"The records office is closed and the computer is not responsive, so we cannot check retinal pattern identifications tonight, but Wilfred has made progress. Neither the first or second assassin had any trace of darkening in the lungs, no alcohol or drugs in the bloodstream."
"Look for caffeine."
Nabil nodded and spoke to the console.
"Mormons," Renner said. "Narrows it a bit. I'm about to fall over, Horace."
"To bed."
Renner was naked in the sauna. Despite the water and vitamins he had taken the night before, his head throbbed, and his stomach rejected all notions of food. When cold air touched him, he bellowed, "Shut it!"
Nabil smiled thinly. "You were more pleased to see me last night."
"I was still drunk. What do you have?"
"His Excellency wishes to see you. We have identified the assassins. They are crew members from Nauvoo Vision."
"Nauvoo Vision?"
"The name is Mormon. The ship belongs to Imperial Autonetics."
Renner whistled. "To Bury? Why in hell would crew from one of Bury's ships try to kill Bury's pilot?"
"Not kill. Kidnap," Nabil said. He carefully closed the sauna door.
"Nauvoo Vision," Bury said. "Captain Reuben Fox. A native of Maxroy's Purchase. Mormon, and recruits Mormon crew."
"Corruptible?" Renner asked.
Bury shrugged. "I have never had reason to find out. It would be worthwhile smuggling opal meerschaum if there were enough of it, but in fact it is very rare. Nothing else this world exports carries a tariff."
"What else do you know about him?"
"Very little. I do not believe I have ever met him. My Sector Commodore would have promoted him." Bury spoke softly in Arabic to his pocket computer. "It might be worth learning why, but in fact the reason seems clear enough. Fox has been a profitable captain."
"I think we should talk with him," Renner said. "And I'd better alert Navy Intelligence."
Bury grimaced. "I suppose you are correct. Especially since there may be Moties involved."
"The Governor has to know, too."
"I do not like government attention. Should I trust the Governor? If somebody on this world is dealing with Moties...
"You'll be meeting him tonight, for dinner. Horace, I was hunted last night."
Nabil looked up from his console. "That is true. It is clear enough. They followed you, hoping to catch you alone or with only the woman. You left a taxi waiting when you went to the Top of the World."
"Yes-"
"We have located the driver. His cab was met at Madame Ressina's by three men with an improbable tale. They lost interest when they discovered that you were not in it."
"They really were hunting me, then. My head still hurts."
"It should, given what you drink," Bury said.
"I take my nerve restoratives. Bury, why did they want me?"
"I would presume for your keys," Nabil said, "and perhaps for instructions on how to enter the house. They carried other drugs. Serconal would have induced cooperation, or at least they must have thought so."
"That's illegal!" Renner protested.
Bury laughed. "Serconal is not only illegal, it is tightly controlled. It would be difficult for me to obtain a supply. Our enemies have resources."
Captain Reuben Fox was a dark-haired man approaching forty. He sagged and jiggled as he walked. He didn't seem otherwise unhealthy. Unlike Navy crew, civilians could neglect their freefall exercising, and getting the muscle back was pure hell.
He seemed to be hurrying, though he wasn't making much speed. "Horace Bury! Your Excellency, I never expected that we would meet. What brings you to-I mean, what can I do for you? I and my ship?"
Bury wore his public, noncommittal smile. He appeared to be no more than an old, bearded man with a very prominent nose and a soft smile, all giving the lie to his reputation. "I often inspect ships I own. How else may I know of problems in my organization?"
"Excellency, I have no problems!"
"I know. You have a good record, trouble free. Tell me a little about normal operations of your ship."
"Let us sit down." Fox dropped heavily into a chair. Bury was in fact already seated. He was an old man, and he used a travel chair when he could.
Fox said, "We are an all-purpose cargo ship. What is often called a tramp steamer. The name comes from the days before space flight. We take orders for cargo to be brought here, and when we have sufficient cargo or passengers to make the trip profitable, we go to Darwin. Sometimes we go as far as Xanadu, and once to Tabletop, but generally only to Darwin."
"And within this system as well, I suppose?"
"Not often," Fox said. "If we have cargo within the Purchase system, we can alter our course to the Jump point and use the finger."
Bury had glanced through computer views of Nauvoo Vision on the way here. The ship was versatile, a winged water-landing craft with interstellar capability but no Langston Field. There were fittings for an expanded passenger cabin or cargo hold, but either would have to be added in orbit.
The finger (or spit gun, or AWOL tube) was a linear accelerator. A row of mountings ran the full length of the hull, and the electromagnetic rings were stored on board. Flingers were common aboard ships that ran a fixed route in heavily populated systems. They could launch lifecraft, too. Nonetheless Bury asked, "Do you make much use of the finger? Is it really worth carrying its mass?"
"Yes, Excellency. Purchase system is short of metals. There's not much in the way of mines. Not much in the way of asteroids, either, but they'll last us the next ten thousand years. The mines have to be supplied."
Bury had noticed, in his quick perusal of Nauvoo's records, that rings and fittings in the finger had been replaced twice in thirteen years. A fitting had lost alignment and was waiting for replacement at this moment. Payments from the mines did back up Fox's claim of heavy use.
"You have a full complement of crew?"
"Three missing. I like to hire good Church members, but sometimes they backslide. We're not supposed to drink alcohol, and most of us never do, but everyone is curious."
The Captain tended to explain before he was asked. It was the kind of thing Bury noticed. "Have you been Mormon all your life?"
"Not as you think Mormon," Fox said. "My ancestors had fundamental differences with the Church on Earth. They came to Maxroy's Purchase to establish the true faith That was some six hundred years ago. We were fairly settled when the CoDominium sent us a hundred thousand transportees. Evil men and women with evil habits. They brought alcohol and drugs. The Church tried to keep control of the government, but there were too many transportees. Too many for our missionaries to convert. Some of the Elders took the true Church to the outback." Fox grinned triumphantly. "When the Secession Wars began, the false temples in the cities were destroyed, but the true Temple remained. It is the governing Temple for Maxroy's Purchase to this day, our Temple in Glacier Valley."
Bury nodded agreement. "It was much the same with the true servants of Islam. They fled from cities to country, often from world to world. Have I not heard of a New Utah?"
"Excellency, I've read about New Utah in history class. It is an outie world, settled from the Purchase at the same time that the Elders moved to Glacier Valley. There were close relations with New Utah, until the Alderson tram lines to it were lost sometime during the Secession Wars. Stellar geometry changes slowly, but with enough time-"
"Your crew is all Mormon, then?" Bury interrupted.
"Yes, Excellency. I am a bishop of the Church. My crew is obedient and cheerful. Don't our records show that?"
"They do," Bury said. "It is not uncommon. What do you do when you have passengers who are not of your church?"