10
“…and that’s about it, sir,” Karl said, twenty minutes later, and Stephanie nodded in silent approval. They’d made a couple of tweaks after presenting their data to Cordelia, and she felt the two of them had given a polished, even professional presentation. But—
“That’s very interesting,” Chief Ranger Shelton said, tipping back in his chair. “I’m not sure how much we can do about it, though.”
“Excuse me, sir?” Stephanie said after a moment. That was the last reaction she’d expected out of him.
“I said I’m not sure how much we can do about it,” Shelton repeated.
“Sir, a crime has been committed,” Karl pointed out.
“Yes, it has,” Shelton agreed. “Of course, there is the minor question of whether it was the carjacking Nosey initially reported, or the exercise in extortion that he’s now reporting. Is he prepared to come in and change his story on the record?”
The three young people looked at each other, then Stephanie shrugged.
“I think he probably would, sir,” she said. “I can’t be positive about that, though. He came to us—to Karl, specifically—because we were a part of the ‘official’ system that he trusted, so I’m pretty sure he’s prepared to talk to you, too. But whether or not he’s ready to do it on the record…?”
She shrugged again, and Shelton nodded.
“That’s about what I expected,” he said. “And the fact is that I’m not the one he’d have to go on record with, anyway. We don’t actually have jurisdiction over crimes which are committed on private land. Oh, there are a few offenses where we would have jurisdiction, but they all relate to wildlife violations or arson. This one wouldn’t come to us. It would go to the Twin Forks Constabulary, and that’s where he’d have to go to change his statement.”
“Oh.” Stephanie frowned in chagrin. She hadn’t even thought about who might have jurisdiction! Karl, on the other hand—
“I thought about that, sir,” he said diffidently. “I wasn’t sure how the jurisdiction on the physical beating would shake out, but I knew which way it would probably go. But if Nosey is right, whatever’s going on isn’t limited to just Twin Forks. And some of these ‘accidents’—like my sister’s—are happening on Crown lands. If they’re the result of criminal actions, or even just criminal negligence, the SFS does have jurisdiction, doesn’t it?”
“That’s a valid point.” Shelton nodded. “But you say the drug panels haven’t detected any prohibited substances in any of these ‘accident victims’’ systems?”
“No, sir.”
“Well, if it’s not a prohibited substance, then providing it to people who want to use it—whatever it is—isn’t a criminal offense. Maybe it should be, and maybe someday it will be, but until it’s at least been identified we can’t arrest anyone for distributing it.”
“That still leaves the criminal negligence side, though, sir,” Karl said with respectful tenacity. “If your actions endanger another person, or lead to their actual physical harm, and you knew that they might at the time, then you’re still legally liable for endangering or harming them whether or not those actions were illegal. Same thing with ‘reckless endangerment,’ actually.”
“And that’s another valid point.” Shelton sounded pleased that Karl was sticking to his guns. “At the moment, though, all we have is speculation. I think it’s intelligent speculation, and, frankly, I think you three and Nosey are almost certainly right about what’s going on. But it’s only speculation at this point. Until we turn up something more concrete, there’s only so much I can do. You two”—he looked at Karl and Stephanie—“know how tightly stretched our funding is. The planetary financial board has way too many places that need money right now, and not nearly enough cash to cover them all. I’ve already had to argue for Karl being given part-hours to help with the SFS Explorers, and I managed that by pointing out that he’d be productively using what was otherwise travel time. I can think of two or three board members right off the top of my head who’d have a hissy fit if I started funding an all-up investigation into a drug that might or might not exist and accidents that might or might not be its result.”
“Excuse me, sir,” Stephanie cut in, knowing she was about to be impulsive. Karl could chew her out later, but there was no way she was going to just walk out of Shelton’s office without trying harder for his support.
“I understand what you’re saying about jurisdiction,” she continued. “I should’ve thought about that, and I didn’t. And I understand about the budget, too. What I want to know is whether you’d have any problems if I—not Karl, because he’s working—and say, Cordelia, did some research using the SFS databases. Could you just look the other way?”
