Between Darkness and Light (62 page)

He pressed open the door to the library. “And that doesn't bother you?”

She shook her head. “We both need our own space, and he isn't completely comfortable living with me.”

“I'm continuing working on that text,” he said, going in. “What are you doing?”

“Is that an invitation?” she asked very quietly.

He glanced up at her, seeing the glint of humor in her eyes. “Not today,” he said.

“Still wading through the entertainment vids,” she said, making a face. “I'm running them at double speed once I've seen the first few minutes because so far, they're all from Kezule's immediate era, nothing older.”

“Any newscasts?”

“Not yet. I just get them stacked randomly in boxes. They didn't have the time to catalog them as they were in the
Zan'droshi
. It's a matter of luck what I have in each box.”

“If they're labeled, you might be better sorting them first,” he said, sitting down at his row of screens. “I'd offer to help, but I need to get on with this.”

“You're not using your own comp now?” she asked.

“M'kou loaded my program into your main computer. Saves me carting it about each day.”

She nodded, moving casually between him and the large vid com screen that dominated the wall to his right.

He felt her hand rest on his shoulder, and slip beneath the braids to touch his neck.

“We should meet again in a day or two,” she said, her voice almost a whisper. “Shaidan told me that he can sense it when we row.”

“He can't possibly. He's wearing a psi damper,” he whispered, shocked.

“He can. He says it's because of your blood link.”

It's more,
he thought.
How could he be that powerful a receiver at his age?
“You're right,” he said. “We mustn't leave it too long.”

She slid her hand away and moved back toward the door. “I'll see you for lunch in the mess as usual, then,” she said.

“Yes.”

“Coffee for you, Captain,” said the server, putting a tray with a large, sealed jug, whitener and sweetener down between him and Banner.

He nodded his thanks and was reaching for one of the bowl-shaped cups when a plate of stew and various fresh vegetables was placed in front of him.

“Looks like our foods are catching on,” murmured Banner from his right.

He gave a grunt of agreement and finished making his drink.

“I've called this meeting to informally assess our resources, or lack of them,” said Kezule from his seat at the head of the table. “Eat,” he said, looking around the small group of seven. “It's a lunch meeting to save time. Lirtosh, as civilian leader, how have your resources improved, what do you need?”

Lirtosh was one of the Primes who hadn't taken well to any military training, he remembered, glancing across the table at the round-faced young male. He was one of the very few who seemed to run to what could only be called plump for his people.

“We have more entertainment vids,” Lirtosh said round a mouthful of food. “If you can call heroic military legends entertaining, no offense, General.”

“None taken,” said Kezule, the edges of his mouth twitching. “I didn't consider them much of an entertainment in my own time.”

“And we got the training construction kits, some of which are useful for the children and one or two of the adults.”

“Training construction kits?” Kusac asked, putting his fork down to take a drink.

Lirtosh looked over at him. “Kits of components for making basic reader pads, communicators, that kind of thing. They were used to teach the military extra skills in their leisure time.”

He nodded. “Good idea.”

“Again of limited use, General. We also have more in the way of furnishings, though the materials won't last long—time has taken its toll on them.” Lirtosh stopped to shovel another forkful of food into his mouth.

“The crates of drinks were fine, and we now have a good supply of playing cards, board and tabletop games for the rec areas, and some books—again military heroic stuff. Talking of which, can we utilize the M'zullian rec room now that they are no longer with us? It's ideal for the larger games.”

Kezule nodded. “I'll have it opened up and life support restored to it and the ancillary facilities there.”

“As to our needs, they can't be supplied from the
Zan'droshi
, General. We need clothing and toys for the children, and for ourselves. We need fabrics to replace those that are disintegrating on the furniture, sewing items like thread, needles, and bedding, towels—and decent entertainment vids.”

Kezule glanced at M'kou, who was scribbling furiously on a sheet of paper. “You eat, too,” he admonished his son.

M'kou reached for his fork, scooping up some food which he managed to get most of into his mouth. “Sorry,” he mumbled, picking up the small amount of greens that had fallen on his paper.

He watched Zayshul, sitting next to Kezule on his right, shoot him a look that plainly told him to say nothing.

“M'zynal?” the General asked quietly, returning to eating his own food.

“We're fine,” said the Security chief from where he sat beside Banner. “Power packs and chargers arriving with only a little work needing to be done on them. Vehicle fuel was stored in vacuum containers and those we've tested are usable. Engineers are still working on the laser and missile turrets we found adjacent to the fighter flight bay. I'm hoping we can salvage as many as possible of them. I want a team checking out the meson cannon on the
Zan'droshi
. We need to strip it for parts for ours.”

“We can't reach the cannon,” said Kezule. “The main elevator shaft is blocked and we haven't got access to the drop shafts for the gunners yet. It's on the agenda.”

“If you plan on moving the fighters over here, we'll have to take time off to clear the fighter deck first. There's a mess of broken and damaged loading gantries as well as several vehicles.”

“We haven't the personnel to spare,” said M'kou, looking up from his plate.

“Leave that for now,” said Kezule, pushing his empty plate aside and helping himself to the jug of kheffa. “Zayshul, what's the status of medical and the labs?”

