“Those two? But they’re no more than pet prostitutes!”
“True, but some people train their pets to guard their homes and families. He’s incredibly rich and powerful and he’s above the law. The King has every means of conditioning—biochemistry, virtual reality conditioning, you name it. If you look close at them you’ll see that they are in superb physical condition, and I don’t mean just for sexual favors. They probably were empty-headed runaways from backwater planets, ignorant and without any sense of themselves when he or his people picked them. But I’ve seen that before, in both sexes, not only among your people but other races as well. He probably has a command, possibly verbal or gesture. Give that, and the conditioning takes over and they’ll become fearless and vicious protectors. I know a bit about conditioning people myself. I can only do it for a short period and only with the most elementary basics. Imagine what the wonders of science can do in his hands. The perfect bodyguards.”
She didn’t like that idea at all. There would be no way to read such a person’s actions. Still, if they were what he said they were, they could be dealt with.
“We’re not stopping now, though,” she said. “Surely everybody knows that. Kincaid is taking us straight through using grain cargo as fuel. What do you think they’re going to do about it?”
“Your assessment of what Kincaid will do tells me you have a lot to learn,” the Geldorian responded.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m referring to whether Kincaid will stop the ship for our supposed rescuers. They’ve had a lot of time to factor in Captain Jeremiah Wong Kincaid.”
“I’ve gotten to know him pretty well over the past few days,” she told him. “I trust him.”
Tann Nakitt stared at her. “You have no idea. I doubt if I have any idea. The hatred in that man is all there is beneath the surface.”
“You are wrong. There’s a real person deep inside there. I’ve seen him.”
“You have seen the pragmatic Captain, but it sits atop the hate, like a thin film of scum atop a pond. The hate is the pond, and he does not control it. It’s irrational, single-minded, obsessive. If Kincaid wanted to save us from the bad guys, he could do it. He’s got full control back, he knows the score, and we’re pretty helpless in fighting him. You have no idea what absolute control a ship’s master has if the computer’s neural net recognizes him as master. That was why they had to deal with the original captain. You think Kincaid was here by accident? Who knows how he learned of this plot, but he knew it out of the gate. What little he didn’t know he filled in. Your gods didn’t put him here to save us and fight sin. His demons put him here to get to his sole object of hatred. Wallinchky could have called this off at any time, too. He hasn’t. That’s because he knows that Kincaid will stop. He’s counting on it.”
“I can’t believe I was fooled by him, but just in case, you and I will need to speak again.”
The Geldorian gave a very Terran shrug. “I’m hardly going anywhere, am I?” He took another drag on his pipe. “You sure aren’t telepathic, are you? At least with your own kind. You may be able to tell lies from someone who is merely deceitful by nature, but you are helpless against psychopaths.”
Captain Kincaid was waiting for her in the big command chair on the bridge. Since she was the only one who could come up there, all others being blocked by the computer from access, he didn’t even bother to turn around when she entered. Still, he said, conversationally, “That was some kind of move you made against the Geldorian. You really can take care of yourself! I had to put the recording on the slowest tolerable speed to see you move! I’m impressed!”
She didn’t respond to his compliment, nor was she in the mood for flattery. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Is it true? Are you going to stop for them?”
He paused a moment, then said, “Of course. They hope I will, anyway.”
“But—why? Is Tann Nakitt right? Are you insane?”
“Possibly,” he admitted, as cheerfully as if he’d commented on a good wine. “Most think that I am.”
She felt real anger against him for the first time. “Why? Why will you do what they want? Will it please you if they go through all this and then this ship gets blown up with all remaining aboard so you can go chase your demon Emperor?”
He swiveled the command chair around slowly and faced her. “I think I can prevent that. I hope so. If I’m wrong, a few unhappy bystanders will die and I will add more innocent blood to my record. I can guarantee that Wallinchky’s lifeboat won’t respond to his orders, or those of anyone we know connected with him. Doesn’t matter which lifeboat he picks, either. That means he either helps this ship get out of here or he goes with the rest. He’s a very smart man who’s lived a long time, and, as your friend says, it would be very bad for future business if he got blown away on this operation.”
“Then—why?”
“If we go right on by, we may be met at the next destination by more tugs with thugs. Wallinchky walks away and either the Rithians will get their cargo back before Customs, to try it again on another trip, or it’ll all blow up as soon as they’re off. Either way we gain nothing. We change the names and faces of those who will die, and we delay them a couple of weeks.”
“If they blow it, whatever it is, up, that’ll delay them longer than that.”
“Not much. They have the prototype, yes, so it would be inconvenient to lose it, but they have the entire plans and specifications and even the operator’s manual, as it were, and that is far more valuable. It simply means that the customer will have to arrange to have one built on the black market out on the frontier where it won’t be noticed until it’s too late. Either way, the first solid lead pointing directly to Josich Hadun’s hiding place in more than a dozen years will have been squandered. How many more will he kill before that chance comes again?”
She didn’t like this at all. “I see no moral choice but to save the innocents here and try again. And what of the innocents in the water-breathing modules? I cannot get to them.”
“I don’t think there are many innocents there, but if they are, they’re dead no matter what we do. We might as well make their deaths mean something.”
That was not a proper answer, she thought, but she was beginning to see how useless reason was with him now. Still, she had to give it one last try.
“You have no guarantee that this will lead you to your enemy, but there is a great probability that some will die,” she argued.
“You can’t stop it. Tomorrow we will stop, just where that Ghoma ship expects us to be. The distress signal will be sent. Of course, we won’t really be out of fuel or in distress, but it will be pretty convincing. They will come. During that fallow time, you and others you trust must get all those not involved in this to lifeboats and get the boats away. They are preprogrammed. The Ghomas likely won’t detect you, but if you use the cryogenic settings, you’ll reach a Junction or Starbase or a known hospitable Realm world in due time. Do it as quickly and quietly as you can. The computers will help you.”
“And you?”
“They need a tug to get the module out. I’ve found it and I now control it. Where that ship and that module goes, I will go as well. Unless they have their own freighter, they won’t be going all that far with a module that size. In fact, I already suspect where he is. I just have to get there.”