Freedom's Ransom (31 page)

“I was indeed a captain,” Nilink replied, “as was Zainal, I understand.”

Ferris came running back, almost careening into Nilink but halting just in time with an apologetic bow to the Emassi. “I caught Zainal. He has gone to Kapash. My pardon, good Emassi,” he added.

•   •   •

KRIS AND KATHY, STILL PROFESSING INNOCENCE of whatever it was the head steward accused them of, were thrust into a dark, dank prison cell, already well filled to judge by the number of people they disturbed by their entry.

Oh Lord, not again! Kris thought, for the ambience put her forcefully in mind of the first time she had been in this situation, before she had been dropped on Botany—when she and Zainal had been gassed during the riot of Terrans. Only this morning Chuck had mentioned that a slave ship had docked, and the thought filled her with dread.

Beside her, Kathy was trying to rearrange her clothing after the rough handling they had received from Kapash's police.

“We didn't misrepresent anything. Was it that squint-eyed fellow from yesterday, d'you suppose?”

Inadvertently she trod on someone's arm and the man tried to knock her feet out from under her, cursing.

Kris steadied Kathy and motioned her to the wall, where they might find a safer place to wait.

“Zainal will come for us, won't he?” Kathy asked. “Yes, of course he will, Kathy,” Kris said positively. “Chuck will have sent Ferris running for him.”

They found a place to sit but they were not far from the communal slop pots and the stench was overpowering, so they moved, carefully, through the other prisoners to find a less redolent place.

Most of the inmates were sprawled, getting what sleep they could. The air certainly stank of stale beer and whatever other alcohol had been consumed: the stench was incredible.

“He
will
come?” There was understandable anxiety in Kathy's voice.

“He will come!” Kris replied in an unarguable tone of voice and then, finding a space against the wall in the corner, pulled Kathy down to sit beside her.

“I'm thirsty,” Kathy said.

“Don't think about it, Kathy.”

Kris did not think Kathy's courage would improve by being told that prisoners in Barevi prisons were rarely fed or watered: at least not until prior to being forced onto a slave ship. She composed herself to remain calm and await Zainal's arrival. Ferris would have found him, no matter where Zainal had been.

But barely had they got themselves settled when the prison doors swung open and jailors, cracking nerve whips, roused the inmates with harsh commands to stand up and move out. She was startled when a door in the side of the prison was opened to reveal a ramp. She remembered that sort of ramp and tried to suppress a surge of fear. Kathy didn't realize what was happening and Kris wasn't going to tell her. The prisoners were being
driven toward the ramp. Kris caught Kathy's arm, holding her back. “Zainal, where
are
you?” she murmured urgently.

They were among the last to be driven up the ramp, Kris looking over her shoulder at the main entrance, hoping against hope to see Zainal's large form in the doorway and hear his voice commanding the guards to leave her alone. Surely he would come to free them. The tip of the nerve whip caught her arm, though her clothing absorbed most of the painful strike, and despite her reluctance, she was driven up the ramp and into the hold of a KDM.

“We're on a ship,” Kathy said, frightened.

“So we are,” Kris remarked, amazed at how calm she managed to sound.

“What are we doing on a ship, Kris? Where is Zainal?”

“Trying to get us free, I'm sure,” Kris replied, though the smell of the hold was no reassurance at all. This was a slave ship: it stank of fear and human excrement.

The ramp door swung shut and was dogged tight by a guard.

“Find a wall space, Kathy,” Kris said, holding tight to Kathy's hand so they wouldn't be separated as the other prisoners milled about aimlessly.

“Find us, Zainal,” Kris chanted to herself. “Find us. Free us.”

A sudden movement of the ship as it undocked threw both women to their knees, and Kris barely managed to keep from crying out with fear and pain as her right knee connected painfully with a bolt on the steel floor. There would be no pleasant Botany at the end of this forced journey.

They both felt the surge as the ship took off, sending them sliding into other bodies and pushing them back against the far wall of the hold.

“I'm scared, Kris,” Kathy said as the metal beneath them throbbed with the power of takeoff. Her voice was
close to a wail and Kris threw an arm around her shoulders.

