Pariah
Page 17
“Would have preferred a cargo ship,” Shig said thoughtfully. “Lot of wealth stacked up ready for shipment back to Solar System.”
Kalico nodded, having set her sights on the exploration ship’s rations. As a Corporate Supervisor, she’d already made her requisition for Vixen’s supplies. Torgussen had no idea of the bargaining power he’d already surrendered to Corporate Mine.
And yes, that included coffee!
Yvette said, “If Vixen can just drop out of the sky after fifty years, who knows? Maybe the rest will as well. You might have Nemesis, Governor Han Xi, Tableau, or any of the other missing ships pop in tomorrow.”
“I just hope that Turalon is halfway home. Been counting down the time. If everything’s running according to schedule, she should be a little less than a year away from popping back into orbit outside Neptune.”
“We all have our hopes pinned on that happy fact.” Shig paused. “Sometimes I wish I was a pagan. That I might sacrifice a crest or chamois at midnight under a full moon in the belief that such an offering of blood and life would affect the quantum nature of reality.”
“Hey, I’m not holding you back,” Yvette told him.
“What are you going to do with Benteen?” Kalico asked.
“He will have to take his chances here,” Shig said wistfully.
“I’ve told you what kind of man he is.”
“Yeah, we know.” Yvette didn’t sound happy. “It’d be nice to think that he’ll step off that shuttle, say, ‘Welcome to a new life,’ and find a nice quiet occupation as a farmer, prospector, or history teacher.”
“It’s something of a moral quandary for us,” Shig said. “We’re not Corporate here. He’s welcome as long as he does nothing to infringe on the rights of others. Nor do we care that he’s under a death sentence back in Solar System.” He smiled. “Wasn’t that long ago, that Yvette, me, and Talina were going to be shot for high crimes if I recall.”
Kalico cast him a knowing glance. “Sometimes I’m still tempted.”
“Oh, silly you,” Shig replied humbly. “With whom would you drink wine and share the burdens of command? Talina’s vanished. Yvette doesn’t drink but once in a blue moon. And, I’m told, Donovan’s months don’t line out the way they do back on Earth, so we really don’t have a blue moon.”
Kalico replied with a knowing grin, feeling the scars in her cheeks pull. “Good point. No firing squad for Shig. But, I’m serious. You might find that Tamarland Benteen is a different kind of fish. Talina would call him a quetzal. Or she would have, back in the day.”
Kalico looked around at the crowd. “Actually, if she were here, I could just tell her, ‘Tal, put a bullet in Benteen the moment he sets foot on dirt. If you think Deb Spiro was bad, that woman couldn’t lick the spit off Benteen’s boots.’”
“We already have one psychopath to deal with.” Yvette made a face. “Cunning bastard that he is. Half the parents in town are singing his praises, if warily so.”
Kalico told them, “Benteen’s an interesting study. Absolutely ruthless and driven. He had several opportunities to betray Artollia Shayne in order to gain even greater reward, but didn’t. They made a remarkable team; Benteen loved her. Wanted to see her take the Chairmanship. And once there, he was apparently happy to lurk in her shadow and continue eliminating any opposition that might have arisen.”
“Assuming he wasn’t playing her.” Yvette leaned against the wire, shifting her fingers.
“You should have seen him on Freelander.”
“No thanks.”
“The guy was cool as an ice block right up to the point when I mentioned that Radcek dissected Shayne’s brain. Like flipping a switch. He knew she was arrested, right? That’s why he made his escape in the first place. Like he’d come to terms that she’d lost. But when he learned that she’d been tortured and abused by Radcek’s psychiatric team, he was all set to grab Vixen and space back to save her.”
At that moment, Dan Wirth appeared out of the crowd, stepping up in all of his dapper glory. The man wore a tailored shirt made of the local fabric, a quetzal-hide vest bedecked with rhodium chains that shone in the light, and form-fitting chamois pants that tucked into knee-high quetzal boots. He was bareheaded, his wavy light-brown hair perfectly coiffed. That devil-may-care lady-charmer smile—dimples and all—lay on his lips; and the twinkle glinted from his brown eyes. She knew that face, the one he used to allay suspicions about his true nature.
