Ascending - James Alan Gardner [71]
Festina opened her arms to me and I finally, gratefully, slid into her embrace.
More Pressing Matters
We did not stay that way long. Behind my back, someone made the sound that humans call a Polite Cough…but I did not think it polite at all, for it caused Festina to release me. “Yes?” she asked.
I turned. Dr. Havel stood there in the company of the cloud man, Nimbus…who was now not shaped like a man but a featureless ball of mist. At the center of the ball lay the delicate silvery Starbiter; and do not ask me how a ball of mist can support a ball of baby for I do not know. Some mysteries are too pleasing to be questioned.
“Uhh,” said the doctor, all shamefaced, “sorry to interrupt you, Admiral, but uhh, ha-ha, Nimbus has been saying some things I think we should, uhh, discuss.”
“What sort of things?” Festina asked.
The doctor gestured for the cloud man to answer. “Well,” Nimbus said, particles of mist roiling within him, “I’m sure you realize Grandma Yulai won’t be the last. She’s only the first casualty in a much larger campaign to keep York’s exposé hushed up. If someone on the High Council was desperate enough to murder her—”
“Wait,” Havel interrupted. “Does it have to be someone on the High Council?” He turned to Festina with his big watery eyes…as if, ha-ha, the admiral would reassure him the universe was not truly cruel. “Maybe it was just someone misguided,” Havel suggested. “A lowly ensign perhaps, who thought killing this woman would make the admirals happy. That could be how it was, couldn’t it?”
“The council will try to make it look that way if this business ever gets out.” Festina curled her lip. “They’ll find some gung-ho hotshot who’ll confess to doing it unasked…and the admirals will howl with horror that anyone could believe they’d approve of such a deed. For all I know, maybe it was some lousy lieutenant who wanted to impress the High Council. But we have to assume the worst: one or more admirals have gone bug-fuck and they’re ready to out-and-out murder folks who pose a threat.” She gave a grim little smile. “I’m afraid I fall into the threat category. So does Oar. So does everyone on this ship.”
“But even if the admirals are on the warpath,” Havel said, “they can’t do anything, can they? They’re all on New Earth. They can’t send execution squads to murder us in space—the League would never allow killers to leave New Earth’s system.”
“The admirals don’t have to send killers. Every planet in the Technocracy has locals who don’t mind slitting throats for a price. And our beloved high admirals know who those people are. Wherever we dock, someone will be waiting for us.”
“Then we don’t dock,” Havel said. “We’re a navy star-ship, for heaven’s sake—we can survive in deep space for three full years. Even longer if we sneak into uninhabited star systems every so often and mine a few asteroids.”
“And in the meantime, we let the killers run free?” Festina scowled. “I wasn’t the only Explorer marooned on Melaquin—there were dozens of others, and they’re all at risk. Most are still serving in the fleet; the next time their ships dock, there’ll be assassins waiting in port. As soon as my fellow Explorers go on shore leave, they’ll get their throats sliced. Do you think I’ll sit back and let that happen?”
“Then let us confront the Admiralty,” I said. “Let us make them stop killing. Let us make them know how awful death is.”
Festina shook her head. “The admirals are all on New Earth, and it’s way too dangerous for us to go anywhere near there. I don’t just mean New Earth itself—just entering the system may be a risk. Entering any Technocracy system. The council could spread word that Royal Hemlock has turned renegade: non-sentient. Every navy ship might have orders to manufacture missiles and put us down.”
“Missiles?” Nimbus said. “You mean bombs? I thought the League of Peoples wouldn’t let ships carry lethal weapons.”
Festina gave the cloud man a weary smile. “The League won’t let us carry weapons from one star system to another…but they certainly do let us kill dangerous nonsentients. Sometimes