Venus Rising (30 page)

“Be quiet,” the doctor growled through the
curtain at one point, refusing to open it and look at her. “We are
too busy to bother with you. Be glad you aren’t in the brig and
stop complaining.”

They all went away after a while, dimming the
overhead lamps before they left, and the sick bay became quiet.
Narisa began to debate with herself the risk of getting out of bed
and searching for water on her own. She felt weak and dizzy each
time she attempted to raise her head from the bed, and soon
realized the doctor had been right about not needing to shackle
her. If she could not sit up, she certainly would not be able to
stand without help.

Temporarily defeated, she lay back and tried
to forget about her aching head and the sick, empty feeling in her
stomach and the thirst that was driving her mad. She had to make
herself stop thinking about those things and concentrate instead on
what she might do to get away before the doctor came back to
question her once more. The woman had frightened her badly, and her
fears were compounded by her helpless weakness. She listened
intently for any sound that might indicate the doctor was
returning. There was nothing.

A deep silence had fallen over the ship. The
low, barely noticeable vibrations of its engines were stilled.
Narisa knew what that meant. They had reached spaceport. Now was
her chance to get up, find her uniform or steal someone else’s to
replace the skimpy hospital gown she was wearing, and get off the
ship. If she could hide for a while, then the search for her, which
she was certain the reward-hungry doctor would insist upon, would
delay any action Tyre could take against Almaric. That delay might
give Tarik and Halvo the time they needed to move against Tyre. She
saw clearly that this might be the only chance they had. She had to
go now, before the doctor came back for her. She had to sit up.

She could have wept from frustration when she
tried and immediately fell back, overcome by returning dizziness.
She tried again. She couldn’t do it. Never before had her body
refused to obey her commands. She gave a soft moan of utter
despair.

“Narisa?” The whisper could just barely be
heard through her accumulating fear and misery. The curtain around
her bed moved slightly. It could not be the doctor again, or the
guards coming for her, because the sick bay was too quiet and the
movement was distinctly furtive. “Narisa?”

“Here.” She had recognized the voice. It was
Tarik. She did not see him slip inside the curtain; her vision was
blurred by tears. As she silently cursed her own weakness, she felt
his arms around her, strong and comforting. She raised her own
arms, putting them about his neck. He draped the sheet around her
near nakedness and lifted her from the bed. “Tarik, the doctor
…Leader Tyre…” She swallowed a sob of fear.

“I know, I was with Halvo when she told him.
Don’t make any noise that would disturb the other patients,” he
murmured into her ear. “We’ll talk later. Just hold on to me.”

It was what she wanted most to do. She clung
to him, the aching in her head vastly improved by resting on his
shoulder while he carried her from the sick bay. Narisa saw a
single attendant in the receiving room, a young woman who stood
with her back turned toward them, resolutely inspecting the
contents of an instrument cabinet. She did not turn around when
Tarik carried Narisa past her.

No one questioned him as Tarik stalked
through the ship. He was the admiral’s brother, and a commander in
his own right, and if he appeared to be doing something strange it
must be on Halvo’s orders or for his own important purposes. Not
one of the Service personnel they met along the way revealed the
slightest surprise at the sight of them, and no one tried to stop
them.

“Strict discipline does have its uses after
all. They are unwilling to challenge me,” Tarik said softly as they
entered an area unfamiliar to Narisa. “This is the cargo bay, my
love. It’s small on a warship, but it has one great advantage - its
own hatch. In another minute or two, the single guard outside it
will be called away so we can leave unnoticed.”

“Halvo has arranged that?”

“Why, Narisa, what a scandalous thing to
suggest,” he teased. He carried her to the hatch and stood
listening. She was feeling stronger now, and most of her fears had
been effectively quelled by the knowledge that Halvo and Tarik were
not going to allow her to be turned over to the spaceport guards.
She felt absurdly happy. She rubbed her cheek against Tarik’s
shoulder and sighed.

“My hands are full,” he murmured, smiling at
her. “If you will push in the numbers as I speak them, we can
unseal the hatch and leave the ship.”

