Freedom's Ransom

Chapter Six

Everyone turned out for the Council meeting. She had expected that much but she was delighted to see that even Mike Miller's miners and farmers from the northern reaches of the Retreat conti-nent as well as Chief Materu from the south were present. As she hovered by the steps to the raised dais, she saw that Clime and Peran were escorting Chief Materu and introducing him to others. She couldn't see Floss but she did spot Bazil, Ditsy, and Ferris.

Chuck came in with Dorothy on his arm, his two cousins right behind him, looking excessively proud of him. They had more color in their faces this evening so she hoped they hadn't got too much sun, then reminded herself that they were from Texas and would know to be careful of too much sunning. Zainal arrived with Peter, Iri Bempechat, Yuri Palit, and Walter Duxie, the mining engineer. Sev Balenquah followed them, and uncharitably Kris hoped no one would include him on this mission since he had so nearly jeopardized them all the last time. But he was a qualified pilot and had flown the KDLs. Some people just brought bad luck with them and he was one of those. Like Pig Pen, you could almost see the aura of dirt and dust surrounding him.

Zainal escorted judge Iri Bempechat up the steps and held out the middle chair for him. The ever courteous judge waited until Chuck had seated Dorothy and Chuck returned to his place by his cousins.

Immediately the chatter in the mess hall diminished. The new Botany Space Force additions filed in with Peter Easley, who gestured them to seats on the left before he came up to the dais. Kris took her usual end seat, nodding to the judge, who smiled sweetly back at her and took the gavel that he used for such meetings out of his pocket and put it conspicuously in front of him. Conversations went down yet another decibel and there was much scraping of chairs as people settled themselves. The last of the council members, Leon Dane, rushed in late as usual, as did Worrell, Beth Isbell, and Sarah McDouall.

The judge gave his gavel an authoritative smack on the wooden block and silence prevailed.

"Since all council members are clearly present, I shall ask Chuck Mitford to report on his recent trip to Earth. And a special welcome to the Misses Mitford. Glad to have you here."

The sisters twittered, somewhat embarrassed by the official greet-ing, then both smiled happily up at the judge.

Chuck took center stage.

"I got good news and I got bad news, folks. The bad is that most of the spare parts we need desperately to get other systems up and running on Earth are stuck as loot at Barevi.

"The good news is that there is a powerful swing to 'sharing' on our home world like nothing we've ever seen before. But then, we hadn't seen," and he swiveled to nod apologetically to Zainal, "Catteni either. Remember how the Red Cross and the other emergency units would go to disaster areas and sort things out? Well, of course you know we had disaster all over the world but that same sort of helpful, cooperative spirit got invoked.

"It started out with local communities banding together to help each other and discuss what was needed where. It's gone on to decid-ing where to spend effort and material to cause the greatest good for the greatest number of folk. I mean, guys and gals, it ain't like who should get more, but we all should get according to the need. The greatest help has been the Internet, mobile phones, and, as usual, ham radio folk. The first thing that was done was to reinstate the power supply, and that meant instant communication and also the ability to send drastically needed supplies where they needed to go. And we're solving as many problems as possible in the districts where it's critical. I've never seen anything like it, even with the worst of the earth- quakes or hurricanes, or forest fire disasters. It's like we all turned over a new leaf. All national boundaries are down. I don't say they'll stay down, because people take pride in what they are and where they come from, but I'd say there's been a real forward step that looks good for world relations.

"Which is why we gotta make sure communications are estab-lished in all parts. We got this magnificent opportunity to sink a lot of petty little differences, and I'd say Earth is going to succeed. It's an ill wind that blows no good.

"Sorry to spout off at you like that," Chuck managed a self-indulgent grin, "but we did something like that here on Botany, and what we learned here we can now translate to old Earth and see it putting the right foot forward."

"But you need what the Barevis are sitting on, is that it, Chuck?" asked Mike Miller.

