They Also Serve: A Jump Universe Novel Part 5

"Why are you sitting in the circles anyway? I'm senior for the metalworkers."

Jeff had been expecting that. "I'm just sitting in on the meetings, Sis. I haven't voted." Open meetings had been a golden rule since the Landers. Anyone could attend a circle, although only representatives for recognized interest groups or locals actually voted. n.o.body questioned Jeff's right to sit in, both because he was a Sterling and because he always took the seat next to the starwoman Rodrigo. He liked the questions that raised. Was he in the star group, or the Sterlings? Only Vicky had the gumption to ask.

Vicky mulled that answer as she chewed another piece of croissant. "Good idea. Hike the way you're making up to that starwoman. In her pants yet?"

Jeff had half a dozen answers to that question. First in line was "None of your business." Unfortunately, Vicky saw everything with a potential value in it as her business. Jeff swallowed and fed her the line she'd want. "Mary's a tough woman. Doesn't let anyone get close to her easily."

"Smart woman. Don't let that stop you, kid. I want to know what makes her tick. All of them. Keep working on it. You have anything else to work on?"

She knew the answer to that. As junior Sterling, Vicky made sure he had nothing to do and did nothing worth doing. "Nothing on my schedule," he answered.

"Good. Stay close to her. She'll come around. And let me know what you learn as soon as you do." She pushed away from the table, half her breakfast untouched. "And don't dawdle over breakfast. There's work to do. Get yourself over to the Residency and see what they're up to."

Since Vicky had bugged the Residency, as well as most other places where important things were talked about, if she didn't know what was happening, somebody was keeping her in the dark. Jeff really liked these star people.

Jeff continued eating with slow purpose until Vicky stalked from the solarium. Only after she left did he lean back in his chair. d.a.m.n! Vicky had given him the order he would have begged for. She would never have given it to him if he asked. Vicky's distrust of everyone inevitably sent people where they didn't want to go to do things they were poorly suited to do. Thank G.o.d the woman could be manipulated.

Jeff hustled for his room. He was curious what Ray and Mary would do today. They'd fulfilled the circles' social requirements; now they were on their own. No doubt it would be fun watching. He dressed quickly and had an electrocycle brought around to the front.

It had been a very bad night, full of s.h.i.+vering and sweats. Ray gulped a pain pill before starting his morning stretches. Showered and shaved, he almost felt human.

Mary met him at the stairs and went down, one step at a time. Her conversation rambled over the morning's weather and last night's drive, totally ignoring that she was there to catch him if he stumbled. He liked her nonchalant way of playing safety as much as he enjoyed her morning chatter. It reminded him of Rita before her second cup of coffee.

Their hostess, Henrietta San Paulo, Chair of the Great Circle, was already seated at the head of the table. Her daughter, a wisp of a nine-year-old, was missing.

"Where's the White Rose?" Ray asked, using the nickname Henrietta's albino daughter enjoyed.

"She had headaches in the night. I hope her noise did not disturb you. The nurse could not keep her quiet."

"Do all albinos have migraines?" Mary asked.

"Apparently." The mother concentrated on her breakfast. "Rose has visited every doctor and specialist we have, They just shake their heads."

"We met a child with migraines on our first day down," Ray said, not reaching for his oatmeal. "A County Clair Circle member also had a child like Rose. We've landed a medical team. One thing they're looking at is how to help these children."

"Could you send Rose these medicines?"

Without a thought, Ray nodded, then stopped himself. "No, I can't promise that. Some meds require a patient be under observation while taking them." He swept his hands out, then down his broken back. "I've had personal experience with our docs. I can't promise a pill Rose can take three times a day and not worry about."

San Paulo pursed her lips. "If she and her nurse went with you, would that meet your requirements?"

"I don't doubt it. I've ordered a shuttle to pick us up around ten. There will be room for her."

Henrietta nodded slowly. "I will have to discuss this with Chu. Her party can't oppose your helping a poor child. This would be a nice way to get them used to the good that will come from our involvement again with humanity."

Ray nodded while cringing inside. Would he ever become so much of a politician that helping his child took second place to policy? On second reflection, he realized that his own policy of limited technological transition had just taken a major hit. He was using his tech. But it's to help a little girl. Oh, Rita, if only you were here.

