10
Madeira, Earth
Jessamyn and Kipper followed Jamie through a labyrinthine passage leading from the hangar to the castle. As they dashed forward, Jamie briefed the Marsians.
“All Madeiran satellite relays have been totally disabled and we don’t know how or why,” said Jamie.
“Our ship engaged in an emergency protocol,” said Kipper, breathing hard from the strain of keeping up with Jamie.
Jess, sensing Kip couldn’t walk and talk, added, “We were ordered to land.”
“Yes,” said Jamie. “It’s against international law to fly with the national CCMP offline.”
“Collision mitigation protocol,” Kip murmured to Jessamyn.
“Our independence is fragile,” said Jamie. “We don’t dare compromise in matters like this where we’re governed by Terran regulations.”
But Jess wasn’t worried about the enforced grounding. “Do you have back–up relays in place?” she asked. “We’re supposed to have a comm–call with the Secretary General today.”
Jamie shook her head. “The downed relays include our backups. We don’t even have a protocol for this situation. It shouldn’t be possible for all the dishes to simultaneously disengage.”
Lucca, thought Jess.
“In any case, your call home is a very minor concern at the moment,” said Jamie. “Those dishes govern our two–kilometer safety perimeter.”
Kip inhaled sharply at Jessamyn’s side and the two exchanged glances. The island was vulnerable to invasion.
Jessamyn’s inner compass told her they ought to have reached the castle by now, and sure enough, Jamie turned into what looked like a sort of war room, rapping sharply at the door jamb, entering without waiting to be admitted. The Marsians followed, Kipper sagging from the strain of moving quickly. Jess placed a supporting arm around Kip’s waist.
“I’ve got you,” she murmured.
Kip nodded briefly in reply.
“We have another situation on top of everything else,” said Cameron Wallace, turning to Jamie and the new arrivals. “A delegation—well, more of a war party—has arrived from Budapest.”
Jamie nodded as if this was an expected revelation.
Jessamyn felt her heart sink. It made sense; this was what Lucca had been leading up to with the damaged relays.
“We’ve prepared for this,” Jamie said aloud.
“Indeed we have,” replied Cameron. “But our scenarios involved the ability to get ships in the air. Which is illegal at the moment and therefore dangerous. As we don’t want eyes on our escapees, I’ve settled on an alternative. We’ll get ye out through the castle hovertubes—they’ll deposit ye on a shore where I’ve contacted a fishing boat that will meet ye and transport ye to safety.”
“Fishing boat?” Jess’s eyes grew wide. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
Jess heard the hum of Ethan’s hoverchair and the click–click–click of Elsa’s nails as they approached. Beside Ethan were Harpreet, Brian Wallace, Kazuko, and Pavel.
“We’re all here, then,” said Brian, smiling as if good news had brought them together.
Jessamyn heard a familiar ahem and noticed Zussman, seated at one of the computing wafers in the war room.
“You’ve discovered something?” demanded Cameron, eyes on her butler. “Out with it, then.”
“Nano–bacteria, madam,” replied Zussman. “Several degrees of magnitude smaller than regular bacteria, they are bred to consume particular metals. I have heard the Chancellor speak of strains under development—”
“That’s bloody illegal,” Brian Wallace burst out, interrupting the staid butler.
“Indeed, sir,” said Zussman, who now appeared to be engaged in placing false whiskery sideburns on his face.
“The Chancellor has frequently demonstrated her ability to operate as one above the law,” said Ethan, examining the wafer display on his hoverchair. “I believe Mr. Zussman’s analysis provides an explanation consistent with the decay I am visualizing upon the surface of the satellite receivers.”
Cameron spoke through pinched lips. “Just wait ’til I discover who smuggled the wee beasties onto me island!”
“When last I was in her employ,” said Zussman, putting the finishing touch on a false mustache, “The Chancellor was researching methods whereby clouds might be seeded with the nano–bacteria.”
“What happens when these bacteria run out of their favorite food?” demanded Cameron. “Are my people at risk?”
