Shadowed Passage, page 3
Pious' message continued. "Our mission is to task those who seek inner calm to ask themselves, can I do more? Can I make the sphere in which I exist a better place?"
Pious' counsel in Bohr had helped Zofie cleanse her sins or at least accept them and move forward. Jumpspace nightmares of dead lovers and companions hadn't left her yet but the brother's teachings had eased the guilt. The nightmares' presence might tempt her to use Phyl's messenger mule. One less jump for her. But it would mean giving up control, however small. Her guilt might be lessening but her need to be in charge was not. She'd jump regardless.
"If you require our communion, please contact the Penance. We are currently unable to enter the station but will listen to any and all through the network. One of our associates, Willie Renfrew, is aboard the station but we've lost contact with him. Help if you can."
Renfrew? It rang a bell then screamed recognition. Willie Renfrew had been Carver's alias. Carver was in Argosy and the brothers had lost him. Carver and DualE, working for the mission.
Over two months ago, in a spookspace-induced psychotic state, Zofie had tried to kill them both. She'd been unbalanced by greed, paranoia and jumpspace drugs. Pious' meditation teachings had returned her mental equilibrium. Perhaps she could add a bit more mass to the good side of the scales by finding Carver aka Renfrew.
She walked to the bar and began polishing the fake wood. She met Phyl in the middle. "Phyl, I need your ears."
Rowland scanned the hourly reports. He needed two brains to absorb the many incidentals. The incidentals added up to major pieces of his puzzle. Captain Siebe was a loyal follower but lacked the mindset to synthesize the disparate data into victory. Rowland's end game was clear in his mind but he couldn't rely on his subordinates to see it. Leadership required filling multiple roles, information analyses merely one. The minutia consumed him.
At least Denz was taken care of for now. His former agent was safer here than in either Gamma Hub in Bohr or Schoenfeld Eddy. Denz's renown as a prospector could create the wrong distractions in the Eddy and in Gamma he'd be too far from Rowland's control. Argosy Station's brig was perfect.
"Admiral, I have the latest repair status from the station." Siebe's entrance interrupted his thoughts. More details to process.
"Thank you, Captain. Anything else?"
"Indefatigable awaits orders regarding the station and moving on with us or remaining behind, given the attack seems to be singular and finished."
"No change. We move in increments to Slate's Progress and then the Eddy. Cover our backside as we go. But we do go ahead."
"Understood, sir." Siebe saluted and left.
Rowland considered the decline in quality amongst the next generation of commanders. Few of them battle-hardened like himself or...DualE.
He clasped his hands behind his head and stretched neck muscles. How to deal with DualE? She'd be the kind of aide he could depend on, if only her politics weren't so neutral. He must consider her on the opposite side since she wasn't entirely on his.
Did her loyalty lie solely with the missionaries? How much with Carver Denz? She might be levered into an alliance with Rowland's agenda. A useful tool. He could take advantage of her imbedded training but it would alter his plan for Denz.
Two paths lay before Rowland, his initial direct movement and one with subterfuge using DualE. He would pursue both, his confidence assured him he could modify strategies to suit each situation going forward. The only consistent outcome, no matter what transpired, was the inevitable sacrifice. He reconciled losing human pawns against ultimate victory for the good side. His side.
Chapter 6
Carver recognized two of his cell mates though they didn't acknowledge meeting him before. They'd squired Zofie around Gamma Hub before leaving the Confluence for Argosy. He'd assumed she'd continue on to the Eddy but apparently the partnership hadn't lasted more than one jump.
Argosy Station's brig had all the amenities. Except comfort, privacy and safety. None of the other inmates looked overly psychotic but Carver was a poor judge of mental state, even amongst those he knew. Witness Zofie Ked, for one.
He sat in one corner, munching the worst food ever and studied the cell. Noise from the station's air and water pumps screamed constantly. Carver supposed one would eventually get tired enough to sleep through the howl and vibration. Could he sleep through the smell from the waste recyclers?
