Part 4 (1/2)
Ray settled deep into his seat. That was the problem. These people had dreams, and Second Chance was opening some and threatening others. Ray had known that the moment he set foot on this place it would never be the same. If Matt reconnected them with humanity, all options were possible. But what if he didn't? That was Ray's quandary.
In his present bargaining, should he a.s.sume in a few months Matt would be back, grinning from ear to ear and tailed by six boatloads of eager entrepreneurs? Or would a smarter choice be to hold his cards and his technology close until Matt decided it was time and past time to start home-steading? At the moment, holding tight looked best. But the local powers that be were not interested in waiting, for someone else to decide their fate.
People like Vicky Sterling didn't get their hands on power by waiting for others to give it. Victoria got what she had by being there first and grabbing all she could. Ray was familiar with people like Vicky. Powerful people had d.a.m.n near gotten him killed in their last war. This brought Ray up short. Was all this the fearful ruminations of a spooked veteran who just wanted to be a husband and a dad? ”What do you think about the last few days?” he asked Mary.
”Some pretty nice folks,” Mary answered, then quickly added, ”and a few not so nice. Would be fun working with them, living here. Don't get me wrong, Colonel, I appreciate this job, and I'll ramble around the stars as long as you want me, but settling down here sure is attractive. These folks could use some cheap metals. I know Vicky Sterling's type. Worked for her on the asteroid mines. She loves being the only show in town. Thinks she s.h.i.+ts gold. I'd love to take a brand-new rod of hot gold and stick it up her...well, you know.”
”I know,” Ray smiled.
”Ah, Colonel, you invite anyone back to the Residency for a nightcap?”
”Not that I recall.”
”Well, we got a tail.”
”d.a.m.n! People never change. Lose 'em, Mary.”
”Oh, boy,” she laughed. They still weren't to the beach road; Refuge was a big city. The turn to the beach was ten blocks away when Mary did a hard right, gunned the mule, and did a series of zigzags that took them across the beach road but kept them parallel to it. Ray hoped she knew what she was doing.
”The sky eyes surveyed this burg and downloaded a city map to my inertial system,” Mary answered Ray's unasked question. ”Bet I know this town better than most of the folks raised here.”
Ray didn't doubt that. They zipped down a street lined with small shops and warehouses. When they ran out of town, Mary did a quick zig to get them back on the beach road. Ray edged around in his seat; no lights behind. There still weren't any when the road took a slow turn to follow higher ground through tidal marshes. ”Boy, did I lose 'em,” Mary chortled.
This left Ray wondering which factions they had eluded and what they were up to. He shrugged off the unanswerable.
A gentle breeze came from offsh.o.r.e, laden with smells of salt and damp and coastal gra.s.ses. They turned north, off the road and away from the inlet that sheltered the fis.h.i.+ng fleet and soon came to the end of the dirt track a hundred meters short of the sand dunes. Ray braced himself, protecting his back as Mary took the rig into a narrow wash, gunning the mule through soft sand. Wheels spun wildly, but kept enough traction to swing them onto the wide stretch of sand between the dunes and the distant ocean. Mary steered for the hard, damp sand that the retreating tide had left. Two moons were just rising, casting sparking diamonds on the gentle sea swells from beach to horizon.
Relaxing again into the seat, Ray took several deep breaths as Mary cruised north, away from civilization as it named itself here. His mind ordered his thoughts for his call to Matt. The captain was eager to be away. There were several theories of how they might find their way home; the only proof of the pudding was going out and nibbling at it. Was Ray ready to declare his tiny downside command fit to stand on its own two feet?
Mary eased the mule to a halt, midway between waves and dune. ”We're far enough up the coast to miss any search our trailer is doing. Besides, we'll see them coming.” Ray nodded. ”Mind if I take a walk, sir?” Mary's eyes were fixed on the lapping waves, mesmerized by them.
”Take care. You don't know where the drop-off is out there. You can't swim, and I sure can't come in after you.”
”Don't worry, sir. s.p.a.ce ain't killed me in twenty years. A little bit of water ain't gonna get me now.”
”That's not a little bit.”
”Yes, sir.” Mary got out and started a slow, pensive walk to the ocean. She wore a dress, a gift from Henrietta San Paulo, the Chair of the Great Circle of Lander's Refuge. Made of cotton so fine and tightly woven it might as well have been silk, Mary had spun around in delight, a girl-woman in her first formal. Then she'd lifted it far higher than their relations.h.i.+p on Wardhaven would have allowed to show him her sidearm. The asteroid mines had taught Mary none of the modesty and delicacy that Wardhaven inculcated in its women. Then, Rita had been Wardhaven's most instructed of debutantes...and gone on to skipper an attack transport. And her courts.h.i.+p of Ray had been far from delicate. Ray suspected few men ever understood women.
