Shadows In Still Water (8 page)

Jak Rialus hefted the carefully wrapped, sixty pound Aguanian tail onto his shoulder. It seemed he was in charge of all kinds of strange things these days. He tried not to breathe in too deeply to avoid the smell oozing from the cut end. When he reached the main docking area, he passed the tail off to Zimbin who would take it to the
Pasteur
where Aurelia was waiting to reattach it.

Things were slowly getting back to normal on the space station though no one appeared to have a clue what had happened. Jak was getting nasty looks from some of the Sclarians but that wasn’t all that unusual. Kaprinians consistently beat out the Sclarians on colonizing planets that were up for grabs. A good deal of resentment had built up over the years between the two races.

The beep of his comm-link surprised Jak. Someone had apparently gotten at least one communications computer working. Co-Lanen’s number glowed on the tiny screen. Looking at the Aguanian blood and debris on his shirt, he decided to take it on audio only.

“Jak here,” he spoke into the link.

“The Triad Council wants to see you now.” Co-Lanen’s tone brooked no opposition.

“But...”

“Be careful.” Did her voice soften? “We’ve had a massive flood down here.”

“Are you all right?”

“Yes. Co-Lanen out.”

Jak told Lak Zanin that he was leaving and ran for the
Pasteur
. It wasn’t a good idea to keep the Triad Council waiting. The Kaprinian Empire was divided into a number of quadrants, each one governed by three councilors. How much power they had outside Kaprine’s main government depended on the caste of the councilors. Jidal IV’s Triad Council had one of the Zar, the highest caste, plus one of the most famous Kaprinian explorers, Ka-Were Mitine, who was protected by the Zar.

Jak showered and changed into his Kaprinian Army uniform, a blue one piece jumpsuit with black boots, in record time. Then he went in search of Aurelia. He found her bent over a surgical grid still working on the Aguanian. He could enter the room after going through the decontamination field for three minutes but he didn’t want to take the time. Instead, he switched on the intercom beside the observation window.

“Doc.” Jak said to get her attention. He watched the line of her right eyebrow rise but she didn’t look up. Jannie Taylor, one of the nurses assisting, smiled and gave him a wolf whistle. “I have to go planetside. The Triad Council wants to see me.”

“Why?” Aurelia asked.

“I don’t know. You don’t need me for anything do you?”

The brow went up again. “Do I ever need you for anything?”

“Very funny.”

Aurelia half-smiled. “Go but don’t take all day about it.”

“Okay.”

It took Jak quite awhile to find a ride down to Jidal IV. Chief Rekhaan refused to release any of the
Pasteur
’s shuttles until all systems were running again. Jak was beginning to panic when he finally found a Jidalian skreel operator on Davis who was willing to take him. Most of the other vehicles that shuttled between the planet and space station were still being worked on. Once in flight, Jak had a feeling the skreel needed to be worked on too.

As they entered Jidal IV’s atmosphere, the ship made a screeching sound like metal scraping metal. Jak wrapped both hands around his antennae, gritting his teeth. Maybe that was where the name of the ship came from.

As they dropped below 10000 kilometers, the noise finally stopped. Jak relaxed, peering out the window to watch their descent into the capital city, Zarnek.

From previous visits, Jak knew that the Talax River ran through the middle of the city. He could see that it was out of its banks, the dark water flooding the streets over a wide area. A whole section of buildings had collapsed like a row of felled dominoes. As the skreel dropped lower, Jak could make out more details. Boats maneuvering in and out of second story windows, people loaded down with boxes moving into the dry sections of town. Whatever phenomenon it was that had shaken up Space Station Davis, it had devastated Zarnek.

Jak was glad to see that the Kaprinian section of town had mostly been spared. The skreel was just under the size limit for flitter class, the only vehicles allowed to fly within the city, so the operator dropped Jak off right in front of the Kaprinian Rotunda.

Jak looked up at the white marble building shaped like the lighthouses he had seen on his first and only trip to Earth. A half-size replica of the Rotunda in the capitol city of Klon-dor on Kaprine, the building contained the government offices of the Kaprinian presence in Jidal IV’s main city.