He put the unfinished ration back in its wrapper and began the meditation routine Pious had taught him. If he could survive jumpspace without cryo or pharms, he could survive a few days in jail. Longer would be a problem but beyond protesting his innocence, there wasn't much he could do. Rescue would have to come from outside agency. DualE or Pious.
His breathing became even, in through the mouth and out through the nose. Exhalations removed the stress. Inhalations recharged the blood.
"You gonna eat the rest of that?"
Carver blinked, trying to focus on the speaker standing over him. It was one of Zofie's ex-cohorts. The man was young, fit and nervous. Bad strategy to say no even if Carver hadn't had enough to eat. He passed the package up. "Help yourself. I may be more ravenous a week from now if we aren't released so don't consider this a precedent." He wanted to return to his meditation but the fellow prisoner decided he could eat and talk.
He squeezed next to Carver. "What did you do?"
Carver laughed. "Like everyone else, nothing. How about you?"
"Derk and me got into a fight outside a bar. We were blowing off steam after our transport to Slate's Progress evaporated. A similar scrap on Gamma Hub wouldn't have attracted any attention, let alone arrest." He pointed to the sleeping figure Carver'd already identified. "I'm Tommy, by the way."
Carver didn't offer to reveal his name. His notoriety in the Realm wasn't always a positive. "You don't look like prospectors."
"No. We partnered with a struggling broker. We planned to restore her old network and set up commerce between Realm and Bohr but she went nuts and decided a quarter share wasn't enough for her." He sipped his water and swallowed the mash. "We thought it generous since we'd be doing all the work."
"What work? Precisely?" The quarter share was a lie; Zofie'd have kept at least half. She'd already given them passage this far. For what? Protection? She could protect herself.
"There's half the population she can't exploit as well as we can."
Carver took a closer look at Tommy and the sleeping Derk. He admitted both lads were handsome in different ways. "Women traders. Your ex-partner doesn't do well with other women?"
"Not from what we saw."
"You'll be out of here soon, if I know the workings of Argosy. They don't need to board you on their dime. Probably deciding on a suitable fine for damages. Enough to hurt but not enough to leave you stranded."
"I wish they'd hurry up. We've been here three days already."
"There was some sort of attack. They'll get around to you once the threat is over."
Tommy nodded. "I heard the sirens. Who the hell would attack this station?"
"Question of the day," said Carver. "Someone thinks it was me. Which is why I'm here instead of in my ship."
"You could be here for a while." Tommy looked up at the monitor above. "I never met him before," he said to the camera.
"Don't bother," said Carver. "Even if it isn't broken, I doubt anyone is watching."
Tommy rose and walked to the far end of the cell to join his mate.
"Good chat," Carver muttered. There was a third candidate who could free him. How long before DualE got through to Admiral Rowland? Not more than a day or two, given her determination. Unless Rowland was involved in his arrest? Couldn't happen. Cryo had increased Carver's mistrust.
He needed information and the brig wasn't a good source. He needed someone on the outside to dig on his behalf. That's what partners were for. Until DualE cracked the mystery, he'd have to practice patience. Carver rested his hands on his stomach and returned to his mantra.
Zofie burrowed through Argosy's databanks. She focused the search algorithms on cargo and currency exchanges. Any auto-trackers shadowing her queries wouldn't detect anything but a merchanter digging for trade information. The sidebar taking note of names shouldn't raise a flag.
When you were following something or someone, it was always prudent to assume you too were being followed. A lesson she'd learned more than once.
Ping, a Carver Denz reference. She let it pass and continued with her ostensible search. She gave it another twenty minutes, then saved the results. There were some genuine business leads to research further. But that was for later.
She removed the memory wafer from the desk unit and plugged it in to her wrist processor. Denz, audio traffic between Station Central and Rickover. Nothing odd at first glance, she thought. She knew Carver and DualE were barnacling to a navy vessel to jump from Bohr with the brothers.
