by Richard Dee
Griff was right, practically speaking. I couldn’t help it, Melva wasn’t his little girl.
“I’ve set up her account on the ship’s register,” he went on. “As the Captain she can buy stores and spend money on repairs, if she needs anything. All the certification’s up to date so she should be alright.”
“Thanks, Griff.” I asked again, trying to sound casual, “As a matter of interest, how did she decide to take that particular cargo?”
He looked at me. “I gave her a list of possibles, she talked about it with Rixon, I think he said he had some local knowledge of the place, maybe a contact or two.”
I took a little more interest; how come she had got him to help her? Was I too close and overpowering? Looking at her route on the 3D map I understood.
Her route passed close to Kendye, where Rixon’s ship had been headed for. He had gone off somewhere as well, to see some people. Were they all meeting up on Kendye? What were they planning?
I tried not to be too concerned and instead, I made her a video message. I told her that I loved her and that I was proud of her, that she should be careful and use Myra as much as possible. I uploaded it, to be played after she was clear of orbit.
She took off and disappeared and I stood with Irin at the other side of the blast wall and watched her go. There was nothing to do now but wait. All I had to do was hope that the General didn’t want me until I had a ship that I could use.
I never expected to hear from Rixon, he would keep his mouth shut but I couldn’t wait to get a situation normal message from Melva on the second day. Because I had no ship I was grounded. Griff had taken Ria off for a few days, no doubt to argue where nobody could hear them. Irin and I were running the agency.
After a day of trying to keep calm with all the things that job entailed, I longed for the peace of space, I wondered if I was as difficult as the other people Griff had to try and do business with.
On the second day Melva sent a message. “Everything’s OK.” She said nothing more and I had to force myself to accept that it was all I would have told Griff. Then forty-eight hours later we had another, this said a little more. “I’m a day out, I have landing details and a chance of another load that I picked up from the net. I entered an auction and won it, a real high-value load. I’m going to discharge and go to Caraca for it. Then on to Felton to discharge.”
Why did she have to do that? Was it to prove that she was capable or was it more of Rixon’s doing?
Griff and Ria returned. The atmosphere between them was a lot better, they must have done some serious talking, nothing was said but at least there were no arguments. I was glad to hand running the place back to him.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Griff didn’t recognise the incoming number. Ria and Irin were out somewhere and we were reminiscing. He answered and I could hear the angry voice, even though the receiver was held to his ear. At least to start with. When I realised who it was, I could imagine the face and the hair as well. It was Messinya and she wasn’t happy. “Hang on, Messinya,” said Griff, “Dave’s here as well, I’ll put you on the speaker.”
“Put him on, it’s probably all to do with him,” she shouted, “and his stirring things up, it was all quiet while he kept out of the way. Since he turned up, Melva’s gone, I’ve found out that my son’s alive and now this.”
“What’s happened?” I asked, hoping that she didn’t want to speak to Melva.
“I’ve had a visit,” she said, “from a man offering me a job. Said he worked for Villiars.” Instantly, alarms went off in my head. I nudged Griff.
“Malkin was pretending to work for Villiars,” I whispered. He nodded.
Messinya was in full flow. “When I didn’t take it, he got upset, offered me more money than I was making here. But I didn’t like him, too sure of himself. To get rid of him, I said I’d think about it. I went and reported it to my manager, they sent someone over, in case he came back. He did, came back in the evening, to my trailer, with his sidekick. They wouldn’t take their boots off. That got me annoyed. They offered me the job again, the security man was in the back, listening. When I said no and asked them to leave, they turned nasty.”
“Did they hurt you?” I asked. It must have been Malkin or one of his stooges. Maybe something had happened on Rosskine; he had stopped trying to find Rixon and instead was trying to entice him out in the open.