“Let me stand and free your hands,
Tarik.”

“I’m not sure you could, not without
fainting, and in any case, l don’t want to let you go.” He hugged
her more tightly against him. “Push those numbers, my love.”

She did as he asked. She did not really want
to leave his embrace. He carried her off the ship and onto a
deserted area of the spaceport at the rear of his brother’s
flagship. A few containers for food and other supplies lay
scattered about.

“How are we going to get off spaceport?”
Narisa asked.

“We have a personal invitation to ride in
Admiral Halvo’s private transporter car. Can you sit up alone for a
moment or two?” Tarik put her down carefully on top of a container.
He then pulled a workman’s shirt from under his uniform jacket and
hurriedly put it on over the jacket. It effectively hid his Service
insignia. “Narisa, I am going to have to wrap you tightly in this
sheet and fold you into one of these large empty containers. It’s
only for a short time, just until we are on Halvo’s transporter. We
dare not let you be seen. If you are recognized you will be
arrested at once. I know you can’t feel very well after that
terrible blow on your head, and I’m sorry to do this to you, but
it’s the only thing Halvo and I could think of in a hurry.”

“I don’t care. Do whatever you want, and do
it quickly before someone comes.”

He lifted her, bare feet first, into a food
container, using the trailing sheet as padding to protect her as
best he could. He had to push down on her shoulders to fit her into
it and get the lid on properly. Narisa had one last glimpse of his
anxious face before the lid was shut and she heard the latches
click.

There was no way for fresh air to enter the
container, and it smelled foul. Narisa decided it must have
previously contained rancid Demarian cheese, and had not been
cleaned since. She gritted her teeth, determined not to be sick,
telling herself to endure it, that she would not be confined like
this for very long.

She was aware of Tarik fastening on the box’s
carrying straps, which would fit over his shoulders. Her stomach
lurched as the container was lifted into the air, or rather, onto
Tarik’s back. She did not need to see, she could feel every step he
took across the cargo area, through a sliding door, then across
another space until he stopped. A murmur of voices followed. She
could not hear the words clearly through the insulation of the food
container.

Her knees were rubbing against her nose. Her
legs were so cramped they ached almost as much as her head. She was
certain she was going to be sick. The voices stopped, and she could
feel Tarik tramping up an incline. It had to be the gangplank to
Halvo’s transporter. She heard more voices, this time questioning
tones, and a laughing answer from Tarik. Was he telling the
questioners that Halvo had to have his own supply of Demarian
cheeses while staying in the Capitol?

The container hit the deck with a hard thump
that reverberated through her aching head. She heard Tarik laugh
again. The container felt heavier. By all the stars, Tarik was
sitting
on it! She could sense his weight and hear his voice
directly above her head. That was a good way to keep anyone from
opening the container, but she could only hope it would hold his
weight.

She had an overwhelming urge to giggle and
recognized the first signs of hysteria. In another moment she would
be laughing and crying at the same time, and her headache would
become worse and she would undoubtedly be sick. Furthermore, if she
did not soon straighten her left leg and rub the cramped muscles in
it, her injured knee might never function again. It was so hot in
the container, and she was so terribly thirsty. And still Tarik
laughed and talked, sitting on the container lid.

She could bear it no longer. She was going to
scream. He had to open the container and let her out.

Think about the planet and Dulan. Think about
the birds.

She imagined herself standing on the desert,
under a blazing orange sun with the birds wheeling and soaring
above her. It was so hot there, and her throat was so parched, but
the birds would lead her to water. Tarik had said so.

Tarik.
He was pulling her upright,
holding her against him with one arm. Narisa looked down and saw
his free hand refastening the latches on the food container. She
should be inside it. Instead, she was being tossed over Tarik’s
shoulder and carried through a passageway. She saw her own hands
dangling near his knees just before she fainted.

* * * * *

She could not have been unconscious for long.
Halvo’s transporter car was still docked at spaceport with its
engines off when she revived to find both Tarik and Halvo bending
over her. They had laid her down across two seats in the passenger
compartment.

