by Allynn Riggs
“I’m impressed, Renloret. You’re not mangling Northern’s language as often as you did right after the crash.”
“The fact I understand the difference between day and sun-time leads you to that conclusion?”
“Mostly. You’re also using contractions more frequently. Not that I minded the lack of contractions. At least your accent is still noticeable.”
“I’ll work on that.” He handed her a mug and pointed to the table set with a pair of plates.
Once seated, Ani perused the contents of her plate: gedniums, plantains, a scrambled pile of seared meat pieces and tacara root topped with a pair of cushawk eggs, their blood red yolks barely paled by the thin albumen. After sipping the spicy tea, she sighed. Perhaps the day would go better than she expected.
“Why did you bring him here?” the woman demanded. Because she was in the back corner of the room and in the shadows, Treyder could not see her face clearly. In fact, Treyder had never clearly seen her face. She was usually quiet and always stood where she could not be seen. But when she spoke, her Southern accent garbled some of Northern’s words and syntax. Outside of his wife and some of those who had worked at the research center, this woman was the only other Southerner he’d been around. While she appeared to be trusted by the senator and occasionally offered worthwhile information, she was actively working against her own Southern government by associating with the senator, and Treyder wanted nothing to do with a traitor.
At least his former employers had the ethics to work on things that benefitted everyone, not just those living on Northern. And when his wife was alive, so had she. Their shared employers just hadn’t believed he could make robotic machines so small. But Senator Nelham did.
The senator sat on the government’s space protection committee and had originally contracted Treyder over twenty years ago when Treyder was looking for a job in mechanical research and development. Treyder had leapt at the chance to work at the best research center on Northern so quickly after completing his university courses. All he was asked to do was pass on information about the projects that were coming out of the remote Star Valley installation. The only problem had been that he’d been assigned a military overseer named Stubin Dalkey. But Treyder had solved that problem a few months ago. He smiled at the thought of discovering that his laser beam, which he had invented as a distraction device, worked beautifully as a killing weapon.
He pushed away those pleasing thoughts and focused on what the woman had said. As far as he was concerned, she didn’t have the authority to question his actions. Dismissing the woman, Treyder turned to the senator. “I couldn’t very well keep him in Star Valley, Senator Nelham. Since you requested proof that the device worked and I could not produce Miss Chenak, I have brought you the next best subject, Sheriff Taryn Avere. The entire valley’s population is probably looking for him now. They’ll turn every building inside out, and anyone new to the area may be under suspicion. I need to get back. The clinic’s guard knows I was meeting with the sheriff last eve, and I obviously am not at work as normal right now.”
Treyder pulled the blanket up closer to Taryn’s chin. He lifted each eyelid and flashed a small beam of light across the eye’s surface, then entered his observations on the chart before turning to the senator. “Keep an observer in the room at all times,” he said. “I don’t know how that Chenak woman recovered so quickly. With the facility as it was when I left after my wife died, they should not have been able to even locate the device, let alone remove it. It should have taken them years to develop appropriate equipment. I took everything with me when I left the first time. Perhaps there was a malfunction.
“However, with your assistance, Senator, I now have this second facility for furthering your requested research projects. I will soon be able to give you what you desire: unequalled military power over both continents.”
He smiled to show the senator how much he appreciated the sponsorship, even if it was not yet widely known. The senator smiled back. They both knew Treyder had returned to the Star Valley Research Center to renew his undercover observations and to look for proof that the Chenak family was now using Star Valley as a secret base from which Southern could launch an attack on Northern territory.
The disappearance of the infamous girl blade champion so quickly after he had successfully implanted the coma device worried Treyder. There had been no word about her return to Star Valley until she had walked into his office. The fact that she did not show any ill effects, with the exception of her impaired memory, made him think that, perhaps, the first prototype had malfunctioned, and he wondered if the device had failed at some point. Had the device failed and was still in her or had it somehow been removed? He would consider those possibilities as he studied the effects of the second device on the sheriff.
Treyder frowned at the realization that he had possibly made an error. “There was no indication from the villagers that they even knew she had been in a coma. All they talked about was her going to Southern to help develop a vaccine for some sort of virus she was immune to that was epidemic in a Southern village. Or at least that was their cover story for her disappearance.”
“She went to Southern?” the senator asked. He seemed surprised.
Treyder nodded. “I assume so. Her parents were from there. Evidently, Southern secretly sent a man to Star Valley to find a woman and her daughter from Southern. You might look into whether or not the political pressures you have been exerting on the relationship between the continents required Miss Chenak’s removal from Northern for possible spy training since she won the blade ring championship. With that title, she has wider access and notoriety than expected. But I don’t think she has any feelings against Northern because she stayed and even took on that recruit training position at the university. It was inopportune timing, that’s all. And not for the first time. I was so close to being able to use it on Shendahl Chenak when she died.”
The shadowy female figure in the corner stepped forward. “Someone came for the Chenak girl?”
Treyder saw the senator scowl at the intensity in her voice, as if he didn’t appreciate her interruption.
