Tracker, page 33
He needed to go to Central and try to calm Tillington down, preferably before Ogun or Sabin became involved again.
He called his aishid. He sent word to Ilisidi where he was going, and sent word by Guild runner to Lord Geigi, to advise him what he was doing.
Forewarning Tillington did not seem like a good idea.
• • •
The message came during breakfast that Lord Bren was going to go to Central to talk to Tillington-aiji.
Because Tillington had shown up to demand control back.
“Annoying man,” mani said of the situation, which, if it were back on Earth, would not promise well for Tillington.
Probably it was true up here, too.
Cajeiri fretted his way through the eggs in sauce, wondering about his associates, hoping they were all right, and wondering if, once Tillington’s replacement arrived, they could open the section doors.
He dared not say anything. Or mope, which would invite a sharp question. So he would have tried to be cheerful, except mani had agreed to receive nand’ Bren’s message right in the middle of formal breakfast—and he could tell she was not happy, either.
He did not dare ask why she was unhappy. Lord Geigi had not shown up at breakfast because he was holding on to Central, so there was no news to be had. He could only guess there was about to be trouble.
The kyo ship was still coming in, and signaling with their names, mani’s name and nand’ Bren’s and his. Antaro had heard that, and told him so before breakfast.
That was a good thing.
And the Mospheiran shuttle was coming in, too, tomorrow.
So good things were going on, too.
But people in the Reunioner section right now were not happy. They were probably scared that with Tillington in charge, there might be some sort of political deal, and that very bad things would happen—not just getting shipped off to Maudit, but being handed over to the kyo in some sort of deal to save the station. People always believed the worst things. And he knew there were reasons they had closed those doors.
But he wanted nand’ Bren at least to assure his associates that they were here and that everything was all right.
Nobody could take time for a handful of children.
But nand’ Bren was more patient than most adults. Nand’ Bren would not tell Great-grandmother he had asked a forbidden question. And if anybody could slip a word through the locked doors, nand’ Bren might.
At least it was worth trying.
If only nand’ Bren would have paid mani a visit this morning.
But nand’ Bren had had to go deal with Tillington, who had started the day with another problem.
• • •
Heading into the Mospheiran section, where security was under Tillington’s command, brought objection. Banichi wasn’t at all trusting of Tillington. So Banichi sent for one of Geigi’s men as a guide, and roused out Cenedi’s second, Nawari, before breakfast, so that he could get firsthand information back to the dowager.
Then he’d called up all four of the Guild observers—so, Banichi said, that those four might witness their dealing with Tillington, the manner of it, and the outcome.
Bren rather doubted there would be a physical problem. But security was Banichi’s call. Listen to your aishid, Tabini had said, and meant it.
“If you think it a good idea,” Bren had said, regarding calling in the Observers. Their company assembling in the corridor presented an intimidating show of black uniforms. The Guild had also unpacked, and this time had not brought just their sidearms.
He did consider suggesting they leave the rifles, though it was standard procedure to carry them in a similar situation on Earth. He hardly wanted shooting in a room full of controls, instruments, and innocent techs.
But, he thought, while atevi universally understood that he represented a certain force, maybe it was a good idea for the human side of the station to get the same picture.
When they took the lift to the vicinity of Central, Mospheiran workers stopped what they were doing, stopped talking, except a few quiet mutters. Those in their path moved back to the walls.
And if Mospheirans caught the notion that atevi officials had firepower to match a ship’s captain, that might be salutary in itself.
They passed into Central’s area. Human security, in green fatigues, and carrying only sidearms, looked uncertain, and one urgently used communications, reporting their presence, one surmised, and hoping not to be told to stop it.
The door to Central itself turned up shut when they reached it, with two armed Mospheiran security in front of it.
“Order of President Tyers,” Bren said. “Open the door.”
The crew there didn’t look confident. Didn’t move, at first.
He read the name tags. “Mr. Reeves. Ms. Kumara. Order of President Tyers, open the door. I will report names of the non-compliant, and I will report them to the President. Please open the door.”
Reeves quickly punched in a code. The door opened.
Bren walked ahead with Jago and Banichi in the lead. The observers split into two teams as his aishid team did, either side of the door. Geigi’s man and Nawari entered with him, into a wide room lined with displays and consoles—while the two guards outside came inside, looking upset.
Techs at their stations looked in his direction and froze, evidencing unease and alarm as Guild took up station with crisp precision. Bren gave a very little nod, still watching hands, and put on a neutral expression. “No problem, ladies and gentlemen. As you were. Is Stationmaster Tillington here at the moment?”
There were nervous looks at that question. Some few looked at each other; most looked at him, and two people independently and very slightly nodded toward the administrative office at the rear of the room.
A second little nod. “Thank you. Please carry on.” He said in Ragi: “Banichi, Jago, stay close with me. The rest please wait. The technicians themselves are complying. There are, however, a few buttons in the administrative offices.” And again in Mosphei’: “Be at ease, everyone, please. Please stay in your seats. Thank you.”
