“Yeah, and they have a 24 hour TV monitor going watching that orchid, though it doesn’t seem to be doing much of anything. Sure it’ll bloom in what, nine days? And we’ll arrive by then? What if it doesn’t? What if it up and dies?”
“Well, guess we’ll have a horticulturist walking home. But it will bloom on schedule.”
“You all ready? Can we leave in two days?”
“Yeah, I’ll be ready. I hate to go, in truth, but I’m ready. Hunter is too, though he’s fretting endlessly about the bankers he’s trained, or tried to. I think they’ll do OK.” She looked at George. “And someday, we’ll be back.”
He pursed his lips, they both knowing there was no assurance of that. “Any extra passengers to worry about?”
“Oh, yeah, Tarue and her family. And Borrelia is coming back, too. And his family.”
“Him? The deposed prime minister? He’ll be cooked meat when he gets back.”
“Oh, shit, you think so?” Lori said, distressed. “No love for him back home? I sorta promised him I’d put in a good word for him, try for some clemency, or something.”
“Mmmnn, there was quite a shaking out when V’ming took over, or at least his loyalists, not much bloodshed, though some, I heard, but lots of shuffling of bureaucrats. I met the new prime minister, and he seemed OK, if a bit stodgy. Might be hard feelings, though, still, all around.”
Lori grimaced. “Well, I’ll see what I can do. What about me? Think I’ll get a hot reception, too?” She held up a hand. “I’m not gonna put up with any bullshit, hear?”
“You may be assured, Sky Lady,” he said, using her honorific, “you will not have to do that. Not at all.”
If Lori’s arrival long months ago was exuberant, her departure seemed like a depressing funeral. The large crowd stared at her, silent and limp, listening to her words of farewell, a lecture, really, to follow the progress already begun, to do her proud by treating each other with honor, to study, learn, keep agreements, and be honorable in all their dealings with one another, and with the traders and visitors she would send along soon. She couldn’t promise a return date, she needed to see to the raising of her son on her home world, but said she would visit again, but not for many, many brights. Then, after a solemn blessing from Charon and a whole delegation of his priests, and with a long look at the gathered crowd before her, she entered Eagle One, and slowly lifted, and began circling the landing field. She took a long time, as a sad song of sorrow and loss filled the air, from the massed people, all sorry to see her go. But leave she did, her own eyes damp, Hunter comforting her, and they flew on in silence, up to her waiting starship. As soon as she docked, as if not to give her a chance to change her mind, the engines lit, the bow turned, and the great ship began the week long journey to its final stopping point in the cluster, the Planet Magadana.
Lori’s mood deepened as they flew inward, though she tried to hide it.
But people noticed.
“Tari said you were up here,” Captain George said, taking a chair across from Lori in the observation deck. “Not much to see yet,” he said, his hand waving at the single view screen showing the blizzard of Williams Space, then over to the windows covered by the travel shields. “Won’t be for a couple more days.”
“I’m not looking out,” Lori said, crossing her arms, looking away. She exhaled noticeably.
“What are you doing?” he said. Lori’s eyes swung to him, but she said nothing. “Dreading planet fall?”
“Well, what do you think?” she said, growing annoyed. Gees, everyone always prying into her moods and state of mind lately. Now the captain, too.
“Don’t blame you, actually. You had quite a time there, last time. Not surprising to be a little afraid of what’s in store this time.”
“Afraid?” Lori said, anger in her voice, eyes hot on him. But she took a little breath, and looked away again. “We don’t have to stay there long, do we?” she said, more quietly.
George’s eyebrows shot upward, he nodded to the right, saying, “Well, we have two or three days of loading goods already bought and paid for, probably more, too. And do some refueling, I’m promised whatever we want. And then get all our people back. Maybe up to a week. That OK?”
Lori gave a little shrug, said, “Guess so.”
“Look, it’s OK not to want to go back down into the gravity well. But you really have to, Lori. At least once.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Do you?”
Again, an annoyed look at the captain. “What does everyone want from me, anyway?”
“They want to see you, someone important, famous, even.”
“Oh, really, who even knows me down there?”
“Oh, about everyone.”
“No way...”
“For all we think of them as being backward, they have a very sophisticated communications system. There’s a portrait of you by the orchid, very good one, too. It’s on TV all the time. Everyone knows you, Lori, planet wide.”
“That V’ming, too? He was incommunicado, wasn’t he, in the midst of it all, last time.”
“He’s been brought, ah, up to date on that. And actually, knew a lot of what had happened, anyway. He has now, and had then, quite a few loyalists, you know, people who kept him informed on goings on, all over. Especially in his province. Not that he could do much about it.”
“Yeah?”
“Didn’t you notice how he addressed you in his little video invite? He knows what happened, Lori. They all do.”
“Yeah, being beaten up, you mean? Nice legacy, that.”
“Well, that, and the payback.”
She held her arms up, palms out. “So what am I supposed to do–go and make the sign of the circle, and say all is forgiven?”
“Isn’t it?” His innocent expression hid the true meaning of the question.
