Fourth Session
[I'll add some detail here that seemed a bit awkward to add at the time of the session.]
The crew of the Magnum Opus were flying towards the slipstream point towards New Buffalo. This was a journey of several weeks. So, they had time to discuss what to do: and what to do about Hrothgar and the dead body of Colimba Chastity Masr Wotan, the wife of Captain Anders of the Galliardi ship Supremacy.
While Shine was resting from a successful, if strenuous escape, the other three wondered if they could simply throw both of the two escape pod refugees back out.
Meanwhile, Othis received a coded message from his mother. Just by appearing, he understood that she survived the destruction of the planetoid facility. But she said, "Othis, I want you to know that your father and I are proud of you, no matter what."
Phaedra was surprised to discover she had been billed for the auction wins of the big diamond and the Mantacle Codex! (But, perhaps significantly, not the Founder's Skull.) It appeared that her bids were registered, her possession of the items were noted, and the complaint of the lack of funds delivered to an anonymous account somewhere was pending.
Finally, Linus received a coded message, using one of the von Schultz family's old public key codes. "You are in a good position to tell me how things are going," it said. "And you will be paid for your report." This was no von Schultz family members making this offer. Linus brought this up to Phaedra, who discovered that this was a job offer to Linus from her mother!
Linus claimed that Phaedra's Uncle Agamemnon ("Aggie") was also concerned about Phaedra, if "concerned" was what her mother was. Which segued to Von Schultz wondering why Phaedra's mother was also so interested in her. Phaedra hemmed and hawed and did not give a particularly clear reply about her family's situation.
In the meanwhile, Othis realized that both artifacts recovered had high-tech homing beacons attached to them, unseen by the eye. But, fortunately, removable to someone with his skills.
With Shine returning, refreshed, the decision of what to do with with Hrothgar and Chastity's body began in earnest. An early vote put, 3 to 1, the decision to throw them all out. But talk, Phaedra's guilt at likely killing another person, and Shine's point that Hrothgar may have information useful to them won the day. It was an open question whether life support on the small, solo-crewed vessel could hold out - and it was a question that Othis answered affirmatively with a miraculous feat of engineering over the course of the week that few appreciated.
But meanwhile, Chastity was placed back with the artifact homing beacons. It was thought better to leave no clear explanation of how they came across her body. Nonetheless, the near-ruined (stripped for part by Othis) escape pod would be her conveyance to the direction of the Supremacy. Which, hopefully, wasn't following them too closely (if at all).
Shine attempted to putter about with Hrothgar's unconcious, comatose body. Shine realized that his medical skills were insufficient.
After further discussion, a small detour to a monastic order of isolationists, with medical facilities available only for emergencies, placed Hrothgar into recovery. The monastary was well-armed; and possibly would have done something unpleasant had the Magnum Opus' medical emergency proved to be false in some way. Still, they proved amenable to trade, with Othis securing several green tree in a pentagon marked casks of beverage in exchange for some parts.
Shine received further instructions from Green Sun; John Cat (who Shine also knew as "Five") had given him further instructions, appending a significant portion of legislative debate to back the cat's summary. There were reports of major changes in New Buffalo which could not be conclusively verified. While contractory instructions by the legislature were officially there, John Cat told Shine to use its discretion in advancing Green Sun interests in New Buffalo. The three names were given:
Pieter Coventry, a major shareholder - Originally, the Diamond was intended as a bribe. The first plan (prior to the last two sets of instructions) was to bribe Mr. Conventry. The last plan was to give the Diamond as a bribe to one of the next two contacts so that they could get something from Mr. Coventry, and Green Sun could get better relations with a more ideologically-aligned group.
Leeandra Raoul, of the Raoul family - A long-time resident of New Buffalo. She represented an association of small property and business owners.
Timon Palov, of the Union - A labor leader in New Buffalo. The Union was illegal, but nonetheless considered more than a flash-in-the-pan presence.
Arriving at New Buffalo, the ship made its way towards the station built around the top of the Space Elevator.
