Barnacle Passage, page 17
"It is the most likely scenario, Brother Pious."
"Thank you, Zofie," said DualE. "His second transgression was the reprogramming of the crew's cryo chamber so they would not automatically revive during the emergency."
He stared at the women. "But you were. How did he miss that?"
"Our three ships weren't linked in to the main systems. Each of us had our normal procedures in place. Zofie, I and two others awoke when Pollux dropped normal. He didn't think we'd be a risk to the intruders, maybe the intent was to kill us and frame the corpses. He's beyond asking."
How convenient, he thought. Resuscitated before the pirates, if they existed outside this woman's paranoia, arrived. Collusion? Why come here to tell him all this if they were? Wheels within wheels, Pious cautioned himself. "The third sin?"
DualE cleared her throat. "There was another passenger aboard Pollux. A man in cryo but not with the crew. Pey Heffeis reprogrammed that man's coffin as well. The alteration killed the passenger, on his way into deep-sleep. He tried to escape his coffin but had no chance."
Pious said a silent prayer for the victim and for himself. He could imagine the horror facing the doomed man. "I see. Do you know why Heffeis did any of this?"
Zofie spoke. "A debt to pay, I suspect. The man he killed was not an upstanding citizen of Argosy Realm." She glanced away. "That said, he did not deserve his fate."
Pious could imagine dying in such a manner, buried alive yet seeing rescue on the other side of the glass canopy. "Did he tell you all this before or after he re-charted our course?"
"After," said DualE. "But too late."
The woman either spoke too direct or in riddles.
Before he could ask for an explanation, Zofie said, "Heffeis was likely told his change wouldn't kill the victim. He believed the man, like the crew, would not revive until after the illegal boarding. The death probably made him conclude his mates were doomed as well due to his actions. His guilt was too much after coming out of the deep-sleep nightmares. He took his life."
"A fourth sin," said Remorse. "We must pray."
"In good time," said Pious. They still didn't know where they were. Neither did he but Cardinal might help. Two dead men and half a dozen crew on the cusp. He was unprepared for this kind of need. "This be God's will. I offer sympathy for your fate but my brothers and I must meditate to give us guidance."
DualE stared at the three brothers before settling on Cardinal. "God's will or no, and I think not, this is an evil man's will and we must act. Your survival is threatened as is mine, and I'm not ready to surrender to any one or any spiritual being's will." She pointed to Cardinal. "I believe this man is a qualified navigator, perhaps a full astrogator. We need his help. That is will, if you want justification."
"Take care with your words. You border on blasphemy. You both invade our domain with disrespect, then demand we help you. I have said we will take it under advisement, do not press for more."
DualE looked ready to threaten physical harm. This woman had a very limited quiver of negotiation skills.
"There is another service you must fulfill, Brother Pious."
Pious calmed his breathing and addressed the second trespasser. "What would that be, Zofie?"
"There are two dead men. Despite the evil in their past, they are beyond human retribution now. You can perform last rites. It is your duty."
"You too are bold in your own way, Zofie. I admire your impudence in assessing what is and is not our moral obligation." Pious rose to his feet. "You will return outside our ship while we discuss our duty."
Zofie handed her blanket to him and entered the airlock. DualE dropped her blanket to the deck, jaw clenched. She bent forward to pick it up. "I thank you for your consideration, Brother Pious. We will be patient within the pressurized airlock. Our suits' oxygen supplies are limited to a return to Pollux's forward entrance with some small safety margin."
Always negotiating to reduce her opponent's advantage, she'd make a fine missionary, he thought. Covered up.
"We will discuss your proposal," he said. He and the brothers had been woken for a purpose, this part of DualE's story held true. Not necessarily her reasons but it was his obligation to discover their true calling. "Before you leave us may I inquire after the other two barnacles?"
"Ellick and..." Zofie blurted. DualE touched a hand to her companion's lap.
"If you accompany us to the bridge," said DualE, "you will discover for yourself. If not, then identities are immaterial."
"Names are always important," replied Pious.
"We leave you to decide."
"DO YOU THINK THEY'RE listening?" Zofie asked.