"Yeah, I did a recce, and it looks like the merchants are sitting on things they can't possibly use. As I'm sure everyone here knows," and he threw one arm out in an expansive gesture, "or should know, Zainal is mounting an expedition to Barevi to talk them out of stuff" He unfurled a rolled paper that fell to the floor of the dais. "This is Terra's shopping list." Then he let another, much shorter one, loose. "This is Botany's. Both are needed to make the necessary revival."

"Talk isn't what Barevis buy," someone yelled. "So, who pays them?"

"We'd like to, since we have things the Catteni want," Zainal said. "Earth is going to contribute some of what it still has left in storage things that my fellow planetarians didn't realize was important to them, or us. But to start the ball rolling, as you say, we have some Botanical assets that are readily salable, but as they belong to all of us, I can't ask the Council to just give them to me. I need to have the consent of all of you."

"Just how will these communications help us?" Bob Taglione said.

"Not that I'm against anything you want to do, Zainal, but if we are doing everyone good, what good do communications do us?" "Good question, Bob," Zainal said. "I know many of you have families you'd like to hear from regularly. I don't say the mail service will be fast but it will exist. The invasion forces knocked out most of the large number of satellites that relay signals from one part of the globe to another. We could not only replace that vital net, but we could install one above Botany so that no matter where you were here, you could communicate to any part of Earth."

There were appreciative catcalls, whistles, and stompings for that possibility. "You won't feel so isolated from family and friends anymore."

"I'll buy that!" Joe Marley yelled.

"Any chance of some of our families coming here?"

Zainal took a deep breath and, almost in unison, so did Kris. They'd discussed that imminent problem in Council. No firm deci-sion had been made.

"There is a chance, certainly, Astrid." The asker was one of Zainal's own team. "It will depend on their needs and the availability of trans-port. But certainly some folks, like Chuck Mitford's cousins, would benefit by some months here on beautiful, scenic, do-it-yourself Botany, though I never thought we'd recommend this place as a hol-iday spot."

"Didn't think you Catteni ever took holidays," Leon Dane said facetiously.

"Living here is in its own way quite a change from what I'm ac-customed to," Zainal said with a wry grin. "We will expect that any visitors are willing to put in hours for the general good of Botany or at their specialty if they have specific training we can use. And I can't think of anything we can't use here. Especially elbow grease?" He looked at Kris to see if he'd used the expression correctly, but his in-genuous remark provoked chuckles from many people.

To contain her pride in his response, she crossed her arms on her chest. Could he have been taking lessons from Peter Easley in public relations, or had he instinctively learned that much about how to mollify folks?

"Rose aims to help you, Bob, in cataloging our indigenous plants while she recovers from a winter in Texas." That got a laugh. "She's a pharmacist, too, and Cherry wants to help Ole recover from nearly ripping his arm off"

There were cheers and isolated instances of applause through-out the hall so that Cherry began to blush again and sink down in her chair.

"We've been making up a list of those specialties we could really use up here to balance our skills and technical pool, so we are open to suggestions, especially if you know where we can find such trained folk." He pointed to the bulletin board. "But to do all this, we need those satellites and bundles of mobile phones."

"Lord, spare us!" someone cried out in consternation, and that provoked another laugh.

"I also need a good excuse to visit Barevi, and dealing with the merchants is one way of stretching out my time as long as I need it," Zainal said in an ominous voice. "The records of where the other slave ships went are at Barevi, and I mean to uncover them."

"So this trip is also a cover operation?" Walter Duxie asked. Zainal gave a brief nod. "But I can't go with empty pockets, and what edibles we can provide that might entice buyers would be useful."

"Just how much are you talking about in terms of Botany's assets, Zainal?"

"Mike Miller? Will you report on what you brought for us to barter with?"

"You mean 'ransom,' don't you, Zainal?" Dick Aarens asked bluntly.