He went to the office, knocked on the door, and with no answer pushed the button.
It didn’t open.
“Mr. Tillington, open the door, or any damage will be laid at your account. I have come up here at the President’s request as well as the aiji’s. Open the door. What I have come to say to you this morning is not that unpleasant.”
The door opened.
Tillington sat at his desk, an ordinary-looking, middle-aged man in shirtsleeves, looking greatly upset.
Banichi and Jago positioned themselves on either side of the door, inside. Bren gave a little bow. “Stationmaster Tillington. Thank you. And good morning.”
“What is this armed intrusion?”
“Atevi security accompanies me wherever I go. It’s a regulation. And it’s useful for them to understand the current situation here so they can convey correct information to the aiji-dowager, among others.”
“You’re scaring hell out of my workers. This intimidation is not appreciated.”
“I’d suggest, sir, that we carry on a quiet conversation, the two of us, and it would be far better conducted here, quietly. I would much prefer that. If you would like your own security present, that would be perfectly agreeable, and we can wait for you to call them.”
Tillington stared at him, not moving.
“I know you oppose my presence as a Mospheiran official,” Bren said. “That’s nothing I take personally. It’s your right. I would like to uphold the dignity of your office on principle, and I would like to support you in my reports to the President and to the aiji. You’ve done a good job. You kept the station going through very difficult times. You deserve respect for that. Now we have a different situation, and the President has found it necessary to bring additional resources to bear. I am certainly one of them, at your disposal, if you would view it in that light. The president is also sending a personal envoy aboard the incoming shuttle, with emergency powers. At that point, you will be dealing with the President’s representative, and I’ll be concerning myself primarily with the kyo situation.”
“You arranged these aliens coming here! You arranged the whole mess we’re dealing with!”
“Stationmaster Tillington, the kyo declared they would visit. We had no means to prevent that, and we have none now, but certainly keeping their visit quiet and pleasant is in all our best interests. Dealing with these visitors will be entirely an atevi responsibility, initially, since the language of choice during the initial contact was Ragi, and the persons with whom the kyo chose to speak were atevi.”
“No way.”
“Sir, you have no means even to speak to them.”
“We will not be excluded from negotiations!”
“The Presidential envoy will deal with that question, sir. And Mospheira will be consulted during negotiations. But atevi Central will be the operations center until the envoy arrives to take command.”
“No. No, this will not happen!”
“I ask your cooperation in the meanwhile, sir. And the more cooperation we receive, the more we will give.”
“Damn you, no!”
“Sir.”
“You have no right to be here. No right! The same two captains who set up this situation come in here and quarrel with my staff, second-guess my orders. Sabin is the reason we have this situation. Sabin is the last person who ought to be directing anything to do with this! And you’ve been right there with them!”
“I’m sure Captain Ogun makes command decisions, sir, within the Captains’ Council. I don’t. The President of Mospheira has asked me to represent Mospheiran interests in the negotiations, and I will do that.”
“Get out of my office!”
“Listen to me. This is in no wise Sabin’s fault. From the moment we entered Reunion space, the kyo, already sitting there, watching the station, had absolute ability to track the provenance of the ship. They used the station for bait. They were waiting to see what humans would do. Our choice in this last encounter was to communicate. And they responded. Our choice now needs to be to communicate. We need to take up the conversation we left off at Reunion, and demonstrate that we have no ambitions to be a problem to the kyo. I am exceedingly sorry that we could not have had this conversation between ourselves in advance and in detail, but we could not guarantee the security of communication within the station prior to our arrival, and we had no wish to generate panic aboard the station. The information was held within ship command. We’ve done our planning through ship channels until we docked here, and you can ask Captain Ogun to confirm the nature of it.”
“No.”
“Mr. Tillington. Stationmaster Tillington. The Presidential envoy is arriving to make decisions on the Mospheiran situation. The envoy will take charge of Mospheiran operations, and what your own relations may be with that person is for you to determine. I would advise cooperation.”
“Tell that to Braddock and the Reunioners!”
“I intend to.”
“Fine. Then start there. And get the hell out of my office!”
“Stationmaster Tillington.”
“These are the people that started the whole problem. These are the people that we couldn’t live with. These are the people that stirred up trouble with God knows who out there, and now we’re all in danger!”
“Let me inform you officially, sir, that the Reunioners are going to be removed from the station and resettled as soon as possible. But that is a future we cannot visit until we have dealt with this crisis.”
That caught Tillington’s attention. “Removed.”
“Removed, sir.”
Sharp attention. “Is that what these visitors want?”
“I don’t think so. Out there, they had the Reunioners at any time they wanted them. I doubt they want them, or you, in any sense.”
“So what do they want?”
“Likely to find out what we are, what we wanted in building in an area they consider their territory, and whether we’re a threat.”
“So then they attack us.”
