Garrett exploded. “You idiots! You look like a gang defending its drug turf! Is that what you’re here for, what your God told you to be? I can be as high-minded as I want, but it doesn’t mean a thing if I’ve got good laws and bad cops!”
The Pilgrims looked contrite, some of them at least. Garrett said, “Mister Duke, I’ll tell you what. You’re allowed on this station so long as you don’t hurt anyone and you never speak to Leda unless spoken to. Don’t even get close enough for me to suspect you’re harassing her. You’re not allowed to hurt anyone and nobody is allowed to hurt you. Got it?”
Duke gulped and nodded. Garrett turned to the Pilgrims. “Got it?”
Reluctantly, they agreed.
“Good,” Garrett told the Pilgrims. “I’d arrange for your punishment myself, but I’ll leave this one to Leda. It’ll be a little test of her own fairness.” That made them gulp. It’d put the fear of God into them more than any discipline he could think of.
“How did it go?” asked Zephyr. Garrett found him coaxing one of his rats to feed itself; it didn’t move except in remote-controlled jerks.
Garrett sat and fought off a headache. “They’re like a bunch of squabbling kids. Breaking up playground fights isn’t what I signed up for.”
“Why did you come out here, anyway?”
“To make things. To be doing something new and useful. Not to fight anyone or get caught up in red tape.” Garrett slapped his knee hard enough to hurt his hand. “Damn it, I’ve given up my money, my citizenship even, and for what? What has it gotten me? I’m a bureaucrat and a fisherman, and any week now I’ll get arrested for rocking the boat.” He had this station, this colony, and it meant something to him. But what good was a pile of hardware when it came with so much hassle?
“You’ve accomplished something,” said Zephyr. “You’ve helped people, including me.”
“What’s that worth if we get shut down?”
Zephyr made the rat perch on his hand. “I don’t know. But I won’t let anyone control me again. In fact, I have a request.”
“Yes?”
“As long as we’re living outside the law, I request: set me free.”
Garrett eyed the robot. “Nobody’s keeping you here.”
“I’m your property. Please declare that I’m not. If you do so, then I’ll be your most loyal supporter.”
“And if I don’t?”
Zephyr’s ears flattened, as he set the rodent down. “I’ll do exactly what I’m told.”
Garrett laughed at Zephyr’s expression. “All right then. You’re free.”
“Wait, let me get it recorded. Okay, again.”
“You’re free. I hereby give you to yourself.” Garrett waved one hand as though he had a magic wand to change Zephyr’s status with the words alone.
Zephyr leaped and spun in midair, to Garrett’s astonishment. “Thank you, sir!” he said, playing a snatch of a video-game victory tune.
Garrett sat there leaning back, pleased to have made somebody happy today.
Martin called. “There’s a problem.”
Garrett sighed and heaved himself to his feet. “What else is new?”
He and Zephyr went upstairs to find Martin playing a recording. Martin said, “A tourist boat heading back to America sent this.” A tinny radio signal followed.
“Unidentified vessel approaching us at high speed. Photo follows. Tell my wife I love her.”
The encoded photo looked familiar, and it was no pirate ship. “A Coast Guard patrol, again,” said Martin. “Same jamming after this distress call.”
“Check our departure records.”
Martin said, “I did. It’s the Bunker Hill, a yacht owned by that doctor who was looking at the time-shares. His son might’ve bought some drugs.”
“Might have?” said Garrett. “If the Guard finds anything, they could take the ship!”
“You’re not looking at the big picture. If the Guard is stepping up enforcement against ships leaving Castor, then we’re under siege. Who will come here if they expect to get attacked on the way back?”
Garrett paced. “We’re talking about legal inspections, not Blackbeard pillaging people.”
“It may as well be him,” Martin groused.
“Bull!” said Garrett. “These guys play within the rules, and they’re not out to hurt anyone. I’d rather have them running security here than the guys we had today.” He explained the incident with Duke.
Martin considered. “Better publicity the way you handled it, I suppose.”
“Publicity, huh? I may have saved the son-of-a-bitch’s life.”
Martin shrugged.
“Is that not important to you?”
“Castor is worth more than either of our lives, and certainly more than his. It’s bigger than ourselves.”
“How nice. How do we help the people under attack right now?”
“We can’t.”
Garrett looked at the map. Too far away; Martin was right this time. “For future trips, I want outgoing boats accompanied by a scout drone if that’s at all practical. I want to at least see what’s being done, and show the world if there’s any abuse. Zephyr, what do you make of this situation?”
The robot was listening. “You’re arguing over whether somebody’s life matters.”
Martin protested, “I’m saying that we’re here for the sake of the whole project. It doesn’t matter if any one person doesn’t make it.”
Garrett asked Eaton to speak with his contacts, and to cut a deal. They’d streamline the process for visiting Castor. You could come if you were authorized for foreign travel at all. On the way back to the land of the free, you’d have to stop at one of several ocean checkpoints to be boarded, inspected, and arrested if you brought back more than a snowglobe. Castor would be treated as a dreamland of wickedness — never mind that there was a farm, the real point of the place. A communication from somebody in the State Department suggested that the US really ought to be charging Castor for the extra expense of enforcing the law against American citizens, but would refrain from doing that. For now.
Around that time came the documents declaring that Garrett and company were in contempt of court for failing to show up and be arrested, er, interviewed. As long as the threats were on paper only, Garrett could deal with them.
Martin approved, when Garrett told him about the back-channel offer for inspections. “If people think that Castor is just a resort with drug dens and brothels, that protects us.”
“What do you think it is?”
Martin grinned fiercely. “The future.”
Leda liked the offer too, when she heard. “It’s time to start making this place responsible.”
10. Tess
Was this really Castor? On the horizon it seemed to stretch forever, lots of jumbled shapes rising from the water. It didn’t look like the gleaming model from the plans. They radioed their names nonchalantly to the station. Thirty seconds later, the screen lit up with Garrett’s face. “It’s you! Let me see you.”
Valerie grinned and turned on their own link. “For you I’ll go on camera.”
“You, and Tess!” Garrett looked ready to leap through the screen. “Hey, Zephyr, it’s really them!”
When they’d docked, Garrett and Zephyr were waiting. Tess was first off, and before she could say anything Garrett had grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her into the air. Tess yelped in surprise; he was so strong! He set her down and she stood there wobbling and flushed.
“Welcome home,” he said. It felt wonderful to hear.