Crisis On Doona Part 9

"He has been affected by it already. We must all leave before the Stone's effect spreads,' Hrrestan said. "The most noticeable effect it has is an interference with short-term memory." As Hrriss and Todd dutifully proceeded with their escort, Todd caught a glimpse of Rogitel, disconnecting the flight log recorder. He carried it out of the ship cradled in his arms like a bubble made of gla.s.s.

Once the group was outside, technicians sealed the ship once more with fibergla.s.s wafers, and Councillor Dupuis affixed her own seal.

Hrriss and Todd were hustled to a shuttle which had landed while they were inside the Albatross.

"That Glow Stone,' Hrriss murmured as they were led to seats, "affects more than men."

"Quiet there! No conversation between criminals,' Rogitel said, no more the suave diplomat but the acknowledged jailor.

"Criminality has yet to be proved,' Hrriss said as he was pushed into a seat while Todd was taken farther down the aisle before settled.

They were advised to fasten their safety harnesses and were then studiously ignored by the marine guard.

During the entire journey to Treaty Island, no one even offered them anything to eat or drink, although Rogitel and the marines ate a light meal.

Perhaps, Todd thought, sunk in a negative mood, it was as well he and Hrriss could not speak. Rogitel would construe it as collusion to be sure their "explanations' tallied before interrogation. But Todd did not need to speak to Hrriss to know that his friend would be as puzzled as he that dozens of illegal items had been secreted on the Albatross, a ship used almost exclusively by themselves on official tours of duty.

And the positioning of the Byzanian Glow Stone indicated a good try at jamming the recorder. His kick must have tipped the Stone sufficiently to restore the function, but had the Stone's radiation erased the tape? Would the all-important Mayday still be recorded?

Surely machinery was a little less receptive to the Glow Stone's effects than a Human? And the Mayday was the only proof of their innocence right now.

Once the shuttle landed on Treaty Island, the two prisoners were hurried inside the huge Federation Center. Hrriss had only a glimpse of the high, white stone laade before they were rushed up the stairs and through a maze of identical hallways.

There was no sound but the clatter of boot heels on the smooth surface of the floors. The sergeant stopped before a door, its nameplate blank and status sign registering "empty."

"You'll wait here until the Council is ready for you,' the sergeant said. "Food and drink will be brought in a bit."

"That is most considerate,' Hrriss said in Terran Standard. The numbness of shock had receded sufficiently to make him aware of an intense thirst and, less insistent, some hunger.

"You're a Treaty prisoner and the courtesies are observed,' the sergeant said, but Hrriss could see that the man approved of his use of Terran.

Hrriss knew that the military arm of both parent governments was made up of fierce patriots who preferred their own culture in all ways.

It was one of the reasons there was no standing force of any kind of Doona, the symbol of compromise. As the Treaty Organization was trying to maintain a separate but equal method of expansion in trading and colonization, each culture needed to remain independent from the other. That would make a Doonan "army' an unacceptable third force.

"Hear tell you all had some party last night,' the guard said, sounding almost friendly. "What's keeping you?" he added, looking down the hall just as Todd, between his guards, reached the room. "In you go." The escort stood aside to let Todd enter.

"Food and drink coming."

"Thanks, Sergeant,' Todd said, and his stomach rumbled. Whether the sergeant heard that or not was irrelevant, for he closed the door firmly. Both Hrriss and Todd heard the lock mechanism whirr, and the bulb over the door lit up redly.

They also heard the stamp of boots as someone stood to attention outside the room.

The two prisoners turned to view the room. No more than three meters on a side, with a long window running along the wall opposite the door.

A broad table was set underneath the window, a tape reader on its surface but no tapes in it or blanks ready to be used. There were three padded chairs against the wall: a cheerless functional cubicle.

"Are they likely to listen in?" Hrriss asked.

"I doubt it,' Todd said, glancing at the door.

"Looks like a research room, not an interrogation facility, in spite of that tape reader." He had been listening to the sound of his voice. "It's soundproofed. Scholars insist on that as an aid to deep thought and concentration. Fardles, despite what they hauled out of cabinets and crannies on the Albatross, we're still only alleged Treaty breakers, not actual criminals."

