Venus Rising (29 page)

Halvo was not in the command chair, but
stalking about the bridge, reading computer screens over his
officers’ shoulders and periodically calling orders into the
speakers. He motioned for Narisa to join Tarik, who was monitoring
the battle on the wide-field screen. As she stepped toward him,
another blast shook the ship. She staggered backward until Tarik,
holding on to the safety railing, reached out and grabbed her wrist
to steady her. A second later he pulled her to his side with one
arm around her waist.

“I don’t want you hurt,” he murmured before
releasing her. He glanced quickly around the bridge. All the
officers were busy at their own posts. No one had noticed the
furtive embrace.

“How is the battle going?” Narisa felt
foolishly cheered by that brief evidence of his concern and
affection. While standing beside him, she was not afraid of
anything at all.

“Not well.” His face was grim. “I had no idea
the Cetans could mass so many ships, and they are determined to
take the Capital.”

“Have they any chance of succeeding?” It was
horrible to contemplate such an outcome. “Tarik, we can’t let them
win.”

“Our greatest advantage,” he said, pointing
to the monitor screen, “is our discipline under fire. In spite of
the Assembly’s nearly total lack of military knowledge and the
conflicting demands it makes upon the Service, Halvo and the other
admirals have put together a remarkable fleet. We have been joined
by Civilian Guard ships from several nearby planets, which have put
themselves under Service orders. We are still badly outnumbered,
but the Cetans have a habit of doing what they want instead of
following their commanders’ orders. Watch there.” Pointing to the
screen, he showed her a series of markers that symbolized a group
of Cetans about to attack a line of Jurisdiction ships. Three of
the Cetans left their formation to intercept two smaller vessels
some distance away.

“Those are poorly armed merchant ships,”
Tarik said, shaking his head in disgust. “They’ve come to offer us
what support they can. Their cargoes are too tempting for Cetan
greed to withstand, so those three Cetan captains have left the
attack to loot and pillage a weaker enemy. Watch the result.” The
markers that represented the line of attacking Cetan ships,
weakened in strength by the departure of their comrades, now
disappeared from the screen one by one, and the Service ships moved
on to destroy the three Cetans who were attacking the merchants.
“They seem unable to learn the first principles of warfare, or to
obey anything but their own greedy impulses when plunder is
available. That is our one hope, Narisa.”

“Tarik, look.” Narisa pointed to a line of
ships just assembling on the screen. “That seems to be a
disciplined group. They are coming directly toward us.”

Tarik called out a report to Halvo, his words
echoing those of another alert officer. Narisa heard Halvo shout an
order to take evasive action. She felt the ship shudder a little,
and she saw on the screen the conjoined wave of force that blasted
from the Cetan ships and moved at incredible speed, coming
closer.

“Hang on,” Tarik yelled, grabbing the
railing.

Narisa reached for the same rail. Her hands
were almost on it when the force wave hit them. She thought their
ship was turning upside down. It shouldn’t have made any difference
- the ship had its own gravity so the decks were always down - but
something was wrong. She was falling
upward,
then sideways.
She saw Tarik’s horrified face, watched him reach for her and miss
as she fell past him.

The ship’s gravity corrected itself. Narisa’s
head hit the floor hard. A thousand stars exploded inside her
brain, all the stars of a lost planet, red and gold and silver,
scattering across a black sky. There was pain, worse pain than she
had ever known before, and there was blackness closing in on her.
It was her only hope of release from the growing agony. Wanting
anything that would stop the pain, she welcomed the blackness, gave
herself up to it and knew nothing more.

“Lieutenant Narisa, open your eyes.”

She tried hard to obey the sharply voiced
command. After a while she succeeded, but the bright lights above
her made her headache worse, so she had to close her eyes
again.

“I know you are fully conscious, Lieutenant
Narisa. Do as I tell you.”

A hand took her chin, holding her head
steady, making her face directly into the light. Narisa winced.

“That’s better. Keep your eyes wide open. I’m
going to shine a light into them. Ah, good. No, don’t close them.
Just a little longer.”

