The Road of Danger

by David Drake

  “Chief,” said Adele. “Lead that pair to the side until I get the men from the water department on board.”

  “Ma’am?” Pasternak said, blinking as he tried to make sense of the order. Then his face cleared — it wasn’t his job to understand — and he said, “Yes, mistress.” He strode toward the waiting officials, gesturing them imperiously to the side.

  Adele indicated the guards with the splayed fingers of her left hand. She said, “No one react as I come through with those workmen. No reaction.”

  The detachment was under Barnes, one of the few spacers who was actually a good shot with a stocked impeller. He had proven himself quite useful with a cudgel or a length of pipe also, and he was just as mindlessly loyal to Daniel — and by extension, to Adele — as any other member of the corvette’s crew.

  “Roger,” said Barnes. He looked at his three fellows and said conversationally, “If any of you don’t understand the mistress, I’ll knock what she said right through your thick skulls. Okay?”

  The guards laughed. “Hey,” said Rossi, a short technician with the shoulders of an ox and a face which must have been ugly even before the bottle scarred it, “at least you won’t shoot us, will you, Barnes?”

  Adele and Tovera walked toward the workmen. Tovera was smiling.

  The Water Department van drove off. Adele fitted the final piece of the puzzle into place in her mind.

  “Hello, Adele,” Daniel said. “Can you get me aboard the Sissie without a lot of fuss? I need to change into my Whites so that we can call on Governor Blaskett.”

  “Hello, Daniel,” she replied quietly. “Yes, come this way. I’ve warned the guards.”

  Walking nonchalantly toward the gangplank, she added, “I was going to tell you that the head of the rebellion here is one Tomas Grant, the field supervisor of the Saal Water Department, but I see from your transportation that you must have learned that on your own.”

  Kelsey, a gangling rigger, gaped to see that Daniel and Hogg were following Adele. He didn’t speak, so there wasn’t a problem. Blank amazement was a normal expression for Kelsey anyway; he wasn’t one of the crew’s intellectual lights.

  “Yes, I did learn that,” Daniel said. “But how in heaven’s name did you learn?”

  The gangplank flexed with both of them on it, and a moment later Hogg as well. Tovera waited at the edge of the pool, facing away from the corvette. She was probably smiling. Adele wondered if she tried to lure people into pushing past her.

  “Since Freedom was reported as having a Cinnabar accent, I checked Cinnabar emigrants to Madison,” Adele said. She didn’t mind the gangplank, but the steel solidity of the boarding ramp was preferable. “I found that Mistress Serafina Grant, whom I remembered as an associate of my father, had arrived with her son three months before your father broke the Three Circles Conspiracy. She was one of the Intransigents, you see; the Populars who wouldn’t compromise their principles.”

  “Bloody hell!” shouted a tech who was inspecting the hatch hydraulics. “It’s Six! Six is back!”

  “Carry on, Evans,” Daniel said as he followed Adele to the companionway.

  Adele grimaced, but the excitement didn’t matter now. The port officials were too far away to understand what was happening.

  “I found that Serafina had died of cancer, but that her son, Tomas Grant, had worked in the Ashetown water department,” Adele said, speaking over the companionway’s echoing bustle. “He was drafted to Sunbright when the base at Saal was built. When we landed here, I found that Tomas was in a perfect location to lead the revolt. I couldn’t be sure till you arrived in the water department van, but the rest was simple enough.”

  They stepped into the A Level corridor. Sissies stood cheering at the hatches of every compartment, including Vesey and Cazelet from the bridge.

  Daniel raised his hands in acknowledgment. “I’m glad to be home, fellow Sissies!” he said. “But right now I’ve got to put on a monkey suit to arrange the successful completion of our mission with the local authorities!”

  In a lower voice as he turned toward his cabin, he added, “Adele, I’m very glad that your deductions aren’t made on behalf of the Fifth Bureau!”

