The Radical Factor (Stone Blade Book 3) Read online

  "... and it made less sense than before," said Micah, "If that's possible!"

  He and the rest sat strapped down in the departure lounge, awaiting grounding on Triumph.

  "You're in good company, lover," said Kidwell, "None of us could make a nano of sense out of it. The stanza meanings are fairly crisp, less so for the poems but anything above that is chaos. I hate to say it but that does lend weight that it's not genuine. Have you tried page-shuffling?"

  "No," said Micah, ideas starting to form in his mind.

  "Then don't bother," said Kidwell, "Charles had that brilliant idea before you recovered. He and I tried every way we and the others could imagine and none of them worked. He even tried page-breaking on poem boundaries and that didn't work."

  A tone sounded and the ship shuddered. Blankenship announced they'd grounded and would complete landing protocol in twenty minutes. Idly Micah wondered as to who would reach the LINC relay first: Blankenship or Ionoski.

  ***

  "I must say you League folk have unleashed a firestorm here!"

  Georges al'Marklin grinned when he said it so Micah relaxed. As soon as he and the others entered the port building they found al'Marklin waiting for them.

  "Your experts arrived and began instituting the measures we discussed. Did you know our economies would improve when you suggested them?"

  "Sometimes that happens," said Ionoski, "How does the Circle feel about it?"

  "They are quite pleased. First Orris would have been here to greet you himself but he and several others are shoulder-deep in managing the improvements. He asked me to pass along his regards. Also, did your mission to the Mekhajan go well? I ask at his behest as well as my own curiosity."

  "It went quite well," said Ionoski, "We'll share the details at earliest convenience."

  "Excellent. First Orris and the rest of the Circle are debating whether or not to work toward trade with the Mekhajan or away from it."

  "Work toward," said Micah and Ionoski simultaneously.

  "Signor al'Marklin," said Ionoski, "Georges. Your trade is your decision, absolutely and without qualification. You could even trade with the Consortium but more than just League merchants would advise strongly against it. Please note the word 'advise,' though. We will have no part in dictating your trade with any other worlds!"

  "Indeed," said al'Marklin with a smile, "That is why we value your opinion and that is why we ask it of you. Our question was of the wisdom of it."

  "Then we still advise toward it," said Ionoski, "We have some information on the Mekhajan that may affect trade but certainly not enough to prevent it!"

  While Ionoski and al'Marklin continued their conversation Micah paid it less and less attention. Something at the back of his awareness bothered him. He reviewed what he knew and tried to draw out the revelation. Then, finally...

  "Pardon me, Ted," he said "Georges, may we have access to the futures and commodities database at the stock exchange? It's for information only and we don't need anything restricted. We also need information on Dawn's Hope and Path of Light. I'm specifically interested in the agricultural products they grow and export there."

  "Of course," said al'Marklin, "I'll arrange it soonest. Is there anything more specific you can tell me?"

  "I'll know for certain when I find it."

  Al'Marklin was as good as his word. Not long after he left Micah received the access he needed along with links to the information. He took it immediately to Davies, who had just finished his paperwork from the trip.

  "Most of it concerning you, my friend," said Davies, "What do you have?"

  "Information on two Unity planets. How long will it take you to determine whether or not our bacterium would like it there?"

  Davies grinned. "I'll know when I determine it, I suppose. Flames! Life around active field agents is never dull."

  While Davies worked Micah sat at a spare terminal and called up the Lan'Quor again. He finally stopped looking for patterns and he just read. Ironically enough he discovered a pattern! He started into the Paeans of Aivool, over sixty pages of them, and he discovered they all philosophized and postulated about the nature of time. After the second page they changed from merely monotonous to well and truly boring.

  "Micah. Micah!"

  Micah dragged himself, yawning, away from the Musings of the Months and into Davies' lab.

  "I have some preliminary results, Micah. Based on what I know about b Imperialis capillus in general and 4491 in particular I think it would love both planets. There are a few variables I can reduce before I absolutely require a field test but I doubt they will change things. I say 4491 will thrive and flourish. Are you planning on releasing it there?"

