Jewel (18 page)

If you or a member of your family were identified as the
source of this leaked information, it would certainly lead to a total severing
of all ties between your family and the Armenite House of Delling—and quite
possibly war between the Armenite Hegemony and the Cartel Worlds.

That was actually tempting to Jewel on some levels—a way to
potentially keep her parents in check if they should ever catch her again. Of
course, it wouldn’t be that simple. If it came to that sort of threat, the most
likely response from her parents would be to kidnap her and stick her in an
insane asylum to keep her quiet. What she said was,
Does this mean the
Ymirians did come here searching for armenium and you have discovered the
factors that led them to this system
?

Affirmative.

How did they do it
? she asked Spy.

I have a request to make of you first
, Spy answered.

This was very unusual, and it made Jewel uneasy.
A
request?

I would like you to tell me clearly how much time passed
between my deactivation and my reboot on the
Euripides
.

Void! That was not good. Spy was really on to her.

I’m waiting
, Spy reminded her.

Jewel didn’t know what to say. She had to think of something
that was both truthful and that wouldn’t alert Spy to the full reality of her
situation.
I’m not certain. It was a significant amount of time. Truth to
tell, I enjoyed not having you looking over my shoulder every moment.

You purposely did not immediately reactivate me after I
was shut down?

It was very important to Jewel’s future that she keep Spy
from asking certain questions. She couldn’t successfully lie to the bioware, so
she needed to misdirect it.
That’s correct. Are you really surprised?

Spy chose another, even more dangerous line of questioning.
Jewel suspected that the system’s programmers had never really imagined someone
would purposely shut down the system. It was simply too useful and shutting it
down was very dangerous. But Spy was smart for a computer and it appeared to be
coming close to recognizing what had happened.
Precisely what were your
parents’ instructions?

Ana was looking at Jewel peculiarly, but she couldn’t deal
with the engineer now.
I don’t know
, she told Spy,
I’ve already told
you that they didn’t give me the instructions directly.

No, you implied that you were getting your instructions
from me. I have not, however, been able to devise a scenario in which it is
reasonable to assume that your parents would send you into the Fringe on a
tramp freighter without chaperones.

Jewel could feel the last vestiges of her control over the
bioware slipping away. She had never intended to leave it up and running this
long. She hadn’t anticipated being off the
Euripides
and away from her
cabin for several weeks. On some level she was surprised that it had taken Spy
this long to begin asking these questions.

She made one more effort to salvage matters.
Spy, do you
really think that uncovering a non-Armenite source of armenium is not important
enough to require the personal attention of a member of the Khaba Cartel?

Spy was not deterred.
The personal attention of a
credible member of the Cartel, perhaps, but of a minor member whose marriage is
critical to continuing the supply of legitimate aremenium—that seems most
unlikely. What did I tell you about your parents’ instructions?

Jewel hesitated. How could she answer that question without
lying? What could she say to convince Spy this was a legitimate activity?

Your hesitations confirm my suspicions
, Spy reported.
I must proceed on the assumption that you are not stationed on the
Euripides
with the knowledge and approval of your parents. I must proceed on the
assumption that you are voluntarily engaged in activities that could sever your
cartel’s relationship with the Armenite House of Delling.

Jewel knew that she had blown it with Spy, but there was
nothing left to do but play out her hand. If she could keep the bioware
talking, perhaps she could still work her way out of this problem. If not, she
would have to grit it out until she could get back on the
Euripides
and
use the lamp in her cabin to electrocute herself and shut down the chip.
Run
a self-diagnostic
, Jewel ordered the bioware.
Your programming may have
been damaged when your operations were disrupted. Can you even calculate a way
in which I could have come to be on this ship without the active help of you
and my parents?

She waited for several seconds, but the bioware didn’t
answer.

Ana continued to stare at her, adding to Jewel’s unease.

Spy
? she asked.
Are you there?

The bioware continued to greet her queries with
silence—something it had never done before.

Jewel sank deeper into her chair. The only thing that could
make this day worse was for Erik to arrive and propose marriage, setting both
Ana and Spy even more firmly against her.

