Alien Skies, page 19
part #3 of Wakanreo Series
Jared called for a doctor. Juoam came running and rolled the second body over. It was Kifarao.
Jared looked up and saw Kamuhi. He stood up.
“I’m sorry, kid,” he said. “They took Yulayan.”
Chapter Thirteen
Kamuhi stood still, too shocked to move. All around him there was noise and confusion, people milling around. He heard Juoam say that Kifarao and Kuaron were alive and breathing well. Malia started to squirm and called for her mother.
Kamuhi set her down but held her hand. He shook himself as if to wake up. “What happened, Jared?”
The Commander stepped back while Juoam and a ThreeCon medtech went to work on Kuaron and Kifarao. Kamuhi saw another technician run across the steps and realized there were more people stretched out, apparently unconscious, four in ThreeCon uniforms and two in the uniform of the municipal police.
“It was well planned,” Jared said. “They didn’t try to use a vehicle to get in close. We were on the watch for something like that. They came on foot, about five of them, I think. They took out the Security people first—they had something that looked like stun guns, but a witness said Kuaron cried out when it hit him, and a normal stun gun doesn’t hurt.
“They were after Yulayan; that was apparent. She was ahead of her brother coming out the doors. I guess she was going to look for you. When the qatorglynai made their move, Kifarao was closest to her and he tried to help her. When he went down, Kuaron was right behind him. It was no use; they got him, too.”
“Jared!”
The two of them turned as Dina ran out of the building. Lian was right behind her.
“Is it true, Jared?” Dian said. “Did they take Yulayan?”
Before Jared could answer her, Dina suddenly saw Kuaron and Kifarao lying on the pavement. She cried out, and Lian put her arms around her.
“They’re alive, Dina,” Jared said urgently, putting a hand on her shoulder. “They’ve been stunned, but they’re alive.”
Juoam looked up at her. “They’ll be all right,” she said. “They’re stable. I don’t think they’re in any danger, but we can’t bring them around just yet.”
“That’s something, anyway,” Jared said. “Meanwhile, I want every member of Kuaron’s family back at Headquarters. That means you, Dina, and you, Juoam, and your little boy. Yulayan was the first target. Who knows if they’ll try for anyone else.”
Dina nodded dumbly. She crouched down next to Kuaron and laid her hand on his shoulder. Jared called over the head of the security team, and in a few minutes an armored troop transport pulled up. Kuaron and Kifarao were loaded into it first, along with the unconscious security staff members.
“Commander,” Kamuhi said to Jared, “I want to stay here.”
Jared looked him over appraisingly.
“All right,” he said. “You’re in uniform, so you’ll blend in. You stick with me, though. I want you where I can see you. And take off your insignia,” he added. “I don’t want anyone asking what a Liaison Officer is doing here.”
Kamuhi took Malia into the transport and asked Juoam and Dina to look after her.
“We’ll take good care of her,” Dina said. She caught his arm. “You’ll let us know if there’s news?” she said.
“I will,” Kamuhi said, stepping down from the transport. “Try not to worry too much.”
She nodded and then stood back so the door could be closed.
Kamuhi rejoined Jared on the steps of the hall, first removing the overlapping circles from his collar.
The transport took off and the ThreeCon troops began to clear the street. No one else had been stunned, although a few people had been trampled once the smoke bombs went off.
Jared called the Security Chief over to hear her report. She was a Shuratanian, small even for her species. In her Captain’s uniform, she looked like a child playing policeman.
“What have we got so far?” Jared asked,
The Shuratanian shook her head. “Not much, sir. No fatalities. Eight people stunned, and four injured and on their way to the hospital. We got the Administrator away safely with no problem. It doesn’t appear to be any kind of attack on her. The perps were seven Wakanreans, all male. They came out of the office building across the street as soon as the doors opened after the service. No visible signs of weapons until they got really close. They took out the two Munis, and our guys first thing. Then they fired smoke bombs into the crowd and into the building. According to witnesses, the victim didn’t seem to know any of them. She was surprised, but she put up quite a fight. She marked at least one of them very thoroughly, drew a lot of blood from his face and hands.”
