Power Play

10

Bunny tried to get the ship's computer to sound an alert while Diego attempted to persuade the hatch to reopen. His bracelet didn't do the job, nor did any amount of trying different button combinations on the pad located beneath a smooth metal panel. Finally, something clicked, he wasn't sure what, and the panel irised open. He heard footsteps in the corridor and looked to see where they were coming from.

‘Bunny, quick, we've got to hide!' he said. 'The white suits are coming back. They're carrying things. More bodies it looks like.’

‘Can we run for it?’

‘You can't outrun a laser.’

‘Diego, they've all got pressure suits on. If they open the outer hatch while we're here, we're goners.’

‘That, too, although with them carrying stuff, they aren't likely to have free hands to pull the lasers on us.’

‘Come on, Diego. If we stand here arguing about it, we're goners for sure.’

‘They're too close!' he said. He saw them clearly now, the white-suited figures, carrying two women -Yana and Marmie! One of the figures, a tall man, wore the helmet but no white suit. Diego was pretty sure he hadn't been with them earlier.

‘Let's go,' she said, and pushed him out the door.

They were halfway down the corridor when a cloud of sweet-smelling pink gas overtook them.

Yana awoke coughing so hard she thought for a moment her life of the last few months had been a dream and she was still in the infirmary following the Bremport massacre. She had a sickly sweet taste in her mouth and a constriction about her chest, which she found, when she stopped coughing, was caused by another body lying across her. She reached out and her hand was full of face - smooth, unlined face and a tangle of hair.

A chorus of coughing, not as violent as her own, erupted all around her and then Bunny's voice grumbled in a sleepy-headed childish tone, 'Ouch, your finger's in my eye.’

‘Sorry,' Yana muttered and Bunny wriggled away, provoking another'sorry' from whomever she rolled into in giving Yana more space: Diego, in fact.

‘Sorry, Diego,' Bunny said. 'It's a little crowded in here.’

‘Yana,' Marmion's voice was faintly slurred, and she too began coughing, but daintily. 'Was that party of Ples's much better than I thought it was?’

‘I don't think so, unless she uses pink perfumed, gas on her guests afterwards,' Yana said, coughing again.

‘Merde alors! Is that what it was? Where are we?’

‘I don't know. (Hack) It's dark.’

Then suddenly it wasn't and a chirpy voice said, 'Oh, good, our guests are awake. Tell me, none of you have any food allergies do you? Anyone a vegetarian?’

Yana blinked fast and focused on the small port where a pert face dimpled in at them. Yana had seen hundreds of faces like that pushing everything from shampoo to specific space craft for flights to anywhere you cared to mention.

‘What's it to ya?' Bunny asked, surprisingly pugnacious on such short notice.

‘Now, honey, that's no way to be. Just because you have to be our guests for a while doesn't mean the experience has to be unpleasant. Sorry to crowd you all in like that but we thought you'd feel reassured to find each other near by when you woke up. I'm afraid the boys were a little careless how you landed. So, let's try again, shall we? Any food allergies?’

The tangle on the floor sorted themselves out. 'I demand to know where we are and why we've been detained in this fashion,' Marmion said.

Til be glad to explain but really, the crew is going to be cross if they don't get their dinners on time so could you please answer my question first?' the person at the port said with a trace of irritation.

‘I would dislike causing your crew any inconvenience,' Yana said in a trenchant tone. 'None of us is a vegetarian but I,' and she paused for a coughing fit, 'am sensitive to any sort of gas!’

‘Fine, good. Wonderful. Back in a jiff,' the person said, and left.

‘Marmion,' Yana said sotto voce, and when she had Marmion's attention in the dimly lit room, she gestured to where she had hidden her alarm. It was gone now: she'd've been surprised if it'd still been there, a gross oversight on their captors' part.

Marmion gave the most imperceptible of nods and a sly smile. So, thought Yana, both of them had had a chance to send signals. Help ought to be on its way. Wherever they were.

‘Macci's not here,' Marmion said suddenly. 'What have they done with him, do you suppose? There's just us four.’

‘Oh!’

Then Pert-face, as good as her word, was back. When she opened the hatch, she had two armed guards with her and the three of them stayed outside the room. The guards wore orange coveralls with no identifying patches. Pert-face wore a bodytight in green with an aqua tunic of what appeared to be crocheted lace. Her hair was light brown, with lynxlike grey tufts at the ears and in a diamond pattern at the crown, extending into the fringe of hair accenting earnest brown eyes.

