Running With Argentine (14 page)

"Frozen?" was all the chief could say.

"Yes. I'm afraid I won't be able to honor your
withdrawal request. However, I'm sure you'll clear up whatever complication you
have with the authorities and then we’ll be happy to serve you."

"I don't have any complications with the authorities –
I just arrived in-system!" the chief exclaimed.

"Well, I'm sure it's just an error then," he said
diplomatically. "But you'll still need to clear the issue with the
Asperian Police. It looks like it's the Enforcement Division that ordered the
freeze.”

Realizing that he had just dumped all their working capital
into an account that they had no access to, the chief said, "You know
what? Just forget about the whole thing. I don't want to open up an account –
we’ll get this mess straightened out first and then come back and see
you."

"I'm sure you know I can't legally do that," the
banker said with a straight face.

"Sure you can! Our ore is still sitting on the dock;
there hasn't even been time to move it yet! Let's just erase our transaction as
a mistake and start over. What do you say?"

With all vestiges of friendliness gone, the banker said,
"My best suggestion,
friend
, is for you to speak with the police. I
strongly urge you to go see them at their office, but if you keep insisting I
can arrange for them to come here…

"Which would you prefer?"

Platform
12

"Don't
beat yourself up, Chief. You're not the one to put us in this situation."

Argentine was fit to be tied. He was playing by the rules
but other people kept stacking the deck against them.

He keyed his communicator again, "I think it would be
best to get everyone back to the ship. The lieutenant and I will head over to
the enforcement division and see if we can't figure this out."

"Frank, are you sure you want to do that?" came
back the Chiefs concerned voice. "What if they try to hold you? There's
nothing holding us here… At least, not yet.

"We could just chalk this up as a bad experience and
move on," he finished.

"And just how would we do that?" Argentine
responded more gruffly than he intended. "I'm not sure we have enough
credits left to pay new docking fees, let alone try to hire a crew. You know as
well as I do, Chief, we can't keep going like this…

"Our best chance is for me to go resolve this. If they
wanted to arrest me I think they would've already done it."

"Okay, I can't say that you're not right. I just don't
like it. Be careful and let us know as soon as you leave their offices."

"You got it, Chief. In the meantime, see if the rest of
you can't figure out a strategy for us to turn some unofficial credits so that
we
can
run if we have to."

He turned to the lieutenant, "You heard?"

He nodded.

"Okay then, we're off to the lion’s den…"

ΔΔΔ

The
office
that Enforcer Davis had asked them to step into looked suspiciously like an
interrogation chamber.

Except for a beverage dispenser that was built into the
wall, the only other furniture was a rectangular table in the middle of the
room with chairs on either side of it.

The walls were decorated with various photos and outdoor
scenery, but the most notable was what Argentine assumed was a one-way mirror.

"So, Enforcer Davis, do you want to let us in on what's
going on here?" Lieutenant Stark started the conversation.

Argentine, considering how agitated and frustrated he
currently was, had decided that it was best to let him take the lead.

"Going on?" the enforcer repeated. "That's
what we were hoping you could help us with."

When the lieutenant didn't say anything, the enforcer
continued…

"Look, gentleman… There is no reason this needs to be
contentious. My only goal is to get this cleared up as fast as possible and let
you get on with your life…

"I know this room is uncomfortable, but all of our real
offices are in use right now and I didn't want you to have to wait any longer
than necessary…

"Can I get you anything to drink? Something to snack
on?"

They both shook their heads, no.

Continuing conversationally, the enforcer asked, "You've
stated that this is your first visit to our system. Where do you boys hail
from?"

After a lingering moment, Lieutenant Stark spoke…

"Do I address you as Enforcer Davis, or just
Davis?"

The other man shrugged, as if he didn't care.

"Okay, Davis. You want us to believe you're on our
side, but that's not really the case. You're not on anyone's side. You're
trying to figure
something
out and are trying to test us, trick us, and
figure us out all at the same time.

"The thing is, until we know what you're trying to
figure out… Until we know what you suspect us of, we won't be able to decide
whether to cooperate with you or not…

"I can respect your professionalism, but if you respect
ours everything will move a whole lot faster," he finished.

"What I can respect," Davis said with a wry smile.
"Is that you seem to be very familiar with enforcer tactics. It sounds to
me like you’ve spent a lot of time on that side of the table."