“Good for Yulayan,” Jared said. “Well, if they had wanted her dead, they would have killed her, so I think it’s safe to assume she’s still alive. Any ideas on finding her?”
“Has she got any electronics with her, anything on her person?” the Security Chief asked.
“Hailoaka,” Jared said, turning to Kamuhi. “Is your wife carrying or wearing anything that could be picked up by a scan—pocket com, medical monitor, anything like that?”
“Yes, sir,” Kamuhi said. “A pocket com.” He pulled out his own pocket com and handed it to Jared, “You can use this to locate her code. She’s my most recent contact.”
Jared immediately handed the com to the Shuratanian captain, who called over one of her staff. The man, a Terran came over and the two of them put their heads together while the man used a device Kamuhi didn’t recognize to scan the pocket com.
A few seconds later there was a loud beeping noise from the nearby shrubbery. The Shuratan swore. If Kamuhi hadn’t been so terrified he would have admired her fluency. The Terran dove into the bushes and came back out with Yulayan’s pocket com.
“Damn,” Jared said. “It’s going to be a lot harder this time.” He turned to the Chief again. “Do we know how they got away?”
“They had ground transport waiting in the street,” she said. “There was another Wakanrean driving, a woman, we think. They threw the victim into it and went a few blocks. The Munis found the ground car abandoned a kilometer or so away, so they must have transferred to something else, but we can’t find anyone who saw them and we have no way of telling what it was.”
Jared considered this news. “Someone made very careful plans.”
“Commander,” Kamuhi said, “had anyone checked on Perduay?”
“You’re right,” Jared said. “He hasn’t got the brains to plan something like this, but we should bring him in anyway.”
Jared pulled out a com and made a call. Then he put the com away and looked around the street.
“Is there any point in staying here now?” he asked the Security Chief.
“No, sir. I was going to suggest we move the operation to Headquarters. I’ll leave some of the team here to mop up and make sure we didn’t miss any witnesses.”
“All right,” Jared said with a nod. He started toward a ThreeCon flyter. “You’re with me, Hailoaka,” he called over his shoulder.
Kamuhi boarded right behind Jared and sat next to him on the flyter. He was fighting panic. He was terrified for Yulayan, and he could feel his own fear blocking out his ability to think. He made himself concentrate on what had happened. All his life, thinking had come easy. Now it was like running with weights on. Kamuhi willed himself to be calm. He went over the facts in his mind. The more he thought about, the more there was an obvious plan at work.
“Commander,” he said suddenly, “why would they take Yulayan?”
Jared shrugged. “I admit to being surprised it was her they went for. I was expecting if they tried anything, it would be an attack on you. But still, the qatorglynai are violently opposed to people being half Terran and half Wakanrean—especially parundai.”
“Kifarao is both those things, sir. They made no attempt to snatch him. In fact, they stunned him and left him lying there.”
“What’s your point?”
“Kifarao stayed with his shahgunrahai,” Kamuhi said. “Yulayan didn’t. She came back to me, and she ended shahgunrah medically. She was the first person to have the implant. And as you said, she’s a parundai.”
“So she was the target all along.”
“But also,” Kamuhi said, “they took the trouble to use non-lethal weapons. I think the qatorglynai learned something from Perduay’s near-assassination of Kuaron. There were too many parundai who could have been hurt, so they brought only stun weapons. But if they didn’t want to kill Yulayan or any of her family, then why take her in the first place?”
“I don’t know, Hailoaka. You seem to be going somewhere with this; you tell me.”
“Her shahgunrahai is a qatorglynai, sir. He might not be smart enough to come up with a plan like this, but he would be an easy tool for someone with brains to manipulate. The implant doesn’t really undo shahgunrah, it just blocks the effects—so long as it’s in place.”
Jared swore in Wisutan. “My God, you think they’re going to try to take out the implant?”
