by Eric Flint
"You took your time getting here," said Vala, leaning on the gatepost. "I explained to a couple of purple splattered boys that were hanging around that they needed to get along home to mummy."
Pausert gaped. "You did what?" he finally got out.
***
Goth was quite proud of herself. Not only had she dealt with one of the watchers, but she'd had breakfast, and had also had her morning ablutions. She'd decided that the captain was pretty much family, and, if she'd asked him, that he'd have had no problems with her climbing in through a second floor bathroom window and making use of the facilities. While she was at it she had a snoop around the family home. She felt a bit guilty about that, but, well, the captain really wouldn't mind. The younger Pausert might, but she wasn't planning to tell him until he was much older.
The home was clean, just like the captain always kept the Venture . The signs of scraping by on a limited income showed. There wasn't much in the way of food, or spare clothing. But there were a lot of signs of travels to exotic places. Bangras from Gilars World hung on the wall. There were other items she didn't recognize. The walls were studded with pictures of various strange animals and plants. There were a number of excellent space-shots. And a photograph of an Imperial officer in pride of place, in the small lounge.
There was a report card from a school, too, which Goth found rather fascinating. She'd never been to a formal school of that sort. Karres did not teach it's children like that. She studied his grades proprietorially. He was good at Math. Nikkeldepain Academy-she noted the name, and worked out just how she could use her 'porting skills to get the key for the back door if she needed it again, before setting off to the school.
They'd been easy to spot hanging about just outside the school's gates. The purple blotched red faces did make them rather obvious, even if their behavior hadn't done so.
Obviously, they were waiting for Pausert. And he was going to make things worse by waiting until everyone else had dispersed. So Goth took steps herself. She'd learned a thing or two about Nikkeldepain from the captain and his attitudes. It was a pretty masculine society, rather like the Empire and very unlike Karres. She smiled nastily to herself. Toll always said that it was worth quietly fitting into a society-after all, Karres people were just passing through. Threbus said there were times for that, and times for establishing some respect. She'd do both.
"Hello, boys," she said, smiling at them. "Remember me?"
By the looks of it, they did. "You're the tough guys here. Are all these people going to be impressed when I tell them how I helped to improve your looks? I can improve them some more if you like. And I will do both, if you're still around when I've finished counting to three."
They were plainly torn between teaching her a lesson-huh! like that was going to happen!-and being seen fighting with a girl. One girl, at that, and the real threat of having that girl telling the locals just how they'd acquired purple blotches. Rapport's nerve broke first. "You can't protect him forever," he said, sniffing and turning away.
Watch me, thought Goth. But he'll be able to deal with worms like you himself, any day. But she kept this to herself and waited. Pausert emerged, wary and fists balled, a few minutes later.
It did not take Goth very long to penetrate Pausert's armor. He was naturally gregarious, and liked to talk. And, well, she knew him. The most difficult thing was not to give that away. But, sitting on the rails of one of Nikkeldepain's many iron bridges, swinging their legs over the water, in compete contravention of the sign telling them not to, she heard the story of most of his life to date.
The surprising thing was just how little of it she had learned in all the time that they had spent together on the Venture. He'd obviously made the decision to put all of this behind him. And it wasn't really surprising.
"-and so he's still MIA. Mother says they think he deserted. She says that's impossible."
Father lost after a minor skirmish on an otherwise routine patrol. His one-man scout ship never found. He was assumed to have fled the scene and dumped the ship somewhere.
The Imperial navy stopped paying his salary.
And then things got worse.
They'd come back to Nikkeldepain.
"Mother had an offer of a job at the xenobiological Botany Institute." Pausert kicked the rails. "She's a xeno-botanist and a plant pathologist. They really need her, but they are not a lot of other people who do, here on Nikkeldepain. Like, they don't need me either."
"Nonsense," said Goth. "But why did you even come back to Nikkeldepain? There are xeno-botany places inside the Empire. There's one in the capital, and one on Green Galaine. There must be lots of them."
Pausert shrugged. "Probably. But mom had inherited the house. Seeing as my father is looked on almost like a traitor or something in the Empire military, I suppose she wanted to get out of there. And she had a house and job offer here. Only when we got here, that's when things got really complicated. See, the law around here says that your heirs also inherent your debts. And it seems like great-uncle disappeared owing a few people some money. Not a lot by his standards maybe. Nothing much against the estate. But a lot of money for us."
"I don't really understand these things," said Goth. "But don't they just sell off his property, and pay people?" She was vaguely horrified that her Captain Pausert should have ended up in clothes that were plainly a little too small for him, because his mother was paying off Threbus's debts.
"The law here is a bit odd about that, Mom says," said Pausert. "They are not allowed to take more than the estate is worth from the heir, but they don't have to wait until the whole thing is wrapped up. And it can't be wrapped up, because the Nikkeldepain Office of Records refuses to declare great-uncle dead."
Goth knew a moment of righteous indignation. Of course her father wasn't dead! That was followed by pragmatic realization, that, for Karres's sake he had set things up to look like he was.