“Why, I do declare,” Wirth cried. “Supervisor Aguila, come down from the mountain. What an honor you do us on this glorious day. And what a monumental occasion. A ship, lo and behold, once thought lost to the ages, has returned to us. Come to see the new prospects, have you?”
Kalico narrowed an eye. “Given that you’re here, I’m not the only one. Got to tell you, Dan, it’s a survey ship. Small crew, mostly scientists and technicians. Not much you can skin them out of. Not to mention they’re a bit traumatized to find out that while they were away the universe has aged another fifty years.” No need to tell him she’d already beaten everyone to the Vixen’s best resources.
“Skin them out of? Where, possibly, could you have developed such a low opinion of me? But then, one never knows where one will find talent, Supervisor.” He arched a provocative brow. “Made any bomb threats lately?”
“Haven’t had to. Your spy has been conspicuously quiet. No mysterious agents in the night have been threatening my peace and health.” She thinned her lips. “Though you might be warned. Tamarland Benteen’s on that ship. I doubt you’d know who Artollia Shayne was, but Benteen was her master of dirty tricks, assassination, and extortion. He’s under death sentence back home. Before you cozy up to him, understand that there’s a reason they call him the scorpion.”
She saw that cunning flicker of the eyes as Wirth began considering the implications.
“I’m serious, Dan. He’s not the kind of trouble even you can handle.”
Wirth bowed low, arm extended. “I consider myself warned, Supervisor. My gratitude for your kind concern runs deep. Drop by sometime. I’ll stand you to a fine whiskey. Even the good stuff if you promise not to pour it on the floor.”
He glanced at Shig and Yvette, touched a mock, two-fingered salute to his brow. “Shig. Yvette. Good day to you both.”
“Whiskey?” Shig asked as he watched Wirth make his way into the crowd.
“We were negotiating an armistice. Sometimes blunt statements have to be made.”
The familiar roar built in the west, the sound of a shuttle hitting atmosphere at supersonic speeds.
Tension ran through the crowd, people calling, “Here she comes!”
Kalico chewed her lip, turned her head, and caught the first faint gleam of silver in the afternoon sky.
“Glad you flew over for this,” Yvette added. “Kind of nice to be able to put up a unified front for the new folks.”
Shig pushed himself back and forth on the wire. “Dya said that Dortmund Weisbacher was one of the leading planetologists and ecologists in his time. Was up to his neck in a fight with the evolutionary biologists.”
“He was the force behind many of the re-wilding areas back on Earth.” Kalico said thoughtfully. “What a disaster that was.”
“Wonder how he’s going to take to Donovan?” Shig mused. “I hate really famous people. Especially professors of great renown. Takes too long to educate them about the realities of life in the real world.”
The shuttle banked wide, dropped down under the clouds off to the east and lifted its nose as it cupped air in its deceleration glide.
“Good pilot,” Yvette noted as the sleek craft slowed, dropped, and settled on its landing skids. The blast of hot air barely curled dust from the baked clay. It tossed Kalico’s hair, and batted at her clothing.
The crowd behind the fence broke into applause, clapping and hooting.
Allenovich threw the gate open and Shig led the way, Kalico and Yvette a step behind. She smiled at that. Not so long ago she’d have considered it an imperative to have been at the head of the procession. Somehow the drive for status and position didn’t mean as much on Donovan.
She marveled at how much she’d changed since setting foot on Donovan.
The A-6 model shuttle had Vixen-1 and the stylized drawing of a fox head on the side. The ramp dropped. A man in a captain’s uniform, followed by First Officer Vacquillas, strode down at the head of a contingent of people.
“Welcome to Donovan,” Yvette called. “I’m Yvette Dushane. With me is Shig Mosadek. We are also honored to have Supervisor Kalico Aguila with us today from Corporate Mine. Behind me are the people of Port Authority. We are delighted to welcome you into our town and open our gates to you.”
