Destiny's Choice (The Wandering Engineer) (71 page)

“And
you had nothing to do with that?” he asked.

“Moi?
Well, maybe a little,” she said. He started to protest but she kept going. “She
started to take credit for your donations. I had to put that down in the interest
of justice.”

“Of
course,” Irons said, knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere arguing with her.
He was pretty sure the holo of their adventures and her showcasing the incident
in Pyrax had also played a hand in things. Mayfair must be really pissed right
about now. You'd think she would have learned by now not to pull that kind of
crap, it just came back and bit her in the ass. “You were saying that Willis is
behind some of the other rumors though? But she spiked her own guns in that
bar. I was curious why they didn't call her on it.”

“I
am too. Perhaps one of them caught it earlier? Now I'm not sure. She hasn't
been completely truthful with you or about you. I had thought it was jealousy
at one point.”

“Jealousy?”
he asked amused.

“Over
miss O...” He held up a hand wincing. “Sorry.”

“Ah.
An interesting datum,” he said after a moment.

“Here
is another. She's a last minute addition to the team,” Sprite replied.

“Come
again?” he said freezing.

“You
heard that correctly the first time Admiral. She actually bumped someone else.
She has... get this, no qualifications.”

“Is
this in the net?” he asked. “I would have thought you would have brought it up
earlier,” he frowned.

“No.
That's just it. I picked it up when we went for that last load an hour ago. I
set the system to record while we were gone. I check the feed when we get in
range. Two of the delegates were talking out of school near a microphone and
the bot I left behind faithfully recorded the entire conversation. Do you wish
to hear the juicy gossip?”

“Spare
me,” he said, holding his hands out.

“Well,
one more piece, I just got the blurb from my bot and I've been digesting it as
we talk. It seems the pilot of the shuttle, the one that had it's accident?
Mister Garth Brooks? That one?”

“Yeah?”

“He
was having a bit of a brag session with some of his fellows. It seems Miss
Willis seduced him the day before the accident. Even sweet talked him into
doing it in the shuttle after he told her you would be working on it later.”

“Really?”
he asked in slight disgust. “And this factors in...” he paused as he suddenly
understood. He froze as pieces came together. Damn... double damn. “She got
access to both the boat bay and the shuttle?”

“Yes.”
She waited a moment pausing to digest more information. “Get this, before he
moved out of range of the microphone he said she wore him out so bad he blacked
out. The next thing he knew they were scrambling to get out of there before
Dieter caught them. He said something about their streaking out and ducking
behind crates and then streaking to a supply closet to get dressed. When they
were done she dumped him on the spot.”

“Huh.”

“She
also seduced one of the engineers. He made a crack about her thighs and strong
muscles...” he made a face. “Which I take it you don't want to hear.”

“Right,”
he growled.

“The
thing is, this engineer tech is assigned to the plasma grid on the deck...”

“Where
April and I were at. Giving him, or her access. I get it,” he said sitting up. 
“So she's a suspect?”

Sprite's
avatar nodded, cold sober. “Oh, prime suspect. Definitely. She has some martial
arts training. She's manipulative, and she doesn't stick her head out. She was
at or near several of the accidents that weren't accidents. From her behavior
on Briev she has no qualms about killing someone.” She replayed some of his
memories of Briev, freezing and zooming in on the woman's face a few times. “It
does make me wonder who paid her. And why? Also, why is she still trying after
they tried to kill us all?”

“Possibly
a promised bonus,” Irons sighed. “The other question is a bit more ticklish. Is
she acting alone? If it really is her that is. So far all we have is
circumstantial evidence to go on. Supposition is not proof. ”

“You
mean we need to catch her in the act.”

“Yes,”
Irons sighed. “Which means laying that trap we have been planning.”

“You
sure about this Admiral?” Bailey asked giving a dark look to the enhanced image
of the battered old ship. “She's a rat trap,” he said, sounding disgusted. The
ship was indeed battered, covered in patches they could see even from this
distance.

She
wasn't an ordinary free trader though. She was huge, a bulk freighter, designed
to carry large amounts of cargo in her six massive holds. Unlike other ships
she had a fat ponderous silhouette, probably due to the fact that the cargo
holds were in pairs side by side instead of arranged in a linear pattern.  Her
bridge and crew quarters were on the bow and spine, jutting out between the
forward most cargo holds and extending back to the rear. The rear had a truss
arrangement of eight fusion drives. Along her spine and somewhere in between
her cylindrical holds the single class one fusion reactor was tucked in, along
with the hyperdrive and other things needed to run a ship.

She
was ponderously slow, mainly because only one or two of her sublight engines
were still functioning. She didn't have a wedge, her particle shields were
barely up, and from the thermal imaging she was dangerously overloaded with
people. From the looks of things she was a flying space habitat. Four thousand
life signs from the look of it.

He
wasn't sure about her, but he was running out of options. From what he and
Sprite had picked up on the planet, Kiev was one of only four ships that
visited the planet, one other being Io. Since he knew Io was avoiding this area
he was pretty sure they weren't coming back this way any time soon.

The
other two ships had been and gone several months ago and weren't due back for a
year or more. Which left Kiev. Bulky, slow, but the only option.

“Probably,
but beggars can't be choosers at this point,” Irons shrugged. Which was true.
He had no intention of sitting on his ass on the ground for a year or more.

“She's
still out there John, not even half way here. She's not due to make planetary
orbit for another week. Which means her drives are pretty shot,” Bailey said,
wrinkling his nose. He didn't bother to mention that they would be leaving a
day before the ship managed to get into orbit of the planet. They wouldn't even
be passing each other on the way either since Kiev was coming in from the Senka
jump point.