‘I'm Dinah O'Neill,' she introduced herself. 'I represent Louchard Enterprises’

‘As what?' Yana asked.

‘Oh, Public Relations, Legal, Administrative, what-have-you. I'm the representative. And you, I take it, must be Colonel Yanaba Maddock?’

Yana nodded but declined to shake her hand.

‘And the famous Marmion de Revers Algemeine!' Dinah O'Neill said, the stars practically dancing in her eyes as she addressed Marmie. 'I'm thrilled to meet you.’

‘I wish I could say the same,' Marmion said.

‘Now, now, Madame Algemeine, I'm sure you've been unavoidably detained for business reasons before. Think of this little interlude as another minor delay. And these lovely youngsters must be… let's see, Diego Metaxos? Right? Right! And Buneka or Bunny - my, that really suits you - Rourke. I can't tell you how delighted I am to have you here.’

‘I'll bet,' Yana said, coughing again.

‘And where is Macci Sendal?' Marmion asked. 'He was with us when we were gassed.’

‘Ah, yes, that glamorous one. As far as I know he's all right but really, I felt the four of you would be crowded enough in here despite misery loving company so much.’

‘There's a reason for all of this nonsense?' Marmion asked, totally unamused.

‘The reasons are rather complicated and really nothing you need to worry about now. You're all safe and well and that's the important thing, isn't it? Except that poor Colonel Maddock seems to be catching cold.' Yana had launched into another paroxysm.

‘It's not a cold,' Bunny said, wrapping her arm protectively across Yana's hunched shoulders while she coughed. 'She's only just over a gas poisoning at Bremport and you - you can't just go around indiscriminately gassing people…’

‘I'm so sorry,' Dinah O'Neill said. 'The boss fancied a disabling laser bolt through the knees but I suggested that gas provides less wear and tear on the cargo - I mean, the guests. I do apologize.' She snapped her fingers at one of the guards who had a tray in one hand and a four-litre bottle in the other. 'Here's your dinner. Quite nourishing, I assure you. And just what the captain ordered. Enjoy!’

The guard laid these supplies on the floor and backed away.

‘I have a dog named Dinah,' Diego said softly to no-one in particular. 'She's a nice bitch!’

‘Flattery will get you nowhere, youngster,' and there was an edge on the bubbly tone Pert-face used. The door clanged shut.

Marmion lifted up the tray and peered at its contents. 'Nutritional bars and some vitamin cubes.’

‘What was all that crap about allergies and vegetarianism, then?' Diego wanted to know.

‘Here, Yana,' Marmion said, passing the water bottle. 'See if it'll soothe your throat.’

Yana gratefully swigged a big mouthful which she trickled down her dry throat.

‘What are you doing?' she asked Bunny who was now audibly sniffing, turning her head to smell each corner of the small room.

‘Wherever we are, we're still on the Space Station,' Bunny said.

‘However can you arrive at that conclusion?' Marmion asked, surprised and sceptical.

‘Air,' Bunny said and grinned. 'I'm a good sniffer and this is the same air that we were breathing on Gal-Three. Your launch had different-smelling air. But this…' and she sniffed again, '… is the same as Gal-Three.’

‘You know, she might be right,' Marmion said.

‘I devoutly hope she is,' Yana said with an unobtrusive gesture to where the alarm pad had been.

Marmion considered this. 'I wonder… You could be right, Bunny.’

‘D'you think they do have Macci next door or someplace?' Diego asked.

‘You mean, could he be in this with our dear Dinah?' Marmion asked. 'Really, Diego. Macci's Rothschild's, not a pirate.’

‘Is that who's kidnapped us? Pirates?' Bunny was torn between astonishment and dismay. Then her expression changed into a disgusted grimace. 'Water! I chewed that cube and it's one you've got to swallow. Urgh.’

They finished their repast and each took a long swig of water to wash down the last of the dry bars and cubes and then arranged themselves about the small room. They sat two on a side, facing each other, their legs meeting in the centre of the small space.

‘Now what?' Bunny asked in a very brave voice that had only a slight tremor in it.