With a smile that was anything but friendly the lieutenant
retorted, "No, I’ve spent a lot of time on
your
side of the table,
but you're not going to know anything about that at this rate."

The silence stretched out.

Finally, as if reaching a decision, Davis lost his smile.
Argentine was amazed as the enforcer's entire body language changed in an
instant.

"Okay, tough guy. Let's lay everything out on the
table…"

Lieutenant Stark didn't think for a moment that Davis would
spill
everything
he knew, but he nodded for him to continue.

"Your ship arrives at Tiffany's Planet twelve days ago
from Darkspace…"

When the lieutenant raised an eyebrow, Davis elaborated…

"Darkspace is what we call anything beyond our sphere
of cooperating systems."

When he nodded the inspector continued…

"Anyway, after spending very little time there you show
up here. And then not fifteen minutes after you dock, our security recognizes
that a wanted criminal is on the platform.

"A criminal that was suspected to be holed-up on
Tiffany's planet."

"Now, while it's true that your ship wasn't the only
one to arrive in that hour window before we detected her, your ship
is
the only one that came in directly from Tiffany's planet.

"What I want to know, Lieutenant, is whether it was
blackmail or bribery that she used to get you to bring her here?" the
enforcer finished strongly.

ΔΔΔ

"Bring
who
here?" the lieutenant made a point of asking.

"And I thought we were through playing more games…

"You know exactly who we’re talking about. You couldn't
have avoided seeing the security announcement at the terminal. You're not even
a good liar…"

"Of course we saw the security announcement. And since
you've been talking about a she, I'm assuming that's who we’re discussing. But
it still doesn't tell me who she
is
," he retorted calmly.

After a short moment enforcer Davis pulled out a data pad,
issued a few commands, and laid it on the desk in front of them both.

"This woman," he continued. "Has major cartel
connections. She is also wanted for several felonies and considered a person of
interest in a dozen more.

"Just being affiliated with her put you directly under
our microscope. Aiding and abetting her will put you directly in one of our
cells.”

"If you had any evidence at all that we were working
with her we'd already be in one of your cells," the lieutenant remarked.
"The fact is, we haven't done anything."

"Gentlemen, there is no way in the stellar depths of
blackness that I'm going to believe that this woman didn't arrive here on your
ship. The
only
issue I'm trying to resolve is whether you were willing
accomplices or just unknowing dupes."

"We didn't bring her here," Lieutenant Stark
insisted.

"So you want me to believe she stowed away without your
knowledge?"

"She didn't stowaway. No one traveled on our ship that
we didn't know about."

The enforcer turned to Argentine…

"And what about you? Are you also going to add to your
crimes by lying to an enforcer?"

"Davis, I've never seen that woman before in my
life," Argentine said truthfully.

The photo of the redhead on the data pad… wasn't Mandi.

Platform
12

"We are
docked to a sophisticated high-tech orbital platform. Can we bloody well be
sure that they can't somehow listen in on our conversations?" Barry asked.

"We are safe," the lieutenant announced.

"How can you be…"

"Oh, yeah… You’re security. Right. Sorry mate."

They were setting in the Pelican's mess. It was never
designed to seat the entire crew at once; so the seven of them fit perfectly.

"Okay, what did you guys come up with?" Argentine
asked.

They had just finished explaining to the rest of the crew
their experience with the police enforcers.

To say that everyone was disappointed was… an
understatement.

"I did some nosing around while the chief was busy and
ended up buying a drink from a bartender that liked to talk," Rory spoke
up.

"From what he says, the police on Asperia are generally
thought to be okay – no more than the usual complaints. But the enforcement
division isn't as popular."

"Did he think the enforcers were corrupt?" the lieutenant
asked.

"No, at least I don't think so. He didn't mention
corruption for the police or the enforcers; but corruption was all he would
talk about when it came to the military."

"That's spot on with what I found out," added
Barry. "I stopped off, briefly, at the Pilots Guildhall after we left
Sami's. Nobody likes the military."

"Why not?"

"They're arrogant and gobby, was the best I can
gather," he replied. It used to be that people never saw them. They're
only supposed to deal with protection on an interstellar level. But more and
more, people are complaining that they’re showing up everywhere. One bloke told
me that if he walks into a pub and spies one bending an elbow, he walks right
back out and finds a different pub.

