Chapter 30

We had traveled a good hour on that train. The local transport thing stopped frequently and the train cars emptied a few beings at the time.

How the Kartanian knew where we were was a mystery to me, perhaps he had counted the stops or had some other indicator. He said, “We better get up, the next stop is ours.”

We resurfaced a few minutes later.

It was what the Karthanian called the Pulse district, a workers amusement section of the city. Jutika told us that this was for Ithe, and Drak would hardly ever find their way into this section of town. There was heavy police presence at every corner.

Our plan was to go to a local bar at an address Cherubim had transmitted. There we would be contacted by someone who in turn would guide us to the actual NAVINT intelligence contact. Of course I had not told Ninety or the others of that part. I could not trust our allies that much and expose an NAVINT agent. Whoever it was might even continue to be an intelligence contact if Itheamh changed governments.

Officially I wanted to do some general intelligence and check out the space port. At least that part was true as it was an integral part of my plan.

Ninety had come along to secretly meet with an underground cell. He said to me as we stood at the top of the escalator stairs. “Well this is the Pulse district. Seven blocks from here begins the space port district and there you find the offices of several Union based shipping companies.”

They turned to go back down as their destination was in another part of town and he said. “I know you are very formidable and capable individuals, but the central city Drak are elite and very brutal in their methods, so be careful.”

I said to them. “You be careful too. You do know how to activate the implant if you run into trouble right?”

They nodded and moments later Har-Hi and I were alone standing next to a concrete city center park with statues of previous magistrates and Drak heroes immortalized in bombastic status made of even more concrete.

Har-Hi looked up at one particular big statue and said. “They sure like concrete around here. They use it everywhere.”

I also looked up and said. “I guess it is a cheap building material. Don’t tell that to Jutika but I personally find the Ithe look quite comical, and to see them blown up to such size in something that is supposed to be a heroic pose makes them even funnier looking.”

A steely voice accompanied by the clicking heels of boots interrupted us and said. “Magnificent is he not, Magistrate Rotraga?”

I turned and two Drak officers in dark grey coats walked up to us.

For the duration of maybe a heartbeat or two I forgot how to articulate and steer the stilt eyes of my mask, but then I managed to activate the correct logarithm with a blink of my real eyes. To a human mind it was very confusing to have two independent moveable eyes that sat at the same spot where a human had ears, so we decided during our mask making session with Shea and Cateria to make the stalk eyes mock eyes only and have our real eyes behind a patch of one way transparent bio-skin. The stalk eyes moved more or less on a random move program until we needed to interact with other Ithe and we switched the eyes to interaction mode. This was the best Shea and SHIP could come up with in such a short notice and it was as convincing and awesome as everything they made, but we had to switch manually between programs.

I answered. “Oh yes, this magistrate was always my favorite hero too, especially how he holds that saber.”

One of the officers came closer. “Is there something wrong with your eyes, Ithe cretin?”

The other said. “You both are very tall; you are not trying to sneak into the inner district posing as Drak, right?”

Har-Hi said. “Of course not, Officer.”

The one talking to me said. “What do you think was Rotraga’s greatest achievement?”

I asked. “Can two citizens not take an evening stroll and admire the statues of our heroes without being questioned about the deeds of Magistrate Rotraga who was among the greatest. He made sure there is law and order and we workers have work.”

The officer who had talked to Har-Hi said. “Your ID cards!”

The other snickered. “Pray that we find nothing wrong with your ID Cards, there are still seats available on the next flights to the Smelter Moons.”

Shea had hacked into the local computer system and our Nanite factory aboard the Tigershark had no problem to copy the old ID card of Commander Jutika and manufacture new ones that would match the data Shea had fed into the local security data net. So we handed them our ID cards. One of them pulled a blocky device from a belt holder and scanned our ID cards.

They both saluted and handed the cards back. “Sorry we didn’t know you were of the secret police.”

I barked at them. “What good would it be to have a secret police if everyone knew who’s in it?”

We simply turned and left them where they were.

