The rest was reprogramming the House computer yet again. He locked the girl in the closet for twenty-four hours, making sure the House wouldn't let her out. He programmed the House computer to reset its security protocols in thirty hours, so that the girl could call for help if she couldn't figure out how to leave on her own.
That was the best he could do for her.
Then he prepared his message for the authorities.
He attached a holo unit to the side door. The unit replayed a recording of the spraying that Shindo had done. The Gyonnese had designed the holo unit. The Gyonnese had kept cameras on the field where their larvae were growing. The cameras were for the parents, so that they could see each moment of their child's development.
The recording had been edited down to just a few short minutes. First, it showed a wind-swept field under a blue sky. Light seemed thin, washing out the tall grass and the mountains beyond.
A running clock in both alien characters and regular numbers showed time lapsing. A vehicle hovered low over the grass, spraying a liquid.
Then the flying car disappeared and the grass died. The ground was brownish red, but parts of it turned black. The Gyonnese showed up, their whiskers moving in agitation. They bent in half and dug at the dirt, pulling up the dead larvae.
Larvae were usually light brown. These were black and shriveled.
The Gyonnese folded themselves in half, hands raised to the sky in a sign of complete and utter distress.
Eventually the image faded and words covered the screen: Ten thousand died in the first wave. Twenty thousand families lost generations of genetic heritage. This act was repeated twice more. Sixty thousand Gyonnese have paid with their futures.
How has Rhonda Flint paid?
The Gyonnese had set up a contact button at the corner of the image, and that proved the hardest to attach. Because the House's communications with the rest of Valhalla Basin had been shut off, Yu couldn't test to make sure he had set up the contact button correctly.
He had to hope that the instructions the Gyonnese had given him were correct.
He finished with very little time to spare. He checked on the girl—she was still unconscious, and she seemed unharmed. He made sure the closet was secured, then he went searching for Nafti.
Yu found Nafti watching a holoshow in the other bedroom. He had sprawled on the bed as if the place belonged to him.
Yu flicked the show off. “You were supposed to be monitoring the House."
"The House monitors the House.” Nafti stood like a kid who'd been caught in his parent's room.
"And we shut that off, remember?"
"Oh, yeah."
Yu had to remind himself that he had hired Nafti for his muscles, not his brains. “We're going to wait for the woman outside."
"Wouldn't it be easier to catch her in here?"
It would have been, if Yu hadn't already shut down a lot of the House's systems and installed the holoimages in the kitchen. Rhonda Shindo would know the moment she walked in the house that something was wrong.
"Stop asking questions. Just do what you're told."
Nafti must have caught the note of exasperation in Yu's voice because he nodded. They collected everything they had brought, then Yu stopped and directed a housebot to thoroughly clean every room except the kitchen and the closet part of the girl's bedroom. It wouldn't prevent the authorities from figuring out who took the woman—especially since the girl had seen him—but it would slow them down and give them time enough to authenticate the message the Gyonnese had left.
That message would turn the attention from him to the Gyonnese. Then he could continue with his quiet life, finding little objects for people who paid him too much money.
He helped Nafti out of the house, found the man a hiding spot near the back yard—one that would be in the line of site from Yu's hiding spot—and instructed Nafti to move only when he got the signal.
Then Yu slipped into his own hiding spot, not too far from the side door.
Rhonda Shindo arrived five minutes later. She was slim like her daughter, but not as tall. She had the same bronze skin, but her hair was dark and pulled back. Her eyes were dark too. The girl had apparently gotten her striking looks from the father who believed her dead.
Shindo wore a pants suit and heels, conservative like the rest of this place. She carried a briefcase, which surprised Yu. So far, she didn't seem to notice anything wrong.
He wanted her to just get inside the door before he grabbed her. Then he and Nafti could drag her to the back yard and their vehicle without catching much attention.
But she touched the door before opening it and drew her hand back, as if she had been shocked.
He could hear her speak—and the House answer—but the words weren't clear. He cursed silently. He hadn't expected her to talk to the House from the outside.
He crept forward. The House was reciting an ad for an upgrade and Shindo was looking annoyed.
She set down her briefcase as she said, “Just tell me if Talia put the electronics on the door."
"Not this time,” House said. “The electronics were placed by a man who deleted his identity from my files. He conducted a thorough scrub but forgot to delete the section in which I monitored his deletion."
Yu silently cursed. What else had he forgotten? Or just plain missed? Could the House still notify security? Had it?
"Would you like me to bring that up on the wall panel to your left?” the House asked Shindo.
She was frowning, deepening the lines around her nose and mouth. “Yes, I would like to see that."
The visual would alert her to the problem. The element of surprise was slipping away from him, and he wasn't in the right place to alert Nafti.
So Yu stepped forward. He stopped right beside her. She was his height and thinner. He could probably subdue her himself.
"There's no need to see it,” Yu said. “I did it."
She turned. Her eyes widened ever so slightly, the only sign that she was startled. “I don't think we've met, Mr.—?"
Politeness. He hadn't expected that. He waved his hand beside him, a small signal for Nafti, but he wasn't sure if Nafti could see it from this angle.
