Lady Lure (17 page)

knew how fiercely protective she was of her
husband and of the two sons she had been permitted to bear in
contradiction of the Jurisdiction law limiting a couple to a single
offspring. She fixed her clear blue gaze upon Jyrit and asked the
most pertinent questions first. “How could Halvo be removed from a
ship of the size and strength of the
Krontar?
Why did you
not prevent this kidnapping?”

“Lady Kalina, it was Admiral Halvo’s personal
decision to interview the boarding party sent from the
Space
Dragon.
Unfortunately, the claim of a boarding party proved to
be a trick.” Jyrit wished fervently that he were anywhere but at
Capital, in the Leader’s own house, facing the two most powerful
people in the Jurisdiction. He saw his career in the Service
evaporating and he feared the only honorable future open to him
would prove to be a ceremonial Jugarian suicide.

“Leader Almaric, Lady Kalina, may I speak?”
Armaments Officer Dysia had insisted on accompanying Jyrit to the
meeting. Jyrit had permitted her presence because, like Almaric and
his wife, Dysia was a Demarian and therefore might be better able
than Jyrit to explain Halvo’s mysterious motivation to his
parents.

“Of course, you may speak. Tell us what you
know.” Almaric sank into a chair, his head in his hands. He looked
as if he had not the strength to stand any longer. Going to him,
Kalina put one hand on his shoulder.

“Sir,” Dysia said, “Capt. Jyrit, and later
the leader of the best security team on the
Krontar,
both
advised Admiral Halvo not to see those pirates.”

“Pirates?” Kalina cried. “Halvo was wounded
fighting pirates on the Styxian border. Could his abductors be
survivors of that war who are seeking revenge?”

“It is always a possibility, Lady Kalina,”
Jyrit said. “However, my armaments officer has some interesting
information to relay to you that suggests that perhaps we ought to
look elsewhere for the villains in this unfortunate affair.” He
nodded to Dysia to continue.

“The ship that accosted the
Krontar
appeared familiar to me,” Dysia said. “Its configuration had been
somewhat altered, but I was able to determine that the
Space
Dragon
is one of an older class of Regulan vessels.”

“Regulan, you say?” Almaric lifted his head
to regard Dysia with new interest. “We all know how the Regulans
love intrigue. Could they have some reason for kidnapping my
son?”

“Sir, I am almost certain the Regulans are
involved,” Dysia said. “The
Space Dragon
disappeared
suddenly. After it was gone, the
Krontar’s
sensors picked up
faint traces of some unusual molecules. Recent scientific studies
have shown that these same molecules are left by the activation of
Starthruster. Those traces indicated a heading directly toward
Regula.”

“How could pirates have gained possession of
a Starthruster device?” Kalina asked, once again noticing the most
important fact. “Did they remove it from one of our disabled ships
after Styxia?”

“Every pirate ship near the Styxian border
was destroyed or disabled and captured,” said Jyrit, who had been
there for the great battle. “The few ships that did escape fled
from our pursuing forces as quickly as possible. No, Lady Kalina,
no pirate had the opportunity to steal a Starthruster device from a
Jurisdiction ship.”

“Then, if a pirate has Starthruster now, it
was deliberately placed aboard that ship by a government holding
Membership in the Jurisdiction.” Kalina looked grim.

“As you say, madam,” Jyrit said.

“The first place you should have looked for
Halvo is on Regula.” Kalina spoke with the complete assurance for
which she was justly famous.

“So I thought, too, Lady Kalina,” Jyrit said.
“However, since discretion appeared to me to be vitally important
in this matter, I judged it best to return to Capital at once, to
inform you of the situation privately and await Leader Almaric’s
further orders.”

“Discretion?” Kalina cried. “My son’s life is
in danger!”

“Jyrit is perfectly correct, my dear, and if
you pause to consider for a moment I am sure you will agree with
him.” Almaric broke into whatever vehement remarks Kalina was
preparing to make next. “Until we have more solid evidence of
Regulan involvement than a few molecular traces leading in the
direction of that planet, we cannot make accusations against the
Hierarchy. Doing so might cause a war within the Jurisdiction.”

