The Ophiuchi Hotline (18 page)

“The people on the station don’t broadcast anything back to Pluto because the signal could be pirated. They record everything that comes over the Line, and send it in drone rockets, high-gee jobs, that are retrieved here under tight security.

“Back when there was competition, they had some
extremely
fast drones. The people at the station acted as filters. When they saw something in the preliminary computer translation that might be valuable, they put it in one of these rockets to try and edge out the competition in patents, marketing, so forth. That doesn’t matter now, but they still had one of the special delivery rockets. When they got this message, they used it. My contact told me how it came in, and that she didn’t think she could get this one to me. I applied all the pressure I could, and she managed it. But she says that’s strictly it. Security’s so tight on this thing that no printout exists of the original data. It’s stored in StarLine’s computer, and if you think you can break in there and rob the memory, good luck.”

Vaffa frowned. “No, that’s out. The Boss explored that avenue before he dispatched us to Pluto. He’s still working on an information raid, but the defense programs are formidable.”

“The best on Pluto,” Cathay said. “I don’t know what you have on Luna.”

“What about having your contact do the raid for us, from the inside?”

Cathay considered it. “This is restricted to the top four or five people. Only about twenty even know of the existence of the message. She wouldn’t be given the top-rated access codes, and would have no way to get them.”

“What is your means of pressuring this woman?”

“I…uh, her child is one of my students. She got herself in a bind, like that woman who was just here. Pregnant, and no teacher lined up. She came to me, and I cleared it with the Boss. Also, and I guess this is pretty important, I had to give her a lot of Tweed’s money this time, for this message. In
addition
to threatening…well, to telling her I’d walk out on her child.” He looked away from them. Lilo was embarrassed for him. The only acceptable reason for abandoning a child in the middle of the educational process was the death of the teacher.

Vaffa seemed not to have noticed. “Why won’t that work again?”

“She made enough money last time to hire a
licensed
teacher, under the table. It can be done, no matter what the EA tells you.”

“Still, you’d better explore it with her.”

“Okay.”

Vaffa frowned again. “In the meantime, we’ll have to assume your estimation is accurate, and look into the alternative.”

Lilo glanced at Cathay; he looked as puzzled as she felt.

“What alternative?” she asked. “You said the only copy of the original message is in the StarLine computer. What other way is there to get it out?”

“None. Oh, the Boss made inquiries, but has found no one placed even as well as Cathay’s source. And work will go on toward gaining access to the computer itself via its regular output channels. But none of that is
likely to work. So we’ll have to get it directly. We’ll buy a ship and go to the Line.”

Cathay had not taken it well, once it became clear that Vaffa meant for all three of them to go. He argued for hours, and finally reached a position he swore he would not abandon.

“It’s just not possible. I can’t leave for at least three years, even if I don’t take on another child. The youngest one I have now will be needing me for that long.”

“You were not authorized to enter into any educational contracts,” Vaffa pointed out. “That you did is your own affair, but your first loyalty—your only
important
loyalty—is to the Boss.”

“Crap. You can’t ask me to abandon those children. It’s a sacred trust. When you take on a contract, you

finish
it.”

“You will not finish these.” Lilo noticed Vaffa’s carefully formal speech and the complete calm that had settled over her.
Look out
, she thought.

“I
will
finish them. Nothing you can do will—” Vaffa delivered a chopping blow to the side of his neck, and turned in a crouch to face Lilo, who was sitting very still. Vaffa gradually relaxed and sat down, brooding. She ignored the unconscious man on the floor. Lilo picked him up and staggered into his bedroom. She put him on the bed and sat down beside him in the darkness.

“Lilo, come in here.” She got up and went back to the main room.

“I think I’ll have to kill him,” Vaffa said.

Lilo sat down slowly. “Why? He hasn’t done anything, has he?”

“It’s what he’s likely to do that bothers me.” She sighed and rubbed her neck. She looked as though she might be unhappy about what she was going to have to do, but she also looked determined to do it.

“It was a mistake to send just me out here,” she said. “I can’t trust either of you, and I can’t watch both of you at the same time. One of you will have to go.”

“Why can’t he stay behind? He’s been here alone all this time, hasn’t he?”

“The Boss is worried about what he might do. He knows too much now about this Hotline message. Aside from the company people, he’s the only one on Pluto except you and me who knows about it.”

“But isn’t he…I mean, like me? A condemned criminal?”

“No. He’s nothing but a disbarred teacher. The Boss contacted him when he was on the skids, and promised that if he’d do some work for the party, he’d get a chance to teach again with a new identity. He’s supposed to wait another couple years. We didn’t know about this bootleg teaching. It looks like he’s getting restless, and he shouldn’t be doing that according to what we—” she stopped abruptly, looked helplessly at Lilo, and put her head in her hands.

Lilo suspected Vaffa had been getting into an area she wasn’t supposed to talk about. But she clearly wanted to talk.

“I can’t help you make a decision if you won’t tell me all the details.”

“Who said I was asking for your help?”

“Nobody. But you said you’d trust me. We made a deal.”

“I know. I want to trust you. I’ll
have
to trust you if I’m going to let him live.”

“But you don’t know if you can. And it’s no good telling the Boss that you made a deal with me. You went beyond your orders on that, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” She looked miserable. Vaffa’s life was based on following orders; it disturbed her deeply to do something on her own.

“You’d better check with the Boss first, anyway,” Lilo suggested. “See what he thinks about Cathay. Maybe he still needs him. You don’t have to tell him about the deal we made.”

Vaffa thought about it a long time, then nodded. Lilo relaxed. There would be at least twelve hours before Vaffa could get an answer from Tweed.

