Star Cruise - Outbreak (27 page)

“Some cheap statues I’m guessing are hiding illicit feelgoods.” Red held up a simple green and white figurine of an indeterminate equine creature. “Some halfway decent jewelry tossed into a box. Makes me think he’d taken up fencing stolen goods. Third crate was leather goods, nice imprint, same as one of the boutique shops we have up on Level A—”

“Probably fake. Groskin sure was operating at the low end.”

“Wait a minute, might have something here.” Red unpacked several boxes in succession. He ran the scanner over the merchandise and read the results. He took out what appeared to be a glass vial, scanned it again and came to the wall. “We’re going to need Meg down here right away.”

“Meg?” Jake was baffled. Maybe he’d heard wrong?
 

“The interior boxes are full of spices, carefully packed in neat little containers. The scanner reads them as high-end, pure grade, from various planets. But there’s an entire section where the scanner can’t or won’t match the molecules to anything.” He held the readout up to the clear panel for Jake to see. “Spice Guild Restricted. Maybe the spice is from the same planet as the deadly beastie.”

“Spices?” Jake rubbed his chin. “Why would a low-level criminal be moving spices?”

“Hell, some of that stuff is better than liquid gold or magtenatrite ore,” Embersson said, coming to stand next to him. “I’ve shipped Inner Sector spices for Loxton that were triple insured, auctioned right off the cargo bay deck to avid onboard buyers. People—especially rich ones—like their fancy foods, and exotic ingredients cost significant credits. And some spices are considered to be medicinal on certain worlds.”

“The Red Lady of D’nvannae has the market cornered on some of the most rare spices,” Sid added. “Or so I was told when we were considering doing a trid series about her corps of assassins. Uses them in her rituals, I guess.” He ran his hand across his hair and gave a dramatic shiver. “Couldn’t get the rights. Had to buy an expensive lifetime-protection contract to get her to retract the kill order she put out on me for even asking questions. All grist for the publicity mill. Cost of doing business.”

“Groskin was kind of a foodie, right? Didn’t Emily say he paid to attend a special tasting dinner with Chef Stephanie?” Red said. “I remember the meal being noted in the file. I wonder if he gave her any spice samples.”

“How can Meg help us?” Focusing on Red, Jake cut through the chatter.

“Hey, I’m gonna unsuit here. The scanner finds no trace of Groskin’s or anything else deadly to humans. The only unknown is the powder that’s apparently a secret spice.” Red grinned and began peeling off the safety suit before Jake could object or urge caution. “Meg’s family are spice farmers in Sector Forty. Her dad’s a master in the Spice Guild, trained in the Inner Sectors for twenty years before returning home to take over the family business. Spice plants can be tricky to grow, I’ve since learned. She might be able to tell us if any of this stuff is rare, or connected in any way to somewhere secret Groskin might have been before he boarded the
Zephyr.
Remember how well he covered his tracks? A man with something to hide.”

Jake didn’t need to hear any more. “Maeve, can you get Meg down here right away?”

“She’s on her way,” the Ship reported.

Embersson spun on his heel, pointing a finger at his crew. “All right, show’s over, no more excitement, nothing going boom. I’m sure you guys have work to do. I can find some decks to swab by hand if you don’t.”

Meg entered the cargo deck a few moments later, stepping smoothly out of the gravlift. She stopped for a moment as she saw the decontamination chamber with Red inside but unsuited. “Everything all right?”

“He’s fine. No hazards identified,” Jake assured her. “Our Patient Zero was shipping spices, and Red thinks you might be able to help.”

“I’ll be happy to do my best. It’s the family business, but I prefer a career with a little more adventure. I think I’ve been overdoing the excitement on my last few cruises though.” Meg stepped to the air lock and entered, Jake on her heels.

“It’ll be too crowded—you stay outside,” he told Sid, barring the door with his arm. “You can film through the clear walls.”

