Green World Page 2

  One of those burnt scars happened to be right behind me. When the man who was sneaking up on my six stepped on a crunchy spot, it made a noise like crackling ice.

  Spinning around, I didn’t have much time to think about anything, but I managed to recognize the guy anyway. He was the homeless fellow I’d met some minutes ago, perched on a barrel. The one that had called me a freak and run off. He must have been playing lookout or something.

  The only other things I noticed were the objects in his hands: He had a neural paralyzer in his right, and a pair of gravity cuffs in his left.

  When I reached for him, he startled and began to back up. That was a bad move. If he’d touched me with the paralyzer, things might not have gone fairly for old McGill.

  As it was, he lifted the weapon up between us, like it was some kind of deterrent. Ignoring it, I moved in on him.

  I didn’t bother to ask what he was doing, or why he was armed with nonlethal toys, I just grabbed his skinny ass and tossed him into the air. On his way over the rail, I heard the neural paralyzer buzz and snap. He must have slapped himself with it, as I didn’t feel anything.

  Before he even had time to hit the cold black water, I whirled back around toward the lady who’d been chatting me up. She now had a big pistol in my face.

  Her expression had transformed—and not in a good way. She was all out of smiles today.

  “You vicious bastard,” she said in a breathless voice. She glanced down over the railing, down to where the man was thrashing weakly in the water. “He’s paralyzed… He’ll drown down there.”

  I tried to work up some fake sympathy, but it just wasn’t in me, so I shrugged. “You can’t go around sneaking up on a Varus man. Any idiot should know that.”

  “I’m going to shoot you down where you stand. Turov was an idiot to send me a mindless gorilla like you.”

  “Uh…” I said, slowly putting two and two together. “Your name wouldn’t happen to be Dross, would it?”

  She made a sound of disgust. “Hopeless. No subtlety, just brute force. I can’t use you. You won’t investigate anything, you’ll just lash out at random.”

  I smiled and stood tall. “You’re right about all that, ma’am. I guess you should contact Turov and reject me straight-away. Let her know how wrong I am for this assignment.”

  Without giving her a chance to change her tune, I began to amble off the way I’d come.

  Behind me, I heard Dross work her tapper. Was she actually going to do it? I dared to hope. My heart soared, imagining I’d gotten out of an irritating duty I had little interest in.

  “McGill! Come back here!”

  Sighing, I turned back around. Dross had her hands on her hips, and her tail was lashing—or would have been if she’d had one to lash.

  “Turov says you’re all I’m going to get. Come on.”

  Dejected, I followed Dross into the nearest of the big warehouses. A few workers glanced at us, but they only shook their heads. No one called the cops—the cops probably didn’t like coming down here for trivial things like murder.

  As I walked past the railing, I glanced down at the skinny dude in the hoodie—he didn’t look his best. He was floating face down in the sea. Each swell that hit the docks pushed the body against the pylons and made him flop around grotesquely.

  It seemed clear to me that I’d made some new friends today, in my usual manner.

  -3-

  “So… uh… Dross,” I said, following the angry woman through the warehouse. “Are you some kind of hog, or something?”

  She stopped and fixed me with a glare. “Didn’t Turov tell you anything? She’s technically in charge of this op, for god-knows-why reasons.”

  “Nope.”

  “Great… That’s just great. Come on.”

  Dross led me to the back of the warehouse, to some shack-like office with windows so grimy you could hardly see through them. Everything on the far side was a blur.

  Opening the door, she led me into a chamber with three desks and four chairs. She pointed to the chair without a desk.

  “That’s yours. Billington sits over there.”

  “What about the fourth spot? The one with the desk?”

  “That belonged to Katrina. She’s missing.”

  I nodded. “What’s your title again, sir?”

  “Section Chief. That’s the official term. But to you, I’m god.”

  “Got it. What do you want me to do?”

  “Here.” She dug out a neural paralyzer and a pair of gravity cuffs. They were just like the ones poor Billington had been carrying before I’d drowned him. “You’re not armed, are you?”

  “No ma’am,” I lied with authority.

