Dragonback 05 Dragon and Judge

"I brought two," Thonsifi said, her voice reluctant. "They are in the storage area."

  "Great," Jack said, stepping around the back of the shuttle and popping the hatch. The shovels were small gardening tools, but at least they'd work better than bare hands. "Let's get to it," he said, pulling them out.

  The others joined him, all three Golvins with the same hesitation Jack had already heard in Thonsifi's voice.

  But they tackled the job willingly enough. Thonsifi and Eithon handled the shovels, scooping away the sand, while Jack and Sefiseni moved larger stones and broken pieces of the entryway itself.

  Within half an hour they had an opening big enough to get through. "Great work," Jack complimented them, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Let's go."

  None of the Golvins moved. "It is not safe," Thonsifi said. "We were warned to stay away."

  "Who said it wasn't safe?"

  "Those who built the mine," Thonsifi said. "After we were told that the copper and iron were not ours."

  At which point all the legal complications had set in. "No problem," Jack said. "You can all wait here. I don't mind going in by myself."

  Thonsifi and Sefiseni exchanged looks. "The One Among Many told us to stay with you," Thonsifi said with a sigh. "If you go, so must we."

  "You don't have to," Jack insisted. "I'm a Judge-Paladin. I can give orders, too."

  "No, we will go," Thonsifi said in a slightly firmer voice.

  "I was given no such instruction by the One Among Many," Eithon spoke up. "Do you also wish me to come with you?"

  "No, thanks," Jack said. "We need someone to stay out here and watch the shuttle anyway." Though to watch it against what possible danger he couldn't imagine. "Load the shovels back into the shuttle, though, will you?"

  "We do not have any carry lights," Thonsifi said.

  "That's okay—I've got one," Jack told her, pulling out his flashlight. "Well, come on. If we're going, let's go." He turned and squeezed through the gap into the mine.

  There was no immediate response from the others. Still, by the time he reached the edge of the daylight Thonsifi and Sefiseni were beside him. "Nice and easy," Jack said encouragingly, flicking on his light. "Stay close, and watch your footing."

  The tunnel extended straight back for about fifty feet, then began a gradual slope downward. Jack's small light wasn't really up to the task of guiding three sets of feet, but fortunately it didn't have to. Midway down the slope they reached a section of tunnel where some dim backup lights were still working.

  "They are still lit?" Thonsifi asked, looking at them in awe.

  "They're long-term emergency lights," Jack told her. "Self-contained, with a twenty-year power source."

  A minute later the tunnel came to an end at a large assembly/staging area. Two smaller tunnels extended out from opposite sides of the room, heading downward into darkness. "Those must lead to the actual mines," Jack said, shining his light around the staging area. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all made of the same white ceramic as the main entrance tunnel. The floor was covered with a thin layer of sand, all the surfaces stained with age and dust.

  But even with all that, an explosion in here should have left behind some very visible evidence. At the very least there should be some powder burns, and probably some cracks and stress damage as well. Only there wasn't anything.

  Which meant the explosion that had killed his parents must have been down in one of the lower tunnels.

  He turned his light to shine into one of the entrances. The beam faded away, swallowed up by distance and darkness.

  "Do we go back now?" Thonsifi asked hopefully.

  "Not quite yet," Jack told her. The thought of going deep underground wasn't exactly filling him with bubbles, either. But this whole trip would be for nothing if he didn't at least find some clues as to what had happened to his parents. "Did the mine's owners ever say why they shut down the operation?"

  "We are the mine's owners," Sefiseni bit out.

  Jack looked at the guard in mild surprise. It was the first time the Golvin had ever spoken directly to him. "My error," he apologized.

  "It was our copper and iron they were stealing," Sefiseni said accusingly, as if this was all somehow Jack's fault.

  "I understand," Jack said soothingly. "The legal problems—"

  "And Jupa Stuart and Jupa Ariel did nothing to stop them," Sefiseni cut him off.

  Jack felt his stomach tighten. So he'd been right the first time. Sefiseni did consider this Jack's fault, or at least his fault by inheritance. "Well, something stopped them," he pointed out. "This place hasn't been touched in years."

