Halcyon est-1

by Joseph Robert Lewis

  “So.” Syfax sniffed. “Barika Chaou electrocuted me yesterday afternoon on a ferry boat using a device in her arm. Tell me about that.”

  Medina shook her head. “No, no, no. I know a thing or two about the police in this country. I have rights. Rights of prisoners, yes?” The doctor glanced back and forth between her captors. “There have to be witnesses and papers. I get an advocate. There are rules for this sort of thing. I’m allowed to contact my patron.”

  “Absolutely.” Syfax squatted down so he was almost at eye level with her. “And who exactly is your patron, Doctor Medina?”

  The woman hesitated. “The governor of Arafez, Lady Sade. She will vouch for me, and provide my advocate, and ensure that my rights are protected. I demand to see Lady Sade.”

  “I would love nothing more than to haul you in front of the good lady. We could tell her all about your little experiments. I am sure she will be shocked to hear all about them.”

  Medina blinked, not in a cringing fearful manner, but in a perfectly blank and unresponsive way. Passive, doe-like.

  Syfax grinned. “Then again, maybe she wouldn’t be so shocked after all?”

  Medina’s eyes widened.

  “She knows, doesn’t she?” Syfax leaned closer, shoving his exhausted grimace into the doctor’s fat face. “She knows. Lady Sade isn’t just your patron. She’s your employer. She hired you. Hand-picked you, didn’t she?”

  Kenan shuffled a little closer to them and spoke softly. “You think the governor knows what the doctor has been doing?”

  “I think Sade has been telling the doctor what to do.” The major stood up, watching carefully as the doctor’s blank stare of confusion shifted to a cold, naked fear. “This little dance isn’t Chaou’s number at all, is it? It’s the governor’s show. Sade’s calling the shots. She owns the doctor and the ambassador.”

  “What?” Kenan frowned. “But why? Lady Sade has everything. Wealth, power, respect, even popularity. Why would she be involved in medical experiments and attacks on airships?”

  Syfax stood up. “For the same reason that anyone commits a crime. She wants something she can’t get without breaking the law.”

  “But she has almost everything already!”

  “ Almost everything.” Syfax nodded. “In fact, I’d say the only person who has more than Lady Sade is the queen.”

  “What?” Kenan barely managed to breathe the word. “The queen?”

  “Yeah.” Syfax blinked slowly. His body longed to lie down and stop. Just stop everything and sleep. “So we’ve got this fancy doctor who specializes in hiding machines and weapons inside people. And we’ve got Chaou, a crazy nationalist who blew up half the transportation in Tingis a week before the queen’s birthday, which is just the sort of pastoralist stunt that gets folks all pissed off at the government. And they both work for Lady Sade, a rich old broad whose family lost half of everything with the end of the castes and all the new laws. What’s that all add up to, kid?”

  Kenan looked at him sharply. “They’re moving against the queen. An assassination? We need to report this immediately!”

  “Nah, we can’t do that. They’ve got moles and spies everywhere. If their people get a whiff of this, they’ll find a way to screw up any operation we put together. More importantly, we’re a little shy on evidence right now. All we can pin on Chaou is the dead police captain in Chellah. We can’t implicate Sade at all yet, or even the doctor here. Nah, we need to keep this quiet for the moment.” Syfax glanced away to stare into the trees. “We need to set up a sting.”

  “But it doesn’t make any sense,” Kenan said. “Even if they did kill the queen, there must be a dozen princesses in line to take her place. It’s not as if Lady Sade stands to inherit the throne, at least not any time soon.”

  “Maybe not. But these aren’t stupid people. They obviously have a plan and the means to carry it out.” The major knelt back down again. “Doctor, I’m going to give you an opportunity right now to tell me everything you know about Lady Sade. What she’s doing. Who she’s working with. Everything, right now.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Medina smiled nervously.

  “That’s all right. We’ll toss you in a cell and go see Lady Sade on our own and just tell her that you’ve agreed to help our investigation anyway.”

  “No!” The doctor lurched forward, an imploring hand stretching out toward the major. “Don’t do that! You can’t!”

