by Jaleta Clegg
"I don't see how the pieces fit, if they do at all," I said.
"Tell me," Lady Rina insisted.
I told her everything I knew about Mart, everything I knew about the necklaces, everything I guessed or suspected about the entire situation, including her reasons for sending Larella and Beryn to us when she did. I told her about Lowell. I told her about Xqtl. She listened in silence. It hung thick and heavy in the air when I finished.
"I don't have any answers for you," she said at length. "Thank you for satisfying a bit of my curiosity. I had wondered who the man was. I thought at first he was your father." She leaned back, her eyes sliding closed. Her skin was translucent, as fragile and delicate as tissue paper. "I grow tired," she said, her voice thin. I could almost see the energy draining from her. "Send me Estelle."
I was dismissed. I gathered up the cube and necklace and left Lady Rina to her rest.
Chapter 15
The others were eating lunch on the back porch. I wasn't hungry. The ring on my finger pulled my hand down, it seemed to weigh more than my ship. The cube and necklace in my pocket dragged me down, too. I shouldn't have been surprised to find Lowell in the mess. I wanted to be angry with him. I wanted to scream and yell at the wind until I could find him and shake him. But I only felt empty, betrayed yet again by Lowell.
"Is something wrong?" Jasyn asked, seeing the look on my face.
I stared at the ocean without answering. The curiosity of the others beat against my silence. I sighed. It wasn't fair not to tell them. They were as involved as I was.
"Lowell came to visit Lady Rina. He set us up. Again." I turned around to face them. "We're supposed to go to Shamustel."
"I'm beginning to hate that planet," Clark said.
Shamustel had bad memories for all of us. I'd never been there without being shot at. It was a quite a record, considering Shamustel had one of the lowest crime rates in the Empire.
"Why?" Jasyn said. "Why us? And how does everything else fit in?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," I said. I twisted the ring on my finger. Whatever past memories it held had nothing to do with the current situation, only an old keepsake included in the box by mistake. Maybe it would help me change my luck for the better. Anything would have been an improvement.
A delivery flitter landed on the pad not far from the kitchen entrance. The name on the side was Tobias Imports. Leon waved at the men emerging from the flitter. It was expected, then, not more trouble.
"How you doing, Toby?" Leon called to the man walking across the lawn to join us.
"Why is that name familiar?" Jerimon muttered. He glanced at me then grinned. "Think of cake, Dace. And the first time we were here."
Toby joined us on the porch. He handed a clipboard to Leon and grinned at the rest of us.
"No cake this time?" he asked me.
"I must have missed that story," Clark said.
Beryn smothered a chuckle. "Surveillance photos," he stage whispered to Clark.
"I'm going to burn them if I find them," I muttered.
Toby sobered, his smile disappearing. "Sorry to bring bad news. You have to leave. Someone is asking very pointed questions about a crewmember of yours. It's only a matter of time before they make a move. I don't know who, I'm sorry."
"We can't leave yet," Jasyn said. She shot a worried look back at the house. "Lady Rina needs us."
"She's dying and she knows it," I said. "I don't think she wants us here to watch."
They didn't want to hear it. I turned back to the ocean, watching the waves rolling in.
"It's true," Leon said. "The doctors told me she had little chance of surviving much longer."
"Then we'd better say our goodbyes," Jasyn said. She looked brittle, as if she would shatter at a touch. She got up stiffly and went into the house, alone.
"Tenison can send his flitter back out for you," Leon said. "I'll call him."
"I can take them back," Toby offered. "There's room if they don't mind riding in back. I'll bring Caid back tomorrow."
"Where is he?" I asked. "I rather expected him to be here somewhere."
"With the Swan," Leon said. "Which is mothballed on the only landing field on the planet. She isn't going to fly again."
"Give us an hour," Clark said to Toby. "Then I think we'd better be moving. I should have registered him as Mart Smith."
"Jericho is a bit noticeable," Toby agreed. "We'll be waiting when you're ready."
