The Human Edge IV

IV

Antonio saw Athena smile at him as he returned, and he knew all was not lost in the common room.  First Mate Petyn jerked her thumb at Corvino the technician, and he followed her with short, efficient movements.  They didn’t exchange a single word.

 

“Now that my things are safely stowed, I think I may just seek out the amenities aboard this fine vessel.”  Xu Huang smiled and stood.  “If there are any to be found, that is.”

“Amenities?” Klaus laughed, putting his arm around Athena, who – this time – didn’t move away.  “What are you expecting to find?  Hot showers and a harem waiting for you after?  We’re not on Bakunin, you know.  You took the wrong ship if you were looking for ‘amenities’,”

He laughed again, and Huang ignored him, turning to Malina instead.  The KaymNet representative’s lips were curled up in an amused smile, and she winked when the man from Yu Jing looked her way.  Antonio felt something inside him rumble in disappointment, but whether it was the loss of a possible ally or ancient stirrings of jealousy, he couldn’t tell.

“Ms. Rubisic, would you grant me the pleasure of meeting me later for dinner?”

Her smile never broke, though she clearly looked flattered.  Whatever Huang had said to her during Antonio’s absence must have worked wonders.

“Of course, Mr. Huang.  We’ll try to find ourselves those amenities you spoke of.”

By this time, the first mate had returned with Corvnio in tow, and proceeded to quickly take the rest of the passengers through her rapid stowing process.  Huang got up and left, probably to explore the ship well in advance of everyone else.

In the meanwhile, Petyn ran everyone else through the stowing process.  She had clearly refined her methods, because they finished well ahead of true launch.  Klaus slid into his seat, a grin on his face and his arm around Athena, as those remaining in the common room felt the ship rumble beneath them.

The dampeners were just strong enough to keep the passengers in their seats, but the jump to interplanetary travel speed made Antonio’s stomach drop a few dozen floors in the edifice of his body.  A quick glance told him that only Malina felt the same way.  The others must have been non-commercial space travel veterans.  His stomach decided that now was the time to bounce up to its rightful place, and he suppressed a gag.

Now that Huang was gone, he let himself relax, if only a little bit.  By the time the nausea subsided, that little bit of relaxation had turned into a half-dream wherein he and Francesca sat together on a sofa, watching some meaningless mayacast.  The transmission wasn’t the point: he missed her, and at least here – in this memory - they could be reunited.

“Yo.” The voice ripped Antonio right back to reality.  “Yo, PanO.”

He opened his eyes.  Klaus was hovering around him, trying to get his attention.  Behind hedges of spiked green hair, the common room was empty.

“You havin’ a seizure or something?  Happens sometimes with newbies, this far out.  You said you were a tourist, right?”

Antonio groaned, running a hand through his hair.  How long had he been dwelling on memories? 

“No, I’m not having a seizure.  Where is everyone?”

Klaus narrowed his eyes.  “The hard-tech went off to get some sleep, and I think the first mate went off to do something official.  The reporter’s probably off banging Yu Jing silly, but that’s just my guess.”

“Weren’t you the one making a big issue of names?” Antonio raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, well.” Klaus shrugged, flopping back unceremoniously in one of the common room’s cushioned seats.  “Knowing them ain’t the same as usin’ them, is it?  You’re a fussy bastard.”

“You’re the one who woke me up.” Antonio said dryly, but he was secretly relieved.  He hadn’t intended to fall asleep; too much could happen while he was insensate.

“Yeah.” The Nomad nodded.  “Something ain’t right on this flight.”

Antonio tensed, and his hand dipped into his pocket without thinking.  The small black box was still there.

“Why are you talking to me about it?”

“Because.” Klaus leaned forward, so close that Antonio could see the subtle screens on the other man’s retinas.  His comlog must have been linked directly into them.

“Because,” The Nomad repeated, “I don’t think it’s you.  Because I saw you back when everyone was still in here, and you were watching people like a hawk, lookin’ for something.”

“And you’re monitoring something.” Antonio said coolly.  He wasn’t about to let his guard down, though: as far as he knew, Huang might have accomplices.

“Huh?”

“Your retinal interface.  I’ve seen similar equipment before.”

Klaus laughed.  “No, PanO, you haven’t.  But if you gotta know, then yeah.  I’m keeping an eye on local mayanet traffic.  I want to know just how safe we are on this boat.”

“Why wouldn’t we be?” Antonio’s grip on the little black box loosened, but not by much.

“Funny thing.  Since everyone left, and since you’ve been dozing your little head away, I’ve been trying to dig up some info on our fellow travellers.”

“And?”  Antonio tried to make his voice as even as possible.

“And we got some fishy business here, like I said.  Where should I start?”

“There’s more than one piece of ‘fishy business’?”

“What the fuck did I just say?  Of course there is.”

Wonderful.  Just wonderful.  Complications were the last thing he needed, and here they were, apparently in droves.

“For one, I think Ms. Leggy Reporter is using a cover identity.  A damn good one, though.  It took me a while to find, and I was being careful.”

