Scattered Suns - Kevin J. Anderson [50]
Rlinda had started out with a beef against the unhelpful governor of Relleker, and it wasn’t getting any better.
Almost a month ago, she and BeBob had come to the former resort planet as a stopover on their way to deliver heavy equipment and mining machinery to new colonies on abandoned Klikiss worlds. After hearing Davlin’s call for help, Rlinda and BeBob had dumped their expensive equipment in order to make room for the refugees.
Before they left to go save the Crenna colonists, the incensed governor had submitted an exorbitant bill for “inappropriate storage,” which Rlinda refused to pay. Therefore, Pekar impounded the equipment, though it was useless on Relleker’s terrain. In retaliation, Rlinda announced she would not deliver other supplies to Relleker until the colonization initiative’s property was returned. An irritating and unnecessary spat.
Now they sat in the waiting room of the governor’s office, exactly on time but cooling their heels in some sort of annoying power play. Davlin was not with them. He had gone off claiming he would arrive in time for the meeting, but he was late...and so was the governor.
“You’d think she’d be a little more understanding,” Rlinda said. “Crenna is the closest system to Relleker. The hydrogues could have hit here just as easily as there. If warglobes are on the move, who knows where they’ll go next?”
BeBob fidgeted. “And so many new colonies are depending on us to make our regular runs. Rescuing the survivors on Crenna already put us behind schedule. I need the equipment that Relleker impounded.”
“Eventually, Governor Pekar will realize she’d be happy to have you take it back,” Rlinda said. “You can probably load up again in a day.”
As if he had planned his timing, Davlin stepped through the door at the very moment Pekar summoned them into her office. The governor had changed her clothes for some unknown reason. Two assistants sat with her, taking duplicate copies of notes.
“The Hansa Charter is clear that it’s our human duty to offer assistance,” Pekar admitted. “However, let me be very frank: Those people cannot stay here. We don’t have the food or the facilities to support such an increase in our population. You’ll have to take them somewhere else.”
“We’d be happy to,” Rlinda said with a smug grin. “And I’m sure that once the Crenna folks get to know you all, they’ll be just as happy to leave. But the question is, how do we get all of them out of here?”
The governor scowled. “You brought them on your ships in the first place. Why not load them up again and fly off?”
BeBob spluttered. “That’s impossible! We were dangerously overloaded on the way here, but that was an emergency. I wouldn’t want to try it again. Besides, I have vital shipments to deliver to other new colony planets, and I can’t pick up the equipment and take all the passengers at the same time. If I don’t continue my run soon, we might lose populations in settlements that are even worse off than you are here, ma’am.” He gestured with his chin, as if it was obvious to any observer how warm and comfortable Relleker actually was. “Sorry if it’s a little inconvenient.”
The former resort planet had depended on high-paying tourists and offworld deliveries and luxury items. Before the hydrogue embargo on stardrive fuel, they had made little effort to become self-sufficient, and now the spoiled inhabitants didn’t know how to live by their own wits and resources.
“I suggest we take them to Earth,” Davlin said quietly. “I can speak directly with the Hansa Chairman, and we’ll work something out. I will also make sure he’s aware of Relleker’s reluctance to assist.”
Rlinda put her meaty elbows on the edge of the governor’s desk. “The Curiosity can safely handle maybe a third of the colonists, though it’ll be slow going. The Faith is a little worse off. That would delay—”
“No need,” Davlin said. “Relleker