  “Good. You’re not allowed to use lethal force.”

  “Not even… you know, like gravity and seawater and such-like?”

  Dross glared at me. “Your job is to board each of these ships when they dock. You’ll be given a computer scroll describing the contents of every container aboard each ship. Your task is to perform an inspection, looking around for an hour or two unescorted. Open containers at random and inspect the contents. If they match the manifest, clear the ship and leave.”

  Blinking, I turned and gazed out of the cleanest of the windows. At various docks were several looming, monstrously oversized vessels.

  “Let me get this straight. I’m supposed to inspect a ship the size of a mountain in a few hours? It will be sheer luck if I find anything illegal.”

  Dross shrugged. “We’re understaffed and underfunded. Do what you can. But—that’s not your most important duty, McGill.”

  “There’s more, huh?”

  “Yes. We’re all trying to figure out what’s been happening to my inspectors. We’ve lost seven in the last month. They board a ship, search it… but sometimes they never return here to the office. We’ve called in the police, even Central.”

  “What’d they do about it?”

  She glared at me. “They sent you.”

  “Oh… then I understand your disappointment. Hmm… I’ll see what I can do.”

  Dross watched me as I headed for the exit.

  “Don’t you want to see your first inspection assignment?”

  I waved a hand over my shoulder. “Forward it to my tapper. I’ll go through it. I’ve got a photographic memory for these things.”

  Muttering disgustedly, she let me go. A few minutes later, when I was out loafing on the docks, I got a priority message.

  I’d almost forgotten that I’d asked Dross for the manifests, and I’d already swiped the message away to the spam folder when I realized what it must be. Shrugging, I decided to leave well enough alone. After all, I’d caught the name of the ship in the subject line: Sea Empress. That should be all I needed.

  Twenty minutes later, I reached the moorings where the Sea Empress stood. She was an imposing hulk. She blotted out the sky. Her shadow lowered the temperature of the chilly March winds down to an icy level.

  A few surly looking crewmen eyed me as I approached.

  “The last tour group has come and gone, mate,” one of them said as I moved to march right past them.

  The other guy released a scratchy laugh. “Yeah… tour-guides! Good one, Merron.”

  “Shut up,” Merron said. Then he turned back to me. “What do you want, boy?”

  “I’m the new inspector.” With a flourish, I showed them the credentials that Dross had given me.

  “Well, it’s about bloody time. We’ve been waiting seven hours for our damned inspection. How about you give us a quick pass and go have yourself a beer?”

  I walked past him, and they followed irritably.

  For a few hours, I walked around their big, echoing ship. The thing was even bigger than I had expected, and the task quickly began to look helpless. Accordingly, I gave up.

  Heaving a sigh I closed the nonexistent file I’d been pretending to consult every few minutes. The two crewmen, both bored by now, eyed me dully.

 
“Hey. How about the three of us have a beer or something?”

  They perked up immediately. “You’re done?”

  “Sure thing—if it means we can all have a brew or two together.”

  “That sounds great!” Merron said. He was instantly perky.

  His sidekick Lenny never did anything without his approval, but even so, Lenny looked baffled. “That other guy, Billington… he takes twice as long to do an inspection.”

  Merron landed a big hand on his shoulder. It looked friendly, but I could tell from the look on Lenny’s face it had landed with surprising force, turning into a slap.

  “There now, no more arguments out of you, mate. If the good man says he’s finished—he’s damned well finished.”

  “Oh… oh yeah.”

  They led the way to the crew quarters, where I flicked at my tapper and guzzled four of their shitty beers. They were cold, bitter, and cheap—but I didn’t care.

  “Have you boys heard anything about inspectors like me disappearing? Aboard these big ships, I mean?”

  Merron looked scandalized. “What? Nah… Super-cargos are the dullest places on Earth, McGill. You should have figured that out by now.”

  I smiled. “Yes… they do seem to be boring, but still… there have been some disappearances. Don’t you think that’s odd?”

  Lenny was frowning, while Merron kept right on smiling. “Just rumors, mate. Don’t let it spook you. I know you’re new to the job, but after your first hundred inspections, you’ll be as wall-eyed as the rest of us.”

