Novel total = 26488
Post total = 2276
“Thank you, Mistress.” He fixed a bowl and sat in the table’s only other chair. “Do you mind personal questions?”
“Not as long as I have a choice not to answer it.”
“I do not understand your relationship with the Bekth.” Mealte’s spoon had a large bowl and he poured the soup from it into his throat.
“I don’t understand it either.” Zy sipped the soup from her spoon.
“Do you need protection from him or not?”
“I don’t think Xeryl will hurt me.”
Mealte poured more soup down his throat. “There are many different ways beings can hurt each other. Physical is one of the easiest and most obvious. However, Xeryl does not seem the type to resort to violence. That makes him more dangerous.”
“Yes, Xeryl is dangerous. He has ran a successful racketeering organization from the shadows. It’s one of the ten largest, and probably has ties with nearly every other racketeering organization in the galaxy. And he did it without IGA hearing anything of his identity.”
“And this being cares for you?”
“I really don’t know. We met when I was undercover in his organization. Zoeline was an underling, and I’m not pretty. Maybe he has a thing about hair; Bekth women are bald too. Maybe he seduces all his female underlings. But when I was outed as an undercover Agent, he said he loved me. Now which is more likely, Xeryl loves me or Xeryl wants to seduce an Agent to work for him inside IGA?”
“Love is strange. And causes stranger things to happen between beings.”
“I don’t want to be corrupted. I like being a good guy. And I’d rather not have to fend off Xeryl’s intentions no matter how honorable they might be.” Zy finished her soup. “Does that clear things up?”
“Slightly.” Mealte took both bowls to the sink and began washing them.
“Okay, I’m still confused. Explain it to me. Never mind, that was a joke.”
“You rely on your humor too much.” Mealte left the bowls to soak and began to clean the leftover soup from the pot.
“It’s better than not having a sense of humor at all.” They were traveling to Per 3, where IGA records listed Hiqurguet’s headquarters. Travel time was estimated at three IGA standard days. Would they find Goumbi imposter there? Would she be able to catch him? She didn’t want to think about it anymore, or anything else. “I’m going to bed, Mealte.”
Per 3 is a noisy, industrial planet and its capital, Asseff, covers almost the entire planet. Billions of beings operate the factories. The dusty atmosphere of Ecan 2 was traded for smog, but this planet made for a busier background to hide racketeering against.
Zy paid the spaceport worker the docking fees and watched the grubby kid not much younger than she run to the next saucer. Could that have been me, anonomously working a dead end job just to survive? Can I ever repay Murdock for taking me away from that? Zy shook her head as she reentered the saucer.
“Hiqurguet’s file in the IGA database does not contain any contact information, Agent Zy.” Sara sounded apologetic for a computer. “However I did successfully upload your case file progress to the Chief and downloaded communiqués from Xeryl. Those communiqués were the coroner’s reports from Ecan 2.”
“Thanks, Sara.” Zy sat at the desk. “Now we just have to figure out how to contact Hiqurguet. Does Per 3 have a public communications directory?”
Mealte looked up from the paper he was reading. “I have a contact, Mistress Zy.”
“Hold that search, Sara. You have a contact? How?”
“Cobaine did business with Hiqurguet. He brought me on one of his trips. That meeting was set up through a bartender Lue Ality. She worked at the Witches’ Brew a standard year ago. It was in the spaceport.”
“Do you know why Hiqurguet went through this bartender?”
“He trusted her. Why he trusted her, I know not.”
“Is she trustworthy?”
Mealte set aside the piece of paper. “She never betrayed Cobaine to my knowledge.”
“Okay, let’s go find Lue Ality.”
Mealte led the way from the docking bay into the spaceport. Zy weaved through the frantic bustle of the shoving crowd. Beings shuttled themselves and things into different docking bays or shops, and didn’t seem to care who they ran over in the process. But Mealte drifted through it all like a wraith.
After an eternity in what could compare to department store Christmas shopping, Mealte grabbed Zy’s arm and pulled her out of the throng. The store front was dark, but the metal gate had not been pulled down yet. The script on the open glass door read “Witches’ Brew” in several languages.
