She made up her mind to say something. “Y-fly, can you search local frequencies? See if anybody’s talking about him, or if there are any disturbances. Meanwhile I’ll see how robust our sensor arrays are. Maybe I can see what’s going on. Hawking? Come assist.”
On the planet Zivang, in the dome-city of Zivang, in a large dark cell, a man in an excellent suit with several new tears prodded another man lying in a corner.
“He’s not dead, he’s not,” said the standing man to the other inmates. Most wore dejected looks and haggard expressions, but didn’t look like hardened criminals.
The man on the ground groaned. The standing man jumped away.
“Just another one rounded up,” another prisoner said.
Steo rolled over and sat up. Many parts hurt. “Did you kick me?”
“Nudged, nudged, I only nudged you,” the standing man said.
Steo shook his head and looked around in the dim light. He held out his hand and the man helped him up.
“Where am I?” Steo asked. He surveyed the spacious room, and the men inside it. His head hurt and so did his knee and elbow.
“Holding chamber C. C is the place for malcontents and people who looked the wrong way at the wrong time. Wrong way, wrong time,” said the man who helped him up.
Steo massaged his head.
“Foi. I am Foi.”
“Well, this is the most painful coincidence I’ve ever experienced.” Steo patted Foi on the shoulder. “I came to meet you. Slank from Nibs, you know her? She sent me.”
Foi’s face brightened.
Steo looked around. “The bad news is we’re in jail. The good news is this isn’t the first one I’ve been in.” He smiled.
“Me neither, me neither,” Foi said.
They walked around together and talked in low voices.
Steo said, “All I remember was a commotion outside a store. I went to see what was going on, and a uniformed guy pushed me into a group. I don’t know what happened next, but I woke up here with a pounding headache.”
“It was a round up. The SecPol round up people and bring them here.”
“SecPol?”
“Security Police. Zivang’s private military and police force rolled into one.”
“But I didn’t do anything. I was just standing there.”
“We were just standing there when they rounded us up. Collaborating and conspiring.” Foi looked around to make sure none of the others were listening in.
“That’s the way things work here? What’s the punishment?”
“The judge will decide. If you’re guilty then the SecPol must have been right, so they get paid.”
“And since I’m not?”
“You go free with a headache. Then SecPol doesn’t get paid, no they don’t. You got your taxes paid, right?”
“Taxes, I’m not even from Zivang.”
“Oh,” Foi said with a sad shake. “Then you’ll have to pay an outworlder tax to get free.”
Steo sighed. “This was not on my list of things to do. They’re wasting my time. Okay, I’ll think on it. In the meanwhile, Slank said you had some information for me.” Now he made sure no one was eavesdropping. “A ship came through here and made a long jump, outward bound. A science vessel, the Vadyanika. Does that sound familiar?”
“Oh yeah yeah. Every ship that comes through here is suspicious but that one stood out. They got supplies, refreshed and then jumped. Way out there. So I tracked them. I got exact coordinates and scans of the ship. You willing to pay? You pay, right?”
“No friend of Slank’s would do it for a favor. Plus add on a loser’s fee for my ship.”
“Loser’s fee?”
“Yeah I’ll pay you to help anybody coming after me to get lost.”
Foi smiled brighter. “You are a friend of Slank’s! A good friend!”
Steo was soon informed of Zivang’s speedy legal system. In front of a judge, a court assistant verified charges and fines. Bounty hunters and tax collectors alike showed up to verify the guilt of anyone who questioned the evidence. People invariably paid something and were set free. The fees included the judge’s time, too.
Steo was in line with Foi behind him. When Steo’s turn came, he was marched to the front. A man whispered in the judge’s ear. The judge, a fat man with a pinched face, looked down upon Steo with an unsettling gleam in his eye.
“Name?” said the judge.
“Paul Blair. My ID card is current. I can pay the fine, it’s perfectly fair. I don’t want to disrupt your process on Zivang.”
