There were tears in her eyes at the terrible wonderful words. Words that spoke out every dream she owned. And how could he possibly know? Yet there was only desire and yearning in his face. So maybeplease Godjust maybe it was true. Because nobody could be so cruel as to lie about such things.
They leant together as they stumbled out of the Crashed Dumper, the pair of them drunk with their own brand of desire.
The Confederation Navy office on Lalonde was a two-storey structure, an oblong box sixty-five metres broad, twenty deep. The outer walls were blue-silver mirrors, broken by a single black band halfway up, which ran round the entire circumference. The flat roof had seven satellite uplinks covered by geodesic weather casings that resembled particularly virile bright orange toadstools. Only five of them actually housed communication equipment, the other two covered maser cannon which provided a short-range defence capability. The building was situated in the eastern sector of Durringham, five hundred metres from the dumper which housed the Governors office.
It was a class 050-6B office, suitable for phase one colonies and non-capital missions (tropical); a programmed silicon structure made by the Lunar SII. It had arrived on Lalonde in a cubic container five metres to a side. The Fleet marine engineers who activated it had to sink corner foundations fifteen metres deep into the loam in order to secure it against the wind. The silicon walls might have been as strong as mayope, but they were only as thick as paper; it was terribly vulnerable to even mild gusts. And given Lalondes temperature there was some speculation that warm air accumulating inside might actually provide sufficient lift to get it airborne.
There were fifty Confederation Navy staff assigned to Lalonde: officers, NCOs, and ratings, who ate, worked, and slept inside. The most active department was the recruitment centre, where fifteen permanent staff dealt with youngsters who shared Marie Skibbows opinion of their world, but lacked her individual resourcefulness. Enlistment offered a golden ticket offplanet, away from the rain, the heat, and the remorseless physical labour of the farms.
Every time Ralph Hiltch walked through the wide automated entrance doors and breathed in clean, dry, conditioned air he felt just that fraction closer to home. Back in a world of right angles, synthetic materials, uniforms, humming machinery, and government-issue furniture.
A pretty rating barely out of her teens was waiting to escort him from the entrance hall where all the farmboy and girl hopefuls were queueing in their hand-stitched shirts and mud-stained denim trousers. He opened his lightweight cagoule and shook some of the rain from it as she escorted him up the stairs and into the security zone of the second floor.
Lieutenant-Commander Kelven Solanki was waiting for Ralph Hiltch in his large corner office. A career officer who had left his Polish-ethnic world of Mazowiecki twenty-nine years previously, he was forty-seven: a narrow-faced man with a lean build, several centimetres shorter than Ralph, with thick raven-black hair trimmed to a regular one centimetre. His dark-blue port uniform fitted well, although hed left the jacket on the back of his desk chair.
Ralph was given a genuinely warm handshake when he came in, and the rating was dismissed. She saluted smartly and closed the door.
Kelven Solankis welcoming smile faded considerably as he gestured Ralph to the imitation-leather settee. Whos going to start?
He hung his cagoule on the edge of the settee and leaned back. Were on your home territory, so Ill tell you what I know first.
OK. Kelven sat on the chair opposite.
First, Joshua Calvert and the Lady Macbeth ; stunning though it appears, he is actually genuine as far as we can make out. Ive got an inside track: my secretary, Marie, is running a deal for him, so shes keeping a strong tab on him for me. Hes bought a thousand tonnes of mayope, got himself an export licence, and hes loading the stuff into his starship as fast as the McBoeing he hired can boost it into orbit. Hes made no attempt to get in touch with any known fence, he didnt bring any cargo down in his own spaceplane, legal or illegal, and hell be gone tomorrow.
Kelven found he was more interested in the independent trader captain than the situation really required. Hes genuinely transporting timber to another star?
Yes. To Norfolk, apparently. Which, given their import restrictions, isnt quite as insane as it sounds. They may just have a use for it with their pastoral tech. I havent decided if hes an idiot or a genius. Id love to know how he gets on.
Me too. But he isnt quite the innocent you think he is. The Lady Macbeth has an antimatter drive unit. And my last general security file update from Avon carried a report that he was intercepted by a navy voidhawk a couple of months back; Fleet Intelligence was convinced he was trying to smuggle proscribed technology. They actually watched the units being loaded into his cargo bay. Yet when the voidhawk captain searched his shipnothing. So it doesnt look like hes an idiot.
Interesting. Hes not due to leave until tomorrow, so he might still try something. Ill keep him under close observation. Will you?
I have been keeping a quiet eye on Captain Calvert since his arrival, and Ill continue to do so. Now, the Quallheim Counties situation. I dont like it at all. Weve been reviewing the images the chief sheriffs observation satellite has been downloading this morning, and the trouble is spreading into Willow West County. There are several burnt-out buildings in the villages, evidence of fighting, and the fields are being ignored.
Hell, I didnt know that.
Well, this time Candace Elford has managed to keep it quiet, at least for now. But the sheriffs and supervisors in the Quallheim Counties and Willow West still insist theres nothing wrong. Those that answer their communication blocks. I think thats the strangest aspect of this situation; I cant see the Ivets pointing a laser at their heads all day every day.
I find it very hard to believe the Ivets could take over a whole county in the first place, let alone four. Rexrew might be right about an external group being behind it. Were these new Willow West images fuzzed like the last batch from the Quallheim?
Kelven gave his counterpart a significant look. Yes, unfortunately they were; and my technical officer cant work out how it was done. Shes not the greatest electronic warfare expert in the navy, but she says there isnt even a theory which could account for it. I have to give serious consideration to the fact that Rexrew is right. And theres something else, too.
Ralph broke out of his reverie at the tone.
I have been authorized he emphasized the wordto tell you that Edenist Intelligence agents believe Laton is still alive, and may be on Lalonde, specifically in Schuster County. They say he contacted them to warn them of some kind of xenoc incursion. They left Durringham three days ago, heading upriver to investigate, but not before they made me contact Aethra to update it on the situation. And, Ralph, they looked worried.
Edenist Intelligence is operative here? Ralph asked. Hed never had the slightest hint.
Yes.
Laton, I think I know the name, some kind of Serpent insurrectionist; but hes not stored in my neural nanonics files. Probably got him in my processor block back in the embassy.
Ill save you the trouble. His files in the computer. Its not nice reading, but be my guest.