“No, young lady, I couldn’t,” Shelton said, then quirked his mouth in a slight smile at Stephanie’s reaction. “And the reason I couldn’t is that I think you do have a valid basis for an investigation here. The problem is that what we don’t have yet is any evidence. If we did, and if this fell into our jurisdiction, I could organize a task force, maybe put Frank Lethbridge or Ainsley Jedrusinski on it. The planetary board would cough up the money for an investigation if I told them I had evidence of a potentially serious crime—which extortion certainly is—and that it, or other crimes related to it, had occurred on Crown lands.
“Unfortunately, I can’t do that, because I don’t have that evidence. However, I’m well aware of the Harrington propensity for charging straight ahead when you think you’re right, and I am not going to turn you loose unsupervised in the SFS database when I have a certain…lively apprehension about where you might go with whatever you found. On the other hand—”
He paused, rocking slightly in his chair, and Stephanie made herself keep her mouth shut.
“On the other hand,” he continued after several seconds, “the one person I know can ride herd on you with at least a modicum of success is Ranger Zivonik here. And I don’t have to justify how I have him using his hours as long as I’m not adding still more paid time to his account. Not as long as it’s internal SFS business, at least, which the Explorers aren’t. So if it should happen that I were to tell him that I want him to very carefully, very discreetly—and very cheaply—look into this, that would be a purely internal affair. And if he wanted to enlist some equally discreet unpaid volunteers to assist him, that would be a purely internal affair, too.”
Stephanie beamed, and Shelton raised a cautioning index finger.
“I’m confident that what I’m about to say will do only limited good, Probationary Ranger Harrington, but I’m going to say it anyway, and you’re going to listen.” He smiled, but his tone was very serious. “You are only investigating whether or not there actually is some new drug out there. You are not confronting anyone you think may be making or distributing it. In fact, you’re not taking any action, except to research our database, without specifically clearing it with Karl ahead of time. And in your case, Ms. Schardt-Cordova, as of now, I have no reason to believe that you partake of our Stephanie’s impulsiveness. Keep it that way.”
“Yes, sir,” Stephanie murmured dutifully, and Cordelia nodded. Shelton glowered at his probationary ranger for another moment, then sighed.
“Sir, am I authorized to go beyond research?” Karl asked. “I mean, if I develop a lead, or another avenue of evidence opens up, can I follow it up? Interview people I think may know something that could help us? Look for physical evidence in the field?”
“Of course you can.”
“And may I enlist some of those ‘unpaid volunteers’ in the process?”
Stephanie held her breath as Shelton frowned in thought.
“All right,” he said finally. “I know perfectly well that Stephanie is constitutionally incapable of not poking her nose where it doesn’t belong if she thinks it’s the right thing to do. I’ll probably regret saying this, but that’s actually a fairly good trait to have. But because I know that, I know that if I order you to shut her out, she’ll just go off and begin nose-poking on her own. So, yes, you are authorized to enlist your volunteers in fieldwork under the following conditions. First, you’ll be in charge and have supervisory authority. Stephanie”—he looked at her sternly—“if you try to do one of your end runs around Karl, I will revoke your probationary ranger status. Permanently. Do you understand me?”
Stephanie nodded silently, her eyes huge.
“Second,” the chief ranger continued, looking back to Karl, “you may use them only as investigators. They will have no authority to confront or apprehend anyone, under any circumstances. They will be fact-gatherers, not law-enforcers.”
“Understood, sir,” Karl said, meeting Shelton’s gaze levelly.
