LINKS
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The Christa Affair
Chapter Forty-Four
The \Klondike\ rested on soft sand atop a tiny underwater atoll, the tip of her short vertical airfoil barely twenty feet below the surface. Jashi would have liked to have hidden her deeper -- much deeper -- but he wasn't sure how much water the synchronizing signal of the transport facility would be able punch thru... And he didn't want to run the internal pressure up too high, either. As long as planetary broadcast power was out, they should be save enough.
"Rang, Mowii's gone," said Jashi softly. They were in Rang's cabin, just the two of them. "She must have been with DeCarlo... In the boat. I'm sorry, Rang."
Rang didn't move. His jaw twitched, twice... He swallowed. At last he spoke. "I already knew it, I guess. She wasn't in our cabin. I knew Roi wouldn't find her..." He crossed the cabin and sank wearily into a large chair. "She turned him loose, didn't she?"
"I don't know, Rang," Jashi replied, choosing his words carefully. "It was made to look like that, but I don't buy it." The computer record proved nothing; in her emotional state, drugged as she was, setting her up would have been easy. She was dead -- by \his hand\ -- let her rest in peace.
"Who else, Little Brother?" Rang responded softly; Jashi had to strain to catch the words. "Everyone else is accounted for."
"We know she went with him. All else we know for sure is that \somebody\ shut off the automatic systems and cold-cocked Lito as she came out of the control room fresher; \somebody\ torched the controls; and Tabor \says\ somebody jumped him from behind while he was interrogating DeCarlo. In her condition, do you \really\ think Mowii'd have been able to invoke a complicated code and delete the record of who did it?" Jashi fought the urge to ask what she'd been taking.
"Who else?" Rang's voice was sharp, tinged with anger. "Just tell me who else \could\ have done it," he demanded.
"Tabor," Jashi replied evenly. He had probably \forced\ her to shut down the computer, or tricked her somehow. "He's a Federation agent... Maybe he's more than he's told us; if he's command-level, he'd know the code. Maybe the Federation's trying to stop us. Or maybe he's switched sides! He could have given himself that bump on the head."
"Nice try, Little Brother, but it won't wash. You don't believe it any more than I do." Tears filled Rang's eyes; he sounded very tired. "I knew she was going over the edge... I \tried\ to help her... The Happytab quit working, even at triple dose, and then she started mixing it with anything else she could get her hands on." Rang bent forward, hiding his face in his hands, elbows resting on his knees; his shoulders shook as he sobbed quietly.
Jashi watched helplessly, awash in his own guilt. He \wouldn't\ believe it! Mowii wouldn't have betrayed them, and even if she had, \he\ could have prevented it, if he'd been doing his job.
Jashi turned to go -- he'd send Karli to sit with Rang. As he reached the door, his brother called to him. "Don't blame yourself, Jashi. It's my fault. I should never have brought her out here; she wasn't cut out for this kind of life. She only bonded with me for the lifestyle I could give her -- my prestigious occupation, my money... I always knew that. It was a fair trade... I wanted her for her beauty. She was good to me, Jashi, in her own way, and look what I gave her!" His tone was bitter, angry -- abruptly he turned away toward the fresher, then stopped in the doorway. "I'll be all right, Jash. I just need to be alone for a while."
*********
Jashi walked aimlessly along the \Klondike's\ main corridor. Rang and Toko had moved the Teacher up from the recreation room to the bridge, and were already in the process of setting it up and interfacing it with the ship's computer. He started forward, then changed his mind and headed for his cabin instead.
Karli was sitting cross-legged on the bed, eyes closed. She didn't move as he entered, but reached out gently to him with her mind. For a moment they shared each other's grief and pain, and Jashi's guilt, then she slowly withdrew. "Here," she said, patting the bed in front of her.
Jashi joined her on the bed, facing her, and for long moments they stared silently into each other's eyes. "You really don't believe Mowii turned him loose, do you... In \spite\ of the computer record?"
"No," he answered simply. There was a lengthy silence.
