“That’s what I’m suggesting,” said Seleni. “We do have individuals on this world who are dedicated to some cause or another, whether a good one which Max cited, or a self-aggrandizing one like the one Gorsh favours. Still, most people, especially the ones bound to the land, or to a craft, or a business, mainly just want to get on with their lives, and try to ignore the things that make it difficult, as long as they can be ignored. There may be a few young hot-heads who will be ready to carry a gun for Gorsh, but I wonder how many of even them will shoot their fellows, if it comes to that?”
“There’s something to be said for a population whose default position is to sit tight, and wait for the oppressors to give up or die,” Mikal said. “Perhaps that’s why the experts in the Star Federation insisted that Wayward should be left nominally on the books, even though its Government grew unwilling to pay the price of membership, or to accept the benefits of Federation citizenship for the people. They had done the studies when they had the opportunity to do so, and had concluded that sooner or later things would change on their own. And if we can keep this thing we’re dealing with from blowing up, maybe that time is now. And we must, absolutely must, keep this thing from blowing up!”
“I’ll second you on the matter of keeping this thing from blowing up, Mikal,” Llon said with a slight smile.
“The question is,” commented Nabbish with a sigh, “how do we do that?”
“Yeah,” Lank said with a crooked grin. “How do we come up with a plan when we don’t have Kati with us to do our scheming?”
“And when our scheme has to include a safe way to get her away from Gorsh’s hands,” sighed Mikal. “Everybody, put on your thinking caps.”
He glanced at the time counter on the wall.
“Let’s go downstairs to the restaurant and eat,” he added. “When we return, I’m going to ask everyone of you what you have come up with, and that includes Ciela, Shyla, Kortone, and Gerr. You never know from whose brain the best ideas spring.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Milla Gorsh accompanied her husband to the protected cabin, which is the way she thought of the cottage across the fields from the main residence, and shielded by a ring of scraggly trees. The trees were a protection of sorts, but the murk, and its accompanying consciousness were a much more potent one.
She kept her mouth shut after they entered the premises, satisfying herself with a smirk as she watched Judd eye the woman he had become infatuated with. He appeared tired, and resigned, and well he should: Milla had kept him busy in the night, even though it had meant injecting him with drugs which he normally eschewed. He had not been to her bed for some time, so she had the right to insist that he satisfy her. Normally she didn’t care much; she had the Estate Overseer to fawningly meet her sexual needs when she wanted a man. Only, Judd’s infatuation with this Kati infuriated her; it was one thing to want male progeny, and another, entirely, to fall in love like a silly boy with the woman he had chosen to provide the sons.
His usual sex-provider was there, too; he had explained that he had had her ferry Kati to the cabin, since he himself was not comfortable in the murk, any more than Kati apparently was. Now the two young women were eyeing her and her husband quizzically, and sharing looks on occasion. Apparently Whore Jaqui had made friends with Kati; Milla was not sure what to make of that. It would have been a pleasure to have sent the two of them to weed the tuber-fields, but that was out of the question since Kati was an ESPer and had to be kept incommunicado. She, Milla, would have tossed her into the Citadel cellars regardless of whether they made her ill or not, but Judd was having none of that. He wanted her to freely accept his sexual overtures; well, at least pretend to do so, and being sick to one’s stomach was not likely to encourage anyone’s libido.
Milla studied Kati, wondering what it was that had so attracted her husband. She was not a beauty, although there was a liveliness about her that even Milla would probably have found pleasant if she did not know that this woman was at least partly responsible for Joakim, the only Gorsh scion, sitting in a Federation jail. Of course, Joakim had tried to kill Kati, and a bunch of her local friends on Makros III, but, nevertheless, and Joakim had not succeeded, so what was the problem? Well, there was no accounting for men’s taste in women—although she herself knew perfectly well what had drawn Judd Gorsh to her in the first place, and it was not beauty, for she had none. It had been her inheritance, the Leaven Estate, and the good hard coin her parents had left her. That had been okay with her, and still was, and they would have had a fine marriage had she been able to bear a son more to Judd’s liking than Joakim had turned out to be.
