Caine sighed, smiled. “Well, that’s a relief.”
Sukhinin’s eyes moved to meet Caine’s, but his wolfish smile did not change. “I’m glad you feel so, parnishka.”
Caine had learned that when Sukhinin used that familiar appellation, the odds were dead even that he was about to drop a bomb on the person so addressed. “I’m not sure I like the way you said that, Vassily.”
Sukhinin had the good grace to look abashed, and sounded genuinely apologetic. “Caine, surely you must see what this means.”
“What this means—?”
Alnduul’s voice intruded. “Unless I am mistaken, I believe Consul Sukhinin is suggesting that you escort Ambassador Shethkador back to his ship.”
Caine remembered the pasty, nauseous appearance of the hapless security liaison only ten minutes ago and was fairly certain his own face looked like that now. “You’re joking.”
Downing shook his head. “I’m sorry, but no. Firstly, we can’t let any Ktor on our ships. We have no way of knowing what they might leave behind, and we’ve seen just how much unexplained havoc seems to follow wherever they go. Secondly, while Vassily and I are the only ones who should go, who have the diplomatic credentials, neither of us are permitted. He’s a World Confederation Consul: he shouldn’t even be this close to a potential war zone. And in my case, well, there are a few too many of IRIS’ secrets up here.” Richard tapped the side of his head.
“I’m in IRIS, too,” Caine offered lamely.
“Being in IRIS is a great deal different than being in charge of IRIS, Caine. Besides, if we do send you over, that might actually help take any enemy spotlight off you.”
“Because if you’re willing to send me, they’ll deduce that I mustn’t know anything they’re interested in?”
“Exactly.”
“And if they decide to dissect me, just to make sure?”
Alnduul broke in hastily. “I would not permit that.”
“Alnduul, no disrespect, but you won’t be there.”
“No, but we can equip you with a biomonitor. If the data stream from it is in any way obstructed, impaired, or altered, my ship will consider it a hostile act against a person who is acting at the behest of the Custodians.”
“Does that mean you’re…uh, deputizing me?”
“Nothing so involved as that. But the twenty-first accord allows me to solicit help from willing parties in accomplishing the mandate of that accord. If you agree to carry out this task, you will have our express protection. Over which I have full and immediate control.”
For the first time in many months, Caine felt that he had just become more, rather than less, safe. But damn it, stepping foot on a Ktoran vessel? Really? “Look, can’t we avoid all this?”
Downing folded his arms. “How?”
“By handling the transfer the same way we handled my meeting with the Slaasriithi ambassador. We rendezvous with the Ktor at a module floating in space. They get Shethkador and go back to their ship. We return and go into quarantine. That way, no one”—which is to say, me—“has to journey into the belly of the Ktoran beast.” Caine waited for someone to say something, even Alnduul. But no one did. “Well?” he asked.
Downing looked up. “Caine, if we do that, we’ll be losing an immense opportunity. By asking for us to return Shethkador, the Ktor are also inviting us to go to their ship. To see it from the inside.”
Caine blinked, sputtered. “Well, it’s just fine with me if we pass up that ‘opportunity.’”
“Caine, our ability to fight the Ktor—which hopefully won’t happen for some time, if ever—will be markedly improved by every bit of specific data we can gather about them and their technology.”
“Well, then send an engineer, someone who’s got that skill set.”
“Caine, your powers of observation and deduction are exactly the skill set we need in this circumstance. If we sent an engineer, we might miss important social and cultural details. If we sent a xenologist, we might miss technical components. We need someone who specializes in observation itself, and who has a broad enough knowledge-base to sift out significant factors from background noise. And that specialist is you. That’s why you’ve become the first choice for first contact.”
“Richard, you may mean that as flattery, but I hear it as a death sentence.”
“I know you do, and it’s beastly bad luck that we have to ask you to go back into the bull-ring again, but we’ve been handed a short-lived opportunity and no time to prepare for it. You have the best skill-set, and you also have had the closest prior contact with the Ktor.”
