Anarchate Vigilante (Vigilante Series 4) (10 page)

Suzanne sighed, then bit her perfect lips. “Me too, George. Me too. This surprise was more than a sudden ocean squall that flips your boat but leaves you alive
. It was so . . .” she left whatever she was going to say and he felt her mental and inner essence move deeper into him. “George, I want more.”

He blinked at the visual-emotional sense of her devotion to him. It matched his own feelings and yearnings for her. “More what?”

She smiled like moonrise over the lake that shone amethyst blue beside the village he’d grown up in. “I want what any woman wants when she finds the love of her life.”

George knew this had nothing to do with perfect algorithms
or fame for the best integration of expert system software. He nodded, feeling glad that he had shaved today. “Tell me.”

“I want our baby.”

Mind-to-mind, heart-to-heart, the two of them floated out of time in a unity of spirit and hope that few beings are ever blessed to experience.

“Yes.”
He pulled her mindself closer. “Right after I do this job for Matt, we’ll rendezvous at 10 light years out from Alkalurops C. Your ship or mine?” he asked, stifling a laugh.

The glow smile she gave him was brighter than any sun. “Mine, of  course. See you soon!”

CHAPTER FOUR

Mindstorm of the Council of Sixteen focused on the mental tachlink vidimage of his chief assistant Medun of the Spelidon species. While land-based, Mindstorm did not begrudge the hairy biped his loss of the ability to live in sea water. Amphibians were nearly as rare as avian-evolved species. A phenomenon that some academic philosopher had surely investigated. Mindstorm cared not. He cared only for tradition and for power. And for data on the cloneslave captives who had once been the blood family of the renegade Human known as Matthew Dragoneaux.

“Well, Medun, have you found a living family member?”
he thought-spoke over his implanted tachlink node.

The Spelidon’s black whiskers lifted in the sign of
Satisfaction Achieved. “Yes, Sector leader. Vidimage files garnered from the rest and refitting bases of genome harvester starships have revealed an image that matches the one recorded as the Human’s birth mother. The image matches that depicted on the Memorial Pillar on the Human’s birth world of Thuringia.”

“Good,” Mindstorm
thought as he rested in a bowl of sea water, his bottom gills savoring its saltiness. Three of his ingestion cilia tapped a Privacy shield so any sapient who might enter his chambers would not bother him. “What is the name sigil of the female Human? And her labor slave identity?”

The long black whiskers of Medun flared upward in the body sign of
Knowledge Assured. The biped’s two close-set eyes, a vision limitation he had never understood, blinked once. “Her name sigil is Kristen Dragoneaux. Her purchase identity record is XL3427ZipSedNine.”

“Who is her current owner? And where is she located?”

The mind-image of his chief assistant moved closer so Medun’s head and expression occupied Mindstorm’s mental focus. “The female is owned by a Mican merchant named Masterful, who works at the Halicene Conglomerate commerce embassy on planet Working, which orbits the star Antares A, my leader.”

Mindstorm had
never visited the Antares star, though of course he knew of it as one of the largest red supergiants on record in the entire galaxy. At just 12 million cycles of age, the star would eventually collapse within 100 million cycles. But for the moment, its four small rocky planets and a gas giant served as decent quarters for Halicene operations in the Orion Arm. The fact the Human female was owned by one of the conglomerates that made up the Council of Sixteen was a bother. But a minor nuisance. Medun himself could surely visit the planet Working and locate the female. A purchase price would be agreed on and the Human would belong to him. She would then serve her purpose as bait to draw the Dragoneaux Human to a distant star system where a surprise would be waiting when the Human tried to rescue the bait.

“Medun,” Mindstorm said as he raised up on his six pincer legs preparatory to attending a meeting of the council. “This Human renegade disturbs my Sector 14. I wish that disturbance ended! Visit the Mican merchant, purchase the Human female and bring her to me here at
Central Nexus. Your reward for faithful service will be a vial of Life Extend.”

The Spelidon biped’s long tail jerked off his shoulder to thump on the metal floor of his hyperfast Courier vessel. Black whiskers spread forward in Eagerness Shown. The alien’s black body fur gleamed in the ship’s light. “Excellent! Generous you are my master. Your wishes will become fact as soon as I travel to this Antares star!”

Mindstorm felt amusement at the eagerness of those species with limited lifespans to acquire longer life. His Nik-nik thot species commonly lived 300 cycles before age collapse occurred. His mindtalk with Medun was ready to close when Medun’s long scaly tail thumped the floor.

“Sector leader, since you go to Council shortly, perhaps you wish to know of trouble in other galactic sectors. Such as Sector 13. Yes?”

“Yes! Describe this trouble.”

Medun’s
eagerness flowed into Mindstorm’s mind even though his repulsion at the dryland nature of his assistant keep his mental barriers elevated. “Sector leader, my spy who uncovered the labor slave data from genome slaver databases tells me that the genome harvester base in the Ring Nebula, in Sector 13, has been completely vaporized by this Human Matthew Dragoneaux. Perhaps your council associate Noktoren needs to learn of this development?”

Mindstorm felt satisfaction at Medun’s report. At
last another sector beyond his was now plagued by this Human’s revolt against Trade traditions. Add in Sooteen’s own Sector 16 where the orbital Commerce Station in Omega Centauri cluster had been destroyed, and now the council faced hostile activity in three of sixteen galactic sectors. Perhaps he would gain more support than criticism at this upcoming meeting.

“Valuable information, chief assistant Medun. You are excused to pursue the purchase of this Human female at Antares. Report to me when this is accomplished.”

