Pirates of the Thunder (34 page)

Hawks nodded. “That’s about the size of it.”

The tiny captain rose. “Let me talk to somebody for awhile. I never had this thought before, but it’s one way to go.” She went back and sought out Takya Mudabur, her amphibian crew member. Mudabur was nice enough and good in a pinch, but unlike the others, who had been together for many years, she was a bit of an outsider kept more to herself.

“Takya?”

“Yes, my captain?” She was in her bath enclosure but stuck her head out when she saw someone enter her hut. “Something wrong?”

“Takya, we have done well with you dealing with the water worlds. How many has it been—four? Five?

“Six, my captain. Why do you ask?”

“When you talk to those people, just in general conversation, did you ever hear of a story or legend about a great golden ring with a design on it? Birds, perhaps, on a black stone set in a great gold ring owned by someone of power or importance?”

Takya thought a moment, then shook her head. “No, never. I have heard the story of the five gold rings and I am sure that if I had heard of any such thing I would have remembered it then.”

“Of the more than four hundred and fifty known colonial worlds, how many would you say have water people?”

“Not many. Ten, perhaps fifteen percent. You should know as well as I.”

She hadn’t known, never having counted them, but the total amazed her. Somewhere between forty-five and sixty or so such worlds. “Takya, all the water people I have ever seen are still air breathers like us. All of the ones you visited were. Have you ever heard of a race of water breathers?”

“Yes, there are some,” she said, “although not many. There are also some who breathe atmospheres poisonous to us, as well. Why do you ask?”

“Just following a train of thought. Axe there any freebooters, any spacefarers at all, among such races? Ones that either breathe water or something else we cannot?”

“I do not know for certain, but I have never heard of any. They would have to drastically modify any ships they flew, have special pressure suits and the like, and would have to modify the atmospheric transmuter systems to produce their required atmospheres. It was difficult enough for ones such as you and I to get out. Adding that may be asking the impossible.”

The captain nodded. “Very well. Thank you.” She headed back up to the council of captains on the
Thunder’s
bridge. They all looked at her expectantly.

“Well? Anything you’d care to let us in on?” Hawks asked.

“I—I’m not certain. Have any of you ever encountered a race that requires either water or some noxious atmosphere or excessive pressures to breathe and survive? Among the colonials, I mean.”

“There are several,” the insectlike Chun Wo Har responded. “They are not on the usual freebooter charts because they are of no practical value. Most cannot even have the level of technology the standard Centers use, and others exist under conditions that render them useless for any profit. Why?”

“I think I see where she’s headed,” Hawks told them. “Between us all we have represented here eight separate races. Combining your varying experiences, we have experience with perhaps a hundred and fifty or two hundred more through travels and business and contacts with other freebooters. Nowhere is there a trace of the lost ring, even as a legend or myth or totem of some kind. Yet we know that it is required by the core program of Master System to be in the possession of and under the control of a human being with power. If I were Master System and I wanted it as buried as possible, I might well place at least one under such conditions.”

Maria Santiago shrugged. “Why not all, then? It would make it next to impossible.”

“You are forgetting the transmuters,” Star Eagle broke in. “We can make what is required.”

“That may be true,” the
San Cristobal
captain responded, “but once you are remade you are that way for good, no? Because there are inevitable minor losses which become major, even catastrophic, in a second try. So you become these—people—and you get their rings, but what good does it do you? The sheer complexity of sustaining yourself in space or on another world is daunting, and the —how you say?—payoff, the insertion into Master System, is going to be under less than ideal conditions, if I guess right. You could steal them but not use them, and, I, for one, would not wish 19 be in the position of risking all to get the ring only to give it up and trust it to some, let us face it, alien kind of person who can offer only a promise of some ill-defined reward. If I were Master System it would be the logical thing to do.”

Hawks nodded, thinking furiously. “Unless—unless there aren’t five worlds where it would be safely done. I wish we had an analysis of any one of the rings rather than just a hologram of Chen’s. These things only
look
like rings, and they were designed by Earth-humans for Earth conditions using existing technology of the period. Below and in the setting are complex computer circuitry and instructions that, when combined with the other four at the correct interface, give access to the Master System core and override any existing instructions. What could they be made of? I think the gold is just that—gold. I have seen Chen’s and it looked like gold to me. The setting, which looks like stone, must be some sort of synthetic to contain and protect the electronics. Hence we can, for example, rule out any atmosphere where gold would be corroded or in any way deformed or broken down.”

Savaphoong nodded excitedly.
“Si! Si!
It is logical! If the rings contained anything active, they would be shorted out in water, for example, ruling that out.”

“They are most certainly passive,” Star Eagle commented. “It is asking too much to expect anything to hold a charge nine hundred-plus years, let alone indefinitely. They may be powered up when connected, but not individually and self-contained.”

“Water is looking better and better,” Hawks noted. “Gold is safe in water. It will tarnish, but it is easily restored even after centuries. The synthetic holding the electronics would certainly be watertight and airtight. And if they were water
breathers,
they would have virtually no contact with the freebooters. I would say we have a job and that is to check all the water breathers first. If we strike no gold, as it were, then we can begin to check the small number with deadly atmospheres.”

“I believe I can correlate the master files from the various ships and come up with most if not all the possible worlds for this,” Star Eagle told them. “However, it will not be easy to check on them all. Most will never have seen another kind of human before, and will consider us all, even Takya, as monsters.”

Hawks sighed. “These are the kind of problems we expected to have to solve, and we must solve them one way or another. It is the job of you all to work out methods and a system for doing so and then implement it when we approve. If Raven and Chen are correct in their interpretation of the ore commands, then it only must be
possible.
I do not believe there is any requirement that it be easy or guaranteed.”