The senator faced the woman. “Were you aware of the Southerner’s impending arrival when you suggested we use Dalkey as bait to get that Reslo character back on Northern territory?” The senator’s tone was accusatory.
“Of course not.”
Retreating into the corner at his scrutiny, she spoke directly to the senator. “When you told me about the radio signals, I suspected her uncle, whom you allowed to leave, was trying to contact her by using some of Southern’s new technology. I thought Dalkey’s reappearance in Star Valley would bring Reslo Chenak running back to protect his niece, and then you would be able to invite him to share his knowledge of Southern’s space technology with your committee. You could have used his knowledge to your advantage, and with Dr. Treyder’s assistance, Northern would quickly exceed Southern’s attempts to explore beyond our atmosphere. You, sir, would have been instrumental in the development of a space-worthy army.”
Treyder saw the senator puff out his chest at the compliment. This woman knew the senator and how to manipulate him. He would have to watch her.
“You did tell me you wanted Reslo Chenak and his knowledge of Southern science, not his niece,” Treyder said. “I want him as well. The girl is nothing more than a freak of nature who was manipulated by her mother and uncle into the blade ring. Even so, she knows nothing about her uncle’s work. I do. Reslo Chenak will come running at her request, now that I have the sheriff. Once Chenak is here, you can extract the information from him and I can show him just how small I can make things. The sheriff here is proof of what I can accomplish, with your support, Senator, both in the device itself and in the distance delivery of it.” He patted Taryn’s chest to bring the senator’s attention back to the reason they were holding this meeting.
A grin on his face, the senator rubbed his hands together. “Yes, yes, Isul, the projectile w
eapons you are developing will allow us to overcome any enemy. When can you start mass production of the device?”
“Another few tests should do it. Then you can have all you want. The assembly-line process has been designed. I just want to make sure all of them work the same as the prototype.” He didn’t explain that he’d only had two of the devices, the first now either in the hands of Southern scientists or nonfunctioning within Ms. Chenak and the second presently keeping the sheriff quiet. He wondered just how the senator saw the device being used in warfare, but decided not to ask, at least not yet.
“Good. And how is the work on the distance launcher I suggested? The need to get so close to the opponent risks too many of my soldiers.” The senator’s smile was without mirth.
Treyder patted Taryn’s chest again. “I have developed a second delivery system. This one worked as well as the sliver blade. It’s a small handheld weapon rather than the large multiple barreled cannons you requested. It would be far more manageable and more accurate in the field.”
There was interest in the senator’s voice. “At what distance were you?”
Treyder studied the room. “Approximately the length of this room. There are only a few problems.”
“Such as?”
“The explosion made a horrible racket and the smoke was intense. Both alerted the guards. I was able to dissuade them from entering the lab and finding the sheriff’s body by explaining it had been a chemical reaction I was not expecting. I had burns across my lab coat as proof. I will look into the ignition process to see if it can be quieted and still get the syringe to travel the desired distance. It has to hit the body with the appropriate amount of force to pierce any fabric and go deep enough to release the device into the blood stream. Once in the blood stream, the device has its own instructions, telling it where to go and what to do.”
The senator grasped the doctor’s shoulder and shook it gently. “Fine. Fine. A fine job, Treyder. I look forward to reading your full report. Let me know when you are ready for official presentation.” He frowned as he looked at the sheriff’s body. “Is there any special method you want me to use to dispose of this body?”
Alarmed, Treyder replied, “Oh, he’s not dead, senator. We can’t dispose of him. There is much I can learn from him, now that he’s cooperative. I’ll get started on a list of things I am anxious to know when I return.”
A harsh laugh came from the woman in the corner. “Such as?”
Treyder was all too ready to share his excitement. “How much stress or pain can be inflicted before the heart is affected, for example. Without the subject’s ability to express pain, experiments can be run without the examiner getting squeamish. The sheriff is virtually a stone with no sensations. Essentially, most of his brain has been disconnected from the physical body, allowing only automatic functions to continue. He’s been pithed without cutting the brain stem. He’ll feel nothing until the device is removed and he awakes, unfortunately.” There was disappointment in his voice. “However, this will allow my assistants to work dispassionately and therefore longer.”
The senator shivered slightly. “How long can you keep him in this state?”
“As long as I want or need to.”
“A stasis bag would be better,” the woman muttered just barely loud enough for him to hear.
“A what?”
“Something a genius like you could come up with if given the idea and enough time, I am sure. Perhaps we will have the opportunity to discuss it later. Much later.” The shadowy figure waved him off like an insect.
“Very well, Treyder,” the senator said. “I’ll set up guards and attendants. We’ll await your return.”