The crowd cheered.
The captain pulled himself up, a grim smile on his face. He stood maybe five-eight, blond with brown eyes, early fifties. “I’m Captain Tayrell Torgussen, commander of the Vixen. Given the disturbing revelations of our arrival, your welcome is heartily accepted.”
He gestured to Vacquillas. “May I introduce my first officer, Seesil Vacquillas?”
Behind Vacquillas, a tall gray-haired man who might have been in his sixties, pushed forward in obvious annoyance. He wore a long-out-of-style black suit; the charcoal-gray dress coat hung nearly to his knees. Though his face had lines commensurate to his years and looked drawn, fiery dark eyes glared out from under bushy brows. Kalico thought his chin and jaw might have been modeled from a block of wood.
“I’m Doctor Dortmund Weisbacher,” he announced, “Chair of the department of planetology, Tubingen University at Transluna and scientific director for this expedition. Vixen was dispatched to Capella III in order that my team and I could conduct a thorough survey of the planet in order to implement a sane management policy that protected not only human interests but those of the planet and its biosphere as well.”
He paused, glancing around. “Apparently, given recent disturbing revelations, we are going to have to amend that mission statement. However, I look forward to working with all of you as we document the changes on Donovan. And, perhaps, ultimately, we can offer ways to decrease your conflicts with the local environment and at the same time ameliorate your impact upon it.”
Okay, no ego here, Kalico told herself.
“What did he just say?” Pamlico Jones asked where he stood behind Kalico.
Weisbacher’s expression went suddenly quizzical and he tilted his head, shaking it faintly. “Where is the net? Why can’t my implants access data?”
“We have no net here,” Shig said politely. “Just a com system for anyone who wishes to monitor local communications.”
“Oh.” The man looked perplexed. “I hadn’t thought of that. How absolutely disarming to find oneself in constant silence. How do people manage?”
A thin-faced blond woman, thirtysomething, with a slender build, shot Weisbacher a sidelong and amused glance as she stepped forward. “I’m Doctor Lea Shimodi. I’m a Corporate survey geologist, Resources Division. I was tasked with conducting an in-depth survey of Capella III’s mineral assets. I hear I’m a bit late for that, but, while that initial survey has no doubt been completed by others, something tells me that Donovan’s geological secrets have barely been tapped. Hopefully I can make a contribution to your continued success and profit.”
Weisbacher looked dyspeptic as Shimodi was talking.
You bet, Dr. Shimodi. And you are mine. Kalico hid a smile. The woman was Corporate. A trained geologist. She was probably under contract for life, but, if after fifty years she wasn’t, no one could make a better offer for her services than Kalico.
Kalico waited through the introductions of the botanist—a woman in her twenties named Sax—and the xenobiologist, Shanteel Jones. Both seemed to realize that they were fifty years behind the curve when it came to understanding Donovanian life-forms.
Still, with their training, no doubt Cheng and Dya Simonov would find useful places for them. If there was one thing Donovan was short of, it was talented researchers.
Shig stepped forward, hands raised. “Come. We have domes set aside for you. But first, if you would accompany us to the cafeteria, we’d like to give you an orientation.” He turned to Torgussen. “Captain? Are you still planning on spending the night with us?”
“If that’s not a problem.”
“Not at all, but you’ll need to button up your shuttle. No one is allowed past the gate after dark. It’s just not safe.”
“What do you mean?” Weisbacher asked indignantly.
Kalico stepped forward, aware that the professor was fixing on her facial scars. “We wouldn’t want you eaten on the first night, Doctor. It sets a bad, if sobering, precedent for the rest of your team.”
“Excuse me, but remind me. Who are you?”
“Corporate Supervisor Aguila. Tubingen on Transluna was part of my district before I moved to Boardmember Taglioni’s personal staff. Tell me, as a full professor, were you under section 6 of Contract for Life at the university?”
“Of course. I was the department chair, holder of—”
“Then you will refer to me as Supervisor when you address me. Ma’am will be sufficient in less formal situations. During your stay on Donovan, you will be under my direct authority.”
