Achael bowed slightly, a thin smile tightening his lips. “Sir, as you know I have a cousin in the Inspector General’s office. As weapons officer, I have particular interest in classified document control, and when that directive came out two months ago, I decided to set up such a test on this ship. You remember that you gave your permission -?” He waited for Commander Fargeon’s nod before going on. “Well, I had three hard copies of apparently classified documentation on the new Witherspoon ship-to-ship beam, and - as the directive suggested - I made an opportunity to let all the newly assigned officers know that they existed and where they were.”
“Get to the point. Lieutenant.”
“The point, sir, is that one of them disappeared, then reappeared one shift later. I determined that three of the ensigns, and two Jigs, had the opportunity to take the copy. I handled the copy with tongs, and put it in the protective sleeve the directive had included, for examination later at a forensic lab. And I reported this, in code, to my cousin, in case anything - ah - happened to me.”
“And you have reason to believe that Ensign Sassinak was the person who took the document?”
“She had the opportunity, along with several others. Forensic examination should show whether she handled it. Or rather, it would have.”
“Would have?”
“Yes, sir. The document in question, in its protective sleeve, is missing from my personal safe. We have not only a missing pod, and a missing ensign, but a missing document which might have identified someone who had broken security regulations. And a non-functioning beacon on the pod. I scarcely think this can be coincidence.”
“Not Sassinak!” That was Cavery, furious suddenly. He had had his doubts, but not after the pod ejected. If Sassinak had wanted to escape, she wouldn’t have called herself to his attention that very morning.
“As for the outgoing message with her initiation code, I believe she may have been reporting to whomever she - er - worked with.”
“The destination code was in the IG’s office,” said Cavery. “The same code as your incoming message.”
“You’re sure? Of course, she might have done that to incriminate me - “
“NO!” Erling and Cavery shouted it together.
“Gentlemen.” Fargeon’s voice was icy, his expression forbidding. “This is a matter too serious for personalities. Ensign Sassinak may have been ejected accidentally. Or, despite her high ratings in the Academy, she may have been less than loyal. There is her background to consider. Of course. Lieutenant Achael, it’s one you share.”
Achael stiffened. “Sir, I was a prisoner. She was a slave. The difference - “
“Is immaterial. She didn’t volunteer for slavery, I’m sure. However, her captors would have had ample time to implant deep conditioning - not really her responsibility. At any rate. Lieutenant, your information only adds to the urgency and confusion of this situation.” He took a long breath, but before he could begin the long speech they all knew was coming, Makin, the Weft Jig, spoke up.
“Begging the captain’s pardon, but what about retrieval?”
Fargeon became even stiffer, if possible. “Retrieval? Mr. Makin, the pod was ejected during FTL flight, and we are en route to a scheduled rendezvous with an EEC vessel. Either of those conditions alone would make retrieval impossible - “
“Sir, not impossible. Difficult, but - “
“Impossible. The pod was ejected into a probability flux - recall your elementary physics class, Mr. Makin - and would have dropped into sublight velocity at a location describable in cubic light-minutes. With a vector of motion impossible to calculate. Now if the beacon had functioned - which Engineering assures me it did not - we would be getting some sort of distorted signal from it. We might spend the next few weeks tracking it down, if we didn’t have this rendezvous to make. But we have no beacon to trace, and we have a rendezvous to make. My question now is what report to make to Fleet Headquarters, and what we should recommend be done about that ensign.”
When Fargeon dismissed them, he announced no decision; outside his office, the buzzing conversations began.
“I don’t care what that sneak says.” Cavery was beyond caution. “I will not believe Sassinak took anything - so much as a leftover muffin - and if she did she’d be standing here saying so.”
“I don’t know, Cavery.” Bullis, of Admin, might not have cared: he argued for the sheer joy of it. “She was intelligent and hardworking, I’ll grant you that, but too sharp for her own good. If you follow me.”
“Not into that, I won’t. I - “ He paused, and looked around at Makin, the Weft Jig, who had tapped his arm.
“If I could speak to you a moment, sir?”
Cavery looked at Bullis and shrugged, then followed Makin down the corridor. “Well?”
“Sir, is there any way to convince the captain that we can locate that pod, even without a beacon on it?”
“You can? Who? And how?”
“We can because Ensign Sassinak is on it - Wefts, I mean, sir. With Ssli help.”
Cavery cocked his head. “Ssli help? Wait a minute - you mean the Ssli could locate that little pod, even in normal space, while we’re - “
“Together, we could, sir.” Cavery had the feeling that the Weft meant something more than he’d said, but excitement overrode his curiosity for the moment.
“But I don’t know what I can do about the captain,” he murmured, lowering his voice as Achael strolled nearer. “I’m not going to get anywhere arguing.”
“Cavery,” Achael broke into their conversation. “I know you liked the girl, and she is attractive. I’d have spent a night or so with her gladly.” Cavery reddened at that insinuation. “But the circumstances are suggestive, even suspicious.”
“I suppose you’d suspect any orphan ex-slave?” Cavery meant it to bite, and Achael stiffened.
“I’m not the one who brought up her ancestry,” he pointed out.
“No, but you have to admit, if it’s a matter of access, you were in the same place at the same time. Maybe someone twisted your mind. Curious you never saw her, hmm?”
Achael glared at him. “You’ve never been anyone’s prisoner, have you? I spent my entire time on that miserable rock locked in a stinking cell with five other members of theCaleb’s crew. One of them died, of untreated wounds, and my best friend went permanently insane from the interrogation drugs. I hardly had the leisure to go wandering about the slaveholds looking for little girls, as she must have been then.”
“I - I’m sorry,” said Cavery, embarrassed. “I didn’t know.”
“I don’t talk about it.” Achael had turned away, hiding his face. Now he spun about, pinning Cavery suddenly with a stiffened forefinger. “And I don’t expect you, Cavery, to tell everyone in the mess about it, either.”
“Of course not.” Cavery watched the other man stalk away, and wished he’d never opened his mouth.
“You notice he never answered your question,” Makin said. At Cavery’s blank look, he went on. “You’re right, sir, that during that captivity an enemy had a chance to deep-program Lieutenant Achael… and nothing he said makes that less likely. A friend who went insane from interrogation drugs… perhaps Achael did not.”
“I don’t - like to accuse anyone who went through - through something like that - “
“Of course not. But that’s what they may have counted on, to cover any lapses. Now, about the pod and Ensign Sassinak - “
Sassinak’s supporters barely crammed into Cavery’s quarters. Wefts, other ensigns, Erling from Engineering. After the first chaos, when everyone assured everyone else that she couldn’t have done any of it, they concentrated on ways and means.