John Maddox Roberts - Spacer: Window of Mind (16 page)

He smiled like a man who had just found the treasure he had dedicated his life to searching for. "Kiril, you're even better than I had hoped. Ail right, let's stop fencing. 1 had planned to space this over a long time, enticing you with greater and greater exposures to the luxuries of the rich. I confess, I had thought that I was unique, that my clear perception of the world and the ways of men was something that might never be repeated in another human being. I was wrong. You are just what I was, forty years ago." He leaned close to her, being terribly intimate. "I was once the chief of a gang, back in Buenos Aires. Yes, I'm actually from Old Earth. I was chief because I was more intelligent, and because I was the best with a knife. Never forget the importance of proficiency with the weapons, Kiril—without that, the most astute gang leader is helpless."

"I'll go along with you there," Kiril said. "You were saying that I was in for something a little better than a nice room-like this and an automatic menu from the kitchen."

"Oh, yes! I've determined that you have something far better in store for you than this, Kiril." He got up from the chair and began to pace. "Kiril. I have more in mind than my own prosperity. The empire I have built means nothing without posterity; someone to whom I must pass my power."

"No kiddin'," Kiril said. "You got anyone in mind?"

"You have already had some dealings with my nephew Tomas. He is my sister's son. Her husband was not all I wanted for the family, so he is no more. Tomas, though, has potential."

"That's what I thought," Kiril said, sweating slightly. "I said to myself, 'this guy's got potential.' But his uncle calls the shots."

"Don't try to flatter me," Izquierda said coldly. Kiril nearly passed out. "Hear me out, and don't try to better your position in the meantime, is that agreeable?" he asked.

"Okay, shoot," Kiril said.

"That's better. I have founded an empire, and I intend to found a dynasty to rule it. Every dynasty that has gone before me has failed, because they have been too politically minded. They grew degenerate because they sought to marry their sons and daughters off to heirs and heiresses of various fortunes. That has always been a certain route to degeneracy."

"I follow you so far." She desperately wondered if he had remembered to lock the door. Should she try a break for it? What was the use? She was still in his ship.

"I think you're good genetic material, Kiril. A few months with the best tutors to give you a little polish, and you could be a glittering addition to the House of Izquierda. You have had a small taste of the good life, trifling, really. When you reach the realms which I inhabit, it's as if you had become a member of a different species. The old laws no longer apply, and there is no limit upon what you can do. You are utterly protected. Your slightest whim becomes the duty of the rest of mankind to fulfill. There is no longer anything above your reach, and you need fear no consequences of your actions. In fact, you may effectively banish the word fear from your vocabulary, except as a weapon to use on others."

"Just who was it you had me intended for? Tomas?"

"Most likely, but not necessarily."

"Or you?"

"Should I wish it. Now, make your decision, but make it quickly. I have a great deal to do before the night is over."

For the first time in her life Kiril seriously considered suicide as a way out. How fast was he? Could he stop her before she killed herself? Then she remembered that she had others to worry about. "I accept," she said, striving for an air of cool calculation. "How could I pass up an opportunity like this?"

"Wise decision," he said, getting to his feet. He stood within inches of her, so that she had to crane her head back to look up at him. He knew how to use his intimidating height to best effect, "And, Kiril: Never, never consider betraying me. Captain HaLevy attacked me openly as a foe and I spent a fortune and waited years for the proper moment to settle with her. That is nothing compared to how I deal with traitors."

She couldn't even get her throat to work for a reply, but she was proud that her knees stayed steady and she didn't faint. Then she forced herself to act calculating. That was what the man liked: calculation. "How will you pull it off?" she asked. "Why would HaLevy start a war?"

He smiled again. "Keeping your mind on business? I like that. Actually, that is part of your duties. You will testify how Captain HaLevy had been behaving erratically for months. You'll also have her secret diary, which will reveal that she was a raving xenophobe, appalled that humans were contemplating opening friendly relations with intelligent aliens. She was quite mad, of course."

"Nobody'll believe that!" Kiril protested. "That crew's the craziest combination of races and religions I've ever seen. She even has a pair of Vivers and an alien with her! How can you expect that story to stick?"

"Kiril, you have the basic material, but you lack experience of the world. You don't know how people behave in a state of wartime hysteria. They will believe
anything.
Besides, no matter how improbably, the irrefutable evidence shall be there."

"How is it I'm the only survivor?"

"I was wondering when it would occur to you to ask that. Come with me and I'll brief you as we go." He touched a control at his belt and a door slid open in a rear wall of the room. On the other side was a two-seat magnetic rail car. In spite of her predicament, she managed a wry smile, remembering that she had demanded to know whether the suite's door had a lock.

They climbed in and the car slid noiselessly through its access corridor. "My raiding party is about to mount its attack on
Space Angel
," Izquierda told her. "You are to go with it. There is little risk involved, since my men are heavily armed and the
Space Angel's
weaponry will be locked up in the captain's safe."

"How'll you do it? Isn't the
Angel
being watched by the TFCS?"

"As it happens, the Supernova is between your ship and the navy vessel, and shall remain so throughout the action. By the time we lose that alignment, the real
Angel
will be aboard this ship and my duplicate will be in its place. I have fail-safe backup systems, of course. Some personnel aboard the TFCS who are on my payroll will be feeding a recording into the appropriate screen aboard the TFCS. Even should the
Angel
move from behind this ship, it will not be seen. A similar recording is being observed on the bridge of this ship."

"If you're bringing the
Angel
aboard," Kiril said, "why am I going with the raiding party?"

"I've given orders that all aboard
Space Angel
are to be killed before the ship is brought in. I except Homer, of course. He is far too valuable, and him I shall keep. I like an unequivocal demonstration of loyalty, Kiril. You are going to kill Captain HaLevy yourself."

