STAR HOUNDS -- OMNIBUS (45 page)

T
he Federation guarded its Solar System jealously and carefully, as well it should, for this was the heart of its Empire, in spirit if not in location.

The argument for centuries had been that Sol and its planets, the birthplace of humankind, the Homeworld, was too distant from the normal starlanes to be a truly effective seat of government. But then, the trouble with the colonies began. Revolutions, rebellions, even reprisals from fleets of Free World ships became a threat. A government seat too close to potential attack was a threat to the whole system; so any attempts to relocate the hub of government were swiftly halted, and a sophisticated defense network was established through the whole Solar System to instantly locate and repel invaders and spies bent upon the destruction or downfall of the august Federated Empire.

These measures consisted of checkpoints, sophisticated deep space sensors, and force-bubbles, to say nothing of various defensive fighters stationed on every planet, moon, asteroid, or simply patrolling.

A tough nut to crack. The
Starbow
had not been in the Solar System since its departure years before, fleeing for its life against Zarpfrin’s pogrom against the sentient ships. However, it did possess in its memory an excellent documentation of all the Federation defenses. The starship slipped unobtrusively from Underspace far enough beyond the orbit of Pluto to go undetected. It was from here that Laura Shemzak had to slip in, alone, armed principally with a disguise, a story, and a knowledge of what areas to avoid.

Every defense point would be alerted to her, Northern reasoned. They’d be watching for Pilot Laura Shemzak, traitor to the Federation. Maybe she even had some kind of bounty on her head.

Therefore, the XT 9 had been remodeled and refitted to appear to be an XT 6, the prevalent version of the blip-ship used by the cadre of specially augmented Federation pilots. Identification emanations from the ship were altered—Laura had received a new identity. This, of course, would not hold up very long; but only a short time was needed, they thought, for Laura to get past the checkpoints, penetrate a wafer thin entry window near the BigBox in Denver, and jack the ship’s built in neural interface into the primary system where the Aspach, Mish’s brethren, waited patiently for succor from the malignant system they inhabited. Then, with the stealth of a puma at night, hopefully she would zoom on back to the
Starbow
.

After all, it wasn’t as if she were destroying anything, or stealing anything, or doing anything much improper; Overfriend Zarpfrin and the Federation weren’t even cognizant of these creatures’ existence in their very midst. It certainly wasn’t like robbing a bank or anything, Northern and crew reasoned; and Laura would be in and out before the Feddies knew what had happened.

They had high hopes for Laura’s success.

Laura, however, had no hope.

She played her part properly, jauntily wishing them all farewell as she jacked into the XT 9. This time, though she felt her consciousness expand as she became one with the ship, she didn’t feel the usual joy. Oh, there was the usual Zernin rush, the intensification of her senses, but beneath it all she felt despair.

And not a little dread.

She shut her mind away from it all; she had to. Just be an automaton, she told herself. Destroy these emotions you feel, these intense regrets, lest they destroy you. After all, survival is all. Survival and duty to yourself.

Or was that just the goddamned voice talking?

It had gotten to the point now that she didn’t know the difference between her thoughts and its instructions and warnings.

The docking bay doors swung open. She swung up on antigravs and let her thrusters blast recklessly, heaving herself into the void. The stars glittered a neon welcome as she thrust herself away from the
Starbow
, an ellipsoid collection of fire and metal stepping into night.

When she was far enough away, she went through the preparations of the jump through Underspace that would place her outside Earth’s orbit of the Sun. This was one of the major advantages of a small ship equipped with jump-stasis engines: a quick trip through Underspace was not impossible within a gravity well. Of course, expert piloting and a feel for Underspace travel helped quite a bit, but even with these, a ship with more brass had to travel a certain distance out before it could drop into that mathematical shortcut between normal space distances.

A voice crackled over her ear-conduit comband. “We’re all with you in spirit,” said Dr. Mish.

“Thanks,” she returned. “I’ll be as quick as I can.”

“And Laura,” Dr. Mish continued. “Should there be trouble, remember: my brethren, collectively, have powers when in contact with living beings, powers to let those beings be at their best. Know, them, Laura. And let them know you.”

“Gotcha, Doc. Over and out.” Laura switched off the channel and went into silent mode.

They’re not gonna want to know me, she thought with despair. Not a traitorous wimp like Laura Shemzak.

“Okay,” she growled as she began initial jump procedures. “Mr. Implant, turn up the Zernin, full, ‘cause honey, I’m going to need it to get through this one.”

Acknowledged
, said the voice. She could almost imagine the dispenser adding just an extra little pinch of the drug to her bloodstream, where it would carom down her veins, give her an uplift, a jolt, knock away the blues and sharpen her mind and her abilities.

And then she felt it, and it was a rush like none other and she felt good again—she felt as though the flashing planets ahead of her, this furnace sun, were hers to pick like wild fruit hanging on the tree of space.

She laughed a wild and deadly laugh, then her ship winked like a bright eye in the night, and was gone.

I
t slipped out, trailing gaseous and sparkling plumes, into the predicted position.

The Earth and the Moon hung like bright baubles in the sky, while beyond, the sun burned in its beautiful fury.

She wasted no time in communicating with the Moon Defense Station, lest some watchdog boat was immediately sent snapping at her heels.

But she didn’t use her disguise. She broadcast her true identification. It didn’t take long for her to get a response, a message directly from Earth. All systems were clear, it said, and she would be allowed to proceed to Denver on the North American continent, as she requested. She would be expected soon.

One more quick subspace jump flickered her a little closer in; and then she simply turned on thrusters and impellors for a time, found the correct descent window, and dove through it for the brown and green continent awaiting her report.

