The Bright Black Sea (40 page)

I smiled. 'Aye. And the safest way would be?'

'This crater has three access points,' he replied.
'The only direct way to the outside world is a small yacht field on
the crater wall, six kilometers up the road from the top of the
town. But the road is steep and runs through deep forests. You've
lost blood and the climb might be tiring even in low grav. And,
well, we must also consider that your would be assassin has likely
also gone that way too, if only to reach her boat.'

'Neb, you're right,' I muttered. I looked up into the
dark forests surrounding the town. The yacht port was likely the
way I'd arrived, unconscious, during the night so her rocket boat
was likely still parked at the landing field. Was she now racing
for her boat, or lingering along the way, waiting for me to follow?
What could I do if I found her? My only ready answer was I'd likely
die. Between the forests and low grav it would be easy for her to
hide my body, delaying its discovery for some time.

'I'd insist on accompanying you, of course, if you
choose to go that way...' Doc Hans continued. 'Murder is against
the law in Prusza.'

I shook my head. 'No, Doctor. Can't have that. She's
desperate and there's no reason why she couldn't wait in ambush and
kill us both. Believe it or not, I am rather a cautious fellow,
Doc, and ready to take your word. What are my alternatives?'

'There's a carriage road to Brandonburg through the
crater wall, but the fastest way would be by train. May I suggest
we turn at the next street and go down to the station to see when
the next one is due. Brandonburg is less than an hour's ride and
far more populated. Plus it has a tram that will take you up to a
much larger yacht club. I'd think you'd be much safer going that
route.'

'It does sound like the most prudent plan, though I'm
afraid I'm going to have to ask you for a small loan to pay the
train fare...'

02

The little iron
steam engine
chugged into the
station half an hour later, spewing hissing steam and dragging
three red and green carriages. I shook hands with Doctor Hans,
thanking him again for all his help and loans while he wished me
well and a safe passage. I gingerly climbed aboard the primitive
carriage, found a seat, and waved goodbye as the train jerked,
clanged and drifted out of the station.

Once on our way, the carriage creaked and swung so
wildly climbing along the steep side of the crater through the
pines that I occasionally feared for our lives, though my fellow
passengers seemed quite unperturbed. No one talked to me, though I
caught several curious glances, but those may have been only
because I was obviously not a native. I was, however, thankful my
uniform trousers were black so that the drying blood on them did
not show. Using the time, when not peering straight down steep
ravines, I kicked myself for all the things I could've, but didn't
think to do – like demand proof of marriage, demanding prove of
infidelity, interrogate the night clerk to prove that I'd not
arrived with Nadine. Still there seemed no point in going to the
authorities now – I'd been unconscious at all the critical points –
the space boat flight, my entry to Elborn crater, and the hotel.
Plus I had a ship to take to Zilantre on a tight schedule. I could
not afford to wait on official procedures.

The train entered the long black tunnel between
craters, only to emerge – just in time to avoid asphyxiating its
passengers with its smoke – into the bright sunlight of Brandonburg
Crater. The large, bustling town of Brandonburg lay at its center,
built along the same ancient pattern as Elborn and surrounded by a
picture perfect pastoral countryside of tiny villages set amongst
neat fields and dark green coppices. The tram to the yacht club
proved to be a single electric powered carriage on tracks, complete
with a driver, that slowly made its way along the town's streets
and after escaping the town, between hedgerows. It took the better
part of another hour to reach the yacht club, where I was able to
raise the ship on my com link.

'Where have you been, Captain? We were getting
worried,' said Illy as my call connected.

'Long story. What's our status?'

'I've moved the ship to the offings. & Kin's boat
is alongside now delivering the drones, Vyn is overseeing stowing
them in no. 4 hold. The trade goods you ordered will be up in the
next several hours.

'Good. I'll be up directly.'

'You know Vyn and Ten have their kits packed awaiting
your return. What should I tell them?'

'Nothing. I'll talk to them. See you soon,' (...I
hope, this time.) I replied and broke the connection to reluctantly
start sorting out my thoughts on what I needed to do when I arrived
onboard.

