Swallow the Sky: A Space Opera (15 page)

“I’ll send a linguist”
said Juro.

“One that carries my
scent?” asked Carson. “The only person she will work with is me.”

The old man did not like
this. Jerking his head at Shin he shuffled into the adjacent room and closed
the door.

“So” said Carson, addressing Tabarak as they waited for the discussion to end “you don’t like Ants?”

“Shut up” was all he
would say.

Eventually, Shin opened
the door.

“Please join us”

They headed towards the
next room.

“No, just Carson” Shin
said blocking Aiyana’s way.

Juro began speaking
immediately the door was closed.

“After you and the Ant re-sequence
the tape, you will secretly extract the second layer of audio and identify the
systems visited by the Yongding. You will then disappear and reclaim any
treasure for yourself.”

“Really!” Carson protested “and leave Aiyana here?”

“There is that” Juro
conceded. “Shin’s people have built a remarkably accurate model of your
personality Carson. We have just consulted it. There is a ninety-six percent
probability that you will not abandon her. God knows why – I would.”

He wheezed with laughter
at the thought.

“Very well, you may go,
but you will report each day until you return.”

He turned to his minion.

“Shin, leave us for a
moment.”

Carson appeared to have
become a member of an increasingly exclusive club. Once they were alone Juro spoke
again.

“Ninety-six percent may
satisfactory for most people, but not me, so I will make it one hundred
percent.”

He moved in closer.

“I remind you Carson that
you and Aiyana have committed a very serious crime, one that will be
ridiculously easy to prove in court. Clan Aniko, on the other hand, has done
nothing untoward, so do not think of going to the authorities.”

Juro paused.

“Additionally, Tabarak,
as you will have gathered, is an unusual man. He has certain… needs that require
unfettered access to the bodies of young women. The results are extremely
unpleasant. Should you choose to abscond with the information on the second
tape I will allow him to vent his urges upon Aiyana.”

Carson longed to punch
the old guy in the face. Well, if things worked out he would do that,
figuratively at least. In the meantime he had to act out his part.

“There is no need for
disgusting threats. I’ve already told you that I will not run off with the data
and I know I can’t deal with New Earth Security”

“Make sure you do not.”

They rejoined the others
and Carson reconnected with Tallis.

“It is agreed. I will
join you later today. Do you have a cost estimate for the contract?”

“Affirmative – one hundred thousand Ecus.”

Everyone looked at Juro,
who nodded.

“I’ll arrange payment”
said Shin.

With that the conference
ended.

As Juro and Shin talked, Carson drew Aiyana to one side.

“I’ll return in a few days,
in the meantime just try to stay out of the way.”

He had no intention of
frightening Aiyana by telling her of Juro’s threats. He was already scared
enough for the two them.

“Take care, and when you
return can you bring me some more clothes? All I’ve got is what I’m wearing.”

“Sure, that’s a good idea
for both of us. And don’t worry – all this will soon be over.”

Minutes later he was in
the Aniko limousine, accompanied by Ubay. After a short argument it was agreed
that they would first travel to the university apartment in Hawkins to pick up
clothing and other basics. Once that was done the vehicle hurtled south to
Mutapa. On the way down Carson booked a room at one of the hotels in the human
settlement that ringed Vegrandis. To his relief Ubay left with the limousine
after dropping off him and his luggage at Formicidae Systems.

Carson picked up his
bags, marched into reception and booked a pod for five straight days. It was extravagant
but Juro was picking up the tab. Tallis did not sleep – Ants worked round the
clock – and he needed to be with her as much as possible. It was going to be an
exhausting week.

The next day Carson put a
call through to the Aniko mansion – Juro had insisted on a daily visual link. Shin
appeared on the screen.

“Good progress I trust” he
said, flashing more teeth

“I’ll tell you in a
minute. First I want to see Aiyana.”

“Being a trifle melodramatic
aren’t we?”

“Dead right, now go and
get her.”

Shin sighed and
disappeared. A couple of minutes later he returned with Aiyana.

“Hi Baby, how are you?”

“Oh I’m fine – just
bored. At least they’re letting me access some entertainment sources.”

Hang in there, I’ll return
in a few days.”

Shin cut in. “Can we have
your report now?”

“Okay, progress is good. Listen
to this”

“…cellular engineering
must not be used to radically reshape the human body…”

The sound quality was
poor and accompanied by a lot of static, but it was clearly Cissokho’s voice,
recorded eight thousand years ago.

“That’s just the raw
audio, I’m sure your people can clean it up, and there definitely appears to be
a second layer, though Tallis doesn’t have the hardware to decode it”

“Wonderful!” cried Shin
“Juro will be very pleased”

“Well that’s nice. Meantime
you need to get your engineers working. Tallis is laying out the fragments on a
set of membranes a meter square. Your people will have to adapt their apparatus
to read the tape’s second layer in linear mode.”

“I’ll have them start
immediately. You still estimate five days?”

“Hopefully – I’m working
every waking moment. I should have a better idea tomorrow.”

