Blood of the Cosmos (59 page)

“We are most interested in a cure for Reynald,” Estarra said. “Do you have any promising results?”

“Perhaps,” Zoe said. “But I do not intend to
give
you this vital and hard-won medical information. Rather, I propose a mutually beneficial arrangement. I will trade all of the Pergamus data on the microfungus infection for three things.”

Estarra said, “If it is in our power, we will do so.”

“What three things?” Peter asked quickly.

Tom Rom gave Zoe a curious look, but she faced forward. Inside the containment suit, she was sweating, but the life-support systems exchanged the air, cleaned it, cooled down her temperature, scrubbed and expelled any waste and contaminants.

“First, you must agree to leave Pergamus alone. The fact that you know of our existence is a threat. I want a Confederation guarantee that no troops will be sent to seize my specimens, my data, my scientists, or my property.”

Peter frowned. “Provided you pose no threat to the Confederation or its people, I can agree to that. But my promise will be void if you ever release any dangerous organism or sell biological agents to a potential antagonist. In that case, the Confederation will respond with the full resources available.”

Zoe let out a dry laugh. “King Peter, for years I have made every effort to guarantee that
no one
has access to
any
of my work. Giving you even this one subset of my data is a severe breach of my principles.”

Queen Estarra seemed relieved. “The second thing?”

“I understand that the industrialist Lee Iswander delivered a complete database of the Onthos species, the plague they suffered, and all the symptoms of the humans exposed to that disease on the derelict space city. In an open exchange of information, I would like a copy of that data.”

“Done,” Estarra said. “Iswander provided that information on the condition that it be freely shared.”

“What is your third condition?” Peter asked.

Tom Rom was looking at Zoe, eyebrows raised. He didn't know what she intended to demand, but she was certain he would approve.

“You say you're concerned that our Pergamus research might pose a danger to the Confederation. And yes, my specimens include deadly biological pathogens, but you face a far greater threat to the safety of your citizens—a place where virulent diseases and illicit treatments are openly traded, where biomerchants can be bought at any price, where curesellers offer useless palliatives at exorbitant prices to sufferers who have so little hope they are willing to pay any fee. This place is a hotbed of biological hazards, an outbreak waiting to happen—and it exists outside of Confederation jurisdiction or control.” She hardened her voice. “This is unacceptable to me, as it should be to you.”

Tom Rom's eyes widened marginally, but she also saw a faint upturn of his lips, as he understood.

Peter looked alarmed. “What is this place?”

“It is called Rakkem, a disaster inside a pressure cooker, ready to explode. You must shut it down. That is my final requirement for delivering all my data on the Prince's disease.”

“We can provide coordinates,” Tom Rom said, speaking for the first time.

Estarra's face darkened, and she looked at Peter. “If that's true, then by all means we should deal with Rakkem, whether or not our son's cure depends on it.”

Peter leaned forward on his throne. “What do you have at stake there? Are they your competition? Why do you want us to shut down Rakkem?”

“Because I despise them.” Zoe paused. “They murdered my brothers and sisters.” She did not elaborate.

As she watched their reaction, she knew they would accept the terms, and she felt relieved. The CDF would not threaten to impound and shut down Pergamus, she would get the data she wanted, and disgusting Rakkem would be closed down.

All in all, a good bargain.

“You have my word,” Peter said. “Is that enough for you to provide your data to us now? Time is of the essence.”

“I believe so,” Zoe said.

“Thank you,” Queen Estarra said. “We will disseminate your data to all the research teams.” Zoe cringed inside at the thought of her hard work being shared so widely, out of her control, but she did not interrupt. It was a sacrifice she had to make.

Peter said, “Prince Reynald is currently on Kuivahr pursuing other possible treatments. Your data may be useful to Tamo'l and her fellow researchers. We'll see that they have copies as well.”

Tom Rom spoke up. “Then I will personally deliver our records to Kuivahr. I've had previous business with Tamo'l, and it is time that I return there.”