“Beat it, we’re closed.” A surly, female voice said from the shadows.
Mealte squeezed her arm before dropping it. “We are looking for Lue Ality. Is she still employed here?”
A blue-skinned humanoid with a female shape stepped into the light near the bar. “Hiya, Mealte. Cobaine wanna see Hiqurguet?”
“No, not Cobaine. My new mistress wants to meet him.” Zy stepped closer to Mealte as he spoke.
Lue frowned. “Hiqurguet doesn’t like making new friends.”
“It’s a matter of his life or death.” Lue continued to stare at Zy. Zy stared back. “I’m not kidding.”
Lue gauged Zy for a few more seconds. “I’ll tell him. I can’t guarantee anything. Have a seat.”
Zy sat at a table in the center of the room close to the door but more in the near darkness. Lue disappered behind the bar. Zy leaned closer to Mealte. “Will she be able to get a hold of Hiqurguet? Contact him I mean.”
“He has always listened to her in the past.” Mealte stood next to Zy’s chair.
“Would you relax? Sit down.”
“If I sit down, you will be in a vulnerable position. That would not be performing my duty.”
Zy sighed, “Have it your way.”
Lue returned. “Hiqurguet is coming. You’re a friend of Cobaine’s?”
“Not a friend, but I was at his funeral.”
“He’s dead?”
“Yeah. Can I have a drink or would that get you in trouble?”
“As long as it’s non-intoxicating. There’s strict rules about when beings can get drunk.”
Zy named a drink that had the same consistency of her homeworld soft drinks. Lue handed the drink to Mealte, who sniffed it deeply. “Nothing wrong with the drink.” He passed the glass to Zy.
“I would hope not. You don’t keep a bartender’s license for long if you poison the customers.” Lue flounced back behind the bar.
They waited for about an hour. Finally a Shworthan flanked by a female Bekth and a humanoid with pearly skin and green hair. This had to be Hiqurguet.
Word box
Shworthans are tripolds with two arms. Two large eyes are set to the far sides of the wedge-shaped head on an elongated neck. The third leg started off as a tail, now used to propel the lean torso. The skin is made up of small, green scales.
Ardley P’kins
Sentient Cultures of the Galaxy Third Edition
Hiqurguet sat opposite Zy at the table. He twisted his head to focus one blue eye on her. The Bekth glowered suspiciously as she took a flanking position behind his chair. The second bodyguard’s expression was bored but his eyes glanced left and right quickly. Zy refocused her attention on Hiqurguet. A membrane quickly winked over his eye. “I want my usual, Lue.” He tilted his head up at Mealte and then back to Zy. “Mealte I know. You I don’t.”
Zy opened her vidID and showed it to him. “I’m IGA Agent Zy. I’m looking for a murderer and have reason to believe that you are a potential target of this murderer.”
A glass dropped and shattered behind the bar. “Hiq, I didn’t know!”
No sense getting the bartender in trouble. “I only told her about the murderer, not that I’m an Agent. Mealte started working with me after Cobaine was killed by the perp.” That was a reasonable stretch. She tucked the vidId away.
“IGA isn’t usually so circumspect. They’d rather come in and bully everyone.” Hiqurguet leaned back in his chair, so Lue could set the drink on the table in front of him. He picked it up and drained it before renewing his stare at Zy. “I don’t deal with IGA.”
“Spare me please. I had enough IGA induced paranoia from Ecan 2 and they’re scarier than you.”
“You got guts, Agent, to go to Ecan 2 and survive the trip.” Hiqurguet stood up and turned to leave. “But I don’t deal with IGA. I orchestrate double-crosses; I’m not victimizied by them.”
Zy slammed her fist on the table as she pushed up out of her chair. Hiqurguet’s bodyguards shifted to fighting stances—hands inching towards weapons. Zy stared at Hiqurguet’s unblinking eyes. “Sit down and let me finish, damnit!”
