Torchship (21 page)

“That’s pretty trusting of you,” said the captain.

Alexi shrugged. “If you’ll fight to keep a passenger alive I’ll
trust you to do right by a partner.”

“Can you front some of the expenses?”

“No. I’d put some money together, trying to make enough to
charter a ship, and lost it. I’m living paycheck to paycheck.”

Bing spoke up. “Why not just sell the coordinates to some
rich outfit?”

“Because that’s mine, my family’s, I’m not going to give it
away. And nobody in the Fusion has the guts for an expedition like this anyway.
They’d just file it away.”

“How much stuff is there exactly?” asked Guo.

“Three classical sculptures. About twenty from the
Renaissance. Dozens from more recent periods. Fifteen kilograms of stable
artificial metals, atomic numbers between 130 and 180.” Guo gasped. Creating
stable synthetic atoms was a lost art for humans. Even the terraforming AIs
couldn’t do it. “Other valuables, jewelry, and such. It’s two standard
thirteen-meter containers, fully loaded.”

Schwartzenberger swallowed saliva. “Okay, we’ll consider
your proposal. But we’ll have to sleep on it. I’ll contact you tomorrow. Billy,
please see your friend off.”

“Yessir.” The deckhand led his new friend out.

Guo reached for his datasheet. Mitchie grabbed it away from
him. “Don’t. We don’t want to search anything he’s told us from here. We have
to keep our research as secure as we can.”

“Agreed,” said the captain. “Starting by finding out what
Billy already knows about him.”

***

Putting Alexi in an autocab didn’t take long. Billy returned
to find the galley free of datasheets. Schwartzenberger didn’t wait for him to
sit down. “How’d you meet him?”

“At a dance parlor.” Billy stood easily. He’d been expecting
an interrogation. “I’m pretty sure he was looking for me. He wasn’t a regular
there. We chatted a while. He was feeling me out before talking about the
treasure.”

“Did you check up on him at all?”

“I did the usual checks at the parlor—identity verification,
health and criminal background. He’s who he says he is. Historians interview
him about his family. There’s even rumors about the treasure. Most them pretty
far off from what he told us.”

“Good work,” said the captain. Billy stood straighter.

“This could be dangerous,” said Bing. “Ships going into
non-human space mostly don’t come back.”

“About half of them do,” said Schwartzenberger. “Not
counting the ones with Pilgrim crews.”

“I’d hate for my atoms to wind up in some incomprehensible
art project,” said Guo.

“We could minimize the risk,” countered Mitchie. “Take wide
routes. Stay clear of planets and bases, just go to the gate.”

“That’d be a long cruise. We’d need a hold full of supplies.
And extra water tankage,” said Bing.

Guo said, “Water’s not a worry. We can bring an ice refiner
and top the tanks off at a comet. Getting enough fuel metal for the whole trip
would be expensive.”

“Probably not the most expensive part of the trip,” said
Captain Schwartzenberger. “Getting enough up-front cash is going to be one of
the risks for this.”

“What are all the risks for it?” asked Bing.

Mitchie found some paper and a pen on the counter. She sat
down at the table and started a list. “Getting supplies to start. Getting
through the hostile AI systems. Finding the treasure comet. Whether it’s still
there. Can we carry it back. Will anyone take it from us. Can we sell it for a
reasonable price. Anybody have something I missed?”

“I think that’s plenty,” said Guo.

“There’s one more,” said Billy. They all turned to look at
him. “We’ll regret it forever if we don’t give it a try.”

Captain Schwartzenberger looked around the table. No one
looked regretful. “I won’t order anyone onto a treasure hunt. The only way we’ll
do this is if we all agree. And I won’t have anyone hassled for wanting out. So
we’ll do a secret ballot. Billy, get us some more pens.” The captain pulled a
deck of cards out of the morale cabinet and dealt one to everyone. “Mark a circle
if you want to do this. An X if you don’t. One X means we drop the whole thing.”

Bing held her card below the table to mark it. The rest
followed her example. Schwartzenberger picked up the pile of cards from the
middle and shuffled them. He flipped them onto the table one at a time.

O. Schwartzenberger dreamed of owning his ship free and
clear.

O. Bing could not say no to something Alois truly wanted.

O. Billy’s blood was on fire for money and adventure.

O. Mitchie wanted to see the lost star systems for herself.

O. Guo also couldn’t say no to Mitchie.

“Well, that settles it then,” said the captain.

