They Also Serve: A Jump Universe Novel Part 4

Ray settled deep into his seat. That was the problem. These people had dreams, and Second Chance was opening some and threatening others. Ray had known that the moment he set foot on this place it would never be the same. If Matt reconnected them with humanity, all options were possible. But what if he didn't? That was Ray's quandary.

In his present bargaining, should he a.s.sume in a few months Matt would be back, grinning from ear to ear and tailed by six boatloads of eager entrepreneurs? Or would a smarter choice be to hold his cards and his technology close until Matt decided it was time and past time to start home-steading? At the moment, holding tight looked best. But the local powers that be were not interested in waiting, for someone else to decide their fate.

People like Vicky Sterling didn't get their hands on power by waiting for others to give it. Victoria got what she had by being there first and grabbing all she could. Ray was familiar with people like Vicky. Powerful people had d.a.m.n near gotten him killed in their last war. This brought Ray up short. Was all this the fearful ruminations of a spooked veteran who just wanted to be a husband and a dad? "What do you think about the last few days?" he asked Mary.

"Some pretty nice folks," Mary answered, then quickly added, "and a few not so nice. Would be fun working with them, living here. Don't get me wrong, Colonel, I appreciate this job, and I'll ramble around the stars as long as you want me, but settling down here sure is attractive. These folks could use some cheap metals. I know Vicky Sterling's type. Worked for her on the asteroid mines. She loves being the only show in town. Thinks she s.h.i.+ts gold. I'd love to take a brand-new rod of hot gold and stick it up her...well, you know."

"I know," Ray smiled.

"Ah, Colonel, you invite anyone back to the Residency for a nightcap?"

"Not that I recall."

"Well, we got a tail."

"d.a.m.n! People never change. Lose 'em, Mary."

"Oh, boy," she laughed. They still weren't to the beach road; Refuge was a big city. The turn to the beach was ten blocks away when Mary did a hard right, gunned the mule, and did a series of zigzags that took them across the beach road but kept them parallel to it. Ray hoped she knew what she was doing.

"The sky eyes surveyed this burg and downloaded a city map to my inertial system," Mary answered Ray's unasked question. "Bet I know this town better than most of the folks raised here."

Ray didn't doubt that. They zipped down a street lined with small shops and warehouses. When they ran out of town, Mary did a quick zig to get them back on the beach road. Ray edged around in his seat; no lights behind. There still weren't any when the road took a slow turn to follow higher ground through tidal marshes. "Boy, did I lose 'em," Mary chortled.

This left Ray wondering which factions they had eluded and what they were up to. He shrugged off the unanswerable.

A gentle breeze came from offsh.o.r.e, laden with smells of salt and damp and coastal gra.s.ses. They turned north, off the road and away from the inlet that sheltered the fis.h.i.+ng fleet and soon came to the end of the dirt track a hundred meters short of the sand dunes. Ray braced himself, protecting his back as Mary took the rig into a narrow wash, gunning the mule through soft sand. Wheels spun wildly, but kept enough traction to swing them onto the wide stretch of sand between the dunes and the distant ocean. Mary steered for the hard, damp sand that the retreating tide had left. Two moons were just rising, casting sparking diamonds on the gentle sea swells from beach to horizon.

Relaxing again into the seat, Ray took several deep breaths as Mary cruised north, away from civilization as it named itself here. His mind ordered his thoughts for his call to Matt. The captain was eager to be away. There were several theories of how they might find their way home; the only proof of the pudding was going out and nibbling at it. Was Ray ready to declare his tiny downside command fit to stand on its own two feet?

Mary eased the mule to a halt, midway between waves and dune. "We're far enough up the coast to miss any search our trailer is doing. Besides, we'll see them coming." Ray nodded. "Mind if I take a walk, sir?" Mary's eyes were fixed on the lapping waves, mesmerized by them.

"Take care. You don't know where the drop-off is out there. You can't swim, and I sure can't come in after you."

"Don't worry, sir. s.p.a.ce ain't killed me in twenty years. A little bit of water ain't gonna get me now."

"That's not a little bit."

