"What the hell could have happened to her? "Bonzo asked, shining his flashlight into the gaping two-deck cavity where the ship's bridge and bow doors had once been.

  "I think I've got an idea, "Whiz Bang said, drawing on his experience as a heavy energy gunner. "Look at the way this superdense alloy has bubbled and puffed up around the edge of the cavity. That's from the alloy bonds splitting under a fusion gun hit."

  "Co on. What fusion guns are that powerful?"

  "The ones on those tanks next door, Bonzo."

  "Oh, yeah, I forgot about those."

  "Yeah, well, whoever shot it was a little too good a shot—the computers and logs must be completely blown away."

  "Care to guess what Red'll think about that?"

  "No doubt about it. She'll be mad enough to chew lead and spit out bullets."

  Coeur, In fact, wasn't quite that irritated, though she was certainly frustrated when she got the news.

  "Okay, I get it, Bonzo. The ship's totaled."

  "Well, fore and aft anyway. The midships looks torched, but intact."

  "That's something, I suppose. Stand by there, and I'll send Vink and Newton over in the G-carrier."

  "Affirmative."

  Moments later, Vink and Newton arrived—parking their craft directly inside Crazy Jane's hangar to avoid exposure to the sun— though it would soon appear that their haste was unwarranted. Though the human and the Hiver were thoroughly familiar with the architecture of the standard subsidized merchant design, three hours of careful prodding and poking through the upper deck crew quarters and lower deck cargo section revealed little more than empty spaces. The only exception was a charred arc of bone and teeth that Newton pried out of the top deck forward and nonchalantly began to study in the midst of the humans.

  "Newton, "Whiz Bang said, "what the hell is that?"

  "Just a piece of human skull bone, "Newton said, pausing in the comparison of his fragment to dental records stored in his personal computer. "I found it in the wreckage of the bridge."

  "Newton, that's disgusting."

  All six of Newton's eyes fixed on the Marine and blinked twice.

  "Why?"

  "Well, you don't just go around casually inspecting body parts! A person's remains should be—well, you know—treated with respect."

  "Oh, I see, "Newton said, discreetly slipping the fragment into an equipment pouch. "Please forgive the offense of human custom. I was going to tell you who the bone fragment belonged to, but I see that such an announcement would be a breach of propriety."

  "Whoa—hold on there, "Vink said. "You say you know who the bone fragment belongs to?"

  "Indeed."

  "Well?"

  "What?"

  "Well, aren't you going to tell us?"

  "Tell you what?"

  "Who it is?"

  "But I thought..."

  "Okay, Newton, you've made your point. Just tell us who it is. Or was, I mean."

  "Very well. The skeletal fragment almost certainly belonged to Captain 'Zero' Wolfowitz."

  "That's Zero? "Bonzo asked, pointing at Newton's equipment pouch.

  'More than likely, yes. Apparently, he was blown to bits."

  "Well, i'll be damned, "Vink said. "At least that's something we got out of this ship."

  "It's disgusting is what it is, "Whiz Bang said.

  "Well, all the same, "Vink said, "maybe you ought to report it to your captain. That, and the fact that we haven't found anything suspicious aboard the Jane."

  "Are you giving up, then? "Bonzo asked.

  "Well, obviously, I can't give you people orders, but I don't see that there's any point of looking any further, unless...."

  "Unless—what?"

  Suddenly, Vink slapped his own forehead.

  "Gaia, "he said, slapping his forehead, "I can't believe how stupid I've been."

  "Please clarify your meaning" Newton requested.

  "Well, Zero was a pirate. We haven't thought about smuggling holds."

  "Indeed, "Newton said. "And where, as a pirate, would you locate such a hold?"

  Vink—who tended to think of himself as more of radical Federalist than a pirate—was inclined to take umbrage at that remark, but then he remembered the emotionless quality of the Hiver intellect and let it pass.

  "Well, you could start with the obvious places, like false compartments in the fuel cells and the deck, but if they were really adventurous they might have hollowed out portions of the frame."

  "Adventurous?"

  "Well, I wouldn't try it with old Armis. The way Zorn throws her around in high-G maneuvers, cutting sections out of the frame isn't a good idea."