"Okay," responded Karli at last; it was a simple statement of acceptance. "Then it has to be Tabor. He'll be dangerous... How much does he know about the stuff we picked up on L'sa'ria?"
"All of it, I guess... No, not the invisibility device, or the PRDs... He probably didn't know about the mounted wand either, or he'd have torched the controls."
"Do you think he knows we're telepathic?"
"No... Not any of us. That's probably the \only\ element of caution I exercised," Jashi answered ruefully. He realized that even \that\ precaution had simply been instinctive. Revealing his talent to even \intimate\ strangers was something a telepath just didn't do; it was a holdover from the days when they'd been considered somewhat freakish.
"Karli, I've really messed this up! First Suu, now Mowii... Not to mention the near-misses before we got here. How'd we get in this mess, Kitten?"
"Gotta finish Jash, or it's all been for nothing." Karli hesitated, awkwardly groping for the right words. "We're gonna need Tad's help," she continued hesitantly. "Especially if we have to keep an eye on Tabor all the time. I want to give him a few sessions with the Teacher."
"Okay." It certainly wasn't the reaction Karli had expected; he sounded \so\ tired. Jashi rose from the bed and stood for a long while looking down at her. "When he's ready, I'll work with him... But he's royally pissed that I let DeCarlo escape."
"I know, Darling." Karli unwound her legs and stood beside him. She reached up and kissed him gently on the lips. "I'll take care of it, Jashi." Somehow, he knew she would. His step was a little lighter as he headed for the control room to check on the progress of the repairs.
*********
For seven days they strung wire and optic-fiber, connecting jury-rig circuits to replace those burned away in the explosion and fire. The computer's "seven hours to make all propulsion systems operational" had been predicated on the use of the number-two emergency-bypass bundle that ran beneath the floor-panel of the flight deck -- the one that would have led to the auxiliary control room, had the \Klondike\ been so equipped. It had promptly melted down when power was applied, filling the bridge with thick acrid smoke. Jashi was glad there was plenty of material available to make a new one.
As quickly as one new circuit was completed, the computer began interfacing it with the Teacher while Toko and his repair crew began laying the next one. The work went on around the clock. The others worked in shifts; Toko insisted on personally supervising every detail.
Karli and Tad were pulling regular shifts at repair right along with everyone else, in order to not arouse Tabor's suspicions. The boy had no technical training and was of little help, except as a gofer, so most of his time on duty was spent using the Teacher.
The Teacher unit installed by the Keeper aboard the \Klondike\ before they departed L'sa'ria had been a bit of a disappointment; its storage was very limited without hookup to the main data-banks of the Hall of Records, and most of Karli's coveted historical files had been left behind in favor of technical data. Still, just being under the hood developed and strengthened Tad's telepathic ability, and Karli saw to it that he got every detail of the mission's background and the sketchy history of L'sa'ria that was available from the alien machine and the ship's computer.
Karli was amazed at how fast Tad was able to take the Teacher's input, and how rapidly he learned to use his telepathic talent to full advantage. She had been able to converse easily with him after only the second day, and following yesterday's session, she had actually been able to see thru his eyes for a few seconds before the contact faded.
Tad's attitude had changed dramatically. Karli didn't know whether it was due to the education he was receiving, or to her influence, but the rough edges of the street had faded quickly from his personality, to be replaced by politeness and genuine respect; Marty certainly could no longer consider him uncivilized. Karli looked up from her work as the Teacher's isolation field collapsed and Tad rose from the table, stretching his cramped muscles. She glanced at the chronometer; the watch was almost over.
(.... "Tad, it's time....") It was almost as easy as conversing with Jashi when the boy was this close, but unlike contact with Jashi, their ability to link seemed to attenuate rapidly over relatively short distances -- from her cabin to Tad's was much more difficult. Karli felt the boy's reluctance. (.... "You're ready, Tad. If the Captain is asleep, don't wake him. I'll be along in a minute....")
(.... "Yes, Lady Karli ....")
Tabor looked up as the boy left the control room, but made no comment. They had all been taking turns keeping an eye on him since the night of DeCarlo's escape; none of them had seen anything suspicious. A thorough search of his cabin and his personal effects had revealed nothing.
