Swallow the Sky: A Space Opera (24 page)

Aiyana circled him in her
arms. “Are you alright honey? You seemed so strange for a moment.”

“I’m fine” he said,
forcing a smile. “We’d better head to the rendezvous.”

They stepped off the
stage and wandered through the deserted cathedral. Incense from the ceremony
still lingered in the air and somewhere the organist was again practicing his
art. Carson gazed round the peaceful building. He could be happy on this
slow-paced world, riding the steam trains, writing letters using a
keyboard
,
reading books made of paper. Although, he added to himself with a smile, like
the Consul he would keep a state-of-the-art medical tank hidden in the basement.

“So someone must have found
the storage dump” Aiyana said “otherwise the communicator wouldn’t be here.”

“Yeah, but why isn’t the
rest stored with the other relics? Where else could the stores be on this
planet?”

Aiyana stopped “Oh! Isn’t
that beautiful?”

It was approaching sunset
and the stained glass windows were ablaze with color. The sunlight, entering
almost horizontally, was throwing the vivid mosaics into the blond granite
interior. They stood enchanted, watching the luminous images of the windows
creep across the walls as the sun sank towards the horizon.

Aaron Lavan Samuelson

What made him think of
the rebel leader? Of course, there, projected onto a nearby pillar, a glowing
picture Samuelson’s fleeing the colony as Cissokho sternly pointed to the
stars.

the elected leader of
the Technical Alliance

What the... Carson looked
again. Tucked under Samuelson’s arm was a rectangle of light. Just as the image
slid off the edge of the pillar he read the words

The fact that you are
reading this message…

He let out a cry and
leapt over the pews to the window. Cemented into the leading among the
brilliantly colored panes was clear piece of glass. It was another message from
the Techs.

“Oh my God” Aiyana
muttered as she caught up to where he was standing. Carson pulled out a pocket
recorder and captured as many images as he could.

“We’ll read it when we
get to the buggy.”

But they did not have to
wait. In the vestibule they found a booklet entitled
The Windows of Lilly
Cathedral.
The commentary noted that ‘the west window includes a striking
portrait of the cursed Samuelson. The artist depicts him holding a tablet
bearing a fanciful message written in Ancient English.’ They turned over to
find a full-page photograph.

Carson laughed. “They
thought it was an invention by the window builders. Why not? It’s the obvious
conclusion.”

Together they read the
ancient words. It began like the one they found on Mirama:

The fact that you are
reading this message proves that the people of New Earth have succeeded in building
another starship…

Samuelson was not
assuming that his readers had found the other tablet, and it was only towards
the end that the two messages diverged.

I apologize for the
fact that some of these storage units empty…

“Yes!” Carson yelled
“some, not all, are empty.”

…but I trust you can
do without: if you have the resources to build an interstellar vessel then you
must be curiosity-seekers, not men and women such as ourselves in desperate
need of supplies and material.

But the final paragraph
was new

I am certain you had
no trouble finding this hoard. Sakyamuni chose the obvious landmark for its location. Perhaps you plan to travel on to Orpheus to find the most distant cache. If so, I wish
you good fortune. You will be rewarded with far more than simple tools.

June 18, 2148

They walked out into the
fresh air. Carson was in a daze as his mind worked furiously.
“Far more than
simple tools…”
What the hell did that mean? What was Juro really after?

Aiyana tried to return
him to here and now.

“So where on earth is the
dump? Samuelson says it’s obvious – did he mean the rock where the cathedral’s
built?”

Carson shook himself. “God
knows. No, it can’t be here, otherwise it would have ended up in the basement. Anyhow,
I wouldn’t call this outcrop obvious… what are we missing?”

They hurried through the
town and out into the countryside. The sun had set by the time they were
climbing the low hill to the rendezvous point. In front of them Falk’s giant
moon edged over the horizon turning their narrow road a silvery pink.

Aiyana stopped walking.

“What?” Carson asked,
panting from the exertion.

“Mirama didn’t have a
moon, did it?”

She nodded towards the
Rose.

“Hell of a landmark,
isn’t it?”

Ten minutes later they
were scrambling into their tiny spacecraft.

“Hey buggy” Aiyana said
“can you zoom in on the center of the satellite?”