Well, maybe this Kati would serve to provide Judd with the male babes that he wanted. Apparently she had a son somewhere; she had been captured by Judd’s cats while protecting the child from being snatched. But she was hardly a candidate for the ideal second wife; she was snotty and wilful. Milla was not willing to let her into her husband’s bed until she had become more subservient—to her, not necessarily to Judd.
“If you have work to do in the city, husband,” she now said in a voice as treacly as she could manage, “feel free to take Jaqui to pilot your flit for you, and go off to get it done. I’m sure that Kati of Terra and I can manage here. She’s not going anywhere from this cabin, and I can come and go, with my key, and make sure that she has all she needs to be comfortable. Plus, I can start her education in the fine points of life as Wife Number Two.”
“Yeah, why not?” Judd Gorsh wiped his face with his hands. “We’ll leave the tainted flyer here, in case you have to bring her somewhere. I’m sure a couple of your workmen, or tenants, can handle her if there’s need. My Overseer will be wanting to confer with me—why is it that no decisions ever seem to get done without me having to make them?
“But, don’t you dare harm her in any way, Milla; I need her in good health. So control your spite, woman; Kati is a valuable asset, and will be more valuable as soon as I have her belly full.”
“You really don’t think that I would stoop to physically harming her, husband, do you?” Milla sighed. “Sometimes it seems that you think that I’m an idiot.”
“Well, just don’t. And Jaqui, come on, let’s go. And I certainly hope that there are no crises waiting for me in Salamanka.”
Jaqui and Kati exchanged another glance. Jaqui mouthed the words “Good luck”, as she headed towards Gorsh and the door. Kati rolled her eyes, then grinned. The indomitable bitch, Milla thought. Not ready to concede defeat, even when entirely in the power of her opponents.
*****
“I only found out about it early this morning, and apparently it happened yesterday,” the Overseer said to Gorsh.
He was looking at his boss uneasily; the man looked exhausted, as if he had spent a sleepless night. And he did not look happy as the Overseer would have expected him to look if the sleepless night had been spent with the woman he had chosen to be the mother of his children. What had happened at the Estate?
“Tere told me that the odd-looking boy down there had said that Mosse had known about the Agent’s awakening as soon as it happened, but apparently hadn’t bothered to let anyone up here in on the fact,” the Overseer continued. “I took it upon myself to call him up and punish him. He’s in the infirmary, recovering right now, although I think he deserved to go back down to his quarters and rot there, with no help from anyone. But the workers who released him after I’d whipped him, took him directly to the infirmary; didn’t bother to ask my opinion.”
“Damn. Well, if he’s already been whipped—I need some sleep if I’m going to deal with shit today,” Gorsh said. “I’m going to lie down in the back room. Don’t bother me unless the compound is on fire, for at least a couple of hours.”
He was gone.
“What happened to him?” the Overseer asked Jaqui. “I thought everything was supposed to be great—he got the woman, and stashed her in that cabin of his, right?”
“Milla is what happened,”
Jaqui answered with a shrug. “He went to tell her that he got the woman, and she went all jealous on him, I guess. She must have kept him performing all night—with a little help from some drugs, I imagine—because he was like that when they came to the cabin this morning. He got me to fly his flit in to the city; I think that he realized that it was the only way he’d get any rest. I was amazed that Milla was as energetic as she was—all ready to interrogate the Kati woman.”
“What’s she like anyway, this fascinating Kati?” the Overseer asked, displaying genuine curiosity. “I’ve never laid eyes on her, but the reports of those who have, seem to vary a lot. Some say she’s just a cheap Adventuress, and not even pretty, but others say that there’s something about her that puts her in a class by herself. Which is it?”
Jaqui thought for a moment.
“She’s not a beauty, no,” she finally said. “But, yes, there is something about her that stands out. I liked her; she is very likeable. Maybe it’s that she interacts with people very well... and easily. And when she smiles, you want her to like you, and you want to laugh with her.”
“A lot nicer than Milla is, then,” the Overseer commented. “No wonder she’s jealous. She’ll be eclipsed.”
