Acorna's Quest

by Anne McCaffrey

  “House Harakamian-Li?” Calum repeated, stunned.

  “What’s the matter with that?” Gill demanded. “Sounds like a good idea to me.”

  Calum groaned. “Gill, you have no business sense whatever. With those two…rapacious old pirates…working together…and about to reap obscene profits off their contacts with the first two space-faring alien races we’ve ever encountered…well, let’s just say they make the Khleevi look like a minor threat to civilization!”

  Admiral Ikwaskwan cleared his throat. “As to the matter of profits,” he reminded them, “a half share in the Khleevi captures belongs to the Red Bracelets.”

  “One-third,” Hafiz said quickly.

  Ikwaskwan hooked his thumbs in his belt and rocked back and forth slightly on the balls of his feet. “The agreement was that all parties to the contract should share equally in the spoils of war. Since Harakamian and Li are now one House, clearly they constitute only one contracting party and should share half and half with the other party—me.”

  “One-third,” Nadhari Kando said from behind Hafiz and Greene. “You were content with that originally. Play fair, Ikki!”

  Ikwaskwan’s bony face looked even sharper and more angular at sight of Nadhari. “But…”

  “E’kosi Tahka’yaw,” Nadhari said, sounding relaxed, as if she were saying a private mantra to the ceiling. “M’on Na’ntaw. And, of course, Skomitin. You haven’t forgotten Skomitin, have you, Ikki?”

  “Skomitin’s dead,” Ikwaskwan said quickly.

  Nadhari gave him a sweet smile. “But I’m not…am I, Ikki?” Her light rocking movement mirrored Ikwaskwan’s own, but she seemed considerably more relaxed; one hand was on the back of her head, the other in a pocket of her dark, closefitting coveralls. Calum remembered that Nadhari was said to keep poison darts in those tight black braids that coiled around her head.

  Ikwaskwan moistened his lips. “You seem in the best of health…as I am. I trust we all expect to stay that way! One-third, then,” he said more loudly, turning back to Hafiz, “as was agreed in the original contract. God forbid I should seek to defraud my honored clients! The Red Bracelets’ reputation for probity and fair dealing is known throughout the galaxy.”

  “He didn’t say what it was known as,” Calum muttered in Rafik’s ear.

  “Can’t use the appropriate language in front of the ladies,” Rafik responded, equally sotto voce.

  What exactly constituted a fair one-third share of the captured ships required quite a lot more haggling, as neither Ikwaskwan nor Hafiz wished to allow the other party to conduct a detailed survey of exactly what had been captured before the spoils were divided. By the time they had agreed on how to share out the loot, another complication had arisen. Des Smirnoff and Ed Minkus, rested and recovered from their ordeal on Rushima, put in their own claim for credit to the salvaged pod known as the Jurden.

  Ikwaskwan listened to their claim without speaking, while his dark eyes slowly looked over the two very junior Red Bracelets from head to foot and back again. “What recruiting officer took these in?” he demanded eventually. “If I had known any of my officers thought us so desperate for warm bodies…”

  “Hey,” Des interrupted, “you’re looking at experienced men. Trained with Kezdet Guardians of the Peace, y’know.” He puffed his chest out and threw his shoulders back, looking as tough and military as he could manage.

  “Tchah! Höwötiáwak, thsiöwötiya thé!” Ikwaskwan dismissed the claim with a phrase in his own language that made Nadhari laugh aloud. “Bumbling incompetents who allowed themselves to be captured by the dirt farmers—I have heard all I need of these. It’s not the looting I object to, you understand,” he explained to Hafiz, “it’s the incompetence. My Red Bracelets would be the laughingstock of the galaxy were it known that I had taken in such gutter-sweepings as these. I dare not even dismiss them.” He sighed. “I cannot afford to let them loose with the claim that they were once, however briefly, officers of my force. There is only one solution.” A hand twitching toward the blaster on his hip made it quite clear what he thought that solution was.

  “Quite so,” Hafiz agreed. “Clearly they must be properly trained up to the standard of your forces. You do have something corresponding to the regular army’s basic training, do you not?”

