Across the Great Rift

by Washburn, Scott;

  Jeanine giggled. “It’s not quite long enough for that. But it does sound delicious. Maybe you could model it for me when we get back.”

  Regina smiled. Jeanine was the perfect assistant, but there had never been any doubt in Regina’s mind that the young woman was more than a little bit in love with her boss. She’d been tempted, at times, to see where things might go, but if she did, then Jeanine wouldn’t be the perfect assistant anymore…

  “All right, I will behave today.” She pulled out modest underwear, shorts, and shirt and quickly put them on. She noticed that Jeanine watched every move. Well, let her have her fun. She finished and then moved back into the common room of the suite. The gifts that had been bestowed on them earlier were scattered around in piles. Regina went to one especially fascinating sculpture and picked it up. “These are all really beautiful. I’m sure people back home would pay well for them. The locals have things to trade besides ice and metals, it seems.”

  “They are nice,” agreed Jeanine. “There are some very skilled craftsmen here. You can see it in everything they make.” She waved at the room itself and Regina nodded. Everything was beautifully decorated. The walls, the doors, the furniture all had a hand-crafted look to them. The use of the native stone and the wood grown in the parks gave the place a very… organic feel. She remembered Charles Crawford’s comment about the shuttle that Tad and his uncle had arrived in. No mass-produced, factory items here!

  “Tad says they have been living here for over a thousand years. A thousand years, Jeanine! How many structures back home are that old?”

  “A few, but I don’t think anyone still lives in them anymore.”

  “But they do live here, and think of the effort and love they’ve put into this place. I like it.”

  “So do I… ah, here we go,” said Jeanine, turning her head as the door intercom chimed. It was the door to the common room of the suite rather than the one leading to the outside corridor. She got up and went to answer it. As she expected, it was Charles Crawford.

  “Morning, ladies,” he said cheerfully. “Ready for some touring? Our guide is waiting outside.”

  “Yes, indeed. Sorry you missed the one yesterday.”

  Regina slipped on her shoes, picked up her helmet, and followed the other two. They checked each other’s gear in the airlock and then cycled through to where Tad was waiting. He smiled when he saw them, although he gave Crawford a worried glance for an instant, and Regina thought that it was an easier and more natural smile than he’d been wearing lately. Tad had been very uneasy around her since the battle, but he seemed to be slowly getting used to her again. Regina was glad; she liked Tad a great deal and she would hate to have their friendship ruined by recent events.

  “Is it just the three of you, today?” asked Tad.

  “Yes, the others all have a full day of negotiations ahead of them—and they are welcome to it. I’d much prefer seeing more of Panmunaptra.”

  “Are the negotiations going well? My uncle attends them, but he’s too tired afterward to tell me much of anything about them.”

  Regina smiled. “Well, Charles and Beatrice don’t tell me a whole lot either, but I gather that they are happy with how things are going. But business dealings make my head ache.” She and the others looked to Crawford.

  He shrugged. “It’s all pretty routine, really. It’s taking longer because of language difficulties and unfamiliar financial systems, but we’ve got the main points hashed out—which is why I’m free today. Beatrice and the others are working on the details today.”

  “I know what we are hoping to get from the Seyotahs,” said Jeanine, “but what are we going to give them in return?”

  “Technology, mostly. Our artificial gravity system alone will be worth a fortune to them.”

  “Can we trade that away?” asked Regina. “I mean, we don’t really have the right to trade away patented technology, do we?”

  “Oh, I’m sure that the lawyers will get it all squared away when we get back and issue all the proper licenses. Even outfits like Technodyne aren’t going to squawk too loudly when we’re acting with the Protector’s blessing. But enough of that, I spent all day talking about crap like that. Where are you going to take us today, Tad?”

  “Where would you like to go? We saw the birthing crèches yesterday and the recycling and environmental centers the day before. I guess we could see the refineries and manufacturing workshops today, if you like.”

