Part 26 (1/2)
The Treaty Controller lived in style. The fine green carpet was deep and soft, and took footprints all too easily. Her sandals made smaller impressions in it than slender Hrruban feet would. Would the nap spring up to erase her inward path? Or would he notice? His furnis.h.i.+ngs were lavishly decorated and suited to Hrruban anatomy. Not a single Hayuman-style chair or stool. The walls were hung with warmly colored Hrruban tapestries. All manner of Rralan-made crafts were displayed in wall niches and on small stone-topped pedestals1 presents from Hrruban villages on the planet.
Grudgingly she admitted that the old torn had gooc taste, but the furnis.h.i.+ngs also afforded numewu hiding places for the doc.u.ment box she sought.
As the tapestries were stened to the wall fron rods on a picture rail, she could look beneath then and tap the bright orange-dyed rla wall for hollov places. She found nothing and was examining the walls in the sleeping chamber when she heard thi front door swing open and bounce against it hinges.
She froze and listened, hearing with great relie the sighing of a breeze. She tiptoed back to thi door and peered around the corner, trying to keel out of sight. Someone stared right at her. Shocke' and still in a half-crouch, Kelly stared back. But i wasn't the Treaty Controller. It was a small, coffee skinned Hayuman with gray hair twisted into coronet on her head. A Councillor's robe was slung casually over one arm.
”who - . who are you?” Kelly asked meekly.
”I was going to ask you the very same question1 girl,' the woman replied in a stern voice. ”I thought the wind had blown the door open but I see he has a snooper going through his possessions. A thief on Treaty Island itself! Disgraceful! Give me your name this instant and your business here.”
”Please, Madam Dupuis,' for Kelly recognized her, ”I'm not stealing anything. I'm Kelly Solinari of First Hayuman Village and I'm trying to help Todd Reeve.” ”In the Controller's bedroom?” Madam Dupuis's eyebrows rose in amused query. ”He doesn't like Hayumans, you know.
”Don't I just!” Sensing a sympathetic relaxation of the Councillor's disapproval1 Kelly decided the truth would do her more good than any invention.
So she summarized her illegal return to Earth and approaching Inspector DeVeer for a.s.sistance, and how she had overheard mention of a very special doc.u.ment box from Hrruba anxiously awaited the Treaty Controller. ”We've got Todd and Hrriss cleared of one charge,' and Madam Dupuis nodded, so Kelly didn't bother to explain other matters of which the Councillor would have more intimate knowledge than she did.
”But it's more than just an attempt to ruin the Treaty, Madam Dupuis.
We think it's a conspiracy between certain Hayuman and Hrruban elements that might lead'-this was the hardest part to say aloud-'might lead to an interspecies war. .” Madam Dupuis's hand went to her throat and her complexion paled noticeably.
”A war that is meant to leave only one species on Doona and only one dominant species in the known galaxy.” Madam Dupuis regarded her for a very lon moment with eyes dulled with sorrow.
”I fear you may be right, Kelly Solinari, though] have not had the courage to admit it to myself. i have always known that our current Controller wa one of Third Speaker's nominees, but he has, until recently, been scrupulously fair in his judgment during our negotiations.” She bowed her head for long moment, her hand idly stroking her robe. ”l have suspected a subtle alteration in his mien.
Yoi don't live for twelve years in close contact will someone, even of another species1 and no notice'-her fingers flickered-'little things.
I'v wondered about his much-vaunted impartiality1 hu then,' and she gave Kelly a rueful grin1 ”mine ha been slipping somewhat, too.
With all of my hear I want Doona to remain as it is.” Her manne altered abruptly. ”It is extraordinary behavior for born and bred Doonan to break and enter, but you can keep it to yourself and can find what yo seek, I shall forget I've seen you.”
”You will?” Kelly couldn't believe her escape.
”Hmm,' Madam Dupuis murmured in an abser fas.h.i.+on. ”I just came over to shut his door. I ha noticed that the wind must have blown it aja Surprising how strong the breeze can be when th temperature starts to fall at this time of day.” Sb started back to the door then turned, hand on the k.n.o.b. ”Have you found what you're looking for?” Kelly shook her head. ”I only just got here.”
”Then for the sake of us all, find it,' she said in a voice of command. ”I'd help you myself because I believe you have seen the true reason behind all this maneuvering.
I've got a boondoggle that I've been waiting to raise before the copies of the Treaty are written up. A Human outpost on Hrruba, similar to the facility Hrringa occupies on Earth. I want to see equal treatment for our species, but it's a sticking point I haven't been able to maneuver that old tomcat past. That should make a good long point to argue. I will make certain that you have an hour to search, but that is all I can hope to extend the argument. His patience isn't infinite.
Will that suffice?”
”It will have to,' Kelly said, her tone expressing her intense grat.i.tude for understanding and a.s.sistance.
Just as Madam Dupuis was about to close the door behind her, she added, ”If you need a haven, my office is on the first floor above the commissary.” Then she closed the door firmly behind her.