“No, they never touched me. I had a baseball bat. OK, they had guns, but it put them off for long enough. Ted, the security man, came out of hiding; when they saw him, they scarpered. But not before they gave me a message and smashed a few things up.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, “it’s to do with Rixon and the girl I was with. That man’s a criminal from the IW called Malkin. He’s kidnapped Irin’s mother and wants to kill Rixon.”
“Who started this, was it my boy or was it you? Or does it date from all those years ago?”
“It’s nothing to do with Myra, this was Rixon and me. I’m sorry you had to get involved.”
She was dismissive, as if it couldn’t be her boy. “So you say. My boy’s a good boy. Is Melva there?”
This was the crunch question. “Not at the moment,” I said, hoping that I wouldn’t have to say more. That seemed to satisfy her.
“I expect she’s off seeing the sights,” she said. “She needs looking after, she’s not used to cities. Don’t tell Melva, but he broke her picture, she had a holoframe, with a picture of Myra, she called it Mamma when she was little. The man saw it, said that she would be on his list too and smashed it. I didn’t get a chance to ask if he thought it was a picture of Melva. He said they were there to give me a message, it wasn’t for me it was for you. He said that I was to tell your little blonde friend that he had something of hers and that he would be in touch.”
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, thanks for finally asking. Security chased them away; the boss here is a good friend of mine. As they left, one of them said that you should look out for their message.” The call ended without a goodbye.
That was it, Melva was on their list now, and she was out there, alone. I wasn’t interested in her qualifying; I wanted to get her back safe. Irin already wanted to go to Rosskine and beat information out of Malkin, goodness knows what Rixon would do when he heard.
“We need Freefall, Griff. We need it now. I have to go and keep Melva safe.”
“We have to go you mean,” he said. “If there’s a chance of some action, I could help.”
I sent messages to Rixon’s ship and to Melva on Freefall, then we waited. It was all we could do.
Chapter Twenty-Four
It all started as a minor news item, hidden away at the bottom of the rolling newsfeed that Griff always had running in his office. We were stuck on New Devon while there seemed to be so much that we needed to do. Ria was away seeing some friends, she was due back in the morning. Irin had stayed with me, in case we got any news.
“You seen this?” he muttered. “Bring Irin in as well; it’s all about what you’ve been up to.”
We gathered around the screen, peering over his shoulders as he zoomed in on the text.
‘Major archaeological finds on neutral planet,’ the headline announced, ‘new questions, are we alone?’ The article went on to say that the university on Callo had booked media slots the following morning for an important announcement that would be carried Federation wide.
That could only mean one thing. Sal and Paoul had decided that it was the right moment to spread the word about the Khayan. Talk about perfect timing.
“The Federation will never let the news come out, will they?” Irin said. Griff shook his head.
“No!” he rumbled. “Stupid fools, I wouldn’t have done it like that. It’s crazy, broadcasting your intentions in advance, going wide gives them more of a chance to block it.”
“Paoul’s not stupid,” I said. “He told me that he wasn’t going public until he knew he could make it stick.
If he’s got it right, the story will go live everywhere, at the same time. They might block it over the web, but if every planet has its own reveal, there should be little that can be done to close it all down, it’ll be too big a job.”
“Don’t underestimate the Federation,” Griff said. “They’ve had a lot of practice at burying bad news.”
That was true, you only had to think of the way previous finds had been hidden, by the quarantine worlds’ excuse. This time, it seemed like there was a coordinated effort to overwhelm the official story with mass broadcasts on every planet in the Federation, at the same time.
“Do you know anything?” I asked. “With your connections?” He shot me a look, Irin took more of an interest.
“Are you Truth Movement?” she asked.
Griff shrugged. “Low level. I pass messages, and it was me who originally got Dave involved. I was told to be ready to help, but no details, that’s how it all works. I knew there would be an announcement, but not when.”
We would have to see what Paoul’s plan was and hope it didn’t conflict with what else was going on in our lives.
