Law's End (16 page)
Authors: Glenn Douglass
Tags: #adventure, #travel, #dog, #future, #space, #rescue, #supercluster
The thought of someone wanting, let alone
actually trying to kill her, made queasy. "I'm not sure I want to
know what you're planning."
"I saw this in a old video program." Kassad
grinned at the memory then related the story, "A crew gets exposed
to some horrific alien mind control and it tries to make them
spread their alien horror across Laniakea. The brave captain flies
his ship into the sun to stop the menace."
"That's absurd." Greene frustratedly rubbed at
her eyes with the heel of her palms in a futile attempt to force
them to see the universe as it was instead of how they insisted on
showing it to her. "I refuse to believe that's your plan."
His joke having failed to lighten Greene's mood
Kassad chuckled. "You've got me there. Once we're up to speed the
acceleration forces will be too great for any such melodrama, but
I'd like to imagine it will be going through the minds of the
Armhamon as they watch. After all we're in Lawless Space. This is
the last refuge of superstition and the unknown." As weak as a card
as it was to play in this game Kassad couldn't see the sense in
holding it back now. "I'd very much like them to consider the
possibility that this ship never emerges from its stellar
encounter."
Not that the ruse would stop the Armhamon from
looking, but it would put doubts in their minds, and doubt could be
a powerful ally. It was after all a Lawship, and no matter how
corrupt they were or how dire the consequences they believed would
come from Sabha's escape, they had to see themselves as the good
guys in this. They might have been willing to let the research team
die in Lawless Space, victims of their own meddling, but the idea
of murdering civilians in order to prevent their return couldn't
sit easily in any sane mind.
Unhelpfully the reasonable part of Greene's
mind reminded her that she hadn't eaten in many hours and this
could affect her judgment, but she couldn't see a better course.
"This plan is horrible. Next time I get to make the plans."
Kassad wasn't at all offended, replying,
"You're more than welcome to make the plans." After a moment he
added. "My plans scare the Dickens out of me."
Incredulously Greene inquired, "Dickens?"
"He wrote ghost stores." Kassad said and then
sighed, "We really need to get you to read more."
Chapter 11: "Sun Diver"
"To tell the truth there's no good way to
avoid a Lawship."
-Excerpt from testimony at the trial of
Captain Allison Graves, convicted pirate
the situation any clearer or less frustrating as it kept wavering
and shifting in her failing vision. There was a steady throbbing
behind Greene's temples she hoped was just the result of
dehydration. Concentration on anything for more than a few seconds
at a time was becoming increasingly difficult and it had to, at
least in part, be the result of not eating.
As unpleasant as the idea of eating anything at
the moment was Greene knew it was a task neither of them should
completely ignore. "I should get something to eat from the galley.
I'll bring you something."
Staring intently at the display Kassad nodded.
"Make it quick. I'll keep the engines at around a gravity of thrust
for a little while, but if we're not going to spend a week drifting
out of system we need as much velocity as possible."
Remembering how unpleasant Sabha's acceleration
could be Greene inquired, "How much velocity are you planning on
putting on?"
In a very unreassuringly vague manner Kassad
said, "I'll have us peak out for at least an hour at six g's nose
first into a star's gravity well, that should get moving at a
pretty good clip. I don't want to be too exact. Making this look
sloppy is going to be half of selling it."
"But…" Greene's protest was cut off by the
communications circuit.
"This is the Lawship Armhamon. You will bring
your ship to bearing one nine one by oh three four at thrust point
seven five and await further instructions. Verify and comply."
Kassad merely raised his eyebrows in amusement
but Greene was sickened. She was just a passenger but nearly every
instinct inside her was screaming to obey the lawful authority and
abandon this suicidal dive. Only the suspicious skeptical part of
her mind warned her that things were not adding up. That part of
her wanted to trust the pirate who captained Sabha; not that she
really had much choice in the matter.
Chuckling at the Lawship's predictability
Kassad said, "They'll see our course and we'll get an updated
scolding and additional threats in about an hour. I'll need to
start ramping up the thrust before then so they don't start taking
pot shots at us."
******
"They haven't altered their course Captain."
The sensor operator reported which barely elicited a grunt of
acknowledgement by Captain Andrews.
It had been a standard demand issued for the
sake of proper form. Captain Andrews knew well the roles the two
ships were playing in this little drama, but concession to legal
niceties couldn't be ignored. This remained true even if it was the
Armhamon's Deck Officer who'd had to remind her to issue the
order.
