Time Past (36 page)

“Place your manipulative appendages in view on the table,” growled the captain.

Pairs of hands and claws appeared. Trillith lowered only one pair, which brought it a stare from the Bendarl.

“Now,” she said.

The K’Cher presented its two upper pairs of legs with alacrity.

Stone opened his mouth.

“No,” I whispered. He frowned at me but mercifully stayed silent.

An Barik didn’t move.

The captain stomped around the table once, taking her time, looking over each of us in turn. Taller than all of us except Trillith, heavier than all but An Barik, she wore her dark blue uniform as armor, a chain-mail second skin. Long predator’s snout, predator’s teeth. Orange predator’s eyes.

Nobody moved or spoke. It didn’t matter that this was a ConFleet officer and supposed to be on our side. We were all reduced to small prey, keeping as still as possible in the hope we wouldn’t be noticed. Finally she returned to her initial position inside the door.

“Who is the ranking officer here?”

To his credit, Stone’s voice only wavered a little. It sounded high and thin after the Bendarl’s throaty growl. “I am the acting head of station and an official representative of Earth’s government. How dare you interrupt...”

After one sniff at him, the captain looked away. “The ranking officer.”

I stood up slowly, careful to keep both hands outstretched and visible. “I’m the senior ConFleet officer here. These people are all civilians.”

The Bendarl captain stepped behind me. I could smell her sour predator’s breath.

“Turn around.”

I turned around and stared past her knobbly shoulder. She narrowed her eyes at the rank bars and medal strip. Bendarl are notoriously shortsighted.

I took a deep breath. Show no fear, make no concessions. “Where are my people from out there?” I nodded at the door to the corridor.

The captain inspected me for a moment and I forced my face still. Then she barked a brief order over her shoulder. Sasaki and another guard stumbled into the room, pushed by an armed Bendarl. Sasaki looked at me, face hard and eyes confused, but all I could do was give her a quick look, trying to project
don’t do anything, it’ll be over soon.

“You will inform your subordinates in the rings that they are to stand aside. This is an authorized inspection,” said the captain.

“Authorized by whom?” Stone was the only person ignorant enough to question her.

“Let it go,” said Lorna tightly to him.

Stone ignored her. “This is Earth territory and you are trespassing without a docking permit.”

The captain turned in his direction and I activated my wrist comm hurriedly. “I’ll tell them.”

“No.” The captain’s huge six-digit paw snared my arm in a swift movement. I felt the link crush and the pain of her grip sucked the air into my throat in an involuntary cry.

“Shit,” said Florida faintly.

“Use this.” She released me and tossed a standard Con-Fleet-issue fieldcom onto the table. The flat box was bigger than our links—it was also stronger, and easier to repair. This kind of equipment would be obsolete, if not for the Bendarl preference for simple toys. They were supposed to use the station’s comm system, as the usual docking permit states. But like Stone said, they didn’t get a docking permit.

Trillith edged away from me as I activated the fieldcom clumsily with one hand. The K’Cher’s color was now a pasty gray all over, similar to the pallor of Stone’s face. Mine, too, probably. I flexed the fingers on my left hand and was relieved to find they all worked, however excruciating they felt.

“Halley to Murdoch.”

The reply was immediate. “Murdoch. What the hell’s going on? I’m getting reports of ConFleet...”

“Offer no resistance,” I said sharply. “Is that clear?”

He only hesitated for a millisecond. “Understood. We’ll stand back. What do they want?”

I looked at the Bendarl captain over my shoulder. “It’s an inspection. Halley out.”

The captain observed the room. “Let’s clear this.” To An Barik. “You wish these out of the way?”

“Safe,” the Invidi said. The word echoed in the frozen silence.

The captain and two more Bendarl marines herded all the civilians into the far corner of the room. She was marginally more deferential to Trillith and Veatch, but they kept quiet, nevertheless. I hoped this behavior from the normally bumptious Trillith would encourage everyone to do the same.

We waited.

Sasaki and the guard, a young man with freckles standing out like a mosaic on his pale face, stood next to me. I wanted to pace, but when I tried, the captain growled and our personal ConFleet guard leveled his weapon suggestively. The Bendarl like projectile weapons, the larger and messier the better. Fortunately, regulations required that they use either standard stun charges in enclosed environments or hand lasers.

