CHAPTER NINE
“You’re either the biggest idiot I’ve ever met,” Nikki accused as she paced restlessly across the dayroom’s limited floor space, “or three degrees short of suicidal.”
“I don’t see the problem,” I said mildly from my fold-down seat as I took a sip of my drink. I understood the need to bleed off excess energy and adrenaline after a particularly trying encounter like the one we’d just had, but even just sitting here watching her walking back and forth was making me tired. “I got us in, you made your call, and I got us out again.”
“You don’t?” Nikki countered. She spun around in mid-pace and shot a look at Selene, seated to my left on one of the other fold-downs. “Please tell me you see the mess your boss has dropped us into.”
“I don’t know what else he could have done,” Selene replied stiffly. “He couldn’t let us be captured.”
“So instead he makes enemies of the whole damn Patth species?”
“The Patth didn’t like us long before Uvif’s Iykams pulled their guns on us back there,” I said. “And Selene’s right. If you were listening, you certainly saw that Uvif was all but salivating over the chance to bring us in.”
“I was listening, and that raises a whole raft of other questions,” Nikki said acidly. “But that’s your problem, and you’re welcome to it. My problem is that for the next few weeks I’m joined at the hip to you two and your feuds. I get shot at enough without drawing extra fire just because of where I’m standing.”
“I know, and for what it’s worth I’m sorry,” I said. I didn’t particularly relish my current spot next to a working assassin, either. “I was pretty sure there would be a Patth keeping an eye on the research station in case the dig crew needed to send any messages. But I thought he’d be more embedded into the staff and would be out monitoring the crops or something. I didn’t expect he’d be in direct charge of the StarrComm facility.”
“Like I said: an idiot,” Nikki said. “You should always have a plan ready for the worst-case scenario.”
“I usually do,” I said. “And again, I did get us out of there.”
For a moment Nikki glared at me. Then, she seemed to shake away the emotion. “At least you recognize the problem. The question now is how you’re going to solve it.”
“We solve it by finishing the job Cherno set for us,” I said. “Then we and you go our separate ways.”
“All of us still riding together until then?”
“That’s how Cherno set it up,” I reminded her.
“Cherno didn’t know you were going to paint a luminous target on our backs,” Nikki countered. “All right. Let’s start with what exactly you’re looking for.”
“We can’t really—”
“Stop,” Nikki said, her voice suddenly deathly quiet. “Enough of the stalling. What you’re doing and where you’re going to do it are now life-or-death decisions. I need to know what’s going on, and I need to know before we touch ground again.”
I looked at Selene, caught the reluctant agreement in her pupils. And it wasn’t like Nikki wasn’t eventually going to find out about the portals. A few weeks early couldn’t hurt. “All right,” I said, waving at the foldout couch. “You’re going to want to sit down for this.”
“I’m fine,” Nikki said.
“Whatever,” I said. “Bottom line: Cherno has an alien device stashed away at his mansion. It’s a portal of the type we call a Gemini that can instantly send a person to another portal multiple light-years away. He’s got one end; we’re looking for the other.”
For a moment Nikki stared at me, her face unreadable. She looked at Selene, then back at me. Then, her eyes still boring into my face, she backed over to the couch and lowered herself onto it. “Really.”
I nodded. “Really.”
“You’ve seen it work?”
“I’ve ridden it myself,” I assured her. “Not Cherno’s Gemini, but others like it. Trust me: as insane as it sounds, the damn things do indeed exist.”
“And there’s another one just sitting around?”
“More likely buried or half buried in or near alien ruins,” I said. “Hence, the list Floyd gave us on Xathru.”
“And there’s probably not just one,” Selene added. “There may be dozens of them scattered across the Spiral.”
“Dozens, or hundreds,” I said. “There’s really no way to know.”
For a moment Selene was silent, gazing off into the distance as she digested all that. Then, her eyes came back to focus. “I’ll assume for a moment that all that is true,” she said. “So if I had one of these things—”
“Two of these things.”