I signaled Kan Kantis' since he was back in operation
again. I wasn't about to take any more chances.

01

I swung on to the gangplank, trying not to wince – or
yelp – too much.

Are you alright, Wil?' asked Illy, waiting for me
with the hounds on the landing stage.

'I'm fine. I decided I needed to blow off some excess
energy and now I'm a little sore,' I said. She knew me too well to
believe that, but I looked, and felt, grim enough that she let it
ride. For now. I considered stopping at the medic bay, but decided
to deal with the Min, Vynnia and Tenry situation first, though only
Neb knew what I was going say to them.

Illy followed as I gently launched myself up the well
to the bridge deck. 'Tallith Min called several times. You were
supposed to meet her,' said Illy watching me. 'I called her after I
heard from you to let her know you'd soon be onboard.'

'Thanks, Illy. I'll freshen up and call her,' I
sighed. 'Please tell Vyn and Ten I'll see them shortly.'

'Right,' Illy said, still eyeing me with a growing
number of questions.

I slipped into my quarters, gingerly stripping off my
clothes and drifted into the shower. They may have embraced some
ancient culture or another, but Prusza – or Doc Hans, anyway –
hadn't embraced its ancient medicine. He'd sealed my “flesh wounds”
with pseudo-skin and though any sudden movement of either arm or
shoulder sent shooting darts of sharp pain as the painkiller wore
off, I could shower and clean up without a problem. I slipped the
air mask over my face and turned on the jets of hot water that
swirled about me in a soothing spray. I didn't linger, though I
would've liked to. I turned off the water jets and turned on the
warm air jets to suck the water mist out of the small shower
compartment and dry me off.

Dressed again, I anchored myself on my chair before
my desk and called Min.

'Ah, Captain,' she answered, voice only. 'I seem to
have been stood up.'

'And I'm very sorry about that. Truth is, I got
scared. I was my way to Bramble Vale when it struck me how reckless
it was to call on you now after having been so careful. Especially
with your safe haven about to sail in hours. I gave it a miss, not
even daring to call. Then, I'm embarrassed to admit, with some time
on my hands and lot of nervous energy and frustration, I went on a
little spree and lost track of time. I'm very sorry. It was not a
responsible thing to do, and I apologize. I was very thoughtless.'
That, I decided, was going to be my story, and I intended to stick
with it. It was barely plausible.

'Yes, I can see your point about visiting. I wasn't
thinking,' she said, carefully avoiding the spree, as I had hoped
she would.

'Tallith, are you really determined to go on alone?'
I asked, if only to give some credence to my tale.

'Yes.'

'Is there the slightest chance I can convince you to
change your mind? I realize this is a dumb question after standing
you up, but you must realize why I needed a spree.'

She sighed. 'No, Captain. There's not the slightest
chance. I'm sorry. That's final.'

I sighed in turn – one last approach... 'Back at the
Yacht Club I told you I was a partner in your quest. You've been
running away from me ever since. You may not need me looking after
you, but I don't need you looking after me either. Instead of
running away from each other, let's work together to get to the
heart of this mystery. So would you please trust me, Tallith, this
one time, and sail with us to Zilantre or LaTrina for my sake?'

She didn't reply for a moment and said, 'For your
sake, Captain, I won't.'

'Right,' I sighed again, Captain. 'Will you at least
allow Vyn and Ten to accompany you for a while – a year or two
until you've seen a bit more of the Nebula? With this Zilantre
charter, I can readily spare them.'

'I'm going alone. I've already made my arrangements
and they – or anyone else – will not be able to follow me or catch
up, so they'd best stay with you.'

As expected. However, to keep my options open until I
decided what to do I said, 'I still hope to get them to stay, but
they'll insist on seeing you one last time if only to say goodbye.
Will you see them for a few drinks before we sail? I'll give them
leave, as soon as we finish talking. We're waiting on a container,
so you've time to say your goodbyes without delaying sailing. You
owe them that much.'