"So, um, what is happening?" asked Goth
Pausert kicked the bridge railing angrily. "Nothing. We spend more of the money we haven't got on lawyers who don't do anything. I go to school, mother goes to work. And things just go on the same way. Sorry. Enough. I shouldn't have even told you about it. It's our problem. So what are you doing here? "
Goth hadn't thought much about that part of her story yet. "I'm going to be going to your school," she announced. It was sudden decision-and a tall story-but better than anything else she could think of right now.
It did at least serve to distract him. "You are?" He smiled, and the smile chased the gloomy expression off his face. "It's a good school. But you better not tell anyone that you know me. I'm not too popular."
"Huh. Too late," said Goth, grinning. "So, tell me about it?" He did. And talking of school successfully steered the subject away from Goth's own back history. She really would have to think about that. She was also going to have to do something about the mess that the local law had made of Captain Pausert's life as a young man. There was no doubt that it was an appalling mess. And yet, somehow it must have all come right in time for him to go to the Space-Naval Academy. Goth was willing to bet that she had had something to do with it. She just wished she knew what it had been. That would have saved her having to work out what it would be! Time travel was needlessly confusing.
Chapter 7
Here in the Chaladoor, Captain Pausert was finding out the hard way just how intrinsic Goth had become to the running of the ship. Yes, there was still old Vezzarn. The old spacer was an experienced hand, and these days the captain felt that he could trust him. But he lacked Goth's incisive decision-making. The experiences they'd been through had made Goth aware of what dangers actually were, and when it was wise to wake the captain. Vezzarn… the experiences seem to have made him timid instead! "There are too many strange things I really don't understand, Captain," he said. "I reckon that it's best to leave that sort of deciding to you. Or to the little Wisdoms," he said referring to the Karres witches by their Uldune honorif
ic. "Only, well, better if it's Missy Dani, uh Goth."
That was all too true. The Leewit had grown a great deal since her sister had left her here on the Venture. But she still was some years younger. And, unlike Goth, the Leewit did not wake easily, or in a good temper! The end result was that the captain was getting very little sleep, and what he was getting was being interrupted all too often. Besides that, he just missed having Goth talk to. They'd been companions now for some time. To his shock Pausert realized that it was heading on for a good year or two since the incident on Porlumma-hard to say exactly!
He tried to quiz the Leewit on just where Goth had got to. But on that subject he might as well have tried to ask the bulkheads questions. The Leewit could stonewall with the very best. And she could fend off too much questioning with a threat of a few of her shattering whistles. That was enough to stop him asking.
Besides, he had a lot on his plate. The trip had had far more encounters than he expected, and something, he found, was bothering him. It felt as if they were being watched. Maybe even manipulated. He was tired, off-balance, stressed, and missing his familiar helper. But that did not stop the captain noticing that there was a certain pattern to the incidents. He talked about it with both the Leewit and Vezzarn, in one of the relatively rare times when all three of them were awake at the same time. One couldn't just leave the ship running on automatic in the Chaladoor, as they might have in the empty areas of Imperial space, relying on the detectors and alarms-which meant watches.
"I'm beginning to feel as if something is trying to herd us," he said tiredly. "We've just had to change course again. Not only is this adding quite a lot to our trip time but it is beginning to worry me. It's almost as if these attacks are being orchestrated. But even sub-radio doesn't work reliably here in the Chaladoor-not without repeaters. That means the best anyone trying to track us could do would be shorter range. And that implies a lot of co-ordination, and a lot of ships. Unless of course they have some kind of leech or tracker on us. And we made sure of that not being the case, after last time!"
"Or else we've some pretty fast enemies," said the Leewit. "Maybe we should not run next time. Shoot them up and ask questions later." The Leewit loved her work on the nova guns, even if they were erratic, old and rather dangerous-even after the very best of the Daal's armorers had serviced and refurbished them.
It was a tempting idea, Captain Pausert had to admit.
Vezzarn shuddered. "In the Chaladoor it always feels like it is out to get you, Captain. But even the Agander would have struggled to organize something like this. I think this must be more witchy stuff, Captain. I reckon we better cut and run."
"It would take us just as much time by now to go back as it would to go on," Pausert pointed out. "But I don't like playing their game for them. We might try a little extra speed."
Vezzarn coughed. "Uh, I'm feeling really tired, Captain. I think I'll go and take a sleep now." Vezzarn strongly resisted seeing 'witchy stuff' in action. He really did not like to be around when they worked the Sheewash drive. It was quite an eerie thing to watch, Pausert had to admit. The more he thought about it, the more he decided it wasn't a 'drive' at all. The Venture did not gain momentum in the process. It just traversed vast amounts of space. He wanted to understand how, but not right now. Right now, he needed to get away from the harassment and get some rest.
