Crisis On Doona Part 8

"I must seek my quarters. How can you possibly look so - - so hearty?" His manner abruptly turned accusing.

"Clean living,' Todd said jokingly. "But I a.s.sure you that when I finally see my quarters, I shall not move for two days."

"Yes, well, I checked your record-just to know the facts, you see,' the Terran put in quickly, with a shamed expression. "I apologize. I will never again doubt anything you tell me. Twelve point four three meters! How I wish I'd seen that fight."

"It was a good one,' Todd said with quiet satisfaction.

"It must have been." Jilamey smiled with genuine good humor.

"You're too much to be true, Todd Reeve, but I'd rather you beside me in the Hunt than anyone else I've ever met on any world."

"Thanks,' Todd said, shaking the hand Jilamey held out to him. "It'd be an honor." Landreau shook hands with Hrriss, too, and staggered off toward the guest accommodations.

"I could wish that another of his stripe would rea.s.sess our honor,' Hrriss said.

"Let's just hope that one suddenly doesn't appear on any panel of inquiry you and I have to face, Todd replied. "He doesn't think much about Reeve honor and that's all we've got: honor."

CHAPTER 3.

A LOUD CLAT'I'ERING AND ThE FEEL OF rough hands woke Todd from a sound sleep.

There were men in blue uniforms leaning over him, shouting in loud voices and shaking his shoulders.

It revived an old nightmare he had had the first time he'd seen those uniforms, twenty-five years before. They were s.p.a.cedep marines, the same units that had accompanied Landreau to Doona, to round up the colonists so they could be sent back to Earth. For a moment he was six years old again, the giant snakes were being herded through the village under Landreau's order, and his family was in danger. The Hrrubans, including Hrruna, the greatest, most important of them all, were behind him. He had to hurry to save the other Humans.

He raised his hand to keep the soldier from grabbing him again to hustle him away to the convoy ship. An adult arm interceded, and the marine stepped back. Todd stared at the arm. Was it his father's?

No, it was his own. In a moment, reality rea.s.serted itself, and Todd calmed down. He was grown-up and could protect himself. There was no need to a.s.sume immediately that anything was wrong. The marine was waiting a few feet away from the bed. His fellows stood in the doorway.

Todd could see his mother and father just behind them. Pat looked worried, and Ken furious.

"Todd Reeve,' the marine said, reading from the plastic film containing his orders. "You are instructed to accompany us to the presence of the Treaty Councillors."

"Certainly, gentlemen,' Todd said, throwing off the blanket. "Allow me a moment to dress?" Todd had gone to bed only an hour before sunrise. Once the remaining guests went home with their hosts, he and the other volunteers who could still stand had spent several hours cleaning up. The Hunters among them had had no sleep since the niglit before, and they were weary. Hrriss had been reeling with fatigue when he mounted up to head toward the bridge to go home. Todd was glad that he lived so close to the a.s.sembly Hall.

Much farther, and he'd be spending the night curled up where he dropped from exhaustion. He barely managed to strip off his new silk shirt and hang it up before falling into bed. His good trousers hadn't fared so well, hiking to his knees under the blanket when he thrust his legs down. He had been too exhausted to straighten them out before he dropped off to sleep. The guards waited impatiently while he splashed some water on his face and shaved quickly.

It would seem that matters had taken a turn for the worse while he slept. A marine guard meant that the Treaty violation was now being addressed.

He hoped truth would be all the defense he and Hrriss would need before a panel of inquiry.

The sky still wore the pale, moist veil of early morning when Todd reached the pad where the AThatross stood. Hrriss was already there, standing under the chill sky between his father, Hrrestan, and Commander Rogitel, a.s.sistant director of s.p.a.cedep. Ken Reeve had wanted to accompany his son, but the marine sergeant had denied him.

Todd was relieved to see that at least Hu Shih, as leader of the Human settlers, was present. The old man's clothes were rumpled, as if he had hastily grabbed the nearest to hand. He was talking in a low worried tone with a small woman wearing a long robe tagged with the insignia of a Councillor.

So, Todd thought, one of the Treaty Councillors had been called away from the crucial negotiations to be present when the ship was opened. From her weary expression, she had been waiting a long time.

She was a small, elderly woman with dark skin and dark gray-shot curls which cl.u.s.tered closely around her head. Treaty Island was not so much an island as a minor continent which lay in the southern oceans a third of the way around Doona, which made this hour midday for her.

