Stories of the Confederated Star Systems (11 page)

“Berto, come here,” Nathan said with a wide grin. “This is Jorge Cabrillo, from our R&D Division.”

Alberto stood and walked over, sticking out his hand in a friendly manner. “I’m pleased to meet you, Señor Cabrillo,” he managed to say in an almost normal tone.

“And I you, Señor De La Cruz,” Cabrillo answered with a smile that never touched his eyes. “I have heard many things about you.”

Alberto looked at Nathan and let his mouth twist into a bitter smile. “If the stories were from Nate, they’re probably true.”

“Not all, Señor. Not all,” Señor Cabrillo said with a wide grin that made Alberto’s skin crawl.

“Come on, I’m hungry,” Nathan interrupted, and Alberto almost gave him a hug for breaking the tension that was growing between him and the spy.

Nathan led them to the elevators and punched the button for the fifty-second floor. “We’re going to
Cacao’s
for lunch. Cacao swears he has a new dish that is so good it will make you forget your name.”

Alberto was staring at the reflective wall of the elevator as he said, “There are a lot of things I’d like to forget,” and saw the calculating expression on Cabrillo’s face. It was there and gone again in an instant, but Alberto wasn’t fooled. He knew that expression.

Cacao’s
was the premier restaurant in the Arvantan Towers. It came close to being the premier restaurant on all of New Hispaniola. Only
Señor Philippe’s
was more popular with the up-and-comers of the New Hispaniolan elite.

“Ah, Señor Chavez, welcome,” the maître d’ said as soon as they opened the door. “Your table is waiting, as you requested.” The man led them past scowling people in impeccable business dress, totally ignoring the fact that Alberto looked like he should be waiting outside the service entrance for a handout.

Once they were seated, Nathan looked at Alberto and sighed. “You need to get out more, Berto. You look like you’re about to bolt for the door.”

“Looks aren’t always deceiving, Nate. I’d like nothing better than to vanish right now,” Alberto answered. He looked around nervously, and saw at least thirty people looking his way.

“Calm down, Berto. I doubt any of them recognize you. I just don’t think anyone has worn jeans, boat shoes, and a windbreaker into
Cacao’s
in living memory.” Nathan smiled broadly, and Alberto had to nod in agreement.

“You could have told me where we were going,” Alberto said in his own defense. “I was thinking of that raw bar you took me to last time. The one they had to carry us out of. You remember that, don’t you?”

“It’s all a blur,” Nathan admitted, then looked at the third member of their party. “Sorry. It would be a long story if I could remember it. But that was then and this is now. Berto, Jorge is interested in something you reported before your—incident. An asteroid with a peculiar makeup. It was something that your remote sensors couldn’t define.”

“A mass of material that seemed anomalous,” Alberto said as his eyes went unfocused for a moment. “I remember. It was just before-just before I lost my crew. The mass seemed to exceed the volume of the asteroid by an order of magnitude. Even if it was made of a heavy element like lead, it would have been too massive for its apparent volume. But I’m not sure that it was real. By that time the hallucinogenic gas was already in our atmosphere.”

“Señor De La Cruz,” Cabrillo said as he sat forward, “we are interested in finding this asteroid again. If it is, as you reported, a mass of super dense matter, it could be very valuable. We in the R&D Division would very much like to obtain a sample of that material, if not the entire asteroid.”

“You want me to go back out there?”

Nathan reached over and grabbed Alberto’s hand. “Berto, you didn’t capture any visual record of the asteroid. You are the only one who knows what it looks like.”

“Even the report you filed on its location is of little use to us,” Cabrillo said, his expression on of intense concentration. “There was no data on its motion, direction or speed. All we know is where it was.”

“You want me to go back out there.”

Nathan squeezed his hand to get his attention. “Yes, Berto, we want you to go back out there. Just long enough to find and tag the asteroid. Then you come straight back to New Hispaniola. You don’t have to stay out there.”

Alberto tried to wet his lips with a tongue that was as dry as the desert, then he grabbed his glass of water and gulped it down. “Nate, do you know what you’re asking me to do?”

“Sorry, but yes, I do.” Nathan shook his head slowly. “Berto, I hate to use an old cliché, but you’ve got to get back in the saddle. You’ve got to put your butt in the command chair of your ship again, and damn soon, or you’ll never leave the ground again. You’ll probably never leave your room.”

