Koban (89 page)

Saying nothing but apparently reaching a decision, Telour made
a complex series of taps to his com button at his shoulder, and deployed his internal
ears. His leathery lips started their silent wriggle of ultrasonic speech.

Mirikami heard Maggi’s voice. “Jake, can you translate what he
is saying for us, and what is sent back to him?”

“Yes Mam,” the AI replied. “Telour has made a call to *********,
a name which does not translate from their ultrasonic speech.”

They waited.

After about a minute, Telour began lip movement again, as Jake
translated.

“The answering voice matches that of Gatrol Kanpardi, a leader
of Graka clan, whom I have previously heard speak. Telour is explaining how he thought
of a problem with Parkoda’s proposal to destroy the human ships when the Krall fleet
departs in three days. Telour has offered most of Captain Mirikami’s reasons for
not doing this in orbit, and has added suggestions as to how they can lower Tanga
clan’s status for risking the purity of the new home world.”

He continued, “Kanpardi agrees that Parkoda’s proposal is *****,
a word that does not translate, but says there is an alternate solution. He suggests
they send the orbiting ships into Jump Holes.”

The heart of Mirikami and those of the committee froze at Jake’s
bland report of the obviously “clean and efficient” alternative death sentence for
twenty thousand people. However, Telour’s ambition wasn’t giving up so easily.

“Telour admitted Jump Holes may be cleaner, except for the still
dangerous small black holes that would remain in orbit. However, that is still a
variation of Parkoda’s suggestion, to destroy the ships in orbit. Telour said that
this minor change will still be mostly Tanga clan’s solution, and has little advantage
for Graka clan. If instead, they use the first ship’s messy destruction to cast
doubt among other clans about Tanga clan’s respect for Koban’s future, they can
turn Parkoda’s proposed reckless destruction of the human ships to their advantage
by offering Telour’s more respectful suggestion to preserve Koban’s purity.”

They waited to see if Telour’s superior accepted this argument.
It came quickly.

“Kanpardi said he will present Telour’s proposal privately to
other clan leaders as a way to preserve Koban for their future. However, he will
not tell Tanga clan of this. If the other clans agree this is a better idea, then
Tanga clan will not be able to oppose them. Not without implying that Koban’s perfection
is less important to them. Telour was congratulated on finding a way to help his
clan again take advantage from Tanga clan. The connection has been closed.”

The committee heard Maggi’s comment. “Politics are the same anywhere.
It’s backstabbing, double-dealing, and back room deals. Humans are damned good at
that. Better than these amateurs. This deal is as good as done. We’d better put
the welcome mat back out.”

Hell,
Mirikami thought,
I’m just a Spacer and I engineered
this. What does it say about the real me?
Regardless, he was happy to be insulted
for the second time today.

He realized that Telour had been speaking to his K’Tal and warriors
ultrasonicly while he listened to Maggi. The warriors and K’Tal all stiffened briefly
raised their clawed hands in salute to him and quickly rushed into the dome, probably
headed to the top level. Telour turned back to face Mirikami.

“Human clan leader you have once more moved me in a direction
you wanted, but again it is to my advantage. I do not like it but I will gain in
status because of you. It is strange that I wish to challenge you and reward you
at the same time. I will do the second thing because you may yet find another advantage
for me that I did not expect. After all, you have three more days to think on this.”
He detached a Katusha from his belt.

“Come to me,” he ordered.

Mirikami stepped directly in front of him, his eyes as always
when facing a Krall, fixed on his chest.

Making an adjustment with the device, he swiftly pressed it to
the hollow of Mirikami’s neck, precisely over the oval of his original tattoo. There
was a greater sting and feeling of cold than he had felt on the two previous occasions.

When he removed the device Telour stepped back. Then Mirikami
thought he saw his death coming.

The Krall stiffened his legs, raised his hand in a blur with
talons extended to chest height, inches from Mirikami’s face. Next, he was moving
away towards the dome in that swift and contradictory bowlegged yet gracefully rapid
glide.

Mirikami stood frozen in place for a second. He released a breath
that he had briefly thought was his last when those talons rose in front of his
face.

