LINKS
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The Christa Affair
Chapter Forty-Two
DeCarlo floated, weightless, surrounded in total darkness and silence. He was naked, and the air around him was cold; curled tightly into a ball, his body was covered with goose-flesh. The walls of the cell were padded, and from time to time the eddying currents of the ventilation system nudged him gently into one or the other of them, and he rebounded slowly back toward the center of the room.
Strictly speaking it wasn't a cell -- the \Klondike\ had no facilities for incarcerating prisoners -- but rather a sensory-deprivation chamber. The environment within was regulated by the console mounted on the exterior wall next to the door; light, sound, temperature, atmosphere, and gravity were under its control. The \Klondike\ had been equipped with two of them when they purchased her. Basically a research tool, Jashi had been a bit puzzled at their presence in a prospecting lease-ship, but had elected to leave them in when they drew up the plans for refurbishing; they would always make good trading material. The crew used them occasionally for null-gravity recreation.
"Kinda pathetic, isn't he?" asked Jashi rhetorically as the three of them stood looking into the three-dimensional display that showed the blacked-out interior in brilliant color. "Think I'll bounce him around a little." He adjusted a control and DeCarlo was suddenly slammed into the left wall -- their left; Jashi released the activator just before he hit, returning the interior of the cell to neutral gravity. The push had been only moderate, but DeCarlo struck the padded surface with sufficient force to compress the foam considerably. The Squire rebounded, ricocheted off the ceiling and struck the far wall, arms flailing as he tumbled thru the darkness. Again and again he bounced from the smooth, cushioned surface that offered no handhold, even if he could have seen it coming in time to try for one as he hit.
Watching over Jashi's right shoulder, Rang laughed; the sound was humorless. "Gods of the Fourteen Planets! What's happening to us?" Jashi thought to himself, startled by his brother's laughter. "He's actually enjoying this, and so am I!" He realized guiltily that he hoped DeCarlo would be \very\ stubborn.
The third member of the party seemed to guess his thoughts. "Don't let it get to you, Captain. It affects most of us like that, the first time we're exposed to it. There's a lot to pay back for, and your enjoyment is quite normal... The trick is to not let it control you." He grinned wryly at Jashi. "That's page one-two-six of the Federation Manual on the Psychology of Extraction and Assassination. I never worried about it myself... I just did what needed to be done; if I enjoyed it a bit in the process, so much the better."
*********
The speaker's name was Tabor. He was a Federation agent -- a commissioned assassin -- the person whom Korlana had been trying to contact when discovered by Katya; the one Tad and Marty had been hiding from the police. He had occupied a position on Licti's administrative staff for over two years, waiting for the green light from Federation High Command that never came. "That which you know is minuscule, compared to what I've witnessed," he continued. "Two years, associating with that slime daily -- Licti I mean, I didn't see DeCarlo much -- begging Control for the go-ahead..." Anger choked off his voice in mid-sentence.
Tabor was a field operative in Licti's Administration of Native Affairs -- a glorified term for "complaint-department" -- and his job brought him into frequent contact with less-than-satisfied subjects of his Royal Majesty. Carefully, selectively, he had nurtured the dissatisfaction of some of the younger ones, gaining their confidence. His influence was greatest in the village directly east of the city, where one of his contacts claimed that the village Holy Man knew a way into the Place of the Gods.
Jashi reached for the console and stopped the still-tumbling figure in the viewer. He spoke into the audio pickup. "DeCarlo, I'm going to restore gravity. Put your feet down." The Squire floated gently to the floor.
Jashi increased the temperature a bit and turned on soft lighting. "You should be more comfortable now," he said, not unkindly. "There is someone here who wants to ask you a few questions. If you cooperate with him, I give you my word I won't send you back to your brother. If not..."
He left the unspoken threat hanging and switched off the audio pickup. "Get it all, Tabor," he said coldly, turning to the newest member of their team. "Everything you need, however you have to! Just don't damage him... Not yet." If things went wrong, DeCarlo would make a valuable hostage, Jashi rationalized, not quite convincing himself that was the reason he wanted the Squire alive and relatively healthy. "When you're finished, we'll go see your friends. I'll be in my quarters."
*********
Jashi and Karli lay side by side on the bed of their dimly lighted cabin. Four hours had passed since he left Tabor with DeCarlo; Jashi couldn't help wondering how the interrogation was progressing. He pushed the question from his mind and accepted the lighted dee-stick Karli offered, drawing the pungent smoke deeply into his lungs and holding it until there was none left to exhale. The chronometer on the bedside console read seven pm -- only two hours until sunset on the small continent below. "You think we ought to do this?" he asked.
"Don't worry about it, Darling," said Karli softly, kissing him teasingly on the ear. "It's too late to go down today anyway. Do you really think Tabor's native contacts can help us?"
"Don't know, Kitten," Jashi answered dreamily, taking another toke of the potent Delfinan weed. He was already feeling the effect of the first one; it blurred the sharp focus of his thoughts, pushing the urgency of their current situation from his mind. "If the village Holy Man really knows a way to get into Licti's castle, a little L'sa'rian magic \might\ convince him..."
