by Richard Dee
There was a man sitting in an armchair. The noise was coming from a machine beside him; there were white gas cylinders on a metal stand and a bellows arrangement, it looked like it was helping him breathe. A tube led to a mask over his face, hiding his features. Together we walked towards him.
“Well, well,” gasped the man in the mask. “You’re not supposed to be here, Miss Siggursson.” His voice through the mask was distorted; his breathing was laboured, despite the machine that clicked as it pumped oxygen into his mask.
“You’re not supposed to be anywhere but in the ground on Jintao,” he continued, his chest rising and falling in time with the machine. “My trusty lieutenant let me down, making promises he shouldn’t have. That was the start of it all. Now you’ve delivered yourself to me, I can remedy things for him. Who is that with you, is it your protection?”
I stepped forward. “If you like,” I said, “unless you have an army outside. I should be able to manage one old man in a wheelchair. I can just disconnect your oxygen supply, which would probably do it.”
I must have moved close enough for him to see who I was; he went quiet for a moment. The pace of the clicking increased. “Strachen was right,” he said. “The Sprite, you’re the navy pilot, from Oonal.”
I realised then who I was talking to, the face behind the mask and the frail figure was nothing like the last time I had seen him. And they had been keeping tabs on me, just like they had said they would, all those years ago. In my mind, I was back in the cave on Oonal, waking up after the disaster that the Navy’s mission to that planet had become.
“Hello, Dolmen, fancy seeing you here,” I said. Irin gasped.
He waved stick-thin arms around the room, taking in the faded grandeur of the furniture. “I live here, rather more than I wish I did. Strachen helps me get around but I can’t take the stress of too much travelling. Leaving the planet is out of the question.”
I felt sorry for him; he had spared my life once, given me a second chance.
“You’re taking a risk coming here,” he wheezed. “A Federation man like you, ex-navy and all that.”
“Not anymore,” I replied, “that’s someone else. My chip was edited, remember. You sent me to meet Griff on Basilan.”
He nodded. “Eric told you the bandage was anti-static,” he wheezed laughter, the action was hurting him, he bent over and coughed loudly for what seemed like several minutes. He recovered, the clicking slowed.
Beside me, Irin whispered, “What’s he talking about?”
“I’ll tell you later. I thought you said you knew Dolmen?”
“I only met him once,” she replied.
“Doesn’t she know about you?” Dolmen said. “That’s interesting. It seems you both have a past then, the old data’s still there you know, on your chip. It’s just been overwritten. These IW guys aren’t daft and their technology is as good as anything that the Federation has, just different. They can read it, they might have done it already. You’ll be a spy.”
“Then why hasn’t it happened already? I’ve been scanned, so has my ship. Nobody noticed. Maybe nobody cares.”
He laughed again. “They have no reason to probe the chip, the surface information is enough. I said that they could if they were pointed in the right direction.” He paused and took deep breaths, the clicking on the machine increased for a time. Its sound was almost hypnotic, I had to concentrate to get the meaning of his words.
“I can’t talk for long at a time, there’s too much damage to my lungs,” he said. “Did Griff send you? He knows that he could never come back here himself.” He paused for a moment, “he would be in prison by now if he tried. I suppose you were the logical choice.”
What was he talking about? “Griff never sent me, I’ve come to find Rixon, there’s something he needs to know.”
He thought for a moment. “What could that be? Maybe I could get him a message. Let me think about it. I wasn’t expecting you to say that. I thought that you were here because of your family.”
That was a shocker. Like this whole thing was turning out to be, the mention of my family stirred up a lot of memories, not all of them welcome. I had no real interest in seeing any of them again. I had erased them from my mind when Rick had erased my real name on Basilan. If Dolmen thought that the mention of them would change anything, make me do whatever he wanted, he was in for a shock.
