The Ripple in Space-Time: Free City Book 1 (The Free City Series) (14 page)

Jana had, only twelve hours
earlier, murdered a man and just now she had finally succeeded in very subtly
sabotaging the three weapons.

Both had been ridiculously easy,
Jana gloated with macabre gratification.

Several days ago she had deduced
how to subvert the will of her capturers by depriving them of the devices and
any future use of the hazardous tau antimatter, all without harming or casting
blame on herself and the other slaves.

When Boz had unexpectedly left her
in the maintenance compartment guarded only by the cabin boy, Jana had hastily
attached the automatic destruct timers that she had secretly constructed
earlier.

It was really quite simple; when
the timers shut off the magnetic field that kept the tiny antimatter core
safely separated from the ordinary matter casing, the antimatter would swiftly
collide with the casing and the ensuing blast would vaporize everything within
twenty kilometers.

She had rigged the timers to cycle
every 48 hours; if she didn
’
t reset them manually in that
period, the weapons would explode. If her kidnappers launched the devices, they
would surely self-destruct long before they could reach any target.

The final spiteful touch to the
scheme was the tamper-proofing, Jana mused; any attempt to alter the timers
without going through a complex and counterintuitive procedure would set off an
explosion.

Boz returned with the others from
a scavenging expedition. The cabin boy stared dumbly at the First Mate before
departing the workroom.

The pirate drifted over to inspect
the progress that she had made during the morning.

“
What
’
s that?
”
Boz pointed at the doomsday autotrigger.

“
It
’
s just the containment bubble
timing cycler,
”
Jana answered in a contrived huff.

“
The first device that your dead friend made for us didn
’
t have one,
”
the pirate noted suspiciously.

“
I
’
m sure it was smaller and much
more sophisticated,
”
she evaded.

Jana smiled disarmingly at the
First Mate.
“
We
’
ve had to make do with the bits
and pieces that the boys could find around the ship.”

“Whatever works,” Boz shrugged
indifferently.

28. The tip
“
The first thing that I
’
m going to do,
”
Lev wearily reported to his cohorts as they pulled open the hatch of
the
Seiran
and staggered into the landing dock lobby of the Lutetia
Asteroid Mining Facility,
“
is to enjoy a hot shower.
”

That particular luxury, Ryo
grumbled as he inspected the austere outpost, was mostly likely unavailable at
any price.

Several unsavory regulars
scattered around the entryway studied the exhausted newcomers. Two showed
especially keen interest in Keira as the trio trudged to the visitor
’
s accommodations checkin.

While they waited for an
attendant, Lev laid his head on the dusty countertop and dozed off, Keira stood
taciturn and transfixed in the dull and utilitarian surroundings and Ryo drooped
achingly from the weeks of frustrating work.

For fifteen bleary days they had
endured the numbing tedium of the so far fruitless search for the fugitives.
When Ryo discovered Lev repeatedly drifting off while monitoring the wide sweep
radar two days ago, the old Investigator realized that his companions required
a respite.

Ryo determined that the isolated
mining station on Lutetia was the only acceptable facility in the vicinity and
the
Seiran
diverted to the asteroid. As he studied the loitering locals,
Ryo was now regretting the selection.

“
Hi folks, it
’
s good to see you.
”
A heavily scared old man limped to the counter,
“
We don
’
t often have visitors.
”
He eyed the well-outfitted
threesome,
“
At least visitors who aren
’
t miners. Will
you be staying the night?”

“Yes, three rooms for two nights,”
Keira answered for the exhausted travelers.

They had agreed beforehand that
she would largely speak for the group in her role as a Liaison Officer. Ryo had
gone to great lengths beforehand to conceal their identities and the true
nature of their mission in the Asteroid Belt.

“
That
’
s quite a ship you have,
”
the attendant noted as he studied the
Seiran
through the wide
spaceport windows while the dockhands moored the sleek vessel.

Keira nodded halfheartedly,
“
We
’
re doing some equipment endurance tests on this new model
for the shipyard. It
’
s really boring work.
”

She was carefully sticking to the
story that they had repeatedly rehearsed before the landing.

“
Way out here in the middle of nowhere?
”

“
Usually we run the tests near the Moon, but with all that
’
s going on around Earth now, we
’
re supposed to stay out of
everyone’s way.”

“Well this is about as far out of
everybody
’
s way as you can get.
”

Ryo nudged Lev and the young man
awoke from his impromptu nap.

“
Three rooms for two nights,
”
the attendant
handed Keira a payment interface,
“
that
’
ll be three hundred Units.
”

She forced a smile and slid her
fingertips over the device,
“
300 Standard Units charged to
Victoria De Marchi of the Tranquility Shipyards.
”

“
The rooms are just down the tunnel to the right. If you
need anything, Vicky,
”
the old man winked salaciously
at Keira,
“
I
’
d be more than happy to help you
out.
”

• • •

He felt much better, Ryo realized.
Nearly twenty hours of sleep had certainly improved his disposition, although
he was now ravenously hungry.

The old Investigator wandered out
of his minuscule room in search of food and his companions. The swing shift at
the mine had apparently just ended and a mob of rowdy and rambunctious workers
crowded into the complex from the maze of tunnels below.

After several minutes of bumping
and jostling, he made his way to a lunchroom. The demure sign in the front of
the workaday eatery suggested the preferred order of services to the patrons:
Cards
and Food
.

