Spin the Sky (35 page)

Penelope feels her temples throbbing just thinking about it. Fortunately, she has long been friendly with the folks at CCC so she knows they will help her out, especially with a hefty profit to look forward to.

Penelope finishes strapping on her boots. Then she sits on her bed, staring listlessly at an empty wall. She sighs. She realizes that she’s sighed about six times already.

The only thing for it is to get up and trudge through another day. Penelope dimly realizes that, depending on how the game goes; she is supposed to sell off her ranch, or at least, the cattle tomorrow. She tries to care about that, but can’t manage it.

Stomping out the door, she wishes Lupe is around to yell at, but the old woman has made herself scarce again. And where is Argos? She knows he hates crowds and the whole Nullball Tournament is making him so miserable he can’t stand himself, but if he wants to keep his job, he is going to have to show his face eventually.

Opening the door, she beholds a most unwelcome sight. Asner is sitting on her porch with a bouquet of flowers.

God, what is it with this guy? Penelope sighs again and that only makes her angry. Asner looks at her hopefully. She sits down next to him and he hands her a dozen red roses, so fresh they must have just come off a ship from Minerva Gardens. Penelope takes them unenthusiastically. Then she has an epiphany. She can just ask.

Turning to Asner, she asks, “Did you attack my colony with a pirate ship and try to steal my herd?”

Asner gapes at her and stutters something that sounds like, “Uuhhhh.”

“What about killing my son?” she asks matter-of-factly. “Did you do that?”

Asner’s face twists like it is trying to express too many emotions at once. “What? No! Who have you been talking to? My God,” he blurted, looking around like perhaps there is a hidden camera. “No, I didn’t kill your son.”

She just looks at him and waits.

Asner takes a few deep breaths. Then, quick and low, he says, “I would never harm Trevor. I only wish I knew what happened to him.” She believes him.

Penelope nods thoughtfully. She suspected as much, but part of her was hoping he would say he kidnapped the boy and is holding him ransom. Part of her wishes there was a way, any way, to get her boy back. “And I guess you don’t know anything about the attacks and the pirates?” she asks.

Asner fidgets. “Well,” he says at last. “I may know something about that.”

When he sees the look on her face, he throws up his hands defensively. “Whatever I may or may not know, the truth is that it will be in your best interest to sell that herd and get rid of it. That’s why I’ve been pushing for it.”

He takes her hand. “My main concern has been to keep you safe.”

Penelope hears the tenderness in his voice, but all she can focus on are the facts. The last time she saw her son, he was getting into that pirate ship. Asner knows something about that. He will tell her what he knows or she will end him.

“Tell me what you know or I will break your face,” she says calmly, removing his hand from hers.

Asner looks shocked. Rubbing his hands together, he thinks for half a moment. “You are distraught. But it would be better if I could just explain it all. Yes. If I could just explain what I know, you would understand. It would be easier.”

He stands up and glances around, distracted. “Come with me,” he said. “I will show you. I wanted to tell you before, but… Just follow me.”

Penelope gets to her feet. She thinks about trying to find a weapon or calling someone, but looking at Asner, she decides against it. It’s like he collapsed into himself in the last five minutes and he wasn’t a particularly impressive man in the first place. He looks like a scared mouse, caught in a trap. Whatever he knows, she can hear it and then decide what to do.

And really, what can he know? The man is an engineer on the most boring colony in the skies. This whole act could actually be just a ridiculous ploy to impress her and thus cause her to fall madly in love with him or whatever it is he wants. Engineers are strange.

Asner sets off towards town and Penelope follows. Before long, she hears the roar of the crowd as they get closer to the public elevators. There were long lines of fans waiting for the elevators that will take them all to the core for the semifinal Nullball match. The streets are crowded with laughing, excited people. She sees a few people she knows, but Asner isn’t stopping and she doesn’t feel like chatting right now anyway.

Penelope hears someone calling her name as she threads her way through the crowd. On the other side of the walkway, she sees Argos pushing towards her. He looks upset and he is waving at her frantically, but Asner grabs her hand and pulls her into a ten-ton elevator that will take them up to the core with at least fifty other people. The huge elevator is usually reserved for freight, but they’ve been using it for crowd control during the tournament.

