Robot Blues (27 page)

“What men? What
pretty boy?” Xris asked innocently.

“Nice try,
Captain. I’ve got files on all of you.” The last of the base personnel were
leaving the auditorium. Xris motioned. Harry, Quong, and Tycho started to walk
down the aisle toward the stage.

Jamil arrived
first. He looked at Tess, standing behind and to one side of Xris, and put on a
charming smile, only slightly frayed around the edges. “Captain Strauss, good
to see you again. If you would excuse us, Captain, I’d like to talk to Captain
Kergonan—”

“Forget it,” Xris
said laconically. “She’s got files on all of us. Not to mention a gun in my
back.”

Jamil dropped the
smile. He eyed Tess. “She does, huh?”

“Yes,” Xris said,
shrugging. “Though I don’t really think she’d use it.”

Jamil grunted. “Yeah,
well, think again. She’s not regular Army. She’s NI. Naval Intel. You’re one of
Dixter’s people, aren’t you, Strauss?”

“That’s right,”
Tess returned crisply. “The first move you make I don’t like and I’ll shoot.
Nothing personal, Xris,” she added, her voice softening. “I had a lot of fun
last night.”

“Yeah, me, too,” Xris
said bitterly. “For someone who was set up, I had a great time!”

Tess shifted her
attention to Jamil. “I take it you just came back from your ‘briefing’ on board
the
King James.”

Jamil nodded,
wary. “My orders are to grab the robot and be on the first spaceplane out. Take
it straight to Sakuta.”

“And, of course,
that’s what you were planning to do,” Tess said, her lip curling.

“Certainly!” Jamil
returned, scowling.

“Sure you were.
You called for all this backup to help you carry the ‘bot to the staff car. I
think you’re trying to double-cross us. I think you’re going to take off with
the ‘bot yourselves. Make a tidy profit putting it up on the open market.”

“Look, lady,”
Jamil growled, “after what I found out about that ‘bot, the only thing I want
to do is fling it out the air lock! As for calling in the team, how could I? I’ve
been on that mother of a command cruiser with two trigger-happy Marines
breathing down my neck the entire time.”

“And I’d like to
remind everyone that I still don’t know what’s going on!” Xris said savagely. “Why
would I call in the team?”

“Because you want
the robot,” Tess returned.

“I don’t even like
the damn robot! It’s got eyes. It gives me the creeps. Look,” Xris said, “there’s
a real easy way to solve this.” He glanced over his shoulder at Tess. “You know
everyone from our files, so that will save long introductions. Tycho, Harry
Luck, Dr. Bill Quong.

“Doc,’’ Xris
continued, as the rest of the team gathered around him, “this woman, who is
currently holding a gun to my hack, would like to know who told you to come
here and why.”

Dr. Quong raised
an eyebrow. “I am with the Army Medical Corp. I was told to report—”

Jamil shook his
head. “On the level, Doc. She has files.”

“Oh. I see.” Dr.
Quong made Tess a formal bow. “I was told to report to the military base on
Pandor by a colleague of mine, Raoul de Beausoleil.”

“Raoul called me,
too, Xris,” Harry offered. “He said you were in some kind of trouble. I crashed
my plane getting here to rescue you.”

“You crashed the
plane,” Xris repeated. He knew the answer, but he asked the question anyway. “Why?”

“I had to, Xris.
They weren’t going to let me land.”

Xris sighed,
glanced at Tycho. “What about you?”

“I spoke to Raoul.
He stated that there was an emergency and we were to meet here on the Army base
on Pandor.”

“Now, I wonder why
Raoul—” Xris realized suddenly that they were minus one team member. “Darlene!
Something’s happened to Darlene!” Forgetting about the gun, he started to turn,
only to feel the barrel gouge him painfully in the ribs. He held still, but he
was rapidly losing patience. “Look, Captain Strauss, the only way to clear this
up is to talk to Raoul.”

Tess hesitated,
then said, “Come on. Back of the stage. The four of you”—she motioned to Quong,
Harry, Jamil, and Tycho—”first. Remember that I have the gun.”

Tycho gave Xris a
look that said as plainly as if he’d spoken through his translator.
There
are five of us. We can take her out.

Xris shook his
head emphatically. The agents for NI— Naval Intelligence—were highly trained and
dedicated to their work. Tess meant what she said; she’d kill him without
hesitation. And then, of course, she’d be the next to die. If everyone kept
cool, they might all get out of this alive.

