Wandering Star

by Steven Anderson

  I leaned back and kissed her. “Your eyes are red. Have you been crying?”

  She shook her head in denial. “Not me, it was the little soul. She wanted to cry but she doesn’t know how yet so I had to do it for her.”

  “I need to deliver my messages to Father Ryczek then I’ll be back. Can you get off early today?”

  “There’s an elephant that needs to find his way home first,” she tapped the display pad she had been reading to the children, “but then I’m all yours.”

  Father Ryczek was in his office. I repeated my messages to him while he took notes and asked questions.

  “I’ll contact the church in Eindhoven and set up a meeting with the CG as quickly as we can.”

  “The assassinations have to stop, Father. More than thirty civilians were killed last night.”

  “The news media in the capital said it was a gas explosion.”

  “You know better. Those old buildings don’t even have gas.”

  “And Ysabeau Romee? Where is she now?”

  I paused a moment before answering. I almost told him about the assassin that had been waiting for her but decided not to. “I have no idea where she is but she’s not safe.”

  Father Ryczek turned his back to me, looking out into the courtyard. “Try to find out where she is, you or Cuza. We need to bring her under the protection of the church and stop these killings. Too many have died already.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He dismissed me and I went back to our apartment where Alice was pacing the floor.

  I embraced her and I could feel that she was angry with me, then relieved, then angry all over again. “I can still feel your emotions,” I told her. I looked at her and smiled. “You’re mad at me.”

  “That makes you happy? All I feel from you is like this stupid happy glow.” She frowned. “Stop it. It’s making it hard for me to stay angry.”

  “Mac isn’t here anymore. He stayed with Hannah but I still know what you’re thinking.”

  “Do you? I woke up in the back of the truck to the sound of the door opening. I thought it was you but when I opened my eyes it was Cuza’s face smiling down at me. Do you know what that’s like?”

  “I can imagine.”

  “Then he said to me, ‘Ted has gone to be with Hannah.’ Just like that, no other explanation.”

  “He didn’t mean it that way.”

  “I think he did. He meant it exactly that way. I couldn’t talk the entire way back to the Mission because my heart had been ripped out.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  She looked at me, biting at her lower lip. “I felt that just now, and more. Your heart is different.” She stared at me, pale blue eyes cutting into mine and then she put her head against my shoulder and wrapped her arms around me. “Huh. Not as mad now.”

  She held me for a few minutes and then asked too calmly, “So, how’s Hannah?”

  “She’s leading a rebellion from behind the scenes and watching the few friends she has die violently one by one. She knows she will be next.”

  “You couldn’t have just said, ‘oh, she’s fine’?”

  Alice and I sat down on the bed together and I told her about the assassination attempt that morning. I put the gun on the bed between us and took out the magazine.

  “I gave Hannah the bullet that was meant to end her life, but there are so many more out there.”

  Alice removed the next bullet and touched it to my forehead. “This one was yours.” She looked at the expression on my face. “Or hadn’t you realized that?”

  “No, I didn’t.” I took it from her and put it back in the magazine. “Did you meet a man named Bsilnik when we were first on Cleavus?”

  “I remember him.”

  “He died last night. At dinner earlier in the evening I told him about the scripture Father Ryczek used last Sunday, about how our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The Confederation almost made the Warrens a better place for these people, but it’s slipping away now.”

  “Father Ryczek used Romans thirteen last Sunday?”

  “That’s right, I had forgotten you weren’t there. I was letting you sleep in that morning.”

  Alice was looking very pale. “You need to read all of the chapter. What you quoted is out of context. The theme of that passage is submission to the governing authorities. I don’t think Father Ryczek is planning on supporting the Confederation.”

  “Damn it, he told me he was.”

  “Are you sure? Do you remember his exact words?”

  “Not exactly, no.” I closed my eyes. “He was upset about having to choose sides in a political fight, I think because it compromised the mission of the church. He said he wouldn’t side with those oppressing the people in the Warrens. I asked him what he was going to do and he said, ‘the same as I always do, try to save as many as I can, starting with Hannah’. ”

  “He’s going to betray them and turn the leaders of the Confederation over to the Central Government. Hannah is a citizen of both Earth and the Union. He probably made a deal for them to just deport her. The rest?” she shrugged. “They won’t live long. The Confederation will fail but there won’t be a civil war that might have killed thousands. Not a bad day’s work.”

  “You admire that?”

  “I admire the technique and the goal. And it will keep Hannah alive.”

  “Now you sound like Marcus. You’re going to save her life but she’ll lose her soul.”

  “You have a better idea?”

  “No, not yet. I need to talk to Hannah or at least get a message to her. I should find Cuza and go back out there.”

  “No.” It was a simple word but I could feel all of the terror that was behind it.

  “Alice, what scenarios were playing through your head last night?” I could imagine her, curled in a ball on our bed, shaking as her fears overcame her and having no one to comfort her.