Looking back, she sees Argos get swept away by the crowd, still calling to her. He seems distraught about something, but there is little she can do about that now. The comm systems have been overwhelmed all week, so she can’t just call him. She will go find him as soon as she sees whatever it is Asner wants to show her.

As the elevator goes up to the core, Penelope feels lighter with every breath. It is hard to feel dead inside this tidal wave of happy humans, but Penelope feels she is managing it pretty well. She enjoys the brief feeling of safety in numbers.

When they reach the core, Asner insistently guides her to the docking bay. The crowd turns in the opposite direction towards the Nullball arena. In the docking bay, there are only a few people milling around the ships.

“Why if it isn’t Asner and Penelope!” cries Uri Mach, ever jovial. “Just the two people I wanted to see!”

Penelope smiles at him. “Why Uri, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be over in the arena, cheering on your team? I know they are the favorites for today’s match, but I hear it will be a close thing. You must be so proud.”

Uri chuckles, clasping his hands behind his back. “Ah, yes, Seven Skies is very proud to field a Nullball team in this tournament, but work never stops, does it? Now, are you here to finally let me take all the bovine weight off your shoulders, my dear?”

Asner interrupts. “She wants to know about the attacks. The truth. She deserves to know,” he said, moving to place himself slightly between Penelope and Uri.

Uri takes a step back, “Ah? Well. Yes. The attacks. The truth is difficult to know, isn’t it? But if you are selling to me today, those attacks need no longer concern you. That, I can promise.”

He rubs his hands together and looks from Penelope to Asner speculatively. There is a sharpness to his look that his jovial manner cannot mask.

Penelope feels her pulse leap as she remembers what Ulixes insinuated. That Uri Mach is a pirate who preys on unsuspecting tinkers. It seems too unbelievable. The man has eaten at her house.

Uri has a tendency to get food in his beard and then she always has to decide whether to tell him that he has cheese stuck to his face or just ignore it, trying not to laugh while he goes on about the deplorable working conditions on the Hathor asteroid mine or something.

Well, perhaps he used to be a bad man before he settled down to run Seven Skies. Well, so what? Everybody has a few skeletons in their closet, right? Even if it is true, then maybe he knows things through his ties into the black market. Perhaps he’s heard something at the pirate bar, playing pirate poker with other dastardly men who kill people and never wipe their upper lips.

“We should tell her what we know,” Asner insists. “If she understands…”

Penelope can’t imagine what it is these guys know, but the longer she stands here, the more important it appears to be.

Stepping forward, Penelope tries appealing to the man’s compassion. “Uri, I just need to know what happened to my son. After that, I don’t care what happens. If I could get him back alive, I’ll sell you my herd or whatever you want.”

Uri looks deeply annoyed. “But what if you don’t get the answers you want? What if you never hear from him again, just like your husband? You made a bet to sell your herd tomorrow to the tournament winner. This is business.”

Penelope rubs her neck, wondering what all this weirdness is about. “Look, Uri, we’ve known each other a long time and you know how important my son is to me. You must understand that I can’t make any decisions until I find my son. I’m sorry.”

“But what about your bet?” he cries. “You lose and you sell the herd.”

Penelope rubs her eyes. “I know we shook on it, but I am grieving for my child. I just don’t know what to do. I can’t think straight. This bet seems silly.”

Uri clasps his hands behind his back and thoughtfully looks over Penelope’s head for a minute. Then he sighs deeply. Penelope thinks it is just a day for sighing.

“You know,” Uri says, his voice dropping from its hearty tone to a low menacing growl. “Life would be so much simpler if everyone would just do what I want them to do.”

Looking back over Penelope’s head, Uri makes a quick gesture and she sees stars. A sharp pain explodes in the back of her head and she drops to the ground. Penelope suddenly realizes she’s been an idiot today. She hears Asner yell while the room spins and rough hands grab her. Someone throws her over their shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Blackness descends.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“W
hat do you mean?” roars Cesar. “You saw Penelope heading towards the core with Asner and you just let her go?” He stares at Argos incredulously.