“Two of these things,” Nikki continued, “you could send me into someone’s bedroom or private office or something?”
“No, you can only go back and forth between the portals,” I said. “You leave one end and go to the other.”
“Yes, I got that,” Nikki said. “But if you were able to get one of the portals into someone’s office you could do that?”
“It would have to be one hell of an office,” I said. “Gemini portals are spheres about twenty meters across.”
“Oh,” Nikki said, momentarily taken aback. “You could have mentioned that.”
“Sorry,” I said. “The big sphere’s twenty meters across, with a conjoined smaller sphere about fifteen.”
“Got it,” Nikki said, and I could see her shuffling this new data into her mental swirl of ideas and possibilities. “So he just tripped over this thing one day?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “It’s in a quick-build structure on his property, and it’s still sitting on the cargo straps they used to haul it there.”
“So it is portable,” she said thoughtfully. “If it’s too big for someone’s house you could still move it onto their land and inside their outer security ring.”
“Theoretically, sure,” I said. “Be a bit hard to hide a twenty-meter sphere in a Zen garden.”
“There are always possibilities,” Nikki assured me. “You just have to train yourself to think that way. How long has Cherno had the portal?”
I thought back. It had been four months since Nask and the Patth sneaked the portal off Fidelio, but I didn’t know when along its journey Cherno had managed to hijack it.
But there was someone who might know. I hadn’t thought about Trent for a while, but if he’d been involved in the theft he would know those details.
I felt my throat tighten. I’d wondered once if his invitation to join his crew meant he was planning to steal the other end of Cherno’s Gemini, but those speculations had taken a back seat to everything else that had happened since then.
But if he had even a hint of where that portal was, maybe he and I should renew acquaintances.
Meanwhile, Nikki was waiting for an answer. “No more than four months,” I told her. “Probably somewhat less.”
“So he’s been thinking about this for a while,” she concluded. “And the fact that he’s linked me up with you tells me he’s figured out a way to get his portal inside his target’s security.”
“I suppose that’s possible,” I said, my thoughts still on Trent and the possibility of tracking down the other Gemini through him. “Still be a hell of a stunt to park one on someone’s lawn without them noticing it.”
“Trust me,” Nikki said dryly. “There are plenty of the rich and powerful who could drop something that size onto their estates and never know it was there. So where does this little treasure hunt of yours start?”
“Hopefully, on one of these planets,” I said, standing up and pulling out my info pad. I could see in Selene’s pupils that she’d sensed I’d had a sudden thought, but she knew better than to ask in front of Nikki. There would be plenty of time to talk about Trent when we had more privacy. “Cherno’s people made up a list of possible spots,” I continued, pulling up Floyd’s planetary list and handing the pad to Nikki. “I’d probably start with one of the higher spots, but at this point it’s mostly a dart toss.”
“I see Lucias Four is there,” she commented, flashing a baleful look at me before returning her attention to the pad. “You could have told me that was what you were looking for from the start.”
“The point about it having a private StarrComm facility was equally valid,” I said with a shrug. “No reason we can’t do two things at the same time.”
“Funny you should say that,” Nikki said. “I see Niskea is two down from the top. Interesting.”
I frowned. There were a lot of adjectives I’d heard applied to Niskea over the years, but interesting had never been one of them. “Something there catch your eye?” I asked.
“Not my eye, no,” she said. “There’s a part of Rosselgang City informally called the Badlands. Ever hear of it?”
I winced. Every hunter in the Spiral had heard of the Badlands. For way too many targets it was their final attempt to hide from justice.
Unfortunately for them, in this case hiding from justice also meant hiding from civilization. The Badlands was a two-kilometer-square enclave of criminal rule surrounded by a city and planet that didn’t want them there but hadn’t figured out a way short of tactical nukes to get rid of them.
Though as was the case with most other defiant strongholds in the Spiral, there were rumors that the Rosselgang government left the Badlands alone because there were quiet fortunes to be made through bribes, smuggling, and protection agreements. “The place is hardly a secret,” I said. “I’ve heard hunters talk about targets disappearing in there. Most of them never found out whether the fugitives are still there or were able to slip out.”