Medun disappeared from Mindstorm’s mental terrain and with a thought he shut off the tachlink node. While a useful adjunct to normal thought, the node could be distracting when he faced real-time encounters with other sector leaders. Activating the Nullgrav plate of his water bowl, Mindstorm moved sedately toward his chamber’s exit and the short trip to council chambers. After a Belizel year of bothersome behavior by this Human, it seemed as if a solution had been found for the eventual termination of this dryland biped. Inhaling salty water through his gills, Mindstorm considered whether to add a sapphire or ruby to the tracery of gold and precious stones that adorned his body shell. After all, as leader of one of the galaxy’s sixteen sectors, he must appear properly adorned in order to draw the correct obedience from lesser beings.

Charlotte
Dragoneaux stood in a Visitor habitat on Module, third planet of 51 Pegasi, and watched as her Master Nak ho-mesk stalked toward the habitat’s exit slidedoor, the black fur and four arms of the person who’d bought her fifteen years ago a constant reminder of her status as a labor slave. As if aware of her resentment, the Meligun bear halted just inside the slidedoor, turned and glared at her.

“What? Do you not appreciate being on a world with gravity normal to your species?” Nak said in guttural Belizel, his two pink eyes and elfin ears fixed on her.

“Master, yes, it is nice being on this world with a star so like the one we Humans are used to.” Thinking quickly, as she always did when dealing with this magnate of interstellar money transfers, she acted on an impulse that had been in her mind for some while. “And my bedroom accommodations are adequate. However, my blood period is upon me. May I exit our quarters to search for medicinal pain relief? My datapad will help me find the proper services in this academy.”

Nak ho-mesk growled. “Your blood-letting period? Is it not a week too early for such a Human body function?”

Charlotte gave a shrug, a behavior her Master was long used to seeing. “It happens when it happens, once every month. And this planet does not have a moon, unlike where we live on Megil. Perhaps that has caused this irregularity?”

“See to your personal needs then!” the Meligun grunted, his upper right arm moving to grip his leather chest strap with four finger-claws as the alien’s waist arms put hands on hip in obvious impatience.

“Payment for my medical needs will be done how Master?” she asked, pursuing her long thought out plan. “Shall I use my datapad to charge it to your account? Or pay with some platinum Standards?”

The alien
blinked quickly in a sign of irritation. Charlotte had learned the many moods normal to a Meligun bear person over her fifteen years of solitary labor slavery. It was clear her Master was impatient to be about his business of hiring a graduate of Orion Arm’s best known academy for training in computer algorithms, software, expert systems and AI mind formation. And perhaps likely to be less attentive to detail than he normally was when dealing with thieves, outlaws, genome slavers and Anarchate officials eager to build a private reservoir of wealth.

“My business account does not need your intrusion, hairless biped good only for picking clean my fur!” Nak said loudly in his command voice. He
pointed his own datapad at the chest-like furniture where he kept datasticks, transaction records and a supply of platinum Standards, then looked at her. “The upper drawer is unlocked. Withdraw three platinum Standards for your needs and bother me no more!”

Charlotte clasped hands in front of her
waist, bowed low and squeaked in a high voice she knew he considered a sign of her submissiveness. “Thank you Master! The Standards will suffice for my pain medications, some food and new shoes for my poor feet. You recall that my feet have not your extensible claws, nor the durability of Meligun feet.”

Nak turned to face the slidedoor, tapped the exit patch with his upper right hand and headed into the hallway that connected their Visitor habitat with the rest of the giant building that housed the IT Academy. “
Your physical deficiencies are well-known to me, servant. I care not what you do to mend your function. But return to this habitat no later than this evening. I will have need of a full body massage after spending most of today finalizing the employment contract for an IT graduate.”

“Yes Master,” she squeaked toward the Meligun’s departing form.

The slidedoor closed. And Charlotte exhaled loudly. Then she got control of her emotions, never forgetting for a moment that the Meligun had set the habitat’s ceiling monitor to record all that happened within the habitat. Feeling cold from being dressed only in her underwear she grabbed her shawl, then walked over to the wallscreen embedded in the entertainment portion of the living room. She spoke in Belizel.

“Screen, show me today’s galactic tachnet news.”

“Obeying,” said the simple device that gave her a view on the entire galaxy. “Which sector?”

“Sector 14, emphasis on Orion Arm news and
Trade developments.”

“Obeying.” The expert program paused. “Displaying.”

A variety of image icons filled a screen as large as Charlotte, their ID codes listed in Belizel. The icons showed a mix of news from stars like Antares A, 18 Scorpii, Gliese 581, Gliese 667C, Kepler 22, Lagoon M8 nebula, Zeta Serpentis, Theta Aurigae, Sigma Puppis B and a variety of Combat Command locations that held shipyards, naval fleet units, and Commerce Stations in orbit about all kinds of planets. Even a few worlds occupied by methane and chlorine breathers showed as icons on the screen. None of them were Thuringia or Megil.

“Guidance icon,” Charlotte said, impatient to be about her
scheme.

“Guidance to news sources activated,” said the
screen’s expert system that automatically matched her voice tone.

“Planet Megil, star Alkalurops C, current events, Trade and
general news for the last three Belizel months. Display,” she ordered the simple device.

The
flat screen shimmered briefly, then filled with the image of her Master’s business icon. “Access not permitted by order of habitat renter,” the screen said in neutral Belizel.

Damn!
Her Master had anticipated her curiosity. But what was it hiding about events on Megil over the last three months? While she had traveled off planet with her Master twelve times in the last 15 years, they were usually gone for a few days or a week. Never for months. Something had happened on Megil. She would find out what it was, come Hades or a suffocating windstorm.