“I don’t care about them,” I said, trying to sound as uninterested as I felt. “My family are part of the edited details, my father never wanted me around, my siblings hated me because my mother wasn’t their mother. I came here to give Rixon a message, to find out why he changed, why he went from the person he was to the person he became. And to find someone else, someone who’s gone missing when they shouldn’t have.”
He ignored my reference to Irin’s family. “Why now? After all this time? It’s over fifteen years since the Orca was blown up.”
“I thought he was killed when the Orca was destroyed. I only found out six months ago that he was alive. He had changed, I realised that I needed to know what had happened. Why he never got in touch with me after the Chenko’s were dealt with. That ought to do for a start.”
“Look, kid, you should have left it. I saved you once, but that’s it. Rixon’s in enough trouble because of her.” He waved his arm at Irin. Now was the right time for Irin to ask about her family. She seemed frozen, was it fear? Before she could speak, Dolmen continued.
“You’d be best getting back to the Federation and forgetting all this ever happened. Strachen,” he called, and the tall man from the bar came in. He must have got into the house another way. How much had he heard?
“Yes, boss?” He came to stand behind Dolmen’s chair, holding a pistol in his hand. The look on his face said that he was eager to use it. I had the feeling that our visit was nearly over.
“One last thing,” I said. “Did you ever meet Myra?”
Dolmen’s face fell. “That was the bloody Chenko’s wasn’t it? I’m sorry but it was all so long ago, it doesn’t matter anymore.”
I played my last card. “Did you know about Melva?”
“Who’s that?” he wheezed.
“Melva is Myra’s daughter, my daughter, Rixon’s cousin. I’ve just found her myself. Not only that, Rixon’s mother knows that he’s alive, after years of thinking he was dead like the rest of us. She wants to speak to him.” He had been leaning forward, now he snapped upright.
“Oh, that does complicate things. And I thought that our business was finished. Wait a moment, Strachen.”
Strachen looked disappointed.
“Will you tell Rixon that, please?”
The silence stretched for a moment. The clicking slowed.
“Strachen,” Dolmen said, “take these two back to their ship. They’re not to be harmed, but they’re not to take off. They can wander around town if they want but they’re not leaving the planet.”
“OK, boss,” he replied. “I’ll put the word out, what if—”
Dolmen shut him up. “Nobody is to harm them. If he comes around, you tell him I’m sorting it out.”
He turned back to us. “See the trouble Rixon has left me in, we’re all at each other’s throats. Perhaps I should kill him, and you. It would solve a lot of problems. Go back to your ship, leave it with me. I can get hold of him; I’ll give him your message, for old time’s sake.”
“Thank you,” I said. “What do you mean about my family?”
“You’re pushing your luck, but as I’ve told you half the story…” he took a few deep breaths.
“Your father died; you know we were friends. All his children inherited and there was some for you. But nobody could find you. Because of what had been done. Finn no longer existed. I suppose I could point you at your sister, she took your share. She won’t have spent it. She’s not like your brothers. Now get out of my sight.”
Strachen hustled us out of the building and back to our car. He drove.
“Do
lmen likes you,” he said. “Have you met before?”
“Long story, I’ll tell you if you tell me who you were going to name?”
“Sorry, I can’t tell you that,” he said. “Dolmen would have my head.”
“Do you know about my family?” Irin asked.
Strachen shook his head. “You do pick your subjects, all I can tell you is that Rixon said he wouldn’t go after them, as far as I know, he hasn’t. In case you haven’t cottoned on, it’s caused a lot of trouble. I can’t tell you anymore.”
We passed the rest of the trip back to the Freefall in silence. Strachen stopped our car so we had room to open the hold.
“Leave the ramp open,” Strachen said. “It shows that you’re not leaving. It’s quite safe, everyone knows about you by now, you’ll be left alone.” He got out and walked off, kicking at the ground.
“We’re not being told the full story, about any of it,” said Irin, once we were alone. “It’s clear that Dolmen knows something about my family, we just never got the chance to ask what.”