DualE scanned the inside 'lock for a hint but Zofie was better at readouts than she. "I'm not sure. They've much to discuss amongst themselves. I wouldn't think they'd spare the time to bother snooping on us." DualE slipped into her suit. "We're leaving with or without them in an hour or less."
Zofie nodded and donned her suit. "Do you think we shocked the missionaries?"
"More with our news than with our lack of modesty. Brother Pious tried to look skeptical about our information but he processed it thoroughly. He kept glancing toward Brother Cardinal. They've already done some checking. Enough to determine we aren't near Bohr."
"All his talk about God's will bothered me. Fatalism won't convince them to help themselves, let alone us."
"Perhaps not but your plea for last rites spurred a greater sense of duty. Thanks for your inspiration. It may have turned the tide in our favor, at least to pry them from the Penance long enough to confirm the situation within Pollux. I admit I'm not used to dealing with people unmotivated by the usual incentives. Lust, money, power, hell even survival didn't sway him. Your insight and request were brilliant. Obligation." DualE checked Zofie's suit oxygen and power reserves and then had Zofie double-check hers.
"Can they void the 'lock from inside without our control?" Zofie looked nervous.
DualE gloved the outer door fasteners she'd clamped before cracking the visors on their way in. "No, still intact. Powered releases won't work until I free these."
Both women examined their confines. "Old but functional," DualE concluded.
"Wouldn't want to bet my life on the 'lock." Zofie cradled her helmet in her lap.
DualE scanned inside the 'lock once more and shivered. "Helmet on, visor half-closed. Be ready in case I'm wrong."
Zofie imitated her actions. "You're not often wrong are you, DualE?"
A second shiver took hold of her, professional and personal memories intruding. "You have no idea how often I've been wrong."
"We've time, care to share? My downfall is men. Wrong about Carver and wrong about Ellick. And that's in the last few months. Extrapolate it back to puberty and I bet you can't match it." She smirked.
"Let's start my list. Men. Commanders and underlings of both sexes. You initiated this discussion. So, tell me, how were you wrong about Carver?"
Zofie ran a hand through her hair. "I was wrong about me more than him, I guess. Thought I would hook up for a laugh or two, physical most of the time but he's good company. He's reserved, like he never entirely trusted me. I seduced him and he couldn't accept the idea of simple attraction. Not at first. He's making the effort and the required moves but it isn't him. He doesn't want to show it but he's vulnerable."
"And not bad-looking."
Zofie tilted her head. "There's that too. I knew he had a relationship in Bohr but no commitment. After he returned from the Eddy, he's engaged to this Helena and won't touch me. She must be some woman."
"But you'd hooked up with Ellick in the meantime, neither you nor Carver were willing to go back, right?"
"Sure, bring facts into it. You're supposed to be on my side."
DualE chuckled. "Okay, sorry. Continue."
Zofie shrugged. "Nothing more to say, we remained friends. I tried to convince him to barnacle with Ellick and me to offset our cost and offered him Ellick's investment opportunity as a prime subscriber."
DualE wasn't familiar with the term. "Explain 'prime'."
Zofie flattened her hands on her thighs. "Base level of any investment. The first call. Those pay none of the management fees the latter investors do. And they get first call on second and higher tranches."
"I admire your nerve. Did he bite?" She agreed with Zofie's assessment. Carver wouldn't soften to any former lover's financial request.
"Not in the investment. Ellick plans to offer his services as a 'facilitator' to companies and individuals wishing to duplicate Carver's find around Schoenfeld Eddy. Says the ones who make it rich aren't always the prospectors or developers, it's the ones who sell the romance, the lure of success. Carver promised to fund Ellick's itinerary in Bohr. That way, his name isn't associated with the ultimate failure of anyone to duplicate his feat."
DualE nodded. Carver planned on remaining in Bohr. Negative association with Ellick's scheme when the ultimate revelation that there were no more motherlodes to be discovered could be difficult to endure. Some angry investor might take their frustration out personally on him or his wife. "Pretty generous. He's your underwriter."
