Wyrmhole: Jack Stein #1 New Edition

by Jay Caselberg

  "Uncle Jack?"

  "Huh?" Right. A lot of help the knowledge would do him if he couldn't get them out of this place. Billie was looking at him expectantly. "Listen, all that stuff's great, Billie" he said. "But I have to find some way to get us out of here."

  She frowned. "How did you get here?"

  "In a shuttle. I had a pass organized for me saying I work for Outreach." He said it as much for his own benefit as for hers.

  "So? Use the pass."

  "Yeah, but what about you?"

  "I'm just a girl. Nobody takes any notice of a young girl. Don't you know that?"

  "Yeah, but what if somebody questions? We just can't walk out of here. I don't even know how to get the shuttle back."

  She pursed her lips and shook her head. "Still not very good, are you? I can do that. Wasn't Uncle Pinpin going to call a shuttle?"

  "Yeah, but ... "

  "You've got a pass, right?"

  "So...?"

  "Well, I haven't got one. Never did have. I just came with Uncle Pinpin."

  Jack stared at her. This kid was just too good.

  Wouldn't they be suspicious though if he called the shuttle back in so brief a time? He'd only been here a few hours. If that. But no, there was nothing to say he had to stay. He was a personal courier. There was nothing that the shuttle pilot had to know. That was what the pass said. Maybe, just maybe ... Billie was unauthorized. She was just here, and as she’d said, she had never been authorized in the first place.

  "Billie, call the shuttle," he said.

  NINETEEN

  As it was, Jack needn't have worried. Billie was right. The shuttle crew, the people on board ship, all of them, barely registered that Billie was there. She was just a kid after all, but a very special kid, as Jack was starting to realize. He’d laughed and joked with the shuttle pilot about having another package to deliver, and that had been that.

  The cabins on the ship were small, utilitarian, but with enough space not to give you a sense of being fully enclosed. Jack made sure from the outset that Billie was clear about the sleeping arrangements. He didn't want any repeat of the earlier events, especially just after she'd spent a few weeks with Pinpin Dan again. He looked at her sideways, noting the age that had crept back into her face in the intervening time.

  "Billie, you okay?" he asked.

  "Uh-huh," she said, giving him a brief frown in response.

  All right. He could leave it for now. He didn't want to push it just yet. There would be plenty of time in the couple of weeks they had together on the journey back. Then they'd be back in the Locality and what then? He clearly had some decisions to make.

  They quickly established a routine, killing the long endless spaces with discussions about the notes and things that Billie had found out during her time on Pandora. They'd get up late, breakfast together, work through the notes for a time, have some lunch, and maybe take in a walk around the limiting space of the ship's inside. Jack began to understand some of the benefits of nearly instantaneous travel. This long dark time between the spaces was mind numbing. You'd have to be someone pretty resilient to put up with this time after time. It was good that Billie was there. He could bounce ideas off her, and her sharp perceptions nearly always came back with something that made sense. Piece by piece, the bits started falling together.

  The voyage also had other benefits. He had no access to his patches out here, and slowly, gradually, with the combination of the trip out, and the extra, extended period back, he began to feel the effects of the chemicals filtering out from his system. There was an extra edge of clarity, of energy. There were headaches too, but after a few days, they passed as well. As he reached some sort of level, with Billie's help, Jack managed to put together a plausible picture of events surrounding his involvement with Outreach and Van der Stegen.

  He sat across from her on the narrow bunk. “So weren’t you surprised to see Pinpin?”

  “Uh-huh. A bit. But he told me he’d been playing a sort of game with you. He just pretended to be dead. He said he needed to do that so you could work on the case.”

  Jack nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. So where did he go?”

  She shrugged. “He stayed at Outreach for a while, but then he came and found me. We caught a flyer to the port straight away. Then came out here.”

  “So, where were you? Down in Old, right?” With Daman?”

  She gave a brief half smile. “Uh-huh. I like Daman.”

  “Well, I don’t very much. He and some of his friends worked me over. I think they had metal bars or something.”

  She seemed totally unconcerned by this revelation. “They have to look after each other. Sometimes the people who come down are trouble. They don’t come back.”

  He decided to let it pass. “So why didn’t you let me know where you’d gone?”

  “Uncle Pinpin didn’t want me to. I asked him, but he said it’d be better if you didn’t know.”

  “Hmmm.”

  So it seemed that what Pinpin had said was right, as far as it went. It looked like he’d planned the whole thing. Jack knew there was little point questioning her further about what Pinpin had intended. Whatever story he’d told her, it had seemed to satisfy her and it would give him few further clues about the entire setup.

  Toward the end of the voyage, he decided to talk to Billie again about the serious stuff, work out what she was really feeling. They'd made some progress during the day on the notes, and he thought that the sense of achievement might just act as a counterbalance to the things he needed to discuss. Not that he wanted to take the edge off her accomplishments, but he had to deal with it eventually. Here, at least, she wouldn't be able to disappear. He sat her down on the edge of the bunk.