Noreen, startled when Telour had raised his clawed hand in that
blur of motion, gasped because she thought he might have disemboweled the Captain.
When Mirikami didn’t flinch and Telour rushed off she asked, “What the hell just
happened?”

“I’ll be damned!” Thad blurted out. “He saluted him. I’ve never
seen or heard of a Krall doing that for a human. It’s a sign of respect only between
Krall.”

Another onlooker, one of new arrivals, asked a question. “What
did he do to him when he touched that thing to your Captain’s chest?”

Dillon wondered the same thing. “He must have added a mark to
his tattoo. But Tet didn’t kill anything lately and that’s all they ever award us
for, new tattoo marks for killing something.”

“They have other colors in tattoos, and those are not for killing,”
noted Aldry. “On the ship the Translator Dorkda explained to me that his yellow
mark was for learning the language of an enemy, like Standard, and said his several
black marks were for mastering some K’Tal skills. They can be a sort of merit badge.”

“Well, we aren’t going to find out what mark our Boy Scout earned
from up here,” complained Maggi. “Tet is walking back and all I can see is a dark
shadow under his chin.”

Mirikami noticed stares as he walked towards the Great Hall,
where he had left his presentation uncompleted. He intended to tell everyone what
he had just learned about the Krall withdrawal in three more days.

His thought raced.
They’d be alone on Koban after that. No
more Krall combat deaths.

Before then they would have to get everyone geared up for a massive
influx of people.

His friends, just off the elevator closest to the corridor into
the Great Hall, were also staring at him as he approached.

“What?” he asked, fingering the still cool feeling area at the
base of his throat.

“Telour didn’t say why he did that?” Thad asked.

“You were all in on the Link; he didn’t say anything as he marked
me. What color did he give me anyway?”

“You can’t see?” asked Dillon, earning a groin swat from Maggi.
It ended with a hard sounding thump.

“Ha! I found athletic cups in a container of sporting goods we
opened this morning.” He chortled with delight at having out foxed the diminutive
little woman.

She responded, “Ha! So the only one that fit you was the smallest
cup?” Then she mimicked his chortle perfectly. She finished her retort with, “Tet
can’t see his own neck, you young idiot.”

Everyone laughed to see things between the two back to normal,
but Mirikami raised a hand to interrupt them. “Unless one of you has a mirror, will
someone please tell me what color the mark is?”

“It’s solid black,” Thad told him, a wondering tone to his voice.

Seeing the stares continue and noting Thad’s demeanor he asked,
“Does it clash with the blue dots?” he chuckled.

“Tet, the entire oval is solid black,” Noreen told him.

“Really? What does that mean? Any Krall stories that anyone heard?”
he queried.

Jake’s voice came to all six, still in a group Link. “Before
the event, Telour told the other five Krall that the Captain was a worthy enemy,
and he would mark him as such. He then said that other humans may be worthy enemies,
and the new war would reveal if the rest of the human species were worthy. Next,
he told them to enter the Krall quarters in the dome to wait for his order to destroy
the engines on the new ships and all of the fusion bottles. He expected more human
ships to land soon.” Then the AI stopped.

“Wow!” Maggi said. “For once his extra trivia is more important
than the original question. No disrespect intended to the ‘worthy enemy’ here.”
She hooked a thumb at Mirikami.

“None taken unworthy one,” he shot back. “They are planning to
kill the engines,
and
the fusion bottles? That’s bad news in general, but
that plan might also include the Fancy, right after I talked Parkoda into sparing
her.” He tugged at his lower lip.

They needed ideas. “We have to find a way to remove and hide
some fusion bottles where they won’t find them, but they can’t know they are gone
either. How can we do that?”

“How about just putting some of the trucks out in the woods or
behind the ridge?” Thad proposed.

Noreen shot that down promptly. “That would preserve the small
bottles in those trucks, assuming we can risk driving them out that far with the
gates open, but those are relatively low power. What Tet means are some large bottles,
like those in the ships. The Krall might not even leave us the ones that power the
dome, putting them in the dark.”

“Exactly,” Mirikami said.