Yana scratched at her shoulder, unobtrusively fingering where the alarm pad had been. She was desperately hoping that her initial use of the now missing device had got through to the security folk. Surely there'd been enough time to trace their whereabouts - that is, if they were on the station as Bunny felt they should be. And where was the 'unseen' eye that Marmion had mentioned in her launch that would be watching out for their safety?

She started coughing again. Bunny handed over the water but Yana couldn't stop coughing long enough to take a sip.

‘Dinah? Dinah O'Neill?' cried Bunny, rising and pounding on the hatch with both fists. 'The Colonel needs a doctor. She's coughing blood! Damn it! Answer me…’

The hatch was hauled open so abruptly that Bunny lost her balance and then lurched back away from the angry faces that looked in at them: the two men who had brought the 'food'.

‘Let's see the blood,' one of them demanded.

Yana was barking so hard and painfully that she was bent over her knees, trying to ease the spasms that racked her belly. She was hoping the coughing wouldn't provoke a miscarriage. That thought made her clasp her belly protectively as the compulsive tickle kept up its irritation and she kept up her coughing.

‘You see! You see!' Bunny cried, outraged. 'Get her a doctor. She's no good to you dead!’

The hatch shut with a resounding clang.

‘She'll be all right?' Diego asked, his voice taut. 'She won't lose the baby or anything?’

Yana shook her head, denying that to him as well as to herself. And kept right on coughing, gasping for breath now, her ribs aching from the exercise.

‘We must be able to do something!' Bunny cried and had pounded twice on the hatch when it opened again and a soulful face, long and aristocratic, framed with silvery hair and a well-trimmed beard looked in briefly. He was pushed aside by Dinah O'Neill.

‘What's this? What's this? Blood?’

‘She can't stop coughing from all that gas you poured into us,' Bunny said angrily. 'Do something.’

‘This is Doctor Namid Mendelsky…' Dinah began.

‘I'm a doctor of astronomy, not medicine, Ms O'Neill,' he said contritely. 'But your infirmary must have some sort of linctus. Even pirates get coughs…’

‘Privateer,' Dinah O'Neill corrected primly. She spoke over her shoulder. 'Bring the first aid kit.’

‘That's for injuries…’

‘Get it.’

‘Codeine stops the cough reflex,' Diego said helpfully. 'Most first aid kits have something of that sort in them. Mild. Useful.’

Yana hesitated. 'C-codeine?' she gasped. 'What about the b-baby?’

Mendelsky raised his eyebrows and gave a slightly uneasy shrug. 'I wouldn't think there'd be much risk to the foetus at this stage, but I'm no obstetrician. I think it's a safe bet, however, if the cough continues to be this violent, that you could miscarry.’

She nodded, pausing only a moment to bark again.

‘What she needs is to get back to Petaybee, and Clodagh's syrup,' Bunny said.

‘Ah, yes,' said Privateer Dinah O'Neill brightly. 'Well, we can see our way clear to do that, after certain basic arrangements have been made.’

‘Ransom demands, you mean,' Marmion said stiffly.

Dinah O'Neill twinkled at her as if she'd said something very witty. 'First we really must do something to stop that coughing or we won't be able to get her to agree to anything.’

Yana violently waved both arms, trying to indicate that despite her coughing she wasn't about to agree to anything. Then the guard returned and was thrusting the first aid container, a sizeable one too, at Dinah who side-stepped so that the box went to Dr Mendelsky.

‘Please,' Bunny said, now supporting the weakening Yana against her. 'Find something!’

‘I'm really an astronomer, not a medical…’

‘Anything!' Bunny cried in an anguish punctuated by Yana's painful barking.

‘Ah, codeine!' Namid Mendelsky held up a vial in triumph and then his face lost that look for one of doubt. 'But how much?’

Marmion held out her hand for the vial. Looked at it. 'The spray,' she said authoritatively and, when she received that, did the filling and then released the drug into Yana's throat. Almost magically, it seemed to everyone in the small room, the paroxysm eased and Yana lay, exhausted, against Bunny.

‘And look, an herbal linctus?' Mendelsky passed that over to Marmion who also read its label.

She broke the seal on the cap and opened the bottle, passing it to Yana who let the thick liquid flow into her mouth and down her throat, lining it in a soothing fashion. She recapped the bottle, clutching it to herself, her lungs heaving to reduce the oxygen debt the coughing had caused.

