Jinx on a Terran Inheritance (42 page)

Victoria moved away from the fire to take up the thread of the story again, eyes bright and huge, the great wing-brows lifted.
Not conventionally beautiful, but absolutely striking,
Alacrity found himself thinking.

"About eight years ago, the Repository was moved to Blackguard. It was an obvious choice, when you stop to think about it, something both the Camarilla and the Custodians agree on. They knew about the compounds, so they knew Blackguard—or Finders-Keepers, if you prefer—is well defended and seldom visited. And there are a lot of powerful people who have a stake in seeing to it that no one comes snooping around or lets word of the place get out."

"Nobody ever got wind of it until now? That's impossible."

Victoria was nodding. "You're right, Alacrity. People found out, one way or another. But you're talking about a coalition of some of the most powerful people in human space. How hard d'you think it is for them to silence somebody who sounds like a paranoid in the first place?"

"Not very, hm?"

"Not very. They kill them or brainblank them or whatever seems appropriate. Let me tell you something: there's a Camarilla member in the top level at the Langstretch Agency."

Alacrity stood frozen. For the first time, Floyt glanced up from his demitasse to his friend.

"
Langstretch
," Alacrity whispered. Then, "Are you sure? How could you know a thing like that?"

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"Because that's where I found out about the Camarilla," Victoria answered with a wolfish smile, "back when I was a Langstretch Field Operative, Class One."

Alacrity shifted his face back into neutral the way Floyt had seen him do before. "A class one."

"I found out about it by mistake; nearly got myself shot for that. Now the Langstretch is after
me;
I should think that I'm just about at the top of the rat-'stat by now. Of course, I have a few advantages most targets don't. I know the whole operation from the inside."

Janusz was staring into the fire. There was an almost palpable tension in the air, something between Victoria and the outlaw. But Alacrity didn't want to get bogged down at that point, and certainly not on the subject of Langstretch.

"As I recall, this was all supposed to be leading up to the subject of Weir, no? And me and Ho and
Astraea Imprimatur
?"

"Weir was really the turning point," Janusz said, coming away from the fire. "While he was looking into the Earthservice for reasons of his own, he found out about the Camarilla. He was the first one with a power base and resources enough to protect himself … up to a point. He put together an apparatus of people, a counter-Camarilla. One by one—or in twos or whatever—we gravitated to it. Weir couldn't save everybody; a lot died. And more when this shadow war started."

"How long? How long has this program been running?"

"For Weir? We don't know, Alacrity. A very long time, I think. Victoria and I have been involved in it for almost three years now; Corva for about two. We're the last, you see, the last of this apparatus."

Alacrity found that very distressing news. "And us? How come we're here?"

"Weir funded us, helped us all he could. He insulated us even from his sister and top advisors. We have no real avenue of approach to Redlock and Tiajo now. There are some emergency procedures, but quite frankly we're not inclined to use them. Even in Weir's Domain, and especially in Frostpile, I think, the Camarilla has its plants."

Alacrity said, "It does if the Bank of Spica's in on it. One of their board members tried to kill us at Frostpile. Didn't make a grain of sense to me until tonight."

"Yes, that sounds reasonable. At any rate, Weir helped us set up several different scenarios for what we should do with the Repository information once we get it. After all, we can't simply start taking out advertisements or hand it over to the governments involved; that's how all this started in the first place.

We'd just disappear like all the others. One of Weir's scenarios had to do with getting word to Earth as a start."

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Floyt's brows knotted. Alacrity said, "Earth? Ha, some chance! How?"

"Well, one way to get the word there is in a starship, but starships are prohibited there, have been for centuries."

"I know," Alacrity said impatiently. "I read all about those early experiment disasters."

"The only way a starship can land on Terra," Victoria said, "the only way it could get past the Solar Defense Forces and land even if the Alpha-Bureaucrats don't want it to, is—"

"Is with a Letter of Free Import," Floyt said calmly. "That's what this finally boils down to, isn't it?"

