The Adventures of Deacon Coombs (54 page)

“Okay! Let’s have it! I know you well enough, Chubby Eaves. You are bursting with news!”

Rodan arose and said, “Oh my goosh! Wow!”

Chubby pointed to them. “The travel logs on Medulla tell a story.”

Deacon looked over the mess. “Which is?”

Toad pulled a printout and placed it on the table. He gleefully said, “Come here, Deacon. This is the log of a transport ship. What a story it tells. It is the ship JTS
H’vington
, out of Melthant, Jabu.”

“That’s right,” Chubby said. “I know this ship well. She was built by traders to transport dangerous chemicals and perishable medicines throughout the Alliance wherever these fragile cargoes are needed. This is in the travel records here, here, and here. Take a look for yourself, Deacon.” Deacon perused the highlighted marks. “Guess what we’ve discovered?” Deacon allowed Chubby to answer his own question. “Deacon, the
H’vington
has docked here on Medulla an unusual numbers of times in the past three years, and her frequent visits document the loading of perishable gases and liquids.”

Deacon redirected the conversation. He challenged Chubby and Rodan. “I want concrete evidence that this is Urzel’s ship! We can’t assume that just based on circumstantial evidence of frequent stops here!”

Chubby reassured him. “The freighter was always delayed, leaving after the same amount of time.”

The princess was at the door. “What is this I hear? You have found the bewitched ship?”

Rodan was excited. “It was teamwork. This Aralian Chubby is a gem, Deacon. Chubby discovered that this ship, the
H’vington
, has visited here often, and he has retrieved and recorded the dates and the times. Look, Xudur.”

Chubby patted Rodan on the back. “Then my friend Toad investigated what cargoes were being boarded on the
H’vington
and where on Medulla they came from.”

Chubby faced Deacon. “I lied to you. I told you that the ships come to Medulla empty. Well, they don’t. That is, all of them do except one! The
H’vington
. Look, in every case, in all trips, it carried one chamber of precious gas. One. Only one, Deacon. The transport records don’t lie. A single, preloaded precious cargo to Medulla. Take it away, Toad.”

“Oh my goosh, the departure of the
H’vington
from Aralia to Medulla with this one precious load occurred just after Como’s death. The departure of her from Globiana to Medulla occurred just after Geor’s death. The departure from Medulla to Jabu coincides with the attack on Jabu. In that case, one cargo chamber was occupied. It has to be Urzel, stored on board the
H’vington
!”

“We have to be absolutely certain,” said Deacon.

“Deacon, these medicines and liquids boarded here on Medulla for transport elsewhere in the Alliance require, my goosh, special compression chambers to prevent spoiling. The settings of these chambers all conform to standard transport practices. However, Chubby discovered that in each case of departure from Medulla, one chamber, the same one every time, had different pressure and temperature settings deviating from standards. This has to be the chamber that transports Urzel.”

Rodan hopped across the room. “Then I ran to my calculations that I had been working on. The answer jumped off the sheets.” He shuffled through a pile of papers but proudly turned with the solitary display on a computer screen. “Here are the compressional forces needed for the Medullans to exist comfortably. Here are the compressional forces required to transport a Medullan in the vapor state. The parameters of this chamber are set exactly to those settings. Once again, Chubby and I reiterate that the JTS
H’vington
is Urzel’s home away from home.”

“Why did Urzel or his conspirators not tamper with these records to protect him?” asked Xudur.

Chubby answered. “Thousands of years ago, we Aralians, to prevent smuggling and theft and stowaways, devised the ultimate computer system to catalog all the contents of each trade ship transporting precious goods. Those recordings can’t be tampered with. I suspect that Urzel is comfortable with the
H’vington
because no one has unmasked him to date as a stowaway. Who would ever look for a stowaway in a compression chamber? Other than us in this room, who else is searching for him?”

Xudur nodded. “Nedilli and Falthorpe were correct. Urzel returns here to rejuvenate himself in his natural surroundings. He is smuggled on board the same Jabu freighter, which is obviously infested with his coconspirators. But why, Chubby, has no one else questioned the frequency of stops that the
H’vington
makes on Medulla?”