The piercing light went away. After blinking
several times to remove the afterimages, Narisa found she could
tolerate the overhead lamps, and she was able to see without
brilliant pain lancing her throbbing head. The nausea began to
recede. She looked around, being careful not to move her head too
quickly.

She was in sick bay. She recognized it at
once. They were all alike on any Service ship - white, with
too-bright lighting and a falsely reassuring, overly friendly
doctor. Except this one wasn’t friendly. She was sour faced, with
an unpleasant, gratingly nasal voice. The hostility emanating from
a person who ought to have been comforting and encouraging to all
her patients was disturbing and profoundly disorienting to Narisa
in her present condition.

“You should be shackled to that bed,” the
doctor said. “If I weren’t certain you would faint if you tried to
get up, I would have you tied down. But then, I don’t want to call
any particular attention to you just yet. Not until I have talked
to Admiral Halvo. The reward for locating you is rightfully mine
alone.”

“Why?” Narisa raised her head a little. The
pounding began again so forcefully that she wanted to return to the
painless blackness. Forming the simplest sentence took great
concentration. She lay back on the pillow and tried once more,
needing to have the answer. “Why shackle me?”

“You know perfectly well why, you shameless
creature. You are a disgrace to the Service. We will be at the
Capital soon, and I can’t wait to get you out of my ward. It will
be a pleasure to turn you over to the guards at spaceport.”

“I fell, I hit my head. That’s all I can
remember. Why should you turn me over to the guards for that?”

“You will remember a great deal more than a
fall by the time Leader Tyre has finished with you. Your sentence
will be passed in accordance with Jurisdiction law, and I hope I am
there to see it carried out.”

Narisa could not understand what the woman
was talking about. She wanted to ask where Tarik was and if he was
safe, but some inner caution warned her not to mention his name
until her own situation was clearer. Confused though she was, she
had sense enough to try to make this gloating ship’s doctor tell
her what was wrong before she revealed anything more.

“I really can’t remember what I’ve done,” she
said meekly. “Please tell me.” With that simple request she
unleashed a verbal flood.

“They called me to the bridge, where I found
you unconscious.” The doctor recounted the story with malicious
relish. “I immediately diagnosed a concussion. In spite of what you
laymen believe about the wonders of modern medicine, the only cure
for a simple concussion is time and rest. But Admiral Halvo and
Commander Tarik would not let you be carried to your cabin and put
to bed and left alone while my staff and I paid more attention to
seriously injured crew members. Oh, no, they couldn’t accept my
diagnosis, as though I haven’t had thirty years’ experience with
shipboard medicine and surgery. They said I had made the diagnosis
too quickly to be certain you weren’t badly hurt, and that I hadn’t
used a diagnostic rod. Nothing would satisfy them except a complete
examination.

“What a waste of time when I’m so busy, I
thought. There is nothing wrong with this woman except a bump on
the head. I was right, too. That is all that’s wrong with you, as I
promptly confirmed once I had you here in sick bay. Still, knowing
how fussy Admiral Halvo can be about details, I checked with
Central Service Information to see if you had any record of
previous medical problems that might complicate your recovery. And
there it was, a command overriding all other data in your file.
Leader Tyre has issued a personal arrest warrant for you,
Lieutenant Narisa.”

“For me?” she repeated weakly. To gain a
little more time and information, she added, “I don’t understand.
Why would he do that?”

“Did you think your treasonous activities
wouldn’t be discovered? Leader Tyre has ways of learning what he
needs to know. You are accused of breaking your parole to a Member
of the Assembly in order to assist in the escape of a violent Cetan
criminal. Since the Cetans have attacked the Capitol, that means
you were helping an official enemy. There is a large reward offered
to whoever turns you in. A very large reward indeed.” The doctor
was clearly looking forward to collecting the promised bounty. Her
next questions caught Narisa by surprise. “Do Admiral Halvo and his
brother know what you have done? Have they been protecting you? Is
that why Halvo was so concerned about you?”