I'm in the fresher, Karli. came Jashi's voice in her head. Be out in just a minute. He'd been eavesdropping; she suspected he'd been listening in on her contact with Tad ever since she'd started training him.
Karli walked to where Toko sat, staring at a printout of the \Klondike's\ control circuitry. He looked up bleary-eyed as she lightly rested her hand on his shoulder. "Toko, you need some rest," she said softly.
He sighed wearily and rubbed his eyes with his fists. "General Galactic prints the best tech manuals in the galaxy, Karli, but they weren't designed for a job like this. We've got it all but that one circuit... I know we wired that last cable correctly, at least according to this, but the computer says it can't find the cross-talk connection to the rehydrolizing oscillator from the fusion-envelope feedback inverter. We can't fly without a throttle... We can't even fire up the main powerplant!"
Karli knew it was useless to argue with him; he'd stay with it until the job was finished -- or until he dropped from exhaustion. "Can I get you anything before I go?" she asked. Toko was already staring at the schematic again; he only shook his head silently. She'd stop by and talk to Suu before she joined Jashi and Tad in their quarters; as medical officer, Suu could \order\ him off-duty if necessary. Karli wondered how much Revtab he'd had.
*********
Tad signaled timidly at the door of Jashi and Karli's quarters. His palms were sweaty, and he was frightened. He wished Lady Karli had come along with him. Over the past few days, he'd come to understand the intensely intimate nature of the union between two members of a telepair. Linking with Lady Karli was pleasant; he felt intimidated by the Captain. He knew Jashi had consented to his intrusion only out of necessity.
(.... "You may come in, Tad. Grab something to drink; I'll be out in a minute ....") Tad nearly jumped out of his skin. It was the first time the Captain had "spoken" to him since giving his consent to the plan. His hand trembled as he keyed in the global entry code.
In the fresher, Jashi frowned at his reflection in the mirror. "That wasn't so hard, was it, Fool?" he scolded himself. In truth, it had probably been the hardest thing he'd ever done in his life. The first contact was over with, he reasoned; that was the worst part. He knew it wasn't true -- even more difficult would be his first total union with the boy. No matter how hard he tried to be reasonable, it still seemed somehow perverse -- to allow other than Karli into his most secret self was \unnatural\. No matter, it was necessary. It had been \made\ necessary by his own blunder; it was fitting that he should be the one to suffer. He was glad it didn't bother Karli.
The boy rose awkwardly to his feet as Jashi entered the room. "Good evening, Captain," he said, his voice trembling slightly. "I'm sorry if I disturbed you, but Lady Karli..."
"I know, Tad," Jashi cut him off in mid-sentence. "It's all right. She'll be along in a few minutes... Just relax." He waved toward the chair the boy had risen from. "Sit down. Let me fix myself a drink, and we'll talk. Karli tells me you've remembered some things since you've been using the Teacher."
"Yes Captain. Many things, mostly about my childhood. Lady Karli said I should tell you, from the beginning."
*********
Tad had proven to be a unique case in more ways than one. First, there was no recorded instance of any Human establishing telepathic contact outside his telepair. Second, use of the Teacher had enabled Tad to recall not only most of his early childhood, but even memories of sensations and sounds during the last months before being delivered of his mother; he was half Falturon Native.
When his mother was twelve, she had been sold by her father (at Licti's direction -- it was an honor to be selected by the gods) to an offworlder as his bride. When she fainted from fright on her bonding-night, the man raped her brutally, repeatedly, until he was exhausted, then ordered her returned to her family in disgrace.
Rejected by the gods, an outcast among her own people, she was forced to eat from the garbage of the village, and to sleep out of doors, seeking shelter from the ever-present rain wherever she could find it. Somehow she had lived; somehow her unborn child survived her repeated beatings at the hand of her father. Somehow she clung stubbornly to life and gave birth to a healthy son. A rejected scion of the gods, born of a disgraced and unworthy bride, the boy's light skin was a glaring reminder to all of his shameful heritage; when he was barely a year old they were driven from the village, never to return.