"We might as well be, Zodd, with all the treasures Rogitel pulled out of hiding,' Hrriss said gloomily.

"Hu Shih didn't believe we took them. Neither did your father!' Todd began to pace with some agitation. "All the way here I kept trying to remember every time we've left the Albie unguarded and open. Suffering snakes, Hrriss, that stuff could have been planted anytime the last few years.

"Not if proper service checks were carried out, zOdd, and you supervised the last one yourself,' Hrriss reminded him.

"Yeah, so I did. Then the junk has to have been planted during that phony servicing on Hrretha.

There'd've been time to platinum the hull. Furthermore,' and now Todd whirled on Hrriss, pointing his index finger at his friend, "Rogitel was on Hrretha, and lurking close to us all the time. To prevent us from going back to our ship to see just what sort of servicing was being done?" When Hrriss nodded agreement with that thought, Todd continued, "Furthermore, we filed our flight plan, same as always, and, despite that short detour to Hrrilnorr system, we weren't much behind schedule landing back on Doona, were we?" Though Hrriss recognized the validity of that logic, he knew that Todd was talking himself out of despair even as he offered the same hope to Hrriss.

"We always register flight plans,' Hrriss said. "We leave and arrive on time at all destinations."

"So,' and Todd stopped pacing long enough to whirl back to Hrriss, "where do they think we had time to pick up all those juicy little rarities?

Cotopoids are found on only three planets in two systems, if I remember rightly, and none of them on any route we've taken recently.

I can't identify half of the other stuff but,' and now he sighed, "that d.a.m.ned Byzanian Glow Stone is genuine and there's only one place you can come by them and we were orbiting above it."

"All our flight plans are on record,' Hrriss said, finding rea.s.surance in that fact, "and they will prove our innocence. Come, stop pacing. It suggests a guilty mind." Todd plopped down next to Hrriss and shoved the third chair a short distance away so the two of them could share it to prop their feet. Hrriss disposed his tail comfortably through the opening in the rear of his chair and composed himself.

"There's something nagging at me,' Todd said after a few moments.

He circled his hand in the air, trying to catch hold of an elusive thought. "Something Councillor Dupuis said, that they had received information that the Albie had been identified by the Hrrilnorr beacon.

Isn't it a little soon for such to reach Hrruban Security? That beacon didn't dispatch a robot probe when we pa.s.sed it, which is the only way that the data would get here short of a month. It shouldn't have been picked up for another few weeks even by digital rapid-transfer. That's why my father thought that the matter could be deferred until after Snake Hunt." Hrriss yawned broadly, showing fangs, incisors, and grinders that Todd always found an impressive array. "We both know how interdict beacons operate. But there were other people using Hrrilnorr as a warp-jump coordinate. Perhaps they collected the message and reported the infraction."

"Whose side are you on?" Todd demanded, half joking. Hrriss often played devil's advocate when they had to reason through a problem. "A little too coincidental to please me, especially with the Treaty Renewal imminent." Hrriss yawned again.

"Who else was using the Hrrilnorr connection, Hrriss?"

"I do not remember, only that some were.

"But I thought most of the top bra.s.s came by transport grid. And Rogitel is not the type to plan practical jokes. Nor is Landreau, and this thing was planned." Hrriss was working his bottom into the padded seat, trying to make himself comfortable enough to sleep. Todd often wished he had the Hrruban propensity for sleep. Despite their generally high level of activity when awake, they could, and did, take naps anytime opportunity offered.

"I agree,' Hrriss mumbled. He caught himself in the act of falling asleep. "We were promisssed food and drink. I could sleep better with a full belly. But I need sleep to make sense out of this situation. I had only an hour in my bed whenever this morning was. He sat up, suddenly anxious. "I hope my mother will feed the ocelots when evening comes.

If they're not fed, they will go in search of food and raid my neighbor's ssliss coop again.

"You'll be home to feed them yourself,' Todd said.

"I hope so but the ocelots do enjoy ssliss eggs.

"Don't talk about eggs. I'm starved." When Hrriss yawned even more broadly than before, Todd regarded him in disgruntlement. "And, d.a.m.n your lousy furred pelt, you can sleep. I can't when I'm starving.