  “You’re alive, so the worst ones didn’t come true.” She kissed me, letting her lips slide against mine, her tongue briefly touching mine at the end. “Your heart is freer of her now than I have ever felt it. I don’t know what it took for you to achieve that, but you can’t go back out there, not without me.”

  She took a step back from me and stared at nothing for a moment. Then she put her hands on my cheeks and her eyes sparkled. “You and I have some planning to do.”

  “What kind of planning?”

  “My kind.”

  She sat down at her desk and opened her display pad. “I need to contact my father first.”

  “Messages will take almost five days round trip. We don’t have that kind of time.”

  “I know! I’m going to have to assume that he’s successful for this to work. We can’t wait for a reply to confirm it.” She continued to talk to me while she typed. “Then I need to talk to Father Ryczek. I may need to stall him a few days. He knows I have cause to hate Hannah so he won’t question my motives.”

  She paused and glanced up at me. “Then we need to find out where Cuza is and set up a meeting with Hannah. I wish I could trust you to go on your own.” She returned her attention to the message she was typing to her father.

  I opened my mouth to protest then closed it again. I saw her eyes narrow while she typed. “Do you know what I love about you, Ted?”

  “Tell me.”

  “No matter how hard you try, or how much you want to, you are incapable of hiding the truth from me.” I saw her hit the ‘send’ command and she looked at me, not smiling. “Even to save your own life.”

  I swallowed hard. “I thought you said I was getting better at it.”

  “No, that was lying to save her life. You’re damn good at that. Which is why I need you to contact Captain von Muller. We can’t do this without Wandering Star.”

  “OK. Are you going to
tell me enough of the plan so I know what to say?”

  She smiled and reached out for me. I moved closer and she rubbed her hand up and down my chest. “And do you know what else I love about you?”

  I shook my head.

  “I love that you still can’t tell when I’m bluffing. Or that, no matter how hard I may want to at times, I am incapable of not loving you.” Her hand slid down and she wrapped her fingers around the waistband of my pants and she pulled me up close to her. “I’m going to win this war, preserve the Confederation and save Hannah.” She laughed. “My dad is going to be so proud of me.”

  She took my hand and guided it to her stomach. “Do you feel that? Little soul is excited too. I think that’s her foot.”

  I kissed the bulge, feeling movement under Alice’s skin. “We should give her a proper name at some point.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that. Leticia heard me calling her ‘little soul’ and said that in her clan’s language that would be Mala Dusa.” She looked at me hopefully.

  “That would be fine. I like it.”

  “Good. Now go find Cuza for me. I have more letters to write.” I turned to leave and she said, “And bring lunch back with you, please. Mala Dusa wants something with chocolate in it.”

  I smiled at her even though she wasn’t looking at me. “I’m sure she does.”

  Cuza proved easier to find than I expected. He was sitting on a bench outside Father Ryczek’s closed office door appearing to be studying his huge hands.

  I sat down next to him. “Alice would like to see you if you have a moment.” He nodded and continued looking at his hands. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “I was just in telling Father Ryczek about this morning, how we saved Ysabeau’s life. He said you didn’t tell him.”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “That was smart.” He looked at me, confusion hidden somewhere under the dragon’s wings. “He said maybe it would have been better to let her die. How can he say that?”

  “Let’s go talk to Alice.” I took his arm and steered him back to the apartment while he wrestled with his conflicting loyalties to Ysabeau and Father Ryczek.

  When we arrived I apologized to Alice for not having lunch for her yet and explained the conversation between Cuza and Father Ryczek. Cuza was sitting on the corner of our bed looking uncomfortable and Alice was about to make it worse. She was standing in front of him rubbing her belly as if to emphasize her current condition when she knelt in front of him and placed her hands on his cheeks.

  “Brave Cuza,” she told him, “I need your help. Father Ryczek is a good man. He wants to stop the killing in the Warrens because of his love for every individual. But the only way he sees to do that is by betraying Ysabeau Romee. I need to talk to her before it’s too late. I think I can save her, the Confederation and keep there from being a war. Will you help me find her?”

  Cuza looked at her, then glanced at me and back to her.

  “It’s OK, Cuza. There is nothing about the two of them that I don’t already know. Love means understanding and forgiving.”

  He nodded, looking relieved. “I told him you was the right woman for him. I’m glad you forgive him. Teddy ain’t such a bad guy and the two of you belong together.”

  It would have been OK if he had stopped talking right then, but he didn’t. “And Ysabeau, well, there’s something damn magical about her. There ain’t a man alive that could resist her if she wanted him.”

  The gentle smile on Alice’s face became a little forced. “Of course. Cuza, will you help me find her so I can save her life and keep the Confederation alive too? It would mean not telling Father Ryczek anything about it for a couple of weeks. You’ll need to tell him that you don’t know where she is.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I will do that for you. Would tonight be soon enough to go see her?”

  “Yes, that would be fine.” Alice kissed him gently on the lips and I could see him blush under his tattoos.

  He told us, “I’ll come get you sometime after dark.”