“Me too,” Kris agreed. “Zainal will stop this farce. Just you wait.”

•   •   •

“THE ACCUSATION IS A FARCE, KAPASH,” ZAINAL was saying, having stormed into the market manager's office demanding an explanation.

“An aggrieved client has every right to file a charge against a merchant who has sold imperfect goods or misrepresented his stock.”

“You know how we have been trading the coffee. You've tasted enough of it to know that our product is exactly as represented.”

Kapash merely smiled up at Zainal, obviously delighting in his discomposure, tilting languidly back in his chair.

“Now, what fine will you levy so that I can pay it and release Kris and Kathy?”

Kapash steepled his fingers, ignoring Zainal's urgency. “Well now, the standard fee is forty Catteni bunts.”

“Gone up since I was manager, hasn't it?”

Kapash's chair crashed to the floor and he stared hard at Zainal. Then both men heard the rumble of a ship taking off from the dock and Kapash smiled.

“If those women are on that ship, Kapash, you will be sorry for it. They have been falsely accused and you know it.”

“I do?” Kapash pretended an innocence that only made Zainal more positive of his complicity.

“What will it take, Kapash, for you to sign a release form and stop that ship before it leaves Barevi orbit?”

“What will it take, Zainal?” Kapash asked, idly drumming his fingers on his desktop.

“Out with it. I want the ship stopped before it can leave this system. What is it you want?”

“The location of the Eosi treasures.”

“The what?” Zainal stared, in dismay and contempt. “How would I know that?”

“You were once to be an Eosi host and you would have been informed of such things.”

“No, I wasn't because I never became Pe's host. Do not underestimate the guile of the Eosi, Kapash. They made no one their confidants, especially not an unhosted Catteni.”

“But someone knows,” Kapash exclaimed. “They had so much treasure. So much coin for their rents and deals, and most of the valuables taken from Earth.”

“I'm sure they did very well for themselves, but I have no idea where they stored their possessions. What will you take, Kapash?”

Kapash looked extremely uncomfortable.

“I'm sure you talked with their staff assistants, didn't you?” Zainal continued, not wanting to waste too much time talking.

“They knew nothing,” Kapash said, flicking his fingers. “And we spoke to every one of them.”

And not gently, either, Zainal thought, but he had no pity to spare for those traitors who had lived extremely well, serving their Eosi masters.

“Something I can give you, Kapash.” Zainal did not dare rush the man and yet there was a need for urgency. Only Kapash could have the ascending ship halted at the space station before it left the system for whichever slave colony was its destination.

“Your coffee beans,” Kapash said, coming to a decision.

“I don't have that many left,” Zainal admitted. “They have sold well.” He tried to think how many sacks remained on the BASS-1.

“You have a ship. You can go back to Terra for more. You will go back, and I shall have the concession here in the market for as long as I wish.” He scribbled some words on a sheet of paper and passed it across the desk for Zainal to sign.

It was a release for all coffee beans on board the BASS-1.

“Sign the prisoner release first, Kapash,” Zainal said, pointing to the various colored forms in the cabinet behind the man. “The blue one,” he said, remembering that detail from his own term as market manager.

“Their names?” Kapash asked, holding his writer over the blue sheet.

“Lady Emassi Kris Bjornsen and Captain Emassi Katherine Harvey.” He spelled the names, watching intently as Kapash wrote. When the form was completed, duly signed by Kapash, and stamped with his office's seal, Zainal signed the release of the beans.

“You will also no longer use coffee as a trade item,” Kapash said. With that, he must have known that he effectively ended Zainal's mission on Barevi. He reached out for the release. Zainal held it out of reach.

Zainal pointed to the communications board to Kapash's right. “Only if you immediately phone Ladade and order him to keep that ship from leaving Barevi space.”

Kapash seemed to hesitate. When Zainal raised a fist menacingly, remembering how much of a physical coward Kapash was, the man grabbed for the hand unit and made the call.

