The Moons of Barsk

by Lawrence M. Schoen

  “Then how does it get there?” Rina picked up the teapot from the table and filled her own cup to the brim with imaginary tea.

  “We took turns, like the runners in a relay race. Part of the time I was in the Patrol, my ship went through what we called an “ongoing portal”—because usually both parts of a portal are fixed in space and people travel from one place to the other. But we flew through a kind with only the first part fixed, because the other end wasn’t at its final destination yet. When we came out the other end, there was another Patrol ship waiting. They’d been pushing that side of the portal for a long time. We took over for them and they went back through so they could have a break and do something else. We pushed it for a while until, seasons later, a different ship replaced us.”

  Rina pondered and then pointed to the books Jorl had returned to the shelf. “So … when you were done, it was like you’d added more pages to the books but the distance from the front cover of the one to the back cover of the other hadn’t changed?”

  “That’s it exactly.”

  “That’s neat. When I grow up, I want to push portals, too!”

  Jorl smiled and carefully dipped his trunk into his teacup, miming pulling deeply and then placing the end into his mouth as if to drink. “Trust me on this, Rina, you really don’t. It’s boring work. It’s important, the Alliance can’t colonize new worlds without the work of the Patrol, but I think you’ll find much better things to do right here on Barsk when you grow up.”

  She busied herself preparing Kokab’s cup before asking, “The others in the Patrol, people you were pushing the portals with … they weren’t Lox like us?”

  “They were not. Nor Eleph.”

  “That’s not fair. I want to meet other people. Other races. I’ve read about them here in Mama’s shop. And you talk with them all the time. You said the other senators are all different. Brady and Cynomy and Marmo and lots of others.”

  “That’s true.”

  “And Pizlo has told me stories about how he got to meet some when he wasn’t much older than me.”

  “Well, to be fair, Pizlo is always a special case. I didn’t meet anyone who wasn’t a Fant until I left Barsk, and that didn’t happen until I was older than you and Pizlo combined.”

  “But Papa—”

  Jorl raised a hand and she stopped. “There may be an opportunity at hand. Let me talk to your mother about it and we’ll see.”

  “Talk to me about what?” Dabni had come around the corner of the bookshelf, knelt alongside one of the child-sized seats and helped herself to a teacup. Rina’s head turned to regard first one parent and then the other. Her mother’s eyes held a twinkle that she now also saw in her father’s.

  “Rina was just bemoaning the fact that she’s never met anyone who wasn’t a Fant,” said Jorl.

  Dabni laughed. “You mean, like nearly everyone else on Barsk except you?”

  “And Pizlo,” added Rina.

  “Well, yes,” admitted Dabni. “And Pizlo.”

  “I’ve not had a chance to mention it to you yet, but Druz is here.”

  “Here? Here where?”

  “Here onworld,” said Jorl. “Something … came up and she’s arrived a season ahead of schedule. And she brought a Procy with her.”

  “You’re telling me that in addition to your personal Sloth, there’s also a Raccoon on Barsk?”

  “Really?” squealed Rina.

  “Not on Barsk,” said Jorl. “That would be unlawful.”

  “And what does this have to do with Rina?”

  “I thought … well, Druz has my complete trust, and it’s long past time for Rina to meet her. And since Abenaki is here and desperate to make a good impression—”

  “Who is Abenaki?”

  “Sorry, that’s the Raccoon. She’s from Caluma.”

  “Caluma? What does that have to do with—”

  “Absolutely nothing. Just another datum. But my point is—”

  “You want to take Rina to your yacht so she can meet your visiting Brady and Procy.”

  “Well, they’re not mine, but yes, it’s an opportunity—”

  “Of course they’re yours, Jorl. You’re the senator. That’s the only reason either of them are here. And that’s fine. I do think that Rina should expand her horizons, though I’m not so sure this is the best way to do it. She’s not going to have the kind of wanderlust that boys get, and she’s certainly not leaving the planet like you did.”

  “Mama?” Rina bit her lip, having tried and failed to keep the hint of a whine from her voice.

