Molehunt (22 page)

T
HE huge bulk of Reema's End floated in space, blotting out the star field. To one side and below lay the world of Telugus, a patchwork of browns, greens and dazzling whites, where clouds caught the sunlight and reflected it back into space dazzling the unwary eye. As the station turned ponderously, the day-night line swept across its junkyard surface, casting a confused shadow landscape of ramshackle structures, half-finished skeletal extensions, mounds of debris and garbage, and the shifting pools of dust that clung to the artificial world by strong electrostatics and weak gravitation.

In one of the small twisted canyons of the eastern meridian a tiny shadow moved suddenly into light as the world revolved. It was a space-suited figure, though the suit was a coherent field, employing a boundary-field layer that repelled the vacuum, cosmic rays and heat differentials of space, and contained a breathable atmosphere at a temperature suited to human beings.

Anneke was bent over a device the size of a suitcase, inputting a series of commands. A readout screen on top carried a display of buttons and program linkages.

Suddenly the suitcase spoke. ‘Okay, I got it.'

‘You got it?' Anneke asked doubtfully. ‘I haven't finished programming you.'

‘What, I was invented in the Stone Age? You don't think I can extrapolate?'

Anneke snorted. ‘Fine. No need to get testy. Now do you want to run over the parameters or should I take your word for it?'

The suitcase responded with what sounded suspiciously like a sigh. Anneke smiled. Everything was AI nowadays, even kitchen appliances. It was hard to believe that once you could make breakfast without having an argument with the technology.

‘I'm to proceed to geosynchronous orbit 0034-36-39-401 and investigate an alleged orbital object, possibly an Old Empire Orbital Engineering Platform … But honestly, I ask you, what are the odds?'

‘Keep your mind on the job.'

‘Very well. The platform may well be in stealth mode, in which case I will have –'

‘Great deal of difficulty in finding it.'

‘I was about to say that I'll have to deploy an array of subtle and sophisticated search algorithms, including but not limited to the analysis of orbital perturbations of visible objects allowing for the deduction of a centre of mass projection around which both planet and OEP orbit in turn will allow for the deduction of the OEP's position. Mind you, the hypothetical mass of the latter is by comparison so diminishingly small that a probability projection of success yields a figure of … I sense boredom.'

‘Your sensors are pretty sharp.'

‘You want me to continue?'

‘Just the executive summary.'

‘What a quaint expression. Okay. When I eventually locate and make my approach to this nearly invisible object, I will go into orbit about it, make all necessary scans, and launch the microprobe that will gain entry to the OEP and explore the internal environment. Both the microprobe and myself will send highly compressed encrypted data bursts back to you. In the event that either of us are discovered we will self destruct immediately.' The device paused for a second. ‘Is that part really necessary?'

‘Not if you do your job properly.'

‘I see. How very human of you.'

‘You had better get going. My source seemed to think the platform was in an exactly reciprocal orbit to Reema's End, so it's over there someplace.' Anneke pointed at the centre of the planet below. ‘Just find it.'

‘That's all? Old Empire technology designed not to be found?'

‘Wow, AI wit. Does it serve any function at all? I have to go now. You do, too.'

The suitcase made a clicking noise and lifted off slowly, checking for passing traffic, then streaking away, heading for a higher orbit. It would track around the planet to a position roughly opposite Reema's End, then start taking measurements.

Anneke was not looking forward to what came next. Lob Lotang was not a man to mess with and she would have to play a very delicate game if she was to come out of this alive, and free Deema into the bargain.

Worse, she had to thwart the mole's plan to kill Lotang.

How did I end up between a hard vacuum and a needier
, she wondered as she headed for the airlock.

Uncle Viktus had once said she had a natural talent for trouble. At the time she thought that most unfair. Now she wondered if he was right. She was also wondering what to do about her talent.

Once inside again Anneke deactivated the suit field and headed off through the maze of tunnels and corridors, making for the location where she had agreed to meet her escort. This would be a squad of Lotang's hunkies, and they were sure to still be sore about her little raid on Arcadia. That might turn them into an execution squad, but she was hopefully still of too much value for that.

There were four of them, four grim silent figures waiting at a walkway café. Three men and a woman. They stood as she approached. The woman introduced herself as Alisk and, bristling with hostility, ran an e-pad scanner across Anneke's features. She nodded when it beeped that Anneke was who she said she was. After a baleful stare Alisk turned away abruptly and led the group through the kind of maze that Maximus had been taken into some days earlier. Anneke did not bother with a retracker. If she wanted to find Lotang's headquarters again she had other ways.

At a lost lonely spot they stopped suddenly and Anneke tensed. Were they intending to kill her outright, dumping her body from the nearest airlock?

‘What's happening?'

‘Don't get jumpy,' muttered Alisk. ‘We have to scan you.'

‘You've scanned me already.'

‘In detail this time.'

For the next thirty minutes they ran every conceivable scan and check they could think of, even testing her DNA. She came up clean. Still Alisk was not happy. She stepped back and eyed Anneke with frank suspicion, her pupils small and flinty.

‘You're clean,' she said. ‘Maybe too clean.'

Anneke snorted impatiently. ‘Of course I'm clean, you think I'd come to a meeting like this loaded for bear? Whatever bear is.'

‘Some might.'

‘I've scrubbed my ears, already. I just want the girl back. That's all. I don't want trouble.'

‘That how you felt on Arcadia?'

Now she understood Alisk's antagonism. ‘So, you were there?'

Alisk nodded. ‘Right on your tail. Nearly nailed it, too. You're good. That worries me.'

Before Anneke could answer they were moving again. A short while later a dampener field was placed around her head. She could not see, hear or smell anything. It was an unsettling experience. No human being likes being cut off from all sensation for long, unless they're a meditation master. It's too much like death.

