Tanager's Fledglings (The Tanager Book 1)

by Cedar Sanderson

  “Sure?” Jem shook his head. “Um. I’m sorry. I’m pretty sure I was just rude, there.”

  She shrugged, still chuckling, and headed for her box now. “You were straightforward. One of the charming things about you, Captain Raznick, is that you are so very straight-arrow. Whereas myself? There are things I have forgotten are not true. So yes, I will add to your list.”

  “I, ah...” Jem stopped before he got his foot further in his mouth. Also, she was turning the box on. Eby came running from the other room. He’d been asleep, worn out from the game of ball with Jade, but now he was whimpering and stopping to paw at his flapping ears every few steps. Jem knelt to console him, and the pup buried his head under Jem’s arm. “What is going on?”

  Jade bent to pat the pup. “Sorry boy, but it’ll be over soon,” she directed her next remark at Jem. “I’m generating a very high frequency squeal that bothers a dog, they hear a higher range than we do. But it should also scramble the electronic ears until we can decommission them.”

  “Do you think they are still listening?” Jem asked. He was willing to assume her the expert in this. She had confidence, and he was certain she was not as young as she looked.

  Jade shook her head. “Not while we are in foldspace. But if we don’t get them, the recordings could dump when we get out.”

  “Let’s get them, then.” Jem headed for the door. “I, um, did tell you about the body?”

  “The what?” Jade stopped dead, and he could see from the look on her face he had forgotten to mention it. No, he’d said something, but either she hadn’t believed him, or hadn’t processed it in the stress of boarding.

  “There’s a body in the cabin with one of the bugs.” Jem explained. “I think they must have planted it when they killed him.”

  Jade looked boggled. “I think you’d better explain. And how long...?”

  “Two days.” Jem thought about it. “Yeah, two days I think. It’s been a bit nuts since I docked at Tianjin.”

  He went on to tell her in detail about Gyro, how he came to be on the ship, and what had happened. Jade’s questions drew every detail of the incident out of him, and by the time he was done, they had found three of the bugs, were standing in the outer hold, and Jem was trying to figure out where the fourth bug was. The fifth was in the cabin with the body, and by unspoken agreement they had left it until last. He felt drained, like she’d pulled more than just the story out of him.

  “Jade, I don’t know...” He was staring at the decking. The hold was empty, but the bug had to be here. “If it went out with the cargo?”

  She shook her head. “This is a real-time reading.”

  Jem looked around the hold. He’d never realized just how big it was. They’d found the others fairly quickly, by playing warmer-cooler with the signals and the box. The bugs were about the size of his fingernail, and the one in the garden had been on the hatch, adhered by something that gave way when he slipped his penknife under the edge of it and pulled. The others on the hatches in this hold had been as simple as that as well. His tablet had been, to his surprise and pleasure, hanging from it’s bracket near the exterior hatch. Jade had scanned it too, but it wasn’t transmitting.

  He sighed. “This could take a while.”

  “Want to take a break?” she was casting back and forth, staring at the readout on her tablet screen.

  “No, I want it out. And poor pup is cowering on my bunk until we shut that thing off.” He pointed at the box. “I wish I’d trained him, now.”

  “In what? Strange noises? He can’t help that.” Jade didn’t look up.

  Jem bent over, peering at the scarred decking. “Bassets are scent hounds. We could have used him to smell it out.”

  “Oh, right, like a bloodhound.” She sounded distracted.

  Jem straightened up and stared at her. “How do you know so much about dogs?”

  She looked up from her display, her face showing a bit of surprise. “I just do?”

  “No, there’s more to it than that. Outside of Oz, where they actually have some dogs, no one I’ve encountered really knows what a dog is, let alone that they came in breeds, or what some of those breeds were for.” Jem stretched, feeling his back muscles sore from stooping and a long night that had ended he wasn’t sure how long ago now.

  “Ah, um.” Jade met his eyes. “That’s going to have to go on your list.”

  Jem frowned, and then turned his tablet on. “I’m making that now, and I’m holding you to answers.”

