Beast Master's Circus

Chapter Thirteen

There was a small committee—one man and his assistant—waiting to greet Tani when the patrol ship set down. As Brad had requested, it was not ostentatious, nor had information of her arrival been given to the press. Versha left her ship first and took up a position which made it plain she was acting as a guard. Then Tani walked down the ramp flanked by Storm and Logan, each a half-pace behind her.

"Gracious Lady, Trastor welcomes the daughter of Bright Sky, savior of Trastor." The welcoming official was a small man of innocuous appearance. From an angle where he could not see what she did, Versha's hands flew in the hand-signs used for communication between settlers and natives on Arzor.

"Cunning, do not underestimate, this one is an important man."

Without turning his head the small man suddenly grinned. "Thank you, Officer." His attention returned to Tani, his eyes studying her. He nodded once to himself and offered her a slight bow. "Let me stop being polite and start being cunning. This way." He ushered her to a comfortable hovercar, saw to the safe seating of the other three, then signaled to the assistant to drive. They moved off and the man spoke quietly.

"I am Under-governor Larash-Ti-Andresson. My friends call me Anders. I hope you will be friends. You would not know this, Bright Sky-Ti-Tani, but I was one of the people your father saved. Later, if it is your pleasure, I will take you to his memorial." He spoke almost lightly but both Tani and Storm could sense the very real emotion beneath the words. This man, whoever or whatever else he might be, did indeed remember and honor the man who died helping to free Trastor from the enemy.

"I have reviewed what information I have received so far," Anders continued quietly. "I will summarize. Patrol Officer Versha has requested we take into custody two citizens of the planet Brightland. These two, a Lady Ideena and a man named Baris, are at present on Trastor. They arrived openly, appear to have money, and own their own ship." His lips quirked. "It may be a rather shabby and obsolete model but it does belong to them. It is in spaceworthy condition and carries all emergency beacons and supplies mandated by law.

"They have committed no known felonies here, nor have any complaints been made against them by citizens of Trastor. Apart from this we have received no warrants against them for offenses committed on other worlds which we would recognize as—to use the old term—extraditable. However I am told they have committed crimes against you personally. You are here to make a formal complaint and request that we act as Versha asks. That we take these people into custody and question them rigorously. Is this correct?"

Tani simply nodded.

"But an ordinary complaint about something which occurred on another world does not carry over to ours," Anders said gently.

Tani met his gaze. "This does," she said flatly. "I am here as a representative of the Nitra on Arzor. Patrol Officer Versha is present to verify my complaint. I charge the people known as Baris and Lady Ideena with attempted insurrection of a native race against the humans of a 'settled world.' On behalf of the Nitra I charge theft of sacred items which I can identify."

She could see that Anders suddenly looked grave, as well he might. It was one of the few charges which could and did carry over to another world. No world with a native race wanted some fool out there starting a holy war against the humans. Still less did they wish the other nonhuman races with whom they allied to think that Terrans did not take such a complaint seriously. Anders opened his mouth and Storm cut in.

"I am here as a representative of the beast masters unit in which I held a commission. This may be verified on application to High Command. They stand prepared. I charge those known as Baris and Lady Ideena with acts of sabotage against a unit of the Terran Command. In the course of which acts they injured a civilian, committed theft and damage of property, and violated port safety regulations. The government of Arzor has filed charges over the latter. I carry the warrants for those and can produce them on request."

"Beast master unit? Terran High Command?" Anders's voice was horrified. Storm descended from the harsh emotionless attitude he'd assumed to impress the Under-governor.

"Anders." He leaned forward. "That pair attacked a clan camp twice. They stole some jewelry from the female shaman they'd stunned. The Nitra are leaving it to Tani to sort out—for the moment. She's a clan-friend."

"Isn't that unusual?"

"She's only the second in Arzor's history," Storm said tersely. "But the Nitra want satisfaction. They want the jewelry returned with Tani and the thieves provably punished. They'll settle for the thieves but not the sacred items alone."

"In other words they want satisfaction."

"Yes. As to the other charge, that could become worse. You had a beast master living here. Yes, I know he's dead," he added before Anders could interrupt. "We have reason to think this pair may have been involved with that death, or know who was. Listen." He spoke slowly as the hovercar floated silently along the path toward a series of office buildings. It halted as Storm finished speaking. Anders exited the car and found Logan at his side. The young man spoke very quietly and seriously.

"Anders, you said no complaint from a citizen had been received." He took a breath. "But isn't Tani an honorary citizen of Trastor? I'm sure her Aunt Kady said so once."