Dinah O'Neill clicked her fingers at Marmion who still held the hypospray and the codeine vial. Marmion handed them over.

‘So?' Marmion asked the privateer in a deeply significant tone. 'Now what?’

‘Can you walk, Colonel?' Dinah asked, peering down at Yana.

‘If a walk means we can settle this nonsense sooner, I'll make it.’

‘Ever the valiant colonel,' Dinah replied, dimpling at her. 'I do admire your resolution and intrepidity.’

‘Thanks,' Yana said, exhaling wearily. That coughing had taken a lot out of her but she mustn't indicate just how much.

‘Good. Then Megenda, the first mate, will escort you to the Captain's cabin. I have other duties to attend.’

‘Macci?' Marmion asked, hopeful of an answer.

‘Now, that would be telling, wouldn't it?' Dinah said, mildly reproving and went off. The doctor of astronomy followed her and a larger figure loomed in the hatch opening.

First Mate Megenda was a tall, muscular black man who probably had ended up a pirate-privateer because he looked the part so completely. One eye was a cyber-implant that was only slightly less menacing than an eyepatch. He had cut the sleeves out of his orange coverall and wore a striped jersey beneath it and a flowered red bandanna around his shaven head. Really, Yana thought, grasping at any diversion, the man had been watching far too many swashbuckling holovids.

He gestured peremptorily for them to follow him -and an equally large and threatening fellow, olive-green rather than black, fell in behind Diego who was last to leave their prison. Yana managed another swig of the linctus, for just the act of getting up made the tickle return to her throat.

They were led through corridor after endless corridor, past supply locks and repair bays and what looked like weapons rooms and cybersleep facilities, storage bay after storage bay. Some of them, Yana could have sworn, they passed by more than once. They walked until her feet hurt and her cough was ceaseless but still their captors led them on through more corridors. The Captain evidently controlled business on the ship via remote most of the time, because the Captain's quarters certainly appeared to be hard to reach. Most of the commands that didn't come via computer were probably relayed by the O'Neill woman and the first mate.

But the Captain made the first mate look normal. The chamber into which Megenda led them was theatrical in the extreme, resembling an opulent captain's chamber from an ancient sailing vessel, with swags of rich material, hard-copy navigational charts, antique compasses and sextants and things which would be of very little use in space, plus a computer console and a few other contemporary touches disguised in what appeared to be real wooden settings.

Behind a large carved desk, the top of which was an immense star chart, sat the infamous Onidi Louchard. Yana had wondered what this pirate chieftain would be like. She'd heard that Louchard was a woman. Hard to tell. To the world, the Captain appeared as an Aurelian - a six-armed, vaguely humanoid creature with a craw full of fangs that would have stretched from ear to ear had the creature had ears, and an optical slit that circled its entire cranial prominence. This was a holocover. Even if the wavy aura wasn't discernible, which it was (though only slightly), an Aurelian, even an Aurelian pirate - an unlikely occupation for a peaceful sea-dweller with a language similar to that of Earth's aquatic mammals - or even an Aurelian who could live outside its normal environment, would have no conceivable use for the gadgetry displayed in that room.

Also, this particular Aurelian dry-environment-dwelling pirate spoke pretty good English, through some sort of distorting device.

‘I had no idea you had a sense of humour, Louchard,' Yana stopped coughing long enough to say.

‘Enough. You will record the messages as they are written for you on these sheets. You, Madame Algemeine, will have all of your liquid credits transferred in the manner described here. In addition, you will sell your interest in the following concerns for the price given to the first buyer approaching your broker. The entire transaction, needless to say, will be kept completely confidential if you wish to remain alive, alert, articulate and anatomically complete. These transactions will take place in time-controlled sections so that any security measures on the part of your people will be detected and you will, I guarantee, suffer for them.

‘As for you, Colonel Maddock, in addition to the demands we list there, I suggest that you have your husband send along some of the famous Petaybean cough syrup that cured you the first time. Signing over the patent to the party we suggest, of course. I warn you that any resistance or reluctance on your part will result in unfortunate consequences for the young people accompanying you, as well as for yourself. It will also prolong your stay with us and we are not equipped with any provisions for delivering babies. I trust when you record your messages, you ladies will endeavour to sound sincere and very, very convincing. Begin.