Regan's Reach 4: Avarice (39 page)

They talked for another hour, explaining
and reassuring, until everything was clear.

* * *

Planet Regis, the Palace Council

Arrival on Regis wasn't the triumphal
entrance they were used to, but nevertheless they made progress. Confirmation
that Maynard had conspired to take out the Regis leadership was enough to see
him clapped in irons and not surprisingly the reception for young Perin was
little better. Even though he was effectively only a pawn in Maynard's game he
was a co-conspirator after all, and in a plot that wiped out the delegation.
There were few redeeming factors in his defense; he knew that deaths would
result and he did nothing. Only Regan's appeal for mercy saw him receive a
lighter sentence than Maynard and he was extremely grateful. He promised to
preach the word even from behind bars.

The data provided by Ham clearly showed there
had been no attack from Rexis and although there was considerable unrest as a
result of the strike against the palace the remaining senate leaders accepted
the reasons for it. This did not mean they would embrace technology and in that
regard they remained steadfast in their beliefs. As Maynard had clearly
intended to strike against Rexis they had little choice but to agree not to
pursue reparations and the best Regan could hope for was achieved. In future they
would meet more regularly with the new regime in Rexis and seek to open trade
routes soon.

Young Perin's prison term would be short,
certainly shorter than he deserved, plus he would lose his seat and all
privileges of the Senate. Any hopes he had of formal leadership was gone, a
fact that did not seem to bother him and one that Ham also seemed delighted
with.

"After all Regan," Ham had
pointed out, "the man is a convert now, he's seen the future and it's much
better to have him preaching from prison and in the streets in an unofficial
capacity than from the corridors of power. Just you watch, by the time we come
back here Reganism will be thriving, you mark my words."

"Ham, that is not what we should be
trying to do, you know how I feel about this sort of thing, it's
dangerous."

"Regan, explosives are dangerous too but
if we handle them carefully they can be a lot of fun."

She had looked at him doubtfully then and
he continued quickly. "Well, you have to admit Reganism has proved quite
useful."

"I'm not sure that it has Ham, or at
least I'm not sure it will be in the long term. I'm not going to be around
forever for one thing."

As they prepared to enter the portal for
the first jump to Gliese Regan reviewed the path and the timing. It would be a convoluted
route, taking the first of the portals back toward Earth then diverting off,
and jumping their own wave for a lightning fast trip to connect with the second
of the Gliese portals. That stage would be the longest of their trip, nine days
on the crest before dropping out and haring through the second Gliese gate.
They would be slightly longer reaching the Gliese system than the three weeks
she had for hoped but they would still get there in good time.

And it was good to be back on the STEIN
Traveler on a real mission. This ship was home and while the three of them
would rattle around in the acres of space provided it occurred to her that this
was their first trip away alone as a family; just she, Ham and Jared . . . oh -
and the mostly silent Mori. Still she smiled, comparing this with the family
road trips of her youth.

She reached across to Jared sitting comfortably
in Leah's chair beside her. Just the thought of Leah's absence brought a fresh
ache, but the squeeze he returned felt good and it occurred to her that this
was a rare contact these days, flesh to flesh. Before she could dwell on that
thought they were through the portal, Gliese bound at last.

* * *

Reubus Orbital

Five Reubus androids sat around a circular
table, and with some dissension in the ranks.

"I have doubts about our planned course
of action, don't we all?" One of the males asked.

Another shot back. "You worry too
much, everything is in hand and we continue to operate within the law."

"What specifically are your
concerns?" The female figure prompted gently.

"We all know what our concerns are,
but we push them away. We know we have grown too dominant and it was always
going to attract attention, if not outright concern. Oh yes, we could always do
whatever we wanted on our own Orbital, but dominating another, that was always
going to be trouble, so why did we push so hard?"

"On come on," said another of the
males, "we're simply good at what we do, no one can complain about that.
They can be envious maybe, but what is there to complain about?"

The female snorted. "Well for one
thing they can complain about the energy prices we're charging and what about
the default penalty rates on late payments?"

Two of the males laughed with delight just
at the thought before there seemed to be a collective reining in of the
enthusiasm.

"Seriously," the first male
continued, "I do wonder whether a more conservative, collaborative
approach might have seen us in a stronger position; after all, we seem to be
making a lot of enemies. And why have we avoided taking outside advice, I mean,
how can we be sure we're acting wisely without drawing on the expertise of
others? Granted there aren't many who have experience on this scale but maybe
if we'd consulted others, Hilary for instance, or even Regan?"

"Didn't we try with Regan? And anyway,
who is better at business in this system than us, around this room we have
gathered the finest business minds in the system."

"Yes but that's the point, brethren,
we are consulting with ourselves, and we are only one Mind." He thumped
his fist to his palm. "We are only taking our own advice."

"And it is
good
advice." Said
the last male with finality, he was the dominant first. "Now enough of this,
we have much to discuss, Hilary has called a special meeting of the Inter Orbital
Council. We sense it has something to do with us but she is playing her cards
close to her ample chest." They laughed uproariously.

"She would not call such a meeting
without Regan's word; the question we should be asking is; what is Regan up
to?"