“Sure” said the vessel,
“but wouldn’t you prefer to see my aerial survey images?”

“You surveyed the
moon
?”

“Well I was getting bored
imaging Falk.”

Carson hooted with
laughter “Thank God for machines with personalities!”

They stared at the
pictures of the desolate lunar landscape. At the center of the Rose was an
impact peak that the buggy said was more that five thousand meters high.

“Can you magnify the
point at the top of the mountain?”

The image exploded
outwards.

“Oh my God, there it is”
Aiyana whispered.

At the very crest of the
peak was an array of black rectangles arranged in a neat semicircle.

“How long to get there?”

“Just over an hour”

“Carson” said Aiyana
“aren’t you forgetting something?”

He looked blank.

“How are we going to get
onto the lunar surface? It’s hard vacuum and we don’t have our environment
suits.”

“Damn, damn, damn”

“Let’s head to the
Consulate, pack up our stuff and say goodbye, then return to the ship to gear up. We’ll be able to bring Tallis, she’s sure to be useful.”

“But…” Carson protested,
staring at the beckoning image.

“Darling, it’s been there
eight thousand years. It can wait another day.”

Carson relented and told
the buggy to set a course for Wurlington.

“We’d better warn the
Consul that we’ll be leaving. I hope he’s there.” Although Renshu, like every
citizen of New Earth, carried embedded transponders, he insisted that they
pacify the natives by patching all communications through his
telephone
system.

Fortunately he was
working late.

“Oh really, must you go
so soon? How about one last round of Wurlington Brown? Excellent man! I can
tell you all about your visitor.”

“Oh no!” Aiyana cried “I
should never have told that train engineer where I was staying.”

“I never did ask” said Carson “how did you manage to persuade him to let you drive the steam engine? No, don’t
tell me,
womanly wiles
.”

They were still laughing
when Renshu cut in.

“You’re missing the point
old boy, it was another Outsider. Big chap by the name of Tabarak.”

“Buggy” Carson shouted “switch this channel to
high encryption.”

There was a brief pause “okay,
done.”

“Renshu, is Tabarak still
around?”

“No, he left. I say, he’s
not a friend of yours is he?”

“Oh God no, he’s a rival
antiques dealer, and thoroughly nasty.”

“I’m so glad to hear it. Can’t
say I took to the chap at all. He ignored the instructions in my welcome packet
and landed his shuttle in Adhiambo Park, then flew his scooter in broad
daylight to the Consulate. I’m still getting complaints from the Falk
government.”

“And he was asking where
we were?” said Aiyana

“Yes, I explained that
you were in southern Wessle – I didn’t specify where – and that I was expecting
you to return in a day or so.”

“What did he say?”

“I’ll be back”

“Renshu, that farewell
drink, let’s meet at the bar, not the Consulate.”

“As you wish old boy, see
you at the Firkin.”

The Consul signed off.

“How did he find us?”
said Aiyana.

Carson pulled a face. “It
must have been Asima – she’s the only one I confided in – who would have
thought?”

“Either Asima or someone
she told.”

“But she promised only to
talk to Commissioner Zhou.”

They stared at each
other.

“Zhou?”

“Well, if you’re going to
corrupt the cops you may as well start at the top.”

“Oh God, that’s a
complication we don’t need” Carson said. “And in the meantime we have Tabarak
to deal with.”

“Why return to Falk at
all? Let’s head to the ship to pick up the environmental gear, then just grab
the modules and get the hell out of here.”

Carson shook his head. “Too
predictable, I think they’re trying to flush us out by forcing our next move.
We need more information from Renshu.”

They landed in darkness
at the edge of Wurlington and took a taxi directly to the Firkin.

“I don’t want to go to
the Consulate. Even if he’s not lurking around I’ll guarantee that Tabarak has
left some kind of monitoring device that will alert him the moment we walk in.”

They found Renshu already
on his second
pint.
Alcohol had not improved his opinion of the
interloper.

“The man is an absolute
bounder! Do you know that I’ve been summoned to the Ministry tomorrow? No doubt
to receive a tongue-lashing about Outsiders buzzing over the city. Oh well, it
could be worse; two thousand years ago they would have burned me alive.”