Treyder paused briefly in the doorway and looked back at the body on the metal examination table. He wasn’t sure how he felt about all this but he did believe it was going to be worth all his investment. Perhaps this tiny device would even be able to protect Teramar from the aliens he suspected were waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting populace. If he had anything to do with it, Northern would survive, and to hells with Southern. They were the ones who had brought the aliens here in the first place by launching those damned satellites. Treyder knew he could hold the sheriff hostage to gain Reslo Chenak’s knowledge of Southern’s designs and now, with this secret research facility in Northern’s capital, Saedi City, he could make good on his promise to the senator with regards to the coma device and its handheld launching mechanism without discovery of the device’s connection to Anyala Chenak’s nearly two month long absence. He could use the Star Valley site to further his study of lasers and their possibilities.
The woman laughed as he closed the door.
“What do you mean he’s not here?” Ani hissed through her teeth.
“He’s not here.” Daneeha repeated. “He didn’t come in this morn. It’s not like him at all. He usually calls if he’s going to be late or is on a case or decided to sleep in.” The petite woman smiled up at Ani and her Southern companion. “I checked his calendar and all he had listed was a meeting of some sort with a Doctor Isul Treyder at the hospital last eve. Is he sick?”
“No, but he’s going to be,” Renloret muttered.
Ani smacked her hand across his back. “Stop it. We’ll talk about it afterward.” She leaned across the desk and whispered, “Were there any notes about the meeting?”
Daneeha looked at the door to Taryn’s office. She appeared uncomfortable. “I don’t remember.” Her eyes shifted away from them.
The frown on Ani’s face turned into an encouraging smile. “Oh, come on, Daneeha, any secretary worth their blade steel would remember more than just a name if there was more. Am I right?”
Daneeha jutted out her chin. “If he finds out I told you, I might get fired. I’m not supposed to be in his office unless he’s present or personally directs me to locate something for him.”
Ani was not intimidated by the tiny woman. “Daneeha, this is a life threatening situation. We must talk to Taryn, now!” Ani slapped her hands on the desktop, bouncing papers and making the mug of tea jiggle. The deputies looked up from their desks; one of them stood up to see what the problem was.
Holding her palm up to forestall the deputy, Daneeha said, “It’s all right, Yantel. I can handle this. They’re just anxious to find the sheriff. When did he last speak with you?”
“Last eve about eighteen. He was on his way to the hospital to question a witness about an attempted attack on Miss Chenak a few months ago.” Yantel remained standing and attentive.
Daneeha looked at Ani for an explanation. “What attack?”
Ani glanced from the secretary to Renloret to the deputy. “I agree with Daneeha, what attack? I wasn’t attacked by anyone.” She hoped she had said that with the appropriate amount of surprise.
“He said attempted attack,” the deputy replied. “I did ask him if it might be someone new to the area who didn’t know about your connection to Southern and that you only went down there to help your parent’s home village. Taryn said the attempt occurred just before you left for Southern. He mentioned possible new evidence he needed to check out before bringing charges.” A shrug of his shoulders said that was all he knew.
Ani also shrugged. “Well, this is news to us. Something must have come up since we last spoke with him yesterday morn. When I talked with Melli yesterday aftermorn, she mentioned that he wouldn’t be having the eve meal with us because of a scheduled meeting. She didn’t know what it was about, either. Obviously, Taryn thought it was important to keep his suspicions to himself until he’d checked them out thoroughly, as usual.”
“Did you check your messages?” Renloret asked the secretary.
“Of course I did! I check them every morn when I arrive and several times during the day. Are you questioning my ability to do my job?”
Ani grinned when Renloret backed up a step in the face of the diminutive woman’s indignation.
“No, ma’am. My apologies. Taryn has spoken highly of you and the in
valuable work you do.”
Daneeha relaxed a bit, climbed off her chair, and pulled a key from a pocket. “Do not tell him I let you in.” She glanced at the deputy. “Thank you for the information, Yantel. I apologize for keeping you from checking with Mroz about the fistfight at the bar. From his tone of voice, I don’t think he’s going to press charges, but he wants us to know who was involved in case of a repeat offense. Here’s the initial report.”
The deputy nodded. “Glad to help.” He snatched the report off Daneeha’s desk and scurried out the door.
She shook her head as she unlocked the door. “I better not get into trouble for this. The calendar is on the left side of the desk. There were some notes — not many, but you might get an idea of what exactly he was looking for or hoping to get from this witness. Maybe you can understand what he meant by ‘the device.’ I’ll call the hospital and see if I can talk with Doctor Treyder.” She closed the door, leaving Ani and Renloret alone and unobserved.
Ani and Renloret stared at each other. “Device?” they said in unison.
After a brief hesitation, they both scrambled to the left side of the desk. Ani found the note first.
“Here. It says, ‘Doctor Treyder, engineer and physician. Worked with and for Shendahl. Said could show me updated device.’ Renloret, the word device is underlined. Do you remember Treyder saying anything about an updated device?”
“No. What else does Taryn say?”
She pointed to the bolded script. “He’s got the word same with a question mark, also underlined.”
“Are you thinking what I am thinking?”
“Taryn is in more trouble than he thought if Doctor Treyder is the man who attacked me. And I am fairly certain whoever attacked me was also the one who killed General Dalkey with that light weapon.”
“Laser,” Renloret said, correcting her.