The conversation was one way. That was odd. It all originated from the Rickover. She couldn't decipher the actual information but the next mention did surprise her and was more helpful. Carver was incarcerated in an Argosy brig. Then the trail evaporated. Where could he be now? Zofie returned to the desk computer and searched for Tommy and Derk. Good, they were still in jail for the fight Phyl mentioned. 'Confirm current inmate list for visitation', she typed. There was a list of initials, 'CD' among them. Her ex-partners were in the group as well. Three more, unknown to her, made it six in total.
"I think we should make it lucky seven." Zofie's hacking skills easily inserted one 'WF' for Willie Renfrew into the record. Vagrancy. She set his bail at a reasonable number and checked the jailer shift schedule. A fresh guard was due in half an hour, one who hadn't been on duty when Carver was brought in.
Zofie called Phyl. "Are there any Eddy-bound freighter crew in the Fill I can talk to?"
"I'll check."
In ten minutes, a man separated her booth's curtain. "I'm Dawson, purser. Phyl says you're looking to ship out."
"Zofie Ked, broker. What's your next port of call?"
"Direct to the Eddy shipyards. No stopping at Slate's."
She could change her business plan to suit a direct flight, and with Carver in tow. "What's your barnacle profile and when are you leaving?"
"We've no barnacles but for the right price, we can take you on. If your ship is small. We leave once the Orson is cleared from our path. They took a hit inbound."
"Yeah, I heard. No embargo complications?" She checked her watch.
"No. we're heading into the fire, not away from it. Captain has a large bonus pending if we hit our deadline. Our ship's the Ranger. I'll send you access codes and coordinates once your payment clears."
Zofie synced to Dawson's comm. She blanched at the price. It would stretch her resources but she had an instinct that Carver Denz's luck in the Eddy would pay her back. "My ship's the Whisper. It's a four passenger but they'll be just two of us."
"Lock on in the next few hours or you'll miss us."
"I'll be there." She signed off. Time to steal her precious outbound cargo. The less than famous Willie Renfrew.
Carver was shaken from his trance. "Renfrew?" Renfrew? He pretended grogginess while he processed the implications. It had to be DualE's work.
He cracked an eye and slipped into the guise of a spacer at nadir. It was a guard he hadn't seen before.
"Yeah. I'm Willie Renfrew."
"You don't look like a vagrant but you've been bailed. On your feet."
Tommy yelled from the corner. "What about us?"
"Shut up."
The guard escorted Carver outside the bars.
A hooded figure signed the guard's screen. The benefactor, he hoped, was too small for DualE and the wrist too thin for her well-muscled form. The figure passed him a robe and he pulled it over his head. Was it Brother Atone? He was the only one of similar stature. Pious had come through when neither DualE nor Admiral Rowland had. Though DualE might've created the plan. "Bless you, brother."
"Don't talk and don't look up."
Not Atone. It was Zofie. Not whom he expected or was sure he wanted. But freedom was freedom. He dreaded the cost.
He pulled the hood as low as possible and followed her. They moved quickly but not so fast as to raise undue suspicion. Two pilgrims traversing the station to provide comfort where needed. Great, as long as they didn't have to halt to deliver a sermon. Most people ignored them or gave a nod. Carver responded with 'bless you's' and kept pace.
Argosy Station had calmed since he'd been taken to the brig. The human ants had cooled down, the threat of subsequent attack apparently diminished.
Within half an hour, they were at a small docking tube. "It's vacuum and null-grav to my ship, grab a flimsuit." He withdrew the largest one he could find in the EVA locker and put it on over his robe. They cycled into a dim passage and pushed forward to the end.
The inside of Zofie's ship was stark but better than the brig. A good place to hide until reunited with DualE and the brothers. "Water?" She offered a globe.
"Thanks. Jail's thirsty work. I met your ex-partners there. Are you sure you bailed out the right person?"
"Yeah. Those two weren't my best decision. Better ones to come." She initiated detachment and they soon pulled away from the berth.
