Koban (54 page)

Mirikami had a sudden chill.

“Do what you need to do to serve me. What animals may learn of
my plan and what you tell those animals no longer matters, because Parkoda and his
clan will never hear of it if you fail, and they can do nothing if I succeed.”

He was no longer risking his own neck and that of his coconspirators.
Every human currently on Koban could be doomed in the next one hundred days if he
failed.
That
had not been part of his plan!

After a few more brusque exchanges, Telour granting every request
Mirikami made, the Krall left for his quarters in the dome, pulling all of his warriors
with him, and both K’Tal.

He left a small Krall transceiver so he could call Mirikami if
he wanted him, but cautioned him not to waste his own valuable time with minor details.

No sooner than Telour had departed, Noreen Linked to say they
had been waiting to see him, but had wanted to be sure that he was alone. They were
on their way up in the lift.

As they stepped out, Mirikami’s eye’s widened at the sight of
his two pistol packing friends.

“Jake said you were at a firing range this morning. I hadn’t
considered the implication you’d come back packing so many guns. Are those ammunition
clips I see?”

“Yes Sir,” answered Noreen, with a grin. “Thad took us to the
range himself, and furnished us with these specially modified pistols. I’m honored
he gave them to us. These belonged to two of his former security detail, and he
clearly considered them friends as well as subordinates.”

“Modified how? Those look about like what I saw the others carry.
The butts look a bit smaller around, I think.” He told them.

“They are better balanced Thad told us, although Noreen and
I aren’t proficient enough to feel the advantage of that yet, and they are extremely
light weight. The grips are an easier fit for our size hands, and the guns can be
set to fire full automatic or single shot. We also have some double sized clips.
I don’t think anyone else has these gun modifications.”

“Well you say you aren’t proficient,” Mirikami told him, “but
imagine my surprise when Dorkda arrived to tell Telour that one of my gun slingers
killed one of his, and he needed to take revenge!”

“Uh…, What?” Dillon’s manner changed from cocky and lighthearted
to serious in an instant. He sure as hell wasn’t ready to fight a Krall.

Laughing at his expression, Mirikami told him what happened,
and just how little value his butt had for Telour.

Then he grew serious himself. “We want to make friends here,
how did you manage to kill one of them no sooner than you got a gun?”

Dillon and Noreen filled him in on the circumstances, and made
certain that the Captain was aware that Maggi and Walters were not the only witnesses,
since it happened in the Great Hall.

“So you don’t have any of his friends or fellow thieves out to
get you?”

“From what the Turner woman said, he was a bully that often took
what he wanted, and had killed someone over a property dispute previously. He didn’t
seem to be well liked.”

“You know, Dorkda told Telour that he saw the fight, and knew
the other guy had either challenged you or was drawing his gun. However, he was
up in the Krall level. That means he was definitely watching you somehow.”

Thinking of that, he asked, “Is there any unfriendly presence
here on the ship?” He knew from coaching that the AI understood that he meant any
Krall. He wasn’t expecting what he heard.

“No Krall are aboard, but would active transmitters of theirs
be considered unfriendly?” He asked blandly.

Like an animal caught in a hunter’s spotlight, the Captain froze.
Then glanced at the transceiver Telour had given him, laying on his console. He
quickly looked away, in case it had video as well.

Gathering both of them by their elbows, he suggested Noreen and
Dillon go down with him for something to drink in a snack bar, pushing them towards
the lift.

They hadn’t been in on Jake’s Link to the Captain, but from his
expression and mannerism, they knew the answer had startled him. They stepped into
the lift and Mirikami selected deck 6, for its small snack bar.

Shortly after it started down, he pressed the stop button between
decks and entered his override code so it wouldn’t sound an alarm buzzer. “We all
wonder if an unfriendly person can hear us in an elevator?” he asked.

Linking to all three of them, Jake said, “There are no Krall
listening outside the elevator shaft or on board the ship and none of their transmitters
are close by.”

Seeing their alarmed expression, he explained. “Telour handed
me a small transceiver in order to be able to reach me anytime, but he didn’t want
me to call him unless it was important. It apparently is ‘hot’ all the time, and
was sitting on my console.”

