by Eric Brown
Pham watched as the guy near the window stood up and checked his wallet. He vicariously felt her hunger pangs. She said, “I want something to eat.”
Fish-face grinned. “Tough.”
Pham looked up at Su, who said, “Please. You can’t keep us here without food and drink.”
Fish-face laughed at this. “Oh, can’t we? Watch us.”
He gestured at his accomplice to get going.
Pham began to cry again, but she noticed that the second guy had left his pistol on the window-sill. Vaughan read her mind as, for a brief second, she contemplated how she might free herself and reach the gun... She tried to pull and twist her foot without being noticed, but the knots were too tight and she gave up.
Vaughan was at once thankful for this, and proud that she had even contemplated escaping.
She watched as the second Chinaman walked to the door and opened it. The door eased shut behind him with a loud snick.
Vaughan turned and moved from the foot of the stairs, across the lobby to the basement door as the guy’s mind-shield static dropped towards him. He eased himself inside and closed the door, but for a fraction. From here he could see the tenement’s entrance. He sniffed. The reek of molten plastic and metal filled the air. He hoped the bastard wouldn’t notice it and decide to investigate.
Seconds later the Chinaman crossed the lobby, pulled open the door, and stepped out into the street. If he’d noticed the stink, he hadn’t given it a second thought.
Vaughan thought through his options and decided how he was going to play it.
He concentrated on what Pham was seeing. Fish-face had remained standing, and now he moved across to the window and stared down at the street.
Pham said, “When are you going to let us go?”
Vaughan felt Su’s quick squeeze, warning her.
Fish-face looked round and glared at Pham. “You heard what I told Daddy.”
Pham felt despair. “But that’s a long time away!”
The guy shrugged. “Tough.”
Now Su said, “Jeff said he’d get the information you want. Why not let us go then?”
“Do I look like a fool?” And at this, Pham thought to herself: You do, actually, a fish-faced fool - and Vaughan found himself laughing. The guy went on, “What if he feeds us rubbish, eh? We want to get him back, debrief him. Then we’ll let you go.”
Pham stared at the man. Four years ago she’d faced similar danger, crossed the path of a ruthless killer, and she knew that Fish-face was likely to kill her and Su once he, Jeff, was back on the Station and the Chinks got what they wanted. He felt a wave of despair and terror sweep through her and she fought to control her tears. He wanted to reach out, console her, and relished the prospect of doing so very soon now.
He glanced at his handset. The other guy had been gone ten minutes. He withdrew his concentration from Pham’s mind and stared through the gap at the tenement’s front door.
He set his laser on stun, gripped it before his chest, and waited.
Five minutes later a patch of mind-shield static approached the building. The door opened and the guy, laden with Chinese take-out, stepped through and crossed to the stairs. Vaughan eased himself from the basement and moved across the lobby. The guy was on the fourth step, his back to the lobby. Without ceremony, Vaughan lifted his laser and gave the guy a quick pulse in the small of the back. He spasmed, gave a short cry, and fell to the floor, tumbling down the steps and mashing the contents of the silver trays beneath his body. He’d be out for thirty minutes, at least: more than enough time for Vaughan to do what he needed to do.
He stepped over the guy and rushed up the steps, onto the landing and up the second flight. At the top he paused, concentrating. Pham’s cerebral signature came from the second door along. Vaughan crossed to it, stopped, and gathered himself.
This time, he decided, he’d let the bastard see him; Vaughan wanted revenge, wanted the bastard to know that he, Vaughan, had come back to save his family.
He probed. He ignored Pham’s despair and saw the room through her eyes. Fish-face was still near the window. If he’d seen his accomplice coming, then he’d be expecting him at any second.
Vaughan slipped his laser into his trouser belt, took a breath, and knocked on the door.
Through Pham’s eyes he watched Fish-face move from the window, leaving his gun on the sill. He crossed the room, reached out for the door handle, and pulled it open...
Vaughan acted before the bastard could register surprise. He grabbed Fish-face by the throat and dragged him from the room. With his right hand he punched him in the face, twice, and very hard. Fish-face grunted, eyes wide with shock and disbelief. Vaughan thrust him to the ground, smacked him in the face again, breaking his nose. He stopped, then, staring down at the guy’s terrified face.
“Vaughan?” Fish-face mouthed in disbelief.