Taking the steps two at a time, the doctor stepped into the automatic revolving door which deposited him in the middle of a steaming mass of people. He pushed forward a step and found himself behind a woman with the fattest pair of antennae he had ever seen. Whew, those have to be at least five centimeters in diameter, he thought, wouldn’t want to be married to her. “Uh, excuse me, ma’am,” he said out loud. “I really need to get through here.”

She turned a pair of bright pink, obviously cosmetically enhanced, eyes on him and flicked an antenna at the ensignia on his shirt. Her size apparently didn’t hamper her movement at all. “What are you? Some kind of sit-at-home hafney who can’t keep his antennae straight?”

“No. But I’m sure your sons are with a mother like you. Now are you going to move or do I have to use a torsion crane to haul you out of here?”

Looking mollified, the woman stepped out of his way and Jak continued shoving his way to the front. After twelve years of living with humans he had almost forgotten that politeness would get him nowhere with the lower classes of Kaprinians. Ever since the Pletian Rule had passed, the lower castes took great delight in exercising their right to speak to higher caste members in the same way they spoke among themselves. They still had to yield to a higher caste but could say anything they wanted.

He finally made it to the front desk which was surrounded by four walls of clear permaglass. An intercom system allowed him to speak to the girl at the desk.

“Hi,” Jak said with a smile. Nice pair of antennae but the rest needs work he thought. Tapping on the glass he asked, “You people always need so much security?”

The girl gave him a toothy return smile, “These are temporary. We had a little trouble this morning. A lot of people are angry about losing property in the flood. And some places still don’t have power. But I can lower the front just for you.”

“That’s all right. I have a meeting with the Council. Where do I go?”

She hit a few keys on her computer and looking up, asked, “Doctor Rialus?” At his nod she continued, “They’re waiting for you upstairs. Just go down to the elevators to your left and take one to the fifth floor. Someone will meet you there.”

Thanking the girl, Jak pushed his way through the crowd down the hall. Several of the side corridors were barricaded and he glanced over, noting the dark pools of water that had leaked in and the ripe rotting fish smell. Taking the elevator to the fifth floor, Jak gave a start as the door opened and he saw Co-Lanen standing in front of him. She looked thinner than she did on a monitor screen. And her left antennae drooped as if she were exhausted. But she was still just as beautiful as ever. He couldn’t prevent a huge smile from crossing his lips.

“Ja-ka-thon, you’re late,” were her first words.

Stepping out, he opened his arms, “Is that any kind of welcome?”

“The council is waiting,” she turned and started down the hall. Flailing himself with an antennae, Jak followed. As usual he had said the wrong thing, but he had noticed her eyes sliding over him before she turned.

“I couldn’t find a ride,” he defended himself as they walked along. “What’s going on anyway? Why so secretive?” He almost ran into her as she stopped at an unmarked door. The red beam of a retina scanner lanced out, turning Co-Lanen’s gray eyes pink for a moment then the door slid open.

Furnished sparingly with three chairs and a long, black metal table, the room was clearly meant for business. Jak knew that somewhere in the building another room, lavishly filled with expensive furniture, paintings and other decorations, served to entertain most visitors. Nodding to the three seated Kaprinians, he stood at attention in front of the table and waited. Co-Lanen moved off to his right, just barely in sight of his peripheral vision.

The council member seated in the middle, Ka-were Mitine, his hair black with age and his gold skin now a sort of mottled purple color, rose slowly to his feet. Though far past his prime, the passion that had made him the explorer and first colonist of twenty different worlds still shone in his dark eyes. “Ja-ka-thon Rialus, welcome to Jidal IV,” Ka-were’s voice was soft and pleasant, not the kind of voice one might expect. “This room is completely secure,” he continued, “we may talk freely.”

Jak frowned, lowering an antenna,” Just what is going on, sir?”

Ka-were glanced at the other two councilors who nodded. He looked toward Co-Lanen then replied, “As you know there was some kind of wave that knocked out power including that to our dikes. Although we haven’t determined the nature of the wave or whatever it was, we do know it originated from this planet.”

