Queen of Chaos, page 26
part #3 of Sequoyah Series
“Wow.”
Ennis glanced over. Inathka was looking at her screen with both eyebrows raised. “What's wrong?”
“Nothin', but the explorers got 'em to all shut up. Gonna hafta remember that one. Maybe it's cussing!” She stared at her screen again. “Um, Captain? They wanna know when you coming back.”
“Tell them I don't know. The other humans might come here, though.”
“One of the large ships is in motion,” Ennis reported. “Away from the rendezvous. Looks like the second one is also maneuvering.”
“Is that OK?” called Alan from above.
“Moving away from us is OK,” said Moire reassuringly. “They want to go home, just like we do.”
“Don' think they like that answer,” Inathka said. “Seem to think you should come too.”
Moire swore under her breath. “Send this. I have enemies, and my people may already be fighting them. I must go back to our system and defend it. My enemy is stronger than I am. I may not come back, ever, so I ask that if the other humans come here, the Hsurwyn will listen to them.”
Ennis kept a close watch on his scans. “First ship has gone into drive. Several more ships moving, all away.”
“We should be doing that too,” Moire said. “After this I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing war.”
“Um, gotta reply,” Inathka said slowly. “It's not the explorers. One of the big bugs. Seems like they just sayin' if the human ship comes without fight and speaking they will listen. But it's got this extra frequency pattern over the whole bit an' that's where the important stuff is an' I don' remember—”
“I do,” Harrington said. “I think perhaps you didn't see that signal record. It was one of the first full–spectrum ones. Radersent was responding to the Captain's request when we were rescuing the explorers.”
Ennis tuned out the discussion. He had a lot of crab ships to keep track of, and now was no time to get careless. The coordinate reference shifted—Moire must have started to move the ship. She was moving it slowly, though, probably to keep the crabs from panicking.
“Only ten ships still here,” he reported. It was easier to keep an eye on them now that the field wasn't crowded. They really needed a better identification system to distinguish the ships. Raven wasn't equipped with a Fleet target identifier, and even that wouldn't have distinguished a particular ship. You didn't need to know which ship you had blown up in a fight, just that the target was gone. He should work on that. “Wait a minute. Six of them aren't moving yet. One is the explorers, one a medium–size noncombat, the rest appear to be fighters.”
“Terrific. Not moving, you say?”
“Captain! 'Nother message. Pure garble. Lotsa ‘trade family.’ Can't be the explorers, they know the translate gizmo better'n that.”
“Isn't that 'alliance'?” asked Harrington.
“Mebbe, but that ain't nothin' but noise. Pause it…the explorers jumpin' in. Askin' you ta wait.”
“Why?”
Ennis spared a second to glance over. Inathka was peering hard at her screen, as if she could squeeze extra comprehension by sheer force of will.
“They lickin' smack dope from a can,” she said finally. “I dunno what they want. 'Kay, so that bit is alliance but why they saying be child?”
Harrington looked at the screen and scratched his head. “That does seem to be what they are saying. Hang on, what was Perwaty saying about the subqueens? Wasn't that the way he said it? Become a child? I'm sure it sounds much more formal in the original Hsurwyn.”
“Yeah, but whatabout this ‘giving rock’ static?”
“Get Perwaty and Radersent,” Moire said flatly.
“Only the six nonmoving ships remain,” Ennis reported. “They have maintained their position. No energy profile changes.”
“Captain?” It was Perwaty, sounding breathless. “Radersent's been explaining to me. There's one bit that I'm not sure about. He says this queen talking about rock is one of the ones who wants to live as before. That means before the big war.”
“I feel slightly dissed that we aren't considered the big war,” muttered Moire. “What does rock mean? She collects boulders?”
“I'm not sure, Captain,” Perwaty said apologetically. “He gets confusing. Sounds to me kinda like a religion. They wanna live on planets, like they did before. Somehow it is important. Really important. He says only the great queens have planets under their control. Everybody else is on ships or, or what he calls 'big ship staying.' Station, maybe? Kinda like the Fringe, really.”