“And, third,” the chief ranger said, “you will keep me completely informed of your findings and even of your suspicions, should any new ones present themselves. Understand me, all three of you. If Nosey’s telling the truth—now—about what happened to him, these are dangerous people. I know you and Karl have dealt with dangerous people before, Stephanie, but so far, you’ve been lucky. I don’t want your luck running out on this investigation. So, as soon as you’ve established what’s happening—assuming that we’re all right and something is happening—you back off, you tell me, and I tell whoever else needs to know, whether it’s the Twin Forks Constabulary, the Yawata Crossing PD, or the county sheriff. We take it from there; you don’t. I know your promise means something to you, Stephanie, and that’s what I want right now. I want you to tell me that you understand everything I just said and that you promise to abide by the conditions I’ve set.”
“I promise, sir,” she said solemnly. He looked at her for a second or two, then nodded.
“Then that’s good enough for me,” he said simply, and Stephanie felt a stir of pride as she realized he meant it. Her promise truly was good enough for him.
Which, of course, meant she had no option but to keep it.
“Now get out of my office,” he told them, waving both hands in a shooing motion. “Scat, the lot of you!”
“Wow,” Cordelia said as the three of them headed back out toward Karl’s car. “I hadn’t realized how well Chief Shelton knows you, Stephanie!”
“Oh, everybody in the SFS knows Steph.” Karl chuckled, and Stephanie shook a fist at him. But then she chuckled herself.
“I’m really a lot better than I used to be,” she said. “I was a little surprised he was willing to allow us to be officially involved at all, though.”
“I think you can probably thank Cordelia for at least some of that,” Karl said, reaching down to ruffle her hair. “I think he expects her to be a moderating influence on you.”
“I think you’re right,” Stephanie said wryly, and smiled at Cordelia. “Thanks, Cordy.”
“All I did was sit there and nod in all the right places,” Cordelia said, and all three of them laughed.
Despite that, Stephanie strongly suspected Karl had a point, and she was grateful for Cordelia’s support. Especially because she hadn’t needed that odd sensitivity to emotion she sometimes got through Lionheart to know that Cordelia had been surprised—and maybe momentarily upset, when she saw Stephanie was with Karl. That had been part of the reason she’d gotten in the back seat, so Cordelia wouldn’t feel like a tagalong.
And they’re the same age and both new adoptees and…She’d really be perfect for Karl, so why don’t I feel happier about the idea?
“Next move?” she asked a bit more brightly than she felt.
“First, we feed the Harrington,” Karl said. “I suspect we need to fortify your blood sugar if we’re going to get your very best scheming out of you.”
They stopped at Bay Baskets to pick up what was either a late lunch or an early dinner. Trying to get the memory of her last visit here with Anders out of her mind, Stephanie concentrated on planning the next stage in their investigation. It didn’t quite work, though. According to Jessica, Anders hadn’t taken her rejection of his admittedly generous offer well and there was some question as to whether he’d leave Sphinx at odds with both Jessica—and with Stephanie, who he blamed for not doing more to facilitate his claim.
Anders is definitely a problem, Stephanie thought, biting a hushpuppy in half, but he can be a problem for later.
She leaned into the front seat and studied the list projected on the HUD. A familiar name reminded her of an idea she’d been holding onto until they found out if Chief Shelton was going to put someone in charge over them—or even tell them to stay away from investigating the possible drug problem.
“I think Jake Simpson’s who we should start our queries with,” she said. “Karl, you and I know him from the hang-gliding club, which gives us a natural opening. I dropped in on him soon after the skimmer accident to bring him a gift basket from the team. We could see if he’s interested in doing something with the SFS Explorers as an opener, then work around to his accident. When I saw him before, he was just home from the hospital and really dopey, not up to chatting.”
Karl nodded. “Reasonable. If I’m on duty, you can take Cordelia. I don’t think any of us should go alone when we do anything related to the accidents.”
Cordelia grinned. “As long as I don’t fall too far behind on my studies, my mom won’t mind. I think she’s glad to see me ‘coming out of my shell.’ Hanging out with you two is treecat socialization, too. All good. When do we see Jake?”
“Let’s try now, if that’s okay with you, Karl?”