  CHAPTER 23

  Saal on Sunbright

  Adele wore her second-class uniform, her Grays, in her guise as Captain Leary’s aide. Whites, like Daniel’s own, would have been better, but she didn’t own a pair. In most circumstances in which an RCN officer would wear a first-class uniform, Adele appeared in tailored civilian garments as Lady Mundy of Chatsworth.

  This wasn’t such a circumstance, so her Grays had to do. It wouldn’t be surprising that the aide to the captain of a mere corvette couldn’t afford Whites, but Adele would have been more proper, and therefore less conspicuous, in the more formal uniform.

  The descending elevator slowed with gluey smoothness and a groan from somewhere in the shaft above. Adele didn’t have any idea how far they had dropped from the ground-level entrance of Base Saal, though she suspected Daniel did.

  Hogg and Tovera remained in the bare concrete foyer above. That didn’t concern Adele or, she was sure, Daniel. Both servants, bodyguards in their own minds if not the minds of their principals, were frustrated and upset.

  How in heaven’s name did my parents manage to function as the personal focus for thousands and tens of thousands of supporters?

  Adele smiled faintly. The literal answer was that her parents had been killed and beheaded while they were still, in biological terms, in the prime of life.

  “This cage is armored,” Daniel said, wearing his usual friendly smile. “That’s why it accelerates and slows in such a leisurely fashion. I wonder what use an armored elevator is?”

  The door of the cylindrical cage rotated sideways at the measured, massive rate with which all the equipment in Base Saal operated. The glass projectiles of Tovera’s miniature submachine gun would barely scratch the finish of the doors here.

  Of course Tovera’s case also contained blocks of plastic explosive. A very modest pinch of that would crack a hinge or shatter a lock mechanism. . . .

  The corridor beyond the elevator was concrete cast in the form of a pointed arch. There were no embellishments or furnishings, unless the two soldiers at the end in parade uniforms fell into one category or the other: they wore polished knee boots with silver helmets and breastplates.

  Their submachine guns looked perfectly functional, however, and they glowered at the visitors as though they would like to open fire. Well, being confined in a bare concrete pit would sour the temper of the best-humored man.

  “I’ve seen prisons that appeared to be more pleasant environments,” Daniel said in a normal, conversational tone as he started down the corridor. Echoes blurred his words into their footsteps, but he obviously wasn’t trying to conceal what he said from the guards.

  Adele walked along with her friend, but she didn’t try to keep in step. She hadn’t been trained for it; and for that matter, Daniel had proven in the past that he wasn’t very good at drill and ceremony, either.

  “Captain Leary and aide to see Governor Blaskett by appointment!” Daniel said to the guard at the left of the door. They looked as similar as statues cast from the same mold; it was beyond her to see how Daniel had decided which soldier was senior.

  There was a miniature camera mounted above the transom. A diode in its workings blinked; the door opened outward with a grinding noise. Neither of the guards had touched the latch or, for that matter, moved in any fashion.

  Maybe they are statues.

  Daniel walked in; Adele followed, three feet behind and offset to the left. Behind them, the door closed with another groan.

  Governor Blaskett’s office looked more like the bridge of a starship than the sybarite’s boudoir which Adele had imagined before she first entered the lowering fortress. Of course it would have had to be the bridge of an unusually orderly starship.

  Base Saal had been built as the command center of a regional
replenishing base, so the building’s forbidding exterior was a given. Inside, though — and especially for a man like Blaskett, who obviously felt no need to stint his appetites — one would have expected at least touches of luxury: rare woods, art glass, velvet paintings of naked women. The walls of Blaskett’s sanctum were covered with real-time displays showing — to Adele’s quick glance — every portion of the base, even those which were shut down under the present peacetime regimen.

  Two more guards in parade armor stood in the back corners of the room. Again, their submachine guns were serious even if the men holding them looked like characters from a historical romance.

