Perilous Waif (Alice Long Book 1)

by E. William Brown

  A slight stir to my right caught my attention. A side door at the foot of the dais had opened, to admit a pair of inugami who looked a lot more dangerous to my threat assessor than the normal ones. They smoothly took up positions to one side of the door, next to the guard who had already been there, and a man followed them through.

  He was tall, but wiry instead of all bulky like the captain. His black hair was closely trimmed, and his handsome face was carefully blank. But he moved with a perfectly controlled grace that reminded me of my own combat reflexes, and his eyes were cold as ice. He glided silently towards the dais, and the bystanders hurriedly got out of his way.

  Noburu Yamashida, the ER system informed me. Head of the Yamashida branch of the Masu-kai organization, which specialized in espionage and assassination.

  Saburo looked up as he approached. “Ah, good. Perhaps you can shed some light on this matter, Noburu?”

  Lord Yamashida bowed deeply to the oyabun, and then to my surprise gave the captain and I a shallower bow. I returned the gesture as smoothly as I could manage, but I was sure I looked like an idiot.

  “I believe so, my lord. Naturally I’ve been investigating since Captain Sokol’s request for an audience was received, but I’m afraid I can only explain the actions of my own people. It seems that you may know the location of a certain wreck, Captain Sokol?”

  “I may,” the captain replied blandly.

  “Well, apparently one of my local operatives failed to recognize your name when this information came to light. A team was dispatched with the intention of using Miss Sokol’s command codes to discreetly obtain whatever information she might have, and then return her none the wiser.”

  “I see,” said the oyabun. “What’s so important about this wreck, then?”

  Noburu produced a datapad, and handed it to the oyabun. I had to suppress the urge to comment on that. Seriously, passing around a physical object to share data? Who does that? These guys took being old fashioned to a whole new level.

  Not only was it old fashioned, it was really insecure. I could see the screen reflected in Saburo’s eyes as he read. Sure enough, the file was about the Emperor’s Hope, the lost Mirai battleship. The gold was mentioned too, but only as an afterthought. What the file really focused on was some old mirror the ship had carried, which was apparently one of the great historical treasures of ancient Japan. That, and the fact that the expedition’s commander had been one of the Mirai Emperor’s daughters.

  Come to think of it, the Mirai were the senior surviving branch of the Imperial family back before they were wiped out. If there was a survivor, they’d be the strongest living claimant to the Chrysanthemum Throne. Not that it made any practical difference, since Japan was currently a radioactive wasteland overrun with self-replicating war machines. But I could see how these guys would think it was important.

  It took forever for the oyabun to finally understand what he was looking at, but I could tell he was excited. Then he glanced at the captain, and a lot of aggravation crept into his face.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t bring this to my attention, Dan.”

  “We aren’t even certain it’s the right ship, my lord. The nameplate was destroyed in the battle that wrecked it, and our explorations have yet to discover the treasure it supposedly carried. But even if we had, I’m not sure I see how a cargo of gold is connected with your organization.”

  “Gold? Bah, that isn’t important. What about the mirror?”

  He held up the data slate. Sokol studied the text for a moment, and his eyebrows went up.

  “Well, now. That certainly puts another face on things, assuming this information is accurate. I had no idea such an artifact was thought to be aboard. We haven’t seen it, but that doesn’t mean much. It’s a very large ship, and we have explored very little of it. Military wrecks are dangerous to begin with, and this one has millions of not entirely inactive warbots drifting through the corridors.”

  The oyabun sat back with a sigh, and rubbed his eyes.

  “It seems this affair has been mishandled all around. Remember this, Akio. You’ll find that situations such as this will arise when you least expect them, and handling them correctly is much of the difference between a wise ruler and one who is merely competent. Tell me, what would you do in this situation?”

  I’d almost forgotten about the cute guy standing next to the throne. Although, now that I let myself notice, was he checking me out?