When the dampener came off Anneke was standing in an ornate, oblong-shaped room with a throne at one end. Two rows of black clad hunkies faced her, each pointing a nasty, barely legal variant of the needler at her.

I may be in the crossfire, but they are also pointing at each other
, Anneke observed.

She watched as Alisk went to a bank of machinery in an alcove and fiddled with controls. No doubt they would record everything she said and analyse it later for nuance, subtle cues and clues. They would have a brainwave lie detector auditing her externally as well.

Either Alisk had sent a signal or Lotang was watching the proceedings from the safety of an adjoining room, because just as Alisk straightened up from the console the huge bronze doors at the end of the room swung inwards and a tall, well-built man entered. Robed like a monarch, his bald dark head was oiled and scented. Anneke had an urge to sneeze but suppressed it immediately.

Ignoring her, Lotang moved to the throne and sat down.

Megalomaniac
, thought Anneke.

‘I want the girl,' she said.

Lotang eyed her, his face expressionless. His profile said he could be unutterably cruel to his enemies but not merely for cruelty's sake. At heart, Lotang was a canny businessman. He would not respond to threats but he might respond to a good business deal.

‘The –' Anneke stopped, started again. ‘Nathaniel Brown wants you dead. He sent me here to kill you.' The weapons pointed at her became rigid.
Bad moment
.

‘You tell me this? Here on my ground? Surrounded by my people? You have
hru hruhh
.' It was a compliment.

Anneke smiled. Being female, she did not technically have
hru hruhh
. The phrase was of alien origin, but she got the idea.

‘So you didn't come to kill me, or at least not willingly?' Lotang continued.

‘All I want is the girl, Deema. Brown has his own agenda.'

‘I know Nathaniel Brown and I know something of his agenda. He tried to kill me but failed. He paid a small price for this attempt. However, I believe the books are being balanced as we speak.'

A gleam came into Lotang's eye and Anneke wondered at his rumoured cruelty. His calculated cruelty. Never personal of course, just ‘good for business'. Maybe her account against the mole was being settled for her.

Lotang cocked his head like an inquisitive bird. ‘You hate Brown with great passion. What did he take from you?'

‘My uncle, the last of my family.' The words flowed out like lava, slow and hot, viscous hatred.

Lotang's eyes flickered towards Alisk who gave a subtle signal back, repositioning her body as if changing posture.
There's more going on here than just a simple exchange
, thought Anneke.
I must be more careful, not let my emotions take control again. Be calm, watchful, wait for the moment when all becomes clear
…

The mantra of her training soothed her. She relaxed, organised her breathing.
All good things come to those who wait. Wait as the big cats of the jungle worlds waited
. The RIM Instructor-Mystics called it ‘the inward time' and ‘the waiting moment', though it might last hours or weeks, or a lifetime.

‘So he made you an orphan.' It was not a question, more an evaluation. The dark eyes regarded her with a mathematical quality, as if they were adding up numbers. ‘And you do not wish to see me dead?'

‘I do not wish to see you dead at the hands of Brown, in the service of his plans, whatever they are.'

‘But if I had an aneurism right now and died, you would not weep?'

‘I have no feelings for you, one way or another.'

‘Why did you steal from me on Arcadia?' The words suddenly leaped out at her.

Anneke permitted herself the tiniest shrug. ‘That was just business. You know how it is, you would have done the same.'

Lotang eyed her a moment then suddenly burst out laughing, slapping his thighs. ‘Hah! Just business! I like that.' Anneke breathed out. She had calculated correctly. The man loved bravado.

‘The girl –?' He signalled for Anneke to come closer. As she did so she felt a twitching in her nose where the mole had surgically implanted an ejector capsule containing the second part of the symbiotic poison. The twitch had to be psychosomatic. The ejector could not be activated until she pressed the side of her nose. She had checked that. She had no intention of doing so, as long as she got Deema back.

‘How were you meant to kill me?'

Anneke told him, blunt and truthful. Immediately three hunkies stepped forward and shackled her hands to a waist restraint. Now she could not activate the ejector, even if she'd wanted to. She sighed. No matter. She did not want to kill this man anyway – perhaps because she found herself liking him; he reminded her of Uncle Viktus.

Lotang had sat forward on his throne during her shackling. Now he sat back, partly satisfied. ‘I am aware,' he said, ‘that RIM agents are well trained and extraordinarily … flexible. Some are even double-jointed I believe. Should you attempt any acrobatic feat, whether or not it results in the activation of the ejector, you will be instantly vaporised. Do we have an understanding?'

‘Obviously, Lotang.'

Lob smiled again. ‘Good, I think we can do business.' He signalled one of the hunkies, who disappeared for a few moments then reappeared with Deema. Anneke's heart leapt at the sight of the little girl, who broke free of the restraining hand and raced across the room to her, dodging the hunkies who tried to grab her. She flung herself at Anneke and hugged her tightly. Lotang waved off his men.

‘I knew you'd come for me,' Deema whispered through tears. Anneke's face was wet as she bent down to kiss the child's head.

Then Anneke sneezed.

It was utterly and totally involuntary. Deema had obviously been spiked with an actuator.
Brown!
Anneke cursed mentally.
He's left nothing to chance
.

There was a soft gasp from Alisk. Then, in a weird slow motion, as if her senses had sped up enormously and everyone in the room had correspondingly slowed down, the scramble started. Alisk and two other bodyguards grabbed Lotang and hustled him out of the room. Blowers came on at full force, sucking out the air in the room and instantly replacing it. Techies appeared, taking air samples, scanning those present, hunting for every imaginable germ. And all the while a regiment of guns pointed at Anneke, fingers twitching above tabs.