“When you say ‘close contact,’ are you including that arm-spike Shethkador fired into my back in Jakarta? The one that would have done me in if it hadn’t been for Dornaani surgeons? Because, I’ve got to tell you, that kind of ‘close contact’ is a little too close for my tastes. Don’t want to repeat it.”
“We—and significantly, Alnduul—will not allow that to happen.”
Vassily opened his hands in appeal. “Besides, if you will not do it, you know what will happen, of course.”
Caine felt his stomach sink. “You’ll send someone else.”
Sukhinin shrugged, his expression a hang-dog acceptance that life was inherently unfair. “Of course.”
Riordan pushed back from the holotank, disgusted. “I guess I don’t have a lot of prep time.”
Downing’s eyes were sad, apologetic. “No, you don’t. Let’s get started.”
Chapter Four
Far orbit; Sigma Draconis Two
Strapped into one of the forward acceleration couches in a Commonwealth armored pinnace, Caine glanced back toward the cargo section where Tlerek Srin Shethkador and Miles O’Garran’s security detachment were waiting. Downing was alongside Riordan, studying the feed from the forward sensors. “Do we have a visual yet?”
Downing shook his head. “No, but it’s still early.”
Caine rubbed his hands, felt chilly despite the constant twenty degrees centigrade maintained inside the armored pinnace. “You know, I’m surprised the Ktor agreed to have me come aboard. My prior exchanges with them haven’t exactly been pleasant, and I just outed Shethkador—and therefore, all of the Ktor—as humans a couple of days ago. I doubt I’m on their ‘favorite Earth-folks’ list right now.”
Downing’s smile was faint. “True, but it’s of no consequence. You’ll go aboard, present your credentials, participate in whatever ridiculous minuet of courtesies and verbal fencing they elect to impose, and be present long enough to see Shethkador aboard to the satisfaction of this Olsirkos Shethkador-vah.”
“Sirs,” the co-pilot called into the passenger compartment, “I have a visual of Ferocious Monolith. Feed three, if you want to take a look.”
“Very good, Lieutenant,” called Downing, who pulled the screen into a position where both he and Caine could study it.
Riordan wasn’t convinced he was looking at a shift-carrier at first. It did not have the distinctively freight-train modular appearance of all human and most Arat Kur shift-capable craft. It was shaped rather like a thickened Neolithic arrowhead: a wide, flat delta shape, with a notch separating the warhead from the after part that would be lashed to the shaft. There were no rotating habitats in evidence, and further surface details were hard to discern because, unlike any other spacecraft Riordan had ever seen, its surface was dead black. Truly dead black, Caine realized as he looked for reflections and found none. “I think that hull is designed to absorb light,” he muttered.
Downing nodded. “The same sort of effect we’ve noticed with the Dornaani. But this is a damned odd jull design. How do they maintain gravity equivalent in crew quarters? And if that large section aft of the widest part of the delta-shape is the engineering section, then how the devil do they shield the crew?”
Answers started presenting themselves. Caine pointed to a pair of transverse seams that had appeared close to the center of the arrowhead. “Something is separating from the hull; a who
le band of it is lifting up.”
“No,” corrected Downing after a moment, “that band of hull is splitting apart along the ship’s centerline, dividing into two equal halves that are moving out from its axis.”
Caine squinted and then understood what he was looking at. “Those two halves, at the end of those extending pylons: those are the rotational habitats.”
Downing nodded as the hull sections began spinning about the thick keel of the ship, at which point they underwent a further transformation. The two faces of each segment began to split apart and open like a jackknife. They ultimately unfolded into two hinged, mirror-image halves, the top and bottom faces joined at a one-hundred-twenty degree angle of incidence. They began to spin around the ship’s long axis.
“That’s a pretty impressive piece of engineering,” Downing murmured.
“I don’t think they’re done showing off, though,” commented Caine, who had noticed movement back along the notch that segmented the ship into its forward and aft sections. “Look.” From the section behind the notch, fins or sails were extending outward.