"Yes, sir." Mary got out and started a slow, pensive walk to the ocean. She wore a dress, a gift from Henrietta San Paulo, the Chair of the Great Circle of Lander's Refuge. Made of cotton so fine and tightly woven it might as well have been silk, Mary had spun around in delight, a girl-woman in her first formal. Then she'd lifted it far higher than their relations.h.i.+p on Wardhaven would have allowed to show him her sidearm. The asteroid mines had taught Mary none of the modesty and delicacy that Wardhaven inculcated in its women. Then, Rita had been Wardhaven's most instructed of debutantes...and gone on to skipper an attack transport. And her courts.h.i.+p of Ray had been far from delicate. Ray suspected few men ever understood women.

"G.o.d, I miss you, wife." Sighing, Ray tapped his communit. "Communications, Longknife here. The captain available?"

"He's expecting you, sir. Wait one, please."

Mary had about reached the water. The dress came up and over her head to flutter down on the sand. Her body was in moon shadow; he could not tell if she'd worn anything more. The male part of Ray's mind decided she hadn't; it made the view more enticing. Her silhouette was trim and sleek, no bulge for a bra, panties...or sidearm. A glance in the front showed automatic and holster on the seat. Ray reached for it, checked the safety, then set it down beside him. Mary reached the water; she stooped to touch the lapping waves. Ray wished for about the millionth time that Rita was here. Or, more correctly, he was there.

"Ray, how are things?" the captain asked.

"I'm surviving down among the natives. And you?"

"Nothing's changed. We've completed the planet survey. Enough irregularities to keep the scanning team happy, but nothing to raise a red flag. Some interesting electromagnetic anomalies. We sent the database down. An interesting planet."

"Full of interesting people," Ray added dryly.

"Want to tell me about them?"

"You know, Matt, I always thought if you marooned three hundred hard-headed, rational people on a planet, you'd have a hard-headed, rational population when you got done."

"Gosh, Ray, I never knew you were such a dreamer."

"Take the Covenanters up north, those dozen or so medium-size towns that Kat couldn't figure out why they were in such a crazy pattern. Blame it on the Bible."

"Somebody brought that book!"

"It was in their database. More about that database in a minute. Anyway, during the worst of the times after landing, some folks found religion. Later, after things got better, their kids decided the rest were all going to h.e.l.l and moved off to keep their *purity.'"

"Let me guess," Matt broke in. "They couldn't agree among themselves on how to read the book, so..."

"You got it-split and split again. Most of them want to just ignore us. Hope we'll go away. But one of them, the guy I met the first night down here, thinks we're the Antichrist and wants us destroyed."

"I guess you stay to the south side of south continent."

"Not that easy. There're almost eight million people here. Most Covenanters may be up north, but they got churches in Lander's Refuge. They're not the worst problems. Refuge and New Haven split over something the original captain did early on. I've got six different versions of what that was, and none agree. But there's a pro-captain and an anti-captain faction to this day, and a big chunk of the antis moved south to New Haven about two hundred years ago. Now, if one says it's day, the other insists it's night. I think the pro faction is a bit more in favor of exploiting the planet's resources, but I can't swear to that."

"Sounds like fun."

"Yeah," Ray answered. Mary was up to her knees now, meeting each wave as it came in with a jump and a happy giggle. Ray had never seen Mary as anything but a hard-driving marine officer. This was a whole new side of her.

For a moment, the question flitted across his mind. How many sides are there to the people I'm dealing with? He'd have to remember that. "The farmers we started with are interesting. You meet a girl with flaming red hair, a diction straight out of Joyce, and a name like Nulia Anne Moira Chang. Tells you why her brogue is a bit off."

"Chang?"

"Don't ask me how the Irish took over and the Chinese didn't. Such history is oral, and I don't trust it. There's even a legend that St. Patrick showed them how to plant potatoes."

"Sounds like a nuthouse. Sure you'll be okay while I duck in and out of system? Once we've got acceleration on, it'll take me a while to get down here." Matt had his work cut out for him, too. Speaking of.

"Matt, I'm trying to get my hands on the log of the old Santa Maria, but no luck yet. Refuge, New Haven, Richland, that's the Sterlings' mining town, Vicky owns it lock, stock, and barrel, and even some of the Covenant towns had copies of the original database. But original media last only so long. First- and second-generation local manufacturing wasn't all that good, so the data got corrupted. s.h.i.+p's log was low priority, so it got cut to save s.p.a.ce. Vicky claims she's got a complete copy, but she's only handing out vague samples. Wants mining equipment and technology before she'll share the good stuff."

