by David Drake
The passenger got out of the box and walked forward to pay the driver. Daniel had considerable experience in watching people foreshortened by his high vantage point, but Commissioner Brown's tall, stooped figure and jerky walk were easy to identify. He moved like a shore bird mincing through the shallows.
Without having to think about it, Daniel grasped the forward stay and began sliding down it as the quickest route to the hull. Woetjans saw him coming and bellowed, "Stand clear! Here comes Six!"
Daniel wore utilities as he ordinarily would aboard the Princess Cecile. Before he started up the antenna, however, he had donned the boots and gauntlets of his rigging suit. They sparked and screeched against the cable as gravity carried him down.
The cables were woven from filaments of beryllium monocrystal, the toughest flexible material available to shipbuilders. Even so, hair-fine fibers snapped as a result of wear and fatigue, leaving the rigging covered with an invisible fuzz of broken ends. Running a bare hand along a shroud would have the same effect as trying to pet a bandsaw.
Hard suits—rigging suits—were made to be used by personnel handling the cables in brutal haste and under the worst conditions. There were lighter gloves and footgear available that were supposed to be equally protective if you weren't working in vacuum, but Daniel had never met a spacer who used them.
Hogg was lounging at the base of the antenna, turning his head to check each line of approach alternately. He had his hands in his pockets and looked as lethargic as a sheep digesting her supper.
He glanced upward, saw Daniel, and immediately slung the stocked impeller which until that moment had been concealed between the antenna and his baggy garments. So far as Hogg was concerned, the spacers guarding the end of the boarding bridge were simply decoys to absorb an attacker's attention till the real hunter on top of the hull could put slugs through the problem.
The Commissioner looked up at the squeal of Daniel's descent. Daniel hit the hull with a double bang! of his soles against the steel plating.
"Toomey," he said, verbally keying his commo helmet to the Tech 3 who was the senior member of the guard detachment, "this is Six. Link Commissioner Brown with me if you will. Give him a helmet, over."
"Roger, Six," Toomey said. She was built like a fuel drum, but her voice was as light and cheery as a schoolgirl's.
There was brief confusion on the quay. Daniel remained where he was so that all those involved could see him. In theory that didn't matter, but human beings aren't theories. At last Brown settled a helmet borrowed from Hilmer, the junior guard, over his head.
"Commissioner, this is Leary," Daniel said with determined cheeriness. "How can we help you, over?"
Visor magnification made Brown's discomfort obvious, even a hundred yards away. "Ah, Captain Leary?" he said. "I was wondering if I could speak with you privately. I don't want to take you away from your own duties, but . . . ."
"Certainly," said Daniel. "Meet me in the BDC. Ah—I'll have Hilmer guide you, over. Break. Toomey, send Hilmer up to the BDC with Commissioner Brown, over. Break. Six to Cory, have the BDC vacated immediately. I'm going to confer with Commissioner Brown there, over."
"Thank you, Captain."
"Roger, out."
"Yes sir, out."
All that was simple courtesy. Daniel really had no duties on Zenobia except to invent make-work until Adele got the information she had been sent for or decided the task was impossible. The rerigging could be spun out for a month if necessary, so even planning the make-work was complete.
"What do you s'pose he's got in mind?" Hogg asked quietly as he helped Daniel take off the pieces of his rigging suit in the rotunda. "Because he looked more upset even than when we were playing games right after we landed."
Midshipman Cazelet and Chief Missileer Chazanoff bustled out of the Battle Direction Center. They were off-duty at present, but Cazelet was trying to learn the fine points of missile attacks and Chazanoff, like most experts whom Daniel had met, was delighted to have an audience to expound to.
They muttered, "Sir," and bobbed their heads as they passed Daniel on the way to the bridge where Cory was on watch. It would have vacant consoles to practice on also.
"I'm not sure the Commissioner fully appreciated what was happening on the quay," Daniel said, smiling. "It isn't the sort of interaction that ordinarily takes place in the offices of auditors."