The first thing Kelly did was to look about the sleeping quarters for a hiding place for herself. The heavy curtains would do and they gave onto a small shrub-lined yard but the bushes would be nothing for her to scale.
His closets yielded nothing except that the Controller was a fastidious person, for everything was neatly hung and arranged in outfits for lounging, public appearances, and ceremonial receptions.
Nothing among the films and flimsies in his desk looked like official doc.u.ments or reports. She read Hrruban, High, Low, and Middle, but a quick scan told her there was nothing incriminating in the drawers.
The communications unit was like any other on Doona or Earth, with no place for concealment in, on, or under the console. Brus.h.i.+ng her hands on her legs to dry nervous perspiration, she started on the other furnis.h.i.+ngs.
She was halfway through her hour's dispensation when she found her prize. The doc.u.ment box was hidden underneath the last drawer in the bedroom bureau. The Treaty Controller had sawn out and removed half of the supporting board under the drawer, leaving a large hiding place accessible without turning the heavy chest over. Kelly drew the box out and rested it on her knees.
It was a very ordinary doc.u.ment box, like any other used for conveying official papers back and forth between offices. Kelly had seen, and handled, dozens like it at Alreldep. She hefted it: light, couldn't be much inside. But then she didn't need much, only the right sort of doc.u.ment.
She examined the lock and here the resemblance to ordinary courier boxes ended. It was fitted with a custom lock intended to discourage unauthorized entry. The lock was flat, but a glance inside the keyhole with her tiny torch showed that it was made to accept a key with multiple wards each as narrow as a strand of hair. Box in hand, she looked about the room for something she could use to manipulate the lock. She found a straight pin but it was no use.
She didn't dare try to force the box or break it open and her time was nearly up.
She started to put the box back into its place of concealment, but stopped when she noticed the remains of an official seal on the untied tapes that dangled from the sides of the container. It reminded her of something, and the memory tickled at the back of her mind. She had seen a seal used by the High Council of Speakers of Hrruba.
This one was a lot like it, but not as complex. Using the point of a pin and an old sc.r.a.p of film she found in a wastebin, she copied down as much of the seal as she could.
Madam Dupuis's gift of an uninterrupted hour was definitely over.
Not daring to try the lock any longer lest she be caught there fiddling with it when the Treaty Controller returned, Kelly put the box away and replaced the drawer.
On her knees, she backed out pr the room, fluffing up the woolly carpet with her hands. At the door, she stopped, and tried to remember if there was anything she had left open or out of place. No, she had been thorough, if unsuccessful.
”There,' she said. ”I hope he doesn't check for fingerprints.” Striding with as much nonchalance as she could, Kelly made her way to the research quarters where she knew Hrruvula was quartered for the hearings.
Without explaining her presence or her occupation the past hour, she showed him her drawing of the seal. He gave her a startled glance and peered at it closely. when she opened her mouth to explain, he held up his hand, his eyes dark and inscrutable.
”You are not my client, Kelly Solinari, so anything you might wish to impart to me would not be done under the cloak of confidentiality,' he said, still studying the sc.r.a.p of film. ”You have not been here.
We have not talked of anything, especially about a replica of the private insignia of the Third Speaker.
He handed it back to her, gestured politely for her to exit as quickly as she had entered, and turned his back on her.
She left Hrruvula's office at a trot, heading for the transport grid. So that was it! The Treaty Controller was, against all the precepts of his current position, actively collaborating with his sponsor to prevent the renewal of the Treaty! She hoped the evidence Dalkey had found was indeed on the next s.h.i.+pment. There wouldn't be another medical s.h.i.+pment for weeks, and by then Doona might be just a memory. The thought scared her so much she ran all the way back to the grid station.
The grid operator transferred Kelly and the remaining pallet directly to the transport station in First Village. She all but fell off the platform into Todd's waiting arms and let him sustain the embrace to restore her self-confidence. Hrriss watched the salutation with glowing eyes, Nrrna beside him, delicate hands nervously clasped together.
”It's here,' Kelly said excitedly, thrusting the dark gray envelope into their hands. ”He came through.
I just love Dalkey. He did it.” Todd eagerly opened the packet which contained a sheaf of printouts, folded neatly in half. To the top a note in Dalkey's precise, impersonal handwriting was attached, which Todd read aloud. ”None of these account numbers Earth-based.
Good luck.
D.” Todd's fingers fumbled as he opened the sheets and glanced quickly through them. ”He's done it.
We've got it!” Hrriss hissed softly. ”This will take time to decipher,' Hrriss said, reading over Todd's shoulder. ”First it must be determined which numeric prefixes pertain to which worlds.
”A lot of money changed hands,' Todd said, and whistled at the size of separate amounts. ”I don't think it'll be that hard with so many good minds'he grinned about him-'focused on the job. Look.
The numbers repeat. Some of these accounts have had several deposits. With what we already know, we ought to be able to figure out which worlds are involved. We can start by checking the amounts against what we've got in Klonski's.”
”Shouldn't we take this right to Poldep?” Kelly asked.