 

CHAPTER

100

ORLI COVITZ

After they left the disaster site of the clan Duquesne extraction field, knowing that Elisa Enturi had murdered all those people, the mood aboard the
Curiosity
was a grim mixture of outrage and disbelief.

Tasia fumed. “Who knows how many other massacres she's caused to keep the secret?”

Orli said, “We would never even have known about this one if we hadn't followed the tracker on her ship. All those people from clan Duquesne just … wiped out, and she did it so easily.”

“And apparently without remorse,” said Robb.

Tasia slammed her palm down on the control deck. “What if she lost her temper with Xander and Terry and decided to blow the
Verne
into debris? Our son isn't safe.”

Robb clenched a fist. “We've all made a fortune from distributing ekti-X, never asking where it came from, and now we know that the new stardrive fuel came at the cost of a lot of blood.” He made up his mind. “Obviously, Kett Shipping will sever all dealings with Iswander Industries. We don't do business with murderers and criminals.”

Tasia continued to simmer with anger. “By the Guiding Star, it's just … just—” When she couldn't find the words, she slammed her other palm down on the control panel.

Orli slumped back in her seat, suddenly dizzy, and DD hurried to her, concerned. Ever since her near death from the Onthos plague, he had watched her like a hawk. “Are you ill, Orli? How can we assist you? I can make tea.”

“Nothing you can do, DD. I just realized how lucky I am to be alive—in more ways than one. If it hadn't been for Seth…”

“Seth?” Tasia asked. “Garrison Reeves's boy? What does he have to do with this?”

“Remember, Elisa is his mother,” Orli said. “We were at Iswander's first extraction field. After the bloaters fissioned and flew away, Garrison took Seth—along with me and DD—and we left. If the boy hadn't been with us…” A wave of nausea passed over her, and she swallowed hard. “Seeing this now, I'll bet Elisa would have hunted us down and destroyed our ship in empty space, where no one would ever have known.”

Tasia called up the star charts and overlaid where the tracking device had recorded Elisa's stops and course changes. After pausing for several days at a primary destination ahead, her ship had embarked on a great loop before returning to Ulio Station.

Orli asked, “Do you think we'll find another massacre site? Bloaters aren't hard to find if you actually look for them, and if Elisa caught another Roamer clan secretly harvesting ekti-X—”

Robb said, “If word gets out that there's stardrive fuel for the taking, Iswander won't have a monopoly anymore. Ekti will get so cheap and plentiful that there'll be no profit in it.”

“Which is why Elisa was willing to commit murder to keep that secret.” Tasia struck the piloting panel again, this time with her fist.

They were silent in the hour leading up to their arrival at the next destination. During that time, Orli rewatched the log entry from the wreckage of the Duquesne cargo hauler. She feared they would find more devastation, more destroyed ships, more frozen bodies drifting in space.…

Instead, the
Voracious Curiosity
found a crowded industrial site in and around another cluster of bobbing nodules. Hundreds of desiccated bloater husks drifted at the fringe of the operations. Large tankers hung in place, collecting racks of ekti-X tanks. Pumping machinery clung like parasites to swollen bloater sacks.

It was like a city in space, drifting along in the archipelago of gray-green nodules. Orli spotted habitation rings, a docking hub, an admin complex, much like the one she had stumbled upon in the last stages of her plague.

The ships and habitation domes proudly displayed the logo of Iswander Industries. This was Lee Iswander's return to prominence.

“Looks familiar,” Orli said, “but this operation seems even larger than the last one.”

Tasia was amazed. “Maybe he's making up for lost time.”

DD said, “Assessing these operations, I can run calculations to determine the approximate ekti output, if that would be useful.”

As the
Curiosity
hung there in silence, Robb shook his head. “Right out here with no systems around for parsecs, Iswander can do whatever he wants. It's obvious how he produces so much stardrive fuel.”

Listening to the chatter of operations over the comm, Tasia looked at Robb. “We haven't been spotted yet. Maybe we should just duck out of here.”