The comment opened a train of thought. "I would guess he's worried about something to do with the late Commissioner Brassey's accounts," Daniel said as Hogg eased off his right boot, the last bit of gear. "That's what he was going to work on, he said when he left us. But how that would involve me is beyond my imagination."
They reached the BDC well before Hilmer could chivy his charge up the stern companionway, so Daniel waited at the open hatch. Hogg glanced into the armored chamber and scratched himself.
"You'd best be elsewhere," Daniel said. "Since the Commissioner wants privacy."
"I figured," Hogg agreed. "Well, I guess you'll be safe alone with him, young master."
He snorted and said, "You know, it looks like a bank vault, but Cory can watch and listen to any bloody thing that happens in there."
"Yes," said Daniel, "but I don't think he will. And anyway, I'm just making Commissioner Brown comfortable. If I were worried about whether one of my officers could be trusted to keep information secure, he wouldn't be my officer for very long."
Hilmer, a rigger who'd lost two fingers from his left hand, came up from the companionway and waited. Long moments later, Brown stumbled out, winded by the fast climb. He was carrying a small case; now that he no longer needed a hand for the railing, he switched it from his left to his right.
"Let me help you with that, Commissioner," Daniel said, lifting off the commo helmet which he returned to Hilmer. "The BDC will give us both privacy and good displays."
"I'm embarrassed to be doing this, Leary," the Commissioner said. "After all, you have your own duties. But—"
He waited till the hatch had closed—it was hydraulic, since the armored valve was impractical for even someone of Woetjans' unaided strength—and the dogs had clanged into their mortises, then continued, "—I don't know who else to turn to. Since it involves naval stores, I thought of you."
"Sit down at here, Commissioner," Daniel said. Five consoles identical to those on the bridge formed a star in the center of the BDC. Daniel rotated the seat of the nearest one sideways, then sat on an adjacent one which he turned so that he and Brown were facing one another.
He cleared his throat and went on, "Your predecessor was stealing RCN stores?"
How in heaven's name would Brassey have managed that on Zenobia, where there wasn't and couldn't be an RCN presence? But it would explain the Commissioner Brown's discomfort.
"Oh, good gracious, no!" Brown said in surprise. "I've gone over Commissioner Brassey's accounts, and so far as I can see they're quite in order. Making allowances for sloppiness, that is, but I assure you that I've seen worse. He certainly wasn't fiddling the secret accounts, which is where in the past I've most often found problems."
Daniel blinked. He'd been leaning slightly forward; he felt himself straighten. "Ah," he said. "Could you be mistaken, Commissioner?"
Brown's smile was wry and surprisingly engaging. "About many things, Captain," he said, "yes, I certainly could be. But not about accounts of this sort, filed by a man whom I may charitably say was not one of the great intellects of his age. You have every right to dismiss my opinions on most subjects, but I've spent nearly twenty years becoming an expert on matters of this sort."
Daniel grinned. "Your pardon, Commissioner," he said. "I spoke without thinking. But if there's no problem with the accounts, then why are you here?"
"If I may give you some background . . . ," Brown said. "When we took possession of Cinnabar House, we found the Commissioner's private apartments were nearly full of empty wine bottles. My wife informs me that they had contained decent local vintages."
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He shrugged. "I had access to Commissioner Brassey's private accounts as well as his official ones," he said, "so I went over those also. You may object that this was improper if you wish to."
"It doesn't appear improper to me," Daniel said with what he hoped sounded like sincerity. Actually, it probably was improper, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Nothing about accounting seemed to him worth caring about.
"Well, anyway, I did," said Brown. He'd opened his case; it contained a personal data unit and pockets to hold over a hundred data chips. "Brassey had a private remittance from relatives at home as well as his official salary. His outlays for wine almost perfectly balanced those sources of income, leaving very little overage for food and what I might call general maintenance. From the state of his quarters, the figures were accurate."