  His eyes met mine, and I had to fight not to blush. His sharp suit covered a muscular body packed full of military enhancement tech, including enough strength to overpower me easily. Unlike the rest of the court he wore his black hair gathered into a long braid. His expression was reserved, but not the featureless mask most of these guys adopted. But his gaze was so intense, it took my breath away. Like I was the most interesting thing he’d ever seen.

  “I believe that a full resolution of this affair will require Lord Kaneda’s presence, father,” he said. “I would send for him, and offer our guests hospitality while we await his arrival. It seems likely that he will owe them an apology, and such things are best handled quickly. Once that has been dealt with we can arrange a joint expedition to investigate this wreck.”

  Saburo nodded. “A reasonable plan. What do you say, Dan? There’s no point in keeping all the gold to yourself if you can’t even find it, eh?”

  “I shall be happy to be of assistance. Although I’m still not entirely certain that we have the correct ship, a detail I hope that everyone will keep in mind.”

  “Yes, yes, you’re still a pessimist. Noburu rarely makes mistakes about such things. If he says it’s the right ship, it’s the right ship. Ritsuko! Show our honored guests to their rooms, and then send a courier ship for Lord Kaneda. I want him here before the week is out.”

  A human woman in an elaborate kimono hurried over, and bowed deeply. “Of course, my lord. Captain, Miss, this way, please.”

  I gulped. A week of being stuck in the oyabun’s palace? I was a nervous wreck after one little audience. I guess it could be worse, but this wasn’t going to be fun.

  Akio’s eyes followed me all the way out of the room.

  Chapter 21

  The rooms were in an inner section of the palace, where the floors were all a beautiful hand-fitted hardwood. Everything was immaculately clean despite an apparent lack of bots, and the servants all wore funny little slippers instead of shoes. Apparently shoes weren’t allowed or something, because they had us ride to our suite on personal hover-disks so we wouldn’t have to touch the floor.

  I slipped my shoes off as we reached the doors of the guest suite, and stepped off onto the floor barefoot. The captain and Naoko did the same, so I must have gotten things right. Chief West and Emla just stayed on their hover disks, and drifted inside.

  The guest quarters turned out to be a miniature palace of its own. There was an entry hall leading into a huge living room, with doors opening on a meeting room to one side and some kind of ready room for bodyguards on the other. Past that was a hallway with sliding paper doors along one wall, that all opened out into a courtyard garden. Spaced around the square hallway were four bedroom suites, each of them bigger than my cabin on the Square Deal. The one they showed me to had a living room, a media room with a giant holoprojector and display walls, a fancy dining area, a study, a huge master bedroom and two smaller bedrooms, plus an incredible amount of storage space.

  It also came with servants. Human ones. There were three of them, all girls. They were dark and slender, like all the women around here, and only a couple of years older than I looked. The way they bowed to me, you’d think I was a princess or something.

  “Welcome to the Perseverance Suite, Miss Long. I am Azalea, and these are Freesia and Iris. We are here to ensure that your every need is met for the duration of your stay. May I inquire as to what arrangements you prefer for your guard?”

  “Oh, right. Emla, do you want to take one of the other bedrooms, or what?
”

  Emla popped the seal on her helmet, and pulled it off. “Are you kidding? I’m not leaving you unguarded for a second, Mistress. I’ll sleep right here with you.”

  “I thought you’d say that. Well, sit down on the bed and take off those boots. We can’t have you scratching up the floors. Azalea, I assume there’s a clothing fabricator somewhere around here?”

  “Of course, Miss Long. It’s right here.”

  She touched a wooden panel in the wall, and it sprang open to reveal a pretty fancy-looking fabricator. So that’s what the machinery behind the wall there was.

  Wow, there were a lot of those panels in this place. My sensors picked up all kinds of equipment tucked away inside the walls around us, and a bunch of hidden compartments and secret doors too. I wasn’t sure why the bathrooms were hidden, but whatever.

