Venus Rising (18 page)

“Incredible,” Tarik said. “When do you
estimate our arrival at the Capital?”

“In one point three six days.” Narisa was as
amazed as Tarik. “There is no apparent effect on us or the ship,
though I would assume these speeds will play havoc with time. We
will probably arrive at the Capital younger by a few hours than we
were when we left the planet.”

“There is another effect of this speed we
haven’t thought of,” Tarik mused. “We can’t contact anyone until we
drop back to orbital speed when we approach the Capital. We need to
prepare a message to send out the instant we arrive, or the Service
guards will blast this Cetan ship into atoms as soon as we
appear.”

“I can cut the speed a little ahead of time
to give us a few extra seconds,” Narisa suggested.

“Good idea. You’ve done well, Narisa.” Tarik
rested his hand on her shoulder for a moment before he turned to
Gaidar and began asking detailed questions about Cetan
warships.

Only Tarik and Narisa took turns piloting the
ship. Gaidar made a single joke about their lack of confidence in
him, then let the matter drop and busied himself with living
arrangements. In contrast to most spaceships, where order was
considered a matter of safety, the Cetan ship was unbelievably
dirty. It was littered with cast-off clothing, open food packets
and bits of malodorous garbage. Gaidar cleaned out two small cabins
just off the bridge, one where Narisa and Tarik could take turns
sleeping, and one for himself.

Narisa was loathe to lie down upon a Cetan
bunk, although Gaidar assured her the covers were the cleanest he
could find, but she found she was tired. She slept deeply, dreaming
about the birds and sunrise over the lake until Tarik called her
for her watch.

Her second sleep period was more restless,
for the bunk was still warm from Tarik’s body and the covers
smelled of him. When she finally slept, she dreamed he had begun to
make love to her and then left her. She awakened with her body
aching from an odd combination of wanting him and the effects of
the heavy gravity. She lay with her eyes closed, listening to the
unfamiliar sounds of the ship, and of Gaidar talking to Tarik
before he went into his own cabin and closed the door. She heard
Tarik enter her cabin, and felt him bend over her.

“Narisa, wake up, it’s your watch.”

She raised her arms, locked them around his
neck and pulled him down to her. She had moved quickly, and the
heavy gravity helped her purpose. Tarik fell on top of her, his
face buried in her neck. She clung to him, kissing his cheek,
running her hand through his hair. He moaned just before his mouth
found hers and they gave themselves up to a deep, passionate kiss.
He moved oh her, and she knew he wanted her, too, but when the kiss
ended, he pulled away and stood up.

“Tarik,” she whispered, reaching for his
hand.

“No,” he said, “not here. It’s too dangerous.
One of us should be out there on the bridge every minute.”

“Then just kiss me once more.”

“I can’t.” But she saw the longing on his
face, and her heart began to sing.

“Have you forgiven me?” It was the wrong
question. His face closed into a tight, sharp mask. “Tarik, please.
I’ve said I’m sorry.”

“This is not the time, or the place, to
discuss our personal relations. I honestly don’t know what I feel
about you, Narisa. I only know we both have a duty to get Gaidar
safely to the Capital so he can tell his story. After that, we can
talk. We will have to wait until then. Now, please get up. It’s
time for your watch, and I’m tired. I want to sleep.”

“It’s the gravity. I tire easily, too.” She
stood up, accidentally bumping against him and wanting to put her
arms around him. But she couldn’t. She knew he was right; this was
no time for dalliance. They would both have to wait, though it took
all the discipline and self-control she could muster. Still, she
had gained something from this brief encounter. She knew now that
he still wanted her. That would have to be enough for the
present.

They left the Cetan ship in formal Service
procession, escorted by four Service guards, and with Narisa
walking the correct three paces behind Tarik. They had docked at
the spaceport, which orbited above the Capital. The Cetan prisoners
had been removed and taken below to be confined on the planet’s
surface. Gaidar had been taken away, too, despite Tarik’s strong
protest that the man was under his personal protection.

