AGU SCI 1: The Star Brotherhood (6 page)

Vyx scowled. "I guess I should have come after lunch."

Lippaula giggled. "I thought you might feel that way, but you should know that ninety-five percent of the cooks on this planet either don't have a clue about the proper preparation of Tarlovo or don't want to take the time to do it right. No matter how they cook it— boiled, baked, or fried— or what sauces they use to hide or enhance the taste, it
always
tastes greasy and salty."

"Yeah, that was my assessment of the bowl Gillanno spilled."

"But my chef knows how to prepare it properly and takes the time to do it. The secret is all in the preparation of the meat for cooking. It must be soaked in the oils recovered from the Tarlovo's sex glands for several hours, then parboiled and allowed to cool for an hour. Most cooks can't be bothered with this preparation, so most people have grown up eating the poor results. They've never had it cooked properly, so they don't know any better."

Vyx wished he could order something else. Almost anything would do. But he was a guest here and the mission was too important to let personal culinary tastes interfere.

As Vyx and Lippaula stood up, she slipped her arm beneath his, so he raised his arm, crooked at the elbow, as if he was escorting her into a formal dinner.

The conversation was suspended as the food was brought in by an automated attendant and they were served. When the aroma wafting from the food reached Vyx, he couldn't believe how delicious it smelled.

"You did say this was Tarlovo, didn't you?"

Lippaula smiled. "Wait until you taste it. You'll never believe it came from the same species used for the stew at that tavern."

Vyx was still a bit skeptical in spite of the aroma, but he sliced into the thick Tarlovo steak as the attendant robot left the room. Cutting off a small piece, he lifted it to his mouth, paused to take a breath, then slipped it into his mouth and withdrew the fork. After a couple of seconds spent savoring the taste of the sauce, he began chewing.

Lippaula looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to announce the verdict. When Vyx smiled, she had it. "You like it," she said.

"It's great," he said, after chewing and swallowing the piece. "Are you sure this is Tarlovo?"

"Positive. I have it often, but never from someone other than my own chef."

"It's wonderful, Paula. I wish my cook were here to sample it."

"You have your own chef?"

"Well, yes and no. He's part of my crew but he does all the cooking. He's an excellent cook."

"How large is your crew?"

"I have four crewmembers. We've been together for a long time, and we're almost like a family."

"Are you married?"

"No, I never married."

"Why not?"

"It's difficult to have both a family and a life in outer space. As hard as it is on military families, it's ten times worse when you don't have the support networks they enjoy. And the life of a smuggler and gunrunner is that much more dangerous."

"I imagine you're lonely."

Vyx had no intention of mentioning his involvement with Brenda. He had to keep it secret from anyone who might try to use information about their relationship should he or Brenda ever be captured by an enemy. "It's a lonely life."

"You're the first Terran I've invited to dine with me since I've been on this planet. Believe me, I know lonely."

"How come you never returned to Earth once you got your freedom?"

"Technically, I'm still the property of Resorts Galactic. Here, surrounded by the Brotherhood, I can be safe and free. But if I'm discovered outside my safe zone, someone can earn a huge bounty for my return."

"But surely that ended when the GA defeated the Uthlarigasset forces. Slavery is illegal now."

"It's only illegal in the mind of the GA. Until Space Command crushes every Resorts Galactic operation in this region and arrests or kills every slaver, slavery will continue to be a way of life for many. Slavery might disappear eventually, but it won't end simply because Space Command orders it stopped."

"Can't you buy your freedom?"

"I tried once. They refuse to negotiate with escaped slaves. They said that if I returned, they might consider negotiating with a third party. I didn't trust them to keep their word. Once I was back, they might refuse to negotiate, and then I'd be stuck there. And worse, they'd probably wipe my memory. I didn't think it was worth the risk."

"As the head of the Brotherhood on this planet, you surely must have access to a spaceship. Once you achieve FTL, no one can stop you. You could be back on Earth in a few years. Even though Resorts Galactic is still operating, this region of space is officially part of the GA. The Raiders stopped intercepting ships and taking prisoners as slaves long ago. Travel is a lot safer for everyone, including former slaves."

