I sighed. We were, without a doubt, just exactly the right men to bechallengingthe giant octopus of Patth economic domination. Humanity was counting on us, and humanity was in trouble. "Tell me some more good news," I said sourly.
"As a matter of fact, I can," he said, digging out a bottle of painkillers andtossing it to me. "I've found us a safe haven. A temporary one, at least."
I frowned at him. "What are you talking about?"
"I got in touch with a friend of mine on my way over from the ship," he said, dropping his voice. "Called him on that StarrComm station by the tram lines.
He's a retired doctor, one of my instructors when I went through med training.
He's running a private ski and ice-climbing place now on a quiet little resortworld about five days away, complete with a small but full-service landingarea.
Fuel supply, landing-pad repulsors, perimeter lift-assist grav beams—theworks."
"He'll be used to private yachts there," Nicabar pointed out doubtfully. "Canhe handle a ship the size of the Icarus?"
"I spelled out the dimensions and he says he can," Everett said. "And it'soff-season there right now, which means the place is deserted."
"Other towns?" Ixil asked.
"Nearest is two hundred kilometers away," Everett said. "We'll have time tofinish the camouflage work on the ship and give all these burns some healingtime." He lowered his voice still further. "We might even be able to get thestardrive working."
"Sounds too good to be true," I said. "What's the catch?"
"No catch," Everett said. "He has no idea who or what we are—I told him youwere a group of investors interested in buying into resorts like his and pouringexpansion money into the more successful ones. He won't even be there—he'sheading out in two days on an equipment-buying trip. We'll have the wholeplaceto ourselves."
I looked at Ixil and lifted my eyebrows questioningly. He shrugged slightly inreply, his expression mirroring my own thoughts. Even if this turned out to bea trap, given that the Patth were already breathing down our necks we didn'thave a lot to lose. At least with a trap set the Patth and Iykams might not be soquick to flail around with blunt objects, a restraint that would not only givemy head a chance to heal but would also automatically raise our chances of slipping or fighting our way out of it. "All right," I said. "We'll try it.
Where is this place?"
Everett hesitated, glancing around the darkened room. "I don't know," he said.
"Out here in the open—you know."
"I want to know now," I told him, moving close and putting my ear to his lips.
"Just whisper it."
He sighed, his breath unpleasantly warm on my cheek. "It's on Beyscrim," he whispered. "The northwest section of the Highlandia continent."
"Got it," I said, getting a grip under his arm. He was right; even whispering it in here was risky. But I needed to know, and I needed to know before we got back to the ship. "Okay. Now we can go."
CHAPTER 21
AFTER ALL THE firepower that had been expended inside the club, I'd half expected to find a wall of local police surrounding the place as we slipped out the emergency exit and down the alley onto the crowded k'Barch streets. But to my mild surprise not a single badgeman was visible anywhere among the colorfully dressed celebrants. Either they just hadn't made it to the scene yet because of the crowds or because they were tied up with other more pressing business, or else a little good-natured gunplay wasn't remarkable enough during the Grand Feast to warrant official attention.
Especially without the club's ownership making any complaints; and it was for sure that Ambassador Nask wouldn't have risked losing Patth control of the Icarus by calling the local authorities in.
Which was just as well, considering how much trouble we had making our escape even without governmental interference. Now that it was full night, the crowds filling the streets were at least twice as dense as they'd been when I'd first arrived, and it seemed like every third step one of us managed to get jostled or bumped in a tender spot by some boisterous or flat-out drunk reveler. Even the high-quality painkillers and anesthetic pads Cameron had stocked the Icarus with could only do so much, and by the end of the second block I was about ready to haul out my plasmic and start shooting us a clear path.
Adding to the physical torture of pushing through the morass was the tension of wondering if and when the Patth would be able to regroup for another stab at us.
Even in a multispecies gathering like this Ixil and his ferrets stood out, drawing far more attention than any of us liked. But like the badgemen, the Patth and their Iykami minions failed to materialize. Either we'd already taken out the bulk of their force, or else Nask had decided to concentrate whatever he had left on the various spaceport entrances instead of trying to comb the entire city. I could only hope that the informally thrown-together Bangrot Spaceport wouldn't have made it onto his map.
It turned out that the night-to-dawn club wasn't too far from the pharmacy where the Iykams had jumped me, which was itself not very far from the tram station where I'd first gotten off. But from the unfamiliar terrain we quickly passedinto, it was clear that Ixil was leading us in a different direction entirely.
I understood the tactical reasoning behind the plan: The nearest station wouldnaturally be where the Patth would concentrate any observers they might beable to pull together. But at the same time, I found myself privately grousing athaving to put up with more of this than I absolutely had to.
But we made it through the crowds, and my head didn't fall off along the way, and finally I saw the undulating sign of a tram station ahead of us. "Waithere," Ixil said, steering the three of us into the mouth of another alleyway.
"I'll go check for unwelcome company."
"Right," I said, helping him ease Everett to the ground. "The k'Tra might havemonitor cameras in there, too."
"I'll take care of them," he promised. Two steps later, he was lost to sightamong the teeming multitudes.
"What was all that about monitors?" Everett asked, rubbing his leg at the edgeof the burn pad.
"Monitor cameras can be used by people other than those who set them up," Itold him. "It could be the Patth aren't bothering to look for us out here becausethey've already tapped into the k'Tra citywide monitor system."
"A fact Ixil seemed to pick up on right away," Nicabar said. He was leaningagainst the opposite wall from me, regarding me with a thoughtful expression.
"Has he had any military experience, McKell?"
I shrugged. "We started flying the Stormy Banks together about six years ago,"
I told him. "I can't recall him ever mentioning military service in any of thattime."
"Interesting," Nicabar said. He had closed his eyes, and I saw now that whatI'd taken to be thoughtfulness was merely a deep fatigue. "In some ways he thinkslike a military man."
"Probably my influence," I said. "I had five years in EarthGuard back in mytwenties."
"Yes, Tera told me a little about your career," Nicabar said, opening his eyesbriefly, then closing them again. "Anyway, I hope you realize what a goodpartner you've got there."
I didn't straighten up, or inhale sharply, or do any of the other things thattraditionally accompany a moment of blinding epiphany. But with Nicabar'swords, the last of the stubborn pieces finally fell into place. I knew now who hadmurdered Jones, had tried to murder Ixil, and had been working at cross- purposesto us ever since the Icarus lifted off Meima.
And perhaps even more important, I knew why.
I was still working out all the ramifications when Ixil reappeared in thealleyway. "All clear," he said, offering Everett a hand. "I can see the lightsof an incoming tram headed our direction."