  "Billie, we need to talk about some stuff."

  "What?" She had no idea where he was about to go.

  "How come you ended up with Pinpin Dan."

  "I don't want to talk about that. I don’t want to talk about him."

  "Okay, well what were you doing down in Old."

  "I told you when I left you the message."

  "I don't mean then. I meant before. Before you got together with Pinpin."

  She shrugged. "It was a place to be."

  "But didn't you have anywhere else?"

  "Nuh-uh."

  "But what about your family?"

  She gave him an accusing glare. "I told you I didn't want to talk about them. I told you before."

  "Yes, I know you did. But we've got to work out what we're going to do. You must have somewhere you can go, someone you can be with."

  Her face hardened. "I'm okay with you."

  "Yes, I know you're okay with me, but for how long, Billie? What makes you think that that's right, that you can stay with me? Look, you keep telling me I'm not very good, that I keep on forgetting simple things. You've seen how I live. What sort of life is that, huh? Do you really want to live like that?"

  "It's okay."

  "It might be okay, Billie, but I can't look after you forever. I just don't know how."

  "You don't look after me. I look after me. Nobody has to look after me. It's you who needs looking after."

  It was going nowhere. Every time he'd tried to broach the subject of parents or family, she'd just clam up. There was something else, there, in the background. He remembered some of her strange reactions, particularly that first night back in his apartment. There was that blank acceptance when he'd mentioned her father and again the walls had come slamming down.

  He sighed. "Okay, Billie. We can talk about it later. We can work out what we're going to do, once we get back to the Locality and I sort out things with Outreach and with Van der Stegen. Then we'll work it out."

  He was saying it, but really, he had no idea what he was going to work out. There just didn't seem to be an answer. Not within the confines and the systems so deeply entrenched within the Locality. There simply weren't the mechanisms for dealing with it. There were childcare facilities, services tha
t allowed the Locality to tick over, but there were no institutionalized social services, nothing to really cope with a kid Billie’s age. That was supposed to be the province of the parents, and with no parents… And Jack knew better than to bring that topic up again. He couldn’t even hazard how deep the wound might be with Billie. Perhaps that stuff would come out with time, but not now. As far as the Locality’s ownership was concerned, to have anything in place that would effectively cope with the population of waifs and strays would have simply been too great a drain on resources. That was probably why the group of kids had made their home down in Old, surviving however they could. The corporate authorities didn’t care, because they didn’t get in the way of how things worked. If he thought about, as distasteful as the thought might be, they actually helped the way things worked.

  The decision about Billie would keep, but not for too much longer. He knew that.

  He stared across at her. There was even more he had to consider. He realized that without her, he wouldn't have solved even a small part of this great puzzle, and he wondered what that might mean. Perhaps they were meant to be together. Natural synergies like that happened in life. They just happened, especially to Jack. It was hard. He didn't quite know whether he was trying to decide what to do with her for her, or purely for selfish reasons, because he knew deep down he was unable to cope. What was he, Jack Stein, supposed to do with a young girl? Maybe what she said was right. Perhaps it had been Billie who'd been looking after him all along.

  He spent long hours that night and the following three or four thinking about the problem. By the time the voyage was over, when eventually they got back to the Locality and his apartment, he still had no answer.

  He didn't know what to expect when they arrived. Anything could have happened in the weeks that he'd been gone — break in, Warburg's people, police, anything — but the apartment was still there just as he'd left it. The self-cleaning macros had been working, despite the empty trays of ready-cooked he'd forgotten to clear before he'd left. Home, such as it was.

  "Billie, toss your things over there. It's been a long trip and I guess you want something to eat, right?" She nodded. "Okay, Mollies, then back here. We put the final pieces together and decide what we're going to do."

  "Who are you going to tell?" she said, looking up at him. "Warburg or Van der Stegen?"

  "Good question. I'm not sure yet. Who do you think?"

  "Van der Stegen." She said it with certainty.

  "Okay, sit down and let's sort this out before we eat. What makes you so sure?"

  "Warburg doesn't care about anyone. All he cares about is his stupid science stuff and his company."

  "But what about Tasha?"

  "Her!" Billie snorted.

  "What?"

  "The big woman and the guy with the long hair were working for her. What about what happened at Uncle Pinpin's place? She doesn't care about anything."

  "But Pinpin was okay that time. They didn't really hurt him."

  "It doesn't matter. They beat you up didn't they? And that was because of her. I don't like her."

  "But you never met her."

  "Don't have to. I know."

  "Listen, you should hate me more than you hate her. What about what I did?"

  "You couldn’t help it. It just happened." She shrugged.

  "No, maybe you're right. And you're right about the other two. You know, I think you’re right about Warburg. He’d already given the question some thought, and really he was just seeking confirmation. He’d felt what both men were like. There was nothing about Warburg that gave him comfort. Van der Stegen, on the other hand, felt more neutral. At least with the latter, he might have some chance of helping Gleeson get what he wanted.

  So, Van der Stegen it is."