  Dabni regarded her daughter. “Yes, dear?”

  “Are you saying I can or can’t go meet the people on Papa’s ship?”

  “Yes, Dabni, what are you saying?”

  The sound of amusement in her father’s question wiped away her own worries. Her mother rolled her eyes, a gesture that sometimes meant that patience had been exhausted and she was in trouble and sometimes that her mother was about to give in to one of her father’s more silly suggestions. It was never easy to tell which until it was past the point of doing anything about it. Then Dabni ran her trunk behind Rina’s ear in a gentle caress and the girl knew the answer, if not the particulars.

  “I’m saying a great many things, Jorl ben Tral, all of which you know and none of which you want to hear. That women are more stable. That men are more prone to foolishness. That young girls adore their fathers despite the good sense of their gender. And that this is an unsought-for situation and I won’t let my own bias withhold the opportunity from our daughter, so yes, take her to meet with your visitors. I’ll speak to her teachers and maybe she can write up the experience for some extra credit.”

  “I think that’s a fine idea,” said Jorl and ran his own trunk lovingly around Dabni’s ear.

  Rina’s squeals of delight broke off suddenly and she leaned in, folding one ear to envelope her doll. “Papa? Can Kokab come, too? He says he’s hardly met anyone.”

  Jorl smiled, cast a glance to Dabni, and then nodded. “I think we can manage to find room for Kokab, too.”

  “We’re gonna meet a Sloth and a Raccoon! I can’t wait to tell Pizlo!”

  TWENTY

  LIFE AND LIES BEYOND DEATH

  JORL’S time in the Patrol had taught him the basic skills to navigate and pilot most spacecraft. Druz freed him from such responsibility, and really there was nowhere he wanted to go. He’d vowed never to leave Barsk again, regardless of the ability and resources to do so.

  Still, his yacht was here ahead of schedule and he had a mystery to solve. It was as much pragmatism as serendipity to arrange for a quick, suborbital flight. The ship contained equipment available nowhere else on the planet. If his hunch proved wrong, Rina would still get a chance to see her home from above its ubiquitous cloud cover, as well as meet members of two races that had never set foot on Barsk. But if he was right … well, Dabni might give him some grief on bringing their daughter along, but the defensive capabilities of the yacht exceeded by several orders of magnitude anything his world could throw at it.

  * * *

  HE’D awoken early this day—Kentl having recently hired a local gardener to cut back the sartha beneath his window. A stack of minor things required his attention before taking Rina on her adventure. He threw himself into the sea of minutia, absently consuming breakfast as he waded through the stack. Midmorning brought a knock at his door before he had completed his labors. He welcomed the interruption but threw his ears back in surprise as he opened the door.

  “Chisulo? What are you doing here? Are you all right? Is your mother okay?”

  “Yes, sir, she’s fine. We’re both fine. Only … she meant to say something the other day when you were at the dock but you came and went so fast. So she sent me today, said it couldn’t wait for you to come by again, particularly it being flood and all and you don’t normally use your boat this season, which is part of why we missed the whole thing in the first place, and anyway she thought I should com
e tell you personally.”

  He waved the youth into his home. “Missed what whole thing?”

  “Theft,” said Chisulo. “Sorry, I should have said that right off. Your boat. Someone made off with it some days ago.”

  “I don’t understand. I just took it out. You saw me, helped me load some provisions.”

  “Yes, sir. That was after it was stolen.”

  “If it was stolen before that, how could it have been there when I used it?”

  “Oh, as to that, the thief returned it.”

  “The thief? So you know who took my boat?”

  “Well … we didn’t see no person at the helm, not coming or going. And my ma, she says, and meaning no disrespect but she says, we can’t have that happening at the harbor. There’s paperwork and it’s not the kind you can fill out easily all things being what they are and it makes people think we don’t know our job and that’s not fair to us if you see what I mean, sir. Ma says.”