The others went to say goodbye to Lady Rina, a final goodbye. I went to walk the beach a last time.
Tattered clouds skimmed the restless waves. The friendliness and peace I'd felt earlier washed away on the edges of a growing storm. I stopped at the waterline, where waves curled and retreated. The birds called to each other, lonely and sad on the eternal wind. I wiped away a tear. I'd miss Lady Rina. Much as I'd grumbled about her meddling, I respected her. I'd grown to love her, I realized as I stood alone to watch the water tumble on the sand. At least she was dying of old age, not because of something I'd done.
I found a final shell, an intricate swirl of pink and white. It was barely bigger than my thumb. It reminded me somehow of Lady Rina, much more complicated than it first appeared. I tucked it into a pocket.
"Dace," Jerimon called, coming towards me over the sand. "We're about ready to leave."
"I just need to grab my bag," I said. "Good thing I didn't bother to unpack."
"Estelle got it for you."
"Maybe you should stay here," I said. "With Jasyn and Clark. This is my trouble. You shouldn't have to deal with it again."
"Didn't you learn anything on Xqtl? We're family, Dace, whether you like it or not. You can't get rid of me that easily. Besides, Jasyn and Clark would never stand for it."
"You're right," I admitted.
We walked away from the beach in silence.
The flight back was long. We sat in the back on the floor. Toby's flitter was nothing like the luxury of Tenison's. But the noise and vibration were good for one thing, they made it impossible to talk. Jasyn leaned against Clark, her head pillowed on his shoulder, her eyes closed. Clark leaned against the wall, one arm around Jasyn and his legs stretched out in front of him. Jerimon sat at the back, watching the storm behind us through the back windows. Beryn was curled up on a pile of sacks, sleeping. I fingered the pink seashell and tried to figure out how things fit together.
Toby gave us a lift up to the station in one of his cargo shuttles. My stomach was in knots over what we'd find when we reached the station. Toby didn't have any more specific information, only that someone was paying a lot of money for information about Mart.
The station looked normal, nothing was different. People went about their business. No one gave us more than a passing glance. The Phoenix was where we'd left it. Mart and Larella were playing cards when we walked in.
Larella frowned, her cards on the table in front of her forgotten. "What happened? Is Lady Rina all right?"
"She's dying, Larella," Jasyn said as we headed for the cockpit.
"Then why are we leaving?" Larella asked.
"Because we're in trouble again," I said and tried unsuccessfully to keep the bite out of my words.
"She wanted it this way." Jerimon made a big show of comforting Larella as he sat at the table. She pushed his arm away, but not very hard.
Mart just looked sad, confused, and lost.
Jasyn called up the station as we took our places in the cockpit. "We need immediate clearance to undock. Family emergency."
"We heard, Phoenix," station control answered. "There are official people beginning to ask about you. We'll stall them as long as we can."
"Thank you," Jasyn said and flipped the com to standby. "I'm too tired for this."
"We all are," Clark answered. He and I got the engines warmed up.
We got clearance to leave. The docking ring clanged free and sent us away from the station with a gentle push. We powered the ship up and turned away from Besht.
> "Shamustel?" Jasyn asked.
"Yes," I said.
We ignored the com unit and its urgently blinking light. I ignored the Patrol cruisers swimming space behind us. We flew in silence to the jump point. Just before we reached it, Jasyn accepted a final message burst, recording it for later. Our ship slid into hyperspace and away from Besht.
We shut the sublight engine down.
Jasyn played the message, where everyone could hear and see.
On the viewscreen, Estelle blinked teary eyes. "She's gone. The way she wanted." The message ended.
Clark and Jasyn left. I stayed behind, watching the viewscreen and listening to the familiar, comforting vibration of the engine. I pulled the pink shell from my pocket, fingering it.