Narisa knew Tarik was already chafing under
Service regulations. The most disquieting thing about their arrival
was that Narisa herself was irritated at the refusal of Service
personnel to listen to either Tarik or her until all the
formalities had been carried out. It was not so long ago that she
would have insisted on every step of their arrival being done by
strict protocol, but at the moment she felt like screaming at
everyone in Service uniform.

“While we are being forced through correct
procedures,” she muttered, “the Cetans could attack and destroy the
Capital.”

“If we protest, the Assembly will refuse to
hear us,” Tarik warned over his shoulder. “Be patient. From what I
see ahead, we may be fortunate after all.”

They had reached the official reception room.
The little procession came to a stop before a tall, thin man in the
black jacket and trousers of a Member of the Assembly. That he was
a high-ranking Member was evident from the rows of silver braid at
his collar and wide cuffs and the silver sash draped from right
shoulder to left waist. Nor did Narisa need the formal introduction
Tarik was making. She knew him at once. This was Tarik as he would
be in forty years, still lithe and slim, his sharp features traced
with lines, his dark hair threaded with silver. Only his eyes were
different, a paler blue than Tarik’s, and piercing, searching,
never resting.

“My father, Assembly Member Almaric,” Tarik
said, and Narisa gave a smart regulation salute.

“I am sent to escort you both to the
Assembly,” Almaric announced without any personal greeting to his
son. “It is in session, and you will be heard at once, since you
have insisted you have news of desperate importance. I must tell
you that most Members would have preferred to wait until the next
session to hear you. Your appearance will disrupt the order of our
business.”

“This can’t wait,” Tarik replied.

“You always were impatient,” Almaric said
with a hint of distressed tolerance. “Come to the transporter then,
and on the way down to the Capital perhaps you will tell me what is
so urgent.”

“We must talk in private,” Tarik said.
“Please send these guards away. And I want Gaidar released at once.
I gave him my word he would be unharmed.”

“I assure you he is unharmed. Do calm
yourself, Tarik. These are not guards, they are an honor escort.
This Gaidar you want protected is waiting outside the Assembly
chambers under correct guard. You didn’t really expect us to let a
Cetan wander freely about the Capital, did you? Even unarmed,
Cetans are dangerous.”

“He’s half Demarian,” Narisa spoke up.

“What did you say?” Almaric fixed an icy blue
eye upon her.

“His mother was Demarian,” Narisa
replied.

“Oh. A slave then.” Almaric dismissed
Gaidar’s mother with a shrug. The gesture set something burning in
Narisa’s mind and heart.

“Gaidar has dealt honestly with Tarik and
me,” she declared. “He is an honorable man. Both he and his mother
were badly treated by the Cetans. He wants to help the
Jurisdiction.”

“I will remember your recommendation,”
Almaric responded coolly. “Of course, once the Cetans take a
Demarian woman, she is dead to us. No one could be expected to
consider accepting such a woman back into our society after the
Cetans have had her.”

“You don’t have to worry,” Narisa told him,
feeling her anger with this cold, controlled man beginning to boil,
and wanting to make him feel something, if only outrage. “The woman
really is dead. Gaidar’s father broke her neck right in front of
their young son.”

“And there you see,” Almaric said smoothly,
apparently unruffled by this revelation, “just why we could not let
this Gaidar roam loose through the Capital. Such violent people,
the Cetans.”

Narisa had her mouth open to say something
more, but they had reached the transporter car, and Tarik took her
arm, squeezing it rather hard.

“Be quiet,” he whispered, putting his mouth
near her ear. “Don’t argue with him.”

Tarik’s face was as solemn as his father’s,
but in his dark eyes Narisa saw both laughter and warm approval of
her sudden outspokenness. Once they were seated in the cream and
gray molded metal car, and the transporter was under way, Tarik
began to speak.