He picked up the simple gadget that Gorsh had given him to use to keep track of his duties.
“I better get back to my work,” he said. “I don’t know what Judd had planned to have you do while he rests, but I’m sure you’ll find something useful with which to occupy yourself.”
He left, and Jaqui grinned at his back. Oh, yes, she would find useful occupations for herself while the Boss slept.
*****
Left alone with Milla Gorsh, Kati was not quite sure how she ought to deal with the situation. It was awkward: she was, in effect, hosting the woman on her own property. Should she offer to make herb tea? Or should Milla be offering tea to her? Deprived of the usual motions of courtesy, she was reduced to seating herself in the nearest chair, and watching the older woman pace the sitting room floor. Why was she in the cabin, anyway? Was she there to gawk at the younger woman whom her not very attractive husband had chosen to abduct, for the purpose of siring children on her? Or did she have a scheme of her own for making use of Kati?
After listening to Jaqui tell what she knew of the relationship between the partners, she found it hard to believe that Milla truly cared whether Judd bedded women other than herself, or not. Jaqui had seemed to be of the opinion that Milla was jealous of Kati only because her husband was infatuated with the younger woman, and had made no secret of it. Milla would have been glad to cede her wifely duties to a second wife, but she wanted that wife to be subservient to her husband and, especially, to herself. A woman with whom Judd was in love might become dangerously powerful in the household, and Milla could not imagine a woman not wanting power. If Judd Gorsh was certain that, given time, Kati would come to accept him as her true love, and enjoy his attentions, Milla was just as sure that she was scheming to take over the control of all of the Gorsh possessions from Milla herself.
It was all so crazy, Kati thought, as she sat perfectly still, only her eyes following Milla’s path on the floor. All that she wanted to do, at the moment, was to get out of the cabin. Well, and to resume her attempts to bring to an end Gorsh’s slavery business, free his slaves, and to take the man himself to face Federation justice. As for Milla, as long as she was innocent of the slave trade, (and total innocence was a long shot, there, she figured), she did not care what the woman did. Let her run her Estate. Let her cheat her neighbours, as Jaqui had implied she was in a habit of doing. Let her sleep around on her husband (as another juicy rumour said, according to Jaqui).
Was there some way that she could persuade Milla to let her out of the murky mental prison that she was in?
”I assume that you’re a very busy woman, Madame Gorsh,” Kati began, making her tone light-hearted. “Running a big Estate must involve a lot of work.”
Milla stopped her pacing, turned to look at Kati, and pursed her lips.
“And how would you know anything about the size of this Estate?” she asked suspiciously.
Kati shrugged.
“Jaqui happened to mention it,” she replied. “She said that with your husband in the city most of the time, the Estate was pretty much your responsibility.”
The Granda seemed to have taken a little ESP jaunt without having been asked. Not that there was much of anywhere for The Monk to go, but now he reported on Milla:
“Not a very nice woman, that one. She’s actually afraid of you. She’s judging you by her own self, and worries that you might try to use Gorsh’s infatuation to wrest control of the Estate from her.”
“Ah,” Kati subvocalized back. “Can I make use of her paranoia, I wonder?”
“So you’ve been chatting with the whore. Don’t imagine that you’re any better than she is, just because Judd considers you the sexiest thing he’s ever run into,” Milla snapped, confirming The Monk’s assessment, right on cue.
Kati could not help a small smile creeping onto her face.
“I’m really not into thinking that I’m anyone’s superior,” she said, her voice conciliatory.
She wanted to ask Milla if she considered herself better than, say, Jaqui, or Kati, for that matter. But this was not the time to antagonize the foolish woman further, so she kept quiet.
“And you’re not,” Milla added, annoying Kati further. “Not here. I don’t know what you were wherever you came from, but here, regardless of what Judd thinks, you’re a mere slave, my slave, and, if you’re smart, you’ll remember it!”
Uh-oh. Madame Gorsh was pushing it. With this attitude she was going to be joining her husband in a Federation jail, when the time came. Did she have some of her husband’s snatchees working on the Estate? Mikal had had serious suspicions that way, and Max had mentioned that some neighbour of Milla’s had complained about unschooled youngsters working on the grounds of the Leaven Estate.