  "No." Micah examined the results. "Excellent work, too. Do we have... No. I need..."

  "Rest," interrupted Davies, "You need rest. It's either late or early, depending on your point of view. I need sleep and that means you six-sigmas do too!"

  Micah opened his mouth to argue but yawned instead.

  "Slib, Mike. I'm going now."

  ***

  Early the next morning Micah cornered Ionoski and Barstein.

  "We need data on Goshairin," he said without preamble, "Specifically agricultural, botanical and environmental."

  That puzzled Barstein but Ionoski looked at Micah knowingly.

  "We need a lot more than that," replied Ionoski, "Why this in particular? What do you have?"

  "The Esavians tried to take Dawn's Hope away from the Unity of Triumph. Why? It's not a particularly rich world, it isn't a hub world or chokepoint, it doesn't have a lot of minerals and it isn't of any particular strategic importance. None of the Esavian worlds are anywhere close to overpopulated so that isn't it. Even Barrhian Dhu.

  "Why did the Esavians start a war there? Why lose lives, spend a lot of money and incur the hostility of a people very much inclined to leave the worlds outside theirs alone? It doesn't make any sense, even for Esavians. They had to know Unity would fight them over it. The Circle made that clear. Even after they lost and suffered massive reprisals the continued to harass the Unity. Therefore the world must have some value. Enough so to overcome thriftiness and make them waste lives and resources attacking it.

  "We know it isn't tech. The Vezieri, Jengiil and certainly the Mekhajan can supply them all of that they want. Flames, even the Pronat Cluster has tech to trade and it's closer than Triumph. That leaves something else. I believe it has to do with the only other thing the Esavians massively import: wine and spices. Maybe there's some particular spice there they like but I put that low-sigma. That leaves their special wine and it's classified as a military item."

  "Are you saying the Esavians thought they could produce their own wine on Goshairin and reduce their dependence from external sources?" Barstein tried not to scoff too hard at that.

  "That's a possibility," said Micah, "but a low-sigma one. I don't credit the Esavians with that much intelligence, foresight or sense. We know the Mekhajan have all three, though, and plenty of each."

  "That makes sense," said Ionoski, "It also makes sense from another angle. Barrhian Dhu is closer to Goshairin than it is any Mekhajan world. Dawn's Hope isn't, but it's closer to some Esavian worlds than they are to any Mekhajan ones."

  "I'll check it now," said Barstein. Then he rose and left.

  "I received a message from Georges," said Ionoski, "First Orris sent us informal invitations to spend the day after tomorrow with him. It's a Unity-wide holiday, Saint Reymon's day, and we all need to plan to attend."

  Ionoski switched on his garble.

  "What is it," asked Micah.

  "I'm not certain but I think Blankenship may try to cause some splash. He spent a lot of time working on his official report and when I offered to bundle it with ours he refused. It's his option, of course, and he could just as easily have encrypted it past what I could key, if I was interested. But it wasn't the action so much as the attitude that made me suspicious."

  Several ideas p
opped into Micah's mind. "Does he have issues with active field agents?"

  "I don't know for certain," said Ionoski, "but rumor says he does. I overheard in the fresher that he had an active op team. He did well during training. Enough so to fast-track into having his own team. He was a stickler for details and protocols and that saved his team more than once."

  "So what happened?"

  "According to what I overheard he took two agents on a simple observation and investigation mission. The Consortium had an interest in some of its details, and I didn't hear the specifics, but apparently they had an assassin infiltrated into the group. He incapacitated Blankenship and killed his other two officers. Things would have gone even worse except that a civilian managed to kill the assassin, save everybody's duff and expose a massive Consortium plot."

  "A civilian?!"

  Ionoski nodded. "No blather. I felt the same way but the... conversation... was adamant about that point. After the splash fell Blankenship was retired to backup. Since then he's been trying to earn his bars back and the only way he can do it is by sticking to protocols and picking over details."

  "Bloody. I don't suppose I helped matters much."