"Better decisions or better partners?" Carver cinched his harness. "Where the hell are we going?"
"Later." She donned headset and guided the craft forward until Carver could see the growing image of a mid-size jumpfreighter.
"If this is DualE's idea of an escape route, it's elaborate."
"Nothing to do with DualE, Carver. This time, I'm your guardian angel."
Guardian angel of death. "Considering you tried to slice me open the last time, forgive me if I decline." He calculated his chances on escape from this ship once Zofie barnacled.
"You don't have to worry. Brother Pious cleared my head and you're worth way more to me alive than dead. Hope you still like cryo, I don't hold with pharm options in spookspace. Not for me, anyway."
Carver stared at the water globe. He pulled the tube from his lips too late. He fumbled with the restraint and tried to grab for Zofie but the cabin spiraled into blackness.
Chapter 7
DualE's nudged her hired shuttle into the Rickover's supply dock.
"Ellen Fuques to see Admiral Rowland." She showed her i.d. to the armed marines guarding the entrance inside.
"I'm your escort," said one, face hidden by a visor.
"I know the way," said DualE.
"Not a question of guidance. Let's move. The admiral's a busy man."
They paced double-time where possible. The cramped passages inside triggered a hundred memories of her time in service. A life left behind to follow a new loyalty. Marines not on guard duty scrubbed and polished the Rickover. She knew when they'd finished, Rowland or his captain would have them start again.
Her diagnosis of Carver's career and philosophical metamorphosis differed from her own. He needed a distraction from the emotional scars in Bohr. She needed fewer extremes to evaluate who she was underneath the warrior mantle. She'd missed growing up gradually. The exposure to the brothers' message reinforced the void in her experience.
She'd witnessed changing their pose from donation mercenaries pursuing Carver's fortune to humble ascetics, intent on expanding their faith base in more dangerous environs. Pious and his mates were willing to risk their safety to spread their gospel. Hence, DualE and Carver as a first level of protection. She admired the faith they had in their message and their God. Her military service always pressed someone else's agenda. The powers above, right or wrong. Time for her to choose what was right.
"Go in." The guard opened the bulkhead and stepped inside Rowland's quarters with her but remained at the door. Rowland passed a note to a yeoman who left.
"What a mess," he said. "Sit, Lieutenant."
"DualE," she corrected. "I'm no longer in your service." It was no slip of the tongue. Rowland didn't make that kind of slip.
"I'm sorry we couldn't meet sooner, I had to make certain the attack was over."
"How can you be sure?" She sat down.
"Good question. I can't. We have determined the source. The energy beam or whatever it was, not a solid projectile, exited jumpspace with the Orson, clipping the freighter before inflicting the damage to the station."
"The Realm couldn't, wouldn't be so stupid. Would they? Why would Chancellor Mekli risk the peace so soon? Has to be a rogue faction in the Eddy." Where she and the brothers were headed. She'd do her best to protect them. Who'd protect her?
Rowland spoke with teeth clenched. "I intend to find out. At this stage, I lean toward your suspicions. The Realm isn't exactly unified. But that doesn't mean they don't have an end game in play."
"They seemed unified enough against us while I was in service at the station."
"Economics prevailed over idealism."
There was little room for idealism in Rowland's world. And until recently, hers. "I'm interested in what you do next," she said, "from an intellectual curiosity point of view. My more urgent need is for information and help regarding Carver Denz."
"Mr. Denz is in protective custody aboard the station."
"Protective custody? You've used that already when the Pollux arrived at Gamma Hub. He was your operative then. Are you telling me he still is?" Could she have misread Carver so badly?
"No. He created enemies when he turned his discovery over to Bohr, instead of the Realm."
"Old business, Admiral. The Realm got their royalty share and additional Schoenfeldium discoveries with the huge influx of prospectors hoping to duplicate Denz's bonanza. Even the narrowest minded of these idealists would recognize that."
