Chapter 34
Details of the dream chased Elena through the night and it was something of a relief to see the clock reflect numbers suitable for rising. It was earlier than her alarm would announce but Elena rose anyway. She looked at the notebook by her bedside and decided she needed a few minutes to organize her thoughts before taking pen to paper. Elena slid out of bed and made her way to the shower. In the bathroom mirror she caught sight of her reflection and frowned. She had the same look she had worn the first time she had outrun the Matrovean. Elena turned on the shower to let the water heat up as she undressed.
That trip out she had been piloting the Wind Dancer on the Destal run. The Matrovean were hidden behind one of the moons.
“Keshog,” she said softly as she stepped into the shower’s spray. “The moon of Keshog.” Six ships had come at them fast. She could see the fierceness on her grandfather’s face as he watched them approach. He turned to her and seeing the panic rising in her eyes, had taken her face in his hands and stared at her until she could only focus on him.
“You focus on the ship,” he said. “Only on the ship. That is it. The only thing that exists. We will take care of the rest.” She had nodded slowly. He kissed her forehead and left her in the pilot house. She watched him stride across the deck, issuing orders, readying the crew in the event they were boarded. The ships weapons were readied and she saw the crew ready personal weapons as well. High-tech mixed with low-tech as weapons that would have blended with a Star Trek episode were strapped next to lethal looking cutlasses. A laser blast is good for distance, she had been told in training more times than she could count. But technology sometimes fails while a sharp blade will always cut.
“Pirates in blue jeans,” she muttered as she lathered shampoo into her hair. “One day I’m going to find a punk band to write a song for them with that title.” She smiled to herself a little at the old thought and again wondered if there were any bands that were guild raised. She rinsed out the shampoo and reached for the conditioner. Her perusal of the crew didn’t last long as she took her grandfather’s advice. She poured all of her energies into the ship, racing to pull ahead and away from the raiders hoping the crew would not have to use their blades. Her awareness of the crew faded until she was only the ship and the movement. It was sometime later that her grandfather returned to the pilot house. She didn’t react to his presence until his hands covered hers.
“That is enough,” he told her as he pried her hands away. “The threat has passed.” Elena slid her consciousness away from the ship and realized the raiders were barely shadows on the edge of her field of vision. She let go of the wheel and nearly collapsed. Her energy more than depleted. Alexandro had taken her to the galley where Marco had wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and placed a bowl of soup in her hands, commanding her to eat. She caught sight of her face, reflected in the shiny surfaces around the galley. As she ate her soup, the crew came by, smiled and made sure Marco was feeding her right. They were all happy and she realized they were all relieved. Many touched her hair as though she were a talisman against the dark. They had been expecting fighting and bloodshed. They had gotten neither. ‘Because of me,’ she had thought. Pride mixed with a heavy sense of responsibility filled her. This was not racing around the Docking Facility. This was not a game. People’s lives depended on her skills. She saw the knowledge of that reflected in her eyes in the galley that day. She had been three days shy of her twelfth birthday.
Now she was two months shy of her thirty-fourth birthday and saw that look in her eyes that morning. She frowned not having to be Freud to see the connection between the feeling and the eighteen pilots she had welcomed the day before.
“Except there is a lot more on the line than one crew,” she said. She rinsed the conditioner from her hair and added some body wash to the mesh scrubby she used in place of a washcloth. She worked the soap into the net until it was dripping with suds and began to lather herself with the crisp scented suds the bottle labeled as ocean breeze. She had found the name amusing but the scent pleasing so she kept buying it. Not for the first time she wondered what the cargo in her dream had been. At the moment she couldn’t think of anything she would carry that would be important enough to risk a channel in winter. She frowned as a thought occurred to her.
“I wasn’t bringing goods earthside. I was taking something skyside.” The thought did not give her insight to her cargo. The pipes groaned and Elena frantically began to rinse off the bubbles. “Just a little more,” she said, hoping the hot water would last. Luck was not with her and she yelped as the hot water gave out and she was pelted with cold droplets that felt like the chandelier’s crystal drops. Elena grit her teeth and resolutely washed off the last of the suds before turning the water off. She stood shivering and soundly cursed the ancient water pipes.