  “May I suggest an appropriate outfit, Miss Emla? It might be best if your status is immediately evident to those you meet.”

  “Sure, I’m not picky,” Emla agreed.

  Azalea went to the fabricator, and started fiddling with the manual controls on the front panel. Freesia stepped up to take her place.

  “Would you care for refreshments, Miss Long? I noticed that your ship’s clock is running a few hours later than local time.”

  Come to think of it, I was starving.

  “Yes, please. I’m afraid I’ve got a really fast metabolism right now, so I’m going to be eating constantly. Oh, and can I get an outside comlink from here? I’m supposed to be on food supplements, so I should get the ship’s doctor to send you the details.”

  Azalea turned to give me a concerned look. “Are you unwell, ma’am? Should we summon a doctor?”

  “No, I’m fine,” I protested.

  “Alice has a lot of mods that are growing in right now, and the people she was with before were starving her,” Emla explained. “One of these days I really want to make a trip to Felicity, and show those people what I think of them.”

  All three of the servant girls looked scandalized for a moment, before they got their expressions back under control.

  “I’ll get you that comlink, ma’am,” Iris said quickly.

  “Yes. Don’t worry, ma’am. We’ll take good care of you,” Freesia said. “I’ll just make sure there’s always something ready to snack on. We normally serve three meals a day on Taragi, but if you prefer more just say the word. I’ll double all your portions as well.”

  “More like quadruple,” I admitted.

  “For both of us,” Emla added. “I’m synched with my mistress, so I need to eat like she does.”

  “Then I’d best get to work.” Freesia bowed deeply to me, and scurried out of the room.

  “That’s going to take some getting used to,” I mused, as I watched her go. “It’s weird enough when androids act like that, let alone humans.”

  “Humans?” Emla said. “Wait, I thought you guys were androids like me. Why would anyone use humans as servants?”

  Iris and Azalea shared an uncomfortable look.

  “It isn’t our place to speculate on the motives of our betters,” Azalea said.

  “It’s a statement, Emla,” I told her. “A show of wealth and power, like the way half the palace was built by hand even though bots could have done the work a thousand times cheaper. Now don’t badger them, please. I’m sure they’d get in trouble if they said the wrong thing, and we don’t want that.”

  “Of course not,” she agreed. “It’s just weird. Now I feel like I should be bowing to them, or something.”

  “If we are ever guests in your home you may feel free to treat us as you wish, Miss Emla,” Azalea said kindly. “But as you are currently guests of the oyabun, please allow us to serve our role properly.”

  “Alright, I guess. I don’t want to get you in trouble,” Emla said.

  I snickered. “Now you know how I feel when you and the techs are like that with me,” I said.

  I might have gone on, but a message from Naoko interrupted me.

  “Whoops. Meeting time.”

  There was no rush, so Emla took a moment to change into the jumpsuit Azalea had picked out for her first. It was a lot like what I’d seen all the inugami wearing. A skinsuit that covered her completely from the neck down, but hugged her figure tightly enough that I would have been embarrassed to wear it. The slippers that came with it had active traction control to grip the polished floors that half the rooms in this place boasted, and there was an attachment point at the hip for her pistol holster.

  I declined an offer of house slippers for myself as well, and went barefoot. I’m not sure why, exactly. It just felt right.

  We found the rest of our party assembled in the conference room, looking about as happy as I was about our predicament. As soon as the door was shut Naoko put her hands over her face.

  “What are we going to do?” She groaned.

  “What we must,” the captain said mildly.

  “But Captain, simply being here is terribly dangerous. One wrong word, a single inadvertent slight, and anything could happen.”

  “Yes, it’s a dangerous situation, Naoko. But it isn’t quite as bad as all that. Lord Himura and I have been acquaintances for some time now, and mere guards and companions are beneath the notice of such an important personage. I was a bit concerned for you, Alice, but you handled yourself perfectly.”

  “I don’t like the way the younger Himura was looking at her,” Naoko grumbled.