"We haven't met, ma'am,” Yu said. He could be as polite as anyone else—more polite, even, if he needed to be. “But I know who you are. You're Rhonda Shindo. And just so that we remain on an even footing, let me tell you that I'm a Recovery Man."
Her body stiffened. “I've never heard of a Recovery Man."
"I think it's pretty self-explanatory.” He was watching her, but out of the corner of his eye, he was hoping to see Nafti. “I recover things. Sometimes I even recover people."
That last was a lie, at least until today.
He added, “I work for the Gyonnese."
Her mouth opened. He couldn't tell if she was surprised or not.
"And don't play dumb about the Gyonnese,” he said. “It's all on record."
That seemed to help her find her voice. She raised her chin, just like her daughter had done. It seemed to be the family gesture of defiance.
"That was settled,” she said, “long ago, under Earth Alliance law."
She glanced toward the front of the house. She was thinking of running. If she got too far out, she would be able to call for help through her links.
"Actually,” Yu said, staying close to her, “the case would be settled if you'd handed over your daughter to the Gyonnese. But you didn't. You hid her."
His words startled him more than they startled her. He wasn't talking to her just because he was waiting for Nafti. Yu still wasn't sure he wanted to do this.
He wanted to hear how she answered.
"No,” Shindo said. “I didn't hide my daughter. Talia's been with me the whole time."
Nafti took that moment to show up. He approached silently, stopping half a meter behind her.
"Talia's not the child the Gyonnese want and you know it. Talia is too young.” Yu took one step towa
rd her.
Shindo took a step back and ran into Nafti. He didn't touch her—apparently remembering Yu's instructions this time.
She glanced over her shoulder and had to look up at Nafti's tattooed face. She looked from Nafti to Yu and then toward the front again. She was trying to figure out a way out of this.
"Talia is the only child I have,” she said.
Her answers weren't helping. She actually sounded panicked for the girl.
"Technically, she is the only child you have,” Yu said, “but she's also what the Gyonnese call a false child. Very clever of you to have the number placed inside the skin, behind an ear. The tag itself intrigued me. The number we found was six. There are five others out there."
She looked trapped for the first time. Trapped and terrified.
"What do you want?” she asked.
"Tell me where the real child is.” If she did that, he could leave without her or the girl. The Gyonnese wouldn't complain so long as they got the original child.
"Talia is my real child,” Shindo said, and it sounded like she believed it.
Which disappointed Yu. Maybe she had killed the others, so that the remaining clone would be the only child. Or maybe she had just killed the original. Sometimes it took several attempts to get a viable clone. Five attempts wasn't unheard of.
"Technically,” Yu said, “Talia's yours. But the Gyonnese want the original. The true child. Remember? I'm sure you do. It's the heart of the case against you."
"Please,” she said. “Leave us alone."
She glanced toward the street.
"You know I can't do that,” Yu said.
"I don't know that.” Now she did sound panicked. “I've already told you where my child is."
"Give us the true child,” Yu said, “or we take you."
Her mouth opened, and the panic became even more visible. She clearly hadn't thought anyone would take her. The courts only ruled on the children, as a punishment to her.
"You can't take me.” Her voice shook. “I'm not on the warrant."
"We are under orders to take you.” Yu was staring at her in contempt. She hadn't created those clones to have a child. She had created them as a buffer, to keep herself away from the Gyonnese.
Children, be they human or Gyonnese, didn't matter to her.
She raised that damn chin even higher. “Show me the legal document giving you that right, and I'll come freely, so long as you let me contact my attorney."
Nafti was watching all of this in confusion. He held his arms out slightly so he could grab her if he needed to.
"We don't need a legal document.” Yu was going to take her. He knew that now. And he didn't care what the Gyonnese did to her.
At least the child would be all right. In fact, the child would be better off without her.
Shindo's chin came down. Her eyes were wild. She had finally realized that Yu meant to take her, no matter what.
"You need a warrant,” she said. “The Gyonnese are part of the Alliance. They have to go by Alliance law, just like the rest of us."
Stupid, arrogant woman. As if she cared about the law.
"If you went by Alliance law,” Yu said, “you would have given up the true child fourteen years ago. Humans flout this law all the time, with their Disappearance Companies that aren't prosecuted for secreting criminals away and giving them new identities. The Gyonnese decided if you people can do that, they can hire a Recovery Man."
Shindo lunged toward the front of the house. Nafti didn't even have to run after her. Instead, he just wrapped his arms around her, imprisoning her against him.
His grip was so tight that tears came to her eyes.
"You're coming with us,” Yu said.
"Let me contact my lawyer.” She didn't struggle like her daughter. She must have realized how futile struggling would be.
"If you had one, you'd've sent a message through your links by now.” Although Yu knew better. He'd blocked link access this close to the house. “And he couldn't help you anyway."
"Kidnapping is a capital offense in human societies."
Yu shrugged. “We're just taking you for questioning."
"Against my will.” Her voice rose in panic.
Nafti inclined his head toward the back, silently asking if Yu wanted him to drag the woman away.