"Yes, that is perhaps the more appropriate word, Dick," Zainal replied at his mildest, and there was restlessness from the audience. Leave it to Dick, Kris thought, wishing the man were not so much his own worst enemy as Zainal's ardent opponent.

Mike had to be encouraged by Zainal to stand up. "I brought some of those gold nuggets we've been finding in the northern creeks-and don't any of you think you can come up and pan gold so easy. Ask any of my miners. Ask Duxie here. There ain't much of it at best, and, at worst, Botany ain't on a gold standard. We're on a work standard, which is much better for all concerned. I brought tin, lead, zinc, copper-but there's as much on deposit in what we are calling Fort Raps." Another laugh at that sally. "And a quantity of trace minerals. Nothing we don't have more of here and something we can certainly send to be used as barter. I don't know about you guys but I've friends back on Earth I'd sure like to send messages to now and then. That'd mean more to me than all the gold in Fort Knox."

"Hear, hear!" was the supporting cry from the audience.

"How do we know what standard Barevi is working on?" some-one demanded.

"Fair question," Dick said.

"We're going to give them a little razzmatazz that they can't ig-nore," Peter said, flicking one hand in the air as if this weren't a problem.

"I hardly think roast or raw rock squat is what they're looking for," Aarens shot back.

"There's nothing on the list of what we have that can't be replaced with a little sweat and effort," Mike Miller replied, annoyed by Aarens's obvious attempt to disparage Zainal's efforts.

"I find it odd that a Catteni is trying to bargain for us with his own species. Strikes me as collusion," was Aarens's retort, and he in-cluded the miner in his angry glance.

"We'd still be under Cattem rule if Zainal hadn't intervened with that Kamiton," Yuri Palit said angrily.

"How do we know that? How do we know this business with the Barevi merchants isn't another way of robbing us and Botany of re-sources?" Aarens demanded, waggling an accusing finger at Palit.

"Considering what Zainal has already put on the line for us," Chuck said, his face flushed with anger, "your suggestion is imper-tinent."

"I'm always impertinent," Dick Aarens retorted, pleased.

"You are also out of order," Iri Bempechat said with a crack of his gavel.

"Let me straighten one thing out," Zainal said. "We have a Coun-cil," and he gestured to the dais, "to decide matters of planetary sig-nificance. Which this is, since it is Botany's assets that I hope to use to get the components we need to put more communication satellites in orbit around Botany and to restore the rest of the network around Earth. If that goal seems wrong to any of you, you have a chance to say so now, impertinent or pertinent. And I want Dick Aarens to come with us since he is an expert in circuitry."

"That's a safe enough offer," Dick Aarens said with a sneer. "You know I won't go out into space again.,,

Not everyone caught the second part of his comment because everyone wanted a turn to speak and the judge had to bang his gavel to restore order.

Zainal raised his hands high for silence, too, and when it was re-instated, he went on.

"We also have several spaceships which are currently not in use. I suggest that one of these could be profitably sold to cover costs." There was a roar of disapproval at that suggestion. Botanists took great pride in their space capability.

"We can dig more gold and stuff, but we can't get another space-ship as easily!"

"We'll all get something useful out of that gold 'n' stuff. Go to it, Zainal."

"I'll dig for more. Just show me where!" "Are you sure this'll work, Zainal?"

"I have been assured it will," Zainal said. "As sure as one can be. You all know my deal with Kamiton, but he didn't figure on the stub-bornness of Barevi merchants. Therefore it's up to me to do a private deal with them personally. And I take that responsibility very much to heart. We wouldn't have the problem we have now if I hadn't forgot-ten how materialistic that group are."

"Not your fault, Zainal," Chuck said, bringing his fist down on the table with a bang that startled everyone sitting around him. "Don't you blame yourself, Zainal," Dorothy Dwardie said, point-ing her finger at him. "You made a deal with Kamiton, and it's not your fault that he welshed on it."