After kissing Red on the cheek, Meg sat cross-legged on the deck and studied the various containers he’d opened. She touched several with the tip of her index finger, reciting names as she went. “Terran cinnamon, alutonmeric, sesquel, pardom—Groskin had quite a collection here. Some of these are extremely valuable.” She examined the others in silence, nodding a bit. Then she scooted closer to the last box, which held vials of a sparkling black powder that reminded Jake of nothing so much as common pepper, except for the glitter. “Oh yeah, I’ve seen this. Once.” Meg took one of the vials in her hand, unscrewed the top, handing it off to Red, and dipped the tip of her little finger into the contents, acquiring a light dusting of the ebony powder on her skin. She moved her fingertip carefully under her nose for a moment, inhaling as she furrowed her brow. Meg sat back and touched her tongue to the powder on her finger. She closed her eyes, and every inch of her body tensed, while she permitted a small moan to escape her lips.

“What is it? What’s the matter?” Red gathered her close. “Are you all right?”

A faint blush rose on her cheeks. Meg opened her brown eyes and smiled. “Better than all right.” She pointed at the cask. “This is
zalmadrir,
known in the business as the empress of spices. The most expensive and rare spice in the Sectors.”

“I never heard of it,” Jake said.

“You wouldn’t have . It’s a very closely held secret of the Spice Guild. I’ve encountered it only once before in my life, but the taste and the physical sensation are unmistakable. Like a really intense orgasm.” She blushed harder. Clearing her throat and smoothing her tunic a bit, she said, “Groskin was a foolhardy man.”

“We don’t have time for Spice Guild mysteries,” Jake said. “What is this stuff?”

“Practically a myth. Despite the fact we’re looking at an entire cask of it, the empress spice is extremely rare. No one knows where it grows, what planet it’s from, not even what Sector.”

Jake wasn’t buying that story. “Groskin knew somehow. The Spice Guild obviously knows.” He liked Meg but if she’d been withholding relevant information during this crisis, he’d be furious. He’d have no choice but to advise the captain to take serious disciplinary action, so he hoped whatever she was going to tell them put her in the clear.

“Groskin may have taken the secret to his grave.” Meg shook her head. “My father said the Presiding Master of the Spice Guild is supposed to be the only person who knows where
zalmadrir
can be obtained.”

“But you’ve tasted it before,” Jake pointed out, still wary about what she knew.

Meg gave Sid’s trid recorder a pointed glance and shook her head. “Some things I can’t discuss.”

“We don’t need to know how Meg got her information,” Red said. “I’ll stipulate her expertise. Her dad was really high-ranking in the guild before he moved to the Rim to grow spices.”

Sid pointed at his ear and shook his head. The com crackled. “We’re not getting your audio feed through the walls.”

Evidently reassured, Meg unbent and offered more explanation. “My dad lost a political fight, trying to become head of the guild,” Meg explained. “He couldn’t stay after that because the winner was going to take serious retribution on those who opposed him. He had backing from the Red Lady and you don’t mess with her or her interests. My dad can be pretty devious himself, pretty scorched earth when he wants something. Anyway, he stole a tiny cache of
zalmadrir
in revenge, which I’ll deny if you ever repeat it. I was curious, snuck into the vault in our processing facility, and tasted it once before he caught me.”

Making a circular, keep-moving gesture, Jake was impatient. “What else can you tell us about the spice? How does this relate to Groskin?”
 

“
Zalmadrir
is an erotic drug on some worlds, a miracle cure on others. It’s literally worth its weight in gold, as the old saying goes. According to the Spice Guild legends, only a few people on the entire planet where it originates, all members of one small tribe, can safely gather the pods. Anyone else who tries to harvest the pods to make
zalmadrir
dies. The actual method for the grinding and the trace elements added to enhance the potency are also closely guarded secrets. Preparation and consumption of the spice are part of a religious ritual for the tribe. Outsiders who wander into the area are punished by the gods with a horrible death. The pods grow in one shallow lagoon, protected by massive reefs and other safeguards.” She raised one eyebrow and shrugged. “Or so the guild lore goes.”

“The spice kills people?” Red’s eyebrows rose and his frown was monumental. “And you just tasted it?”

Meg gave him a hasty hug. “No, the pods and the resulting spice are perfectly safe. It’s been proven over the centuries time and again. There’s supposed to be some curse on the
area
where the pods grow, that kills outsiders for wandering into the forbidden lands.”