Downing frowned. “What the devil—?”
“Sirs!” exclaimed the co-pilot. “Intruder energy output is spiking, neutrinos increasing sharply. I think their engines are—”
But Caine didn’t hear the rest. The fins or sails were becoming a kind of black parasol around the stern of the ship, separating the forward personnel and cargo section from the aft engineering decks.
As the parasol continued to expand outward like a skirt, the co-pilot reported, “We are no longer in the line of the emissions, sir, but they continue to spike. We can detect the bloom around the edge of that…that stingray’s peacock tail.”
Downing glanced at Caine. “A peacock-tailed stingray: seems as good a description as any.”
Caine shrugged. “Better than anything I’d have come up with.”
Downing grinned crookedly. “I thought you were a writer.”
Caine tried to return the grin, but couldn’t get past the irony of who had whisked him out of that career, thereby destroying it.“Yes, well, two guys from IRIS put an end to that about fifteen years ago, now—Richard.”
Downing looked like he had swallowed his tongue. Or wanted to. “Caine, I—”
Caine shook his head. “Sorry, Richard. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to joke about that. But what’s done is done. I’m where I need to be, I guess, and we work well together. Let’s leave it at that, yeh?”
Downing nodded, avoided Caine’s eyes by focusing intently on the screen. “Look at the thermal image overlay.”
Caine did, and frowned. “Damn, with all the energy their power plant is putting out, that flimsy parasol ought to be white-hot by now. The neutrinos alone should be cutting straight through—”
Downing shook his head. “No. It’s not just a shield. Look how its rim temperature drops off rapidly, even down where the parasol emerges from the hull. And it’s not just a radiator, either.”
Caine felt his eyebrows rise slightly. “Advanced thermionic materials?”
Downing shrugged. “What else makes sense? Whatever that parasol is made of, it not only absorbs heat but eliminates it, probably by converting it directly into electricity. And it’s doing so at efficiency levels that are at least an order of magnitude greater than anything we have. It’s a damper, shield, and power-reclamation system all in one. A pearl of great price.”
“Yes, and another bit of purposeful bragging,” Caine added. “A ship with a system like that is going to have a much better power-to-mass ratio than ours or the Arat Kurs’.”
Downing nodded. “To say nothing of higher operating efficiency and better ready power levels.”
Caine sighed, leaned back. “So they’ve shown us that they can put a tiger worth of hurt in the body of a housecat. But there is one significant drawback to their dominance display.”
Downing smiled. “They’ve shown us how much higher we need to be able to jump if we want to match them. Although I must say that is a high, high bar.”
Caine shrugged. “Which means we’d better get hopping.” He stood into the zero-gee without remembering to be careful—and discovered that, finally, it was starting to become second nature. “Let’s request approach instructions and get this over with.”
* * *
Shortly after they docked with Ferocious Monolith, the Ktoran craft brought its rotating sections to a halt and commenced to spin slowly around its own keel, instead. Caine surmised that was probably because the exchange was likely to take place in the main hull and the Ktor didn’t want to go through those formalities in zero-gee. It was pretty hard to look dignified and imposing while floating, unpowered, in mid air. Particularly their returning leader, the Srin Tlerek Shethkador.
The Srin Shethkador. None of the analysts who had pored over every recorded word of the assassin-ambassador’s utterances had been able to determine precisely what a Srin was, nor was Shethkador disposed to clarify the matter for them. It was clearly a title of some importance, but whether it was civil or military, inherited or earned, remained a complete mystery. And it will probably still be a mystery when this day is over, Caine reflected as the armored pinnace’s docking hatch opened to reveal the Ktoran ship’s ingress: a shiny iris valve. After a five-second wait, the plates of the valve dilated with a ringing hiss, revealing four guards in what looked like armored vacc suits, unfamiliar weapons at the ready. Faceless behind the black helmet visor that was part of their uniform equipage, one stepped forward and gestured that Caine should approach.
Caine turned and saw that Miles O’Garran was right behind him, the top of his head barely reaching Riordan’s shoulder. “Ready, Miles?”