  "I comprehend. However, Crazy Jane was not designed for high-G maneuvers."

  "No, she wasn't, "Vink said, thoughtfully. "Come on, let's start looking again."

  Sure enough, two hours later, Vink's intuition came through. In a section of keel frame near the vaporized drive section— accessed by prying up floor plates of the cargo hold—he and Newton found a hollow area cleverly contrived to appear untampered with. So cleverly was it crafted that Vink nearly missed its slightly off ring under his rapping wrench, though he stopped long enough to investigate and pry loose a thin cover of pressed steel perhaps 40 centimeters square. another panel below this was secured with four heavy bolts, however, so a look underneath waited until Bonzo and Whiz Bang came over with power wrenches to unscrew them.

  "So what's in there? "Bonzo asked afterward, while Vink shined a light into the hole.

  'Hard to tell, "Vink said, reaching his hand into the deep well of the compartment;. "Looks like a box maybe. No, It's a book."

  "A book? "Whiz Bang asked.

  "Yep, It's a book all right, "Vink said, pulling it up and out of the hole. Rather old, with heavy binding and gold inlaid decoration, It was clearly nothing as simple as a personal log.

  "Maybe it's a Bible or Koran, "Bonzo suggested, observing the fine print and fancy gold illumination when Vink thumbed through it.

  "No, I don't think so, "Vink said, closing the book and looking at its cover. "Look at this writing: Lo Palabra Del Delensor. What do you suppose it means?"

  "I believe I comprehend, "Newton said, abruptly. "That is the holy book of the Church of Grace and Light Literally, The Word of the Defender."

  "Oh, yes, "Bonzo said, "the Palabra. Brother Anthony has one."

  "I imagine a lot of people here have them, "Vink said, "but why Zero? He never believed in anything but himself."

  "If I may, "Newton said, asking for the Palabra.

  "Oh, yes, here."

  For several seconds, the Hiver examined the book closely, making no tell-tale humming as a human might—for it had no voicebox—but fascinated all the same by something it found in the pages toward the end of the book.

  "You got something there, Newton?"

  "Possibly. May I keep this for further study?"

  The three humans looked at each other and shrugged.

  "Yeah, "Vink said, "I suppose. But what is it?"

  "Observe, "Newton said, holding open a page toward the end of the Palabra, marked in various places with circled letters and underlined words.

  "I hadn't noticed that, "Vink said. "It looks like some sort of code."

  "Indeed it does, "Newton said, closing the book and slipping it into the equipment harness on lb back. "But what one mind conceives, another can discover, so I shall retire to the G-carrier and reflect on its meaning."

  ***

  During the assault on the Federal District, Hornet had followed Vi Et Armis in a very close orbit of Soledad, Just 190 kilometers above the equator, so their lasers could fire with maximum accuracy and Hornet's drop troops would have as short a trip to the surface as practical. Of necessity, though, this put the ships over the city only three times an hour, so Hornet orbited out to a higher geosynchronous orbit after her troops were away, and there at 18, 000 kilometers she would remain well after the battle was done.

  Still wary of meson guns that might exist in other parts of the planet, Coeur and Zorn thought at first to return Vi Et Armis to the back face of Elojo, but at length the relative stability of Soledad after the battle inclined them to decide otherwise. Though a loyalist battalion still held out in Soled ad's Marina District, the old starport appeared secure enough, and Zorn's starship was finally brought to Mexit's surface two nights after the battle so her repairs could be conducted in a safer environment than hard vacuum.

  "How about you? "Coeur asked Deep Six, that same night, "You holding up?"

  "Affirmative, sir, "the Schalli answered, bobbing gently in his roller-chair as he surveyed a myriad of false-color sensor images of Mexit, pulled in from Hornet's unfolded passive EMS sensor and Snapshot's probe, now rotated to an orbit opposite the freighter's. "All is well."

  "I Imagine it must be lonely up there, though."

  "Lonely, sir?"

  "Well, with everybody down on the surface, I mean."

  "Ah, yes. I would not say it is lonely, though Rather, I would say it is comfortingly quiet. poOO'ka, KoOO ka kee'IR."

  "What's that?"

  "Oh, a phrase by SeeEEka Echo, one of our poets. It describes the sonic wall of silence sometimes heard as one swims between thermoclines."