“Or
she's low on fuel. Or overloaded,” Irons shrugged.

“He
always liked a challenge,” Sprite replied with a suffering sigh. “I thought Io
11 was bad, then we got here with little or no tools to fix stuff. No offense
chief,” she said hastily.

“None
taken,” the chimp snorted. He shook his head. “Just don't go bad mouthing my
ship now that we've gotten her straightened out.”

“She's
a good ship. With a good crew,” Sprite admitted.

“That
she is. So  you're going with this Kiev?”

“Yes.
I was hoping a ship would be heading to Senka but Kiev just came from there.
Your captain isn't happy about doing a blind jump to the space colony since we
don't have the nav data. Kiev confirms the space colonies are still there, but
wont release the transit data or much more beyond that.”

“The
good news?” Sprite said with a smirk. “The good news is no one on board Kiev
knows about that crap in Pyrax. And I'm keeping it that way. I'm monitoring the
communications to the ship. Nothing is going out without my say so.”

“Ah.
Well, if you find someone has been talking out of turn, let me know. I'll
gladly tie them into knots for you,” Bailey said with a simian feral yawn.

“Deal,”
Sprite said with mischief. Irons sighed shaking his head.

“I
can't say I blame the skipper for not wanting to do a blind jump to a system
that was torn up by pirates,” Bailey said shaking his head after a moment.
“They could still be around. I'd like to steer clear. One encounter in my life
is my limit.”

“I
can't blame him either. Since the cargo hold is about empty of trade goods,
except the ones I'm sending back and all that grain and wool Notuma traded for.
So you are on your way back home,” Irons said shrugging. “Which means I'm going
with Kiev to her next stop. She's going to Antigua.”

“Hmmm,”
Bailey said rubbing his chin in thought. After a moment he shook his head and
tugged on one ear. “Nope never heard of it,” Bailey said with a shrug.

“I
have. I was there over seven centuries ago. So if it is still around there is
some hope it will have more tech than Triang or Agnosta.”

“Your
hoping for another system to bootstrap like Pyrax?”

“Something
like that,” Irons smiled. In truth he wasn't sure. Antigua had been an agro
world with a moderate space industry but according to the data he'd gotten from
Io that space industry had been blown away in the war. They had a dense
population and like Triang had a network of defensive weapons on the planet's
surface that was most likely deterring the pirates.

“It
seems to me this is... I dunno each system you upgrade is going to be like the
city states of ancient Greece on earth,” Bailey mused.

Irons
turned to the chief in surprise. Bailey rubbed his chin then turned his brown
eyes on the Admiral. “What? You think I don't read?” he asked amused enough to
let a canine tooth show.

“Never
dreamed it chief. Just surprised you're into ancient history.”

“I've
dabbled once in a while,” the chief snorted. “Mainly out of boredom or a cross
reference from something I was looking up... or to keep up with the wives. I
hate it when they talk over me and get a patient look when I ask stupid
questions. I'm curious if I'm right though.”

“You
are,” Irons grimaced. “That is how most of the systems were working. They were
independent city states if they had any central organization. Most don't
though.”

“Yeah,
that's true, every man for himself,” Bailey said nodding. “So bootstrapping
them...”

“Will
upgrade their standard of living and give them something to export,” Sprite
replied.

“Which
they can trade to other nearby colonies,” Irons said nodding. “They are doing
that now but in small penny packets. One ship every couple of months or one a
year,” he grimaced.

“To
trade you've got to have a surplus of something of equal value to trade for,”
Bailey replied. “Most colonies are still living hand to mouth Admiral. So the
goods will pile up.”

“Ah,
but that's where it gets interesting. As the Admiral said, upgrading the
standard of living and manufacturing will cause an economic boom. Goods will be
traded first internally, then market forces will cause expansion to new
markets. But industrialization will drive down the cost of goods. Which means
they can be made quicker and cheaper, and thus sold cheaper,” Sprite explained
mischievously.

“Not
at first  I bet. Someone's going to charge an arm and a leg for stuff.”

“Of
course,” Sprite replied in agreement. “Profit, though they won't see it that
way. Start up has it's own costs, paying back the initial loan, and paying for
the next run. But after a while as trade becomes routine and competition sets
in, the cost should come down.”

“Maybe,”
the chimp rubbed his chin. “How are they going to find out about what is needed
where?”

“Same
way anyone else will. By talking to people. Which will also get the ball
rolling towards civilization again.”

“Oh,”
Bailey shrugged. “So they get in a rut after a while. How are they going to get
out of it?”

“It
will have to change and adapt when we keep upgrading planets,” Irons replied.
“I'm not stopping at these. Each will influence those around them first, and
others will in turn do the same.”

“Oh,”
Bailey nodded. “But that just makes everyone a juicier target for the pirates,”
he grimaced at the thought.

“We
all hang together or we all hang separately,” Irons murmured. “An external
threat will force the systems to work together to rebuild each other and
provide for common defense. For if a pirate is on your border, he can cross
over to your neighbors.”

“He
got that analogy from an old grass fire one from earth,” Sprite replied dryly.

“Huh?”
Bailey said, brows knit in confusion.

“Never
mind,” Irons said testy, shooting an annoyed look up. “By working together they
can protect themselves and each other. That will also generate cooperation in
other avenues.”

“Which
will stimulate trade and knit the Federation back together. I see it now. It's
all rather neat.”

“It's
a mess of variables. What if's are a pain in the ass to build a plan on.
Supposition on top of supposition. If one proves untrue the entire thing can
come crumbling down,” Sprite sighed.