The Bright Black Sea (36 page)

Having set no specific time to meet, I decided I'd
call Min from the ship and get my instructions and say goodbye in
my office rather than on a levatrain platform.

The next standard crater up the line was a farming
one with a space boat landing field. I took a single car cable line
that swung across the crater's patchwork of lush vegetable gardens
and small villages to the crater top were I boarded a velowalk
through a long tunnel to the space boat field on the outside.

The field was small in the bright unfiltered light of
the sun, little more than a flat shelf carved out of the slope. It
had a half moon shaped terminal with six spider-like gangplanks
extensions to allow boats to pull up and disembark passengers. Two
of the gangplanks had waiting bumboats with
for hire
notices. I made for the first one, but a large, burly spaceer all
but shoved me out of the way to get it first, so I went on to the
second boat.

'Buoy Victory 233...' I called out as I ducked
through the hatch and stepped into the small gap between the open
control console set aft and three double rows of seats facing
forward. No one was at the console.

'Anyone aboard?' I asked, peering about the dim lit
interior.

'Aye,' said a quiet voice and there was a stirring in
one of the forward seats. A slim figure rose and turned, darter in
hand. 'Welcome aboard, Captain Litang,' she said with a cold
smile.

'Bloody Neb,' I muttered and leaped towards the open
hatch. There was a flash of blue light.

03

A stinging pain.

'Wake up, Captain Litang. We've not all night,' said
the quiet voice from the bumboat.

I thought I opened my eyes, but wasn't sure. It was
dark and there was a sharp pain in my head. This wasn't the bumboat
– I must have been taken... somewhere. Gravity? Yes. Still Lontria,
. It was cold. And as my eyes adjusted, I found I was wedged in the
corner seat of a small, leathery smelling compartment with lighter
squares on either side. Curtained windows, I decided when they
stirred and I felt a faint breeze, scented of pines. Night in some
crater, either far from where I started, or many hours later. I
tried to move, but my hands were secured behind my back and perhaps
to the seat as well.

A dark figure moved in the deep shadows in the
opposite corner, bringing a sharp cutting lash across my knee – a
strap or rod – snapping my chain of thought. I yipped a 'Neb-damn
you!'

'Good, you're awake. We're pressed for time. Let's
focus on the business at hand. Are you willing to lead me to
Tallith Min?' she asked leaning forward into the faint twilight
from the curtained windows. She had to be the woman at the race
course, the assassin at the yacht club.

Deciding it was best to say nothing, I earned two
more deliberate slashes across my knee with the strap she held. The
lashes burned long after they struck.

'Once more, Tallith Min?'

'On Calissant,' I muttered, deciding maybe I should
talk after all.

'Oh, please, Captain, I haven't –time,' she panted
between vicious slashes, this time across my shoulder and neck.

So much for talking.

'As much as I enjoy this, I know she's alive and
here. I've had spy bots monitoring your ship so I've a good idea
where to look. Your course today only confirms this. Too bad you
decided not to meet her. I don't really need your help, but it'd
make everything so much easier if you cooperated. I intend to get
that cooperation – one way or another. So to save time, why don't
you just tell me now where to find her.'

'Why, in the Dark Neb, would I?'

'Because you're fond of your life?' she replied
lightly with a faintly seen smile. 'We've unfinished business
between us. I thought perhaps we might settle it to our mutual
satisfaction. You lead me to Tallith Min and I won't put a plasma
dart between your eyes – where it should have gone the first
time.'

'A bluff. You're desperate. You don't know where Min
is and I'll wager your employers are very unhappy with you. Took
the credits without delivering, did you? I bet you're looking at a
plasma dart between the eyes as well.'

'Oh, I'm in a far better position than you,' she
hissed while delivering several more stinging blows that I took on
my shoulder. My lightweight clothing did little to soften them.
'See?'

I cursed and bracing my feet against the floor and
seat, lunged at her, only to have it end in a painful jerk – my
bound hands were indeed secured to the seat as were my legs. I
toppled painfully into a heap on the seat. She gave me a few more
vicious slashes on my other shoulder and neck.