Todd could have wished it were midday here and he'd been able to get enough sleep to keep his wits about him.

Hrriss looked expressionless, which meant to his old friend that he was deeply concerned. The glance he exchanged with Todd emphasized the fact that the situation was as bad as it could be. It would have been much better for both Todd and Hrriss had they been able to approach the Treaty Council of their own volition-which they had planned to do once the Hunt was over. But, despite his feelings of foreboding at the precipitous manner, he and Hrriss had the truth to support their actions. It was only that Landreau, and others, had been waiting for just such an incident. The presence of marines magnified the incident out of proportion.

The presence of Rogitel, one of Landreau's senior lieutenants on hand, meant that the Council had to convene an inquiry: just as Kelly had warned.

"Councillor Dupuis,' Rogitel said, bowing slightly to her, "the perpetrators are now present."

"It has only just come to our attention,' Councillor Dupuis said in a withering tone, "that this ship has violated the Treaty.

"Hrriss and I reported the incident as soon as we landed, Councillor,' Todd said politely. "Accordingly, the vessel was sealed. "The Treaty, as a condition of the Amalgamated Worlds charter, requires all ships to be inspected after out-systems flights upon landing.

Postflight inspection is a requirement under the law, if for no other reason than fumigation and irradiation, and inspection of the ship's log."

"Madam,' Hrrestan began politely, holding up a hand to stay the marine's action, "if this is merely postflight inspection, why have the soldiers been brought here and why is this gentleman present?" The Hrruban indicated Rogitel.

"We received information that this ship did not undergo a postflight inspection, that it has been sealed for two weeks, and may be involved in a Treaty violation,' the Councillor said. She answered Hrrestan in the formal Hrruban of diplomacy, a courtesy which boded no good at all.

"Naturally Commander Rogitel as s.p.a.cedep's representative is present. The violation is alleged to involve an uninhabited satellite of a star system." Todd felt his spirits sink to a new low. Leaving the Albatross sealed was no crime, and indeed, such postflight inspections were not always completed in a timely fashion. As long as the ship had been sealed, the inspectors didn't much mind. Ken and Hu Shih had been informed of the incident; they had told Hrrestan, who was scarcely likely, even under the stringent codes of honor under which Hrrubans operated, to jeopardize his only child. No one else should have had that information. Ken and Hu might have been annoyed that the two friends had told Kelly, but she'd've told no one, knowing how very serious this could be. So who could have leaked that information?

Clearly only those who had set the trap into which Todd and Hrriss had fallen.

"A serrious charrge this is,' Hrrestan said, also in the formal tongue. He sounded calm, but his pupils were slitted to mere lines, a sure sign that the older Hrruban was deeply troubled.

"Serious, indeed,' Councillor Dupuis said. "I require a deposition from the ship's crew before the ship is unsealed."

"I trust,' Commander Rogitel put in so suavely that his manner alarmed Todd, "that there has been no tampering with that seal?"

"Examine it yourself, Commander Rogitel,' Hu Shib said, very much on his dignity at hearing such aspersions cast.

"Hmm, it looks untouched,' Rogitel said, taking a long time peering at the seal, though he didn't touch it.

"Reeve! Hrriss!" The Councillor waved them forward to the sealed hatch. "Do you swear and affirm that you took nothing out of this ship besides articles of clothing and personal effects?" They nodded solemnly, raising their right hands simultaneously. "That the contents listed here on the landing manifest were signed by the landing supervisor at the time of disembarkation?"

"I do,' Todd said with a formal bow.

"I do,' Hrriss echoed with an equally formal bow.

hth a gesture, the Councillor ordered the marine sergeant to break the seal. As he touched the control pad, the hatch slid back, and a whoosh of stale air made those nearest, including the Councillor, recoil. Todd thought that that was one mark on their side as he saw Dupuis recognize what that implied. Lights came up inside the Albatross and the sergeant stepped politely aside as the ramp extruded the few feet to the ground. The port workers swarmed aboard to do the fumigation routine. They were as quick as they were efficient and very shortly left the ship with a nod from the foreman that their task was completed.

