Shadowed Passage, page 17
"The ship is my responsibility." Atone added to his protest.
"I'm returning it to her rightful captain, now in the Eddy. I can pilot her as can Altman. Pious must be warned about the Confluence Navy." She gripped his cold hands. "I need your help to traverse spookspace without losing my mind. I know you've meditative techniques I can try. Altman says he learned them from a nomadic savant. Maybe one of your predecessors. I'm trying to prevent a war. Peace is your goal. You can train me and I can make a difference, Atone. How often does that happen in a lifetime?"
He looked past her through the porthole behind her. Then, without preamble, he began. "Sit on the deck, your back pressed to the wall. Close your eyes and focus on a point beyond your chest. Picture a cone of energy radiating from your core to that point."
Chels followed his instructions. Her fears bubbled up but she imagined the cone springing from her chest.
Atone said, "Breath calmly. With each exhalation, relax. Feel the ship pressing your buttocks and back. You join with the ship. It remains constant in the transfer to jumpspace. Your sins twist in your mind but you concentrate on the contact with the ship."
But Progress isn't a ship, she thought. Ships traverse the universe's black heart. Chels gasped and opened her eyes.
"External distractions are the enemy." Atone knew and verbalized her fear. "You fight the enemy with calm. Let the nightmares wash through you, pass over you like a warm stream but you can't drown in this stream."
She repeated his advice silently. Her breathing normalized and deepened.
"Your head and mind are one with a safe haven, Chels. A haven drawn from your memory. Have you such a place?"
Chels drifted from her body. "Here. Slate's. This chamber."
"Imprint this moment, this space."
Atone drilled a mantra until the very thought of the word recreated her and Slate's chamber.
Chels lost track of the time, going in and out of trance until she could submerge within minutes after closing her eyes.
Slate's comm broke the silence in the room. "Chels, I've got you passage. The Crossed Swords will barnacle in two hours."
"I hope Rowland lets us leave," she replied.
"He should, your barnacle passage is on one of his scouts."
"How the hell did you manage that?"
"Treaty terms. He wants to pretend he's following the peace accord. And I had to make one or two commitments. Nothing we can't live with if the Confluence backs up Rowland."
Atone asked, "Will she be safe?"
"As your deputized agent, yes. The one agency the admiral apparently respects is the brotherhood. This is your last chance to back out, Chels. We can always try to find someone in the Eddy to chaperone Altman."
"Thanks, but I'm all in now. Just promise me you'll have a warm bed and lots of love waiting when I return. I'll need it."
"Done. Love you, Chels."
"Me too."
"Get rolling, Altman's in transit to the Crossed Swords."
She stretched her legs and stood. "Whoa, I'm woozy."
"You'll feel that way coming out of jump. Take your time."
"Time we don't have at the moment. See me to the Crossed Swords. Any message for Pious?"
"Tell him I'm trying."
"I'm sure he knows you are." Chels prayed she would be in condition to pass the message when she emerged on the other side.
Chapter 30
Penance made its first contact after a long push from the Eddy 'yard. Pinpoint lights flickered through the missionary ship's viewport. Carver was taken back to his one-man prospecting days in the Eddy. Prospecting for show, gathering intelligence for Admiral Rowland for go. Contacting small settlements like the one they approached now to exchange information and to hear a fresh voice.
"Have you been here before?" DualE squeezed in beside him.
"No. This one's new to me, but I know how they work. Extracting minerals one crystal at a time from the looks of those arc lights."
"An independent mining cooperative, Brother Cardinal tells me." Pious spoke behind the pair. "They've requested we halt some distance away while we explain our intentions."
"Suspicion comes with the territory," said Carver. They were ten days out from the shipyard. Ten days stuck in a small ship with nothing to do but eat, evacuate, sleep and run out of things to discuss. Carver envied Pious and Cardinal's ability to sink into meditation every day on schedule to reduce the boredom. Carver's ennui frustrated him but trumped the nightmares of spookspace.
