Morgan's Return (25 page)

She'd fobbed him off and he knew it, she could tell by the tiny sniff, the rueful smile quickly hidden. "And now we'd better shower and meet our hosts downstairs."

***

Food. Delicious odors drifted through from a dining room off the main foyer. Eastly, clean, scrubbed, and smelling of cologne, met them at the lift and escorted them to the table, where Partridge rose from his seat. He'd lost the piqued look, seeming fully recovered. "Please, sit."

Morgan and Ravindra sat opposite each other at a table covered with a white cloth. Soft light glinted from golden cutlery. The wonderful smells came from a large tureen in the center of the table, and a basket full of rolls.

A mature woman with dark hair scraped back into a knot appeared from a side room to serve, deftly ladling thick, creamy soup into deep bowls.

"It's a local delicacy," Partridge said. "We've asked cook to modify the recipe a little. Being from off-world, you might not tolerate all the spices. I hope you enjoy it."

"I'm sure I will." Morgan reached for a roll. It wouldn't be to Ravindra's taste. He preferred his food spicy, the sort that cleaned your sinuses. He might find it a bit bland.

Eastly poured golden wine into tall goblets.

Partridge raised his glass. "To you. Without your help, we would have found nothing, or I would have died, or the Trimasi would have captured us."

Eastly wriggled, his glass in his hand. "And… er… I want to say I'm sorry. I was an ass."

Ravindra's eyebrow cocked.

"You were, a bit," Morgan said. Turning to Partridge, she raised her glass. "But then, without you, Derryn, we wouldn't have known where to go. So thanks." She sipped the wine. It looked better than it tasted, bland and featureless.

Partridge cleared his throat. "Well. Let's eat. I'm sure you're hungry."

Morgan accepted a second small bowl of soup. It really was a delicious concoction, with subtle hints of tastes she didn't recognize, probably the local spices.

The same woman who had served returned to clear the plates. When she'd gone, Partridge leaned his elbows on the table and supported his chin on his linked hands. "What now?"

"We must join our crew back at the hotel," Ravindra said. "I feel I have found what I sought."

Partridge said nothing for a few heartbeats. Then his eyelids hooded. "And what was that?"

Morgan's nerves tingled. Partridge was probing. What was he getting at?

"Where my ancestors came from." Ravindra answered calmly, not affected by Partridge's demeanor.

"Look, I can't begin to say how grateful I am to both of you for what you've done and please believe me, I mean you no harm. But who are you? Really?"

Ravindra shrugged. "What we said. I'm an ex-admiral from a planet outside your human Coalition. Marion is my consort and my engineer."

Consort. Humph
.

Morgan couldn't help noticing the exchanged glance between Partridge and Eastly. Were they suspicious?

"You called her Morgan," Eastly said. "More than once."

"Did I?" Ravindra put his hands palm-down on the table.

"Yes. You spoke in your language, but I'm sure. Is that her real name?"

"Yes, it is," Morgan said. "Does it matter?"

Partridge raised a hand. "No, it doesn't matter. Take no notice. We're just curious. Ravindra is an incredibly powerful man, and you can do things with the submarine and a skimmer that I wouldn't have believed possible." His eyes widened for a split second, then he lifted his glass and sipped at his wine.

Oh fuck. He'd guessed. "I'm a qualified military engineer, Derryn. You're very kind but I didn't do anything any of my colleagues couldn't have accomplished. Trust me. The Coalition military training is second to none."

"Of course." Lifting the bottle in one hand, Partridge made a show of smiling. "More wine?"

"Thanks, but no." She avoided looking at Ravindra. Fuck it, she didn't like the idea of them knowing what she was. Her stomach roiled with nerves. "I think it's about time we left. Don't you, Ashkar?"

"It is." He rose to his feet, and thanked Partridge for the meal. "Your skimmer?"