“That was two different people who said that you were the start of something,” I said. “I wonder what they meant. Did they mean that Rixon sparing your family was the start; or was your living the start?”
“Does it matter?” Irin said sarcastically. “We didn’t seem to have any difficulty finding out all about your family, did we?” I suppose I deserved that, but what could I say? Once again, things had followed a different path to what either of us had expected.
I had assumed that my father was dead; it had been so long since I had had any contact with any of them, but to have it confirmed, and to find out that he had cared enough to think of me at the end was still a shock. As for my sister, I only remember her using me as a weapon to disapprove of my father.
Chapter Fifteen
With time on our hands, and what we had learned, or hadn’t, Irin started fretting about her family again. I tried to convince her that it wasn’t all about me, that I wasn’t trying to avoid finding her family.
And then we had the message. Myra had been trying to hook up to the local network. When she eventually managed it, she found a data packet from Evers on Jintao. Irin was excited and apprehensive as she opened it on the screen.
‘I found Costa, and your family,’ he said, ‘he’s with a Villiars manager called Malkin. I’ve attached contact details to this packet. I can’t tell you the name of the world, it doesn’t have one yet. Villiars would fire me for what I’ve told you already. You might not be able to reach him; I’ve tried and only got a brief call. I didn’t speak to them, but I was told by this Malkin that they were all OK. They’re busy, he said he’ll be in touch, he has all your details. The thing is, their comms relay is overloaded with company traffic, so it could be a while. I hope that helps. Evers.’
Irin was so relieved, after all the days of worry, you could see her relax, we tried to call the number ourselves but it was unobtainable. After what we had heard, we didn’t feel like going into town, we had plenty of supplies and the port provided us with a top-up of fresh water and some food. I asked about payment and I was told that it had all been taken care of. I instructed Myra to keep trying the number; Irin recorded a data packet and uploaded it. Myra could send it once we had a connection, even if she couldn’t get a full voice link.
After three days of doing nothing, we had a visitor. The intercom buzzed from the ramp, whoever it was had not come on board. We had been left alone, as Strachen had said we would be. I walked down the ramp and Strachen himself was waiting outside, the boy was nearby, bag in hand, kicking through the floss. “Dolmen says hello,” Strachen said. “He’s passed a message along to Rixon, he’s off-world just now. He said that you might as well get back to your own space, he’ll be in touch with you when he can.”
His phone rang. “Hang on a minute,” he said, looking at the screen. He pushed a contact, the ringing stopped. “Old girlfriend,” he grinned. He put the phone back in his pocket and held out his hand.
“Goodbye, Dave,” he said, as we shook. “Dolmen’s told me all about you. I’m impressed; you’re not what I thought. You’d not be an easy man to kill. Maybe we’ll meet up again someday.”
I said goodbye, shut the ramp and headed to the wheelhouse. “What did he want?” asked Irin.
“We’re going home, Rixon’s not here. He knows about us, he’ll be in touch. Myra, start the departure routine.”
“So we’re no wiser about Rixon or any of it?”
“But we are,” I said. “Evers has told us that it’s all legit. Rixon said he wouldn’t be involved and he clearly isn’t.”
She thought for a moment. “You’re right. I’m glad we’re on the way back. We can’t do anything here; we need to get back to Federation space. While we’re waiting for Rixon to get in touch, can we please carry on looking for my family? I know they’re OK, I just want to talk to them.”
“Of course we can, I’m sorry if I got a bit over-enthusiastic, but it all snowballed, rather like it did when we first met. At least you know that they’re not here.”
“Dave,” Myra said, “I’ve been trying that number regularly, I got it to ring a while ago.”
“Why didn’t you say?” Irin almost screamed. “What happened?”
“Sorry, Irin, I was busy with pre-flight stuff. It wasn’t answered. I sent the data packet anyway.”