While the regulars clustered
around the card tables and buffet trays, Ryo studied the establishment. More
than a few of the clientele apparently spent most of their money and surplus
hours gambling at the well-worn blackjack tables.

He spotted Lev with two other
greenhorns at a
‘
Three Unit Minimum
’
table in a glum corner of the
crowded room. His cohort
’
s dour expression advertised his
lack of luck at the pastime. Ryo gestured to the man between hands and Lev
nodded. The young man played one more round before giving up on any slim chance
of retrieving his lost fortune.

Lev trudged over to an empty table
and Ryo joined him with a plate of steamy and entirely too greasy food.

“
How did you do at the card table?
”

The young man grimaced,
“
Lost nearly six hundred Units.
”

Ryo tentatively prodded an
unidentifiable brownish slab on his plate,
“
It won
’
t be a problem.
”
He sampled the dreadful fodder
and wisely switched to a more promising pool of lumpy greenish goo,
“
Remember,
‘
Mr. Clawson
’
we have a full expense account
for this endeavor.
”

After several seconds of
bewilderment at the use of the unfamiliar name, Lev nodded knowingly,
“
Oh, that
’
s right!
”

“
Where’s Ms Di Marchi?
”

“
I think she
’
s next door at the bar.
”

Lev pointed with alarm at an
approaching group of boisterous miners.

Four burly locals crowded around
the table with plates piled high with food.

An especially hefty fellow scowled
at Ryo,
“
You two from Free City?
”

“
Yeah, but we haven
’
t been there for months.
”

The big man softened a bit,
“
So you missed that friggin
’
sneak attack on EurAfrica?
”

“
Fortunately, we were doing endurance testing on a new ship
in the Belt when it happened.
”

The group of miners looked much
more empathetic now.

“
I have a cousin from Arusha,
”
a scruffy old
miner volunteered,
“
luckily she was in Nairobi on business when it happened.
”

“
I heard from a friend,
”
Ryo added,
“
that everyone there is worried that they
’
ll be next if
Dimitri Verhovnyi doesn
’
t get his way.
”

“
Most of my relatives were wiped out long ago in the war,
”
a young man interjected,
“
I don
’
t want anything like that to happen again.
”

“
For once I
’
m glad that nobody knows that we
are here on Lutetia,
”
the lanky man at the far end of the table voiced what was
probably the sentiments of most of the residents of the mining facility.

The others reluctantly agreed.

“
How
’
s it been here since the blast?
”
the Investigator fished around for information.

“
Production in the mine is way up,
”
the big man groused. “Nobody can figure out if it
’
s just to keep us busy or if the mine owners are stockpiling ore to take
advantage of any spike in metal prices due to war.
”

“
Some of the new guys wanna storm the Palace on Titan and
kill that friggin
’
bastard,
”
the young workman growled.

The older miners chuckled at the
rough and ready novice.

“
When they sent us out to the Belt,
”
Lev said warily,
“
they warned us about pirates. Is
there any of that stuff going on around here?
”

“
No,
”
the scruffy old man said,
“
they pretty much stay away from Lutetia. I guess the goons in the Mining
Guild scare them off.
”

Ryo pushed the littered plate
aside, he
’
d finished as much of the atrocious meal as he could
endure.
“
It
’
s been nice to meet you
gentlemen, but sadly we have to get back to work ourselves.
”

• • •

They spotted Keira a few minutes
later chit-chatting with a fawning group of roustabouts in a gloomy bar
ironically called the
Parisian
.

As they slipped into a nearby
booth, Ryo noticed Lev staring jealously at the flirtatious crowd of drunken
men.

After several minutes of giggly
interplay with the laborers, Keira pointed to the booth and strolled over.

“
Who are those guys?
”
Ryo asked Keira.

“
Most of them independently mine the surrounding asteroids.
”
She shook her head sympathetically,
“
They tell me
that it
’
s brutal work.
”

Several of the inebriated workers
waved to Keira from across the room. Lev frowned at the attention that the
woman elicited from the motley men.

Ryo glanced at the group,
“
Since you were trained as a liaison to the locals, see what you can find
out about our fugitives.
”

Keira smiled pleasantly at the old
Investigator before rejoining the workmen.

“
We
’
ve only have about a half a day
left before we have to resume the search,
”
Ryo mentioned to Lev as his
sidekick grimly watched over the woman.

The young man rubbed his head in
exacerbation,
“
Yeah.
”

“
When we
’
re all locked up in the
Seiran
again,
”
the old Investigator warned his unhappy colleague,
“
I want you to really work at getting along with her.
”

Lev stared miserably at his
mentor.

“
Remember that we
’
re not at the Free City
University Student Union here where you can hop in and out of bed with no great
consequences. When the time comes, the three of us must work together
flawlessly or we could well perish as squabbling fools.
”

Keira returned to the booth with
her arm wrapped around a roughhewn youngster who looked barely fifteen.

“
Go ahead, Benny,
”
she coaxed the teenager,
“
tell my boss about what you spotted the other day.
”

The wide-eyed newcomer studied Ryo
before beginning,
“
I was heading back here yesterday from Rock 853111, which
is a dinky asteroid about four days away that my brothers and I are secretly
mining.
”

The kid cautiously scanned the
surrounding patrons for eavesdroppers before continuing,
“
I gotta be really careful when I bring in a load of ore so that the
Mining Guild doesn
’
t find out what we
’
re doing.
”