Antonio felt his pulse quicken.  This was worse than he expected, though he hadn’t imagined that things actually could get worse.  There was, of course, always the option that Klaus himself was the spy and the liar, but couldn’t he just have killed Antonio while he slept, or simply taken the box from his unconscious body?

No, he’d humour the Nomad for now.  Humour him, and be careful.

“What makes you think so?”

“Malina Rubisic has been an employee of KaymNet for approximately four years.  Tries real hard to dot all her i’s and cross all her t’s, but some fall through the cracks.  Had a little fuckup about three years ago, when she shipped herself out to the wrong ground-port.  Got that fixed up nice and quick, no real harm done.  A few more minor incidents dotting the rest of her file.”

“Keep it short.” Antonio said, rubbing his temples.  “What’s the point?”

Klaus sighed, loudly.  “It means that she’s got a record clean enough to avoid raising eyebrows with legal types, but dirty enough to baffle the scanners of people doing a bit of looking here and there.  She ain’t clean, she ain’t dirty.  She’s just a try-hard employee who hasn’t managed to get promoted yet because she just ain’t special enough.”

“In other words, a perfectly inconspicuous spy?”

“Exactly.” Klaus grinned. “You’re catching on, PanO.  But a spy for who?”

“Right.  But I’m guessing that’s not our only problem.”

“Oh, hell no.  You wanna talk about Yu Jing next?” Klaus leaned back in his chair, looking briefly around the room.  It was still empty, except for the two of them.  “I saw you looking at him a few times.  Thought you might be a bit interested.”

“What about Huang?” Antonio replied, jaw clenched.  Was he being that obvious?  Worse, had Huang noticed?

“Well, for starters, either Xu Huang is a very well-preserved corpse, or he ain’t the Huang that’s on this boat.  The real Xu Huang, businessman and purveyor of fine illegal goodies, has been dead about, say, six years?  Ancestors rest his soul and all that shit.”

Antonio couldn’t be bothered to correct him.  He had been right, at least about Xu Huang pretending to be something he wasn’t.

“Anyway,” Klaus continued, resting his head on one hand, “There’s just one small blip dancing around in the datastream.  One teeny tiny little bit that someone up on high forgot to cover up.  And it’s buggin’ me like a fucking investor’s inspection.”

It took Antonio a second to puzzle that one out.

“What’s the detail?”

“It’s not the detail that’s important, PanO.” The Nomad technician shook his head.  “When they want to make someone disappear, they usually go about it by hiding births, deaths, resurrections, that sort of shit.  Start erasing big, then just make giant circles over everything to make sure you wipe out all the data.  We wouldn’t know fuck-all about Huang if they didn’t want us to.”

“The question is, then...why would they want us to?”  Antonio realized it as he said it aloud, but he had no idea what it meant.

“Like I said, PanO.  You’re catching on.  Next on the docket is Petyn, our chipper fuckin’ second mate.”

“I’m guessing that we have no idea who Huang works for, either.  That’s why you want to move on.”

“In one.  I’m startin’ to like you, suit.  I really am.” Klaus grinned.  “So my deal with the first mate is her fucking expediency.  She was in such a rush to get our hard luggage stacked away, but she didn’t even mention the fucking data crypt.  That’s the main reason to take a clunky boat like this one.  Anonymity, security.”

“Hiding information.  Important information.  And she didn’t even mention it.”

Antonio felt like a fool.  He needed to get to the data crypt, and quickly.  His little bribe to Petyn wasn’t enough, couldn’t have been enough if someone much wealthier than he knew what was going on.  He wasn’t sure how much O-12 would pay to bring back the contents of the little black box, but he guessed it would be more than whatever money he had left.

Damn it.

“Klaus, I need to get to the data crypt, and I need you to back me up.”

“What the fuck is your hurry?” The Nomad stood as Antonio did.  “Where’s the fire?  We’ve got a whole tonne of shit on our plate, and you need to get to the crypt for some sudden-ass reason?”

“I’m not a tourist, dammit.”  Antonio spat.  “But you probably know that.  You probably know all about me, you and that retinal interface of yours.”

Klaus nodded, spreading his hands helplessly.

“Then you know I lost someone precious to me.  I need to get something into the crypt to keep a promise, and then I get that someone back.”

“Fuck, man.” The Nomad technician sucked in a breath.  “Blackmail.  That’s low.  I’ll watch your back, but if we run into Petyn, you’re on your own.”

“I need Petyn to open the door.” Antonio gritted his teeth.  “I need you to tell me if my data’s safe.  There’s money in it for you.”

Klaus shook his head.

“I don’t need money for this.  You live through this little stunt, you look me up and you’ll find out why.  Like I said, though, you’re on your own with Petyn.  I’m not wrestling with that bear.”

“I know.  We need to stop by my luggage first.  I have something that’ll help.”

“Oh, fuck me.  Help, he says.” Klaus grumbled as he followed Antonio out of the common room and into the bowels of the ship.