“So it was not a natural phenomenon?” Jak ventured to ask.

“Our engineers have not determined that yet,” Councilor Led-franere Zar spoke up. He was an odd little Zar with three antennae, two in normal position and one growing out of his forehead. Jak wondered why he had never had it removed; as highest caste Led Franere probably didn’t care. Idly imagining the operation needed, wondering if a phased quad ionic cutter would be enough, Jak snapped his attention back when Co-Lanen spoke up.

“They still haven’t finished running all the diagnostic tests,” she pointed out.

Counselor Twa-zlan Kieg, a tall, thin Kaprinian with rare, bright orange eyes, rose to his feet, “We don’t need more tests.” His voice was bitter. “We know who is responsible for this.”

“No, we do not know,” Ka-were interrupted, giving Kieg a look that made him resume his seat. “There is no proof, just vague rumors.”

Jak wished he could sit down; his legs were getting tired. “Excuse me, but I don’t really understand what you’re talking about,” he said finally.

“It is believed that some of the Sclarians have been working on a sub-ionic disruption emitter. That is a compressed beam of sub-ions used to overload ionic fields of any kind including gravity generators on starships and our own dikes,” Led-franere explained. He would have continued detailing the specifications of the emitter but Ka-were raised a hand.

“I’m sure he has the general idea,” he said. “Ja-ka-thon, what we want from you is to keep your eyes open and your antennae straight. In your position you will have the opportunity to come into contact with a number of different people. You will report anything you find to Co-Lanen.”

“You want me to be a spy? Look, why would the Sclarians want to build such a thing? They don’t need weapons like that. They’re a relatively peaceful race,” Jak protested.

“They are ignorant tregells,” Counselor Kieg said with a sneer. “Your association with humans has made you weak.”

Jak smiled, “Tell that to my boss. She’s tough as a Cassopian linglebird and about as mean.”

“We don’t know any of the answers right now. Just keep alert,” Ka-were commanded. He glanced around, “Is there anything else we need to tell him?” No one said anything. “Very well, you are dismissed. Co-Lanen will be your contact for any further information.”

“Yes, sir,” Jak replied, following Co-Lanen out the door. She led him back toward the elevator in silence. His heart began to pound when she stepped through the doors with him.

Sucking in his breath, Jak reached over to press the button for the first floor. Her cool hand on his stopped him. As he turned his palm over to grasp her fingers,

Co-lanen pulled her hand back.

“Please don’t,” she said in a soft voice, avoiding his eyes.

Leaning against the back wall, Jak asked, “Many injuries in the flood?”

“So far two dead and fifty injured when the Delflie Court section collapsed. A few other injuries here and there. Three people are missing.”

“Need any help?”

“A Valerian Search and Rescue Team is on the way.”

“Which team, do you know?” Jak asked. He kept his eyes on her face but she wasn’t making eye contact.

“I believe it’s Bedden Gel’s team.”

Jak nodded. “Good. He’s the best. You’ll want to start mass vaccinations as soon as possible. You don’t want a phinotheria epidemic. I’ll see if we can get some of the
Pasteur
people down here.”

Co-Lanen finally looked at him and smiled. “ We would appreciate that.”

The elevator doors slid open.

Co-Lanen turned to him, whispered hastily, “I need to talk to you but not here. Meet me tomorrow night at seven, Halzen Court.” She stepped out.

“Why not tonight?”

“Can’t. Conferences tonight,” she hissed at him. “Be there please, Jak.”

The doors slid shut. Jak was left staring at the blank spot in front of him with his mouth open.

Aurelia had that satiated feeling of a job well done as she stepped into the elevator. The Aguanian would recover with full use of his tail. And she felt capable of talking to Chief Rekhaan for at least a few minutes.

The
Pasteur
’s control center looked back to normal except for the middle section of computers having its guts peered into by several engineers. Rekhaan left his post to greet her.

“We have 95 percent of our systems back on-line,” Rekhaan told her.

“What about communications?”

Shaking his head, Rekhaan replied, “We have local coverage only. From here to the planet.”

“I don’t like that.”

“I know.”

