Shadows In Still Water (19 page)

Jak’s eyes burned. Covering his mouth and nose with his hand, he ran through the thick blanket of smoke and into the Rotunda. He should have been stopped. No one challenged him at the door. The lobby was deserted.

“Hello,” he shouted. “Anyone here?”

A click sounded from the end of the hall. Jak turned. A young Kaprinian, his hair still the lavender of adolescence, crouched behind the sights of a laser guided, Klin-Tar launcher. Jak raised his hands.

“Don’t shoot. I’m friendly.”

The youngster snapped the bolt back out of alignment and rose to his feet. His antennae shook as Jak walked toward him. “Sorry, sir,” he spoke in a cracked whisper.

“Where is everybody?”

“Gone,” Co-Lanen answered his question. She stood in the doorway of an office just beyond the young Kaprinian. Her hair, disheveled, flowed down to her waist. Dark ochre stains covered her white tunic.

“You’re bleeding!” Jak started toward her, but she waved him back.

“No,” she said quietly. “It’s Led-Franere’s blood. He just performed the Ban Kar.”

Ritual suicide. Jak stared at Co-Lanen. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the young Kaprinian slump against the wall. “Things can’t be that bad. Can they?”

“He thought so. Led felt responsible for this massacre.”

“Why? Is...was he the councilor you thought might have stolen the loron?”

Co-Lanen shook her head. “No. But as a Zar, Led thought he should have prevented the fighting.” She rested her head against the doorpost. “No. I know who it was now.”

As if on cue, Ka-Were Mitine approached them from down the hall. His movements were quick and steady, almost triumphant. He wore a scarlet tunic with a device of two fighting serpents on the front. Jak thought he had seen such a symbol quite recently but couldn’t remember where.

The councilor stopped and smiled at the three of them. “Are you ready? Where is everyone else?”

Co-Lanen sighed. “They have all gone out to fight.”

Ka-Were rubbed his hands together with glee, “Good. Good. This is a fine day. I am calling for Kin Zai. Every Kaprinian will fight or die.”

“You can’t do that!” Jak protested, hardly able to believe he had heard right.

“I can’t?” The older Kaprinian’s eyes bored into Jak’s.

Jak realized he was staring into madness.

Ka-Were laughed. “Come. It’s time.” He marched off down the hall.

“We have to stop him,” said Jak. Co-Lanen’s hand on his arm prevented him from following the councilor.

“We can’t,” Co-Lanen told him with a brief shake of her head.

“He’s obviously insane, Lanen. We can’t let him go out there and declare a holy war against the Sclarians.”

She still shook her head, “We have no right to stop him, Jak. He’s BanZori.”

Jak stared at her. His heart felt sick. Both he and Co-Lanen were in a higher caste than Mitine, but BanZori meant he was protected by the Zar, the highest caste of all. The only one who could have stopped him was Led-Franere. And he was dead.

***

Bridget plowed into Miguel’s back. “Ow! What’d you stop for?” she yelled, rubbing her nose.

Miguel whirled, sweeping his arm around her waist. “Everybody back. Now. Run!”

“I can’t run anymore,” Fredrichs protested, his breath coming in short wheezes.

“Fine. Let the Sclarians know you’re here.”

Over Miguel’s shoulder, Bridget caught a glimpse of five beings wearing black blast helmets and carrying weapons. She heard the peculiar thump, thump of rafter fire. That was enough.

“Move it!” she yelled at Fredrichs, giving him a shove. His back felt wet with sweat.

The five of them fled the way they had come, Torp and Steve in the lead now. Torp was having trouble maneuvering the box. Miguel reached out to help.

“There’s an open door down to the left” Bridget called out.

They all tumbled through the opening, literally. Fredrichs tripped into the box and sent Miguel and Torp falling to the floor. Bridget managed to keep her feet. She hit the control panel on the wall to send the door sliding shut.

“Ohmigosh,” Fredrichs moaned.

“Get off my foot you fat nidge,” Torp demanded.

“Sorry.”

“Somebody find a light,” Miguel called out.

A click and Steve’s pale face appeared in the darkness. He moved his hand, flashing his ring light on each of them then on the wall near the door. Bridget saw another control panel and turned on the overhead lights.

Miguel, Torp and Fredrichs still sprawled on the floor, catching their breath. Steve sat down on a pile of unmarked boxes. Moving around, Bridget explored their refuge.

It looked like nothing more than an unused, windowless warehouse. The air held a musty, cobwebby smell. A few odd boxes were scattered in spots. It looked like the door they had entered was the only way to get in or out.