“If the Groskin’s organism lives in those sheltered waters where the pod plants grow, maybe the indigenous tribe has the right DNA to be immune? Or they’re carriers but don’t fall ill? Mrs. Fenn said humans aren’t the natural host. Maybe it doesn’t kill the real host species, living on the planet in that ecosystem,” Jake said, struggling to figure out a reasonable explanation for the mysticism and legends that might bring them back to a scientific, usable explanation for Groskin’s disease. And hope of a cure. “And anyone not from this tribe of aliens who goes wading or swimming in spice-pod-water gets infected maybe, the way our passengers were on Level 5? And dies a horrible death, which to a primitive people would seem like a curse.”

“But how does that help us?” Red wanted to know. “How did Groskin manage to get infected?”

Meg leaned closer. “An interesting tidbit, which I’ll deny if you repeat it, is the planet in question is mostly oceanic, with Sectors-class surfing beaches, but it’s a restricted world, so few people have ever been there. In the rarefied surfing community circles, it’s a badge of honor to have ridden those waves. First-in scouts struck a deal with the chief of the tribe for the right to export tiny amounts of the spice. The scouts later sold the rights to the Spice Guild. The Sectors has a general travel ban on the planet due to the primitive level of civilization. The guild has a lot of pull with the Sectors government, partly because of the Red Lady’s influence. She supports the guild as long as it keeps the spices she needs for her rituals flowing to her. What if Groskin went on one of the illegal surfing trips and found out about the rare spice somehow while he was on the planet?”

“He seems to have been a guy who would have found out things other people didn’t want him to know, especially if easy credits were involved,” Red agreed. “Maybe he went there on purpose to steal some of this spice or drug, and the surfing was a nice side benefit of the trip for him. Or a convenient cover if he got caught. But he went wading or swimming in the wrong lagoon at some point, and the bug caught him.”

“I suppose we’ll never know, but it’s as good a theory as any. Groskin probably wasn’t the kind of person to believe in alien myths and curses. If he had to wade through forbidden lagoons to steal something valuable, a crook like him wouldn’t hesitate.” Jake shoved the lid shut. “And none of this helps our sick passengers.” He felt better about Meg. She obviously knew more about the source of the spice than she was sharing, but it was a lot of legends, and she’d have had no reason earlier in the cruise to suspect Groskin of having visited the forbidden spice planet. Much less connect the dots that the petty criminal had gotten himself infected with spores while he was there.

Unaware of his conclusions, Meg dragged the box closer to herself, keeping one arm protectively draped over the lid. “If you can stand one more legend, the people of the spice-makers tribe tell of a chieftain’s daughter who fell in love with an outsider, a warrior who came to steal pods out of the water to make spice for his own queen. He was captured by the tribe and imprisoned in the temple to await his death from the gods’ curse. He lay dying in terrible agony, and the chief’s daughter fed him wine flavored with
zalmadrir
so he’d survive. He had to stay in the village and marry her of course.”

Excitement and hope rising, Jake said, “Are you telling me the spice itself might be a cure?”

Meg nodded. “That’s the legend. Spices have been used by human-descent sentients as medicines in the past on more than one planet, and
zalmadrir
has always had the reputation in the Spice Guild of being practically a miracle cure.”

“There’s some logic to the idea, if the microorganism and the spice plants are from the same microbiome,” Red said.

“Curse and cure in the same place? We can only hope,” Jake agreed. “Time to get this stuff to Emily and Mrs. Fenn and see what miracles the two of them can pull off.”

“I’m going to take custody of the spice.” Meg gave Jake a defiant stare. “I’m the only person on board with rank in the Spice Guild, thanks to my family connections, even if I am just an apprentice on paper because of Dad’s business. I’ll share it freely with the doctor as needed, of course, but
zalmadrir
isn’t to be dispersed far and wide. Or disappear into the possession of someone like Hillier. After this is all over, if we have any left, I’ll make sure it gets where it ought to be.” She challenged Red and then Jake with a level regard. “This much spice probably represents the entire stockpile in the temple, painstakingly gathered over many growing seasons. Each year’s harvest is tiny. Groskin stole it. I want to return it. My dad will know how to accomplish the restoration.” Her face softened a bit. “I know he’s felt remorse all these years for taking that tiny amount from the guild supplies, so he can atone now.”