  "They said the tunnels were in danger of collapsing," Thonsifi said, looking nervously at the ceiling. "They also said the lower portions had become flooded."

  In a desert? Jack frowned. Still, there was a river rolling along three hundred feet below them. Clearly, there was water around here somewhere.

  He crossed the staging area to the left tunnel. Attached to the sides, at just about waist height, were identical five-inch-diameter open-ended pipes partially set into the walls and leading downward. Resting a hand on one of them, Jack turned an ear into the tunnel, though he wasn't quite sure what he was expecting to hear.

  He heard nothing but his own breathing. On a hunch, he squatted down and listened at each of the pipes. Still nothing.

  A whisper of weight came onto his chest, and he felt the front of his shirt move slightly as Draycos flicked out his tongue. The weight vanished again—There is machinery down there.

  Jack sent a glare down at his shoulder. What in the world was making the K'da so blasted careless about talking in front of other people these days? Did he think the Golvins were deaf? "I'm going down a little ways," he called back to the others, pitching his voice a little louder than necessary in case Draycos decided to run some more commentary on the situation. "You two stay here—I'm just going to see if I can find any problems."

  He headed off before they could object, shining his light on the rough floor of the tunnel in front of him. There was no white ceramic here; the whole tunnel had been carved out of brown and gray rock.

  The floor was rougher than the entry tunnel had been. There was also a layer of rock dust over everything, with small to medium-big pools of dust and stone in practically every dip and depression. Combined with the shadows thrown by his light, it made for rather uncertain footing.

  Fortunately, the two pipes running along the sides were just the right height for handrails. Keeping one hand running lightly over the nearest pipe, he continued down.

  Another bit of weight came onto his chest and shoulder. "Native stone," Draycos murmured quietly. "We must be below the sand layer."

  "Yeah, thanks for the tip," Jack muttered back, throwing a quick look over his shoulder. But neither of the Golvins had followed him in. "Is there something about tunneling machinery that really excites you?"

  "Pardon?"

  "Blurting it out in front of God and Thonsifi and everyone that way," Jack said. "I know these Golvins are kind of primitive—"

  "What do you mean, blurting it out?" Draycos interrupted. "I haven't spoken since we left the apartment this morning."

  "Oh, come on," Jack growled. Gotcha! he thought sourly. So much for the high and mighty K'da warrior ethic and the idea of always telling the truth. "It isn't the first time, either," he added. "When we were first coming in to the canyon—"

  "I did not speak," Draycos insisted. "And what do you mean by gotcha?"

  "I mean—" Jack stopped abruptly, a sudden icy shiver running up his back. "Did you hear me say gotcha just now?" he asked carefully.

  "Very clearly," Draycos said, starting to sound a little huffy. "Furthermore, you said it in such a way that—"

  "I didn't say anything, Draycos," Jack said. "I just thought it."

  "I heard—" Draycos broke off abruptly.

  For a moment neither of them spoke. "You never told me about this one," Jack said at last.

 
"This has never happened before, Jack," Draycos told him, his voice actually shaking. "Not with the Shontine. Not ever in the recorded history of my people."

  Jack took a deep breath. "We're sure we're not just imagining things, right?"

  For a moment there was silence. Then, as clear as if the K'da had actually spoken, Jack heard his voice whispering in his mind. We stand before, we stand behind; we seek the truth with heart and mind.

  "My mother's poem," Jack said, his stomach tightening. "This is nuts, buddy. This is really nuts."

  "It does take effort," Draycos said. "I had to concentrate on the words for you to hear them."

  "Or else you had to be thinking really strongly about them," Jack said, thinking back. "Like on the shuttle on our way in, when you really wanted me to turn to the right so you could see better."

  "I remember," Draycos said thoughtfully. "I wished very much that I could ask you to turn, but knew it would be unsafe in such close quarters. And then, to my relief, you did exactly that, allowing me to see and identify the mine."

  "And I've been mad at you for a week and a half about it." Jack shook his head. "Sorry. You suppose it works when we're not together?"