  Ikwaskwan’s lips twitched as he took in the proposition. “On Kilumbemba…we have, indeed. It is, of course, mostly geared to the young and exceedingly fit; admission tests for the lower ranks are stringent. But I think these two should be able to survive it,” he said in a casual tone that revealed his disinterest in the outcome. “Smirnoff! Minkus! Give me your bracelets; you are reduced to the ranks and ordered to Kilumbemba for training.”

  Ed stripped off the single red bangle that was his badge of rank without a word, but Des was foolish enough to push his luck. “And the credit for our capture?”

  “Ahhh,” Ikwaskwan breathed. His head moved like that of a serpent about to strike. “As it was told to me, the Jurden was helplessly out of control when Haven took her under tow. By the laws of space salvage, she is Haven’s prize, no? Now, you two—to the shuttle, march! You will consider yourselves under arrest until you can be delivered to the brig aboard one of the battle cruisers.” He lifted his wrist com and delivered a series of short, sharp instructions in his native tongue which presumably alerted the shuttle crew to the imminent arrival of two disgraced ex-officers.

  Once Smirnoff and Minkus had shambled off, Ikwaskwan turned to Nadhari. “Nadhi. It has been, as you say, a long time. I believe some of our new armaments may be of interest to you.”

  “I have a duty here,” Nadhari said. She sounded almost regretful.

  “Go, go,” Hafiz said with a beneficent smile on his face. “Acorna is in the care of her people now. You have earned some time off.” Especially considering that she had just increased the profits of House Harakamian-Li by one-sixth.

  Nadhari looked thoughtfully at Ikwaskwan. “You do understand that should I fail to return within…let us say two hours Standard…your shuttle would not be permitted to depart?”

  “And you,” Ikwaskwan returned, “understand that the security precautions put in place by my predecessor for safeguarding the person of the Admiral have been not only retained but improved? My staff officers would die to avenge any harm to me.”

  Nadhari shrugged. “With the primitive tactics you employ, Ikki, they will likely die soon enough anyway.” But she put one hand on his arm and sauntered off toward the docking bay where the shuttle rested.

  “Well,” breathed Calum, staring at the two retreating short, slight figures with their air of coiled menace, “seems like romance is bustin’ out all over!”

  Rafik glanced at the corner where Pal was holding Andreziana’s hands and talking earnestly. “It does indeed.”

  “Come up and see my battle lasers some time,” Gill said, in a voice trembling with suppressed laughter. “I don’t know, I’ve never tried that line….”

  “And you never will,” said Judit firmly, tucking her arm through his. “Didn’t you have a proposition to put to Johnny, Gill?”

  Johnny Greene was tempted by Gill’s suggestion that he return to Maganos to help with the development of the mining base’s third stage, but shook his head regretfully. “I can’t leave these kids to run the Haven all by themselves.”

  “Looks to me as if they won’t be completely on their own.” Rafik jerked his head toward Pal and Andreziana.

  “Still…it’s bad enough they’ve lost their parents and their home….” Johnny said, incautiously loud.

  Markel, never far from Johnny’s elbow, overheard this. “What do you mean, we’ve lost our home? Haven’s in perfectly good shape…at least she will be, once we make the repairs which we should be well able to pay for, now that Dr. Hoa has agreed to stay on with us. We should be able to earn more than enough to maintain the ship by selling his weather-modification services to ag planets…honestly,” he added, “not as a protecti
on racket!”

  Johnny raised his eyebrows. “You can keep the Haven, yes. But Esperantza…”

  “Was dear to our fathers,” Markel said, “and we weren’t about to hurt their feelings by telling them it was a dream we didn’t share. Hey, ’Ziana,” he yelled, breaking into her tête-à-tête with Pal, “you want to live dirtside?”

  “No way!” Andreziana shook her head so vigorously that golden ringlets bounced around her face like scraps of a broken halo. “Give up being captain of the Haven just to get worn-out fighting atmospheric weather and planetside gravity? You gotta be kidding!”

  “You can take a poll if you like, Johnny,” Markel offered, “but I think you’ll find the rest of us feel the same way.”

  “And between Dr. Hoa and Pal,” Rafik pointed out, “they will hardly be without adult guidance. Trust the kids, Johnny. They know what they want, and they can be fairly ruthless about getting it.”

  He withdrew to a reasonably private corner with Gill, Judit, and Calum. “Looks like everything is getting settled,” he said glumly.