“Not from the nano–bacteria, madam,” replied Zussman. “The bacterial populations are not intended to sustain themselves indefinitely. They consume at a rate which causes them to literally explode after several hours of steady, ah, dining, as it were.”
“Ready, Lady Wallace?” called Jamie.
Jess raised one eyebrow upon hearing the title. “Cameron” and “Lady” seemed such an unlikely combination.
“Aye,” replied Cameron. “I’ll go meet our attackers face to face, then, shall I? Jamie, see to the safety of the party here. Fair winds and God’s blessing, me dears.”
The clan leader departed, blinking back tears and looking, in Jessamyn’s opinion, very brave and very Marsian.
Jamie turned to the group. “Let’s go.”
A small ahem caught her attention. Zussman spoke.
“I shall attend her ladyship for the present,” he said, blinking as he applied colored contact lenses.
“Zuss,” said Pavel. “That’s crazy. Anyone my aunt has sent here will know you by…”
“Hence the disguise, sir,” replied Zussman, looking rather like a tired old man with his gray whiskers. “I hope to join you once again, sir, but I believe I may be of greater assistance upstairs at present.”
Pavel dipped his head in acknowledgment. “Good luck, man,” he said, but Zussman was already gone.
“Let’s get you to safety,” said Jamie.
Jessamyn’s hands tightened into fists. Safety? Where Lucca Brezhnaya was involved?
11
New Houston, Mars
Mei Lo, Secretary General and CEO of Mars Colonial, kicked her walk–out boots off so hard they sailed across the room. The planetary dog, Rover, woke from his nap, stretched his forelegs to the front and stood, shaking his coat. Then he bounded to the Secretary’s side, eagerly sniffing to learn where she’d been and whom she’d been with. Mei Lo squatted on her haunches beside her canine best friend and murmured into his ears.
“Someone doesn’t have impossible–to–answer questions. Someone isn’t telling me what to do and how to do it and where and when. Someone’s just glad to see me.”
Rover licked her chin and snuffled his damp nose along one side of her face, huffing loudly into her ear.
Mei Lo chuckled and lost her balance. Having fallen onto her backside, she relaxed the rest of the way down, throwing her arms out on the floor and contemplating a stain on her ceiling that reminded her of a crooked path she was constantly wishing she could tug straight.
“Fat chance of that, huh, Rover?” It was her experience that crooked things, like crooked people, tended to resist efforts aimed at straightening. Her father’s words came to her: Without the dark, how could we comprehend light? She had never liked that particular aphorism, and she particularly disliked it today.
“Ugh!” she said, sitting upright and giving her entire body a quick shake. She wished she could shake off the memory of Cavanaugh Kipling’s soft smile, his gently shaking head, his way of pushing everything she said through a rock grinder until she no longer recognized the words as her own. He was subtle, that one. And for that reason, he was dangerous.
For several days following Jessamyn’s theft of the Red Galleon, Mei Lo had hesitated to believe even half of what Jess had overheard Cavanaugh saying. She didn’t doubt anymore. Her observations of Cavanaugh these past months had convinced her that he had done and said every blasted thing Jess reported. But every time Mei Lo thought she’d found a way to bring his m
isdeeds to light, he slipped away clean. It was like trying to grab soap as it dissolved.
Rover pressed his wet nose to Mei Lo’s palm, bringing her back to the present. Something pinched, cold and sharp, in her belly. If Cavanaugh won the election, Rover would become his best friend.
“Oh, Rover,” she sighed, running her hand through the silky coat atop his head. “How am I going to hand you over to that…monster?”
But it was looking each day less and less likely that Mei Lo would retain her position as CEO and Secretary General. Lately, there’d been talk of separating the two positions, of allowing Mei Lo to remain as Secretary while giving tasks of fiscal responsibility to the man who had built the Squyres Station Mining conglomerate into the most successful business on the planet.
