The Icarus Hunt

CHAPTER 25

IT WAS NOT exactly what you would call a cheerful group that was gatheredaround the table in the lodge dining room a little after dawn the next morning, butit beat to hell the atmosphere that had been there the last time around. Partlyit was the smaller and more intimate nature of the assemblage, with Shawn andChort off somewhere being debriefed, Ixil directing the group looking over theIcarus, and Antoniewicz and his assorted plug-uglies long gone under heavy Kalixiriguard. The fact that Cameron had had time for a shower probably helped a lot, too.

"I hope you know how close you came to getting your neck broken last time wewere in here," Nicabar commented, picking carefully at the Kalixiri militarydelicacies the occupation troops had whipped up. It was a far cry from Chort'sgourmet Craean stew, but the taste was adequate and it was certainly fillingenough. "When you turned that plasmic on me I figured all that talk aboutEverett was just you stalling while you waited for your pals to arrive."

"You'd never have made it even halfway to my neck," I told him. "Antoniewicz'sthugs would have cut you down in a heartbeat if you'd tried anything.

Includinggoing for your gun, incidentally, which is why I drew on you in the firstplace."

He snorted gently. "I thought I was being reasonably subtle about it."

"You were," I agreed. "But I haven't spent twelve years in Intelligence workwithout knowing what a surreptitious grab for a weapon looks like. Give mesome credit."

"Personally, I give you a great deal of credit," Cameron commented around amouthful of food. Alone of the four of us, he was already on his secondhelping.

"You had me fooled all the way down the line, from Meima to our little chat atthe other end of the star-bunny trail, right up to the moment those Kalixiricommandos popped in and nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry about that," I apologized. "Though I did wonder after our talk at theedge of forever whether you'd finally figured me out."

"I knew you weren't as simple as you seemed," he said, shaking his head. "But beyond that I didn't have a clue."

"You might have told him," Tera said, a touch of reflexive accusation in hervoice. "He certainly wasn't going to tell anyone in there."

"But he would be coming out sometime," I reminded her. "And I didn't yet knowwhat the circumstances of that homecoming were going to be."

"And it's infinitely safer in this sort of game if no one has had even a peekat your cards," Cameron said, rising to my defense. "Sir Arthur explained all ofthat in his message."

"What message?" Tera asked.

"A note from my boss," I explained. "Retired—sort of—General Arthur SirGraym-Barker, former Intelligence Level Two Overseer and the Earthsidedirector of this quiet little combined-services unit Ixil and I have been involved withall these years. The commando team brought it through the stargate with themso that your father would know what was going on."

"Unlike the rest of us," Nicabar said pointedly. "So what was that fluff youspun to Tera about having been kicked out of EarthGuard?"

"Not a single bit of fluff to it," I assured him. "The court-martial wascompletely and totally official. It had to be—I was trying to worm my way intothe center of the Spiral's underworld, and everything in my record had tostand up to the kind of scrutiny we knew it would be getting someday. The time Ispentwith Customs and Rolvaag Brothers Shipping was more of the same windowdressing, with the added value of giving me practical training in the sorts of things asoon-to-be smuggler needs to know. When I was finally ready, they gave me theStormy Banks and instructions to pile up a mountain of debts and turned meloose."

"And that was when you met Ixil?" Nicabar asked.

"Actually, Ixil and I go back all the way to my EarthGuard days," I said. "Infact, he was the one who spotted me while trolling for prospective recruitsand suggested to Uncl—I mean, Sir Arthur—that I be invited in. He spent mytrainingyears building up his own sordid background, so that when we publicly linkedupwe were about as sorry a pair of misfits as you could ever hope to meet."

"And you already knew this General Graym-Barker?" Tera asked, looking at herfather.

"I met him about fifteen years ago, when we were developing an advancedtargeting-system countermeasure for military stealthers," Cameron said. Hemade a face at me. "Of course, I thought he really was retired now or I never wouldhave contacted him in the first place. The last thing I wanted was for theleakybureaucratic sieve at Geneva to get hold of any of this."