'Need help?' said a gruff voice from the outside.

'No, thank you Max, we're just establishing an
understanding.' said my captor. 'Now, as I was saying, we're both
pressed for time, so here's the deal Captain Litang. Since you
weren't my target, if you cooperate and help me find Tallith Min,
I'll let that unfortunate miss slide. Once my business with Min is
done I'll set you free. I have, however an alternative plan, which
is to kill you and use your death as bait to draw Min out.
Remember, I've a good idea where to look for her, and I suspect the
death of her ship's captain will stir her from hiding. The choice
is yours, but it must be made now.'
Now
being accompanied
with another blow.

I struggled to sit up. It was awkward with my hands
tied, but I managed to brace my legs enough to get upright again in
the low gravity.

'You're still bluffing,' I panted. 'You don't know
anything. You may have tagged me at the race track, but it didn't
work. I did a radio scan aboard the ship. Nothing. And all this
talk about monitoring the ship and listening to crew – I'd be a
fool to believe that. You wouldn't need me if it was all true.'

'Oh, it's amazing what just a mere sliver of a device
under the skin can do. Some track, some listen and no one pays much
attention to the little sting when it's inserted. You've one in
your back, it simply doesn't transmit when it's out of range and
would've been inactive inside the hull of your ship. Too bad you
saw me, though. It would've made things easier for both of us if
you hadn't.'

'Well, I did see you, and I must admit I didn't think
you'd be stupid enough to try something like this now. It's your
express ticket to Felons' Riff. A space boat crash on Calissant and
a botched assassination two months ago both have the Azure Night in
common. You're one of the Azure Night's
system pilots
. Up
til now, that's just the fantasy of a babbling spaceer. But if I
turn up dead, even if it's another so called
accident
, it'll
be one too many coincidences. I've two Patrol Reservists on my
crew, who'll make sure there's a swift investigation... And, well,
I'd think Lontria's far from an ideal place for murder, too many
security interfaces. Within half an hour of finding my body,
they'll trace me to your space boat and to this crater, and you
right back to the Azure Night. Bloody Neb, they won't even need to
find my body. If I'm not back aboard ship by the time it's ready to
sail, the alarm will be raised. You're hours away from being traced
even now...'

'You're rather naïve, Captain,' she said with a
faintly seen sneer. “Everything is in hand. I can deal with the
security situation.'

'I don't think so.' I wasn't making this up on the
fly. I'd given this scenario considerable thought – mostly to
reassure myself I'd not have to worry about it. Still, it was
largely a bluff. Vynnia and Tenry were out of the loop, so any
effort to push a Patrol investigation would depend on Min, assuming
she didn't fall for the trap. Still, the facts were in my favor.
Lontria, with all its separate craters and rift sections has a vast
number of transport intersections that track movement and act as
security interfaces. Everyone boarding a levatrain or monorail or
using the airlocks of space boat fields, have their data and
bio-identities recorded. It was no exaggeration to say that within
a half an hour, Lontria Security could trace not only my movements
but those of anyone associated with my movement, so my bluff was
not completely idle.

'You might have a little time to escape after you
kill me,' I continued. 'But none if you delay to spring your trap.
That'd be a certain ticket to Felons' Rift. And even if you decide
to run, where will you run to? The drifts? After collecting a fee
without fulfilling your contract? Can't be good for your business
or your health. It was very unprofessional not to make sure.'

'Yes, Captain, it was very unprofessional. A hurried
job. All the wharf rats had to do was disable you and disperse. But
when it looked like they weren't even up to that simple task I had
to intervene. And they panic when sparks started flying. Wouldn't
do to kill them all,' she said quietly. 'So I allowed them to
hustle me away without making certain. It was a mistake. However,
as I'm honor bound to file an accurate report, my superiors know of
my failures. I am now correcting them. I have you, I'm close to
finding Min, and operating undetected in the shadows of the Unity
is my specialty – I'm very good at it. And it's easier to operate
on Lontria – its dissenting communities can hide many secrets. So
you needn't worry about me, I'm in a far better position than you,
at the moment. So what's it to be? Life or death?'