"Her spirit flies with us," Larella said from the doorway behind me. "Somehow I knew I wasn't going to see her again. I just didn't want to believe." She sat in the copilot's chair, where Clark usually sat. "She thought highly of you. She renounced her birth clan to adopt you and your crew. She loved you."
I put the shell on the small ledge just above the control boards. "It reminds me of her. The more you look, the more there is to see. I respected her."
"What now?" Larella asked.
"We finish solving the puzzle, we stay one step ahead of whoever's after Mart. And when we find him, we let Lowell know what we think of his meddling."
I stood, suddenly too tired to think. Larella shifted her attention to the shell. I went to my cabin. Larella's presence was strong there, her things had a way of spreading. And through her, I could almost sense Lady Rina watching me.
"May you find peace," I whispered to the elegant older woman who had adopted our odd mix of crew.
I changed to pajamas and rolled into my blanket and sleep.
Chapter 16
The trip to Shamustel was long. None of us felt like talking.
I sat for hours, watching the viewscreen and studying the shell. Ghost came back to me, curling up in my lap and purring for hours. She was gaining weight, her middle round and heavy with the promise of new life. The thought of kittens was comforting. Life went on. Lady Rina wasn't the first person I knew who'd died. But she'd been a fixture in my life almost as long as Jasyn had. It hurt, knowing she was gone.
The ship was still a bit topheavy when we slid through transition into normal space. The stabilizers were out of balance. A few hours and I could have them adjusted properly, I told myself.
"The bad luck planet," Clark muttered as we made our approach.
"Nothing's going to happen this time." If I said it forcefully enough, it just might be true.
"If you say so," he answered.
The ship touched down.
"Now what?" Jasyn asked.
"There's a locker somewhere on the planet that I supposedly have the combination to," I said.
"No problem," she said. "There should only be what? Several hundred million possible locations?"
"The real problem," Clark said, "is finding someone to deal with port authority that they won't immediately recognize."
"Send Larella, in her fortune teller's outfit," I suggested.
Jasyn almost laughed. Clark did.
"To do what?" Larella asked behind me.
"Beryn would be a better choice." Clark turned to Larella. "To talk to port authority and take care of paperwork. Unfortunately, they know the rest of us here."
"Jerimon told me about the last time you were here," Larella said. She shivered, setting her dangling earrings to tinkling. "This place has a bad aura."
"Just collective bad memories," I said. "Lowell said to look in the place where I got the jewelry. Obviously Shamustel, but where?"
"We'll figure something out," Clark said.
The others waited in the lounge.
"Now what?" Jerimon asked. He shuffled a deck of cards.
"Here," Clark said, handing Beryn a stack of credits. The money Lowell had left for us amounted to almost twenty thousand credits, enough to keep us flying for months. "Go buy off port authority. Refueling, landing fees, basic supplies. We'll be here at least a day."
"I need to buy more food," Jasyn said. "Larella?" She invited the younger woman with her. Larella nodded her acceptance.
"I'll come to carry the packages," Jerimon offered.
They left, promising to be back within a few hours.
I sat at the table with a reader, the data cube, the scrap of paper, and the blood red necklace. I set them out in a line. There was an answer there, one that Lowell believed I could find without trouble. He had a lot of confidence in me. I wished I shared it.
Clark and Mart both came to join me. I shifted the objects around. They still didn't make much sense. The package was in a locker here, somewhere, if I had guessed right. And I had the combination. I stared at the scrap of paper with the word Rowan and the jumble of numbers. This might be it, but where was the locker?
"I'm out of ideas," I said.
"Try the Guild office where we picked up the jewelry," Clark said.
"They won't let me in. We're blacklisted, remember?" I fingered the spot on my sleeve where the patch for the Independent Traders Guild had been.
"How can I forget?" he said. "There's still the store where you first saw them."
"That was a not very successful music store the last time we were here." I sighed and tucked the paper into my pocket. I left the other items behind. "I can try those two places, but after that, I don't know where to look. I should be back in a couple of hours or less."
"You shouldn't go alone," Clark said. "Wait for the others to get back."
