Swallow the Sky: A Space Opera (6 page)

She thought about it.

“Yeah, maybe. Let me make
some calls.”

For the next fifteen
minutes Larissa talked to her contacts. As she chatted she absent-mindedly
placed a hand on Carson’s thigh.

“No thanks” he said,
taking her wrist and moving her hand “I really am here just for information”

“Your choice – easiest
thousand I’ll make this week.”

Eventually she made
progress and gave an address to the taxi.

“I will tell you Miguel,
this isn’t my first choice. The guy we’re going to see is bad news, so watch
yourself, okay?”

Their destination was
another club, one that had no sign over the entrance and a doorkeeper who
baulked at the sight of Carson.

“He’s with me” said
Larissa. That was sufficient and the two made their way into the gloomy
interior. Unlike the Twin Moons this place was virtually empty. She led the way
to a row of booths where a man was sitting alone.

“Hi Tabarak, this is
Miguel”

He sat down opposite the
big man. One glance was enough to set off Carson’s alarm bells. He had a
gleaming shaved head that was not quite symmetrical – as if a bag of skin that
had been filled with large steel balls. In a time when the human body could be
sculptured at will this had to be a deliberate choice.

Moreover he was only the
second person he had seen on Kaimana wearing clothes. Tabarak was dressed in
what appeared to be a regular black jumpsuit. Inspecting it more closely Carson
guessed that the suit incorporated an inertial protection matrix. In standby
mode it generated a slight inertial field that made the material feel like
stiff cloth. If the matrix detected an incoming projectile, plasma bolt, or
even the thrust of a blade, the field ramped up in microseconds to turn the
garment into impenetrable body armor. This guy meant business.

Without preamble he
placed another anonymous credit chip on the table. Tabarak glanced at it and
tilted his head questioningly.

“Ten thousand” said
Carson

“Larissa, get yourself a
drink at the bar” Tabarak said, not taking his eyes off Carson. She sauntered away.

“I should advise you that
I am being monitored by Mitan Security”.

“I was about to tell you
that. I was also going to tell you that you are a mailman named Carson and somehow you’ve managed to get yourself into a world of trouble.”

“Absolutely correct” Carson said, trying not to show his alarm “do you know exactly what kind of trouble?”

“No – Security is keeping
this one tight – something involving Juro and clan Aniko.”

“You know Juro?”

“We’ve done business.”

He leant forward.

“Listen, you’re clearly no
fool but it’s equally obvious that you’re no professional, otherwise you
wouldn’t be the only person in this place not carrying a weapon. So here’s some
free advice: Kaimana is basically a company town and the company is Clan Aniko.
If you’ve crossed Juro, get off the planet as quickly as you can.”

“Sound counsel” said Carson “and it’s the reason I’m here.

“I need to get myself and
one other person, a woman, away from Kaimana as quickly as possible without
Security – or Juro – knowing. I have a spacecraft parked in orbit so I can take
it from there.”

“That could be arranged,
but not for ten thousand.”

Carson sighed and
sub-vocalized a request to the local branch of the Bank of New Earth. The bank
decrypted and verified the genome embedded within his message and shot over
another ten thousand. He reached out and transferred the money to the credit
chip with the tip of his finger. Tabarak grunted, scooped it up in a muscular
hand and squeezed out the cash. He then in turn reached into a pocket, took out
a chip of his own and placed it on the table.

“One time pad” he said
“They’ll be a package and a set of coded instructions. Are you still at the
Caldera View? I should be able to deliver within a few hours. Understand this:
I will be breaking no laws. Mailmen occasionally delivery physical items, right? This package will contain industrial samples and be addressed to a
communications corporation on New Earth. The company exists and is legitimate. If
you choose to do anything else with the package that’s your business.

“And be clear that this
is a one-way ticket. No second tries and no returns.”

“I have absolutely no
intention of coming back”

“Good, then we’re done. Now
all we need do is give Security a reason for your visit here”

He looked around.