  After Cuza left I went to find lunch for us while Alice continued writing letters, laying the groundwork for the Union to support an insurrection that they didn’t even know was happening and making them think it was their idea all along.

  Sometime late afternoon I was woken from a very nice nap by a well-aimed pillow striking my head. “There’s no time for sleeping,” Alice told me. “What time is it on Wandering Star?”

  “She’s synchronized with Eindhoven, so same time as here. Are you ready for me to talk to von Muller?”

  “Yes. You need to convince him to have one of Star’s shuttles on the ground in the Warrens in a week, contrary to Central Government regulations and risking being arrested or shot. And you need to make him think it’s his idea. Can you do that?”

  “Sure. I’ll just think like I’m you.”

  She smiled at me. “I know you can’t really do that so I have some notes for you, some things to say and some you don’t want to say no matter what. I want to rehearse with you a few times too.”

  She spent the next hour pretending to be a very obstinate, suspicious Captain while I did my best to manipulate him. When she was satisfied that I could guide him where she wanted him to go, I asked her, “Why can’t we just tell him what we’re doing like you did with Cuza?”

  She looked at me, surprised. “I didn’t tell Cuza what we’re doing. I told him enough so that he’d do what I need him to do. His role is to lie to Father Ryczek and take us to Hannah. I’ll tell him more when I’m ready for his next task.”

  “And my role is to convince von Muller to drop a shuttle into the Warrens at a specific time and place.”

  “Exactly, and I’ll tell you more when I’m ready for your next task.” She smiled at me looking very happy.

  “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?”

  “It’s been a while since I’ve done a plan. I’d almost forgotten how much fun it is.”

  “How long? Like nine or ten months?”

  She took my hand and placed it on her belly. I could feel little Mala Dusa pushing against me. “That was a simple plan, but very pleasurable in its execution and with an incredible payoff.” She kissed me. “Now set up a secure connection and talk to the Captain while I go visit with Father Ryczek.”

  I had come to regard Captain von Muller as a friend. He had supported my search for Hannah and I had commiserated with him during his struggles to save Wandering Star. Most of Star’s command and control functions had been restored and there was no longer talk of scrapping her, but much work remained to be done repairing the damage Hannah had caused before his ship could be placed back into RuComm service.

  It was hard for me to lie to him but I did it because it was necessary to give Hannah a chance to survive. I started by telling him that I had found where she was being held and that she was physically OK. I then outlined the perils that I would have to navigate to reach her in the heart of Bovita territory, set her free and get her out of the Warrens to safety. We talked about the current political situation and how the people of the Warrens were uniting to fight against generations of life under unjust laws and brutal treatment and how the Union tacitly supported this oppression with their agreements with the CG for servicing and resupplying ships. In the end, he suggested that he may be able to get one of Star’s shuttles down into the Warrens for me but that it was risky.

  “Perhaps the Central Government will believe that it is a malfunction of the automation that brings one of the shuttles back to where the Bovita had last flown her. The CG knows Star is still wounded.” He shrugged, discounting that he might be about to destroy his career. “The truth is that Star cannot control her shuttles yet so I will pilot one personally. Hannah is worth the risk and so are you.”

  I thanked him for coming up with such a bold solution and told him that I would let h
im know the exact time. I disconnected and felt terrible about what I had done but elated that I would have Hannah and Alice on board a RuComm ship in just a few days’ time.

  When Alice returned she asked, “Success?”

  I nodded. “I hated lying to him. Or I should say lying to him more than I already have been. What about you?”

  “Father Ryczek believes that I hate Hannah enough to turn her over to the Government and destroy the Confederation along with her. Let’s get some dinner and then we’ll be ready to go with Cuza and mislead Hannah.”

  “Does it ever bother you, messing with people’s lives like this?”

  “It’s like what I did with the undergraduates at the University. I maneuver people into doing what they should be doing and in the end they’ll be happier for it. Like with Father Ryczek. I could probably convince him to do what he’s about to do, but it would take weeks or months. By then Hannah would be cold in her grave. I don’t think you want that.”

  She stopped in the hall and looked at me closely, biting her lip and searching my emotions. She put her hand on my chest. “I need to lock down that part of your heart that was recently freed before it slips away again.”

  “It all belongs to you. When this is done Hannah will remain here working for the people of the Warrens, but on behalf of the Union and you and I will be on our way to Dulcinea to raise our daughter, go camping in the summers along the Dulcinean Heritage Trail, and maybe work on building more babies.”

  She wiped at her eyes. “I want that, Ted. Do you feel how badly I want that? My life will finally be back where it was supposed to be.”

  I held her close for a few moments and then we went on to dinner.

  Cuza arrived at our apartment a little after 2100. “Dress warm,” he told us. Then he looked at Alice and put his hand over his own stomach. “It’s a dark trek on muddy roads but only about a mile each way. Will you be OK?”

  “I’ll be fine, Cuza. Thank you for worrying over me.” She kissed his cheek and I realized how thoroughly Alice had won him over.

  “Does she know we’re coming?” I asked.

  “Me with friends, that’s all.”