Soon, in the control room of the Venture, a cone of strangely twisted wires had a ball of orange energy dancing above it, as the captain and the Leewit worked the klatha pattern which produced the Sheewash drive. They did not keep it up for very long. Captain Pausert found that he did not mesh nearly as well with the Leewit on her own as he had with Goth and her sister. Besides, right now they had nothing to run from, except a feeling that the captain had that they ought to follow a course of their own choosing, rather than being steered down one. Using the Sheewash drive took it out of him. Captain Pausert was not particularly experienced at using it. And the Leewit was still quite young for doing so. They really couldn't afford to push it too hard or far. For all they knew they might be needing it soon, in earnest.
"You'd better go and rest, brat," said the captain afterwards, as the Leewit wolfed down a double batch of pancakes and Wintenberry jelly.
The Leewit nodded. "Need to bathe first," she said.
The captain smiled to himself. She was growing up. Imagine her suggesting washing herself! Times changed. But what he said was: "See you wash behind your ears." It was by now a traditional thing for him to say. He wasn't prepared for the Leewit to hug him. "Miss Goth," she said thickly, before hastily walking away towards her stateroom.
He went back to his chair in front of the control panels and viewscreens. Watching.
He didn't have long to watch before trouble came looking for them.
Chapter 8
Goth had always been around while the captain was organizing things, but until now she hadn't realized just how useful the experience would be. At least she had some idea of the actual mechanisms of renting a house, which was not a custom on Karres. She decided that it would be easier than trying to find a safe spot in the circus lattice ship-which would be leaving anyway, pretty soon.
On the other hand, she also began to appreciate Karres's habit of simply ignoring bureaucracy when you could. The Karres people never made waves deliberately among societies of the Empire and the other worlds they visited. Their work was far too important to waste time causing trouble for mere entertainment. But fussy, meticulous bureaucracies that seem to like paperwork for its own sake were a real temptation, Goth had to admit.
Before you could rent a house on Nikkeldepain you had to provide a whole lot of paperwork, most of which would be easy for a criminal to fake, but was guaranteed to cause maximum inconvenience for an honest citizen. And, unfortunately, documents posed a problem for her. Goth could very easily appear to be an adult. Light shifts could provide the appearance of most things-but every use of klatha drained some energy that could only be restored by sleep and food. If she pushed herself too much in any one day, she ran the risk of being exposed or having something else go wrong. Multiple klatha tasks were especially draining, such as documents which had to feel right in someone's hand as well as look right.
And it appeared that she would need an amazing number of documents in order to rent a house legally. Bank statements, previous utility payments-the list went on and on. It was truly amazing-and that was before the estate agent discovered that the smartly dressed woman in front of her was a foreigner, from off-world. Oh, they were very keen on off-world investment here on Nikkeldepain. They never lost the chance to tell foreigners so. But that didn't mean doing something ridiculous like making life easier for them!
The experience started to give her a real idea of the minefield that Pausert's mother had to cope with. She smiled politely at the estate agent. "I think I will just stay in the hotel that you recommended in the port area."
The woman allowed herself a relieved smile. "You wouldn't believe the paperwork it will save me."
Goth was tempted to make a very sarcastic comment. Or several comments. But she just nodded, and took her leave.
She had to face up to the fact that this was all going to be more complicated than merely coping with the Egger route had been. She still hadn't worked out why someone was trying to kidnap Pausert. She knew that she would be here for six months. That was considerably longer than any jaunt that she'd ever undertaken as a young Karres witch to the various planets in the neighborhood of Karres. Karres approved of their youngsters going out and learning about how life was away from home. But, generally speaking, they went in twos or threes. There was nothing much that two or three Karres witches couldn't deal with! But, as the second-in-age sister, Goth had left quite a lot of organization to Maleen.
Now, she found that she had to deal with issues like money. It was easy enough to 'port it, of course. However, living with Captain Pausert had left her feeling guilty about doing that. Anyway, to l
ive for six months she was going to need quite a lot of money. It wasn't like she didn't have it. The Venture 's account was nicely into the black. Goth had found a lot of satisfaction in managing the captain's money for him. He probably hadn't even realized she was doing it. But there was one small problem to spending any of that money: it was all safely in the Daal's bank some years into the future.
She was so busy thinking about all of this, and how to deal with it, that she did not notice a nondescript vehicle shadowing her. In fact, the first thing that she knew about it, was that somebody had pressed something over her mouth and she felt the sudden brief sting of a transdermic injection.
***
She awoke somewhat later, feeling groggy and sick, and lying tied up on a narrow bed in a dim room. Two people were talking in the next room. They were plainly quite upset with each other. Goth recognized the toneless voice of one of them. It was the woman with the cone hairdo, which had turned out to be a wig.
"-should have come to a while ago," said the male voice. "She was smaller than we guessed."
"You're hired to know that kind of thing, Franco," said the woman.
"Listen, we found her for you. And I still think you're taking a chance. She's been seen with two of the agents of the police force."
"Yes," said the woman. "When Mirkon got himself arrested by the local dogcatcher."
"He may not really have been a dogcatcher."
"Which is why he was shown in the newscasts as one for his heroic capture. To cover his secret agent tracks," she said. "Anyway, we've got Mirkon back in the ship. They assume that he's escaped off-world. That just leaves us a bit shorthanded for this. Let's go and see if the girl is awake yet."