“Hey Larissa!” he
shouted. She trotted over.

“Take our friend upstairs
and entertain him for an hour”

Then, smiling faintly for
the first time, he added

“If Security sees a minor
crime, they won’t think about a major one”

“So who’s paying for this
entertainment?” Larissa asked him.

Tabarak just stared at
her. She threw up her hands and gestured Carson to follow. He nodded his thanks
and immediately stood up and trotted after the girl. The sooner he got away
from this guy the better – the man oozed menace. They made their way up a
flight of stairs at the rear of the club and down an ill-lit corridor to a
small room furnished with a bed and a small chest of drawers. Large displays
covered the walls.

“You watch something”
said Carson gesturing to the displays “I’m going to try to take a nap.”

“Tabarak said to
entertain you” the girl said nervously.

“No-one will know” he
said, then to show that he meant no disrespect “and besides, I’m completely,
totally not in the mood”

“Oh, we can change that”
she said and pulled open a drawer.

It contained a set of
disposable inhalation masks and an anonymous rectangular box. Larissa pulled
out the box and pried it open. Inside were neat rows of tiny colored cylinders.

“Gaspers – every come
across this stuff?”

Carson had; each cylinder
stored a synthetic tailored serotonin that could be inhaled through the
breathing mask. The effects were instantaneous.

“Most people use these
two” Larissa said holding up red and gold cylinders. She giggled.

“The red one pushes your
sex drive through the roof and the gold one wipes out your inhibitions. You get
some shy banker from New Mars, give him a blast of these two babies and pow! Instant
sex maniac”

Carson’s curiosity
overcame him.

“What are the black
ones?”

Larissa’s smile vanished.

“They’re Tabarak’s house
specialty. God knows where he gets them. They remove the aversion for causing
pain; it’s terrible – people just turn into sadists. Someone has to pay me a
lot
of money before I let them use one of those.”

Watching her face as she
spoke reminded Carson that there were worse things that could happen to a human
being than being blackmailed by a crazy old megalomaniac.

“Here,” he said handing
her another chip, “here’s another thousand. Watch a show and I’ll nap.”

“You’re too sweet”

He stopped Larissa as she
went to put away the drug paraphernalia.

“Let’s make my alibi
convincing. I’ll hold my breath and you spray just a quick blast of the gold
and red gaspers on my face. That way I’ll test positive for Security.”

“And when you walked into
the Moons I thought you looked so innocent!”

She inserted the
cylinders into the base of one of the disposable breathing masks and held it up
to his face. He took a deep breath and nodded. She gave him a two second burst.

“Thanks, that’ll do it. Are
you going to keep the rest?”

“Hell no”

She stretched up and
emptied the remaining contents into an air vent near the ceiling.

“There, that should liven
things up downstairs.”

Carson laughed, then
realized that for the last thirty seconds he had been staring at Larissa’s
body.

“I think a tiny amount
must have gotten into my bloodstream through my skin.”

“So I see” said Larissa
glancing down.

He turned away crying out
in embarrassment. She came up behind him and patted him on the arm.

“Don’t worry, honey” she
said, not unkindly “In this job I’ve seen
everything
”

He stretched out on the
bed, facing the wall.

“Watch an entertainment”
he said over his shoulder.

An hour later they headed
downstairs. Tabarak had gone.

“It would probably be best
if we left separately” Carson said. “Why don’t you hang out at the bar for a
few minutes?”

“Sure” Larissa said and
gave his hand a squeeze “come and see me again next time you’re in town Miguel”

He grinned and headed for
the exit. He was not the least surprised to find Officer Sosimo waiting
outside.

“Good God Carson – this place?”

“A man has his needs
Officer; I’ve been in space for weeks.”

Sosimo produced a small
scanner and held it up to his face.

“Gaspers! I’m not even
going to tell Asima about this – she’d insist on busting you. Come on, this is
the last time I’m taking you to the hotel.”

How true
thought
Carson.

That evening Carson stopped in the hotel lobby.

“Any packages for me?”

