Part 20 (1/2)
”Use the discreet exit from the block, Constable.”
”Very good, sir. This way, sir,' and-the constable gestured courteously for Klonski to follow him.
”We got a deal, Polly,' Klonski said, turning in the door and jabbing his finger at DeVeer, who nodded acknowledgment.
The door hissed shut behind him and Kelly bounced out of the chair in her elation.
”He admitted it. Those log tapes were altered.
Todd and Hrriss are innocent.”
”Do calm yourself, Miss Green,' DeVeer said, flicking off the recorder. ”This is only the beginning of what is going to be a very difficult investigation.”
”But he said he altered log tapes and tinkered with security systems. Don't you see what that means?”
”I see what you wish it to mean, but the wish is not always parent to the proof. However, such statements do cast doubt on the authenticity of the logs in question. Nor did he give us any inkling as to which security systems he has adjusted.”
”But don't you see? It has to be the DoonaiRrala satellites. That would explain how rustlers could get in and out with livestock and be undetected!”
”Oh, I take that point, Miss Green. But it doesn't solve the matter of mismarked hides, does it?”
”No, it doesn't,' Kelly said, and then started to giggle, covering her mouth with her hand and shooting an anxious look at DeVeer. ”Klonski was so indignant to be taken for a rustler!”
”I have discovered, Miss Green, that there is a certain form of honor among thieves.”
”Well, then, honest men ought not to be discredited, should they?” DeVeer regarded her kindly after that vehement declaration. ”No, they should not. I shall consider it my prime obligation and most urgent priority to a.s.sist you in clearing the good reputations of those two young persons. But,' and he held up his hand warningly when Kelly exclaimed her joy aloud, ”to prove that Klonski did, in fact, use his skill on the tapes in question and on the Doonan security satellites is going to take time.”
”We don't have time,' Kelly said in a despairing wail. ”The Councillors will bring Todd and Hrriss to trial any day now. And then there's the Treaty negotiations. . . The charges against Todd and Hrriss were planned to coincide with this critical period. My home is at stake, Inspector DeVeer.”
”So you are a Doonan colonial?” Kelly sighed for her indiscretion.
Not unkindly, he smiled. ”Doona must fall or stand on its own merits, but clearly the odds against it have been staked by what does appear to be a genuine conspiracy. Personally I have had doubts about the Experiment, but I was old enough to experience the repercussions of the Siwanna Tragedy, so perhaps I'm not entirely without prejudice.
But I try to overcome what I know to have been early conditioning.
I think it's a mistake to mix two such advanced races.”
”But that's the best kind to mix,' Kelly exclaimed.
”Equal intelligence and parallel'societies with similar aims and mutual respect.
”But Hrrubans are much more powerful than we smaller Humans. And their technology more advanced. ”Not in the same direction ours is.
So we've learned from each other.
”They have not granted us that transportation system of theirs .
”And we have not given them the right to build our more sophisticated s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p engines, so I think we're even on the question of s.p.a.ce travel.”
”You argue well, Miss Green.”
”I've specialized knowledge to back up my arguments, Mr. DeVeer.”
”I trust that events will conspire to let us continue.
I have never met a more devoted adherent of the Experiment.
But, in my estimation, the appalling Siwanna Tragedy has not been diminished by the short period of Doona's success.” He brought himself up short. ”You remind me of my daughter.
She argues for her causes with all her heart, too.
And you've risked much to lay your case before me.” He rose to his feet, signalling an end to their discussion.
”I'd risk a lot more!” Kelly got to her feet and shrugged out of Poldep black. ”Can you let me know how your investigations progress?
Or do you no longer consider me your special deputy?”
”That deputization will be in force for the remainder of your stay on Earth, but I'd prefer that you didn't wander into a situation where I have to notice you officially. I'll be in touch with the communications number that made your appointment with me. And by the way,' he said, ”next time, please obtain permission to visit Earth. If you have a legitimate reason, or an invitation, there isn't any problem.” Kelly smiled. ”You are thorough.
”I like to think that I am, Miss ah, Green.” He actually winked at her and she wondered if he had discovered her real ident.i.ty but thought better about asking. ”The amnesty policy is scrupulously maintained.” ”Can that cover my ”sources of information,” too?” DeVeer frowned slightly, then his face cleared.
”You did mention that there's someone about to whistle-blow, didn't you? We'll see that your friends are protected if at all possible. I expect there'll be a great deal of housecleaning before this matter is concluded. An official privacy seal is not meant to conceal capital crimes such as grand larceny and security tampering.” DeVeer took her hand. ”I am grateful to you for your information.
Poldep does need the help of all honest citizens, otherwise where would we be? Thank you, Miss Green.” Kelly grinned at him, positive that he did know who she really was. ”Thank you, sir.” She spent the night curled up on Dalkey's hard mattress, dreaming of snaking tapes with matched ends that then split apart to reattach themselves to other loose ends, and satellite spheres with the face of Askell Klonski, and each wart on his face another capped sensor.
The medical supply warehouse was in a section of Corridor and Aisle that Kelly had never visited before. She had to descend on a packed elevator through several levels, through the newer, smaller residences of Labor workers, and then pattered off the elevator into the manufacturing zone. Her fellow pa.s.sengers, mostly maintenance workers for the Air Recycling Service, marched past her in a single ma.s.s, almost as if they were stuck together from being squeezed in the elevator.
The noise control standards had evidently been waived for this level, and so had the air purification ordinances. Hooting and wailing from machinery battled with the deafening thrum of turbines and the c.u.mulative babble of Human voices. This Corridor was full of unrelieved gray and black buildings. They looked clean enough-no graffiti, no layers of dirt or filth-but they left her with the feeling that if she touched anything her fingers would come away filmed with soot.
Kelly found the address Nrrna had written down for her and slipped past the great open doors.
Inside was the largest single room she had yet seen on Earth. The raftered ceiling loomed the full height of the level. Hundreds of men and women in drab bodysuits and heavy gloves pa.s.sed her in pursuit of their various tasks. Pallet loaders, large, small, and staggeringly huge, rolled around the floor, picking up crates and packages from teetering stacks of merchandise. The scale of the warehouse amazed her. The entire Doona Launch Center could fit in the middle of this vast facility, and leave room for its normal day's operation on every side, and this facility only forwarded medical supplies to outer worlds.
Stinking of hot oil, the forklifts trundled great bales of goods into giant freight elevators, for conveyance to the lower levels for distribution, or to the surface, where they could be loaded into s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps. Neither of these two destinations was appropriate for Kelly. She needed to find where a particular small delivery was being prepared. The Hrruban Center grid was only a few meters square.
She had fitted herself out with a clipboard and a small parcel, wrapped under Dalkey's instruction and sealed with a s.p.a.cedep logo they had cut out from a discarded film copy. The box was filled with food from his synthesizer. Alter two unappetizing meals of the stuff at Dalkey's flat, she hoped she wouldn't have to eat it, but who knew how long it would be before she could be rescued from the container? Nrrna might have to wait for solitude to open the crate.
”Is this the s.h.i.+pment for Doona?” Kelly asked in a bored tone, consulting her clipboard. ”I've got a parcel to add to it. s.p.a.cedep,' she added with a nice touch of apathy.
The man glanced up at her with equal disinterest.
”Nope. Try dock sixteen.”
”Is this the s.h.i.+pment for Doona?” Kelly inquired at dock sixteen.
”It is.” The short woman directing the lowering of boxes from one side of the dock onto a pallet glanced back over her shoulder at the tall mousyhaired girl. ”Why?” Kelly's heart gave a little jolt within her. ”I, uh, have a package to go on it. s.p.a.cedep.”