“Whenever you are, sir. But—”
“Yes?”
“Are you sure you want me to do this solo, leave my guys back here to keep the ambassador company?”
“I’m sure.”
“May I ask why, sir? They’re all eager to come along. Real eager.”
“That attitude, while laudable, is why I’m leaving them here. For all we know, the Ktor might try to have some fun with us, try to provoke us into making some misstep. I need a seasoned pro who can keep his head clear and his finger away from the trigger if that starts happening. I know you’re good for that job. The other guys and gals: they seem a little too heavy on the oo-rah and a little light on Zen-like serenity.”
O’Garran smiled. “Good working with you again, sir.”
“You too, Miles. Let’s get this over with.”
The corridors to the bridge were masterpieces of defensive architecture: cut-backs, hard-points, doorways, and angles that had been designed to make any hostile boarding attempts a tactical nightmare. No automated defense blisters or systems of any kind, though, Caine noted. Strange.
Bracketed front and back by their escorts, Caine and O’Garran arrived, without fanfare or much warning, on the bridge of the Ferocious Monolith. They passed through a slightly wider automated hatchway and were suddenly in the surprisingly small compartment. Caine peripherally noted various details: that they hadn’t come through the largest entry to the bridge; that most of the crew were in plain grey flight suits; that instead of appearing extremely advanced, the bridge was spartan. It even lacked the minimalist elegance Riordan associated with higher technology: it was a triumph of ugly utilitarianism.
But Caine did not focus on any of these, or the hundred other details that vied for his attention. The best way to look anxious and disoriented is to gawk at my surroundings. And I’m not here to look like a yokel with wide eyes and hat in hand. This is the lair of dominance-obsessed predators; my job is to find the alpha and look him in the eyes and keep looking. And to not blink. Not once.
Riordan did not have long to wait. A tall, trim Ktoran—much adorned with what were presumably symbols of rank or achievement—turned from a cluster of advisors and faced the human visitors. He stared.
Caine stared back…and did not approach.
The Ktoran frowned. “I am Olsirkos Shethkador-vah, Master of Ferocious Monolith. You may approach.”
Well, I see we’re going to start the wrestling match right away. “I am Commander Caine Riordan, Consolidated Terran Republic Naval Forces. I have been approaching since I boarded your ship. I am here to present my credentials and documents concerning the violations, condition, and repatriation of Ambassador Tlerek Srin Shethkador.” And he did not move, except to hold up the relevant papers: hardcopy only, both to follow diplomatic protocol and because the last thing either human or Ktoran computer experts wanted was to have any contact between their respective systems.
Olsirkos narrowed his eyes. “Evidently you do not understand our customs.”
“Probably not. Evidently you do not understand ours, either. I presume you wish to have the Srin returned before I depart?”
“You will not depart without returning the Srin.”
“I will if you do not take these documents from me.”
“Allow me to rephrase. You shall not be permitted to depart if you do not follow our customs and acknowledge my authority in the appropriate manner before we proceed.”
“Allow me to explicate. If I am not allowed to leave when I choose to do so, the Dornaani will see to it that any obstructions are removed. Forcibly. And while you have our cordial respect, your authority is over your own personnel, not us.” Caine kept the documents upraised and motionless.
The crewmembers near Olsirkos—mostly officers, from the look of them—glanced at the master of the ship. In contrast, the grey-suited personnel at the duty stations seemed desperate to focus their attention on something else—anything else.
Olsirkos’ color had begun to change, but then the flush of anger receded—with unnatural speed, it seemed to Caine. As if that involuntary reaction had been explicitly and swiftly countermanded. Instead, the Ktoran smiled. “It would be interesting to see,” he commented in an almost diffident tone as he stepped down from the command platform, “how this encounter would have played out in the absence of your Dornaani warders.”
“Probably less well for me,” Caine admitted, “but no different for you. With or without the support of our Dornaani friends, Tlerek Srin Shethkador will only be returned when proper protocol is observed.”
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