During the rest of the day there was a surge in traffic. Everyone was asking what was going on, what the news would be. Official statements were non-existent, official spokesmen could not be tracked down, the only word from the government was that the university was not acting on their behalf, any claims it made were uncorroborated by government archaeologists. All the evidence would be studied by experts before a response, and that the population should remain calm, ignore any sensationalist reporting and wait for an official explanation.
By evening, we had no word from Melva or Rixon, we decided to leave it and call them in the morning. When we woke, we realised that perhaps that had been a mistake.
“Communications are starting to go down,” Griff said. “The hyperweb’s off. There’s a message everywhere, technical fault, normal service will be restored as soon as engineers can isolate the problem.”
“Do you think it’s the Federation?” He gave me a look.
“Of course it’s the Federation,” he said. Isolate, contain, discredit. That’s always their plan. Isolate the planets, stop them from passing information between each other. Next step will be surface to ship communications, then they’ll ground everyone. Next, they’ll invent a cover story to disprove all the claims. Spread it around, one planet at a time. Round up all the activists and kill the story.”
“You know what that means, don’t you?” Irin looked like she was about to cry. “If they shut down communications, we won’t get a message from Malkin, or from the General. If they ground everyone, how can we go and rescue my mother?”
I hadn’t thought that far ahead, but she was right, this had come at the wrong time for us. I turned to Griff. “Irin’s right. How can we get in touch with Melva and Rixon? Not that I’m so worried about Rixon, he can just slip back to the IW.”
“All we can do is get off the planet,” he said. They can’t stop inter-ship traffic, it’s a safety thing. So long as you’re not on the ground, you’ll be able to communicate. Land and you’ll never take off again.”
“But we don’t have a ship,” I repeated. “Freefall is goodness knows where. Melva’s off proving herself in it.”
He laughed. “You know me, I have a plan. Relax; I could do with a few days off. If all the comms are down and ships are grounded, there’s not a lot I can do here anyway. As soon as Ria gets back, get your stuff ready.”
But on the way to where? As we got all our gear together, a man came into the office. “I’m looking for Dave Travise,” he announced. He looked furtive, as if he as being hunted. I checked out his arm, no tattoos, unlike the last time someone had come in here and said that.
“Who wants him?” I asked.
“Sal sent me,” he said. “Look, I avoided the patrols, they’re spreading out across the planet. I really need to see this Dave, tell him and his woman Irin to get off-world while they still can.”
“I’m Dave,” I said. He shook my hand.
“Glad to know you,” he answered. “Met Hyne, one of the students from Paoul’s class at the university. Respect for what you found. It’s big reveal time, or at least it would be if the Feds weren’t trying to disrupt it all.”
Irin had come out, carrying a bag. “Hi,” she said. “I heard you asking for me. I’m Irin. You sound surprised. What did you expect? Just because Miro has gone, they were never going to roll over and let the story out.”
“Hey, Irin. I’ve heard so much about you from Sal, how’re you doing?”
She smiled. “I’m good, where’s Sal these days, is he OK?”
“Sal,” he laughed, “he’s still as fat and complaining as ever,” he said it fondly though. I remembered the man who had kept it all together after the missile attack on Prairie, his first-aid skills had been invaluable, and his refusal to quit. If he had been dismissive of Sal, I would have had something to say. So would Irin.
“He’s a good man,” she added. “He fixed my arm, patched me up.”
“He has us in hysterics sometimes with the tales of his exploits. We all know he means well, it’s just that it always seems to go wrong for him.”
I knew that feeling, although since Irin had appeared my life was so much better. I didn’t want to admit it but she was Myra part two.
“Got any bright ideas?” asked Griff. Ria chose this moment to arrive, looking slightly the worse for wear.
“Who are you, what’s going on?” she asked. “There’s a really strange atmosphere in town, lots more Guards hanging about. People seem apprehensive, the shops are full, they’re stocking up on essentials. What’s the fuss about?”
