“When the Xeonsaur Scientist arrived here, he wanted to know if there was a somewhat isolated place somewhere, where he could set up a laboratory to do research. He wanted to hire locals to put together his building, and to run the equipment he was planning to use.
“I got in touch with the Governor of this Island, and he suggested that we send him to The Maldos Chain Principality. The Maldos Chain is series of small islands that jut into the Western Ocean from this archipelago; they’re sparsely inhabited and rocky; the population subsists almost entirely by fishing, and selling the pearls that they dive for. However, the people aren’t stupid or lazy; many of their young people end up coming to Plenty for the opportunities the seaport offers. The Guv thought that this laboratory would be an opportunity for some youngsters to latch on to gainful employment closer to home, and Scientist Hsiss would be able to have the privacy which he obviously valued.
“So we of this office directed him to the Maldos Chain Council, and presumably things went well there, because he returned soon, requesting permission to move his space vessel to the island which was to be his base. He wanted also to freely move with his ship into space and back to the island; that was to facilitate his research, after he had set up the lab. We agreed to that, with the caveat that he keep us informed of his comings and goings, contacting us whenever his ship left the planet, and again on his return. He told us that it would not be a problem, and at least for some time, he kept his word. We have records of his lift-offs and landings on his island base in our computer; Davitz over at the counter can give you a copy of them, if you would like to have them as a paper record.”
“Yes, we should really have that,” Mikal responded immediately. “Kati, will you see to that, once we’ve finished this interview?”
“I can certainly do so,” Kati replied formally.
“He’s reinforcing the notion that you’re just as much a member of this investigative team as he is,” The Monk subvocalized inside Kati’s head. “For some reason, he is keen to emphasize that fact to these officials.”
“Mikal is never anything, if not fair,” Kati subvocalized back. “And he’s not one to try to hog the lime-light—nor the responsibility.”
“If you want to know what happened on the Maldos Chain, you will have to make your way there,” Jaritz added. “The members of their Council can, no doubt, enlighten you further as to how things transpired. Everything that I could tell you is merely hearsay and rumour; once Scientist Hsiss was no longer travelling through here, my only dealings with him were on the communicator, when he happened to report in a landing, or a lift-off, while I was on com duty.”
“What was your impression of Scientist Hsiss?” Mikal asked, with a glance at Xoraya, who sat very quietly beside him, her eyes demurely on the table-top.
Jaritz threw a look at the Xeonsaur woman as well, looking uneasy.
“Well, I’m certain that he was a brilliant member of his profession,” he said diplomatically. “But my impression was that he was not particularly used to dealing with humans. It was clear to me right from the start that he was a non-human; we see them here once in a while, and they usually stand out from our kind in that their mannerisms, when they deal with us, are quite distinctly different from those of our own species.”
“My dear Xanthus had no experience dealing with humanity,” Xoraya said with a sigh. “He had not even studied them, other than the short while he spent trying to pick my brain, and I’m not human either, of course, although I have been a student of the species for a long time. He probably stepped into piles of doo-doo in his attempts to create cordial relationships.”
She flashed a quick grin at Kati with the last sentence. Kati grinned back, recognizing the Lizard woman’s delight in having picked up the sort of idiom with which Kati sometimes sprinkled her conversations.
Jaritz seemed quite delighted with her, too. He smiled at her, apparently letting his unease drop off.
“It was perhaps unfortunate that you did not accompany him,” he said. “You may have been able to keep him from some of those piles, and perhaps even directed him away from dealing with unscrupulous humans.”
“Yes, it does seem that it might have been so,” Xoraya agreed. “But I was not allowed to come with him. My people want our kind to limit their associations with other intelligent species to the bare minimum, and my presence here was not considered necessary. Of course, The Xeon Council probably realized that I would have taken the opportunity to study humanity all over the planet, had I come here with Xanthus, and they did not want that to happen.”
