Foreigner - Explorer. Part 27

The Guild had always been difficult. The Guild had been difficult back when the path to a unified humanity had been well-paved and lined with flowers.

The Guild, seeing the attraction of a green planet luring its crew, had doggedly held to their notion of s.p.a.ce-based development, and attempted, instead, to force the human colony safely in orbit at the atevi planet to leave and go live in orbit about barren Maudit, instead-where temptations would be fewer.

Where the colony would be utterly dependent on Guild orders and alternatives would be fewer.

That hadn't worked. Colonists had left in droves. Flung themselves at the atevi planet and escaped by parachute.

Point: whatever the Guild had in its records about that situation, the Guild did still remember, surely, that the green world had had inhabitants. They did know that the colony they'd run off and left-and ultimately sent Ramirez back to find-was going to be to some degree in contact with the steam-age locals.

And the ship, returning to that place, had stayed gone nine years.

That things had radically changed, given a few hundred years and the remembered direction of the colony's ambition-it didn't take geniuses on the Guild board to figure that could happen. It didn't take a genius on their side to figure that the Guild was nervous about what influences had worked on the ship during a ten-year absence... nervous, too, one might think, about Ramirez's prior actions and what his influence might have wrought.

The Guild had wanted to talk to Sabin, alone, while their investigators prowled over the ship.

Note too, they'd wanted the ship to move into close dock-from which position the ship's airlock was accessible to them at their whim.

Sabin had cannily said no to that. She'd taken enough security to keep Jenrette in line, if she had the inclination to keep Jenrette in line-or she'd deliberately stripped security away from the ship, for whatever reasons Sabin had. She didn't say why.

The Guild tried to pretend they didn't didn't have a hole in their station and have a hole in their station and didn't didn't have a huge alien ship sitting out there with its own agenda. have a huge alien ship sitting out there with its own agenda. Phoenix Phoenix tried to pretend planetary locals had never entered its equation. n.o.body was saying anything to anybody. tried to pretend planetary locals had never entered its equation. n.o.body was saying anything to anybody.

There was a dark s.p.a.ce in his reasoning. He realized he'd been asleep.

The door had opened. Someone was standing in the light.

Had he been here before? Had he drifted off while Bindanda was talking to him?.

"Bren-ji." Jago's voice. "One regrets to wake you, but Jase wishes to speak to you."

He moved for the edge of the bed. Fast. Too fast, for his reeling sense of balance. "Is he here?"

"On the intercom," Jago said.

He set a foot on the floor, fumbled after his robe, missed it, and went straight to the intercom without it-punched in, shivering in the cold. "Jase? This is Bren."

"Bren. Good morning." s.p.a.ce-based irony. Or memory of old times. "I hope you got some sleep."

"Did." G.o.d, he thought, teeth chattering. Get to the point, Jase. "Heard from Sabin?"

"No,unhappily. Not a word. I need answers. So I'm giving our several guests to you."

Gratefully, he felt the robe settle about his shoulders, Jago's doing. He grabbed it close. "What do you want me me to do with them?" to do with them?"

"Finesse it, nadi-ji. I'm for half an hour of rest."

"Not slept?"

"Off and on the bridge all shift, with Guild messages that don't say a thing. I'm getting stupid without sleep. Which I understand you did have, lucky b.a.s.t.a.r.d. So go to it. I'll meet you down there. I want the truth, Bren. Or I'm going to lose my self-restraint and pound it out of them myself."

"I'm going." He had not the least idea what he was going to do. Jase was, in very fact, hoa.r.s.e and on the edge, and he got the picture: the Guild was getting hotter and hotter, demanding restoration of contact with their people, Sabin was still missing-under what conditions Jase didn't know. And somebody had to move off dead center soon.

Jase clicked out. He did.

He raked a hand through his hair, exposing an arm to icy air.

"Jago-ji. I'm needed. I'll bathe." The mind was a blank. But he had to deal with humans. "Island dress."

"One hears," Jago said from the doorway. "And for us, nadi?"

He heard, too. "Please get a little sleep, nadi-ji. I shall have Jase's guards, and I shall take no chances, none whatsoever, Jago-ji. They should not see you yet. But I a.s.sure you. I set no conditions on your a.s.sistance if you should hear any threat to me." get a little sleep, nadi-ji. I shall have Jase's guards, and I shall take no chances, none whatsoever, Jago-ji. They should not see you yet. But I a.s.sure you. I set no conditions on your a.s.sistance if you should hear any threat to me."

"One accepts, nandi," Jago said. Not wholly satisfied, it was clear, but much mollified by the emergency clause.