Two guards came and stood on either side of Steo. He steadied his breathing. Nobody else had guards standing next to them.
“No, you are not. You, my lovely little liar, are Steorathan Liet! Seize him!”
The guards gripped him under the arms. Steo remained calm. Guards had grabbed him before. His mind raced though, trying to calculate escapes. There are probably ways out, he thought.
The judge’s bulbous jowls shook. “Intergalactic criminal and notorious crook Steorathan Liet has landed in my court. What a delicious day! Do you know how we figured that out?”
“Sir, I’m no more than a –” Steo didn’t get a chance to finish his lie.
“Silence! It was DNA. SecPol always takes a sample and my lithe friend, you have left a trail of indisputable evidence.” The judge seemed to savor his victory. “I would consider holding onto you for the rewards on your fair head boy, but unfortunately your reputation as a slippery devil precedes you. As succulent a morsel as you are, I must choose differently.”
Steo sighed in relief and relaxed a little.
“DEATH!” shouted the judge.
All eyes turned to the drama at the head of the courtroom and applause broke out. The judge slowly stood with the help of an assistant.
“Steorathan Liet, who has several bounties marked dead or alive, you are condemned to death here on Zivang! We’re a law abiding society, not the reckless frontier world as portrayed elsewhere, in more populous regions.” He pontificated on the wonders of Zivang. “All crime is reported! All criminals are tried! All punishments are fair! These are the benefits of our free market of policing.”
People applauded, including many of the prisoners.
“So I say the punishment is DEATH! We will begin at –”
The room went silent. A ticking sound came from behind Steo that the judge looked toward. Steo couldn’t swivel his head to see what it was.
“Who or what are you?” the judge said in bewilderment.
“Judge Grimenthal, I dispute the charges,” came a strong and confident voice.
“You are out of order,” the judge said, recovering. Laughter from onlookers accompanied this statement. “This is my court and to dispute charges you need to be licensed! You need, by my count, fourteen documents prepared! And you must be alive!”
“Actually fifteen documents.” Renosha stepped forward.
Steo’s jaw dropped and he stared in amazement. The ancient robot from the metal temple in the wasteland wore a clean robe and carried on a legal conversation without sounding like he was shorting out.
“If you check,” Renosha said, “You will find that I am properly licensed, I have transmitted the documents to your office, and on a technical point, a representative must only be not dead. Since I am still active and capable of taking further action, Section 3.17b of the statute clearly allows me to represent Mr. Liet.”
The judge was no fool; he had been at this game a long time. “So you admit he is Steorathan Liet! The case is ironclad!”
“Indeed he is the notorious Steorathan Liet. Also, I allow that he has the death penalty,” Renosha declared. Being called notorious by your own attorney didn’t sound good to Steo.
The judge sputtered at being allowed anything in his own court.
“However Your Honor, you would gain nothing by executing Mr. Liet no matter how awful his crimes. For the death penalty that you quote can only be enacted on the planet of Ghat, by the bo
ard of directors of that world. If you were to perform it here, the Ghat culture would consider that a violation of their corporate rights and by their laws they would be allowed to pursue remedy. Knowing the military strength of Ghat sir, I doubt you would wish to take that sort of risk.”
The judge sat with a thump and flipped through documents on displays before him. Renosha turned to Steo and smiled through his beard of metal cables. He even had a metal mouth and teeth. Steo waved back half-heartedly.
“It seems,” said the judge, “that claiming a reward on the still-living Steorathan Liet would be the most prudent choice. Thank you Mr. Renosha for attending to that. Guards, take Liet away.”
“No sir, that will not do. He was originally charged with inciting a riot. That is the charge he is being held on. I have evidence that shows he was not involved, and stumbled into the so-called disturbance. If you will, I can play the vid.”
The judge looked flummoxed but waved his hand. Renosha summoned a hologram with a disc-shaped lee. It was a vid of Steo stepping outside the shop, looking around at people involved in some sort of disturbance and being pounced upon by an armed officer wielding a baton.