Mitchie picked up her list. “Let’s see if we can knock any
of these off. Billy, are there any rumors of the loot being found already?”

“Not a one. I checked.”

“That’s strange. I’d think some good art forgers could make
up some Old Earth artifacts and claim they were from Eden.”

“One get-rich-quick scheme at a time,” said the captain.

“Okay, it’s probably still there. How can we keep it from
being taken from us?”

“If we leave human-controlled space people are going to
wonder why,” said Guo. “Could get us some thorough searches when we come back.”

“What we need is some other reason to go to Eden,” said
Mitchie. “An explanation everyone will buy.”

Captain Schwartzenberger looked sour. “I don’t know about
Eden. But I can find an excuse to go to Earth.”

“A good excuse?” asked Bing.

“A Pilgrim group. They approached me on Sukhoi wanting a
ride. I turned them down.”

“Rudely?”

“I didn’t throw a drink in his face.”

“But you were rude.” Bing didn’t have any question in it.

“Some. It won’t matter. It’s not like Pilgrims can be fussy
about their rides.”

“Did they have money?” asked Billy.

“Millions of keys. So he claimed. I didn’t check.”

“That solves two problems,” said Mitchie as she crossed them
out. “Maybe three. If we’re secure it’ll be easier to sell it.”

“One we haven’t tackled yet,” said Bing. “Can Alexi actually
find the comet?”

“He’s an astrogator,” answered Billy. “Used to have an MSS
ticket as a third-class but let it lapse. I think he’s smart enough to keep the
coords memorized.”

“I expect so,” said the captain. “That leaves us one risk.
Getting past the Betrayers.”

“Shouldn’t be hard to stay out of their way.” Mitchie
sketched a solar system on another sheet. “Dog-leg courses. Go above or below
the ecliptic. Coasting when close to a world to be less visible.” She drew a
few arcs around the edge.

“The gate is the danger point,” said Guo. “There’s only one
way to get to the next system.”

Mitchie drew a circle at the top of the page, then a
straight line through it to the arcs. “We’ll have time to watch and see if
there’s any danger at the gate. If there’s something there we can toss it in or
take a gate to a different system to try another route.”

“There’s been Pilgrim ships. How did they make it through?”
asked Billy.

People glanced at each other around the table.

“We could research it,” said Mitchie. “See if any of them
said how they did it. Try to interview any of the crews we can find. If we’re hauling
pilgrims we should do that anyway.”

The captain nodded. “Okay, we’re ready to get to work now.
Mitchie, plot us a course from Sukhoi to Earth returning via Eden. Guo, figure
out what gear we’ll need to keep going without port stops. Bing, consumables,
round trip for us, one way for the pilgrims. Billy—research. Find out all the
pilgrim ships that have ever returned.” He took a breath. “I’m going to find
some excuse to be back on Sukhoi desperate enough to hire out to pilgrims.”

People started getting to their feet. Billy asked, “How are
we going to divvy up the loot?” He met the captain’s eyes firmly.

“We agreed to give Alexi a quarter off the top. The rest
needs to cover expenses. Whatever we need to front for supplies, repairs,
medical expenses, bribes, what-have-you. The remainder we share out equally.
One share for each of us, and a share for the ship. For upgrades and overhauls
and the mortgage.”

A fancy way of saying two shares for the captain
,
thought Mitchie. She stayed silent when Schwartzenberger asked for discussion.
So did Billy.

“That’s good for everyone then?” Nods around the room. “Let’s
get to work.”

Sukhoi System. Acceleration
10 m/s
²

Fives Full
jumped in only a few million klicks from
one of Sukhoi’s network relay buoys. Analog ships, of course, couldn’t carry
the digital gear to communicate with it. Schwartzenberger glared at it as they
went by.

“Traffic!” called Mitchie as another ship appeared between
them and the relay. After pinging it with the radar she said, “Oh. It’s the
heartbeat ship that was in line behind us. Must’ve hit the gate going fast to emerge
ahead of us.”

