the Roug, who was still talking.
'... but has a new environmental unit and sufficient
basic supplies to keep us nourished for the maximum
estimate of six days. Ah, and I believe that this craft's
Henkayan designation translates as Castellan, and
although we are not armed we possess some detection
countermeasures .. .'
His voice tailed off and his head dipped a little. By
now they were both strapped into the cockpit couches,
while a rumbling came from outside as the massive inner
doors closed to seal off the dockside. A whine of servos
then a thud and hiss signalled that the hatch behind
them was closed.
'My apologies, Pilot Kao,' the Roug said, his voice
subdued. 'But I must confess to a certain anxiety about
the task ahead.'
Kao Chih stared at him. 'I'm not sure I understand,
noble Tumakri - you have flown one of these before,
yes?'
'Oh yes, my appraisal was more than satisfactory. It
is just that I have never travelled beyond the borders of
our system, and my briefing suggests the possibility of a
perilous voyage.'
'In what way perilous?'
'Due to the clandestine nature of our mission, we
cannot proceed via the main tier-ports. Sendruka agents
and machines will be alert to any Humanlike species,
and even the presence of a Roug may be enough to raise
suspicions, therefore the authorised hyperspace conduits
will be closed to us, which means that we have to use
illegal ports and purchase course schemata from un-
licensed dealers. I have been given several detailed
itineraries and a few linguistic enablers, as well as the
names of trusted intermediaries who have been told to
expect us. Our onboard navprocessor is already imbued
with our first destination and the autopilot will guide us
out. Hopefully, this is sufficient preparation.'
There was a sudden roaring rush as the outer bay
doors cracked open, venting the atmosphere in a pale
burst of flash-frozen vapour. There was a slight jolt,
then the sensation of motion, acceleration pushing Kao
Chih back as the scoutship Castellan shot out from the
great irregular mass of the Retributor. Seconds away,
attitudinal thrusters came to life, sending them along a
shallow trajectory away from V'Harant. Once they were
a set distance from the gas giant, the flight systems
would bring the hyperdrive online and take them into
the many-tiered continuum of hyperspace.
'So, Tumakri,' Kao Chih said with forced cheerful-
ness. 'What is to be our first port-of-call?'
The Roug took a small oval documenter from a waist
pouch and read from its screen. 'Blacknest: an illegal
way-station engaged in illicit commerce and the har-
bouring of a variety of outlaws, pirates and other
transgressors. It is located in the Qarqol deepzone just
beyond the Erdindeso border, and we are to exercise ...
great caution at all times.'
'Ah yes, standard operating procedure,' Kao Chih
said casually, ignoring the nervy panic that seemed to
radiate from the Roug. 'Nothing to worry about - when
we get to this Blacknest we probably won't even have to
leave the ship. I imagine your people's contact there will
have everything in hand. Just sit back and relax ...'
And I'll try not to think about what Great-Aunt Mei
said to me earlier ...
Less than an hour ago, in his parents' house, he had
just finished a bowl of rice and vegetables and was dig-
ging his old kitbag out of a chest when a finger had
prodded his shoulder. The finger was attached to
Great-Aunt Mei, who studied him with her hawkish
black eyes.
'I heard that old fool Wu got up and singed Tan Hau
in front of the Roug - is that true?'
'Indeed it is, Great-Aunt, and quite a sight it was . ..'
To his surprise, her stern, wrinkled face had then
broken into a gleeful, gap-toothed smile.
'Heh, he always knows too much, old Wu, so all he
can be is the wise fool!' Then her features had grown
sombre. 'And how are you feeling, boy? Frightened?'
'I'm excited, Great-Aunt! - it's a great adventure . . .'
whole of the road ahead, so off they rush. But then, you
don't know enough to be scared, which makes you a
young fool.' Then she had grasped his shoulder, pulling
him closer. 'Listen to me, boy - pain will come to you,
hurts and wounds the like of which you have never felt
before. You must fight and kill them or they will eat you
up, like hungry river serpents!'
Leaning back in the copilot couch, he watched a
shielding layer of hexagonal platelets roll out across the
cockpit viewpane, preparatory to the hyperdrive jump.
His first hyperdrive jump.
He leaned back, hands gripping the armrests. Well,
Great-Aunt Mei, I may not have been scared then, but
be assured that I am now!
19
KAO CHIH
On approach, the rogue port Blacknest looked vaguely
intestinal, like the digestive tract of some huge,
grotesque monster. Within spidering meshes of metal
frameworks, silver, grey and blue flexitube corridors
spread in coils and undulations, connecting polyhedral
modules of various sizes that were embedded in the
mazy tangles like geometric tumours. The blocks and
cylinders of the original station were still visible beneath
the improvised accretion of past newcomers, and it
was from the largest conglomeration that a substantial
docking hub protruded on a squat tower.
