Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful. I will watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with its venom. You shall repent of the injuries you inflict.
- Frankenstein's Monster Speaks, Shiprecords
OAKES SAT in shadows watching the holographic replay. He was nervous and irritated. Where was Lewis?
Behind him and slightly to his left stood Legata Hamill. The dim glow of the projector underlighted their features. Both of them stared intently at the action in the holofocus.
The scene holding their attention revealed the main finger passage behind Shipbay Nineteen and leading out to one of the tree-domes. Kerro Panille accompanied by Hali Ekel walked toward the pickup which had caught the scene. The treedome could be glimpsed in the background framed by the end of the passage. Ekel carried her pribox over one shoulder, its harness held loosely by her right hand. Panille wore a recorder at his hip and a small bag from which protruded notepad and stylus. He was dressed in a white one-piece which set off his long hair and beard. The hair was bound in a golden ring, plaited and with the tip draped down his chest on the left. Issue boots covered his feet.
Oakes studied each detail carefully.
"This is the young man of Ferry's report?"
"The same."
The rich contralto of Legata's voice distracted Oakes and he was a few blinks replying. During that time, Panille and Ekel walked from the range of one sensor and into the range of another. The holographic point-of-view shifted.
"They seem a little nervous," he said. "I wish I knew what they wrote on that pad."
"Love notes."
"But why write them i...."
"He's a poet."
"And she is not a poet. What's more, he resists her sexual advances. I don't understand that. She appears quite pneumatic, eminently couchable."
"Do you want him picked up and the notepad examined?"
"No! We must move with discretion and subtlety. Damn! Where is Lewis?"
"Still incommunicado."
"Damn him!"
"His assistants now say Lewis is occupied with a special problem."
Oakes nodded. Special problem. That was their private code for something which could not be discussed in the clear. No telling who might eavesdrop. Were the neck pellets then no longer immune to spying?"
Panille and Ekel had stopped near the hatch to Ferry's office in Medical.
Oakes tried to remember all the times he had seen this young man shipside. Panille had not invited much interest until it had become clear that he really might be talking to the ship. Then that order from the ship for Panille to be sent groundside!
Why does the ship want him groundside?
A poet! What use could there be for a poet? Oakes decided that he really did not believe Panille talked to the ship.
But the ship, and possibly that Raja Thomas, wanted Panille groundside.
Why?
He turned the question over and found no shadow.
"You're sure the request for Panille came from the ship?" he asked.
"It's been six diurns since the reques.... and it didn't read like a request to me; it read like an order."
"But from the ship, you're certain?"
"As certain as you can be of anything." The irritation in her voice bordered on insubordination. "I used your code and made the complete cross-check. Everything scans."
Oakes sighed. Why Panille?
Perhaps more attention should have been paid to the poet. He was one of the originals from Earthside. Have to dig deeper into his past. That was obvious.
The scene in the holofocus showed Panille and Ekel parting. Panille turned and they had a view of his bac...wide and muscular back, Legata noted. She called this to Oakes' attention.
"Do you find him attractive, Legata?"
"I merely point out that he's not some dainty flower-sniffer."
"Mmmmmm."
Oakes was intensely conscious of the musky odor coming from Legata. She had a magnificently proportioned body which she had kept from him so far. But Oakes knew himself to be a patient man. Patient and persistent.
Panille was entering the hatch to Ferry's office. Oakes slapped the switch to stop the replay, leaving the carrier light still glowing. He did not care to have another run through that scene with Ferry. Stupid, bumbling old fool!
Oakes glanced at Legata with only the barest turning of his head. Magnificent. She often presented a vapid mask but Oakes saw the consistent brilliance in her work. Few people knew that she was shockingly strong, a mutation. She concealed an extraordinary musculature under that smooth warm skin. He found this idea exciting. She was known shipwide as a history fanatic who frequently begged Records for style displays to copy in her clothing. Currently, she wore a short toga which exposed most of her right breast. The light fabric hung precariously from her nipple. Oakes felt the pulse of her strength, even there.
