The Centauri Surprise

by Alastair Mayer

Carson didn’t believe this. It wasn’t out of the question that there was some kind of bureaucratic screw up, especially with the speed and secrecy of their planning. But it seemed unlikely. Were the Velkaryans making a move? That seemed more probable. Still, with the weapons trained on them, he didn’t see that they had any other options.

  “All right, we’re coming.”

  As they reached the top of the sloping trench, the cops, if that’s what they really were, placed wrist ties on each of them and patted them down, confiscating their omniphones and any other gadgets they had, including Carson’s multitool. They also relieved him of the talisman.

  “What’s this?” the man in charge asked. “An illegal artifact?”

  “I’m an archeologist with the university,” Carson explained as calmly as he could. Losing his temper wouldn’t help. “That’s part of the university collection, it didn’t come from this site.”

  “Really? Then why are you carrying it around with you?”

  “Look, this is authorized. Call the university. Ask for Dean Matthews. Or call the Office of Land Management. They’ll explain.”

  “We’ll do that, all in good time. Meanwhile, you three are going to sit tight while I have my men search the area.” He turned to two of the others. “Garrett, you and Brady put them in the tent. Secure them to something for now.”

  “Got it,” the larger one of them said, and he and the other gestured with their weapons. “You heard him. Move.”

  CHAPTER 45: BRIEFING INTERRUPTED

  Homeworld Defense, Sawyer City

  JACKIE ROBERTS RAPPED on the open door of Ducayne’s office. “You wanted to see me?”

  “Yes, come on in.” Ducayne gestured at the two empty chairs in front of his desk. A third chair was already occupied. The man’s face was turned away, but Jackie thought something about him seemed familiar.

  He turned toward her as she sat down. Was that . . . “Rico?” she gasped. “Rumor had it you were dead. It’s good to see you.”

  “Only mostly dead. I’ve been spending far too much time in traumapods since I met you. Not that it’s your fault,” he said, and grinned.

  “And mostly we won’t talk about it,” Ducayne added. “Need to know, and all that. But I have a mission for Rico and another agent. She should be here any moment.”

  “I’m guessing they need transportation,” Jackie said.

  Ducayne nodded. “I’ll fill you in when we’re all here.”

  As if on cue, there was another rap on the door behind Jackie. Ducayne waved the newcomer in. Jackie turned to see who it was.

  “Roberts, Rico, this is—” Ducayne began.

  “You!” Roberts and the newcomer said simultaneously. It was Avril Boutelle, from the dinner at Rick’s.

  Ducayne looked from one woman to the other. “So you two have already met.” He turned to Rico. “Rico, this is Avril Boutelle. Avril, this is Rico.”

  “Is Rico a first or a last name?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Rico said, his tone not inviting further questions.

  Ducayne glowered, and said, “And apparently you already know Captain Roberts.”

  “We were at the same dinner a few weeks ago,” Jackie said. “Mutual acquaintances.” She was unsure if she should mention Carson’s name in front of Boutelle in this context. She also wondered how well qualified Boutelle was to be one of Ducayne’s agents. Let’s see what the mission is first, she thought.

  “All right.” Ducayne touched a switch on his desk, and the office door closed and latched.

  “No briefing room?” Rico asked.

  “You’ll all get more details later,” Ducayne said. “This is just high level. Simply put, I need to get a couple of people to Verdigris, namely Avril and Rico. Jackie Roberts will provide transportation in her Sapphire.”

  “I’m known on Verdigris,” Jackie said. “Last time I was there they refused landing for the Sophie, at least New Toronto did.”

  “We’ll work around that,” Ducayne said. “We can discuss it later.”

  Jackie couldn’t wait to hear what he had in mind. “Okay.”

  “To continue,” Ducayne said, “officially, Boutelle will be continuing her xenoanthropological studies of the Verdigris natives. Rico is nominally a guide and bodyguard—”

  “Of which I need neither,” Boutelle said.

  Jackie had to agree that Avril did look capable of handling herself.