  “If something happens there I’ll handle it,” I said, a lot more confidently than I felt. “I’m more worried about our schedule. This is going to tie up the ship for weeks, and I can’t imagine what that will cost in reputation and lost profits. Sir, are we going to be alright?”

  “It’s not as great a concern as you might think, Alice. We were about to begin a circuit of various dark colonies that the Square Deal trades with, and I’m always careful not to commit to a specific schedule for those stops. So long as we aren’t missing for more than a month our reputation will suffer no great loss. As for the money, the ship’s finances are quite healthy at the moment. You needn’t fear being left without employment, provided we handle this affair with proper delicacy.”

  “So what’s the play, boss?” Chief West said casually.

  “We’ll go with the obvious plan, I think. I don’t believe that this lost gold exists, and even if it did I feel it would be unwise to be present when it’s discovered. I doubt that Lord Himura will lead this expedition himself, and a subordinate would be all too tempted to find some excuse to dispose of us instead of sharing it. So I shall attempt to arrange matters so that we show them the location of the wreck, remain on station for a day or two while they assure themselves of its authenticity, and then take our leave.”

  “I’d rather not be there when they start poking around, anyway,” Chief West agreed. “There’s no telling what they might wake up. The Swarmlords deployed a lot of self-replicating bots in that war, and Mirai tech has such extensive self-repair programming that it’s damned near impossible to destroy it for good. Even if everything is really dead right now, all it takes is one idiot connecting a power source to the wrong thing and we could be buried in warbots.”

  Yeah, that would be bad. The great powers of the Inner Sphere were a lot more advanced than any of the nations out here in the Kerak Sector, and there’s no telling what kind of advanced hardware their bots might have. One way or another they’d be nasty opponents.

  “Just remember to be on your best behavior while we’re here,” Captain Sokol admonished us all. “Even in private. There won’t be any official surveillance, because that’s considered rude here. But there are always spies in a place like this, so it’s best not to make too many assumptions about your privacy. The clan lords also have the usual intrigue going on, and if Lord Himura has an heir now that’s only going to make things more complicated. So be polite to everyone, but keep your eyes open and don’t make any commitments. I have no doubt there are all manner
of plots in progress, and we can’t afford to get dragged into them.”

  That sounded easy enough, and for the rest of the evening I played it safe. Emla and I tried on clothes, and built up a selection of local fashions with Azalea’s help while Freesia plied me with food. She was an amazing cook. They had a lot of weird food here, things like fried octopus on a stick or bits of raw fish rolled in seaweed. But most of it was surprisingly good, and she somehow managed to add my supplements to the menu in a way that complimented the dishes.

  When I noticed how the distinctive zing of my heavy metals blend enhanced the flavor of the wasabi I had to ask about that, but she claimed it wasn’t her invention.

  “The head chef prepared much of this menu for Lord Akio,” she explained. “Your nutritional prescription includes many of the same supplements, so it seemed natural to see if you shared his tastes.”

  “Apparently I do, because this is really good. What’s up with that, anyway? I noticed that everyone around here has at least some basic enhancements, but he’s really hardcore. Is it some kind of status thing?”

  “I wouldn’t know, ma’am,” she replied demurely.

  “Oh, right, that could be taken wrong. Sorry, Freesia. I’ll try to remember not to ask you things like that.”

  She flushed. “There’s no need to apologize, ma’am.”

  “Now, Freesia, my personal honor is mine to guard. No one gets to tell me I can’t apologize for something if I think I ought to.”

  “Of course, my lady. Thank you for your consideration.”

  It was a pleasant enough way to spend the evening, although things got a little awkward as bedtime approached. I probably should have expected it, but somehow it caught me completely by surprise when Azalea delicately asked about my preferences in ‘entertainment’. As in, did I want her or one of the other girls to join me, or should they send for a boy or two?

  My blush was so bright, I’m sure the ships in orbit picked up the thermal bloom. Fortunately Emla came to my rescue.