As they were accustomed to such abuse they did not respond. She pulled back to shower curtain and grabbed a towel from the rack. She quickly dried her skin then wrapped the large bath towel around herself. She pulled a smaller towel from the rack and used it on her hair. When the bulk of the drops were cleared she wrapped her hair up, turban style with the towel to keep it out of her face. The mirror was fogged up from the steam of the shower but when she ran a hand across its surface she was pleased to see her eyes no longer held the slightly haunted look.
“I suppose the cold water was good for something,” she conceded. She returned to the bed and sat down with the dream journal and pen. She had a feeling the first part of her dreams had been dreams and not part of the Calling but for some reason the necklace had bothered her. It was somehow familiar but she just couldn’t place it. Deciding there might be some clue in the ball room scene she recorded it and fervently hoped no one ever read the journal. She frowned over the part when she entered the pilot house and mentally blocked out the voice from the radio. She closed her eyes and tried to hear the words she had ignored. They wouldn’t come.
“Next time I’ll have to listen,” she told herself. “Of course maybe if I forget about it, then later the words will come to me.” With no better option she continued to record the dream. At the end she had no further clues as to her cargo. She did recall thinking of Kiera and green, growing things when she first woke up and as she had with the ball room scene, she wrote it down in case it was important later. By the time she was finished it was close enough to her normal rising time that she felt the need to get dressed and start her day. She had already showered and recorded her dreams, the process took less time than normal. Since she still had to come up with the exact questions she wanted Benjamin Valentine to answer for her prior to accepting him on this trip, Elena figured an early start was not such a bad idea.
Rain was still coming down and even though its pace had slackened, she still caught the hiss of ice against the glass. She thought of driving over to Nibbles and pulling her car into the employee lot but decided that would be more trouble than it was worth. Walking on empty sidewalks with a little bit of ice seemed safer to her than driving in a busy street coated with ice. Instead of her normal jacket she pulled out her waterproof trench coat she normally reserved for ship board use. It wasn’t pretty but it would do the trick. Before she pulled it on she pulled a hooded sweatshirt on over her work clothes. Even though she was planning to carry an umbrella, the hood would keep her ears warm. She then buttoned the trench coat over the sweatshirt.
“Definitely not my day for high fashion, she said. Instead of taking a purse, she tucked the essentials, cell phone, keys and wallet, into one of the deep inside pockets. She pulled a large umbrella from the stand by the door and left the apartment, ready to face the dreary morning. The hallway was still night quiet but Elena’s eyes did catch on something shiny in the hallway and her mouth quirked up in a smile as she locked her door behind her. Kiera’s door boasted a new shiny set of locks. Elena was no expert but she suspected Jonathan would have to take a little more care when attempting to enter Kiera’s apartment. Elena made a mental note to ask Kiera where she had picked up the locks and to get a set installed in her apartment as well. She had the feeling it wouldn’t do more than amuse Peter but it might slow down Jonathan and Smith.
With that happy thought she made her way to street level and let herself out onto the side walk. In the lee of the doorway overhang she put up her umbrella and began to walk. To her relief there was little wind and the icy droplets made an oddly pleasant hissing sound against the fabric of the umbrella. She had to take care where her steps fell but she noticed traffic did not appear to be moving any faster than she was. Small icicles hung from street signs and electrical wires and Elena wondered if they were in for a power outage. She would have to turn on the radio to check the weather report when she got in. She wondered if she could actually turn the radio on without disturbing Andre.
She made it to Nibbles without accident. As she was early, both Calabrese Imports and Nibbles were still dark, with only the window lights, accenting the merchandise providing any illumination. In the dim light they still glowed softly. She was going to have to visit some of her normal suppliers for the imports store soon or find someone who could take over that responsibility. She thought of some of the pilots that had been grounded but still possessed ships and wondered if any of them would be willing to take on the task while working on dealing with the Calling.
“Or would that seem too much like transport duty?” She muttered. For a second she struggled with the lock, having to chip away a bit of ice covering the key hole before inserting the key. While she was there she decided to clear the lock on the imports store as well. “No use Susan having to fight the lock as well,” she said making sure the lock turned easily and freely before letting herself inside.