  “Yeah,” Gill said with equal lack of enthusiasm.

  “There’s really no excuse…” Calum began.

  “…to keep Acorna here with us,” Judit finished, tears sparkling in her eyes. “She needs her own people.”

  “Do not grieve,” Karina advised them, a lofty smile on her round face. “She will not leave you…not for long. I can sense her presence with us now.”

  “Of course you can!” Gill snorted rudely, “you know damn well she’s on the Balakiire, sleeping.”

  “Not anymore,” Karina said smugly, and on her last word, the Linyaari delegation came in, Acorna glowing with light and happiness.

  “I must say farewell to Mr. Li before we leave for narhii-Vhiliinyar,” she was telling Melireenya, quite firmly. “Even if the return to Maganos does delay you…us.”

  “Then you have decided to leave us,” Gill said heavily. “Well, it’s the right thing for you, Acorna acushla, and we all wish you…” His voice trembled with suppressed sobs, and he could not go on to save his life.

  “I must go back with Neeva and Khaari, yes,” Acorna said, “to be educated in the Linyaari ways, and to find…” She blushed. “Well, to complete my education.”

  (Yes, you’re going to have all sorts of educational experiences,) Khaari teased, and Acorna’s blush deepened.

  “But after that…”

  “Yes?”

  Gill, Rafik, and Calum all waited with bated breath.

  “We must maintain diplomatic contact with your race,” Neeva said, “and as our only expert in human ways, Acorna will be too valuable an envoy to be wasted in any other position. Melireenya will be staying with you for the time being, to be joined by her life-mate; but as soon as our ’Khornya has found her own life-mate, I expect that she will be permanently assigned to this sector as special attaché to the Linyaari embassy.”

  Karina was the only one who could speak after this announcement. “Told you so!” she grinned.

  Meanwhile, far away from the human-settled sector of space, a damaged ship fled homeward with its traumatized crew. Their speech could not be transcribed in the letters of any human language, consisting as it did of a series of rapid clicks whose changing rhythms carried their meaning; but the meaning itself would have been perfectly clear to any of the iniquitous, warlike race from whom they fled.

  “We must warn our masters to have nothing more to do with this race,” Senior Click-Off Longlegs announced to clicks of agreement. “They are barbaric and vicious beyond belief: when attacked, they actually fight back!”

  As for whether the human race would remain equally content to have nothing to do with the Khleevi…this they did not consider.

  Glossary of Terms

  Acadecki—the ship Calum and Acorna journey in to find Acorna’s people.

  Acorna—a unicorn-like humanoid alien discovered as an infant by three miners—Calum, Gill, and Rafik. She has the power to heal and purify with her horn. Her uniqueness has already shaken up the galaxy, especially the planet Kezdet. She’s now fully grown and searching for her people.

  Aiora—Markel’s mother, now dead.

  Amalgamated Mining—a vicious intergalactic mining corporation, famous for bad business dealings and for using bribes, extortion, and muscle to accomplish its corporate goals or cut its costs.

  Andreziana—Second-Generation Starfarer, daughter of Andrezhuria and Ezkerra.

  Andrezhuria—First-Generation Starfarer, and Third Speaker to the Council.

  Balakiire—the ship in which the envoys from Acorna’s people reached human-populated space.

  Balaave—Linyaari clan name.

  barsipan—jellyfish-like animal on the Linyaari home planet.

  Blidkoff—Second Undersecretary of RUI Affairs, Shenjemi Federation.

  Brazie—Second-Generation Starfarer.

  Calum Baird—one of three miners who discovered Acorna and raised her.

  Ce’skwa—a captain and Unit Leader in the Red Bracelets.

  Child Liberation League—an organization dedicated to ending child exploitation on Kezdet.

  Coma Berenices—the quadrant of space most likely to hold Acorna’s ancestors.

  Dajar—Second-Generation Starfarer.

  Declan “Gill” Giloglie—one of three miners who discovered Acorna and raised her.

  Delszaki Li—the richest man on Kezdet, opposed to child exploitation, made many political enemies. Paralyzed, he floats in an antigravity chair. He’s clever, devious, and he both hijacked and rescued Acorna and gave her a cause—saving the children of Kezdet.