“Don’t know what his hurry is,” said the captain. “He’s
going to head back in an hour.” The other ship was pivoting to face the buoy.
It would transmit the mail and Pintoy’s network status then head for the gate.
The mail was free-riding. The heartbeat ship’s job was to convince Sukhoi that
Pintoy had not fallen to corruption or subversion since the last hourly update.
The Fusion wastes so much money on its paranoia
, thought
Schwartzenberger.

Planet Sukhoi. Gravity 12
m/s
²

On landing Guo fetched a new set of datasheets from the port
office (Akiak had sent a second round of complaints to the Council of
Stakeholders). The captain snatched one and did a search for Burton Reed. The
top result was an advertisement trying to charter a crewed spaceship, followed
by posts warning other captains that this was a pilgrim run. Schwartzenberger
sighed, tossed the datasheet onto the table, and refilled his coffee cup.

A few sips later Alexi asked, “You’re not going to call him?”

“Nope.” Sip. “He’ll see the search. He’ll follow up with us.
Once he finds out how little we made on this load of garbage he’ll show up
waving money.”

“Hey, that stuff’s pretty,” said Billy.

“It’s pretty, but it’s no better than what the stipend kids
make here. We’re hauling this load of art just to get the artists out of some
poor gallery owner’s hair. That’s why it’s so cheap.”

The bridge light lit up on the galley intercom. “Trucks are
here,” reported Bing.

The captain finished off his coffee. “Let’s get that pretty
stuff off-loaded.” Billy and Alexi followed him to the hold.

***

The Sukhoi Exchange didn’t have better opportunities than
last time. Schwartzenberger chatted up some of the brokers who’d been friendly.
The most sympathetic one asked why he’d taken a cargo back here instead of
holding out for something headed for the Disconnected Worlds. “Just figured we’d
be better off getting some pay than sitting on our tails,” he answered. The
broker visibly contemplated giving a lecture on opportunity costs, then decided
Schwartzenberger was too dumb to appreciate it.
I guess looking like an
idiot is the price of a good cover story.

Reed didn’t turn up at the Exchange. The captain returned to
the ship for dinner with Bing. The rest had been given shore leave. By the pie
they were arguing over what the best and worst meals they’d ever shared were. “Senator
Awaki’s reception,” said Bing. “With the caviar and poached jellyfish.”

“Okay, that beats pressed hydroponics algae.”

“I’m still amazed you ate it, Alois.”

“I was working. Paid off, we got his vote. Aha!” His
datasheet had chirped. “Letter from Reed. Apologies for being rude, hopes I’ll
consider his offer, thanks for my time, nine point three million keys, and more
apologies.” He tossed it back on the table. “Nicely phrased, too. Must’ve spent
all day working on it. Good. He’s hungry. Probably afraid his rich guys will
run off to some other cult if he doesn’t get a ride soon.”

“Going to let him stew?”

“Yep. If they’ve got that much he can probably shake the
tree for some more when he’s got a ride lined up.”

“Mmmm.” Bing kept her eyes on her plate.

“Still not liking it?”

“Gambling isn’t like you, Alois.”

Schwartzenberger sighed. “I want those bloodsuckers off my
back. Just one roll of the dice and I’ll be free. If it gets too hairy I’ll
pull the plug and we’ll go back to honest work.”

“All right.” Bing opened a normally locked cabinet and took
out a bottle. “I think having the pilgrim dancing to your tune is worth
celebrating.” She put two glasses in front of them.

He hesitated. “I don’t know.”

“None of the kids are coming back tonight. They’ve all got
rooms at the spacers’ hall. I checked.”

***

Schwartzenberger replied from the Exchange. Reed scurried
over to meet face-to-face. The captain had borrowed a meeting room. Lists of
supplies and gear scrolling down the wall greeted the pilgrim. After a few
pleasantries Schwartzenberger began interrogating Reed about his plan for reaching
Old Earth. It didn’t take long to discover he had no idea of the logistics
involved.

“No, it’s not a
standard
trip. We’ll be covering
billions of klicks. More, because we can’t take straight paths. We have to
detour to keep to empty space. Then slow down and line up for the next gate.
Five times. Six or eight times if we have to by-pass an inaccessible gate. This
will take
months
.”

“I’m sorry, you’re right, I should have made plans.” Reed
looked to the display. “It looks like you have.”

“Not me. Fortunately for you my crew includes some young,
adventurous souls. They did the work and convinced me to talk to you.”