“Damn, did we say anything we might wish we hadn’t just now?”
asked Dillon.

“Could you clarify what…” started Jake.

“Stop.” Mirikami cut him off. “I don’t think any of us did. But
let me get some more out of our friend.”

“We want to know if there is more than one transmitter, and were
they are located.”

“There are two active Sir, one is on the bridge that Telour gave
to you, and one other is in the Drive Room, given to Ms. Willfem when Telour arrived.”

“Are both transmitting all of the time, and can you say if the
signal is audio or video, and how far away it might reach?”

“Both have been transmitting continuously since brought aboard,
and I detect modulation that appears to correlate only with audio that I can also
sense from my own microphones. The signal range will partly depend on receiver sensitivity,
but range should be at least ten miles through the hull.”

“Is there anyone speaking in the Drive Room near the other transmitter?”

“Yes Sir. Ms. Willfem and Motorfem Macy Gundarfem are talking,
about ten feet away from the transmitter.”

“Connect me to the Drive Room via com line on the unit farthest
from that transmitter.”

It took only a few seconds for someone to pick up. “Drive Room,
Willfem speaking.”

“Nan, don’t speak just listen.” He knew she’d recognize his voice.

“The device Telour gave you is a transmitter and it’s hot all
the time. Get everyone there out of the room quietly, and I’ll Link to them to explain.
Just say ‘goodbye’ and hang up and Link to me after you put a couple of doors between
you and that gadget.”

“Goodbye” and she disconnected.

She Linked a couple of minutes later, the Motorfem with her.
“I’m sorry Sir, I didn’t know.”

“I didn’t know either Nan, and Telour gave me one on the bridge.
Do you think your conversation after he left could have given them anything we don’t
want them to know?”

She paused while she thought back to when Telour had given it
to her. “Well, after he left I wish I hadn’t said I hate the bastard and I’d like
to shove a grenade up his ass.”

Mirikami laughed. “I don’t think they care if we hate them or
want to kill them. I was thinking more of anything about our Traps and contents,
weapons development, labs being setup, or other dirty tricks.”

“No Sir. Macy and I were discussing how to partition the hold
and storage area for working in there, shifting around supplies we will keep, expanding
the machine shop, those sorts of things.”

“Ok good. That’s what I
do
want Telour to hear. Pass the
word about the devices, and I’ll put our friend to work on finding out how sensitive
they are, and how far away is safe enough to talk freely. We can use these devices
to feed them information we want them to hear. Mirikami Out.”

“Jake,” It was safe to say his name for the moment. “I want you
to report to any ship’s officer or our three civilians with transducers if you detect
secret monitoring of any of us by any means. Let me know if you think our internal
communications are being compromised, and if the Krall seem to have detected our
Link capability. I don’t know what that evidence would be, but ask us if you need
to do so. Understand?”

“I may require guidance in this Sir.”

“That’s why I said to ask us if you are unclear.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Noreen, I want you to work with Jake to find out how sensitive
these devices are, and if we can even block the signal if need be.”

Then he flipped off the Stop switch. “Let’s go get those drinks.
Is before noon too early for a stiff shoot of
saké
?”

“Tet,” Maggi was on the Link. “We have a problem over here.”

“What’s wrong?” he came back quickly.

“The first Testing Day since we arrived has been announced. There
are sixteen names posted on a list in the Great Hall. Eight are people that are
working with us, either here or on the ship.”

“How can a random selection from two thousand seven hundred forty
one names produce eight people that we recruited?”

“Now you see the problem.”

“I thought you told me the names were picked by a Krall supply
computer that simply selected people at random?”

“That’s what we were told, and it seemed to be a method outside
of human interference. But obviously not from Krall interference,” she pointed out.

“I wonder,” Mirikami considered, “if Telour is trying to force
me to ask for immunity for those we convinced to join us. None of the Fancies names
is entered yet, and won’t be for another four weeks.”