"Go on," said Daniel, nodding. He'd learned not to anticipate the Commissioner, who appeared to be telling his story in an orderly fashion. If his hearer was still completely at sea as to where that story was going—well, the answer to that was to shut up and listen.
"There's simply no evidence that Brassey had any private venture on Zenobia," Brown said firmly. "Or that he would have been able to manage it if he had. Gibbs did all such business as the Commission required."
He frowned. "Which I must say isn't very much. Now, I admit that Gibbs says that the late Commissioner wasn't as incapable as I believe and that he had secret meetings outside Cinnabar house, though Gibbs knows nothing of the purpose or the other parties involved. But—"
Brown's voice was animated. He had lost the diffidence and confusion with which he had begun the discussion. The accountant was very different from the embryonic Commissioner, let alone the husband.
"—we have learned, that is, I learned, in the Audit Division to ignore verbal testimony when it conflicts with written documentation. I am almost certain that Resident Tilton's suggestion about 'Cinnabar private ventures' was false. As false as one would expect any statement by a man of that sort to be."
He paused with what approached being a smug smile. Daniel had picked up on the key word. Suppressing a smile of his own—he found himself liking the suddenly competent Brown—he said, "'Almost,' Commissioner?"
"Exactly!" said Brown. "Look at this item, if you will."
He typed quickly on the virtual keyboard of his data unit, but the display winked to life on the console at which he sat. With a quick adjustment, Brown moved an omnidirectional hologram to hang between himself and Daniel. It was a series of figures and legends.
This was the sort of thing Adele did all the time. It was surprising to see a stranger—and one who until moments previously had been something of a joke—accomplishing the task with the same reflexive skill.
"I normally work on my own unit," said Brown, who had apparently understood Daniel's expression. "I frankly don't trust linked computers when I'm dealing with financial records. And, ah—I hope you don't mind, but I've disconnected the reporting and export functions of the consoles in this room for the duration of our conference."
"Quite all right, Commissioner," Daniel said. Smiling faintly—had Adele spent time with this fellow during the voyage? He didn't think she had—he added, "There's a separate recording function built into the lighting circuit. It's part of the log. If you like, I can have my signals officer wipe it when she returns to the ship."
"Ah!" said Brown in surprise. "Ah. No, I don't think that will be necessary, Captain. But I appreciate your candor."
He cleared his throat, then touched a point in the air. On the display Daniel was viewing, line items expanded while the background faded. The excerpt read:
ITEM PN425-9901SJ:
Requisitioned Regional Naval Stores 9-13-45. No Charge.
Delivered Calvary Harbor 12-07-45.
Installed 12-09/10-45 at 4PP10418653. Barge rental 100 florins. Casual labor (off-planet spacers) 100 florins plus 30 florins alcohol bonus.
"The fund charged is the secret account," Brown explained. "This is the only charge on the secret account during Brassey's tenure as Commissioner. Do you have any idea what it could mean?"
"Well . . . ," Daniel said, turning to his own console and bringing it live. "I can find out what the item is easily enough."
Perhaps not as easily as Adele could. Regardless, it didn't take long to find an RCN equipment catalogue. Indexing was almost instantaneous once he'd entered the item number.
Brown stared at the image and description blankly. "It's a portable landing beacon," Daniel explained. "Not something that you ordinarily need, but I suppose it might be more useful in the Qaboosh than in most regions, so it's reasonable they'd have a few in stock on Stahl's World."
Brown still looked blank. Daniel grinned. Now you know how I've been feeling, he thought. Aloud he said, "It's for bringing ships in on ground control at a place where there isn't a proper port installation. Colonies usually do it that way: send down a lifeboat with a portable rig, then bring the main ship or ships down on ground control."
"Ah," said Brown. "Now I see. But why a colony?"
"I don't know that it is," Daniel said. "That's what came first to mind. As for where the beacon was placed—"
He switched to a global display, assuming that the grid reference was to Zenobia. If it wasn't, then all bets were off.