“Start walking,”
Tess ordered. “And you still haven’t answered my question about the robot.”

“It’s someplace
safe,” Xris said.

“Where?” Tess
demanded.

Xris shrugged. “After
all, Captain, how the hell do I know I can trust
you’?
I don’t suppose
you have any identification on you. Or maybe you could kiss me again. Then I’ll
tell you all my secrets.”

“Just keep
walking, Captain.”

Tess herded them
all to the rear of the stage. Parting the back curtains, they found Raoul
seated in chair, his wrists and ankles locked in disrupters, a gag in his
mouth. The Little One crouched on the floor beside his friend. Disrupters were
too big to fit on the small wrists and ankles. His hands and feet were tied
with what appeared to be nylon stockings.

Dr. Quong, on Tess’s
command, removed the gag from Raoul’s mouth, the disrupters from his hands and
feet. Quong untied the Little One.

Raoul drew in a
deep breath, let it out in an indignant explosion. He pointed a quivering
finger at Tess. “She wiped off my lipstick!”

“She’s read your
file,” Xris said grimly.

“Oh.” Raoul
thought this over, was considerably relieved. “I’m glad it’s that. I thought
perhaps she was making some sort of fashion statement. Which, considering her
choice of—”

“Can it!” Xris
said irritably. “In case you haven’t noticed, she’s holding a gun on me!”

“Oh, I noticed,”
Raoul said, taking a mirror from his handbag and attempting to assess the
damage. “I thought perhaps you were enjoying it.”

“Where’s Darlene?”
Xris asked nervously.

Raoul glanced
sidelong at Tess. His eyelashes fluttered. “She decided to take a pleasure cruise.
I believe she’s heading for Moana.”

“You let her go?
By herself?” Xris was furious.

Raoul looked up at
Xris. The Loti’s eyes widened. “I am sorry, Xris Cyborg. I did not realize that
Darlene was my prisoner. She was not having fun on Adonia and so I suggested
that she try a pleasure cruise. I would have accompanied her, but at the time I
was somewhat occupied.”

“She’s all right?”
Xris asked, tensely.

“She’s all right,”
Raoul said, his voice quiet.

Xris relaxed. He
wasn’t being told the whole story, but he didn’t dare ask for more, not with an
NI agent listening in. Tess was suspicious as it was.

“Who is this
Darlene?” Tess asked.

“What’s the
matter?” Xris retorted. “Don’t you have a file on her, too?”

“I’m asking the
questions.” Tess smiled at Raoul. “Who told you to come to this base, Adonian?”

Raoul gave her a
charming smile. “I guess that would be me.”

“You told
yourself.”

“I suppose I must
have. I told everyone else. That meant I was next in line. May I touch up my
lipstick?”

Tess shook her
head.

Raoul sighed
bleakly. Looking at himself in the mirror, he shuddered and snapped the compact
shut.

“All right,” Tess
continued, “why did you tell yourself to assemble the team here?”

“We thought that
perhaps Xris Cyborg might be in trouble.” Raoul glanced at the Little One, who
nodded. “Considering that Professor Sakuta was not what he claimed to be. And
he was so perfectly beautiful, too.” Raoul sighed again. “Beauty is as beauty
does, however.”

“What’s this? How
could he be someone else?” Xris asked, puzzled. “The Little One read Sakuta’s
mind. The Little One told me—”

“Wait a minute,”
Tess said. “As you say, I have files. The Little One. He’s supposedly the
telepath?”

“He is a telepath,
Captain,” Xris said.

“It comes with age
to certain members of his race,” Dr. Quong added didactically. “I am writing a
paper on the subject, which I plan to present at the next Conference of
Surgeons. If you would be interested in reading it, I could make a copy
available—”

“Yes, I would be,”
Tess said softly. She frowned, stared intently at the Little One, who stared
just as intently back at her.

“Anyone can claim
to be a telepath,” she said finally. “Let’s see how good he is. He couldn’t
have heard us talking out front. What organization do I work for?”

The Little One
tilted his head back, to see her better from beneath the brim of the fedora.
Then, making a snorting sound, he rubbed his hands together and, folding his
short arms across his chest, he turned his back on her.

Raoul nodded in
approval. “The Little One says that he doesn’t need to prove his talents to
anyone, particularly a woman with little or no fashion sense. That last bit,”
Raoul added unnecessarily, “was mine.”

“Uh-huh.” Tess
smiled wryly. “Go on with your story, then, Adonian. Your friend, the telepath”—she
lifted an eyebrow—”was supposed to read Sakuta’s mind. And he failed.”