“Xudur, the
H’vington
has proper papers to transport valuable naturally occurring medicines and gases found here on Medulla. The ship has an authorized right of way on every journey.”

“So we know where some of Urzel’s converts lie,” Deacon said. “They exist inside the traders’ union to staff his ship and approve trade routes to here.”

Chubby looked disgusted. “I will arrest and punish all the guilty after our mission is complete. These files have the list of all the crewmen on the
H’vington
. They are a nasty lot, especially the captain, who has had gross violations before.”

Deacon asked Rodan, “How long can Urzel remain in these chambers at these settings? In one journey?”

“The times that Urzel occupies the chamber are for strategic reasons. I suspect that he could remain in the chambers indefinitely, since it is his means of protection at security checkpoints and it enables him to accomplish Vespering without traveling through a vacuum. There are no limits. But someone has to go to the chamber upon arrival at Medulla, decompress it, and release him, or he is stuck there. Therefore, the captain must be a coconspirator.”

Xudur said, “Let’s find the
H’vington
and blast her to smithereens while Urzel is inside.”

“No, my goosh, there is no certainty that Urzel will be destroyed. The methods that I outlined require him to be exposed so we can perform demolecularization. The chamber protects him from the danger of that. My intellectual opinion is that we must lure him out of that chamber in order to kill him.”

Deacon added confidently, “We must intercept the
H’vington
, board her with forces to contain his mortal allies, secure the chamber by force field, and then transport the chamber to a remote sector of the galaxy to be the target of a photon-neutrino bomb.”

“Don’t worry,” said Chubby. “I have already sent a message to Aralian Headquarters asking them to track the movements of the
H’vington
and inform us by coded reply of her whereabouts. We will ensure accurate tracking of this ship from this time on. Here’s another surprise. Toad and I also verified that the
H’vington
was docked in Ketapongo, coincident with the approximate time that Goharn Lok heard the sobbing in the woods.”

“Okay,” said Deacon, “I’m convinced that you have discovered conclusive evidence.”

Chubby waved a sheet of paper in front of Deacon. “Present in proximity to Nix when you witnessed Urzel on Nix.”

“How did the Owlers not identify the
H’vington
as suspicious when she was present on Aralia and Globiana during those critical tragic events?”

“Deacon, I checked Jim’s files. The Owler did note the
H’vington
, but for some reason, which we now know is convenient, the crewmen in both instances were quarantined on the ship for the entire stay. Thus the records indicate that the
H’vington
was incapacitated and quarantined and the crew accounted for.”

“How many crewmen on the
H’vington
are Aralians?” Xudur asked. “Truthful, dependable Aralians?”

Chubby painfully answered Xudur, not appreciating the satiric accompanying commentary. “The files say about twelve Aralians and three Jabu.”

Xudur could not resist. “It seems to me that when this case is resolved, it will be time to examine who is best to rule the future of the traders’ union. We seem to be smothered in Aralian deception at every step.”

Deacon turned to Xudur. “One problem at a time, Princess, for first we must focus on getting the confidence of the Medullans to help us, and we must find the whereabouts of the
H’vington
immediately.” Deacon stepped between the Aralian and the disgruntled Zentaurian. “What else should we know about the
H’vington
, Chubby?”

“Well, she is unarmed, which also deflects suspicion that she might carry a valuable booty. Most of the crew traditionally carry some light weapons.”

“I thought,” Schlegar said, “that ships with precious cargoes were armed to prevent theft of such valuable merchandise.”

“In the past yes, Schlegar, but we decided to destroy the goods or eject them into space rather than have dangerous cargoes fall into the wrong hands. So like the
H’vington
, there are many ships that now roam about unarmed and are prepared to eject their cargo rather than be plundered.”

“Which brings me to an interesting point.” Deacon asked them all to sit down. “We need to put more thought into our plan to trap Urzel. I think the possibility of luring him to us diminishes each day.”

Xudur blurted out and interrupted. “I favor the idea of capturing the
H’vington
and securing the chamber and transporting the demon to the edge of the unpopulated galaxy, as you proposed earlier.”