'Oh, I suppose so. I do owe them for many
things.'

'Good. What are your final instructions?'

'I just wanted to impress upon you, that I don't
expect you to run exceptional risks to earn credits for me. All I
need is for the
ship
to pay its own way. As
soon as you can swing it, get it into the planetary trade. I'll see
what I can find in my travels and I'll keep you informed. If things
work out as planned with this Isleta delivery, we'll be more than
half way to being accepted for general transport, so that drift
work might be kept to a minimum.'

'I'm thinking that, too. I'm sure we'll give you a
good return without having to take extraordinary risks. You know
me, given that option, I'll take it. And you needn't worry about
the
Lost Star
, I'll keep it in one piece until you're ready
to take it over.'

'Good. Well, Captain, I guess there's not much more
to say, except fair orbits and good luck...'

'Good luck to you too, Tallith. Promise me you'll not
do anything I wouldn't do,' I said with a smile she couldn't see.
Everything she was doing I wouldn't do.

'Of course,' she replied, probably with a smile too.
'You needn't worry. I'll never run any risks at all.'

I laughed. 'Excellent. I'll hold you to that
standard, so when we next meet I'll expect only tourist vids of all
the wonderful places and planets you've discovered.'

'I''m looking forward to seeing many strange and
wonderful places,' she replied, and tiring of lying, added. 'Well
Captain, I mustn't keep you. Good luck – fair orbits!'

'Good luck to you too, Min. Fair orbits,' I replied
and the connection was broken.

02

I took a few minutes to gather all my ruthlessness,
and called Vynnia and Tenry in. They must have been waiting on the
bridge, since they arrived even as I closed the connection.

'Slide the door closed and have a seat,' I said as
they knocked and entered.

'You never met with Talley?' asked Vynnia warily,
getting down to business.

'No. But I've just finished talking to her,' I said.
'And I'm afraid I couldn't convince her to change her mind. Not
about sailing with us or about taking you along. I tried, but she
assured me she's made plans to see that she's not followed.'

They looked grim.

'As I see it, unless you sail aboard the same ship as
Min when she leaves Sanre-tay, you're unlikely to ever catch up
with her. And really, we can't even assume she's going out of
system at this point.'

There was nothing they could say to meet those
objections. I continued.

'Can your Patrol connections keep track of her?' I
asked on the slim chance their reserves status would allow them to
pull strings, maybe even hitch rides, to keep Min in sight.

Tenry shook his head. 'Vyn might be able to call in
some favors, what with her folks being admirals, but unless the
Patrol is interested in a person, tracking passengers is not what
the Patrol does. Any ideas Vyn?'

'No. I wish I knew why she's being so stubborn.' She
gave me a hard look, before continuing, 'It could be an adventure
for all of us. It's not like we're asking to hang with her for
life... We simply have to convince her to let us tag along for a
while...'

I shook my head. 'She was very definite. She's
traveling alone.'

'We're resourceful. We'll take our chance, Captain.
It's our duty,' said Vynnia watching me closely. 'We're packed and
are ready to go down. I hate to leave you like this, but you know
our agreement. You have that list of possible replacements I sent
around the other day?'

'Yes, I do,' I said slowly, but thinking furiously.
Nadine bragged she could monitor the comings and goings of our
boats, but I don't think even a small spy bot could've been
attached to the ship's hull without it being registered by sensors,
though I suppose no action may have resulted since it would likely
have been considered simply floating trash... Still it was probably
dropped off a dozen kilometers or more away, so with all the moving
the ship has done over the last several days, I doubted they'd been
able to keep it current, especially since we'd just moved again
while our little drama was being played out. On the other hand, if
either of Vynnia or Tenry had been tagged like me, sending them
down would lead Nadine right to Min. But not sending them down... I
didn't think Nadine was as sure of her knowledge of Min's location
as she'd have me believe, but I didn't know how long Min planned to
stay on Lontria either. Would Nadine have time to find her or not?
There simply wasn't a clear course through this drift.