“Yes honored guest”
replied the counter “there was a delivery a short while ago.”

A small cart appeared at
his feet bearing an anonymous parcel. He scooped it up and hurried to his suite
where he tore the package open. Inside was a mail packet bearing a New Earth
address and a small envelope. He opened the packet, checked the contents,
resealed it, and turned his attention to the envelope. Inside was a small red
disk and a memory chip. He turned the disk over in his hand, shrugged, dropped
it into his bag and pulled out Tabarak’s one time pad.

Holding the pad in one
hand and the new chip in the other, he sucked out data. Taken individually,
each contained nothing but a random bit stream. Combined they yielded a mass of
instructions. He listened carefully for twenty minutes then dropped them both
into the incinerator.

Carson packed a few
essential items into his shoulder bag and made one last check of his room. After
a moments hesitation he left his final anonymous credit chip by the bed; it was
loaded with enough cash to pay the hotel bill. He had broken enough laws
already.

He tucked the parcel
under his arm and walked out into the terraced grounds of the hotel. Kaimana’s
atmosphere provided an ideal tropical growing environment and the nighttime
gardens were rich with the aroma of bougainvillea, lilies, and orchids. He
breathed deeply and felt a moment of regret at leaving the planet so quickly. He
had explored little of the island and had seen nothing of the spectacular oceans.
Perhaps one day – a long time in the future – he would return.

The meeting place was
perfect. The area was designed for guests who wished to take advantage of
Kaimana’s sultry climate and easy-going attitudes to engage in some discrete
outdoor carnality, and as a consequence monitoring posts were absent. It was
shielded from the outside world by curtains of gardenias and more privacy was
provided a waterfall that screened-out sound. Here and there low beds were
tactfully positioned in small arbors. On one couch two women writhed in silent
embrace but they were afflicted by the deafness that overcomes lovers. Aiyana
stood waiting by a life-size statue of a trio engaged in an activity that some
societies would consider illegal.

“Nice place you’ve got
here” she said.

Carson spread his hands
in apology. “I know, but it’s designed for privacy” he whispered.

He looked around; they
were alone.

“Put this on quickly.”

He ripped open his package and pulled out two black jumpsuits, giving one to Aiyana. They had them on in less than
a minute. Aiyana squirmed as she wriggled her fingers into the gloves at the
end of each arm. Following Carson’s example she kept the hood down, leaving
their heads exposed.

“These are stealth suits”
he explained quietly “they serve the same function as a privacy room. No-one
can scan our biometrics while we’re wearing them and when we pull up the hoods
they won’t be able tap into our systems either – we’ll be effectively invisible
and untraceable.”

“My God! Are they legal?”

“Sure, if you test
equipment in a licensed communications facility.”

“So how did you manage to
get them?”

“It wasn’t too hard; I
bought them from a local hoodlum. Finding a competent criminal is the same in
any society – you start at the bottom and work your way up the food chain. The tricky
part was keeping Sosimo off the scent.”

“And” he added “I’ve been
learning some interesting stuff about Kaimana’s infrastructure.”

Before he could continue Aiyana
stepped forward and kissed him. Startled, he began to pull away but then heard
other voices. The two women he had seen had finished their tryst and were heading
to the hotel. He put his arms around her and they stood in a frozen embrace as
the lovers walked by.

“They’ll need help if
they’re going to imitate that statue” said one.

“Want to volunteer?”
replied the other. They both laughed and continued down the leafy path.

Aiyana stepped away as
soon as the couple were gone.

“Sorry” she said “I
thought we should act the part.”

He shook his head in
dismissal and gestured for her to follow him.

“How about a bike ride?”
he said loudly for the benefit of any eavesdroppers “I’ve rented a tandem.”

The bike was waiting
outside the hotel entrance. Designed for tourists, it was little more than a
couple of saddles straddling a squat cylinder.

“Greetings honored
husband Smith and wife Smith” cried the bike.

Aiyana gave him a deadpan
stare but said nothing.