"I've thought of it. Of course, the Brotherhood would try to stop me if they knew I wanted to leave, but I think I could get away. It's just that— I don't know. Everyone back on Earth probably believes I'm long dead. Maybe it's better to leave it like that."

"Don't you want to see your family again?"

"Some days I want to see them more than anything in the universe. And others I'm— afraid."

"Afraid?"

"I did a stupid, stupid thing and I'm sure my disappearance hurt many people…"

"The events that led up to your disappearance aren't important now. They're in the past. We all make mistakes. You were a kid when it happened, and everyone will know you didn't leave intentionally. I know your family and friends would love to have you back."

"Perhaps. I just don't know."

"I do. Believe me. You would make everyone happy."

"How about you?"

"Me?"

"I mean, do you keep in touch with people back on Earth?"

"I should do a better job, but I try to send at least one message to every family member at least once a year. Naturally, I can't tell them about what I do. They think I'm a miner and I move around a lot."

"A miner?" Lippaula said with a chuckle. "Well, you do have the look. You'd probably be the most intelligent and well-read miner in the mine."

"I tried it once," Vyx said, also with a chuckle. "It was absolutely awful. But to survive, you sometimes do things that aren't very pleasant."

"Tell me about it. If you're done eating, we can go back into my office."

* * *

As Vyx cycled the airlock hatch and opened the inner door, he found four pistols aimed at him. Raising his hands, he smiled and said, "I come in peace."

As the pistols were lowered, Brenda stepped forward and barked, "Dammit, Vyx, it's midnight. Where have you been?"

"With Lippaula."

"Until midnight? I've been worried sick. We all have. We thought something happened to you."

"Sorry. Lippaula sent the same Uthlaran enforcer to pick me up this morning. This time he came alone and said he was unarmed. I couldn't contact you."

"This morning? This
morning
?"

"Well, just before noon. The invite was for lunch."

"But all day— til midnight?" Brenda said.

"We had a lot to discuss. Let's sit down and I'll tell you all about it."

"We had ribs for dinner," Byers said as they walked towards the lounge. "Want me to heat some up?"

"No thanks. I had Tarlovo for lunch and Wernallo for dinner."

"Ugh," Kathryn said. "Tarlovo. Even my puppy won't eat Tarlovo."

"And Wernallo?" Byers said. "Even Nelligen won't eat
that
."

"It came as a surprise to me, but I loved both meals." Reaching into a shirt pocket, he extracted a data wafer in a protective pouch. Holding it out to Byers he said, "Here, Lippaula's chef recorded the recipes for me. The whole secret to Tarlovo is the preparation of the meat before you begin cooking."

Looking at it with apprehension, Byers said, "I've tried that awful meat. Nobody here is going to eat it."

"If you cook it according to these directions, I think everyone will love it. Of course, at first everyone is going to be cautious because we've tried the awful stuff they serve in the taverns. But Lippaula said it's awful because they either don't know how to prepare it, or they're too lazy to do it right. The Uthlaran palate seems to be less discriminating than the Terran palate."

Byers accepted the wafer and said, "If I make this and no one will eat it, you'll have to eat the entire thing."

"Make sure to follow the directions
exactly
, and the meat will disappear faster than your chicken cutlets."

"So tell us about Lippaula," Brenda said as they sat down. "Why did it take him all day to tell you what he wanted?"

"Well, first of all, Lippaula isn't a 'he.' Lippaula is a Terran female."

"A Terran female is the head of the Star Brotherhood here?" Nelligen said with obvious disbelief.

"Yeah, it surprised me too. Even more than that, I knew her on Earth."

"Define 'knew,'" Brenda said. "Someone you might wave to if you saw them on the street or something more intimate?"

Vyx took a deep breath and released it slowly, knowing what was coming. "She was— the love of my life in high school. There was even talk of what we might do after college."