Ennis heard Moire make a sort of strangled noise. “But what the hell does this have to do with me?”
A moment of silence, and then Perwaty replied. “You got a system, Captain. Radersent knows this and he told the others. I guess the kids told him. Well, and I see you mentioned it just now to the others. So, um, that makes you a Great Queen by their standards.”
“Allow me to be the first to congratulate Your Majesty,” Harrington said at his most urbane.
“Oh shut up. This is serious.”
“Ooo, I see it now. That word system, it got the ‘all put together as one’ bit and ‘planet’ so that means more than one planet, yeh?” Inathka said, sounding pleased with herself. “Damn, but they got some neat ways of sayin' stuff.”
The ships still hadn't moved, so Ennis glanced over his shoulder. Moire was slumped in her pilot's chair again. She looked tired.
“What. Do. They. Want. Inathka, ask them.”
“Hokay. That is definitely the word for ‘child’ this time and no…eh, the modifier is for…future?”
“Yes, you are correct. Perhaps future generations?” Harrington said.
“They lay eggs,” Perwaty said cheerfully. “We had quite the discussion about that, Radersent and me. When we were shipwrecked. He never did understand how we do it, I think. Eggs in caves, or some really secure place. It's important. Anything to do with kids is important.”
Ennis blinked. Radersent had reacted strongly when told he was helping out by watching the Created. “Does this queen want a place for her eggs, then?”
“Yah! That's what it is! She wants a…a solid place. A planet, or somethin' like. Um. An she don't fight but she got friends, 'kay, allies, that do.”
Suddenly the bridge was deathly silent. No one spoke or moved. The ships on Ennis's screen also were motionless.
“Do you mean if I give her someplace for her nursery she will give me crab fighters?” Moire said finally.
“I believe that is correct,” Harrington said, sounding astonished himself.
“Perwaty? What does Radersent say? Is that right?”
Silence. Then he spoke. “Yes, Captain. She is asking to be your subqueen. If you give her a planet, she will give you fighters.”
Chapter 14
Proof of Life
Kostas started awake, momentarily disoriented. He spat and wiped the dirt and grit that had fallen on his face from the overturned tree they were hiding under. He glanced at the journeyman excavator who had had the first watch. She shook her head. No signal. Kostas sighed and went to the mouth of their hideout, covered by dangling roots. No sign of Toren, even though they knew they were out there. Somewhere.
“How long do you think they'll stay?”
“Keep your damn voice down,” Kostas snarled. She winced. “It's been five days. If it's one ship doing a survey, they'll go soon.” If there were more, and one stayed, things would get messy. Pity the detector couldn't tell them that.
Then again, without the webspace detector they would have been out in the open, fat and happy, blasting out signal to be detected. As it was they had just enough time to hide the gear and dig their hole. That had been the risk, taking a crew this far away from the cave, but hiding the buried ships from detection was important too. Everything that delayed Toren's realization that Sequoyah was inhabited was important.
“We've got supplies. All we have to do is sit tight until the captain comes back.”
“I hope they go before that,” said a new voice, carefully low. It was the bio guy, Eng. “I'm not supposed to be out here with you guys.” He shuffled forward, wrapped in an equipment weather cover. The one thing they hadn't brought was blankets.
“Gotta have someone who knows the local plants if ya wanna plant 'em for cover,” Kostas said. “Gren Forrest agreed with me. Besides, if you try anything I'll kill ya.” He grinned. Eng looked pale. Kostas was kidding, mostly. Eng was all right, just a little naive, but if he stayed scared he wouldn't forget to be careful.
Sukuna poked her head into the dirt cave. “Hey. Spy–eye's got something.”
Well, crap. He'd put up the spy–eye just to make sure they wouldn't get surprised, hoping it wouldn't be needed. Now what?
“Lemme see,” he said, and Sukuna passed him the readout screen. She'd already marked the start time for him. He studied the readout, scowled, and ran it again. They'd placed the spy–eye on a cliff–growing tree using the runabout, which gave it a wide view across a grassy plateau. It was the best place to land a shuttle on this medium–size island, and sure enough someone was landing on it. Kostas dialed in the focus, enough to see several people unloading crates and boxes. Two men remained, one waving to the shuttle as it headed out.