Vulture had been down on Janipur for seven weeks when the
Thunder
finally heard from him again. The new voice was male, very highly accented, and occasionally difficult to understand, but the message came through.

“I have rigged up a repeater device to the fighter, then the relay. I hope it works,” Vulture said. “I also do not know how long this is safe to use, so I will be brief. This is a far different world from any I have ever known, but there is a cultural undercurrent that shows a human origin. Much of the world is primitive, pretechnological, and ignorant, as expected. The population is dense in the desirable areas —very dense, and very poor, by most standards. They are administered by five Centers employing a total of perhaps thirty thousand inside and in the field. As the good
Indrus
captain told us, the Centers are quite modern with full technology complexes. There is a complex and rigid caste system here, as well, which complicates matters. One cannot graduate to Center level; one must be born to it, and there are physical ways to tell.”

“All right, but have you seen the ring?” Hawks asked.

“I have. It is not difficult if you are of the Brahman caste. As the captain said, it is usually on public display, during which times it would be impossible to get to. Too many people and too much split-second security. After dark it is protected by a labyrinthine set of computer and mechanical devices and switches that bewilder me, and I am many engineers and computer personnel, if you remember. To remove it even if you had all the codes and keys would require at least three people. This is long enough for now. The rest of the data is being sent serially on my subcarrier direct to Star Eagle. I will call back when I can, but not before this time tomorrow.”

“Wait! No chance you can get it without us?”

“None. I am third in rank in Security here and have much power, and I have even participated in unlocking the thing, but there is simply no way to do it alone and get away with it. One last thing. You were right about the trap. At least ten percent of security forces in this Center and possibly others are ringers. There may be more outside. Master System is just waiting for us to try for it. Good bye for now.”

“He has broken connections,” Star Eagle said. “I have the rest of his information under analysis now. It appears that the actual system is nearly identical to Earth’s, but the people there do not look anything like any of us, and the culture is a rather strange form of Hinduism. I believe with the help of the
Indrus
personnel we could create an effective linguistic mindprinter recording, but unlike Vulture, the rest of us would require a great deal of study to change. Culture aside, this will not be body or life style to easily get comfortable with.”

“But what about the ring defenses itself?” Hawks asked. “What are we facing?”

“Everything conventional, apparently nothing new. These people have very poor night vision, making for a daylight culture, and their regular visual range is even more restricted than yours. That works in our favor since their light-beam traps are invisible to them but not to us. The outer doors are locked with a large key, but the door has its own sensors and visual remote monitors as well. There is a secondary vaultlike door inside the first, with an open area that is monitored visually and with sensors. The second door is computer-operated by coded remote from the master console in Security. No one individual has the whole code, which is changed periodically.”

“I see. Go on.”

“The inner display museum is covered by light sensors and is also visually and aurally monitored. The display cases appear to have weight sensors under tiles around them, so we will have to find out what sort of weight will set them off. The display case itself is thick but transparent, most certainly bulletproof, and perhaps cutter resistant to anything but a laser torch. Cutting or breaking through would not work, however, since fine alarm wires run through it like thin mesh. The only way to open the case is with two conventional keys, one worn by the chief administrator himself and the other by the chief of Security.

Turning both simultaneously opens the case and sounds an alarm in Security. If it is legitimate, the alarm is simply ignored, but it cannot be turned off until the case is closed again and locked.”

“All right. Anything nasty waiting if you get that far and remove something?”

“No. It is a good alarm system, but not a spectacular one. You pick it up, close the case, and if you also miss the alarms on the way out and relock all the doors you have it.”

“I’d hate to see what you call a spectacular system, then. This sounds mean.”

“The alarms and locks are all conventional, which means traditional and essentially antique. The same sort is used at Earth Centers. The Vatican Center museum, for example, is far better defended.”

“Hmmm... I wonder if there’s any chance of Vulture being alone on duty in Center Security?”

“Not likely. If they follow the standard procedure there will probably be a duty officer and three or four others. You know the procedure, although if Master System has added personnel it is a good bet that one or more of those on duty down there will be its people. The area also has regular watchmen rounds, and the doors are checked. Bet on all the watchmen being Master System personnel. You won’t be able to bribe them or turn them, Hawks.”

“Dealing with the people is Vulture’s job, and I’m sure he can do a good enough cover to get help. It’s a sure bet that most of the regulars down there, and particularly the bureaucrats, are really going nuts under a near-occupation by Master System. Some of them might well cherish the idea of really helping embarrass the bastards—if they didn’t know the theft was for real. Any chance of doing it the easy way? Cutting in the C.A., for example?”

“Dubious. Any chance we might have had left when Master System placed its own personnel down there. The chief administrator is first and foremost a survivor with self-interest paramount. No, we will have to steal it, and that brings up the first and certainly not the last of the nasty problems we will face.”

Hawks sighed. “You have a plan and personnel in mind?”

“I have both, but let me work on it further. I will also need supplementary information for Vulture. Make no mistake, though. There is no getting around the fact that we will require at least some of our people as Janipurians if we are to get close enough to this to even have a crack at it. Others, with their own innate abilities, might not need anything drastic, but will require more than Vulture’s help to get where they are needed. It appears clear now that the late Arnold Nagy provided us with the ones best equipped for this particular job. I am merely building off his obvious intent with others he did not anticipate.”

“I know. Damn it, it shouldn’t be now, not for
them.
Later, perhaps—you are sure that full transmutation is the
only
way?”

“Hawks, think of it from the basis of what you know. Back at North American Center, what would be the chance of, say, the
Kaotan
crew sneaking in, looking over and examining Security areas in detail, inside and out, while they were open, then breaking in, stealing something, and getting out and away? Even if they had a senior Security official on their side? Now add ten precent Master System forces—and you can bet a Val is somewhere around to call the shots—and you see the problem.”