Buffalito Bundle

by Lawrence M. Schoen

  “Come with me to Trakus,” she said. “We can leave at once. My personal yacht is waiting at the spaceport.”

  “I don’t think your Chancellor would appreciate that.” On the way over I’d given her an edited version of my chat with Vishto to explain why I had left the embassy.

  “Vishto is a fool. A dear sweet fool to be sure, who has only my best interests at heart. I love him like a favorite uncle, but that’s not the kind of love that fills me when I am with you. He’ll come to understand in time; I know he will. Ever since I was a little girl I’ve always gotten my way with Vishto.”

  I frowned. “Doesn’t all this mind manipulation get a little boring? I can’t imagine an entire planet like that.”

  She laughed and pulled me in close for a kiss, half crushing Reggie between us. “Not all Trakens have the gift, only the noble bloodlines. And we’re immune to it ourselves, except among the closest of us. It’s a mutation, my love. The rest of the population is as ordinary as dirt.”

  “You mean, like me,” I said.

  “You’re far from ordinary. You’re clever and warm and you make me tremble with just a touch. Vishto may dismiss it as mere infatuation, but I know my heart. I knew you were my destined love almost from the moment we met. You are the chosen consort of a baroness. And, if you’ll accept it, you can be the husband of one as well.”

  Seventeen separate alarms sounded in my head. I pulled back and stared at her angelic face. “Husband? Did you just propose to me?”

  Right then and there I had one of those compressed moments of insight, when time hangs suspended and you practically watch as everything drops into place like the first snowflakes of winter falling in front of your eyes. Calinda loved me, and not just because I was the first man in a long time who wasn’t interested in her wealth or position. Nor was it simply because in her eyes I was an exotic stranger. These things had helped, had let me get close to her, had allowed her the opportunity to fall in love with me. I could feel it. Protected by the medallion she had given me I could read and understand her emotions rather than being manipulated by them. She loved me, wanted to protect me, wanted to be with me. And in that moment of understanding my own defenses fell and I realized I felt the same way about her.

  I took her hands in mine, pulled her up as I stood and drew her close. We kissed, a long lingering kiss. When our lips parted I stared into her eyes and said, “I’ve always wanted to visit Trakus.”

  I swiftly stuffed my few possessions back into my carpet bag and called down to the front desk. Yes, the rooms had been fine, yes, the service exquisite, no, nothing was wrong with the hotel, just a change in plans and would you please have a limo brought up for me thank you very much. Then, with one arm around my baroness and Reggie tucked under the other, I departed the Brunzibar Star and headed for the spaceport and Calinda’s private yacht.

  The police were there ahead of us, waiting to arrest me. Again.

  “The guilty always run,” said Miles as he pulled my hands behind my back after I’d put on the cuff gloves. We were in a tiny room adjacent to the customs area, a spot usually reserved for searching suspected contraband traffickers and other detainees. The police chief had shoved me in there to escape the gathering crowd. As I was learning, arrests were cause for spectacle on Brunzibar.

  “I wasn’t running; I was leaving. People are allowed to have other reasons for their actions,” I said.

  “Of course they are, Mr. Conroy, but when a person is responsible for murder we tend to see his ’reason’ as part of a traditional pattern of criminal behavior.” The chief activated the cuffs and spun me around to face him. “You almost got away with it too. If you’d gone back to the embassy, or gotten onto that ship, we wouldn’t have been able to touch you. But you slipped up, and now you’re going to held accountable for the murder of Lord Nerkt.”

  “We’ve already been through that,” I said. “I was at the Traken embassy all night, I couldn’t have killed Nerkt.”

  “We know that. Spencer Novato did the actual violence. You were there when he was brought in. And I’ll give you credit, Conroy, you’re a cool customer. You didn’t even blink, didn’t give a thing away.”

  “Chief, you’re not making sense. What are you talking about?”

  “That was Nerkt’s blood on Novato. The lab’s already confirmed that his polyblade was the murder weapon. Odd though, he had more reason to want Nerkt alive than dead. Their business dealings had worked out to Novato’s advantage, but under Traken law the contract becomes instantly voided when either principal dies. Spencer might not have liked Nerkt, but he’s too good a business man to let that get in the way of the deal.”