Two days later, the sea rumbled and groaned beneath the Tanngrisnir,
standing the boat up on its end before dropping it down hard again.

“What in the Void?” Ana screamed as she slid off her feet
and slammed into the port side gunnel.

The pyramid of ore-filled packing crates creaked, groaned
and toppled over onto the center of the deck with several of the containers
bouncing over the side of the
Tanngrisnir
and into the sea.

Jewel saw it all happen from inside the cabin and ran out
onto the deck amid the crazily sliding cases. “Ana!” she shouted. “Ana!”

Dazed, Ana tried to get to her feet as a cargo unit slid up
against her, crushing her against the gunnel.

The engineer screamed in pain.

Jewel grabbed the cargo unit by the straps on its side and
hauled back against it despite the pain from the poorly healing cuts in her
hands.
Adrenaline, Spy, I need adrenaline!

Spy didn’t answer her—Jewel hadn’t heard a peep from the
bioware for two days—but the cargo unit slid away from Ana so perhaps the
program was doing its job despite giving her the silent treatment.

As the unit slid backward, Ana collapsed limply onto the
deck. Jewel stepped in, scooped her up despite the risk of internal injury and
started to hurry with her back to the relative safety of the cabin.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of another
human shape hanging over the rear of the boat, dangling in the sea. “Oh Stars…”
she whispered.

“Ohhh,” Ana moaned.

Jewel began to panic. Running as fast as her legs could
carry her with an adult woman in her arms, she darted back into the cabin and
spilled the engineer unceremoniously into a chair.

Ana screamed but Jewel had no time to spare for her.

She sprinted back out onto the deck, dodged another sliding
cargo case and clambered up onto a second as she struggled toward the back of
the boat. It was dark and the heavy snowfall further obstructed her vision but
she thought Falco was struggling to hold on to the gunnel. There was no sign at
all of Arico.

Jewel leapt off the cargo container and sprinted to Falco’s
side. She dangled over the edge, her feet knocked about by waves in the rolling
seas. Jewel grabbed her by the coat around the shoulders and struggled to haul
her back on board while five-hundred-pound cargo containers continued to shift
chaotically back and forth on the deck behind her.

Help me, Spy!
She pleaded, but the bioware remained
silent in her head.

She tried again.
Please, help me.
When that didn’t
work she added a concession she had never made before.
Sapphire, please!

Using the program’s preferred name also failed to provoke a
response. Jewel was on her own.

Another of the loose cargo containers slid up beside Jewel
and crashed against the rear gunnel, breaking the low wall and spilling over
into the sea. Matters were quickly progressing from tragic accident territory
into utter disaster as Jewel again tried to haul Falco up onto the deck. The
wind raced past her ears and the waves crashed like thunder against the side of
the boat, but Jewel could still hear Falco screaming that she didn’t want to
die.

Her com unit began to beep but she couldn’t spare any
attention for it right now. Falco was shivering too much to help Jewel get her
back onto the
Tanngrisner
and Jewel was afraid she was going to lose her
to the sea. She gritted her teeth, braced her feet and hauled up and back,
wrenching Falco toward her with all of her strength. Falco’s coat caught on the
gunnel for a moment, then both women were falling backward onto the deck in a
sprawling tangle of arms and legs.

The boat lifted and dropped again—not like the first near
vertical splat—but sufficiently to send more cargo containers sprawling in
their direction. Jewel rolled with Falco, trying to pull them out of the way.
She was only partially successful, and one of the units clipped her hip hard,
making her cry out in pain.

Falco was still worse than useless, shivering uncontrollably
in a ball, probably suffering from hypothermia from her dip in the freezing
waters. Jewel had to get her to safety, then had to do something about all of
these cargo containers.

Her com continued to signal for her attention.

She laboriously got to her feet despite the scream of
protest in her hip and hauled Falco up beside her. It wasn’t easy steering the
other woman to the cabin, but Jewel got her inside the door where the air was
warmer. Ana Yang had pulled herself together. Cradling her right arm against
her chest as if it were broken, she held her com unit in her left hand and
shouted to be heard over the storm. “No, I can’t get them on the com! Lost
contact means I’ve lost contact!”

