An Abyss of Light (The Light Trilogy) (29 page)

“Satisfaction?!”

Ari jammed another lever forward and they whipped sideways, forcing the ship on their right to lunge away. Snickering, he then hit two buttons to send them plummeting into a narrow canyon where the red walls undulated like a serpent. The
Seros
weaved drunkenly to avoid protruding rocks and Yosef felt his stomach rise in his throat, terror raking his gut. The two ships that had been flying alongside vanished as Ari dove deeper into the canyon where the walls narrowed to a thin ribbon of passage.

Searching the portals on each side, Yosef gasped, “Where’d they go?”

Ari glanced at a monitor and grinned. “Cowards! They’re afraid to come down here with us. They’re flying up over the mountains.”

“But we have to break out of here sometime, then they’ll catch us, won’t they?”

“Who cares? This is fun, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s
not
fun! It’s
insane!
We have to find a place to land!”

“I’ve got this all planned,” Ari informed.

“You do?”

“Sure. Watch this.”

Yosef looked up to see the red walls suddenly widen into that grassy field Ari had spoken of earlier and realized the old coot really must have had this planned. Two- and three-story buildings lined one side of the meadow. Outside, donkeys stood hitched to rickety carts. They pranced nervously, watching the ship approach. And in an instant, the government ships were back, sliding alongside them, the green button on the console flaring demandingly.

“What are we going to do?”

Ari glanced at him and smiled. “Go some place they won’t.”

“Like where?”

In answer, Ari squinted contemplatively at the controls, shrugged and shoved three levers simultaneously. The
Seros
wobbled violently, slowed and lunged sideways, sailing heedlessly toward one of the buildings with the donkeys outside.

“Ahhh!” Yosef screamed as the ship clipped the corner of the building, spun like a crazed top and crashed through a warehouse. Crates, boxes, and huge petrolon barrels tumbled around them, blocking the portals.

The ship came to rest at an angle so steep Yosef dangled half out of his chair, held there only by the waist restraint. Ari hung over him, arms waving wildly. Slapping Yosef on the shoulder, he called, “Come on. Let’s go find out who lives here.” Releasing his own restraints, he fell out of the chair and slid toward the door. Yosef grunted, trying to follow with some dignity.

“Hurry it up! Open that door.”

Ari reached up from where he sat and pushed the button. The door slid back and a hundred cans of food cascaded over him. Grumbling, he shoved some away, then slithered over the rest on his belly. Yosef took a deep breath and followed.

Ari helped him down off the pile of cans and together they trudged through the mangled warehouse.

“Hey,” Ari said, bending to retrieve a can. “Look at this. They have red beets here. Where do you think they get red beets? We can’t get them on Tikkun. I’ll bet they—”

“Would you hush! We have to get out of here before those marines land and lock us up.”

Ari tucked the can in his pants pocket and kicked a box out of the way. Yosef shoved futilely at a crate, then decided to go around it, following Ari through an avalanche of bottles. They moved toward a door that had been knocked off its hinges; it banged loudly in the wind. Pushing out into the bright sunlight of midday, they covered their eyes.

“Hum …” Ari muttered.

“What?” Yosef blinked to let his eyes adjust and then saw the mass of people crowding around them. One man, with light brown hair and an elaborately braided beard, shouted commands to uniformed men and women. His white robe flapped in the searing wind. The police circled them, weapons drawn and aimed unambiguously at Yosef’s and Ari’s chests.

“Hey!” Ari shouted angrily, his chin stuck out. “Quit that! We’re Gamants, too. We came to see the Mashiah.”

Yosef jerked to stare openmouthed at his friend. When did Ari’s brain start working again?

The man in the white robe glared, eyes narrowing as the Galactic Magistrates’ ships landed in a burst of dust and flying gravel. People gasped, babbling excitedly.

“This might get sticky,” Ari murmured.

As marines with rifles poured out of the ships, racing to surround the battered warehouse where the
Seros
rested in a lopsided heap, Yosef’s mouth puckered.
“Might?”