Standing dutifully at his captain's side on the
Armhamon's bridge the Deck Officer waited for Captain Andrews to
retreat once again to her stateroom where she spent most of her
time. Having the captain on the bridge for so long at a time was
unusual. More importantly having the captain on the bridge for this
long was clearly fraying the nerves of the bridge crew, and the
Deck Officer wondered nervously if it would cause problems with the
watch turnover.
Without preamble Captain Andrews shoved the
projection display she'd been working on into the Deck Officer's
face and demanded, "What do you make of this?"
After taking a half step backwards all that was
needed was a quick glance by the Deck Officer at the symbols on the
display to make it clear what it was, "This is the arrest report
for Kassad Mir." He stated quickly, knowing that any answer was
better than a failed attempt to read the captain's mind then
quickly added, "It's his only arrest with charges and there was no
conviction."
Rolling her eyes at the obvious statement of
facts Captain Andrews demanded, "And why do you think there was no
conviction?" Stymied for an answer the Deck Officer frantically
scanned the page for whatever clue his captain had spotted in her
hour long scan of the documents.
Eventually Andrews relented with an impatient
finger jabbed at the pertinent fact saying, "The arresting
officer."
Uncertainly the Deck Officer tapped at the
display to bring up the arresting officer's fact sheet. "It's an
exemplary record. Well above average on all counts. Their record
rivals the Armhamon's."
With a disgusted and resigned sigh Captain
Andrews pulled the display away from her subordinate and made a few
quick changes before shoving it back again too closely to his face.
"And this?"
This time the Deck Officer cautiously adjusted
the position of the display rather than retreat further and again a
quick glance revealed what the data was if not what his captain's
thinking was on it. "It's a civil document, for a marriage
commitment. The seals show that it was never enacted." Suddenly the
pertinent bit of information jumped out at him eliciting an, "Oh!"
of revelation.
Before the Deck Officer could reveal his
discovery Captain Andrews cut him off as if she fully expected him
to never see the answer. "The arresting officer was once engaged to
be married to Kassad Mir."
"Okay, but what does that have to do with…" The
Deck Officer began only to be cut off again by his impatient
captain.
In enough volume to be heard by everyone on the
Armhamon's bridge, and out in the corridor leading to it, Andrews
explained, "If the sensor crew can't do their job we're going to
have to track down the Sabha, and where do you think they'll run
with the entire force of law pursuing them?"
Quickly tabbing through the linked files the
Deck Officer replied, "There's nothing here to suggest that they've
maintained any contact. Last official documentation on the two of
them is a watch bulletin by the arresting officer. It's in the
strongest possible terms. She states not only does she believe that
the law was subverted but goes into details about how she thinks it
was done and details suspected methods of operation." Tabbing
through a few more pages the Deck Officer shrugged. "After that it
seems there has been a close eye on Captain Kassad. The list of his
legitimate operations since that time doesn't leave much room for
illicit activities."
Pulling back the display Captain Andrews
growled at her subordinate, "Don't be so naive. The apparent shift
in this pirate's activities is obviously the result of inside
information. They're working together, and I'll wager the Armhamon
herself that his first port of call is back in the Horsehead
Nebula."
Without waiting for further direction the Deck
Officer ordered, "Navigation plot a course to the Horsehead Nebula
settlement of…" he did a double take at the name before saying
aloud, "Mareville."
******
Closing her eyes and shaking her head Greene
took a deep breath and unbuckled from her chair to force herself to
eat something. She paused at the entry to the cockpit noting that
Canis had already departed and giving the back of Kassad's head a
hard look. Given the situation what choice did she have but to
trust Kassad?
Physically over powering Kassad was a
possibility. After that figuring out the controls enough to plot a
course out of Lawless space would take a little time but should
also be possible. In the end any course of action depended entirely
on what she believed and what she wanted to do about it.
All Greene really wanted was to get her husband
back into Laniakea. Real or imagined the number of complications
obstructing this goal never seemed to shrink in spite of all her
efforts and accomplishments. Perhaps it was more likely that things
had always been this complicated and it was only now that was she
coming face to face with them.
Leaving Sabha's cockpit Greene made her way
down to the galley when her vision swam. It was as if someone had
taken the fabric of reality and given it a good hard flick to clear
it off. When the universe settled again her vision was flat as if
projected on a screen in front of her face.