'Oh, it's death, either way. I'm not naïve. I know
too much. My only hope is that you're a not a complete fool and
realize that our one chance to live – with all your parts – is to
give this whole affair a miss and run while you can, trusting any
complaint I'd make would not be considered serious enough to be
pursued with any dispatch. Really, letting me go and running is
your only chance of avoiding ending up either a gelded muck-eater
for the rest of your life or dead by the employer you failed.'

'I'm touched by your concern, Captain. However, I'm
bound by honor to accept the consequences of my failures as well as
my successes and sworn to succeed in my assignment or die trying.
So you see, I've no options. I'll not let you go and I'll not run
for cover. Last chance. Will you lead me to Min?'

'No. Can't. We took precautions from the beginning, I
don't know where to find her,' I shrugged. 'Believe it or not.'

I was dead, but Min had a chance. That was some
comfort. But candidly, not much. I shivered. It wasn't the
cold.

She sighed. 'As a matter of fact, I do. Doesn't
matter. It was worth a few minutes. I'm afraid I mislead you a
little. I don't have a choice. Since you're a witness to my
failure, I've been ordered to eliminate you as well.' And picking
up the darter from the seat next to her, she shot me. Again.

01

I was shaken painfully awake. Again.

I felt a cool hand on my bare shoulder and a sibilant
whispered, 'I believe it's my husband,' warm against my cheek

I tried, and failed, to made sense of that. I had to
be alive – I hurt all over – but for a reason that escaped me, that
seemed unlikely.

I pried an eye half open... and when it came in
focus, I noted a high and ornate ceiling with a border of gilded
plaster work. I shifted my gaze downwards – a large room sketched
in soft grey light from tall windows behind thin, elaborate
curtains on my left.

The cool hand shook me again, 'Do something, my dear.
You need to go.'

Right. I tried opening my other eye.

Turning my head I saw her, the spaceer reflected in
the clearsteel doors – my assassin – resting her head on one elbow
next to me looking down at me. She wore a cool, amused smile, her
dark grey and icy eyes bright with anticipation, her loose black
hair falling over her bare shoulder to the pillow in soft
waves.

There was a commotion, a pounding and scraping, and
muffled voices from the dim corner of the room, across the covers
of a wide bed. Beyond the carved footboard of the bed I made out a
painted white door in the corner and along the wall, a gilded edged
mirror over a white dresser. And in the mirror, dimly seen, the
reflection of a large bed with a high, elaborately carved headboard
with two people on it under covers. One of them me. Everything was
white, silver, pale gold and soft grey-green shadows.

She slowly drew her leg off of mine and half rising
said in a loud urgent whisper, her sarcastic smile taunting me.
'It's my husband. Do something, You need to go. If he finds us like
this...'

The door was flung open banging against the doorstop.
We both looked up to see a hulking man burst in with others in tow.
She sat bold upright in bed with a wailing shriek, clutching the
coverings, dragging them half off of me, revealing her slim naked
back and long raven hair in disarray.

'Nadine! Oh, Nadine, my dear, what have you done?'
exclaimed the hulking man in a heavy accent as he bounded forward,
leaving the rest of the people peering from the far corner.

'Max! Oh Max!' my assassin exclaimed in alarm.

I closed my eyes hoping to escape this gothic
nightmare, unable to think clearly or even think at all.

'I would not believe! I could not believe! My wife
has betrayed me! My life's partner, my wife! Alas, I was mistaken!
You have made yourself a whore, a whore! My wife a whore... My
honor, oh my honor!' His accent and word choices made him hard to
follow and sounding like something out of an ancient operetta. Such
a strange nightmare.

'Oh, Max! Max my dearest!, I am so sorry! Please
forgive me! Please, my love!. This was the last time I swear! He,
he insisted! He threatened to expose this foolish affair. To bring
shame on you and me if I did not agree to sleep with him one last
time. I'm so sorry, so very sorry. He said he was going away and
may not come back and I thought it best to let him have his way,
and he would be gone and I would be free...' she earnestly pleaded
in the same dissenting accent using the same comic-opera
phrasing.