Pious said, "Your insight will be appreciated to gain their trust, Carver."
Carver squirmed to face DualE. "We start earning our pay. I volunteer to transport myself to them if they'll agree."
"Can we ask for both of us?" she asked.
"Not you; a brother. Two armed spacers could do a lot of damage. Or so they could fear."
"More damage than one crazy one?"
"I'm not crazy," said Carver.
"How do they know that?"
Carver slid back beside Cardinal. "I'm ready to talk when they are."
Cardinal adjusted retro-fire and Penance completed deceleration. Carver telescoped the operation. He saw movement on the surface. "We're too far out to discern individuals."
"Would you explain the process," Pious asked.
"The front teams burrow like ants through the irregular moonlet, chasing surface veins deep until they run out. They tag any possible offshoots for the follow-up units and move on to the next lead."
"Time consuming." said DualE.
Carver did some calculating. "For a rock this size, six months minimum, depending on how many diggers they have. Those lights are on surface." He spoke to Cardinal. "Have they said how long they've been here?"
"A month."
"Significant time left," said Pious. "They'll be needing spiritual release."
Carver nodded. "Agreed. Their labor's intensive, exhausting and marginally profitable." What message could Pious bring to these toughened men and women?
"Let me talk to your contact." Carver replaced Cardinal at the console.
"Ahoy colony. This is Willie Renfrew aboard the Penance. We bring a message from The First Expansion Brotherhood to the Eddy. We'd like the chance to commune with you. Brother Pious has been spreading his counsel in the Realm, most recently at Slate's Progress and the Eddy shipyard. It's important to their cause to reach as many outlying settlements as possible, no matter how small. I'd be grateful if you could allow me and one pilgrim to transfer over to your rock and meet face—to-face."
A roughened face, creased by hard work, answered. "Have to run it by the chief. I'm just following protocol by ordering your stand-off. I'm not the usual comm hand but I twisted my back and I'm subbing while I recover. We don't get many visitors and don't trust the ones we get."
"Your claim's solid, though, right?" Carver asked.
"Of course. That doesn't stop 'jumpers. Give us time to check your identity with the 'yard." The face grimaced. "Don't call me. I'll call you."
Carver addressed his shipmates. "It's like I said. They can be a bit paranoid. We wait. This won't be the last time in the big beyond that we cool our heels."
Pious wondered if he should have talked to them before Denz. "I should have gone with him, despite their instructions to allow only one visitor for the initial contact."
"Think how I feel," said DualE. "You hired us to run handle first contact for you. If anything happens to him, I'm going in full attack mode."
Pious put his hand to her arm. "I appreciate your sentiment but that's not how the brotherhood reacts. Violence is not a precedent I will allow."
"It wouldn't be for the brotherhood. It'd be for my partner."
"Nevertheless, we won't initiate aggression. We monitor, we learn, we adapt. Besides, I have faith in Denz."
"So do I. Just no faith in these miners. They're unpredictable."
"This is all premature. Let's watch and listen. Cardinal, do you have Mr. Renfrew's feed ready?"
Cardinal tilted his screen so Pious could view the shoulder cam view where Denz pointed.
"This is Renfrew. Open the 'lock please."
"Enter hands raised and prepare to remove your suit."
The camera view moved inside the miners' factory-cargo-shelter-space craft. A large 'X' decorated the inner 'lock door. Pious heard the order to stand clear when the outer door sealed, then Denz's camera jumped around as he removed his suit. The view was restored as he settled the cam back on his waist.
"What's that on your belt?"
"Camera," answered Denz. "I'm linked to the Penance. It allows Brother Pious to comment on anything I can't answer in real time. Safer for both parties, don't you think?"
"We'll examine it. Pass it through the aperture in the door."
Again, the view jumped around, then the grizzled face from Cardinal's first contact focused before it went black.
"Shit," said DualE. "We're blind and deaf."
"Give them a moment," said Pious. "If it doesn't come back, we'll rely on Denz's memory."