He remembered as if it were yesterday. He remembered the long walk from the village, his mother carrying him in a driving rain that ended as they reached the edge of the city. He remembered her as she held him in her arms, huddled beneath a clump of undergrowth just within the encircling rainforest. All afternoon, until darkness settled over the jungle and the lights of Extasy cast their harsh glow back from the ever-present cloud cover, she held him in her arms and talked to him -- telling him things he couldn't possibly understand; he remembered every word. He slept, and she was gone. He was awakened by strange sounds and the bright lights of the \Decaying Orbit\; Tad never saw his mother again.
It was a newer, cleaner \Decaying Orbit\, in a still-thriving deep-east Extasy that swarmed with visitors. Owned and operated by a jovial Terran named Christopher Banning, it became home for Tad, until Banning was executed by Licti five years later for underpayment of his weekly profits tax, leaving Tad homeless and at the mercy of Extasy's street gangs -- just moving into that section of the city, fighting each other for control of their respective turf.
"You know most of the rest, Captain," said Tad. "It's sorta spooky, remembering so many things from a past I didn't know I had. I can't believe my mother's own people would treat her like that!"
"All the more reason why Licti has to be stopped, Tad. I told you it was bigger than just DeCarlo... It seems to get bigger all the time."
An awkward silence descended on the room. Jashi got up to fix fresh drinks. Karli joined them; she crossed the room and kissed Jashi lightly on the lips. The tension eased a little. "You both look intact to me," she observed, as she fixed herself a mildly-alcoholic fizz, and stirred in a dash of white powder. "Really guys, \we're\ the ones who are supposed to behave like that, not you swarthy males!"
Just because I love you doesn't give you the right to be insulting!
"Tad understands, Jashi. He won't violate our privacy." And you don't have any reason to be jealous, either! "His range seems to be limited, anyway. I don't understand it, but more than about two hundred yards, and the contact becomes impossible to maintain for longer than a few seconds."
Yeah? You've been attracted to him ever since your first contact when he rescued us from Pig-Mug and his pals! He felt her tense as he said it; he knew it was true -- what he wasn't sure of was the nature of the attraction.
Resolutely, Jashi pushed the thought aside. For long moments he stared at the handsome youth across from him. The boy really \had\ changed; the tough street-urchin of deep-east Extasy was gone. "Tell me about it, Tad. Start with the first time you realized you were telepathic."
*********
For as long as he could remember, Tad had been aware that certain persons gave off an eerie presence. Often, as he moved about the streets of Extasy or the interior of the \Decaying Orbit\, he'd felt it as he passed close to a particular individual. Occasionally he would pick up fractured bits of thought, or bursts of intense emotion if the person was agitated. "You were stronger than any I had encountered before, except for the Feldt'r -- I can't stay in the same room with one of them -- but they just radiate noise. It's like furry spiders crawling in your brain... Instant headache!" He made a face that extracted a giggle from Karli.
"That's strange," mused Jashi. "We've both been around Feldt'r. Remember the three at the resort on Zakoda, Karli? I didn't feel anything around them."
"I picked you up all the way across the room, Captain. You were very uncomfortable, and your companion was impatient. You were wondering if the bartender had pissed in your beer."
Jashi opened his mouth, then closed it. "You could read \Roi\?"
"No, Captain, only you. I deduced his impatience from your sensory input and your conversation with him."
How much \else\ have you not told me?. Jashi's thoughts were angry; he'd been invaded!
I didn't know, Jashi. Honest! Anyway, that was before. He's not the same person he was then.
"She didn't know, Captain." Seeing the expression on Jashi's face, Tad continued quickly. "I wasn't eavesdropping... When you do it like that, I can't find you, and I wouldn't even try. I was watching your faces. You shouldn't ever play poker, Captain." He held his breath, waiting for Jashi's response.
In spite of his persistent misgivings, Jashi grinned. "Welcome to the team, Tad. I'll try very hard to be fair."
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
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