"We've got to get out of here." Greene said
aloud to herself, her voice sounding to her as if it were coming
from a long way off.
A bark of agreement came from an equally long
way off. It took a bit of looking around for Greene to discover
Canis by her feet looking up with a worrying expression. It took a
bit of correction for her faulty depth perception in order to reach
out and stroke the dog's face.
The textures reported by her fingers or
interpreted by her brain were all off. Canis' fur had the
consistency of warm custard to her touch. An experimental running
of her hand along the food preparation counter's surface revealed
it to feel to be a pliable and yielding surface. For a second
Greene tried to push her hand through the countertop before
realizing the madness of the action and restraining herself.
Looking back to Canis Greene said, "We really
need to get out of here."
Canis barked in firm agreement and kept a close
wary watch on Greene as she cleared out the small galley's supply
of pre-packaged rations. The packets felt as wriggling and slick as
eels but if they were going blind then they'd better have
everything they needed at hand in the cockpit. Making the short
trip down the Sabha's length could become an insurmountable
obstacle if their senses went completely out.
Thoughts of what prolonged sensory deprivation
could do to a mind were foremost in Greene's thoughts as she
cradled the supplies as close to her as if they were an infant.
That the mass of small packages felt like they wanted to slither
free and drain liquid-like across the deck was probably all in her
mind. None of the logic made the sensations and lack thereof any
less immediate.
Halfway back to the cockpit a tremor ran
through Greene. She froze, unsure if that had been in her mind or
real. Possibly it was the result of the attack Kassad had warned
about. Gripping the packages even tighter to her a few of them
finally did slip free. Helpfully Canis picked up one of the lost
packets with his mouth and then prodded the stunned Greene back
into motion with his nose.
Jolted out of her paralysis by the cold wet
nose felt through the leg of her suit Greene dropped the rest of
the provisions. Scrambling to retrieve her helmet from where she
had left it in her stateroom Greene put every other thought aside.
She'd come too far to die gasping at vacuum; that ever present
dread that every spacer put out of their mind as best they
could.
actually trying to kill her, made queasy. "I'm not sure I want to
know what you're planning."
"I saw this in a old video program." Kassad
grinned at the memory then related the story, "A crew gets exposed
to some horrific alien mind control and it tries to make them
spread their alien horror across Laniakea. The brave captain flies
his ship into the sun to stop the menace."
"That's absurd." Greene frustratedly rubbed at
her eyes with the heel of her palms in a futile attempt to force
them to see the universe as it was instead of how they insisted on
showing it to her. "I refuse to believe that's your plan."
His joke having failed to lighten Greene's mood
Kassad chuckled. "You've got me there. Once we're up to speed the
acceleration forces will be too great for any such melodrama, but
I'd like to imagine it will be going through the minds of the
Armhamon as they watch. After all we're in Lawless Space. This is
the last refuge of superstition and the unknown." As weak as a card
as it was to play in this game Kassad couldn't see the sense in
holding it back now. "I'd very much like them to consider the
possibility that this ship never emerges from its stellar
encounter."
Not that the ruse would stop the Armhamon from
looking, but it would put doubts in their minds, and doubt could be
a powerful ally. It was after all a Lawship, and no matter how
corrupt they were or how dire the consequences they believed would
come from Sabha's escape, they had to see themselves as the good
guys in this. They might have been willing to let the research team
die in Lawless Space, victims of their own meddling, but the idea
of murdering civilians in order to prevent their return couldn't
sit easily in any sane mind.
Unhelpfully the reasonable part of Greene's
mind reminded her that she hadn't eaten in many hours and this
could affect her judgment, but she couldn't see a better course.
"This plan is horrible. Next time I get to make the plans."
Kassad wasn't at all offended, replying,
"You're more than welcome to make the plans." After a moment he
added. "My plans scare the Dickens out of me."
Incredulously Greene inquired, "Dickens?"
"He wrote ghost stores." Kassad said and then
sighed, "We really need to get you to read more."
Chapter 11: "Sun Diver"
"To tell the truth there's no good way to
avoid a Lawship."
-Excerpt from testimony at the trial of
Captain Allison Graves, convicted pirate
the situation any clearer or less frustrating as it kept wavering
and shifting in her failing vision. There was a steady throbbing
behind Greene's temples she hoped was just the result of
dehydration. Concentration on anything for more than a few seconds
at a time was becoming increasingly difficult and it had to, at
least in part, be the result of not eating.