They heard sounds before the picture returned. The view was at waist level. "I'm back," said Denz. "This is Mr. Coyle."
"Coyle is sufficient. Your man's unarmed but it doesn't remove suspicion. Why would anyone who isn't a prospector want to come here?"
Pious examined the rock wall behind Coyle. Rough-hewn by miners in a hurry to get past the dross and find the veins they hoped would be there. Men and women unused to down-time except to sleep and eat. "In a way," said Pious, "I seek what you seek, only on an emotional basis rather than material wealth. There is wealth in the souls of people like you, Coyle. An indefatigable spirit absent in established settlements and stations. I find your pioneer ways refreshing. If I can reciprocate a fraction of that reward back to you and your fellows, my order's function is fulfilled."
"Fancy talk. What's it really mean?"
Denz took over. "It means we're not here to disrupt your routine but we're here to render the routine a little less soul-draining, if we can. I know how these operations work. I wish I had the drive to do what you do but I don't. I tried prospecting with mixed success."
Pious thought that a bit of a stretch. The man hiding behind the Willie Renfrew disguise was the most successful prospector in the last twenty years.
Denz continued, "Consider us 'entertainment'. Free entertainment."
Coyle appeared to digest the offer.
"You said you've been here a month?" Denz asked.
"More or less."
"Long enough to grow tired of each other, am I right? Long enough to forge, dissolve and make new alliances and friendships. It's natural. Brother Pious' message and counsel can take you back to day one and show you better ways of handling the stress going forward until you're done here. Lessons to last a lifetime out here scratching for every credit the hard way. His message can also carry you through the tough times when there's nothing to mine."
Pious was impressed by Denz's appeal. "I couldn't have put it better myself," he whispered to Cardinal and DualE.
"I still have to run it by the team," said Coyle.
"All I ask is one hour of your time," transmitted Pious. "I can make my way over while you arrange it with your people. We'll be gone before you know it and you can return to task. But returning with a renewed mental and physical energy."
"Your colleagues are listening and watching this, Coyle, if I'm any judge of how your security should operate. Ask them now?" Denz didn't plead but his voice carried authority.
"I'm suiting up," said Pious. He moved to the airlock and opened the suit locker. Once he was sealed up and the outside 'lock opened, he said, "I wonder if you could be so kind as to guide me in, Renfrew."
"Coyle's got the infrared beacon turned on. Let your suit-nav system tie in and it'll get you here."
Pious took the first push away from Penance, activated the suit guidance and propulsion module and felt the gentle acceleration away from the brotherhood's protective cocoon.
Denz and Coyle helped Pious from his EVA suit. Carver winced under Pious' grip into his shoulder.
"Welcome to their humble operation," said Carver. "Coyle is our guide and guard."
"Follow me," said Coyle. "You can speak with half our crew during mealtime."
"Best compromise I could arrange, brother," said Carver. "Time is the essence here. The sooner they're done with this rock, the more chance the next one will be a bigger strike."
"I understand. Thanks for the tip."
They trailed the limping Coyle along rough-hewn tunnels. Carver heard the conversation buzz before they turned into the mess.
A group of a dozen men and women sat around tables eating, drinking and chatting. Pious nudged Coyle before he could shout for attention.
"I think it would be better if I mingled," said Pious.
"Suit yourself. I'll introduce Renfrew around while you do."
Pious dropped his robe's hem to brush the ground and moved away, inserting himself in a quartet of diggers.
Carver and Coyle took two emptied seats on the other side of the mess.
"This here's Renfrew, one-time prospector, now expeditor for Brother Pious over there."
"Are you a religious man yourself, Renfrew?" One asked between bites.
"Fair question. I don't know. I've witnessed the brother's skill in helping conflicted souls reach a balance with who they are and who they'd like to be. Pious' philosophy seems to provide him internal balance. I respect his faith in God's guidance whether I embrace it or not. If that makes any sense." He tried to sound neutral until he could read the crowd.
"Well," said the man, "I know we'd most like to be rich. Let's see him pull that from his robe."