"Anonymous. All spec at this point." Zofie tipped her head to the inner 'lock door. "Bohr is on everyone's radar. Getting in early before the enthusiasm wanes is on Ellick's mind, I'm sure. He's under no illusion the scheme is unique."
"You'll stick with him?" Ellick didn't strike DualE as particularly desirable but who knew what Zofie's many other comparisons were? Before she could ask, the clank of the inner door unsealing intruded.
Zofie grabbed DualE's arm. "Good luck to us."
"Amen."
Chapter 29
Carver and Ellick pushed the corpse into the secondary cryo chamber.
Ellick released his end of Pey Heffeis, cracked open his visor and mopped his brow. "Should we wrap him in something?"
Carver drifted to Tokal's coffin and for a moment considered stuffing Heffeis in beside his victim. "Do you think there's room in here?" He pulled his gloves free.
"Nasty thought. Though I suppose they're both past caring."
"I wouldn't want to be stuck beside either," said Carver, "dead or alive but I'm not the rogue Jonn Tokal was nor a murderer like this stiff." Carver regretted the callous words as he spoke but Ellick didn't seem to take notice. "Let's see what else we can find for him."
"Are you sure you're not a rogue?" Ellick dug into cabinets and lifted bench panels.
Carver watched him for a moment. Ellick's search was superficial. "The description fits you more than me, wouldn't you say?"
"It depends on the moment. A spinning coin has two sides. I'm more a knave than a rogue. Zofie thinks so." Ellick grabbed the coffin to hold steady. He focused on Carver. "You're a much more interesting cat."
"I'm intrigued you think so. In what way?" Carver broke off the staring contest. He found a spare cryo sheet and draped it over the body. Sealing strips allowed them to cover everything above Pey's knees. An improvement.
Ellick wiped his hands on the shroud. "I've hung around Argosy for long enough to get a sense of prospector characteristics. I know most of them, their strengths and weaknesses. The dreamers, the desperate, the efficiently skillful. There are a few other miscellaneous personality profiles but you don't fit any of them. You border on the super-efficient but you don't have the predatory look. You don't lust after fortune."
Carver lashed Pey's corpse beside Tokal's coffin. "That will hold him until we reach Bohr." He faced Ellick. "You're right, I didn't lust after a lode. I got lucky through looking where few others had. In fact, only one other had. Put me in the too dumb to be unsuccessful category."
"You're still not a prospector. I'll bet you were looking for something else."
"An escape from boredom and routine. Missed them both, decided I'm not designed to be a solo act." Carver tried not to show how much Ellick's words disturbed him. Not a prospector. An observation or an accusation? Get him off topic or find out the rest of his thoughts? When forced to defend, change positions. He'd go with unsophisticated offense. "Then what am I? Besides happy and rich."
"You're neither until we reach somewhere where you can use your wealth and where you can share your happiness with...Helena, is it? The gal you dumped Zofie for."
Carver didn't rise to the bait. What rose was his estimation of Ellick. The man was no fool. An idler maybe, but not lacking ambition. Lacking courage? The risk-taking gene bypassed both of them, Carver thought. "It is Helena. I did not dump Zofie. We enjoyed each other's company with no commitment on either side. For what it's worth, Zofie seems more relaxed with you in her life than around me." Time to poke Ellick. "Although why she feels that way, I have no idea. You demand a lot and reciprocate little affection or empathy from what I see. This project of yours in Bohr, what is her part? What is her reward? Is she a full partner or the face to lure in the weak-minded investors with an eye for a pretty girl?"
"Watch your mouth, Carver. Now that we've got another astrogator, our small force can get by without you."
The man had a trigger after all. "Stand down, Ellick. We don't have the sleeping astrogator yet." Though he would be superfluous if DualE and Zofie succeeded. "I'm concerned for Zofie's welfare. I want to ensure that you are too."
"Don't worry. I'll take care of her."
"Good, because she's in charge of the seed money I promised." Carver resealed his visor and tapped his comm unit. "We can't do anything more for these two, let's get back to the bridge and wait."
Ellick preceded him out of the bulkhead and stopped. He pointed toward the core of the ship. The distortion zone rippled. "Outside detour?"