Har-Hi said to me as we passed under the legs of a statue. “I wish we could stick those two jack-boots on one of those flights.”

I said to him. “We are planning to free the slaves, not add more.”

He grunted something I didn’t understand, but I was sure it was a colorful insult directed at the two Drak officers, and then he looked up and down the street and said. “Now where is this bar we are supposed to go too? I see dozens of bars and they all look equally uninviting to me.”

I glanced at my PDD by pushing the sleeve of my boiler suit back and said. “Do you see a Thirsty Torch? If our map data is correct we should be about 20 meters from it.”

Finally we noticed a busted light sign where only the letters ‘Thi’ and ‘rch’ still worked.

We went in. The bar was packed but we managed to find a table. Har-Hi and I ordered something that looked like beer and when the unsavory looking waiter left, Har-Hi leaned forward. “Now what, how are we supposed to make contact and how would they know who we are?”

I said “Patience my friend, patience is an important trait in this clandestine spy business, besides we have already been contacted.”

He hissed. “It was you who ran around doing all these spy things while we thought you got killed or worse. I am just a simple Dai pirate who happens to be an Union officer.”

“Nobody asked me if I even wanted to be abducted and run around and learn the spy business.”

He pretended to sip at the beer and said. “I didn’t mean it that way and you know it. It is this place that gives me the creeps. So how did we get contacted, I saw nothing”.

“Look at your beer coaster.”

He looked at the glass and said. “I still see nothing, just some doodles and beer brand advertisement.”

“You don’t think that doodle there looks very much like a Union fleet chevron.”

“Yes now that you mention it, but it seems to be on every beer coaster, I think it is just a doodle and not a very good one. Besides how would the contact know we are the ones? We look like everyone else here.”

He is giving out the coasters to everyone, but only a Union contact would know that this is an unfinished Union Chevron doodle. I just completed it, dumped my drink under the table and ordered another beer.”

The waiter, a smudgy looking Ithe placed a new beer before me and took the glass along with the coaster.

He came back a few moments later and put a smaller glass with a clear liquid that smelled real strong before me and said. “Sorry for spilling your beer, here is a Rothir throat burner on the house.”

I said. “You better get me another Rothir throat burner; you know how ugly my domestic home partner is.”

He said. “Is she as ugly as her sister Tenea?”

“No Tenea looks like a Visualizer star compared to her.”

“Meet me in twenty minutes outside and keep a low profile.”

He left.

Har-Hi said. “You do have a knack for this. I read the same instructions Cherubim send to us and there was no mention of Rothir throat burner or a Sister Tenea, or was there?”

“It was a variation of contact scenario seventeen. The booze name changes according to local conditions and the sister’s name is changed daily with the Day code transmission, but the rest is a predetermined NAVINT contact procedure.”

He sniffed at the Throat burner and said. “As I said you received specialized Intel training we did not.”

He was right of course, while the others enjoyed their first break, I was conditioned at Pauli Station and received Blue-Blue-Red clearance before my second year really started, not to mention my time with Mother Superior. Just then a fight started at a neighboring table. An Oghr and a very strong looking Ithe male started exchanging blows and kicks. The situation escalated to other tables fast.

It was all fine for us until an Oghr insulted Har-Hi and sloshed the content of a beer mug all over my friends face, calling him a coward and other names.

My friend tried to stay calm and out of the brawl, but after he had to block a fist aimed at his temple. He got up and of course I had to get up as well to keep his back.

About five or ten minutes later Har-Hi held the dazed Oghr by the throat and forced him to his knees and poured a glass of beer slowly over the greenish skull of his opponent.

I looked around but no one was left standing. Except for the painful groaning of an Ithe worker who hung over a support beam above the tables, it was very quiet.

The frightened bar keeper slowly appeared behind the bar counter and made big eyes. Har Hi pushed the Oghr away, who instantly crawled under the last standing table for cover and he buried his brutish face between his knees as Har-Hi turned once more to look at him.