"Here," Daniel said, viewing the cursor which seemed to be pulsing in the middle of the Green Ocean, some six hundred miles east of Calvary. He expanded the display, hoping that something that made sense would appear. The detail wasn't very good, but at high magnification the point appeard to be a marshy islet in a scattered archipelago.
"What does it mean?" Brown said, frowning in puzzlement.
"It means . . . ," said Daniel, grinning as he keyed an alert signal to Adele's personal data unit. "That I will make inquiries."
Just as soon as Adele returned.
CHAPTER 12: Calvary on Zenobia
Adele stepped onto the bridge with Tovera behind her. There was a nearly full house, which was mildly surprising when the Sissie was at rest in a friendly harbor. Well, a reasonably friendly harbor.
Cazelet was at the gunnery console, refining missile trajectories under the tutelage of Chazanoff from the missile station. Since Sun was on liberty, there was no reason the midshipman shouldn't use a fully capable console instead of the training station at the back of the missile console. Cory, the watch officer until Vesey returned from liberty, was at astrogation, and Daniel had moved from the BDC, where he'd been when he summoned Adele, to the command console.
Adele sat at the signals console. She was fairly sure that no one else would use her station in anything short of a serious emergency, though she wouldn't have objected. She was quite sure that nobody could have accessed the files which she didn't want others to see. Even so, it would have bothered her and seemed discourteous.
The Sissies were a courteous group. Any newcomer who didn't understand the group's internal rules would be informed of them firmly. If the transgressor were one of the midshipmen, who were rated as Common Spacers though their duties were those of commissioned officers, and the person informing them were Woetjans, the process was likely to be very firm indeed.
Adele brought her console live. Daniel's image stared at her from the upper left corner of her display, an eyebrow lifted.
"Ah!" Adele said when she figured out what had surprised Daniel. She looked down at her civilian suit, then back at the display with a slight smile. "I suppose technically I'm out of uniform. Your summons seemed urgent enough that I didn't take the time to change."
Since she was speaking over a two-way link and their consoles had active sound cancellation, their discussion was as private as the thickness of the ship's steel hull would have made it. Daniel grinned and said, "You're only out of uniform if you're acting officially, and I'm not sure that you are. At least, not officially on behalf of the RCN."
"Ah," Adele repeated in a different voice. She knew that Daniel preferred not to discuss
the work she did for Mistress Sand, though she had only intellectual understanding of his attitude.
To Adele, information was important, but how one obtained that information was of no significance. She preferred written or electronic means over—her lips quirked with amusement at the anachronism—listening at keyholes, but that was simply because listening at keyholes was inefficient.
Her face went hard. And of course, she preferred the means that most distanced her from human contact. Well, for many years human contact had been the cause of most of her considerable discomfort.
"I have a map reference . . . ," Daniel said, exporting the image from his display to Adele's console. "Which Commissioner Brown found in his predecessor's files. I can't find any information or even good imagery about it, though. Can you help me?"
"Yes," said Adele as her wands flickered. That she spoke at all was simply courtesy to a friend; in the old days—in the days before she had the RCN or friends either one—she would simply have ignored the silly question.
She'd echoed Daniel's display on her own as soon as she sat down, so his attempt to send it to her was superfluous. There was no reason to point that out, of course.
She first replaced the old, low-resolution image from the astrogation database with a composite of the surface images which the excellent optics of the Princess Cecile had captured while they orbited before landing. Over that she laid the global positioning grid, then cross-indexed the point with the data she had accumulated while preparing for the mission to Zenobia.
"Diamond Cay," she said with satisfaction. "Six hundred and twelve miles from the bridge of the Princess Cecile."
She smiled, though only someone who knew her well would recognize the expression. "More or less, that is."
"You know that you're a magician, don't you?" Daniel said, making her smile a little broader. Though it wasn't true, of course. He expanded the image; it stayed bright and clear instead of fading to a muddy blur as the stock one had.