"'Welshed on it'?" Zainal asked, blinking at her.

"Couldn't deliver," Kris translated. "Make good on his word. Kamiton seems to have some internal difficulties in his new govern-ment." She grinned and then confided to the assembly, "We'll sort it out, I'm sure. And we'll bring some coffee back with us, too."

There was a cheer to that statement.

"They'll be sorry they started on a coffee addiction. We can make that work for us, you know. Demand for goods is always a good in-centive to trade."

"What about the gold teeth?"

"It takes a lot longer to make teeth than it does to brew good coffee."

"Ah, coffee!"

"Hey, did they get a taste for chocolate, too?" a woman wanted to know.

"Hey, that can be just as addictive!" There was good-natured laughter at that.

"You will keep records of where the ransom goes, won't you, Zainal?"

"We certainly will," Chuck answered stoutly. "Every flake of gold, every ounce of copper, tin, and grain of minerals will be accounted for. Won't it, Sally?"

"Am I going, too?" Sally Stoffers asked, eyes wide with excitement. "You were an accountant once, weren't you?" Chuck asked. "Yes, but only on Earth."

"Accounting is accounting wherever it's done," Chuck said em-phatically.

"I motion to put the matter of our colony's assets being turned over to Zainal for the purposes of obtaining technological parts to the vote," cried Walter Duxie.

"I second that motion," said Mike Miller.

"All in favor, please stand!" He signaled to Dorothy, as Council secretary, to count the vote.

It was not a unanimous vote but more than two-thirds of those at-tending the meeting approved and that was all, judge Bempechat said, that was needed.

"Let's devoutly hope we succeed," Kris murmured to Peter, sitting next to her.

"That was almost too easy," he replied, "or have such diehards as Anne and Janet changed their tunes?"

Kris had not looked to see if those two conservative women who had such high and righteous morals and little compassion were in the audience. It took her a time to find them, sitting at the back. "They don't look happy, do they?" she said, for she had been certain they'd have a negative response from that pair.

"Well, they do have family back on Earth, as I'm sure you've heard them tell."

Kris nodded and then caught her breath as Janet got to her feet. "I raise the question of relatives being allowed here on Botany. I know that some folk are in terrible physical condition and could ben-efit by being here, away from the scenes of stress and destruction." Dorothy raised her hand to Iri to be heard.

"We have, indeed, been addressing that problem in the Council, Janet. As you will have heard, Chuck has brought his cousins back, and we will certainly entertain other applications for refuge. But, as you all know, Botany works because we all do. We can, of course, ad-mit a quantity of folk whose mental and physical state would improve by a change of scenery, but we must weigh our resources and staffing levels. If you would like, Dr. Hessian and I will set up interviews with those wishing to offer space available to relatives. Would that be ac-ceptable, Janet?"

"What about those valleys? And the one we fixed up for the Cat-teni families?"

"It has limited occupancy but it certainly figures in our plans to accommodate affected folk."

"Affected?" Janet retorted, incensed. "I'll have you know-" "Discuss what you know with me in the interview," Dorothy said firmly, effectively cutting off Janet's spiel before she could get started. "See me after this meeting and we'll arrange a time, Janet."

Kris would have liked to throttle Janet-once again. Botany was a sanctuary and should be available to those suffering from trauma, but not on a wholesale basis. The recovery of those victims who had suf fered from the effects of the mind-machine had proved that Botany's serene beauty could eradicate stress and injury. Certainly there were people here trained-and available-to help. One more reason to have better communications between the two planets: to forestall a mass exodus from Earth to Botany. This planet could sustain the people already here but not a mass immigration from Earth. She liked Botany as it currently existed, with a good balance of people and skills. If it were to be overbalanced in one direction-like becoming a vast hospital-it would founder under such weight. Still, it was the resilience of the community that had proved its strongest asset. Then she wondered about the feasibility of constantly running spaceships back and forth.