Carver chuckled with the rest. "Brother Pious would tell you wealth is a subjective thing. You might have it and not know." He examined the mess's drab interior and imagined what a day's work was like for them. "Though I'm not seeing non-monetary riches lurking in the background here."
"Toil for its own sake, right?" said Coyle.
"Something like that."
"You rich?" The lone woman at the table scrubbed her plate with a black bread.
"No," Carver answered. "I have been. Now I find I'd rather work for a living than have it drop in my lap."
She nodded. "Your current living's safer than ours, I grant. Still, you look like you can manage a pneumatic hammer. Lots of work here if you tire of spreading God's message to the infidels."
"I'm flattered," said Carver. "If this mission burns me out, I'll look you up at your next port of call." When he'd been prospecting, his thoughts were dominated by wishing he wasn't prospecting. Always chasing the 'after this' brought disappointment and heartache. Maybe there would come a time to return to the miner's life in earnest. Effort for its own worth.
Coyle dragged him to another table. "We'd need a lucky charm more than strong arms, Renfrew. And you don't appear to have much luck surrounding you."
Carver had apparently played the Renfrew role well. "Too right, Coyle. My luck could change."
They sat with a pair of miners almost indistinguishable from each other. "The Wellspring brothers," said Coyle. "See, we have brothers too. Though these two wouldn't qualify for the cloth."
One belched and grabbed Coyle by the shirtfront. "We heard there's a woman aboard that ship. Why didn't you get her over here?" He glanced at Carver. "He's not much to look at."
Coyle pushed the man's clutching hand free. "I showed her your picture and she fainted."
"Perfect. Imagine the effect I'd have in person."
Before Carver could inform the man DualE'd likely cripple him, Pious arrived at their table.
"You gentlemen have the most interesting skinwork." He sat. "What's this one's significance?" Pious pointed to an ornate jewel-encrusted tattoo ringing the man's neck. "Where did you get the work done?"
The man was off before Carver could catch his breath, spilling a story of love, hate, conflict and glory. It was quite a tale and impressive if only half true.
By the time Wellspring had finished, the crowd was breaking up. Pious spoke. "People. I thank you for the chance to meet you and talk with you." He pulled a handful of memory chips from his pocket. "I'll leave you with these. A recording of an address I gave aboard Slate's Progress some months ago. You may find a kernel of advice to help you reach the end of your labors here with a fresher body and mind. I won't be the last missionary you'll encounter. The Eddy attracts more spacers and settlers as it attracts space flotsam of all kinds. Be generous with your time and patience as you've shown me today. The Penance will be nearby for another few days should any of you wish to speak with me further. Good day and good digging."
The chatter rose as they filed out to their next shift, be it mining or sleep.
"Thank you, Coyle. We'll let you return to routine."
The miner escorted them silently back to the exit. As they suited up, he said, "More of you to come?"
"Eventually," said Pious. "Consider us a bellwether. My sect is stretched thin in these times but the Eddy calls us."
It had called Carver twice so far. The first call led him to material riches. This second encounter's result was still in question.
Chapter 31
Rowland was the last aboard to cryo. The growing nightmares tormented him. It was a weakness he resented. Last under, first awake. Give him time to compose himself, if required. The escort ship's crew were insignificant to his overall plan but soldiers talked and any idiosyncrasies displayed by a commander could undermine that command in a critical moment.
The Crossed Swords was barnacled and as far as its occupants were concerned, a jump ahead of Rowland from Slate's Progress to the Eddy shipyard. In truth, they were a jump ahead of the Rickover. Rowland jumped with them inside the cruiser class Neptune.
A last thought as he drifted into deepsleep was the debt owed to Carver Denz. The purity of his Schoenfeldium discovery allowed smaller jumpspace tech to be viable for spacecraft like the Neptune, though the psychological risk increased with the decrease in generator size. The distortion zone enveloped the entire ship, including its barnacle. It was a good thing he had the mental discipline to endure the risk. His psyche was robust. When not in jumpspace.