  “That would be fine, but…” Regina hesitated. She knew Tad wasn’t going to like what she asked next. “Would it be all right to bring along Captain Frichette? He has asked me to get permission for him to take a look at some of your electronics factories. He wants to see how you harden your systems against those EMP weapons you use.” Tad’s smile vanished and his expression of uneasiness reappeared. The youth’s hesitation could not be blamed on the translating computers this time. “He’s not a bad person, Tad, really. I know that he feels awful about what happened—and he certainly won’t be causing any trouble here. Please?” She batted her eyelashes at him and smiled.

  “I-I guess it will be all right. So we should go to the docking bay first.”

  “Good! I’ll call ahead and let him know we are coming.” Regina activated the com in her helmet and told Frichette to get ready. He seemed pleased. “Okay, let’s go.”

  Tad took them to an elevator which lifted them up to the zero-G section of the asteroid along the spin-axis. This was a different elevator than the first one they had taken, and for two hundred meters of its path the shaft was transparent and revealed one of the four great ‘parks’ within Panmunaptra. Regina had spent the entire first day here exploring those wonderful places. She resolved that when things settled down she was going to try and arrange tours of the parks for all the personnel in the fleet.

  “Damn, that’s pretty,” said Crawford. “Y’know, usually I can’t wait to get on to the next job, but I’m starting to wonder what it would be like to be able to keep tinkering with the same job until it was exactly right—like this place.”

  All too quickly the glimpse of paradise disappeared behind rock walls again. A red light flashed on in the elevator car warning them to grab a handhold as they decelerated. With the centrifugal gravity dying away, they would have been flung against the roof of the car, otherwise. The car stopped, the door opened, and they floated out into the main thoroughfare. A long corridor had been bored down the length of the asteroid, connecting the docking bays at one end with the shipyards, refineries, and zero-G factories at the other. Businesses, storerooms, and small workshops lined the corridor in between. In the center of the corridor there were a series of moving cables with handholds that towed people along at a brisk pace. Tad led them over to this and grabbed a passing handle. Regina, Crawford, and Jeanine did likewise. Suddenly being accelerated from zero to about ten kilometers an hour jolted the arm a bit, but they had tried it several times yesterday and were now used to it. They weren’t that far from the docking bays, so a ten minute ride was all it took to get them there. Regina used the opportunity to study the people she saw about her.

  “It looks like you have a lot of visitors here, Tad,” she said, pointing with her free hand. “Lots of helmets and environmental suits.”

  “Yes, we usually have quite a few people from other clans who come to trade, but there has been a huge influx of merchants and other people hoping to get a piece of the business with your people.”

  “Is that really such a big deal?”

  Tad awkwardly manipulated his translator for a moment. “I imagine the contract would be very large.”

  “Uh, no, I didn’t really mean the size of the business contract, Tad. I meant a large event, an important occurrence. People seem very excited about us. You do have starships, you’ve told us, so you must have trade with people outside this system.”

  “We have some, but not all that much, really. Certainly nothing on a scale like you are asking for.”

  “D
o you have much contact with people in the other systems? How far have you expanded since the original… settlers arrived in this part of the arm?”

  “Contact is pretty… irregular, Regina. After the original colony ship, the Long March, was disassembled, a number of smaller starships were constructed. Some clans left here entirely, while others left some people here and sent some out to explore. The only news we get is from the trading starships. I guess there are settlements on a few hundred other systems by now. Maybe more. As you saw yesterday, our numbers don’t increase very fast.”

  “So there is no central authority of any sort?”

  Tad laughed. “No, we don’t have any central authority even in this system, let alone out there.”

  “But you do seem to get along pretty well—except for the raids.”

  “It… works. And we have the Church to mediate for us if need be.”

  “Yes, your church. I’d like to know more about that. The Church of Life, is that correct?”

  Tad nodded. “That’s it. But I can’t really tell you a whole lot about it. Maybe I can introduce you to one of the priests. He could explain it better, I’m sure.”