“If they do, frankly, sir, we’ll be in a lot of trouble, because we have no weapons.”
That brought a shocked look.
“We don’t,” Bren said. “They do. So I suggest diplomacy as a solution. Cooperation.”
“Tell that to Braddock!”
“Stationmaster Tillington, I want to do something about Braddock. I can’t do it while the Reunioners are in a state of distrust and panic.”
“It’s their fault, dammit!”
“I’m not debating you on the matter, Mr. Tillington. And fault is nowhere in my list of considerations. I need one thing from the Mospheiran establishment. Quiet. I agree that the aishidi’tat and Mospheirans have a treaty. I agree that, excepting the ship, which is its own authority, this station and any station must be equally divided between Mospheiran occupants and atevi. I agree that the Reunioner presence puts that out of balance. I agree that station occupants should pass screening. We are in complete agreement on these issues. The aishidi’tat is unwilling to tolerate the population imbalance. The aiji will also be arguing to a resolution, a rapid one. But we cannot solve it now, and we are not helped by measures that put the Reunioners in fear and discomfort.”
“You don’t touch those doors!”
“I agree. I would not have ordered the closure, but now that the doors are shut, this is not the time to try to resolve the problem.”
“I saved the station from riot. And I’ll tell you this, Mr. Cameron: if this ship wants the Reunioners handed over I’m not willing for Mospheirans to die to protect them.”
“I doubt the kyo can tell the difference between humans at this point, and I greatly doubt they’d care. We will deal with the Reunioner issue when we get through this. In the interim, I want your agreement, sir. I’d like access to Reunioner records, and I’d like an assurance of adequate supply over there.”
“You’re worried about their supply. We’ve had shortages the last whole year, Mr. Cameron.”
“I’m aware of that. I’d like to see the records.”
“You’d like. You’d like me to give you what you damned well know you’ve no authority to deal with. I’m not letting you meddle with the Reunioners.”
“I’d like to preserve Mospheiran authority on this station, and not agitate the situation beyond easy remedy.”
“Agitate the situation? Mr. Cameron, you agitated the situation when you picked those three kids to go down to be the aiji’s guests! Now they’re Reunioner royalty! They’re a cause! Keep the politics quiet? Not give Braddock a platform? We’ve got politics run amok over there, because they know those kids have atevi backing!”
“You have my interest in that matter, sir. Is that Mr. Braddock’s claim?”
“Of course it is! The kids. The damned kids get to go down to the planet, the kids get themselves a landing spot, and they get the aiji’s backing. What do we conclude about that?”
If there was a way to construe anything Reunioner as a threat, Tillington seemed determined to find it.
“I’d like to hear your theory, Mr. Tillington. What on earth would Tabini-aiji do with five thousand Reunioners? Understand, I have to get special permission for my brother to visit the coast.”
“The kids get in with the aiji’s son, the kids get a wedge into the atevi court, and the Reunioners get the aiji’s backing.”
“Which would do exactly what, Mr. Tillington?”
Tillington gave him a surly stare. “I think you can figure it. Five thousand technically adept humans spilling every technological step the aiji wants.”
Well, that was an interesting jump of logic.
“It’s very unlikely he would want that. Mospheira has the Archive. It’s always had the Archive. The knowledge has always been down there. We just had a coup on the mainland because the technology necessary to get shuttles up here destabilized the atevi economy, and put pressure on old regional grievances. The last thing on earth Tabini-aiji would want is a flood of humans violating the social rules, which, believe me, are what makes civilization civil down there. And it’s damned certain the aiji would not take Mr. Braddock for an advisor. Please appreciate that atevi don’t want any such intrusion. Atevi don’t want the whole continent to look like the station corridors. Modernity on the human pattern is not what they want. It’s not what they ever want.”
“Geigi does well enough having his little kingdom up here.”
“Geigi does his job up here out of loyalty. He had rather have his fruit orchards and his antiques. He had rather go sailing. No, sir, your scenario does not apply. Tabini-aiji has no desire to let these children establish residency.”
“Tell that to Braddock. He’s raised expectations. Mightily.”
“I wish he had not. Which is not to the point, Mr. Tillington. What is to the point—is that we cannot shape the encounter with the kyo around Mr. Braddock or the Reunioner issue, which I am relatively sure plays no part in what the kyo want here. What we need most is your cooperation.”
“Fine. Then get your people out of my office.”
The man had one theme.
“I still am asking, Mr. Tillington, to be assured we don’t have a crisis developing while we’re occupied with the kyo. I want to know that supplies are flowing, that we have communication within the Reunioner . . .”
“No.”
“A little cooperation, Mr. Tillington. Where is Mr. Braddock?”
“Somewhere in 23.”
“Where are the children?”
“Hell if I know. In 24. Mostly.”
“Mostly.”
“The girl’s in 23.”
“I take it the doors between 23 and 24 are still open. Or aren’t they?”