“No.” Narisa responded as firmly as she
could, hoping the doctor had gleaned no other information from her
search of Narisa’s records. Her thoughts were more ordered now as
the mist of pain-induced confusion began to dissipate. She realized
that whatever happened to her, it was imperative that she reveal to
the doctor no connection between herself and Tarik or Halvo. They
must remain free to carry out their plan to remove Tyre and reform
the Assembly. In that plan lay the only real hope of safety, not
only for herself, but for Almaric’s entire family, and Gaidar as
well. The doctor had not mentioned Almaric by name. Perhaps she did
not know he was involved. Narisa steeled herself to lie as
convincingly as possible. “I don’t know why Admiral Halvo or
Commander Tarik would worry about me, except they seem to be good
officers who are concerned about the people serving under them. I
saw that during the battle. But I only met them yesterday. I think
it was yesterday. The day before the battle.”

“Not yesterday,” the doctor told her
impatiently. “That would be two days ago. You have been unconscious
for a while. A good thing for both their careers if what you say is
true.” She paused a moment, as if considering something, then
added, “It would be nice if I could tell the spaceport guards where
to find the Cetan, and the woman named Suria, too. With the reward
Tyre is offering for each of them added to the one I’ll get for
you, I could retire. Come on, my girl, you will be forced to tell
Leader Tyre when you are taken before him, so you may as well tell
me now. Where is Suria? More importantly, where is the Cetan?”

“I don’t know.” Narisa had to divert the
woman from her relentless topic. “Please, tell me, is the battle
over? Are the Cetans beaten?”

“Of course they are. Easy enough for
Jurisdiction ships to defeat those barbarians. I don’t know what
all the fuss was about.” The doctor stood over her patient with
folded arms and frowning face. Narisa was afraid she would begin a
more rigorous interrogation. In her weakened state she might not be
able to withstand badgering questions for long. She did not know
what drugs the doctor might have available that would make her talk
whether she wanted to or not. She felt completely alone and
helpless.

“Could I have something hot to drink?” The
thought of a warm cup in her hands was comforting, and the doctor
might be distracted for a little while by the need to order rations
for her patient.

“Certainly not.” The doctor looked as though
she had been asked to do something illegal. “There will be nothing
to eat or drink for you until you have been seen by Leader Tyre.
Some of his interrogation procedures will be more effective on an
empty stomach. Don’t worry, you will be fed afterward, before you
are taken to the Assembly to be condemned and punished. The
Jurisdiction is always humane. Now, I have no more time to waste
with you,
criminal.
I have injured to take care of, and then
I have to inform Admiral Halvo of my discovery of a fugitive among
his crew and make my official claim to the reward for apprehending
you. I’ll be back to question you more thoroughly later.”

With this promise, which Narisa took for a
threat, she was left alone, the curtains drawn about her bed to
keep her separated from the other patients. She tried
unsuccessfully to stop the flood of thoughts that filled her aching
head.

She believed she knew what had caused Tyre to
issue warrants for her and Suria. The guard whom Gaidar had so
easily rendered unconscious would have supplied Tyre with a full
description of the two women who had come to visit the Cetan and
then helped him to escape. Kalina’s claim that Narisa had been
sleeping all of that day would have been reported to Tyre by the
Service guards posted at Almaric’s house, and Tyre would have
recognized it for the ruse it was. Tyre was not a stupid man; he
could not have ruled the Assembly for so long if he were. He would
discern what Narisa had done, and he would use that information not
only to punish her, but to bring down his enemy Almaric. When
Almaric returned to the Capital, he and Kalina would be taken into
custody along with the indisputable proof of their treason -their
companions, Suria and Gaidar. Tyre’s triumph would be complete, his
position stronger than ever. There would be no hope of removing him
from office, no hope of reforming the Assembly. Tarik and Halvo
would probably be imprisoned, too. By trying to keep her and
Tarik’s word to Gaidar, Narisa had given Tyre the opportunity he
wanted.

Her anguish was nearly unbearable. Added to
it was her physical discomfort. Thirst was fast interfering with
her ability to reason. She was desperate for something to drink.
The doctor and her associates ignored Narisa’s repeated calls.