  “When we have the ship clean, I am at your service, Captain.” Jade responded tranquilly, her face seeming calm, but he thought there was tension in the muscles around her mouth and eyes as they locked gazes.

  He dropped his eyes first, as the tablet chimed on. He didn’t remember turning it off - or leaving it in the bracket for that matter - but it looked as though it hadn’t been tampered with, and there was a bit of battery charge remaining. Jem pressed his thumb to the biolock.

  “Wait!” Jade took a step toward him, but it was too late.

  “Ouch!” Jem jerked his hand away, dropping the tablet, which clattered onto the decking. “What the hell?” He looked down at his hand, which was tingling.

  “What happened?” Jade was holding out her hand to his, and he offered her a view of his thumb, which had a small, pale spot where he’d pressed it to the tamper-proof lock on the tablet’s outer edge. It looked like he’d been stung, or poked with a needle, but he hadn’t seen anything.

  “Injection site.” She agreed with him, it seemed. She squatted and pulled a tiny light out of her pocket, which turned out to be very bright for it’s size. “Look.” She shone it on his tablet and he could just see a sliver of something that glinted when she moved the light over it.

  “What? Why?” Jem wasn’t even sure what to think. He suppressed the urge to stomp on the tablet. “Am I gonna die?”

  “What are you feeling?” Jade asked, looking up at him.

  Jem stopped and assessed that. His heart rate was way up. Which probably was why he felt light-headed. “My hand tingles, but not my thumb.”

  “May I?” She reached for his hand again, and this time took it into her hand. He stood there staring at her long slender fingers while she pressed a nail into his palm. “Do you feel that?”

  “Yep.” She moved and pressed, “Yep... no. No I don’t feel anything there.”

  His thumb was numbed, to the base of it, already. “Am I going to die?” Jem asked again.

  Jade looked up at him and shook her head. “You’re going to metabolize this. But it’s not going to be easy or comfortable. You have some time, let’s find the bugs before you have to lie down.”

  “What is it, and what is going to happen?” Jem thought that his heart was racing even more, and that was probably going to accelerate the spread of whatever poison was inside him now. “Who put it there, and why?”

  Jade was back to pacing the floor, staring at her screen, but she answered without looking up. “Do you have an autodoc aboard? And I can answer the first part of your questions, but only speculate about the others.”

  “Yes, but it’s not trauma capable. Will it have an antidote?” Jem poked his hand. It was numb to the wrist now.

  “Yes, but I don’t think we’ll worry if you don’t have it aboard. Firstly, turbocurarine at such a low dose won’t kill you. Secondly, all I’ll need is artificial respiration to keep you alive.”

  “How...” Jem swallowed, hard, wondering if the weakness in his knees was the drug, or simply fear. “How long do I have?”

  “At that level of dose, injected into your muscle, you likely have an hour. Higher doses, used as anesthetic, take up to half an hour to take effect when introduced intramuscularly. Now for the speculation part. I think you were set up by the Tinjins to take the Tanager.”

  “Why?” Jem was following her pointing finger. There, wedged in a crack between two deck plates, was the bug. He started to dig it out with the point of his knife, but it had b
een stepped on, or had cargo dropped on it. It was really in there, and his dominant hand was useless.

  “Why not?” Jade dropped to her knees, putting a hand on his shoulder and taking the knife gently from his hand. He rocked back on his heels and watched her pry it out. “The Tanager has a reputation. With a Tianjin crew aboard, they could have taken more control of their own trade, which they have been working towards.”

  “You’re who Moskvin came here to meet.” Jem stated. She looked up at him, the bug cupped in her hand.

  “Yes. I’ll explain later. I need you to help with the body, first.”

  Jem nodded and managed to stand up, propping himself on his wooden-feeling arm to get momentum. “I’ll try.”

  “I can manage with a float pallet, but you have to unlock it.” Jade dropped the bug into an RF-shielded bag along with the others.

  Jem headed stolidly for the hatch. He wasn’t looking forward to opening the cabin where a dead man had been lying for days. “How long will this last?” he flopped his arm for emphasis.

  “If you have the antidote aboard, we can bring you out of it in hours. If not...”

