Koban (6 page)

“No Ladies, the Government, particularly President Stanford,
needs and wants us to succeed in our out of the way research station. If they
had changed their minds and decided to terminate Midwife, simply cutting the
purse strings would do the job. Stanford is not about to commit political
suicide to use the militarily to wipe out a project she privately supported.
What utter nonsense.”

Cahill seemed to be trying to sink into her chair. She'd had
no idea Fisher's influence ran so high. It surely explained how this little
colonial witch had unfairly managed to steal the Chairfem seat from her. Politics
instead of academic achievement, she grumbled to herself, wondering how her own
political contacts had let her down. The irony of that thought was lost on her.

Seeing her main opponent thoroughly cowed, Fisher politely
invited the other members to put any other questions they had to Captain
Mirikami.

In response to concern of lurking ambushers, the Captain
proposed to use one of the ship's two shuttles to investigate Midwife at close
range once they closed with Newborn. Alternatively, they could make the long
Jump directly back to Ramah if they would accept minimal water rationing.

Wrapping the discussion up quickly, the Chairfem sidestepped
parliamentary procedure and made a motion herself. She moved to approve
Mirikami's plan to approach Newborn slowly, and standoff at a distance while
sending a shuttle to investigate. The vote was unanimous, since Cahill had
decided to lick her wounds for now.

Mirikami's next recommendation, to keep the full situation
secret from the rest of the passenger contingent sparked another hot debate. In
a compromise, they voted seven to two to keep the matter confidential until the
Board of Directors met again in an open session in twelve hours. Perhaps they
would have more information by then.

Mirikami conceded that their slower progress should become
obvious in a half day to many passengers anyway. If they had not established
communications by then, a genuinely grave cause would have to be assumed. The
meeting adjourned, to reconvene in open session in twelve hours.

As the other Board members left, Dillon remained, intending
to accompany Mirikami back to the Bridge. However, Fisher, lagging behind the
others, abruptly turned and approached Mirikami.

“Captain, I understand your reasons for asking us to keep
all this confidential for now, but I want you to appreciate how difficult it
was for us to grant even that twelve hour delay.”

Mirikami bowed politely. “My duty is to preserve order and
avoid a possible panic aboard my ship Good Lady. You witnessed the initial
reaction of some of the other Ladies. I feel there is no need to risk an
overreaction among the full passenger complement at this time.”

Fisher gave him a motherly pat on the arm. “Oh, I'm not
questioning your motives Gentle Sir. In fact, I completely agree with you in
this instance. I was referring rather to the distaste we felt at withholding
facts from our associates.”

She explained. “Free access to information is an issue that
deeply concerns any scientist, but more so to those involved in biological
research. From the time the government legalized biological research again,
subject to massive restrictions and controls of course, we have experienced
over eighty years of censorship, not to mention outright suppression of some
work. I'm afraid we will have our ears soundly boxed at the public meeting for
giving in to you.”

Mirikami bowed again. “I hadn't viewed my request from that
standpoint Doctor. I apologize if it causes you any difficulty. Believe me,
though, I have considerably more sympathy for your position than you might
think.”

“Yes,” she nodded, “I thought that you might. I naturally
conducted an extensive background check of Interworld before the contract was
awarded, and of its active flight officers. You were my personal recommendation
to be our Captain. I'm delighted you accepted.”

His bow was deeper this time. “Thank you for your
confidence, kind Lady. I'm pleased I was granted the option. Now if you will
excuse me My Lady, I should return to the Bridge. Doctor Martin, it was a
pleasure to have you with us on the Bridge. Feel free to return as the official
observer or my personal guest at any time.”

Dillon agreed that he would return to the Bridge, but then
quickly added that it would be a bit later. He was left standing alone with the
tiny woman as Mirikami strode out the door. He had been on the verge of
accepting the Captain's invitation and going with him now, but had felt a light
restraining touch on his arm. Maggi Fisher apparently wanted to speak to him
alone.

