A Pattern of Details

by James Matt Cox

  "Exactly," said Morris, "We as the Guilds maintain absolute neutrality and guarantee availability to any and every citizen of the League, without exception!" That should handle Harkin's assertion of politics and the Guilds!

  "So what about citizens, worlds and systems not allied with the League," asked Harkin.

  Or not, thought Morris. "That depends on how close they are to membership or on sanction and contract. Or on whether or not the League deems them a threat to its sovereignty."

  "And so my point," said Harkin, smiling like a predator, "Consider the myriads of worlds abandoned when the Imperium collapsed. All of them lost some technology and many lost a lot. I doubt anyone here," he eyed Jackson and Lace, "would deny that the 'decadent' Imperial worlds depended on their technology for survival.

  "So. Picture these worlds during the Collapse and Interim. Our capitol Metropole managed to retain most of its technology. That along with the available resources in Sector Prime made it a viable nucleus for the formation of the League.

  "That is when the Guilds formed. That is when they coalesced around the principle of universal access. Even when it wasn't popular or convenient they lived by it and at times died by it."

  "True," said Morris, "but it still doesn't explain how the guild is political!"

  "Again," said Harkin, "look outside the League. Most of the worlds and governments there are far less advanced. What kind of inducement is full access to League tech along with a corps of experts to explain and maintain it to a world that can barely feed or cure its own citizens?"

  "That's truth and simple," said Jackson, "I was on the Survey mission to the Rainbow Island Coalition."

  The big man's effusive mien vanished as he spoke.

  "We landed on Reval first. They were total savages. Even worse than the Esavians and less civilized too."

  Everyone grimaced at that. The Esavians occupied a group of worlds close to the Mekhajan Collective and extending to the space between the League and its ally the Semid Federation. The Esavians constantly bickered and fought among themselves but would unite in an instant against any imagined slight against them or their religion.

  "They were all clustered around areas that hadn't been hit by Imperial biotorps," continued Jackson, "but plenty of them just wandered and raided the rest. The largest tribe was just over eight hundred and they were only half-starving because they actually managed to grow some food. Not much, though, and bloody little in the way of medicinals.

  "We had hades' own time contacting them. When we did, though, all they could think about was our 'magic storm sticks' that would help them conquer the groups closest to them and take their food. Once they found out they could trade for them they'd have given anything down to their children to have them."

  Jackson fell silent and looked down. Lace put her hand on his shoulder.

  "How awful," she said, softly and with genuine sympathy.

  "I know," said Jackson, "They're a lot more civilized now. That's why we do what we do." He looked at Morris. "Moe, Culle's right. Granting or withholding Guild service is more powerful than the whole League Navy. That's why the Statutes and Directives are so strong. Think you can live with it?"

  Morris grimaced. "I really don't have a choice." He felt soiled.

  "The integrity of the guild members," added Harkin, "is what keeps their power from being abused. So far you all have done a six-sigma excellent job of it, too."

  "He's right," said Jackson, "What's more, it overlaps into folks who aren't even Guild members. That says a lot."

  "I suppose I can live with that, then," said Morris, smiling.

  "Good," said Jackson, "'Cause tomorrow I'll be asking if it's a valid use of that power!"

  Keyson yawned. "Flames. I hate to be a cold seven, folks, but I had a long day. That innocent-looking Tech is a taskmaster who won't quit. Pray he doesn't target you next!"

  She winked as she said it and Morris didn't blush too badly. After she left he teamed up with Lace against Harkin and Jackson in a quick game of two-across. Their second game dwindled as Jackson recounted more of his mission.

  Morris read about the Rainbow Island mission, of course, as did all the other Techs. Two of their own along with seven other civilians lost their lives. The furor within the Guilds almost spilled out and into politics. Though not strictly classified many of the details were tightly held until well after the initial mission. Now the Rainbow Island Coalition was on the path to full League membership but things had been touchy for a long time. Morris' respect for Jackson climbed for his surviving it.

