Horizons

by Mary Rosenblum

  He leered at her.

  She didn’t blush and tried Dane’s link. No response. “Contact me,” she messaged. “Kyros, can you go look for him? It’s critical.” She pushed off, following Li Zhen’s son, intensely aware of the time that had passed while she was on Dragon Home. Aware o£ Koi’s continued absence. Where was he? “Maybe he can use this litttle lever of ours before the CSF get here.”

  “It’s a big can.” Kyros sounded doubtful. “I’ll try.”

  “Kyros?” Ahni spilled momentum on a tube planted to tomatoes, waited for the Belter to turn.”You said nobody was looking for us, on the way over. If they had been… would they have found us?”

  “Depends on how good the looker was. I was shadow skipping. I’m pretty good at it… but if someone’s looking…” He shrugged.”You gotta cross the light once in awhile.”

  “Shadow skipping?”

  “You got spots where the sensor net can’t look.” He moved impatiently, ready to push off.”You got a lot of junk in this orbit now. Real mess. Lots of shadow, but most of it too small to really hide in if someone’s looking for you. But you can make it tough for ’em.”

  “What about rocks?” She tilted her head. “Could you drop a small asteroid down to this level?”

  Kyros looked away.”You know what happens if you do that up here?” he asked softly.”You fall out of your ship. If Earth got to thinking Belters were riding rocks down, Earth would get real upset. So we sort of have our own little system for dealing with it up here. If you’re clumsy enough to get caught. Natural selection, reemember?” He still wasn’t looking at her. “You could sure make a hot profit, bringing the whole dirty iceball down here. Bringing it down as refined ice or metal is like hauling the ocean in a bucket.”

  Well, now she knew why Dane couldn’t square Kyros with Laif.

  “Don’t get caught,” Ahni said as she kicked off.

  “Oh, I don’t do it anymore,” Kyros said with a laugh. “Dane tells me I’m too important to risk my butt. I haul… other stuff.”

  She didn’t entirely believe him, but it wasn’t important right now.

  If the CSF hadn’t landed yet… there might still be a chance to stop this. Once Li Zhen came looking for his son.

  SIXTEEN

  “YOU GOT ANY GLIMMER YET? LAIF PACED THE CRAMPED admin space, came to a stop behind the skinny kid hunched over the holofield.”You asleep or what?”

  “What.”

  Damn smart aleck. Laif glowered down at the back of the kid’s neck, really wanting to smack him one.

  The ticking of the clock inside his skull damn near deafened him and this kid just sat there like a lump.

  Not that whatever was in that data dot was likely to be the magic wand to save their butts, but he sure didn’t have any other options. He glared at the tattoo circling the kid’s skinny wrist. He was almost one of Dane’s creepy kids. They were moving that way, Dane was right. He’d looked at some of the recent births and you could see that Koi kid in their skinny bodies and low birth weight. Best kept secret on the platform, he thought sourly. They bothered him, those kids. They didn’t look human.

  ”You have thirty-three minutes,” Laif rasped. “The Elevator’s at the top. You countin’?”

  “I figure you are.” The kid looked up, his face showing strain, his dark eyes angry. “And every time you interrupt me, by the way, you cost me about two and a half minutes. That’s a grand total of fifteen minutes so far. You want to go do something else?”

  “All right, all right.” Laif turned on his heel. The heads up from his informants at the Euro Elevator had come way too soon. They must have pushed the climbers past the limit of safety to get here this quickly.

  “I’ll go see if I can’t stall our visitors and buy you back that fifteen minutes. When we run out of time…

  go up to the hub, okay? Use Dane’s system. It’s separate and firewalled. They’ll probably take the main system over first thing. Depends on how good their sappers are. They may firewall you out.” He left admin, snapping his fingers for the Security cart standing by. Hopped aboard as it rolled up beside him.

  “Arrival and pronto. Carrie, we’re out of time.” He lowered his voice. “I need to stall. Can you set something up? Call Dane for a flash mob?”

  The Security Chief nodded. “I’ll see if I can do as good a job as that mob that Dane settled over in A3.

  That what you need?”