“If they did it properly, Yulayan would still be shahgunrahai with Perduay. Once shahgunrah happens, the changes can’t really be undone. The implant prevents the gland from making pheromones and stops the brain from recognizing the shahgunrahai’s pheromone signature. Take it out and both those things will revert.”
“But can it be removed safely?”
“I don’t know,” Kamuhi admitted. “I shouldn’t think Wakanrean medicine is advanced enough to accomplish micro surgery at that level. The implant is very complex; one end operates on the gland and the other in the brain itself. Brain surgery is always risky. But why would they try, if they didn’t think they had a chance for success?”
Jared pulled out his com and pressed a key.
“Ops here,” a voice said, almost instantly.
“This is Harlengin,” Jared answered. “We’ll be arriving at Headquarters in a few minutes. I want the com center ready for us, and I want the leading expert on Wakanrean surgery available for interrogation—remote communication will do, but have him or her online. Also, get Security to pull in any available personnel from outlying posts and have all potential transport standing by. We may need to do some planet-wide searches.”
There was confirmation from the com, and then Jared cut the connection.
When Headquarters came in sight, Jared had them set down directly on the Central building. He led the way down the lift tube to the com center with Kamuhi and the Security Chief close behind him.
“Relax,” Jared said as the com center staff snapped to attention. “What have we got?”
“Dr. Hwai-Soon Lu is online from Fargaj.” The young lieutenant who answered sounded nervous.
Jared nodded. “Just one moment. An armored transport brought several people, Wakanreans and Terrans, here from the scene of a terrorist abduction in downtown Wisuta. I want the status of everyone who was stunned, and I want to know where they are at Headquarters.”
“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant said.
Jared stepped up to the com screen. Dr. Lu, a Terran man considerably older than Jared, was waiting patiently.
“Thank you for waiting, Dr. Lu,” Jared said. “I’m Planetary Commander Jared Harlengin. I need some information from you right away.”
“Certainly, Commander. What can I do for you?”
“Some Wakanrean reactionaries have abducted a young Wakanrean who had ended shahgunrah with the brain implant developed by ThreeCon. We have reason to believe they plan on trying to remove the implant. I want to know if it’s possible and, if so, where on Wakanreo they could do that type of surgery.”
Dr. Lu considered. “There are many well qualified Wakanrean surgeons who’ve done micro surgery, but so far, Wakanrean doctors have declined to learn the implant procedure itself. If one of them is going to try to remove an implant, he or she most likely won’t have the specifications of that surgery at hand.”
Jared glanced back at Kamuhi and then turned back to the screen. “How dangerous is it for the patient?”
“Very dangerous,” Dr. Lu said. “Surgery in or near the brain is never completely routine, and anytime something is done for the first time, there’s an extra risk. In ThreeCon, we minimize the risk with extensive computer simulations before we attempt any actual surgery. These Wakanrean reactionaries are not likely to have that safety net in place.”
“I see,” said Jared. “Can you supply us with the names of surgeons who could do it or who might think they could do it?”
“I can tell you the ones I know about. But I couldn’t say that they would be the only ones.”
“We’ll take what we can get. How many are there?”
Dr. Lu considered. “About twenty-five, maybe thirty.”
Jared nodded. “What about the facility itself?”
“That would be more limited,” Dr. Lu replied. “There are only about ten hospitals that offer micro-surgery at that level. The equipment is all built off-world. Micro surgery doesn’t just take a skilled surgeon. The robotic equipment is essential. You couldn’t even attempt this kind of procedure without it.”
“Good. Stay on the com, please, doctor, and someone will take the information from you.”
Jared stepped away from the monitor and signaled a young corporal to take his place.
The lieutenant who had spoken to him earlier cleared her throat. “I have the information you wanted, sir.”
“Okay,” Jared said. “Let’s hear it.”
“The Wakanrean family are all in the infirmary, along with the ThreeCon security staffers and two Munis. All are now fully conscious. The doctor described the people who were stunned as a little woozy but perfectly aware of their surroundings.”