I approached the shaking bar keeper. He had somewhat humanoid features and I wondered if he was an Oghr-human hybrid of sorts as he had features of both species. He was at least two heads taller than me and yet he was clearly frightened and as I approached he started shaking. I said to him. “Sorry about the damage. I think this got a little out of hand. How much would I owe you for the cleanup?”

He blinked with his reddish eyes and then said in a meek voice that didn’t really fit the tall muscular body. “You didn’t start the fight, I saw it. I don’t want to...”

“I am not going to hurt you; I really want to pay for the damage.”

He straightened out a little and then looked around and said. “I guess 25,000 Huthkarta or 2,000 Union Credits would do the trick.”

I pulled my credit box and said. “All I got is Unions.”

He became all business and friendly and deducted the sum into an ancient looking Union Bank Transferomat. The thing pinged and he now appeared really happy and said in a more jovial tone. “They tear up the place almost every week; it’s the first time someone pays. I get the place cleaned and throw the dead into the Composter and no worries; the Law never comes here.”

I also looked around and said. “I don’t think we killed anyone.”

Har-Hi grunted and motioned me to follow him outside and he pointed at an Oghr worker sticking head first in a hole in the wall and said. “He doesn’t look to fresh and the one you threw over the rafters isn’t moving either. Maybe this isn’t what he meant by keeping a low profile.”

I looked at him and said with a guilty tone in my voice. “Maybe I overreacted a tad, but you should learn to hold back just as well. What you did wasn’t exactly pulling punches either.”

He opened the door for me and said. “We better get out of here before they change their mind and call the local law enforcement after all.

We left through the front door, where we were intercepted by the smudgy looking waiter. “Quick, come and follow me.”

He scurried before us and made such a quick turn in a narrow, dark alley we almost walked past.

He didn’t speak but kept on leading us through a virtual labyrinth of alleys and back yards, until he finally slowed down at the back door of a desolate looking building. He said to me. “Day code?”

I answered. “Classic Red”

He knocked at the door in a particular rhythm. It opened and he urged us to rush in.

To the Smelter Moons

The door was opened by a greenish skinned being that looked like an Oghr, but was even shorter than the Ithe waiter who had guided us so far.

In my short time traveling the galaxy, I had already seen strange beings and the saying went that beauty lay in the eye of the beholder. I was certain someone in the universe would find this gnarled looking being pretty, but I could not find any other description than ugly. Har-Hi whispered. “She’s a Laurin Oghr, they are even shunned by other Oghr species, and their five star-system is the smallest kingdom and the closest from here if I remember correctly.”

Behind the door was a narrow corridor. The walls were as shabby looking as the doors and adorned with graffiti, cracked plaster and exposed brick work. The place reeked just like the liquid Nefkin had splashed on Har-Hi and Ninety. Light came from weak globe like things hanging on short strings from the ceiling, only two of the eight that used to be there still worked, the rest were missing or smashed. I heard the wailing of an Ithe child somewhere and the sound of alien Tele-entertainment coming from behind a door that had lost much of its original paint. The narrow corridor was even further restricted by a flight of creaking stairs leading upward.

Har-Hi whispered, “Beings actually live like that? The dungeons on our Dai Mother are a more cheerful place than this.”

The Ithe waiter who had heard him said, “This is how the majority of Ithe workers live. The rent here is barely affordable and takes about 50 percent of their meager pay.”

I looked around and said. “I’ve seen worse, even at home.”

Har-Hi said. “You tell me they have worse places on Nilfeheim than this?”

I turned my head while we ascended the creaking wooden stairs and said to him. “Yes, our own burg used to have tanneries that were much worse than this. I am sure there are still many burgs and clan chiefs that treat their Low men just as bad as slaves. I have also seen the tenant blocks of the Bottom-Low on Sin 4.”

Har-Hi stomped up a few steps behind me and then said. “Maybe when all this is done, we need to visit your Nilfeheim and make sure our own conditions are in order.”

I agreed with him and said, “My Grandfather and my former wife are working on this right now. Things change slowly on Nilfeheim but they are changing.”

“If there is Nilfeheim, I wonder if there are other places on Union side like that?”

