Third moon chemicals, p.29
Third Moon Chemicals,
p.29
“Rumors abound. I place no trust in them,” Dashi said. He held out his hand for his overnight bag.
Jose didn’t give it to him. “Corporate regulations require that the deputy chairman have a bodyguard.”
“I’m not the deputy chairman yet.”
“I’d be a poor assistant if I didn’t plan for any eventuality.” Jose pointed at two men in TGI livery waiting at the lock. “You need guards. Watkins and Seth—”
“Excuse me, coming through,” a young couple in generic skinsuits said, pushing by. Each carried a duffel and pulled two extra bags behind them. Jose and Dashi stepped back to allow them to pass.
“Watkins and Seth—” Jose began again.
“Sorry, sorry,” another man said, pushing by. “Apologies for my siblings. We’re late. Have to catch the dropship,” he said.
“You still have a few minutes, sir,” Dashi said.
“Yes, but those two have probably misplaced their tickets, or the luggage is overweight, or something like that. I’ll need the time to sort out their problems. Do you have brothers or sisters, sir?” the man asked.
“One of each,” Dashi said.
“You know how it is with the younger ones then,” the man said. “Always expect you to get them out of whatever fix it is—large or small—and no thanks either.”
“My siblings are singularly ungrateful as well,” Dashi agreed. “The three of you are going on vacation?”
“Damn straight,” the man said. Dashi examined him. He was tall, like his siblings, and dressed in a nondescript skinsuit. “Saved up for six months. A nice break from corporate life. It’s taken forever for the three of us to get the same three days off, given our jobs.”
“Well, I hope your wagers are fruitful,” Dashi said.
“Wagers? Oh, I’m not much for gambling. But I had to go along to keep an eye on those two. Alana would lose her whole wage chip in an hour, and then borrow more.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll be able to ensure that this will be an unlikely occurrence,” Dashi said.
“Alvin is just as bad. It’s ‘cause they are twins, you see. Not identical, of course. Fraternal.”
“Twins often have similar interests and tastes. I’m sure you’ll be able to handle them,” Dashi said. He looked at the time on his comm.
“Not that they pay any attention to their big brother, of course. I might as well be talking to a wall. Does your brother or sister listen to you?”
“No,” Dashi said. There was the sound of raised voices from the lock ahead of them. The twins were arguing with the steward. According to the steward, their luggage was overweight. “I see your assistance is required after all,” Dashi said.
“Emperor’s hairy balls,” the man said, striding off.
Dashi addressed Jose. “I am not taking your two thugs with me. I cannot arrive with an entourage. It would be impertinent of me.”
“They are not thugs, sir. They are trained TGI security staff.”
“Jose, I set up the training program for the security department. If they took that training, the only thing we can say with certainty is that they know which end of a gun should be faced away,” Dashi said. “That they frequently know this. Probably.”
Jose shook his head. “I don’t like it, sir. There have been rumors. The Free Traders are unhappy. They say that Rutherford, the rep, has sold them out.”
“Minor rumors. Of no consequence.”
“The Empire Rising faction has been throwing their weight around.”
“A marginal group operating on the periphery of civilized society.”
“There was a brazen hijacking at one of the smaller shared corporate stations. A group of terrorists calling themselves The Committee stormed the control room, confined the staff, and looted a warehouse before flying away.”
“I have contacts with them. The Committee is not our enemy. The Free Traders are not our enemies. Neither has ever operated against us.”
“You don’t include the Militia and GG in your list, sir,” Jose said.
“I do not. But they are constrained by tradition. The Militia are not our friends, but that does not make them our enemies.”
“And the fact that the Free Traders and the others are not our enemies does not make them our friends, sir,” Jose said.
“Et tu, Jose?” Dashi said. He smiled. “Nevertheless, I am pulling rank on you. Those two security men will not accompany me. It will send the wrong message to the Emergency Council.”
“Very well, sir. You are the boss,” Jose said. He made eye contact with the two security men and jerked his head toward a corridor. They nodded and trotted off.
“Nor will I be accompanied by that operative ineffectively pretending to read the board back there,” Dashi said, gesturing.
Jose turned around. Ten meters away, a chubby man in dirty coveralls stood in front of the dropship status board.
“Sir?” Jose said.
“We collected him outside of my office, and he has been following us ever since.”
“Could be a coincidence, sir,” Jose said.
“The board hasn’t changed the entire time we’ve been here, and he’s still looking at it. He hasn’t checked his comm or made any calls.”
“Perhaps he reads slowly, sir.”
“There is a holster visible on the back of his belt, under his jacket, if you know where to look,” Dashi said.
“Many people carry guns, sir,” Jose said.
“His name is Alvagado. You’ve had him and one of his colleagues watching me for a week. I checked the receipts. There is a reason he’s not expensive.”
“Yes sir.” Jose sighed. “I should know better than to put one over on you.” He pulled out his comm and punched a number in. “Alvagado, don’t look up. Make yourself scarce. Call me at the office later,” Jose said. The man in front of the board cocked his head, listening, then sauntered off down a flight of stairs.