Once inside she moved quickly through the store, hoping not to drip too much on the floor as she moved. Once in the conference room she shed her coat and hung it on the coat rack to dry. As the hooded sweatshirt was still dry she placed it on the back of the chair instead. She opened the umbrella up in the corner, showering the floor and corner with melted droplets. Leaving her outerwear to dry she returned downstairs, grabbed a towel from the break room and mopped up the floor.
“No need for anyone to take a header into a display,” she muttered. She draped the small towel over the break room sink to dry and returned to the conference room. The scent of coffee greeted her. Andre was sitting at the conference table doodling in a sketch pad.
“And I thought I was being quiet,” She commented.
“I could say that I have excellent hearing,” Andre said with a smile. “But I didn’t realize you were here until I came out to put the coffee on and saw your gear.” He inclined his head towards the coat rack and drying umbrella. “Meetings today?”
“So far just the one scheduled. Benjamin Valentine is supposed to show up around ten so that I can question him and decide if he will be shipping out with us Friday.”
“Ah,” Andre said. “It would be a good safety precaution.”
“That was my thinking,” Elena confirmed. She poured two cups of coffee from the still filling carafe and handed one to Andre before settling herself in the chair across from him. “If he can be trusted.”
“Always a good thing to know.” They sipped their coffee in silence for a few minutes. “I had an interesting talk with Peter last night.” Andre said breaking the companionable silence.
“Really?” Elena asked, one eyebrow lifted in surprise. “Did he actually give any information or was he looking for some?”
“Surprisingly,” Andre said with a smile. “He was in a giving mood. Not too giving of course. After all it wouldn’t do to have everyone know as much as he does.”
“Of course not. If that happened he would cease to be the puppet master extraordinaire,” Elena said. She took a sip of her coffee.
“This is true. Apparently my esteemed cousin has recently come across some information about a new ship the military has designed.”
“Uh huh,” Elena said thinking of the heavy craft Ian had been helping the military to build. “He happened to come across this info?”
“Yeah, he didn’t cite his source.”
“Of course not,” Elena said with a laugh, both of them thinking of the paper Jonathan had passed to Peter.
“It seems they have a new design that is more in keeping with a channel rider’s parameters.”
“Well at least they learned something,” Elena said. “And this really isn’t much of a surprise. Did he think the military would give up after one failed experiment? Especially now that they realize success is possible with some basic design modifications?”
“Not really,” Andre said with a shrug. “I think he is more surprised by the location of the channel the ship is prepared to attempt.”
“Oh? So they aren’t trying for the Marta?” She asked. Andre shook his head and gave her the coordinates Peter had passed to him. Elena frowned. “That’s the Augustine.” She took a sip of coffee and sat back in her chair thinking. The Augustine was a rarely used channel due to its distance from any viable port. To use that channel one would need a large series of transport ships to make the movement of goods even remotely profitable. A thought hit her and she nearly choked on her coffee. “They aren’t building their ship here.” Andre lifted his eyebrow in response. “If they built it here,” she clarified, “They would have to either haul her cross country overland or sail around through international waters. I’m sure they have a closer ship yard.”
“I’ll have to take your word for that,” Andre said. “Channel locations were never my strong suit.”
“So why did Peter tell you?” She asked.
“He thinks that Smith is designed as a distraction and wants me to keep an eye out for anyone else who may be involved.”
“Because so many top secret military discussions take place in coffee shops?” Elena asked with a smile.
“He seems to believe that once you ship out Jonathan is going to start asking me questions.”
“Really?”
“Yup. Peter thinks you and Mateo will be shipping out soon and not be available for conversation so they may focus on me as a possible source of information. I have been instructed to not shut the door in their faces but to try to glean as much information as possible without giving anything away. I will be instructed on what information I am allowed to pass along.” His voice sounded slightly bitter and Elena winced.
“I know you didn’t want to get involved with Peter. I’m sorry I got you into this.” Elena said with a frown. Andre startled her with a laugh.
