Dragonback 05 Dragon and Judge (19 page)

"
We
are the mine's owners," Sefiseni bit out.

Jack looked at the guard in mild surprise. It was the first time
the Golvin had ever spoken directly to him. "My error," he apologized.

"It was
our
copper and iron they were stealing," Sefiseni
said accusingly, as if this was all somehow Jack's fault.

"I understand," Jack said soothingly. "The legal problems—"

"And Jupa Stuart and Jupa Ariel did nothing to stop them,"
Sefiseni cut him off.

Jack felt his stomach tighten. So he'd been right the first time.
Sefiseni
did
consider this Jack's fault, or at least his fault
by inheritance. "Well,
something
stopped them," he pointed out.
"This place hasn't been touched in years."

"They said the tunnels were in danger of collapsing," Thonsifi
said, looking nervously at the ceiling. "They also said the lower
portions had become flooded."

In a desert
? Jack frowned. Still, there was a river rolling
along three hundred feet below them. Clearly, there was water around
here
somewhere
.

He crossed the staging area to the left tunnel. Attached to the
sides, at just about waist height, were identical five-inch-diameter
open-ended pipes partially set into the walls and leading downward.
Resting a hand on one of them, Jack turned an ear into the tunnel,
though he wasn't quite sure what he was expecting to hear.

He heard nothing but his own breathing. On a hunch, he squatted
down and listened at each of the pipes. Still nothing.

A whisper of weight came onto his chest, and he felt the front of
his shirt move slightly as Draycos flicked out his tongue. The weight
vanished again—
There is machinery down there
.

Jack sent a glare down at his shoulder. What in the world was
making the K'da so blasted careless about talking in front of other
people these days? Did he think the Golvins were deaf? "I'm going down
a little ways," he called back to the others, pitching his voice a
little louder than necessary in case Draycos decided to run some more
commentary on the situation. "You two stay here—I'm just going to see
if I can find any problems."

He headed off before they could object, shining his light on the
rough floor of the tunnel in front of him. There was no white ceramic
here; the whole tunnel had been carved out of brown and gray rock.

The floor was rougher than the entry tunnel had been. There was
also a layer of rock dust over everything, with small to medium-big
pools of dust and stone in practically every dip and depression.
Combined with the shadows thrown by his light, it made for rather
uncertain footing.

Fortunately, the two pipes running along the sides were just the
right height for handrails. Keeping one hand running lightly over the
nearest pipe, he continued down.

Another bit of weight came onto his chest and shoulder. "Native
stone," Draycos murmured quietly. "We must be below the sand layer."

"Yeah, thanks for the tip," Jack muttered back, throwing a quick
look over his shoulder. But neither of the Golvins had followed him in.
"Is there something about tunneling machinery that really excites you?"

"Pardon?"

"Blurting it out in front of God and Thonsifi and everyone that
way," Jack said. "I know these Golvins are kind of primitive—"

"What do you mean, blurting it out?" Draycos interrupted. "I
haven't spoken since we left the apartment this morning."

"Oh, come
on
," Jack growled.
Gotcha
! he thought
sourly. So much for the high and mighty K'da warrior ethic and the idea
of always telling the truth. "It isn't the first time, either," he
added. "When we were first coming in to the canyon—"

"I did
not
speak," Draycos insisted. "And what do you mean
by
gotcha
?"

"I mean—" Jack stopped abruptly, a sudden icy shiver running up
his back. "Did you hear me say
gotcha
just now?" he asked
carefully.

"Very clearly," Draycos said, starting to sound a little huffy.
"Furthermore, you said it in such a way that—"

"I didn't say anything, Draycos," Jack said. "I just
thought
it."

"I heard—" Draycos broke off abruptly.

For a moment neither of them spoke. "You never told me about
this
one," Jack said at last.

"This has never happened before, Jack," Draycos told him, his
voice actually shaking. "Not with the Shontine.
Not
ever in
the recorded history of my people."

Jack took a deep breath. "We're sure we're not just imagining
things, right?"