  He nodded, a single hard jerk of his chin. “Make a show, but nothing that’ll bring weapons out. We’ll round everybody up nice and efficient and dump all but a couple. Get volunteers for that and give ’em a get-out guarantee.”

  “I don’t know if I can do that,” Carrie said slowly, her eyes on the corridor ahead, lips barely moving.

  “Don’t know if I’ll have the keys.”

  Yeah, stupid. Laif ran a hand over his scalp in frustration. Why would they keep his Security Chief in place? That was the first thing Arlin would do… dump Carrie. Arlin knew what she thought of him. She hadn’t exactly hidden her feelings. “They might send someone new up here.”

  ”You don’t think they will and I don’t either.” Carrie snorted, her expression hard. “Arlin’s the perfect puppet. Whistle and he dances. Laif…” Carrie hesitated. “After the shit hits the floor.” She gave him a sideways look. “I figure the odds are fifty-fifty for a forced relocation.”

  “They can’t do that. We’ve got permanent leases on our space.”

  “Laws can change.”

  “It’d cost too much.” Laif laughed, but it had a hollow feel. Like whistling in the dark.

  Carrie didn’t answer and her silence prodded him.

  Laif let his breath out in a long sigh. “Well, whatever is gonna happen it’s gonna happen. I don’t think we can stop it, but maybe we can keep it civil.” The Arrival Hall opened before them, and Carrrie passworded them through the security curtain. Laif hopped out as the cart slowed. “Gods know, we might get lucky. Go get your mob.” He lifted a hand to her, got a grim faced nod in return before she whipped the cart around and rocketed back through the curtain and down the corridor. Laif hoped she’d put on a good show. Straightening his shoulders, he headed for the main doors, his skin creeping in the vast emptiness. Tourists had abandoned NYUp in droves. This much space–empty like this–bothered him. Been up here too long, he thought. Well, maybe not for much longer. Look up and see sky again, walk the Towers Plaza in Manhattan and get rained on while watching the jugglers and light artists work.

  Would be good to be back.

  Yeah, right.

  A pair of uniformed CSF appeared in Entry B from the shuttle dock, blue berets perched aggressively, eyes flicking as they scoped the Hall. Weapons invisible anyway, thank you very much for that. Laif straightened his shoulders again. He was too damn old to go back to living on Earth. Back straight, he walked forward, annoyyance in every stride, aware of the surreptitious stares of the nervous Immigration staff. The vanguard of the CSF spotted him and fanned out… threatening in stance and position, but still no weapons in hand. One stepped forward, flanked by two more.

  Captain? Not even a Major? Laif read the insignia. Scandanavian-euro mix, blonde, white as one of Dane’s damn flowers. And younger than him. A lot younger. I don’t like you, he thought. They gave you this as a training mission. “Major.” He strode forrward, doing a ‘dumb yokel’ smile. “Laif Jones Egret, Administrator of the North American Alliance orbital platform New York Up. Welcome. We’ve been looking forward to your arrival.”

  “It’s Captain, sir.” The young officer said calmly. “Captain Bugloss. I am to report to the Administrator of the platform.”

  I should be insulted, Laif thought. Clearly the CSP’s commanders had figured this for a cakewalk. But false expectations make a potent weapon. “Allow me to escort you to our offices… although…” He looked back at the uniformed men and women spilling from the enntry bay. Only ten? The rest must be waiting until the vanguard seecured the area?”You
realize that your large numbers will present… ah…

  a bit of a problem. We don’t have large amounts of public space up here. Do you plan to commandeer private hotel space?”

  ”We don’t plan on being here that long.” The young captain looked nonplussed for a beat. As if Laif had just read from the wrong script. “I don’t anticipate any difficulty in completing our mission within a few hours at most.” He handed over a Security Sealed data sphere.”We don’t plan to cause any unnecessary disruption.”

  Huh? Something didn’t compute here. Laif looked at the sphere. “I’m sorry. Our communication has been down all day, so I’ve had no current report on your arrival.” He glanced at the troops. They didn’t act like an advance guard securing a beachhead. To hell with games.”Why exactly are you here?”

  The captain’s eyebrows rose only a hair, but he made his surrprise at that question clear. “We are here to arrest a North American Alliance employee suspected of diluting the human genotype with transgenic applications. An employee named Dane Nilsson. You didn’t get the arrest warrant?”