“Sure, I’m off duty for the rest of the day, and if we tie it into the Explorers the visit’s even SFS work. I love showing myself eager and willing and able.”
Stephanie made a face at him, then tapped her uni-link. The call connected almost immediately. “Hey, Jake, Stephanie Harrington here. How do you feel about visitors, maybe shortly after dinner?”
She’d put the call on speaker, and Jake’s cheerful voice filled the air car’s cab. “Oh, wow, Steph, that would be super hexy. You can’t believe how bored I get. You said ‘visitors’—some of the team?”
“Karl,” Stephanie said, “and Cordelia Schardt-Cordova.”
“The chick who just rescued a treecat and nearly got eaten by near-weasels while she was doing it? Hey, that would be cool. Three humans, three treecats, I rate! I don’t have any celery though. That okay?”
Stephanie laughed. “Honestly, it’s more than fine. How about we bring you something?”
“No need. Seriously. I’m losing my manly muscles with all this sitting around. And I’ve had so many extra calories. Just seeing you guys would be the best. When do I look for you?”
Karl held up several fingers, and Stephanie made the arrangements. Despite Jake’s request for no presents, they did pause long enough to pick up a mixed snack pack, so they wouldn’t inconvenience the Simpsons.
When they arrived, Jake’s dad sent them around to the side door into the pool room. Jake was sitting in his float chair, practicing trick shots.
“Hi, Steph, Karl.” He turned a dazzling smile on Cordelia. “And by process of elimination, you’re Cordelia. I’m Jake. Glad to meet you.”
“Me, too, you,” she said. “This is Athos.”
“And I know Lionheart and Survivor.” Jake motioned to the rack of pool cues. “Want to play? I’m getting wicked good since I’ve been stuck home, but I’ll spot you.”
He levered himself up out of the float chair. “I don’t really need it all the time now, and the doc says it’s not going to be long before I can shuck the brace.”
Stephanie, looking for a cue short enough for her to be comfortable with, laughed. “Maybe you should loan the chair to me. You tall people have all the advantages in this game.”
“Hey!” Jake said with the natural enthusiasm of the coach Stephanie felt certain he would be one day. “Why don’t we all shoot from the chair? Level the playing field and like that?”
Everyone fell in with the idea, and before long they were laughing as they invented rules. Jake really was good, but he was also a natural sportsman, eager to show them how to get the best of each shot.
“This is fun,” Stephanie said. “Jake, have you heard about the SFS Explorers?”
“That program you and Karl are fronting for the Rangers? Sure. I listened to Nosey’s ’cast on it. It sounds pretty cool.”
“Maybe you could come talk to one of the meetings,” Stephanie said, “about sports, especially the challenges on a high-gee world like Sphinx.”
“I thought you guys were going to be all like, ‘our friend the range bunny,’” Jake said dubiously, “not a sports club.”
“We’re a club about Sphinx,” Karl said, smiling with satisfaction as he brought the cue ball in with just the right tap to send the solid-colored balls trouping one by one into the side pockets. “And if there’s one thing that newcomers need to think about when adjusting to life here, it’s the gravity. That’s what turns a routine fall into a broken bone.”
“Oh, yeah. Hey, I remember hearing that your little sis took a tumble. She okay?”
“Better than we could have hoped,” Karl said. “And she’s native born, should have known better. With the influx of tourists and new settlers…”
He gave one of those eloquent “guy shrugs” that said, “You can fill in the details, right?”
The treecats had been outside, but now they came scratching at the door. When Cordelia moved to let them in, Lionheart hopped up on an unoccupied chair and gave the yet-unopened snack tray a significant look.
“Hey, the flying tigers are starving.” Jake laughed, popping the tray open and offering each ’cat a chicken drumstick.
“Flying tigers?” Cordelia asked, puzzled.
“Oh, sorry. I started calling Lionheart that when he would ride Stephanie’s glider with her. Her glider had tiger stripes then. Karl’s been showing Survivor the ropes, too. Are you going to take Athos hang-gliding?”
