Prisoner's Hope (The Seafort Saga Book 3) Read online

  “I understand that now, sir. I made a bad mistake.”

  “In removing him?”

  “No, sir. In taking your orders literally.”

  It brought him out of his chair, hands closing into fists. I was still imprisoned at attention, my back aching, and I felt dizzy. I shouldn’t have taken that long walk in the cold Venturas night.

  “By God, Seafort, you’re an arrogant one!”

  I no longer cared. “That may be so. You knew what I was when you appointed me!” It was breathtaking insolence, for which I would have instantly broken a subordinate. I ignored his stunned amazement and rushed on. “You ordered me to investigate and correct abuses and inefficiency. Tell me how Khartouf’s abuses could have been corrected without removing him!”

  “You could report to me. I’d have removed him.”

  “You didn’t order me to report abuses! You said to correct them!”

  “Don’t be a sea lawyer,” he growled. “I had no idea that meant stripping a Base Commander of his post.”

  “Neither did I, sir,” I said truthfully. We lapsed into silence while I fought to remain at proper attention. His anger abating, the Admiral sank back into his chair. At length I said, “Will you court-martial me?”

  “Eh? No, of course not. You knew I was just letting off steam.”

  I’d known no such thing. “Very well, sir.” I hesitated. “It’s clear you don’t want me to continue as inspector-general.”

  “I’m the Admiral here, Seafort! I’ll tell you what’s clear.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Stand easy.”

  I sagged with relief. “May I sit?” At his nod I dropped into a chair. “Sorry, sir. I don’t feel well.”

  He tapped his desk, lost in thought. “Khartouf’s brother is Assistant Deputy SecGen, as you no doubt knew.” He shook his head. “Have you any idea of the trouble you’ve made?”

  “You can always veto my acts, sir.”

  “You know I have to stand behind you. Reinstating him now would be a license to steal. And the Navy has to look after its own.”

  “I see.” It was the wrong reason to back me.

  His annoyance flared again. “And you’ve taken my chief aide as well.”

  “Mr. Eiferts? I needed someone immediately, and uh, I had to work with the material at hand.”

  “Don’t be insolent!”

  “Aye aye, sir. Eiferts knew the problems, and he had your confidence. He was ideal.”

  “I know. You were right. I can’t see who else to put in charge, so now I’m without his services.”

  “Sorry.” He couldn’t have it both ways.

  “Don’t get in a huff, Seafort. It’s all my fault; I wrote your blessed orders myself.” For the first time his eyes held a glint of humor.

  “What should I do now, sir?”

  He tapped his desk. After a time he sighed and said, “Go on with your business.”

  “As inspector-general?” I sounded incredulous.

  “That’s your post,” he snapped. “While you’re at it, check the shipping records on Orbit Station. See if you can figure out why we have such a pileup of supplies at Centraltown.”

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  The Admiral’s thoughts were elsewhere. “We won’t try him here, of course. Send him to Earth with a full accounting.”

  “Yes, sir.” The hot potato would be handed on.

  “You’ll have made enemies at home, Seafort. That’s out of my hands.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Very well, dismissed.” As I headed for the door he added, “You relieved Khartouf before you found he was stealing.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  His eye met mine. “Someday you’ll go too far.”

  I held his gaze for a long moment.

  “Dismissed.”

  9

  EARLY IN THE MORNING I drooped over my kitchen table inhaling coffee, struggling to wakefulness, still bothered by my cold. Tolliver was due at our new office near the barracks in an hour; I needed something to keep him busy. Arrange an inspection trip to Orbit Station? No, if I alerted the Station I wouldn’t see regular operations, I’d find a station made ready for inspection. Though I detested it, I would have to keep skulking about.

  I tied my shoes. Annie had gone out to shop, giving me the distance I obviously wanted. Why, then, did I feel miserable? I left for work.

  We’d been assigned a three-room suite: my office, a room for my two lieutenants, and a waiting room for visitors. Plush, by naval standards. Tolliver was waiting.

  Inside, I sat drumming my desk. I had a report to prepare, but nothing else to do.