“How does it feel?” Vaughan said. “How does it feel to be helpless and on the wrong end of violence? You enjoyed hitting my daughter...”
The guy shook his head, either in denial or incredulity at Vaughan’s return. “How...?”
Vaughan grabbed a handful of the guy’s shirt, lifted him to the stairs, and pitched him down the steps. He fell head over heels, something breaking with a moist crunch as he hit the concrete landing below. He stared up at Vaughan, panting in pain, his face smeared with blood. Vaughan moved down a couple of steps, standing over the bastard, and drew his pistol.
The guy’s eyes widened and he gabbled something at Vaughan, reverting to Mandarin in his terror.
“I’m going to kill you, just like you would have killed my wife and daughter...”
He saw the light in the Chinaman’s eyes; the intent to deny, followed quickly by the realisation that denial would be futile.
Vaughan aimed the pistol at the man’s head.
“No, please! Please!”
It was all he could do to stop himself from flipping the gauge from stun, but he thought of Su and Pham back in the room, knew what Su would want.
You lucky bastard, he thought, and fired at the guy’s chest.
Fish-face jerked, squealed, and lay very still.
Vaughan replaced his weapon and took deep breaths. He scanned. Pham had heard the commotion. She was wondering if the cops had arrived.
He turned and walked slowly up the steps. He wanted to savour this moment. He moved towards the door. He stepped into the room.
Su and Pham were staring at the door...
Su yelled his name and he felt the blast of Pham’s emotion: relief and disbelief and joy. It was a flood too great to withstand; he killed the program and rushed across the room.
They stood, still shackled by the ankles, and a second later they were in his arms, sobbing and crying his name.
He held them both, feeling their weight, their solidity, knowing that nothing, nothing at all, even communication with an alien race 30,000 light years away, could compare to the joy of this moment.
“But how?” Su said, her face streaming with tears.
“I’ll tell you all about it when we get out of here.”
He smiled. “But I don’t know if you’ll believe me...”
He unknotted the cords binding Su and Pham, then got through to Lin Kapinsky and told her to get her security team to the source of his signal. She blinked and started asking questions, but he cut the connection.
Pham was in his arms, touching his face as if to assure herself that he was real.
Christ, he thought, something bursting within his chest. How could he begin to express the love he felt for his family?
“Li?” he asked Su.
She nodded, sniffing, “She’s going to be fine, Jeff,” she said, and broke down again.
Later, when the security team arrived, Vaughan hitched Pham onto his hip and gripped Su by the hand. They left the building, emerging into sunlight, and caught a taxi-flier to St Theresa’s hospital.
* * * *
CODA
DR RAO
Vaughan woke to dazzling sunlight.
He was disoriented for a second, his head still full of dreams. He was deep underground, in a weirdly lighted cavern, and spider drones were chasing him... He sat up quickly, then smiled when he saw Sukara sleeping beside him.
The events of the dream had happened more than a month back, though it seemed paradoxically both an age ago and incredibly immediate. He slipped quietly out of bed and showered; he was dressing when his handset chimed.
Lin Kapinsky looked up at him. “Hey, Jeff. I’ve just had the report back from security, about the bastards who kidnapped Su and Pham.”
“And?” He moved to the lounge and stood beside the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing out across the sea.
“Security stripped the bastards down to their subconscious,” she reported, pulling a face, “and as we suspected: they were in the pay of the Chinese - though of course the Chinks are denying any responsibility. The three were hired by a middleman known to have links with Beijing, the same go-between responsible for hiring the assassin who went after Parveen Das.”
“Good work, Lin. The thing is... am I safe here? Will they send more goons after me?” It was a possibility that had worried him since returning to the Station. Playing safe, he had moved apartments a week ago, using some of the money Chandrasakar had deposited in his account to put a down-payment on a bigger place on Level One. The girls had been ecstatic at the move.
Kapinsky looked at him. “You’re safe. You see, you never left the Station.”
He stared at her. “What?” To account for his sudden arrival back at the Station, he’d told her he’d returned to Earth aboard a Chandrasakar exploration voidship - and she’d seemed to buy the lie.