There was a long silence; they finished the stick. Karli reached for his hand and their fingers intertwined as they lay staring up at the softly-colored patterns crawling across the canopy above the bed. The Varigel mattress undulated gently beneath them; the ancient sound of Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians radiated soothingly from the cabin's sonic projectors -- Karli's latest addition to her collection of Old-Earth treasures.
Jashi smiled, recalling their first afternoon in the sprawling outdoor marketplace of Extasy, just a few blocks west of the central pleasure district; remembering Karli's squeal of delight when she spotted the tiny disk, buried beneath a stack of more-recent recordings from several non-Human worlds. He cringed at the memory of what it had cost them, then laughed silently as he realized it really didn't matter. Thanks to the duplication talents of the Keeper, they had brought millions in Federation Credits, and both forward cargo holds were full of precious stones and minerals, including a goodly amount of H-catalyst -- the rarest element in the galaxy. Add to that a massive quantity of Human-variety Infectogan, and for the first time in their lives, they could, quite literally, afford anything they wanted. Strangely, their spending habits had changed little in the days they incessantly prowled among the exotic wares of the plaza; only the tiny bottle of Al'kani Musk had been an extravagance. Jashi realized contentedly that there was little he could wish for, other than an end to this madness that seemed destined to continue forever; his life with Karli was full and complete.
(.... "Would you have bought it, if we hadn't hit the jackpot on L'sa'ria? ....") She knew the answer, but she liked to be told.
Jashi roused himself from the twilight-zone of light, sound, and drug-induced sensation, rolling toward her so that he was propped on his left elbow. He looked lovingly at the beautiful female -- his companion, partner, lover and best friend for almost twelve years. "At \that\ price? Not hardly!" He grinned impishly.
She was too mellow to feign anger at the lie, too satisfied just to lay beside him to make even a feeble attempt at retaliation. (.... Don't tease, Jashi ....") She closed her eyes and the link between them intensified. Jashi savored it for a long moment, luxuriating in her happiness as it blended with his own until it became overpowering. He withdrew gently until the contact was minimal.
(.... ???? ....)
"I want to \talk\ to you Karli. I want \you\ to talk to \me\. Since we started using the Teacher, we spend so much time inside each other's heads we hardly have our own identity any more."
Her serene countenance furrowed slightly. "Yeah... I know. Think we're overdoing it?" Her eyes were open again, searching his face.
"I don't know... " The statement was truncated, but he couldn't find the right words. He liked the increased telepathic ability, but... There was another long silence.
"It's beautiful, Jashi." He realized she was talking about the music. "I wonder what things are like there now."
Terra lay in Sector Three -- two-thirds of the way across the galaxy -- and there had been no news of the effects of the disaster at those distances. Indeed, even news from Summit -- only next door in terms of interstellar distances -- was practically nonexistent. In the eight days the \Klondike\ had been in parking orbit, traffic on the hyperband had been limited almost entirely to sporadic ship-to-ship chatter; all the Federation relay stations seemed to be out of commission. "I'm more worried about the family," he replied. "The last report from Summit wasn't good."
"Yeah... " Another long silence followed. The recording reached its end, and started again at the first selection. Jashi's arm began to ache and he sank back to the bed beside her. She wiggled around and snuggled next to him so that his arm was around her, her head pillowed on his left shoulder; he pulled her tightly to him and kissed her tenderly.
"Jashi, that medical device, and the underground complex... Definitely L'sa'rian design. But how? I didn't find any record of this place, and they were dead thousands of years before their world reached this sector."
"Don't know, Karli, but they definitely made it to this part of the galaxy long before their world... Or their descendants did. That machine was \old\."
"Or new. Maybe they found a cure in the Clouds and their descendants came back..." It was a possibility Jashi hadn't considered; the machine was \different\ -- he had \assumed\ older.
Again silence prevailed. The sound of rain falling outside their cabin blended hypnotically with the strains of \Auld Lang Syne\. "Wanna make love?"
"No... Just hold me." The recording played two more selections and started on a third before either of them spoke again -- or maybe they dozed and the whole collection played thru and started over; it didn't seem to matter in their time-distorted world.
"You don't like Tad very much, do you?" Karli pulled away slightly, so she could see his face.
Jashi stirred and held her at arms length. "He frightens me, Karli. When I could feel his presence, I felt \invaded\. There's only been you... When we first discovered we were telepathic, everything was so new and wonderful I didn't have time to be afraid..." He felt foolish, trying to put it into words; after all, it was easy enough to shut the boy out, and another telepathic link would certainly be an asset to the team in their present situation. "I'm sorry... I'm not being fair, am I?" He searched her face for the answer.
She smiled tenderly. "Perhaps... Perhaps not. Time will tell, My Darling." The smile faded as another thought freewheeled thru her mind. "Do you trust Tabor? He gives me the creeps!"