The thought made Mei Lo nauseous. On all of Mars Colonial, there could hardly be two people less suited to working with one another. But the throngs who clamored to hear Cavanaugh’s inspiring speeches of Mars’s brave new future still loved Mei Lo as well. The splitting of the positions was the latest in a series of ideas designed to make it possible for Marsians to keep their beloved leader while bringing aboard a man who promised an exciting future where everyone had more. More food, more water, more of a thousand little luxuries unknown on Mars at present. It was tantalizing.
Mei Lo crossed to her rations room, snatched a dry ration from the dispenser, and sank into her favorite chair. She’d missed sunset. The horizon, dark and distant, barely glowed any longer, and stars pricked the sky to either side of where the sun had set.
Stars and satellites.
She took a bite of her ration bar, but it felt like dust in her mouth. The Raiders on Earth should have contacted her over four days ago, but there had been nothing. Were they too busy? Had they mistaken the agreed–upon date? Or were they dead, as they appeared to her so often in dreams? She shuddered and murmured a quiet, “Come,” to the planetary dog.
He approached and snuffled the bit of ration bar in her outstretched hand. Taking it daintily from her fingers, Rover brought the unexpected treat to the ground where he broke it into smaller bits as he chewed, cleaning the floor of crumbs more efficiently that the best vac–mech ever invented.
Mei Lo sighed.
“At least one of us has an appetite, huh, boy?” She frowned at him. “You won’t tell on me, will you?” She knew she ought to eat. She was drinking her entire water ration each day, at least. Or she would, once she’d mustered sufficient motivation to leave the comfort of her favorite chair.
“Up–up,” she said to Rover.
The dog, his ears slightly back, hesitated.
“It’s okay,” said Mei Lo. “You can break the rules today.”
Rover jumped up beside his mistress.
“Wish I could break a few rules,” said Mei Lo. “Or heads.”
Rover licked her hand, settled his chin on her leg.
“What will I do if the Raiders don’t comm soon?” the Secretary asked her furry companion. “And how can silence be anything but more bad news?”
Rover licked her hand again.
Mei Lo sighed. She might never know why they weren’t in communication. It wasn’t like the Terran government would ring up with regrets about casualties. No, she had no back–up plan. No one to tell her what had gone wrong or when she could expect an update.
The Secretary General of Mars Colonial wrapped both arms around her beloved dog and buried her face in his fur, where she allowed herself the release of a few private tears.
12
Madeira, Earth
Pavel’s jaw clenched tighter as they ran toward whatever safety Cameron’s sergeant–at–arms could offer them. He was not going to allow his aunt to take Jessamyn again. Beyond that, he had no clear objectives. Along with the group of fugitives, he hurried down an interior corridor made eerie by the black volcanic rock from which it had been constructed.
“In here,” Jamie said quietly. She frowned, looking down a dark tubular tunnel that extended into darkness in either direction. “That’s odd. The hovertrain should be here already.”
Pavel looked around for any sign of intruders.
The sergeant–at–arms crossed to a wall panel and ran her fingers across it, spoke softly into it. Nothing happened. The tube was quiet, the air close and slightly warm, smelling of something Pavel was sure ought not to be allowed to burn.
Jamie addressed the group. “Stay here while I find out what’s wrong. And I suggest you refrain from using your earpieces to communicate. Someone’s likely to be listening.” Saying this, she dashed out a different corridor, leaving the group to ponder their fate.
Ethan moved to the equipment Jamie had been fussing with—probably hacking his way into Cameron’s security system or hovertube system or both.
“I wish Zuss were here,” muttered Pavel.
“He’s where he should be,” replied Jess. “He’ll recognize anyone sent by your aunt and will be able to offer suggestions based on their weaknesses.”
Ethan indicated a screen he’d brought to life, showing activity in the Great Hall. “Pavel, do you recognize these individuals?”
Pavel leaned in to get a better look at three male figures on one of Ethan’s screens. His stomach seized.
“That’s Vladim Wu. He’s got auditory enhancements, illegal visual implants, the works. He’s smart and ruthless,” he said. “He’s the best Lucca has to throw at us. My aunt’s not messing around.”