"I'm returning it to her rightful captain, now in the Eddy. I can pilot her as can Altman. Pious must be warned about the Confluence Navy." She gripped his cold hands. "I need your help to traverse spookspace without losing my mind. I know you've meditative techniques I can try. Altman says he learned them from a nomadic savant. Maybe one of your predecessors. I'm trying to prevent a war. Peace is your goal. You can train me and I can make a difference, Atone. How often does that happen in a lifetime?"
He looked past her through the porthole behind her. Then, without preamble, he began. "Sit on the deck, your back pressed to the wall. Close your eyes and focus on a point beyond your chest. Picture a cone of energy radiating from your core to that point."
Chels followed his instructions. Her fears bubbled up but she imagined the cone springing from her chest.
Atone said, "Breath calmly. With each exhalation, relax. Feel the ship pressing your buttocks and back. You join with the ship. It remains constant in the transfer to jumpspace. Your sins twist in your mind but you concentrate on the contact with the ship."
But Progress isn't a ship, she thought. Ships traverse the universe's black heart. Chels gasped and opened her eyes.
"External distractions are the enemy." Atone knew and verbalized her fear. "You fight the enemy with calm. Let the nightmares wash through you, pass over you like a warm stream but you can't drown in this stream."
She repeated his advice silently. Her breathing normalized and deepened.
"Your head and mind are one with a safe haven, Chels. A haven drawn from your memory. Have you such a place?"
Chels drifted from her body. "Here. Slate's. This chamber."
"Imprint this moment, this space."
Atone drilled a mantra until the very thought of the word recreated her and Slate's chamber.
Chels lost track of the time, going in and out of trance until she could submerge within minutes after closing her eyes.
Slate's comm broke the silence in the room. "Chels, I've got you passage. The Crossed Swords will barnacle in two hours."
"I hope Rowland lets us leave," she replied.
"He should, your barnacle passage is on one of his scouts."
"How the hell did you manage that?"
"Treaty terms. He wants to pretend he's following the peace accord. And I had to make one or two commitments. Nothing we can't live with if the Confluence backs up Rowland."
Atone asked, "Will she be safe?"
"As your deputized agent, yes. The one agency the admiral apparently respects is the brotherhood. This is your last chance to back out, Chels. We can always try to find someone in the Eddy to chaperone Altman."
"Thanks, but I'm all in now. Just promise me you'll have a warm bed and lots of love waiting when I return. I'll need it."
"Done. Love you, Chels."
"Me too."
"Get rolling, Altman's in transit to the Crossed Swords."
She stretched her legs and stood. "Whoa, I'm woozy."
"You'll feel that way coming out of jump. Take your time."
"Time we don't have at the moment. See me to the Crossed Swords. Any message for Pious?"
"Tell him I'm trying."
"I'm sure he knows you are." Chels prayed she would be in condition to pass the message when she emerged on the other side.
Chapter 30
Penance made its first contact after a long push from the Eddy 'yard. Pinpoint lights flickered through the missionary ship's viewport. Carver was taken back to his one-man prospecting days in the Eddy. Prospecting for show, gathering intelligence for Admiral Rowland for go. Contacting small settlements like the one they approached now to exchange information and to hear a fresh voice.
"Have you been here before?" DualE squeezed in beside him.
"No. This one's new to me, but I know how they work. Extracting minerals one crystal at a time from the looks of those arc lights."
"An independent mining cooperative, Brother Cardinal tells me." Pious spoke behind the pair. "They've requested we halt some distance away while we explain our intentions."
"Suspicion comes with the territory," said Carver. They were ten days out from the shipyard. Ten days stuck in a small ship with nothing to do but eat, evacuate, sleep and run out of things to discuss. Carver envied Pious and Cardinal's ability to sink into meditation every day on schedule to reduce the boredom. Carver's ennui frustrated him but trumped the nightmares of spookspace.
Pious said, "Your insight will be appreciated to gain their trust, Carver."