  “If I die, take good care of Eby.” Jem picked up his paralyzed hand with his good one, and pressed it to the hatch lock. “Hold your nose.”

  Jem knew it would be bad, it wasn’t the first time he’d had close encounters with a corpse. While he’d vented the air and dealt with fumes after the explosion, he hadn’t had any time to adjust life support and cool this room until re-boarding the Tanager. The moment he could, he’d taken it down to arctic for this cabin. Which meant that they didn’t have to reel back choking. Jem stepped into the room, which was cold and rank. The body on the bed bore little resemblance to the dying dock rat he vaguely remembered now, after two stressful days. Decomposition had started, with the result of greenish, slipping skin and bloating of the head and abdomen. Jem found that a clinical analysis of the remains kept him from slipping into horror. He was going to have to let Jade help load the body on the float pallet.

  “Here’s the bug.” She showed it to him. “They seem to be trained to plant them on hatches.”

  “Easier to find later?” Jem took the pallet handle from her and scooted it closer to the bed. “If we pull on the mattress...”

  She nodded, catching his intent. He was going to get rid of everything, mattress, bedding, and body. With his good hand, Jem pulled on her count, and they slid the burden onto the float.

  “I think...” Jem tried to wipe his brow. He seemed to be sweating even in this cold room.

  “I can take it from here. You go lie down in the autodoc.”

  “Yah.” Jem stumbled for the door, feeling like his feet were very far away. “Eby...”

  “Go.” Jade said firmly from behind him. “I’ll take care of the pup.”

  Jem rolled into the autodoc, staring up at the clear arched cover. It looked like the glass coffin from a fairy tale. He couldn’t remember the name of the tale, and it was on the tip of his...

  Chapter 25: Trust

  Jem woke up with a jerk. He had to tell Jade something before she tried to use the autodoc on him. If they had sabotaged his tablet, what might they have done to the autodoc? He opened his eyes to see that the lid had been lowered. He tried to lift his good arm to hit the latch, and had a moment of panic when he couldn’t move that arm. Was he completely paralyzed now? How long had he been out?

  He flailed a little as he tried to figure out how far gone he was, and came to a realization. He wasn’t paralyzed, the dog was lying on the arm he couldn’t move, and Jade was opening the lid. He lay still and looked up at her. “I was going to tell you to look for sabotage.”

  “They didn’t.” She held out her hand. “You want to try getting up?”

  “Yeah.” He’d woken Eby up with his movements, and now he snuggled the pup and let him lick his face. “Can you...?”

  Jade picked up the dog. “He wouldn’t stop crying, so I put him in there after you were recovering, sorry.”

  “My arm’s asleep, but thanks.”

  Jem sat up. He looked down at his shipsuit and wrinkled his nose. “I don’t usually shower while we’re underway, but...”

  “I used cleaner towels. And Eby’s bathroom has been freshened.”

  “Thank you, you didn’t have to do that.” Jem got to his feet, cautiously. He’d been stumbling badly when he finally made it in here. Now, he felt wobbly but he had full control over his limbs.

  “I’m crew. Speaking of which.” Jade preceded him out of the hatch, still talking over her shoulder. “I know you usually fly alone, but have you ever considered taking on permanent crew?”

  “I only flew alone since Walter passed.” Jem wondered if she was looking for a position. He still didn’t know why she had come to his rescue. Or had she? And how had she known what poison was used on him so quickly? “I’ve been planning to find a crew. There just hasn’t been a chance.” He didn’t feel like telling her about Misha, and his tiny germ of a dream there.

  She didn’t say anything else. Jem went into his cabin while she headed in the direction of the galley. He locked the hatch behind him, and looked down at Eby. “I dunno, pup. I just dunno. You like her ok, but no offense, you’re a dog.”