  “Of course not,” Ducayne agreed. “I said nominally. That’s Rico’s first cover. Second cover is that he’s looking up old contacts to get back into the artifact business.”

  “And the real mission?” Jackie asked, although she had her suspicions.

  “It involves someone you know, Jackie. Jordan Burnside.”

  She had met Burnside on Tanith, in the 82 Eridani system. He’d been Ducayne’s resident agent, until rumors of a high-tech alien artifact surfaced, and she’d been sent there to pick it up. As it turned out, a Velkaryan agent named Vaughan had also been on planet and had heard the same rumors. Vaughan had been recalled to Verdigris, and Burnside had followed to investigate. Roberts and Carson had brought the artifact back to Sawyers World, expecting to rendezvous with Burnside, but Tevnar, his timoan pilot, reported that he had stayed behind on Verdigris.

  “You’ve heard from him?” she asked.

  Before he could answer, a shrill tone sounded from the monitor on Ducayne’s desk. He turned to it, saying, “That’s an emergency signal. Wait one.” He looked at an image on the screen, turning it so the rest of them could see it too. It was jerky, a video stream from a handheld omniphone. Carson’s voice came through “Who the hell are you?” The image briefly showed several uniformed men standing at the top of an excavation, all holding weapons. A fainter voice came through. “Anderson Territorial Police—”

  “Bullshit!” Rico said abruptly. “I know him, and that voice. That’s Reid. He’s a Velkaryan, the one who shot me.”

  Ducayne wasted no time. “Jackie, how fast can you get to Pete’s Pyramid in the Sophie?”

  It took her just a moment to realize what he was asking. “Twenty minutes if I go suborbital, breaking all kinds of regulations.”

  “I’ll clear it with the locals. Rico, arm yourself and go with her.” They both rose to leave. Ducayne was already picking up his phone. “I’ll have others meet you at your ship, but don’t wait for them if they’re late. Just go.”

  Jackie was already running to the elevator. Rico was right behind her.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  “You’re sure that was a Velkaryan?” Jackie asked Rico as they boarded the Sophie. She had already triggered its warm-up sequence from her omni.

  “Absolutely. His name’s Reid. I met with him on Earth, but I didn’t know he was a Velkaryan then. Later we exchanged shots. He got the better of it; he had help.”

  Crap. That wouldn’t be good, but if Reid wanted into the pyramid, he might keep Carson alive long enough for Jackie and Rico to get there and do . . . something. There was still no sign of the others Ducayne said he would meet her here. Screw it, let them find their own ride.

  She keyed microphone. “Pan. Pan. Pan. Sawyer Spaceport, this is the Sophie, declaring an emergency. Life critical rescue mission, I am lifting now. All ships, keep clear.” I am so nuked, she thought, and brought the throttle up.

  A panicked voice came over the comm, almost inaudible over the roar of the thrusters. “Sophie, say again? What is the nature of the emergency? You don’t have clearance to—” The voice cut off abruptly, then came back. “All craft in vicinity of Sawyer Spaceport, keep clear for emergency traffic lifting straight out. All craft, keep clear.”

  Jackie had pitched Sophie vertical as soon as she was a couple of hundred meters above the field, and was now climbing straight up on main thrusters, already passing through 5,000 meters. She keyed her mike again. “Sophie has cleared 5,000 meters. Sorry about that, Sawyer.”

  “Roger, Sophie. Land and report to Control when able.” There was a paus
e, and then “. . . and good luck.”

  Jackie wasn’t sure whether he meant good luck with her immediate mission, or good luck when she had to explain her actions to Space Traffic Control. Either way, she’d take it, but right now she didn’t care. She had no idea whether she and Rico would get there in time, or what they would do if they did, but Carson was in trouble.

  CHAPTER 46: PYRAMID

  CARSON FELL IN behind the other two as they were marched up the ramp and toward their field tent. He looked over his shoulder at the closest guard, trying to examine his uniform. He couldn’t see any insignia on it, let alone anything suggesting that the guard was law enforcement.

  “Face forward,” the guard said, cuffing him with the butt of his rifle.

