by Paul Kater
"There were a few incidents, indeed, but from my view they were not too bad."
"You, sir, need to learn about women and clothing. Tearing her dress has signed your death warrant." Warlem chuckled.
Daniel grinned along with him, recalling the moment. "Luckily she managed to trip all by herself."
"She tripped? Oh dear, and you were there to see it? Sir, you are braver than I had already had given you credit for, by showing yourself here tonight. And you are still standing - well, sitting, after meeting her. She must like you." Pleasure danced over Warlem's face as his eyes searched for his sister. "The poor sod never gives up," he sighed before taking a bite of his food.
Daniel frowned and scanned the room, seeing Gaguran standing close to Rayko in a rather odd way. The woman ignored him completely, yet he looked as if he was having the time of his life. Daniel grinned.
"Ah, you heard about him, I understand," Warlem said. "And there he is, feeling completely inconspicuous." The poet shook his head, sending his hair jumping.
"Warlem, I require your seat for a moment." Clelem suddenly stood with them.
Warlem got up and walked away, without a word. It was something that surprised Daniel.
"Mr. Zacharias, I hope my son was not being his indigestible self," the Seigner said as he sat down. "He has the habit of making himself unwanted in many ways."
Before Daniel could reply, the man continued: "I want to thank you again, personally, for the work you are doing. You saved a ship, a cargo and the lives of many."
"It is what I am supposed to be doing, sir," said Daniel. "Sometimes an assignment is harder than other times."
"Yet, you have gone beyond tasks, Mr. Zacharias." Clelem nodded and stared into the crowd for a moment. "I assume that you have things under control?"
Daniel wondered about that question. "I would hope so. But could you elaborate your question, please?"
Clelem reached for a new glass of wine. "Of course. There has been word in Ship Owner circles that there are people trying to trick employees into switching positions. If you know what I mean."
"Ah. I see." Daniel thought back to the offer of Huajo, the fat ship owner he had met. "In that case, Seigner Dandra ko Galem, everything is under control."
"Very good. I am pleased to hear that. Do enjoy your evening, Mr. Zacharias." With that, Clelem got up and disappeared in the crowd that kept moving like living tapestry.
Daniel finished his food and returned to the other room to get rid of his plate. He returned to the main hall, studied some faces and paintings, and went back to the large fountain where glowing fish were swimming. The sun had since long set, and the light of the animals was fascinating to watch now.
Small groups of people were now forming, all wrapped in their favourite subjects. Daniel moved around the room, feeling lost again. He could not locate the poet, which made him feel even more alone. Suddenly, as he passed an open door that led into a side room, he recognised the voice of Clelem. The man sounded very aggravated. He then also heard the voice of Rayko.
"Father, no, I hate that man and I am sufficiently disgusted that you asked him to come here," she said.
Daniel leaned against the wall, prepared to walk off at the slightest change in the room.
"Rayko, you need to know your place and respect your upbringing. The man saved us a lot of money. He risked his life for the company, and captain Xhylor told me he did all he could to make your life on the ship as pleasurable as possible."
Daniel was painfully aware that he was listening in on a private conversation about him. He knew he should not be here, but he also could not rip himself away from it.
"Child, you should listen to your father," said Clelem's wife.
"Mother, please. If you knew what he did to me on that ship! It was... it was... arghhh."
The mystery of Warlem's whereabouts was solved when his voice sounded. "Hmm. He saved your life when something with sails happened, he carried you on board and down again. Yes, I can see why you hate him. All these horrible things, dear sister."
Daniel suppressed a smile and feigned interest in an ugly bouquet of flowers.
"You should keep your mouth shut, idiot." Rayko obviously was far from amused.
"Rayko, your language, please," her mother pleaded. In vain.
"Father, I want that you remove this person from the house now. If you don't, I'll tell Slindris to do that. I can't stand him, I can't stand the way he mocks me by just looking at him, I can't stand... anything about him!"
Clelem seemed to have enough of this scene his daughter was causing. "Rayko, stop this. I tell you to behave and be at least courteous towards the man. I have enough other things to attend to, like why another idiot is not able to control his associates when I ask him to. And you will not tell Slindris anything, do you hear me, daughter?"
A few seconds later, Rayko came steaming from the room. Daniel had heard footsteps so he had veered up from the wall and pretended to be passing by. She almost ran into him. The look she treated him to was one of rage and utter contempt, then she pushed her way through the guests and disappeared.
"Oops," he mumbled. Suddenly he needed some fresh air. He cruised through the hall again and found the large glass open doors that led out to the garden. The wind greeted him, and he breathed in deeply. There were only a few guests there.
