Jo Clayton - Shadow of the Warmaster

Dey Chomedy and Leda Zag came elbowing through the thickening crowd about Posa Ala, the tall one opening a path for the little.

Dey Chomedy stomped her foot and growled, then shouted up at the sphere, “Bolodo men took me off my mountain, took me from my nest; they did not ask my consent, they did not pay my price. Seven years the masters milked my sweat and drank my tears and nothing did they pay. Was I slave? Ssss. Show me Bolodo man, let me take my pay from his flesh and his sweat and his blood.”

Leda Zag tapped the tall femme’s arm and was lifted to her shoulder. “So it was with me, despois, I traveled to a place for rest but I did not reach it. Before I reached it, a gas bomb filled my flickit; when I woke, I was in a scout on my way to Weersyll and beyond. For three years I mourned one dearer to me than the beat of my heart, for three years I suffered, until the man Quale and his companions took me from my servitude. It has not been easy coming home, not easy for me, not easy for any of us, but we suffer these small travails gladly because we are going home.”

I kept my face very straight and serious, though I enjoyed that little speech; we spent most of a warm afternoon up by the lake dickering over her fee for her affirmation of my noble contribution to her freedom. I was kicking back half the reward, to be paid into her dainty little hands the day I got it, golden gelders, coin not credit.

After that the rest of them yelled their anger, a confused hammering of sound. Even the mirror-sphere seemed to shudder and I was wondering if I’d get out of there with hearing intact.

“Quiet.” The basso boomed out, hammering back at the yammer in the hold. “Enough!” He had the advantage of amplification, but it was several minutes before he broke through and my collection of ex-slaves simmered down a bit.

“Helvetia has heard you,” he said. Big of him. “She will expedite your arrival and provide housing for you until this matter is cleared up. She will provide means of contacting your kin or other individuals concerned about you.”

Hmm, I thought, such generosity. Looks like they’ve already got a strangle hold on Bolodo’s assets and want to keep the noose tight, they can’t let the thought get round that they’re playing with client’s gelt. They ought to pay Adelaar’s expenses and double for a bonus, what a lovely present she’s dropped in their little laps. I kept my face immobile and my hands clasped behind me, but I was beginning to enjoy this quite a lot.

“Helvetia asks only,” the sphere boomed out, “that you agree to testify as to the circumstances of your abductions. Bolodo Neyuregg Ltd. is actively contesting the claims relayed to us by an agent of Swardheld Quale. Because we may invoke certain clauses in the Contract Bolodo Neyuregg Ltd. signed with us, in order to put several executives of that Company through Involuntary Verification, it may be necessary for some of you to pass through the Verifier and otherwise make identification of such individuals. If that is possible and within your knowledge. You will be compensated for the time and the harrowing of your emotions.”

The sphere drifted toward the tube. I got out of the way before I was shifted aside by the pretors and followed the procession from the hold.

When Faceless said expedited, he meant it. Escorted by two destroyers though a lane cleared for us, we sailed at spooky speed for insystem travel straight to a mooring usually reserved for those wealthy beyond my dreams of avarice, where Slancy was put to bed in a section all her own. Shuttles drew up to her flanks and waited there like a ride in an amusement park, ready to take the ex-slaves down. Kumari had all the paperwork done, she’d taken care of that during the trip in between Xalloor’s rehearsals-name, world-of-origin, life history, work status, circumstances of abduction, fingerprints, bodyprints, retina prints and cell coding with a snippet of freeze-dried skin or flesh or chitin, whatever seemed appropriate, sealed to each statement. I didn’t expect any trouble collecting the rewards, not with ti Vnok getting his thirty percent, but Kumari was a worrier, it made her the best Mom Slancy ’d ever enjoyed. So, no delays. We lined our passengers up and hustled them into the shuttles. We rode down in the last of them, Pels, Kumari and I along with Adelaar and Aslan, Churri, Xalloor and the Omperiannas, N’Ceegh and the boy.

Now the real tedium began.

Images:

Aslan aici Adlaar: Yes, that’s the man. He was on Tairanna when Fangulse Tra Yana interviewed us. Churri the Bard saw him also, as did Parnalee Pagang Tanmairo Proggerd, though he can’t testify since he died mad.

Kante Xalloor: Yes, that’s the stringman who drugged me. I can’t connect him to Bolodo except by the circumstances that when I woke I was in a Bolodo scout; I knew it was Bolodo by the patches on the pilot’s shipsuit. Yes, that’s the pilot who flew the scout.

Jaunniko: Yes, that’s the stringman who came on to me, then drugged me. Yes, that’s the pilot who flew the scout that took me to the Cage on Weersyll.

N’Ceegh of Pao-teely: Yes, that’s the man who led the raid on my village. That’s the man who boasted to me my blood was ash.

Tom’perianne: Yes, I saw that man and that one also in the Great Chamber of the Palace on Tairanna, when my sisters and I sang for the Huvved Imperator. My sisters can swear to them also. Yes, that’s the pilot who flew us to Weersyll. Yes, those are the crewmen who loaded us on the slave transport. My sisters can swear to them also.

Adelaar aici Arash: Yes, those are the flakes I made of lists I discovered in the mainBrain in the Palace on Tairanna. I swear and will pass through the Verifier on this point, these flakes are not altered or added to in any way. I will also attest and swear this is the data I abstracted from Bolodo’s own mainBrain on Spotchals, I will pass through the Verifier on this point, these flakes are not altered or added to in any way.

Swardheld Quale: Yes, that is the contract I made with Adelaar aici Arash. Yes, that is the statement I made concerning my activities in the Horgul system. I do swear and attest that what I have said there is truthful, I will pass through the Verifier on this point and will answer any questions while under the Verifier relating to that statement.

9. 624 days std. since we started this thing.

The Nest/Telffer/Home again.

Crew and I are going to be set for at least a decade of lazing about, taking commissions we liked, not jobs we had to do. Between the rosepearls and the rewards, to say nothing of Adelaar’s fee, we will have a credit account on Helvetia so exalted I get altitude sickness contemplating it.

The Faceless Seven kicked in a thousand gelders apiece for the extras we brought along gratis, a nice little bonus; the Seven were overflowing with the milk of… well, something as they began taking apart Bolodo’s assets, at least those they could get hold of, not a small percentage of the whole if ti Vnok was right.

While I was waiting for the interrogations to grind to their eventual end, I passed the time doing this and that. I gave the rosepearls to ti Vnok; he wouldn’t do the selling, but he’d find an agent who’d get me the best price; I added a chunk to the credit account I set up for the Barker and his asteroid mines, dropped a fee on a cobben of NightCrawlers to take out the one pointed at me. Ah yes, and ti Vnok managed to slip Leda Zag her baksheesh without her patron knowing. He’s a good friend.

We dropped Aslan at University. It gave me a twinge to see how eager she was to get away. She’d done all she could to help finish off Bolodo, now she was going after the Oligarchs on Kavelda Styernna. That was more important than me or any other man. Adelaar was right for once, men were recreation when her daughter wasn’t busy with something else. Since I do considerable business with University, I thought we might recreate ourselves some other time. I played the idea around and decided I liked it.