  Des Smirnoff—an unsavory sort, a former Kezdet Guardian kicked out for failure to share the proceeds of his embezzlement with appropriate superiors, now an officer with the Kilumbembese Red Bracelets.

  dharmakoi—small, burrowing, sapient marsupials known to the Linyaari, now extinct as a result of Khleevi war.

  Didi—Kezdet slang for the madam of a brothel, or for one who procures children for such a madam.

  Didi Badini—a madam on Kezdet who tried to kill Acorna.

  Dom—a Palomellese criminal posing as a refugee aboard the Haven; a key member of Nueva Fallona’s gang.

  Ed Minkus—a companion of Des Smirnoff’s who has followed him from the Kezdet Guardians of the Peace to their present employment with the Red Bracelets.

  E’kosi Tahka’yaw—former ally of Admiral Ikwaskwan’s, betrayed by him in some manner which the Admiral would prefer not to discuss.

  enye-ghanyii—Linyaari time unit, small portion of a ghaanye.

  Epona—a protective goddess identified with horses and, by some children of Kezdet, with Acorna.

  Esperantza—a planet taken away from the colonists by quasi-legal manipulations on the part of Amalgamated Mining.

  Esposito—a Palomellese criminal posing as a refugee aboard the Haven; a key member of Nueva Fallona’s gang.

  Eva—Kezdet orphan training on Maganos.

  Ezkerra—First-Generation Starfarer, married to Andrezhuria.

  Feriila—Acorna’s mother.

  Foli—Second-Generation Starfarer.

  Gerezan—First-Generation Starfarer, Second Speaker to the Council.

  ghaanye (pl. ghaanyi)—a Linyaari year.

  gheraalye malivii—Navigation Officer.

  gheraalye ve-khanyii—Senior Communications Officer.

  Giryeeni—Linyaari clan name.

  Hafiz Harakamian—Rafik’s uncle, head of the interstellar financial empire of House Harakamian, a passionate collecter of rarities from throughout the galaxy and a devotee of the old-fashioned sport of horse racing. Although basically crooked enough to hide behind a spiral staircase, he is fond of Rafik and Acorna.

  Hajnal—a child rescued from thieving on Kezdet, now in training on Maganos.

  Haven—a multigeneration space-colonization vehicle occupied by the Starfarers, who had been pushed off the planet Esperantza by Amalgamated Mining.

&n
bsp; Ikwaskwan—self-styled Admiral of the Kilumbembese Red Bracelets.

  Illart—First-Generation Starfarer, First Speaker to the Council, and Markel’s father.

  Johnny Greene—an old friend of Calum, Rafik, and Gill; joined the Starfarers when he was fired after Amalgamated Mining’s takeover of MME.

  Joshua Flouse—mayor of a flooded-out community on Rushima.

  Judit Kendoro—assistant to psychiatrist Alton Forelle at Amalgamated Mining, saved Acorna from certain death. Later fell in love with Gill and joined with him to help care for the children employed in Delszaki Li’s Maganos mining operation.

  Karina—a wanna-be psychic with a small shred of actual talent.

  Kass—Rushimese settler.

  kava—a coffeelike hot drink produced from roasted ground beans.

  Kerratz—Second-Generation Starfarer, son of Andrezhuria and Ezkerra.

  Kezdet—a backwoods planet with a labor system based on child exploitation. Currently in economic turmoil because that system has been broken by Delszaki Li and Acorna.

  Khang Kieaan—a planet torn between three warring factions.

  Khaari—senior Linyaari navigator on the Balakiire.

  Kilumbemba Empire—an entire society which raises and exports mercenaries for hire—the Red Bracelets.

  Kirilatova—an opera singer.

  Khleevi—name given by Acorna’s people to the space-faring enemies who have attacked them without mercy.

  ki-lin—oriental name for unicorn; Ki-lin is also a name sometimes given to Acorna.

  Kisla Manjari—anorexic and snobbish young woman, raised as daughter of Baron Manjari; shattered when, through Acorna’s efforts to help the children of Kezdet, her father is ruined and the truth of her lowly birth is revealed.

  Laboue—the planet where Hafiz Harakamian makes his headquarters.

  Labrish—Rushimese settler.

  Linyaari—Acorna’s people.