“But it seems that their isolationist aims have come to naught,” Jaritz said, logically enough. “Since they obviously had to allow you to come looking for your husband, and you are doing it in the company of Federation Peace Officers.”
Xoraya grinned, and this time it was the grin of a lizard.
“’The best-laid plans of mice and men...’,” she said, once again glancing at Kati, who wondered if the Planetary Spirit of Vultaire with which both she and Xoraya had been in intimate mental contact, had fed information from her mind into the Xeonsaur’s with little regard for privacy.
“Very likely,” muttered The Monk inside her head. “Those Spirits had little concern for such notions; they probably don’t understand the concept of privacy.”
“Did he have extra-planetary visitors come through here?” Mikal asked.
“I suspect that there were those,” Jaritz replied, “but not ones who bothered to report in with us, or park their vessels here at the Space Port.”
He shrugged.
“We’re not a rich planet, nor are we important in any way, so no-one has deemed it essential that we spend the money it would cost us to put up a satellite system to warn us of space ships that have captains rude enough to come down in places other than this Port. Most travellers that we deal with are respectful enough to follow our rules. Since we have very little that anyone might want to steal, we haven’t worried about it unduly.”
“You have a lot of empty real estate on isolated islands, however,” Mikal pointed out. “You might want to think about that, considering that certain lawless types along the Space Trade Lanes seem to have picked up a habit of arranging for rendezvous spots on sparsely populated planets near the main routes. Tarangay is close enough to Federation Space that arrangements could certainly be made to include you among those we protect.”
He expected an argument from the Customs Officer, but none came. Instead, to his surprise, Jaritz nodded.
“It may come to that. We’re a stubborn, independent people, but lately things around us have been changing. It’s not just what happened to Scientist Hsiss’ lab; there have been other disturbing occurrences on planet. Our Island Governor has begun to talk about asking for Federation aid, and many of the Free Traders we deal with are telling us that we should get to it. Trouble is that we don’t have an overarching central authority which could make the decision for all of us. We’re basically a bunch of scattered Principalities, each with our own forms of governance.”
“You’ll need to get representatives of all of them together,” Mikal said. “They’ll need to talk this out, and make a decision. If you think that they could use help doing this, I can ask my superiors to pass word to the appropriate parts of the Federation government to facilitate the process any way that they can.”
“You may want to talk to the Council Members of Maldos Chain before you make any reports,” Jaritz objected. “What they have to say may be of interest both to Madame Hsiss, and to yourself, as a Federation Agent.”
He stood up, apparently having said all that he was willing to say. He reiterated that Davitz could provide copies of the records of Xanthus Hsiss’ comings and goings, and Kati took the hint by walking over to the counter where the young man was, now seated and studying something on a small screen, since there were no incomers or out-goers requiring his attention.
She put her request to him, and he was prepared for it
, handing her a small pile of printed sheets from a shelf under the counter.
“If you people are headed for the Maldos Chain, the flits your companions are renting are equipped with planetary charts. Simply request the co-ordinates for the Chain, and the machines will guide your pilots there.”
“Sounds like you’re used to dealing with people looking into the Scientist Hsiss’ doings,” Kati said lightly. “You’re quite prepared for us.”
Davitz laughed, a touch ruefully.
“No, but we realized that it was only a matter of time before someone would come looking into the affair, so we prepared for it,” he replied. “We were, in fact expecting a heavier assault. The Xeonsaurs don’t seem to have been too upset about the kidnapping, and the possible murder of their national, it seems. Some other worlds would have descended on us with Peace Officers if we were lucky, and well-armed soldiers if we were not.”
“The Xeonsaurs are long-lived, and can afford to take a view of things that leaves us short-lives completely muddled,” Kati said. “But they did allow Madame Hsiss to come looking for her Life-Mate in spite of their xenophobic tendencies. And the Federation has a stake in the matter, since it involves the breaking of certain of their laws, not just along the Space Trade Lanes, but on member planets.”