“Most likely they settled down there,” Nikki said. “The more valid question was whether they settled aboveground or below it.”
Selene shifted silently in her seat. Her pupils showed revulsion, but I couldn’t tell whether it was directed toward Nikki or the Badlands. “So; important safety tip,” I said. “There’s supposed to be a small spaceport near one edge of the enclave that’s barrier-ringed and relatively safe.”
“It’s actually very safe,” Nikki said. “No one wants to have to go into badgeman territory if they need to get cargo in or themselves out, so everything inside the port fence is a steel-skinned neutral zone.” She raised her eyebrows slightly. “Outside the fence it’s a different story.”
“I take it you have business in there?” Selene asked.
“You sound like you’re hoping I won’t make it out,” Nikki said, a little too calmly. “No, no business, just a purchase I need to make.” She paused. “Actually, it’ll be a custom order, so it may take a while.”
“Okay, that works,” I said, trying not to think of what sort of nastiness an assassin’s custom order would include. “We can just head over—”
“How long a while?” Selene asked.
“I’m not sure,” Nikki said, eyeing her thoughtfully. “Could be as little as a day. Could be two or three.”
“Even more perfect,” I said. “As I was starting to say, we’ll drop you off, then head over to the ruins—”
“No,” Nikki interrupted. “We can go look for Cherno’s portal after I’m finished.”
“You mean in a day or three?” I asked pointedly. “Or maybe more? You do remember we’re running on a timer here, right?”
“I’ve seen what happens when you get on the ground,” Nikki said. “I don’t want you wandering off somewhere, getting into trouble, and leaving me stranded.”
“Won’t happen,” I promised. “We’ll be good little boys and girls, take a quick look around, and head straight back.”
“Besides, I would think the Badlands would be the perfect place for you to retire to,” Selene put in.
Nikki’s eyes narrowed. She opened her mouth—
“Let’s stick to the point, shall we?” I spoke up quickly, motioning Selene to drop it. Most of the time she was able to sit on her feelings toward Nikki, but her bubbling animosity could come out at the most awkward moments. “Nikki, we can’t just sit around doing nothing. We have to find the other end of Cherno’s portal, and our timeframe is looking very thin.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Nikki said, her gaze lingering on Selene another moment before shifting to me. “In my experience, when a client says there’s only one shot at something, it’s nothing but eagerness and hyperbole. There’s always a second opportunity somewhere down the line, and usually a third and a fourth. Maybe they’re not as neat and simple as the first opening, but they’re always there.”
“Cherno may be forgiving toward you,” I told her. “There’s no guarantee that same restraint holds for Selene and me.”
“Why wouldn’t it? Aren’t you the only ones who know how to find this portal?”
“We’re the only ones he knows personally,” I said. “But there are others out there he might be able to get to. And as my father used to say, It doesn’t matter if you can’t be replaced if the other guy thinks you can.”
“Don’t worry, Cherno’s not that stupid,” Nikki soothed, setting my info pad on the couch beside her. “Anyway, the conversation’s over. We land at the Badlands, you wait there while I handle my business, and then we can get back to your hunt.” She stood up and waved a hand toward the bridge. “And the sooner you set course for Niskea, the sooner that all happens.”
With that, she gave each of us a polite nod and headed out into the corridor and aft toward her cabin.
For a moment Selene and I just looked at each other. Then she stirred. “I’m sorry, Gregory,” she said in a small voice. “I didn’t mean to . . . are you angry?”
“Yes,” I confirmed. “But not at you.” I glowered out into the corridor. “And if she thinks we’re just going to sit on our hands while she goes shopping for snow globes or whatever, she’s sadly mistaken.”
“You think we can lift from the Badlands without her knowing about it?”
“Oh, I’m sure she’ll have that covered,” I said. “But just because the Ruth stays on the pad doesn’t mean we have to be aboard. Let’s go lay in a course and find ourselves some options.”