“Dillon, you were listening. Is there anything to add beyond
what I've heard so far, that perhaps you considered too minor or sensitive to
discuss with the Board?”

“Not much Maggi. The Captain was straightforward with you
just now, but his first instinct was to conceal from me how jumpy this had made
him, and to get me off the Bridge. On the way down here, I informed him that I
knew he had practically declared an emergency, and hadn't wanted me to know. I
was satisfied with his explanation, the same one he offered you by the way. I
rather like him, and I think he can be trusted, apparently you think so too.
Why is that?”

“He was born on New Honshu. The guilt of the Clone Wars
weighs on him and his world, and the blame for causing the Gene War. We may
carry a little of the same burden by our choice of profession; but his heavier
load is inherited and can't be discarded. He's likely to be predisposed to
accept us as fellow outcasts, and to be sympathetic. That doesn't mean I won't
double-check what he tells us.”

“He’s from New Honshu,” mused Dillon. “I heard a few people
speculate on his features before departure, but I doubt that any of them
thought it likely a male from there would be able to rise to the rank of
Captain. You heard him describe some naval service, and combat experience from
years ago. He must be a very good officer or he could never have gotten his own
civil command, even within a Rim transport company. They sometimes carry
socially sensitive passenger traffic to and from the Hub. That implies a high
level of confidence from his superiors.”

“Quite a good officer, according to Navy records and
Interworld,” Maggi added, “Though he was turned down for a higher commission in
the Planetary Union's Navy when that was formed after the Prophet’s Robe
incident. Our good Captain was combat decorated several times, and eventually
earned a command on a small scout ship with a crew of five. The first male to
do so at that time.

 “I suspect that the Captain learned that as a male from New
Honshu, he was not going any higher in even the Rim Squadron of the Navy. He
resigned to attend the civil Space Fleet Academy, graduated with honors, and
then sought work with transport companies. In light of our present situation,
his combat background is reassuring.”

She changed the subject. “I'm going to send you back to the
Bridge, right after you have an early dinner. I'd like you up there all night
if it's permitted, just to keep an eye on developments.” She flashed him a wry
grin.

Dillon's heart sank. “An early dinner, Maggi? I could go up
right now, then break for dinner at about seven, get a little sleep and be back
on the Bridge in the wee hours.”

“Why?” she asked innocently. “Did you have plans this
evening? Perhaps to let a certain tall dark and lovely Lady into your tights
big boy?”

Damn, Maggi always seemed to know everything. “I'm just
meeting First Officer Renaldo for a drink after dinner, to discuss our work at
Midwife. Nothing more,” he ended defensively.

“Don't pee on my foot and tell me it's raining,” she
chastised him in her usual crusty manner. “I know she was the reason you pulled
strings to get that petty duty. I was having a little fun with you. It's a
shame I'm too old to bed you myself. Don’t pump yourself exhausted just to
prove what a stud you are.”

Dillon feigned shock. He had known Maggi to bed a few men
back on Ramah, and she had shamelessly flirted with him often enough. She was
probably old enough to remember times when women still outnumbered men by a
factor of five or more. The male population needed all of the last three
hundred years to rebound. “Aggressive birds get the worm” was an enduring
women's expression that Maggi fully supported.

“Don't waste the opportunity, Dillon,” she urged. “Find out
if she knows something about this situation that the Captain doesn't. Girls
that work for a man sometimes keep a few things to themselves, maintaining that
feeling of superiority. She might even brag to impress a big good-looking buck
like you. I assume you have arranged to get her in the sack tonight, or was
your plan to let her 'seduce' you?”

Dillon
felt his face redden. “Uh, we..., I mean she hasn't...” Maggi cut him short.

“Don't play the schoolboy with me Dillon. You and I both
know how you affect the Ladies with that retro manner you work so hard to
cultivate. It will be a long sleepless night after that vigorous sex romp to
tire you. You had better get a nap now to help you stay awake later. I was
serious about you staying the night on the Bridge, but go up after the Last
Night party, say by 0100? I'll clear it with the Captain, for whoever takes the
night watch with you.”