  Although he didn't like it, the decision was clear. Warburg and Anastasia Van der Stegen had both played him for a fool. Maybe under the advice of Pinpin, but they'd done it all the same. He did have a few shreds of pride left. He could probably take the money, walk away from it all, but in a way that'd be legitimating what they'd done, the way they'd treated him. Was Van der Stegen any the better? He didn't know. It was funny; a couple of months ago and he wouldn't have given a damn, but Billie, the stuff going on in Old, the mass marketed regimentation and the featureless Locality life was all beginning to stick in his throat.

  He spent some time chewing it over with his Mollyburger, but by the time they got back to the apartment, he was certain. First, he got Billie to take the block off his system as he looked on, and then he invoked the wall screen and made the call.

  oOo

  The wide driveway, the gardens, the wall of windows and doors, it was all just as he remembered it. This time though, the opulence stuck in his throat. Joshua Van der Stegen was not that different from William Warburg. Their methods might be a little different, but in the end, there wasn't too much to separate them. Van der Stegen was just a little bit less public about the things that he did.

  As he approached, the front door swung open, and an anonymous man in a suit beckoned him inside. It looked like when Mister Van der Stegen was in residence, he had his full complement of staff with him. He was ushered through the vast tiled hallway, past the polished wood staircase and further back, into the bowels of the vast mansion that served Van der Stegen as his headquarters. Just for a moment, Jack wondered what it would be like to live like this, amongst all this grandeur, then dismissed the thought. It was never going to happen.

  Van der Stegen was waiting for him. He sat, legs crossed in a high-backed, leather upholstered chair. Jack guessed it was real leather too. The genuine article, just like everything else in the house. The room was decked out in hues of deep red and brown, matching the rich tones of the leather furniture. A pair of similarly covered low couches sat opposite each other with a long, low table between them. Floor to ceiling shelves covered two of the room's walls and they were full, end to end, with books. They were real books. It had been a while since Jack had seen one of those — the paper and binding type. One of the other walls was graced with a broad stone fireplace, and above, surveying all that was theirs, hung a portrait. The painting showed Van der Stegen sitting in exactly the same chair, and behind his right shoulder, standing, Anastasia Van der Stegen, one hand on the chair's back, an imperious expression on her face.

  "Ah, Stein. Come in. Sit. What's your pleasure? A brandy? This one's particularly fine." He lifted a balloon glass to his face, swirled it and took a healthy sniff. "It had been so long, I thought we might have lost you."

  "No, I'm fine, Mister Van der Stegen. Let's just get down to business."

  "Come on, Stein. It's not going to hurt you." A liveried butler already stood close by with a glass standing in the center of a silver tray. Van der Stegen waved him over and Jack took the proffered glass, cupping it between his hands. Van der Stegen waved the man away and they were alone.

  Jack found his gaze still drawn to the painting. Tasha Van der Stegen, the power behind the throne? Maybe not yet, but it couldn't be too far off. Van der Stegen noticed his thoughtful look.

  "A good likeness, eh Stein. She reminds me so much of her mother. I think it captures Tasha quite skillfully."

  "Uh-huh." Perhaps more than he knew.

  "So, what is it you have to tell me? Have you a report?"

  "I will of course upload the report in its entirety to your home system, but I never do that without briefing the client first, Mister Van der Stegen. I find it cuts through a lot of wasted time — gets to the heart of the matter."

  "I understand."

  "Before I go into detail, Mister Van der Stegen, I think you should be aware that I know most of what the operations on Dairil III and Pandora are all about. I know your involvement with Outreach, and I know what your research boys are trying to achieve out there."

  Van der Stegen paused and took a moment to compose himself before speaking. "All right ... "

  "Well, I just don't want there to be any surprises i
n that regard."

  "Fine. Continue."

  "There's some pretty weird stuff in what I have to tell you, but it all centers around the mining operation. The nature of my work may make some of the things I have to say seem a little peculiar, but that comes with the territory."

  "I'm sure you're as much aware of the research effort underway on Dairil III and Pandora and what it's trying to achieve, just in the same way William Warburg is. I'm not one hundred percent certain of your involvement with Warburg and the extent to which it continues, but both of you are seeking the same thing, and the bottom line is making the logistics of your operations more efficient. There are also other, commercial benefits to be had from holding a monopoly on portals, gateways, whatever you want to call them, and the means of traveling through them."

  Van der Stegen nodded. "I don't think there are any surprises there, Stein."

  "No. It's all pretty logical. The thing I haven't quite worked out is how far you're involved. How much you actually know about Warburg's activities out there on Dairil III."

  Van der Stegen leaned forward and fixed Jack with a narrowed stare. "What's this got to do with who took my handipad, Stein? That's what you were employed to find out."

  "It has everything to do with it, Mister Van der Stegen. It was the contents of that handipad that motivated its theft. And the contents have everything to do with the operations on Dairil III. It also has to do with the eventual ownership of Outreach and ambition that drives that. The handipad was merely a key to a far broader plan."