  Blaskett sat in the hollow of a U-shaped desk with three holographic displays; the central one was damped for the moment to allow him to glare at his visitors. He was of average height, at least if his legs were of normal length; and though he was on the plump side, he didn’t give Adele the impression of being an inflated balloon. His clothes were tailored like a military uniform, but they were bright green and had the sheen of natural silk.

  Daniel braced to attention and saluted. “Sir!” he said. “Captain Leary reporting, with the compliments of the Republic of Cinnabar!”

  Instead of returning the salute, the governor said, “You can stop spouting nonsense, Leary. I was warned you were coming, and I know why you’re here: you plan to extract your agent now that I’m about to crush this Cinnabar provocation which masquerades as a revolt.”

  “Sir?” said Daniel, obviously taken aback. “Sir, I can assure you that the Republic had nothing to do with the . . . that is, with anything happening here on Sunbright. I’ve been sent to offer the Republic’s help in ending the situation, that’s all.”

  Adele considered the circumstances, then seated herself on one of the chairs against the wall. They were steel extrusions, much like those of a starship’s wardroom. She took out her personal data unit, which had been operating in passive mode since before she entered the fortress. It didn’t appear that anything she did was going to change the interview’s tone for the worse.

  “I told you to stop the nonsense!” Blaskett said, half rising and leaning forward with his hands on the desktop. Adele was interested to see that light caught droplets of spittle spraying from the governor’s anger. “Well, I’m not going to give you the cheap salvation you’re looking for. I’m going to capture your Freedom and I’m going to hang him and I’m going to show the whole universe that the Cinnabar Senate is a gang of treacherous liars!”

  Adele avoided a smile by effort of will. She and Daniel were the children of Cinnabar senators. They had known from infancy that the Senate was a gang of treacherous liars.

  Adele browsed selectively, ignored in her corner. There was plenty to occupy her. Blaskett’s electronic security was no more effective than his glittering bodyguards.

  The governor had told the truth when he said he had been warned to expect Captain Leary’s arrival to withdraw Freedom: a courier ship had brought the information from Madison three days earlier. The sender was the chief of the Fleet Intelligence Detachment for the Forty Stars Sector, Commander Doerries.

  “Sir,” said Daniel. He had broken his formal posture, but he still stood very straight. “All I ask is that we be allowed to search for this rebel leader, and to take him off planet if we find him. The Republic will sequester him where he won’t do any more harm. The whole business can be taken care of very quietly.”

  “Now I’m going to tell you, Leary,” said Blaskett, relaxing back into his chair again, “exactly what’s going to happen. Your ship is going to lift from here within seventy-two hours. I am not required to extend hospitality to foreign warships for any longer than that, and I do not choose to go beyond my obligation.”

  “As you wish, sir,” Daniel said in a tone of quiet restraint. “With luck that should be long enough — ”

  “I’ll tell you when to speak, Captain,” Blaskett said. “Furthermore, before you lift, you will either hand over the Cinnabar agent calling himself Freedom or my customs inspectors will search your ship until they find him. And if that means unscrewing every panel and dumping the bulk storage out on the dock, that’s what they’ll do.”

  “The Princess Cecile is an RCN warship — ” said Daniel.

  “Be silent! Your bloody warship will submit to a search or there’ll be a tragic accident when a missile guts it on liftoff, do you understand?” the governor shouted. He was on his feet and knuckles again; Adele thought of a great ape bellowing as it nerved itself to charge. “Because I think you’ve already sneaked this bastard aboard, Leary! You thought you’d fooled me, didn’t you, but we saw the two men pretending to be from the Water Department go onto your ship as soon as you landed!”

  “Sir,” said Daniel calmly, “as a courtesy to the representatives of a friendly nation, your inspectors are welcome to search the RCS Princess Cecile if they care to. As for the water business . . .”

  He spread his hands, palms upward.

  “. . . Chief Engineer Pasternak had been having leakage problems in the forward reaction-mass tank. As we were landing, my signals officer contacted the Saal Water Department and requested caulking compound, which your officials very kindly delivered. But nobody came aboard at that time.”