“Just so, Leader Almaric.” Jyrit bowed in
respect to Almaric’s sagacity. “We may suspect the Regulans. In our
hearts we may feel certain that they are to blame for your son’s
disappearance, but without proof, we can do nothing against
them.”

“All the same, we must find Halvo as soon as
possible,” Kalina said. “Our son is not yet fully recovered from
his wounds. He requires further therapy. His physicians have told
us so.”

“While he was aboard the
Krontar,
he
suffered frequent bouts of vertigo,” Dysia said. “Nor do I believe
his broken back is completely healed. I took note of how cautiously
he always moved.”

“There, you see?” Kalina said to her husband.
“We have to find him, Almaric, and soon.”

“With your permission, Leader Almaric.” With
respectful Jugarian politeness, Jyrit bowed again, waiting until
Almaric’s nod gave him leave to speak. Jyrit was feeling much more
optimistic than when he had first arrived to make his report about
Admiral Halvo. With luck and a bit of diplomacy, he might be able
to avoid ceremonial suicide after all.

“Speak, Jyrit,” Almaric said. “I value your
sensible opinion.”

“Sir, in the interests of discretion, I
suggest that the
Krontar
be assigned to the search for
Admiral Halvo. I have refused shore leave to my crew while we are
at Capital, and I have ordered them not to discuss with anyone who
is not a fellow crew member the way in which your son was lured
aboard the
Space Dragon.
Reprovisioning will be completed
within the hour. The
Krontar
is ready to depart from Capital
the moment you give the word.

“Leader Almaric, Lady Kalina,” Jyrit went on,
“since it was from my ship that your son vanished, honor requires
that I should be the one to rescue him. I assure both of you that I
will not stop searching until he is found.”

“Jyrit, I do not hold you accountable,”
Almaric said. “I know my son’s character well enough to be certain
that what happened was not your fault.”

“Nor do I blame you,” Kalina said. “However,”
She paused, and Almaric turned in his chair to look up at her out
of troubled eyes.

“I believe I know what you are going to ask
of me, Kalina,” Almaric said.

“And as always, you will give me what I
desire, will you not, my dear?”

“I hesitate only because what you want will
separate us for a time.”

“Halvo is lost,” Kalina said. “We must find
him, and you are forbidden to leave Capital so long as you are
Leader.”

“Capt. Jyrit,” Almaric said, facing the
Jugarian, “Lady Kalina will accompany you on your search.”

“You need not worry that I will upset the
routine of your ship,” Kalina said, apparently perceiving the
concern Jyrit was doing his best to conceal. “I was not always
First Lady of the Jurisdiction. Indeed, it will be a relief to me
to put off formal robes and lay aside protocol for a time. I will
not take your cabin, Jyrit. I will be content with passenger’s
quarters, and I will take with me only two trusted aides and
minimal baggage. A single outfit of state robes should be
sufficient for this journey. I believe the dark red set will be
most appropriate for my meeting with the Chief Hierarch.”

“The Chief Hierarch, Lady Kalina?” Jyrit
regarded her with astonishment and steadily growing respect.

“Since you tell us you have already scoured
the area of space where you were when Halvo was taken,” Kalina
said, “I see no point in wasting valuable time with a further
search there. Your armaments officer has determined that the
Space Dragon
was originally a Regulan ship and the small
amount of evidence you have suggests it headed toward Regula after
parting from the
Krontar.
Under these circumstances, it
would be only right and proper for us to ask our dear friends the
Regulans to help us trace it. We will, therefore, begin our search
for Halvo on Regula.”

“My thoughts exactly, Lady Kalina,” Jyrit
said. He hoped this remarkable woman would notice a fact of which
he was fully aware. His antennae were presently a soft shade of
orange red, the coloring of friendship.

“Admiral,” said Rolli, “you were correct
about the matter that concerned you.”

“What matter?” Perri asked. She was so
conscious of Halvo’s every reaction that she was immediately aware
of his repressed anger at Rolli’s words.

“There is no point in keeping it from you,
Perri.” Halvo spoke when Rolli did not answer Perri immediately.
“In addition to the device implanted in Rolli’s circuitry, the main
instrument panel here on the ship has been fitted with a homing
signal.”

