Part 23 (1/2)
AsmeMcCaffrey & evidence against you and me both. Do you fed that grate- ful to him for doing his best to put you in prison?”
”I've already killed once,” Fa.s.sa said. ”That's enough for me. What's that?”
”Antibiotic spray. Relax,” Alpha told her. ”We had our chance to get rid of some evidence, you blew it, it's too late now. Got that freak of a general and the old fert brawn peering over our shoulders, ready to slap me with a malpractice suit on top of everything else.
I'll do my best to patch your detective up for you - and my best,” she added with simple pride that was quite undiminished by her criminal record, ”my best, Fa.s.sa dear, is very good indeed.”
It was, too. Within the hour Sev was reclining on pil- lows, sipping camtea loaded with so much sugar and chalker that it was hardly recognizable, and explaining to Forister and Micaya the extent of what he'd un- covered on Shemali and why he'd been in such desperate straits when Nancia landed.
”I made a few mistakes,” he admitted with a grimace. ”Disguising myself as a prisoner on an in- coming transport seemed like the only way to slip onto Shemali unnoticed. It worked, too. But there were a few things I hadn't counted on after that.”
Sev had expected his faked ”prison” records, show- ing expertise in metachip mathematics and computer network operation, to earn him a prison job some- where in the administration, where he'd have a chance to poke around in Polyon's records and find what he was looking for. The position he was a.s.signed to looked promising - but as soon as he started his search, everything had gone wrong.
”Ah - you didn't say exacdy what you were looking for on ShemaU,” Forister hinted courteously.
Sev took a long gulp of his scalding camtea, coughed, gasped, and lay back looking a little weaker.
”Not important. Important thing is, more going on255.
than you can guess from outside. Don't have it all myself... but enough....”
Polyon's entire computer system was laced with coded traps and alarms; the first time Sev tried to ac- cess secure data, Polyon and his trusties were alerted and caught him in the act before he'd more than downloaded a handful of innocuous records. Sev then showed them his Central Worlds pa.s.s and explained that he was on an investigative mission having nothing to do with Polyon or Shemali.
”They didn't believe me,” he sighed. ”Even though it happened to be true.”
”Then what were you doing?” Micaya Questar-Benn demanded.
”Later.” Sev went on with his story. The trusties had beaten him up, stripped him, located and disabled the thin sliver of spyderplate which he'd meant to use as a distress beacon to Nancia in case he got into trouble.
”Those things are supposed to start emitting an all-fre- quencies distress signal hooking into the Net if they're damaged,” Sev complained. ”So at first I wasn't too worried. But then when you didn't come, and it got to be two days, I thought I might be on my own.”
”De Gras-Waldheim must know some way to disable them,” Forister nodded.
”Reasonable,” Nancia put in from the speaker. ”He invented them. They're essentially single-purpose hyperchips - and n.o.body knows more about hyper- chips than Polyon.”
Sev's next discovery was that Polyon had stepped up the new plants' production of hyperchips by ignoring all safety precautions. Sent to the hyperchip burnoff lines, where prisoners' life expectancy amid the clouds of nerve-destroying gas could be measured in days rather than years, Sev had resolved to make a break for freedom when the first s.h.i.+p touched down on Shemali - espe- cially when he recognized the slim lines of Nancia's 256.
Gf 257.
Courier Service hull behind the disguising frieze of OG s.h.i.+pping logos and mauve stripes. The escape hadn't been too difficult; all the other prisoners had been ter- rorized out of even thinking about escape, and the guards were lazy and careless and unwilling to spend much time in the burnoffrooms.
”And besides,” finished Forister with a grin, ”n.o.body would expect a prisoner on the run to go to an OG s.h.i.+pping drone for help. Nancia, your paint job has served us well. I don't suppose you'd consider keeping it after this is over?”
”Most certainly not!” Nancia told him. ”And it wouldn't work, anyway. When we've finished in the Nyota system, there won't be any more OG s.h.i.+pping.
But-what do we do now?”
SeVs story had demonstrated enough irregularities to justify arresting Polyon twice over. But he was just one man, with no datacordings or comp uter records to exhibit in proofofhis story. If they took Polyon away now without making sure of their evidence, Sev predicted that Shemali would be cleaned up by the time they got back.
”Impossible,” said Forister with feeling.
Sev nodded weakly. ”Not the planet's surface, I grant you. But you can be sure there'll be nothing in- side the factories for an investigative committee to quarrel with. It'll all be clean a.s.sembly lines, strict safety features.”
”And the prisoners who've already been damaged by exposure to acids and gases?”
”I don't think,” said Sev somberly, ”that any of them will be able to testify by that time.”
”Then we'll have to go down now and get the evidence,” Forister said.
Sev shook his head. ”Won't work. He's clever - there's a VIP tour arranged - the disfigured prisoners and the dangerous work lines are all kept well out of sight. Mostly at the secondary plants hidden backplanet I know how to find one of the worst plants.
I was there. But without me, he'll whisk you from one end of the central prison factory to the other, and you won't see anything, and every time you try to turn around there'll be six guards in your way. I'll have to go with you.” He tried to raise himself from the pil- ows, started coughing and fell back again.
”You can't!” Fa.s.sa exclaimed.
”May have to,” said Micaya Questar-Benn. ”Duty.”
She and Sev nodded at one another. ”You two,** she jerked her head at Fa.s.sa and Alpha - back to your cabins now. Nothing to do with you - shouldn't have let you hear this much.”
”Wait!” Fa.s.sa cried as Forister took her by the arm.
”There has to be another way. It won't work, taking Sev with you, can't you see that? Even if he were stronger, the sight of his face will warn Polyon at once that there's something wrong. None of you-none of us will get away alive.”
”Oh, come now,” said Forister gendy. ”Your friend can't be that dangerous.”
Fa.s.sa's face hardened. ”If you don't believe me, ask the others. Alpha?”
Alpha bint Hezra-Fong nodded once, reluctandy.
Fa.s.sa looked up at the room sensor. ”Nancia, can you connect us with Blaize and Darnell? Just for a moment?”
Both men agreed with Fa.s.sa's a.s.sessment of the situation.
”Then whatom we do?” Forister demanded. ”d.a.m.n it, I'm not going to turn tail and run off-planet for fear of some spoiled High Families brat who's got hold of some dangerous toys!”
”I think,” Fa.s.sa said slowly, ”that you're going to use me.” She was very pale. ”Take Alpha back to her cabin, and I'll explain what I think we can do.” She looked apologetically at Alpha.
258.
&f 259.
”Traitor! When Polyon finds out-”
Fa.s.sa's lips were pinched. She was not pretty at all now. But she was almost beautiful, in a cold remote way. ”I'll have to take that chance, won't I?”
”Better you than me,” Alpha said. She turned to go.
”All right. Lock me up. I don't even want to hear this plan. Maybe he won't hold it against me, if I'm not even here when you discuss it.” She didn't sound too hopeful of that.
When Fa.s.sa explained her plan, there was a brief silence while Forister,NanciaandMicaya all thought.i.t over.