Stranded on Haven

by William Zellmann

  “Will do,” she replied crisply.

  I had a sudden thought. “Lisa,” I said, “Watch for the airship. It'll probably be painted black or have a black cover over the gasbag, so there won't be much of a signature.”

  “Yes, Captain,” she acknowledged.

  My blaster lay on top of my desk now, but I had to struggle to suppress an almost irresistible urge to grab it and run out to help. Somewhere.

  “Captain,” Lisa said, “someone is attempting to make a radio transmission. I am jamming the signal now. Should I permit the transmission?”

  I frowned. “No, not now. That will be one of the New Homers, reporting the attack and signaling their own try.” I keyed the comm again. “Terry, someone's trying to send a radio message. I assume it's a New Homer. Lisa is jamming the signal, but she can't jam the telegraph. It's best New Home doesn't know to start their own attack.”

  “Agreed,” Terry said crisply. “I'm headed to the radio room now. I'll take care of it.”

  “Take someone with you,” I advised. “If the New Homers learn that their message isn't getting out, they may get desperate.”

  She didn't reply, so I began monitoring the surveillance cameras. The agents' quarters were empty, of course. By now, everyone would be busy. Ellie and Terry had their jobs, but even the New Homers would be busy defending the compound from the Cellians. It was tempting to jump straight to the main compound and the battle raging there. But this would be the perfect time for an agent to plant or sabotage something, so I flipped rapidly but carefully through camera by camera, mostly watching for movement. The sleepy gas was probably thinning by now; I gave the hallway another shot. It wouldn't do to have Giselle and Heidi wake up.

  The battle in the main compound was raging. The security team had gathered on the Eastern edge near the fence, and was exchanging shots with the group of black-clad attackers. The Cellians had rushed the fence, and apparently, one of them was careless enough to touch it. Now, the seven survivors were trying to disengage, and slip back into the swamp. I'm no general, but something told me it would not be a good idea for them to make it. We could face an endless stream of sabotage and sniper attacks, especially if Lisa detected their escape airship and we stopped it.

  “Cellians!” I shouted through the public address system, “Surrender! You cannot get into the compound. Your airship has been detected and stopped,” I lied, “and even if you make it back to the coast, we'll be waiting. Surrender now, or die later!”

  The shooting had died off while I was talking. At least the Cellians were listening. Three of them rose slowly to their feet, hands above their heads. One of the others rose to his knees, shouting at the three and even brandishing his weapon. After a long moment, though, He shouted to the others, jumped to his feet, and charged, followed by the other three holdouts.

  The last of them got to within five meters of the fence before falling to the intense fire of the defenders. The three survivors were wise enough not to move. They just stood, hands above their heads, while their more fanatical compatriots were killed.

  “Security team,” I called on my wrist comm, “who is in command of the security team?”

  “Ben Teller, from Westin here, Captain.” Came a reply in a quiet voice. “The Cellians took out the New Homers, but we was warned. One of the East Brents is wounded, but alive. The other one didn’t make it. One of the Cornwells got a little shot up, too. We took out the Cellians, and us Westins and Refugers are takin’ care of business.”

  I relaxed and smiled. “Okay. Messer Teller, please assume command of the security team. Let me know when you want me to cut the power to the perimeter fence so you can bring in your prisoners.

  “Ellie,” I continued, “What’s your status?”

  “We’re in the radio room. It seems there’s quite a crowd. We have three dead: Carla from New Home, Tanya from Cornwell, and Janet from East Brent. Unfortunately, the radio and the telegraph took some stray bullets. The New Homers are particularly unhappy about it. But we’re okay. I guess you could say we’re keeping an eye on each other. Except for the Cellians, of course.”

  “Well,” I replied, “They’re present and accounted for. Jess, Terry, would you come over to the office to help with them? The hall will be kinda wet, but I have to wash away the rest of the sleepy gas. Let me know when you’re ready. Don’t come into the hall until I wash it down, or you’ll be taking an unscheduled nap.”

  “On my way,” Jess replied. “Coming, Captain,” echoed Terry.