"That's what it finally boils down to," Corva agreed softly. "Weir got word to us; he'd found out about Project Shepherd and the Letter of Free Import that was involved."

"And all of this was just to get a letter."

"And to get an Earther, just one, to know the truth," Victoria insisted. "To put the facts before him. I think Weir was very impressed with what you'd done—your histories and genealogies. I think he wanted you in particular to serve as representative for your planet. There seemed to be something about you, something he didn't go into."

Floyt found himself thinking about the causality harp and Strange Attractors.

"It could work," Alacrity said, fingering his chin, looking up at the swirling glow-worm arabesques patterning the ceiling. "Besides, think how surprised Supervisor Bear would be, Ho, and all those Alphas."

"I'd rather not." Floyt's conditioning was giving him the whimmies as it was.

"There are rather more immediate things to consider anyway," Corva said. "Such as the uproar we detected at the compounds. Ships have been departing in great numbers, and intercompound commo traffic is fast and furious. We detected some heavy-weapons activity too. We'd like to know what's happened, if you can tell us."

"We got diverted for a while," Alacrity said. "They held us there for a bit, but we got away. I guess we left them in a flap, but that's not really relevant right now."

"It is to the Camarilla," Victoria corrected. "Over at the Repository they've taken notice too, and we think it's got them nervous. We think they may be planning another move, off Blackguard, very soon now."

"But you folks have a plan, am I right?" Alacrity said.

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"We have one on schedule," Corva answered, "a carefully worked out schedule. That schedule will have to be discarded now. We will have to make our attempt within a matter of days."

"I—I … " Floyt was having trouble getting started. He'd seen nothing to prove the terrible things they'd been telling him, and yet he found them credible. But he turned his mind away from the snarled evil of the Conspiracy.

"I'm not involved in this." He brought forth the words at last. "I'm here for my Inheritance, the
Astraea
Imprimatur,
I can't become part of—of this other matter. I
can't
! I have to return to Earth."

Dios, I was so involved with this crazy story I forgot!
Alacrity realized with a start.
He's still under the
conditioning!

"And if we do not choose to give her over to you?" Janusz asked.

Alacrity was very wary in answering; Janusz was no one to provoke. "Is that the way Weir wanted it?"

Victoria answered before Janusz could. "No. It was hoped that Citizen Floyt would help us. Quite frankly, Director Weir seemed to think that hearing about our situation would persuade him to come over to our side."

"I wish I could be of help to you. But I cannot."

"What're your plans, Ho?" Alacrity inquired mildly.

Floyt squared his shoulders, unconsciously fingering the Inheritor's belt. "What they've been all along. I have to take
Astraea Imprimatur
back to Terra."

"The Earthservice'll put you through a debriefing and wring you out like a rag," Alacrity shot back. "The Alphas'll put you under, find out what you know, and never let you wake up again."

"I can't help that, Alacrity." Floyt sighed.

"I know; I just wanted to be sure."

So saying, Alacrity brought forth the jot unit he'd taken from Constance and, nearly getting himself shot by hair-trigger Janusz, jotted the astounded Floyt into unconsciousness.

CHAPTER 19—NOW IN REHEARSAL FOR REAL LIFE

"Actijot?" Janusz asked interestedly, putting his guns away as Floyt's paroxysms stopped and he slumped in his chair.

"Yeah," Alacrity said, putting the jot unit back in his pocket. "Rough, but I had to do something before file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...aley%20-%20Jinx%20on%20a%20Terran%20Inheritance.htm (224 of 320)19-2-2006 17:12:30

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his conditioning
really
kicked in and he started thinking ahead. He's a pretty capable guy. You'd be surprised."

"Would you like to explain yourself? Other than the fact that you want to save your friend's life?"

Victoria invited.

Alacrity knelt by Floyt, peeling back his eyelids. "Life is right." He filled them in quickly on the conditioning and how his own had been accidentally removed. "If I let him go now, he'll be walking right into the Camarilla's hands."

"Ah! You believe us!" Corva explained.