Cordelia laughed. “I’ve never been, so I guess I’d better learn how to do it first.”
“Oh, you’ve gotta try it. It’s terrific when you turn off the counter-grav and it’s just you and the wind. And with the counter-grav it’s safe as anything. Let me show you some pictures of this year’s trainee class. They’re not all kids.”
There! Stephanie thought. The perfect opening.
“Do you use counter-grav in skimmer riding?” she asked innocently. “I mean, I know that the kids at the park do, but what about with the fancy stuff you do?”
Jake reached up and scratched his curly head. “Oh, yeah. I’m always careful, even when doing the fancy stuff. No idea why my c-gee went out on me. You can bet I’m going to double- and triple-check next time. I have seriously not enjoyed all this chair time, even if I’m getting super good at shooting pool. Hey, Cordelia, isn’t it your turn?”
Stephanie didn’t need Karl’s warning glower to make her back off. By the time they left, relations were back to normal—more or less.
Once they were in Karl’s air car, heading to drop Cordelia off, Stephanie sighed.
“Well, I muffed that one.”
Cordelia chuckled. “Steph, you forget who you are. ‘Probationary’ or not, you’ve been an SFS ranger since you were fourteen. Karl is now an official ranger: on the payroll, badge, uniform, and all that cool stuff. Jake is about as likely to tell you he deliberately turned his c-gee unit off while he tried a fancy new move as he would his parents. Heck, he might tell them first, depending on how well they get along.”
“But—” Stephanie began.
“Cordelia has a point, Steph,” Karl interrupted. “The problem is, some skriders like to show how brave they are—stupid’s a better word for it—by riding without c-gee whenever they can get away with it. Chance to prove they’re so good they don’t have to worry about little things like broken bones! But that’s an automatic safety-violation grounding, no appeal, at the parks if they get caught at it. And it’ll get you banned from your team if you get caught. Jake’s always been a pretty straight arrow where that rule’s concerned. That’s what makes his ‘accident’ so strange, when you come down to it. But you and I have been branded as too squeaky clean for our own good—at least in a case like this. He’s not going to tell us anything that might even sound like he’d been stunting without c-gee to show how good he is. Cordelia, though, if she doesn’t mind twisting the truth a little, she might be able to get something out of those we suspect did something dumb under the influence.”
“Jake might be a hard call,” Cordelia said. “He’s going to be on guard for a while.”
Stephanie looked at the list. “What about this one—Eldora Yazzie? She’s one of the ones Nosey wrote up. Do you know her? Looks like you’re about the same age.”
“I do, sorta, kinda,” Cordelia said. “From classes. We’ve never really been buddies, but I could probably work something out. Thing is, if I’m going to be your undercover scout, then I’m going to need to distance myself a little. The treecats are a good excuse for us to keep meeting up, but I might—sorry, Steph—play on your reputation as a bossy know-it-all.”
“That’s me.” Stephanie did her best to sound as if she was joking, but realizing that she had such a reputation stung.
Was there anything wrong with really knowing more than other people about something? Did she need to play dumb just because she wasn’t even sixteen? The weird thing was that most of the adults didn’t seem to mind, but her “peers” really did.
Ouch. Maybe that’s because I don’t sneer, even inside, at most of the adults I know, but I’m not really good at hiding when I think some kid is a zork.
She filed that for future consideration. “I think that’s a good idea. We just need a lead, some idea of how the drug is being dispensed. If we managed that, maybe we could analyze it, figure out what it was. That might give us a lead as to who’s making it.”
Karl sighed. “I’ve tried again and again with Dia, but nothing doing. Champagne and canapes, then dancing, then passing out. It’s getting so I believe her. Loon, too. Same thing. My folks are wise to the ways of the young, and they realize that forbidding Dia to see Loon will just encourage her to sneak around. Instead, she’s seeing him, but only supervised: swim team, at our house. The restrictions are being explained as a penalty for her breaking the rules and leaving Anastasia and Nat unsupervised, not as her being interested in an ‘older man.’”