  Sweet Mohammad, Buddha, and Jesus. “I told you.” Laif’s voice didn’t quite squeak. “Our communication has been down.” He forced a look of mild surprise onto his face. “I know that man. While he’s not my friend politically, he certainly isn’t involved in anything like human genetic research. He works in the Platform agricultural hub. Pushes buttons and watches dials. Does a good job, too.”

  The captain’s eyes had glazed slightly.”Yes, sir. I’m sure, sir.”

  Laif itched with the need to call Dane now, plastered a smile onto his face.”We’ll have to go to Admin and verify your authorization.” He jerked his chin at the data sphere clutched in his hand. “Since I have received no notification.”

  “Of course.” The captain didn’t look happy. “Just a moment.”

  He turned away, touching up his link, clearly checking to find out if indeed, the platform had received the warrant. Turned back, his shoulders slumping a bare nanometer and no more.”You can ID the copy I brought,” he said with well restrained impatience.

  Damn, damn, damn, if he hadn’t shut down communications.

  Dane could be halfway to the Belt by now.

  “Transportation?” Bugloss said.

  “Well we walk everywhere up here,” Laif said apologetically, back to bumpkin mode. “But if you have people who… yo know… have difficulty… I can call for a cart. Or two.” Laying it on too thick, he thought, but no, the captain’s weary expressio suggested he bought it.

  Good. He needed time. And a link to Dane.

  The captain nodded once, and the ten members of his unit fell in, eyes flicking, not missing a detail. Six women, four men. They looked utterly competent. Laif halted as they reached a public restroom. “Excuse me just a moment.” He did a very credible job of looking utterly embarrassed. “Sorry. I’m just getting over a really nasty stomach flu.” Ducked into the restroom before the captain had finished nodding. One touristy looking man stood at a urinal, dreamily studying the colorful mosaic on the wall above the trough carrying the gently circulating water. The three showers were empty although a breath of steam in the air suggested they had been in use recently. Laif ducked into one of the stalls as the door whispered open.

  Uh oh. CSF blue showed beneath the door. The man didn’t huse the urinal stream, simply stood there in the middle of the tile floor, booted feet visible beneath the stall door.

  The back of Laif’s neck prickled.

  Damn. So much for downsider stupidity.

  He flushed, his muttered words lost in the brief whoosh of suction, unlatched the door and made a show of sealing up his singlesuit as he exited. The man waiting, very young, with a shadow of scalp fuzz and a very discreet heart inlaid behind his right ear in red light, stood aside with a slight nod and no smile at all on his Mediterranean face.

  Not good. Laif marched out into the corridor, a fixed smile plastered to his face. Maybe the flash mob–

  It happened and it was perfect… just enough people to block the sparse flow of traffic along the skinside promenade, send the few remaining downsiders scurrying for shelter. It didn’t do much good either. The captain looked to Laif for information and when Laif told him Security would handle it, he pulled his people back and they let Carrie handle it. Laif discovered that he had picked up a shadow, a buzz-headed woman who never strayed more than a meter from Laif’s side. And he hadn’t told Carrie that he needed some space. So she did a great job of doing what he had asked her to do and it didn’t do him one damn bit of good. But it sure made ’em look real good. Not that this bunch cared one bit.

  Clearly they expected Security to do its job.

  After she had cleared the hall with a credible show of compeetence and control, they resumed their march to Admin. With every step Laif’s heart sank lower. As they entered the main room, Bar looked up from his screen, and his eyes skipped from Laif’s face to the captain’s and back again. “Only ten?”

  “Police action,” Laif said heavily. Noah was gone. Up to the hub. “You need to get hold of Noah,” he said in a carefully casual tone. “Tell him we’re on our way up.”

  “No.” The Captain stepped forward. “No communications to anyone until we’ve completed our mission.”

  He jerked his head at one of the women, who stepped forward, eyes on Bar.

  Bar started to ask what about, and then a slow surmise began to stir in his eyes. He looked frightened.

  He had a newborn son, Laif remembered wearily. One of the more extreme.