  The Cellians began stirring when the sprinklers hit them, but by the time they’d really regained consciousness, Jess and Terry were waving huge handguns at them.

  I keyed my microphone. “Cellians,” I said, “Lie flat on your bellies, arms stretched out to the sides, feet apart. Jess, Terry, they’re probably carrying quite a few weapons. See what you can find. Then we’ll strip them naked before you bring them in.”

  “Hmph!” Jess huffed. “Men!”

  Terry snorted, and then grinned. But she said nothing.

  “Jess,” I replied quietly, “these are both experienced agents and killers. Can you guarantee that one of them won’t be able to conceal a weapon if we don’t strip them?”

  Jess frowned. “Well … Oh, all right. As long as you don’t start enjoying it too much!”

  Neither of the Cellians said a word as the women frisked them, collecting an impressive array of weaponry. Meanwhile, I was interested by Jess’s reaction to stripping the others. She was an experienced agent; why should a little nudity bother her? Maybe it was just prudishness, but coupled with her reactions to my involvement with Giselle, I was beginning to wonder if she was as attracted to me as I was to her.

  I sighed. If so, she probably had another unpleasant surprise coming. I wanted to see how Giselle and Heidi behaved toward each other, but it certainly looked as though Heidi’s offer had been genuine. Her information had been good, and had permitted us to defeat the attack with casualties that could only be called “light.” And that attack had been a genuine effort, not just a diversion to establish an agent’s cover.

  Before I brought the women in, though, there was one other chore. “Lisa,” I called, “Will you contact New Home and try to get Duke Richard on the radio?”

  “Of course, Captain.”

  The wait was so short the Duke must have already been in the radio room. Of course, he’d been waiting for a call from his agents telling him to launch his ‘rescue mission’.

  “Excellency, I’m calling you as Chairman of the Planetary Council to report that we suffered an attack by Cellian forces tonight. However, we successfully repelled it, and do not require assistance. In fact, until you hear from your agents, please understand that we are rather excited, and will fire on any airship that approaches the compound. Our radio and telegraph have been damaged, but we have the equipment to repair them. As soon as the situation becomes clearer, I will encourage your agents to make full reports.

  “By the way,” I continued, not giving him time to interrupt, “There is an airship headed for Cogan Town. It is currently wearing a black cover, but will shed that before it arrives. Once it does arrive, it will become a scheduled Cellian airship with a full passenger load. All those passengers will be Cellian military. I leave how you will deal with that to you.

  “I must go now,” I continued, “and report to all the other governments. I apologize for the abruptness of this message, but I must again emphasize that we do not need help, and will fire on any approaching airships.” I clicked off without giving him a chance to respond or protest. I grinned. I had not only taken away his pretext of a ‘rescue mission’, I’d mentioned that I would be reporting as much to all the other nations. I hoped it would be enough to prevent another attack.

  One good thing about radio, I reflected. It’s not a very private medium. I was sure that newspapers and radio stations would monitor the palace frequency, and be interested in their traffic – especially traffic beamed from space. The D
uke would have a hard time justifying the launch of his ‘rescue mission’ now.

  “Lisa,” I called, “Please keep a careful watch for airships from New Home coming this way. I’ll need as much notice as possible if the Duke calls my bluff!”

  I checked the hall again, and found two clothed and two nude women. I released the electromagnetic lock, and a watchful Terry and Jess ushered in Giselle and Heidi. I noticed that they maintained a respectful distance between their prisoners and themselves.

  With her hair mussed, no makeup, and her defeated air, Giselle was no longer a ‘bombshell’, even stark naked. Now, she was just a slightly pudgy, blowsy, blonde, her slumped shoulders emphasizing the sag of her large breasts. Heidi, though, managed to look magnificent, like a museum statue come to life, despite her tousled hair.

  I knew that both the women would be suffering from raging headaches, an effect of the sleepy gas. I was hoping it would prevent suicidal attacks, and make their reactions and answers more honest.