The professor’s mouth opened, closed, and his expression hardened, but good Corporate citizen that he was, he said nothing as he fumed and ground his teeth.
She glanced at the others. “Dr. Shimodi, I assume that you, also, were contracted for life?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Shimodi was watching her with cautious brown eyes.
“Relax, Doctor. I think you’re going to find your new working environment a great deal more liberating and stimulating than anything you’ve known back in Solar System. Consider your future to be wide open here.”
Sax immediately said, “I was under ten-year contract, Supervisor.”
“Me, too,” Jones chimed in.
Which meant that neither had achieved full professor status.
“Then your contracts would have expired forty years ago. Consider yourselves free agents, but I suggest you visit with Raya Turnienko. She’s in a position to offer you immediate employment. Market economy, you see.” Kalico gestured to Shig and Yvette. “Welcome to the libertarian paradise of Port Authority.”
“What do you want us to do with Benteen?” Torgussen asked warily. “He’s in restraints on the ship. You want him, ma’am?”
“Hauling him off to Corporate Mine and putting a bullet in his brain might be in the colony’s best long-term interest.”
Shig quickly added, “But we’re not on Corporate territory here. Nor is he the first soul to land on Donovan with a warrant in his name back in Solar System. I will be most happy to take him off your hands.”
Shig glanced at Kalico, a weary smile of acceptance on his lips as he said, “As much as I may regret it later, some of us are bound just as tightly by the strictures of philosophical belief as others are by Corporate contract and law.”
“Hope you know what you’re doing,” Kalico whispered from the corner of her mouth.
Shig laced his fingers together over his belly. “Me, too.”
29
The first time Talina had seen Kylee riding on Flash’s back had left her speechless. That a petite blond girl would be perched on the back of one of Donovan’s biggest and most feared predators just did not compute. It seemed to violate all the laws of nature.
But then, so did kissing a little girl. Talina had been fretting over that. Half won
dering if she should shoot herself for impropriety.
“Wasn’t any sexual stuff, right?” Kylee had reminded her with a cocked eyebrow. “And you’ve been sleeping better, right?”
Talina had. Somewhere in her cocked-up brain, she’d realized she could shift the pieces of the broken Mayan pot, and a different image would come up, faint, fuzzy, unrecognizable.
But though her sleep was less disturbed, her subconscious had become a chaos of images and flashes of memory. Odd fragments of visions and thoughts that were not hers. Instantly she’d be on edge, reaching for her pistol. A moment later, she’d be possessed by a calm serenity for reasons she couldn’t understand.
Half the time the quetzal in her gut seemed to purr with contentment. At others it was verging on violence. Especially when the visions were of Rocket or Kylee. As if the thing hated the competition.
“Wish you’d just go away and leave me alone,” she muttered to it.
Becoming.
“Becoming what?”
Impotent.
Whatever that meant. She hadn’t felt any weakening of the thing’s presence.
She had noticed something new, however: she’d just had a dream of Rocket. The difference, this time, was that she’d been in Kylee’s head. Hearing her thoughts. Feeling her emotions as she and the little quetzal tormented Damien by playing “lost” in the forest.
Talina had lived Kylee’s rising glee as she watched from behind a stone outcrop as Damien’s panic rose, heard his shouts of “Kylee! Please! Where are you?”
All that just because the boy had been tasked to take care of her. She could see his rising terror as he realized that if anything had happened to her, it would have been his fault.
And then the image had ended as quickly as it began, though it had taken Talina’s emotional high a bit longer to fade.
And with it had come a deeper appreciation for Kylee’s guilt. Damien had been her best friend, and his sister, Shantaya, was Kylee’s age. They’d grown up in a polygamous household. All brothers and sisters. Kylee had watched both Damien’s mother, Rebecca, and their sister, Shantaya, torn apart and eaten before her eyes. That, coupled with grief over Rocket’s murder, had torn a huge black and terrible hole in the girl’s soul.