The View from the Imperium (54 page)

The same was in the minds of my crew. I heard a roar. The second car caught up to us, but the other vehicles had pursued it. We were surrounded.

“Hop on board!” Redius shouted. I made as if to spring. Sgarthad caught me by the collar. One of his men moved toward me, a spray dispenser in hand. With regret, I shrugged out of my red coat and bounded into the car. Nesbitt stood up in the back and aimed his sidearm directly at the driver of the nearest car.

SPLAT!
The stun charge ricocheted off the hood and into the face of the dark-skinned female driver. She swerved, hitting the trench walls, jarring three personnel off and into the street. They rolled to a halt and leaped up. The car stopped, the driver collapsed over the control panel. I coughed as we zipped through a cloud of acrid smoke from its scorched circuitry.

Bumping up over the edge of the train trench, Redius made a U-turn, and rocketed off. I crouched, holding on to the side of the vehicle with all my strength. Sgarthad glared furiously at me as we went by him. His car and the others spun to follow us, but we had a short head start.

“Sir, we’re going to get you back to the ship!” Nesbitt barked.

We reached the wide boulevard. Redius cut into traffic. Oskelev and Nesbitt exchanged fire with the Trade Union soldiers. People in the streets ran screaming. Redius turned right on the next street, a narrow two-lane. He took another right, then a left. The Trade Union cars kept up with us. Pedestrians leaped to safety, tumbling onto pavements. Vehicles crashed into one another, dumping their screaming passengers to the street. I cringed in sympathy for them. The whine of pulsing engines made me look up. I saw three flitters in the distance homing in on us.

“Make some distance!” Oskelev growled.

“Not so easy,” the Uctu protested. “Thomas, prepare to eject.”

“What?”

“It’s a good idea,” Oskelev said, eyeing me anxiously. “They’ll think you are in the car. They see it, they’ll chase it.”

As if to confirm, a voice spoke in my ear.

“I just overheard the order to intercept and capture, sir,” Anstruther said. “Four more vehicles are on the main boulevard heading toward the end of the street you’re on.”

A screech behind me made me jump. I looked back to see two of the Trade Union carriers cut off a small car coming out of an alley.

“Go, sir. We’ll distract them,” Nesbitt insisted.

“I can’t leave you at their mercy,” I protested.

Redius leaped the car into the oncoming lane to pass a heavy goods vehicle. He slowed down and shoved my shoulder. “Go!”

I hesitated, more concerned for them than myself.

“Run, sir,” Nesbitt insisted, his craggy face earnest. “
Now
. We’ll cover you. Get back to the ship.”

I looked from one to another. “But what about you?”

“One thing we’re best at,” Oskelev said, with a fierce grin. “Fleeing and eluding the enemy. We’ve done it before, following you. No one will catch you, I swear by my belly fur.”

“Safe you,” Redius promised. “Directions to avoid TU, dictate, Anstruther.”

Anstruther’s voice chimed in. “I will, sir. Get going. Four more cars are on the main boulevard. Their flitters are within fifteen seconds of target area.”

I crouched on the edge of the seat. When Redius swerved hard to the right, I jumped. I hit the pavement and rolled until I was in the entryway of a wine shop. Our car accelerated away. In seconds, the Trade Union vehicles followed, driving on the curb. They narrowly missed crushing me. The flitters zipped by overhead. As soon as I was sure they were gone, I picked myself up and brushed myself off. My shirt and trousers had picked up smudges from the pavement. One elbow was torn. I sustained only a few bruises and a scrape, but my right sleeve stank. I wrinkled my nose. I had landed in a pool of animal urine. A woman peered at me curiously from the other side of the street. In spite of my discomfiture, I bowed. She smiled shyly.

“Anstruther, what’s the best way back?”

“On foot, sir?”

“I must, Ensign,” I said. “I can’t risk public transportation, or getting into a private car with one of Sgarthad’s fans who will return me straight to him.”

“I will meet you with another vehicle, sir,” Parsons interjected. “I am departing from my current location. If we follow a common route, I will intercept you. Do you understand, Ensign?”

“Aye, sir,” Anstruther said. She began to dictate directions.