  Carson caught up to Dundee, to ask him if the uniforms looked familiar. That earned him a rifle butt from the other guard.

  “No talking,” he ordered.

  The guards ushered Carson and the others into the large tent they had been using as a field office. It was an open-frame tent, and the furniture was all light weight. Carson wondered just what they were supposed to be secured to.

  The answer became obvious when the guards ordered the group to sit on the floor in a circle, backs to the center. So positioned, one of the “cops” tied all their handcuffs to each other with additional binder ties.

  In theory, Carson reasoned, they could get away if the four of them could coordinate standing up and then walking as a group, but with each of them facing a different direction, and little room to move their legs being huddled together, that was effectively impossible. They had to get the ties loose somehow.

  “Stay put. We’ll be back,” the larger guard said, and the two of them left the tent.

  Carson didn’t know if there was anyone standing guard at the entrance, that was a secondary issue. He called out, “Hey out there, can we get some water? I’m thirsty!”

  There was no response from outside the tent.

  “Thirsty, really?” Finley said.

  “No, just wondering how alone we are.”

  “Why, what are you thinking?”

  “There are tools in that cabinet to my right. If we can get to it, we can get these bindings off.”

  “Isn’t escaping custody against the law?” Finley said dryly.

  “Did you hear anyone say we were under arrest?” Dundee asked.

  “If these guys are really police, I’ll eat my hat,” Carson said. “Anderson Territory is sparsely populated; does it even have its own police force?”

  “It does,” Dundee said, “but it’s like four guys and I know half of them. None of whom are out there. I don’t recognize the uniforms, either. They didn’t look right. But how do we get to the tool cabinet?”

  “We all bend our legs and push up against each other’s backs until we’re standing. Then we shuffle over to the cabinet.”

  “Then what? All our hands are behind us, how do we grab and use anything?”

  “We’ll figure that out when we get there. Okay, get ready to push up.” They all bent their legs and planted their feet. “Okay, on three, push up and walk backwards until we’re all standing. Ready?”

  The others chorused their agreement.

  “Okay, one, two, three, up!”

  It was easier said than done. Carson got partway up, his shoulders and upper arms pressing against those of Finley and Dundee to his left and right. They were halfway up when someone’s foot slipped, and they all went down in a heap of arms, bodies, and curses.

  “Crap,” Carson said. “Is everyone okay?”

  “I’m going to have some bruises, but yeah,” Finley said.

  “Scraped my wrists on these damned cuff ties,” Dundee said. “Nothing serious. Let’s try again.”

  Carson ignored his own bruises and scrapes. “All right. Again. One, two, three, up!”

  This time they succeeded, and the three of them were now standing, back to back, in the center of the tent. The cabinet was two meters away.

  “Okay, now it gets tricky. You guys have to kind of shuffle sideways and backward, small steps. Ready?”

  “Why do I have to walk backward?” Dundee said.

  “Because I’m facing the cabinet. Do you want to try turning around?”

  “No. Let’s just do it.”

  “Right. Ready? Go.” The group managed to shuffle over to the cabinet, like some bizarre spider, without falling over, although there were a couple of close calls. “Stop,” Carson said.

  “Now what?”

  The cabinet stood about chest high, with two doors that opened outward from the middle. A handle on the right door, at waist height, would have to be twisted to unlatch it. There was no way anyone could reach it with their hand.

  “Everyone hold still. I think I can do this.” Balancing against the others, Carson raised his right knee and used it to push the handle sideways. It turned slightly, but Carson lost his balance and put his foot down to recover. “Damn.”

  Finley had been watching over his shoulder. “You almost had it. Try again.”

  Carson did so. This time, with Finley leaning in to help him keep his balance, he twisted the handle far enough to unlatch. The cabinet door swung open. Inside, various tools and other odds and ends sat on open shelves.

  “Almost there,” Carson said. This time he reached up with his foot and swept it along a shelf, knocking tools to the floor. He looked over the scattered implements. Screwdrivers, a hammer, a couple of wrenches. . .there! Pliers with built in wire cutters. He kicked those away from the cabinet to where there was open space on the floor.