Alacrity nodded. "I always had the feeling Ho and me had at least two sets of enemies. Three, counting Inst."

Inst had been killed, and Endwraithe. That supposedly left only Dincrist as their avowed foe. But the feeling hadn't gone away. The existence of the Camarilla would explain everything that had happened to Floyt and Alacrity.

"And so you've saved Citizen Floyt from himself," Janusz observed. "But what will you do now? Or hadn't you thought about that?"

Alacrity turned to Victoria. "You were a Langstretch Field Op One. I was sort of hoping you'd be able to help."

She looked him over with heavy-lidded reserve, the dark, thick brows poised high. "You know quite a bit about Langstretch, don't you, Master Fitzhugh? Well, you're right; I've been through the advanced training."

"Can you do it? Deprogram him?"

"I think so. I'm not the best there is, but I'm the best you're liable to find around here. How long was the conditioning regimen?"

"Oh, maybe two, two and a half Standard days. Earthservice was up against a deadline."

"That's very good for us. My equipment is up on the third tier. If you gentlemen will take Citizen Floyt's arms and legs?"

Alacrity and Janusz hauled Floyt into the foyer and loaded him aboard a whisk-platform. Victoria gave a verbal command to the empty air, and they were all wafted up to a vacant room, bypassing ramps and staircases.

Floyt was deposited on a sleep dais. Alacrity wanted to stick around, but Victoria said no. She was file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...aley%20-%20Jinx%20on%20a%20Terran%20Inheritance.htm (225 of 320)19-2-2006 17:12:30

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setting out devices resembling the things Skate had used on Alacrity, except that they were newer and more elaborate. "This will be difficult enough without interruptions or distractions. You're just going to have to trust me, Alacrity."

Corva put a paw-hand on Alacrity's shoulder, and Alacrity relaxed to the inevitable. He took Victoria's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Thank you."

He noticed that that drew an instant's glare from Janusz.

The whisk-platform carried the two men and the Srillan back down to the study smoothly and quickly.

"Janusz and I have to see to a few details, make sure Old Raffles is secure for the night and whatnot,"

Corva told Alacrity. "If you wish, you can contact your other friends and make arrangements to meet with them tomorrow. They're welcome here at the chateau, of course."

Alacrity thought that over. "Maybe. But when you come back, I'd like to hear a little more about
Astraea
Imprimatur.
I also wouldn't mind knowing how you're planning to take this Repository."

Corva made the snuffling sound his kind used for laughter.

"Yes, I think you'll find that intriguing. You see, they have a total-destruct mechanism in place. Rather than lose the Camarilla evidence to outsiders, they would eliminate it."

"But, hold on now," Alacrity objected. "There's got to be some sort of catch, or else why hasn't one Camarilla faction, or two, or all of 'em, tackled the Repository long since? I mean, the evidence goes up,
poof
!, and they're out from under the Custodians, no?"

"That's very astute, Alacrity," Corva said, "except that there's a deep backup in place. If the Repository's put out of commission, certain dead-man precautions cut in, and duplicates of the evidence are delivered to all the Camarilla factions. It's what you might call the Sampson Option; it would trigger an all-out power struggle, and none of them want that.

"Oh, and as regards the
Astraea Imprimatur,
you and Hobart can inspect her whenever you choose. I think you'll be impressed. As for the Repository—the key to everything, you see, was in our gaining a controlling interest in the Parish Ink and Paper Company."

"The which? But what's that got to do with—never mind. I'll be in the library."

He opened a commo connection and broadcast a sketchy situation report in a prearranged message code he'd worked out with Heart and Sintilla, naming a time for his return to the
Harpy.
The
Harpy
didn't acknowledge, but he didn't expect her to; they didn't want anyone happening to get a DF fix on her.

When Janusz and Corva came back, all three settled into comfortable chairs. Corva cued displays of file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...aley%20-%20Jinx%20on%20a%20Terran%20Inheritance.htm (226 of 320)19-2-2006 17:12:30