“Which is no longer functioning,” Rolli said.
“I have destroyed it.”

“First the Regulans tried to blast us into
smithereens,” Perri said, chilled to the heart by this latest
revelation. “Then, in case they failed to kill us that way, they
reprogrammed Rolli to destroy us. Now you tell me they arranged a
signal so they could follow us and finish the job if their first
two plans didn’t work out. They aren’t leaving anything to chance,
are they?”

“Apparently not,” Halvo said.

“Why are they so determined to see us dead?
Do we know something they don’t want us to tell? What could it be?
I don’t have any information that is vital to Regulan interests. Do
you, Halvo?”

“I think it is more a matter of who we are,”
Halvo said. “I am beginning to formulate a theory about Regulan
motives. Rolli, how are the repairs coming along?”

“Most of the systems are just barely
operational,” Rolli said. “Without a complete overhaul, the
Space Dragon
will not be fit to lift into space.”

“Are you saying we must stay here until the
Regulans find us?” Perri cried. While it was wonderful to have her
old companion in one piece and working again, Rolli had been giving
them nothing but bad news over the past hour. Every sentence the
robot spoke indicated new problems worse than the previous ones.
“We can’t stay here, Rolli. If we do and our pursuers find and kill
us, then Elyr and the Chief Hierarch will win – and I won’t let
them win! I want to see justice done to those two and anyone else
who was involved in their immoral schemes.”

“So you have repeatedly declared,” Rolli
said, adding with a robot’s typical logic, “However, what you want
does not matter if the
Space Dragon
will not fly.”

“You should have heard her before we put you
back together.” Halvo addressed Rolli with dry humor. “She has
calmed down considerably. Now, she will be content with justice;
then, she was screaming for bloody vengeance.

“But Perri is right,” Halvo said, still
speaking to the robot. “Our first order of business must be to get
off this star-blasted world.”

“Star-blasted world is not an entirely
accurate term, Admiral, since we are presently sitting on the floor
of a crater formed by the collision of a meteor with this planet.
No stars have blasted this world. Only meteors have crashed
here.”

“Rolli, be quiet,” Perri said, interrupting
her literal-minded friend. She tried to speak with calm assurance,
though what she felt was cold fear. “I have been studying the
specifications for this ship. The
Space Dragon
has a double
hull. At strategic locations throughout the ship it also has
hatches that can be sealed in case the hull is breached.”

“Go on.” Halvo was watching her with
interest.

Knowing he would listen to whatever she had
to say and give her suggestions serious consideration eased Perri’s
fear a little. “The worst damage we sustained was in the aft
section. Could we seal the interior hatches to that section, cut
off the life-support systems to the sealed areas, and live just in
the cockpit and the galley? We ought to save a fair amount of
energy that way, and air leaks through the cracks in the hull that
we are not able to repair won’t matter because we won’t be using
those parts of the ship.”

“The cracks could widen during the stress of
takeoff,” Halvo said, “and the ship might break apart completely
when we try to land again. Rolli, give us your opinion on Perri’s
idea.”

“I must defer to your experience in this
matter, Admiral,” Rolli said. “I am not programmed to repair battle
damage. I am confined to piloting the ship, to navigational
functions, and to making simple repairs on the computer.”

“Perri, what you have suggested is so
dangerous that I deliberately have not mentioned the possibility of
using the ship under those conditions,” Halvo said.

“Then we must not risk it,” Rolli said. “Not
if the attempt would endanger Perri’s life.”

“Perri’s life,” Perri said in a sharp voice,
“is in danger every moment right here on this planet. To begin the
list of our problems, we do not have sufficient food.”

“The processor is working again,” Rolli
said.

“It will not continue to work for long,”
Perri snapped. “We cannot repeatedly run the ship’s engines so the
food processor will function, or run the engines to moderate the
temperature inside the
Space Dragon.
If the Regulans do not
find and kill us first, we will exhaust our fuel supply sooner or
later. Then we will be forced to take shelter in the cave, where we
will die of starvation or cold. Halvo, will you please explain this
to Rolli?”