“I never really thought about it, but I think there are. Remember the conditions on Thauran worlds forced a lieutenant to do bad things, the Union is so big. I am sure there are places like this. I am also sure they are the exception.”

“Still we should do something about it, I mean we as the Union society.”

The stairs were worn out and made a horrible creaking racked, but they were still better than the snow and ice covered stone steps hewn into the mountain side at Heswick. I looked over my shoulder.”As a society we can’t. We must uphold an individuals society choice without projecting our standards. The big difference however is that anyone living in conditions like that can walk to a Union Citizens desk and complain. It might not always be easy but it is done all the time.”

He sighed and agreed with a frown.

The next floor looked just like the one below, our guide went on to tackle the next flight of stairs and I asked. “How many stairs do we need to climb?”

The gnarled Laurin Oghr who had yet to say a word held up both her claw like hands and showed me five of her fingers, she had three fingers and a thumb on each hand.

Har-Hi cursed and said. “This dump has five stories, doesn’t it have an elevator?”

Something strange happened, the Oghr woman was only looking at Har-Hi without saying a word yet and he seemed to answer to a statement she made.

He said to her. “You got to be kidding, fourteen levels and a permanently broken elevator; I pity those who live all the way up and have to climb these stairs every day.”

While we kept climbing I asked my Dai friend. “Was she whispering or something? I haven’t heard a word out of her so far.”

Har-Hi who was behind me on the stairs said with a strange smug tone in his voice. “She hasn’t shut up since she opened the door.”

I was still wondering about that as we reached the fifth floor. Oghr were not known to be psionic gifted and even if she was, Har-Hi was a Union officer and thus should have been shielded. But only Psionics could explain that he could hear her and I could not.This fifth floor did not look any different up here than it looked on the previous floor, except perhaps a little less graffiti. The old woman opened a door at the end of the corridor. It looked just like any of the other doors, peeling paint, exposed press-wood, that started to disintegrate at the corners.

The Ithe waiter said. “This is as far as I go; I need to go back to work and from the mess you both made it will be a long night cleaning up.”

Without waiting for a response and without turning he went back to the stairs and rushed down. We entered what looked exactly like a poor old woman’s apartment supposed to look. Pieces of wet laundry hung on strings. The walls were covered with a once decorative layer of papery material, which peeled in large sections off the wall. A moldy, organic odor with a slight sour and rancid smell hung in the air. There was a tiny living room that was decorated with cheap plastic and ceramic knick knacks of alien design and smudgy seat cushions instead of a sofa or chairs.

An old looking electronic boxy looking device with a flat 2D screen flickered grainy pictures of a military parade. A door led out from the living room onto a tiny balcony, with barely enough room for a person to stand. A flimsy looking rusty railing missing several pieces appeared to be an awfully inadequate safety measure. The vista from her balcony was as depressing as the rest of the apartment. All one could see was the brick wall of another building just like this less than five meters distance. I was sure this Ithe made canyon of brick and concrete created one of those narrow alleys we had rushed through coming here. I had my hand on the butt of my blaster I was carrying underneath the boiler suit and checked the rest of the small flat. There was a tiny hygiene chamber and a small bedroom with a pile of blankets on the floor that appeared to be the bed of the old woman. This was supposed to be a NAVINT contact and so far everything appeared all right, but I no longer trusted appearances and wanted to make sure we were alone in the apartment. This was only one safety measure of mine; I hated to be surprised in situations like this. As I returned to the living room, Har-Hi seemed in a conversation with the old Oghr woman, yet I could only hear his responses. She held up a framed picture of a much younger and somewhat less ugly looking Laurin Oghr wearing a dark gray uniform and standing next to a black flyer.

Har-Hi said. “Ah I see your son is the pilot chauffeur to the magistrate.”

I spread my arms and said. “Can someone tell me why I can’t hear a thing?”

I was certain Har-H I was actually grinning behind his Ithe disguise as he said. “Patience my Captain, patience is an important trait in this clandestine spy business. Someone told me that once and not too long ago.”