Hrothgar had recovered enough to be questioned. Linus, cynic that he was, powered through the several justifications Horthgar put forward until he was left with his last lie or statement: In exchange for being rescued, he would tell them why the Galliardis were in Hammerhead System. They were looking for an escape Old Terra scientist of many names, from the Institute of High Energy Studies orbiting Old Terra.
Linus, recalling his contacts back home, realized that this was likely a Doctor John Smithe, but didn't let on to Hrothgar, continuing to rail against Horthgar's deceitfulness until he begged off as "too sick" to answer anything else. Dr. Smithe went missing quite some time ago, perhaps roughly after the Manacle Codex was retrieved.
New Buffalo station proved to be quite low tech. There was not even video in their communication! After determining they were not bulk traders, were not Shareholders, but were probably Very Important People with at least one person with Very High Assets, they were given a berth on the Board level. Othis, one of the few who had been to New Buffalo before, realized this was unusual. The fax transmitted warned the rest of something Othis knew already: New Buffalo station was cold, with an average temperature of around -10 degrees Celsius. Phaedra dutifully fabbed suitably warm clothes for people to wear as they docked.
Radio was not particularly common. However, a survey of meager news sources gave three tidbits likely to affect their mission: An emergency Board meeting of the Combine in two days' time, in light of the death of the Board Chair several months ago. Ms. Leeandra Raoul had accepted a position on the Board of Coventry Combine. The Union, led by Timon Palov, had called for a general strike by workers.
[There are thirteen named combines, but one Combine originally owned by each of the thirteen and by some individuals. The Combine essentially owns the running and transit of materials through the Space Elevator. New Buffalo had a groundside, human population of around 15M, with the station holding some tiny fraction thereof at any particular time.]
The Board ring, like much of the station, had no significant gravity. It did, however, have all the catches, magnets, and ropes expected for a zero G facility. It was one of the higher rings, as well. A young woman with a clipboard, looking down on it and checking off names, greeted them as their tour guide. Three men in livery, with electronic instruments, attempted a fanfare of welcome. In a catwalk ring up and in, some figures lurked, watched, and patrolled. When asked, she explained that they were guards to the main Boardroom, which was expecting a meeting in two days time. (Hrothgar was locked out of the ship, and ignored until removed from the rest of the group.)
She walked, as it turned out, the long way around the ring to show the future sites of various luxuries along the way to the "luxury, exclusive hotel for our visiting VIPs". Most were no more than the sketch of construction sites, or empty stalls. This was, to Othis' practiced eye, very new constructions - of the last few months, perhaps. The guide explained that tourism was one of Mr. Coventry's hopes for New Buffalo. He had spent to have much of this built; he had founded a free museum of artifacts up in Counterweight Station for the public. ("Sadly," she said, "transit to Counterweight Station was expensive, but the museum is free when you get there.")
Phaedra's eye was caught by a equivalent to shrink-wrapped, but fully equipped, remote action theater! This suite of equipment was likely as expensive as the ship they traveled on, and a little out of place on a station that found rotary phones to be standard equipment.
At the luxury hotel, (a nice, if new, cube hotel) their guide and band was dismissed by a distinguished looking, older woman in furs.
"Linus von Schultz," she said, "I'm so pleased to see you again after all these years." It was, somewhat surprisingly, Marina von Schultz, Linus's cousin.
The pleasantries out of the way, they looked over one another. Marina, it runs out, was some sort of proxy for Mr. Coventry of Conventry Combine. Shine asked to meet Mr. Conventry on behalf of Green Sun. "Mr. Conventry," Marina said, "is a very busy man, particularly as there is a Board meeting in two days' time. But I will see." With that, and some murmurs about how she would leave them to recover from their long trip, she departed.
While there was a person at the desk at the lobby, who was distracted by a screen, no one else seemed to be about. And no one seemed to be monitoring them. The suites each were assigned had a data terminal and showers with hot water - their estimation of the luxury level rose.
Phaedra accessing the data terminal realized something quite surprising in the financial news. Due to the Board Chair's death, and a few other strange coincidence that were exceeding unlikely to be intentional, Mr. Pieter Coventry had, on paper, enough shares to be majority holder of the Combine. If so, he would be - by far - the single wealthiest man in the cluster.