Kind of strange now that she thought about it. If it was a warehouse, there should be some kind of loading doors. The rising of the fine hairs on the back of her neck made her run to the door’s control panel. She pushed the one, green button. Nothing happened.

Aurelia was getting claustrophobic in the
Pasteur
’s small communications center. Besides herself and the two overworked comm-techs, there were at least fifteen other people in the room. Everyone stood glued in place, listening to the monotone of Lak Zanin’s voice coming from the central panel and trying to fill in the gaps her speech patterns left to the imagination.

“Bangs and smoke. West I think,” Lak was saying.

Aurelia leaned closer to the comm grid. “The fighting is west of you?”

The grid hissed and wheezed before the reply came back. “Yes.”

“Can you tell if it’s getting closer?” Aurelia knew she didn’t need to shout but she couldn’t help it. People were shouting in the background on the other end and intermittent pops and cracks sounded like gunfire though her brain told her it was probably static.

“Don’t know. Too much confusion.”

“Lak, we’re trying to get shuttles down to you as fast as we can. Try to stay where you’re at but if you have to move, move. Keep in contact.”

Aurelia glanced down at Fran who was handling the main board. “Did you put through my call to the governor?”

Fran blew a frazzled bit of hair out of her face. “Yes. He hasn’t answered yet.”

“Damn. I’ll have to go over there myself.”

“Doc,” Zimbin interrupted. “Is there any news on the vid screen?”

Aurelia flipped the switch to the monitor that was right in front of her. After some switching of frequencies, she found a news service that was showing footage of the fighting on the planet. The center grew silent as everyone crowded closer to watch.

Zimbin leaned over Aurelia’s shoulder to freeze the frame. “Sorry, Doc. I want to see what that sign says,” the Berellian said, focusing in on the sign above a street that was littered with bodies of all races. It read: Xanthy Court. A murmur ran through the little group. That had been the original site for the vaccinations. The water must have gone back down overnight.

“That must mean the fighting’s already gone beyond Linden Court,” said Jannie who was trying to see past Zimbin’s bulk. She looked around when no one said anything. “Right?”

Kincaid, the other comm-tech on duty, waved at Aurelia.

“Admiral Meng is on the line,” he announced.

“Clear out, people,” Aurelia ordered, reaching out to switch from the news to the Admiral. The crowd behind her dispersed as Meng’s face appeared on the screen. “Welcome to the fun, Admiral.”

“Everyone all right there?” Meng asked, a line creasing his forehead.

Aurelia took a breath, “So far.”

“I’m glad to hear that. You’re all clear of the fighting I hope. I was getting worried when I couldn’t get through.”

“Not exactly.” Aurelia heaved a sigh and continued, “We’ve been having mechanical problems. Quite a few of our people are still on the planet, but we’re doing everything we can to pull them out.”

Meng threw his pencil in the air. “You’d better do better than that! You have heard the news haven’t you?”

“No. Now what?”

“Kaprine has declared war on Sclaria.”

***

Fiddling with the switch, Jak finally found the frequency for the news service. He had made his way to the Rotunda’s communications center while Co-Lanen and the young male who had challenged Jak’s entrance checked the building for any other occupants. Jak was just in time to see the announcement in red letters run across the bottom of the screen: The Council on Kaprine has declared war on Sclaria.

Jak stared at the screen, reading the message each time it repeated itself. Dozens of questions filled his mind. How had Klon-dor heard the news so fast? Why hadn’t they let Jidal IV’s council make the decision? If they had, only those Kaprinian colonies under the authority of the Triad Council would have been affected. Now Kaprine and all her colonies and outposts were involved.

Jak shook his head. He wondered if Klon-dor had said Kin Zai or Kin Hak. The news service would not know the difference of course. War meant war to most people. Kin Hak was like that: the standing army went out and engaged the enemy. It was that simple. On the other hand, Kin Zai meant every single Kaprinian, except the very young and very old, was expected to fight the enemy wherever they happened to be throughout the galaxy under whatever circumstances or face death for treason.

Either way, I’m stuck, Jak thought and curled an antenna. He was technically still in the Kaprinian army and had one year yet to serve. What am I going to do?

Jak stood as Co-Lanen entered the room. “Where’s the kid?” he asked as she sat down at the monitor next to his.

“He went out to fight,” Co-Lanen replied.

“You didn’t let him go!”

She gave him a surprised look, “Of course. I could hardly stop him.”