"Then wake me when the meal comes,' Hrriss advised, and settling himself, his chin dropped to his chest, his hands, so oddly more human than the rest of him, relaxing in his lap while his tail hung slack behind him, the tip only occasionally twitching.

Todd sighed, settling back, legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles on the supporting chair, and began running over the day's happenings. Who had placed those incriminating items on the Albie? He turned to ask what Hrriss thought. Hrriss's breathing had slowed, become steady and shallow. The gentle oscillation of the tip of Hrriss's tail attracted Todd's attention. Its movement was hypnotic and soothing. As Tod watched it, his own eyes grew heavy. After a while, despite his hunger, he dozed off.

"As you can see, Madam Councillor,' Rogitel continued, running the recorded flight log back to the beginning, "the so-called rescue mission to Hrrilnorr was only the last stop in a series of piracies these twO young reprobates committed." Landreau's aide was able to act as prosecutor before the Treaty Council only because noncolonizable Human-claimed planets were kept under the aegis of his department.

Entries in the log of the Albatross suggested that the ship had visited at least three in that category.

The log went through a further playback, projecting its holographic images onto a platform while sound was broadcast through wall speakers. Hu Shih, Hrrestan, Rogitel, and Ken Reeve glowered at the images while Councillor Dupuis's expression was impa.s.sive.

That morning, as soon as the marines had left with Todd in custody, Ken had persuaded Martinson, the portmaster, to let him go to Treaty Island via transport grid, for Martinson had also been called to give a deposition. Now Martinson sat nervously hunched over his folded hands. Allowing the Albatross to go uninspected for so long was a black mark on his record. He, too, was risking censure, even dismissal, if a crime resulted from negligence even by his subordinate, Newry.

"No fewer than eight landings are recorded between the date the scout ship left Doona and the date on which it returned here,' Rogitel said.

"Eight! And only the one on Hrretha legitimate.

Here." He stopped the tape and rewound it. "Here is their so-called rescue, after they had pa.s.sed through the perimeter of Hrrilnorr." The hologram showed the nose of the ship as it approached a distant sun. An audio signal for help crowded by static came out of the speakers. The audio monitors then erupted with the siren call of the interdict alarm, but the ship pa.s.sed without stopping.

Hrriss's voice could be heard responding to the Mayday message.

The print update on the screen showed Hrrilnorr's identification number and location. Then the ship's nose penetrated the cloud layer of the planet's atmosphere.

"Naturally,' Rogitel's insidious voice went on, "the system's buoy did not record the Mayday, since it did not exist. That could so easily be patched into the log by either conspirator. Both have the necessary qualifications.

Then the camera eye upturned for landing, to show the stern of the ship as it touched down on gra.s.soids flattened by the exhaust from the engines.

Councillor Dupuis looked down at her notes for a long moment. Her face showed inner conflict.

"This is far more serious than a simple violation.

There is no choice but to mae an exhaustive formal inquiry into this matter."

"I heartily concur,' Ken Reeve said so emphatically that Rogitel regarded him in stunned amazement. "A formal inquiry that will clear my son and Hrriss of every one of these ridiculous accusations." The Treaty Controller slammed his gavel down on the bench. He was the ranking Hrruban on Doona, and had been nominated to his post by the Third Speaker of the Hrruban High Council. It was a bad time for one of Third's minions to be the senior Councillor on Doona; Third had been against the joint colony from the day Humans were discovered. Ken tried to take comfort in the fact that the Controller was reputed to be a just personage who tried each case on its individual merit.

"Please be silent, Mr. Reeve. We take the log tape in evidence." He addressed the holographic recorder. "This hearing is to decide whether Todd Reeve andlor Hrriss, son of Hrrestan, have violated the Treaty of Doona, and to what degree." Testimony was then taken from Martinson, who explained that the Albatross had gone unsearched two weeks ago due to extenuating circ.u.mstances.

"They were Snake Hunt Masters and I know how much time and planning that takes to prevent trouble. They told the duty officer that they urgently needed to take advice on a protocol matter. Since the ship was scaled and its papers in order, Newry granted their request."

"And is this laxness typical of your administration of your post as portmaster?" Rogitel inquired acidly.

"No, Commander, it is not,' the portmaster said, eyes flashing.

