The Ninth Circle (51 page)

Authors: R. M. Meluch

Then he moved aft. He tossed the burned seat cushion out of his way, which revealed the res chamber. No chance he wouldn’t see it. He crouched down and pulled it out from its hiding place. He heaved it up and set it on a console. Powered it on.

After a moment he said darkly, “You deleted the harmonic.”

Maybe he
had
overheard her. There was nothing for it. Glenn had to tell the truth. “Yes.”

Unless she left the harmonic loaded in the chamber, the harmonic was irretrievable. Irretrievable from the machine. But not from her.

“Doesn’t matter,” Nox said.

Up flew the rusted blade. The machete came slicing down with a crash that made Glenn shrink back.

Nox cleaved the res chamber nearly in half.

He seesawed his blade free from the sheared metal. He told Glenn, “I can get the harmonic out of you if I need it.”

It was raining where Colonel Steele’s patrol was. Steele received a resonant call from Commander Ryan advising him that the pirates known as The Ninth Circle had taken the LEN camp.

“One fatality that we know of. The position of the pirates’ Xerxes is unknown but it has to be within walking distance of the LEN camp. A Xerxes has true stealth capability, which makes your mission objective a bit on the tricky side. Find the Xerxes. Do not be sighted. Lives depend on that.”

“Sir?” Steele began. “What do you mean by ‘walking distance?’”

“It means the pirates walked,” said Dingo. “At one time they were Roman legionaries, so use whatever
you
consider a walking distance. That’s a big area, but you’ve got to get a lot closer than you are now. Give us your best, Marine.”

“Aye, aye, sir.”

Rain tapped on the energy dome and came down in odd trickles, as if the raindrops hit a plastic bubble. But the expedition members couldn’t see the surface of the bubble except as defined by the flattened undersides of the raindrops.

A heat pocket collected at the top of the energy dome. A cool damp breeze came in at ground level.

Because it was unshielded around the edges, the camp would have been vulnerable to a ground siege, if not for the hostages.

Any one of the expedition members could walk out across the dirt perimeter, if he had anywhere to go.

There wasn’t anywhere to go. The pirates had set up jammers to prevent displacement. And Orissus let them know, “If one of you escapes, you had better all escape.”

“Woe betide anyone you leave behind,” said Nox, his gaze fixed on Glenn Hamilton.

Nox reported back to Caesar. Advised him that his non-Roman Roman eyes were on the ground and inside the LEN camp. Nox told him of the presence of
Merrimack
in the Zoen star system, though Caesar already knew that before he sent The Ninth Circle here.

“Is the DNA a hoax?” Caesar asked.

“If it is a hoax, people down here think it’s
our
hoax,” said Nox, then corrected himself, “Rome’s hoax, I mean.” Nox kept forgetting that Rome did not consider him Roman. “But there’s a lot of evidence to say it’s real.”

“Send all data contained in all the scientists’ information banks to Us. Send all the raw data from the scientific equipment. Send everything on the extraplanetary beings they are calling ‘clokes.’ Is that truly short for cloaca?”

“Yes,
Domni
. The U.S. Marines came up with that name for them.”

“Are there Marines on world?”

“There were. The LEN ordered them off. I don’t see any.
Bagheera
hasn’t detected any displacements or landings since we got here. There are two officers on leave from
Merrimack
down here in camp as part of the scientific expedition. One is a civilian in uniform. A xenolinguist. The other is a line officer. She’s just here because she’s married to the xenolinguist. So I’m told.”

“Rank?”

“Lieutenant.”

“Glenn Hamilton.”

Nox’s voice hitched. “Yes, Caesar.”

Was there anything Numa Pompeii didn’t know?

“Send Us complete personnel files on the xenos. Include their medical records. Send every record they have, all correspondence, notes, diaries, games, family pictures, porn. Collect everything. Omit nothing. We will sift out the useful from the chaff. After any transmission to us, erase this harmonic behind you. Kill anyone who suspects that we are in contact.”

Knowledge was power. Caesar wanted all of it.

Nox got his brothers to work immediately. Galeo questioned, “Caesar specifically asked for personal records?”

Nox nodded. “He was adamant about that.”

“Why is Caesar doing background checks on the xenos?” asked Faunus.

Nox shrugged. “Looking for a DNA hoax? I don’t know.”

“No. Not in their personal records,” said Nicanor. “He’s looking for something other than that.”

“He must be looking for someone who is not what he seems to be,” said Orissus. “Hopefully not another Farragut.”

“Leave it,” said Pallas.

“Does Numa know who you are?” Faunus asked.