  “Maybe that nice one at the birthing crèche we talked to yesterday?”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  They reached the end of the cable run and released their grip, letting their momentum carry them to the lock leading to the docking bay. It was crowded here and quite a few of the people stopped to stare at them. Regina just smiled and they worked their way past a set of guards, who seemed to be keeping mere gawkers away, to the bay where Felicity was docked. Captain Frichette and another man were waiting for them.

  “Good morning, Captain. How are things going?”

  “Well enough, I suppose. Dame Regina, I don’t think you had a chance to meet Don Kurk on the voyage out. He’s my chief engineer.” Kurk was a half-head taller than Frichette, and as broad as the other man was thin—nearly as broad as Crawford, in fact. But he smiled in a friendly fashion as they shook hands all around.

  “Have you completed your repairs, Mr. Kurk?” asked Crawford.

  “As many as I can manage under the circumstances. Some equipment needs to be replaced that I don’t have spares for—unless the locals can supply replacements.”

  “Well, why don’t we go and see if they can? Mr. Farsvar is willing to take us down to their shipyards and factories to see what we can find.”

  “That would be excellent,” said Frichette. “Shall we get going?”

  They went back the way they had come and were soon on the cable-pull going the other direction. A lot more people were staring at them now and Regina imagined it was because of Frichette’s and Kurk’s uniforms. The people here did not seem to go in for anything even vaguely resembling uniforms, not even the so-called ‘warriors’ who escorted them from time to time. Most of the clothing Regina had seen were trousers and shirts, pleated at waist, wrists and ankles for zero-G practicality, but the cut, colors, and decorations varied wildly. The only constant was that there was nothing that could drift free or get tangled around something, another concession to the free fall. In contrast, the black uniforms with gold trim of the spacers shouted for attention.

  After they had gone a few hundred meters, Tad pointed out a second set of cables above them which was moving faster. Transferring from one to the other was a little tricky, but they all accomplished it and were soon zipping along at nearly twenty kilometers per hour. The breeze this generated on her bare arms was welcome since it was very warm. The air recyclers in their helmets had been modified to cool the air as much as practical, and while this had increased how long they could endure the heat, it was still far from comfortable. She could see Frichette sweating in his heavy uniform. Maybe I should have warned him to dress lighter. But no, he knew how hot it was going to be, his decision; let him live with it.

  Jeanine made the mistake of inquiring more closely about the repairs to the ship and Mr. Kurk launched into a detailed explanation which took up most of the twenty minute trip. Meanwhile, Crawford kept pointing out places he wanted to check out later. The transition back to the slower moving cable was not as tricky as Regina had feared. It was elegantly simple, in fact: just let go of the fast cable and wait until air resistance slowed you enough to match speed with the slower cable. It would not have worked in a vacuum, but it worked just fine here.

  The area around the entrance to the shipyard was not as crowded as the other end had been, but they were not allowed to go right in, either. Tad talked with one of the guards and then asked them to wait while someone in authority came to show them around.

  “I guess they don’t want us just wandering around unsupervised,” said Regina.

  “It is not you they would worry about. With all the strangers on the base right now, we have to be careful. Hijacking a ship from its building slip would be nearly as great a coup as taking one in space. The warriors are always trying to show off their skills.” Tad’s voice trailed off when he saw Frichette listening to him.

  “I would greatly appreciate it if someone would explain the rules of engagement around here sometime,” said the captain. Tad glanced at his computer and looked puzzled.

  “I’m not sure I understand your question.”

  “I just don’t want to make the same mis…”

  Frichette was cut off by a loud shout from behind them. The guards on either side of the lock tensed and Regina spun herself about to see what was happening. A dozen men and women in environmental suits had gathered silently behind them. She looked at them closely and realized she had not seen any of this clan before. Unlike Tad, they had hair and it was done up in thick braids. It had a strange gold-green color. Their skin was a medium gray and their eyes glinted darkly inside their helmets. They all appeared to be angry. From her side Tad gasped out: “Oh, Life! Clorindans!”

  “What’s going on?” demanded Crawford.