“I thought we’d go for a
ride by the lake” he told the bike as they climbed on board.

“What a romantic idea! Both
simulated moons are full tonight and the view will be lovely. Did you know that
the lake filled the entire crater before the first colonists arrived? Achieving
its current state was a challenging –”

“Shut up” said Carson.

Inertial fields gripped
their legs and the bike lifted off into the darkness. A few minutes later they
were skimming over the central park’s tailored meadows. The grasslands had been
planted with luminescent flowers and graceful arcs of color rolled beneath them
as they sped towards the lake. Dense knots of the glowing plants illuminated
tiny picnic pavilions and they could hear the voices of revelers drifting up
through the fragrant night air.

He leaned over and
studied the darkened landscape.

“Park by that stream” he
told the bike.

Once they had landed and
dismounted he added “We’re going for a long walk. Wait here until we return.”

“This vehicle is rented
on an hourly basis honored customer” the bike cautioned.

“I know, we’ll be back in
a while.”

“Will we? Be back, I
mean” asked Aiyana once they were out of earshot of the vehicle. They were
walking besides the stream, heading away from the lake.

“Like hell” Carson said
and picked up the pace.

After a kilometer’s hike through
the meadows they found themselves enveloped in a forest, the trail gradually
steepening as they approached the base of the caldera wall. Eventually the
stream disappeared into a three meter wide tunnel in the rock face.

“The lake is fed by
streams like this all around the crater” he explained. “They simply channel
rainwater from outside.”

“Time to get invisible”
he added pulling up his hood, and then remembering something yanking it down
again.

“Hey valet”

“Yes Carson” the calm
voice replied.

“I hereby terminate your
services and authorize payment.”

“Thank you, goodbye.”

“Oh, hold on!”

“Yes?”

“Zerstoren!”

The valet fell silent. He
raised the hood again and reaching to the crown of his head drew down a flap
that covered his face, rendering him completely enveloped in black material. Aiyana
followed his example. The covering was porous and they could continue to see
and breathe reasonably well.

A walkway was attached to
one side of the tunnel and they made swift progress guided by the dim lights
embedded in the ceiling.

“No-one ever comes this
way except for routine inspections” he said, shouting into Aiyana’s ear above
the roar of the water.

They tramped on for
several kilometers until they came to a mesh grid spanning the entire tunnel. The
barrier had small locked door to give access to maintenance workers. Carson
fished into his shoulder bag and brought out Tabarak’s red disk which he
attached to the lock. He gestured to Aiyana to retreat and moments later there
was a minor explosion. The door swung open.

Four hundred meters
further on the tunnel ended at a curtain of water. They stepped out into the
endless downpour. In front of them rainwater swirled into the tunnel from a huge
catch basin carved into the surface of Kaimana’s outer slope. The walkway
continued upwards to their right, terminating at the slick rock bordering the
rim of the basin.

They switched to night
vision as they clambered up the last few steps. Finally they stood on the
volcano’s outer slopes. All they could see through the deluge was a nightmarish
jumble of larval blocks scattered over the rising wall of the mountain.

In a couple of million
years all this will be eroded away
Carson thought. But even now, fifty
kilometers to the east, a new volcanic island was growing beneath the waves as
the tectonic plate continued its stately journey over the hotspot in the
planet’s crust.

They wandered among the giant
boulders until they encountered a clear area about twenty meters across.

“Time to leave” he
announced pulling a small communications pad from his bag.

“I’m sending a nanosecond
encoded burst – just pray Security doesn’t detect it.”

“Now what?”

“We wait”

But they did not have to
wait for long. A few minutes later a silent shape descended out of the rain; it
was Carson’s buggy. He slapped his hand on the hatch as the small craft settled
into the black soil.

“Who are you?” said the
buggy.

Carson pulled up his face
mask.

“It’s me you idiot
machine” he hissed.

“Oh, sorry Carson, I was getting no reading from you at all.”

Before he could reply
Asima’s amplified voice boomed out the sky.

