Shadowed Passage, page 13
"We can talk," she said. "If he planted a snooper, I can't find it." She spoke to Remorse. "What do you think of our information gatherer?"
The brother glanced at Pious for a reassuring nod before answering. "I believe he has many agendas but he was here as he claimed. To confirm the navy's arrival at Slate's."
"He has power," said Pious. "He is discrete in using it. I will be grateful to leave this 'yard and commune with those beyond the stain of intrigue."
"Then let's get your venue sorted and Denz repatriated."
Pious locked his hands together around DualE's waist. If he could see his fingers, he knew they'd be drained of blood.
"Lean with the scooter," she instructed. "If you try to stay upright, you'll throw off our balance."
They accelerated away from Penance toward the denser spiderweb of shipyard struts and gantry-ways. He closed his eyes and repeated a prayer. Despite the queasiness from her piloting, he did trust DualE's physical capabilities. He just wasn't certain about her loyalty to their mission. At times, she looked backward, focused on what she had no control over. Back to her pre-gun-for-hire career?
The scooter slowed and he dared a glimpse. They approached a small ship anchored alone at the end of a long docking strut.
"The Whisper," she said.
"Denz? You found him quickly."
"He or the ship broadcast a message. I logged it as we arrived. I wasn't certain it was the right ship until now. There can't be two like it." She leaned the scooter back and they stopped a hundred meters away.
"What are you waiting for?"
"A sign we're welcome." A beam flashed from the scooter three times on and off.
There was no response from the ship. "I'll move closer, behind the protection of the dock. Hang tight."
Pious' guts stayed behind as she zipped above and circled from a long distance until they were hidden from Whisper's view. Then she moved them up to the strut. She parked the scooter and dismounted. "You want to come or stay with the rig?" she asked.
"I'm not up to piloting on my own. I'll join you."
"Suit yourself. Driving is better than pillion, trust me. You get secure in holding onto the control bar. Let's try knocking."
She led them over the girder mesh to the main platform where he could see the Whisper's airlock. DualE put a hand to his chest. "Give me a head start."
She moved close and fiddled with the 'lock controls. The door didn't open immediately. She unzipped her sleeve pocket and plugged in a cable from her suit to the panel. The red light flicked to green and the outer door slid open. She turned, waved and entered.
Ten minutes later, the door re-opened and DualE exited. "No one home," she said.
"I'm surprised you got in so easily. Zofie's faith in her fellow spacers is substantial."
DualE patted her sleeve where the connection cable had been. "My resources are unavailable to a casual intruder. Nothing worth stealing inside and the controls are locked to her command. Even I couldn't get around those failsafes."
"Any sign of Denz?"
"Yeah, he left a few telltales for me. But didn't indicate where they were going." She led the way back to the scooter.
"Where to now?"
"Let's check out your potential sermon venues and look for Zofie. If no luck, I'll return here and wait."
"You could ask Mr. Kondradt to help." The man seemed to be well informed of the happenings here and in the Eddy in general.
"I could but I'd rather not be indebted to Gar Kondradt. The price might me more than I'd like to pay."
"Your call. But I remind you we hired you and Carver Denz. I will make the call to Kondradt and take the risk."
She hopped aboard and waited for him to settle behind her. "You also hired my judgment. In this case, give me more time before you make that call."
He didn't like the prospect of DualE returning to the Whisper and leaving he and the brothers unguarded. He closed his eyes again and locked arms around her. "I give you one shift."
DualE secured the scooter and she and Pious entered the station's central hub. Flimsuits unsealed, she recognized the odor of machine oil and burnt...plastic? Aside from systems' hum there was little noise. And no spacers.
If Rowland wanted an assessment of the Eddy's military readiness, she'd advise he wouldn't find much here. So why the rumors of a rekindled secession by force? The malcontents, if in numbers, were out in the void well beyond this shipyard. It made strategic sense; they were less vulnerable if not gathered in one place. Also, less powerful. The Rickover alone wouldn't pose a huge threat. Rowland was securing one beachhead at a time; a series of surgical strikes could soften resistance for the next phase. Perhaps his reserves would make the next jump in greater numbers.