'Is that where we're going?' Kao Chih said, studying
the hub's busy traffic on the long-range imager, com-
paring it to the Roug orbital, Agmedra'a.
Tumakri, his Roug companion, peered closely at the
multicoloured symbols on his small console screen, hes-
itantly touching a few with one dark, spindly finger. 'It
seems not, Pilot Kao,' he said in his dry, papery voice.
'At first we were, but now we have been redirected to a
secondary landing stage. Our syncsystem is already plot-
ting a new guide-path.'
He looked round at Kao Chih, who smiled and
nodded. 'That sounds reasonable - the main docking
hub looks pretty busy,' he said, trying to sound both
relaxed and businesslike. Soon after exiting hyperspace
in the Blacknest vicinity, Tumakri had given him a lin-
guistic enabler, a package of Human-configured nanobio
receptors in the form of a translucent golden pill. In half
an hour he was able to understand and respond in the
Roug tongue, and by the time the illegal port was in
visual range he was bordering on the fluent, with the
result that Tumakri's erratic mental state became even
more apparent.
'So tell me, noble Tumakri, who is the intermediary
we are supposed to contact here?'
'One Rup Avriqui, a Voth procure
r - I have since
determined from our notes that in addition to providing
the course data for the next stage of our journey, he will
also be accompanying us. I have already sent three
advice requests on the frequency tag shown in the itin-
erary, but thus far no response. This does not seem
normal to me . . .'
Kao Chih shrugged. 'Perhaps their protocols are dif-
ferent in these matters, or custom ...'
He was interrupted by a brief staccato chime from
the comm panel, then a string of syllables whose into-
nation varied between flat, nasal and flutelike. There
was a momentary jarring sensation in his mind, like
sounds and symbols colliding, then suddenly he was
hearing the Voth's words and understanding them. Most
of them.
'... again to present my egremini apologies for this
lapse in finsterral communications. Disturbance between
rabble factions is the cause but our mezgurid business
remains viable. If this addresses to the noble Tumagri
and Gowshee, please to respond.'
Kao Chih and Tumakri looked at each other for a
second before the latter spoke.
'Have we the honour of speaking with Rup Avriqui?'
'This is so, exalted clients-of-unrivalled-lineage.'
'Do you have the .. .'
The Voth cut him off. 'Forgiveness I beg, exalted one,
but it is not wise to speak of important matters over an
unsecured channel. Once you disembark, my lugosiva-
tor will bear you both safely to my hold, where we shall
continue our dialogue. I bid you the short and tempo-
rary farewell.'
The channel abruptly switched to the ready-cycle's
bland, atonal warbling, and Tumakri blinked.
'It seems that he is expecting to meet both of us, Pilot
Kao.'
'Indeed, friend Tumakri,' he said. 'But the truth is
that my appearance is distinctly un-Rouglike, and we
cannot take the risk of my being recognised as Human
in a place like this.'
'Yes,' said Tumakri, slumping down into his couch. 'I
was hoping to persuade you to undertake the encounter
by yourself, somehow ...'
Kao Chih leaned forward, amused. 'In that case, we
shall have to be creative, perhaps even inspired. What
did you bring in the way of spare clothing?'
'A standard long-excursion miscellany,' the Roug
said. 'But almost none of it will fit you...'
'Not to worry,' Kao Chih said, getting up. 'It's the
details that matter, so we'll have to have a good rum-
mage through the storage lockers . ..'
Nearly an hour later grapple-nets were hauling the
fast-courier Castellan in beside two larger vessels that
were moored to a gimballed docking duct. A flexitube
concertinaed out to fasten its mouthlike seal around the
smaller craft's hatch. On opening the hatch they found a
prismoid dock ID tied by a length of finefibre to an eye-
hook, drifting in zero-gee. After a weightless clamber
through the grubby, much-patched transfer tube, then
along the docking duct, squeezing by all kinds of pas-
sengers coming and going from other ships, Kao Chih
and Tumakri finally emerged in some kind of lobby. The
Roug wore an ankle-length, sleeved cloak of a thin, grey
material that clung from neck to waist, while Kao Chih
had opted to don the emergency environmental suit but
without the helmet. Around his head he had wrapped
bandages from the medikit, being careful not to obscure
the dark, faceted goggles he had put on beforehand.
And since Tumakri's itinerary notes had warned of
Blacknest's imperfect eco-cleanliness they were both
wearing small breathing masks. For Kao Chih, heavy
gloves and boots completed the hopefully convincing
non-Human picture.