  Jackson left not long after and Lace accompanied him. Morris continued talking with Harkin; for a non-member the man had incredible knowledge of the Guilds and their history.

  Harkin yawned. "Frost. As interesting as this conversation is I fear I must leave it. I'm tired."

  To Morris' amazement he and Harkin were alone save for Delroy.

  "I enjoyed it too."

  "I'm glad. It's not easy debating you, Morris. When you open up you unload the whole magazine."

  Morris watched Harkin leave. He felt tired but not enough so to go to sleep yet. The ship's library held nothing of interest, nor did the single-player hologames.

  Delroy stretched mightily at her holocad and lit a drugstick. She spared Morris not a glance but he caught a glimpse of her display, and recognized it.

  "What," asked Delroy coldly when Morris sat across the 'cad.

  "That's a Racefort diagram, isn't it?"

  She refined the model. "What do you know about them?" She still didn't look up.

  "I... We use them in fault-tolerance analysis."

  She remained silent a long time.

  "And," she finally asked.

  "That's all."

  She didn't respond. After a moment she blanked the display, looked up and stared silently at him. Uncomfortable now Morris rose and left for his room. He felt her eyes on his back until the portal slid shut behind him.

  Chapter 4. A Night On The Town

  "We're too efficient," said Keyson, "We'll be unlinking late tonight or tomorrow and there's not a lot of time to do anything. The Commander wants us both on call today."

  "That's fine," said Morris, "Is there any restriction on where?"

  "No, silly! I was planning on studying for my cert. Wanna help?"

  "Of course."

  "Oh, before we start I have a question. What exactly is your and Jared's obsession with temperature?"

  Blushing brightly Morris recounted the tale.

  "And I wasn't even in contention!"

  "Only because you'd melt the others."

  Keyson stuck out her tongue and powered up her terminal.

  ***

  "So," said Jackson, putting aside the meager remains of his dessert, "Is the use of universal access a fair tool in politics outside the League?"

  "Define fair," said Keyson.

  "It depends on which Guild," said Lace.

  "Absolutely," added Harkin.

  "Fair or not," said Morris, "it is fact."

  Before long the discussion turned intense. Morris enjoyed it as much for insight as anything else. He lived as a part of the the Guild every day and he learned a lot from the others outside it.

  "I can't agree with that," said Lace, "If the entire planet didn't want a chapter of the Merchant's Guild they should have stayed away! That was no reason to restrict League membership."

  "Tell that to a Guild merchant," said Keyson sotto voce.

  "It was every reason," said Jackson, "Jena, universal access means universal access. The locals were gravely mistaken about Guild impact on local commerce."

  "But they didn't know that!"

  "I agree with Jared," said Morris, "What if it had been the Healer's Guild? Full access is one of the strongest mandates in the League Charter and it's there for a reason. It's been tested again and again. Check the archives for the early League, back when they were willing to make exceptions. None of them turned out well."

&
nbsp; In the subsequent and now-reanimated discussion Morris learned that Jackson, a physician, had registered with the Healer's Guild though not as a full member.

  Midafternoon Blakeschiff gathered everyone for unlinking. Morris thought this excessive but Keyson disagreed.

  "I know we took the waypoint on the smooth," she said, "but we've still built up a lot of jitter. Bet me some metal we don't link deeper after Spigot. Besides, if we do need any hard-fast corrections when we drop out I want you in the forward segment."

  He agreed to that, albeit reluctantly. Any competent pilot or astrogator routinely planned linkspace exits well outside any possible danger at the destination. Morris ended up strapped in next to Jackson who showed his concern for any possible massive disaster by shifting slightly and going to sleep. Lace chuckled when he started snoring.

  Unlinking woke Jackson, who grunted, and made Lace wrinkle her face. Harkin swallowed hard twice and Morris saw no reaction from Delroy. As soon as Kody unstrapped her she headed for her holocad. Morris rose and left for engineering.

  "I'm studying," said Keyson, "but I have some logs to update. I also have to log the link drive and the Commander won't want visitors present for that. Sorry studpanther."