“I certainly hope that we here on Tarangay get our act together and manage to bring ourselves into some kind of a protective arrangement with the Federation,” Davitz said with surprising fervour. “The criminals of the Space Lanes have noticed us it seems, and that’s not a comfortable position to be in, no matter how much a world likes its independence.”
“Especially if a world likes its independence,” Kati stated, remembering the rendezvous point that the space criminals had set up on the Drowned Planet, and where she and Mikal had run away from Gorsh’s ship. The location had been close to the tunnels belonging to a small underground population of sentients who had kept themselves apart from the rest of the planet’s population by hiding under the mountains. At the time it had proved a fortunate circumstance for Kati and Mikal, but the thought of the criminals discovering the presence of the peaceful Kitfi was enough to still make Kati shudder, even though the danger of that happening had been over as soon as Mikal had alerted the Federation to it.
She turned to Mikal and Xoraya as they approached.
“Well, let’s see what Llon and Lank managed to do in the way of obtaining transportation for us,” Mikal said heartily.
He was looking out the large doors which would take them planetside. The flit and flyer rental business was right there; anyone leaving the Customs shed had to, at the very least, walk right by it. Kati, dialling her node-enhanced sight up, could see their companions farther along, piling their luggage into two separate flits. For a moment she wondered why they hadn’t rented a flyer instead; a flyer could have accommodated all five of them. But perhaps having two vehicles made sense; it allowed them to divide the group—and the investigation—into two, should that seem advisable. A flit could accommodate three people, if under slightly cramped circumstances if someone was hefty, so two flits were adequate for their purposes.
“Looks like they’ve solved the transportation problem,” Kati said. “Do we deal with accommodation next, or do we head immediately to this Maldos Chain and find out what’s what?”
“Davitz,” Mikal said, turning to the young Customs Officer. “Do you know if there’s a town on the Maldos Chain with accommodation for travellers, or should we settle into Plenty before we continue our investigation?”
“Oh, there’s a Lodge with rooms and a rocking barroom in the principal town,” Davitz laughed. “This is Tarangay, after all! But if you’re looking for real comfort and a good time, I would recommend Plenty; it’s the liveliest town in this section of the Archipelago.”
“I think the good times will have to keep until our next visit,” Mikal responded. “Unless something comes up to indicate we should do otherwise, we’ll head for the Maldos Chain. Our work awaits.”
With a friendly salute to the young man, he steered the women outside.
Kati breathed in the warm, salty air, sniffing the mixture of the ocean and land odours, delighted to be out of the Spacebird, as well as away from the Space Station which had been their last stop.
“Ah, it’s good to be planetside again,” murmured Mikal beside her, echoing her feelings, and Xoraya, on his other side laughed in her melodious manner.
“My sentiments exactly,” she concurred. “Even if this is an ocean world, and not like the dry, desert environment that I grew up in. There’s nothing like solid ground under a person’s feet to make her feel rooted.”
“Although we’ll be up in the air in no time, by the look of what Lank and Llon have achieved in a short time,” Kati exclaimed. “Maldos Chain, here we come!”
“These two flits were a much better deal than one moderately large flyer would have been,” Llon explained when the trio reached the vehicles. “Plus it occurred to us that it might make sense to divide up our forces occasionally, rather than all of us wander around in a large, unwieldy group. Besides, this is Lank’s home world; he might want to take the opportunity to peek in on old comrades, or....” He let his words die out without finishing the thought.
“I checked the flit maps, and we’re not really all that far from the island that I grew up on,” Lank explained. “I didn’t think it was far, since I remember coming to this one on a boat when I shipped out into space. The boat trip did take a few days, but these flits can move a lot faster than a boat can. If we can spare the time, I wouldn’t mind visiting my Mum’s grave, and maybe say hello to Conny who taught me to play the flute.”
“We’ll make the time, Lank,” Kati said immediately. “At least one of us, maybe me, will come with you. I’m sure we can manage such a small diversion.”