He cocked his wedge-shaped head, but his eye stayed centered on Zy. “Do you have any idea who I am?”
“Possibly the next victim of a loony who’s blowing heads off racketeers.” Without a sound, Mealte pushed her chair closer and Zy sat down. “But you were probably hinting for the you’re-the-baddest-criminal-in-the-room response. I’m tired, cranky, and trying to keep a murder from making you his sixth victim. Cut me a little slack.”
“I’ll cut you into pieces.” Hiqurguet grasped at the air with his taloned hand.
“What? It’s not a favor to save someone from a murderer these days? What is the galaxy coming to. All I need is for you to answer a few questions. Have you seen Goumbi in the last three standard days?”
Hiqurguet blinked his inner eyelid. “No, I haven’t. He works with Fudlack’s organization now. But he’s no murderer.”
“He’s one of the victims. But the murderer has been impersonating him and may use that impersonation to get close enough to kill you. Have you noticed any of your employees acting oddly?”
“This is ridiculous.”
“Hiq, I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.” Lue stepped closer to the table. “Please take this seriously.”
“I decide what to take serious and what not. And you’re full of salvia if you think I believe these lies!” Hiqurguet unfurled his forked tongue at Zy and rolled it back into his mouth.
Zy threw her hands into the air. “Okay, fine, don’t believe me! Don’t believe the five dead bodies I’ve found. But if you end up dead, don’t blame me!”
Hiqurguet snorted and left the bar, his two bodyguards trailing behind him.
“Full of salvia?” Zy turned to Mealte.
He shrugged. “His species has no salvia glands. They consider having salvia an insult.”
Lue stared at the door and twisted a dishtowel in her hands. “Is it true? Is he in danger?”
“Yes. I can’t predict when it will happen, but he will die unless I can find the murderer and stop him first. How can I make Hiqurguet listen?”
“You can’t. He has decided that you’re not telling the truth and you cannot convince him otherwise. No one can. He’ll probably try to kill you now to keep you from telling what he calls lies.”
Zy glanced up at the ceiling. “Great.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorrier for you. You care for him, don’t you?”
Lue turned to face Zy. Her white eyes with silver pupils brimmed with tears. “Not that it matters to him.”
Zy glanced at the floor. There was no reply for that pain. “Come on Mealte, let’s go back to the saucer. I’ll be docked here for a few standard days. Bay 33.”
Lue nodded as she headed back to the counter of the bar.
The street corridor crowd had thinned enough to pull in the center of the corridor. Zy took a deep breath. “Change of plans, we need to scout.”
Mealte drew his robe tighter around his body. “I do not know where Hiqurguet lives. And Lue Ality will not share that information with us even if she knows it.”
“I wouldn’t expect her to. She’s got way too much to lose. But that’s not the scouting I was talking about. All space travel is restricted to the spaceports on Per 3.” Zy set a brisk pace on the outside of the crowd toward the information kiosk facing the docking bays.
“The murderer is docked in the spaceport?” Mealte kept up with her.
“The murderer is docked in a spaceport. He has to obey the laws in order to stay free to commit his murders.” She faced the vidscreen in the information kiosk. “How many spaceports are on Per 3?”
“Per 3 has five thousand eight hundred seventy three spaceports. Four thousand two hundred three of these spaceports are restricted to industrial and commercial shipping.”
“That leaves one thousand six hundred seventy spaceports to search.” Mealte looked up and down the street in front of the docking bays.
“And you can do math in your head,” Zy muttered. “You’re going to give me an inferiority complex.”
“Why would I want to give you whatever that is, Mistress Zy?”
“I’ll explain later.” Zy turned back to the vidscreen. “Directions to the docking agent’s office.” The kiosk computer provided a directional download to her vidID, and they headed up to the next level and down the street corridor with Mealte warier than usual. She was starting to get a handle on his moods, Zy realized. “Do you really think Hiqurguet is going to try to kill me just because I gave him news he didn’t want to hear?”
“Lue Ality thought he would.”
No comments:
Post a Comment