Was it an accident that Chu Lyn was announced as breakfast ended? Henrietta had the nurse bring Rose down to join her and Ray in a sitting room. Chu, a tall, dark-skinned woman with no visible evidence of her Asian namesake, and San Paulo chatted for half an hour before San Paulo invited Rose into her lap and told Lyn of Ray's offer.

Rose's bloodshot eyes grew wide; she said nothing, but the look she gave Ray was heartrending. Lyn talked in plat.i.tudes for several minutes, of her party's support for rational change and growth, but their long experience of mad, irrational action. Then she shrugged. "Of course, no one could possibly object." Rose and her nurse left to pack. Ray excused himself.

Fifteen minutes later, a small crowd collected on the steps of the Residency as everyone gathered for their good-byes. While Mary and the nurse loaded suitcases, Rose went through the tortures of a nine-year-old...excited to ride in something new like the mule, reluctant to leave Mom and the familiar.

"Would you like to talk to your mommy whenever you want?" Ray asked. The shy child nodded. Ray took off his wrist unit, made a few adjustments so it would only be a commlink, and offered it to San Paulo.

"When we get back to base, I'll get Rose one. That way, you can talk to each other whenever you want."

San Paulo and Chu eyed the offered gift. "It doesn't plug into the net? It has no fiber cables?" the mother said.

"It's wireless," Ray explained.

"We know of radio technology," Chu answered. "We never redeveloped it. Our power cells are so big. If you could plug into a power line, you might as well plug into a data cable."

More local data to pa.s.s to Kat for a.n.a.lysis. Ray took his leave, strolling to the far side of the mule as Mary bent to help Rose and her nurse into the near side.

A young man with wild eyes and a long, s.h.i.+ny knife stepped from the crowd and dashed for Ray.

Mary must have seen the glint of knife. She took two quick steps back. Ray raised a cane in defense, falling against the mule. Part of him a.n.a.lyzed the attack. p.i.s.s poor. Idiot's holding the knife overhand. That would not help Ray.

"Die, you-" the man shouted as Mary kicked out, caught him in the gut, then spun to chop at his knife arm. The knife flew past Ray's ear to land in the mule with a clatter.

The attacker rolled away, screaming.

Mary stood to her full height; her sidearm materialized in her hand as her eyes did a quick look around for more attackers. Ray did the same; he saw none. By the time Ray could spare a moment for his a.s.sailant, the guy had bolted back into the crowd; shocked bystanders made way for him. Mary started to take a shot, then raised her pistol high as the crowd closed behind her target. Ray caught a hint of the man's head as he vanished behind the Residence.

For a moment, everyone stood in shocked silence. Then San Paulo and Chu descended on Ray. "Are you hurt?" "Where did he come from?" "We've never had anything like that." "No, nothing at all."

All Ray saw was a crowd moving closer, giving another a.s.sailant a shorter run.

Mary grabbed his elbow. "Out of the car," she ordered Rose and the nurse. "Into the front seat."

Rose scrambled over the seat, eyes wide and locked on the knife. "What's cook's knife doing here?"

"Not now, Rose," Mary snapped. Rose frowned, accepting the answer as a familiar one. Mary shoved Ray into the backseat just as Jeff rode up on some kind of motorcycle.

"You!" Mary shouted. "Can you drive this mule?"

"Always wanted to try," Jeff grinned, taking in the scene and not sure what to make of it.

"You're driving," Mary shot at Jeff, and pushed Ray across the backseat to make room for her. Ray moved, using more hip motion than he had since Mary nailed him. If he'd had the time, he would have marveled at it. At the moment, he just scooted.

"Drive, Jeff," Mary ordered.

Under Mary's instruction, Jeff put the mule in gear and hit the accelerator; the mule took off with a leap. Mary kept her eyes roving right; Ray covered the left. No one trailed them. "What was that all about?" Jeff asked.

"Somebody tried to knife me. That happen often?"

The nurse shook her head dumbly. "Never," Jeff said. Ray had a hard time believing that.

"Where we going?" Jeff asked.

"The blimpfield," Ray answered.

"Be there in no time," Jeff a.s.sured them. However, Rose's brave front began to crack around the edges. Without lowering her vigilance, Mary got Rose chattering about the farms near their base with chickens and ducks. The promise of a donkey to ride caught Rose's young attention and didn't let go, leaving Ray wondering where his marine officer learned so much about distracting children. He suspected it was a gal thing that he'd never master.