“Hell, no. Hell no, dammit! They beat the shit out of me, were gonna kill me, the fuckin’ bastards.” Her eyes smarted, and she looked away, swallowing a couple of times, the fury of the memory gnawing at her, the pent up anger seeking a release. And she knew she shouldn’t have answered with that anger and heat. That’s what he’s probably doing, seeing how she reacts.
“I know.”
She sat back, trying to calm down, folded her arms across her chest. “Then you should realize they are not the most favorite people of the universe, to me. OK?”
“I do.” Lori leaned back, annoyed. The captain went on, saying, “You want retribution? Compensation? Whatever?”
“No, nothing like that, I got my...revenge.”
“Yeah, in spades.”
“What? Like hell! What’d you expect? I just stroll away? You saw the videos? I had to shoot my way out of that hell hole prison. And those viscous dog-like things...damnation, that what you all think, I went crazy, or something?” Her voice softened at the end, she tried to reclaim some demeanor.
“Well, it sort of looked excessive.”
Lori was on the near edge of exploding, just what she shouldn’t do, just what George had been sent to see if she’d do, probably, pushing to test her state of mind, see if she’s stable, over it, might freak out, or what? She clamped her teeth together, took a couple of breaths, relaxed.
“Yeah, I guess it sort of could have looked that way. Maybe it was.” The calmness of her voice pleased her.
“You really went after them with the air car.”
Her mind left the room, remembering, and she said, “I think most of those prisoners were there for political reasons. Some even risked their lives to help me, small things. A bucket of water, a pad to sit on, some food. Maybe other things, I don’t know. And here I am, an ugly, two legged alien, no doubt something extremely weird, even a horror to them. And yet, they helped me anyway. We were all in the same boat, I guess. And so when I got out, when Hunter and Eagle One got me out, I helped them, I did.” Without knowing it, her hands come up to grasp invisible control sticks. She held them, and went on. “Me and my air car. I
t could, and so I did. I got the guns on the walls and on the ground, they were all shooting at me, remember? And the guards and the doors and the RPG launchers, and we took on the jet fighters, too, got some of them.” She started to smile, remembering, but stopped, swallowed, and came back to the room, letting her arms drift back to her lap. She looked at George. “I helped those who helped me. And if you’re wondering if I’d do it again, well, I would. If that means I better stay up here, well, that’s the way it is.”
The captain said nothing, just sat there, leaning forward toward her.
“And we kind of shot up that town that ambushed our people, too, was that excessive?” she asked.
“Well, we got them out. The bodies.”
“Then helped put out the fires. That count for anything?”
“A lot.”
“Yeah, and if it’d have been the bigboys, they’d have nuked the place. They told me that, saying I was excessively lenient.” Her eyes bored in on the captain, eyebrows up. “So who was? Them, or me?” She leaned back into the chair, arms back on her chest.
Again, silence from George, he just sat there, looking kinda like her father, quizzing her on something she’d done wrong.
“You worried about how this will play back home? Later, when we get there? I’m gonna be the police killer, now, instead of the priest killer, like last time? Shit.”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“So what do you want from me, then? What’s going on, that you’re up here tonight?”
“We just want you to know that we realize what you’ve gone through, and want to make sure you’re OK with going back there, is all.”
Softly, she said, “And if I’m not?”
“Well, we hadn’t counted on that. But if you don’t want to, don’t. You don’t have to. We’ll cover for you somehow.”
She shook her head. “No need. I’ll go down there, meet this king, gave my word on that. When the orchid blooms.”
“You’ll be well protected...”
“Yeah...but I’m not staying, I’m coming back here that night. Maybe every night, if I even go down there again, after. I want to sleep in my own bed, have a shower, feed my kid,” she said, waving a hand. “Everything.”
“That’s fine.”
They sat there as a quiet moment passed. Lori looked at him once, then twice.
“So, what?” she said.
“So you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, go anywhere you don’t want to, or see anyone you don’t want to. Just remember that.”
“Are you saying that there are a lot of places to go, people to see?”
“Well, yes, there are.”
“How many?”
“Too many to go to in a lifetime. The requests...overwhelming. You’re in tremendous demand.”
“Oh, great...”
“We’ve already said your time is limited. We’ve denied most requests. But there will be more, once you’re back. It’s up to you, how to handle them all.”
Lori was shaking her head. “Where from?”
“We did most of our trading, and such, on the far side of the planet from the V’ming’s province. Mostly from there. But elsewhere, too.”
She looked at George. “Best I can say is, I’ll see how it goes. I’m OK, all right? I’ll be a good girl.” She waved a hand at him, saying, “I’ll probably agree to do a few appearances, but not many. Not at all. I’ll need you all to prioritize them, let me know what you think is most important. Have Tari sort them out. Then I’ll see how they go. But we won’t be there long, understand?”
George nodded, smiling.
“Are you going to think I’m paranoid if I have Morales come with me each time? I’ll insist on heavy security. Just in case.”
“You’ll have it. He’s doing that now, for our people there already.”
“Staying on planet?”
“Yeah, we have a compound...”
Both Lori’s hands came up. “I’ve already made up my mind on that sort of thing, and I told you...”