Taken aback at her unexpected display of antipathy toward the Federation agent, Jashi searched his mind before replying; he found he really hadn't given it much thought. "I don't know, Karli... Strange! When his ID checked, I just accepted him." He untangled his legs from hers and sat up in the bed; the spell was broken. "I think I'll go check on him. He's been at it a long time."
Karli was sorry she had mentioned it, and said so; no amount of pleading could talk him out of going. "Just have another smoke and relax, Karli," he said a bit gruffly as he slid into his coveralls. "I'll be back in a little bit!" He felt her pout, then withdraw the contact completely as the door to their quarters slid silently shut behind him.
*********
Jashi felt a bit guilty as he walked along the deserted, dimly-lighted corridor. He had only intended to be gone an hour or so -- just a short stolen moment of calm, alone with Karli, before the storm he knew was to come. Though the earlier euphoria was gone, he was still strongly affected by the potent weed; he found he couldn't even remember who had the conn -- and what the hell was taking Tabor so long to interrogate DeCarlo?
Toko had gone down to the hanger-bay to work on modifications to the invisibility device aboard the landingcraft, still certain that he could coax it into cloaking the boat from Licti's scanners on the planet below. Jashi decided to stop by there, before checking on Tabor and DeCarlo.
The hanger-bay was empty, though the overhead lighting was on full and the lifesupport system still indicated \occupied\; the interior of the landingcraft was vacant as well. Puzzled, Jashi returned the lighting to automatic and adjusted the setting on the lifesupport console. He called the control room on the intercom and got no reply.
A chill crawled up his spine and the hairs on the back of his neck prickled as he stepped into the corridor and the door closed behind him. A shadow flitted across the passageway in the distance -- or was it his imagination? He reached for his weapon, found he'd forgotten it. Rising alarm quickly turned to panic; his heart hammered and his breath came in quick, shallow gasps. The heavy odor of raw fear exuded from his body.
He recognized the drug-induced paranoia; with superhuman effort he choked it back slowly, carefully bringing his emotions and his body under control. At last the anxiety passed and he was able to think clearly again; Jashi found he was trembling... And cold. His clothes were wet with perspiration. He cursed softly under his breath.
The control room was unattended. The door to the small weapons locker stood open, the lock mechanism burned away by an energy beam; both Carlsons were missing. Anxiously he probed for Karli -- found he couldn't arouse her from the deep slumber of the drug; Jashi felt again the rising panic as he sprinted across the room to the flight console. His heart sank as he reached to sound general quarters; the panel was a twisted mass of molten alloy and deformed plastic -- torched by an energy beam.
A light changed color on the overhead display -- the hanger-bay was occupied. He watched in horror as another indicator winked to life, then another and another. Someone was preparing to launch the landingcraft.
A host of possibilities flashed thru his mind. DeCarlo? Probably, but it could be Tabor -- he really \didn't\ know anything about him -- or Tad and Marty... Whoever it was, they probably had hostages, but to let DeCarlo escape would be suicide. He struggled to think clearly.
They were on the backside of the planet -- in planetary shadow from the continent... Or were they? A quick check of the status display showed his first conclusion to be correct; with Sanctuary's satellite-based orbital tracking and communication system rendered nonfunctional by the loss of broadcast power, \whoever\ was escaping couldn't call for help. If he could just get a tractor-beam on them... More heat-deformed metal and plastic put the tractor-beam beyond his reach.
The weapons console had been torched too, but the assailant had missed the jury-rigged controls for the mounted L'sa'rian wand. He could use that, but only if he could turn the ship to aim it. He breathed a sigh of relief as he found the maneuvering controls intact, then realized that he'd probably never get a chance to use them; the deflector screens were disabled and DeCarlo would likely blast the \Klondike\ as soon as he was clear of the hanger-bay. He probed again for Karli -- again no response.
The last light in the launch sequence turned green. The overhead screen showed the landingcraft as it emerged from the interior of the ship. As it cleared the airlock the boat began to turn, then suddenly arced away under gravity-drive.
Jashi couldn't believe his eyes. Not only was DeCarlo (it \had\ to be the Squire... or Tabor) so smugly sure of his clean getaway that he was leaving the \Klondike\ unmolested, but his trajectory would take him across Jashi's bow -- all Jashi had to do was raise the nose of the ship about two degrees...
The anti-grav was out; he used passive thrusters. The massive starship responded sluggishly, slowly bringing her nose to bear on the arc scribed by the fleeing boat. DeCarlo (or \whoever\ was at the controls) must have seen the telltale vapor from the thruster nozzles; the landingcraft began to turn as it entered the outer ring of the crude optical sight.
Time stood still, the distortion intensified by the lingering effects of the drug. The fleeing craft crept toward the cross-hairs in the center of the sight with agonizing slowness; its ominous rotation continued.
The landingcraft was centered in the sight -- bow-on to the \Klondike\. Jashi saw the beam, frozen in time, as it licked out to destroy his world -- incredibly brilliant; a perfect, many-ringed circle; intense white-orange center expanding into deep blue at the outer ring. As he activated the L'sa'rian wand, he knew it was too late. The forward end of the control room exploded in a shower of sparks.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
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