The female stood and stretched sensuously
at the mention of Regan's name. "Isn't the reason obvious? Calling the
Inter Orbital Council together means she wants to get something done, something
that could only be achieved with a collective council vote and what is it that
makes her feel that by bringing everyone together in person, maximizes her
chance of success?" As she spoke the words she twirled and sensuously peeled
the skimpy suit from her android body. It drew a collective gasp from the males
who all stood and spoke together as the reason was released to them.

"
She
is coming to the Gliese
system
in person
!"

"Yes - because in person she has
maximum influence with both humanoids and the Minds." She smiled, "Aren't
we good? And once finished with this meeting, we will need to get ready."
She then turned to the table; leaned forward and braced her powerful hands on
the edge, knowing the four males would be readying behind her.

* * *

Tihan was intrigued but naive. As Fifino Orbital
Mind he somewhat enjoyed involvement in a secret mission but to Ham's disgust he
seemed unable to grasp the import of what was happening and seemed to treat it
like a game.

"A child!" He complained to Regan.
"How did he ever become the Mind for an Orbital?"

"Ham," she pointed out, "he
is a good administrator and you have to admit his eagerness to please has
served you well. Having said that he could do with some mentoring, of that
there is no doubt; I might even suggest it to him."

"Hilary?" Ham suggested.

"No question, in some ways she's doing
it already without him knowing it, but we need to make it formal otherwise
there'll be more of these Leith compounds everywhere. He'll end up harboring
the gangs of Gliese."

"Well, at least he's managed to
facilitate space for us to build. We should have the unit ready in another day
and then we can test it. I'm almost sure there will be no problems but you
never know. We'll find something to send somewhere for a test. Regan, you do
realize we've had to cannibalize the Transport to do this; our ability to
displace to or from the Saucer is severely compromised."

"We just need to get them out of that
compound Ham, and then we'll bring Tihan into our confidence to get them to the
flight decks for pick up. Once we have them safe it doesn't matter if anyone
knows we're here on the orbital. Hopefully we won't need to be doing any
displacing of bodies beyond that."

Leah was bored. Too short to blend in with
the populace of Fifino they had decided she might draw too much attention and
so she was stuck on the Transport as Marin and Ham gathered the materials
required to build the portable displacer. Apart from those moments helping when
they removed the displacer from the Saucer she was largely idle. There would be
some opportunity later to participate but for now it was felt best she stay out
of sight.

The Saucer was a small area to be confined
to, especially with only Regan's android for company. While she knew Ham was a
constant cyber presence, sheer loneliness drove her at times to climb onto the
android lap, to touch it as she passed and to engage it in long conversations
as if Regan were there. Only when Ham began to rib her mercilessly did she
stop. For days at a time Regan was away, working the diplomatic circuit,
lobbying behind the scenes with the Premier of Dahlia Orbital, Marin's sister Sindali,
as they gathered support for an anti monopoly policy in the system. If they
were successful Reubus would be forced to divest large portions of his business
empire in the interests of open competition, something he would fight against for
all he was worth. Leah understood the need for the steps but nevertheless was going
crazy stuck here on her own. And whenever Regan was present things felt not
much better; something had changed. In one of the few moments they were
together and alone she decided to address it.

"Regan, what's up, you don't seem
yourself?"

"There's nothing babe, I'm just busy
with all of this, and things are heating up, that's all. So far we seem to have
avoided Reubus's attention but he'll catch on soon enough and then I expect
he'll start lobbying of his own. I want to get things ready so that when the
STEIN Traveler gets here we can really deliver the coup de grace, a personal
appeal to the council. If I can get enough support now I'm sure they won't back
down when I'm here in the flesh." The android was amazingly advanced and
responded to Regan's every emotion in a way that was incredibly lifelike. As a
consequence Leah wasn't fooled by the reply.

"That's not what I'm talking about
babe; I'm asking are you and I all right? You've hardly touched me since we've
been here together."

Regan looked away guiltily. "Leah, I'm
just distracted that's all, and I'm having some problems with this android; I'm
not on song I know; you and Marin are okay though aren't you?"

"Yeah, yeah we are, I just wondered,
we don't see you so much and I wondered if you were okay with us, you know . .
."

"Oh yeah, no problem babe, I'm not
around so much and I'm glad you two can look after each other, shit look at me
here, I'm flat out with all this diplomatic stuff, you know . . ."

Leah walked to her and they embraced.
"Regan, you know we miss you?"

Regan smiled and stepped away, holding Leah
at arm's length. "Of course babe, my stars do I miss you guys too."
She looked uncomfortable and then jerked away. "Shit I'm sorry, but I've
got to leave you again, I won't be long, just a short meeting with Hilary and
I'll be back. We'll talk then, okay?"

Regan shifted quickly to the command chair
and hastily settled back. It was suspiciously quick she knew but didn't wait
and before Leah could protest, she was gone.

Concerned and confused, Leah remained
standing there for several minutes, staring at the vacant android and thinking.

What is going on, she's not okay - I
know it.

* * *

 Tihan, presented today as the young
soldier, a look he felt was quite appropriate for a 'mission'. He looked with obvious
disappointment at the tube car they had unveiled, noting with surprise that Ham
and Marin were clearly impressed with their workmanship; the reasons for this
quite escaping him.

"A tube car . . .?" He let the
implied question hang.