As unpleasant as the idea of eating anything at
the moment was Greene knew it was a task neither of them should
completely ignore. "I should get something to eat from the galley.
I'll bring you something."
Staring intently at the display Kassad nodded.
"Make it quick. I'll keep the engines at around a gravity of thrust
for a little while, but if we're not going to spend a week drifting
out of system we need as much velocity as possible."
Remembering how unpleasant Sabha's acceleration
could be Greene inquired, "How much velocity are you planning on
putting on?"
In a very unreassuringly vague manner Kassad
said, "I'll have us peak out for at least an hour at six g's nose
first into a star's gravity well, that should get moving at a
pretty good clip. I don't want to be too exact. Making this look
sloppy is going to be half of selling it."
"But…" Greene's protest was cut off by the
communications circuit.
"This is the Lawship Armhamon. You will bring
your ship to bearing one nine one by oh three four at thrust point
seven five and await further instructions. Verify and comply."
Kassad merely raised his eyebrows in amusement
but Greene was sickened. She was just a passenger but nearly every
instinct inside her was screaming to obey the lawful authority and
abandon this suicidal dive. Only the suspicious skeptical part of
her mind warned her that things were not adding up. That part of
her wanted to trust the pirate who captained Sabha; not that she
really had much choice in the matter.
Chuckling at the Lawship's predictability
Kassad said, "They'll see our course and we'll get an updated
scolding and additional threats in about an hour. I'll need to
start ramping up the thrust before then so they don't start taking
pot shots at us."
******
"They haven't altered their course Captain."
The sensor operator reported which barely elicited a grunt of
acknowledgement by Captain Andrews.
It had been a standard demand issued for the
sake of proper form. Captain Andrews knew well the roles the two
ships were playing in this little drama, but concession to legal
niceties couldn't be ignored. This remained true even if it was the
Armhamon's Deck Officer who'd had to remind her to issue the
order.
Standing dutifully at his captain's side on the
Armhamon's bridge the Deck Officer waited for Captain Andrews to
retreat once again to her stateroom where she spent most of her
time. Having the captain on the bridge for so long at a time was
unusual. More importantly having the captain on the bridge for this
long was clearly fraying the nerves of the bridge crew, and the
Deck Officer wondered nervously if it would cause problems with the
watch turnover.
Without preamble Captain Andrews shoved the
projection display she'd been working on into the Deck Officer's
face and demanded, "What do you make of this?"
After taking a half step backwards all that was
needed was a quick glance by the Deck Officer at the symbols on the
display to make it clear what it was, "This is the arrest report
for Kassad Mir." He stated quickly, knowing that any answer was
better than a failed attempt to read the captain's mind then
quickly added, "It's his only arrest with charges and there was no
conviction."
Rolling her eyes at the obvious statement of
facts Captain Andrews demanded, "And why do you think there was no
conviction?" Stymied for an answer the Deck Officer frantically
scanned the page for whatever clue his captain had spotted in her
hour long scan of the documents.
Eventually Andrews relented with an impatient
finger jabbed at the pertinent fact saying, "The arresting
officer."
Uncertainly the Deck Officer tapped at the
display to bring up the arresting officer's fact sheet. "It's an
exemplary record. Well above average on all counts. Their record
rivals the Armhamon's."
With a disgusted and resigned sigh Captain
Andrews pulled the display away from her subordinate and made a few
quick changes before shoving it back again too closely to his face.
"And this?"
This time the Deck Officer cautiously adjusted
the position of the display rather than retreat further and again a
quick glance revealed what the data was if not what his captain's
thinking was on it. "It's a civil document, for a marriage
commitment. The seals show that it was never enacted." Suddenly the
pertinent bit of information jumped out at him eliciting an, "Oh!"
of revelation.
Before the Deck Officer could reveal his
discovery Captain Andrews cut him off as if she fully expected him
to never see the answer. "The arresting officer was once engaged to
be married to Kassad Mir."
"Okay, but what does that have to do with…" The
Deck Officer began only to be cut off again by his impatient
captain.
In enough volume to be heard by everyone on the
Armhamon's bridge, and out in the corridor leading to it, Andrews
explained, "If the sensor crew can't do their job we're going to
have to track down the Sabha, and where do you think they'll run
with the entire force of law pursuing them?"