”G.o.d, I miss you, wife.” Sighing, Ray tapped his communit. ”Communications, Longknife here. The captain available?”
”He's expecting you, sir. Wait one, please.”
Mary had about reached the water. The dress came up and over her head to flutter down on the sand. Her body was in moon shadow; he could not tell if she'd worn anything more. The male part of Ray's mind decided she hadn't; it made the view more enticing. Her silhouette was trim and sleek, no bulge for a bra, panties...or sidearm. A glance in the front showed automatic and holster on the seat. Ray reached for it, checked the safety, then set it down beside him. Mary reached the water; she stooped to touch the lapping waves. Ray wished for about the millionth time that Rita was here. Or, more correctly, he was there.
”Ray, how are things?” the captain asked.
”I'm surviving down among the natives. And you?”
”Nothing's changed. We've completed the planet survey. Enough irregularities to keep the scanning team happy, but nothing to raise a red flag. Some interesting electromagnetic anomalies. We sent the database down. An interesting planet.”
”Full of interesting people,” Ray added dryly.
”Want to tell me about them?”
”You know, Matt, I always thought if you marooned three hundred hard-headed, rational people on a planet, you'd have a hard-headed, rational population when you got done.”
”Gosh, Ray, I never knew you were such a dreamer.”
”Take the Covenanters up north, those dozen or so medium-size towns that Kat couldn't figure out why they were in such a crazy pattern. Blame it on the Bible.”
”Somebody brought that book!”
”It was in their database. More about that database in a minute. Anyway, during the worst of the times after landing, some folks found religion. Later, after things got better, their kids decided the rest were all going to h.e.l.l and moved off to keep their *purity.'”
”Let me guess,” Matt broke in. ”They couldn't agree among themselves on how to read the book, so...”
”You got it-split and split again. Most of them want to just ignore us. Hope we'll go away. But one of them, the guy I met the first night down here, thinks we're the Antichrist and wants us destroyed.”
”I guess you stay to the south side of south continent.”
”Not that easy. There're almost eight million people here. Most Covenanters may be up north, but they got churches in Lander's Refuge. They're not the worst problems. Refuge and New Haven split over something the original captain did early on. I've got six different versions of what that was, and none agree. But there's a pro-captain and an anti-captain faction to this day, and a big chunk of the antis moved south to New Haven about two hundred years ago. Now, if one says it's day, the other insists it's night. I think the pro faction is a bit more in favor of exploiting the planet's resources, but I can't swear to that.”
”Sounds like fun.”
”Yeah,” Ray answered. Mary was up to her knees now, meeting each wave as it came in with a jump and a happy giggle. Ray had never seen Mary as anything but a hard-driving marine officer. This was a whole new side of her.
For a moment, the question flitted across his mind. How many sides are there to the people I'm dealing with? He'd have to remember that. ”The farmers we started with are interesting. You meet a girl with flaming red hair, a diction straight out of Joyce, and a name like Nulia Anne Moira Chang. Tells you why her brogue is a bit off.”
”Chang?”
”Don't ask me how the Irish took over and the Chinese didn't. Such history is oral, and I don't trust it. There's even a legend that St. Patrick showed them how to plant potatoes.”
”Sounds like a nuthouse. Sure you'll be okay while I duck in and out of system? Once we've got acceleration on, it'll take me a while to get down here.” Matt had his work cut out for him, too. Speaking of.
”Matt, I'm trying to get my hands on the log of the old Santa Maria, but no luck yet. Refuge, New Haven, Richland, that's the Sterlings' mining town, Vicky owns it lock, stock, and barrel, and even some of the Covenant towns had copies of the original database. But original media last only so long. First- and second-generation local manufacturing wasn't all that good, so the data got corrupted. s.h.i.+p's log was low priority, so it got cut to save s.p.a.ce. Vicky claims she's got a complete copy, but she's only handing out vague samples. Wants mining equipment and technology before she'll share the good stuff.”
”How's that going over with the rest?”
”Poorly. The Sterlings have had these people by the short hairs for two hundred years. A lot of people would like them taken down a peg.”
”You going to do that?”
”I'd like to stay on everybody's good side.”
”Never had much success at that myself,” Matt chuckled.
”Probably a bit late in life for me to be trying it, too. How you coming with those survival canisters?”
”Last two go dirtside tomorrow morning. Have you seen what's in them?”