  It didn’t matter that Bar guessed. The captain looked over his shoulder as he opened the data sphere and had Laif retina stamp the warrant. They had never set up any kind of emergency heads-up alert to the hub… not one that they could activate with someone standing over them. Big mistake, Laif realized.

  He clenched his teeth as the captain issued orders. They used a shorthand language, a mix of acronyms and one-word commands that Laif could only guess at. “Let me call Nilsson up to Admin,” he said, trying for caasual, hick-mayor helpfulness.”No reason for him not to come. I consult with him now and again.”

  “We need to do an evidence search.” The captain was checking a very small and compact stun gun.

  “I’m coming with you.” Laif stepped forward, reading refusal in the captain’s narrowed eyes. “Simpler than issuing you a pass. You need an upper level security clearance to ride the elevator clear up to the hub… at least the agricenter part of it. It’s closed.” He dropped the useless act. “Damn it, it’s my platform.” For now. Until they had to reestablish communication or the real occupying force showed up.

  At least this crew hadn’t brought a sapper.

  The captain considered for the space of three seconds, nodded.

  “All right. You do as I say.” He made eye contact with a small, tough looking woman with a semitic-mix face. Jerked his chin infinitesimally in Laif’s direction. The babysitter.

  The captain left the hard-eyed watch bitch with Bar. So much for Bar tipping Dane off. Laif wondered bleakly who had started this ugly ball rolling. Whoever it was had clearly implicated Administration in the mess, but not enough that he was under arrest. Arlin, he wondered? But Boone was so utterly in the dark about anything that went on above the skinside level that it wasn’t likely.

  At the captain’s order, Laif expressed the elevator so that they wouldn’t stop at any intervening levels.

  Didn’t really matter. Dane would know the elevator was coming, and the kid would come to see…

  They strapped in at the microG pause, then lifted the last stretch to the hub. They knew how to handle themselves in microG, Laif noted sourly. Probably trained over on New Singapore, where you could buy anything if you were buddies with the Prime. Competent bunch, but then they recruited kids from birth, he’d heard, bought up orphans, kids from permanent refugee camps, anyone who wouldn’t have much of a future. They grew up with no allegiance except to the Force. Ideal soldiers
. Lifetime of training, and you could put ’em in anywhere with no complications of family or national identity. The woman who had been assigned to watch him was doing just that, dispassionately and competently. He wondered what her history was, wondered how the hell he was going to fix this mess.

  Sweet Mohammad, Buddha, and Jesus.

  The door chimed and opened, and Laif narrowed his eyes against the flood of light, cursing himself because he had forgotten to grab his goggles. Every damn one of them had donned a pair. “You stay back,” the captain said, indicating Laif but speaking to his watchdog. She nodded. Laif didn’t. Pushed off, got about two centimeters before she grabbed him and killed his momentum, still anchored to a strap.

  She didn’t say anything and she didn’t have to.

  For a moment, Laif thought they had figured it out, that Koi was already off in hiding with his family, that it would work out after all. His com link vibrated. Bar? “Yes?” he murmured, activating it. Nothing. He waited for a couple of heartbeats, then shrugged. Bar changed his mind.

  Two members of the team pushed off gently, drifting sideways, eyes on small, handheld screens. Spoke cryptically. The captain noddded once. Sharply. One of the others raised a small, squat weapon, fired it casually, with no apparent aim.

  Guided, Laif thought bleakly. By that scanner. A small exploosion of motion among the tubes sent three of the team pushing off hard and fast. They disappeared into the greenery. Laif pushed off reflexively, was tackled by his watchdog, who slammed them both into the side of the elevator housing. The impact knocked the wind out of him and they rebounded, drifting slowly, stalling in the open space around the elevator. Laif gasped for breath, his ribs aching, as the three returned, hauling a limp form with them.

  Not Koi, thank the gods. One of the females — Koi said they all had names, but he didn’t know them.

  Her eyes were open, glazed and unseeing, her limbs slack. The small bright orange butt of the guided stun dart protruded from her shoulder. The leader of the trio spoke a couple of syllables to the captain, shook her head. The captain swore one very English syllable and pushed over to them. Grabbed her neck, his frown intensifying, snatched open a pouch at his belt and slapped a small patch onto her carotid groove.