The Councillor acknowledged this and then gestured for Todd and Hrriss to follow her into the Albatross. Rogitel followed them, still wearing that blandly smug expression. While he wasn't like his superior, Landreau, who bl.u.s.tered when angry, Rogitel was coolheaded and very quiet, a dangerously misleading trait, which tempted the unwary to talk in his presence under the delusion that he wasn't listening. Rogitel missed little, and he shared Landreau's bitter feelings about Doona.

Kelly's warning about him was all too timely.

"This is a very serious matter,' the Councillor said as they followed her to the cabin of the Albatross while the ventilation system sucked away the fumigation mist. "We have incontrovertible information, gleaned from the orbiting buoy around Hrrilnorr system, that a ship, now identified as the Albatross, pa.s.sed through the perimeter of that system. Both of you should know,' and she paused to make plain her point that they should know, "that Hrrilnorr is a proscribed system and may not be entered. Do you have any explanation that will justify such a violation?"

"Yes, we did enter that system, ma'am,' Todd said without the slightest apology in his tone.

Rogitel raised an eyebrow very slightly and sucked in his pale cheeks at such an open admission of guilt. "In response to a Mayday message broadcasting over the emergency frequency. Our log tape shows a bolo of the object broadcasting that Mayday and we both felt justified, in that circ.u.mstance, to enter a proscribed system and render such aid as was needed. In view of the proscription, Hrriss, as a Hrruban citizen, answered the appeal If you will view the log tapes, Councillor, I'm certain you will agree that our action was justified." Todd gestured for her to precede him to the cargo bay.

The Councillor pursed her thin lips, but there was an element of surprise in her manner as she moved down the short corridor, with Todd, Hrriss, Rogitel, and the marines following. "Then of course I will inspect your log tapes. If you were answering a Mayday, this puts an entirely different complexion on the matter. But it would have been wiser,' and she pinned them with a harsh stare, "to have reported the mafler sooner, rather than later."

"The Hunt, ma'am, is of great importance to Doona, and Hrriss and I were responsible for its success,' Todd said, not so much in apology as in explanation.

Dupuis raised her eyebrows in an expression of disagreement of his priorities.

"What a clever explanation for breaking interdict at Hrrilnorr,' Rogitel said, his eyes cold. "Have you an equally glib explanation for these?" At the commander's gesture, a marine lifted off the panel on the front of the drives cabinet, revealing a number of small packages.

Rogitel tore the wrappings off one and held it up. "Would you mind telling me what this is?" Astonished, Todd stared at the hand-sized lump.

It looked like a free-form rock swirled with multiple colors, like sunshine on oil. He'd seen something like it on educational tapes in school, when they studied the biology of other alien species. "It looks . . . like a cotopoid egg case." Todd felt sick.

Cotopoid egg cases were priceless and rarely available on any legitimate market, since they were artifacts of another interdicted system.

"Now, tell me how it got there, behind your engine control panel.

"I don't know,' Todd said, staring disbelievingly at the equipment cabinet. "It wasn't there when I last inspected the engines."

"When you last inspected the engines. And when was that?" Rogitel asked.

"Remember, you are speaking before the Treaty Councillkor."

"Before we took off from Doona,' Todd replied, his mind racing. When had these incriminating packages been inserted in the control panels?

On Doona where a mechanic in s.p.a.cedep's pay would have had access to the Albatross? Or on Hrretha during that second, totally redundant "servicing'?

"And these?" the s.p.a.cedep official demanded.

"What about these?" There seemed to be dozens of small artifacts shoved between the elements of the machinery. When the marines removed other panels, still more bags and bottles were revealed.

Some were opened to expose objects of great value and rarity, also from interdicted systems.

Part of Todd's bewilderment reflected a droll amus.e.m.e.nt at the sheer volume of purloined valuables that Hrriss and he were supposed to have a.s.sembled. But any amus.e.m.e.nt was soon drowned by the obvious fact that a lot of trouble had gone into framing them with such a widespread cache of illegal treasures.

"I have no idea where any of this came from Todd said in staunch repudiation as he suppresse( the rising anger he felt at such long-planne treachery.

"Such a display would have taken weeks to gather We did not,' Hrriss said with stiff dignity, his tai tip twitching with indignation.

He turned to thi Councillor. "We answered a Mayday call. The tape: will verify this."

"Then how did those get there?" Rogitel demanded as yet another cache was discovered.

