Hidden Empire (35 page)
Cesca felt a coldness in her heart, already anticipating what the young woman was about to say.
Struggling to sit up, Bram reached over to find his cup of now-cold pepperflower tea, scowled at it, and looked back at Tasia.
“What are you thinking, young lady?”
“I’m thinking of my duty, Dad. You’ve told us enough times that we have to think of the Roamers, and not ourselves.” She crossed
her arms over her chest. “What if I offer my services to the Earth Defense Forces?”
“You will not,” the old man snapped. Cesca rapidly saw how the discussion would degenerate. EA came to Bram’s bed and straightened
his blankets, but he slapped away the compy’s ministrations.
“Someone has to fight the enemies that murdered my brother.” Tasia drew a deep breath. Cesca knew the girl was brash and impetuous,
but very talented.
“Cool down, Tasia,” Jess said quietly. “Your duty is to the family, and we need you here.”
“No you don’t. I haven’t done anything important with the waterworks in years. My uncles handle all the business that you
don’t take care of yourself.” Tasia continued in a more reasonable tone. “Shizz, Dad, you know how versatile I am. I’m a crack
pilot, and I can fix and fly plenty of ship models. The Eddies would take me in a second, maybe even put me on the fast track
to being an officer.”
“And they’d never release you in a million years,” Bram said, his voice raspy. “Now stop this foolishness.”
Cesca remembered a few arguments with her own father when he’d left her on Rendezvous, and she knew that old Bram was taking
exactly the wrong approach with his daughter. When younger, Cesca had been forced to travel around on the Peroni clan’s trading
ships for years before her father finally installed her on Rendezvous to study under Jhy Okiah. Cesca had resented it at first,
but soon grew to realize that her father was right.
Tasia, though, would not come to that realization any time soon … and Cesca wasn’t sure that Bram’s position was correct,
even so. The Roamers had always considered diverse competence to be a valuable commodity. Tasia was bright and had studied
well. Her many skills would have made the girl a sought-after marriage prospect, a strong addition to any clan. Those qualities
would make her even more valuable to the Earth Defense Forces.
“You don’t owe any loyalty to Earth, Tasia, and you know the Eddies have no love for Roamers,” Cesca said. “Don’t forget,
one of their patrols captured and killed Rand Sorengaard.”
“Rand Sorengaard was a pirate,” Tasia said. “I don’t care if he was your cousin. He murdered people and he stole ships. Don’t
make him out to be some great Roamer hero.”
When Jess spoke, Cesca could hear anger in his voice. “Tasia, look at Dad. He’s in no shape to handle the water operations.”
“I’m fine,” the old man snapped.
“No, you’re not,” Cesca and Jess said in comical unison.
“You’re my little sister. I’ve already lost Ross, and I don’t want to lose you, too.”
“Would it be better to lose the war? Those crystal ships struck down Ross’s skymine and a Goose research station with no warning
and no mercy. They don’t care about our squabbles.”
EA spoke up. “Would anyone like some hot beverages? I can prepare them quickly.” The others ignored the little compy.
“I forbid it,” Bram said. “This conversation is over.”
“Shizz, where have I heard those words before?” Tasia said sarcastically. “Isn’t that the same thing you said to Ross?”
EA did her best to follow Tasia as she stormed out of the old man’s chamber. Bram looked as if his own daughter had just dealt
him a mortal blow, reminding him of the single worst mistake he had committed in his life. He let out a gasping cry and collapsed
onto his bed, gnarled hands clenched. But Tasia was already gone.
I
n a huff, her mind made up, Tasia strode along the edge of the ice shelf, stomping so hard that her insulated boots left indentations
in the frozen ground. Looking out over the metal-dark waters of the hidden sea, she kept remembering her big brother Ross.
He had had the courage to stand up to their father’s unreasonable stubbornness. He had been brave and confident, and he had
proved himself with the undeniable success of the Blue Sky Mine. He would have married Cesca Peroni. Tasia was incredibly
proud of him for what he had done, despite her father’s insistent lack of support.
But the malicious alien destroyers had ruined everything. They had wrecked his marvelous skymine, and they had taken Ross’s
life.
Now Tasia had the chance to do something to avenge him. Technically, it should have been her father’s responsibility—or better
yet, Jess’s—but they were both concerned about the family business. Perhaps rightly so. Her uncles would keep everything running,
the supplies delivered, the products flowing.
She didn’t blame them, but she had to make her own decisions. With absolute conviction, she knew she was right; her father
and brother would come to see that in time. The Guiding Star showed every Roamer his or her life’s path, and Tasia saw her
course plainly. If anyone from the Tamblyn clan was going to take action against the alien enemy, maybe it needed to be her.
She took a deep breath and blew out a cloud of steam. The skin on her cheeks was crackling cold, but she refused to pull a
hood over her head. The waters of the ocean were still and thick. She saw no sign of the singing nematodes that had appeared
at the funeral, nor could she spot any sooty debris from the floating pyre.
She tossed a chunk of ice as far out into the water as she could. She and her brothers had done that together many times when
they were younger; Ross could skip a flat ice chip six times before it came to a stop. Now, her shard struck with a hollow
thunk
, then bobbed back to the surface, surrounded by an expanding chorus of ripples.
“Sometimes you just have to make waves of your own,” she muttered. The air was so cold that the insides of her nostrils felt
raw. Though the decision had been hard, a long time ago Ross had made the choice that was necessary for him. And so must she.
No use talking about it any further. Tasia moved quickly, not because she was afraid of changing her mind, but because once
she made a decision, she never backed down. No point in delaying.
Her small insulated hut was cool and dark. EA moved about straightening Tasia’s things, cleaning every exposed surface for
the fourth time. When the young woman was not there to keep the compy company, EA fell back on her limited programming of
finding simple chores to occupy herself.