  "Let's find out." With a surge of weight, Draycos leaped out of Jack's shirt collar onto the tunnel floor.

  "Ssst!" Jack hissed warningly, looking back up the tunnel. Fortunately, a gentle curve had put the entrance, and the two Golvins, out of view. "We don't want them to see you."

  "They won't," Draycos assured him. "Did you hear anything just now?"

  Jack shook his head. "Nope. Guess it only works when you're riding me. You're sure this has never happened before?"

  "Trust me," Draycos said, a little dryly. "I would have heard."

  "Another one for the record books," Jack said, forcing his mind back to business. "So where exactly is this machinery you're all excited about?"

  "This way," Draycos said, flicking his tail at Jack as he headed again down the tunnel. "Perhaps you will find it interesting, as well."

  Shortly ahead, the tunnel split into two branches, the pipelines along the walls splitting along with it. Draycos picked the left-hand one, continuing left when the branch split again about fifty feet ahead. "These must be some really impressive copper ores for them to have gone to all this work," Jack commented as they hit yet another branch and again turned left.

  "From what I've read of your economy, this is far too much effort for copper or iron," Draycos said over his shoulder. "There—just ahead."

  They reached the end of their branch of the tunnel, to find the machinery Draycos had predicted.

  Six pieces of machinery, in fact. There were two self-propelled diggers on tanklike treads, a rock crusher, something that looked like a giant pump, and two machines with large vats that Jack couldn't identify. All of them were wrapped in clear plastic, the soft glint of lubricating oil visible on their treads and drive wheels and other moving parts.

  "I could smell the lubricating oil," Draycos said as Jack gingerly ran a hand over one of the diggers. "I thought perhaps it was evidence someone was still working the mine."

  "Not yet, but they're sure ready to," Jack said, peering into the empty vat on one of the unidentified machines.

  "But why?" Draycos asked, sounding bewildered. "If the ores here are valuable, why wait to mine them?"

  "Could be any of a dozen reasons," Jack said. "Maybe they're still fighting to get the mining rights away from the Golvins. Maybe they're waiting for the market value to go up."

  He shined his light at the tunnel face, the beam sparkling against a glittering array of metal bits embedded in the gray rock. "Or maybe after murdering a couple of Judge-Paladins they thought it would be smart to shut down and lie low for a while."

  "A wise move on their part," Draycos said grimly, looking around. "But I've still not seen any evidence of any explosion."

  "Me, neither," Jack admitted. "Must be down one of the other tunnels." He peered back the way they'd come. "But we don't have time to go looking now. Thonsifi's probably tearing her ears off worrying about me."

  "Or worrying about what the One will say about letting you come down here alone."

  "That, too," Jack agreed. "By the way, while you were sniffing out lubricating oil, did you happen to smell any water?"

  "None," Draycos said. "I suspect that part of the story was told merely to ensure the Golvins stayed out of the mine."

  "Probably," Jack said. "Stupid lie to tell, though, here in the middle of the desert."

  "Perhaps," Draycos said. "Still, there is a river not too far below us."

  "Yeah." Jack frowned suddenly at him. "Hey, I was just thinking that a while back. You been eavesdropping on my mind?"

  Draycos's tail curved in a frown. "Not consciously," he said slowly. "But perhaps we are beginning to share other thoughts on a subconscious level."

  "Maybe," Jack said. The thought of someone poking around inside his skull made his skin crawl. Even if that someone was Draycos. "Or maybe we're just thinking the same direction. The river is a pretty obvious thought."

  "True," Draycos said. To Jack's ears, he sounded a little relieved by that thought, as well. "But as you say, we should leave." Touching Jack's hand, he slid back up his sleeve. "I'll guide you out."

  CHAPTER 17

  With the marks of their footsteps easily visible in the dust, Draycos's guidance wasn't really necessary. A few minutes later, they rounded the last curve in the main tunnel to find Thonsifi and Sefiseni standing together in the entrance. Their faces, at least what Jack could see of them in the faint beam from his light, looked anxious. "It's all right," Jack called. "I'm here."