“As you wish, sir,” Jose said, handing him the overnight bag.
“Thank you for your concern, Jose, but these things have a rhythm of their own. It is not yet the time for overt confrontation.”
“But you have told me you expect the possibility of … hostilities … to break out soon, sir.”
“Soon, but not today. I have to catch this dropship, Jose,” Dashi said.
“Sir,” Jose said. But he didn’t sound happy.
Dashi walked toward the lock. The raised voices of the twins had been replaced by their brother’s soothing mutters. The brother had his hand on the steward’s arm and was speaking quietly in his ear. Dashi saw something change hands, then the steward stepped back and the group flowed into the dropship’s lock. Dashi smiled. Graft was a tradition on dropships.
“Ticket, sir?” the steward asked.
“Right here,” Dashi said, handing him a chip.
“Yes, sir, a cabin just for you. Wait a moment while I close up, and I’ll show you myself.”
“I’m the last one?” Dashi asked. He checked his comm. He had spent a great deal of time with Jose. The ship was late dropping.
The steward swung the hatch shut and locked the outer wheel. “The very last one, sir,” the steward said. He shuffled Dashi through the inner lock and spun the wheel behind him. Then he reached over to the wall and picked up a phone. “He’s here. We can drop,” he said.
Dashi walked up the corridor as the warning bongs sounded. “Warning. Maneuvering in one minute. Low atmosphere in one minute. Zero gravity in one minute.”
Dashi looked at the back of the shuttle. Many couches were empty. “I did not buy a first-class ticket. Why do I have my own cabin?” he asked.
“Don’t rightly know, sir. Corporate upgrade, maybe? Either way, that’s where I’m supposed to put you, so if you’ll follow me, you should get strapped in before we’re underway.”
Dashi shook his head. “Jose,” he said quietly, then stepped into his cabin and stopped in the doorway. It had a triple acceleration couch, a fresher, a porthole, and a locker with an emergency skinsuit in it. Not big, but bigger than anything anybody else on the deck would have. He heard a noise, turned, and looked across the hall.
“Howdy, neighbor,” said the older brother from the corridor. “Finally got that shambles sorted out. A little grease in the right place covers everything, huh. Say, these cabins are something, huh? We figured, if we were going to a luxury casino, why not a luxury ride?”
“Indeed. I wish you a pleasant journey,” Dashi said. He stepped completely into the cabin and closed the door. He paused and listened. The warning bongs had rung, but the ship hadn’t started maneuvering. Almost like they were waiting for him to get settled.
Jose sat at his desk watching the dropship on his screen. Alvagado sat in front of him. Jose’s office was not as luxurious as Dashi’s. Instead of a wooden desk, Jose had a simple metal one. But he did have a framed colored fabric swath on the wall, and a carved wooden statue on his sideboard.
“If anything happens to him…,” Jose began.
“Stop worrying,” Alvagado said. “The twins are deadly. She can hit a bull’s-eye from twenty feet with her knives, and he can do the same at twice the distance with a crossbow.”
“They carry crossbows? Do they have suits of armor too? Going to join the knights of the round table?”
“Disassembled ones. They don’t show up as weapons on the scans. The bolts he uses are disguised as a belt that he wears. He’s got over a hundred rounds, and he can fire them ten times a minute.”
“A crossbow—for Emperor’s sake.”
“What’s a round table?”
“It’s a thing that knights did, on Earth.”
“What’s a knight?”
“There’s a movie. I’ll send it to you. He picked you up from the beginning, you realize?”
“That was the plan. You said to be as obvious as possible.”
“Well, you were good at that.”
“The twins can handle any physical threat. Linc is a class three med tech, and he has a full kit with him, as well as tools and commo gear. And unless I miss my guess, after watching that little charade, you have something going with the steward on that ship.”
“And the pilots. All three of them get an all-expenses-paid vacation at the casino when they get there. And a bonus when they get back if they help keep an eye on Dashi. The pilots are former Militia. They can handle themselves in a fight.”
“I didn’t know that. You’ve got this guy ringed with security.”
“Yes,” Jose said, steepling his hands in an unconscious imitation of Dashi. “I do.”
“Why are you telling me this? It’s not like you to share sensitive information.”
“Two things. First, I love that man. He’s like a father to me. If anything happens to him….” Jose paused.
“And the second?”
“For once, I think he’s wrong. We’re entering a new era. There are more shortages. There is more low-level violence. People are starting to act differently. Some people are scared. Scared people are unpredictable.”
“He knows this.”
“Yes, but he’s not scared. He’s never scared. He never even gets upset. I don’t think he’s taken into account what scared people will do.”
“I hope you are wrong.”
“Me too,” Jose said. He stared at the screen, and zoomed the display to have a full-screen camera shot of the dropship drifting away from the station.
He had a beautiful view as the shuttle exploded and blew into pieces.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BOOKS BY ANDREW MORIARTY
The Further Adventures of Jake Stewart
Andrew Moriarty, Third Moon Chemicals