  “I’m going to the hospital for an hour or so.”

  “Yes, sir. Do you have an assignment for me?”

  I thought of piling him with drudgery, in revenge for the hazing which he’d once inflicted. Abstract the quartermasters’ reports for the last eighteen months. Detail the labor that the planters supplied to Venturas Base. Count the bricks in the top thirty feet of the building.

  “Nothing for now.” I added reluctantly, “Would you care to visit Mr. Tamarov?” I knew I’d prefer to see Alexi alone.

  “I’d like to meet him, sir.”

  “Very well.” I sighed.

  At the hospital, Alexi’s glance flitted between us as if assessing our relationship. Our conversation was stilted. After a while Tolliver wandered to the coffee shop, to give us time alone.

  Absently, Alexi rubbed at the stubble covering his scalp where his bandage had been, while I told him about my escapade in the Venturas. When I was done he ventured, “Relieving him won’t hurt your career?”

  I shrugged. “I already have enemies. I make them wherever I go.”

  “Really?”

  “Does that surprise you?”

  He studied me. “Well, yes.”

  I shook my head. “I have no talent at dealing with people.”

  “But you’re kind.”

  I snorted with derision. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I am, Mr. Seafort.”

  “How little you remember.” I was immediately sorry, but it was too late.

  He reddened, but said, “You’ve certainly been kind since I woke. Was it once different?”

  “Yes.” I wished the subject hadn’t come up. “When you were a midshipman.”

  “I seem to have survived.”

  I grunted, looking to change the topic. “You’re gaining your strength.”

  “Yes.” He stood, walked to the window. “What do I do now?”

  “You’re on sick leave. Wait for your memory to return.”

  “It won’t, you know.” He spoke as if certain. “The doctors tell me that after so long a coma, there’s only a small chance.”

  I groped for a way to help him, found none. “I’m sorry.”

  “They’ve room here. They’re in no hurry to eject me.” He slumped back on his bed.

  Tolliver returned. I shivered, reminding myself to find some meds for my cold. “I’ll see you again in a day or so.”

  “Nice of you.”

  Something in Alexi’s voice gave me pause. “Don’t you want me to visit?”

  He was silent a long while. “You don’t understand. You come, and talk about people I should know and places I ought to remember. It’s excruciating.”

  I said stiffly, “I won’t bother you, if that’s what you’d prefer.”

  He spoke as if Tolliver weren’t present. “You still don’t see. I sit in this damned room day after day, listening for your step. If it wasn’t for you, I’d have nobody who cared. I’m dependent on you, and it’s terrifying!”

  “Oh, Alexi.” I squeezed his shoulder. This time, he didn’t pull free. “I’m so sorry. I’ll visit every day until you’re better.”

  “Until they give you a ship, you mean. Then I’ll be alone.”

  True. A warship was no place for a confused and injured officer. “That won’t be for a while,” I said. “You’ll be well by t
hen.”

  “Will I?” He stared at the window.

  The silence stretched. Tolliver said, “Mr. Tamarov, these things take time. I had an uncle once—”

  “I don’t give Christ’s damn about your uncle!”

  Tolliver and I exchanged glances. I said, “We’d best go. We’re upsetting you.”

  “As you wish.” Alexi still hadn’t moved.

  “Come, Mr. Tolliver.” I drifted to the doorway, motioned for Tolliver to pass. Alexi turned. In two strides he was at the door, clutching my wrist. “Mr. Seafort, I—”

  Tolliver thrust himself between us, sent Alexi sprawling onto the bed.

  I caught his arm. “Tolliver, no!”

  “He handled you!”

  Alexi leaped to his feet. Tolliver raised his fists.

  “BELAY THAT, BOTH OF YOU!” My bellow tore at my throat, but it halted the melee.

  “Aye aye, sir,” Tolliver said at once. He trembled slightly as he brushed the neatly creased pants of his uniform.

  “Tolliver, by the door! Alexi, sit!”

  Alexi made as if to object, sank onto the bed. “He shoved me!”

  “Yes. You touched me.”

  “So? You touch me at times.”

  “I’m a Captain.”

