Operation Orion - Kevin Dockery [90]
“I gather this star is kind of like a galactic version of Hong Kong, back before the Chinese tamed it,” Carstairs noted. “Lots of commerce done here, some diplomacy and piracy, not a lot of regulation.”
“It is both famous and infamous in this quarter of the galaxy,” Char-Kane noted. “One can supposedly find anything and everything for sale there. Including people,” she added.
“Sounds like just the kind of place Tezlac Catal would choose for his vacation home,” Jackson noted sourly. At the thought of the savant, he turned to the Shamani, remembering the problem he’d been grappling with since his conversation with Dr. Sulati.
“What is it about his mental power, anyway? How does it work?” he asked bluntly. “Do you understand what his brain, or his voice, actually does? How can he inflict pain, even paralysis, just by speaking?”
“We have done surreptitious analysis insofar as possible, though the savants are rare and guard their secrets well. Rarely will they use their powers when there are recording devices present. All we Shamani have been able to determine is that there is a powerful electrical aura, negatively charged, that the savant can project, as if in a wave of ions. His voice carries the power of the charge, but his mind is the source of the electrical field.”
“Savants are rare, huh? I guess I’m thankful for small favors, though even one of the sons of bitches is too many for me,” the LT declared. Still, the hypothesis made sense: He knew that a field of electrical charge heavily oriented toward one pole—the negative, in this case—could seriously disrupt normal electrical function. And the brain, when one got right down to it, was an organ that functioned because of billions and billions of tiny but significant electrical emissions. Filing the data away, he returned his attention to the mission.
“How many inhabited planets are there in the system?” Jackson asked.
“Three.” The CO indicated two bright blips in equidistant orbits around the star called Darius. “These two are the most Earth-like. One is controlled by the Shamani, the other by the Assarn. They revolve around the star more or less opposite each other.”
“That planet, Darius I, is the home of some of our greatest artists,” Char-Kane noted. “It is reportedly a world of unprecedented beauty. Ninety percent of the surface is water, primarily warm, shallow seas. It is much favored by those who do not have a lot of work to do.”
Her tone was faintly disapproving, and Jackson clenched his teeth to hide his smile.
Carstairs next pointed to a larger blip, surrounded by a dense web of smaller images. “This is Darius III, and it’s controlled by the Eluoi, as you might have guessed.”
“What are all the smaller blips?” the SEALS officer wondered.
“No less than a dozen large stations. A lot of the blips you’re seeing are spaceships. Our data indicates that Darius III is one of the most heavily populated planets in the entire galaxy—a population of something near a hundred billion—and that the level of interstellar trade is right up near the top of the list.”
Jackson looked at the ship captain. “Are you thinking what I am?”
Carstairs offered a tight smile. “You think we should begin looking for the Pangaea in the vicinity of Darius III? I was reaching the same conclusion myself.”
They marked a course for the big planet and paid careful attention to the streams of traffic moving to all sides. None of the other ships were close enough to see with the naked eye, but the vidscreen gave proof that they were in a very crowded region of space.
Darius III loomed larger; the planet was clearly visible, and as they neared it, they could make out some of the large stations, like small moons, orbiting it. Carstairs authorized a coded ID signal, identifying his frigate so that if