Alberto studied the tablecloth as he though, looking at the fine weave of the linen fibers. It would be so easy to make them unravel, like his life had unraveled. “I don’t know if I can, Nate.”

“Can you try?” Nathan asked.

“I don’t know.”

* * *

The next day Alberto awoke at dawn. He hadn’t dreamt of Minerva for the first time since he’d come back to the planet. After his shower, he shaved and combed his hair, then went to get dressed. His uniform hung in the closet, and for a change it didn’t seem to mock him. It invited him to put it on. To once again be the captain of the
Guadalajara.

Once he was dressed, he looked in the mirror and nodded sharply. Then he picked up the phone and dialed Nate’s office.

“Arvantan Cartel, Señor Chavez’s office. May I help you?” the receptionist said, her perky tone just as fresh as it was in person.

“Maria, it’s Berto De La Cruz. Tell Nate I’m on my way up to NHSP-1. He’ll understand.”

“Good luck, Captain,” Maria replied, all pretenses gone from her voice.

“Thank you.” Alberto hung up the phone, then called the spaceport. “When is the next shuttle to NHSP-1?” he asked. The answer made him smile. “Two hours is fine. Book a seat for Captain Alberto De La Cruz of the Arvantan Cartel ship
Guadalajara.
”

* * *

The
Guadalajara
was still nestled in docking port thirty-seven, exactly where he’d left her when he returned from his ill-fated mission to the asteroid belt. He walked aboard with his head held high and went to the bridge. He began the warm-up and start-up procedure by himself, but he wasn’t alone for long.

Seventeen men and women, led by Jorge Cabrillo, entered the ship and spread out, taking the crew positions naturally, as if they didn’t have to push ghosts out of the way. Cabrillo entered the bridge and smiled at Alberto.

“I am glad that you chose to aid us in this endeavor, Señor De La Cruz. The crewmen and women I brought with me are from the
Juarez
, one of
Guadalajara’s
sister ships. They are all experienced spacers and you will have no trouble with them.” He smiled, but again, it never made it to his eyes.

Alberto simply nodded his acknowledgement and pushed the ship wide intercom stud on his chair panel. “All hands to departure stations. Rig ship for acceleration. Bring main thrusters to hot standby. Departure in five minutes.”

Turning to his unwelcome guest, Alberto pointed toward the chair at the engineering panel. “Sit there and don’t touch anything. We’ll get you where you want to go and find the asteroid for you. I have to wonder, though. How did you get anyone to agree to go into space with me again?”

“Triple hazard pay, plus a bonus if we locate the asteroid.”

Alberto chuckled. “I wouldn’t have accepted that deal. Strap in.” He went to his own chair and fastened his harness. A man and a woman came into the bridge and addressed him.

“Captain De La Cruz, I am Ishmael Gomez, Navigator Second of the
Juarez,”
the man said, coming to attention. “My companion is Isabella Santiago, Primary Helm.”

“Take your positions,” Alberto ordered without looking up from his panel. “Get clearance from NHSP-1 to depart, and plot us a course to the asteroid belt. Our target is six-seven-one by two-six-two at four point three six nine astronomical units from the star.”

The navigator had been working while Alberto talked, and looked up almost immediately. “Course set and laid in.”

“Very well,” Alberto answered as the butterflies that had been missing appeared in his stomach. He pushed the button on his panel and the canned acceleration warning echoed through the ship. Exactly one minute later, the
Guadalajara
eased away from port.

The trip to the asteroid belt took seventeen days. Seventeen days for Alberto’s doubts to grow. Seventeen days for him to second-guess himself. Seventeen days to wonder what he would find this time.

As soon as they arrived in the asteroid belt, he instituted a search pattern. He remembered the asteroid’s movements as being generally toward the ecliptic south-east, and he directed the search in that direction. He tied the optical sensors to his panel and searched with his eyes as Cabrillo and Gomez searched with the ship’s sensors. It still took three more days to find the right asteroid.

“Are you certain, Captain?” Cabrillo asked as Alberto tapped his screen with one finger.

“What do your sensors say?” he asked in return.

“Inconclusive.”

“Exactly what they said last time. We’ll stand well away this time, though. Helm, maintain at least ten kilometers from that rock at all times. Señor Cabrillo, you and I will take the shuttle and investigate. I won’t hazard another crew.”