  "Growl growl," said Morris, disappointed but hiding it, "Negative problem. Navy protocols."

  She winked and nodded and Morris left. He could have asserted his certification and stayed but to no useful end. Naval regulations forbade anyone except the chief engineer from accessing the raw drive logs. He knew not whether from fear of smuggling or simple audit tracking nor did he care.

  Outside the lounge Morris heard the buzz of tense conversation through the door. He waited for a pause before entering. Delroy sat at the holocad, visibly upset about something and Lace stood across from her. Morris started to leave but Delroy spotted him followed by Lace almost immediately afterward.

  Lace recovered her aplomb quickly but Morris still sensed a thread of anger. She took his hand and pulled him toward the game table. Wordlessly Delroy powered down the 'cad, rose and left the room.

  "Hi," said Lace, "Are you and Lydia finished or are you starting here next?" She spoke lightly and smiled.

  "I... We're done. Lydia is working on drive logs."

  "Good. You two work entirely too hard. Do you play Imperium?"

  "Badly."

  "Good," she smiled, "then I may actually have a chance."

  She configured the board and gave him the first move. She botched her third move giving him an incredible advantage, made a face and lit a drugstick.

  "Frost. I hope you don't slaughter me with that." Then, when she saw him looking at the 'stick, "I hope you don't mind."

  "No," he said, "but why?"

  "Silly habit," she said offhandedly, "Back during my school days I..."

  "Wrong question," interrupted Morris, "Why now?"

  She met his eyes a moment then looked down.

  "Old demons," she said, "resurrected by idle confinement."

  Four moves later she managed to negate the advantage she gave him and she put up a brutal fight to the very last move.

  "Badly my duff," she said, smiling genuinely, "You're a sandshark on a slow river, Seigneur Tech." Her smile faded a little. "I envy you."

  "What?!"

  "No matter where you go you're always welcome and even when there's nothing to do you find something."

  Go on, urged Morris.

  "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do on this little excursion. I know, 'Teach students in Halcyon' but nothing past that. I have no idea what to prepare and no way of finding out. You manage to finish your work and make time to help Lydia with hers."

  "It's... It's not as easy as you make it sound," he said, remembering.

  "But you make it look effortless." She took a hard pull on the 'stick and exhaled away from him. "I know you don't have any more of a clue than me what we're doing but I would swear, sig and seal that you do."

  Unsure of what to say Morris remained silent. Lace finished the 'stick, reached out and patted his hand.

  "Thank you," she said.

  "Welcome. Umm... For what?"

  "Listening."

  ***

  Dinner conversation that evening was subdued. Mallory Harper announced they'd ground on Spigot the next day and that they had a lot of jitter to correct. With a careful look to details Morris detected several tense undercurrents at the table. Most came from the fact that everyone aboard wanted off the ship, if only for a little while. After dinner they left for their cabins and Morris found himself alone with Delroy.

  "Yes," asked Delroy curtly when Morris sat in front of the 'cad.

  "Tell me about your diagram," he said flatly.

  "Why," she asked, tone incurious but not cold.

  "Because I'm interested."

  "Tell me about Racefort diagrams," she said.

  "We use them for fault-tolerance assessment and minimization." He indicated several curls. "These represent measurable analytic factors. With an accurate enough reading they can be used to project performance and to get a handle on component failure."

  "What kind of factors?"

  "Torque, vibration, shear, frequency, heat and heat stress, ductility, impedance..."

  "If you know all that why are you bothering me?" Now her expression turned impatient. "In fact theory this is a standard informational model. If you're that curious why don't you just study up on it?"

  Delroy turned back to her console. When Morris made no move to leave she looked up again.

  "I don't want to talk," she said flatly, "I don't want to explain, I just want to finish my job and go home. All right?"

  Although she didn't raise her voice Delroy might as well have shouted. Morris shrugged, stood and left the room.

  Morris found Lydia in her office, working hard at the console. He turned to leave but she caught the movement.