"As in together?" Brenda asked. "So you were lovers? Were you going to be married? How about now? Is that why you're so late getting back?"

Vyx looked Brenda in the eyes and said softly, "We
thought
we were in love. Then one day she broke up with me for no apparent reason. A few days later, she disappeared— literally. The police couldn't find any trace of her and finally branded her a runaway. I couldn't believe she had run away from home just a month before graduation, but I had no idea where she might have gone, and I thought I knew her about as well as anyone. I even suspected she might have committed suicide and that her body might eventually be found, but it never was. Today I learned that the reason for the breakup was because she saw me talking to a girl in the hallway at school. It was totally innocent. We were only talking about a new book we'd both just read, but Paula hated that other girl and misinterpreted the contact. She broke off our relationship without any explanation and refused to even talk with me."

Vyx went on to explain what he had learned while he was with Lippaula. He related how his former girlfriend had been kidnapped, enslaved and sold into prostitution, escaped, and rose through the Brotherhood to become their senior person on Bleadalto.

"That's it," Vyx said. "We spent the day talking about her life since the last time we saw one another."

"And your life?"

"I had to open up also. I told her the official cover story I've developed over the years, so if anyone here is pumped for information, you know how to respond."

"You told her nothing outside of the official cover?" Brenda asked. "Even though you were once lovers?"

"Nothing inconsistent with the cover story. I may have filled in the blanks a little with inconsequential details. We did talk all day, after all. But nothing I said disagrees with the cover. For instance, I may have mentioned that I tried Daitwa once and didn't like the gamey taste. It's hardly something that someone who knows me could be faulted for not knowing."

"So what's the deal?" Byers asked. "Did she offer you a job?"

"No. At least not yet. I think I made it pretty clear that I had no interest in joining the Brotherhood."

"And it took an entire day to tell her that?" Brenda asked.

~ June 30
^th
, 2288 ~

Vyx had already explained how they spent the day, so he knew what was really behind the question. Even the most trusting of men and women couldn't be expected to embrace having their current lover spend an entire day in private contact with a former lover. "We talked about high school, and I filled her in on what I knew about the lives of mutual friends and acquaintances in the years after she disappeared. Plus, I figured the more time we spent together, the more I'd learn about the activities of the Brotherhood."

"And did you learn anything new?" Nelligen asked.

"I learned a great deal about the organization's structure. I recorded everything , and I'll whip up a report tomorrow so all of you understand the criminal network a little better."

"So there's nothing there to assist our slavery mission?" Kathryn asked.

"From everything Lippaula said, the Brotherhood isn't involved in slavery. It would seem on the surface that the crime groups have peacefully divided up the criminal activity on this planet. The Raiders control gambling, prostitution, hard drugs, and probably slavery, the Senesim Syndicate controls mildly addictive recreational drugs, pharmaceutical drug counterfeiting, and alcohol, and the Brotherhood is heavily into currency counterfeiting. Plus, all three have legitimate freight operations that also serve to distribute their own products, but the Brotherhood is by far the most deeply involved in legitimate freight operations. Lippaula told me that with the fall of the Uthlarigasset government, ninety-eight percent of their former illegal activity isn't illegal anymore, and the counterfeiting is just a small sideline. She said there were six large organizations involved in illegal smuggling when Uthlarigasset controlled this part of space simply because the import/export duties were so excessive. Now that Uthlarigasset is out of the picture and the taxation is over, those six groups have become legitimate operations. Of course they probably still handle the odd job where the import or export of certain goods are restricted by a planetary government, but it's not something that concerns us."

"And you believe her?" Brenda asked.

"For the most part, but not entirely. For instance, no one gets into counterfeiting in a
small
way. If you're into it, you're usually in up to your eyeballs. Most of the other could be true, but it's also difficult to imagine criminal organizations entering into a
lasting
peace. Of course, we all know what will happen next. Eventually one of them will covet another's business and attempt to move in, which will end the peace. We may already be seeing signs of it because a lot of armed Brotherhood people seem to be wandering the streets in pairs, as if patrolling."