  Syfax shrugged. “Why not? I don’t care if there’s a little misunderstanding between you and her. Doesn’t bother me. Of course, if you do help us, and we do arrest her, then Lady Sade won’t be able to do anything to you. Your choice. Offer’s good for the next two minutes.”

  The doctor hesitated only a moment. “You have to hide me. Far away. You’ll have to protect me from her, from her people. She has people everywhere.”

  “Yeah, we’ve noticed. Don’t sweat it. You’ll be safe enough.” Syfax paused. “Well?”

  Medina slumped a little lower, her body losing what little definition it had as she resigned herself to speak. “I don’t know much. They took the cat last night and they’re leaving on the train this evening. They didn’t tell me anything specific, and it was late and I was tired and there were a bunch of them I didn’t recognize.”

  “Wait, slow down.” Syfax glanced up at Kenan but he had nothing to offer. “What cat? What train? Start at the beginning.”

  Chapter 34. Taziri

  After an elderly butler informed her in a rather brusque manner that Doctor Medina was not at home, nor likely to come home for the rest of the day, Taziri stood in the middle of the quiet street and stared up at the early afternoon sun. It was a bright, clear day and a gentle breeze was blowing from the east. A good day for flying, even if it was going to rain later. She shoved her hands in her jacket pockets and started walking.

  It took most of an hour to find the bed-and-breakfast again and when she stepped inside Taziri felt the temperature drop quite a bit. Several people sat scattered about the dining room, chewing on bread, sipping tea, and reading their newspapers. Evander sat in the corner, his head leaning against the wall, snoring softly. Taziri dropped into the seat opposite him and watched the old Hellan jerk awake with a grunt.

  “Oh, you’re back? Where are the others? Is it time to leave?”

  Taziri shook her head. “No, it’s time to sit and wait.”

  “Didn’t find that doctor woman, eh?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Just as well.” Evander shrugged and sat up a little straighter. “Women are all trouble, and Espani women more than most.”

  “If you say so.”

  “I do.” The older man sighed. “Well, I can’t just sit here all afternoon. My hip is killing me. The boy with the tea said there’s a train to Orossa that leaves tonight, and I suppose I should be on it since you people don’t seem very interested in getting me there any time soon.”

  “That might be best.”

  Evander shook his head wearily as he climbed out of his seat. “Well, take care of yourself, young lady. I suppose I’ll be seeing you again at some point, when it’s time for me to head home to Athens.”

  Taziri offered a polite smile. “I suppose so. See you then.”

  The doctor left and the engineer sat alone at her table for a few moments watching Evander’s untouched tea cooling. What was there to do, really? She knew nothing more than what little the detective had told her, and she hadn’t found the doctor. That short list of failures sat uneasily in her belly. The longer she sat, the more the images and sounds of the previous night intruded on her calm with a riot of faces and shouts and adrenaline and fear.

  With a shudder, she left her seat and the inn and trudged up the narrow streets toward the high walls of the Arafez airfield. She crossed the grassy field toward the Halcyon, glancing only once at the other airship moored at the opposite end of the field. It was an older courier ship, larger and more angular than the Halcyon,
and visibly dotted with rust. The two ground crew men nodded at her as she passed.

  Inside the Halcyon, Taziri eased into her seat and stared at the dark switches and lifeless gauges. Then she stood up and crossed to the back of the cabin, opened a wide panel in the wall, and stared at the battery. Her battery. The rectangular blocks of metal and wood squatted where the engine should have been. It stank of burnt chemicals and a greenish-white powder had formed a mound on top of one of the terminals. She could feel the charge in the air.

  For as long as she could stand it, Taziri tightened screws and bolts, scrubbed and oiled gears and levers, and generally did all of the things she liked least about working around machines. But it was something to do.

  “They wouldn’t take my letter!”

  Taziri spun about and hit her head. She blinked at the undamaged motor housing as she sat up and then glanced over at Evander, who was leaning in through the cabin door. “What?”

  “At the train. They wanted money. I showed them my letter from the queen, your queen, but they didn’t care. They demanded cash money, coins, and they turned their noses up at my drachmas!” The doctor collapsed onto the padded bench and began wiping at the sweat beaded on his forehead.