8

In the hold, vacuum-suited men were preparing a small craft, dwarfed by the bulk of the former
Guardian Angel.
The car lifted from its magnetic rail and drifted on repellors to the side of the little craft. One of the suited men walked to the car. He saluted Izquierda. "All ready, sir." He was dark-skinned and his hair was roached in a scalplock. Most of the others looked like him. Stubby slug guns and knives hung from their belts.

"Then carry on." Izquierda looked at Kiril. "You'll go with Captain Lang. He may need you to furnish him with information, but stay behind, out of the way until the ship is secured. He knows what you are to do."

"What would you have done," she asked, "if I'd turned you down?"

"Then you would be dead, and I would have implemented a backup plan. I have several. Now get aboard that raider. I shall see you again within the hour, if you perform your duties properly."

She got out of the car and walked stiff-spined to the little

raider. "Get in back," Lang said. She climbed in and walked past two men in shiny gray, jointed battle armor. Unlike the others, they gripped beam rifles. Three more sat behind them, in pressure suits with respirators dangling from their necks. She sat in a seat facing one of them.

The man facing her grinned viciously. "Hello, girlie. I just hope you give us some trouble. Old Carl'd still be alive if you hadn't cut him like that. We'd sure like to even things."

She leaned forward and put her face within an inch of his. "Yeah, well, I'm gonna be Mrs. Izquierda, so shut your yap and do your job."

He jerked back, fear on his face. "Yes, ma'am! Sorry."

Lang came back and draped a respirator over her head. "Put this on when we blast in. We may be making holes in that hull, and I doubt that that old hulk's self-sealer even works."

"How're you gonna get in?" Kiril asked. "They'll see you coming and they'll be ready."

"Not a chance. This baby's Satsuma's latest. It's got masking more advanced than anything ever used before. They'll never know we're coming until we're there. The director got her override codes from the navy, so we'll just open her AC hatch and drift right in. This baby's a raider's dream, and she's part of my pay for this job." Sure, Kiril thought, and the rest is the vacuum you'll all be eating as soon as you've finished Izquierda's dirty work. Lang went forward and took his pilot's seat. The lights went out in the hold as the massive hatch opened just wide enough to let the raider through.

Kiril studied her situation. Six big, tough, hardened men, two of them in armor. How could she deal with them? Well, the whole lot didn't scare her half as much as Izquierda. They were closing fast on
Space Angel.
Already she could make out the AC hatch they were going to use. It was where the atmosphere craft was stored, and it formed a secondary airlock that could be used in an emergency. She wanted, foolishly, to scream a warning to the ship.

Then the raider was drifting outside the lock and it was opening. The raider slid in beside the AC, the craft that had picked Kiril and Torwald up on Thoth. The outer hatch closed and the lock repressurized. The raiders pulled up their respirators, except for the armored men, who wore helmets. "Out!" Lang barked.

The raiding party rushed smoothly out of the craft and stood with weapons ready. Lang went to the inner hatch and worked its controls. It slid back and the three other men in pressure suits rushed past him. Lang turned to Kiril. "Where are the Vivers?"

She realized that he knew. He was testing her. "There's a storeroom aft of the hold. There's an access chamber between their room and the corridor."

Lang jerked his head and the two armored men trotted off. He glanced at his timer. "You just stand clear, kid. It'll be over in a few minutes."

She sidled up to Lang and, moving as swiftly and precisely as she ever had in her life, lifted the slug gun from his belt and spun away. "It's over now, clown! Call your goons off or I'll splatter you!"

Lang grinned. "Well, looks like you aren't a loyal troop of Izquierda's after all. I kind of suspected you weren't." He held up his right hand. A finger bore what looked like a steel ring. "That weapon's keyed to this ring, kid. Won't work without it."

Kiril jerked the trigger. Nothing happened. Lang took two swift steps and jerked the weapon from her grasp. He yanked her arm and slammed her into the side of the AC. Kiril heard a bone in her arm break an instant before a wave of nauseating pain burst over her. She slumped to the deck, fighting for consciousness.

One of the meres came into the lock, herding the skipper, Ham, Finn, and Nancy ahead of him. Seconds later another came in, shepherding Achmed and Lafayette. Right behind them was the third, holding Bert, Torwald, and Michelle at gunpoint. Torwald looked at Lang and managed a bit of his old smile. "Belisarians, just like I said. I didn't know there were any of you left. What happened, did hell get too crowded to let you in?"

Lang ignored him. "Where's the crab?"

"It's up on the bridge," one of the men said. "Just pulled everything in and closed up like a clam. I couldn't move it."

"You left that thing up on the bridge?" demanded Lang. "With the controls?"

"1 couldn't move it and hold this gun at the same time," the man protested. "It'll keep until we deliver the ship. It's just a big bug, anyway."

"Shall we go ahead and kill 'em?" asked another.

"Not till I know our situation. Where's the Vivers?" He called into a throat mike: "Shock team report. Report, dammit!" There-was no answer. He glanced at his watch. "We're behind schedule. Listen, prisoners, we're all going to go check on my men who went after the Vivers. You people march ahead." He grabbed a fistful of Kiril's coverall and hauled her to her feet. "You, too. I don't leave anyone behind me."

"What did you do to her?" Michelle demanded. She supported Kiril from one side while Nancy took the other.

"She's suffering for being a fool. She had the greatest deal in the world and she threw it away to give you scum a break. Now march." They went into the corridor and headed towards the hold. A shuddering vibration went through the ship.

"What was that?" said the skipper, stopping. "What's wrong with my ship?"

"Nothing you're going to have to worry about," Lang said. "Now move."