Free Analog Science Fiction And Fact - June 2014 by Penny Publications

suspected that Usiga had gone to Dokhara because Escoli hadn't been his target.
    According to Danzoni, a kojuma dart was a difficult weapon to master. Even experts had trouble throwing one accurately, and—in this instance—Usiga had missed. He'd aimed at Tumanzu, had hit Escoli instead. A regrettable mistake—not only because an innocent bystander had been killed but because the job Usiga had contracted to do remained undone. He couldn't remain on Izmir. The shokiku were disconcertingly efficient. He had to make his getaway while he still could. And so...? Dokhara. He went to Dokhara—a safe haven beyond the reach of the law
and
a hunter's lurk where the prey he was stalking would almost certainly return.
    Four days.
Tumanzu had embarked for Dokhara four days ago. The time-in-transit for a passenger vessel sailing from Izmir to Dokhara was usually six days. Tumanzu would be walking down a gangplank into a deadfall tomorrow or—at the very latest—the day after tomorrow.
    Raising his voice to make himself heard across the office, Baldwin blurted: "Dave!"
    Collins glanced up from the work he was doing. "Yes?"
    "The diplomatic pouch... how often does it go?"
    "How often does it go
where?
"
    "From our local embassy to the embassy in Dokhara."
    "Daily."
    "Your mother's in charge of that, isn't she?"
    Collins looked uncomfortable. "She is, yes, but using the diplomatic pouch to send a private message—if that's what you're suggesting—well, that's kind of like using the Holy Grail for a chamberpot. It just ain't done."
    "Relax. That's
not
what I'm suggesting."
    "Good."
    "The courier goes by shuttle, doesn't he?"
    "Yes."
    "How about letting me tag along?"
    Collins' expression was illegible. "That's what you have in mind?" He shook his head. "You've got to be out of it. Your mind, I mean."
    "Maybe so, but I
must
be in Dokhara tomorrow."
    "It's that important?"
    "Yes."
    "Why?"
    "Because I owe it to Escoli."
    Collins rose from his chair, crossed the room, and perched on the corner of Baldwin's desk, one haunch on the edge, one foot on the floor. He focused an interrogatory gaze on Baldwin and said: "Suppose you tell me what this is all about."
7.
    No evidence.
    That was the problem.
    Baldwin had no real evidence.
    What he'd told Luhor was the truth and nothing but. Escoli had been one of the kindest, most compassionate people Baldwin had ever known. Enemies? She'd had no enemies.
    Who would have paid an assassin to kill her?
    The very idea was ludicrous.
    But it wasn't evidence—not unless lack of evidence could be counted as negative evidence of some kind.
    Baldwin couldn't go to Danzoni with a chain of logic forged from links as weak as that. Similar objections prevented him from approaching officials of the Izmirite government or of the Terran embassy. No one was going to risk provoking an international incident because Baldwin—and only Baldwin— believed that Tumanzu was in danger.
    Could he convince someone authorized to take action that taking action was necessary?
    Even if he could, they couldn't.
    The initial Terran expedition to Bukkara had made a splashdown, not a landfall. First contact had been with the islanders of Izmir. Consequently, the largest of the Terran enclaves was on Izmir, the most influential Terran embassy was on Izmir, and Terran technology had infiltrated Izmirite society to a much greater degree than elsewhere. Danzoni had required no assistance to process the images from Escoli's pix-shooter, and he used handhelds to communicate with his shokiku, but he couldn't use them to communicate with the Dokharans because there were no relay satellites orbiting Bukkara. He couldn't contact them by radio either. The religious intolerance that had exterminated Tajok's family was equally intolerant of wireless com units. One attribute of Shizenu—the Mishoman equivalent of the devil—was his ability to make himself heard over vast distances. Any device that conferred similar powers on mere mortals was