Argos looks like he wants to crawl under a rock and die. His shoulders slump and if he ducks his head any further, he’ll be a hunchback. He mumbles, “Well, I called out to her, but there were lot of people and, well, they’re probably just going down to the match, right?” Argos trails off at the end and sticks his hands in his pockets.

Cesar wants to shake Argos like a terrier shakes a rat. How could he watch Penelope wander off with that evil little engineer and not stop her or follow her or something? Does Argos not realize how much danger there is down in the core? It’s right next to the docking bay!

For that matter, why was Penelope going anywhere with Asner in the first place? Cesar knows he impressed her with the seriousness of the threat that Asner and Mach represent. He curses himself for leaving her alone. She just looked so overwhelmed. That’s why he stopped short before revealing himself to her. He genuinely wanted to tell her that he was her long lost husband, but he sensed the moment just wasn’t right. Cesar thought a day to herself would let her get used to the whole bizarre predicament.

Penelope deserved that for the calm and levelheaded way she took the news of Trevor’s adventures and the betrayal of her friends. What a woman!

Cesar had plenty to do anyway. He needed to decipher the threat to Ithaca and help prepare the colony for whatever comes next. After leaving Penelope at the ranch, Cesar went to his father and told the old man everything. The more Cesar talked, the older and paler Larry looked, until he heard that Trevor was safe on Lazar House. Then the old man jumped up and did a shaky little jig.

“Wahoo!” the old man cackled, almost falling over a box of bottles. He picked himself up before Cesar could help him, shaking off his son’s concern about bruises or broken bones impatiently.

“You need my help more than I need yours today, son,” Larry declared merrily, his face pink. He rubbed his hands together and started mumbling about rocket blasters fueled by tequila.

“Dad, let me finish,” Cesar kept saying to his preoccupied father. Finally he was practically shouting: “Listen to what I am saying!”

Larry stopped in mid-rant, raised one eyebrow and waited.

In a slightly calmer voice, Cesar said, “When I called to check on him, the lines at Lazar House were all out. There was a message about some kind of Sectarian riot. Trevor may not be so safe after all.”

Larry clamped his lips shut, squinting his eyes the way he did when he was furiously thinking. Finally the old man waved his hand. “Well, we’ll just send someone over there to see what’s going on. The rest of us have to work on Asner and Mach. Now that we have names, we should be able to find out the rest.”

Irked by Larry’s cavalier attitude, Cesar snapped, “You lost me there, Dad. What is your plan? Because I don’t know what to do now.”

Larry grinned, clapped his son on the back and said, “Boy, you got lucky the last time you stopped a war. You saw that nuclear starship was a trump card and you played it before they even knew you had it. This time, we do it smart.”

Then the old man slapped on a comm so ancient and huge, it was practically a helmet. Larry started shouting into it. Shortly after that, people showed up and Larry shouted at them too.

Eventually, Larry turned to Cesar and asked, “So, you told Penelope all this? Including all about who you really are?”

Cesar nodded. “Well, pretty much. I mean, I think she understands.”

Larry squinted at him skeptically. “Really? But you still have all of your original limbs. Did you run real fast afterwards? Are you sure you really explained it? You didn’t use some complicated metaphor or something, did you?”

“Nope. She took it really well.” Cesar grinned at his dad even though he was stretching the truth more than a little. It was just so nice to see his dad flummoxed. Cesar was tempted to add some instructive advice on dealing with women, but decided not to push it.

“Huh.” Larry scratched his chin for a minute. “Well, every day is a new opportunity for surprise, I guess.” But he sounded doubtful.

Further discussion was cut off by the torrent of angry people coming in, demanding answers. They asked Cesar endless questions before they left again, some shuffling and some stomping. Cesar recognized many of the faces, memories from his youth.

All their expressions were the same shade of angry disbelief and worry. By the time Cesar thought he couldn’t possible say another word without his vocal cords committing suicide, Lupe arrived to hand him a steaming bowl of tortilla soup and mug of coffee.