"Here," Pious told her.
They passed through a pressurized 'lock into a garden dome. The humidity and smells hit her immediately. "The plants are real," she said.
Pious took a deep breath. "This is refreshing. I should instruct Chels to recreate something like this on Slate's. I think a portion of our funds could be channelled into such a project."
DualE was fine with that as long as it doesn't come out of her remuneration. She said, "It lifts the spirits. Makes me think I'm surface bound."
"Planets are hard to tame but I understand the Eddy has more than a few on the easier side. Once they settle who owns them."
"Bohr agreed the Realm shall continue possession with our side taking a profit share only if and when said planets become net exporters."
"My brotherhood looks forward to the day we can set root upon real land again. Imagine, DualE, an entire world to guide and assist."
"And tithe?" her skepticism was borne from too many economically-based battles.
"Only for the continuing benefit of our congregation."
DualE strolled across the paths and lawn, checking access and overhead. "This isn't bad. I can monitor the entry easily enough." She hiked to the opposite side. "This door can be used as an exit only."
"I can address the audience from the hillock near center. Remorse can handle lighting and sound. Cardinal can mingle and evaluate the crowd." Pious marched to the knoll. He turned full circle. "Yes, I'm very pleased. Do we need to look at the others?"
She needed to. "We might as well. No permission has been requested or given as yet. We should prepare for an alternate."
They left the atrium and hiked to the other locations identified by Brother Remorse. The first was empty, a temporary live cargo hold which reeked of not-quite-effective disinfectant.
DualE heard the last venue before they saw the flashing EDDIE'S DIVE light.
DRINKS
GAMBLING
ENTERTAINMENT
"Sounds like our kind of place," she said.
"One is called where one is called," said Pious and accompanied her inside.
DualE kept Pious in her periphery while she hunted for Zofie and Carver. A silhouette rang a bell but it wasn't either of the Whisper's crew. She studied the figure closer and recognized Kondradt's scooter pilot. If the woman worked for Kondradt then she knew who DualE and Pious were. It wouldn't hurt to approach her.
"Someone we should meet," she told Pious and guided him past the few customers.
The woman was younger than DualE and thinner. DualE hated her on sight. "Hi. Recognized you from Kondradt's visit." DualE extended a hand. "I'm DualE from the Penance. This is Brother Pious." She didn't give the woman a chance to deny the Kondradt connection but moved along. "Pious is scouting for a good place to speak to anyone who'd like to listen to his message of gaining peace of mind."
Pious jumped in on cue. "In this chaotic time and place, I preach a path which can help the confused learn to guide themselves through the turmoil, whether it be internal or external. You look tense. Are you troubled?"
"That's one question too many. My name's Marshall. You did well to recognize me, Kondradt told me to remain at a non-threatening distance from Penance. I was doing him a favor by shuttling him to you."
Pious was right, Marshall's face was lined with tension. DualE doubted Kondradt would rely on a casual acquaintance to escort him to the Penance. Not with DualE's reputation. He'd want someone he could trust backing him up if things went sideways. Publicly, DualE would take the woman at her word. "We've scouted the Atrium and one of the pressurized cargo-holds."
"Now you're here," said Marshall. "Frankly, I'd choose this place. The spacers and 'yard workers know it and frequent it. You might have to split any funds raised with the owner." She drained her glass.
"Can I get you another?" DualE asked.
"No, thanks. I'm not here to drown non-existent sorrows. Purely refreshment, non-alcoholic and I've had enough."
She looked strained but not someone who fought it with drugs or booze. Like DualE, Marshall needed to stay in control. Stress had to be endured. For the moment.
"How do you fit into the 'yard society?" Pious asked.
"I deploy spacers, prospectors and equipment where they're needed in the Eddy."