The news of an impending shuttle landing apparently had pa.s.sed through Lander's Refuge at the speed of light. As the mule approached the field, it seemed like half the city's million inhabitants were somewhere in the crowd around the port. Mary checked in with Second Chance.

"Yeah, we spotted the crowd last orbit and did a check on the marked-out area. It's plenty long, and we've added that runway to the lander's navigation map. Trust us, Ray, we won't fry anybody. Any problems?" Mary raised an eyebrow to Ray. He shook his head. She punched off.

Jeff caught up with the shuttle as it finished its landing roll, driving right up its open ramp. Even as they dismounted, the crew chief and loadmaster were tying down the mule.

Jeff stood, hands shoved in his pockets. "Mind if I hitch a ride? I've had about as much of my sis as I can take for a year or ten. I'd like to get back to some field prospecting, and you look like the fastest way there."

Ray glanced in Mary's direction. She studied the local as she might an asteroid that could be solid gold but might be total dross. "No problem, sir," Mary said slowly. "He came out with us. Might as well go back with us."

As Ray and Mary settled into seats, she chewed on her lower lip. "Wonder who that knife guy was."

"We might know if you'd let him finish what he was shouting," Ray said dryly.

"At the moment, sir, it looked like he was ready to drill you a new belly b.u.t.ton, but next time," she a.s.sured him, "I'll let the guy finish his manifesto."

An hour later, Ray surveyed the base from the shuttle's top step. A long swath of field had been sprayed with emulsifier, giving the lander a solid temporary runway. The same technique had created roads that were now lined with buildings. Though prefab balloons, once blown up and sprayed with epoxy, the structures were as permanent as stone. By their shapes, as much as by the signs in front, Ray could name them.

The chip fabricator was long and low. The equipment factory was wide and tall. Around them squatted housing and office buildings, including one that proudly proclaimed itself the "Santa Maria Center for Research and Delight."

"I won the contest for naming that one," Kat Zappa proudly crowed. She seemed to have appointed herself Ray's tour guide, meeting him at the stairs when he paused, blinking, for his eyes to adjust to the bright sunlight. One by one, she pointed them out. To the right of the manufacturing center a number of sealed containers sat where they'd been dumped. Kat said nothing about them; she didn't have to. Ray'd been too many years in uniform not to recognize his bomb farm and weapons factory. With luck, that gear would stay packed.

"Where's the hospital?" he interrupted Kat. Rose was peeking shyly around the door of the lander, the only one behind Ray except for the crew.

"Hi. What's your name?" Kat asked, hurrying to the little girl's side and giving Ray a chance to start down the stairs, Mary two steps ahead of him.

"Rose," came in a trembling whisper.

"Is that your bag? It's pretty. Do you have a kitten? I had one when I was your age. Can I carry your bag?"

Ray left Kat to prattle as he worked from one step to the next. What was it with estrogen that turned every female into a mother to every child? When his own son or daughter arrived, would he be rattling on like a twittering bird? After years of barking orders, Ray could not picture himself cooing and aahing over some tiny fragment of humanity. But, G.o.d, I want to be home with Rita to find out.

A mule waited at the bottom of the stairs for Ray. Jeff loitered near it. As Ray stepped off from the last step, his commlink buzzed. "Matt here. You all set?"

"Looks like it. How do things look on your end?"

"Couldn't be better. We're breaking orbit this trip around. See you when we've found a way home."

"Outstanding. Ray out," he said to Jeff's raised eyebrows. "You hang around me long enough and you're bound to find out something you shouldn't."

"I had a hunch you were holding back. Call me a suspicious b.a.s.t.a.r.d. It runs in my family. So, you're as lost as we are."

"Nope. The skipper of that s.h.i.+p made a bad jump last year. Took them six weeks, but they came home."

Jeff pulled thoughtfully at his eyebrow for a moment. "But you're not sure."

"There was sabotage involved in this jump. Matt's got a tougher problem this time around."

"Sounds like humanity hasn't changed much." Jeff paused. "But then, living on Santa Maria hasn't made us saints either. Here's my deal. You cut me in on your mineral extraction technology and I won't breathe a word about your problems to anyone until you're ready to announce it." He ended grinning like a thief with a permanent pardon.

Mary slipped up silently beside him. "I could just break your neck. Tell your sister you fell down the lander's stairs in a rush to meet a nice local girl. What's her name?"