Carson choked on his
beer. He had a vision of Renshu tied to a stake clad in his velvet dressing
gown yelling ‘Steady on old man!’

“And I haven’t even told
you the worst part: I distrusted the man so much I decided to perform a security
sweep before coming out to meet you good people. See what I found.”

He reached into his
pocket and threw a tiny device onto the table. Carson picked it up and examined
it. It was a miniscule transmitter.

“The cad tried to bug me!
Don’t worry, it’s non-operative now.”

“Renshu,” Carson said “do you have any weapons?”

“That much of a swine,
eh? I do have couple of sidearms at the Consulate. Standard-issue for the
diplomatic core you understand, I’ve never had any need to use them.”

“You may tomorrow”

“Guys” said Aiyana becoming
agitated “remember we arranged to meet here? Renshu, weren’t you on your
telephone?
”
Her gaze dropped to the bugging device.

“Oh God” Carson said searching
around. By now it was getting late and few patrons remained. Without saying
anything more he strode to the bar and grabbed a new box of
darts
from
the counter. He had barely sat down again when Tabarak walked through the door
wearing a vulpine smile. The big man crossed the room and took a chair at their
table.

“Hello again!” Carson cried. “Renshu, I believe you’ve already met.”

“Charmed” the Consul
murmured. “Well I’m sure you have a lot to catch up on so I’ll be saying
goodnight.” He got up and walked out.

Tabarak watched him leave
then turned to Carson. “Run and I’ll kill you both before you hit the exit” he
said amiably. “There’s no-one to stop me, you’ve seen the technology on this
mud ball. I could wipe out their entire security force.”

“Talking of technology,
let me show you this” Carson said taking a new
dart
out of his pocket. He
held it on the palm of his hand, pointing it in Tabarak’s direction.

“This is a
Callidus-manufactured homing missile that accelerates at over a thousand
standard gravities. It has a rhenium diboride tip that should penetrate even
your skull, especially as it’s programmed to enter through your right eye. It’s
packed with octanitrocubane, so my only real problem is what to do with a
headless corpse. Presently I have the launch sequence on hold.”

Tabarak sat motionless,
his eyes flickering between their faces and the
dart
. Carson tried to
keep his trembling hand under control, but serendipitously it made the
dart
quiver, as if it were preparing to launch.

“Do you think that
killing me will save you?” the big man said. “This is not a solo operation.”

“So what are you
proposing?”

“Give us everything you
have found, get in your ship, head out, far out, and never return.”

“What’s in it for us?”
Aiyana asked.

Tabarak glanced at her
and smirked. “Life” he said.

“I have a counter
proposal” Carson said. “Orpheus was a bust, nothing to be found, but we have
found a cache here on Falk. Mirama was our next target and the most likely to
yield a full load, after all it’s a bacteria world so no-one will have
disturbed anything. We’ll keep what we have and Juro can have whatever is on
Mirama. A fifty-fifty split in other words.”

“No deal. Take a reality
check Carson – you’re cornered.
We’ve mined your starship.
You can’t even
approach it; you’re stuck on this dump until we decide to let you leave. Besides…”

He got no further. On the
other side of the room three patrons had begun playing a game of
darts.
Tabarak
glanced at them and laughed.

“Some weapon you’ve got
there!” he said reaching inside his jacket.

“I think you’ll find this
one more effective old man.”

Renshu was at the
entrance to the bar holding a small silvery cylinder pointed at Tabarak’s head.
He was panting from the effort of sprinting to the Consulate but he still
managed to affect an air of nonchalant menace.

“I’m sure someone of
your, ah, experience will recognize this. A Clement plasma handgun, rated at
ten petavolts, courtesy of the Commonwealth Diplomatic Service. And just for
your information, I’m rather a good shot.”

The big man stood up. “Signal
me when you’re ready to deal” he said to Carson.

“Leave now” Renshu said
to him “and don’t come back. This planet’s technology may be primitive but mine
is not. I have now fully activated the Consulate’s defense systems. If you come
within fifty kilometers of Wurlington again your vessel will be blown out the
sky.”

Tabarak took one last
hard look at Carson and walked out the door; he straddled his scooter and
disappeared into the night.