CHAPTER 16

Yosef took a deep breath of the pungent frangipani incense and let his gaze roam the room, pretending to ignore the hushed conversation of the men weighing his fate in the far corner. A vaulted ceiling of coral marble stretched over his head. Against the walls, furniture of carved dark wood sat atop a rose strewn carpet. Crimson brocaded draperies hung in shimmering elegance over the windows which looked out upon the vast wilderness of Horeb’s rocky plateaus. His eyes lingered on the ridges. From this angle, they looked like the huge vertebrae of some long dead monster of the sands.

Ari nudged him in the ribs, whispering hoarsely, “Pretty tacky, isn’t it?”

“You’ve never had any taste.”

“Selling religion must pay pretty good, eh?”

Yosef eyed his friend askance. Ari’s long face twisted in a perpetual scowl as he took note of everything in the opulent room. He understood the feelings. They’d seen the starved faces of the children, the rags the common people dressed in, when they’d landed. And the Mashiah lived like this? It deeply offended Yosef’s sense of righteousness.

“Religion always pays good.”

“I bet if he sold this antique rug he could feed half the city.”

“Probably.”

Ari exhaled disgustedly and, as though testing the stability of his chair, gripped the ornately carved arms and shook them. Apparently reassured that they were well-made, he leaned back and extended his legs, letting them sprawl across the carpet as he patiently picked lint from his blue pants. “What do you think they’re going to do to us?”

“I don’t know.”

“They’ll probably kill us.”

“After what you did to that warehouse, I wouldn’t blame them.”

“Let’s just hope the Mashiah kills us. If they give us to that ugly captain, we’re in big trouble.”

Their heads turned toward the far corner of the room. In front of the windows, the tall slim captain of the Magisterial ship, called the
Hoyer,
paced anxiously before the High Councilman. Both were young, perhaps thirty-five, but each appeared quite different in his manner. Cole Tahn, the captain, stood stiffly erect, his handsome face pinched in irritation. He had dark brown hair, neatly cropped over his ears, with large blue-violet eyes and thin lips. He moved in the quick deliberate patterns of a man accustomed to immediate compliance with his orders, annoyed by any deviation. Ornias, however, strolled through the bars of golden light penetrating the window like a cat stretching in the sun: lazy, graceful, and ever vigilant. His tanned face and arms shone in stark contrast to the shimmering white of his robe.

“Councilman,” Tahn said sharply. “I tell you, they are not innocent. They came in here in the company of Jeremiel Baruch and must be in collusion with him.”

Ornias stroked his braided beard, noting distastefully the dirt clinging to the cuffs of Tahn’s purple pants. “If Baruch was with them, where is he now?”

“Obviously, he jetted or chuted, and is still on your planet.”

“I’m not convinced of that, Captain. Perhaps your men were mistaken and he boarded another ship. In the heat of battle things often get confused. One ship looks like another and one man in black like—”

The captain clamped his jaw tightly. “We know for a fact that’s the ship he stole on Kayan.”

“Did you see him evacuate over Horeb?”

“No, but—”

“Then you have no evidence he’s here.”

“With your permission, Councilman, I’d like to question the two suspects. I’m sure they can answer your questions better than I.”

Ornias sighed deeply, waving a hand toward Ari and Yosef. They sat up straighter, shooting each other a wary look.

“Don’t tell him anything!” Ari hissed from beneath his hand.

Yosef puckered his lips disdainfully. Did Ari think him stupid? He wouldn’t tell Tahn anything that wasn’t already obvious. Wherever Jeremiel hid, he didn’t need anyone blabbering possibilities.

The captain strode over and spread his legs, staring down menacingly. “Who are you?”

“Ari Funk. This is Yosef Calas. We’re from Tikkun. We came to worship the Mashiah.”

“Calas?” The captain grimaced distastefully and Yosef noticed that Ornias turned quickly, eyes narrowing. “Any relation to Zadok Calas?”

“My brother.”

“You know he’s dead?”