  “Ah.” Taziri winced. “So you’ll be staying with me, then?”

  “Obviously!” The doctor frowned. “Just as well. I left my bag under the seat here somewhere.” He ducked down and tugged his black leather case out from under the bench.

  “Well, give me a few minutes to clean up here and we’ll head back to the inn to meet up with Kenan. Maybe he had better luck today than we did.”

  Evander snorted. “That wouldn’t take much trying.”

  Taziri quickly sealed up the open panels and compartments and flicked a few switches just to make sure she hadn’t left anything disconnected. “All right, let’s go.”

  They crossed the airfield beneath a sky more yellow than blue as the sun sank lower toward the western hills, and the warmth of the day quickly faded. As they reached the main gate, the echo of angry voices caught Taziri’s ear and she scanned the field for the source. Two women were standing at the open door of the older airship, gesturing sharply and looking rather cross. One wore an orange jacket and Taziri knew her name, it was on the tip of her tongue but she couldn’t quite say it. The other woman wore a long white coat and an odd little light flashed around her eyes as her head moved. Sunglasses.

  “What are you staring at?” Evander glanced at the woman in white. “She’s not that good looking. Bad skin, too.”

  “What? No, it’s just that the detective said she was attacked by a woman in a white coat. It’s nothing. Just a coincidence. Caught my eye.” Taziri watched the woman conclude her argument with the airship pilot and storm away toward the gate. Toward them. “But I think that woman died in the fire. And besides, she lost an eye.”

  “What detective? What are you babbling about? Hurry up, I want to get back to the inn before supper time. I want that same table again, although I could do without the mint in the tea.” Evander paced away and paused. “Well?”

  Taziri, suddenly aware that the woman in white was still coming straight toward her, turned and nodded. “Sure, let’s go.”

  She had barely stepped off the field onto the street when she was tapped on the shoulder and a husky voice said, “Hey, you’re a pilot, right?”

  Taziri turned back and saw the woman’s skin had the olive hue of someone from the eastern regions of the Middle Sea, not unlike Evander, only she was darker and her face seemed a bit blotchy. More than a bit. The skin around her left eye looked particularly red. “Actually, I’m an elec…yes, I’m a pilot. Can I help you?”

  “You can take me to Carthage tonight. I can pay whatever you want.” She crossed her arms as a slight shiver ran though her body.

  “Sorry, but I don’t arrange charters. You’ll have to talk to the clerk at the office over there.” Taziri pointed to the small building just inside the airfield wall. “Have a nice day.” She started to leave.

  “No, you don’t understand.” The woman grabbed her arm. “I need to leave tonight. I can pay double.” She paused. “Triple, in cash.”

  Taziri frowned, her gaze drifting up to the angry red patches on the woman’s face. “Are you all right? You’re not hurt, are you?”

  “I’m fine. It’s just a burn. A sunburn. I’m not from around here.”

  “That’s no sunburn.” Evander snorted. “That’s a proper burn. You ought to let me look at that. Come here and take off those glasses.” He gestured roughly at her to step forward.

  Her lips pulled back in a rictus of bare teeth and gums. “I said I’m fine. Now, are we leaving for Carthage or not?”

  “Sorry.” Taziri pulled her arm free. “Not.”

  “Then I’ll have to insist.” The woman drew a long, thin knife from inside her coat and gently prodded the pilot in the belly.

  Taziri jerked away from the point in her skin, one hand thrown out to wave Evander away. A bright spike of fear split her mind and in that moment she couldn’t think or move, she could only stare at the blade. But when nothing happened, her mouth began to work again. “Madam, please, if you’re in some sort of trouble, there are better ways to handle things than with knives and threats. If you can’t wait for a flight, you can take a train or a ship. They may be slower but they run every day and they’re cheap. All right? So why don’t you put that thing away and I’ll just forget that you assaulted me.”

  “You seem to be forgetting that it’s the person with the knife who gives the orders.” The woman edged closer.

  Taziri battered the knife aside with the broadside of her medical brace and shoved the woman as she grabbed the doctor. “Move-move-move!”

