When Places Call Page 4
“I thought you said this ship required hacking.”
“It will. This data is merely a front. The real data is hidden or protected.”
Iguru, knowing the real purpose of the ship, had expected that. What wasn’t clear was how much Kira knew. He decided to play dumb.
“How are you so sure?”
“As a space pirate, I’m sure you have many sources for information. I do as well. I was able to find you, after all.”
“And are you pleased to have found me?”
Iguru immediately clicked his mouth shut. He hadn’t intended to say that.
“Yes, of course. You brought me this ship and you haven’t tried to kill me yet or demand more money.”
Kira quirked a grin his way, but Iguru didn’t return it. He was unsatisfied with the answer, but couldn’t say why. It had been a dumb question, anyway.
His employer continued to browse through information. Iguru didn’t sit next to him, but kept a sharp eye on the scroll of scientific information. The stats and observations gradually turned blurry and passed through his mind as if in a fog. Except a glaring error popped up and he called, “Stop.”
Kira glanced back at him, hands poised over the data screen. Iguru bent closer to study the star data.
“This information on Epsilon Eridani is incorrect.”
He tapped the data on the star’s characteristics.
“It appears they were studying the star and its asteroids and planets. However, they have listed the star’s mass incorrectly.”
Epsilon Eridani had been one of the earliest candidates for interstellar travel and was the subject of much scientific speculation. Even the most basic information about Eridani had long been established. Simple mistakes and errors would be uncommon in scientific reports.
“Change that to 0.82 for solar mass.”
Kira did and then the data screen went blank. Kira reached out, ready to start fixing the screen, when it suddenly came back online.
“This data is different,” Kira said, leaning close, “It’s not what we were looking at before.”
Iguru leaned in as well, ignoring how close they were to each other.
“These are all facts, observations and equations. As far as I can tell, they are accurate. What we must be looking for, then, is the mistake in the data.”
Iguru knew quite a bit about mechanics and physics, often more than he let on. He had attended the Bandung Institute of Technology and had participated in the School in Space program, earning his masters on a colony and doing field work aboard one of Earth’s most prestigious space stations. The data aboard Ananke should have been familiar and easy to parse. As they continued to browse, however, the data grew more obscure. Iguru, who had not used most of his knowledge for the past nine years, was slowly losing focus. The pleased smile on Kira’s face had vanished. Iguru wondered who had been in charge of obscuring Ananke’s data and immediately wished them a long, painful death.
“I wonder how many mistakes we’re not even catching,” Kira said.
The both sat there and stared at the screen, useless and confounded.
“I can run a data check,” Kira said suddenly.
Kira pushed back from the console, pressing against Iguru’s chest. Iguru quickly stepped to the side.
“I believe the actual data the ship contains is hidden among incorrect facts. I can compare the facts to those in major encyclopedias and data banks. I’m too far away to connect wirelessly to networks, but I have copies of some of them, made by pirates like yourself. It will take a while, of course.”
Iguru had his own databases, collected over the years he worked on the technology behind Ananke, but he kept that to himself. He would run a private data check later.
Iguru joined Kira in his library, which like the spaceship hangar, was filled with real relics. It was how Iguru imagined old castles kept their library, with wooden floors and walls, leather armchairs and dim lighting. The books were stacked high, floor to ceiling, but the room itself was rather small.
“Books are harder to steal than space shuttles,” Kira said, “my collection of paper is not as extensive as my one of rockets.”
Iguru stepped close to a shelf and immediately spotted tomes of poetry.
“Turobeck, you see?” Kira pointed to a maroon volume, “A poet from Earth. One of the last writers to use paper.”
“I know who he was,” Iguru said.
Kira held the book in his hands, running a finger over the cover, “It’s a fantastic juxtaposition. He wrote on paper, such an outdated invention, while being one of the first to fly a private space shuttle through the unexplored vastness.”
Iguru shrugged one shoulder, though a reply was not necessary; Kira seemed locked into some other world, anyway.
“It must have been a fantastic journey,” Kira sighed.
He handed off the volume to Iguru.