  "We were worried about you," Thonsifi said as Jack emerged into the staging room, relief evident in her voice. "Eithon has been calling from outside. Another air transport has arrived in the canyon."

  Jack felt the breath catch in his throat. The Essenay'? "How big was—? Never mind," he interrupted himself. No point quizzing them when he could go look for himself. "Let's get back."

  A minute later they were in the air again. Jack eyed the network of stone arches and guy wires as they approached the canyon, hope fading as he realized again that a ship the size of the Essenay could never make it in there.

  Sure enough, as they flew over the edge and started down he could see, far below, a small two-man aircar squatting on the landing pit. "Any idea who that could be?" Jack asked.

  "I do not know for certain," Thonsifi said, her voice trembling a bit.

  Jack peered at her face. Jack was safe, and they were away from the mine. Yet her face was still anxious. "I didn't ask if you knew for sure," he said. "I asked if you had any idea. That means any thoughts or guesses."

  She didn't answer. "Sefiseni?" Jack invited. "Eithon?"

  "I saw a picture on the side of the transport," Eithon admitted reluctantly. "It is the same as the picture of those who stole the mine from us."

  Sefiseni rumbled something in their own language. "Good," Jack said, trying to hide his own sudden uneasiness. Was this the response to Foeinatw's late-night InterWorld call ten days ago? "There are some questions I want to ask them."

  As it had been the first time, the flight through the Golvins' aerial obstacle course was interesting to the point of occasional terror. But again they made it safely, and Eithon set them down more or less gently beside the visitor.

  And now, up close, Jack could read the name beneath the stylized pick-and-shovel logo on the aircar's side.

  Triost Mining Group.

  A sudden memory flooded back on him: he and Draycos in the Essenay's dayroom, right after their first meeting and the mad escape from the Iota Klestis ambush.

  We dealt with a people called the Chitac Nomads, Draycos had told him and Uncle Virge. They assured us Iota Klestis was available for purchase.

  I don't know, Uncle Virge had answered doubtfully. On paper, the place still belongs to the Triost Mining Group.

  Carefully, Jack focused his mind as he
and the others climbed out of the shuttle. Draycos? he thought toward his shoulder.

  Yes, I saw, the K'da's mental voice came back grimly. Are these the same people?

  It's the same group, Jack confirmed. Near one of the apartment pillars he spotted a middle-aged man talking with the One and a couple of other Golvins. Probably not the same specific people, though.

  Pardon?

  I said it's the same group, but probably not the same exact people, Jack repeated. This telepathy stuff took more effort and focus than he'd realized. Keep it down, now—I have to concentrate.

  The One's eyes shifted to Jack as he and the others approached. The man caught the subtle movement and turned. He was medium height and build, starting to widen out around the waist, with thinning hair and piercing blue eyes. "Ah," he said, giving Jack a friendly smile. "You must be the Judge-Paladin everyone's talking about."

  "I'm Judge-Paladin Jack Melville," Jack confirmed, grabbing a new last name for himself at random. "You?"

  "Genie Bolo, survey specialist for the Triost Mining Group," the other said, holding out his hand. His smile took on a slight frown. "I have to say, you look awfully young for your position."

  "I've always looked young for my age," Jack explained, shaking Bolo's hand firmly but briefly, in the upper-class professional's style Uncle Virgil had taught him. "Even at twenty-four, a lot of people peg me as only seventeen or eighteen."

  "I'd have made it even younger," Bolo admitted. "But don't worry about it. You'll appreciate the effect when you're fifty and still look thirty-five." His smile turned a little rueful as he ran a hand through his thinning hair. "As you see, I've got the opposite problem."

  "At least people take you seriously," Jack said. "What brings you here, Mr. Bolo?"

  "Survey work, like the job title says," Bolo said. "We've got a petrometal station going in about a hundred miles east of here. I was told to see whether it would be cheaper for us to build a pipeline to the NorthCentral Spaceport for the stuff or to build our own tanker landing area next to the station."

  Jack frowned. "I didn't know you could pump metals."

  "Actually, we'd be pumping a slurry," Bolo said. "That's a lot of water or other liquid with metals or whatever suspended in it."