“We're slowly running out of medical supplies,” she said. “The personal first aid kits you found would be great if I had anything to replace the out-of-date contents. All the drugs and consumables like dressings are so old I daren't use them. We've got some useful items, though, like small portable scanners and some surgical tools. Like the civilian side, we could do with more bedding and towels. Oh, and other consumables like soap, washing powder, that kind of thing. At our present rate, we have enough supplies for maybe two months.”

Kezule looked round the group again. “Anything else?” he asked.

“Yes, paper goods,” said Zayshul. “We need them for a variety of purposes—drawing, writing, our festivals.”

“You need to trade,” said Kusac, pushing his empty plate to one side. “Have you anything to offer in exchange for the goods you need?”

“That's why you're here,” said Kezule.

“Apart from needing someone to trade with, you need to be able to offer goods, services, or money,” Kusac said. “Have you any of these?” He looked at Lirtosh. “Trade comes under civilian affairs.”

“We have found some money on the
Zan'droshi
,” admitted Kezule, “but it's the coin of my Empire, not in use even on the Prime world.”

“What's it made of?” asked Banner. “If the metal is valuable, it may not matter.”

M'kou drew a small packet out of his pocket and spilled the contents on the table. There were ten coins of different sizes and denominations, and made of at least three different metals.

“Alloys,” M'kou said. “Their face value doesn't reflect their actual value. I'm told it's the same with most currencies.”

He leaned across, picking up several of the coins, handing two to Banner, and examining some himself.

“They look ordinary to me,” said Banner, after examining them and handing them back to M'kou.

“Unless you can find anyone else still using them, I think they're worthless, Kezule,” he said, using a claw tip to scratch the surface of the gold-colored ones. He slid them back across the table to M'kou. “You will never be totally self-sufficient. You need to offer services, since at this time, unless you have an excess of produce from the hydroponics area, you have no goods to offer in trade.”

As the two servers returned with a selection of whole fruit and to remove the empty plates, Kezule began drumming his claw tips slowly on the table.

“How's morale?” he asked when they were alone again.

“Not bad,” said Lirtosh. “Opening the pool helped a lot, and getting the other rec room running will be another boost. There's some grumbling about the long shifts caused by salvaging the
Zan'droshi
, but nothing serious since everyone has seen some benefits for themselves.”

M'kou nodded agreement. “Morale among the military side is also high.”

Stilling his hand, Kezule looked at him. “Captain?”

“We're here to do a job, Kezule,” he said. “Morale is not an issue. Do you have a problem with the salvage operation?”

“There's more wreckage on the
Zan'droshi
than I first thought. Getting to what we need is taking longer than I anticipated and we're falling behind schedule,” he said. “Not by much, as yet, but it's increasing daily. The state of our medical supplies also concerns me. I don't want them to fall any lower.”

“You're thinking of making an official approach to Ch'almuth,” he said, breaking the small silence that followed. “You may get the people you need, but if they're an agricultural world, you shouldn't assume they have the medicines and other goods you need to spare.”

“Medicinal plants were also grown there,” said Kezule. “I've been checking the databases from my ship.” He reached out to take a brightly colored oval fruit from the bowl, using his knife to peel off the outer skin.

“What services can we offer in exchange?” asked Lirtosh, helping himself to a bunch of small round, dark fruits.

“Engineers, programmers, advanced medical treatment,” said Banner. “They're bound to need one of them. Services can always be negotiated.”

“And there's always the chance they're still using the same monetary system,” Kusac said.

“I need you to draft me a First Contact plan, Kusac,” said Kezule, quartering his fruit and beginning to eat it. “I want you and your crew to accompany me. We're leaving in three days. M'zynal, you'll be in charge here. M'kou, Zayshul, you'll come with me. Send me a list of what each department needs, and a list of those with skills we can use for trading. I'll post a list of the personnel we'll take tomorrow. In the center of the table, you'll find a folder for each of you with a briefing of what was on Ch'almuth in my time—details of the main crops, the personnel distribution according to castes, where they were located, and on the spaceport and technical level overall. Work on the
Zan'droshi
will continue while we're away.”

“If I remember, my earlier research showed they had an enclave of ruling Intellectuals, Kezule, as well as the obligatory military presence. Approaching them might not be the open and shut scenario you expect. You may even find yourself dealing with some of your relatives.”

“I expect you to take that into account,” said Kezule.

“You'll be well over your deadline by the time we get back,” he warned. “Six weeks it will take us, not counting any time spent there.”

“We could be there and back in a week,” said Kezule. “We now have the means to move even more quickly between our Outposts and worlds. M'kou will brief you shortly. Are we ready to test the device from the
Zan'droshi
, M'kou?”

“The final test is scheduled for tonight at eighteen hundred hours, General. The
N'zishok
is already anchored outside Kij'ik. Boarding is at seventeen hundred.”

Kezule nodded, pushing his chair back and getting to his feet. “Until later,” he said before leaving.

“What's this device he's talking about?” he asked M'kou.

M'kou, busy peeling a citrus fruit, looked across at him. “As I understand it, the
Zan'droshi
had just been fitted with a prototype device,” he said. “It created passageways through space to predetermined destinations. Each of the four Empire worlds had a receiver, and they were being installed at the Outposts. There's one here, which is how the General was able to track the
Zan'droshi
, and there appears to be one at Ch'almuth. The one on the Prime world is no longer operational, as far as we know.”