The Winter War (19 page)

Ella grinned. ‘Nah, I’ve got you
to look at.’

‘Suck-up. You’re not going to
get any more from me using flattery than you’d be getting
anyway.’

‘I’m quite well aware of that,
sheelee. So obviously I meant it.’

Aneka blushed. ‘Am I getting a
pet name now we’re sort of married?’

‘I wasn’t thinking of it like
that, but now you mention it, “beautiful” would be
appropriate.’

‘So what do I call you?’

‘I don’t know… Pang foo, Lan
foo, fangdang…’

‘No, I’m not calling you a slut
in any form as a pet name. Stop putting yourself down or I’ll spank
you.’

‘Promise?’

Aneka rolled her eyes. ‘We’ll
stick with “love” until something better comes along.’

Ella beamed. ‘I can live with
that.’

10.6.527 FSC.

Olderbarn Township was a fairly small
place that ran primarily on fishing and a little tourism. It had
one main street, four shops, including a general store and a fish
shop, the hotel that Aneka and Ella were staying in, and a port,
which was more like a marina in which the small fishing fleet was
moored, along with several boats that looked like private
yachts.

It also had several kilometres
of very nice beach, and it was a very hot day; they had decided
that walking on the sand would be a nice way to spend the morning.
The beach at Yorkbridge was generally fairly populated, but here,
even as the summer was coming to its peak, there was no one else to
disturb them as they walked.

‘It’s definitely more romantic
than Yorkbridge beach,’ Ella commented.

‘Personally, I think for it to
be romantic it should be night, and there should be a full
moon.’

‘We don’t have a moon here.
Though they’re planning on putting one in.’

Aneka blinked. ‘They are?’

‘Uh-huh. It’s not for the
romance. Old Earth’s moon held the axial tilt of the planet steady.
Right now it’s about two degrees, which is one of the reasons we
don’t really get seasons, but there’s plenty of evidence that it
can drift pretty wildly. I mean, no one alive now is going to see
it, but in the past it’s been damn close to spinning on its
side.’

‘So they’re going to… just put a
moon in orbit.’

‘Take one of the bigger ones
from the outer planets and ferry it over, yeah. It’ll take years,
decades, and they’ve been planning it for ages, but they say it’s
going to happen soon. We might get to walk along here under a full
moon sometime.’

‘Huh… wow. I mean, I guess
compared to the stellar engineering the Negral AIs got up to that’s
pretty easy, but still. Wow.’

‘Oh, it’s pretty amazing. Doctor
Wallace is part of the team setting it up. He could tell you more
about it if you wanted to know.’

Aneka grinned. ‘Maybe. Not right
now.’

Ella grinned back. ‘Other plans?
Aside from walking along this beach.’

‘Yeah. You know how you’re
always nagging at me…’

‘I don’t nag.’

‘…to have sex on the beach?’

‘Okay, I’ll admit I nag as long
as you’ll do it.’

Aneka laughed. ‘You really are a
pang foo at times, you know?’

