by Richard Dee
“Sure, that’s a good plan, now from the start, how did you meet up with Rixon again?”
“You know that Elana and I had been working for a survey company.”
“That job on the Silver Moons?”
“That’s right, we were attacked by a gang of criminals, they had speeders, a big mother ship, the works. They were after all the information the team had on mineral deposits. There was a bit of a fight, we destroyed a couple of their speeders and disabled another. The pilot of that one was alive but about to be swallowed in a lava flow.”
“Don’t tell me,” Griff said, “you went all soft and rescued them.”
“I did. Elana thought it was crazy behaviour. Even now, I don’t know why I did it, it just seemed wrong to leave a beaten enemy to die like that.”
“I guess the pilot you saved was this Irin?”
“Yes, and she told me that I should have left her to die.”
“That’s gratitude for you.”
“She said she couldn’t go back, that she wouldn’t be trusted by the captain.”
“Sounds like a familiar story. Only it turned out that the captain was Rixon?”
“That’s right, but I didn’t know that at first. It was only when the mother ship arrived and I heard the voice telling me to surrender that I recognised him.”
It had been a shock to find out that the leader of the gang was a man that I thought had died over fifteen years before. Rixon and I went way back, he had given me a job the first time that my life had got really complicated. That was when I had met Griff and Myra as well. I had always thought that Rixon was a good person. We had been through some adventures, back on the Orca. He had saved me, given me a job. I had kept him alive when we had been captured by the Chenko brothers. We were as close as it had been possible to be. When I heard his voice ordering me to surrender, it was a shock. He had certainly changed a lot in the intervening years.
“Let me guess,” said Griff, “Rixon wanted Irin back, as well as all your survey data. Until he found that it was you.”
“That’s about right.” In my mind I was back in orbit over the moon. We had saved the lifters and the survey team. Rixon or not, I would never have handed the information or Irin over. I would have delayed and stalled him until my backup arrived.
Griff finished the story for me. “I expect that then he said that he had to have Irin. If he let her go his crew would think he was weak. But he could let you go, for old time’s sake.”
“Have you spoken to him?” I asked. It was perfect, the way he said it made it sound like he had been there, listening. “Irin asked to stay with us; she reckoned that if she went back to Rixon, she would be killed. Then she told me about her family, she said that they were hostages to her continued good behaviour.”
He laughed cynically. “It’s how these people work, they con pilots and crews into working for them, with the threat that if they leave their family gets a visit. If they stay loyal and die the family gets looked after. It’s what they tell them all. Every now and again they have to carry the threat out, but it’s mostly urban myth.” I heard Griff sigh. “What’s the matter with him? It was never his way.”
“He told me the same, when I went to try and negotiate a truce between us,” I added.
“I suppose you felt sorry for her,” Ria spoke at this point. Here we go, I thought.
“Hi Ria,” I said, trying to sound upbeat. “Yes, of course I did. But I was stuck. If she went back, she was dead; if she stayed with me her family were. We probably were too, unless the guardship arrived. What would you have done? I couldn’t send her back to face certain death at the hands of the man I had once considered a friend, especially after I had saved her.”
“You should never have rescued her,” she answered, avoiding the question. Maybe she was right, looking at it after the event but it didn’t help.
“Save a life and it becomes your responsibility,” Griff quoted the old saying. “So she tagged along and got you to help her?”
He had it wrong too. “It wasn’t like that, Griff. Anyway, it wouldn’t have helped me and Elana. Don’t forget that Rixon still wanted the survey reports. As it happened, I never got the chance to make that decision. Irin was going to go back, to save her family, even though she knew what it meant. Before either of us had the chance to decide, the cavalry turned up, Rixon vanished.”
“Oh,” was all that came out of the speaker. That was something they didn’t know. I used the silence to get my point across.
“So you tell me, Ria, what was I supposed to do then? I had Irin and she had no way to go back, even though she had decided to. I couldn’t talk to Rixon; he’d gone, chased by the Urssa Mining guardship. There was no way of knowing if what Rixon had said was true, if he would carry out his threat. But Irin believed it, I had no choice.”
“So she persuaded you to go and rescue her family? What did she offer in return?” Hadn’t she been listening to a word I had said?
“That’s not fair, Ria,” said Griff. “Seems like Dave was in a corner. What was he supposed to do?”
“It’s men, isn’t it,” she replied. “Give them a sniff and they’ll do what you want.”
That was enough for me. “Listen, Ria,” I shouted, “you weren’t there. I’d just been sacked by Urssa and paid for a year’s work. We had nothing else to do. Perhaps you don’t know but Elana was all for it as well, she said it would be an adventure. We didn’t just go because I said so, or because Irin offered me her body. We talked about it, made a joint decision. I still think that it was the right thing to do.”
“But Elana was my friend, and you let her die. All because some girl fluttered her eyes and acted scared, she was a bloody pirate and you fell for it.”
The call ended abruptly. I was shocked by Ria’s response, she had always been so mellow, I had only ever seen her lose her temper a couple of times, both of those were with her father when we were all a lot younger. There must be more to her relationship with Elana than I had realised. I had thought she was just someone she knew of, someone who needed a job. I had hoped that time would have changed her views, instead, the fact that I was still with Irin seemed to have made things worse.