“You have many shuttles, you could fly one of them,” Iguru said.
“Me? Fly? I don’t think so.”
“Get your butler to do it, then.”
“I couldn’t leave Safety. What an absurd idea,” Kira smiled as if humoring him.
“Safety?”
“The name of the dock. Every ship dock needs to have one.”
“But planets don’t?”
“Of course not. I didn’t make the planet; what right do I have to name it?”
“But you colonized the planet.”
“I didn’t,” Kira said and turned away, “my father did.”
“He built all of this?”
“Not all.”
“Is he a collector like yourself?”
“No. He was an inventor.”
Kira snapped a book off the shelf and dusted off its spine with sharp little movements.
“Did he invent this house?”
“He invented many things, some wondrous, some monstrous,” Kira smiled, teeth glinting like knives.
“Did he invent your butler?”
Kira shelved the book, shoved it so that it clicked in tightly against the other books.
“Unfortunately, much of my father’s legacy lingers still. One day, I will purge him from this planet completely.”
“He was a cruel man?”
“No more so than you, I’m sure. None of us are saints here.”
It was the truth and Iguru couldn’t find his way to argue around it.
“And did your father leave you all alone out here on this little planet?” Iguru stepped closer.
Kira raised a pale eyebrow with maddening slowness. The sharpness fell from his features and he tapped the book Iguru held in his hands.
“I’m not alone now, am I?”
His smile was back in full softness, tinted with desire.
“Are books good company?” he asked.
“Open it and find out.”
Iguru tested the weight of the book in his hands. The volume, Star-Longing: The Turobeck Compilation, looked well-used. He opened it and the pages fell to a poem that must have been thumbed many times: When Places Call.
“My favorite,” Kira said softly, “when places call you from slumbering sleep, a fiery awakening of passion built deep, you pack the bag and do not weep, for adventure finds only those who leap.”
Kira stepped closer, fringe falling over his eye and disguising the red glow; his other eye was bright blue, like Earth’s sky.
“Have you found many adventures, Mr. Halk?” Kira asked.
His voice was low and smooth, with a deep quality to it that reminded Iguru of the hum of The Naked Rose. Iguru couldn’t form an answer; his nasal passages had flooded with the smell of vanilla. Kira grinned, a little bit too all-knowing, and slipped his hands against Iguru’s.
Iguru couldn’t remember the last time someone had touched him so delicately. Kira maneuvered his hands so that the book of po
etry fell shut. He pressed the book against Iguru’s chest.
“Keep it,” he said, “You’re far more of an adventurer than I am, and that’s one relic that shouldn’t be grounded.”
Kira ducked his head and his fringe moved, exposing the red glare of his inhuman eye. Iguru involuntarily shuddered and the spell of infatuation fractured. Iguru moved back, Kira’s hands falling away from him. Iguru forced himself to study the robotic eye, as if trying to find the demon inside. It was an eerie thing, reminding him of the facetious nature of androids, but it didn’t match with Kira’s sad smile, such a gentle human expression. His heart was pounding, but he no longer knew if it was due to fear or lust.
“We have spectacular sunsets here,” Kira said, filling in the silence, “you should see one.”
“Will you be joining me this time?”
Kira looked up, startled. He smiled slowly and then shook his head, “I have research to do. The butler will guide you back to your room.”
“It isn’t mine. I’ll be sleeping in my ship.”
“Of course.”
Kira tucked a book under his arm, Star Bright: A Compendium, and bid him a good night.
“Enjoy the library as long as you like. The butler will be ready to guide you whenever you wish to leave.”
Kira smiled one last time before stepping out the door. Iguru tucked the book into his coat pocket, ambling around for a bit until he was sure Kira was gone, then he glanced into the hallway.
The butler stood there, placid as always. Of course.
“Would you like to see the sunset?”
“Fine.”
Iguru leaned over the rail and let the wind hit his face. The sky grew an inky purple, but no city lights flickered on, as if the inhabitants all went to bed with the setting of the sun. Breezes ruffled the delicate pages of his book, causing poem after