"What did you do to Talia?” Shindo finally asked. It had taken her long enough.
"Nothing,” Yu said.
"But you said—"
"I said we found the tag."
"How?” Shindo's voice broke. Now she was going to pretend that the daughter mattered to her. Although it was much too late to convince Yu.
"Just a little touch behind her head,” Yu said. “She'll wake up soon enough. Then she'll miss you and go to the authorities and someone will find our message attached to your door, and they'll know that you're a mass murderer, who has so far managed to escape justice."
Her face was flushed. “Gyonnese law supercedes here. That's Alliance precedent, and under Gyonnese law—"
"The Gyonnese have true laws and false laws,” Yu said. It was one of the many quirks of their civilization. He'd had trouble with that from the moment he started working with them. “They seem to thrive on more than one system. And while they prefer the known universe to see their true laws, sometimes they have to rely on the false laws."
"Like now,” Nafti said into her hair.
"But Talia...” Shindo said.
"You don't need to worry about her any more,” Yu said, as if she had ever truly worried about the girl. “Now it's time to start worrying about yourself."
* * * *
"I'm not going to be able to listen to this any more,” Nafti said. “I have a headache."
He'd been saying that since they got back to the ship. They had imprisoned Shindo in a cargo bay and she'd been pounding on the door ever since. Even though the ship was large, the sound echoed throughout, thrumming into the bridge like the base line of a particularly bad song.
"I mean it,” Nafti said. He rubbed his bald head for emphasis. He had cleaned the tattoos off his face and removed the whitener from his eyes. Now his skin was dark and pristine and his eyes a deep, royal blue. “I'm getting sick here."
So was Yu. His head ached as well, but he wasn't sure if it was from the woman pounding below or Nafti's reaction to it.
"All right,” Yu said. “Go down there and make her shut up."
"Do I hurt her?” Nafti had been frustrated ever since they got back from Shindo's house. Every time he'd come close to hurting her, Yu had stopped him.
"No,” Yu said. “Just bargain with her. Or tie her up. Or something."
He didn't care as long as it got done. He had more important things to think about.
Like getting off this rock. It hadn't been hard to get Shindo to the ship. In fact, it had been surprisingly easy. No one questioned the way they hauled her to the vehicle, hauled her out of the vehicle, and dragged her through the port.
He supposed they figured if she really needed help, she'd send a message through her links. But he was using a small handheld that blocked any link communications. The device had limited range—it literally had to be on the person it was blocking—so no one else's links were effected.
To passersby, she looked drunk or crazy or both.
Valhalla Basin's port had its own departure customs, and they were almost as annoying as Bosak City's. Yu monitored the equipment, and finally the promised holoimage appeared in the center of the bridge floor.
The image showed his cargo ship in yellow, the ship ahead of his in green, and all the ships behind in red.
Yu had to acknowledge the notification. He brushed his hand across the top of the board, then got a timeline in response.
Not long until liftoff.
Then, in the little holoimage, the top of the port swiveled, and an opening appeared above his ship. His board confirmed: the first stage to liftoff had occurred.
His stomach turned. The mom
ent he left Valhalla Basin with Shindo, he would have committed a major crime within the Alliance.
He had his defense ready—he had holoimages of the Gyonnese confirming the work as well as their promise that they were acting under the advice of their own legal counsel.
He was going to argue—if he had to—that what he had done was no different from a Tracker recovering a Disappeared.
Even though he had a hunch the Earth Alliance would see this differently. It certainly felt different. He kept thinking about that poor girl, stuffed in the closet, and wishing he had set the controls to free her sooner than twenty-four hours from the moment he left.
"Hey, Hadad?"
Yu jumped. He'd never heard any voice on the ship's speakers before except the voice of the ship herself. But this voice belonged to Nafti, and he sounded hesitant.
"What?” Yu made sure he sounded as annoyed as he felt.
"Um, this woman down here, she says the cargo hold is poisoned."
Yu punched a button to the left of the no-touch board. Nafti's ugly bald head appeared next to the image of the ships awaiting liftoff.
"I'm busy here,” Yu snapped. “Why are you bothering me?"
"Because she listed at least five of the cargos that we carried in the last six months.” Nafti looked scared.
"So? She found a manifest."
"You said we don't keep a manifest."
They didn't. Yu frowned. “How would she know?"
"She says that there's contaminants in the hold."
"Nonsense,” Yu said. “We have a service that cleans everything."
It wasn't really a service. It was a bunch of cleaner bots he'd liberated from a previous owner. They were supposed to glow red when they reached their limit of hazardous materials.
"Well, the service ain't working,” Nafti said.
The timer was blinking. His ship on the holoimage in front of him had turned a pale lime as the yellow blended into the green.
"I don't have time for this,” Yu said and deleted Nafti's image.
Then Yu ran his hand above the board, feeling how easily the ship rose upward. Silent, maneuverable—empty.
His sensors told him that the port had indeed opened its roof for him, there were no shields, and he was clear to take off.
Which he did.
Analog SFF, January-February 2009 Page 33