Renosha shut it off. “The vid was not faked. The shopkeeper verified the incident and has filed a deposition to that effect. Given the clear and overwhelming evidence, Mr. Liet should be cleared of all charges.”
“Fine. Whatever you say, robot,” Judge Grimenthal said. “Steorathan Liet is cleared of the recent charges here on Zivang. Guards, take him back to his cell.”
“Why, sir?” Renosha asked. “He’s cleared of charges. I heard you say it just now.”
“Because he’s wanted for crimes on a dozen other systems. Or didn’t your circuits calculate that?” the judge said smugly.
“You are correct, Your Honor. I didn’t consider that … because Zivang has no treaties with those systems!”
Renosha addressed the crowd, his voice strong and commanding. “This is a travesty of justice! Does Judge Grimenthal claim that Zivang’s efficient trial systems are held hostage to other world’s views? When a man is cleared of charges, he is freed, is he not? How can Judge Grimenthal continue to deny freedom to a freed man?”
The people in the courtroom murmured and applauded.
“Permission to approach, Your Honor?” Renosha asked politely.
The judge waved him forward with a look of consternation on his fat face.
“Sir,” Renosha said. “This case is cut-and-dry. You have no evidence to hold him for a crime for which you have jurisdiction. There are other considerations. Have you wondered how he came to be here? Check if you will, sir. I can tell you that he owns a new and heavily-armed military starship in orbit. If he’s held much longer, I can’t predict the reaction of his knight-mercenary crew.”
Knight-mercenaries were notoriously loyal to their captains. They lived to do battle for their leader. Provincial judges were well aware of that. When pirates came, it was bad to have a reputation for treating knight-mercs badly.
The judge’s assistant leaned over and whispered in his ear. The judge waved Renosha back.
“Freed!” the judge ordered. The guards released Steo’s arms. He rushed over to Renosha and whispered to him.
Renosha turned to the judge. “Your Honor. We elect to enter a plea of no contest for the man Foi here in the line. We will pay his fine.”
The judge merely nodded, his jowls swaying beneath his chin, and he waved them away again.
Renosha, Steo and Foi left the building a few minutes later. They stood on the steps. Steo breathed a sigh of relief.
“You came into the city, Renosha? Have you done that before?” Steo said.
“Not in a long, long time,” Renosha said in a far-off voice.
“Well thank you for saving me from the death penalty. Why did you do it?”
“Because you might have potential, Steorathan. If you had proper training.”
“When you were built, did they build robots with stock character personalities like today?”
“Yes, they did. I am a librarian of sorts, a Senex. I was constructed to assist mankind on long journeys during which knowledge might be lost. We had no need for the dongles you use today. I serve because it is my mission. In exchange for freeing you Steorathan, I will work with you, but not for you. Is this satisfactory?”
Foi spoke up, “You’re going to work with a free robot? With no dongle?” He scrutinized Renosha. Even out here, robots normally floated.
Steo looked up at Renosha, then back to Foi. “Renosha saved my life in there without a dongle. That’s good enough for me. Let’s get that info you have so I can pay you, okay Foi?”
Steo paid another fine to get his glider out of impound. They went back to Foi’s apartment and did the trade. Steo got precise course and vector information on the Vadyanika, and Foi got a sizeable sum of credits.
Steo and Renosha went outside the city dome to call the Eye of Orion but they got a call first.
“Eye of Orion to Steo,” came Glaikis’s voice.
“This is Steo.”
“Whew. Are you all right? We got a cryptic message from somebody named Renosha saying you would be late.”
Steo looked at Renosha in surprise. “I’m fine. Come to the city and pick us up. Renosha is joining our crew.”
“Good to go. Be there in a little while.” Glaikis signed off.
“You contacted my ship?” Steo asked.
“I did,” Renosha said.
“If you think I didn’t notice the vid you played in court, I did.”
“What did you notice, Steo?”