  Ionoski shrugged. "As you said, it had to be done. Mike got a treasure ship of data and now we have it too. The splash will hit all of us but it would have anyway. Just try to keep it from happening again, yes?"

  That afternoon Ionoski received information on the wines exported form Mek-Soulda, Mek-Tarhav and Mek-Mierlo. They all contained the compounds indicating the 4491 bacteria.

  "I believe that confirms our hypotheses," said Ionoski, "Someone, Mekhajan or Esavian, knows exactly what that wine is and what it does. We may furthermore infer that they are using it for their benefit."

  "This may be significant," said Ferrel, "Recall our old friend vinostim."

  Micah and Kidwell nodded. During their first mission to Triumph, vinostim helped them gain access to the Circle of Firsts.

  "They tried producing that on Dawn's Hope. They managed the 'stim' part with no problem but the wine itself was awful. It was bitter and far too acidic for the cultured palates of those who could afford it."

  Micah started to speak but Ionoski beat him to it.

  "I'll ask Karl Perry for some samples. We should also be able to find some of the variety they produce here. Let's see what Mike can do with it."

  ***

  Micah moved through his workout with his thoughts racing. Bits and pieces of the Lan'Quor chased each other around inside his skull, taunting him but refusing to fall into place. Bottles of wine danced with those holding vionstim, yet and still refusing to yield the pattern he sought.

  He knew the wine figured significantly between the Esavians and the Mekhajan. He had a tentative theory that they worked to increase the Esavians' natural antipathy toward anyone outside themselves.

  Strings. Lines of control. If present, how best to find them and disrupt or cut them. That question now gained greater importance. Perhaps the Esavians, if left alone, would simply keep to themselves as had the Unity of Triumph. Not six-sigmas likely, truth, but more likely than now. Sneaky Weak Sally well and truly held Beefy Brawler under her sway and as yet he had no Naughty Nicole.

  His thoughts persisted through his workout and his shower and only slowed a little when he dimmed his lights and sat on his bed.

  ***

  Micah grunted and hit the ground hard. Beefy Brawler bowed and waited and Sneaky Weak Sally just stood back and laughed. Micah knew he should hurt, Brawler hit hard, but he didn't. He knew he dreamed but wakefulness refused to come.

  Left to his own wit Brawler went down easily. He moved fast and hit hard, very hard, but fought equally predictably. Micah out-thought more than out-fought him. Sally was just the opposite. A light punch or kick dropped her but she evaded those easily. No matter how hard Micah feinted or planned she avoided his attacks. She also taunted Micah when she fought, distracting him and opening him up for Brawler.

  Together the two of them were impossible to beat! Micah knew that but somehow he could never take advantage of it. Wisdom dictated he should divide them and attack each individually but that just didn't work. Naughty Nicole whispered advice behind him but he never quite made out her words. Worse, when he turned to try and see her face it opened him up to Brawler's attacks.

  Brawler relaxed out of combat stance when Micah did. Sally handed him a glass of wine poured from a familiar bottle. The taste never bothered him nor did the alcohol or other chemicals in it. Nicole always had something for Micah, water or tea, but even then he never caught a glimpse of her face.

  "This isn't accomplishing anything," said Micah, "Why are you still here?"

  "Because we are," said Brawler.

  "You can make us go away," said Sally waspishly, "I'm tired of you, too."

  "But you need us," said Nicole, behind him, "We won't leave as long as you do."

  "Tell me why," said Micah.

  "You know why," said Brawler.

  "Then tell me what I know, burnit!"

  "You already know what you know," said Sally.

  "You just need to know what you know," added Nicole, "And you need to know why you don't know what you do know, dosha. It's all there."

  Micah sat up straight with vestiges of his dreams wisping about and dancing to the beat of his alarm. He freshened up and dressed automatically with his mind still churning.

  ***

  "You look like hades." Ferrel handed Micah a double-strong hot chog.

  "I love you too, brother."

  "What happened?"

  Ionoski, Siffai and Barstein joined them before Micah finished recounting his dream.