“You’re dumber than a dead xeno if you think he doesn’t, O Best Beloved,” Nox told Faunus.

“This is almost like a mole search,” said Leo.

Rome was known for creating and inserting moles inside other societies. Rome was not known for having moles inside itself.

Pallas inhaled a small gasp. Realized, “He’s looking for Romulii.”

The others froze for an instant, then turned to stare at Pallas.

The Romulii were subversive supporters of former Caesar Romulus. Romulus was now comatose and completely crackers. His diehard followers were rabid. And clever.

“Do you really think so?” said Nox.

“You have a better idea?” said Pallas.

“No,” said Nox. “But I don’t like that one.”

“I liked Romulus,” said Leo. Sounded wistful.

“You did?” said Nox. “He was a patricide.”

“No,” said Galeo. “He wasn’t. That was Claudia.”

“Or Empress Calli,” said Leo.

“I enlisted under Romulus,” said Nicanor.

“We all did,” said Pallas.

“I enlisted under Numa,” said Nox. “But I fell in love with Rome under Romulus.” He remembered the fighters passing over the house, rattling all the windows.

“The man did things,” Faunus said, nodding. “Would’ve done more except for the traitor Augustus. It was a hell of a ride.”

The brothers couldn’t help but look at some of the data they collected. Leo questioned the references to “orbs” around the planet. What orbs are they talking about? Did they mean the U.S. Marine Swifts? Swifts were definitely not orb-shaped, but they were the only things up there in orbit other than
Merrimack
.

Pallas asked the xenos around the fire pit, but most of the xenos were too afraid to talk at all.

Jose Maria answered for them. “The orbs were cloke spacecraft. You would not have seen them when you came in. They attacked
Spring Beauty
and
Mercedes
. Then they attacked
Merrimack
.”

“They attacked the
Mack
?” said Nox.

That explained why there were no more orbs.

“Why didn’t the orbs attack the ships that came before
Spring Beauty
and
Mercedes
,” Nicanor demanded.

“We do not know,” said Jose Maria.

“The orbs were asleep,” Nox said, an epiphany. “They were the Little People. Just a lot slower to wake up.”

Glenn hesitated, afraid for her life
.
But she had orders:
Get close to John John
. The next thing she said would either get Nox’s attention or get her dead quickly. “The buck lived.”

Nox’s blue eyes got very wide, amazed. He spoke the next line in
The Jungle Book
: “Because he came first, running for his life, leaping ere the Little People were aware.”

In this case, the first several LEN ships to approach the planet survived—getting down to the planet before the Little People—the clokes—were aware. Once aware that ships were coming to
their
planet, the Little People had swarmed around the next intruders to come and tried to kill them.

“Just so,” said Glenn.

At nightfall Nox took Glenn Hamilton for a walk out from under the dome.

This close to the galactic Rim, space was true black at this hour. Later, the Milky Way would rise, but for now, the sky was black.

And those widely spaced, fuzzy points of light up there weren’t stars. They were galaxies unimaginably distant in the incomprehensible abyss.

“What are the constellations called here?” Nox asked.

“No one has named them,” said Glenn.

“Really?” He looked up. No stars yet. They wouldn’t rise for hours yet. “Someone should.”

“You think in symbols, don’t you,” Glenn said. Not a question.

Nox seemed startled. Glenn didn’t want to startle him. She thought he knew that about himself.

“I guess I do.” He hadn’t known.

“Not everyone does,” said Glenn. “Think in symbols.”

It seemed to explain something to him.

“Ever kill anyone, Lieutenant Glenn Hamilton?” Nox asked. “I mean hand to hand.”

Her turn to be startled. “Only monsters,” she said.

“And what am I?”

“I don’t think you’re a monster.”

“What am I then?”

Any answer could be fatal. She said, “A runaway Star Sparrow without a target.”

He thought about that. She didn’t want him to think too long. She said, “We should come out here later when the stars are out.”

He nodded as if that were a fine idea. He walked her back to her tent.

She turned at the entrance. She didn’t know if Patrick was inside or not. She did not want Nox in there. She said to Nox, “Thank you for the walk.”

He stood over her, like a first date on the doorstep. His eyes shifted, his gaze moving across her face. “The Second Coming ever hit on you?” Nox asked.

Glenn hesitated. Nox meant his older brother. Admiral Farragut. Glenn couldn’t muster up a convincing lie. Said, “Yes.”

“What’d you do?”

She gave a brief chagrined smile. “Same thing I’m doing right now.”

She was twisting her wedding ring.

Nox touched her cheek. “Good night, Mrs. Hamilton.”