"So that's why you were on Meima when this whole thing started," Tera said, turning back to me. "You never did answer that question."

I nodded. "Sir Arthur told us your father was in some kind of trouble on Meimaduring one of my check-ins and asked us to swing over and assess thesituation.

I'd been wandering around the local tavernos for nearly four hours looking forhim when we finally ran into each other."

I looked at Cameron. "Interestingly enough, he even said that, depending on how serious the danger you were in, I was authorized to do whatever was necessaryto protect you, up to and including blowing my cover if there was no other way.

Shows you just how highly you're considered up there in the corridors ofpower."

"I'm honored," Cameron murmured. "That's rather amusing, really, consideringthat I was prepared in turn to tell whoever he sent everything about theIcarus if there was no other way to secure his help."

"Just as well you didn't," I said. "You start showing your cards to someoneand you never know if someone else is looking over your shoulder."

"As opposed to just dropping the cards faceup on the table," Nicabar commenteddryly. "I thought Tera was going to have a stroke when you announced in frontof everyone who she really was."

"I presume you've figured out why I did that?" I asked.

He nodded. "It took me a while, but eventually I got it."

"Well, I haven't," Tera said, frowning at me. "I assumed you were just tired.

Or suddenly gone senile."

"Tired, yes; senile, possibly," I said. "But not on that account. Remember, I'd already checked the Icarus and knew the Kalixiri were aboard and the trapthere was set. What I didn't know was what kind of contingency plan they had foranyone left behind in the lodge, whether they'd be able to move quickly enoughto get you out. I made sure that Everett knew who you were so that you'd bebrought back to the ship with us. You were in no danger from Antoniewicz—ashe'd already explained, you were far too valuable to simply shoot out of hand.

Whether or not the commandos arrived in time to save me, they would certainlybe in time to save you."

There was a flicker of movement across the room, and I looked up to see Ixilstep in through the wooden archway. "Ah, there you are," he said as he cametoward our table. "Not sitting with your back to the door this time, I see."

"Don't be snide," I reproved him with an air of injured pride. "You knowperfectly well I just didn't want my gun pointed anywhere near Brother Johnand his goons when they burst in on us. Any news?"

"All sorts of news," he said, pulling up a chair and sniffing appreciativelyat the food. Pix and Pax weren't nearly so reticent; they bounded straight offhis shoulders and headed for the serving plate. "The pilot tried to scramble thepreliminary helm setting he'd been coding in, but we were able to reconstructit. The combined force landed twenty minutes ago inside Antoniewicz's estate.

They report it's been secured."

"Combined, eh?" I commented approvingly as Nicabar spooned some of theKalixiri food onto his plate for the two ferrets. "I take it that means Sir Arthur wasable to get Geneva to loosen up and send some human troops to assist."

"I believe he convinced them this operation had nothing to do with the Icarusand the Patth ultimatum," Ixil said. "Which is not entirely untrue."

"Not entirely at all," I agreed. "I hope they're being careful—Antoniewicz is bound to have a few booby traps set up for unexpected visitors."

"I'm sure they are." Ixil looked over at Cameron. "The other news you may beinterested in is that there was a bit of confusion off Trondariok about two hours ago. A ship identified as the renegade freighter Icarus barely escapedfrom a group of three customs cruisers."

Cameron threw a startled look at Tera. "The Icarus? Was seen where?"

"Trondariok," Ixil repeated. "It's a Dariok colony world about ten light-yearsfrom Rachna."

For a moment Cameron still didn't get it. I watched his face, wondering idlyhow long it was going to take. And then, his face suddenly cleared. "Of course," he said, nodding. "Rachna. It's the duplicate Icarus we were building at theconstruction plant there. The one I was going to have flown to Meima."

"That's the one," I confirmed. "One of my other suggestions to Sir Arthur. Asecond Kalixiri commando team got in and commandeered it, with instructions tofly around that area for a week or so and make sure they're seen andidentified."