Deacon agreed but waved off Xudur. “The first step of our plan, I believe, is to send a message into space—a message that seeks to contact me, Deacon Coombs, and inform me about the rapid deterioration of the health and almost certain death of Urzel’s other half. This message must be subtle but direct enough to capture Urzel’s attention, and it must be sent in the line of the
H’vington
. Let’s address it from Goharn Lok. I will write the communique and get Lyanna to re-transmit it from Earth by various means. Chubby, I will count on you to propagate some rumor of the imminent death of a sickly, mysterious Medullan child. Let’s cover every trade sector.”

“You want the
H’vington
detoured to Earth? That’s dangerous for all Earthlings.”

Rodan objected too. “Deacon, Earth is far too populous to set off any of the instruments that I proposed.”

Chubby was suddenly elated, and with his big mouth open, he pounded to get their attention. “Hear me out. I’ve got an idea. According to the laws of Vespering, one has to turn off manual monitoring devices. Vespering is the time when we should surprise Urzel on the
H’vington
. The response time of individuals concerned about rematerialization will not be soon enough. As the
H’vington
rematerializes in the bowl, we could eliminate the protective cover over the basin early and board before anyone could respond to Urzel’s needs. The ship is unarmed, and the crew will be sluggish. The computer will be engaged in other post-Vespering functions, such as checking the safety of the contents of each chamber and clearing regulations for inspection by officials of Earth.” The group agreed. “It will only take minutes before the computer recognizes intruders, so we will have to board, disengage security procedures manually, and then storm the chamber to secure its contents.”

Then Deacon turned to Chubby. “Hmm. If we already had someone on board the
H’vington
who knew a trade ship, who knew how to shut down security procedures manually within, say, a split second after Vespering.”

Chubby trembled. “Urzel knows me! Remember? I would crumble just in proximity to him. What if he leaves the chamber during flight as on the
Sleigher
?”

“Chubby, if our plan fails, he will be unchecked for a lifetime. We have only this one chance. You are a senior executive of the trade union. Don’t tell me that you can’t find a way to get assigned to the
H’vington
when we locate her, before she reaches Earth.”

Xudur piped up. “Use your influence. Practice your skillful Aralian deceit. Get those false papers initiated. Dye your hair. Use lenses to change your eyes. Clip those beautiful nails and lose a few pounds. Change your accent. Are you telling me you can’t do that for the future safety of the Alliance?” She then intimidated Chubby by exposing the ruby flesh in her mouth to him.

Jim, with wit, added, “Wear a dress.”

Rodan laughed and then said, “I have a remarkable suggestion for Chubby Eaves to go undercover. Fool everyone by acting humble!”

Chubby sneered at the group while they all laughed in a moment of bonding. This time even Xudur bellowed. It was comforting for Deacon to see them as a band of galactic brothers. Xudur’s smile was a moment for his memoirs. Deacon issued orders. “Chubby, you and Jim depart before us in the
Heritage
to intersect the next port of the
H’vington
. After you have done so, board her and let Jim steer the
Heritage
back to Earth for our rendezvous. Our business on Medulla is not complete yet, so we will have to follow in the
G’uillger
.

“Only when your papers are cleared to get on the
H’vington
, only then, Chubby, notify me to send the message into space. I will direct Lyanna to dispatch it to all sectors, because if we send it only to the space port or sector where the
H’vington
is docked, it will look suspicious.”

Chubby suggested a revision. “Rather than send it to you, Deacon, why don’t we send it from Earth to Nedilli on Medulla through numerous space routes but intersecting the route of the
H’vington
? That way we don’t tip Urzel off that you are not on Earth. That way he doesn’t know that you are in space searching for him.”

Xudur agreed. “A great idea from the Aralian. With Medulla’s position in the galaxy, no one will be suspicious of multiple routes of a message from Earth to Medulla.” Deacon and Xudur grinned at the trader with respect.

As they concurred, Deacon explained the next step. “The message is sent. Hopefully Urzel intercepts and responds. We have to gamble that his allies recognize the names of Nedilli and Goharn Lok and bring the message to him. Now, how to capture him?”