Quickly tabbing through the linked files the
Deck Officer replied, "There's nothing here to suggest that they've
maintained any contact. Last official documentation on the two of
them is a watch bulletin by the arresting officer. It's in the
strongest possible terms. She states not only does she believe that
the law was subverted but goes into details about how she thinks it
was done and details suspected methods of operation." Tabbing
through a few more pages the Deck Officer shrugged. "After that it
seems there has been a close eye on Captain Kassad. The list of his
legitimate operations since that time doesn't leave much room for
illicit activities."
Pulling back the display Captain Andrews
growled at her subordinate, "Don't be so naive. The apparent shift
in this pirate's activities is obviously the result of inside
information. They're working together, and I'll wager the Armhamon
herself that his first port of call is back in the Horsehead
Nebula."
Without waiting for further direction the Deck
Officer ordered, "Navigation plot a course to the Horsehead Nebula
settlement of…" he did a double take at the name before saying
aloud, "Mareville."
******
Closing her eyes and shaking her head Greene
took a deep breath and unbuckled from her chair to force herself to
eat something. She paused at the entry to the cockpit noting that
Canis had already departed and giving the back of Kassad's head a
hard look. Given the situation what choice did she have but to
trust Kassad?
Physically over powering Kassad was a
possibility. After that figuring out the controls enough to plot a
course out of Lawless space would take a little time but should
also be possible. In the end any course of action depended entirely
on what she believed and what she wanted to do about it.
All Greene really wanted was to get her husband
back into Laniakea. Real or imagined the number of complications
obstructing this goal never seemed to shrink in spite of all her
efforts and accomplishments. Perhaps it was more likely that things
had always been this complicated and it was only now that was she
coming face to face with them.
Leaving Sabha's cockpit Greene made her way
down to the galley when her vision swam. It was as if someone had
taken the fabric of reality and given it a good hard flick to clear
it off. When the universe settled again her vision was flat as if
projected on a screen in front of her face.
"We've got to get out of here." Greene said
aloud to herself, her voice sounding to her as if it were coming
from a long way off.
A bark of agreement came from an equally long
way off. It took a bit of looking around for Greene to discover
Canis by her feet looking up with a worrying expression. It took a
bit of correction for her faulty depth perception in order to reach
out and stroke the dog's face.
The textures reported by her fingers or
interpreted by her brain were all off. Canis' fur had the
consistency of warm custard to her touch. An experimental running
of her hand along the food preparation counter's surface revealed
it to feel to be a pliable and yielding surface. For a second
Greene tried to push her hand through the countertop before
realizing the madness of the action and restraining herself.
Looking back to Canis Greene said, "We really
need to get out of here."
Canis barked in firm agreement and kept a close
wary watch on Greene as she cleared out the small galley's supply
of pre-packaged rations. The packets felt as wriggling and slick as
eels but if they were going blind then they'd better have
everything they needed at hand in the cockpit. Making the short
trip down the Sabha's length could become an insurmountable
obstacle if their senses went completely out.
Thoughts of what prolonged sensory deprivation
could do to a mind were foremost in Greene's thoughts as she
cradled the supplies as close to her as if they were an infant.
That the mass of small packages felt like they wanted to slither
free and drain liquid-like across the deck was probably all in her
mind. None of the logic made the sensations and lack thereof any
less immediate.
Halfway back to the cockpit a tremor ran
through Greene. She froze, unsure if that had been in her mind or
real. Possibly it was the result of the attack Kassad had warned
about. Gripping the packages even tighter to her a few of them
finally did slip free. Helpfully Canis picked up one of the lost
packets with his mouth and then prodded the stunned Greene back
into motion with his nose.
Jolted out of her paralysis by the cold wet
nose felt through the leg of her suit Greene dropped the rest of
the provisions. Scrambling to retrieve her helmet from where she
had left it in her stateroom Greene put every other thought aside.
She'd come too far to die gasping at vacuum; that ever present
dread that every spacer put out of their mind as best they
could.
Other books
A Quiet Adjustment by Benjamin Markovits
Grasso, Patricia by Love in a Mist
Agent with a History by Guy Stanton III
The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh
The Duke’s Desire by Margaret Moore
The Golden Step by Christopher Somerville
A Bitter Chill by Jane Finnis
Random Hearts by Warren Adler
Deja Blue by Walker, Robert W
Sword in Sheath by Andre Norton