"Ah, yes. I suspect Vicky would grieve all of two seconds." Jeff took a quick step back from Mary. "However, if it served her, she could turn my death into quite a cause celebre. You still haven't told me how that really neat knife ended up on the backseat."

"And what do you know about that?" Mary closed the distance to Jeff again. The only threat was in her closeness...and the death in her eyes.

Jeff didn't retreat this time. "I don't know anything more than you do. But I have sources here you don't. I can get answers you can't. You can work with me, or you can keep playing the Lone Ranger. Do they still have stories about him?"

"Yes," Ray scowled and settled himself into the backseat of the mule. "Mary, I think we ought to let him live. At least for a while."

"If you say so, Colonel," Mary said doubtfully.

Ray turned in his seat to face Jeff. "As you've probably noted, until recently, I was a colonel, commanding infantry. Mary was a marine officer in our most recent war. You can take the uniform off, but old habits die hard. You strike me as a very smart businessman. Don't outsmart yourself."

Jeff slowly nodded as Ray spoke. The pause at the end grew long. Finally, licking his lips, Jeff said, "All my life, I've been the baby. The kid. Vicky knew she'd inherit. Mark was out hustling before I even knew the rules of the game. He found the bauxite deposits up among the Bible thumpers and managed to get the aluminum mill going. p.i.s.sed Vicky off big time. Me, I'm the spare, the nothing, the one everybody tells what to do. You're my one chance to be something. Please, give me that chance."

Ray studied the man. Were his eyes actually misting up? Was this for real or just show? Ray had no idea. Surely this planet had a need for everyone. Then again, growing up in the shadow of the woman who had the whole place by the throat might be pretty hard on a kid. Maybe Jeff was desperate to get out of that shadow. Then again, maybe he'd learned enough from Victoria and just wanted his own place in the sun to do to her and others what he'd seen her do. Tough call. Ray turned to Mary, "You need an extra hand in your mining operations?"

"Don't look like the factories are up," she said.

"No," Kat cut in, now down the stairs with Rose in hand. "No mineral feed stock. Couple of marines said they'd start things up as soon as you got back."

"Nice of them to wait," Mary snorted, then turned on Jeff. "You're welcome to work for the Ours, by d.a.m.n, Mining Consortium. You may save our start-up a few wrong turns. But"-Mary made the word explosive as she rested a pointing finger on Jeff's chest-"you swindle us, we'll get you. We worked the asteroids before the war. We worked our b.u.t.ts off surviving that d.a.m.n war. You help us, you're our buddy. You get crosswise with us, and so help me, your sister won't find enough pieces of you to know you're dead. Understood?"

The man returned Mary's hard stare, head nodding. "Yes, Captain. I understand. Maybe better than you know. I suspect I've just met someone as desperate as me."

"Where's the doctor?" Rose interjected. "The sun is hurting my eyes."

Mary metamorphosed from line beast to mother in the time it took her to kneel next to Rose. "Then we'll pop the top on this mule and get you some shade. Kat, where's the hospital?"

"Over there," she pointed, "but it's not set up yet."

Ray sighed for the good old days when he gave an order and it happened. "I'll just have to ask the doctor why."

Kat looked ready to go elsewhere, but Ray signaled her into the backseat with Rose. Mary took the driver's seat, and Jeff settled into the front seat as far from her as he could and still get the door closed. Ray tried not to grin. By all rights, he ought to be ready to explode with anger. Three hot potatoes dropped in his lap. Jeff, who might or might not stab him or someone else in the back over sibling rivalry. Rose and her headaches and now gear that wasn't up for some reason Kat was not eager to explain. Instead of mad, he found it funny. Keep your sense of humor and you might survive this mess.

The hospital was a short drive. Matt had sent down the younger of the s.h.i.+p's two doctors, Dr. Jerry Isaacs. Ray found him at the end of a long line of locals, apparently doing a public relations sick call.

"I brought you another child with headaches," Ray said by way of introduction. The next woman in line held a coughing seven-year-old. Still, she took two quick steps back. Ray had yet to figure out the local att.i.tude toward the albino children. It seemed to be one part fear, another part awe.

Dr. Jerry smiled at Rose, who was suddenly so attached to Kat that surgery seemed required to separate them. Kat came forward and held Rose while Jerry did the usual medical once-over. Rose took it stoically, except for one exclamation of pain when he s.h.i.+ned a bright light in her eyes.

"They look healthy enough. I can't tell you more until I get my diagnostic center back."