Jeffrey Carver - Eternity's End

“And in so doing, you risked grave harm to him,” Fre’geel replied, his voice light, yet hard as steel.

“Not intentionally, I assure you. Legroeder, my people didn’t do serious harm to you, did they?”

Legroeder gathered himself for another angry statement, but was interrupted by Fre’geel saying in a dry, flinty voice, “I must say, it would be a great shame if you lost all of this information that has been gathered, at such risk—because you tried to extract it, rather than cooperate with us.” The Narseil commander stood with his two hands clasped at his breast. Only a slight twitching of his gill slits, and a widening of his vertical eyes betrayed his anger.

YZ/I waved a hand in agitated reassurance. “That’s not at all the case, Commander Fre’geel. Look—your people did an outstanding job in rescuing Impris . Outstanding. I’m deeply grateful, and I intend to cooperate with you in every way we can. But—” YZ/I gestured, as though struggling with an inescapable fact “—here’s the ship, right in our docks, available for study by our techs. And here’s Legroeder, carrying some very important data in his head. Possibly—I think I heard you saying—a map of this network of quantum flaws. Right?”

Legroeder nodded slowly, silently.

“Except,” Fre’geel said dryly, “that it’s locked away in Rigger Legroeder’s implants.”

“Exactly. And you surely can understand our position. Once he leaves here, a lot can happen between his departure and our receipt of the analyzed data.”

“I do understand that. But do you understand that his implants were designed by the Narseil security forces?” Fre’geel said pointedly. “You can’t get the data, and neither can Legroeder. For that matter, neither can I. Only Narseil Security—or the Narseil Rigging Institute—can extract the information! Any effort on your part not only risks harm to Legroeder—but also jeopardizes the integrity of the data itself. Do you realize that , Yankee-Zulu/Ivan?”

YZ/I’s eyes shone abruptly with surprise and fury.

Behind him, there was a sharp intake of breath. Lanyard’s eyes were narrowed, and his lips appeared to be moving subvocally. YZ/I snapped a look back at him; his gaze darkened further.

“Double cross…” Lanyard whispered.

YZ/I face flickered several shades of crimson and orange. “Let’s not make hasty judgments,” he muttered to Lanyard. To Legroeder and the others, he said sternly, “Have you known this all along?”

Legroeder was dumbstruck. He should have known it, or guessed it. How could he have been so naive? But none of the Narseil had ever intimated, and even the implants themselves had been tightlipped. (You bastards, why didn’t you tell me?)

There was no answer.

Christ. All that time he’d sat in YZ/I lab, being worked over.

“Only Mission Command knew,” Fre’geel said, making a hissing sound that approximated a clearing of the throat. “There was no reason to share that point with my other officers.”

“And were you,” YZ/I said, almost too softly to hear, “planning to share the rigging data with us once you had extracted it?” His eyes had a deadly sparkle to them now.

“Of course,” Fre’geel said calmly.

Of course…

“But I’m sure you understand why we wanted to ensure our own access to the data,” Fre’geel continued. His Narseil eyes blinked slowly.

YZ/I slammed his fist down on the arm of his chair. “ You amphibian bastards! You got that information on MY SHIP, flying MY MISSION!”

The Narseil commander made a side-to-side gesture with his right hand. “Come, Yankee-Zulu/Ivan. We were merely protecting our interests. After all, our riggers were instrumental in effecting the rescue. Do you deny our rights?”

YZ/I’s skin rippled. “I do not deny that your riggers were an asset to the mission.”

“If I’m not mistaken,” Tracy-Ace interjected, “the Narseil riggers were indispensable. In fact, all of the participants were indispensable.”

“That is correct,” Legroeder said. “The Narseil. The Kyber. The Centrist. All of us.”

“Damn it,” YZ/I hissed furiously at Tracy-Ace. “ You know what’s at stake here. What are you trying to do?”

“One thing that’s at stake,” Legroeder said in a soft drawl, “is our future ability to map the hazards that your fleet will face when it travels to the Well of Stars. And it would seem that that depends on your cooperating with us.”

For a moment YZ/I looked as if he had stopped breathing altogether. Finally he whispered, as though speaking to some demon dwelling deep within himself, “ I’ll be a goddamned sonofabitch…”

In the discussion that followed, Lanyard/GC hovered close to YZ/I, and it was clear that a sharp conflict was playing itself out beneath the surface between them. YZ/I was asking the Narseil commander, curtly, just what he expected in exchange for sharing the information.

“Not too much,” Fre’geel said. “Safe passage for all of my crew. An unconditional end to raiding on our shipping—”

“ All of our shipping,” Legroeder snapped. “Centrist as well as Narseil.”

Fre’geel looked nonplused. “Well, I can only speak for the Narseil Navy—”

“Well, I’m speaking for the Centrist worlds. In case you’ve forgotten, the data’s in my head,” Legroeder said coldly.

Fre’geel bobbed his head in acquiescence. He had no reason to object.

“One other thing,” Legroeder said. “ Impris goes home first, to Faber Eridani. From there, we can request her loan to the Narseil Rigging Institute.”

“Now, excuse me, Rigger,” Fre’geel began.

“Excuse me, my ass, Fre’geel. You’re the best equipped to study her, so Captain Friedman should agree. But if not—were you thinking of replacing one form of piracy with another, and just hijacking her?”

Fre’geel stiffened, puffing air through his gills. “We were intending no such thing. But let me ask this. Do you trust the Faber Eridani authorities?”

Legroeder swallowed hard. Touché . “I guess we’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it. But in any case, I’m the one you need, more than the ship.”

Fre’geel didn’t contradict him.

YZ/I gazed at Legroeder for a long time, with what seemed a new degree of respect. He shot a glance at Deutsch, floating in silence. “How much did you know about this?”

“Not a thing,” Deutsch said. “I’ve been learning a lot, listening to this conversation.”

“And so have I,” Lanyard interrupted icily. “YZ/I, it’s starting to sound as if you’re giving away the whole store here.”

YZ/I turned to Lanyard with an expression of calculated calm. “Not at all, my friend. And if you are thinking to put out false claims on that score, you had better think very carefully indeed.”

“I make no false claims,” Lanyard said rigidly.

“Let us be clear, then,” YZ/I said. “You know my position on strengthening Ivan and the Kyber Republic—through self reliance . Perhaps we’ve taxed the outworlds enough, eh? My position is that anything we can do to aid the colony fleet, we will. Now, you tell me a better bargain than one that will gain us a map of the quantum flaws that can ensure the safety of our fleet .”

Lanyard’s mouth grew tight; he was clearly taken aback. Legroeder could only marvel at the way YZ/I worked to turn what a few moments ago was a setback, into a political triumph. Lanyard strained to protest, “But what about the others? Carlotta…?”