“Yes, do not give the ship clearance, Commander Ladade. Two of the prisoners have been cleared of the charges falsely registered against them and therefore must be off-loaded. . . . It is entirely necessary, Commander. . . . Yes, and I am on my way to ensure their release. I have the required form. . . . No, not murderers, Commander, but merchants who have been unjustly accused. . . . Yes, yes, most unusual.” He paused a moment, listening to Ladade. There was a flicker in his eyes as if he were experiencing some trouble in convincing Ladade of this necessity. “And I agree, Ladade. Neither of us needs these troublesome little problems, but I must maintain my reputation as a fair market manager. This matter
touches on my honor. . . . Yes, yes, we shall be on our way with the release form.”

Kapash was on his feet, then, disconnecting the call and hastily keying in another command. “Have my gig ready to depart by the time I reach my dock,” he said and returned the hand unit to its holster. “Come, give it over, Zainal.” He all but snatched the signed release from Zainal's hand. Zainal reluctantly let it go but, if somehow Kapash reneged on the deal, he would have it back—and break Kapash's neck.

•   •   •

THE THROB OF THE SHIP'S ENGINES CEASED AND Kris began to hope again.

“Has he made them stop?” Kathy asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

“Something has,” Kris said. “Wherever they are taking us, they haven't had time to go far.” She struggled to recall station protocol.

“Don't they have to get an all-clear from the station?” Kathy asked.

“Yes, they do,” Kris replied, in some relief. “To be sure all their debts have been paid and to announce their destination. At least that's what Zainal said. Oh, we haven't left this system.”

“No, we can't have.”

•   •   •

LADADE MET KAPASH AND ZAINAL AT THE AIRLOCK, clearly annoyed at this interruption to his schedule, but he obviously recognized Zainal and that seemed to alter his attitude.

“Ah, Emassi Zainal, I had not looked to encounter you again,” Ladade said almost genially, bringing his hand to his chest in a salute of respect.

Zainal duplicated the salute. “Nor I, Ladade.”

“You know the two released prisoners?”

“My mate and one of my KDM captains,” Zainal said.

“An officious and spurious complaint was laid against
them,” Kapash said, dismissing the matter with a flick of his fingers.

Zainal handed Ladade the release form.

“You know how abrupt such slave traders as Fartov are, lifting before he obtained my clearance for his cargo,” Kapash said, trying to shift some of the onus to Ladade.

From Ladade's expression, Zainal surmised that Kapash was not high in the station commander's estimation or guilty of much fair dealing. Of course, Kapash would get a cut of whatever profit Fartov made on his slavery mission. He shifted his feet restlessly, wanting them to get on with the release of Kris and Kathy before they experienced too much trauma in the fetid hold of the slave carrier.

“Please,” he said, trying not to sound too anxious. Zainal didn't know Ladade except as a very competent station manager. “Let us get to the business at hand.”

“Of course,” the commander said and gestured for them to return to the gig. “I have ordered Fartov to await clearance, which he will not receive until we have released the unfairly detained persons. I don't know how you and Kapash settled this most unusual last-minute rescue, but I do not like disrupting my schedule unnecessarily.”

Zainal knew a request for a bribe when he heard one. He considered what valuables he had left and could think of nothing that might tempt the man. “Have you any suggestion, Ladade, as to how I might ease such disruption?”

“You were to host an Eosi called Pe?”

“You surely are not another person who thinks I know where Pe hid his treasures?” Zainal scoffed. “If his assistants had no idea, then why would I? I met him twice, I never hosted him.”

Ladade looked unsure.

“Besides which, don't you two think it was odd that a
Catteni Emassi was left in the common prison to be transported so opportunely for someone?”

“But you were to be a host,” Ladade said, his eyes bulging with disbelief. Kapash made no comment. In fact, he held himself extremely rigid, a fact that suggested to Zainal that Kapash had been involved in his abduction in some way. Paid to ignore a Catteni in a mixed group, no doubt, since Kapash was notorious for his greed.

“Someone,” and Zainal looked from one to the other, “evidently saw a chance to get me out of the way permanently.”

“Hadn't thought of that,” Ladade said, rubbing his chin in a pensive manner as he regarded Zainal steadily.