Three Card Monte (The Martian Alliance) (8 page)

We’d gone down a lot of steps, and my eyes adjusted to the dark before we ever reached the end. It was a safe bet that we were underneath the swamp, which meant I needed to focus on the fact that I could swim to the top should the tunnel we were in collapse on us. This was easier said than done.

After what seemed like a good day’s worth of walking—but what I was sure was probably only a couple of miles—we hit another stairway and went up and exited into another reed hut, this one no better than the one we’d left earlier, but containing two staircases. We went down the other one, and did the whole fun thing all over again. And then again.

The one thing I was sure of was that we weren’t backtracking. I examined the insides of the huts. They were similar but not exact, and I hadn’t seen the same one twice.

Five more times and this time when we exited into the latest reed hut, while it had another staircase leading down, we didn’t use it. Longdaddy stepped out of the hut.

Bullfrog was following, but I pulled hard on his hand, which I still had tight hold of. “What’s going on?” I asked in the lowest but sternest voice possible.

“We’re getting help,” he said quietly.

“Really? Other than being exhausted, what’s the point of all of this?”

“Not being followed by enemies.”

I decided refraining from comment was probably my best choice and let Bullfrog lead me out of the reed hut.

We exited onto a much nicer patch of land than we’d been on when we’d first entered this hut pathway. It was large enough to have held the Polliwog Palace. But there were no buildings here.

Thick, tall trees encircled the land, overrun with vines in a way that looked natural at first glance, but under closer examination were just a little too regular in places to be growing randomly. The vines wound tightly around and between the trees, which were close together in the first place. No one was going to get in, or out, through this living wall, unless they could climb really well.

What was here in place of a building or anything else, for that matter, was a nice little communications set up. It wasn’t up to what a Diamante battle cruiser would have installed, but it looked at least as high quality as what we had on the
Stingray
—well, if you could get past the fact that everything seemed to be organically created.

Which I could because I’d been around the galaxy more than once.

It was just the three of us here that I could see. But again I figured there were plenty in the trees, watching.

What there weren’t, though, were flies. None anywhere. I looked up. I wasn’t positive, but it looked like there was a kind of fine netting connected to the tops of the tress, creating a lid on the area.

Another close look at the trees creating the walls of this place, and the same kind of netting or covering was on the inside “walls” of this very large room or facility or whatever Longdaddy considered it.

I looked at the communications center and revised my opinions. There weren’t any Polliwogs in the trees, because the trees and vines were part of the overall organic computer system. This didn’t mean there weren’t guards of all kinds somewhere close; it just meant they weren’t in the heart of the communications center.

Someone else came out of the hut we’d just left, presumably using the other staircase because I hadn’t heard anyone behind us during our trek, and I’d been listening. I recognized her—one of the coat check girls from the Palace, the one who’d given Kyle her number. I tried not to worry about Roy and the others, let alone about Bullfrog and me, and failed utterly.

She bowed to Longdaddy. Once she straightened, he nodded. “What is the news, Lily?” he asked.

Lily grimaced. “Not much more than before. Based on today’s events, the Leech is doing just as you suspected.”

“And the others who went to visit the Leech today, how do they fare?”

“They’re back on their ship, Longdaddy. Waiting.”

“Waiting for what?” Bullfrog asked quietly.

Lily smiled at him. “Waiting for the two of you to return. Longdaddy, what else do you require?”

“Just remain watchful,” he said as he put his hand on her head. “And remain faithful to our true ways.”

“Always.” Lily bowed, Longdaddy nodded, and she went back into the hut.

Longdaddy went to the main console and started fiddling with twigs and leaves and such, which altered the picture on the large screen that was made out of what I was pretty sure was spider silk.

Thinking about it, the “walls” and “ceiling” were probably lined with tight spider webbing. It was one of the more expensive of Arachnius’ exports, meaning Longdaddy had more going on than being some sort of Swamp Swami.

There were a variety of options. I could stay quiet. I could try to run. Or I could ask the obvious. “What is it you suspect Monte the Leech of doing, Longdaddy?”

The screen came to life. It showed a solar system, or at least part of one. What was on the screen was rather desolate and seemed remote.

“Behold Orion’s Light,” Longdaddy said.

“That’s the rock the Leech wants to build his Casino City on?” Bullfrog asked. “It doesn’t even look like it’s a moon.”

I studied the space around Orion’s Light. “I don’t think it’s a moon. It looks more like a giant asteroid that got lost from its belt.”

“Who’d want to go there?” Bullfrog was asking the pertinent questions too.

Longdaddy turned and looked straight at us. “No one.”

“So, why did you bring us here, to what I have to guess is the center of your operations, whatever they may be?”

Longdaddy looked at me for several long seconds. “I know what you really are.”

Years of training to stay alive and safely hidden meant that instead of tensing, panicking, thinking thoughts that would give me away, or running like crazy, I remained calm and shrugged. “And what’s that?”

Longdaddy smiled slowly, ensuring all his teeth showed. “You are, in some ways, like me. Hiding what you truly are.” He turned back to the screen. The view moved out. It was clear Orion’s Light had nothing much to recommend it—like a star close enough to warm it, for starters.

I decided to let his insinuation slide. “How did you get these pictures?”