* * *
Usually I left the bridge hatch open when I was in there, both for the ventilation and for the mostly false sense of roominess it created. This time, even with Nikki presumably locked in her cabin, I made sure to close and lock it.
Looking up Niskea’s coordinates and setting our course took about ten minutes. I ran the engines to plus-twenty, the highest setting I was willing to risk, which would burn fuel like crazy but would also shave twenty percent of the time off our trip. Even with that, though, we were in for a solid four days in hyperspace, days we were effectively useless. More than once I’d reflected that Cherno’s six-week timetable was ridiculously optimistic for the size job he’d handed us.
But then, at the time he’d set his plans he’d thought we would be able to turn on his damn portal for him. So much for the best-laid plans.
I felt my throat tighten. No. Not his portal. Sub-Director Nask’s.
I gazed at the nav reading, wondering yet again how in hell’s name Cherno had gotten the portal away from the Patth. Wondering, too, whether Nask had made it out the other end alive.
And it belatedly occurred to me that if Trent had been part of it, there might even now be Patth Expediters closing in on him. Eager though I was to find out what he knew, he might not be a healthy person to stand next to at the moment.
As my father used to say, Don’t spit at someone who’s armed and angry, and don’t stand next to the guy doing the spitting.
“Gregory, look at this,” Selene spoke up from the plotting table behind me.
“What’ve you got?” I asked, turning around.
“The spaceport Nikki wants us to land in is only about six blocks from the edge of the Badlands,” she said, handing me her info pad. “If we can pick up a runaround inside the port fence, it should only take a couple of minutes to get clear of the area.”
“That assumes no one tries to stop us,” I pointed out, looking at the street map she’d pulled up. Scrimshaw Avenue, the major thoroughfare that marked the northern boundary of the Badlands, was indeed six blocks away from the spaceport.
Only that six blocks translated to nearly half a kilometer. Plenty of time for the locals to peek through a runaround’s windows and see that there were strangers among them.
On the other hand, newcomers to a place like the Badlands ought to be relatively common. Furthermore, if I gave the gawkers my best scowl they might be persuaded to exercise the better part of valor and leave us alone. “And then we grab an aircar and head over to the ruins?” I asked doubtfully.
“Or we start by calling the admiral,” Selene said, reaching over and tapping a spot on the pad. “The nearest StarrComm center is only ten kilometers away.”
I nodded, mentally sifting through the possibilities. The ruins on Cherno’s list were a good eight thousand kilometers out from the Badlands. A quick trip there and back would be possible if Nikki’s errand took the full three days she’d mentioned; not so much if it only took one. But a conversation with the admiral should only cost us a couple of hours.
“Sounds like a plan,” I agreed, handing back the pad. “Okay. We’ll wave good-bye to Nikki, then see what transport we can get. We probably do owe the admiral an update.”
I looked over at the Niskea course display. “And he owes us a list of planets to look at. We should probably remember to remind him of that.”
* * *
The Badlands spaceport was a textbook example of the economical use of space, its eight landing pads cramped together in an area where more respectable spaceports would only have four. But the Ruth was compact, and I was a reasonably good pilot, and we made it to our assigned pad without any trouble. Nikki made a couple of phone calls as we powered down, and by the time I’d arranged for refueling she was ready to head out on her buying spree.
“Final instructions,” she said as the three of us met by the entryway. She was dressed in the same black-and-dark green wrap, hat, and veil she’d been wearing when we met, the same one she’d worn during her Vesperin reconnoiter. Apparently, it was her walkabout outfit of choice even when it made her identifiable to hostile hunters.
Though maybe being identifiable here was an asset, especially when your name was Piper.
“We’ll start with the obvious: stay put,” Nikki continued. “I’ve reserved the pad for six days, and spaceport operations are monitored, so don’t try to sneak it out of here.”
“I thought you said it would only take three days,” I reminded her.