DualE wanted to ask if Marshall worked alone or for a greater concern but held back a direct query. "That must take some organizing." She'd build up to the real questions.
"If you mean 'do I have an organization?', say so."
Marshall would clam up if DualE pushed.
Pious said, "I'm always interested in someone with those skills to keep my message current when the brothers and I move on. I deliver God's guidance but can't be everywhere at once. Are you a woman of faith, Ms. Marshall?"
"I adhere to my own set of principles, brother."
Pious laughed. "Honest and well said. I would welcome ten of you over a hundred self-deceiving souls looking for the wrong answers."
"Or the right answers to the wrong questions?" asked Marshall.
"That happens all too often. You may have more in common philosophically with DualE than my brotherhood."
DualE wasn't sure she liked being categorized with a woman she barely knew. "What do you think?" she asked Marshall. "My principles can be compromised externally if I let them. Do you control your external pressures?"
Marshall's smile was one of confirmation not amusement. She knew what DualE asked. "Not often. I collaborate with those who hold similar goals."
The end justifying the deeds. The juncture where loyalties divided but rewards assembled.
"A freedom we all aspire to, I'm sure," said Pious. "If I choose this place to speak, would you help spread the word in advance? It sounds like your connections could be more effective than any publicity we mount."
"I'd hate to lose my partners to the fold. I need to keep them hungry for the next big strike."
"Are there any left?" DualE asked. "Or does the lure of one more undiscovered moonlet full of Schoenfeldium drive the dreamers forward despite the overwhelming negative odds?"
"If we believed the odds, none of us, including you and Pious, would be here." Marshall rose. "Here's my contact link. Tell me when you wish to make your address and I'll pass the word. Use your own announcement as well. I wouldn't want people to get the impression we're allied."
But they would. Marshall wouldn't offer unless she wanted to link with Pious.
"Very gracious of you." Pious stood to bid Marshall goodbye. "You'll hear from me within a shift."
"Nice meeting you," said Marshall. She walked out.
"Her manner changed during the conversation," said DualE.
"She's balancing agendas, I suspect." Pious sipped his drink. "I agree with you, she became more transparent at the end of our exchange. She doesn't believe there's another Carver Denz-size lode to be found but is sending the hopeful out anyway."
"Following the Gar Kondradt model. The prospectors aren't the ones who get rich. It's the outfitters and the transporters."
DualE replayed the conversation. "Marshall is more than Kondradt's chauffer. She's an ally, a partner."
"We should depart the dockyard before we're too involved with either. I considered asking her recommendation for our tour."
"It could put Penance at risk if we followed her suggested route. Assuming Kondradt wishes you to fail and fade away."
Pious sat and sighed. "I don't have time to fail. His influence is double-edged."
"Double at the least," said DualE. "We must find Carver in a hurry."
"I think this is the most likely place Zofie will come. I will return to the Penance and prepare my sermon."
"I won't let you leave unescorted. We'll go together."
"You think I'm in danger?"
"Don't look over your shoulder but two men in rust-colored flimsuits have been watching us since we came in. I can handle them but I'm not sure you could. Best get you to Penance where I can secure you from prying intruders."
"I defer to your judgment. It's unfortunate you have to do this alone."
"Yeah. I'll take it out of Denz's share."
Chapter 24
Chels stood in the Crossed Swords' airlock, watching Atone and the marine delve into its databanks.
"There are no entries since we arrived here," said Atone.
"What about the arrival itself? Did DualE leave a pilot log as you exited jumpspace and de-barnacled?"
Atone keyed the screen. "I'll go back to pre-jump." It took a moment before shaking his head. "No, I'm locked out there. Here's a navigation log." He leaned out of the way so Rowland's man could see the screen.
The officer spent some time scrolling the data. Chels stepped inside and looked over his shoulder. He hadn't ordered her not to. ...general absence of ships, commercial and naval, here. Docking routine. Locked down. Check Swords and Penance.