“It was not his
fault!” Raoul rushed to the defense, put his arm protectively around the Little
One. “You cannot blame him! Sakuta used a telepathic scrambler on him.”

“Oh, a telepathic
scrambler.” Tess rolled her eyes.

“There are such
devices,” Dr. Quong stated. “They use a high-frequency resonator that produces
alpha waves. The mind targeted wanders but does not notice anything wrong. As
it detects an anomaly or error, another random alpha wave interrupts it, and so
on.”

Tess shook her
head, unconvinced.

The Little One,
when he thought the woman wasn’t looking, jerked his head toward Xris,
sniggered, reached out a small hand, and made a swipe at Raoul’s upper arm.
Raoul’s lashes fluttered; a side of his lipstick-smudged mouth twitched. He
nudged the Little One in the ribs with an elbow.

Xris figured he
could guess what that charade was all about. He’d have a talk with those two
later.

“Let’s say that
Sakuta
did
use a telepathic scrambler.” Xris looked at Tess, who
shrugged. “If that’s true, this is finally beginning to come into focus. This
whole job is a setup. Sakuta hires us to steal this ‘bot, tells us it’s
worthless except to a museum. And we fall for it.” Xris reached for his pocket,
took out a twist. He didn’t give a damn who saw him anymore. He put the twist
in his mouth, bit down on it, hard. “He played us for suckers.”

Xris was silent,
chewing. Then he demanded, “All right. Who the hell is Professor Sakuta?”

“His real name is
Nick Harsch,” Tess answered.

“According to
Tess, Harsch’s a Corasian agent, Xris,” Jamil finished.

“Son of a bitch,”
Xris said, soft, bitter.

“I didn’t know who
he was,” Raoul stated. “But I reasoned that anyone who would use a telepathic
scrambler was doing so only because he desired to hide his thoughts. And if one
is hiding one’s thoughts, one must be thinking bad things. Bad thoughts in such
a lovely head.”

“Son of a bitch,”
Xris said again. “And I fell for it. One of the oldest con jobs in history. All
so damn obvious! The museum offices are being renovated, so everyone takes the
week off. Sakuta and his people show up to do the work. They slap paint on the
walls, no one asks questions. One afternoon, Sakuta cleans the paint off his
hands, dresses up in a suit and tie, and meets with us for an hour or so, gets
rid of us, goes back to painting. The job’s done. Everyone goes home. Son of a
bitch.”

“You’re saying
that’s what happened?” Tess sounded skeptical.

“Look, Captain,
you can contact the Lord Admiralty,” Jamil offered irritably. “They’ll tell you
we’re acting on Dixter’s orders.”

“I’ve been in
contact with the Lord Admiral,” Tess returned. “You and Xris ... yes, you have
your orders.” She waved her hand. “It’s the rest of the floor show I wasn’t expecting.
But, just to prove we’re all on the same side, tell me this. Where is the
robot?”

“In a crate in the
maintenance shed,” Xris said. “For repair.”

Tess eyed him,
smiled. “I think you’re telling the truth.”

“I don’t much give
a damn what you think, sister,” Xris returned. “Go check it out, if you don’t
believe me.”

Tess regarded him
intently. Her expression softened. She lowered the gun, tucked it into the
holster on her belt. “Don’t beat yourself up, Xris. Nick Harsch is slick. You’re
not the first person he’s fooled. If it’s any comfort, you’ve managed to come
closer to him than any of
our
people.”

Xris snorted. “Just
tell me what the devil’s going on. What does a Corasian agent want with an
antique robot?”

Tess glanced
around.

They stood in the
wings to the left of the stage. Anyone approaching would have to climb the
stairs leading up to the stage from the side. The back of the stage was
accessible only by a door leading into the wings.

“This is as good a
place to talk as any.” Tess touched a button, lowered the stage curtains. “We’re
not likely to be interrupted here. You’ll find more chairs in the back. I think
they’re props.”

Raoul cast himself
on a love seat, hid his lipstick-smeared face in his arms. The Little One stood
by his friend, patted his shoulder in a conciliatory manner. The rest of the
team took their seats in the semidarkness.

Xris drew out
another twist. “This robot must be pretty damn important.”

Tess drew in a
deep breath, let it out with her words. “It is. There’s a possibility that it’s
a Lane-laying robot. And if it is, it will be the first one we’ve ever found
with all its programming and memory intact.”