Daniel found his way alongside the great garden, following the glowing sticks that lit the paths. He reached the far end of the garden and leaned over the balustrade, looking out over the lights of Zoroon. "You don't belong here, boy," he told himself. "You're not very wanted except for your skills, and look what those got you. Being rebuilt twice. And-" he shivered for the first time "-the second time they used the skin of dead people for it. Way to go."
He tried to banish all thoughts from his head, but that proved harder than it sounded. He wondered if being here on this planet was a good idea. He wondered where Rhonda was. Maybe he should get in touch with his sister, quit the army for real and retire near where she lived. Wherever that was.
"Mr.Daniel Zacharias? May I distract you for a moment?" The voice that spoke was gentle, warm. Daniel turned and found that it belonged to the thin senator in the green robe.
"Oh, uhm, of course." Daniel was taken by surprise by the man. "Good evening. I'm afraid I have not caught your name."
"You could not, dear sir, as I never let it fly. My name is senator Sygra Dirrit ko Asac."
They shook hands. "A pleasure, senator."
"You do not strike me as a very happy person, Mr. Zacharias. The only one, in fact, as everyone is enjoying the party." The senator leaned on the railing.
Daniel held in his snort. "Miss Dandra ko Galem was not very pleased just now."
Sygra smiled. "I am sure she'll get over it. I heard from her mother that Rayko's team lost their game this afternoon, which cost them the regional title."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Daniel said. It probably was a race in cross-stitching or something equally exciting.
"You are not," the senator commented calmly. "You are an intriguing person, Mr. Zacharias. You put your life on the line for Clelem's ship. He speaks highly of you. There are many ship owners who would pay a dear price to have you on their ship. And you seem unhappy."
Sygra turned to Daniel. "What is happening inside you, Mr. Zacharias?"
Daniel was slow to react.
The senator put a hand on Daniel's arm. "Would you accompany me to a seat out of the wind? I'm afraid my old bones cannot take the weather like they used to." They walked to a bench with thick cushions, a large plant behind them, a dozen glowing sticks in front of them. "This is better. I appreciate it, Mr. Zacharias. Now, tell me. What is going on inside you?"
Daniel hesitated for a moment. Then he started telling the senator about his feelings, his thoughts, his worries.
Behind the large plant, unseen and unheard, sat someone, listening to the conversation.
"You see, sir, after being saved from death
twice, after changing into someone yet again, it is hard to decide to what people I belong. After the Bactine operation, my own people did not really accept me for who I was. But the other Rebuilts also didn't. Then I got shoved away, to this planet. No offence, sir, it is a nice planet. But it is hard for me to call it home."
The senator nodded. "That must be hard. You struggle and the gratification is not coming. But you are still alive, young man."
"True. But at times I wonder if that is all worth this. I was an Assault Marshall, up for becoming sergeant. Instead of that, I am set up, there's a stain on my name. And now I am here, sailing on a ship fighting pirates and waiting to be chopped up again."
Sygra patted Daniel on the shoulder. "Perhaps you should give it some time. You've undergone some impressive traumas, Mr. Zacharias. Time is the best healer for this. The fact that you are here shows your strength. You could have stayed at home and sulk, sir."
Daniel grinned. "Thank you, senator. I'll give it some more time."
"There's a good man," the senator said. "I really appreciate your confidence, Mr. Zacharias. Now, if you will excuse me. My old bones need the warmth of the inside again."
"Good evening, Seigner Dirrit ko Asac. Thank you for your ear."
The thin man smiled down at the still sitting Daniel. "I hope we can meet again someday." He slowly walked off, his robe flowing left and right as he moved.
"I doubt it," Daniel mumbled. He also got up and after a last look around the garden, he went inside, getting ready to leave.
Behind the plant, a shadow waited for a while, then also slipped into the house.
Daniel walked through the see-through tunnel, reached the reception building and one of the ladies who were still there found his coat. The floater was already waiting so he stepped in and waited until the thing had taken him to the platform at the foot of the hill. Once there, he saw a long line of carriages waiting. Both the men who had been there when he arrived were gone, so he walked to the first carriage and made it take him home.
All this trouble for a few hours...
24. A strange call
Once inside his apartment, he changed into something comfortable and lay down on the bed. On the way home he had wondered why nobody here had thought of making one of these floater things a lot larger to create a flying balloon that was big enough to carry loads. That would give the pirates a hard time. He shrugged in the dark. There probably were things he didn't know. He could not imagine that nobody had ever tried it.
As he was wondering about the way he had emptied his heart and soul in front of the senator, a man he didn't know at all, his hydger started rattling.
"Go away whoever you are, I am not in the mood," he complained.
This was not good enough. The hydger kept at it, as if the person on the other end was not about to give up.
"This had better be good." He picked himself up from the bed and made his way over to the table where the troublemaker was. As he picked it up, the rattle stopped. "I wonder who it was I pissed off so much that I had to go through this day," he muttered and started back to the bed. Then the hydger started again. This time Daniel did not take chances. He was quick to get the box.