The journey back was uneventful. When we crossed the border, no Federation vessel came to interrogate us. As soon as we were in our own space, I suited up and removed the box that had been fixed to our hull. I was going to destroy it; leave it floating in space. Then I had a better idea.
When I opened it up in the workshop, I managed to isolate the power supply. Now that it wasn’t doing what it was designed for, I could give it to Griff and see what he made of it. All the way home Irin kept Myra calling the number Evers had given her. That one answered call and his message had given her hope. But it was never answered again.
When we landed, I saw that Melva was waiting for us. “How did you know?” I asked.
She pointed to Dannika. “She told Griff,” she said. Some things never changed, I had been coming here for years and the Gyrls always knew when we would land.
I had an idea. “Hey, Dannika.” She looked up from her screen for a second with the bored, sulky face that they all had.
“What’cha wan, Dave?” she answered in the slang that I still had trouble understanding.
“Can you find a Villiars manager called…?”
“Malkin,” said Irin. “He’s on a new Villiars planet somewhere, starts with an R. He’s got a manager called Costa with him.”
“Ave-a-go,” she answered, already looking back down to the screen, her fingers flying over the virtual keypad.
If anyone could find them, it would be one of the Gyrls. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it sooner.
“I thought I’d come and meet you. I’ve got some big news for you.” Melva was bursting to tell me something. To be honest I was grateful to change the subject. We all went up to the mess and got coffee, then she proceeded to tell me how she had been on several trips with one of the other ships that Griff employed. “They have a Sprite like you,” she said. “Jimbo let me fly her a bit on a testing flight; I’m learning to be a pilot like you. Griff said that it would be alright.” She showed me her trainee's logbook, a lot of it had been filled in, tasks had been assigned and completed.
I tried to keep calm, my girl was flying a Sprite, on a test flight. I didn’t know whether to feel proud or annoyed. “Great,” I somehow managed to say.
Her face fell; I had spoiled her big news. “Don’t get worked up, I haven’t been allowed to take the controls in atmo or anything, we were in orbit, he just let me fly to and from the customs post. But I’ve been studying all the theory and shadow watchkeeping.”
That wasn’t so bad, at least it was a proper job. I would have to speak to Griff though.
In the event, it only took
Dannika an hour. By the time we had got ready to head into town, she was calling from her seat at the bottom of the ramp.
“There’s loads of Malkins,” she said. “Most of ’em are boring suits. A bunch of boring, ordinary folk, ’cept one, well ya ain’t gonna like it.” She came up the ramp, a triumphant look on her face.
“Why?” asked Irin, puzzled by the comment.
“This Malkin ain’t no Villiars man, or if ’e is, it’s a side-line for ’im.”
“Just tell me where my family are,” pleaded Irin, close to tears.
“Sorry,” she said. “Malkin’s a troublemaker; a gang boss from the IW; ’e comes from some place called Rosskine.”
Irin gasped; I didn’t know what to think.
Logically, it made no sense; Rixon had told us they were safe, the manager on Jintao and Kal Rivers had both thought that Malkin had been a genuine Villiars man. As far as everyone was concerned, Costa and Irin’s family were on official company business. Evers had spoken to them, they were all fine. And we had just been on Rosskine.
Surely Dolmen would have mentioned it? He had as good as said that Rixon’s word had been kept. But he had hinted that Irin was the start of his troubles. And there was Strachen’s comment.
Irin wanted to head straight back to Rosskine and beat the information out of Dolmen, or Strachan, or anyone she could find. To me it seemed like suicide, we had only got away last time because Dolmen had relented. If we went back, anything might happen.
“You heard Dolmen, he hinted that they were safe, he let us go. Is it possible that he doesn’t know about Malkin?” That didn’t go down very well.
“Are you kidding me,” she said. “They all know when each other visits the heads, it’s all one big happy criminal family. They might have been there, in the same building, while we were talking. Nuri might have heard my voice. I might have seen them.”