  I shook my head. “But you just said that Novato committed the murder.”

  “He did. But he doesn’t know why he did it. He claims to have no memory of any of it, that he woke up where my men found him, in his car, dazed, with the dead man’s blood all over him and the murder weapon by his side. What does that sound like to you, Mr. Conroy?”

  “What, you think I hypnotized him to kill Nerkt?”

  “You tell me. You’re the expert. You’re the one who told him you could convince someone to follow any instruction. Who else should I suspect? You had motive and means. A hypnotically conditioned assassin allows you not only opportunity but an alibi.”

  “That’s a compelling scenario,” I said, “but there’s only one problem with it. I didn’t kill Nerkt.”

  “We’ll see. Even now Spencer Novato is being counter-conditioned by police psychologists. He’s remembering more and more. I think he’ll be able to provide convincing testimony, and that’s the last piece I’ll need to see you convicted. Let’s go.”

  He pushed me toward the door, and armed officers flanked me as we left the room. Several more police were holding back the growing throng. Calinda had apparently contacted Vishto immediately and the Chancellor stood beside her. He was clearly trying to comfort her but my Baroness would have none of it. Tears streamed down her face as she clutched Reggie in both arms. “Conroy! My love!” she called out, but the police hurried me away.

  I turned to look back at her, tried to show her an encouraging smile, but I don’t think she saw it. My heart ached, and I felt its echo radiating from Calinda.

  I was being hustled toward Miles’s waiting squad car when another police cruiser arrived. Sirens wailing, lights flashing, the vehicle aimed straight for us and crashed into Miles’s car. The driver’s door flew open and Spencer Novato all but fell out. Gone was any semblance of the dapper mega-industrialist. In his place was a twitching, wide-eyed madman. He rushed forward and pointed at us. One arm extended, one finger jabbing repeatedly at the air in my general direction, he shouted over and over again “You! You! YOU!”

  A hand touched my shoulder. Somehow Calinda had used the confusion to break the police line and come from behind. Vishto had moved up with her and the two of them were radiating fear and confusion. The crowd was on edge; their emotions were escalating. I stood there with my hands cuffed behind my back.

  “Chief, you’re going to have a riot in a minute,” I said. “Get us out of here.”

  “You made me kill him!” Novato was closer now, staggering slowly nearer and sobbing hysterically. “His blood, it’s on your hands, not mine. Not mine. Yours!”

  “Chief, either get us out of here or uncuff me, now.” Reggie had started barking; Calinda’s hand tightened on my shoulder and I knew she was preparing to interpose herself between Novato and me. Her fear wasn’t for herself; it was for me. Vishto’s fear was another matter. He was afraid of Novato, afraid for himself; fear poured out from him. It didn’t make sense. I could feel him desperately wanting Novato to be stopped.

  Novato didn’t stop. Vishto’s desires meant nothing to him. Like me he was immune to Traken influence.

  Chief Miles had no such advantage. Vishto’s need was overpowering. The chief drew his sidearm, possibly for the first time in his career, raised it in a two-handed grip, and aimed d
own the length of his arms at Novato, his best friend and star witness. All around us the police and onlookers were being compelled to act, all converging uncertainly on Novato.

  “You’re going to pay,” screamed Novato, oblivious to everything but the people directly in front of him. “Your tricks won’t help you any longer. I remember everything!”

  As if in reaction, raw terror washed over almost everyone. The baroness shoved me, maybe to push me out of harm’s way. As the police chief fired I stumbled into him, causing him to drop his gun. It had been loaded with sound charges; the sonic burst took Novato in the left shoulder and spun him like a weather vane. The crowd panicked; some surged forward to pile on Novato, more simply fled in fear. Chief Miles pushed me away and I fell to the tarmac, my hands still behind me. I scraped and banged one knee and smashed my head. My vision went black for a moment and then came back, blurry but serviceable. Then Calinda fell on top of me, dropping Reggie in the process. The buffalo dog squealed and farted copious amounts of oxygen.