“That’s better,” Halvo said. `’I like my
prisoners alert.”

“Prisoner?” she responded weakly.

“It’s only a technicality,” Tarik assured
her, sliding an arm around her shoulder to help her sit up. She
leaned against him, watching him glare at his brother, who stared
back at him coldly.

“It is not a technicality, it is a fact,”
’Halvo stated. He stood stiffly in the aisle, facing Narisa and
Tarik. “You are my personal prisoner, Narisa. As an admiral of the
Service, I have the authority to hold you in my custody until you
are called before the Assembly to answer charges of aiding the
escape of a condemned criminal.”

“Gaidar isn’t a criminal,” Narisa protested,
“and he was never officially condemned by the Assembly, as you very
well know. I thought you understood why Suria and I did what we
did.” She felt all her earlier fears returning with a chilling
rush.

“I do understand.” Halvo’s icy demeanor
changed. He reached forward to take her hand in a gesture
remarkably like the one frequently made by his warm-hearted mother.
It was an unbending totally unexpected from such a cool and
controlled man. “I ask you to understand my position, Narisa. You,
too, Tarik. You are too willing to break the law. I am sworn to
uphold it at all times.”

“I will not allow Tyre to put Narisa on
trial,” Tarik declared.

“But that is exactly what I want, a
completely legal trial,” Halvo told them. “I want everything done
according to Jurisdiction law.”

“No,” Tarik said angrily, “I won’t hand
Narisa over to Tyre, and I won’t let you do it, either. You said
you would help her.”

“Will you be silent, brother, and listen to
me for a moment or two? Your feelings for this woman are clouding
your judgment.” Halvo sat down on the arm of a passenger seat
across the aisle from Narisa and Tarik. “I thought we had agreed to
bury our differences long enough to overthrow Tyre and his friends,
while keeping the Assembly intact and functioning with a new and
honest Leader. I believed we were united in wanting reform rather
than full-scale revolution.”

“So you said.” Tarik watched his brother
through narrowed eyes.

“When we discussed it, you did agree with me,
Tarik. I have a plan that I think will work. Narisa, I will need
your cooperation.”

When Tarik would have protested again, Narisa
put a hand on his arm to restrain him.

“What do you want me to do, Halvo?”

“First, I want to take you back to my
father’s house, where I will set my own men, and his, to guard you.
There you may rest in safety until I can demand a full meeting of
the Assembly. Next, I will guarantee to the Members that you will
appear to answer the charges against you. This ploy will keep you
out of Tyre’s clutches while fulfilling the requirements of
Jurisdiction law in such cases.”

“And when I appear in the Red Room, what will
happen then?” Narisa shivered just thinking about it, but she
trusted Halvo almost as much as she did Tarik.

“I will act as your advocate before the
Assembly, with Tarik as the principal witness in your defense,”
Halvo told her. “You will explain why you released Gaidar, going
into great detail about the miserable physical conditions under
which he was being held. Tarik will back up your explanation by
repeating the story of your discovery of Starthruster and of
Gaidar’s help to the Jurisdiction. The events of the last few days
have proven the truth of that story, so we can claim you were doing
your duty to protect the Jurisdiction against its enemies. I
believe the charges against you will be dropped.”

“And then?” Narisa knew there must be more to
Halvo’s plan.

“Then,” he said solemnly, “I will make a
speech demanding Tyre’s ouster for neglect of Jurisdiction welfare
during a time of crisis.”

“And you think the Assembly will agree with
you?” Tarik scoffed. “Don’t be naive, Halvo. Tyre will have himself
well protected by his friends and by those who owe him favors. He
will claim an honest mistake, and his cronies will back him. No one
will blame him for refusing to believe a Cetan’s improbable story
about Starthruster. The Assembly will never vote to remove him for
such a flimsy reason.”

“Flimsy?” Narisa was deeply shaken by Tarik’s
certainty. She was also angry. “The Jurisdiction could have been
destroyed, and that terrible man never lifted a hand to order a
defense. If the Assembly votes to keep him as Leader, then they all
deserve to be removed from office.”