“Perhaps it’s just as well our guards -
forgive me, sir - our
escort,
should hear me. The more
people who know what is going to happen, the more likely the
Assembly is to be moved to do something about it, I know how little
they care for emergencies that disrupt their carefully arranged
schedule of debate on unimportant matters.” Tarik raised one hand
to stop his father’s protest against this impolite view of the
august Assembly. He then began to recount in sketchy detail the
destruction of the
Reliance,
the crash landing on an unknown
planet, the sending of the rescue signal, which he told as though
he and Narisa had done it together, and finally, the arrival of the
Cetans and Gaidar’s story. He never mentioned the birds at all,
merely saying the Cetans had been overcome. While he spoke, Narisa
noticed that every member of their escort, ostensibly at formal
attention, was actually listening intently to each word Tarik
said.

“Do you believe this Gaidar?” Almaric asked
when Tarik had finished.

“I do, and we have a Starthruster device to
prove his story.”

“Then we must order the Service to test it,
to see if it works as you claim it does.”

“You can’t do that. Gaidar and I disconnected
it before we left the ship, and we have hidden an essential part.
You see, we wanted to be certain the Assembly really would listen
to us. Knowing how that body functions, I feared it would discount
our story and order the Cetan ship destroyed, lest any new ideas
cause alarming changes in Service procedures. If anyone tries to
move the ship without the part we’ve taken, it will blow up and
take the spaceport with it. That’s how powerful a machine
Starthruster is.”

“Is this true?” Almaric demanded of
Narisa.

“Yes, sir, it is.”

“Where is the hidden part?”

“I don’t know, sir. Commander Tarik and
Gaidar would not tell me.” They had said she would be safer not
knowing, and now she realized they had been right. She could not be
made to tell what she did not know.

“Well, Tarik,” Almaric said, “you will report
all of this to the Assembly at once.”

“You will stand with me?”

“I have no choice. You are my son. If what
you say is true, we will have to do something to stop the
Cetans.”

“It is true,” Tarik said calmly.

The Assembly did not believe Tarik. The
Members were so shocked that a Cetan had been admitted to their
hallowed chambers that they could think of nothing else. They sat
on cushioned chairs in row upon tiered row, looking down with
haughty disapproval upon their unwelcome guests. On the red-floored
open space in the center of the square meeting room, Tarik and
Gaidar stood together, looking back at the Members with calm
confidence.

Narisa had been awed by her first view of the
fabled Red Room, and of all the Members assembled there. Almaric
had allowed her and Tarik only a brief pause to ascertain that
Gaidar was unharmed and had been treated well. Then he had led the
three of them into the Red Room through a small door at the lowest
level, so that as they crossed the empty square, they had to look
up to meet the eyes and frowning faces of the very annoyed Members.
Narisa recognized Tyre, the famous Leader of the Assembly, sitting
bolt upright in his ornate chair at the first level. The Leader was
a big man, much overweight, with a flushed face and the deepest
frown of all.

Narisa had quickly been given a seat in a
corner at the end of one of the bottom rows, in case her testimony
should be required. She had scarcely reached it before Tarik was
ordered to speak.

It was difficult for her to sit still in her
place upon soft red cushions through the hours of tedious argument
that followed Tarik’s speech, without coming to his defense. She
was growing more and more upset by the attitude of the Members.
Tarik’s assertions about the Assembly, which she had once rejected
as treasonous, now returned to haunt her. She felt as though her
eyes had at last been opened to a great and frightening truth.

She had always trusted the Assembly, without
thinking very much about it. These were the representatives of the
civilized Races, who had been specifically chosen to guide and
protect the citizens of the Jurisdiction, and they were supposed to
have the safety and well-being of those citizens as a first
concern. Yet for the most part, the Members who had spoken thus far
appeared to be lazily secure in their exalted lifetime positions,
interested only in their scheduled esoteric debates on obscure
legal niceties. They were remarkably uninterested in revelations
that could mean life or death for them and the people they were
empowered to protect. She began to understand why Tarik had been so
scornful of Jurisdiction laws and Service regulations. The Service,
after all, was completely controlled by this Assembly. The
stupidity of the debate over Tarik’s and Gaidar’s claims of an
approaching Cetan war fleet brought Narisa to a state of acute
frustration. She began to wonder how much longer she could observe
regulations and remain silent.