A Deepness in the Sky

It was the most joyful promotion Ezr Vinh had ever received. He stifled a hundred questions that percolated up; most had answers that he shouldn't be told. But still, just one, about Trixia—

Diem was already talking. "I've got some code schemes for you to memorize, but we may have to meet face-to-face again. So the stink will get better, but it's going to continue to be a problem; you'll have plenty of excuse to visit. A couple of general things for now: We need to get outdoors."

Vinh thought of theFar Treasure and the Qeng Ho armsmen in cold-sleep there. Or maybe there were weapons caches in secret places aboard the surviving Qeng Hoships. "Hm. There are several outside repair projects where we're the experts."

"I know. The main thing is to get the right people on the crews, and in the right job slots. We'll get you some names."

"Right."

"Another thing: We need to know about the ‘Focused ones.' Where exactly are they being held? Can they be moved fast?"

"I'm trying to learn about them,"more than you may know, Crewleader. "Reynolt says they're alive, that they've stopped the progression of the disease."The mindrot. That chilling term was not from Reynolt, but the slip of tongue he'd heard from an ordinary Emergent. "I'm trying to get permission to see—"

"Yeah. Trixia Bonsol, right?" Goo-sticky fingers patted Vinh's arm sympathetically. "Hmm. You've got a solid motive to keep after them on this. Be a good boy in every other way, but pushhard on this. You know, like it's the big favor that will keep you in line, if only they'll grant it.... Okay. Get yourself out of here."

Diem faded into the shrouds of odiferous glop. Vinh smeared out the fingerprint traces on his sleeve. As he turned back to the hatch, he was scarcely conscious of the smell anymore. He was working with his friends again. And they had a chance.

Just as the remains of the Qeng Ho expedition had its mock "Fleet Manager," Ezr Vinh, so Tomas Nau also appointed a "Fleet Management Committee" to advise and aid in its operation. It was typical of Nau's strategy, coopting innocent people into apparent treason. Their once-per-Msec meetings would have been torture for Vinh, except for one thing: Jimmy Diem was one of the committee members.

Ezr watched the ten troop into his conference room. Nau had furnished the room with polished wood and high-quality windows; everyone in the temp knew about the cushy treatment given the Fleet Manager and his committee. Except for Qiwi, all ten realized how they were being used. Most of them realized that it would be years, if ever, before Tomas Nau released all the surviving Qeng Ho from coldsleep detention. Some, like Jimmy, guessed that in fact the senior officers might occasionally be brought out, secretly, for interrogations and brief service. It was an unending villainy that would give the Emergents the permanent upper hand.

So, there were no traitors here. They were a discouraging sight nevertheless: five apprentices, three junior officers, a fourteen-year-old, and one doddering incompetent. Okay, to be honest, Pham Trinli didn't dodder, not physically; for an old man, he was in pretty good shape. Most likely, he'd always been a goofball. It was a testament to his record that he was not being held in coldsleep. Trinli was the only Qeng Ho military man left awake.

And all this rather makes me the Clown of Clowns.Fleet Manager Vinh called the meeting to order. You'd think that being fraudulent toadies would at least make these meetings quick. But no, they often dragged on for many Ksecs, dribbling off into pickle-headed assignments for individual members.I hope you enjoy eavesdropping on this, Nau scum.

The first order of business was the putrefaction in the bactry. That was under control. The widespread stench should be flushed by their next meeting time. There remained some out-of-control gene lines in the bactry itself (good!) but they posed no danger to the temp. Vinh avoided looking at Jimmy Diem as he listened to the report. He'd met Diem in the bactry three times now. The conversations had been brief and one-sided. The things Vinh was most curious to know were just what he absolutely must not know: How many Qeng Ho were in on Diem's operation? Who? Was there any concrete plan to smash the Emergents, to rescue the hostages?

The second item was more contentious. The Emergents wanted their own time units used in all fleet work. "I don't understand," Vinh said to the unhappy looks. "The Emergent second is the same as ours—and for local operations, the rest is just calendar frippery. Our software deals with Customer calendars all the time." Certainly, there was little problem in casual conversation. The Balacrean day wasn't far off the 100Ksec shift "day" the Qeng Ho used. And their year was close enough to 30Msec that most of the year-stem words caused no confusion.