The Under-governor eyed him. "That is so. We decreed that Bright Sky was a citizen of our world. It was a posthumous citizenship but you're correct. It descends by law to any child of his living at the time it was granted. It also gives me an unimpeachable reason to act." He waved the others to join them, sweeping them with him to a large office. There he sat and reached for a control panel. Into the speaker above that, he snapped a string of brisk orders as he switched from office to office. Then he looked at the four.

"That will set things in motion. Officer, you have had your people here see to it that the criminals do not depart unexpectedly."

Versha smiled. "Oh, I think they'll still be around."

"So do I," Anders said dryly. "That was a statement, not a question. I've heard something about a complaint against a ship which may or may not be correctly identified. I've also heard about pirates." He leaned to the speaker panel and called for refreshments, then sat back. "Let us wait in comfort while we see if my preliminary endeavors bear fruit." He looked at Tani. "Do I gather two of the stolen beasts are yours? Are you also a beast master?"

"I was never trained. But yes, I have the gifts and the coyotes are part of my team."

"If you are not officially a beast master how do you come to have Terran animals?"

Tani settled back. "I am the niece of Brion and Kady Carraldo." She saw his look of half-recognition and continued. "I grew up on their interstellar ark working with animals and helping the scientists and my kin there."

The Under-governor's memory released the information that had been teasing him and the back of his neck went cold. Lord of Light! The ark was an invaluable resource for every human-settled world. It was run and ruled by scientists, but he guessed that scientific detachment did not apply where it came to this girl if they thought Trastor was ill-treating her. They might continue to assist Trastor, but there were many ways in which they could deny a world what it needed without appearing to flatly reject official requests.

Tani would not have dreamed of using that power, nor would her aunt and uncle have considered it. She did not even see the way Anders might be thinking. Storm did, but said nothing. If a man thought that way you wouldn't change his mind-set by arguing. If Anders believed that helping Tani and laying hands on Baris and Ideena would keep Trastor in credit with the ark, let him. He'd make sure Brion and Kady heard of the man's help. How they reacted was up to them.

Anders stood. "Please excuse me for a time. There are certain things I must do. The burdens of government." He chuckled a little and left.

Versha stared after him. "Not the fool he looks even if he was jumping to a few conclusions there at the end." She dug a small comunit out of her pocket and spun dials. "Jared?"

"Jared here, Versha, where the Hades are you and what have you stirred up? Every peacekeeper, port official, and security beat-walker is out buzzing around. There's a hunt for our two like you wouldn't believe."

"Yes I would. Never mind that right now. Tell me everything you know about a man called 'Under-governor Larash-Ti-Andresson. My friends call me Anders.' Small man. Looks meek and mild, rather harmless. Until you say something important and see his eyes."

She heard a sort of gulp over the com. "Andresson? Oh, he's Under-governor all right. He runs the security for Trastor. Peacekeepers, port police, private guards, spies, anyone at all in those categories. He deals with anything that may imperil Trastor's safety, autonomy, or internal security. He isn't always soft-handed about how he does that either. But he's honest and he's very good at what he does. Particularly if he thinks what he does will help Trastor. He can be ruthless but he's a patriot. To him Trastor is first in importance, and other planets are nothing in comparison."

"Thanks. I think we've convinced him it's in Trastor's interest to help us. Don't go against him. But try to see that Baris and Ideena stay alive if that's possible. Versha out."

She snapped the comunit off and tucked it away again. "You heard that, Anders? You can come back now." The man who returned was the same until you saw his face with the meek mask of minor officialdom removed. His gait was firmly confident. His eyes showed a hard humor and wary intelligence.

"You knew."

"As you intended."

"Only if you were bright enough."

"Take it that I am," Versha requested. "And now that we both know who's who and what's what, how is the hunt going?"

"Mixed. They got to that ship of theirs. They started to lift and at a thousand feet someone hit them with a scramble-laser. Would you know anything about that, Patrol Officer?" Versha out-stared him. "I see." He continued.

"Their navcomp emergency system seems to have been ingeniously programmed. Instead of setting down right where they'd lifted, it swung the ship and landed in the next clear area. That turned out to be a park twenty klicks from the port—that's about fifteen of your Arzoran miles," he added for clarification. "No one was prepared for that trick. By the time my people reached the spot whoever had been in the ship had vanished again. We're questioning everyone in the area but there's no information coming in as yet."

He frowned. "Have they allies here, do you know? Anyone who might help them to hide or escape?"

Versha pursed her lips. "When they hit Arzor they had someone with them. Logan here never saw him, but Tani can verify that there were three people, believed at the time to be innocent tourists, whom the clan permitted to escape. We know three people also fled Arzor on that ship. So yes, they do have a colleague of some kind. Whether he's still here, who he is, or if he'd help, we don't know. But it's possible. Ideena isn't likely to stop at blackmail to get under cover."