“I’ve just had a communiqué from the port authorities,” Lin went on. “They said that an identity anomaly occurred six weeks ago, when their records showed someone using your identity had left Bengal Station aboard a Chandrasakar Line voidship. Get this: they said that according to Station intelligence you never left Earth, and that they were investigating the matter.” She shook her head. “Don’t ask me to explain that, Jeff.”
“Odd,” he said.
“Anyway, I’ll see you back here next week, okay? Take it easy.”
He told her he would, and signed off.
He stared out at a passing voidship, wondering about the communiqué from the port authorities about his never having left the Station.
Minutes later, all was explained.
>>> Vaughan, said a voice in his head, as clear as if the alien were in the same room. We arranged matters so that, to all intents and purposes, you were never away from Bengal Station: records there indicate your continued presence; the authorities assume someone used your identity to facilitate their departure from the port.
That is appreciated, Vaughan thought, wondering at the omnipotence of the Taoth.
>>> We are delighted that Li has made a full recovery, Vaughan. We will be in contact...
He asked about the status of the colony on Landfall, and whether it would now be opened up to extensive colonisation and exploitation. His question was met with silence.
In the event, he found out later that day.
He moved from the lounge and crossed to the girls’ room, standing in the doorway and watching Li and Pham in their pyjamas, playing with their doll’s house. Pham saw him and smiled; Li was too intent on her game.
He just stood and watched them for a while, then fixed breakfast. Sukara crept into the kitchen and hugged him. “It’s Saturday, Jeff. Let’s go to the café in the park, okay?”
“Let’s do that.”
After breakfast they left the apartment and strolled through the quiet park hand in hand. Pham and Li raced ahead, inexpertly kicking a football.
The air was fresh; the sun dazzled. Yesterday, weeks late, the monsoon season had begun, drenching the Station in a refreshing torrent that lasted almost thirty minutes. They’d watched the deluge through the apartment viewscreen. It seemed symbolic, Vaughan had thought; an end to all the events that had begun six weeks ago, the day the Korth assassin had come after him and Sukara had told him about Li’s illness.
Yesterday, an hour before the monsoon rains began, Sukara had heard from Dr Grant that Li was to be signed off from the physician’s care, the cure achieved.
They strolled across the greensward towards the café. Sukara tugged his hand. “And how’s my Cosmopath this morning?”
He laughed. “I’ve never been happier in all my life,” he told her.
He should have known that she’d take the story of his time on Landfall, and the honour the Taoth had conferred upon him, in her stride. She was a remarkable woman. Her only worry was that he might be called upon to leave Earth again, at some point in the future.
He’d reassured her on that matter. “Su, while I was out there I made a resolution: I’m never going to leave the planet again without you all, okay? If I have to go, you’re all three coming with me.”
Sukara had just smiled and stroked his cheek.
Now his handset chimed. It was a feed, relaying to him a news subject he’d subscribed to after his return.
“What is it?” Sukara asked.
He read the text on the screen and smiled.
“News from Delta Cephei VII,” he said. “And guess what?”
She pulled a face. “Surprise me.”
“Reports are full of the follow-up mission to Landfall.” He laughed as he read from the screen. “They’ve discovered an indigenous extraterrestrial race on the planet, living in a vast subterranean chamber.”
Sukara looked up at him. “So that means...?”
He nodded. He recalled what he’d been about to ask the Taoth as he was leaving Vluta: what would the discovery of the colonists, and the underground caverns, mean to the colonists’ way of life? The alien had said, before he could voice the question, “Do not worry yourself on that score. We have the matter in hand...”
He told Sukara, “The Taoth left behind a contingent of their fellows. That means, technically, Delta Cephei is a restricted-access world. The report says that further colonisation, and any industrialisation, is now prohibited.” He thought of Young Tom and Connor; their bucolic existence was safe now, thanks to the Taoth.
“That’s great, Jeff!” She peered ahead. “Hey, isn’t that Dr Rao?”
Vaughan looked across the park, towards the café. The reptilian Indian was seated under the canopy, clutching his cane, a salted lassi on the table before him.
He raised his cane when he saw Vaughan and Sukara, and called out, “My friends! Please, join me. How provident a meeting.”
Sukara said, “I ought to tell the old rascal that I’d like to work for him.”
Vaughan kissed her. “And I ought to thank him for saving your life.”
Hand in hand, with the girls racing ahead, Vaughan and Sukara made their way towards the café.