“Of course, you don’t know,” said Griff. There’s a big news story coming out, from Callo.” He pointed at Met. “This is the man who’s going to tell everyone on New Devon.”
“That’s right. All the news about the Khayan, and about the finds on Qister,” Met said. “We have people all over the Federation, we are all going live at…”
“You’ve lost me there,” Ria replied. “Griff, is this more of your messing around?”
“No time to explain,” he said. “It’s to do with what’s been on the news. The announcement from Callo. The planets about to get locked down. We’re leaving.”
“Not till you tell me what you’ve got involved in. If it’s not the Chenko’s it’s the Guards.” She turned to me. “Is this your doing, or hers? Hang on a minute, Rixon shows up, then this kicks off.”
“It’s nothing to do with Rixon, not this time. Look, Ria, we can argue about it later, we have to get to the port, we need to get spaceborne while we still can.” He didn’t add that, as a low-level Truth Movement asset, he might be rounded up. Irin and I might even be on the list too, despite what had been done for us.
What choice did we have? At least we weren’t being chased and shot at this time.
“It’s never that simple,” I said to Met, as we dragged our bags to the ground car.
“Why not? You can stay away for a while, till things quieten down, then come back.” He was still looking around. The street was deserted but he was very agitated.
“My daughter has my ship, long story. She’s on her way back from somewhere, she’s hauling cargo, she said she had an extra load but didn’t give us the details. I don’t know when she’ll be back.”
“Oh,” he said. “Then how are you getting off-world?”
Griff joined in. “We’re just gonna have to make it up as we go, we can’t talk to anyone until we get into orbit.”
“You said you were a student of Paoul.” I changed the subject.
“Yes, I am,” he answered. “But I’ve never met him, never been to Callo. I study over the hyperweb.”
“Do you know that the IW has a different view of the Khayan?”
He nodded. “Sure we do, they’re backing us on this. I don’t need all the details of your life. I’m not coming with you.” He handed me a small packet.
“I’m to appear on the local news in two hours and make sure everyone on Nova hears about what you all found, what it means. Paoul has people everywhere, it’s the great advantage of web learning, you get people all over the Federation ready to spread the word. Here’s the disc, it’s what will be broadcast, we had millions of these duplicated in the IW, and delivered all over the Federation. Griff will explain it all.”
We got in the car. “Take us to the port,” Griff said. “Head for our bays.” I realised what he was planning.
“Jimbo’s on the ground?” I said.
“That’s right, we’re borrowing his Sprite. We probably have less than two hours to leave the planet, the news will be released at noon and I suspect that all comms and ship movements will be stopped before then. We take Jimbo’s ship. He can have a holiday until this all blows over.”
We arrived, the security let us through and we soon pulled up by Jimbo’s Sprite. The Gyrl let us on. “He ain’t here,” she said. “There’s just me.”
We drove up the ramp into the hold. Griff went back and had a few words with her. Then he came on board and shut the ramp. “Get us airborne,” he said. “I’ve told Claz what to say when Jimbo turns up.”
I fired up the Sprite, which was called Misty, no doubt after one of Jimbo’s ladies, and radioed departures. Unlike Freefall, Misty had no talking computer interface, it was hard to remember what to do in what order. After my complaining at Melva, it was a relief that she wasn’t here. She would have been sure to have some sarcastic remark about the way I did it.
I knew the duty controller; after an exchange of pleasantries and certification details, we got to the point. “What’s the purpose of your flight, Dave?” he asked. “We have no departure papers filed.”
“My daughter’s away on Freefall,” I said. “She’s got a problem, I have to go and help.”
“Oh yeah,” he replied, “she’s doing her solo. You get off then; I’ll clear it with customs. Good luck, I hope she’s OK.”
He gave me clearance and a flight number, permission to lift off. I took off, we passed the orbiting customs station and set course towards Felton. Misty was exactly the same to handle as Freefall, except that I missed Myra’s constant chatter.