"I've been in this job fifteen years, and I've known Todd and Hrriss all that time. I had no reason to suspect that there was anything out of the ordinary about this landing."

"Whose advice were they in such a hurry to obtain?"

"Mine,' Ken spoke up, and was relieved as he succeeded in making eye contact with the s.p.a.cedep official. Ken held that contact, trying to look the disgust he felt. He had never ceased to dislike and distrust bureaucrats. and Rogitel was nearly as bad an example of the type as Landreau.

"And when were the seals on the hatch cut?" the Treaty Controller wanted to know.

"Not in my presence,' Martinson said in an aggrieved tone. "My a.s.sistant, Lincoln Newry was deputized in my absence, but in something as serious as this I should have been there! I have no idea who else was there. When I did arrive, the ship was already open, with troops pouring all over it." Next Ken Reeve gave his evidence. Under irritated prompting from Rogitel, Ken repeated the story that Todd and Hrriss had told him two weeks before.

"I believe them,' he insisted at the end. "They were genuinely distressed when they realized they'd been tricked into violating an interdicted system."

"We have asked you to draw no conclusions,' the Treaty Controller said ponderously. Ken nodded, angrily swallowing the rest of his opinions, and sat down.

The Council proceeded thereafter to take evidence from the sergeant of the s.p.a.cedep marines who had searched the Albatross.

Rogitel testified that he had received information from a confidential source, whom he declined to identify, that there might be contraband aboard the ship.

"Furthermore, I wish to put on record my disgust that two such untrustworthy men were allowed the unsupervised use of a scout ship!' he finished in a voice trembling with outrage.

"I have studied the records of the defendants, "43 Commander Rogitel,' Madam Dupuis said, sternly raising her voice above Ken's as he erupted from his chair to protest the slander, "and find absolutely no proof to support a claim of dishonesty or irresponsibility. You will kindly retract such an unsupported remark." If Rogitel did so with an ill grace, at least he did so and it would be in the record.

"We will see'-Madam Dupuis hesitated-'the two young men now.

Ken Reeve took that as a good sign: the Councillor was by no means convinced of Rogitel's d.a.m.ning evidence.

Todd and Hrriss were brought in then, and sworn in as witnesses.

As one, they turned to face the table. As accustomed as they were to diplomatic events, facing the full Treaty Council with little sleep and only a dry sandwich to eat was not auspicious. The holographic tape was run once more in their presence.

The first landing was shown, and the two young men were stunned.

"This can't be our log,' Todd protested. "We made no landing.

This must be a mistake."

"Silence!" the Treaty Controller demanded, rapping his gavel. "Continue." Todd and Hrriss watched, incredulous, as the holographic replay continued. At each entry and departure, the ID signal repeated on-screen. There was no question that it matched the Albatross's code. When the tape finished, the Treaty Controller turned to them.

"As the log shows, you visited several off-limits worlds, and took therefrom prohibited materials, and in some cases, precious and valuable items of historical worth. I must say, your thefts were nonpartisan. My notes show that some of them came from Hrruban-marked planets, and some from the Amalgamated Worlds. What can you offer as your defense?"

"Sir, something's skewed,' Todd said agitatedly.

"We pa.s.sed into only one prohibited system, Hrrilnorr, and only to respond to a Mayday message.

That much of this tape is accurate. The rest has been added. We made no entries into other interdicted zones."

"But why is there no Mayday message recorded in the alarm beacon orbiting the system?" Rogitel asked. "Such beacons are designed for that purpose, to record transmissions that originate within its range of sensitivity."

"I have no ready explanation . . sir,' Todd added after a pause. "A flaw in the mechanism? The in-system sensor malfunctioning? Plenty of buoys are damaged by s.p.a.ce debris. But Hrriss and I heard the call for help.

We diverted from our planned route to respond. All we found was that buoy, orbiting the fourth planet.

"A marker buoy, as you say,' Rogitel intoned coldly. "You broke Treaty Law for an unmanned probe?"

"We did not know it was a marker buoy at the time we heard its message,' Todd replied, trying to keep his voice level.

"45.

"It is what we found,' Hrriss said coolly, "broadcasting the distress message." The Hrruban extended a pointed claw and replayed the section of the log.