Carver squirmed to face DualE. "We start earning our pay. I volunteer to transport myself to them if they'll agree."
"Can we ask for both of us?" she asked.
"Not you; a brother. Two armed spacers could do a lot of damage. Or so they could fear."
"More damage than one crazy one?"
"I'm not crazy," said Carver.
"How do they know that?"
Carver slid back beside Cardinal. "I'm ready to talk when they are."
Cardinal adjusted retro-fire and Penance completed deceleration. Carver telescoped the operation. He saw movement on the surface. "We're too far out to discern individuals."
"Would you explain the process," Pious asked.
"The front teams burrow like ants through the irregular moonlet, chasing surface veins deep until they run out. They tag any possible offshoots for the follow-up units and move on to the next lead."
"Time consuming." said DualE.
Carver did some calculating. "For a rock this size, six months minimum, depending on how many diggers they have. Those lights are on surface." He spoke to Cardinal. "Have they said how long they've been here?"
"A month."
"Significant time left," said Pious. "They'll be needing spiritual release."
Carver nodded. "Agreed. Their labor's intensive, exhausting and marginally profitable." What message could Pious bring to these toughened men and women?
"Let me talk to your contact." Carver replaced Cardinal at the console.
"Ahoy colony. This is Willie Renfrew aboard the Penance. We bring a message from The First Expansion Brotherhood to the Eddy. We'd like the chance to commune with you. Brother Pious has been spreading his counsel in the Realm, most recently at Slate's Progress and the Eddy shipyard. It's important to their cause to reach as many outlying settlements as possible, no matter how small. I'd be grateful if you could allow me and one pilgrim to transfer over to your rock and meet face—to-face."
A roughened face, creased by hard work, answered. "Have to run it by the chief. I'm just following protocol by ordering your stand-off. I'm not the usual comm hand but I twisted my back and I'm subbing while I recover. We don't get many visitors and don't trust the ones we get."
"Your claim's solid, though, right?" Carver asked.
"Of course. That doesn't stop 'jumpers. Give us time to check your identity with the 'yard." The face grimaced. "Don't call me. I'll call you."
Carver addressed his shipmates. "It's like I said. They can be a bit paranoid. We wait. This won't be the last time in the big beyond that we cool our heels."
Pious wondered if he should have talked to them before Denz. "I should have gone with him, despite their instructions to allow only one visitor for the initial contact."
"Think how I feel," said DualE. "You hired us to run handle first contact for you. If anything happens to him, I'm going in full attack mode."
Pious put his hand to her arm. "I appreciate your sentiment but that's not how the brotherhood reacts. Violence is not a precedent I will allow."
"It wouldn't be for the brotherhood. It'd be for my partner."
"Nevertheless, we won't initiate aggression. We monitor, we learn, we adapt. Besides, I have faith in Denz."
"So do I. Just no faith in these miners. They're unpredictable."
"This is all premature. Let's watch and listen. Cardinal, do you have Mr. Renfrew's feed ready?"
Cardinal tilted his screen so Pious could view the shoulder cam view where Denz pointed.
"This is Renfrew. Open the 'lock please."
"Enter hands raised and prepare to remove your suit."
The camera view moved inside the miners' factory-cargo-shelter-space craft. A large 'X' decorated the inner 'lock door. Pious heard the order to stand clear when the outer door sealed, then Denz's camera jumped around as he removed his suit. The view was restored as he settled the cam back on his waist.
"What's that on your belt?"
"Camera," answered Denz. "I'm linked to the Penance. It allows Brother Pious to comment on anything I can't answer in real time. Safer for both parties, don't you think?"
"We'll examine it. Pass it through the aperture in the door."
Again, the view jumped around, then the grizzled face from Cardinal's first contact focused before it went black.
"Shit," said DualE. "We're blind and deaf."
"Give them a moment," said Pious. "If it doesn't come back, we'll rely on Denz's memory."
They heard sounds before the picture returned. The view was at waist level. "I'm back," said Denz. "This is Mr. Coyle."