Renshu slumped into a
chair. “Good grief! That was terrifying.” He addressed the stricken bar
patrons. “Sorry about that my friends, diplomatic duties. Doris,
pints
for
everyone.”

Aiyana leaned over and
hugged him. “Our hero! And just in time.”

She told him about Carson’s bluff with the
dart.

Renshu laughed. “Two sets
of fake weaponry! Oh come my dear, don’t appear so surprised – do you really
think I have an air-defense system in my attic? Still,” he said nodding at the
gun which he had placed on the table “you had better take that. I have another one.”

“Thanks” said Carson and handed it to Aiyana. “I’ll feel better if you keep it.”

“There you go being all
protective again” she said with a smile, but she put the weapon in her pocket.

Later, as they were
walking to the Consulate, Aiyana asked Renshu how much longer he was stationed
on Falk.

“Four years, but I shall
apply for another tour of duty. I’ve grown fond of the old place and besides, I
have a, ah, lady friend here.”

Carson grinned; he liked
to think that he could always return to this world and find Renshu sitting in
the Firkin drinking Wurlington Brown.

“Here” he said “this is
for you – it’s my remaining supply of detox tablets.”

“I say, splendid chap!”

“Think of it as
compensation for all the trouble we’ve caused you.”

“Trouble? I haven’t had so
much fun in ages.”

“I’m glad you feel that
way. We had better get going before any more fun starts.”

“But you seem to be at an
impasse” said Consul. “You’ve got the goods but that brute is blocking your
exit.”

“Not necessarily” said Carson “we’ve got a secret weapon, a real one this time.”

“We do?” said Aiyana.

“Yup – Tallis”

“There they are” said the
ship.

“We can't see a thing”
said Carson. They were floating in the buggy three light seconds away from
their mined vessel – as close as they dared approach.

“That's because they are
extraordinarily small, about a centimeter in diameter.”

“
This is shameful
” Tallis chimed in “
they must be of Callidus
manufacture
.”

“How many?”

“Twelve, the damn things
just snuck up on me!”

Aiyana smiled to herself,
it was the first time she had heard the ship swear.

“What kind of ordinance?”
Carson asked.

“At that size it has to
be collapsed matter – probably a core of magnetized anti-neutronium suspended
in a superconducting shell. The outer layer will hold regular neutronium. Bring
them together fast enough and you’ll get a twenty kilometer fireball.”

“Explosive compression?”

“More likely an inertial
field push.”

“
Boys
,” Aiyana
said, “all this technical chat is very interesting but what the hell are we
going to do?”

“We’re going to move one
of the mines out of formation. That will allow us to get in and the ship to
bust out.”

“And how, Oh Might One, do
you propose to do that without setting it off?”

“Remember the bus ride to
New Earth, when we passed through the Millennium Comets and you wondered how
they maneuvered anything that slushy?”

“Yes, and that charming
little girl said they employed gravitational drag using a charged miniature
black hole.”

“And the ship’s shell
consists of...”

“Micro black holes! Oh my
God, is their pull strong enough?”

“Sure, the mass of each
mine can only be a few thousand kilos.” Carson arranged his face into a frown.
“I wonder how we can make a very small tug to pull the black hole? One that won’t
trigger the mines’ sensors.”

“Tallis – our secret
weapon!” Aiyana yelled. “Come here and kiss me you big-brained mailman.”

“
I raise my feelers in salute
” Tallis
added.

“I was wondering how long
it would take you to think of it” said the ship.

“Yeah, right” said
Carson. “Anyhow, there’s a lot more thinking to do. We need to dock the buggy
at very high speed and get out of here before anyone realizes what’s happening,
preferably triggering the mines as we go. That will convince Tabarak that we’re
history. How fast could we execute a maneuver like that?”

“Let me do some calculations”
the ship said.

Several minutes passed
before it returned on their encrypted channel.

“Assuming that we toss
the out the safety manual, ramp up past all published engineering tolerances,
and have a bit of luck, I reckon we can do it in six seconds.”

“Whoa!” was all Carson
could say.

“And Aiyana” the ship
added, “you’re a great pilot, but this time I will do the driving.”