"Yeah," said Carver. "I've no wish to cross the mind-bender if I don't have to. No update from DualE so I assume we have sufficient time." Carver withdrew into his thoughts as the two men clambered over hull reinforcement scaffolding and system conduits. Jumpfreighters were deserted, lonely places, not designed for passenger amenities or aesthetics. Pollux was plain spooky. Carver stopped to look the length of the interior at one point. His lamp faded in the first few hundred meters.
"If you pushed off from here, how long would it take to reach aft?" Ellick puffed beside him.
"Interesting question. Hours? The distortion field runs the full length of the ship. DualE and I endured less than a tenth of Pollux's extent. You'd skip in and out of it and turn into psychotic goo before you reached the end." He amended to 'more psychotic' in his head. "Want to try?"
"If we don't get Pollux back to a recognizable quadrant, I might. Relieve the pressure of watching you three go insane. Or kill each other."
"You're not wrong, Ellick." Carver focused his helmet light and splashed it on the hull innards. He knew there'd be one more trip to the crew quarters. Aswan didn't know it but Carver had secreted his intel within the captain's cryo. The time neared to retrieve it before snooping barnacles found it.
ON THE BRIDGE. ELLICK cleansed himself in the now vacant head while Carver tried comm-linking DualE or Zofie.
"Carver, do you read?" It was DualE.
"I'm here. Ellick and I just got back from storing the astrogator with Tokal. Any update?"
"I'll tell you when we get there. An hour."
"Company?" He checked the spectral match status while awaiting her answer. A few seventy-five percent hits, nothing firmer. He did not want to be the one jumping Pollux into a starfield or worse, beyond the arm with no way back.
"When we get there, Carver."
She'd roused at least one barnacle. Was it the one they needed? Why not say? DualE didn't want Carver revealing their desperation? She wants to remain in control of the situation and the people.
"Can I talk to Ellick?" Zofie asked.
"He's cleaning up. I'll take a message." He leaned back in his chair to peer around the corner. The head door remained closed.
"Tell him I missed him, even for a short time. And thanks guys, for taking care of Heffeis."
"That's us, top-notch janitors. Ring the bell when you arrive. I'll put the kettle on."
"What?"
"Carver humor, Zofie. Pay no attention." DualE didn't sound amused.
"Hey, if you don't want tea," said Carver, "then scare up some alcohol. Maybe the brothers have a stash of sacramental wine?"
"Shut up, Carver." Now DualE sounded miffed.
You just couldn't make some people laugh, he thought. Though she might be quite lovely if she smiled on occasional. Helena, lad, think of Helena.
Carver spent the hour evaluating spectral data. Too few possibles with too few better-than-statistical random matches. He was missing something. All of Pollux's computer power at his fingertips and he was getting poorer response than aboard his clapped-out barnacle. A problem. "Hey, Ellick, how familiar are you with Pollux's operating systems? I'm having speed and accuracy issues."
Ellick left his station where as far as Carver could determine, the man was inventorying Pollux's cargo. Including Carver's? He took Carver's seat and Carver knelt beside him.
"Let's see. You want to enter the ship program base using this portal." Ellick touched an icon Carver had missed.
"I went through the main menu." Carver pointed to the top right corner of the screen.
"Too slow, you're running everything else in the background. You want the spectral program, right?"
"Yeah, I had it running until you just closed it."
"Don't panic." Ellick moved his fingers back and forth across the screen. "Here, I brought it up through the direct link. Take over."
Carver reached across Ellick and entered the previous command. Within seconds, data rushed down the screen. "That's more like it." He segregated the matches better than eighty-percent and accumulated enough data to make a probable conclusion. "Holy shit."
"You know where we are?"
"Carver, come in," said DualE. "We're at the lock. There are four to enter."
"Two missionaries," said Ellick. "Finish your story before they all come in."
Carver put a finger to his lips. "I'll tell you later. Close the program, Ellick. Now," he ordered and moved to the inner 'lock door to greet their guests. Knowing where they were didn't guarantee safe passage to Bohr. Not in a single jump. Nor surrounded by a sleeping swarm of enemies.