Shin signed off, leaving Carson trying to figure out his next move. The work was buying him time, but for what? Where
were Zhou and New Earth Security? After all, this whole charade was being acted
out to allow the authorities to gather enough evidence to nail Juro. Perhaps
they were at work in the background but he was getting nervous. It was time to
try and find out.

He put through another
call. The crest of the New Earth Security Authority appeared on the screen.

“Carson calling for Lieutenant
Ming”

Moments later a
cropped-haired woman came on the display.

“Hey Carson! I heard you
were back on New Earth. So how come you haven’t pinged me?”

“Hi Ming, it’s great to
see you. Believe me, I’ve been ignoring all my friends. I’m up to my ears in a
major new project – haven’t had a moment to myself.”

“But you called anyway. Let
me guess, you need a favor”

Carson laughed “Only a
small one. The last stop on my mail run was a system called Mita. Do you know
it?”

“Isn’t that where diamond
coral comes from?”

“Roger that. While I was
there I met the local Security Commissioner, Zhou, who turns out to be a keen
collector. She’s supposed to be coming to New Earth and I’ve lined up a whole
bunch of fancy dealers, but I haven’t heard anything from her. She would notify
your people as a courtesy when she arrives, right? I just want to know what’s
going on, otherwise I’m going to have to cancel everything.”

Ming rolled her eyes.

“Hold on”

She turned her attention
to another console.

“Sorry, no sign of her.”

“Damn! Hey, she had a
sidekick named Asima, can you see if she’s here?”

Ming checked again.

“No luck”

She could see that her
friend was distressed.

“Tell you what I’ll do.
I’ll tell my valet to message them as soon as they arrive, that way they can contact
you.”

“Fair enough, thanks
Ming, eternally grateful, blah blah. So what’s been going on with you?”

They spent the next few
minutes chatting until the Security officer said she had better get working.

“Hey, as soon as I have
some free time – dinner is on me.”

“That’s for sure.” She
grinned and signed off.

It was turning into a
busy morning. Next, Carson called a tailoring store in the Vegrandis
settlement.

“I’ve got a bunch of
clothes belonging to me and my partner – you can clean and press them, right? I
may need a few alterations as well.”

“Certainly, honored
customer. We look forward to your visit.”

Having finished his
calls, Carson headed to work.

“Tallis says she’s done.”

It was day five of the
project. They had developed a daily ritual wherein Carson called Shin, who would
produce Aiyana to show that she was safe and well, and then he received the
progress report.

“Excellent. Preparations
are complete here; I’ll send a limousine to collect you.”

As soon as Shin signed
off another visual call came through to the display in his room.

“Well hello, Carson” Asima had finally arrived.

“Asima! Where have you guys
been? Juro and Shin got here days ago.”

“I’m sorry Carson, but that vanishing act you pulled convinced Commissioner Zhou that you had fled to
the other side of the galaxy.”

“Oh God, the last thing I
expected to be was too convincing.”

“You were so convincing
that Zhou simply refused to authorize me to travel here.”

“But you managed to
persuade her?”

“No – I’m here on
vacation – that’s why I took so long. I too originally came from New Earth so I’m
doing double duty, seeing friends and family while pursuing the case.”

“Meantime, if we had been
caught in the Archives without you or Zhou to vouch for us we would have been fried.”

“You went ahead and stole
something!” the Security officer shouted, then recovered herself.

“I’m sorry, I feel really
bad about it. Anyhow,” she continued “here I am. I’ve got a lot of catching up
to do, so why not give me the whole story.”

Carson was sick with all
the lying. Besides, he needed an ally.

“Where should I start?”

“How did you get off
Kaimana?”

“Stealth suits, we went
through one of the tunnels feeding water from the outer slopes to the lake, and
then hid beneath the ocean in my buggy.”

“Clever – where did you
get the suits?”

“A local hoodlum called
Tabarak”

“That is a very dangerous
individual.”

“So I’ve gathered”

Carson took a deep
breath.

“Let me tell you everything
that’s happened since we arrived.”

He talked non-stop for
the next thirty minutes. By the time he had finished Asima was just shaking her
head.

“Look” said Carson, “your boss asked me to cooperate with Juro’s conspiracy but this has got completely
out of control. Aiyana’s life is now in danger. I need you to fire up New Earth
Security, bust into that mansion and arrest the lot of them.”

“On what charges?”

“Kidnapping for a start”

“A member of Clan Aniko
is staying in the Clan Aniko mansion. Doesn’t seem that illegal, does it?”

“Oh terrific, so you’re
going to do nothing! When Kalidas gave me those fake tapes I could have taken
them straight to the authorities – upright citizen Carson – and told them
everything. Their little scheme would have been rolled up and I’d be a hero. But
Zhou wanted me to string along and now we’re in this mess.”

“I know it’s hard Carson but we’re trying to convict an individual who is willing to commit murder to get
what he wants, and you’ve no idea what a corrupting influence he’s been on Mita.
We have to bring him down.

“And since you left Mita
we received intelligence that this isn’t just about Juro. He is a member of an
obscure organization called the Technical Freedom Foundation. Ostensively, it’s
an advocacy group for loosening the limitations on technology, but we believe he’s
the leader of a faction that would like to overthrow the entire Covenant. We
think he will use the money to finance a revolution.”