  Daniel coughed into his hand and added, “I’m sure you can check our signals log in case your own people didn’t record the call. And as I said, you may go aboard right now and search as thoroughly as you like. You won’t find anyone who isn’t a member of the crew.”

  “I suppose you think I won’t!” the governor said, but by now he seemed a little doubtful. “Well, you’re wrong. The inspectors are already standing by — and the missile batteries are on high alert too.”

  “I see,” said Daniel. “Sir, I’m sorry that you have misinterpreted my motives and those of the Republic. If there’s no possibility that you’ll relent so that our nations can work together — ”

  “Listen!” said Blaskett. “Your agent has killed thousands, tens of thousands! There’s no compromise with a mad dog. Just turn him over now and save yourself a lot of trouble.”

  “I’m afraid that’s impossible, sir,” Daniel said. “Ah — I trust that I’ll be permitted to give my crew liberty?”

  “They’ll be DNA-typed as they leave,” said Blaskett. “And checked back in individually. Anybody who doesn’t have a match in the outgoing file will be detained. And hanged, I shouldn’t wonder!”

  Daniel shrugged. “Liberty is always granted subject to local regulations,” he said. “This is an unusual regulation, but it won’t interfere with drinking, so there’ll be no complaints beyond the usual grousing. Thank you, sir.”

  He suddenly smiled. “My normal problem is to get the whole crew back from the bars and knocking shops, you know,” he said. “There’s often a few who don’t make liftoff. But if you want to make sure that I don’t sign on extra personnel here, that’s your right.”

  He turned; Adele pocketed her data unit and rose as the door opened to an unseen command. They started down the corridor toward the elevator, ignoring the motionless guards.

  “We won’t speak until we’re outside,” Daniel said.

  “Yes,” said Adele, though she was sure that there were no listening devices in the corridor or the elevator cage.

  Adele was pleased despite her lack of expression. There wasn’t much information to exchange, after all. She believed she had already solved the problem.

  * * * *

  Daniel waited at the tram stop, averting his eyes from the fierce glare as a gunboat landed with the usual thunder and lightning from her plasma thrusters. Commodore Pyne had sent the Flink into orbit while a tram was shuttling Daniel to his meeting with Governor Blaskett; now the Sicher was landing to replenish her air and reaction mass, and to give her crew liberty.

  Daniel could have watched the Sicher land through the pair of UV-filtering RCN goggles he’d given Hogg to carry; his Whites didn’t have pockets. It had been a long time since Dani
el had needed more than sound to understand what a starship was doing, however, and he had more important matters to attend to.

  He turned his head. “Adele,” he said, “I believe it’s safe to speak here. I want you to locate a ship, ideally a small one, that can be made ready for liftoff within forty-eight hours, and preferably within twenty-four.”

  “It is safe, yes,” said Adele. “And I believe the best ship for the purpose would be the Commune, a former blockade runner. It has been used to insert commandos three times already.”

  Her eyes had been on the tram trundling in their general direction; it was still half a mile away. It might not be responding to their call for transportation.

  Daniel didn’t think Adele was particularly concerned with when she would get back to the Princess Cecile; rather, she just preferred not to have face-to-face conversations. Circumstances forced her into propinquity with him, but that didn’t mean she actually had to look at her friend as they spoke.

  “You knew what I was planning before I said anything about it, didn’t you?” Daniel said. “Saints and angels, Adele, I still haven’t said anything about it.”

  “I’m sorry, Daniel,” she said — and she did turn to face him with a troubled, contrite expression. “I was showing off, I suppose. But I was present when the governor spoke to you, so it shouldn’t surprise you that we came to the same conclusions.”

  She grimaced. “My mother would be ashamed of me,” she said. “And rightly so in this instance, I’m afraid.”

  The tram was continuing around the circuit instead of pulling into the stop in the center where Daniel and his companions waited. The flatbed portion was equipped with hydraulic lifting apparatus and carried a fusion bottle. There was only one person visible in the cab.