Stephanie nodded. Secure in her place in the back seat, she studied Karl.
Older man. Do people think that about me and Karl? She felt her cheeks burning and was glad for the relative shelter of the back seat. Or maybe, I’m just seen as a sort of kid sister tagging around after a sort of big brother. I wonder what Karl thinks, but he’s the last one I’d ever ask.
If Stephanie and Karl hadn’t taken Cordelia into their confidence, Cordelia knew she wouldn’t have thought twice about the weird relationship between Frank Câmara and Herman Maye. If she was completely honest with herself, Cordelia knew that ever since Frank had invaded the Kemper house, she’d shied away from thinking about him at all. So what if she double-checked the locks on the house if she heard a vehicle passing overhead and she was alone? That was just prudence, right?
But Cordelia knew deep down inside that Frank had scared her. Even more than she hated having been scared, she hated knowing that she could be scared. She’d always been comfortable wandering the bush alone. Now she never went hiking without Barnaby, and she took a lot of comfort knowing that Athos would be somewhere near.
Cordelia was working over at the Kempers’, thinking about how best to approach Eldora Yazzie, when she heard the hum of an air van passing by. Glancing out a window, she confirmed that it was the one Frank Câmara typically used when he came to pick up mushrooms.
I wonder why Frank—who’s the son of the owners of one of the fanciest, most popular restaurants on Sphinx—goes to pick up the mushrooms himself? He’s a null, but surely his folks could find something better for him to do, something that would be better training for helping with the family restaurant and grocery warehouses. It’s not as if he does any selecting. Herman has the order ready and boxed.
She was pretty sure she was right about this. Recently, she and Mack had been over fixing a waterline to one of the mushroom-growing buildings when Frank had come by to make a pickup. Another time, she’d been over there herself, picking up a truckload of mushroom compost for the Schardt-Cordova gardens when Frank had been loading his air van. Another time, when she’d gone to drop off some interesting mushrooms she’d found when hiking, in case they might be a new type, she’d seen an order boxed and ready to go.
That’s another thing. Why does Herman seem so scared of Frank? Come to that, why are Herman’s moods so changeable? I’ve always thought that his mood swings were due to the fact that he’s not thrilled with how his job keeps him from getting out and collecting bounties. Or maybe it’s not the bounties, as much as the credit for discovering? But what if it’s not just job-related? What if Herman is messing with whatever drug that’s out there? Certainly, Frank Câmara has a reputation for doing drugs, even for dealing a little.
Having no answer to these questions, not even a sense as to whether there really were questions, or just her imagination going wild, Cordelia decided that the next sensible course of action was to snoop.
The obvious place to start was with Herman. The Kemper boys took their role as landlords very seriously, so it was easy to tag along the next time they went over to make some improvement at Mr. Ack’s. Today’s project was an automatic bagger for the mushroom compost, an addition that Cordelia completely approved of after spending half an hour sweeping remnants out of the bed of the Schardt-Cordova family air truck.
Herman didn’t immediately appear to greet them, and Cordelia noticed that the flats on which the boxes of mushrooms were usually stacked were empty today. She felt nervous tension drain away, because that meant it was unlikely that Frank would be coming by. Then anger at her cowardice stiffened her spine.
When they’d unloaded their gear and Herman still hadn’t appeared, Mack turned to Cordelia. “Would you mind finding out where Herman is? We don’t need him or anything, but it only seems polite to let him know we’re here. Tell him we’ll be back by the compost heap.”
Zack grinned and added, “And if he offers any mushrooms for us to take home, be sure to ask if he has any of those purple portabellas. I’m still dreaming about the stuffed caps Dana made last time.”
“Will do,” Cordelia promised. She swung out of the back seat where she’d been riding, pleased that her ankle didn’t even twinge. Athos swarmed up to ride on the harness Cordelia now wore with all her clothing. At first the thick pad along her back and the matching one on her shoulder had felt distinctly odd, but the other day she’d forgotten to put the harness on and not wearing it had been what felt strange. Funny how things changed.