"Of course." Partridge stood, and escorted them out to the vehicle. The planet's large moon was in the sky, floating behind misty high cloud. Its light silvered the bushes, glinted off the rocks. The surf boomed in the distance, and a breeze stirred Morgan's hair. With her visual capability increased to chase away the shadows, she followed Partridge to the vehicle, crunching over the gravel drive.

Partridge laid a hand on her shoulder. "I'm guessing you're a Supertech. We don't have them here, and I know it's dangerous for you if the Trimasi find out. I assure you they won't, not from us." He gestured to include Eastly. "I'm sure you have a fascinating story to tell, and I hope one day I'll hear it. But I'm content to wait." He spoke softly, almost whispering.

"Thanks, Derryn. But like I said, I'm just a military engineer. If I told any of the Supertechs I've met that you put me in their class, they'd laugh."

His lips twitched. "Whatever you say." In a louder voice he added, "Bring back the skimmer tomorrow. Low tide is at mid-morning."

Morgan slipped into the pilot's seat while Ravindra settled into the passenger's position. After a swift pre-check, Morgan lifted the skimmer off, angling away from the house and over the ocean. The water looked liked molten metal in the moonlight, dark with silver crests, and the islands were mounds of darkness. Except, away on the horizon, one island blazed with light.

"The temple?" Ravindra asked.

"Uh-huh."

Ravindra pulled out his comlink, turned it on, inspected the screen and growled a Manesai swear word.

"What's the matter?" He rarely swore; admirals didn't swear.

"There's a call from Prasad. In your language."

Oh, shit
. Prasad would never leave a message in Standard.

Chapter 22  

E
llen parked her ship as close to
Vulsaur
as she could arrange, one layer down, three to the left. The station had been a little suspicious of a military class vehicle, but Ellen had insisted that the vessel didn't carry any armaments and made sure they wouldn't find any. She was a commercial pilot, Jane Dorset, and the ship was hers, a lifelong ambition she'd been able to fulfill when a rich relative was killed. She'd named the ship
Nemesis
. Just her little joke. Going through Immigration, Ellen hadn't tried to hide her Coalition implant, but kept her Supertech status secret. A minority of Ushas's residents used a cranial implant, but a larger minority were apparently dead set against any such technology. Admitting to being a Supertech on this planet wasn't a good idea. Naturally, Selwood would have done the same thing.

Ellen paid the docking fees at the station's immigration service. No, she wasn't staying long, a few weeks' holiday was all. According to the arrivals database, all of
Vulsaur's
complement had gone down to the planet, address registered as a seaside resort. Very nice.

Now was the time to try for a look at
Vulsaur's
drives. Then she'd go and find Selwood and her delicious mate. Her mouth watered at the thought of Ravindra. He'd become a favorite in her nightly virtual games, a harsh lover with somewhat brutal taste. She cleared her throat.
Later, Ellen
. She accessed the station's database and stole the identity of one of the station's maintenance staff, a supervising engineer by the name of Theebald, who had access to the whole station and could enter any dock. Even if the visit was logged, it hardly mattered. To her, anyway.

Having completed the formalities, Ellen returned to
Nemesis
for her exo-suit.
Vulsaur
would be airless. Why waste air on nothing, after all? She took the transit to the level where
Vulsaur
was docked, then used the travelator to reach the docking bay. The gates were locked, of course, but Theebald's code opened them. The gates slid aside. Now for the airlock.

Inside the airlock, she slid the helmet up out of the suit's housing and over her head, where the seals clicked into place, then started the release sequence. The system ran through the usual safety checks, waiting for her response before proceeding. Yes, she did know the ship was in vacuum, yes she really was suited up. The air sucked out, the gauges wound down from green to red.

"
Locks releasing
."

Ellen stepped out of the lock and started to rise. Her nerves jangled, then settled. Selwood had switched off the artificial gravity, which meant this ship was in long-term storage mode. Dragging herself hand over hand, she floated along to
Vulsaur's
hatch. Selwood had set up impressive security. You'd need to be a Supertech to get into this ship. Just as well that's what she was. Even then, it took minutes. Selwood was likely to realize, too. Except she, Ellen, would ensure the bitch would never get a chance to check.