  “What does that have—”

  Tolliver’s tone was harsh. “It is a capital offense to touch the Captain.”

  “I wasn’t fighting, just—”

  “He’s right, Alexi. Tolliver, he didn’t know.”

  “He’s a Naval officer.”

  “Who suffers from amnesia. You will make allowances.”

  Tolliver swallowed. “Aye aye, sir.”

  Alexi sat, his knees shaky. “Will I be executed?”

  “Alexi, for God’s sake!”

  He flung himself across the bed. “I don’t understand your world! I can get killed doing what seems perfectly innocent!”

  My voice was husky. “Sit up.” I waited for him to comply. “What were you saying when Mr. Tolliver interrupted?”

  Alexi blinked. “It’s hardly...I didn’t want you to go. I knew I’d been taking out my frustration on you.”

  “Neither of you meant any harm.” I held Tolliver’s eye, then Alexi’s. “I want an end to this.”

  Tolliver was the first to respond. “Mr. Tamarov, I bear you no ill will.”

  Alexi stood shakily. “I’m sorry I touched your Captain; I understand you were protecting him.” They shook. After a few awkward moments, we left.

  “You were correct.” I coughed.

  “About what?” Laura Triforth asked. Her voice was distorted over the caller.

  “The Venturas Base was a mess. We’re reorganizing it now.” I peered through my office window at the streets below.

  “Where else have you been?”

  “Nowhere, yet.”

  “I see.” Her silence spoke volumes.

  “I’ve been trying to shake off a cold.” It sounded a lame excuse.

  “What will you do about our shipping charges?”

  “I have no authority over rates.”

  “I’d have thought you had no authority over General Khartouf.”

  “I’m not sure I did.” The less said about that episode, the better. “What about Mantiet?”

  “Frederick’s disappeared. No one knows where.”

  I tried to keep my frustration in check. “You all know each other, Ms. Triforth. Surely there aren’t so many places to hide.”

  “There’s Centraltown, the plantations, the whole continent.”

  I said, “Most of it undeveloped wilderness.”

  “Which has thousands of glades where a heli could be hidden, its transponder turned off.”

  My chest was tight. “Mantiet nearly killed Lieutenant Tamarov. We’ve got to bring him to justice.”

  Laura’s voice softened. “He nearly killed you too. We want to find him just as much as you, Mr. Seafort.”

  I doubted that was possible. “Very well.” We rung off. I glowered at Tolliver.

  “Are they pacified, sir?”

  “When I want your questions, I’ll tell you.” My head throbbed; all I wanted was to lie down.

  “Sorry.” He didn’t seem perturbed. How could a man such as Tolliver feel about his assignment? He claimed to have nothing against me, yet I hated every moment of his company. I knew I wasn’t being fair; he was performing his duties conscientiously and showed no resentment at my curt manner. But seeing him constantly recalled my misery at Academy.

  I muttered, “Ms. Triforth insists I do something about shipping rates.” I gathered my holochips to take home.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Is that all you have to say?”

  In a patient tone, as with a child, he answered, “Yes, sir. I’m sorry if I offend you.”

  I slammed the door on the way out.

  I decided I might as well deliver my report chip in person, in case the Admiral wanted to confer with me.

  He didn’t. I presented my chip to Lieutenant Eiferts’s replacement and wandered to the spaceport terminal across the tarmac. The gift shop displayed low-priced tourist goods made on Hope Nation, and expensive ones shipped from home. I lunched at the spaceport restaurant. After, I dawdled, not wanting to go back to my office and cope with Tolliver.

  I was glancing at the holozines in the rack when a lieutenant peered over my shoulder. “Hello, Captain.” He seemed vaguely familiar. “Lieutenant Kahn, sir. I met you on the Station.”

  “Ah.”

  “Have you heard the news?”

  I felt a stab of alarm. “Another attack?”

  “Nothing like that, sir. A ship docked this morning.”

  “Oh.” I shrugged. Once, the arrival of a vessel such as Hibernia was major news, but now ships came and went almost unnoticed. “I’ll bet they’re looking forward to long-lea—”

  “She left Lunapolis nine months ago.”