But before Kati could arrest either of the Gorshes, she had to get out of their clutches and back to working together with Mikal to blow their operation sky-high. She swallowed her annoyance.
“What is this substance—or un-substance—that you people use to isolate this cabin, anyway?” she asked instead, intentionally changing the subject.
“You mean the murk?” Milla took the bait.
She shrugged.
“It’s something that Judd brought in from the Citadel cellars. He has some really weird, old guy living on his city property who can work with the murk. Split it up so that it can be moved, transplanted, I guess. Does it with some kind of resonating crystals, or something.” She shrugged again. “I don’t really know much about it, but if you get Judd to talk about it, he’ll prattle on for hours. He thinks that it’s the best invention ever.”
“Weird old man?” Kati wrinkled her forehead. “Jaqui talked about Mosse the Mage who lives in the cellar, but she said that he’s actually fairly young and surprisingly good-looking for, as she put it, ‘a jerk’.”
Milla shook her head vigorously.
“No, no, no. Not the Mage; he’s an idiot as far as I’m concerned, but maybe a useful idiot. No, this guy is really old, and, according to Judd, smart as anything. He’s been doing other stuff for my husband, too, like creating the little echo chips, as the two of them call them, that we insert into the shoulders of the chattels. With the proper equipment we can track the echo chips, which means that once someone has a chip, we never lose them.”
Milla sounded so smug that Kati was certain she was on the list to be implanted with an echo chip. But Jaqui had told her about her friend Shyla, and the de-chipping that had been done on her. For that to happen, however, she would have to get to Chrysalia, somehow, and with a chip that might be problematic. No, she wanted to get away from both Judd Gorsh and his wife before they had the opportunity to get their echo chip into her shoulder.
“Were you the one who thought of circling this building with
the murk, so that the inside is clear, even though anyone in it is, in effect, unreachable except by a person actually entering the premises?” Kati decided that it was good tactics to stroke Milla’s ego a bit.
“No.” Milla did sound regretful about that. “It was Chrush, the weird old man, who came up with the idea. He said that he wanted to do some things that had to absolutely be in secret, but which he could not do within the murk itself. Judd thought it was a grand idea, since he has problems with the murk himself. And Chrush does not often use the place, and when he does so, it’s not for long, so we have it for our use most of the time.”
Milla was being surprisingly voluble. Perhaps Kati had succeeded in lulling her suspicions to sleep for the time being. But, who was this Chrush character? And how did he fit into the picture?
Kati managed to get the older woman to answer a couple of more questions, by behaving in a friendly manner, but then Milla seemed to remember that she had plenty of reasons to mistrust the younger woman. She shut her mouth into a thin line, and went to the door, preparing to exit.
“Don’t try to run away,” was her final shot. “Even if you could get through the locked door and the murk envelope, all my workers have been instructed to keep an eye out for you. They know what you look like, and there’s a reward for anyone who turns you in. All the land for miles around belongs to me, so you wouldn’t have the slightest chance of getting away.”
“Now, that is depressing,” Kati said out loud, when Milla had left. “Nevertheless, I do intend to get out, and away. I just don’t know how, yet.
“But what was this weird old man character doing that required a murk envelope, but couldn’t be done in the murk itself? I wonder if the consciousness of the murk can enlighten me about it?”
*****
Jaqui had decided to prowl about inside Gorsh’s computer records while he slept, and the Overseer went about his business.
Kati had asked her if there were records of Gorsh’s slave transactions somewhere; apparently getting caught had not cowed her from wanting to track down the people Gorsh had snatched and sold. She had said that Gorsh had a node, and therefore did not need external records for his own use, but he might be keeping them for the sake of his un-noded associates and workers. Jaqui had immediately remembered that the Overseer had refused to be implanted with a node, even though Gorsh had offered him one. His wife was against it, he had said; she had some kind of religious objections to nodes. Gorsh, had merely shrugged when the topic had come up; he was familiar with the attitude, apparently.
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