“I hope you’re wrong,” Vicky said, and sounded serious.
A minute later, Vicky was back. “We’re ready to take our first try at the charter. My legal staff suggested a few changes. Things they thought might keep me breathing for more than five minutes after my dad reads this. I’ve agreed to them. Mind if I print out the fancy charter that way?”
“Any chance I could see the changes?” Mannie asked.
“I’m putting the charter on the table,” Nelly said a second later. “The changes she added are in blue. What she dropped is in green. I can make them flash if it would help you spot them.”
“Please do,” the mayor said. He spent a long minute flipping through the three pages. He didn’t look all that happy with what he was reading, but neither did he turn away in anger.
Finally, he said. “I’d hoped for something better, but this is still acceptable to me. We’ll see how sections 9 and 12 work out in practice.
“Yes,” Vicky agreed. “I didn’t much care about those two changes, but my legal advisor said that the folks who really run St. Pete and several other planets are a strong faction. We go against their interests, and they’ll gut us. Let time see if we can stretch the last sentences in both of them into something seriously better for you.”
Kris glanced over Mannie’s shoulder. The sections in question limited heavy industry and pollution from the same in their first sentences. The second sentence for both encouraged the expansion of job opportunities and clean energy. No doubt they meant more on the ground than their few words expressed on the page.
“I’ve got to run if I’m going to catch the shuttle,” Vicky said in a sudden rush. “See you soon.”
“We are organizing a small signing ceremony at city hall,” Mannie said. There will be a larger reception later in the afternoon, but you and Miss Vicky Peterwald won’t have to come to that. I know how security conscious you two are.”
“Do we need to be?” Kris said, just a second before Jack could cover the same territory.
“Henry Peterwald isn’t exactly the most beloved of people around here.” When he saw the reaction his words drew from both Kris and Jack, Mannie quickly went on. “Not that Miss Vicky has anything to fear from my people. At least, not the ones who will be at the signing ceremony. Now the reception, especially after some beer kegs are tapped, there may be some discussions of grievances. It’s best you get her out of there before that gets going.”
“It’s best I get both hers out of there before that gets going,” Jack said darkly. Kris flashed him an encouraging smile. To hear is to obey, oh mighty security chief.
Besides, Kris’s main concern was the other her. The one who had gone missing.
Cara came to wakefulness slowly. The air she breathed was ship’s air, processed, clean, and maybe a bit too moist. It also held the funk of fear. That wasn’t a familiar smell aboard the Wasp.
The deck plates beneath her vibrated with power. She was definitely in a ship under acceleration. The gees were not so much that her body was painfully heavy, though.
Around her, she heard people crying. That was when she remembered her last aware moments. Cara reached into her pocket.
Her credit chit was not there.
That meant she didn’t have a dime to her name. It could also mean that she’d succeeded in leaving a message behind even as she lost consciousness. Sergeant Bruce said Marines never left anyone behind. He said Princess Kris Longknife made sure of that.
Cara prayed to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph that Abby would make sure they didn’t leave her niece behind. Even if she had been oh so bad. Bad and stupid.
“If I get home, I’ll never do anything I’m not supposed to do ever again,” she promised, and opened her eyes.
Her right hand was cuffed. The chain from the cuff ran through a ring welded to the wall. The cuff at the other end of the chain was clamped onto a young woman’s left hand.
That woman, a sailor by her uniform, had taken most of the slack so that she could get close to a young man, another sailor, who was chained to the next ring over. He’d reached over so he could hold her with his one free hand. He stroked her hair, and whispered “It will be okay. Don’t worry, it will work out.”
Cara wished someone would hold her and tell her things would come out okay. It would be a lie, but just now, she sure would like the chance to believe it for a few minutes.
On the other side of Cara, two men who looked enough alike to be brothers were arguing in some language she didn’t understand. That didn’t mean she couldn’t follow them. Clearly, one of them blamed the other for the mess they were in. The other one just stared up at the overhead.
The room was round, probably the middle spindle of a starship. Around the bulkhead, pairs of people repeated similar reactions to their plight. In a few instances, couples had children cuffed to their ankles. One woman held a tiny baby close. It slept.
Reinforcing Cara’s guess that this was a starship was the central tube going from floor to ceiling. She was willing to bet that it was an elevator to allow movement from the bridge at the bow to the engineering space at the stern. Backing that up was a ladder welded to the tube. A hatch was dogged onto the deck by the ladder. On the overhead was its mate. Yep, it was the fore-aft passage for some ship.
Cara held her free hand out, then let it drop. It certainly was heavier than normal, about an extra twenty-five percent of normal gravity. That was what the Wasp put on when the princess was in a hurry. Or when the Marines needed the extra exercise, as Uncle Bruce would put it.
So, she was on a merchant ship, running fast. Even Cara knew that a merchie usually went at less than a full-gee acceleration. For some reason, this ship was in a hurry to get somewhere.
Or was it in a hurry to get away from somewhere?
Cara would dearly like to think that.
She did another look around the room. This time she was looking for what she’d missed the first time. Where was the food? Her stomach was grumbly. She was also thirsty, but she saw no water.
Then she really did a serious search. There was no bathroom!
She pulled her knees up to her chin and repeated, “Marines don’t leave anyone behind. Uncle Bruce will come for me.”
She hoped he came soon, or even that this ship got to where it was going to in such a hurry before she really, really needed to go to the bathroom.
27
Lieutenant Victoria Peterwald arrived in the admiral’s barge, complete with admiral. Leading it down was a Greenfeld longboat that off-loaded one Wardhaven Marine for every Greenfeld one on it. Lieutenant Stubben had brought along dress red and blues for Jack, Gunny, and the rest of the initial detachment, so Kris actually ended up with a slightly larger honor guard than Admiral Krätz did, or more correctly, his communications lieutenant.
He didn’t seem to care. What he did check on was the half dozen civilians who met with Jack and examined the security perimeter with him. Only after they nodded approval did the admiral seem to relax a tad.
Kris was glad to leave security for other people to worry about so she could concentrate on what she did best. War by social means.
While Kris changed into dress whites, complete with full medals and all other gewgaws required of her, Mannie disappeared. When Kris exited the small office at city hall that she’d claim for a dressing room, Mannie was waiting in white tie and full tucker.
“You look most dashing,” Kris told him.
“You look like a birthday cake with too much icing,” he said, taking her in. “I hope none of those bobbles you’re wearing hurt a lot to acquire.”