“Yes you sucked me in with your super sneaky on the table totally up front job offer,” Andre said with a grin. “Remember? I accepted because I wanted to. Any consequences are therefore my fault.”
“Fine,” Elena said with a smile. “I am still sorry that you have to deal with Peter.”
“Had to happen sooner or later,” Andre said. “You can’t run from family forever. I just mostly thought you would want to know considering what we saw last night. And because those of us low on the informational feeding chain ought to pool our knowledge.”
“Appreciate it.”
“Maybe we can form our own diabolical plan together,” he said with a shrug, “Who knows.”
“That certainly would be a change of pace,” Elena said. She got up and refilled her coffee cup.
“So why are you in so early if you aren’t meeting with Benjamin Valentine until ten?” Andre asked. Downstairs they could here movement as Roger and the staff arrived and started to set up for the day. She had a feeling the weather would make shoppers very scarce. She glanced out of the window. The sleet had settled on a pace like an endurance runner. If it planned to continue all day she might be closing early and sending everyone home.
“I had an unsettling dream,” she told him. Skipping the part about the ball room, she told him about the ship and the widened channel and the somehow familiar necklace.
“Huh,” he said sitting back in his chair. “That would be an excellent expansion of talents. Do you remember what the necklace looked like?”
“Sure,” she said. “But I don’t know if this was a Calling dream or just a regular dream. Too much of it was odd.” Andre slid the sketchpad and pencil across the table to her.
“Can you draw the necklace for me?”
“My drawing skills stopped developing around the second grade,” she warned.
“Just the basics,” he said. “If you can get the basic shape of the thing down I can work on a more detailed sketch and then when we have something that looks like what you saw I can play detective on the internet and see if it looks like anything.”
Elena picked up the pencil. It was still warm from Andre’s fingers. Feeling very foolish she did a basic line drawing of what she had seen in her dream. What she ended up with was something that looked vaguely necklace shaped. She frowned.
“You really weren’t kidding about the second grade were you?” Andre said. She frowned at him. He took the pencil and sketch pad from her. “I’m guessing that it was longer than a choker and probably able to reach your collarbone from this, right?” he asked.
“Right,” Elena answered. Andre began to sketch, asking clarification questions along the way. Elena felt like she was a crime scene witness describing a perpetrator but she answered the questions. “Odd,” she said. “I’m not sure how I know what the clasp looked like but I do. I shouldn’t have been able to see it since it was around my neck.”
“Probably just means you saw it before,” Andre said. Roger came up to the conference room when Andre’s sketch was nearly complete.
“Very nice,” He said looking at Andre’s sketch.
“It’s from a dream I had,” Elena said feeling vaguely foolish.
“Then your dream self has very nice taste,” Roger said.
“Thanks,” Elena said with a smile. She noticed Roger was holding a notebook. “Something to go over?” She asked. He nodded.
“If you have the time,” he asked.
“Of course,” Elena answered.
“This is enough to get me started,” Andre said. He took his sketch pad and retreated to his work space. Roger sat down and opened his notebook. Together he and Elena began to go over the projected orders needed to keep Nibbles stocked. By the time they were done, Susan was waiting in the wings with a similar list to go through for the imports store.
“You have to love those mid-month reviews,” Elena said as Susan settled herself. This was more familiar ground for Elena since Calabrese Imports had been open for over five years. She had more of a sense of what was going to be coming in and from where. Susan looked relieved when they were done.
“I think I am going to get someone to help me manage the supply side of things,” Elena told her. “That way neither store will suffer any loss.” Susan looked even more relieved by the thought. By the time she and Susan had finished it was nearly ten and Benjamin Valentine was scheduled to arrive. Elena switched from coffee to water and mentally ran through her list of things to ask. Unfortunately it wasn’t a terribly long list. She realized that mostly things boiled down to whether she trusted him or not. For some reason Elena was inclined to trust him.
“Am I too early,” Benjamin asked from the doorway. Elena glanced at the clock on the wall. It was a quarter until ten.
“Now is as good a time as any,” she said with a smile. She held up the bottle of water she had just extracted from the fridge. “Would you like one?”
