8
The Ends of Invention
Maybe she’s a clone,
Horza thought.
Maybe it’s coincidence.
He sat on the floor of Kraiklyn’s cabin—his cabin now—staring at the locker
doors in the far wall; aware that he needed to
do something, but not sure what it ought to be. His brain wasn’t able to take all the knocks and
shocks it had had. He needed
to sit and think for a moment.
He tried telling himself he was mistaken, that it wasn’t really her, that he was tired and confused and getting paranoid,
seeing things. But he
knew it was Balveda, though sufficiently altered so that probably only a close friend or a Changer could
possibly recognize her, but definitely
her,
alive and well and probably armed to the teeth….
He got up, mechanically, still staring straight ahead. He took off the wet clothes and went out of the cabin, down to the
wash area, where he
left the clothes to dry and cleaned himself up. Back in the cabin he found a robe and put it on. He started
inspecting the small, packed space
and finally came across a small voice recorder. He flicked it back and listened.
“… ahhh… including, ahh, Yalson," Kraiklyn’s voice said from the small speaker in the machine, “who I guess was, umm… in her
relationship, with ahh… Horza Gobuchul. She’s… been pretty abrupt, and I don’t think I’ve had the support from her… which
she… which I ought
to get…. I’ll have a word with her if it goes on, but, ahhh… for now, during the repairs and such… there
doesn’t seem much point… I’m not
putting off… ah… I just think we’ll see how she shapes up after the Orbital’s blown and we’re
on our way.
“Ahh… now this new woman… Gravant… she’s all right. I get the impression she might… ah, need… need a bit of ordering around…
seems to need discipline…. I don’t think she’ll have, ah, too much conflict with anybody. Yalson, especially, I was worried
about, but I don’t
think… ah, I think it’ll be fine. But you can never tell with women, ah… of course, so… but I like her….
I think she’s got class and maybe… I don’t
know… maybe she could make a good number two if she shapes up.
“I really need more people…. Umm… things haven’t gone all that well recently, but I think I’ve been… they’ve let me down.
Jandraligeli,
obviously… and I don’t know; I’ll see if maybe I can do something about him because… he’s really sort of just
been… ahh… he’s betrayed me;
that’s the way… that’s what it is I think; anybody would agree. So maybe I’ll have a word with
Ghalssel, at the game, assuming he arrives…. I
don’t think the guy’s really up to standard and I’ll tell Ghalssel as much
because we’re both… in the same, ah… business, and I’m… I know that
he’ll have heard… well, he’ll listen to what I have to
say, because he knows about the responsibilities of leadership and… just, ah… the way I
do.
“Anyway… I’ll do some more recruiting after the game, and after the GSV takes off there’ll be some time… we have enough time
still to run
in this bay and I’ll put the word out. There’s bound to be… a lot of people ready to sign on…. Ah, oh yeah; mustn’t
forget about the shuttle
tomorrow. I’m sure I can get the price down. Ah, I could just win at the game, of course—" The small
voice from the speaker laughed: a tinny
echo. “… and just be incredibly rich and—" The laughter came again, distorted. “…
and not give a fuck about any of this crap anymore… shit,
just… ha… give the
CAT
away… well, sell it… and retire…. But we’ll see…."
The voice faded. Horza switched off the machine in the silence. He put it down where he had found it, and rubbed the ring
on the small
finger of his right hand. Then he took off the robe and put his—
his
—suit on. It started talking to him; he told it to turn its voice off.
He looked at himself in the reverser field on the locker doors, drew himself up, made sure the plasma pistol strapped to his
thigh was
switched on, pushed the pains and tiredness to the back of his mind, then went out of the cabin and up the corridor
to the mess.
Yalson and the woman who was Balveda were sitting talking in the long room, at the far end of the table under the screen,
which had been
turned off. They looked up when he came in. He went over and sat a couple of seats down from Yalson, who looked
at his suit and said, “We
going somewhere."
“Maybe," Horza said, looking briefly at her, then switching his gaze to the Balveda woman, smiling and saying, “I’m sorry,
Ms. Gravant; but
I’m afraid, having reconsidered your application, I have to turn you down. I’m sorry, but there’s no place
for you on the
CAT.
I hope you
understand." He clasped his hands on the table and grinned again. Balveda—the more he looked the surer he was
that it was her—looked
crestfallen. Her mouth opened slightly; she looked from Horza to Yalson then back again. Yalson was
frowning deeply.
“But—" Balveda began.
“What the hell are you talking about." Yalson said angrily. “You can’t just—"
“You see," Horza smiled, “I’ve decided that we need to cut down on the numbers on board, and—"
“What." Yalson exploded, slapping the table with the palm of her hand. “That’s six of us left! What the hell are six of us
meant to do…." Her
voice trailed off, then came back lower and slower, her head twisting to one side, her eyes narrowing as
she looked at him. “… Or have we just
struck lucky in… oh, a game of
chance
perhaps, and don’t want to cut in more directions than absolutely necessary."
Horza looked briefly at Yalson again, smiled and said, “No, but you see I’ve just re-hired one of our ex-members, and that
does alter the
plans a bit…. The place I had intended to slot Ms. Gravant into in the ship’s company is now filled."
“You got Jandraligeli to come back, after what you called him." laughed Yalson, stretching back in her seat.
Horza shook his head.
“No, my dear," he said. “As I would have been able to tell you if you hadn’t kept interrupting, I just met our friend Mr.
Gobuchul in Evanauth,
and he’s keen to rejoin."
“Horza." Yalson seemed to shake a little, her voice on an edge of tension, and he could see her trying to control herself.
Oh gods,
a small
voice inside him said,
why does this hurt so much.
Yalson said, “Is he alive. Are you sure it was him. Kraiklyn, are you."