"We are not responsible for their presence on th( Albatross,' Todd said, his tone as expressionless al Hrriss's. "There were no such illegal items on boarc this ship when we left Doona. I oversaw the chec myself." Rogitel's heavy lids lowered over cold blue eyes "Then where did they come aboard?" Rogitel asked in a poisonously reasonable tone.

"The Hrrethans insisted on a complimenta service of the Albatross while we were attending the ceremonies there,' Todd said, making no accusations. "When we landed, we reported the incideni to my father.

The portmaster's deputy, Linc Newry, had properly affixed the seal." "That is the lamest explanation you've yet advanced, Reeve,' Rogitel said. "The seals on the hatch were intact. They were placed there not half an hour after the ship had landed, according to the portmaster's log. It would have taken far longer than half an hour for anyone to secrete all these items. Therefore, you two are the only ones capable of concealing the artifacts on this shipsometime between your departure from Doona and your return, via the Hrrilnorr system!' Rogitel was winding himself up to a good display of outraged anger.

"Councillor Dupuis, these young men, so trusted by their parents, have been using their privileged position as trusted messengers of AIreldep to pillage treasures from interdicted planets.

Alreldep will be shocked at the abuse of their trust."

"I am not Alreldep,' Hrriss said coldly. "I am a Hrruban, a citizen of Rrala, on whose behalf I made the journey with Todd Reeve to Hrretha. I answer to the Hrruban High Council of Speakers and to the Treaty Councillors.

Not to s.p.a.cedep."

"I stand reproved,' Rogitel said with noticeable sarcasm. "You shall indeed answer to the Treaty Councillors and your own High Council of Speakers.

Just then, one of the marines pulled the panel "from the last cabinet, the ship's log recorder.

Behind the metal sheet, some of the equipment had been moved to one side to make room for an ovoid white stone, at least a meter high.

It resembled Terran alabaster, except that it had an inner illumination of its own. The s.p.a.cedep official regarded it from a safe distance.

"The very presence of such a gem,' and Hrriss extended his forefinger, claw fully sheathed, at the luminous Byzanian Glow Stone, "supports our innocence. They are only found deep inside the caverns of the planet. The log will show how little time we spent in that system: far too short a span to have landed, searched, and found a Glow Stone of that quality. Further,' he went on, holding up his hand, "they are why the system is proscribed. The effects of the mineral's emissions are not yet fully investigated."

"But their possible danger makes them all the more collectible,' Rogitel said, an air of triumph in his stance. "Arrest them!" he ordered the marines who bracketed Hrriss and Todd, weapons drawn.

"We are innocent,' Todd said, standing erect and ignoring his escort.

Hu Shih stepped forward to block the exit. "I protest, Madam Councillor. I have known these young men far too long to entertain for one moment that they are guilty of transgressing a Treaty whose terms they have scrupulously obeyed and upheld for twenty-four years. Or,' and Hu Shih straightened his shoulders in denial, "jeopardize themselves and the world they hold dear by pilfering baubles."

"You call that,- and Rogitel pointed at the Byzanian Glow Stone, "a bauble?"

"It is in my eyes,' Hu Shih said in measured contempt.

"Perhaps,' said Councillor Dupuis, "but this matter has gone from a minor infraction to systematic robbery and the arrest is to proceed." "To that I must concur,' Hu Shih said, bowing to her, "but an armed escort is unnecessary and insulting. I can speak with full confidence that neither Todd nor Hrriss will resist the due process of law.

Councillor Dupuis accepted his statement and gestured for the squad leader to have his men reholster their weapons.

"These . . ." and Dupuis waved at the array of incriminating evidence, "are to be impounded, identified, and placed in the highest security." "Remove that Stone with care,' Hrrestan said to the two marines who were about to lift the Byzanian Stone out of its hiding place.

"Yes,' Rogitel said, stepping in front of Hrrestan and ostentatiously taking charge of the removal.

"Don't touch it with your bare hands or let it touch unprotected skin. Treat it as carefully as you would radioactive substances. And it's heavy."

"What, sir?" asked one of the marines, a glazed expression on his face. He had been standing right beside the Stone since the panel had been opened.

Now the light seemed to pulse, drawing every eye to it.

Shading eyes with one hand and stepping quickly around Rogitel, Hrrestan pulled the man away from the white light. The marine shook his head, looking puzzled.