"How's that going over with the rest?"

"Poorly. The Sterlings have had these people by the short hairs for two hundred years. A lot of people would like them taken down a peg."

"You going to do that?"

"I'd like to stay on everybody's good side."

"Never had much success at that myself," Matt chuckled.

"Probably a bit late in life for me to be trying it, too. How you coming with those survival canisters?"

"Last two go dirtside tomorrow morning. Have you seen what's in them?"

"I approved everything Andy and Elie recommended. Didn't expect to be using them. Glad for them now."

"Yeah. Make sure you open the right one. They sent you everything from a chip fabricator to a bomb factory."

"Andy wanted all the bases covered."

"I'm leaving you a shuttle. I'll be in system every few days. A week at the longest."

"I'll try not to holler wolf. Could you drop that shuttle down here tomorrow at the blimp base? Say, tenish. I don't want to beg a ride back to my base on anyone's blimp."

"And it'll show these folks the power they're dealing with."

"Something like that.

"Good by me. I'll see you when I see you. Out."

Ray leaned back in his seat. The moons were above Mary. The luminous waves rose and fell, casting dim light on her. Ray could see the joy on her face. He could see everything else, too. "Oh, Rita, I miss you."

"You lost them!" Victoria Sterling shrieked. She had deigned to receive her security chief in her gilded coach and four. Grandpa Jason had included six horse embryos in his personal effects. The Landers who squirreled away survival gear among their private goods made it big here. The kids of those who brought trinkets were her servants. "That mule has lights all over." Victoria very much wanted her lab to take it apart and see what made it tick.

"Yes, ma'am," he said softly, trying to soothe.

Victoria would like it better if he'd grovel. But we Santa Marians are so democratic. She sniffed at that; some things took so long to change. "How did your trusty spies lose them?"

"We expected them to go back to the Residency. We've checked their rooms. The bugs are active. We gave them plenty of s.p.a.ce on the road. Didn't want them to notice us. They took a wrong turn. By the time we got to the corner, that d.a.m.n driver had turned again. We couldn't find them. We'll reconnect when they get back to the Residency."

"If they go back. If someone hasn't offered them something better. Unless their shuttle drops out of the sky and hauls them off to heaven knows where. I want to know where they are and what they're doing every moment of their day. I want to know what they're going to do before they know."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Go. Find them, or I will find someone who can."

"Yes, ma'am."

Ray Longknife, humanity's amba.s.sador to Santa Maria, Wardhaven's misplaced Minister for Science and Technology, retired colonel of infantry, devoted husband and future father, watched Mary dance naked with the luminous waves and the moonlight. He wished it was Rita. "Maybe she wouldn't, with the baby coming." He sighed, then shook his head. No, Rita might be beginning to show a bit, but she'd be out there jumping and prancing with Mary just the same. That was the sprite he'd married. All work, when she was working. All play otherwise.

With a final splash, Mary strode from the water. She retrieved her dress, swung it over her shoulder, and backed toward the mule, eyes on the ocean. "It's so free. No boss telling it what to do," she whispered when she b.u.mped into the rig.

"It just goes on and on." Ray nodded.

"Yes." She turned to him. Excitement was in her eyes. Probably in other places. She was his for the taking if he wanted her. And he wanted her.

He choked on the wanting and swallowed it. Nothing facing them would be made easier by losing themselves in each other tonight. He returned her gaze, trying to reflect the happiness he felt watching her...and no more.

She slipped back into her dress. "That was fun," she said, settling it around herself. "I see you've got my sidearm back there with you."

"If some big, slimy thing had slithered out of the sea to dance with you, I wanted to make it keep a gentlemanly distance."

"Locals didn't say anything about sea monsters," Mary said.

"Lot of things the locals ain't got around to saying."

Mary settled into the driver's seat. "Sorry, sir, if my...uh..."

"Nothing to be sorry for, Captain. You were a joy to watch, and any worrying I did came to nothing. Tomorrow, Matt's dropping a shuttle for us about ten. Make our trip back faster. No need to mention it to anyone. After our tail tonight, I'd rather keep our friends guessing."