“Yeah, I know, it’s OK.”
“All right, good.” She looked at him. “Anything else?”
“Yeah. I think they’re gonna want to ratify the Pleiades Agreement...”
“What? On the planet? No shit. Who?” That piqued her interest.
“Lots of the provinces. There’s a big conference planned, the UN reps are setting it up. Not all of the local honchos, but most of them, all the leading industrialized provinces, anyway.” He smiled. “You might think about being there.”
Nodding, she said. “Yeah, I will. I probably should be there.” A ceremony? Now, that would be good. Very good. Especially back home.
George smiled at her. “I knew you would. You are incredibly brave, you know that?”
“No. Maybe just stupid, or ignorant. Or too trusting...”
“No, not at all. I asked you earlier, and it’s OK to be a little afraid of it all. I know I would be in your place, and am glad I’m not. You’re an incredible woman, Lorelei Saxon Lindbloom, and you have my admiration.”
Wow, words unexpected from the father-figure. She looked over at him, smiling a little, relaxing, finally.
“I do what I can.” And I always have my back up, my wonderful air car. That’s what’s truly incredible, she thought, but did not say. “And I’m glad you think that. So, OK, did I pass muster? Am I OK to go on, to Magadana, again?”
“I think so. I always did. You’re OK, Sky Lady.”
“Well, we’ll see how this sophisticated society reacts to the return of an alien Sky Lady. Or whatever. It’ll be interesting.”
On Magadana, they waited, and watched the strange plant, sitting in its isolation chamber, seemingly doing nothing, in one of the king’s greenhouses. After a brief extension of the stem and the several buds, nothing much changed. V’ming himself visited it daily, looking at it, worried that it just sat there, wondering if he’d been fooled, after all, by an angry and abused former guest. But the several buds did appear to be swelling, some quite a bit.
With less than two brights to go before the 20 bright deadline, V’ming sat in despair, when a call came from the observers.
“The plant awakens! The buds grow!” the excited voice said.
Before he could even get to see it, another message, from the space station: “Starship exhausts detected. In full deceleration. The signature matches those of the Koyaanisqatsi. The Sky Lady returns.”
On the ship, Lori’s guests watched the approaching planet grow in the view screens, then in the observation windows. Borrelia seemed despondent, while the younger members of his family grew in impatience and anticipation. To her surprise, Joshii and Tarue and the kits shared Borrelia’s lethargy toward the new planet.
“Why don’t you like this planet?” Lori asked Tarue. “You’ve never even seen it...”
“Because of how they treated you. I do not like people who did that to you. Not at all.”
The kits echoed the thought, with worse ones of their own. “We will have the bigboys bomb the places that hurt you, Sky Lady, so they cannot do that again.”
“That won’t happen again,” Hunter said. “Lori will be well protected wherever she goes.”
“She goes to the surface? Sky Lady, no, do not trust them again. Stay here with us.”
“You do not wish to go to the surface, see another world?” Lori said.
“No, not this one.”
“Then I will have to go by myself.”
“But why?”
“Because I am the Sky Lady,” she said.
After the kits talked about that a few minutes with themselves, they said, “Then we will come with you, to protect you.”
“The baby? You expect me to bring my son down to that hell-hole of a planet?” Lori said, standing, leaning toward the pickup, agitated beyond belief.
Morales looked a little pained on the video call monitor. “The gesture will be well received...”
“Screw the gesture
, no way,” Lori said, crossing her arms.
“Well, please consider it,” Morales added, weakly.
“No, he stays here, with my husband.”
“Hey, what makes you think I’m gonna let you go down there by yourself?” Hunter said from nearby. “I go where you go.”
“Oh, so great, now I have to risk both my husband, and my son? No way.”
“Well, then the landing is off, ‘cause I’m not staying up here while you go down there,” Hunter said.
“Um, what...?” Morales said, but stopped.
“You think it’s safe there for Eric?” Lori said to Hunter, ignoring Morales on the screen for the moment.
“If I didn’t think it was safe for you, I wouldn’t be letting you go either. So it’s safe for all of us, or none of us.”
Lori’s eyes flicked back to Morales. “It’s safe?”
“Yes,” he said, though she heard, or thought she heard, a little seed of doubt in his voice.
“For all of us?”
“Yes.” He sounded more confident now.
After a moment, Lori said, “Best I can do, is think about it. Then we’ll see.”
Her concern still eating at her, Lori called the bigboys, then the illi-illi, and then spoke to them again on conference. They assured her that preparations were thorough, and her protection was primary to anything else, and everything was being attended to, insuring her safety, and that of the entire landing group, in this province.
“They have a history of duplicity,” she said.
“We know. But that appears to be in the past. This new king, the old one, actually, has treated us all quite honorably. We feel he is sincere,” the bigboy said. He added, “The king has even placed his own daughter in charge of site security.”
An illi-illi said, “They treat us well, also, if with much deference, and the people tremble in our sight. We trade for many fine goods. And the king himself, he has met us in audience. We find him honorable, also.”
“I worry it may be a subterfuge,” Lori said.
T-47 Book II (Saxon Saga 6) Page 49