She shot a challenging look at Mikal, who grinned back at her, not in the least annoyed.
“You’re right, love,” he said. “It would be ridiculous to be so work-driven as to refuse to allow Lank a chance to take a look at his old stomping grounds, and to visit his mother’s grave. And you’re the logical person to accompany him, Kati. We’ll put the trip on our agenda, once we’ve figured out what’s what on the Maldos Chain, and have obtained rooms for the night in the Principality.”
They got on with it.
Mikal chose to pilot the flit that contained his and Xoraya’s bags; Lank and Llon had stuffed those of the other three into the second one, and they settled into it, with Lank, as the local, doing the flying. Kati understood why Mikal was sticking close to the Xeonsaur woman; as the one true member of the Star Federation Peace Officer Corps, he felt honour bound to protect her. Besides, the Lizard woman was in no way a competitor for Mikal’s affection, she knew. Mikal considered her an asexual creature, beautiful, intelligent, and fascinating, but not a creature to be bedded, even had he been in the market for a bed partner. Which he was not; he had one in Kati, and Mikal was a loyal lover. Which was one of the reasons why Kati cherished him, and was totally beholden to him, on her side.
*****
Maldosa, the main town of the Maldos Chain was located on the largest of the islands. The Chain, indeed was a rocky one; there were plenty of islets that boasted nothing in the way of vegetation taller than grasses, some of them mere bare expanses of rock, washed clean by passing storms. But the Chain was a long one, extending out in an arc from the Archipelago, and most of the bare rocks were at the outer end, while the nearer islands, even the smaller ones, seemed to have at least a few habitations on them, surrounded by gardens which, in turn, were sheltered from the prevailing winds by rows of trees obviously planted for the purpose. Kati wondered what sort of a rock Xanthus Hsiss had ended up on with his laboratory; a mere windswept promontory, perhaps? But then, he probably had the technical knowhow, and the means to anchor his building on such rock, in such a way that not even the strongest gales could uproot it.
“This Principality is sad even
by Tarangay standards,” Lank muttered from the pilot’s chair, as they overflew the Chain, zeroing in on the largest island, lush by the local standards, and the settlement which hugged its leeward coast.
“Hey, from all the Tarangay music that I’ve become familiar with, I had come to think of this world as some kind of an ocean-bound paradise,” Kati protested. “So far, I haven’t seen a beach yet! I thought that tourists did actually come here to sun and swim, snorkel and surf, and do all those fun things people do beside, and on, the sea.”
“We’re on the wrong part of the Long Archipelago,” Lank laughed. “As well as on the wrong Archipelago. There are resorts, plenty of them, to the north of us, closer to the Equator, and there’s what’s known as the Circular Archipelago, about a third of the globe to the east, and just north of the Equator, that’s completely made up of islands with beaches and some fascinating flora and fauna. Why it doesn’t have its own Space Port has always been a mystery to me; the folk on the island I’m from, used to say that the inhabitants of the Circular Archipelago had always had things easy, were used to the indolent life, and couldn’t be bothered to organize something like a Space Port. So they left it for the people of Greyrock, the Island Principality with the Space Port, to welcome the tourists, and to ferry them to their part of the world. The Greyrockians don’t mind, of course; they’re happy to have the commerce.”
“How stormy is the ocean?” Llon wanted to know.
“It gets pretty wicked in the spring and in the fall,” Lank answered. “Not that there’s all that much difference between summer and winter, even this far south of the Equator, since all the water keeps the temperatures pretty steady. It’s winter now, and I suppose that both of you have known winters that are nothing like this, on other worlds. But the seasonal changes do breed storms; pretty well all outdoor activity, especially travel between the Archipelagos, dies down during the two storm seasons. Wherever you happen to be then, is where you’re stuck, until the weather clears again.”
Showdown on the Planet of the Slavers Page 8