“Have you figured out what happened?”

Rekhaan sighed and sat down on the arm of his chair. “We have several theories but nothing is definite.”

“Like what?” Aurelia demanded.

“It had a number of similarities to Hanson’s Anomaly but we would all be dead if it were. There is some evidence that it originated from Jidal IV.”

“Meaning what?”

“It might not be a natural phenomenon.”

Aurelia’s comm-link beeped. It was a page for her to report to Governor Arnott’s office.

“Let me know what you find out, Rekhaan,” Aurelia instructed the chief. She headed in the direction of the space station.

What did Arnott want now? She could hardly wait for communications to get back on-line so she could talk to her scheduler and get out of here. Passing through the busy outer office, Aurelia paused in the doorway to Arnott’s office. A long table had been set up in the middle of the room. Around it sat Arnott, Renner Conlin, Captain Zelan, Althan Tahk, Dulan Aric, Arnott’s secretary, another Jidalian and two Sclarians. Aurelia felt a slight tic begin in her right eyelid.

“Come in and sit down, Doctor,” Arnott said, waving her inside.

The only seat left was one next to Zelan and across from one of the Sclarians. He was the skinniest Sclarian Aurelia had ever seen. He seemed to make up for his lack of girth by wearing jewelry. Flashy, red, green, and purple pseudo-Nova stones in varying sizes covered his nose and earlobes. A huge yellow brooch in the shape of two entwined Cellian snakes, that were supposed to be biting each other but merely looked like they were burping, ran diagonally across his chest, connecting two ends of a brown, furry cape from some creature that had gnawed holes in itself before giving up the ghost. Thick bracelets which appeared to have been cut out of three-hundred-year-old rusty tin cans ran the length of both his arms. He gave Aurelia a grin which revealed more stones set in his teeth.

Arnott started passing out computer hand terminals. “If you’ll press the A pad on your terminals, you’ll see the agenda for this meeting.”

Under the first Roman numeral on the screen, Aurelia read: Apology to Freighter Captains for Illegal Detention. She looked up and caught Arnott’s eye.

“I object,” Aurelia said. “this is an internal matter. There are people in this group who are not GEM Co. employees and therefore should not be privy to this meeting.”

“Your objection is duly noted, Doctor.” Arnott replied. He turned to Conlin. “I believe you have something to say about our first topic?”

Conlin leaned forward, his fat spilling onto the tabletop. “I’ve talked to the three captains who are still threatening to drop their contracts. Their version of what happened is this...”

As the arbiter droned on, describing the incident in the locking of the governor’s office, Aurelia pulled out her comm-link and typed in a page to Millie. She had a strong feeling she was going to need someone on her side.

“When I and Captain Zelan arrived,” Conlin continued, “the door was sealed. Dr. Aurelia and two of her subordinates were running around the halls. She was finally persuaded to unseal the door then left us to deal with the justifiably angry captains. I believe a formal, public apology from Dr. Aurelia is in order.”

Aurelia folded her hands in front of her to prevent them from throwing something at the fat head of the arbiter. “First of all,” she said looking into Conlin’s eyes until he dropped them. “The Dulan requested that I come to this office. When I arrived, he was under a barrage with no sign of Governor Arnott.”

“Harrumph,” escaped from the governor’s lips.

Ignoring him, Aurelia continued, “Under section 57A of the company’s handbook,” she turned her head to glance briefly at Zelan, “You may look that one up, Captain, I have absolute authority under a full quarantine. I felt the situation was highly volatile and took the steps necessary to ensure that our investigation was not compromised and that it could be completed as quickly as possible.” That sounded good.

“I vote she doesn’t have to apologize,” spoke up the skinny Sclarian. He grinned again at Aurelia.

Aurelia glared back.

“I still question the wisdom of making this a full quarantine for a minor thing like box pox,” Zelan put in.

Aurelia rolled her eyes, “You’re still harping on that?”

“It is not minor to us,” said the Dulan, his residual gills beginning to flap.

“It just doesn’t make sense to shut down an entire space station for...”

Arnott cleared his throat. “The fact of the matter remains that we have some unhappy customers.”

