consumed faster, but they had only one shot at being rescued.
“You ready?” the man asked his companion.
“No,” she replied, “but let’s do it anyway.”
The pair closed their helmets, and he triggered the evacuation of the cabin’s air. When that finished, he signaled the ramp to drop.
When the ramp was fully extended, he sent, “On three,” and counted down.
Then they ran and leapt off the end of the ramp into the dark.
* * * * *
Cremsylon, who’d transferred the request from Gino, linked several individuals into the call.
Gino explained.
There was silence, while the Omnians absorbed the information. In all likelihood, they’d found the two individuals who were responsible for eliminating the assassins.
Gino and Katrina shared surprised expressions. It had taken them a little while to understand the pair’s possible motives. The Omnians had reached the same conclusion within minutes.
Gino replied.
Katrina’s eyes grew wide. She thought Gino was proffering the Méridien couple to the Omnians.
Katrina shook her head at Gino.
At which point, Katrina relaxed. She realized that Gino had been dangling the opportunity in front of Alex. He counted on Alex not accepting it. It also indicated that Alex wasn’t seeking reparations from the Confederation. His desire for justice was focused on the perpetrators.
Alex replied.
Katrina sent, faltering.
When the conversation concluded, Gino dispatched a traveler to intercept the ore freighter. The ship wasn’t owned by one of Gino’s associates. On the other hand, it didn’t belong to a supporter of Mahima Ganesh.
The freighter captain received her instructions from the Council Leader with great relief. Ever since she’d picked up the man and the woman, she’d had a bad feeling about them. Their stories didn’t fit the circumstances. She’d queried the House SADE for information.
The captain had the telemetry specialist track the errant traveler. When the tiny ship faded into the dark, the operator handed it off to Méridien intrasystem tracking.
Theo, who had been monitoring ship traffic, devoted resources to following the traveler’s path. As had been hypothesized by Leaders,
the traveler looped out of the dark and dove for Oikos. The star’s gravitational field crushed the ship, and then the nuclear furnace burned the remains.
Talise had shared the demise of the traveler with the freighter captain, which was why she was sure that she had rogue Méridiens on her hand.
As the traveler with House Diamanté’s escorts arrived, the captain personally ordered the exchange of her ship’s shuttle for the landing of the House traveler.
The chief checked the whereabouts of the man and the woman.
The captain realized that she wasn’t the only one who had worries about the guests, and she could have kicked herself for failing to have the survivors searched. Although, to be fair, that sort of thing hadn’t occurred to her when the pair was brought aboard.
The chief managed the swapping of the travelers. Then he welcomed the escorts, delivered the captain’s message, and led them along to the bow section using the broad tunnel that ran from the bow through the freighter’s cargo modules to the engine extension.
As the chief and the escorts approached the galley, the chief double-checked that the guests were still there. Then he signaled the escorts to wait.
Entering the galley, the chief was dismayed to see that the freighter’s guests sat in a corner with a good view of the hatch entrance. He spotted two of his crew who he knew liked to spar with each other.
the chief sent his crew members.
When the chief received the crews’ acknowledgments, he sent,
One crew member laughed heartily at his companion, who shot back, “That’s not funny!”
“Sure it is,” the laughing one said.
“You’re an imbecilic child,” the other crewman challenged.
Then the laughter died, and lukewarm thé was thrown in the face of the insulter.
Suddenly, the men were at each other. They rolled over the table against the bulkhead, legs and arms projecting everywhere.
The pair was absorbed watching the two men tussle. When they saw the chief race into the galley, they grinned at each other.
“Break it up,” the chief ordered loudly. Then he pretended to slip and fall on top of the wrestlers.
Suddenly, the pair’s attention swiveled to the three escorts who faced them with stun weapons drawn.
Both the man and the woman disobeyed. They sought to pull their weapons from under the table, but they weren’t fast enough. The energy from the escorts’ weapons coursed through their bodies.
Afterward, the man and the woman were searched for other weapons, and then they were strapped to medical stretchers.
The chief examined the collection of tiny digital devices and deadly weapons taken from the pair. He sent the images to his captain before the escorts bagged the many items to take with them.
28: Winston’s Guests
He gazed at her through the floor-to-ceiling view plate. It had small holes in the upper half through which he could have whispered, but he didn’t know who was listening.
Sher-li stirred, gripped her head with her hands, and moaned.
Winston observed the couple on a private vid system that had been erected the moment that Gino gave the directive to his escorts to sail and procure the rescued man and woman.
When Winston had allowed enough time for the woman to hydrate, he sent,
Immediately, a second cup of water was passed into Sher-li’s cell.
When neither individual answered, the SADE added,
Gerder replied.
Even though Gino wasn’t physically present, he leaned forward on his couch to listen more intently. Within Gino’s apartments in the Diamanté building, he and his associates were party to the interrogation.
By Winston’s request, the Leaders were passive participants. The SADE wasn’t allowing them to communicate with him.
By Alex’s request, Winston communicated solely with the prisoners. Although, Winston thought of Gerder and Sher-li as his guests, and he intended to be a pleasant host until it was necessary to be something different.
Gerder replied. He knew it was a lame excuse, but he hadn’t any other thought.
Sher-li hated their circumstances, specifically, to be interrogated by a SADE. She couldn’t think of a more insidious investigator. Therefore, she decided the best option was to remain silent.
Winston sent a harsh chuckle. Deliberately, he chose one f
rom Franz. It was dark and warning.
By the blank expression on Sher-li’s face and the scowl on Gerder’s, Winston calculated that they didn’t.
Katrina’s hand flew to her mouth in surprise. Her response wasn’t due to Winston’s question. Gerder’s eyes had blinked twice. The man was shocked by the exposure of his secret.
The Leaders witnessed Sher-li’s startled expression, as she stared at Gerder. In her mind, the SADE knew exactly what they had dumped, but she had enough professionalism to say nothing.
Winston delivered another chuckle. Then he sent,
Winston gave Gerder and Sher-li time to ponder the possible extent of the information he might hold. He wanted them to worry.
Sher-li pulled her legs off the floor, and she sat against the wall. Her knees were to her chest, and her head was in her hands.