"Are there any more matters that need to come before the Coun-cil and the people?" Iri Bempechat asked, looking around the room. "Hearyez, hearyez," Chuck said, using his parade-ground voice to cut through the babble to be sure Iri's message had been heard. "Any more business for the Council and the assembled?"

A long pause answered that query.

"We got schedules to keep then," Leon Dane said, rising to his feet.

The judge gave one more bang of his gavel then, getting to his feet-a little stiffer for having sat for so long in one position. Then he put his gavel back inside his official robe and walked off the dais.

The assembled broke up into small groups to discuss the meeting, and Janet was at the foot of the small flight of steps to intercept Dorothy Dwardie.

"Is this town-meeting approach how you've managed so much out of so little?" Captain Harvey asked Kris as she leaped down from the front of the dais.

"More or less," she said and grinned when she saw some of the male Botanists whom she knew were still single homing in on the at-tractive communications officer.

"Look, don't get yourself stuck with the shiftless corning in droves to live off the fat of the land here," Captain Harvey added, discreetly shielding what she said from the approaching males.

"What do you mean, shiftless?"

"There are always losers who assume the mantle of vulnerability to take the easy way out. What would you do with those who won't perform?"

"Don't know yet. We'll probably try to screen those who come and limit how long they can stay," Kris said. "But staying on Botany will definitely require showing they can contribute."

"That's what old Earth is discovering right now. Who can con-tribute? Not all in the same degree, but there are many ways of con-tributing to a common good, aren't there?"

"Yes, Captain, there are. Captain Harvey, may I introduce Bob Sterling, Ben Wately, and Ian Halstrip. You may have a lot in common since they man our communications."

"Thanks, Kris," Bob Sterling said in his unmistakable Aussie ac-cent. "Appreciate the intro."

"Actually, we need the captain's advice if she wouldn't mind?" "Not at all," the redhead replied, shaking hands in turn with each of them. "What have you in mind?"

"Well, if you'd like some refreshment," and Ben managed to take her arm in a courteous fashion as he gestured toward the drinks and desserts that were being served at the main counter, "we thought we might settle a few technical problems."

As the captain allowed herself to be led away, Kris grinned and looked around for Zainal. They still had a lot of details to sort out be-fore the morning. To start with, where were they going first? Earth? The good Dr. Hessian, for all he could be a crashing bore, had turned up a tremendous amount of information on coffee, and if she couldn't find what she needed in Brazil or Venezuela, there were always Zaire and Ethiopia or Java. And she had had several tons of grain released to the expedition-less than a skimming of two silos, so she didn't feel she was plundering anything. It always paid to have more than one string to your bow, didn't it? And if the shine of nuggets wouldn't do it, maybe "black gold" would!

The KDM had its new ID painted on its bow and emblazoned along both sides: Bass-1, for Botany Airforce Spaceship 1. Or Baker Alpha Sugar Sugar 1.

Kris thought it looked pretty smart before she became involved in organizing the food supplies on board into the cargo space or the re-frigerated unit. Flats and flats of broiled rock squat and loaves of bread were boarded as well as convenient twenty-five-pound sacks of wheat and a dozen of flour, enough for her to make bread on the journeys and at Barevi.

All the fluent Catteni-speakers were coming along as well as some specialists like Herb Bayes, an electrician who'd be needed on Barevi, plus Captain Kathy Harvey to complete her pilot training and Mpatane Cummings, who was a communications expert, Eric Sachs, Floss, Clune, Ferris, Ditsy, and Zainal's two boys, who were very ex-cited about going. Kris wondered if Zainal had warned the boys that he would be getting them a tutor on Barevi. Well, she wasn't going to cloy their excitement with a detail that was, in some respects, not her business. Sally Stoffers was along as their bookkeeper and accountant. She was bunking with Floss, a situation neither woman liked but there was only so much cabin space on the KDM.