Through the clouds and the air she dipped, a navigational force-screen taking up the heat of reentry. In front of her the Rocky Mountains thrust up, snow-peaked. She dashed over them, a vapor-trail streak, and zoomed in for a landing at the private field near the center of the Friend’s control over the stars: the so-called Big Box.

Security gave her a hole through the force-bubble, and she was down on the field in a flash, landing close to a systems integration facility. She waited until she was cleared for a linkup, then disengaged and stepped out into a bright summer day in Denver, Upper Pan-America. A refreshing breeze tossed her hair about; the familiar and welcomed scents of Earth enveloped her.

Home.

This was, after all, where she had been born and raised, and there was something about being on this planet, something about being in exactly the right gravity, breathing exactly the right gas mix in a familiar climate, that gave Laura a sense of rightness despite everything that was wrong now.

Waiting for her was a ground-car.

“Pilot Shemzak,” said an officer in a helmet. He saluted her. Saluted her, as though she were some kind of military superior! “We’ve been dispatched to carry you back to headquarters immediately.”

“Right. By Overfriend Zarpfrin, without a doubt.”

“I believe so.”

“Okay. Take me away, I’m all yours.”

Another uniformed man opened a door for her. She got in and they drove her to the compound. From there she was shuttled up a series of hallways, and scanned at numerous security points, all of which she remembered from her last visit. After the clear, clean air outside, the oppressive well-lighted gray of these passageways was particularly striking, a bold underlining of the Friendly bureaucracy’s emphasis on stark functionality.

From the interview with Friend Chivon Lasster that had launched her on this wild course, Laura knew that Friend’s offices were only slightly better. So it was a surprise to her when she was ushered to Overfriend Zarpfrin’s office near the top of the building. It was large, roomy, and quite pleasant.

“You may leave her here, but take up stations by the door,” Zarpfrin ordered the pair bracketing Laura. They obeyed, leaving Laura standing before a long, polished walnut desk. It glimmered with images reflecting off the large vu-tank in the background, and had upon it mounds of administrative data pads. In fact, Zarpfrin had been found, poised light-pen in hand, wearing a pair of half-frames that, in this day and age, was most certainly an eccentricity.

“Sit down, Laura,” said Zarpfrin. “I must confess I am rather surprised to see you on Earth.”

He motioned to a plush velvet couch with curlicued arms, perched on a brightly colored Indian rug with tassels. The room itself was sunny, with a wealth of windows looking out on the Colorado plains. Laura was almost fooled by them, for in truth they could only be projected illusions: the Big Box had no windows. Still, the atmospherics of the room made you believe you could just walk over, slide one of those suckers down, and feel an earthy breeze in your face.

“Nice place,” said Laura.

“Thank you.”

There were a wealth of plants about as well, some alien, all colorful in a blend that settled well on the eye. An aquarium bubbled in the corner, wherein peculiar creatures swam or crawled languidly.

“We’ve been diverted,” Laura said finally. “Diverted to Earth.”

Zarpfrin took off his glasses, his eyes wide and excited.

“The
Starbow
is here, then?” he said. “But how could it get past all our sensors? I’ve received no reports. I’m not surprised to see you got through—you’ve got your blip-ship. But the
Starbow
?”

“It’s … ” She was going to say out on the plane of the ecliptic past Pluto, but instead decided to try a lie. “ … far away, in Underspace, waiting for me.”

Falsehood
! said her voice within.

And it touched her gently with its anti-Zernin drug.

Laura went white. She clutched at the material of the couch.

The attack stopped.

Zarpfrin nodded. “The very fact that you are here attests to the value of the implant, Laura. Why you think you need to attempt to lead me astray, I don’t know. But I presume that the
Starbow
is waiting for you somewhere out past our sensor range. We’ll get to hard details later. For now, I’d like to hear about how our departed Friend Chivon Lasster is doing.”

Laura let out a breath, slow and easy, regaining control over herself.

“A real thorn in your side, huh, Zarpfrin?” she said stiffly.

“That’s right,” Zarpfrin returned. “I am in a very uncomfortable position now with the Council of Five because of her. They are looking a little too closely into my activities of late. Oh, nothing to worry about, and once I’ve succeeded in either destroying or capturing the
Starbow—
the latter preferred, of course, though the former will do—everything will fall into place quite nicely.”

Laura smiled grimly. “They know about your deals with the Jaxdron?” she said spitefully.

That clearly shook him, though he tried to hide it. “Deals with the Jaxdron? Is that Zernin rotting your brains, Laura?”

“As to your first question, she’s just fine. I think she, feels better about everything, Zarpfrin, as a matter of fact. Yep, old Chivon likes it on the
Starbow
, hooked up with folks fighting the likes of you! As to the second question, Northern and his crew have begun to smell something rotten in this whole situation. They’ve figured out, Zarpfrin, that you and your Council—or is it just you?—have got some sort of treaty with these alien monsters to scarify the Free Worlds so they come running to Big Daddy for help. But then Big Daddy smothers them with his love … drags them back into the fold.”

Zarpfrin watched her expressionlessly. “Yes. Go on,” he encouraged.

“That’s it. They just put their heads together, Lasster and Northern and Mish, and they came up with that.”

“A deal with the Jaxdron.”

“Yeah. But what they can’t figure is what those aliens are getting out of all this. And they can’t figure out why all the charades with my brother!” Her eyes got fierce. “Something to do with Omega Space, though everything now seems to center on Omega Space. Closest we can figure is that you want to make sure that nobody gets hold of Omega Space secrets, ‘cause you want everything to be nice and cozy here in the Federation, no more expansion until we’re ready to fight the Big Guys out there.”