"Coyle is sufficient. Your man's unarmed but it doesn't remove suspicion. Why would anyone who isn't a prospector want to come here?"
Pious examined the rock wall behind Coyle. Rough-hewn by miners in a hurry to get past the dross and find the veins they hoped would be there. Men and women unused to down-time except to sleep and eat. "In a way," said Pious, "I seek what you seek, only on an emotional basis rather than material wealth. There is wealth in the souls of people like you, Coyle. An indefatigable spirit absent in established settlements and stations. I find your pioneer ways refreshing. If I can reciprocate a fraction of that reward back to you and your fellows, my order's function is fulfilled."
"Fancy talk. What's it really mean?"
Denz took over. "It means we're not here to disrupt your routine but we're here to render the routine a little less soul-draining, if we can. I know how these operations work. I wish I had the drive to do what you do but I don't. I tried prospecting with mixed success."
Pious thought that a bit of a stretch. The man hiding behind the Willie Renfrew disguise was the most successful prospector in the last twenty years.
Denz continued, "Consider us 'entertainment'. Free entertainment."
Coyle appeared to digest the offer.
"You said you've been here a month?" Denz asked.
"More or less."
"Long enough to grow tired of each other, am I right? Long enough to forge, dissolve and make new alliances and friendships. It's natural. Brother Pious' message and counsel can take you back to day one and show you better ways of handling the stress going forward until you're done here. Lessons to last a lifetime out here scratching for every credit the hard way. His message can also carry you through the tough times when there's nothing to mine."
Pious was impressed by Denz's appeal. "I couldn't have put it better myself," he whispered to Cardinal and DualE.
"I still have to run it by the team," said Coyle.
"All I ask is one hour of your time," transmitted Pious. "I can make my way over while you arrange it with your people. We'll be gone before you know it and you can return to task. But returning with a renewed mental and physical energy."
"Your colleagues are listening and watching this, Coyle, if I'm any judge of how your security should operate. Ask them now?" Denz didn't plead but his voice carried authority.
"I'm suiting up," said Pious. He moved to the airlock and opened the suit locker. Once he was sealed up and the outside 'lock opened, he said, "I wonder if you could be so kind as to guide me in, Renfrew."
"Coyle's got the infrared beacon turned on. Let your suit-nav system tie in and it'll get you here."
Pious took the first push away from Penance, activated the suit guidance and propulsion module and felt the gentle acceleration away from the brotherhood's protective cocoon.
Denz and Coyle helped Pious from his EVA suit. Carver winced under Pious' grip into his shoulder.
"Welcome to their humble operation," said Carver. "Coyle is our guide and guard."
"Follow me," said Coyle. "You can speak with half our crew during mealtime."
"Best compromise I could arrange, brother," said Carver. "Time is the essence here. The sooner they're done with this rock, the more chance the next one will be a bigger strike."
"I understand. Thanks for the tip."
They trailed the limping Coyle along rough-hewn tunnels. Carver heard the conversation buzz before they turned into the mess.
A group of a dozen men and women sat around tables eating, drinking and chatting. Pious nudged Coyle before he could shout for attention.
"I think it would be better if I mingled," said Pious.
"Suit yourself. I'll introduce Renfrew around while you do."
Pious dropped his robe's hem to brush the ground and moved away, inserting himself in a quartet of diggers.
Carver and Coyle took two emptied seats on the other side of the mess.
"This here's Renfrew, one-time prospector, now expeditor for Brother Pious over there."
"Are you a religious man yourself, Renfrew?" One asked between bites.
"Fair question. I don't know. I've witnessed the brother's skill in helping conflicted souls reach a balance with who they are and who they'd like to be. Pious' philosophy seems to provide him internal balance. I respect his faith in God's guidance whether I embrace it or not. If that makes any sense." He tried to sound neutral until he could read the crowd.
"Well," said the man, "I know we'd most like to be rich. Let's see him pull that from his robe."