“Aren’t they breaking the law?” whispered Sasaki. “We’re supposed to be neutral ground.”

“Who can stop them?” I said, then put my finger on my lips for silence.

The Bendarl captain prowled around the table. She sat in Florida’s seat and sampled mouthfuls of as many dishes as she could reach. We all watched with horrified fascination as she ate.

“This’s good,” she said to An Barik around a mouthful. “Try some.”

“Results slow,” was the answer. Why was he impatient? They must have located
Farseer
on their sensors. Or maybe not. Sasaki had moved it to the old fighter docks because the area was shielded.

An Barik must have told them to look where Invidi ships were usually docked, on Level Two or Three. If they don’t find the ship where An Barik told them, I realized too late, they’ll ransack the whole station until they do. My vision of Bendarl soldiers rampaging through the rings might come horribly true. You had to be smart, didn’t you? I cursed myself. Never thought the Invidi might call your bluff.

I stepped forward. “Captain.”

She ignored me and tapped open her comm link, a flat area below the neck of the armor. She snapped a few words in Confederacy Standard too fast to catch. An answer in a similar dialect followed.

“We search other levels,” she said, and returned to the food.

“Captain, we changed the docks,” I said.

She gave no sign of having heard.

At the same time, the Invidi rolled a little way toward me. “Governor Halley tell the one where.”

Stone called out, “Give yourself up, Halley. Think of the rest of us.”

The captain growled at being interrupted and got up to stomp around in front of me.

“Is this true?” Her breath now smelled of garlic.

“It’s in…”
It’s in the old dock,
I was about to say, when the captain’s heavy arm shot up and hit me on the side of the head.

The blow was so unexpected I spun right around and went down on top of Sasaki, who had the presence of mind to grab the other guard and anchor herself so we both didn’t fall completely.

Through the roaring in my ears Lorna’s voice called out something and the Achelian made a sharp, high squeal of distress.

The rough material of Sasaki’s uniform scraped against my cheek. Same as Murdoch’s. He... no, she was saying something to me.

Open your eyes. They’re open, just can’t focus. Legs, try legs. I grabbed handfuls of Sasaki’s uniform and tried to pull myself upright. Someone held my elbows.

“Where is it?” The captain’s face shimmered into unwelcome focus. She pushed Sasaki and the guard away from me effortlessly with both her arms.

I tried to answer but my head throbbed and my mouth was full of blood. I turned my head to spit and the movement sent me staggering against the table.

“Where is it?” The captain pointed her weapon at Sasaki.

“In the old fighter dock,” said Sasaki. She reached out to take my arm but the captain growled, a note of warning.

“Level Eight,” I mumbled. Spat, and tried again. Mouth must be cut inside, whole cheek numb. “I was about to tell you.” My mouth slurred the words.

The captain cocked her head at me.

Being beaten by the Bendarl is not necessarily regarded by them as a weakness, it merely confirms their view of how the universe should work.

She slowly replaced her weapon and called her marines again. We waited while they searched, the link open. Tableau: huddle of frightened dignitaries in one corner of the room, silent Bendarl soldiers with bare weapons, the Invidi like a silver statue, Bendarl captain with her attention on the comm link. I dared not look behind at Sasaki or meet Lorna’s eyes for fear the bitter bile of defeat would rise up and choke me and I’d say something we might all regret.

Finally a response crackled from the comm link. The captain wrinkled her nose in satisfaction and turned to An Barik.

“Item secure.”

The Invidi shuffled toward the door where the soldiers were lined up.

“As the Council delegate, I protest this treatment.” Quertianus found his voice.

“Absolutely.” Stone also gained courage from the partial withdrawal of the soldiers. “I will send a full and detailed report of this outrage to your superiors and mine. Don’t think you can get away with it.”

The captain’s eyes roved over the room and I felt sick— was she going to kill us all so we couldn’t talk?

Apparently Trillith thought the same, for its color began to fade again. “I’m sure the captain has her reasons,” it said. “We must not judge too hastily.”