  “What?”

  Kahn grinned at my astonishment. “Nine months. One Fuse straight from home system.”

  “But—why—I mean, how—?”

  “Something to do with how the fish Fuse. Our engineers went to work on it. I don’t know the details, but they’re calling it Augmented Fusion.”

  “Good Lord.” What a change. No longer would we endure interminable journeys to the stars. Nine months was a—an instant.

  “Victoria, they call her. She’s small, but God, she’s fast.”

  I frowned at his blasphemy. “How small?”

  “Twenty-four crew, forty-two passengers. Not much more than a sloop. No one knows what class to name her.”

  I smiled. “Call her a fastship.”

  “Yes, sir.” He grinned, sharing my delight in the extraordinary news. “She docked this morning with dispatches for the Admiral.”

  “Should you be gossiping about that, Lieutenant?”

  For a moment he looked worried. “Well, sir, you’re inspector-general. If I can’t tell you, who’s to trust?” His face brightened. “I heard they stripped her bare to reduce mass. Only two laser emplacements, one fore, one aft.”

  I said, “She’d better be fast, then. You can’t fight fish with only two lasers.”

  “I’d love to see her. In fact, I’m putting in for transfer this afternoon.”

  I thought of the long slow days. Sixteen months from Lunapolis to Hope Nation; now we would cut that time almost in half. How would it affect a Captain’s authority? What if the scientists shortened the journey even more? Would a Captain eventually be made to defer all important decisions to Admiralty? What if I’d been forced to brig my mutineers, to prosecute them when we reached port? Could I have maintained discipline had I not hanged them?

  I paid my bill, went back to the office.

  “I’m going to Orbit Station.”

  “Do you have a program in mind, sir?” Tolliver.

  “To look around.” Perhaps I’d get a glimpse of Victoria. Perhaps not.

  “That’s all?”
/>   “Mostly.” And to see what trouble I could stir up. I tried to imagine the Admiral’s reaction if he heard I’d relieved General Tho as well as Khartouf.

  “When will you meet with the planters?”

  “After I get back.” I made a note to ask BuPers to replace Tolliver; his very voice drove me to distraction. “Book us on a shuttle.”

  “Aye aye, sir. There’s one at nine this evening.” Time enough to go to the apartment, pack my duffel for overnight.

  “Do we have the quartermaster’s report yet?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Go to the spaceport and get it.”

  “Aye aye, sir. If the quartermaster says it isn’t ready?”

  “Have him give you what he’s got. We want to know what supplies are sitting on the runway and how long they’ve been there. I’ll meet you at nine.”

  The apartment was silent and dark; at first I thought Annie was gone. I found her lying facedown on the bed, fully dressed.

  “I’ll be at the Station tonight.”

  “I see.” Her voice was muffled.

  I threw a couple of shirts and my toilet articles into my duffel. “I’m not sure when I’ll be back. Probably tomorrow.”

  “’Kay.”

  “Good-bye, then.” For some reason, my chest ached.

  “Good-bye.”

  I stood at the door a moment, decided to say no more. I left. I drove our electricar to the spaceport; Annie hated to drive and wouldn’t need it.

  I negotiated the streets with care. Though I was in the outskirts of the city I didn’t feel as comfortable as I would on Plantation Road; too many vehicles were about. I kept a wary eye for haulers or buses that might lunge at me.

  Few people walked along the roadway; I eyed each pedestrian with suspicion, half expecting him to dash across my path. I passed a sailor waiting to cross the street. A lady and her dog. A youth with a knapsack.

  I jammed on the brakes. The boy, startled, stared at me.

  I rolled down the window. “Jerence? What are you doing here?”

  He backed away. I put the car into reverse to follow, glancing nervously at the mirror. “Does your father know you’re—”

  He sprinted down the sidewalk, away from the spaceport.

  I watched as he disappeared around a bend. Shaking my head, I drove on. The boy wasn’t my problem. As a courtesy, I would radio Harmon and tell him I’d seen his son. He could heli to Centraltown and search. By that time, of course, it would be dark and the boy would have vanished.