For a moment there was silence. Then, as clear as if the K'da had
actually spoken, Jack heard his voice whispering in his mind.
We
stand before, we stand behind; we seek the truth with heart and mind
.

"My mother's poem," Jack said, his stomach tightening. "This is
nuts, buddy. This is
really
nuts."

"It does take effort," Draycos said. "I had to concentrate on the
words for you to hear them."

"Or else you had to be thinking really strongly about them," Jack
said, thinking back. "Like on the shuttle on our way in, when you
really wanted me to turn to the right so you could see better."

"I remember," Draycos said thoughtfully. "I wished very much that
I could ask you to turn, but knew it would be unsafe in such close
quarters. And then, to my relief, you did exactly that, allowing me to
see and identify the mine."

"And I've been mad at you for a week and a half about it." Jack
shook his head. "Sorry. You suppose it works when we're not together?"

"Let's find out." With a surge of weight, Draycos leaped out of
Jack's shirt collar onto the tunnel floor.

"Ssst!" Jack hissed warningly, looking back up the tunnel.
Fortunately, a gentle curve had put the entrance, and the two Golvins,
out of view. "We don't want them to see you."

"They won't," Draycos assured him. "Did you hear anything just
now?"

Jack shook his head. "Nope. Guess it only works when you're riding
me. You're
sure
this has never happened before?"

"Trust me," Draycos said, a little dryly. "I would have heard."

"Another one for the record books," Jack said, forcing his mind
back to business. "So where exactly is this machinery you're all
excited about?"

"This way," Draycos said, flicking his tail at Jack as he headed
again down the tunnel. "Perhaps you will find it interesting, as well."

Shortly ahead, the tunnel split into two branches, the pipelines
along the walls splitting along with it. Draycos picked the left-hand
one, continuing left when the branch split again about fifty feet
ahead. "These must be some
really
impressive copper ores for
them to have gone to all this work," Jack commented as they hit yet
another branch and again turned left.

"From what I've read of your economy, this is far too much effort
for copper or iron," Draycos said over his shoulder. "There—just ahead."

They reached the end of their branch of the tunnel, to find the
machinery Draycos had predicted.

Six pieces of machinery, in fact. There were two self-propelled
diggers on tanklike treads, a rock crusher, something that looked like
a giant pump, and two machines with large vats that Jack couldn't
identify. All of them were wrapped in clear plastic, the soft glint of
lubricating oil visible on their treads and drive wheels and other
moving parts.

"I could smell the lubricating oil," Draycos said as Jack gingerly
ran a hand over one of the diggers. "I thought perhaps it was evidence
someone was still working the mine."

"Not yet, but they're sure ready to," Jack said, peering into the
empty vat on one of the unidentified machines.

"But why?" Draycos asked, sounding bewildered. "If the ores here
are valuable, why wait to mine them?"

"Could be any of a dozen reasons," Jack said. "Maybe they're still
fighting to get the mining rights away from the Golvins. Maybe they're
waiting for the market value to go up."

He shined his light at the tunnel face, the beam sparkling against
a glittering array of metal bits embedded in the gray rock. "Or maybe
after murdering a couple of Judge-Paladins they thought it would be
smart to shut down and lie low for a while."

"A wise move on their part," Draycos said grimly, looking around.
"But I've still not seen any evidence of any explosion."

"Me, neither," Jack admitted. "Must be down one of the other
tunnels." He peered back the way they'd come. "But we don't have time
to go looking now. Thonsifi's probably tearing her ears off worrying
about me."

"Or worrying about what the One will say about letting you come
down here alone."

"That, too," Jack agreed. "By the way, while you were sniffing out
lubricating oil, did you happen to smell any water?"

"None," Draycos said. "I suspect that part of the story was told
merely to ensure the Golvins stayed out of the mine."

"Probably," Jack said. "Stupid lie to tell, though, here in the
middle of the desert."

"Perhaps," Draycos said. "Still, there
is
a river not too
far below us."

"Yeah." Jack frowned suddenly at him. "Hey,
I
was just
thinking that a while back. You been eavesdropping on my mind?"