I sat back and tried to remember more about the day I had met Rixon again. I was still full of adrenaline from the action over the moon, then I had heard his voice. That had shaken me. Rixon must have realised that I would stall him till my backup arrived, but he had agreed to let me go if I handed her over. Irin was about to go back to his ship, she hadn’t wanted to but she had said that she would, then the Urssa Mining guardship had arrived and Rixon had gone.
I hadn’t told Ria that bit before, I hadn’t had a chance. Would it have made any difference to her reaction if I had? She knew it now and it didn’t seem to have. Did I really need her approval, and why was she so cut up about Elana anyway? I’d never heard her talk about her before she had given me her name as a possible crew member.
Irin appeared, wrapped in several towels and looking worried. “I heard shouting. I’ve been keeping out of the way. What’s happened, Dave?” she asked, coming to put her arms around me.
“I just spoke to Griff. Actually, he called me, we had a disagreement.”
“Griff and Ria are good friends of yours, aren’t they?” She bent and kissed me. “What was it about?”
I didn’t really want to tell her what Ria had said, but I think she knew anyway. “It was about you and Rixon, back at the Silver Moons. It wasn’t Griff so much as Ria.”
“Does she still blame me for Elana?”
“She knows more of the story now; she thought that I stopped you going back to Rixon and that you made me go to Jintao.” That was the diplomatic way of putting what Ria had hinted at.
“Well that’s just wrong,” she replied angrily, “it wasn’t like that at all.”
“I know. I just have to convince Ria somehow.”
“I’m calling her right now then; get this all out in the open.”
“No.” I hadn’t meant it to but it came out as a shout. She stepped back. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that to be quite as loud,” I said. “I know how she thinks, it’s best to let her calm down, Griff will talk to her. We can call later.”
“How much else is she unaware of?” asked Irin. “Does she know the full story of what happened on Jintao?”
I had to admit that she didn’t. “I didn’t get the chance to tell her, then or today. She ended the call before I could. I don’t know if it would’ve changed her mind. Perhaps there’ll be another chance when she’s had time to think about it.”
She looked annoyed. “Well, if I can’t call, I’m going to message her. I should have done it ages ago. I want to tell her my side, tell her that I’m not the villain here, that I was stuck.”
I had an idea; it was time to stop running away and face up to things. “Don’t message her. We’ll go to New Devon after Jintao and you can tell her yourself.”
“OK,” she said, she had that look on her face. I’d seen it before. Myra had worn it when someone had upset me. “If you’re sure, I suppose it’s going to have to happen sooner or later, we might as well get it over with. I’ll call my mother on Jintao, let her know we’re on the way, but we won’t be stopping. It was going to be a surprise too.”
“We’ll come straight back,” I said. “I promise.”
The rest of the trip passed in peace. Ria never called back, I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Perhaps it would all be OK when we got to New Devon. At least it meant that Irin would still be with me. I felt happier for that, knowing that I would have backup when I faced Ria.
Chapter Three
We arrived in orbit above Jintao and cleared customs. I used Freefall’s normal ID and no questions were asked, whatever Sal had done seemed to have worked. I asked Myra to plot a descent to the place where we had landed before.
Irin hadn’t managed to get a call through to her mother, the phone was answered automatically, she left lots of messages. “She’s hopeless with her phone,” she said. She sounded unconcerned, unlike the last time, but then, Rixon wasn’t chasing her now. “She’s probably left it in a field somewhere; or lost the charger.”
We spiralled down and the pattern of fields and countryside grew until we landed just outside Tri-town. When we opened the ramp, the same red-gold sun was bright in the sky but it was quite cold this time.
“It’s getting on for winter here,” said Irin. “It’s a good time to visit, less outdoor work and more leisure time.”
Using the ground car that had belonged to Elana we went back into town. It looked exactly the same as it had the last time we had been here; maybe it was even the same people sitting in front of the buildings in the main street.
We went through town and straight to the house that Sanja had been living in the last time we were here; it was locked up and I got the feeling that it had been empty for more than a few days. Irin was becoming agitated. “Where are they? There’s been nobody living here for a while.”
“Do you have a key, or know where she leaves one?” I peered in through the windows; it was dark inside and I couldn’t make out any details.
“I’ve got one in the car.” Irin strolled off and opened the toolbox in the back of the ground car. She returned with a long screwdriver. “Round the back,” she said. “We can force the door.”
I grabbed her. “What if the local police turn up?” I asked.
“My son lives here, it’s my mother’s house” she replied, pulling free.
“Yes, but can you prove it? Not only that, don’t forget that we’re supposed to be dead.”
“We’re wasting time; I’m not leaving unless I know.” I followed her to the back of the building, into a small dusty courtyard. We were shielded from the road and out of sight of any other houses. Irin levered a window open, without breaking the plasto-glass and climbed in.
I was about to follow her. “Stay out,” she said, “and keep watch.”
In less than a minute and she was back. “Nobody here,” she said, sounding less bothered than she had been. “The water and electricity have been turned off, her clothes are missing, and a suitcase. Some of Nuri’s stuff is gone as well.”