  “It’s Vishto,” I yelled, my voice all but lost in the cacophony of the moment. The Baroness stared at me, her panic stalled by confusion. “It’s Vishto,” I repeated. “Help the Chief. You’ve got to help him.” And she understood.

  Her hands slipped under my shirt and grasped the intricate chain. She gave it a hard yank and the medallion was gone, leaving me awash in the telepathic flood coming from Lord Vishto. Not even the influence of my Baroness could save me; his emotions drowned hers. I wanted to die, I wanted to escape, but most of all I wanted Spencer Novato silenced for now and always and I sobbed and cursed myself for my inability to do any of those things.

  The Baroness meanwhile had regained her feet and pressed the medallion against the Chief’s neck while the man searched for his dropped gun so he too could put an end to Novato. The Chief’s eyes cleared of confusion and pain and he understood. He grabbed the medallion, pulled back from the mass of bodies that had converged on Novato and whirled to stare at Lord Vishto. Two paces closed the gap between them and Miles slapped the elder noble brutally once, twice, and then a third time, desperate to distract him. With each blow my panic lessened. My desire to harm Novato evaporated, replaced by a desperate need to save myself. The remaining mob and half a dozen police responded with flight. I lay on the ground, trembling, while Reggie licked my face. Novato had somehow gotten to his feet. He staggered forward.

  “Bastard,” Novato shouted at Vishto, and swung that same powerful right that he’d used to deck Lord Nerkt just a day before. It had a similar effect now. The waves of Vishto’s projected emotion ceased and all I felt were Calinda’s desires to have me released and to take care of me, sentiments that I quite agreed with and would have echoed if I hadn’t picked that moment to pass out.

  I awoke back in the Traken embassy, lying on my back in the Baroness’s bed. A minty fragrance floated in the air. Reggie lay curled up on a cushion at my feet, snoring comfortably. Calinda stood over me, lightly dabbing my head wound with a cool compress. She smiled at me and I felt her relief and her love and realized that I was once again wearing the medallion.

  “You gave us a scare at first,” she said, “but the physician says it is just the most minor of concussions.”

  I smiled and tried to sit up. The room began to swim so I changed my mind. “Vishto?” I asked.

  “He confessed,” said Chief Miles as he stepped into view, puffing on one of Novato’s cigars. “Apparently Spencer Novato has a similar medallion to yours, a source of some contention, stolen by his grandfather from the previous Lord Vishto decades ago. It also provided the perfect cover. He’d been the only human on Brunzibar immune to Traken influence, making him the ideal tool for a Traken to use in a murder. Turns out Chancellor Vishto has had a dabbler’s interest in hypnotism for years. You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  “The way I see it, Spencer’s reliance on his medallion made him overconfident in all his dealings with the Traken. Vishto seized the opportunity and used hypnosis to manipulate him. The Chancellor had no need of Traken abilities, just the techniques he’d been studying .”

  “But why?” I said. “Why did Vishto want to kill Nerkt?”

  “Traken politics?” said Miles. “I don’t know for sure. We know Lord Nerkt was not well liked. We know that much of the Traken nobility take a dim view of capitalism and found his business success unbecoming. Maybe there’s something more there that we haven’t found yet.”

  “I don’t believe you’ll discover anything further, Chief,” said the Baroness, averting her gaze all the while. “My people tend to keep such matters within the blood. It is not for open discussion.”

  “What will happen to Chancellor Vishto?” I said.

  “He’s already gone,” said Miles. “Diplomatic immunity. One protected personage killing another and all of it taken right out of my hands. He’s halfway back to Trakus by now with a slap on the wrist and an injunction against ever returning to Brunzibar. Meanwhile I have a desk full of paperwork to do. I just wanted to see you were all right, Mr. Conroy, and to make sure there were no hard feelings between us. I was just doing my job.”

  “I understand, Chief. All in a day’s work.”

  He nodded. “Oh, and here, Spencer wanted you to have this.” He handed me a box of Infinity Smokes. “I hope you don’t mind—I took one for myself while we were waiting for you to wake up. I can find my way out. Goodbye.”