“I know,” Yosef dropped his eyes to one of the beautiful roses adorning the carpet. Ari’s bony hand sneaked out to pat him gently on the arm. While grief stirred in his breast, he also noted the concern both his possible executioners expressed over Zadok. Why? What had his brother done recently to excite such interest?

“A tragedy. When did it happen?” Ornias inquired silkily. In the light streaming through the windows, the man’s brown hair glistened like Cassopian satin. The smug look on his face told Yosef far more than his words; he grew anxious to be off Horeb forever.

Tahn responded, “About a week ago.”

An odd gleam of triumph lit the Councilman’s eyes and a sudden tendril of hatred replaced Yosef’s apprehension.

“What were you doing on Kayan?”

Yosef pushed his spectacles up on his nose and answered forlornly, “We went there to attend my niece’s funeral. But your people declared a state of emergency and Mr. Funk and I never got to leave our ship.”

“Where’s Jeremiel Baruch?”

“Who?” Ari asked.

“Don’t act innocent. We found his prints all over the
Seros.
We know he was with you when you left Kayan.”

“Yes, but you boys in purple are known for being blockheads,” Ari remarked. “Though, I don’t know, maybe he was in the ship before we got there. What does he look like? Maybe we passed him—”

“Old man,” Tahn said disbelievingly, putting hands on his hips and leaning forward to stare Ari in the eyes. “Do you know I could hang you from the highest tree?”

“Come now, Captain,” Ornias reproved. “He may be under Magisterial suspicion, but he is a Gamant on a Gamant planet. You have no authority other than what we
lend
you to complete your investigations.”

“Once I complete my investigations, Councilman, I anticipate interdicting your entire planet.”

“Indeed? Well, let’s hope it doesn’t go that far.”

Deep blue glints shone in Tahn’s violet eyes as they bored into Ornias. Straightening slowly, he asked, “You know the penalties for harboring a criminal sought by the government?”

“We are harboring no one, Captain. Please hurry and finish interrogating these worshipers. I’m sure they’re impatient to get to the baptismal waters in the Hall of Converts.”

The captain turned back to where Ari sat patiently picking lint from his pants, rolling it into balls and dropping them on the carpet. A fuzzy blue mound had grown.

“Funk, given your landing here, there’s no way you could have piloted the
Seros
through the light vault from Kayan.” Tahn stopped to eye Ari severely, but when the old man merely blinked mildly, he continued, “Be reasonable. Why would Baruch come to Horeb?”

Yosef held his breath, looking sideways at his friend. Ari wasn’t going to start an argument, was he? Bragging that he’d flown the ship? It would be just like him and that would only make their predicament worse. On the other hand, he wondered what his friend could answer that wouldn’t increase Tahn’s suspicions about what they knew. Blessed gods, it looked like they might end up with the Magistrates even over the councilman’s objections.

“Why would Baruch come to Horeb?”

Ari cocked his head and blinked contemplatively at the far wall for several seconds before responding, “That’s a good question, but I’m afraid you’re asking the wrong person. Yosef is much better at guessing games than I am. Yosef…?”

Exasperated, the captain shouted, “Did Baruch come here to recruit more Gamants for his forces?”

Ari shoved Yosef’s shoulder. “Well, Calas, what do you think? Answer the captain!”

“Blast it, old man!” Tahn bent low to glare into Ari’s startled gray eyes. “Despite what the councilman says, if I discover you’re in collusion with Baruch and his band of murderers, I’ll lock you up for a thousand years.”

Ari laughed condescendingly. “Do you have some new medical techniques we don’t know about? It might be worth it for us to surrender.”

Seeing the captain’s nostrils flare, Yosef squeezed his eyes closed. Twenty would probably do. And if they used the mind probes, their abilities to appreciate the last score would be questionable at best.

“Why,”
Tahn enunciated the word harshly, “did Jeremiel Baruch come to Horeb?”

“Maybe he came to worship? Huh, did that occur to you?” Ari spat hostilely.