Cabrillo looked at him for a moment, then nodded. “A wise precaution, Captain. I will go suit up.”

“As will I. Meet me in the shuttle bay when you are ready.” Alberto turned and walked off the bridge to his quarters. He carefully checked his suit, then strapped in. It was a miner’s suit, with exoskeleton servos to enhance his strength.

He had already done the pre-flight checks on the shuttle by the time Señor Cabrillo arrived. Alberto hid a smile when he saw the suit that Cabrillo had brought along. A civilian excursion suit, smooth and attractively tailored, it looked like a slightly bulky coverall.

“Are we ready, Captain?” he asked as he came aboard the shuttle.

“Yes. Strap in and don’t touch anything.” Alberto keyed his microphone and contacted the bridge. “Captain to bridge. Depressurize the shuttle bay and open the outer doors.”

“Bridge aye,” the navigator replied. It took just a few moments, and then the mighty doors pealed open to reveal the glory that was space.

Alberto eased the shuttle clear, then used small bursts of his thrusters to get them moving toward the asteroid. “It will take a little while to reach the asteroid. Just sit back and relax.”

The little while was nearly an hour as Alberto maneuvered them into position to land on the rotating rock. It was a tricky maneuver, but he executed it flawlessly and grinned when he saw Cabrillo’s white-knuckled grip on his arm rests.

“You can let go now. The mass is sufficient that we have almost one tenth of an Earth-Normal gravity on the surface. That was what drew out attention last time.”

“Can we go out onto the surface?” Cabrillo asked, and Alberto led him to the personnel airlock.

“Double-check your suit before we get into the lock. There are no second chances with vacuum.” Alberto was following his own order as he spoke. When both of them were ready, he opened the inner airlock door. Once they were in the lock and the door was closed and secure, he activated the pump-out sequence. As the air was removed from the airlock, their suits tightened and Alberto watched Cabrillo carefully. When the other’s suit showed no signs of rupturing, he opened the outer door.

The asteroid was rotating in two planes, causing a kaleidoscope of shadows to writhe across the surface. It wasn’t enough, however, to hide the evidence in the dust.

“You landed here before,” Cabrillo said as he looked at the tracks.

“I sent a team to investigate.”

Cabrillo turned toward him with a stunned expression on his face. “Your report said nothing of this.”

“There was a lot that wasn’t in my report.”

“What else are you hiding?” Cabrillo demanded.

“Minerva,” Alberto answered.

“Your delusion?”

Now Alberto laughed. He walked forward, leaving Cabrillo to follow in his wake. It wasn’t far. He’d seen to that when he picked his landing spot. He turned on his suit work-lights and pointed. In a depression that had been gouged out by a collision with another asteroid was what looked like a metal object. It was smooth and curved, and there appeared to be writing on it.

“Do you see it, Señor Cabrillo?”

Cabrillo was silent for a moment. “That’s impossible.”

“No, Señor, it is possible. It’s what you came here to find material for. A super-dense ship’s hull. It’s been collecting space debris for centuries. It’s Minerva’s ship.”

Cabrillo was backing away from him, shaking his head as he stared with wide eyes. “That cannot be real.”

“It is, Señor. My First Mate led an assay team here and found it. When they touched the hull they triggered an automatic system that opened the airlock. That freed the spirits of the crew.” Alberto turned and faced Cabrillo. “There were over a hundred of them. They possessed my crew, fighting to take over their bodies, three and sometimes four at a time seeking to displace the souls of my people. All except Minerva.” Alberto smiled softly now, as if remembering a lost love.

“She came to me alone. She was gentle with me. She was a lover, not a conqueror. She joined with me, and is still with me. The crew went mad because of the multiple personalities in each of them. Minerva kept me sane. She helped me kill them all, freeing all of their souls to move on. Now it’s time for you to go, Señor Cabrillo. The shuttle is set to auto-return to the ship.”

“But what of you? You’ll die out here,” Cabrillo all but shouted over the suit radio.

“The ship is waiting for me. For us. You should go now. You don’t have long.” Alberto started walking down into the scar, and it took a moment for Cabrillo to realize what was going on.

The suit radio came to life again, but it wasn’t Alberto this time. “Captain, this is Gomez. What is happening? We’ve been listening in, and now we’re detecting a massive buildup of power on the asteroid.”