The screen showed a black triangle and no name. "Now what." Curiously, he flipped the switch. "Zacharias here."
There was some strange grunting sound, then a distorted voice said: "You are mister Daniel Zacharias?" There was a strange sound next to the voice, as if a steel brush grated over a bucket.
"Yes. Who is this?"
"My name is not important. I have to speak with you."
Daniel walked to a corner where, in a closet, he kept his special suitcase. With one hand he opened it and searched for something, as he asked what the talk would be about.
"I can not tell you that over this line," the voice said, as Daniel switched on his scanner.
"Null reading," it told him. He had to make the other person talk more.
"Listen, whoever you are. I am not in the mood to play games, so either you tell me what this is about, or I will simply hang up on you."
"No, don't. I have something important to discuss with you. You will come to the Maliser Park at the west side of Skarak. There is a group of six trees next to the entrance. Meet me there in an hour."
The black triangle disappeared, and the display then only showed a set of numbers. Coordinates.
"Scrambled voice pattern," the scanner said.
"Thanks. I had figured that out already," Daniel muttered, switching the scanner off and tossing it back into the suitcase. Clearly Earth's military stuff was not capable of tracing through local technology.
His finger hovered over the off switch of the hydger. It hesitated. Then, slowly, as if it had a mind of its own, it pressed the store-button. The secretive technology of the box hiccuped and then the display showed 'Maliser Park'.
Half an hour later he arrived at Maliser Park. He wanted to be early, to see where the strange person would come from. The entrance consisted of two thick trees that had suffered from pocks or a similar disease. Around the park were lights, and low bushes of a very needly kind. Entering the park unseen was impossible, he noticed. There were so many lights that even in the dark nothing could move here without being seen. That was a good thing.
Standing close to one of the thick trees, he looked over the area. He counted six trees in a group, just off to the left. Okay. Not okay. Further to the right also was a group of six trees. Tada for keeping things balanced, but this messed up the plan.
He took his chances and opted for the right-hand set of six. Keeping low, he ran over to them, took position and waited.
After more than half an hour, there still was nobody. He waited longer. Still nobody.
"Someone had you by the balls, Daniel," he muttered as he stepped out of the set of trees. As he slowly walked to the exit, still looking around, he saw a movement among the other six trees. He stopped and turned towards them.
A large cloaked figure stepped out into the light. "You are late. Come." Then it disappeared among the trees again.
Muttering something unintelligible he walked over. The figure in black stood waiting. The head was hidden under a hood and there was a mask in front of the face. The cloak was wide, as if it had to house a family of three.
"I was not late. You did not tell me what set of trees," Daniel said, half amused and half accusing.
"That does not matter." The steel brush was clearly there. And the voice was severely distorted, up to the point that Daniel had to pay close attention to the words. "I have an offer to make you, Mr. Zacharias. My aim is to take a ship out of commission. The Pricosine. You can make this happen." The owner of the voice clearly had problems speaking through the distorting contraption. The words came out in blurts.
"And for what reason would you want to do that?" Daniel felt himself tensing up. Whatever he had felt a few hours before, this was a direct attack on the ship that he loved, property of the man who had invited him to a party at his house. No matter how lousy a party it had been.
"I have my reasons," said the mask. "You will be richly rewarded if you cooperate."
"And if I don't?"
"You will suffer the consequences."
Daniel slowly moved into a stance from where he could react quickly. "I am not in the habit to negotiate with terrorists," he said, "and I am certainly not picking that up now." Quickly he jumped forward, reaching out to grab the mask and pull it off, but the person in the cloak was prepared. A small stick was suddenly thrust forward, hitting him in the chest. The punch itself was not a problem. The disabling current that it sent through Daniel's body however was.
His legs gave way, making him fall down. His arms did not obey the commands from his brain any more either. As he lay on the ground, the black figure watched him. "That, Mr. Zacharias, was not a smart thing to do." Then the person in black moved away, the steel brush rasping.
By the time Daniel's body started to understand him again, he had go
tten very cold. There was a clear difference with the Bactine body. As if he was drunk, he clambered to his feet, seeking support from one of the trees. After a few minutes he felt able to walk again. First, however, he used the hydger to summon a carriage. He had to get back to the house of Clelem Dandra ko Galem and report this.
The carriage rattled off, with Daniel inside. The ride seemed to take ages, as hardly any light was there along the way. Daniel wondered again how the carriages worked, how they were powered and found their way around. And he muttered that the high speed was by far not fast enough, although that still was a lot faster than he would be able to run.
Finally the carriage came to a halt at the house of Clelem. It lined itself up with the long queue of other carriages that were waiting for passengers. Daniel jumped out of the car and ran up to the platform where this time the two men in uniform were present again.