Anders smiled dangerously. "We'll keep looking. Sooner or later someone will come trotting in to say that their neighbor is behaving strangely. Until then I'll make it clear to all the usual riffraff that it will not be business as usual. Not until I lay hands on this pair. Set scum to catch scum. The locals won't like having my men poking into every corner of their business. After a while when we don't let up they'll begin hunting for the pair themselves."

"But will they hand them over in shape to talk?" Logan spoke for the first time since they'd arrived in the office.

Anders nodded at him with respect. "They will if I make it clear that if our duo aren't alive I'll assume someone had something to hide and look even longer and harder." He straightened, stretching. "It's likely to take time though. Are you hosting your friends here, Officer?"

Versha glanced at her companions. "I think so. The patrol do have a suite for visiting VIPs. They can stay there until you want to talk again or there's news."

"It may not take long." His look was grim. "On Trastor it isn't easy to hide when I'm the one who hunts. We should have Baris and Ideena in a few hours, a couple of days at the most."

It was as well he'd taken no bets on that. Ten days later Baris and Ideena might as well have vanished tracelessly into a black hole and Under-governor Larash-Ti-Andresson was not a happy man.

Nor was Baris. He'd returned abruptly from a card game in which he'd been winning. His boots clattered up the ship's ramp and he'd yelled his partner's name in tones which could peel paint at ten paces.

"Ideena? Ideena!"

"For Ghesh's sake. What is it?"

"We're wanted."

Ideena raised an eyebrow. "That's so unusual?"

"Not what, who," Baris snapped, confusing her.

She stared. "Who? What? What the Crats are you talking about, you idiot? Make sense."

"That cursed Andresson has every peaceman out asking for us. We're wanted for questioning on interplanetary charges. If his people take us they can legally use deep-probe on charges like that. I'm getting out and I'm getting out right now! You can please yourself." He dived for the control room and Ideena followed.

"They have an injunction..."

"They can stick their injunction."

"That's the patrol you're talking about. They may have it backed by something," Ideena warned. She moved into the seat next to his, strapping down swiftly.

"I'll take my chances. I want out of here." Since that applied to Ideena as well, she said no more. Baris's hands raced across the controls, programming the navcomp and firing up the engines. Then he applied thrust. By now the port control office was uttering a string of threats and warnings. The chant grew louder and more indignant as the small ship began to rise.

"...subject to penalties under law of not less than half the value of any cargo, and pending decision on value to be levied against the offending ship..." Baris slammed a hand down and the indignant voice faded as the ship rose.

"We did it," Ideena yelped. The ship shivered. The navcomp emitted an almost human groan and every light it had began to flash. From the panel behind it a voice alarm sounded.

"WARNING. WARNING. SET-DOWN ACTIVATED. NAVCOMP UNCALIBRATED. WARNING. WARNING. SET-DOWN ACTIVATED."

"What?..."

Baris was working furiously. He spared her a glance, his eyes half crazed with fury and terror. "A Ghesh-damned scramble-laser. They used a scramble-laser on us."

"Can they do that?"

"They just did. Shut up. I programmed something into the system they won't be expecting. I'm pushing the boundaries on that as hard as I can." He peered into a viewer. "We're landing about twenty klicks from the port. In some park. There're a lot of ornamental bushes dotted around. Grab what you want and as soon as we're down and the ramp drops, run like hell. The bushes will help to hide which way we go. With luck the probies will be caught on their heels for a few minutes. If we move fast enough we can get clear." The ship was sitting on her tail, descending in a controlled emergency landing and steering with the small side jets. Ideena leapt across the control room, grabbing for emergency stashes of her loot.

"We can go to the circus. Dedran will take us in. If he doesn't and we're probed there's too much we could tell security about him."

Baris showed his teeth. "I know. Get the other two sets of fake ID. And anything light that's worth credits."

"Teach your grandmother to suck eggs. You get every weapon we can carry. Dedran may have other ideas about helping." By now both were stuffing pockets, shoulder bags, and the front of tunics. The ship's alarm was announcing that it was thirty seconds to emergency set-down. Baris hit the drop-ramp button, then, when it refused to obey, the override. The ramp dropped just as the ship settled. There was a grating sound as the ramp hit the ground and buckled. Both ignored it to race for the exit.

Ideena fumbled hovercab tokens from her pocket as they reached a line of the small robot-controlled vehicles on the far side of the park. Credits could be used but those who wished to use the cabs extensively during a visit often bought the tokens. They were in clearplas and weighed almost nothing. Nor could you spend them by mistake and find the cab refusing to accept larger amounts in notes. Thanking fortune she'd still a number of the tokens left, Ideena dug them from her pocket in readiness. They fell into the backseat and the door hissed shut. The hovercab spoke in a flat polite voice. "Where to, noble visitors?"