“She’s gone on holiday then,” I said.
“Unlikely, she’s never had much money. Perhaps she’s moved in with Costa.”
“We should get back into town, ask him where they are,” I suggested. That cheered her up. Her mother and the Villiars manager had been in a relationship, he had helped us before.
We got back in the car and headed into town.
The Villiars office was warm inside, I was looking forward to seeing Costa again, he had been so helpful last time, saving Irin and me from the attention of the police and keeping her legal with false identity papers.
“Mr Costa is not here,” said the secretary, who I didn’t recognise. “He’s away on company business for a few weeks. It was all a bit short notice. Mr Evers, his replacement, is in if you want to see him.”
“Has Costa gone alone?” Irin asked.
She pulled a face. “He’s taken some woman with him, and a child, not his or hers either. I think that she’s after his money… or a roof over her head.”
I could see Irin’s face start to colour. I waited, for the inevitable explosion.
“That’s my mother and my son, she looks after Nuri for me while I work,” she said. “My husband is dead.” There was an awkward silence. The secretary suddenly found something fascinating to look at on her screen while I tried to look serious. “My father is dead too,” she added, “so why can’t my mother and Mr Costa be together?”
Mr Evers came from his office. “What’s the noise?” he said, looking at us. “How can I help you?”
“We’re looking for my mother, Sanja,” Irin said.
He nodded. “I know the name. I’ve heard it a lot. A lovely lady by all accounts. You must be Irin, I’ve heard a lot about you too, from quite a few people since I’ve been here, all of it good.” The secretary looked annoyed. We went into his office, he shut the door behind us and we sat.
“I’d call for a drink but I doubt she’d do it,” he said. “I’m afraid the atmosphere in here is a bit frosty. I think that Jeran is jealous of your mother, her relationship with Costa. The way she looks every time the name Costa comes up sort of gives it away. I’ve been sent over by Villiars to cover for Costa’s absence.”
“Where is he?” asked Irin. “Has he got Sanja and Nuri with him?”
“Costa was called away by Villiars management,” he explained. “They wanted to use his expertise on another world. He took them both with him. The idea was that they could have a break while he was working.”
“Do you have their location so I can call them?” she asked.
“I have a card here somewhere,” he said, turning papers over on his desk. “He was taken by one of the Development Managers, from our head office on Callo. Where has it gone, I can’t find it.”
He switched on his intercom. “Jeran, where is the information on Mr Costa’s location?” he said.
There was no answer, then the door opened. The secretary came in. “I’m sorry, Mr Evers,” she said formally, “I don’t have it, I thought that the file was on your desk. It’s not information that anyone can have you know.”
“I can’t find it,” he sounded exasperated. He turned back to us as Jeran left the office. “I don’t know where they were going; he’d gone before I got here. If Jeran knows, she isn’t saying.” He shrugged. “Villiars are like that, they do worry about competitors knowing what they’re up to. Not that it applies to you, to families.”
“Thank you anyway,” I said. “Perhaps you can call us if you find it.” I passed him one of my identity discs. “You can reach us on this number.”
He nodded and put the disc on his desk. He was about to speak when his phone rang, he picked up the call and listened for a moment. “I’m sorry,” he said, covering the mouthpiece with his hand,
“I need to take this, if I find out where you can reach them, I’ll let you know.”
We left the building; Jeran gave Irin a sneering glance, which was returned.
“She knows,” Irin said as we walked to the car, “and she won’t let on.” In case she was thinking of going back and asking again, I held her hand, tightly. The last thing I wanted was to draw too much attention to ourselves.
“We can call Evers from Freefall, without her knowing. We might get a better response. We’ll find them. When we do, maybe we can get to visit them wherever they are.”
She had a sudden thought, gripped my hand tight. “If they’ve gone to a new world, perhaps we can go and work for Villiars there, we would be out of the way for a while, with people who didn’t already know us.”
That was very true, as we had already done it once we would be perfect. And it was true that a new world would be anonymous, which would solve the identity problem. Costa and Irin’s mother were hardly likely to tell the Federation about us. It was a possibility worth thinking about.
We were approaching our car when we saw that there was a boy leant on it. I was about to tell him to clear off when I recognised him. Eyck was another face from the past; he was Nuri’s friend and a lad who had helped us the last time we were here.
“I thought it was you,” he said. “I recognised the ground car, it was the lady’s, the one who got shot. Have you come looking for Sanja and Nuri?”
“Yes,” said Irin, “but the manager says that they were away.”
“That’s right, Nuri was full of excitement, last time I saw him. ‘We’re off to see the galaxy’,” he said. “Costa had a call from his bosses, he was wanted on a planet a long way away, he suggested taking Sanja and Nuri, they could relax while he worked.”
“That was what Mr Evers just told us,” said Irin. “How long ago was this?”
“About three weeks I guess, they were going to be gone for a few months but that was OK because they were with Costa. He said that he was coming back here afterwards so your mother knew that her job would be secure. I went to the port and saw them off, in a Villiars ship. I hope they come back soon. I miss them.”