  They dashed back onto the airfield and Taziri steered the huffing, unsteady Hellan toward the equipment shed. “It’s definitely her, the one the detective fought!”

  “What detective?” Evander glared over his shoulder. “What the devil is going on?”

  Taziri yanked the door of the shed open, pushed the doctor inside and shut the door behind them. “Lock, need a lock, something…here!” She grabbed a pry-bar from a work bench and jammed it through the door handle. “Something else, something heavy?”

  “Here!” Evander was driving his shoulder against the nearest crate and failing utterly to budge it. Taziri instead grabbed the rim of the closest barrel, tipped it over, and rolled it against the door, jamming another pry-bar under it to stop it from rolling away. Then she exhaled and glanced at her surroundings.

  The door and the walls of the shed were iron, old and rusting, but thick as a man’s finger. Three large skylights in the roof illuminated the long chamber and its contents. Boxes and crates and shelves of spare parts, barrels of oil and coal, tins of grease, and canisters of all sizes.

  Something crashed against the door outside. Taziri put her eye to a crack in the wall and spotted the flash of white out on the airfield. “It’s okay, she’s leaving. Walking, walking. Oh no, she’s going after that other pilot again. And the ground crew! God!” She shoved away from the wall and dashed along the work benches, spinning about, trying to inventory everything in the shed in a single instant. “Come on, think, think.”

  “No thinking. Waiting.” Evander sat down on a box, his chest still heaving as sweat poured down his face. “We’re not going anywhere until the authorities come and take her away.”

  “No time for that. We need to…here!” She snatched up a pair of large canisters, screwed them onto the nozzles of a fat gas tank, and opened the valves. A loud hissing filled the shed. This is stupid! These canisters are too big to throw very far, and what if the seals don’t break, and what if there isn’t enough gas, and what if-

  The Hellan fixed her with an angry squint. “What are you doing?”

  “Giving that woman a taste of early retirement.” Taziri carefully counted the seconds passing as she calculated the volumes of the canisters. At the right moment, she whipped the can
isters away and capped them. Then she dipped a pair of rags in engine grease and tied them to the little handles near the neck of each canister. “A match, I need a match! I don’t have a match, where…no, there won’t be any in here. Doctor, I need a light, a light!”

  Evander gave his immediate surroundings a glance, and shrugged. Taziri dashed back into the shelves and crates at the back of the shed and emerged a moment later with the rusting remains of a small windmill. She tossed the thing onto the workbench and yanked out the wires from its base, pulled the utility knife from her pocket, and quickly split and stripped the wires.

  “Now what are you doing?”

  “Making fire in the absolutely least convenient way imaginable.” She held the two exposed wires in one hand, their tips hovering only a hair apart and just above one of the greasy rags. With her other hand, Taziri grabbed the sturdiest looking blade of the windmill and began spinning it as fast as she could. A moment later, a spark flickered between the wires. A moment after that, a shower of sparks fell onto the rag, and then another. Taziri spun the blade until her shoulder ached and the wires went on spitting sparks onto the rags until angry little flames suddenly unfurled across them. Taziri shoved the windmill away and grabbed the two canisters, using the one burning rag to light the other one. Then she kicked her blockade away from the door and the door swung open on its crooked hinges.

  Taziri ran across the field. The other pilot and the ground crew had barricaded themselves inside the older airship, and the woman in white was slowly but surely smashing through the tempered glass with her long knives. “Hey you!” Taziri stopped in the middle of the field, still some distance away from the woman. “Hey! Leave them alone!”

  The woman continued shattering the airship windows.

  Taziri grimaced and hurled one her flaming canisters so that it fell just behind the woman. When it struck the ground, it split open length-wise along the seal and the released gas exploded with a deafening thunderclap followed by the woof of a fire ball. It was a very small explosion, and all trace of it vanished in an instant, but the woman was thrown face first into the broken window. She stumbled away from the airship with one hand pressed to the side of her face where bright red blood was streaming across her skin and running down the front of her white coat. She dashed across the field with the stiletto in hand. “You think I’m scared of a little fire?”