She floated through into the living areas, not needing to be there, but curious. Would there be any hint of Ravindra here? She knew what he looked like, the sound of his voice, but that was all, a cardboard cutout. Along a corridor from the common room, she opened doors, glanced inside. This was the captain's, containing a picture cube of him with a wife and children. She was about to move on when something struck her. She went back and picked up the cube. The eyes were strange. All their eyes. They had no whites and the pupils weren't round. A tingle of excitement sizzled down her spine. They'd been genetically modified. Would it be just the captain and his family, or the rest of them, too?

The next room was the other woman's, devoid of pictures. Ellen opened the bedside cupboard. Nothing personal beyond toiletries. And what was this? She picked up a round case small enough to fit easily in her palm and flipped the lid open. Viscous fluid sloshed. A pair of soft, semi-circular objects lay inside. They looked a bit like eyes. Yes, whites with round, colored lenses. And tiny processors set into the lenses. Contact lenses. She put the container back where she'd found it. This woman, Jirra, must be wearing contact lenses, though. Ellen flicked back through her pictures of the crew, taken from Iniciara's systems and the ones here at Ushas. No strange eyes. Perhaps they'd brought spares, or the woman had brought a set in a different color? Perhaps she'd left them here by accident.

A search of her databases for societies where the people had strange eyes revealed nothing. Sure, artificial eyes. There was a reference to Supertechs in that article, as well as replacement eyes for people who had lost their sight or had a need to see extra frequencies. It was possible, she supposed, that a non-Coalition planet may not have been recorded, but this was the military database. Intel didn't miss much.

The next cabin was Prasad's. Ellen had him on her personal database, too, although he wasn't as gorgeous as Ravindra. Not as tall, didn't have that same animal magnetism, but he was certainly decorative all the same. She smiled, remembering an interesting threesome she'd had with the two of them on Playmate. Prasad had been much gentler than the admiral. A fun mix. She went back to rifling through the closet. Not much to see, just some spare clothes. They'd obviously taken most of their belongings with them.

Even less to see in the servant's quarters, which was smaller than the other cabins.

This last, much larger cabin must be Ravindra's. The very thought made her squirm. A sitting room held three chairs around a low table. Display screens hung on the walls. Ellen opened a door and drifted through to the bedroom, which sported a large double bed, bedside tables, closet, and a separate bathroom. She ran a hand over the blanket and imagined him lying here. Naked. Unbidden, Selwood's mocking face rose in her mind, the silver eyes gleaming like mercury. Selwood shared this bed with him. The thought put Ellen's teeth on edge. What had Selwood done to deserve a man like him? So much for her talk of despising rank. Hypocrite.

"Ah, bloody hell." Ellen spoke the words aloud. Best do what she'd come for and get out of here. Selwood would get what she deserved soon enough.

Ellen pushed off from the floor and floated along the corridor aft, past the common room and the galley. The last hatch, the one allowing access to the engine room, held her up for a few moments. Selwood's security again, this time a more complex pattern. But security had to be accessible by ordinary mortals in the end. She found the override condition and triggered its operation. Sure, Selwood would be warned… Now there was a thought. Why chase the woman all over the planet? Ellen could have Selwood come here.

Grinning, she went through the hatch into the engine room, intent on a look at that shift drive and its systems. The warning signs on the drive's cover were written in a language she didn't understand, but the meaning was obvious, anyway. Ignoring the locks, she inspected the mechanics. Not so very different from the shift drive they'd fitted to the old
Curlew
, except for the gearing and the secondary impeller. Clever. Two that rotated around each other, like a dance. She would never have thought of it. How was it controlled? She brought up the drive's schematic from the ship's information systems and traced the logic circuits.