  Jorl stood there a moment, just blinking. Thievery was uncommon on Barsk, much more so than any of the other Alliance worlds he’d visited while in the Patrol. And theft on this order was a greater rarity. Moreover, unlike most of the vessels in the harbor, the navigation gear on his required specialized training. Almost any other boat would have served even joy-riding adolescents better than his. Unless …

  “Will you excuse me a moment? The pantry’s just in there. Please, make yourself at home and help yourself to a snack. I won’t be long.”

  Without waiting for an answer Jorl stepped into his office and sat in front of his desk. He didn’t need koph, but he did need to calm himself because the only thing that made any sense was that Pizlo had taken it upon himself to take his boat without so much as a by-your-leave, and the boy’s timing was inconvenient and maddening. He reached out for his protégé’s nefshons and made contact, lightly at first, because unlike other people he might Speak to in this way, Pizlo often as not could be careening through the space between the Civilized Wood and the Shadow Dwell, and he didn’t want to risk causing the boy harm by disrupting his concentration.

  The connection firmed as another mind quested back along the lines of his nefshons. “Jorl?”

  An instant later they were in a simulacrum of Jorl’s office.

  “Where are you, Pizlo?”

  “Lost in thought.”

  “Are you being evasive?”

  “Sorry? No, just … trying to make sense of things I’ve seen lately.”

  Jorl rolled his eyes and made sure Pizlo saw him do it. “I don’t have time for this, so I’ll be direct. Did you take my boat without asking?”

  “It’s flood, Jorl. You never take the boat out this time of year.”

  “In fact, I did just recently. Druz is here early and I had to go meet her. And I’m going out again today.”

  “Oh. Huh. I didn’t know. I didn’t inconvenience you, did I? You didn’t need it while I was away?”

  “No, but that’s not the point.”

  “Then what is? You weren’t using it. Mostly nobody’s traveling around during flood. I needed it. I returned it when I was done.”

  “The point is the harbormaster is reporting the boat as stolen.”

  “That’s stupid. I put it right back in its slip.”

  “They know that.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “Pizlo, you know they can’t say you returned the boat.”

  “They can’t … Oh. Right. I didn’t think of that. I was all focused on my quest when I was leaving and … and distracted with other things when I came back.”

  “Quest? What are you talking about?”

  “It’s not important. I was wrong. It was important that I went, but not for the reasons I thought it was. I … I’m sorry if I caused you or the harbormaster any trouble. It won’t happen again. And I’ll try to think of some way to make up for it.”

  “You sound like you’re upset. Where did you go? Why didn’t you tell me before now?”

  “It’s complicated. Maybe I can come by and we can talk about it? I’d really like your input on things.”

  “I can’t today. I’m taking Rina out to meet Druz, and maybe going on a bit of quest of my own, back to the final island we visited once before. But yes, as soon as I get back, let’s talk. Over breakfast. Or lunch.” He paused and smiled at the image of the boy, not really a boy any longer. “Maybe both,” he added.

  “Thanks. I’d like that. Say ‘hi’ to Druz for me.”

  Jorl broke the connection, shaking his head at the historic significance of it all. The Abomination of Keslo had taken to the high seas. Nothing like that had ever happened before, and ultimately he’d enabled it. For a moment he tried to wrap his head around how that would work. Paperwork for the harbormaster here on Keslo was the least of it. It was one thing for ordinary folk who encountered Pizlo on a boardway to turn their gaze away and keep walking. How would other ships manage to ignore him? Or the harbor patrol if he tried to make landfall at some other island as he almost surely had. Officially, once they recognized Pizlo for what he was—and one glance at the abnormality of his skin would lead any observer to an instant conclusion—they’d ignore him and the boat he arrived on, but they’d also check the boat’s registry, which would lead back to Zlorka. Likely it was only a matter of days before he received a very obliquely worded reprimand from Provost Phloda on university letterhead and a private note harping on him for tasking their friendship so.

  He returned to the parlor to find Chisulo contentedly working his way through a bowl of fresh leaves.

  “Tell your mother she can stand down.”

  “Sir?”

  “My boat wasn’t stolen. It was taken by a friend who … forgot to tell me. It’s all fine. Tell her I’ll send a letter explaining the matter and taking full responsibility. And that I’m sorry and my friend won’t be doing that again.”