"For a bloke like that to allow some chav to interrupt
his drinking habits, well… That's all cocked up."

"This is all well and good, but I'm not sure how it
helps us?" Argentine commented.

"Well, there is an underground," Rory spoke again.

"An underground? Are they that close to
rebellion?" the chief asked.

"No, not that kind of underground… More like a black
market, from what I gather. I don't know if that would help us or not, but we
might be able to find some unofficial work..."

"Hmph, that sounds a lot like a cartel to me…" the
lieutenant mused.

Argentine sighed.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose with one hand he said,
"Okay, let's all get a good night's sleep. First thing tomorrow we need to
come up with a plan of action and make some decisions about what we're going to
do."

A few of them nodded but nobody looked in a particular hurry
to get up from the table.

"First?" Sami asked. "What do you think it
means that the enforcers showed you a picture of someone else…? Not Mandi, I
mean?"

In a weary voice Argentine said, "Sami, I have no
idea…"

ΔΔΔ

What
did
it
mean, Argentine asked himself.

Try as he might, he'd been unable to find sleep. There
didn't really seem to be any good solutions to their dilemma.

They
could
run. They had enough food and consumables
on board to get them quite a distance. They
could
conduct all the ship's
maintenance themselves, but they'd be working themselves ragged and would have
to spend an inordinate amount of time in deep space between skips.

Even the best of astrogators plotted courses that would
eventually drop them out of Dreamspace to recalibrate, re-plot, and reinsert
themselves on a perfected trajectory.

These recalibration points were purposely as far away from
any gravity wells as possible – that was the definition of deep space.

This also meant that if
anything
went wrong they were
beyond help. The odds of any two ships dropping out of Dreamspace at the same
coordinates in deep space were, well… astronomical.

No ship's captain wanted to spend any more time than
absolutely necessary adrift in deep space.

And that brought up another issue…

Maybe it wasn't as pressing, but still it weighed in
Argentine's mind…

Was
he the captain of the Pelican?

The practical answer was yes, of course.

But it still just didn't feel right. He'd never asked for
this. For that matter, he wasn't sure that he wouldn't be the first one to
leave the crew if a stable situation ever presented itself…

He hadn’t misled anybody; a fresh start is exactly what he
was looking for.

But now, he had people depending on him. So why didn't he
just let everyone call him Captain and get on with it? It would sure make it
less awkward when they made port in new systems…

At any rate, though, that anxiety of his paled in comparison
to the immediate situation they were facing.

Asperia appeared to be exactly the type of solid, organized
system they needed to make that fresh start. But boy, they weren't going to be
able to start on just the bottom rung of the ladder… They were underground!

If they
were
going to stay here, they were going to
have to dig themselves out of this hole and start fresh.

No matter which direction he looked, however, they still had
the same problem… Their credits were frozen.

If they could solve that, everything else would get easier.
So, first things first…

First thing tomorrow he'd look for the local equivalent of
an attorney, or arbiter. Even if they were from… What did they call it here…? Arriving
from unknown territory?
Darkspace
? That was it. Even if they were from
Darkspace they should have
some
rights in this system.

He just needed to find someone that could tell him what they
were.

Okay, now he had a plan, or at least a first step…

So why didn't he feel like sleeping?

Sitting up on the side of his bed he activated the
intra-ship comm…

"Chief, how's your supply of cognac?"

ΔΔΔ

"So
basically you have no rights in this system," said the arbiter.

The arbiter that had come best recommended made his home on
a different platform, so the Pelican was springing for the bandwidth of a live
video link.

Actually, Argentine had only now realized that abundant
bandwidth was cheap here… Another lesson on how backwards the People's Republic
of Chezden had really been.

No rights…
Another assumption of his up in smoke.

"Esquire Dawkins, are you telling me that no matter how
much I pay you there is nothing you can do to help us?"

"Putting aside the fact that your credit deposits are
currently frozen, you essentially have the right of it. Look, Captain… I'd be
happy to take your credits but the enforcement division is within its rights to
freeze your accounts."

"But for how long?"

"Usually, until they clear you from suspicion. But
there is some good news you can hang your hat on… Police enforcement on Asperia
has a reputation for being aboveboard. In other words, they won't make it
political or personal, and they won't hold your credits any longer than
necessary."

"So the whole system is designed to give me every
incentive to cooperate and help them get to the bottom of whatever it is they
think we've done – even if that means inconveniencing innocent people from time
to time?"