"Asicho can sit duty, nadi. I shall shall need you soon. I'll need your wits sharp when I do. But one thing I shall wish immediately: have Bindanda pack a modest picnic basket for five humans. And tuck in a bag of sugar candies." need you soon. I'll need your wits sharp when I do. But one thing I shall wish immediately: have Bindanda pack a modest picnic basket for five humans. And tuck in a bag of sugar candies."

A slight hesitation. Jago could speculate quite easily that the picnic wasn't for Gin and company.

"Yes," Jago said.

Accepted.

Rea.s.sured, he dumped the robe and ducked into his shower, chilled half to the bone.

He toggled on the water and scrubbed with a vengeance, trying to adjust his thinking not only to human, but beyond ship-human and ship-speak, all the way over to Reunion Guild-trying to scrub away all the disposition of his Mospheiran heritage, all his acc.u.mulated distaste for the behavior of the Guild's officers on their deck. He had to get down to mental bedrock. Had to look at what was. Not what had been, centuries ago.

He was relatively clear-headed when he emerged, relatively calm and with his head full of tentative, Guild-focused notions.

Narani helped him dress, island-style being far, far quicker than court dress. He omitted the ribbon, tucked the braid down his collar, as he had when he visited home, in the days when things had been easier than he had ever realized.

He clicked on the pocket comm.

"One rejects the gun, this time, Rani-ji, in close contact."

The requested picnic basket turned up, a generous container, in Jeladi's hands. A very generous container. The requested bag of candies, he tucked directly into his pocket.

The breakfast would have served a soccer team, by the weight of it. He walked down the corridor, seeing Banichi and Jago, doubtless waiting to bid him be careful- "One will be extraordinarily careful," he said, tilted slightly with the weight of the basket. "I know their mannerisms and their threats, and I shall not be surprised. Sleep, nadiin-ji. Favor me with the effort, at least."

He walked on. By the dowager's door, Cenedi's men stood simply watching, doubtless communicating with persons inside. Definitely so. Cajeiri popped out to watch him pa.s.s, as if he were an expedition.

With the weight of the baggage, he might well have been.

He exited to the lift area. He supposed Gin knew about the proceedings, too, or would know in short order.

He got in and punched two-deck.

Armed guards met him on that level. He was a little taken aback; but it was Kaplan and Polano-Jase's bodyguard, in full kit, two men he was sure hadn't had any more rest than he had, turned out to welcome him.

"Here to help, sir. Cap'n's down there."

Jase was here. He murmured a response and walked ahead, Kaplan and Polano attending. Jase was here to meet him, maybe for a conference without a great number of witnesses. was here. He murmured a response and walked ahead, Kaplan and Polano attending. Jase was here to meet him, maybe for a conference without a great number of witnesses.

Chapter Twelve.

JASE WAITED, BEYOND the immediate area, short of sleep and running very short of temper. Bren, having shared an apartment with Jase for no few years, saw the folded arms and the set of the shoulders and immediately recognized a man who'd as soon throttle his problems as negotiate.

Jase, however, had settled a strong veneer of civilization clamped atop his temper these days-most times.

"What is this?" In ship-speak, and referring, by the glance, to the picnic basket.

"Breakfast," Bren said. "A good breakfast, nadi, to put anyone in a better mood. Want to join me?"

Jase stared at him bleakly. Then the expression slowly changed, as thought penetrated past the anger.

"Not one of the dowager's dishes, one hopes, nadi. We need these people able to talk."

"No, no, perfectly acceptable and human-compatible. Word of honor. What's going on?"

"Oh, besides the hourly calls from Guild Headquarters informing us they're not happy, medical says we have a bug."

"A bug." Bren set the basket down a moment, dug in his pocket and produced the hard fruit candies, remembering that Kaplan and Polano were very fond of them. He gave them each one, under Jase's burning gaze. And offered one to Jase. Calm down, he was saying. Have a candy. Communicate.

It got him another of Jase's stares. A decade ago, when they'd shared quarters, a cavalier confrontation with Jase's temper would have gotten a three-day silence. But in stony silence Jase took one. Studiously considered the wrapper. "An internal internal bug. I said not to go after it yet." He changed to Ragi. "One is annoyed, nadi. One is outraged." bug. I said not to go after it yet." He changed to Ragi. "One is annoyed, nadi. One is outraged."

"An internal bug. A location device?"

"Communications." Jase tapped his head, behind the ear. "Clever piece of work. Chemo charging. Never goes dead, well, not until the body quits. Medical does thinks it can't transmit far without the electronics in the armor. Possibly it's recording. Maybe saving stuff to transmit at opportunity."

"Lovely. All of them?"