“CARSON, AIYANA. GIVE
YOURSELVES UP IMMEDIATELY!”

They stared at each
other.

“They’re bluffing” Aiyana
finally said. “If they knew our location they’d already be here.”

“Agreed”

The hatch swung open and
they scrambled in.

“This is Aiyana” he told
the buggy as the door swung shut. “She’ll be traveling with us.”

“There are six Mitan
Security vehicles in our vicinity” the little craft said.

“Are they coming our
way?”

“No, they appear to be
executing a random search pattern.”

“Do you think they
spotted you on the way down?”

“Possibly – I’m cloaked
of course, but Security will have anti-stealth capabilities.”

Aiyana shivered. “Can we
turn up the heat in here?”

“Yes – sorry. Buggy,
match your atmospherics to the outside environment.”

Warmth filled the little
cabin.

“The buggy is cloaking
us, right?” said Aiyana.

Taking his nod as assent
she stripped off her dripping stealth suit.

We’ll have to her cure
of that before we hit New Earth
mused Carson.

Still, she was right –
the suit was intensely uncomfortable and he followed her example.

They huddled for fifteen
minutes as the buggy reported the progress of Security’s search, expecting at
any moment to see the Asima’s craft drop out of the darkened sky. Finally,
still booming demands, the fleet disappeared round the bulk of the mountain.

“Let’s get away from here
before we start the ascent” Carson told the buggy. “Take yourself up just
enough to clear the rocks and head for the shoreline.”

They started skimming
across the chaotic landscape. The craft’s sensing equipment was far superior to
their night vision and scene displayed on the buggy’s globular walls gave them
their first clear view of Kaimana’s exterior. Above them the mountain reared
into the night sky terminating in a thin band of light escaping from the edge
of the crater shield. Ahead the landscape flattened and gave way to beaches of
black volcanic sand. Lines of white foam marked the shoreline.

“We’ll head about forty
kilometers out to sea then – oh God!” As he spoke the silhouette of another
Security vehicle rose above the edge of the mountain. There was no time to figure
out what had happened. Snatching control from the buggy he accelerated down the
slope and on across the open water flying so low sea spray flicked the bottom
of the craft. Two kilometers past the shoreline they plunged through the
ocean’s surface.

“Is craft this submersible?”
yelled Aiyana.

“We’ll soon find out” he
laughed, but seeing her alarm added “Don’t worry, it’s designed to handle
waterborne landings.”

For an hour they hovered
in the waters beneath the reticulating surface, but all that appeared was
drifting seaweed and the occasional shoal of fish. Carson was quietly bringing
the buggy up to date when Aiyana let out an ear-puncturing scream. They were
staring into a monstrous eye. Simultaneously the cabin filled with a cacophony
of clicks and whistles.

The Leviathan was the
biggest animal Carson had ever seen. It must have been over a hundred meters
long from bulbous head to giant tail.

“Can you translate any of
this?” he yelled to the buggy above the din.

A slurred voice filled
the cabin. “You play game?” it asked.

Carson shook his head in
wonderment. Meta-Cetaceans had evolved independently all over the galaxy yet
every single one of them wanted to play.

“Yes” he shouted “hide
and seek!”

In retrospect, sarcasm
was not a good idea.

“I help” piped the huge
creature and before Carson could say another word it opened its gigantic mouth
and swallowed the buggy.

He sank his head into his
hands. “Oh great, great, great”

“No” said Aiyana “it
really is trying to help. Relax – it’s just holding us in its mouth. Meta-Cetaceans
don’t eat anything bigger than plankton.”

“Relax! She says relax!” he
cried, apparently addressing the heavens.

Aiyana ignored him. “Hey,
Leviathan” she shouted “can you still hear me?”

“Yes – we hide” the
creature replied.

“That’s right” Aiyana
yelled in triumph “we play game!”

“We’re moving further out
to sea” the buggy announced, adding more ominously “and we’re diving.”

Carson and Aiyana eyed
each other nervously.