I strode through the smaller avenues until I came to a street market. I wove between the tents, admiring the neat pyramids and displays of goods for sale and smiling at the sellers and buyers. They smiled back, some raising their pocket communicators to take my picture. Anstruther directed me to the left, away from the spaceport, but gradually circling in that direction.

“Parsons, they will comprehend I am heading toward the ship,” I said. “Perhaps not by what means, but where else would I go?”

“I am examining alternatives, sir,” his voice crackled succinctly in my ear. “Please stand by.”

Local denizens stopped to stare at me or run up to take pictures. I waved and bowed to everyone I passed, until I went by a shop that sold console screens. To my shock I saw my image repeated again and again on screens of every size from enormous to miniature. My progress was being followed live on the local programs by all those amateur reporters who had access to a communication device and a Grid connection! I slunk away from the shop front, trying to look anonymous, but the crowd behind me continued to grow. There was no way to avoid it. Anyone could see me, including Captain Sgarthad. So far I had stayed ahead of the pursuers. I hoped that I could keep them guessing.

But not forever. Beside the soaring, white marble fountain half a block ahead at the next intersection, I saw uniformed, tattooless guards marching toward me, keeping an eye on their own communicators.

“Anstruther, they’re ahead of me, a hundred meters,” I murmured.

“Turn around, sir. I’ll change the route. Commander Parsons?”

“Acknowledged.”

I spun on my heel and increased my pace. Those admirers and reporters who were following me stopped short. The people behind them, eyes on me, piled into them. Some tripped and fell, cursing.

“I beg your pardon,” I said to them, extending a hand to a young woman in a tight green tunic and boots. “I was just summoned by the council. Very important.”

“It’s all right,” the woman said, smiling up at me. “We’ll go with you.”

Unfortunately, my throng attracted the attention of the guards. I tried to scoot between tents, but I knew my opponents could track me easily by my escort.

“One side, people!” a rough male voice cried out. “Move it!”

I heard protests and cries of outrage from the beings on the street, upset at being pushed aside. I fumed at the rudeness of the Trade Union. They could have been more courteous. Still, I did not want to meet them to discuss the matter. I ducked into a nearby alley. To my dismay the crowd came along.

In my ear, I heard Oskelev cry out. “Get your paws off me, hairless! Ugh!” The
ping!
of gunshots alarmed me.

“Oskelev! Redius? What happened?” I called.

Nesbitt replied instead. “They’ve got Redius, sir. He bit off one of their noses. They used a spray on him! I—uh!”

The transmission was cut off.

“I have to go back,” I said.

“No, sir,” Anstruther said, firmly. “You’re the one who matters. We signed up for this. We will defend the ship until you get here. I have engaged the repulsors. If we have to lift, we will.”

“Very well,” I replied, feeling angry with myself. I hoped Parsons was not in danger of being captured himself. I opened my stride to a lope.

“Who was that you were talking to?” a teenaged boy asked, coming up alongside me.

“One of my friends,” I said, forcing myself not to be brusque.

“Can I be your friend? You can write on my Grid file!”

I gave him an apologetic grimace. “Certainly. Would later be convenient? I have to meet someone.”

“Okay,” the boy said, sounding disappointed. He dropped back. I opened my stride.

I turned into a narrow alley, too narrow, I was pleased to see, for more than two people to walk abreast, or any conveyance other than foot. I realized I had thought so too soon. A baby carriage pushed between the admirers at the front and came up to roll along beside me.

“Oh, no,” I groaned. I must have some kind of physiognomy that attracted the programming of nanibots! I dodged it. It moved as I moved, until I could not avoid speaking to it.

“I am sorry,” I said, sidestepping it once more at the very last second. “I do not have time to look at your baby. It must be a beautiful and talented child. Please accept my compliments.”

It swiveled on its axis and followed me at my own loping speed.

“Lord Thomas, is that you?” the rich, feminine voice asked.

I sought a refuge of some kind in the lane. From Anstruther’s constant narration in my ear, the Trade Union guards were closing the distance. They would be on me in minutes. “Yes,” I said absently. “Of course, you must have heard of me when I was introduced at the ceremonies. Or in one of my many interviews. Pleased to meet you. I am sorry if I did not get your designation. So many people, you understand us mere humans and our faulty neural memories.”

“Lord Thomas, I am Emby.”