“I vote she does have to apologize,” said the Sclarian.

Aurelia clenched her fingers tighter.

The door slid open to admit Millie, looking fresh and well rested. Smiling, she breezed in. “Hello, everyone. I’m sorry I’m late.”

Arnott and Conlin looked confused. Althan Tahk jumped up and offered her his seat. Millie accepted graciously with a smile and a “How are you feeling, Than?”

“I’m fine, thank you,” the Kaprinian replied.

Millie sat halfway down then got up again. “I could use a cup of kanic. Anyone else want one? Aurelia, I know you do.”

She didn’t but maybe she could dump it in Zelan’s lap.

Both Zelan and the Sclarian decided they wanted kanic. While Millie busied herself at the kanic dispenser and Tahk fetched another chair everyone else remained quiet.

“Here you are,” Millie said, putting a cup in front of Aurelia. Millie gave her a questioning look with two raised eyebrows.

Aurelia shook her head.

Nodding, Millie passed out the other cups and returned to her chair. “Now we can get back to business,” she said, flashing the governor a brilliant smile. “What were we talking about?”

“We were discussing the freighter captains who may be dropping their contracts with us due to being illegally detained in this office,” Arnott replied.

“Well it really was for their protection and ours,” Millie shot back.

Aurelia silently cheered. Millie could always be counted on.

“How do you figure?” Conlin asked.

“With that wemrat loose and all. It could have been carrying all sorts of diseases.” Millie had what Jak liked to call her head nurse expression on her face, similar to the expression teachers used with small children. “We’ve been through a number of quarantines like this and the best thing to do is control the situation as completely as possible. You can point out that they were not detained for very long and that the whole thing took less than twenty-four hours.”

Arnott and Conlin held a whispered conference for a few minutes.

“Very well,” the governor finally spoke to the group. “Are there any suggestions to rectify this problem?”

Aurelia glanced at Millie then leaned forward, turning her head toward Arnott, “I think a formal apology would be in order.”

Arnott scrunched his eyebrows together, “I thought you didn’t want to apologize?”

Putting her chin on her hand, Millie jumped in with an innocent, “Oh, I think GEM Co. should issue some kind of statement.”

“A statement from the governor’s office explaining the whole situation would definitely clear the air,” Aurelia added.

Millie nodded, “They’ll be expecting something from you.”

“But...I...”Arnott started to splutter.

Aurelia pressed on, “ Most people only recognize the governor’s name anyway.”

“They expect the man in charge to take full responsibility,” said Millie. “And rightly so. That’s why GEM Co. picks men like you, Governor.”

Arnott and Conlin had another whispered conference. The governor mopped at his sweating face with a handkerchief. “All right. We will issue a formal statement from this office. Arbiter Conlin will do what he can on an individual basis with each freighter captain. Let’s move on to the next item on the agenda.”

Conlin looked suitably martyred. A round of applause was apparently in order from his expression but no one clapped.

Millie gave a slight tip to her cup in Aurelia’s direction. Aurelia nodded her thanks. One round won. She took a sip of kanic. She didn’t like the sweet maple taste but the hot liquid was soothing to her nerves.

“As you all know our communications are down,” Arnott said. “We haven’t determined the cause yet but whatever it was burned out all the ion emitters in the communications center. Without those emitters we have communications only from here to Jidal IV. Gar, I believe you have something to say about this?” Arnott motioned to the skinny Sclarian seated across from Aurelia.

The Sclarian clambered to his feet with a loud jangle of jewelry. “I am Gar,” he said, smiling around at everyone.

Apparently that was all he had to say.

Captain Zelan rapped his knuckles on the table. “Do you have an emitter we can use?”

“Ah, an emitter, yes. Umhmmm. Very necessary objects. I was once on a mapping mission of the Quantani star system and we ran into an ion storm. Burnt that emitter into a little blob. I told Captain...”

“Are you saying you have an emitter or not?” Aurelia interrupted. She pressed her hand against her aching forehead.