  “Okay, now we shuffle over to the pliers and sit down again,” Carson said.

  “Ah, I see what you’re doing,” Dundee said. “Clever. Then we can use the cutter on the pliers to deal with these ties.”

  “Exactly.”

  Again, it was easier said than done. The shuffling and sitting was easy enough, but trying to pick up the pliers, slip them over a tie and then cut that tie, all without mashing someone else’s fingers in the cramped space behind all their backs was no mean feat. It went more quickly once the first couple of ties had been cut and they could move apart. In a few minutes, they were all free.

  “Now what?” asked Finley.

  “You two should get out of here,” Carson said. “Get back to the clearing. With any luck the survey team should still be set up there.”

  “Then where did these guys come from? And what are you going to do?” Alex Finley asked.

  “I think they’re Velkaryans,” Carson said. “They must have found somewhere else to land, or they managed to bluff their way past the survey crew. As for me, I’m going to get that talisman back.” Carson wasn’t about to let that remain in Velkaryan hands.

  “How?” Dundee said. “They’re armed, you’re not, and you’re outnumbered six-to-one. Let’s just get out of here.”

  “That talisman is literally a key to the pyramid. It acts like a security pass, or at least it did in the other one.”

  “What other one?” Dundee said.

  Finley covered for Carson’s slip. “It doesn’t matter. If Carson thinks it’s important to get it back, then we get it back. You can go, Carson and I will figure something out.”

  “Didn’t you have spare ammo for your shock rifle stored in here somewhere?” Carson asked Dundee.

  “Yeah. That other cabinet,” he said, pointing. “But if you and Finley are staying, I’ll help. That brings the odds down to two-to-one.”

  “Fine,” Carson said. He looked at Dundee. “I don’t suppose you have a spare rifle here to go with those shock darts?”

  “Afraid not,” he said. “But. . . .” He looked around the tent, and eyed the camp cot with its tubular frame. “I think I have an idea.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Reid fingered the rounded square stone he had taken from Carson. It didn’t look particularly high-tech, just a piece of stone or fired clay with small rounded gemstones embedded in its surface. Engraved lines
connected some of them, the way lines on a star chart made constellations. Or trade routes? he wondered. He had been briefed on the Betty Hill star map. It was unfortunate that their attempt to get the original had been subverted. He wondered what had become of Rico, and grimaced. Hope the bastard suffered and died. Reid’s foot, where Rico’s shot had hit him, hadn’t healed perfectly. There were limits to what a traumapod could do with shattered bone.

  No matter. Somehow this talisman was the key to opening this pyramid. Perhaps he should have waited until Carson had opened the entrance, but he hadn’t wanted to risk Carson and his team ducking through it when the Velkaryans showed up. Who knew what weapons they might have access to inside? Somehow they had managed to deal with both Hopkins and Maynard on Chara. He examined the talisman more closely. Some kind of remote opener? The gems might be buttons. He tried pressing them in turn, but they neither moved nor gave any other indication that pressing them had done anything. That wasn’t it.

  “All right,” he said to the others. “Check the carvings around the doorway, and on either side. There should be a slot or something that fits this.” He held up the talisman to show them.

  They fanned out around the door as best they could in the confines of the trench and began checking the pyramid’s surface.

  Just then Garrett and Brady, the two men he’d sent up with Carson, came back.

  “What are you guys doing back here? What did you do with Carson and the others?”

  “We cuffed them together in the tent. They’re not going anywhere,” said Garrett.

  “Yeah,” Brady agreed. “We figured you might need some help with the pyramid.”

  “You mean you wanted to see what was inside,” Reid said, annoyed. He pointed to Garrett. “You, get back up there and keep guard. Carson’s a tricky one.”

  “But—”

  “Do it. Now.”

  The man sighed. “Yes boss.” He unslung his weapon and headed back up toward the tent.

  Reid turned to Brady. “In fact, maybe you should go with him. It might be easier if we just persuade Carson to tell us how this thing works.”