"Yes, I would say that is a very good understanding of
the system."

"Okay, I have another question for you… Anything I talk
to you about, is it confidential between us?"

"I'm not sure I understand," the arbiter said.

"Hypothetically, if I told you something that could
incriminate me would it remain between us? Is there any such thing as
Attorney-Client Privilege on Asperia?"

After a moment Dawkins shook his head, "I'm not sure
what that is, but if you revealed anything illegal to me I would be required to
report it to the proper officials. I am an honorable arbiter; you wouldn't
expect any less of me, would you?"

After a moment, Esquire Dawkins spoke again, "Captain
Argentine, based upon the hypothetical you just gave me, I suggest you might
want to consult with a criminal arbiter. As you know, I deal with civil
disputes and governmental arbitrage… But if there's any chance your needs would
go beyond that…"

ΔΔΔ

It was the next
morning and Argentine was getting off to a late start.

He could have blamed it on the cognac, but the truth was he
just didn’t felt like getting out of his bunk.

He had fallen asleep the night before with a sense of
carefully built-up confidence that he would awake with inspiration and at least
the thread of a plan to build upon.

No such luck.

So he’d stayed in his bunk and thought it through again…

As advanced as the Asperian system seemed to be, this
platform was still a spaceport. A nice spaceport, to be sure, but in
Argentine’s experience all spaceports had certain things in common.

He still had no desire to involve his crew with the cartels,
but not every man or woman that walked the gray lines of legality would belong
to them… but they
would
know their way around the local legal system.
Especially the part about which arbiter to choose…

Even more so than on the civil or governmental side of
things, this was critical. The last thing Argentine wanted to do was to pick
some lowlife criminal arbiter at random. If his experience in the People's
Republic was anything to go by, and it was proving out that may or may not be
true,
who
represented you was just as important as the issue you were
being represented for.

The problem was that Esquire Dawkins hadn't been in any
hurry to give them a recommendation for criminal arbiters. So…

When he entered the Pelican’s small mess Lieutenant Stark
was the only other crewman present. This wasn’t surprising as it was well past
time for breakfast.

“Have you seen the chief?” Argentine asked as he walked over
to the dispenser.

“At breakfast, he and Rory were talking about spending the
day flushing the heat conversion tubes. It sounded like an all-day project.”

“What about everyone else?”

“Sami and Barry are off ship. I’m not sure what they had
planned. You know, most captains would get up early enough to know these
things…”

“Look, Lieutenant…”

“I told you to start calling me José.”

“Yeah, I know… but it just doesn’t feel right,” Argentine
said as he took a sip of cold coffee. “No offense…”

The lieutenant just shrugged.

“Anyway, I could use your help,” he said… and then explained
his strategy.

ΔΔΔ

They’d started
off by hitting all the eating establishments that were common to every
spaceport - common food at cheap prices. The last one was actually called,
The
Greasy Spoon
.

They weren’t exactly the low-class dives he was looking for
but it was only mid-day, platform time, and they did get a good idea of what to
look for in the local nightlife.

Except it wasn’t what he’d expected…

You could get a drink anywhere, but the few establishments
that stayed open past the end of the workday were all located in a closed-off
section of the platform. The security was heavy and it just didn’t sound like
the fertile ground Argentine was looking for to gather information.

It was late afternoon before they figured out that Pleasure
Palaces were legal.

He’d originally been looking for a ‘seedy’ side of the
platform but when he hadn’t found it he’d just assumed that certain types of
establishments weren’t permitted. He’d never thought to find a whorehouse
behind a sharp chrome, steel, and glass façade with elegant signage.

Argentine and Lieutenant Stark found themselves lounging in
overstuffed leather chairs (at least it felt like leather - nothing like the
faux stuff of the Captain’s Bench), smoking cigars, and sipping on some type of
whiskey. It was too bad they’d never heard of cognac, but, all in all, it
wasn’t bad.

By now it was late afternoon and he had to admit that he
rather liked the place.

The men and women that had discretely approached them had
all been attractive; some had even been elegant. There were a few, of course,
that were exotically enhanced well beyond his taste. For the most part,
however, there was nothing grossly overt to distinguish this from an
upper-class dinner party.

It was certainly well outside what he’d expected to find on
a spaceport platform.