“That vid was shot by someone moving around, not a still camera. Did you take it?”
“If I did, that would mean I followed you into the city.”
“I have to ask, did you?”
“Well, I had to give you your things.”
“What things?”
Renosha retrieved three devices from under his robes.
“These are yours, sir,” he said as he handed them to Steo.
Steo took them from Renosha. He had passed the test, and that alone made him happy.
The shield drone floated next to Steo. In his right hand was a red disc like a sun. In his left was a silver tube with buttons on the end.
“Is this a lee?” Steo asked about the red sun-disc.
“That is a light manipulator. Your light interface hubs are childish, utilitarian devices that don’t fully realize what can be done with light. You’ve seen some of its functions. Practice with it to learn what wonders once existed.”
Steo turned the silver tube in his hand and looked at the buttons.
Renosha said, “Press the green one,” and Steo did.
A 4” needle stabbed out of the end, sharp and thicker than a vein. Being punctured with it would be more like stabbed by a knife than pricked by a needle.
“Would you like to test this one also?” Renosha asked with a strange look.
Remembering the tests with the shield drone and the light manipulator, Steo said, “No. No! Some other time. Maybe. Thank you.”
Renosha tapped another button and the needle retracted. Steo put both devices on his belt.
“Hey Renosha, some of this technology is really old. I mean forgotten. Everything today is much smaller, more efficient and more powerful.”
“Symbols are powerful,” Renosha said.
Steo pointed at his shield. “Do you have one?”
“One what?”
“A nested symbolic Valence processor?”
“Why, yes sir. Who taught you about those?”
Steo looked at him. The robot wasn’t trying to be funny. His eyes were a little wacky again.
CHAPTER 21
Necroscience
Some ships were permanently attached to Kurzia Station. One of those was the Ribcage. It got its name because the exterior was reinforced, making it look skeletal. Few saw the former slave ship from the outside, though.
Several centuries
ago the Ribcage was found adrift and brought to the station, where it was docked and welded onto the amalgamated modules. Its cramped interior made an excellent jail.
Over a million people lived on Kurzia Station. The laws had to be absolute, the punishment severe. If you didn’t have a powerful friend who valued you, you owned your crimes.
Kurzia Station couldn’t afford to feed and house people forever, so you had to buy your way out of the Ribcage. You either paid credits or you didn’t come out whole.
To reduce their sentence, prisoners had to sell themselves. In a galaxy where replacement surgery was common, doctors needed spare parts. Organs, limbs, or raw tissue; sacrificing parts reduced your sentence. Speedy and efficient. No long terms, just in and out.
The doctor of this particular prison had worked on many battlefields. He had treated exotic alien diseases and kept soldiers barely alive for long periods in the worst conditions. He had replaced every organ in the human body, including the illegal practice of burning away part of the brain and regenerating it.
The inmates didn’t see Dr. Fector as a monster. He was a calculating, skilled professional who minimized pain. No inmate ever wanted to see him, though.
The doctor’s customers knew he delivered quality goods. What he did for a living was only legal in the most barbaric sectors of the galaxy.
He stepped out of surgery, an absolutely sanitary and spotlessly clean room, and said to a waiting man, “The nurse will bring the organ out in a few minutes.”
The man started toward the swinging doors. The doctor reached under his robe, brought out a pistol and pointed it at the man’s head. “If you violate the sterility of my operating room, I will kill you and sell your parts.” Dr. Fector was muscular and toned for a medical professional.
The man backed away from the doors with his hands up. “I thought doctors were supposed to protect life.”
Dr. Fector pocketed his gun. “The germs you would have left in there could kill a man in open surgery. I’m not going to debate with you, you’re just a damned delivery man. Tell my client the organ is ready for transplant. He has a medical robot, which can easily do the graft. He needs to wait until it’s fully healed before using it. Tell him to remember that. If he gets impatient, it’ll fall off.”
The Eye of Orion_Book 1_Gearjackers Page 13