Taunting me?
"Tell me why the ship wants a poet groundside," he said.
"We'll have to wait and see."
"We can guess."
"It may be a very simple and open thing - communication with the 'lectr...."
"Nothing the ship does is open and simple! And do not use that high-sounding term with me. It's kelp, nothing but kelp. And it's a damned nuisance."
She cleared her throat, the first sign of nervousness that Oakes had detected in her. He found this pleasing. Ye.... she would be ready for the Scream Room soon.
"There's still Thomas," she said, "perhaps he ca...."
"You are not to question him about Panille."
She was startled. "You're satisfied with the answers he gave you?"
"I am satisfied that he's too much for you to handle."
"I think you're overly suspicious," she said.
"With this ship you cannot be too suspicious. You suspect everything and know you'll miss something."
"But they're just two...."
"The ship ordered this." There was a long pause while Oakes continued to stare up at her. "Your term: order. Is that not so?"
"As far as we can determine."
"Do you have any indication, even a faint hint, that Thomas and not the ship initiated this?"
"There's only one order from Ship adding thi.... this Panille to the Colony roster."
"You hesitated over his name."
"It slipped my mind!"
Now she was nervous and angry. Oakes found himself enjoying that very much. This Legata Hamill had potential. She would have to be broken of that habit, however, saying Ship rather than the ship.
"You don't find the poet attractive?"
"Not particularly."
The fingers of her left hand twisted a corner of her toga.
"And there's no record of communication between Thomas and the ship?"
"Nothing."
"You don't find that odd?"
"What do you mean?"
"Thomas had to come from hyb. Who ordered it? Who briefed him?"
"There's no record of any such communication."
"How could there be no record of something we know took place?"
Now fear edged her anger. "I don't know!"
"Haven't I warned you to suspect everything?"
"Yes! You tell me to suspect everyone!"
"Goo.... very good."
He turned back to face the light of the empty holofocus.
"Now, go and look some more. Perhaps there's something you've missed."
"Do you know of something I've missed?"
"That's for you to find out, my dear!"
He listened to the whisk-whisk of her clothing as she hurried from the room. There was a brief flare of light from the outer passage as she opened the hatch, then shadows once more and she was gone.
Oakes switched from replay to real-time and coded in the passage pickups to follow her progress as she took the turn to Records. He switched from pickup to pickup, watching until she sat down at a scandesk in the command level of Records and called for the information she wanted. Oakes checked the readouts. She was asking for any messages between the ship and Pandora, all references to Raja Thomas and Kerro Panille. She did not overlook Hali Ekel.
Good.
Her next step would be to use some of Lewis' people for actual surveillance. Oakes knew she already had scanned the Records data once, but now she would look even harder, seeking codes or other subterfuge. At least, he hoped that was her intent. If the secret were there, she could find it. She simply needed to be challenged, driven, goaded into it.
Suspect everything and everyone.
He shut down the holo and scowled at the darkness. Soon, very soon, he would have to go groundside for good. No returning to the dangerous confines of the ship. Pandora was dangerous enough, but the need for his own hole, a nest where he could not be watched by the ship increased with terrifying speed. This mechanical monster! He knew it followed every move he made ship-side. It's what I would do.
There were some who thought the ship's influence extended farther. But the Redoubt would solve all of that. Provided Lewis had not failed him. N.... no chance of that. This long silence from Lewis had to be some internal problem with the clones. There were too many fail-safe signals for real disasters. None of the signals had been activated. Something else was happening down at the Redoubt. Perhaps Lewis is preparing a pleasant surprise for me. Just like him.
Oakes smiled to himself, nursing the privacy of his innermost thoughts. You do not know what I plan, Mechanical Monster. I have plans for you.
He had plans for Pandora, too, big plans. And the ship was no part of them. Other plans for Legata. She would have to go to the Scream Room soon. Yes. She had to be made more trustworthy.