Carver chuckled with the rest. "Brother Pious would tell you wealth is a subjective thing. You might have it and not know." He examined the mess's drab interior and imagined what a day's work was like for them. "Though I'm not seeing non-monetary riches lurking in the background here."
"Toil for its own sake, right?" said Coyle.
"Something like that."
"You rich?" The lone woman at the table scrubbed her plate with a black bread.
"No," Carver answered. "I have been. Now I find I'd rather work for a living than have it drop in my lap."
She nodded. "Your current living's safer than ours, I grant. Still, you look like you can manage a pneumatic hammer. Lots of work here if you tire of spreading God's message to the infidels."
"I'm flattered," said Carver. "If this mission burns me out, I'll look you up at your next port of call." When he'd been prospecting, his thoughts were dominated by wishing he wasn't prospecting. Always chasing the 'after this' brought disappointment and heartache. Maybe there would come a time to return to the miner's life in earnest. Effort for its own worth.
Coyle dragged him to another table. "We'd need a lucky charm more than strong arms, Renfrew. And you don't appear to have much luck surrounding you."
Carver had apparently played the Renfrew role well. "Too right, Coyle. My luck could change."
They sat with a pair of miners almost indistinguishable from each other. "The Wellspring brothers," said Coyle. "See, we have brothers too. Though these two wouldn't qualify for the cloth."
One belched and grabbed Coyle by the shirtfront. "We heard there's a woman aboard that ship. Why didn't you get her over here?" He glanced at Carver. "He's not much to look at."
Coyle pushed the man's clutching hand free. "I showed her your picture and she fainted."
"Perfect. Imagine the effect I'd have in person."
Before Carver could inform the man DualE'd likely cripple him, Pious arrived at their table.
"You gentlemen have the most interesting skinwork." He sat. "What's this one's significance?" Pious pointed to an ornate jewel-encrusted tattoo ringing the man's neck. "Where did you get the work done?"
The man was off before Carver could catch his breath, spilling a story of love, hate, conflict and glory. It was quite a tale and impressive if only half true.
By the time Wellspring had finished, the crowd was breaking up. Pious spoke. "People. I thank you for the chance to meet you and talk with you." He pulled a handful of memory chips from his pocket. "I'll leave you with these. A recording of an address I gave aboard Slate's Progress some months ago. You may find a kernel of advice to help you reach the end of your labors here with a fresher body and mind. I won't be the last missionary you'll encounter. The Eddy attracts more spacers and settlers as it attracts space flotsam of all kinds. Be generous with your time and patience as you've shown me today. The Penance will be nearby for another few days should any of you wish to speak with me further. Good day and good digging."
The chatter rose as they filed out to their next shift, be it mining or sleep.
"Thank you, Coyle. We'll let you return to routine."
The miner escorted them silently back to the exit. As they suited up, he said, "More of you to come?"
"Eventually," said Pious. "Consider us a bellwether. My sect is stretched thin in these times but the Eddy calls us."
It had called Carver twice so far. The first call led him to material riches. This second encounter's result was still in question.
Chapter 31
Rowland was the last aboard to cryo. The growing nightmares tormented him. It was a weakness he resented. Last under, first awake. Give him time to compose himself, if required. The escort ship's crew were insignificant to his overall plan but soldiers talked and any idiosyncrasies displayed by a commander could undermine that command in a critical moment.
The Crossed Swords was barnacled and as far as its occupants were concerned, a jump ahead of Rowland from Slate's Progress to the Eddy shipyard. In truth, they were a jump ahead of the Rickover. Rowland jumped with them inside the cruiser class Neptune.
A last thought as he drifted into deepsleep was the debt owed to Carver Denz. The purity of his Schoenfeldium discovery allowed smaller jumpspace tech to be viable for spacecraft like the Neptune, though the psychological risk increased with the decrease in generator size. The distortion zone enveloped the entire ship, including its barnacle. It was a good thing he had the mental discipline to endure the risk. His psyche was robust. When not in jumpspace.