"By then, if we're lucky," Ixil added, "the group we've got at Hinsenato willhave finished making their copy off the blueprints the Kalixiri sent them fromRachna."

"Wait a minute," Nicabar said, his forehead wrinkled in thought. "Rachna.

That's way over in the Eta Sindron region, isn't it?"

"That's right," I said.

"Well, hell, that's no good," he objected. "The Patth know we were on Palmaryless than a week ago. We couldn't possibly have made it all the way to—"

He broke off, his face changing as he suddenly got it. "Oh," he said. "Right.

Of course we couldn't make it with a standard stardrive. But the Icarus isn't supposed to be running with just a standard stardrive."

"And as far as the Patth are concerned, this little incident should solidlyclinch that theory for them," I said, nodding. "So now we just have to leadthem on. A couple of days after the Icarus disappears from the Trondariok area, it'll be spotted near Hinsenato, then somewhere else, and so on. The idea is to drawthe chase far enough away from here that we'll be able to quietly move thereal Icarus somewhere secure where we can start studying it."

"And what happens to us?" Nicabar asked. "The same gilded cage the Patth wereoffering?"

"For Shawn and Chort, some kind of protective custody will be required," Iconceded. "At least until the Icarus has been tucked away someplace safe.

That'll also give us some time to get their testimonies against Everett."

"So that was why you maneuvered him into admitting Jones's murder in front ofall of us," Tera murmured. "So you'd have witnesses to his confession."

"Right," I said. "Just one more lever we can use against him if he decides tobe stubborn about helping us dismantle Antoniewicz's organization. As for you andyour father, power and influence being what it is, you're pretty much exemptfrom any threats Geneva can throw at you. Though I suspect Sir Arthur willstrongly suggest you both stay with the project, wherever it finally gets setup."

"Don't worry on that count," Cameron said firmly. "The Icarus is my discoveryand my property. Wild Yavanni couldn't drag me away from it now."

"Likewise," Tera seconded.

"We sort of figured you'd see things that way," I said. "And Ixil and I areaccounted for, too." I turned to Nicabar. "Which just leaves you."

"What are my options?" he asked calmly.

"The Kalixiri want to toss you into the gilded cage with Shawn and Chort," Itold him. "Frankly, I think that would be a waste of talent and ability.

"So here are your choices, or at least the ones I'm going to recommend to SirArthur You can stay with Cameron and the research group, using your commandotraining and experience to help protect the project; or we can take you tomeet Sir Arthur and see if he thinks you've got it in you to be a down-and-outsmuggler type. We may have gotten Antoniewicz, but there are a lot of otherfish in the cesspool that we'd like to see flopping around the bottom of our boat."

"I appreciate the offer," he said, looking at Cameron and Tera. "But thisone's no contest. Here with the Icarus is where the future is going to be created.

If we can figure out how that stargate works, the Spiral is going to change, almost overnight. The Spiral, hell—we'll be able to get to places in the rest of thegalaxy we could never reach before."

He looked back at me. "And the one thing sure as hell is that the Patth willfight like demons every step of the way to keep us from pulling their littlegold-weave rug out from under them. No, I think I'd like to stay here."

"Okay," I said, catching Ixil's eye and getting to my feet. "I'll go give SirArthur a call, and we'll see what we can work out. I'll let you know what hesays." Nodding to Cameron and Tera, I headed across the room, leaving Ixil tothe task of prying his ferrets away from their impromptu snack.

There in the archway, though, I paused and looked back. Nicabar was deep inquiet conversation with the Camerons; but as he leaned across the table itseemed to me that his eyes were lingering more on Tera than they were on herfather, an attention that seemed to be reasonably mutual. And it occurred tome that after all the time the two of them had spent aboard the Icarus, surrounded by loathsome smugglers and potential murderers, having only each other totrust, they might have become a bit more than just shipmates. It would be interestingto drop back by the project in, say, six months and see if Cameron was nowworking under the protection of a future son-in-law.

Ixil was coming toward me now, Pix and Pax still munching away as they rodehis shoulders. I made a mental note to offer him a small wager.