I wished I could actually stick my tongue out at him and said. “Right back at me, I know.”

He chuckled and said. “You can’t hear the woman because she is a Bunthik and has many methods of having a conversation.”

“Didn’t you say she is a Laurin Oghr?”

The old Oghr spoke for the first time in heavy accented Union Lingo. “They tell me you are a formidable Captain and all that, but it is apparent you haven’t spent much time outside the protected Union space of ours.”

I glared at her, forgetting that glaring was not really possible with stalk eyes and said.

“You are quite correct; it’s more or less my first time.”

Then I looked around and said. “We are able to speak freely. I made sure of that.”

She said. “So did you? This apartment is bugged and under surveillance like every other apartment, but here are even more bugs than elsewhere and when my son comes there are actual agents listening, not just recorders and machines.”

She pointed to her ceiling lamp. “Karthanian Intelligence visualizer” Then she gestured towards the window, “Laser ear picking up the sound vibrations of every spoken word.”

I completed her litany and said. “Drak audio amplifiers embedded in the wall. Your neighbor to the right only lives there to keep an eye on you. I might be a bit green around the gills when it comes to this sector of space, old woman but don’t mistake my apparent youth for foolishness.”

She cackled a dry laugh and said. “It appears that she who calls you Soja has trained you well indeed, how do you know all this?”

I said to her. “I won’t let you see all my rune stones before I know more.”

She laughed again. “Whatever you do to make this flat surveillance proof, please stop it. There are very advanced NAVINT devices that feed the listeners all sorts of information, just not the real kind.”

I exposed my Wrist Comm. and said. “Shea, you heard the woman I am sure, give the word to Circuit and the others.”

Shea’s spoke directly through the tiny ear piece I carried and she said. “Yes Captain. Our team followed you and was busy securing the place. Circuit is recalling his Nanites and Lt. Bergdorf who was right behind you is on his way back to base. However Narth and Ensign Three-Four have already neutralized the laser ear agents. They are happily lasering the neighbor’s window now and Lt.Fifcher made the neighbor watch a Tele-entertainment show instead of listening in, do you want them to do reverse that?”

I responded. “No, let it be and tell everyone to stand by for the next part of our plan.” “Aye Captain.”

The woman said. “Relax Captain we have been doing this for years now. Would you care for a cup of Young-grass tea? My son won’t be here for at last another hour.”

I declined, saying: “No I am fine.”

The little kitchen area was separated only by a different floor cover from the living room and she begun to boil water anyway and while she prepared tea she said. “Yes I am of the Laurin Oghr Kingdom.” She paused and made sure I saw her opening one of the shabby cupboards filled with miss matching cups and dishes, some made of faded plastic and some of chipped ceramics. With a gesture to the cupboard she asked again. “Something else perhaps, I have beer, ale or something to eat?”

I raised my hand. “No not at the moment.” I did not want to explain to her that the disguises we wore didn’t let us eat or drink as Ithe and human facial features did not line up. Besides I wasn’t a big fan of tea or the local cuisine.

She snickered and said. “Suit yourself then.”

The shelves inside the cup-board suddenly moved up, cups, plates and all, while with an almost inaudible humming sound a modern, expensive SII-MOLRECON Serv-Matic pushed into view. The machine produced a cup of tea in no time and it did not smell like the bitter grass tea that everyone on this world appeared to be drinking. She said: “Since we have a little time, I believe it won’t hurt if you learn a little about the Oghr kingdoms as they are strewn all over this region of space and some of them are quite big and a force to be recognized.”

I sighed silently and sat down in one of the cushions.

She pointed at her own face and said. “This is not a disguise, I am really that ugly and I am really of the Oghr race and I am well aware how other beings look at us. It is a curse we bear for a very long time. Even the other Oghr species usually shun us and don’t give us the time of day.”

She sipped on her tea and gestured towards Har-Hi. “Your friend is Dai. He knows much more about the Oghrs then the usual Union members. Yes you may know a little about your own Oghrs, the ones that were smart and joined our illustrious Union, but what about the Nine Kingdoms out there? Your Dai friend he surprised me, he even knows one of the ancient and quite secretive sign languages and knows about the Bunthik.”