Robb was grim. “Considering what Elisa did to the last person who discovered the truth, that would be a good idea.” He worked the piloting controls.

“Too late.” Orli pointed out a flurry of short-range transmissions. Five scout fliers swooped in from the industrial pumping operations. Alarms flashed throughout the facility.

“Shizz, intruder alarms,” Tasia said. “They don't like visitors. I think we can outrun them, though.”

“Let's try something else first. Remember, we
are
their business partners.” Robb switched on the comm. “Iswander operations—this is Robb Brindle and Tasia Tamblyn, acting administrators of Kett Shipping. We've come to inspect your operations and reaffirm our distribution agreement.” He forced a chuckle. “I have to say, we're quite impressed!”

Tasia blinked at him in surprise. Muting the comm, she said, “You know Elisa already wiped out the Duquesne fields!”

“
They
don't know we know that,” Robb said.

As the short-range security ships approached, a faster vessel streaked away from the main admin hub, heading straight toward them.

Orli said, “They're closing in, and they don't look friendly.”

Robb worked hard to keep his voice light and friendly on the comm. “We request a meeting with Lee Iswander. Please provide instructions for docking.”

A signal came from the foremost ship racing toward them. “Your instructions are to stand down and surrender.”

Orli recognized the ship and the voice. “That's Elisa. She'll know me, but that won't buy us any goodwill. She thinks I ran off with her husband.”

“Great,” Tasia muttered. “Let's add vindictive jealousy to irrational and murderous behavior.”

Elisa's ship swooped in. “These private extraction fields are under high security. We cannot allow outsiders to see them.”

“A little late for that,” Tasia muttered.

On an impulse, Orli activated the cockpit scanners to automatically record everything, hoping that their last log entry would not be just like the one they had found in the ruins of the Duquesne tanker.

Tasia and Robb activated the comm together. “Elisa, you know us—Kett Shipping has a business arrangement with you.” Tasia was tense on the piloting controls. The
Curiosity
's defensive shields were already up, but they would not withstand a prolonged attack, and there were plenty of security ships at the extraction field. “If we could speak with Mr. Iswander—?”

“Mr. Iswander is currently at Newstation, but he gave me instructions that no one was allowed to see our operations. You've made an unfortunate choice in coming here. You are trespassing.”

“Wait, you should—”

Then Elisa opened fire.

 

CHAPTER

101

ROD'H

When the shadow cloud tore a hole in space, Rod'h's scout ship was hidden among the branches of the immense verdani battleship. While the Solar Navy warliners sounded alarms, and the Adar called soldiers to their battle stations, the CDF
Kutuzov
plunged forward, recklessly attacking the Shana Rei hex ships.

Left behind, Rod'h kept working his scout ship through the dangerous maze of twisted, armored boughs, taking shelter. Tal Gale'nh sent an urgent tight-beam message to him. “Stay there and stay safe, brother. I will return for you when I can.”

Rod'h's scout ship dodged through the obstacles of the gigantic treeship. He had been exploring the twisted relic for hours and now wended his way deeper into the thorny labyrinth. He knew he would need half an hour to emerge from the petrified thicket.

By that time, the entire battle might be over.

He gritted his teeth, eager to be in the command nucleus beside his half-brother, while they fought the enemy. Tal Gale'nh had already faced the Shana Rei, but Rod'h believed himself to be even stronger. Together, they would surely be formidable against the shadows.

Yet he was abandoned here. “Wait, I can help you!” he transmitted, but Gale'nh's warliner was already careening toward the pulsing shadow cloud, along with the rest of the septa. The CDF and Solar Navy ships opened fire with a fusillade of laser cannons, which disintegrated parts of the black hex vessels.

From inside his scout ship, Rod'h monitored the battle with long-range sensors, but the images writhed and sharpened again as random entropy waves disturbed his systems. His nav computer flickered, and one of the engines dropped to half thrust. Rod'h struggled to stabilize the tumbling scout ship, but his controls were sluggish.