  "Sounds like a spicy snack before beddies," said Kidwell.

  "Or too much Lan'Quor," suggested Siffai, "Before long you'll be hearing Dhu and calling the rest of us infidels."

  Micah started a sarcastic reply but Siffai's words grew claws and took hold.

  "Hell's frost! Holy heaven's flames, that's it. That's it!"

  Siffai and Ferrel swapped looks. Micah took a moment to collect his thoughts.

  "That is it, dead on the beam. Ted. I know why that wine is so popular with Esavians. Bloody rut it all makes sense!

  "Remember how I described the effects. Trusted people helping me through troubling or traumatic times. What or who is most important to the Esavians? What makes them Esavian?"

  "Dhu," said Ionoski, "Dhu and their belief in... Flames and frost! Mark that one at least five sigmas."

  "Any time they drink the wine," said Micah, "they pass out or drop into a deep daze. That's when they hear the voice of Dhu speaking to them! Most of that wine is probably ceremonial. When they have a ceremony they gather and start talking about Dhu and thinking about Dhu and drinking wine and they hear the voice of Dhu speaking to them. They get their prayers answered and their fearful thoughts comforted. Ten standing says Mike confirms it!"

  "Sucker bet," said Davies after the explanation, "Hope you collected big, Micah. Based on the neurochemistry and what you recorded when you went down, that fits six-sigmas solid on the beam! I couldn't have described it that well but I'm not drinking that stuff either."

  Ionoski considered Micah's explanation.

  "Micah. You, Vera and Mike work out some crowd-reaction models based on this. Factor the effects of the wine into your behavior projections and see if it helps. We may just have discovered the strings to cut."

  ***

  Micah worked slowly through his routines. His head throbbed from what Kidwell did to him. His idea of subtlety didn't even register on her scale and he spent most of the day working on her models! Nor did the headache tablets work any too quickly. As usual.

  They accomplished a lot, though. By the time they reached the finest revision their correlates exceeded seventy percent. Not a high number for Kidwell but well above anything they had on the Esavians previously. Micah felt good more ways than one when they packaged it and sent it to S&P and SIFComm. Though too late t
o prevent the disaster at the Peace Spire the data they sent might prevent future incidents.

  Micah also felt good that their data would undermine Blankenship's potential attempt to smear Ionoski and his team. Micah didn't know the exact nature of the failed assignment, nor particularly care, but such an incredible puppy-rut as Ionoski described would not be easy to overcome. Micah certainly didn't want to be a rung in that ladder!

  When Micah fell asleep that night he sat in a dark corner of a dark restaurant and watched Beefy Brawler, Sneaky Weak Sally and Naughty Nicole. They sat at a well-lit table and chatted over their meal. Micah didn't catch the conversation but he did see Nicole actively flirting with Brawler. Sally did too and she liked it not at all!

  Chapter 12. A Day for Friendship

  Micah spiffed, paced and waited less-than-patiently for the hover Orris sent to arrive. Kidwell looked up Saint Reymon's Day. According to the archive it was a day for family and friends to gather in the Great Father's name and celebrate being able to do so. The hover finally arrived and Micah saw Kidwell slip Ferrel a five-credit bill. Typical!

  When they arrived at Orris' modest estate they found a welcome surprise. His sister Jilli Adara met them at the door with hugs and a sincere smile.

  "You look wonderful, Jilli," said Kidwell.

  "Thank you. I feel much better than the last time you saw me."

  Both women spoke truth! Pain no longer marred Adara's face and she moved with an easy grace and strength. She also had no unhealthy gauntness, though care and warmth still radiated from her.

  "We hear you've done good things," said Micah after receiving his hug.

  "Indeed she has." Orris himself walked up. "We shall certainly discuss them in detail and at length. Please be welcome to my hearth and home."

  That said, Orris brought them in and introduced him to the many others there. They saw al'Marklin and met his family along with a surprising number of others who worked with Orris and the Circle. People, discovered Micah, with no family close enough to join for the holiday.