‘Always. But only for you.’

~~~

Ella was wriggling. She was walking
along the beach back toward Olderbarn, but there was a definite
wriggle in her walk.

‘I told you the sand gets
everywhere,’ Aneka said.

‘I know it does. It was still
worth it.’

‘Well, luckily, the first-aid
kit we’ve got at the hotel has some cream that’ll help the abrasion
heal faster.’

Ella gave her a coy look. ‘Will
you rub it in for me?’

Aneka grinned back.
‘Thoroughly.’

‘You’re so nice to me. I’ll have
to think of a way to repay you.’

‘Ella, love, I have absolutely
no doubt that you’ll think of a way.’

Yorkbridge Mid-town, 18.6.527 FSC.

Ella had been looking more than usually
gleeful on the way home from the university; Aneka was suspicious.
When the little redhead was that happy and was not giving a reason
for the upbeat mood it usually meant she was up to something, but
they still had another day of work before the weekend, and she was
pretty busy at the moment with students nearing the end of term.
Generally she was conscientious about her job and did not do
anything that might leave her regretting the previous evening when
she was going to be in the office.

The reason for her glee, it
appeared, was the package waiting in their delivery box in the hall
outside their apartment. Aneka frowned at it, but Ella was not
giving anything away. She just giggled and started up the stairs
carrying the black, adanymax container, which looked like it had
been shipped from off-world given the sturdiness.

Once in the flat she placed the
box on the kitchen counter and turned to Aneka. ‘I said I’d come up
with a way to thank you for being such a gorgeous, caring,
wonderful person, and this doesn’t even come close, but it’s for
you, and I hope you like it.’

‘Uh… What is it?’

‘Open the box and find out.’

Sure enough, the box opened at
her touch and receipt of her identity code. Aneka lifted the lid
and, at first, could not make out what she was seeing. Whatever it
was was made of Ultraskin, so it was probably clothing. She lifted
it out, turning it in her hands until it resolved itself into a
leotard of some sort.

‘I designed it,’ Ella said, ‘and
then I got Aggy to fabricate it for me. It’s got the same
laser-resistant properties as your old leotard, but I thought…
Well, I thought you could do with a change.’

Aneka said nothing, but gave
Ella a smile and headed off toward the guest bedroom to change.
Stripping out of the jeans and T-shirt she had worn to the
university, she climbed into the new suit, closed the seam at the
left shoulder, and then checked herself in the mirror. It was
different; just as exposing as the old one since it was largely
translucent Ultraskin with high hips, but then Ella had designed
it. Her left arm was bare while the right had a sleeve with an
opaque strip around the bicep and some slightly denser panels with
a little padding at the forearm and shoulder. The high neck was
opaque and there were strips of solid black around the seams. Still
smiling, she padded out of the room on bare feet to where Ella was
waiting anxiously.

‘What do you think?’ Ella
asked.

‘What do
you
think?’
Aneka asked in return, turning slowly to show off the suit.

‘I think you look
beautiful.’

Aneka grinned. ‘You usually do.
What about the suit?’

‘It looks great. Just how I
imagined. Do you like it?’ There was that eager look on her face; a
desire for approval from her lover which she never lost, even as
her personal confidence grew.

Aneka walked across the carpet
and pulled Ella into a kiss, letting it linger long enough that
when she spoke Ella already knew the answer. ‘I love it. Thank you,
love.’

21.6.527 FSC.

‘Someone identifying themselves as
Xenia is requesting admittance,’ the apartment’s computer
announced.

Ella looked around at Aneka,
frowning. ‘Do you know a Xenia?’

‘Maybe. Computer, allow access.’
Aneka got to her feet and headed for the door of the apartment. She
waited at the top of the stairs as a woman with bright red hair
walked up from the ground floor. ‘Hello again, Xenia,’ Aneka said.
‘What brings you here?’

‘Inside,’ Winter said. She was
dressed in the same swimsuit-style outfit she had worn to the party
with a short, red, Plastex skirt over the top to make it a little
more decent. Dressed for pleasure, but her face was serious. Aneka
turned and walked back into the flat, curious now.

Ella looked up as the door
closed behind Winter. ‘Oh, it’s you.’ She obviously saw the look on
the spy mistress’ face and decided to try for a joke to cover her
disquiet. ‘Dillon’s downstairs, you know?’

Winter smiled, which was an
improvement. ‘I was thinking that as I put this outfit on. I have
very fond memories of that young man and this suit.’ She walked
into the middle of the room, between the couches that formed the
‘entertainment area.’ ‘Frankly, I haven’t had as much plain fun in
a while.’ She bent at the hips, placing the bag she was carrying on
the carpet and then unzipping it to reveal a cylindrical device
which she placed on one end before activating it.

Then she straightened up and
said something, and Aneka heard nothing. Frowning, she stepped
closer and her ears filled with a sudden, sharp, ultrasonic