The return to the Residency was uneventful; Ray was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Ray lay on the operating table, looking up into the bright light. Waves of pain washed over him. The doctor stood above him in surgical scrubs, a s.h.i.+ning laser scalpel in his hands. As the surgeon reached for Ray, the scalpel changed into a hoe, the medic into a grubbily clad gardener. Ray screamed.

He lay on the ground, the smell of recently turned earth in his nostrils. A huge field hand wielding pruning shears grabbed him and began cutting. Dead branches fell away; fresh green ones were grafted on. Ray screamed.

And came awake, s.h.i.+vering and desperately in need of a trip to the bathroom. Head throbbing, whole body shaking in night chills and sweats, Ray struggled to his feet and moved as quickly as his canes permitted to the facilities. His body trembled in a pain he didn't understand. Done, he worked his way back to collapse in bed. Mary had laid out pain meds; he swallowed a pill. Better to make a second trip tonight than lie awake in the grips of this agony. Ray settled back, centering his thoughts on Rita, and a girl-child as beautiful as her mother.

Three months' fieldwork had gotten Jeff Sterling used to rising with the sun. At Fairview, however, he usually slept in. With Vicky running the business, sleeping was the most exciting thing he got to do around the family estate.

This morning, Millard woke him at dawn. "Miss Sterling requires your presence at her breakfast, sir." Since Vicky had sent the downstairs butler who taught hand-to-hand combat as well as proper deportment and etiquette to the staff, Jeff tied on his robe and went. Once in the solarium, however, Jeff pointedly ignored Vicky and puttered over the breakfast bar, filling his plate slowly with eggs, brown bread, and bacon. "Do we have any strawberry jam?" he asked, knowing Vicky had sent the staff away for this private meeting and would have to answer herself.

"How should I know?" she snapped. "Buzz the kitchen. And be quick about it. We need to talk."

So Vicky was in one of her moods. This could be even more fun than usual. Jeff buzzed the kitchen. "This place I was staying at, out on the front range," he rambled, "had this really delicious strawberry jam. Do we have any?"

They didn't. Orange marmalade would have to do. Very expensive stuff. The Swensons had held on to their monopoly on orange trees as tightly as the Sterlings held on to their metal claims. Vicky hated the Swensons but loved orange marmalade.

"Now sit down, Jeffrey. I want a word with you."

"Yes, Victoria." To her face, not even Jeff called her Vicky.

"Why didn't you tell me about the d.a.m.n s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p?" Vicky snapped, rubbing her eyes with both fists.

They'd been over this before. "Because I didn't know about them until they landed. Besides, that village didn't have access to the net. How could I have told you?"

"Those cheap dirt farmers. They ought to be required to have net hookups. For their brats' education, at least."

"More might, if we lowered the price on fiber cable." Jeff was the family advocate for lowering profit margins and making it up in volume. Christ, fiber optic was only silicon! Vicky was for all the market would bear. With Dad dead and Mom in a convent, Vicky was in charge.

Vicky broke off a small portion of her croissant, b.u.t.tered it, and munched it slowly, her gaze out the window on the distant woods. Jeff was being ignored...again. He ate, waiting for her next announcement.

"They're hiding something." The "they" could only be the s.p.a.cemen. For Vicky to conclude they were hiding something was no big news. Vicky always hid half her cards; she a.s.sumed everyone else did. It made for tough bargaining even when the other side was hiding nothing.

Jeff, however, was pretty sure the s.p.a.cemen were hiding something. He would not, however, admit that to Vicky. "I don't know, they seem pretty up front," he said with his mouth full.

"Don't speak with your mouth full," Vicky shot back in irritation, making Jeff's morning. "Why won't they share their data files with us?"

"Chu Lyn is pretty dead set against them dumping all kinds of new tech on us. She's afraid of what that would do to the economy." Chu led the Green Party in the Great Circle. Normally she didn't have the votes to stop Vicky. Recent nose counts had not been "normal."

Vicky flipped her hand up disparagingly. "Lyn is afraid of her own shadow." Still, Vicky said nothing about forcing a vote. The rumors Jeff had picked up were right. Votes were changing. It was fun watching Vicky sweat.