“Well, it will create a huge amount of bad feeling over here
Tet, if you got immunity for them, because somebody else would have to replace them,
to die in their place. Nevertheless, my scientific mind says it has to be cheating
in the lottery.”

Exasperation was clear in her voice. “A few of the morons
here are saying
we
did the cheating, even though we aren’t in the lottery
yet. Why would we try to kill off our volunteers? I wish we had managed to avoid
the ‘them and us’ divisiveness.”

“Maggi, they don’t trust us and the necessary secrets we have
to keep. The fact that they must be ‘invited’ to live on the ship also makes us
seem aloof and elitist. I don’t entirely disagree.”

“We have shared an awful lot of things with them, Tet. Their
standard of living is improving a great deal. They get hot showers from the ship,
hot meals in exchange for a frozen ration, better medical care than they ever had
here, and literally, the shirts off our backs. We also do their damned laundry now.”

Mirikami shook his head in a gesture Maggi couldn’t see. “Listing
those things for them isn’t going to endear us to them. We need to get to the bottom
of the lottery problem, and do more than heat their frozen rations. Saving their
lives will be a big step, but we aren’t ready for fighting yet.”

“What do you propose for the immediate issue, that lottery list?”

“I’m coming over, and I’ll bring some armed support. We only
have about fifty of us living in the dome regularly, and they are mostly the Midwife
support folks that were never comfortable with you high brows or us Spacers.”

“Ok. I’ll meet you in the Great Hall. The list is posted at the
center, on a wood column. I’ll see if Thad is in his room. I’d like his advice,
and the rough necks here fear him and respect him at the same time.”

“See you there in about fifteen or twenty minutes.”

As soon as he was off the Link, he asked Jake to Link him with
Noreen, Dillon, Chief Haveram, Ricco, and Chack. Those would be his armed support.
All of them had become proficient with a gun, and Dillon had the added bonus of
a “reputation” now.

After they had acknowledged Jake’s call, Mirikami told them the
problem.

“I want you go over with me to investigate how the lottery system
has been rigged, and to actually see the computer that’s used. As soon as I strap
on my gun, I’ll meet you at the hold ramp.”

They left the cargo hold open a lot now. With Jake on watch,
not a single skeeter had made it inside without warning, and prompt extinction by
a Jazzer and a stomp. The wolfbats had harassed a few people over by the corral
of Earth animals, but left the heavily armed humans mostly alone.

When he stepped into the hold, his people were waiting for him.
Everyone had two loaded Krall pistols except the Captain, who had one. The Chief
also had a rifle slung and a Jazzer, and Noreen had a Jazzer.

Feeling more like a bandit leader than a Spacer Captain, he led
his little troop down the ramp and towards the dome. In the last two weeks, pills,
diet supplements and exercise had improved their strength and stamina a great deal.
The trip down the ramp didn’t feel the least bit risky, though a fall would still
be dangerous.

The three hundred feet to the garage entrance now was just a
stroll in the heat for all but the oldest of the Fancy’s complement. The six kept
their eyes and heads on a swivel, even though Jake had told them he detected no
threats.

Maggi estimated most of their people would be a couple of more
months getting acclimated to Koban’s pull, unless Aldry’s three labs managed to
produce some way to enhance that process. She claimed they were making good progress.

Looking around the Tarmac as he walked, Mirikami asked, “Where’s
that fiber optic cable Chief? I know it’s thin, but it isn’t invisible.”

“We didn’t run it straight over Sir, it runs a bit south then
arcs in to the left of the garage overhang about a hundred feet around the side.
You can’t see it even standing on it. It’s been set into a grove we cut in the tarmac.
Then we swept up the dust and made a paste with a bonding material and smeared that
over the top. It’s the same color.”

“That signal repeater connected to it yet? Or will Jake have
to boost his signal to Link to us?”

“We don’t have it in final position, but it’s connected. We only
run the fiber when nobody is around and we want it centrally located and as high
as we can get, which is level thirty-one, under the Krall’s feet. We’ll finish in
a day or so I think. We’ll have a low power Link anywhere inside the dome, and we
can splice in cameras and audio for Jake.”