  "A-ha, "Coeur said, pausing fora moment. "You haven't been drinking any of that fermented ee'kwat again, have you?"

  "Negative, sir. You know that access to the liquor closet is restricted to jump space."

  "Sorry, Sixer. I didn't mean to offend."

  "No offense perceived, sir. However, the crew will be interested to know about the success of your research. Didn't you say the Palabra you discovered was stolen from a local church?"

  "Yes, but Vazquez has given us permission to study it, so tong as we give it back when we're done with it."

  "Indeed. And has Newton mad e any progress on the cipher he discovered?"

  "He doesn't really show any emotion, "Coeur said, "so its hard to tell when he's making progress and when he isn't. We did find where Crazy Jane's crew is buried, though. and some of their effects."

  "Anything productive?"

  "That depends on what you call productive. Now that Physic's had a look at Crazy Jane, and confirmed that Zero and one of his crew mates died there, we've got all the ship's crew accounted for, and that's something. What's bad is that they didn't leave behind many personal effects to tell what happened to them, just money, a few trinkets and some weapons."

  "So, then, your knowledge of the time before their death must be limited."

  "Well, more limited than I’d like. Most of what we've got is from the official records of Brak's regime. Apparently, Zero parked Crazy Jane up in the Lomarica Hills above Soledad—just like we did—sometime after his people found the depot, but then he found out his contra-grav was busted and sent some people into the Soledad starport to look for spare parts. Those people got captured and told enough about the depot to get Brak interested, and he sent his tanks off to shoot up the ship."

  "I see, "Deep Six said. "Then why didn't Brak find the depot?"

  "Well, that's a little fuzzy. Apparently, Zero and his air-raft pilot were the only ones who knew the course and distance to fly to get there, but they got blown up with the ship. As for the black globe itself. Zero probably left it at the depot and planned to pick it up later."

  "Remarkable."

  "I think 'frustrating' is more the word I'd pick, "Coeur said, "but we’ll keep looking around. Red Sun out."

  Chapter Seventeen

  Despite the considerable challenge of deciphering a code in the flowery prose of nonnative Anglic, Newton required just one week to glean the meaning of the cipher hidden in the last chapter of the Palabra.

  "Of course, I wouldn't have been able to decrypt the message without Brother Anthony’s help, "Newton told Coeur, in her temporary office in the former Defense Ministry building.

  "Actually, my contribution was minor, "Anthony said humbly. "I simply helped Newton identify the symbolic meaning of certain passages."

  "Well, whoever figured it out, come sit down and tell me about it. This is the first good news I've had in days."

  "What do you mean. Captain? "Anthony asked, following Newton to a bench at the side of the office. "Don't tell me the loyalists are gaining ground?"

  "Far from it, "Coeur said, turning her chair to face them. "President Vazquez seems to get more popular every day. But I've had to listen to envoys from every country on Mexit wanting to know if we've come here to take over the planet, or, if we didn't, if they could hire us to eliminate their own enemies. ”

  "I take it your reply to those overtures is negative, "Newton said, curling its unused limbs under its body.

  "Yes, "Coeur said, "but I suppose I shouldn't complain; at least they're talking to us. Now tell me about this code."

  "Essentially, sir, it's rather simple. In the last chapter of the Palabra, which describes the life of St. Kilalt and was purportedly written by one of his disciples, is a clue to his actual burial site."

  Coeur was puzzled.

  "But I thought the tomb of St. Kilalt was in that country across the mountains—Callida Fornax. Isn't that where all the pilgrims go. Brother Anthony?"

  "Oh yes, it's a very famous shrine. However, Newton has found a phrase in an ancient language indicating the true shrine's location."

  "Yes, "Newton said, "a phrase in Vilani."

  "Vilani?"

  "Affirmative, "Newton went on, freeing two of its limbs to pull Zero's Palabra from its equipment pack. It then laid the book on its back and bent its prime limb backward to read a passage spoken through the voder under its chest.