“They lookin' for us?”
“Doubt it.” Kostas stabbed a finger at the screen, which he'd frozen to get a better look. “Two guys. One rifle for the both of 'em, and sidearms, see? Not expecting any human–type trouble, and not much of any other kind.” He watched some more, speeding it up until the feed was showing live signal. The two Toren workers were setting up a tent, anchoring it well, and covering the rest of the equipment with tarps. OK, all by the book so far. Then they left the camp, carrying packs and with the rifle in a long covered back–sling. “Whaddya think they're doin' now?” Kostas asked Eng.
“Doing a bio survey, probably. Weather, atmosphere checks, whatever they need to start planning for building.” He shrugged. “Just a guess. It's what I'd do if I was dumped on a new planet. Did do.” Eng hesitated. “They're heading north. I wish we'd had a chance to make sure the transplants are all right there. That's too near the buried ship, and if they get suspicious…”
“It'll hafta do. First priority is they don't know we're here. That ship is buried deep and they don't have excavators.”
They took turns watching the now–deserted camp. The two men returned shortly before dark, and a light glowed inside the tent for a few hours. When that switched off they changed the spy–eye to night view. It was not, as Sukuna admitted, very interesting.
Then they got a signal beep. Kostas wasn't sure how it worked, exactly, but a message could be encoded and compressed into a very short pulse, and only their comm devices would know it wasn't a transient solar pulse or some such. Camouflaged to blend with the environment somehow.
“Huh. No ships in orbit now,” Kostas said.
Sukuna shifted, rubbing her eyes sleepily. “They're still at the camp. No sign of the shuttle.”
Kostas tried to go back to sleep but couldn't. They'd been forced to lurk in their improvised hidey–hole for nearly a week doing nothing. That, plus the fact that there wasn't enough room and he was a big man, was driving him nuts. If they could get rid of the Toren guys somehow, at least they wouldn't have to stay underground while they waited for the all clear.
“Got an idea,” he said the next morning when everyone was awake. “Wanna take a look at that camp they got.”
Sukuna looked dubious. “We don't know where the shuttle is, or even that the ship is out of the system.”
Kostas grinned. “That's why I wanna check the camp. The long–range comm ain't light—didn't see 'em carry it when they went out. Gotta have one, though. We go in when they are out, break it so's they don't notice. Extra insurance if they do notice something; can't tell their buddies about it.”
Judging from the reactions, everyone was just as bored as he was and itching for action. Even Eng, who wanted to go check his damn plants. Just to be on the safe side, Kostas had Sukuna on the runabout with their comm gear including the spy–eye screen, following low and slow. They headed out as soon as the Toren men left the camp.
“Heading west, to the beach. Taking a large box, though. Sure it's not the comm?”
Kostas peered over her shoulder, and so did Eng. “Looks like a powered biosample box to me,” Eng said. “If they are taking specimens on the beach they could be there all day.” He sounded wistful.
“Right, in we go. Meyers and Syu, you watch the perimeter under cover. Everybody else come with me in the camp, and try to walk where I do, or on rocky bits. Don't need lots of extra footprints, gottit?”
The camp was, as expected, deserted. Kostas cast a suspicious eye but didn't see any surveillance gear. They hadn't seen any being set up, but it paid to be careful. He untucked one corner of the big tarp and examined the crates. Besides some science gear, it looked like there were enough supplies for two months for two men. OK, probably set to stay here without shuttle contact until the big ship came back. Good.
Sukuna found the comm in the tent. Nice unit; could be useful later. Kostas opened the back, pulled out two of the flatchips, and coated the contact side carefully and evenly with molylube.
“Will that work?”
“Sure.” Kostas glanced outside again. Nobody. “Learned this trick back when I was a journeyman—great practical joke. The base hydro evaporates when it heats up, and it looks like it's burned. The moly shorts out everything it's connecting. Easy to clean up, if you know it's there.” He took a quick look around the tent. Nothing else had been disturbed, and he didn't see anything else worth messing with. “Let's go.”