That was all the electronic message DualE'd left for prying eyes. Chels looked around the inside of the ship for anything else. She shuddered at the cryo coffin control panels. Her last deepsleep nightmares stayed with her to this day. More than one night she'd woken up shivering and fearful. They said spookspace laid bare your sins. The images she saw in her sleep aboard Slate's were not her memories. The deeds witnessed in those dreams weren't hers. As far as she remembered. Maybe they were and she'd sublimated them too deep to consciously access.
The officer parroted Chels' examination of the interior. He pulled storage panels open, dug into DualE's hardsuit pockets and finally opened the two coffins. The odors from the cryo fluids lingered, turning her stomach and dredging bad memories. Chels couldn't look into them and moved back into the 'lock.
"Excuse me, Ms. Harte, I need to check the airlock as well. The Admiral will have my guts and braid if I overlook anything."
"Got it." She stepped onto the gantry.
He joined her a few minutes later.
"Going back empty-handed?" Chels asked.
"Looks pretty bare. I've sent the log to the Rickover. If there's a hidden message, they'll decode it but I doubt there's anything to find. DualE was looking out for the brother and his mates first." He nodded toward Atone, still inside the Crossed Swords. "Her obligation to Rowland came second and hadn't become operational yet." He called inside. "Thanks for your help, Brother Atone. I leave you to your mission."
Chels stepped into the ship. "She left nothing?"
"He got all I could find." Atone tapped his temple. "If DualE was gathering data for the Confluence, she kept it up here. Not to be shared until required and in person."
"I wonder what made her agree to provide intel for Rowland? I got the sense she was bitter how her service ended in Bohr. Which is why she joined you."
"Loyalty to the corps?"
"Not to Rowland? Could be. Seems one and the same to me."
Atone shook his head. "If I had to choose between my loyalty to the church or my brothers, I would choose the latter over any figurehead."
Her choices cascaded into her existence. Slate, Progress, Argosy Realm, Pious, the church. She'd compromised her role for the church once. Slate's Progress was a small part of the Realm but it was the only part she cared about. How could she align her duty to all? Pick the most important and pray the others weren't betrayed.
Chels sat in the dark. It was two hours since shift change. Slate should've been back by now.
She'd spent an hour doodling notes for Brother Atone's next address but wound up categorizing her own fears. How could that help the rest of Progress? She turned the light on and reread her ideas. Maybe this was how it should be done. Maybe her anxieties weren't unique; a path for Atone to connect with Progress.
How had Pious spurred such interest? Their first meeting. She pictured him in the pub, sipping the cheapest wine. He was more than one of them, he was less. The semblance of poverty wasn't an act, it was honesty. Now the brothers travelled in a well re-fitted ship. They had bodyguards, or at least one. They still lived frugally and their mindset showed. But now fund-raising didn't drive this mission. Spreading a message of self-discovery leading to a balanced life drove them.
The door to their suite clunked open and the motion lights came on with a background glow.
"You're up late, Chels." Slate plopped face down on the bed.
She scrambled to her knees and pressed her thumbs into his shoulder blades. He groaned under her kneads.
She asked, "Who do we work for now? Mekli or Rowland?"
"I always strove to keep Progress as free from singular control as possible," Slate mumbled. "Rowland's here. Mekli's still in the Confluence, for all I know. Kondradt's jumped to the Eddy."
"The Admiral has spies here," she said. "Or did. He expected DualE to leave him a message. His man escorted Atone and me back to her ship to check."
Slate rolled onto his back. "Did they find anything?"
"Very little that I could see. The officer left empty-handed. Except for the docking log. I saw some of it on screen and nothing which seemed compromising to us or the Realm." Chels replayed it in her mind. "DualE commented about how few combat-capable ships were in port."
"Not much secret intelligence in that." Slate spread-eagled his arms. "Rowland can see for himself the commercial nature of most of our clientele."