  "'... and so the cardinal fell gravely ill and retired to his bed, never to rise again. Yet, with his last breath, he was heard to say, "I see the seal of the Defender rising gloriously in the east, inviting my soul unto Heaven. Yet do not cry for me, but rather, rest easily in the knowledge that I have preceded you into Heaven, and bury me in the little chapel of St. Elena, in the shadow of Mt. Amar, zunoad doanmik go en muramrid khil, jen, deaad, zan.

  'That's Vilani all right, "Coeur said, leaning forward in her chair, "but I'm a little rusty. Weren't those last words numbers?"

  "Indeed. The Vilani reads: 'but this is not the true location, three, five, seven. ""

  "Hmmm."

  "Indeed. The numbers, I therefore reasoned, might be a code key, although it was another matter to determine what code it was the key to. Eventually, I resorted to scanning the entire text into my personal computer and writing a program to search for unusual groupings of words and letters in patterns of 3s, 5s and 7s."

  "Co on."

  "After the fact, I discovered that it wasn't that complicated. Taking the third, fifth and seventh letter at the beginning of each verse, and continuing that cycle, reveals another phrase written in Vilani—one that Zero appears to have identified, based on the marks in his text. It reads 'Urvdige on kir Uiru eihkjr minniga, "or, literally, "go to the haven of angels. ""

  "Is there such a place on Mexit?"

  "Yes there is, "Anthony said. "Angel's Haven is a valley in the Aguja Prieta Mountains. I once visited the villagers there as a missionary."

  "Fancy that, "Coeur said. "How far?"

  "Approximately 1, 100 kilometers, "Newton said, "based on the survey map of Deep Six."

  "Harsh? "Coeur asked.

  "Exceedingly, "Anthony replied. "The wind blows hard from the high peaks, and the only people up there are a handful of gaba herders."

  "I take it that's some sort of animal, "Coeur said.

  "A bit like a goat, yes. The wild gabas are about the only things that can get into the higher rocks, except, I suppose, for your flying craft."

  Yeah, Coeur thought, how about that.

  "In a word, "Coeur said, "remote."

  "Yes, I suppose it is."

  Thoughtful, Coeur fell back in her seat. "This does raise a whole lot of questions, "she said. "Like for one thing, why dees the Palabra have a Vilani phrase in it? Nobody here speaks Vilani, do they?"

  "Not that I know of, "Anthony said. "I'd never even heard of the language until Newton told me about it."

  "And besides, "Coeur went on, "what in the world could it possibly have to do with the depot?"

  "It is true that Captain Zero was an acquisitive individual, "Newton said, "so perhaps this is the clue to another treasure's location, other than the depot."

  "Possibly, "Coeur said.

  "More curious is the fact that Zero deciphered the code at all. It is rather esoteric for a man of Zero's avocation."

  "Well, I'd be tempted to agree with you there, "Coeur said, "but we've found some interrogation records that verify the cardinal's recollection that Jane blew through here before a couple of years back. That might have been enough time for Zero to puzzle out the riddle."

  Newton, who preferred to avoid groundless speculation, remained silent.

  "Oh well, "Coeur said, "who knows how he came across the code—maybe we'll never know. What matters is its data, and it might be significant, so I'll have Hornet zoom in on the area. If there's anything up there to see, she'll see it."

  ***

  Not an hour later. Snapshot—who happened to be standing the bridge watch—delivered the report on the Angel's Haven.

  "Pay dirt, skipper. There's something up there all right."

  "Any idea what it is?"

  "Looks like a structure of some kind—I get spectroscopic traces of type C superdense armor in a high mountain gorge. Damned if I'd try to fly anything in there, though. The cliff walls are almost vertical, and there's a wind blowing through there like you would not believe—gusts to 100 kph."

  "Sounds nasty all right. Why don't you go ahead and download that to my computer so I can have a look at it."

  "Thinking of going up there, skipper?"

  "Unless we get a better lead, we might have to, Snapper. Red Sun out."

  ***

  ***

  Although the late Emperor Brak and several of his autocratic forebears had persecuted the Church of Grace and Light and even destroyed many of its churches, the Church of the Holy Sacristy was a notable exception to that rampage. A stone pyramid with one wall made all of thick stained glass, capped by a thin steeple. It was such a center of public devotion that even Brak didn't dare raze it, though it sat at the corner of a block not far from his residence.

 

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