"To the Algona building."

"Two credits."

She pushed the token through the slot and leaned back. Baris started to question her choice of destination but she waved him to silence. They arrived at the building. Ideena cleared her throat and stayed put. The cab spoke again.

"This is your destination as requested. Do you have another?"

"Yes. Go to the Sharme intersection. Wait one half-hour for us. If we do not meet you in that time you are no longer required."

"That will be six credits, noble visitors." Ideena fed in the last of the tokens and hauled a bewildered Baris out the door. They watched the hovercab glide away as Ideena held her partner on the sidewalk. She spoke quietly.

"Those cabs are probably fitted with cameras. Andresson will be able to trace us here but not yet. The only way he can speed up getting that cab back is an emergency recall. And by the time he decides on that the cab's likely to be at Sharme. I packed disguises. We change here, walk several miles, and take another hover to Dedran."

Baris's look was sour. "They'll have cameras all over this building too, won't they?"

"Oh, yes." For the first time since Baris had burst into their ship, Ideena grinned. "I have an answer for those." She produced two small gadgets from her bag and turned, staring at the crowd. "I picked this up on Yohal a while back." She focused her gaze on two people moving toward them. "That pair look suitable."

The pair noticed were a tall thin male with an equally thin woman by his side. They were rapt in contemplation of each other and clearly unnoticing anything else. Ideena raised the first gadget and within it, there was a tiny humming. She opened it, removed the cassette, and placed it in the second small flat box. A tiny red light glowed momentarily. Ideena lifted the box to fit under a strap on her shoulder.

"Walk right beside me. Don't move away. The machine projects a holographic picture over us of the two I imaged. So long as we're within a couple of feet of each other all the cameras will see in here are those two." Baris eyed her with admiration. Trust Ideena to come up with something like that, it was one of the reasons he stayed with her, dominating as she was.

He took her arm and walked with her to the public bathrooms many large public buildings had on Trastor. There she entered, giggling wordlessly, with him in tow. She dropped a credit in the slot, dropped a towel over the camera, and signaled him to remain silent. Mutely she laid out disguises and they donned them with the quick ease of long practice. Baris produced a tiny pocket scriber and wrote swiftly.

"Won't they wonder why we blinded the camera?"

In reply she let out a yelp then a squeal. She opened her mouth and panted in a series of ascending gasps of apparent excited pleasure. Baris laughed and joined in. It was the perfect cover. Of course. They were merely two citizens in love and with no time to waste returning to wherever they lived. They kept up the pretense for long enough to be convincing. Then they exited using Ideena's box to foil the lobby cameras. Once in the street she shut off the box and they walked...

...No longer Baris and the Lady Ideena. Now they were an older man with his young son. Even Ideena's walk had changed, to the cocky swagger of a boy in his mid-teens. Baris became a more ponderous walker, a man of substance both financial and physical; an aging man who had never had to exert himself and whose reflexes had long since slowed. They took a hovercab in the direction of the circus. Several streets away they left the cab and strolled, two in a crowd, all heading for Trastor's newest attraction. There were guards at the circus gates.

Baris slowed. "Do we risk it?"

"No choice," Ideena hissed back. "We need to get under cover. Take your time. We'll look around the cages first. With good luck we'll see Dedran or Cregar without having to ask for them." They strolled, Ideena in character as a bored boy trying to pretend he was enjoying the treat his father had offered, Baris as the equally bored father only too happy that his lad was enjoying the show. From the corner of his eye Baris saw a familiar figure. His hand tightened on her arm and she turned casually to follow his stare.

Cregar was checking guard shields and locks on the cages. There was always some stupid child left unwatched who'd try to approach the cage front or sneak in the back to enter and pet the pretty animals. Most of the pretty animals would be delighted, some because they enjoyed being petted, others because they could always use an extra snack. He checked the next lock and held himself from a betraying movement as he felt someone approaching. A voice spoke very softly behind him.

"Don't turn around. This is Baris and Ideena. We're wanted. Ideena thinks it's about our raid on Arzor. Tell Dedran he gets us under cover or the probies have us and we talk our heads off. He'd better decide fast, they won't be far behind."

Cregar thought quickly. "Stroll about. I'll find Dedran. We'll slip you into the alley between cage rows. There're places there we can keep you where even the probies won't find a thing." He turned, looked at them briefly, and slid into the crowd.

He was back in five minutes with the worried-looking circus boss. Ten minutes later the fugitives were lodged undetectably if not comfortably in the secret part of the largest cage. Cregar and Dedran had talked and Dedran was both alarmed and furious but he hid his emotions from the fugitives. There would always be another time to act. For now he would have to wait and see what sort of a storm this stupid pair had raised. If it was too dangerous there were always options.