“Have one? Oh, yes, we have quite a nice assortment.” He chuckled. “A hold full of ‘em. Well, not all emitters, roughly half, actually probably one box stuck somewhere. Don’t worry we’ll find them.”

“If it’s a matter of payment...” Conlin began.

“Payment!” Gar looked offended. “No, no, no, Arbiter. I wouldn’t think of taking any money, not from GEM Co. I remember one time being trapped on an outpost for three weeks, my shuttle was pretty well mangled and they rescued...”

“That’s very nice. I’m glad you got off,” Aurelia said, wishing he had stayed there. “When can we get the emitter?”

“Get the emitter? Bit of a problem, quite difficult, well, really you can’t.”

Millie threw a sympathetic glance at Aurelia then asked

Gar, “May I ask why?”

“I am Gar.” He paused.

Aurelia’s head was going to explode if he didn’t get on with it.

“What about the emitter!” Aurelia was not quite sure if she or someone else, perhaps everyone else, in the room, had shouted that.

“Being Gar means I’m second-in-command. I have no authority to release those emitters. Very sorry, well, slightly regretful, frankly who cares?”

“Where is your captain?” Conlin asked with a sly look at Arnott that made Aurelia wonder if he already knew the answer.

“My captain? In jail. I think, I heard possibly, in fact I know, you put him there, Doctor.” Gar looked very satisfied.

“I put...!” Aurelia began to protest then light dawned. “The guy with the wemrat. Can’t you just give us the emitter?”

“Can’t, orders, at least there’s a general policy against it, I just don’t want to. If you would release Captain Danin, I would be happy, well, willing to give it to you.” The bristles around his mouth quivered.

Feeling her face flush, Aurelia lost control of her tongue though she did manage not to shout by gritting her teeth together. “He broke the law, you little runt of a one-pig litter!”

Gar was the first Sclarian she had ever known to let an insult pass unnoticed. He smiled. “Then I guess you’ll have to wait until someone comes along with one, hang out for one, molder around is more like it.”

“Very well, Gar,” Aurelia gave up.

“Governor, I’m willing to drop charges on Captain Danin,” Aurelia continued. All she wanted now was a new destination for the
Pasteur
, preferably millions of light years away from Davis.

Clearing his throat, Zelan interrupted. “Slight problem. The charges have already been filed with the I.G. Court on Mars. Captain Danin is on his way there on the Minotaur.”

Aurelia threw up her hands. “Since when did we get so efficient?”

Gar got to his feet, motioning to his companion who had sat silently the whole time. “It was nice meeting you all, well, interesting anyway, actually, quite boring. Good bye.”

“Hold it,” said Millie.

Gar folded his arms across his chest creating a small discordant symphony in the clash of bracelets.

“Let me talk to GEM Co’s security commander. I’m sure he can cut through the red tape for us,” Millie suggested.

Gar motioned to his companion and they both sat back down. “Very well. We will wait.”

Clearing her throat, Millie stuttered, “Ummmm, I’m going to need the...thing...the emitter so I can call the commander.”

Gar and the other Sclarian got up again. “We will return with the emitter.” They walked out.

“I’ve got patients to see to,” Aurelia announced, scrambling to her feet and out the door before Arnott or Conlin could say anything. Millie was right behind her.

When they were out of the governor’s wing and on the way back to the
Pasteur
, Aurelia blew out a breath of relief.

“Is it just me or was that all extremely odd?” Millie asked.

“It isn’t you,” Aurelia replied, as she tried to massage the tension from her neck.

“What was Althan Tahk and those Sclarians doing there for the first part of that meeting?”

“That’s what I’d like to know. And if Conlin and Tahk are supposed to be negotiating some kind of deal, why aren’t they doing it instead of meddling with station matters that Arnott should be handling?”

Millie shook her head. “I don’t know. Everything’s been kind of weird since we got to the station. Have you eaten,” Millie interrupted herself. “besides junk food that is?”

Millie always worried about people eating properly. They were nearing Davis’s commissary from which a delectable odor was emanating. She thought it was chicken soup but it was hard to tell with lingering fire foam dampening everything. Stomach rumbling, Aurelia recalled having eaten a Razo bar a long time ago.