Cathay was still out. Lilo got a basin of water and sat on the bed beside him. She sponged the mark on his forehead where he had hit as he fell. He moaned, opened his eyes for a moment, then closed them again. Lilo plugged him into the bedside medical monitor and was told that he was sleeping, and did not have a concussion.

She undressed and got into bed with him. She put her arms around him from behind and hugged him close.

For an hour she stayed perfectly still. She tried to drift off to sleep, but her mind kept coming back to Cathay and what she could do about him.

Eventually she decided to wake him. She moved her hands slowly down his chest, over his belly. It was flat and hard. He had an erection. She grasped it and ran her thumb lightly over the rubbery glans. He stirred.

“How’s your head?”

He felt it carefully. “Not so bad, I guess. My cheek’s tender.”

“Keep it quiet,” Lilo cautioned. “Do you know anything about fighting?”

He turned onto his back. “Well, I think I could do a little better than what you saw. She got me completely by surprise. But no, I’m not a fighter. She’d demolish me. What about you?”

“No. You’re going to have to go with us, you know. She has a direct order not to leave you here. There’s only one alternative.”

“I know. I guess I knew it from the start, with
her.
”

“So what are you going to do? Uh, would you like me to stop this?”

“No, please. It feels wonderful.” He turned to face her and began stroking her body. “I don’t want to talk about this, anyway. It’s too painful.”

“We have to talk a little more. I need to know what you’re going to do. We have about a day.”

He rolled onto his back again. She was still gently rubbing his penis; now he put his hand over her hand. They were both still for a long time.

“Why?” he said, at last.

“If you’re staying, she’s going to kill you. You’ll want to do what you can think of to stop her. I…was thinking. Oh, hell. What I wondered was if I should…should take a chance with you and maybe together we—I’m not
proposing
this, mind you, I just thought we ought to discuss—”

“Would you trust me that far? You don’t even know me. If I decided to stay, I don’t have anything much to lose by plotting with you. Maybe I’d even have a chance to stay alive. Buy why should you get into it?”

“It may be the last chance I’ll ever have. Do you know anything about me?”

He faced her again. “Nothing specific, and I don’t want to. It doesn’t matter to me what you did. I know you’re one of his cloned criminals.” He noted the surprise on her face. “Yeah, I’ve learned a few things about him. Enough to get him into big trouble. He’s right to want to get rid of me.” He sighed, and rolled onto his back again, away from her. He laced his fingers behind his head.

Lilo thought he was through talking, and found that she really didn’t mind. They could talk afterward. Right now she was getting aroused. He was a beautiful man. She liked his smell, and the feel of his hands on her. She scooted down the bed and raised herself up one elbow, then bent over him.

“He collects them,” Cathay said, absently massaging her scalp with one hand. “He’s got dozens of them on a secret base somewhere, poor bastards. They’re plotting the overthrow of the Invaders.” He laughed bitterly, and looked down at her. “But if you are a Free Earther you wouldn’t be so afraid of that woman. I mean, you’d be afraid, but you’d be respectful, you know what I mean?”

She let her breath out slowly and rested her cheek on his belly. All right, he wanted to talk after all.

“I’ve seen what she can do. I also think I know some of her weaknesses. She’s very confused right now. Tweed should never have sent her on this trip alone.”

“He didn’t,” Cathay said. “He sent you, too.”

“What do you mean by that? You think I’m a Free Earther?”

“No. But he sent you. He would have a reason.”

She lifted her head to look at him. “My being here seems to be an accident. We were on the way to Titan when he got word of this message you sent—”

“No. It wasn’t that way at all. I sent him that message three months ago. I don’t care where he told you and Vaffa you were going; your destination was right here. Probably the pilot didn’t even know it. The message would have gotten to you just in time to divert to Mars.”

“It was a pretty close thing,” she conceded.

“Not at all. That means he wanted you out here. He wanted Vaffa as his only loyal agent among us. If he thought Vaffa couldn’t handle you, be sure he would have sent someone else to trail you from the spaceport.”

“I don’t get it. It sounds like a game. Does he want us to do anything for him out here, or just to tear each other apart?”

“It’s never simple,” Cathay sighed. He took her arm and gently coaxed her up alongside him. She pressed close to his side, enfolded in his arm. “I’ve dealt with him for fifteen years. Five more…well, he promised me a new identity. I’ve begun to doubt it, but you have to have
something
to live for.”

Now he no longer wanted to talk about it. He hugged her closer, then moved down and began kissing her breasts. But now it was Lilo’s turn to push him away and raise her head to study him.

“I still don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“All right. Vaffa’s a great soldier, but a lousy general. She has no initiative. That’s what you’re here for; to make the hard decisions that might come up, things that can’t wait a day to be resolved by the Boss.
Not
the life-or-death ones, nor the ethical ones—Free Earther ethics. He can trust Vaffa to be right on those. He has you judged very well. I know something of what you’ve been through, and how well he
does
know you. You
won’t gang up on Vaffa. That’s out of the question.”

“How can you say that?” she demanded. She felt her cheeks heating up; it was part anger, part shame. She had just about decided that resistance at this point would be futile, that her best chance would be to wait until they returned to Pluto and she knew more about her opponent.

“For one reason, because your best chances of escape will be later. You can see that. Your cage is insubstantial. You won’t learn the limits of it by rattling bars. You will win your freedom piece by piece, by slowly finding out what you can get away with and putting it together into a successful escape. If that’s possible, which has not yet been proved, so far as I know. At this point, there’s a very good chance that Vaffa is
not
alone. Tweed would not have to tell her that he has someone else watching you. He thinks you’ll realize this, and not try to get away.”