  Giselle was a picture of misery as she stumbled to the chair I indicated and slumped into it. Jess trailed her with a triumphant expression, as though to say, “see? This is what you were chasing!” Despite her discomfort, however, Heidi strode confidently to her chair as though a queen ascending a throne, sitting straight, prim, and proud, back straight, chin high. Perhaps strangely, this magnificent creature didn’t arouse lust in me; rather she aroused the admiration of a man for a work of art. Jess’s glares at Heidi, though, convinced me that she was unaware of the distinction.

  Chapter 5

  Heidi didn’t wait for me. “Well, Captain?”

  I nodded. “Your information was good, Heidi. You saved quite a few lives tonight.”

  Giselle’s head came up, her eyes widening. “You betrayed us! Traitor!” She started to surge from her seat, but Jess tapped her head with her revolver, and Giselle settled back, glaring at Heidi.

  Heidi turned a calm look on the seething blonde. “You think I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to return from this mission? That you were supposed to ‘see to it’? Yes, I betrayed a dishonorable mission for a dishonorable man. And for a reasonable chance at a normal life, I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. Even if the Captain, here, refuses me, I won’t regret betraying the pig that is destroying our nation!”

  She raised an eyebrow, and showed a half-smile. “And what about you, Giselle? How many more missions do you have? How long before your ‘Maximum Leader’ gives another agent the same orders about you that he gave you about me?”

  Heidi turned back to me. “So, what now, Captain? Will you accept my service, my defection? If not, I hope you will at least not send me back to Cellia, but will instead put me outside the fence with a twelve-hour head start.”

  I smiled. “We certainly have things to talk about.” I turned to one of the robots. “Please get these women something to wear. Something without pockets.”

  Then I turned to Giselle. “Heidi’s right, you know, Giselle. Len has no honor. He’s a thug and a brute. And a fool. But I’m going to give you a message for him. Yes, we’re going to send you home, if you want to go. If not, well, maybe we can give you a head start toward, say, Refuge.” I glanced at Terry, who nodded, though unsmilingly. “It’s a refuge,” she said, “but people like you don’t often live long, there. We place a lot of importance on honor.”

  But Giselle’s face was still hard and angry, her lip curled in disgust. “You people haven’t heard the last of Cellia,” she hissed. “You can’t humiliate our Maximum Leader this way. He will destroy you!”

  I shook my head sadly. “Too bad. All right,” I continued, “pass this along to your maximum thug: Cellia has shown it is not capable of dealing honorably with others. Therefore, nothing from Startrader will be available to Cellia. No cargo, no training, no technology, no information. Your head thug can have a lot of fun worrying about whether someone else is getting something that might let them conquer Cellia!

  “And I know you’re right, Giselle; he’ll try again. Be sure to remind him that if I am killed, Startrader will self-destruct, and everyone on Haven will know that he cost them the future!”

  The robot came in with plain short dresses the locals called “house dresses,” Giselle grimaced at hers, but the robot’s eyes were unerring; both dresses fit perfectly.

  I told Jess to take Giselle out to the main courtyard and put her with the other surviving prisoners. Then I motioned Terry to a seat. She looked at her revolver and then at me. After a moment, I opened a drawer of my desk, and replaced my blaster with a stunner. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I could kill. Then I told Terry she could put her revolver away.

  Gods! Even in the dowdy housedress, the woman was beautiful. “All right, Heidi. I’m going to offer you a couple of choices. First, if you wish, I will personally give you a ride to Refuge. You heard Terry, here. It is a refuge, though I can’t guarantee Len won’t send someone after you. At least it would be a fresh start, and a normal life.

  “Second, there is your offer. I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt, and assume you were sincere. It would be useful for me to have someone like you, someone local, to help in my dealings with your people. Do you really have office skills, or was that just part of your cover?”

  She smiled, and I wished I’d had a camera. “I’m qualified as a radio operator and telegrapher, but my typing skills are only average.”

  I nodded. “So, what will it be? Refuge, or here with me? I must warn you, you would be expected to be a bodyguard as well as a guide, and that there is always the possibility that I might find a way to leave Haven and get back into space.”