She raised her hands holding the cup and her fingers moved in what I thought was just a nervous habit and now I saw Har-Hi who still had his arms crossed move the fingers of his right hands in a similar fashion.

He said. “Because the Laurin Oghr are smaller and weaker than any of the other Oghr species they do not hire out as mercenaries, heavy laborers or guards as many of the Oghrs you know do. The Laurin are however known to be good domestic laborers. You know the ones doing laundry, tailoring, gardening and being chauffeurs and such. They are ugly and they know it and because of it they learned to stay out of sight as much as possible, they do their work almost as if being invisible and have made an art out of that. This talent gained them a very good reputation and Laurin domestics often get better pay than domestics of other species.”

I listened as my friend told me about multi-cultural interactions of beings and species I barely knew existed.

The Oghr woman said. “Our kind is promoting and cultivating this reputation for a very long time. However as much as you can be a good domestic you can be a bad one. The talents my species cultivated over the millennia can also be used for other purposes. Those who leave our poor kingdom to seek employment as domestics elsewhere are known at home as the Ranthik. However those who use their skills for other purposes are called the Bunthik. When a Laurin is exposed as being part of the Bunthik he or she is executed in public and by the judgment of our Queen herself for the damage it could cause to the Laurin Oghr reputation.”

She sighed and sipped from her cup, before she continued saying. “Our kind has caught the short end of the stick in many ways after the big Oghr war that broke up the old Empire. We have been breed and used for domestics in the old days and the former Oghr Colonies that became the Laurin Kingdom are poor on natural resources. Being a good domestic is like a religion to us. It is a way of life for almost 5000 years.”

She put the cup down and looked at us for a moment as to see if we still paid attention. Satisfied with whatever she saw she continued to explain. “The Bunthik are like the worm in the Union, a secretive underground organization. They are among the best thieves in the Universe and they know how to obtain information from their masters without them knowing and use it for black mail for example or to sell information to the highest bidder. We Bunthik began our existence out of resentment to be nothing but domestics, barely above slaves. Shunned and dismissed as ugly, forced to dwell in the shadows or wear funny face masks and robes, so we don’t offend has been accepted as our lot in life by the Ranthik, but not by us. One of these days, Captain Velvet you need to learn why there are so many different Oghr species and why it is not nature that made us so ugly and weak.”

She sighed sounding quite human. The Bunthik are a small group, hunted almost to extinction and to stay alive and to give our skills and knowledge to new generations, we have developed many secretive ways, including forms of communication no uninitiated observer would ever even notice.”

Shea who was on the bridge of the Tigershark and holding the Conn at the moment could see what we saw through the micro optics installed in the stalk eyes and she said into my ear piece. “She needs to be more careful. I have decrypted her finger language. She was asking Har-Hi how he knows that sign language so well and he told her that his nanny was a Bunthik who taught him many of their secrets.”

I turned and asked him. “So how come you had an Oghr nanny?”

The Old woman said. “She learns fast, your Captain.”

He sighed. “Yes she does especially since she has a Level 12 Intellect girlfriend peeking and giving her advice.”

To me he said. “My tribe once raided an Oghr convoy and a Laurin Oghr was one of the survivors. As you know my tribe never participated in slave trade and we never used any sentient beings as forced laborers. We set the survivors free, but she who later became my nanny wanted to stay with us. At first she acted as a spy for an Oghr king, but she really liked me and came clean to my father. She stayed with us and became the Nanny of all my father’s children.”

From the subtle tones of his voice I noticed how much he cared about that Nanny and I wondered why he had never told me about her before.

Our host got up and put the Serv-Matic away, then she said pointing at the Tele-entertainment viewer and the images flickered more than before. “My son has entered the building. He has two guards with him; they will come in for a short moment, check out the apartment and then leave us alone. So I must ask you to hide until they are gone.”

Shea said into my ear. “The apparent flickers of the visuals are a code as well.”