  “Oh. Okay. She’ll be glad to hear that. She’s never had a boat go missing on her watch.”

  “Yes, well, as it happens, I’ll be taking it out again for a short trip later today.”

  Chisulo’s ears fell back. “Again. That’s three trips in flood. You sure you don’t want to wait for the weather to improve?”

  “I appreciate the concern. We both know I’m not much of a sailor. I’ll be relying on the engine and navigation equipment. And I’m not going far. As you say, it’s flood.”

  Chisulo nodded, shoved another trunkful of leaves into his mouth, and headed for the door. “I’ll make sure she’s ready for you then, sir. Fuel topped off and such. Don’t you worry. You want me to see it gets stocked with anything?”

  “That’d be very helpful, thank you. You know Hearne’s?”

  “Sure.”

  “Tell him it’s for me. Same order as last time but double it.”

  “Yessir. I’ll take care of it.” He opened the door to let himself out but paused to turn back for a moment and add, “Thanks for not having your boat stolen.”

  Jorl watched him hurry away and then returned to his study to inform Druz of his impending arrival and task her with locking in their ultimate destination.

  * * *

  RINA waited for him at her mother’s bookshop, standing by a table of sale books, restlessly swinging her arms. She held a small travel case in one hand and her rag doll hung from the other. When Jorl came through her head jerked up. She fanned her ears wide and her eyes shone with delight.

  “Papa! Are we really going? Is it time?”

  “It is, little twig. I’m sorry I’m running a little late. I had to talk to someone about the boat.”

  “What happened to your boat, Papa?”

  He considered brushing off the question, but it was an honest enough inquiry and deserved a like reply. “Pizlo,” he said.

  His daughter nodded solemnly, turned to call back into the store where, one supposed Dabni was busy with a customer or working the stock. “Mama! Going now! Bye!” She preceded him out the door onto the boar
dway where she stopped, and looked back at him impatiently.

  Jorl followed. He took her case from her so she wouldn’t tire, and held her hand as they walked to the transit center and took the funicular to the harbor. Chisulo waited for them with receipts from Hearne’s that had been billed against his harbor account. Around them the rain came down in torrents.

  “Are you sure you want to be going out in this, sir?”

  “I’m not going far,” said Jorl. “Not even half the distance to the next island.”

  “Well, I don’t know as that would reassure anyone much, having you anchor in the open water overnight.”

  Jorl had no such intention. As before, he’d be mooring the boat inside the yacht’s hold. He’d already warned Druz of the need to secure it as the larger vessel would be traveling. But explaining all of that to Chisulo would take too long. Still, the boy had a point. Jorl glanced at Rina.

  “I don’t know if my daughter has her sea legs,” he said. “And while my boat handles well, you’re right, in this weather we’ll feel the waves more. I’d like to keep her lunch inside her.”

  Rina trumpeted with embarrassment and whispered, “Papa!”

  Chisulo affected not to have heard. “I can’t speak to that, but best to make all possible speed to wherever you’re going.”

  “Good advice. Thank you, Chisulo.” He gave Rina’s hand a squeeze and together they strolled down the pier toward his boat, leaving the harbormaster’s son behind.

  “It’s an adventure,” said Rina, giggling and smiling up at him as rain pelted them both.

  “Every day.”

  They left the harbor without incident and in due course found the yacht where it had been. Similarly, docking the boat went as smoothly as a few days earlier, with Druz on hand to pull them into position. Even quick as it had been, the trip through the choppy water left Rina a bit green. She didn’t vomit, but she’d remained silent as if the only way to ensure the contents of her stomach stayed where they belonged was to refuse to admit that her mouth could open. Her nausea faded once they’d entered the calm of the hold, the yacht sparing them the onslaught of rain and waves. Her ears fell back and her eyes widened as she beheld the first person she’d ever seen who was neither Eleph nor Lox. Any shyness she felt fled at once. She practically bounced over the railing to land in front of the Sloth.