There were three turnstile gates at the lobby exit,
each with a queue of arriving sophonts, most of whom
were bi-, tri- or quadrupedal: did swimmers, crawlers
and fliers have their own docking areas, he wondered. A
buzz of conversation enveloped them, voices conversing
in all manner of whoops, whistles and words, while the
air was a swirl of odours. In a hubbub like this, Kao
Chih's linguisitic enabler tended to lie partially dormant,
only translating when he focused on a particular voice
or when someone spoke clearly and from close by.
He had prepared himself for a long wait, based on his
observations of similar entry procedures on Agmedra'a.
But it soon became clear that new arrivals were being
processed with haste by three anxious Henkayans in
dimpled blue uniforms. Each was using one pair of
stubby arms to pass a fan-snouted sensor over each life-
form while the other pair dealt with forms and charges.
Then it was their turn. As the gate attendant began
waving his handheld sensor at Tumakri, he took one
look at the prismoid dock ID and said:
'Smallboat berthnetted, minimum fee seventy
keddro.'
Tumakri produced a slender black credit stem,
banded in gold.
'You may deduct from this,' he said.
'Nogood, nogood,' said the Henkayan, jerkily shak-
ing his head. 'Creditransfer network offline, you
mustpay keddro now or returnship.'
'But this ...'
'Nogood, nogood! Yellowfists here soon - pay now
or leave!'
Tumakri swayed on his feet and Kao Chih steadied
him with an outstretched hand.
'What's wrong?' he said. 'Don't tell me you didn't
bring hard currency.'
'I do have such, but it is supposed to be for later in
our journey.'
'If you don't pay the man, we won't be able to meet
Avriqui and there won't be any more journey.'
Clearly unhappy, Tumakri dug into a waistpouch and
surrendered four glittering black triangles, three inlaid
with gold, one with crimson. Their dock ID was
imprinted with a strange curlicue pattern and they were
each presented with a blue plastic tag embossed with a
string of symbols before being hurried out into
Blacknest Station itself.
The corridor floor was covered in a dingy grey
ridged matting, as was the ceiling, which was also a
floor. A variety of sentient creatures was bustling along
the gravplate pathway that ran the length of the ceiling,
most of them, Kao Chih noticed, hurrying in the same
direction. Then as he watched, several yellow-garbed
figures leaped out from the overhead pedestrian flow,
as if taking a collective nosedive towards the floor.
Fearful cries went up from the gate attendants -
'Yellowfists! Yellowfists!' - and Kao Chih then saw the
tethered lines on which the newcomers swung through
the air to land clumsily before the transit lobby
entrance. Regaining their feet/paws/hoofs, they pulled
out slot-nosed sidearms and gestured threateningly at
the attendants.
'Time we were elsewhere,' Kao Chih said, grabbing a
near-paralysed Tumakri and draggin
g him along the
half-deserted corridor. They had just reached the next
corner when an odd, jingling voice spoke:
'Masters Gowchee and Tumagri? ... up here, good
sirs.'
Kao Chih looked up and saw a boxy, yellow cart
with six fat wheels and a telescopic pole tipped with a
cluster of glittering lenses which were angled down at
him.
'Indeed we are,' Kao Chih said cautiously. 'You
are ...?'
'I am Master Avriqui's number 2 lugosivator - I am
to take you to his hold straight away. If you step onto
the sidepath and join me, we can be quickly under way.'
The lens arm pointed to a strip of grey matting that
curved off the main corridor into a recess and up the
wall, joining the one directly above. Without delay, Kao
Chih stepped onto the branch path, feeling his stomach
bounce a little as he adjusted to walking up the wall
then stepping onto the ceiling strip. Behind him,
Tumakri groaned, holding on to the sides of the recess as
he followed. The yellow cart had seating within a
curved, transparent carapace. Flexible doors popped on
either side and moments later they were strapped into
sideways-facing bucket seats as the vehicle sped away
from the chaotic scenes further back.
'Apologies are tendered for the lack of proprieties,'
said the lugosivator. 'Master Avriqui had intended to
greet you in person but reports of incipient violence
caused him to remain at home.'
'Are such incidents considered normal here?' said
Tumakri.
'No, Master Tumagri, but unfortunately Blacknest is
experiencing one of its periodic outbursts of interclan
rivalry in which revenue sources, such as the embarka-
tion gates, become strategic prizes to be defended or
captured by force.'
'Fascinating,' Kao Chih said. 'What about ships in
dock? Are they also considered prizes?'
'Docked vessels are inviolable, Master Gowchee,'
said the cart. 'Certain categories of passenger, however,
are seen as legitimate quarry at times like this.'
Kao Chih and Tumakri exchanged a worried look.
'Would we fall into that category?' he said.
'Yes - you arrived in your own craft with no per-
sonal bodyguard and no protection brevet. Data
spotters will have already sent your profiles out to sev-
eral gang bosses . . .'
Tumakri hunched down in his seat, staring this way
and that through the cart's transparent hull.