“Bleek!” Athos commented as he settled down, and Cordelia almost would have sworn she could feel that he shared her amusement.
Since Cordelia had the excuse of looking for Herman to poke around, she did so. Most of the mushroom-capped buildings were closed and locked. Tidy signs featuring a talking cartoon mushroom noted: “Please don’t disturb. We’re growing!” In these, Cordelia definitely saw the peculiar obsessive humor of Dr. Glynis Bonaventure.
Cordelia found Herman working in the lab. Unlike the cultivation buildings, this one was unlocked. She tapped on the door, paused, then, following the easy countryside custom of rural Sphinx, let herself in. She felt a little guilty, given her determination to snoop, as she remembered the way Frank had used the same excuse for coming into the Kemper house uninvited.
Maybe there is some similarity, she thought. But that doesn’t explain why he acted so weird. Or the fact that I’m sure he didn’t knock first.
Like most buildings on Sphinx, no matter how small, there was an enclosed entryway, meant to provide a barrier between the outside and the interior during not only the nearly sixteen months of winter, but the colder portions of autumn and spring as well. Cordelia came in, reflexively stomped her feet to, as her mother liked to put it, “Leave the outdoors where they belong,” then opened the connecting door. This led into a small office, which in turn opened into a door labeled “Lab.”
“You stay here, Athos,” she said, patting the air in the “get down” sign. “I don’t think they’d want cat hair in the Lab.”
Cordelia knocked again, then peeked around the edge of the lab door. Nearly colorless gray eyes wide over his mask, Herman looked up from where he had been doing something arcane with a solution of something containing flecks of organic matter. He hurried toward her, motioning for her to go back into the main office.
“Oops!” Cordelia apologized, backing up. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. The reverse, really. My brothers wanted me to tell you that they’re around by the compost heap, putting together something that Mack swears will sift, sort, and then bag the compost.”
Herman pulled his mask down and smiled at her. “I thought I heard a knock, but I was working with this precipitate and, since I didn’t expect anyone, I kept on with what I’d been doing.”
Normally, Cordelia would have taken her leave, but now, remembering her resolution to snoop, she decided to stay.
He seems okay, she thought, noting that his eyes looked normal, and that he seemed appropriately energetic, but baselines are useful, too. If I come here another time and his pupils are dilated or something, then I’ll have a comparison.
“What are you working on?” she asked, perching on the edge of the desk and drawing Athos into her lap.
“Analysis of a new shelf fungus,” Herman said happily. He launched into a detailed explanation of how each of the Sphinxian fungi were studied on all sorts of levels. He lost her pretty quickly, but Cordelia gathered that fungi were very changeable. Some were even poisonous at only one part of their lifecycle, a mechanism doubtless meant to make them unattractive at a key point in their reproductive or fruiting cycle.
“So, we not only do detailed analysis of every sample,” Herman said, “but, once we’ve succeeded in growing our own cultivars, we repeat the process at each growth stage. Then we do it all over again after propagating in different mediums. What a plant is grown in—and this includes far more than fungi, although most people are unaware of this—can change flavor, texture, even how nutritious the end result will be.”
“I think my mom was talking about this,” Cordelia said, “something to do with sugars?”
“Sugars are definitely one category, especially in regard to flavor.” Herman managed, just, to not sound condescending.
“That’s a lot of work,” Cordelia said.
“And more all the time,” Herman agreed, “since Dr. Bonaventure is more interested in going on safari to find new samples than she is in the dull routine.” He must have realized that it was imprudent to speak so of his employer, because he quickly added, “But I don’t mind. I don’t mind at all. Job security.”
“Maybe she’ll hire you assistants,” Cordelia offered, “and give you some field time.”
She expected Herman either to look pleased or dismissive. What she didn’t expect was the look of panic that flashed across his usually mild features.