“When Monte the Leech made a deal with the Diamante Families, that did not concern me much, even though I have people who travel to Roulette. When Monte the Leech came here, however, and then made another deal with the Underground, then I took an interest.”

“I can understand that.”

“When Monte the Leech hired many citizens to have an extra-good time at the Polliwog Palace ‘undercover,’ so to speak, I became
very
interested.”

“Can’t blame you. At all.” Nice to have my suspicions confirmed.

“Thank you. However, when Monte the Leech proceeded to start discussing a new planetoid that would house yet another gambling world, I chose to take a much closer, more personal interest.”

“The pictures on the screen indicate a pretty long range interest.”

He shrugged. “We have more means and abilities than the Underground and the government might be aware of. And I used some of those means to send a trustworthy team to the coordinates being bandied about as the next gambling paradise.”

“He might be terraforming it,” Bullfrog offered, though he didn’t sound like he’d bought into this idea. “Though it seems very far from anything that could warm it.”

“It is too far away from Betelgeuse to receive much light, let alone heat.”

“This is very interesting, but why are we here, specifically?”

Longdaddy turned again to us. “When a group of ‘scientists’ came into the Polliworld Palace, went to visit Monte the Leech, and then had to create a distraction of large proportions to escape, well, then I knew for certain the Jumping Game was on.” He seemed just a little expectant.

“The Jumping Game is on” was an old Polliwog phrase. The Underground didn’t use it, feeling it represented a more archaic time for their planet. However, old or not, it was still used whenever something smelled, appeared, or felt off.

“We didn’t create a distraction,” Bullfrog lied. “We were attacked by the Underground.”

Longdaddy gave him the kind of look a parent will give to a small child who’s trying to blame something on the family pet—the “oh please, you expect me to fall for that one?” look. “Perhaps you are unclear about my abilities.”

He fiddled with some twig knobs, and the picture on the screen changed. It showed the interior of the Polliwog Palace. Point of fact, it showed Bullfrog and me, imitating Ciarissa, causing havoc in the blackjack area.

“I wonder, Bullfrog. Where is the young lady you escaped the casino with? Surely you did not forget your upbringing and leave her alone and defenseless.” Longdaddy zoomed in on me. Or, rather, me appearing to be Ciarissa.

Bullfrog cleared his throat. “Ah, no. I hid her…where DeeDee works.”

Longdaddy rolled his eyes at me. “Let’s see if you can do better.”

I wanted to get us off the topic of what had happened to the “other girl.” So I ran everything we’d experienced so far through in my mind and tried to think like Roy. “Monte’s pulling a major land scheme, isn’t he?”

Longdaddy’s lips quirked. “I appreciate your attempt to distract.” He nodded. “I believe the Leech is indeed trying to perpetrate a very risky scheme.”

“Why do you care?”

Longdaddy cocked his head. “Why would
you
care?”

“I’d care because he’s kind of our friend. He’s playing the Diamante Families and the Polliworld Underground against each other. I get that it’s a dicey game. But if they turned Monte into tomorrow’s canapés for Oceana’s Sharkfolk, why would
you
care?”

“Because the Leech would not be the only one affected.”

Bullfrog cleared his throat again. He didn’t do that often, so I figured he was at least as nervous as I was, maybe more so. This wasn’t a comfort. “You think the Diamante Families will blame Polliworld? And…take action?” Which was a very diplomatic way of asking if Longdaddy felt the Diamante Families would declare another purge, focused solely on Polliworld. It certainly wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.

“I believe this could happen, yes. Which is why I want you to fix it.”

“Excuse me?” I managed to keep my voice somewhat level.

“I want you and the rest of your ‘scientific team’ to figure out a way to ensure that things stay…roughly the same.”

“What if, despite the evidence, Monte’s actually doing a legitimate business deal?”

Longdaddy gave me one of those “you’re kidding, right?” looks. “What, in your experience with the Leech, would give you the impression he’s not pulling a Jumping Game?”

I sighed. “Nothing. Look, before you threaten us with all the things you’ll do to us and the rest of our team if we say no, I’d like to get some more information.”

“What makes you feel you’re in a position to bargain?”

“Really? We’re going to play this game? Fine. We’re in a position to bargain because you need us. If you didn’t, we’d be dead in some way or another already.” I glanced up at the sky again. “From the distance we traveled and the fact that you have this place insulated really well, and also based on when I know Monte’s casino shifts normally change, we’re a lot closer to Amphibia than you want us to know. My guess is that we’re somewhere between the Space Center and the main part of town.”

“Well done.” Longdaddy turned to Bullfrog. “If I believed she was really a Polliwog, I would tell you to marry her.”

“She’s a Polliwog,” Bullfrog said. “Just not from around here.”

“No, I understand she is not from around here.” He turned back to me. “You may ask your questions.”

“Lucky me. So, why did the Diamante Families take part ownership in the Palace on Roulette?”

“Rumor has it that they were displeased with the Palace making more money on average than the Diamante Families casinos.”

“Sounds like them. Why was the Underground willing to let Monte come here to open the Polliworld Palace?”

“Money.”

“No other reason? You’re sure?” Money seemed so…ordinary. Then again, who was I to complain about a simple goal?