Not waiting for a reply, she patted him right on his bulging
red heart covered package, and abruptly turned and was out the door.

Tiger Lily my ass
, he thought, and she didn't much
behave like a Lady in the classic sense either, though he respected and admired
her greatly.

With time on his hands, Dillon went to his cabin. He didn't
feel like taking a nap, so he spent a couple of hours calling up old news
reports from the library. He found nothing to indicate that the Midwife project
had stirred up more than moderate protests from anyone, except for a couple of
religious sects, the ones responsible for most of the “don't tamper with God's
work” hate mail his department received weekly.

Stretching out on his bunk, he decided to take Maggi's
advice. If he was going to spend most of the night sitting on the Bridge he had
better catch some rest, because he certainly intended to let Noreen unwrap and
stress test his “package” early tonight. He had been hoping he wouldn't get a lot
of sleep for the entire night, but he had anticipated Noreen would be the
cause, not Midwife’s ominous silence. He popped a fast acting “sleeper” and set
a bedside alarm.

That evening, after dinner, Dillon went to the main lounge
on deck 8 to wait for Noreen. He found it more crowded and noisy than usual,
the Last Night party getting into full swing, as it would be on several lower
decks. It was going to be a long night, but not spent entirely with Noreen he
thought mournfully.

There had been no break in the communications silence. Maggi
had called his cabin and cheerfully told him he was expected on the Bridge at
midnight, an hour earlier than before, to coincide with the change of the
Officer of the Watch, whoever that proved to be. She seemed to be taking a
perverse pleasure in screwing up his planned night of debauchery.

Suddenly the loud dance music cut off in mid song. Over the
noise of the crowd, he could hear the gong of the acceleration warning. The
packed room immediately grew quiet. A smooth, calm sexless voice came over the
speaker system. He recognized the voice as Jake's; it was the first time he had
ever heard the AI, rather than a crewmember, directly address the passengers.

“Attention! Attention! We have experienced an in-flight
emergency. All passengers and crew please secure yourselves in the nearest
available chair, couch, or bunk immediately. Be prepared for accelerations of
up to four standard gravities in five minutes. Please secure loose objects or
place them on the deck if necessary. Thrust will begin exactly thirty seconds
after the next warning gong.”

The message was halfway through a repeat before the hubbub
went up in pitch as the revelers began to scramble for the few unoccupied seats
in the lounge. The chairs would all morph into acceleration couches when
occupied. The room had been overflowing, and people began jogging through the
corridors, searching for vacant seats in the occasional alcove, or headed
directly for their cabins. They hurried, and talked worriedly and loudly, but
there was no sense of panic.

Before the soft-spoken voice had completed the first warning
however, Dillon had been on his feet, dashing for the axial elevators. He was
the official observer and he damn well intended to find out what was happening
first hand, up on the Bridge.

Five minutes gave him plenty of time to reach the Bridge.
Deck 8 was the highest a passenger could normally go. There were four more
lifts at the sides of the passenger decks. The axial elevators required codes to
access the highest and lowest crew decks. He had the code issued him as the
Bridge observer.

Entering, he gave a verbal command to the auxiliary in AI,
“Bridge, please,” followed by his code numbers. To his relief the elevator AI
said “Thank you,” and the lift started.

He was shocked, when still several decks below the bridge,
Mirikami's voice sounded from an overhead speaker. “Attention, we have a
critical situation. Expect four gravity’s of acceleration in forty five
seconds. Remain strapped in until instructed otherwise. If you are unable to
reach the safety of a couch or bunk, lay flat on your back on the deck now, no
matter where you are.
You have to do it now!
” The last words were a
shouted command. The acceleration gong began sounding, and the lift came to a
sudden halt.

A quick glance at the telltale panel told Dillon that he was
still two decks from his goal. The lift had automatically halted to lock itself
against the shaft walls in preparation for acceleration. He dropped to the
floor, lying flat on the spongy floor covering.