“Oh, I really don’t mind,” he repeated. “It’s a lot of work but, like I said, job security.”
Did he have an argument with his boss? Cordelia wondered. Maybe he’s already been told the budget doesn’t extend to more help. Dr. Bonaventure is funding this project out of her own pocket, and if the work is as fussy as Herman makes out, she can’t just hire a couple of biology interns to do the work. Maybe he’s afraid I’ll make a “helpful” suggestion to the boss and give away that he was griping.
Outside, a faint rumble announced that Mack and Zack were testing some aspect of their machine.
“I’d better go help the boys,” Cordelia said, jumping down from the desk. “Mack will probably want me to shovel compost into the hopper or something. I’ll tell them you’re busy, and we’ll knock before we go.”
Herman politely escorted her to the door. As Cordelia was fastening her jacket and letting Athos get settled, the outer door slid open, then the inner. Glynis Bonaventure quite literally breezed in, moving with so much energy that an arrangement of dried flowers in a vase on the desk fluttered.
Short and plump, with warm golden-brown skin, Glynis wore her hair dyed a bright red with a scattering of silvery white spots. This remarkable coiffure was styled to curl under near her chin, so that she gave the impression of wearing a mushroom cap on her head. Her clothing was field-practical, right down to her neatly booted feet, the over-powered personal counter-grav unit she used when collecting to avoid compressing the soil and ruining the subterranean portions of her beloved fungi, and the rifle slung over her shoulder.
That rifle’s sling was worn and its stock was scratched. Clearly it had seen a lot of use, and Cordelia was glad, although not really surprised, to see it. Mack and Zack had told her Dr. Bonaventure had a “breezy” personality. Indeed, Zack had rolled his eyes at Mack’s choice of adjectives. But they’d also told her Bonaventure was an experienced explorer who approached Sphinx’s wildlife with a dead serious focus. Karl had told her much the same thing when she’d asked him about it.
“Chief Shelton would a lot rather she wasn’t running around the bush on her own,” he said, “but this isn’t the first time she’s been in the field. Not even the first time on Sphinx, really. She can seem like—I hate to say this, but the only term that really fits is an ‘airhead’—but I’d trust her to look after herself out there more than I would eighty percent of the folks born here.”
At the moment, however, that “breeziness” Mack had described was totally front and center.
She was already in mid-speech when she stepped through the door. “Herman, I’ve found a wonderful new spotted pointed-cap; purple and orange, if you can believe it, but so tiny it’s easy to overlook. I printed it in the field, but I want—” She seemed to notice Cordelia for the first time, and stopped, the collecting box she’d been thrusting at Herman held in partly outthrust arms. “Cordelia! My dear! You look so much better than the last time I saw you. No scars from those horrible near-weasels. I’m so glad.”
“I came by to tell Herman that the compost bagger is being set up,” Cordelia said awkwardly, feeling a little as if she’d walked into a tornado. “I was just leaving.”
“A bagger! Wonderful!” Glynis almost sang. “Herman, why don’t you go find out how to use the new machine? I can set my little pretty up for spore collection.”
She headed toward the lab, but Herman glided to intercept her, taking the box from her hands.
“I’m certain the Kemper boys aren’t done yet,” he said, “Cordelia only just arrived. I’ll take care of this. Maybe you should go see what they’re up to. After all, you’re the real tenant. In any case, I’m in the middle of an analysis.”
“And we don’t want me to contaminate anything,” Glynis chirped gaily. “Very well. You take this and get to it as soon as is reasonable. I’ll go with Cordelia to see what the darling boys have built. We’ll chat later.”
They said their good-byes and Cordelia found herself being bustled through the fanciful grove of mushroom buildings toward some very odd thumping noises.
Well that’s very interesting, she thought. Herman didn’t make a fuss when I opened the lab door, so I don’t think he was actually too worried about contamination. Somehow, I feel certain that he didn’t want Glynis to see what he’d been working on.