  “Tad says they are from the same clan as the ones who attacked us. The same as… as…”

  “The same as the ones I killed,” finished Frichette grimly. “What is this? Relatives out for revenge? I’m unarmed, Dame Regina.”

  The guards from the lock came forward to put themselves between them and the Clorindans—but there were only three of them, although a crowd of onlookers was starting to gather. One of the Clorindans came forward and began talking quickly and angrily. He was pointing right at Crawford. Tad moaned.

  “What is it?” asked Regina. “Tad, what’s happening?”

  “The one who’s speaking is the brother of one of the dead Clorindans—and he’s also a son of the leader of the whole clan. He’s…he’s demanding justice from the leader of your group—from Mr. Crawford.”

  “Justice? What sort of justice?” said Crawford. Tad swallowed nervously.

  “A trial by combat—t-to the death.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Trial by combat?” asked Charles Crawford in a stunned voice. “You mean like a duel or something?”

  “Yes, a f-fight until one of you is dead,” said the young native called Tad.

  “You allow such things here?” demanded Regina Nassau with a look of disbelief on her face.

  “I, uh, yes, it is allowed—but very, very rare, Regina. But it is within his rights to make the challenge,” he said, gesturing toward the angry Clorindan.

  “Well, it damn well better be within my rights to refuse!” exclaimed Crawford.

  “I… I’m not sure what the law says. We need to get word to K’ser Gorin and his officials.”

  But it seemed as though the guards by the lock had already been calling someone. More guards appeared as if from nowhere, and before long a much more comfortable cordon had been thrown up between Crawford and his challenger. Eventually someone with authority appeared and the Clorindans were taken away. Crawford and the rest of the party were conducted off in another direction. An elevator took them down and Captain Frichette sucked in his breath when the sides of the
shaft proved to be transparent and revealed a spectacular park-like vista. Crawford had forgotten that the young man hadn’t seen this yet. “That’s… that’s very impressive,” he said to Regina.

  “Yes, I was hoping to show this to everyone on the ship.”

  Sadly, the view only lasted a few seconds and then the elevator car was swallowed up by the rock again. They were conducted back to their suite of rooms. Crawford was glad to get out of the heat and take his helmet off. He collapsed into a thickly upholstered chair and tried not to shiver.

  “Well, this is a hell of a mess, sir,” said Frichette. “You’re not actually going to fight that geek are you?”

  “Of course not—and watch you language around here,” he cocked an eye at Tad Farsvar and the one guard who had followed them in. The locals had put on heavy coats and now had their own breathing helmets.

  “I didn’t mean them, sir.”

  “I know, but it’s a bad habit to get into. Don’t want to offend anyone.”

  “No, sir, I’ll leave that to you—you’re much better at it.”

  “Yeah,” snorted Crawford. “I guess I am.”

  “Not that I didn’t do a pretty good job on my own. After all, I was in command of the ship, sir. Perhaps I should…”

  “I gave you the go-ahead to shoot, Captain,” said Crawford immediately, to head off any heroics by the kid. “It’s my responsibility.”

  “Tad, I can’t believe you actually allow duels like this,” said Regina. “I mean, you don’t fight, you said.”

  “It really is rare, Regina, and I’m very sorry this has happened. But the law recognizes that sometimes people just can’t accept any other solution. It provides a final outlet to resolve disputes and it has prevented far worse things when clans are in conflict.”

  “There are places within the Protectorate that allow dueling, Dame Regina,” said Frichette with a shrug. “It’s not that unusual, really.”

  Regina just shook her head and moved away. It was only a few minutes later when the four remaining members of the delegation arrived with several of the locals. Eric Briggs, a nephew and assistant of Tosh Briggs, was nearly beside himself. Clearly hysteria ran in the family. He tore off his helmet and flung it aside when he saw Crawford. “Sir Charles, just what the hell is going on? We had almost completed our negotiations and then we were suddenly dragged away and everyone was shouting that you were in a fight! What did you do?”