  The smile widened. “If you can live with my past, and the things I’ve done, I think I’d like to stay. I think that life here is going to be a real adventure.”

  We took pictures of the damage, the wounded and the dead, to provide to the governments and the newspapers. Then I had a robot pilot one of the work boats from Startrader to return the casualties to their home countries.

  The total butcher’s bill came to 25 dead and 1 wounded. The majority of them, of course were the 17 members of the 20-man commando sent by Len. Only the three who’d surrendered survived. But we’d had our own casualties. Carla Andros had seemed to dislike men, or perhaps just me. But when the pellets flew, she was on the front line with the security squad. Tanya Reyes, from Cornwell, would never see the farm again. And Janet Combs, whom I’d considered so ordinary and plain, had been killed in hand-to-hand fighting with one of the Cellians on the security team. And she’d taken him with her into death.

  I had Lisa send down a lifeboat, and we put Rebecca Towne, from East Brent, into it. The med cabinet clicked and beeped to itself for a while before deciding that by the time we got her home, even flying her in the lifeboat, she’d be completely recovered. I talked with her Ambassador, and he decided she should remain on duty, unless something went wrong with her recovery. She’d nearly bled to death from a thigh wound, but with the med cabinet and plenty of nano, I foresaw no problem.

  Cellian border guards opened fire on the work boat, so Lisa used the Cellian government frequency to broadcast the story to all of Cellia, including the fact that the bodies of their own brave sons, and even live prisoners were refused by the Maximum Leader. She broadcast using high power, and simply overrode the government signal. Then we landed the boat inside Westin, a klick from the border. A cooperative rancher accepted a diamond from my cache aboard Startrader to haul the prisoners and the bodies to the Cellian border in a large cargo wagon. There, the prisoners unloaded the bodies, and began demanding entry to Cellia. We took pictures of the whole event, and Lisa printed them onto flyers explaining what the pictures represented. We delivered the flyers by simply flying above the range of Len’s artillery and releasing them. Len tried to call me on his tablet to complain, but I refused to take the call. After about six hours, a Cellian convoy arrived. They forced the prisoners to load the bodies, and then board the trucks at gunpoint. I nev
er saw Giselle Corday again.

  ********

  Heidi shook her head. “What prevented Duke Richard from launching his ‘rescue’ attack was you telling him that you were notifying all the others. The newspapers were no threat.”

  It was the afternoon of a very long next day, and I was getting Heidi’s viewpoint on occurrences and the overall political situation. I nodded soberly. “King David controls the press, huh?”

  She frowned. “Not exactly. I’m sure the papers were monitoring your call, but if the palace announced that they were launching a rescue mission to ‘save’ us, that’s what they would have printed. The papers get a lot of their content from the palace; they wouldn’t take a chance of losing that contact.”

  “I’ll remember that. Have all the agents reported to their governments?”

  “Paula, the Cornwell, is reporting now,” she replied crisply. “She expects to have a hard time convincing them that Janet’s body will arrive today, and not in a week or so. But she’s the last. I was a bit surprised that you gave them all free access to your ship’s transmitter and complete privacy. I think they were expecting you to have someone listening in.”

  I smiled. “I did. If I want to know what any of them reported, Lisa will be able to play back both sides of the conversation.”

  She smiled. “Excellent. Until they begin to learn some of your capabilities, you will have the advantage. But you understand that even now, they are analyzing your technology and your methods. Everything you tell them will end up in a report, and anything you give them will end up in a laboratory.

  “Cellia and New Home are the most obvious threats, but there are others. Don’t overlook Westin, for example. They present as frontiersmen, rough and crude, and indifferent to everyone else. But woman or not, their President is brilliant, and all their leaders have been well educated in New Home, and a significant portion of their budget surplus is used to send their best and brightest east, to attend the best universities on Haven. They have a vision of taking over the entire western part of the main continent, and economically dominating the planet. Naturally, the others know that, and are working furiously to find some way to interfere with those plans.