“They are in clear violation of at least five Confederacy laws and many regulations,” said deVries coldly, her eyes on An Barik. “Laws that the Invidi helped draft. They have no right to break them now.”

The captain ignored all this. An Barik resumed his shuffle out.

“Bring Halley,” he said. And left.

Cold claws of apprehension clutched at me. I couldn’t do anything from Confederacy custody. Once they had me in the system it would take months to get a ConFleet hearing.

Too fast, it’s all happening too fast.

“You have no right to apprehend a citizen of the Confederacy on neutral ground. Until the Council accepts or rejects our application, this station is exactly that.” DeVries stepped forward, angrier than I’d ever seen her.

“I concur with the magistrate’s position,” said Veatch. He wriggled his fingers nervously but he stepped forward beside deVries. The delegates and Trillith edged back, as though to make it clear they were not involved.

Florida dithered. “Ah, what the hell,” he muttered, and joined Lorna. “You’ve got a lot of witnesses here.” He spread his hands in a gesture of conciliation. “Why not just take the…“

“Ship,” said Lorna.

“Ship, and forget about the commander?” He smiled, totally wasted on the Bendarl.

The captain looked at me. “I order you to report to
Vengeful.
”

My face throbbed. I touched the cut inside my mouth with my tongue and tasted blood. “No, ma’am. I can’t do that.”

“Then I arrest you for mutiny.”

“I hereby resign my ConFleet commission as per regulation Theta 5.3.”

“You still stand trial.”

DeVries came all the way to the table and leaned over it. Florida and Veatch followed more reluctantly.

“She is also the governor of this system,” said Lorna, “and that position holds until the neutrality vote. You cannot arrest a senior official without due process of law, which involves...”

I felt strangely detached.

The captain snarled and spun around. This time I jumped back, but she wasn’t interested in blows.

“Cannot, cannot. Look around you, little ones.” She loomed with the promise of violence.

“Take her,” she ordered the soldier closest to me.

Sasaki and the guard attempted to close in front of me but I pushed between them. “No, it’s not worth it.” I tried to catch Florida’s eye. “Dan, tell every...”

Tell everyone what happened
is what I wanted to say. The words were cut off as the guard pulled me away. His hand curled around my forearm like a vise. The door shut on deVries’s and Florida’s protests. I felt a pang of sympathy for him—he’d worked so hard to bring the delegates here and now I’d messed up his dinner.

The guard shifted his grip to my upper arm. It hurt, but so did my wrist where the captain had grabbed it and my head where she’d hit it. The pain didn’t matter at the moment—it might have belonged to someone else.

The captain stalked along, growling under her breath. We followed her, two more soldiers bringing up the rear. The corridor was dark and blue, night lights only. More people, all scurrying to get out of the way when they saw the Bendarl. I kept stumbling and the guard kept jerking me upright.

An Barik’s tall form filled the corridor ahead. We overtook him rapidly.

“Wait.” I braced my heels as the captain leveled with the Invidi and the guard slowed down. “An Barik, please listen to me.” No response.

The captain growled something over her shoulder and passed An Barik.

“Please!” I shouted at him. The guard pushed me and I bumped off the wall back almost in An Barik’s path.

“At least answer a question,” I panted. In the old days, An Barik was always willing to answer questions.

The guard grabbed my arm and twisted it behind me. Bright points began to blossom in front of my eyes.

“What is question?” boomed An Barik.

I sagged with relief in the guard’s grip. He loosened his hold slightly and looked at the captain. She chopped her hand down irritably. “Hurry up.” She continued striding on ahead.

“What is question?”

The old Barik was never impatient.

“Can the Invidi open jump points wherever you want to?” I didn’t care if the guard heard. Didn’t care if the whole damn Confederacy heard. “Is that why you’re after Serat—because he did that?”

Immediate answer. “Serat work unstable.”

Did he mean Serat himself or
Farseer?
Unstable in what way? “What’s so special about that ship?”

“You answer your own question.”

“What...” I began, but the guard cut me off by putting a coarse hand across my mouth. What did he mean? The question about Invidi opening jumps off-network—was that why
Farseer
was special? It could open jump points?