  Jem had been stripping out of the shipsuit while he talked, and now he held it at arms-length while he stuffed it in the ‘fresher. He wasn’t sure it would ever come clean again. He wasn’t sure but what the last couple of days - how long had he been under? What had Jade done to the Tanager? - hadn’t left permanent marks on him, too. He stepped into the shower once the water was steaming, and let it flow over his body. He scrubbed until everything tingled, relishing the sensation in every nerve ending. He felt good. He’d thought he was going to die, but he hadn’t. They were in foldspace, no one could touch them here, and Jade wasn’t a threat to him physically. She couldn’t access the deep controls of the ship, so he wasn’t worried about course changes. Sure, there were a million ways to execute small sabotages, but some of them would hurt her, too. She didn’t seem suicidal.

  He stepped out from the water reluctantly, but as much as he’d needed that, he didn’t need to use too much water. Loki was the next stop, and water cost, there. The small planet with the erratic orbit - hence the name - would be in winter. Fimbulwinter on Loki. Jem shivered despite the heat the shower had transferred to him. He didn’t plan to go outside once they arrived. Summer on the tricky planet was bad enough, winter was killing time.

  Jem dressed in a baggy shirt and heavy canvas trousers, slipping a pair of leather braces over his shoulders and standing for a long moment with his hand hovering over the shoulder holster and blaster in it. He didn’t trust Jade. He didn’t want to overtly threaten her, either. Finally, he pulled his hand back empty and closed the cupboard. It was time to get back to the bridge, check course, and see what his search bots had found. It seemed like a long time since he’d started them churning in the logs and library.

  Speaking of logs, he needed to update them, too, with the events of the day. He wouldn’t assign the third black tick to the Tianjin’s account. Not until he was sure the poisoning was their work, and not... someone else’s. Pulling on socks and soft ship’s shoes, he looked around the cabin. When was the last time he’d slept in his own bed? Shaking his head, Jem headed for the bridge.

  He didn’t see Jade, but the hatch to the cabin where Gyro had died stood open. Jem put his head in, cautiously. There was no odor, which probably meant that she had cycled the air in here. Which reminded him that he had to clean scrubbers and filters. Probably trash the ones that were in the outer hold, after the smoke and crud that had been in the air out there. Jade had also covered the bare bunk with cleaner towels, which he wouldn’t have thought of. Their living sterilizers would take care of any lingering microbial growth. Who knew what Gyro had brought aboard. Jem sighed. His ship had been violated so many ways, since Tas, and that idyllic prospect of smooth trading. Flinders had meant well, the Tinjins
had meant to harm him, and Jade?

  He went to the bridge. He badly needed information. Without it, he wasn’t sure if he could trust his own inclinations. Jem checked the clock, and then checked it again. He’d been in the autodoc a solid day cycle. No wonder he felt wobbly. He tried to remember when he’d eaten last. Or had coffee, for that matter. His stomach growled.

  Before retreating to the galley, he unlocked the screens and checked. They were right where they were supposed to be. His searches had run, and results were blinking for his attention. Jem looked off to the side, at the bulkhead beside the main screen. Walter’s tablet had been there since the old man had handed it to him a few days before his death. Walter had insisted that Jem rekey it to himself, and after Jem realized that his protests were tiring the dying man, he’d relented. He’d meant, at the time, to give it back to Walter when he’d recovered, but it had become painfully obvious that there would be no coming back this time.

  Now, Jem unracked it and thumbed it on, after checking the lock carefully. He wasn’t going to get bitten twice. He hadn’t looked at it - in it, rather - since Walter’s death. It had been painful to think about seeing the private files there. But until Jem was sure of his own tablet, this would have to work. He plugged it into the board and physically moved the search results with encryption keys. He dismissed the results on the main controls, and wiped the folder. He was fairly sure Jade couldn’t break the biolocks. He wasn’t absolutely certain of that. The woman seemed to be preternaturally accomplished.

  Jem’s stomach complained again, and he headed for the galley, and food. The gathering area was empty, as well. He wondered where Jade was. Eby was flopped in his own little bed. Jem bent and ruffled the soft ears. Eby grunted in his sleep, and Jem found that he was smiling. He had no idea what to do about Jade, he’d been attacked, and some unseen enemy seemed to be after the Tanager. But the dog made him happy. Kept him sane. Jem decided he’d cook, rather than heat something up.