“Of course you could. Stupid kid’s going to get himself killed.” Jak gave his seat a shove that sent it banging into the desk.

Co-Lanen threw her head back to look up at him. “It is his right to go if he wants to. You have been working with the humans too long. “

“I’m part human, remember?” Jak pointed at the screen. “Have you seen that?” He watched her face as she read. No surprise just a look of deep pain when she lifted her eyes to his.

Co-Lanen sighed, “They’ve been waiting for years for something like this.”

“How come we seem to be the only ones who don’t like it?”

“I am sure there are others who feel as we do. Just not enough.”

Jak began to pace, staring at the green tile patterned with black diamonds on the floor. “They don’t say if it’s Kin Zai or not.”

“If it isn’t now it soon will be.” Co-Lanen frowned. “They certainly received the news fast.”

Jak stopped pacing, “You noticed that too? It’s beginning to smell like a setup to me.”

“But who...?”

“Mitine?”

“You heard him. He wanted to declare Kin Zai himself.”

Jak waved his antennae suddenly, “Althan Tahk!”

“The Kosapi?”

Jak sat down and quickly told everything that Steve Miller had told him about Robert Miller and his involvement with the stolen loron. He also told her about their discovery of Peter Fredrichs and his hyperspace drive, and the murder of Robert Miller.

When he finished, Co-Lanen frowned. She stood up and began to pace herself. “You say Robert Miller had several buyers for this so-called secret weapon?”

“So his son told me on our way to the police station,” Jak replied.

“I suppose a hyperspace drive that works in gravity could be considered a weapon. The extra speed would be a great advantage. Where is this inventor now?”

“In the company of several of our medical students on their way back to our vaccination site.”

Co-Lanen nodded. “We won’t worry about him now. I want to find this Kosapi.” She said the word as if it were a disease that might infect her if she let it spend too long on her lips.

“You mean now?”

“Yes. Perhaps we can stop this war before there is too much bloodshed. Are you coming with me?”

Jak jumped to his feet. “Of course. But you do remember it’s not safe out there?”

She tugged her tunic off over her head. She was wearing boots, a dark blue jumpsuit and an autoload rafter in a shoulder holster. “That’s why I’m wearing this.”

***

Aurelia blinked, waiting for Meng to tell her it was some kind of joke, but his dark face remained serious. “Is that from Jidal IV or...”

“No. I only wish it was. It might have been contained to this sector. But this is direct from Klon-Dor. And I’ve got sources telling me both sides are already mobilizing.”

Aurelia pressed both hands to the side of her head.

“Are you all right?” Meng asked.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look it.”

She gave a short laugh.

“Get yourself some sleep. What’s that on your wrist?”

Raising her right hand, Aurelia stared at the black cuff. “This? This is the latest thing in accessories.”

“You’re no good at being flippant, kid. What in heck is...damn,” he paused as his computer beeped at him. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, got an important call. I’ll call back when I can. Hey, “ he rapped a knuckle on the screen and smiled, “Don’t worry, we’ll get through this, okay?”

Aurelia nodded. She touched her fingers to the screen after it went blank. It was the sweetheart that had her fighting tears again. Stop it, Aurelia, she told herself.

She heard the C.C. doors slide open behind her and felt a sudden dread. Turning her head, she swallowed back bile at sight of Neil Sanders. Sanders had someone in tow behind him. When she saw the twisted antennae of Althan Tahk, she wanted to scream.

Pushing herself to her feet, she faced them. “Kincaid, how the hell did these people get on this ship when we can’t get our own people on board?”

The operator lifted his hands in a frustrated gesture and returned to his board.

Sanders spoke, “I had to see how Millie is. I found this Kaprinian wandering the hall just outside her room.”

“What are you doing here, Tahk?” Aurelia demanded.

Tahk looked perfectly calm. “I too wanted to see how Millie was doing.”

“Oh?” Aurelia looked at Sanders. “Would you take him into custody, please?”

“The charge?” Tahk asked.

“How about sabotage for starters?”

The Kaprinian curled one antenna and uncurled it again, the equivalent of a salute. He half-smiled and said, “I deny all such charges of course.”

Sanders looked confused. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about but I can escort him off the ship for you, doctor.”

“Fine. Now go. You’re both taking up my time and space and I want you out.”

Sanders gave her a nod and followed Tahk out the door.

Aurelia knew if she started screaming she would never be able to stop. Turning to Kincaid, she said as calmly as possible, “Kincaid, call Captain Zelan on the
Phoenix
.”

“Ma’am?”

“You heard me. Call the
Phoenix
.”