Draycos's tail curved in a frown. "Not consciously," he said
slowly. "But perhaps we are beginning to share other thoughts on a
subconscious level."

"Maybe," Jack said. The thought of someone poking around inside
his skull made his skin crawl. Even if that someone was Draycos. "Or
maybe we're just thinking the same direction. The river is a pretty
obvious thought."

"True," Draycos said. To Jack's ears, he sounded a little relieved
by that thought, as well. "But as you say, we should leave." Touching
Jack's hand, he slid back up his sleeve. "I'll guide you out."

With the marks of their footsteps easily visible in the dust,
Draycos's guidance wasn't really necessary. A few minutes later, they
rounded the last curve in the main tunnel to find Thonsifi and Sefiseni
standing together in the entrance. Their faces, at least what Jack
could see of them in the faint beam from his light, looked anxious.
"It's all right," Jack called. "I'm here."

"We were worried about you," Thonsifi said as Jack emerged into
the staging room, relief evident in her voice. "Eithon has been calling
from outside. Another air transport has arrived in the canyon."

Jack felt the breath catch in his throat. The
Essenay
'?
"How big was—? Never mind," he interrupted himself. No point quizzing
them when he could go look for himself. "Let's get back."

A minute later they were in the air again. Jack eyed the network
of stone arches and guy wires as they approached the canyon, hope
fading as he realized again that a ship the size of the
Essenay
could never make it in there.

Sure enough, as they flew over the edge and started down he could
see, far below, a small two-man aircar squatting on the landing pit.
"Any idea who that could be?" Jack asked.

"I do not know for certain," Thonsifi said, her voice trembling a
bit.

Jack peered at her face. Jack was safe, and they were away from
the mine. Yet her face was still anxious. "I didn't ask if you knew for
sure," he said. "I asked if you had any idea. That means any thoughts
or guesses."

She didn't answer. "Sefiseni?" Jack invited. "Eithon?"

"I saw a picture on the side of the transport," Eithon admitted
reluctantly. "It is the same as the picture of those who stole the mine
from us."

Sefiseni rumbled something in their own language. "Good," Jack
said, trying to hide his own sudden uneasiness. Was this the response
to Foeinatw's late-night InterWorld call ten days ago? "There are some
questions I want to ask them."

As it had been the first time, the flight through the Golvins'
aerial obstacle course was interesting to the point of occasional
terror. But again they made it safely, and Eithon set them down more or
less gently beside the visitor.

And now, up close, Jack could read the name beneath the stylized
pick-and-shovel logo on the aircar's side.

Triost Mining Group.

A sudden memory flooded back on him: he and Draycos in the
Essenay
's
dayroom, right after their first meeting and the mad escape from the
Iota Klestis ambush.

We dealt with a people called the Chitac Nomads
, Draycos
had told him and Uncle Virge.
They assured us Iota Klestis was
available for purchase
.

I don't know
, Uncle Virge had answered doubtfully.
On
paper, the place still belongs to the Triost Mining Group
.

Carefully, Jack focused his mind as he and the others climbed out
of the shuttle.
Draycos
? he thought toward his shoulder.

Yes, I saw
, the K'da's mental voice came back grimly.
Are
these the same people
?

It's the same group
, Jack confirmed. Near one of the
apartment pillars he spotted a middle-aged man talking with the One and
a couple of other Golvins.
Probably not the same specific people,
though
.

Pardon
?

I said it's the same group, but probably not the same exact
people
, Jack repeated. This telepathy stuff took more effort and
focus than he'd realized.
Keep it down, now—I have to concentrate
.

The One's eyes shifted to Jack as he and the others approached.
The man caught the subtle movement and turned. He was medium height and
build, starting to widen out around the waist, with thinning hair and
piercing blue eyes. "Ah," he said, giving Jack a friendly smile. "You
must be the Judge-Paladin everyone's talking about."

"I'm Judge-Paladin Jack Melville," Jack confirmed, grabbing a new
last name for himself at random. "You?"