“Turn up the heat, EA. Shizz!” Tasia never bothered to hide her moods from the oblivious little compy.
“I am sorry, Tasia. I set the temperature at your standard preferred level.”
“Never mind that, I’m cold.” She pulled off her gloves and removed her jacket, sitting at the edge of her chair. She would
have to pack quickly, make her plans, slip away. Tasia leaned forward conspiratorially. “EA, you and I have a job to do. I’ll
need your help.”
“Simply give me instructions, and I will be happy to assist you in any way.”
Tasia was glad compies wasted minimal circuitry space on morality programming that might confuse ethical issues. “You’ve been
my companion for a long time, EA, but now I need to ask you for something difficult.” The slender metal figure stopped her
chores and came over to stand motionless and attentive in front of the young girl. “You and I have to escape from here.”
EA hesitated just a moment, a short enough pause that it might have been Tasia’s imagination. “Whatever you wish. We will
have fun together.”
“We’re doing this to avenge my brother Ross.” “Ross was my first master. A fine young man.” “He’s dead,” Tasia said. “Aliens
killed him.” “How sad. Is there anything I can do to help?” The robotic compy had been purchased as a gift for Ross when he’d
been a child, when their mother was still alive. Standing just over a meter tall, EA was a cooperative Listener model, a good
friend for any child. Then, after Ross outgrew the faithful companion, EA had been given to Jess as a boyhood friend, and
finally to Tasia.
She felt a renewed flood of sadness and loss as she remembered that EA had been promised to whichever member of the Tamblyn
clan had the first child. Until now, it had always been expected that Ross, with his betrothal to Cesca, would be the first
Tamblyn to have children. Now that had changed forever.
“You can help me escape, and you’ll come with me when we join the Earth Defense Forces.”
“All right, Tasia,” EA said. “Just tell me what you would like me to do.”
The artificial suns embedded in the frozen roof were set on timers, dimming into pseudo-night at regular intervals. The settlement
beneath the ice sheet lived under the illusion of a standard day/night cycle. When Tasia emerged in the darkest hours, she
saw ripples of phosphorescent algae glowing within the layers of glacial sky, not quite like stars, but enough to light their
way to the lift tubes that would carry them to the surface.
Inside her father’s hut, Jess and Cesca still sat with the old man, but Tasia avoided them, simmering in her determination.
Jess had checked on her earlier, satisfied to find his sister resting in her own hut. Tasia had wanted to confide in him,
but she knew her brother Jess. He always did what he thought was best for other people. If he suspected what she meant to
do, he would probably restrain her for her own good, even tie her to a chair if necessary. Tasia couldn’t afford that. She
loved him, though, and knew he would understand. Eventually.
As she and her compy entered the lift tube, she whispered good-bye to the low, rounded huts and their sleeping inhabitants.
Then she closed the door and they shot up through the bore-shaft to the surface. Passages and enormous pipes rose through
the crust to where the ice had cracked. Her mother was frozen down there, somewhere, lost within the thick frozen crust.
The Tamblyns had made a great deal of profit by pumping geysers of water to offloading wellheads on the surface, where passing
cargo ships could fill their holds with water and travel to other distribution centers. The spaceport was a landing area and
maintenance yard connected to the water geysers and pumping stations. With no vessels incoming, and all the water business
suspended during the mourning period, the water wells had been capped. They were now rimed with frost that bled out through
faint cracks in the seal. Gossamer derricks stood tall, requiring little support in the ice moon’s light gravity.
Atop the ice sheet, under a cold black sky studded with diamond stars, Tasia and EA walked in the enclosed flexible tunnels
laid down over the frozen ground. Three well-maintained spaceships belonging to the Tamblyn clan were docked against their
access huts, ready to go. Tasia knew how to fly them all. Her brothers had taught her plenty of piloting tricks, and she had
practiced for innumerable hours, more than anyone knew. There wasn’t much else to do on a boring ice moon anyway.
Since the ships belonged to her own family, she wasn’t actually stealing. After she joined the Eddies, perhaps she could find
a way to shuttle the vessel back to Plumas. But her father would stew about it for many years.
They hurried through the connecting tube toward the nearest craft. Tasia was tempted to take Jess’s favorite, a faster and
cleaner ship, but she didn’t want him to be more upset than he already would be, so she chose one of the two traditional vessels.
At the hatch, she removed an information module from one of the many pockets in her baggy trousers. “Here, EA, upload this.
It’s navigation instructions and starship information. I might need you to do copilot duties if I get tired.” The journey
to Earth would take some time, and she had slept little in the past few days.
“I have never piloted a ship before, Tasia. My memory core may not have enough space for all this information.”
“Then delete some of your childhood games—but not any memories. I want you to preserve every moment you spent with Ross. You
can tell me stories during the long flight.”
“Of course, Tasia.” EA inserted the information module and accessed the enhanced programming. “I am ready if you need me.
It seems so simple now.”
“It took me years to learn how to fly, and you can access it in a few seconds,” she said, shaking her head.
“It can be deleted just as quickly, Tasia.”
Tasia grunted as she strapped herself into the piloting chair. “Yeah, I can see how that would be a drawback.”
She powered up the heaters. No one had used this vessel for a month, and the interior air felt brittle and stagnant. She activated
the electrical and life-support systems, then increased the temperature a bit more.
She called up the coordinates of the Earth system and plotted her course. Tasia disengaged from the docking tube and with
a faint nudge from her attitude-control jets, she lifted away from the frozen surface. Plumas looked like a cracked white
blister beneath her, its capped wellheads like metal buttons sealing the liquid water underneath. “All right, let’s follow
the Guiding Star.”