  "Morris. Hey. Come in. I'm finished with the raw logs, I'm just doing some detail work now."

  When he sat her expression turned serious.

  "What happened, Morris?"

  Morris gathered his thoughts, organized them and told her.

  "Whoof! You sure don't go for the easy solves." She thought a moment. "Doctor Delroy is a cold fish. I'm not sure what her problem is but I don't even think she has an 'open up' side. Why did you even try?"

  He shrugged. She half-chuckled.

  "Listen," she said, "you don't go from simple algebra to non-closure calculus in one step. If you really want to practice, try the others. You've come a long way but that's a challenge even I wouldn't want to face. If you really want to work try the Commander. At worst he'll just tell you to go away and ignore you."

  That made Morris chuckle. "Thank you."

  She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "You're quite welcome."

  Keyson turned back to her console and Morris rose. Before he left she spoke.

  "So. Would you like to strip naked, roll in honey and do what comes naturally?"

  "Skip the honey," he managed, "too sticky."

  He heard her laughing until he closed the hatch behind him.

  ***

  Morris spent the next morning with Keyson, detailing the engines. At lunch Blakeschiff announced slightly over two hours until planetfall so Morris elected to stay in the lounge. Forty-five minutes before maneuvers he helped Kody strap everyone in and once again Jackson went to sleep.

  Harper brought them down with a gee-and-a-half spiral. Jackson muttered something and shifted his position but didn't wake. Morris simply closed his eyes and tried to feel the delicate changes Harper made to their position. Lace made a comment Morris pretended not to hear.

  "Planetfall complete," announced Blakeschiff, "Secure from landing positions."

  Morris unstrapped but didn't rise. Even though they had grounded they still needed to maneuver into a berth. Lace half-stood when they did. She plopped back into her seat with an imprecation Morris was glad not to hear.

  Within an hour M
orris stood beside the port building with nothing much to do. Customs cleared them as a formality and he had no paperwork to do. He thought about billeting in the Navy transient barracks with the others but Spigot Down's Guildhall sat across the plaza from the 'port.

  Securing quarters took no time at all. The local supervisor, a man named Brace, checked Morris' ident against the mission brief and handed him a keycard. With that done Morris set about locating the tools he'd need to repair Jackson's and Lace's artifacts.

  While there was no standard Imperium Relic Repair Kit Morris knew exactly what he needed. Unfortunately the Hall's supply was already checked out but after a professionally short conversation he found he could simply purchase them and where.

  Morris enjoyed his brief tour of Spigot. The gravity was a bit more and the atmosphere smelled strange but everything else was familiar. No surprise there; he would say the same of the worlds on which he'd served before transferring to Dracos.

  Back at the Guildhall Morris found a message from Brace.

  "Ahh, Technician. I didn't expect you back this soon. I realize you're on Navy duty at the moment but I have an urgent repair and no Techs available for it. Do you mind?"

  "Of course not, sir." That puzzled Morris: Guild Techs were Guild Techs, no matter what planet or assignment. "You'll need to check with Commander Blakeschiff."

  "I've done so." Brace showed the sig and seal. "The job shouldn't take more than a day and you have two here."

  Morris nodded and Brace handed him a datacube.

  "You can study this on the way there. It's a three-hour trip and I need you there soonest."

  "I'm ready now," said Morris, signing Brace's datapad and giving his rets.

  ***

  Brace's urgent assignment turned into a fusion power and water purification plant on a remote island city. Morris had the repair half-finished by that evening when someone appeared to escort him to his room. Completing it took a small part of the next morning.

  "Amazing," said the city manager, "Signor Brace seemed to think this would take a long time."

  Morris shrugged and accepted the paychit and bonus.

  Back at the Guildhall Morris logged the assignment complete and deposited the chit. He kept part of the bonus, just in case, and deposited the rest. He also found five messages and a delivery. The first was a dinner invitation from Lace for the previous night. The second was a note accusing him of working too hard and the rest similar missives from Keyson, Jackson and Harkin.