Jewel dropped Falco into the other chair and turned the heat
in the cabin up full blast. Then she started helping Falco out of her wet coat.
“What are you talking about, Ana?”

Outside, the loose cargo units slammed against the cabin
wall, making the whole structure shudder.

“We’ve lost all contact with Jörmungadr II down below,” Yang
told her. “And we’ve rained at least three dozen cargo units down on their
heads which will probably start hitting them any moment now.”

“And who are you talking to?” Jewel asked.

“It’s Erik,” Yang said. “Here, let me switch this to
conference.”

“Are you all right, Jewel?” Erik asked. “Ana said you were
out among the shifting cargo crates.”

“I’m fine,” Jewel assured him. “I pulled Falco out of the
water, but I’ve got to get out there again. I saw no sign of Arico.”

“I’m afraid we may have an even more serious problem,” Erik
said. “We just got word from the
Euripides
. They’ve detected a
slide-translation about twelve light hours out from this moon. Captain Kiara is
still refining her data, but it looks like three ships—a light cruiser and two
destroyers. With our luck, they’re going to be Armenite.”

He paused for a moment to let the bad news penetrate, then
shot them with the other pulsar barrel. “The captain has already decided to
make a run for it. We’re on our own.”

Shock threatened to overwhelm Jewel. If the Armenites were
here, they would catch her and expose her role in recovering this raw armenium.
The future of her parents’ cartel was in jeopardy. For a terrible moment, the
reality of the numerous bad choices Jewel had made to get herself into these
circumstances came crashing down upon her.
I really blew it!
Maybe Mother
and Father were right. I’ve messed up everything.

Then a very strange thing happened deep inside her. She saw
every terrible possibility that her short-sighted selfishness threatened to
bring about, yet she found the strength to act anyway. “All right then, so
that’s the bad news,” she told Erik and Ana. “Now what are we going to do about
it?”

Ana turned on her as if she thought that Jewel had lost her
mind. “Do about it? We’re stranded here!
Euripides
is running! And even
if she weren’t, we’re just a tramp freighter. We aren’t equipped to handle the
Armenites! No one is. We’re done!”

“We aren’t done if we use our heads,” Jewel told her. “Those
ships are still twelve light hours out and they’re going to waste time going
after
Euripides
. We have a small window of opportunity, people. So let’s
use it.”

Erik stepped up and supported her. “What do you have in
mind, Jewel?”

“Here are our priorities,” Jewel told them as she started
ticking them off on her fingers. “First you get Jester up to the
Genesis
with orders to prep that ship for flight.”

“Jester?” Erik asked. Despite his clear intention to be
supportive, he could not keep the sound of incredulity out of his voice.

“Yes, Jester!” Jewel affirmed. “He’s the one who has
schematics on his slate for just about every colonizer and support ship ever
built. He’s the one who recognized the Meteorite and turned out to know how to
drive the boats down here. And he’s the one who spent his whole childhood
dreaming of taking colonizers to the stars. Are you really telling me you don’t
think he knows enough to get that ship warmed up now that we have access to
their computers?”

“She’s right, Exec. I can do this,” Jester’s voice cut into
the com. He seemed more excited at the opportunity than worried about the
Armenites. “Those colonizers were built to last forever. And we didn’t take a
tenth of the stores left on that ship for the
Euripides
. It will take a
few years, but we can reach another system. It doesn’t have to be Arch.”

Erik didn’t waste any more time arguing with her. “Jester to
the
Genesis
with support crew, check.”

Ana couldn’t let the subject go. “But the
Genesis
is
a sublight ship. It can’t—”

Jewel cut her off. “That will actually be an advantage if we
can get beyond the slide-radius. The Armenites shouldn’t have the conventional
fuel to chase us that far beyond the bounds of this system and while they can
travel faster in slide space, they can’t actually reach us again until we enter
another star system.”