Once back in the cover of the trees, Eng whispered, “Is there time to check?” pointing north.
Their visit to the camp hadn't taken very long. Even figuring in getting back to the tree hole, they had a few hours. And it was good to be out and moving again. “Sure. Keep it quiet and no littering, gottit?”
They'd done a pretty good job with hiding this ship, he had to admit. He never would have suspected a whole Kundar–Cho medium freighter was underfoot if he hadn't buried it himself. Pity they couldn't just knock on the hatch and hide with the others inside, but that would expose the ship, and who would conceal the hatch again? The plants Eng was concerned about looked all right to him, but Eng was still worried and wanted to check them all.
Kostas sighed. “That's a big area. Not gonna have time to do it yourself. All right, split up. Meyers, you go with Eng. I'll stay here with Sukuna and keep watch back the way we came. Everybody back in two hours.” Good thing they had been expecting Toren, and nobody went topside without weapons. Eng just had a zapper. Cameron would probably understand taking Eng out when she heard about it, but not giving him a gun.
It was much nicer being outside in the sun instead of the damp, chilly dirt cave. Kostas found a convenient boulder to lean against and checked for movement with his long–range binoculars. The trees here had long, delicate streamers that swirled and flowed in the wind. He'd have to ask Eng what that was all about. Small flying creatures dived in and out of the foliage, making trilling noises.
“Mebbe I'll live here, when the war's over,” he observed to Sukuna. “I like this place.”
Sukuna rolled her eyes. “Boring. I'm gonna live wherever the first bar gets built.”
“Build it yerself, then you can pick the location, right? I'm thinkin'—”
The shot cracked the air, making the flying creatures speed away and disappear. Without a word, Sukuna swerved the runabout down and around for him to jump on.
“That's where Meyers and Eng were headed. What the hell they playin' at?” Kostas muttered. He checked his pistol. If he'd been wrong about Eng Cameron would rip his head off, and he'd have to let her. But that just didn't seem right…
They rounded an outcropping and nearly ran into Meyers. He was standing with his gun still gripped and outstretched, Eng a few meters away with a stunned expression on his face. A body in a Toren uniform lay between them, a bloody hole visible in the back.
Kostas jumped off the runabout. “Get up and keep watch,” he ordered Sukuna. He nudged the body over. Good thing was he recognized him as one of the men from the camp. At least they didn't have extras wandering about they hadn't seen. Kostas rounded on Meyers. “What in the gasket–blowing everlovin' core melt universe were you thinking, you piss–poor excuse for a protein brick?”
“He was reaching for his comm,” Meyers said in a hollow voice. ”He saw Eng but Eng was busy and didn't see him and he was gonna call and we can't let them know…”
“And shooting the bastard is going to keep it a secret?” Kostas fought to keep his voice down. “Only people got weapons. You bash his head in with a rock, dump him over a cliff, now that could just be bad luck.”
“I'm sorry, boss,” Meyers whispered. “I screwed up.”
“My fault too,” Eng said. “I wasn't paying attention. I thought they were both at the beach!”
Kostas sighed. “It's done. Nothin' we can do about that now. We still gotta fix it, though. Can't leave him with a bullet hole.”
The others had come running up by now, staring aghast at the scene. Kostas scowled at the body, thinking. Trouble was the shot. What if the other guy had heard it? And how could they make the death look natural?
“I think I know what to do,” Eng said quietly. He looked a little green. “We have to make it look like an animal attacked him.”
“Yeah,” Kostas said. “'Course he'd shoot at an animal, right? How ya gonna do it?”
Eng rummaged in his pack and pulled out some metal hooks that were used for anchoring lines in trees.“Messily.”
It was very messy indeed. Eng wired together three of the hooks into a crude clawlike tool. Seeing how queasy he looked, Kostas offered to take over, but Eng insisted he knew how it should look. He was rather violently sick afterward, in a plastic bag to hide the evidence. Kostas took the Toren man's gun and worked the slide, ejecting a round. Just in case his buddy started a thinking habit and checked the magazine.