“Sure,” he said. She pulled out a second bottle as Benjamin unbuttoned his coat and hung it next to hers on the coat rack. He also had opted for a trench coat but the sheer size of it made her coat look like a child’s garment.
“Any particular chair?” He asked.
“Take your pick,” She told him, handing him the bottle of water. He settled himself in the chair across from her and twisted the cap off his water bottle. She settled herself back in the same chair and wondered if she was going to be spending most of her earthside time occupying it.
“So you have some questions,” he started.
“I do,” she said, pleased that he had cut to the chase.
“Mostly because you and your cousin are up to something super secret and you don’t want a third party ratting you out before you are ready.” He began to laugh. The laugh shook both him and the table. “You should see the look on your face,” he said.
“Ratting me out wasn’t exactly the way I would put it. We aren’t doing anything illegal.”
“Probably because you are doing something no one thinks can be done.” He shook his head. “I did my homework. Mateo is very good at what he does, as are you. People guessed about the Calling. Some think they guessed wrong and that you left not because of the Calling but because you wanted to set up shop independently of your grandfather. Now you have pilots flocking to you. Some of whom were known to be affected by the Calling. Instead of turning them away as useless you took them in. I have to believe something unusual is up.”
“Apparently I am no good at nefarious plots,” Elena said. She took a long draw of water.
“I doubt too many people are paying attention to that aspect at the moment if it’s any consolation,” he said. “Most are blinded by the store downstairs. They figure you need transport ships to make certain you can supply it year round and grounded pilots would be a good source for that. As for Mateo,” Benjamin concluded with a wave of his hand in the air. “From all accounts he does not get along with your cousin Therese. It would be natural for him to transfer to your house and avoid the possibility of hers.”
“Very logical, yet you still seem to think that isn’t the likeliest of scenarios?”
“No I think you are up to something,” he flashed a grin. “I have the feeling it will prove quite interesting.” Elena had to smile at the assessment.
“Have you ever worked for any of the council members?” She asked. He lifted an eyebrow.
“You would assume that because I am devious?”
“No simply asking because I want to know.”
“Ah,” he said. “My loyalties. I have never worked for the council or any member current or past in any capacity. My mother was a pilot, my father was guild raised. I am guild raised. My mother was of the Burgess line based in Detroit. My father’s family was the Shuler line based in Boston. Both were only children of only children. I was an only child. My parents were killed by raiders when I was seventeen and I am currently thirty seven. I stayed involved with the guild doing, odd jobs. I believe that covers most everything.” He gave her a wry grin and Elena had to laugh.
“You know if you are going to preempt my questions this is going to be a very short interview.”
“True but I have never been overly fond of interviews.”
“So both of your parents were from American lines,” she said.
“Yes,” he responded. She nodded. While it didn’t automatically stop him from having allegiance to one of the council members it was a good bet that they would not have his focused loyalties. The United States did not have their own councilor; none of the new world did, instead tying back to the established European seats. It was not a very happy system and had been the source of a great deal of friction in the past couple of decades. Elena had a brief flash of her mother but blocked it out for later thought.
“Consuelo, and a few others refer to you as Bennie V,” Elena said, distracting herself from the past and potential lethal politics.
“They do,” he said with a smile. “It is a holdover from a time when a more rough sounding name helped me in the odd jobs I managed to do.”
“And those jobs were?”
“More varied than I could name on short notice. Some of them took me to various places I would not care to revisit even in conversation. None of them should prove burdensome to you.” Elena nodded fairly certain that was the best she was going to get. Despite the lack of details she still trusted him.
“You are still working for Travcon?”
“I am but they do not ask for detailed analysis of my trips, merely that I do what they request of me.”
“So a confidentiality agreement would not put you in a difficult place?”
“No,” Benjamin said. “In fact it would help out a great deal.” Elena stood and walked over to the shelf. She picked up a pen and a piece of paper, walked back to the table and handed it to the grinning Benjamin.
“I have the feeling you decided on me before this interview.”
“More or less,” she said. Benjamin signed the paper and handed it back to her.
“We ship out with Friday’s tide.”
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