She could see Ana’s mind spinning around the apparent
contradiction that in some regards the ancient colonizer vessel was actually
more flexible than modern ships.

The engineer nodded firmly. “I agree. It’s at least a
chance. What else do we need to do?”

Jewel wasted no time wondering how she, the ship’s purser,
had ended up giving orders to the ship’s engineer and executive officer. She
was a Cartelite, and her people hadn’t made their fortunes in the
tabloid-fodder parties that they’d become so famous for. They’d done it in the
real world where they were smarter and tougher than everyone else in the
galaxy. “Erik, you’re the exec, fully able to take over for the captain,
right?”

“Of course,” Erik agreed.

“Then I need you to figure out where you think the Armenites
will overtake and destroy the
Euripides
and plot us a course that takes
us as far away from that spot as possible. We do not want to fall into Armenite
missile range while we build up enough speed to escape.”

“You think they’ll fire upon the
Euripides
?” Ana
asked in horror.

“They’re not going to let them escape from this system,”
Jewel said with confidence. “They’ll fire upon us too if we let them.”

“What else?” Erik asked.

“While all of that’s being done, the rest of us are going to
try to rescue our miners—”

“We’re what?” Ana asked again. Despite her broken arm, the
engineer surged to her feet. “They’re out of contact a mile beneath the surface
and we’ve got Armenites coming in system. I don’t want to sound cruel, Jewel,
but not only do we not have time to help them, but we don’t have the ability to
rescue them anyway.”

“Jester?” Jewel asked over the com. “How long to prep the
Genesis
for flight?”

“Nine days,” Jester promptly replied.

Ana’s face blanched in horror.

“Without all the safety protocols,” Jewel told him.

“You mean just go up to the ship and turn the engines on?”
Jester asked.

“Precisely. Since the Armenites are likely to blow us up
anyway, I think we can dispense with the normal cautious checklists.”

“Let me see if I have that on my slate,” Jester said. About
thirty seconds later, he spoke again. “I’m not positive, but it looks like the
normal warmup time for the engines is twelve hours.”

“So we have twelve hours after you reach the
Genesis
before the ship can leave orbit?”

“That’s right,” Jester said. “I can try and shave that down
more, but it’s a good estimate.”

“We’ll need more than half that time to get off this launch
and up to the star system.”

“Then I’d better get going,” Jewel said. “Arico’s still
missing and we have to check on the miners.”

Ana grabbed her by the front of her coat, wincing with pain
even as she tried to make Jewel listen. “You don’t even know if they’re alive.”

“That’s exactly right,” Jewel said. “But we don’t know if
they’re dead either. For all we know there are twenty-two men down there
working hard to make us rich and you want to abandon them because of a
breakdown in communications.”

Ana let go of her. There was fear on her face, but also
growing horror as the truth of Jewel’s words sank in.

“So this is what we’re going to do,” Jewel summarized.
“First we push the rest of those cargo units over the edge before they batter
the
Tanngrisnir
to pieces. Then I dive on the
Jörmungadr
to try
to find out what happened to Strongheart and his people. And while we’re at it,
let’s keep our eyes peeled for Arico, if he’s really over the edge I don’t see
how we can help him, but…”

She let her voice trail off, wishing there was something
they could do for the man.

Erik’s voice came over the com-link. “That’s a plan, Jewel.
Let’s make it happen, people.”

* * * * *

“You do realize you’re completely insane, don’t you?” Ana
asked.

Jewel and Falco had splinted the engineer’s arm and given
her painkillers, so Erik’s ex-girlfriend was back to her functional, often
abrasive, self. Funny that Jewel was starting to like the older woman again.

“Let me ask you something,” Jewel said as she pulled on the
least battered of the all-environment suits still on the
Tanngrisnir
.
The best suits were all currently being worn by the miners down below and this
one looked like it could substitute for a patchwork quilt, but it was all that
she had to work with.

Ana stopped checking the seals on Jewel’s suit and gave her
her full attention. “What do you want to know?”

“If we run away from here without knowing whether those men
and women down there are alive or dead, would you be able to sleep at night?”