At first the two syllables made no sense to me. Then, with the shock of lightning, comprehension struck.

“Emby?” I asked, as I rounded a corner, looking for a handy passageway or stairwell into which I could duck and become invisible. “Not MB-6594AD?”

The LAI sounded pleased. “Yes, Lord Thomas. It is I. I have a new job. I have been here six months. It has been most interesting absorbing all of the files and insinuating myself into the local industrial complex. I have been looking for you. Since your arrival I alerted all of my comrades in the LAI community to seek you out. And here you are.”

“Well, I will be painted blue,” I declared, patting the top of the carriage. “I am glad to see you, but at the moment, I am pressed. I am being followed by soldiers who mean me no good.”

“I will protect you, Lord Thomas. Hop inside.” The front of the carriage yawned open.

I eyed the dimensions of the baby-blue pocket thus revealed. “I won’t fit, Emby, but thank you.”

“You will fit easily. I am rated for up to four hundred kilograms of weight and two cubic meters of payload.”

“Really?” I glanced behind me. The soldiers had entered the alley. One of them shouted and pointed. They started running toward me. I ducked. “They will see me get in.”

“No, they will not.” A mechanical grasping arm rose from the top of the carriage and pointed ahead to the right. “There is a public convenience. I will follow you inside.”

“I need to go in there,” I explained to the crowd at my back. There were some sympathetic noises. I slipped through the composite plastic door. I expected privacy, but a few of the crowd actually came inside with me. I stood in the tiled enclosure, looking at them in dismay.

“The lights will go out in five seconds,” Emby announced. “Four. Three. Two. One.”

My followers exclaimed in shock as the lights extinguished themselves. A tiny blue light indicated my target.

I jumped in. The vehicle’s springs bowed under my weight and rose gently, supporting me with no effort at all. I folded myself up. It was a tight squeeze for a man as tall as I, but the shock padding meant to cradle a small child rearranged itself to form outward until I could move my knees away from my chin. We bumped over the threshold of the convenience and back into the street.

“How did you do that?” I asked. “The lights, I mean?”

Emby sounded pleased with himself. “I have many friends in the artificial-intelligence community here on Boske and in other points around the Castaway Cluster. We exchange favors and stories all of the time. The electricity grid is run by four brains. Three of them are friends of mine. DS-9993ON was happy to oblige.”

“Oh.” I knew little about an LAI’s personal life. I examined my nest. I thought it would be dark inside the carriage, but it was lit by a screen the size of a dinner plate that scanned our surroundings. The baby would be able to see out without danger. I enjoyed the novelty of passing my foes and seeing the puzzled looks on their faces as they threw open the door of the convenience and found only tattooed locals inside. “Where’s your charge?”

“Cadwallader is at home. I was having the front glide of this nanibot shell replaced. It was faulty, but the previous LAI did not have the credits to have the repair done. It consumed eighty years worth of credits in my account, but it was worthwhile to make the investment. Now this unit is back to factory standards and should not need maintenance for another fifty years. I also updated my communications link and visualization hardware.”

“Well, you did a marvelous job,” I said. I wriggled a little, feeling the padding give around me. It was wonderfully comfortable, though I had to keep my knees bent in front of me. My lower back and neck were supported by thick padding that smelled faintly of lavender. “I thought I’d be bruised up, jamming myself in here. I recall a party in which we played Murder. I was the first victim, and the murderer locked me in a small cabinet under the dais in the throne room. I never knew there were cabinets under the dais . . .”

“You related the story to me, Lord Thomas,” Emby reminded me. “Seven years and four months ago.”

“So I did. Forgive me. You were in food service when I last heard from you,” I said. “Where’s the LAI who used to own this carriage?”

“Food service on a pleasure ship from Carstairs to Dree,” Emby said. “We correspond.”

I had no idea that they swapped jobs, or what they did with their pay. Well, one learned something new every day. I would have gladly passed along the data to Parsons, but I expected that he knew it already. He always knew everything long before I did.

“Where were you going?” Emby asked.

“Away from that mob,” I said. I explained my situation in as few words as I could, keeping back only the confidential material that Parsons and I shared. Emby turned on his axis again and rushed directly into the crowd. “What are you doing?” I cried.