"Team leader," Jase said. "Becker." Jase had partially unwrapped the candy. Then, changing his mind, he replaced the wrapper and pocketed the sweet. "They'll be nervous about eating anything. Manmade bugs. All sorts of nastiness is possible. No telling what they've dug out of the Archive."

It hadn't been a technology the ship had used... among family. One could perceive, at least, the emotional outrage, the absolute outrage of a ship that was was family. That had set family aboard this station at its founding. family. That had set family aboard this station at its founding.

"Bad."

"That's not the whole issue, Bren. If we get Sabin back-if we get any of that team back-"

Definitely bad.

"We can find find them," Jase said, "the way we found this one. It's not a worry, per se, with Becker, but just so you know." them," Jase said, "the way we found this one. It's not a worry, per se, with Becker, but just so you know."

"I've got the picture," Bren said, and picked up his basket. "Has anyone informed Becker?"

"No. Oh, and the other other news? We've spotted what we think are gun emplacements, down by the fuel port." news? We've spotted what we think are gun emplacements, down by the fuel port."

"It's not unreasonable they'd defend the fuel supply."

"From us?"

"Banichi's saying... we could take this station."

Startled laughter. "He's serious."

"He's always serious. I haven't said yes."

Jase drew a deep breath.

"If we don't move soon," Bren said, "the likelihood mounts that something will go wrong involving that outlying ship. I want to know how stationers will will react to foreigners. These people. Becker, Esan and the rest. Have we got to give them back?" react to foreigners. These people. Becker, Esan and the rest. Have we got to give them back?"

"As far as I'm concerned, they're boarded for the voyage. Tell them anything you like. Do anything you like. They're in your hands. Oh, and the key they threatened us with? Bluffing. It wasn't wasn't a builder's key. Potent, but ours still outranks what they'd give to a mid-level agent." a builder's key. Potent, but ours still outranks what they'd give to a mid-level agent."

"Interesting." It was. And the little bow, when they switched to Ragi, was automatic as breathing. "One urges you rest, Jasi-ji. You entrust this to me-trust it to me." it to me."

"One will most earnestly try," Jase said wearily, shoulders sagging. "Baji-naji."

Given the random flex in the universe. And Jase gave a little wave of the hand and left him in charge, Kaplan attempting to follow his captain out toward the lift.

Jase sent Kaplan back, however. So there they were. He had Jase's guards at the moment. Jase, if things stayed stable an hour, might have a little time to draw breath.

"Where are they?"

"This way, sir," Kaplan said, and led the way.

On a ship hundreds of years inbred and all to some degree related, there wasn't wasn't a proper security confinement. The ship had improvised. They had their four outsider problems confined in a med-tech's cabin with an oversized plastic grid bolted on for a door and the inside door to the bath locked open-no privacy, no amenities, no sliding door. A few plain plastic chairs provided ease for the crewmen sitting in charge, and the section doors at either end of this stretch of corridor were shut. a proper security confinement. The ship had improvised. They had their four outsider problems confined in a med-tech's cabin with an oversized plastic grid bolted on for a door and the inside door to the bath locked open-no privacy, no amenities, no sliding door. A few plain plastic chairs provided ease for the crewmen sitting in charge, and the section doors at either end of this stretch of corridor were shut.

Bren walked to the plastic-grid doorway. There was a bunk, seating for two glum men, two others on the floor-chairs not being provided either. The men looked at him, not happy, but not outright belligerent.

"Brought up breakfast," Bren said cheerfully, and then recalled Esan knew him as one of the cook's aides. "Cook's compliments."

"We're not touching it." That from the gray-haired senior, Becker, that would be. The one with the bug.

"Oh, that'd be too bad," Bren said, and set the basket down and took the lid off one of the fragrant sauces. Which reminded his own stomach he'd been on long hours and little food. "But if you won't eat it, guess we can. Kaplan. Polano. Join me?"

Kaplan and Polano took him up on it without a word. They leaned near, took small plastic plates out of the picnic basket, and started unpacking food and pa.s.sing shares to the crewman guards as well.

"Offer still stands," Bren said, past a first sip of fruit drink. "There's quite a bit here."

"h.e.l.l," Becker said, sounding less certain. Bet that Guild enforcers ate as well as any tech on the station. But none of these station-bound folk would have met the smells that wafted up from the packets.

"Want some?" Bren shoved the box over against the grid. "You can pick which."

Becker moved. The others bought the offer and they all came over and scrounged, hands through the largish grid squares, for likely packets. Plates, however, didn't fit through the grid, and some of Bindanda's neat packets took a beating. Their detainees were hungry. They tasted the sauces on fingertips, licked it off, tried small spoonfuls of it, clearly finding the flavors strong and provocative.