“Good.” Jared looked around and spotted the Security Chief. She had just broken the connection on a com set on the other side of the room. “Anything new, Chief?”
She shook her head. “Mostly negative information, sir. There was no unusual traffic in or out of Wisuta so far today. No new witnesses at the scene. And Perduay went to work this morning, but he’s not there now. We went to haul him in, and his supervisor said he went home sick an hour after he got to work this morning.”
Jared stood thinking. “Didn’t we put a transponder on him so we could trace his whereabouts?”
The chief nodded. “Yes, sir. We’re not receiving the signal just at the moment. That could be because someone found it and removed it, or it could be because he’s somewhere where the signal can’t be read—if he’s shielded in some way.”
Kamuhi was suddenly hopeful. “What kind of transponder, sir?”
“Subcutaneous,” Jared said absently. “When we had him in custody before, it seemed like a good idea to mark him. He shouldn’t even know it’s there.” He looked up at his security chief. “All right, here’s the plan. We take the list of names from Dr. Lu and compare them to known qatorglynai sympathizers. We make a new list of any that match. Also, keep the planet-wide scanners looking for that transponder signal. Let me know immediately if we pick it up. Once we have our new list, we’ll look at where the possible medical facilities are. If the transponder shows up as headed anywhere near one of them, it’ll give us a real lead.”
“Commander,” Kamuhi said, “they’ll be in a tearing hurry. They must know we could figure out what they’re up to, and they’ll want to do it fast.”
“I agree,” Jared said. “Chief, you work on the lists. Hailoaka, you come with me.”
Jared led the way to a small room off the com center. A sign next to the door identified it as a briefing room.”
“Shut the door and sit down,” Jared said, taking a chair himself. “We need to talk and all this Commander stuff is getting in the way.”
Kamuhi would rather have paced the floor, but he made himself sit down and try to relax.
“Now,” Jared said, “you’re the best brain I’ve got for this, Kam. You know Yulayan, you know the Wakanrean situation, and you were smart enough to figure out what’s going on. Just don’t let worrying about Yulayan get in the way.”
Kamuhi nodded. “I’m trying, Jared.”
“Good. Now, what do you think their ultimate objective is? Even if they take out the implant successfully, what would stop Yulayan from having it restored? Do they just want publicity for their cause?”
Kamuhi deliberated. “It could be that. But if Perduay is missing, they most likely plan to use him in the plan, too. Shahgunrah is an incredibly potent force. The qatorglynai may think that they can remove the implant and then force Yulayan to stay with Perduay for a while, hoping that she wouldn’t be able to resist him after that.
“Someone with brains figured this all out. They might also have persuaded Perduay to be kinder to Yulayan. The only reason she was able to leave him before was that he threatened her, and even hurt her physically. She could feel that he hated her, and that canceled out shahgunrah to a certain extent. If someone has talked him out of that hatred, has made him see that a half-Wakanrean shahgunrahai is better than no shahgunrahai, he may be hoping he’ll get Yulayan back once the implant is gone.”
Jared didn’t look entirely convinced. “But the qatorglynai were always opposed to the very idea of half-Wakanreans. Why would they adopt a plan that, in effect, welcomed a crossbreed, someone they consider a tuzouwai, a contaminant, into their ranks?”
Kamuhi shook his head. “They’re choosing their battles. There aren’t that many half-Wakanreans on the whole planet. The qatorglynai may have realized that there isn’t that much immediate threat to the Wakanrean way of life from the possibility of cross breeds; there simply aren’t enough of them.
“The ability of unhappy shahgunrahai to end shahgunrah is another matter entirely. You said the number of people who were requesting the implant has grown. The qatorglynai may have decided to make this their critical issue. If they can take a very visible symbol of this new ability—a parundai, the daughter of a great qatraharai, the granddaughter of a former planetary administrator—if they can make Yulayan go back to her shahgunrahai, this might make a lot of people change their minds about asking for the implant in the first place.”