Dillon offered a possibility. “Nan and the Chief already checked
the old ships and found them all ruined, but I wonder if we can pull some of the
dead fusion bottles from wrecked ships and swap them for good ones from the ships
that just landed?”

In a somber tone, Noreen reminded them, “Nan would have been
able to tell us that. She knew bottles inside and out.”

Mirikami, as always had alternatives. “The Chief may not have
a degree, but he and the drive rats have some experience in repair and replacement
of fusion bottles. Noreen, please get with him and have the wrecks checked. We can’t
make it long here without power. No lights, cooling, elevators, refrigeration of
food, water pumps and purification. The list is endless.”

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice behind him said, “Captain Mirikami,
I know someone that can help you.”

When he turned around, he saw a woman in the uniform of the company
that operated the Rimmer’s Dream.

“Good Lady I saw you briefly at the memorial service for Captain
Johnfem and your passengers. You obviously know who I am, but may I have your name
Gracious Lady,” glancing at her shoulder pips, “and Commander?”

“I’m the Dream’s First Officer Sir, Marlyn Rodriguez. I’m pleased
to meet you.”

She held out her right hand in the socially traditional palm
down manner, for Mirikami to bow and kiss the back of her hand. He reached out and
politely turned her hand and shook it firmly.

She raised an eyebrow at the slight breach of social etiquette,
but returned his handshake and firm grip.

She continued, “I’ve been hearing a great deal about you today,
Sir. I apologize for appearing to eavesdrop, but I was maneuvering to introduce
myself, when I overheard your discussion. You said you need to hide or preserve
fusion bottles, but not why we might lose them. In any case I think our Engineering
Officer, Ms. Riker, has the expertise you need.”

“I am indebted to you Commander for reminding me of something
that I repeatedly forget. My ship’s crew and their experience have suddenly been
multiplied by the arrival of many more Spacers. Thank you.

“We have just learned that the Krall plan to not only disable
the ships, perhaps even destroy them, but kill all of the fusion bottles as well.
This will happen within the next two or three days, before they leave the planet
for good, leaving us here at the mercy of this merciless world.”

Surprised, she asked, “They are really leaving?”

“Yes, which I only learned a few minutes ago when I met with
the representative that just arrived. However, we don’t have time for the long explanations
now.

“I know you are experiencing gravity fatigue, because we all
do at first, but if I send someone to else to locate your Engineer and your Captain,
can you tell me where to look for them?”

“I can do better than that Sir, how about if I Link to them?”
She smiled and winked. “We don’t have a shiny new JK system like the Fancy, but
a JB series is pretty good, and it spoke with your system after landing.”

Briefly flustered at that implication he said, “I’ll ask you
to Link in a moment Gracious Lady. First I’d like to make some introductions.”

Mirikami introduced her around hurriedly, to get that formality
over, and explained that their transducers and AI had definitely helped kept many
of them alive and made their communications secure. He told her that was a detail
kept secret from the Krall. They never spoke to their AI or Linked to anyone when
a Krall was close by. He suggested they preserve that confidentiality for the next
three days, and to be aware that the Krall could monitor, hear, and see them anywhere
in the dome if they chose to do so.

With that caution offered, he asked Rodriguez to excuse him as
he asked some questions of his own AI.

“Jake, I just learned we have at least one other AI system here
with transducer capability.”

“Yes Sir. It is called Jeb by the crew of the Rimmer’s Dream.
We have exchanged libraries.”

Not wanting to be surprised again, he asked, “Is that the only
ship with a J series AI, or any high level AI at all?”

“The JB is the only J series, but there is an ADM unit in orbit
on the Vegan Star, which they call Adam. Each of the eight large transports has
only a low level AI system. They rely more on human control on those ships with
larger sized crews. The ADM model is…”

“Stop Jake, I know about the ADM AI model.” It was made by a
different company, and far less autonomous that the J models.

Interworld had bought several new ships with the second newest
J series installed, the K release. The company spent the money simply to reduce
the need for larger crews, thus saving labor costs. The Flight of Fancy had the
honor of being at the top of the AI heap here, since no L model had appeared.