~ ~ ~
Cameron Wallace stared at the men and women who had breached her sovereign domain and offered to them a warm welcome that concealed her true feelings admirably.
“If ye’d provided notice of this honor, I might have welcomed ye in a manner more befitting the status ye occupy,” said the clan leader. “I’ll just tell the pipers to warm up, shall I?”
“No,” replied Vladim, his tone crisp. “I am merely a servant to his Eminence the Viceroy. No fanfare is required.”
Cameron frowned at Wu’s refusal to spell out for whom he really worked. Wu was Lucca’s man, and a tough bastard, to boot. It wasn’t as if this was a great secret. At least, not to the well–informed. Cameron smiled broadly. This would provide more challenge than she had faced for years.
“Just as well,” said Cameron, “Seeing as our wee state is a bit preoccupied at the moment. I don’t suppose ye know anything about an attack upon our relays?”
Wu’s face darkened for a brief moment, but his voice, when he spoke, oozed decorum. “Perhaps you have suffered a judgment from on high? Do you have any unconfessed sins, Lady Wallace?”
Now Cameron’s face grew dark. She no longer attempted to hide her true feelings. “You’re no priest, Vladim Wu,” she said carefully. “At least not of any god I recognize. I am a very busy woman at present. Ye’re a busy man. Shall we leave off pretence? To what do I owe this visit?”
“I am not a man to mince words, Lady Wallace,” said Wu. “I am here because the Viceroy is concerned at the discovery of several persons of Madeiran origin at a…sensitive facility in the Pacific Ocean alongside Canada. Does this bring anything to mind?”
Cameron shrugged. “I can’t say as it does.” She’d expected this question ever since she’d sent her paramilitary to drag the sunken Red Galleon out to sea and dump it to the ocean floor where the tellurium would be impossible to retrieve.
“The government employed a handful of Madeiran divers who subsequently absconded with a valuable cargo,” continued Wu. “Are you certain you’ve heard nothing of this matter?”
Cameron shook her head. “I don’t suppose any such thieves would make it their business to inform a law–abiding leader such as myself of their alleged accomplishments.”
“This is no laughing matter.” Wu shifted his position so that he had a view out one of the large windows in the Great Hall. “I believe you are acquainted with an individual known as Brian Wallace?”
Cameron snorted. “Aye.”
“Are you aware of his present lo
cation?”
Another snorting sound. “Me own cousin?”
“Yes, Lady Wallace.”
“What’s the blackguard gone and done now to besmirch the family name?”
“He is wanted in connection with the Pacific Ocean incident and…other matters.”
“Oh, aye? Is he now? And what sort of reward would there be for a person who might know his whereabouts? Might it be large enough to purchase replacement satellite relays for a nation the size of, oh, Madeira?”
“You are not in a position to make demands,” said Wu.
Cameron smiled. “Ah, but I think I am, me dear young man. I’ve no intention of revealing anything I know unless there’s something in it for me.”
Wu brushed at an insect which had the audacity to land upon his spotless uniform.
“What’s his miserable hide worth, then, just between the two of us?” asked Cameron, sidling closer to Wu.
The major pulled back as if annoyed by her intrusion into his personal bubble. This pleased Cameron and she smiled.
“You will release him into my custody at once,” replied Wu. “The Chancellor will contact you about compensation at a future date.”
The smile faded from Cameron’s broad face. “Let’s skip this fiction of future compensation, shall we? I may, indeed, be able to provide ye with information regarding me worthless cousin, but only once we’ve established a proper contractual agreement.” This was the sort of game Cameron enjoyed very, very much. Of course, she was also giving Jamie additional time to secure the escape of her friends.
Vladim Wu drew himself slightly taller. “Lady Wallace, you are to place the inciter Brian Wallace into my custody. If you would like me to invoke martial law upon your pitiful string of islands and search every last hovel for the inciter and his companions, I would be only too pleased.”
“And companions, did ye say? Now then, why don’t ye tell me about the reward for these…supposed additional persons. I might remember something or other if the price is right.”
Mars Burning (The Saving Mars Series-) Page 5