whine.

‘…should stop anyone outside
this room hearing anything we say,’ Winter was saying.

‘Some sort of high-tech anti-bug
screen?’ Aneka asked. ‘I think I nearly blew my ears out when I
walked through it.’

‘Sorry, I should have told you
to come inside the screen range. It uses ultrasonic resonance to
generate a band of stable air. Sound can’t get in or out.’

‘And we need this because?’ Ella
asked.

‘Because I need to ask you to do
something for me and I need it to be secret. Which is why I’m not
here; I’m currently quite visibly attending a meeting in the
Islands…’

‘We’d worked out you had
doubles,’ Ella said. ‘You were somewhere else when you were at the
party.’

Winter smiled. ‘Being in two
places at once can be useful at times. I’d appreciate it if you
didn’t make it general knowledge. Anyway, this meeting is not
taking place and I’m not asking you to do this, and I’m stating now
that you have the right to tell me you won’t.’

‘I think we’d better hear what
it is before we give an answer,’ Aneka said. She stepped down into
the entertainment area and sat down beside Ella. Winter always
asked when she wanted something done, but she had never stated up
front that they could decline.

‘All right, let me tell you a
story…’

‘This sounds like it could be
long,’ Ella said, ‘and those heels are very high. Sit down.’

Giving Ella a smile, Winter
started for one of the other couches. ‘About seventy years ago,
four-sixty actually, there were some rumours about a mercenary
group entering Jenlay space.’ She perched on the edge of the seat
and began to take off her shoes; maybe they were too high. ‘The
Agency investigated because the group had something of a
reputation. The Ashad Hithor. You may have heard of them,
Ella?’

‘I know the name.
Herosians?’

‘Herosians and Jenlay, but they
were founded by a Herosian and his family still runs it. At the
time the rumours could not be substantiated, but it was thought
that they were sent in to retrieve something. Recently, as part of
the investigation into the terrorist attacks on shipping, I
reopened that investigation.’

‘Reopening a seventy-year-old
investigation?’ Aneka said. ‘That’s… reaching a long way for
answers.’

‘I have a theory on the source
of the attacks and this forms part of the pattern. I’ve managed to
track down evidence over the last several months that the most
likely system they were headed for is G-two-five-six-one. There is
one habitable world in the system, which gives it the “G”
classification, but it’s barely habitable. Barely twenty per cent
surface water, an average of three hundred and twenty Kelvin. Most
of it is desert, though it does have indigenous life.’

‘I know that system. It’s in the
list of Xinti uplift sites. They called it Idridia.’

‘Interesting. Do you have any
indication of what the Xinti did there?’

As soon as she asked, Al began
displaying the data from the Negral database in Aneka’s vision
field. ‘Uh… There was an indigenous, pre-spaceflight, sentient
race. They attempted to accelerate their technology. And they were
successful to some extent.’

‘To some extent?’

‘The Idridians blew themselves
apart a few years after discovering nuclear weapons.’

‘Ah. There has only ever been a
basic survey of Idridia. No indication of any civilisation.’

‘The experiment was… thirteen
centuries ago. Add a nuclear war, there may be little indication
that there was any civilisation there.’

‘Especially on a basic survey,’
Ella agreed. ‘It would be a fascinating place to study.’

‘I’m glad you think so,’ Winter
said, ‘because I need someone to go there and see if they can find
out what these mercenaries were looking for.’

‘Just the two of us?’

Winter nodded. ‘I’m having the
software on the Pegasus refitted to make it more useful for a
survey mission. It can only handle a complement of two, and I want
this kept as quiet as possible. Your flight plan would indicate
that you were taking the ship to Harriamon on a test run. You come
back and report directly to me. No communication while you’re out
of the system.’

‘This wouldn’t be my first
covert op,’ Aneka said.

‘No, but I’m saying this for
Ella’s benefit. She needs to understand what she’s getting into.
Officially this operation does not exist. There’s no backup.’

‘Oh,’ Ella said. Then she
grinned. ‘But I’ve got Aneka so I don’t need backup.’

Winter smiled back. ‘That may be
true, but we’ll be sending you out with the latest portable kit,
just in case. I’m not really expecting any trouble, but you never
can tell until it happens. If you agree, then you leave the day
after tomorrow.’

Ella’s face fell. ‘What about
the university? Gillian’s really busy and I’m…’

‘I’ve arranged for cover, if you
accept, of course.’

Ella looked toward Aneka. Aneka
nodded and turned to Winter. ‘Aside from anything else, Ella might
hurt me if she didn’t get to go see a potential new archaeological
site.’

Winter got to her feet and
started toward the sonic screen gadget. ‘I’ll make the final
arrangements,’ she said as she bent over in front of them.

Ella grinned at the view. ‘You
will stop off downstairs before you leave, won’t you? Dillon and
Kat would be
most
disappointed if they missed you.’