"The longer we sit here, the more time they have to remember us."
"True," Clark agreed. "But someone has to be here when the supplies arrive."
"I'll go," Mart offered.
"You're the one they're looking for," I reminded him. "You're better off staying hidden."
"No, he's right." Clark handed Mart his id tag. "Pretend you're me."
"As if that will work," I said. They were about the same height and body build, but Clark had sandy blond hair and green eyes. Mart's hair was a lot darker and his eyes were definitely brown.
"It will work as long as no one looks too closely," Clark said. "So be careful and don't make anyone want to look close."
"I need to go," Mart said as he fingered Clark's id. "I don't know why, I just feel this is the right place. And I need to go with you."
"I'll send Beryn to meet you as soon as he finishes," Clark said.
"I think I'm beginning to agree with Larella," I muttered as I punched the hatch controls. "This planet's aura stinks."
"I think that was your aura she was referring to," Mart said solemnly. "All purple and spiky. Like your hair."
I stared at him for a long moment until I realized he was making a joke.
Clark chuckled. "Purple and spiky describes you pretty well."
Mart grinned. It changed his whole face.
"Now you're going to start teasing me, too?" I tried to hide a smile. Somehow, I didn't mind Mart teasing me. Or Clark. Jerimon was the one who got on my nerves.
"I'm sorry," Mart said, his smile fading. The haunted look came back into his eyes.
"Don't be. Maybe I am being spiky and purple." The hatch slid open on bright morning sunlight. "Let's go find some answers."
Shamustel had a huge landing field. We'd been given a berth far out on one side. It was a long hike to the gate. Shamustel also had a closed field. No one went in or out without passing through a checkpoint. That was the tricky part. We had a bad history with the Shamustel police. The first time we were here, someone shot at us and we ended up at the local police station. The last time we'd been here, our ship had been hijacked and we'd been framed as pirates. Lowell had assured me it was all taken care of, but I was still nervous as we approached the checkpoint.
The guard wasn't one I recognized. He looked bored. "Name? Ship? Purpose of visit?" He barely glanced at us.
"Captain Dace of the
Phoenix Rising," I answered. I didn't get to make up a reason for our visit. The guard's eyebrows rose before I got that far.
"Step this way, please," he said, indicating the command post behind him.
I sighed and gave in to the inevitable. They weren't going to forget me here. Ever.
The police supervisor was the same one I'd dealt with before, both times. He gave me a suffering look. "Why are you back here? Again?"
"I have business."
"Your business last time disrupted traffic for two days and cost Shamustel several thousand credits. We don't want your business."
"I was sent here to fetch a package. That's all. We'll be gone within a few hours."
"You were sent? By whom?"
I was really tempted to lie. But he wouldn't believe anything but the truth. "Patrol Commander Grant Lowell sent me."
He looked like he'd bitten into a very bitter, very sour, kitzi fruit. "The Patrol is behind this?"
"Unfortunately, yes. I wasn't given much choice about coming." That was only a little lie.
"Do you wish a police escort?"
"No, we'll be fine. We're only going to the Guild office."
"According to your file, they blacklisted you."
"I'm very much aware of that, sir." The sir couldn't hurt and it might help.
"I wish we could do the same," he said. "You have two hours. After which, you will be escorted from Shamustel. By force if necessary."
"Thank you," I said and did my best not to sound sarcastic. "We'll be gone within two hours."
He watched us leave. I felt his eyes boring into my back every step. The guards at the gate let us through.
The streets were wide, designed for pedestrians. Flitters zipped overhead. Large planters overflowed with flowers, red this time. They were blue before. The air was warm and smelled of the flowers. Quite a few people strolled down the street, stopping to shop or talk.
Mart waited until we were a block away from the gate before he spoke. "We're being followed."
I glanced behind. "He's one of the police. I'm surprised there's only one."
"Is this the way they normally treat people here?" Mart asked, puzzled.