  Calinda watched him leave in silence and turned back to me. Her gaze was tender and her face like an angel’s. “We can still go to Trakus. Nothing is changed. I still want you as my husband.”

  “Calinda, I know why Vishto did it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He didn’t approve of Nerkt’s interest in you, did he?”

  She blushed and I could feel her embarrassment.

  “Ramilon was. . . crude. An oaf. He wanted my title and the greater leverage it would bring him. When I finally realized it I despised him.”

  “How did he respond?”

  “He threatened me, tried to influence my decision like I was a commoner. But he couldn’t. And I knew his threats were hollow; he couldn’t harm me or my family. He used the same bullying tactics with me that he used in business, as if I was an acquisition he could barter for.”

  I reached out and took her hands in mine. “And that made you angry.”

  “Livid. When I told Annaran about it he had Ramilon banished from the embassy.” She paused and smiled. “That was just after you came into my life. I was so desperate for distraction, I might not have met you at all if not for Ramilon’s foolishness.”

  Once again she radiated love at me. I desperately wanted to reciprocate but I held my ground. “And Vishto, he knew how you felt? He knew you were angry at Nerkt?”

  “I’m sure he did. He was with me constantly after that. You’ve seen how protective he can be. I still can’t believe he made Novato into a murderer. I’ve known Annaran since I was a little girl. I can’t imagine him capable of violence of any sort.”

  “I don’t think he is, at least not on his own. You made him do it.”

  “What are you saying? I never asked him to kill Ramilon.”

  “Didn’t you? Isn’t that what you wanted?”

  “No. Well, yes, maybe at that time, in the heat and anger of the moment.”

  “If you felt that way, then why didn’t the staff at the embassy carry out your wishes? Why didn’t they try to kill Nerkt?”

  She laughed then, a surprisingly cold sound. “Nerkt wouldn’t have let them. They’d have come within range of him and been unable to harm him.”

  “I think that’s what happened to Vishto. You projected your own anger and intent onto him and he took it for his own.”

  “That makes no sense, my love. The ability of the noble born only affects those of other blood.”

  “You told me there were exceptions, that when two Traken are very close, they can influence one another,” I sai
d.

  She still didn’t see. “What of it?”

  “You’ve known Vishto all your life. He’s always been there for you, a second father. Your anger and resentment, your feelings of betrayal, all of that got through to him. So he acted, out of love, in order to protect you. Novato may have done the actual murder, but you really killed Nerkt. Maybe not consciously, but your desire pushed him to it. Vishto was your instrument just as Novato was his.”

  Calinda’s eyes widened and she backed away from the bed. She understood, it showed in her eyes, but I could see that she was doing everything possible to deny it, to convince herself otherwise.

  “I couldn’t,” she said. “Annaran did it of his own volition.”

  “He probably believes that. I doubt it would occur to him that his own actions could be manipulated, but we both know better. A man like Chancellor Vishto doesn’t become a murderer after a lifetime of peace.” I tried to sit up again, and managed with just a slight spin to the room. I got out of the bed.

  She stepped back. “Everything will be fine when we’re together on Trakus,” she said. Her eyes shone, close to tears. The medallion let me feel her wants, her anxiety, her fear, and it let me ignore them. I shook my head.

  “I can’t go to Trakus with you. An innocent man is dead, another’s been left with blood on his hands, and a third has had his reputation destroyed, and all by accident.” I looked away. Even with the medallion I couldn’t bear to see her cry.

  “It’s not my fault,” she insisted, her voice quivering. “You! You inspired Annaran with your hypnosis. It was just his harmless hobby before you inspired him. He got the idea from you.”

  My smile was tight, forced. “I imagine he did, and he turned it into a weapon. But you aimed the weapon. You fired it.” I stepped closer; I reached out and held her by her shoulders. “I can’t marry you, Calinda. It wouldn’t work. I can’t live in a world where everyone is projecting their unconscious wants and desires on everyone around them. Even if this medallion keeps me safe from it, I’d still see it everywhere, everything they wanted, everything they imposed on the world around them. No matter how much you deny your responsibility I’d know the truth each time I looked into your eyes. I’m sorry.”