“It will,” she said. “An artist like Franck never needs more than three days for a custom job. But it’s only money, and it doesn’t hurt to make people think you’ll be staying somewhere longer than you actually will. People making plans usually scale their timetables based on how long they have to carry them out.”
I nodded. “Like Cherno and his six-week countdown.”
“If that’s supposed to remind me to hurry, consider it noted,” she said. “Item two: don’t let anyone else aboard the ship. The fuelers and port authorities are bonded, so they should be safe enough, but anyone can just stroll in through the gates and no one will stop them.”
“Usually we only allow friends aboard,” Selene murmured.
“Good,” Nikki said, ignoring the implied swipe. “If you get hungry, the local area has plenty of places you can call for delivery. Just leave payment at the top of the zigzag, have them do the same with the food, and you’re good.”
“Or we could just go out and get it ourselves,” I said. “Sampling the local color can be fun.”
“In this case, it probably won’t,” Nikki said. “On our way in I took the liberty of sending Planetary Control your bounty hunter ID. An hour or two, and everyone in the Badlands will know you’re here and will probably assume you’re chasing a target.”
I stared at her, a tight feeling in my chest. I’d deliberately come in under my crockett ID and license to avoid that exact misunderstanding. “What the hell did you do that for?”
“To make sure you stay put,” she said calmly. “I don’t want to come back to the Ruth to find you two off playing tourist. That timetable you just mentioned, remember?”
I looked at Selene, saw my same anger and frustration reflected in her pupils. But what was done was done, and there wasn’t anything we could do about it. “Or you could just make sure to call when you know how long this is going to take.”
“I’ll try,” she promised. “I’ll definitely call when I’m heading back. Believe it or not, I don’t want to spend any longer here than I have to, either. Any questions?”
“No, I think you’ve thoroughly boxed us in,” I bit out.
“Good,” Nikki said. “And it’s not so much a box as it is a fortress. Be good, and enjoy the local food.”
She gestured to the entryway. I opened it and she headed out, exuding casual confidence as she walked down the zigzag. I leaned my head out as she descended, studying the perimeter fence, the nearest gate, and the small operations and entry building beside the opening. The street beyond the fence, the one that offered the quickest route out of the Badlands, looked narrower than I would have liked, but it was broad enough to avoid getting instantly flanked by people emerging from buildings, alleyways, or side streets. There wasn’t much vehicular traffic, but there were enough pedestrians moving back and forth that at least a traveler wouldn’t feel completely conspicuous.
The perimeter fence itself, I noted, was little more than a token chain-link style that anyone with even a modicum of determination could easily climb or breach. Apparently, Nikki had been right about agreements among the locals being the true guarantee of the port’s security.
She’d also been right about how easy it would be for someone to wander in.
I waited until she’d reached ground level and was crossing toward the gate and office before closing the entryway and turning to Selene. “Okay, she’s on her way. What have we got?”
“Nothing,” she said, her pupils showing frustration as she worked her info pad. “There aren’t any runaround stands in or near the port, and none of the cab companies will send a driver into the Badlands.”
“Terrific,” I growled. “What about outside the Badlands? Any runaround stands there?”
“There’s one two blocks north of Scrimshaw Avenue,” she said. “Once we get out we might be able to pick up one and drive ourselves back here.”
“It’s getting there in the first place that’s the problem,” I said heavily. “Like I said, nice little box.”
“Yes, it is,” Selene said. “Are we going to stay in it?”
I thought about Nikki’s warnings about the Badlands, and her underhanded trick of broadcasting my hunter ID to all the lowlifes around us. Cheap manipulation, and I’d never liked being manipulated. “As my father used to say, Do a little more each day than is expected of you, and more will be expected. So don’t do more. Do different.”
Selene’s pupils were showing wariness. “Meaning?”
“Meaning that if we can’t get a ride, we’ll just have to walk,” I said.
“Do you think it’s safe?”
“If Nikki can do it, so can we,” I said firmly, hoping I wouldn’t end up eating those words. “Grab your jacket, phone, and plasmic, and let’s go.”