  “Right…”

  My eyes and attention soon moved to Lenny. He was the man who might tell me something. It was clear that Merron just wanted me out of the way as soon as possible.

  When Merron shuffled off to some duty or another—probably a quick trip to the head—I took a shot at Lenny. “Hey, what was it you wanted to tell me?”

  Lenny gaped and blinked. He looked confused, then scared. “Nothing.”

  I nodded sagely. “That’s fine, then. Too bad I’m going to have to fail your ship this time around.”

  “What?”

  “That’s right. Too many violations.”

  “Are you crazy, McGill? You didn’t say anything about any violations. You said you were happy about everything.”

  I shook my head and tapped at my tapper in a meaningful manner. “It’s all here. Fire hazards, improper container maintenance, bad paperwork… when I said I was done with the inspection, I didn’t say you’d passed. I meant I had enough to keep you from unloading.”

  “But… that’s…”

  “Say,” I said, leaning forward as if gripped by a sudden concern. “You don’t think the captain will blame you and Merron for this, do you? That would be unfair.”

  “Blame us? How?”

  “Well, seeing as your name is on every page of this failed report. There’s a stack of work here to do—a big stack.”

  “Listen, McGill, that’s crazy. We’ve been coming here for years. Every month or so. We’ve never failed inspection. Never.”

  I shrugged and cracked open another of their piss-water beers. “That’s too bad. But I’m new here, a new inspector. I have to make my mark. You understand.”

  “No. I don’t understand at all.”

  “Hmm…” I said. “There is one thing… but no, you wouldn’t be interested.”

  Lenny gaped at me for a few more long seconds. He wasn’t the sharpest. “Wouldn’t be interested in what?”

  “In showing me what’s really going on aboard this ship. I looked it up. One of the inspectors, one of my comrades, Lenny—they vanished on this ship. You know about that, don’t you?”

  Lenny studied the deck. He nodded once, miserably.

  Merron appeared at that point, spoiling everything. “What’s all this then?” he demanded. “Are you two proposing marriage or something?”

  I smiled and chugged my beer. “You guessed it. Lenny refused me.”

  Merron found this uproariously funny. I laughed with him, until we both noticed Lenny was trying to get our attention.

  “I’ll do it, Mr. Inspector, sir,” Lenny burst out. He looked dejected and more than a little scared.

  It was Merron’s turn to gape then, looking from one of us to the other in astonishment and confusion.

  -4-

  Lenny led me down into the bowels of the ship. Merron followed us. He constantly threatened to contact the captain—but he never did.

  “We shouldn’t be down here. Captain Logan and all the others—they’ll be pissed.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Merron,” I told him. “If they scare you, I’ll take care of them.”

  I gave him a hard smile, but he didn’t meet my eye. He was looking around—everywhere but at me. He was breathing hard, studying the deck, the bulkheads, the containers… I’ve seen lots of scared men who were contemplating murder. I made a mental note to keep an eye on old Merron.

  Lenny went deeper into the ship. We were below the waterline now, and we were still heading down one set of rattling steel steps after another.

  Finally, Merron couldn’t take it anymore. He stopped and clung to the rail with both hands, like it was going to get away from him.

  “Lenny, stop right here,” he said.

  Lenny glanced back. “We’re almost down to the room. The inspector—”

  “He’s no inspector. I looked him up. The captain has looked him up, too. He’s not even on the official lists. Who exactly are you, McGill?”

  Both men halted and looked at me. Lenny had a flashlight, and he shined it into my face in an annoying fashion.

  “Don’t worry if you can’t find my name. I’m new.”

  “You’re a spook—or a freak from the city, more likely.”

  “A freak? Why do people keep calling me a freak down here at the docks?”

  Lenny looked sheepish. “They used to call me that. We have… special drug shipments. They come through here now and then, but I never took any of them. People just thought I did because—”

  Lenny broke off with a squawk. A wrench had struck him. It had flown down the stairs with surprisingly good aim.

  “Wow,” I said, picking up the wrench. “You’re full of surprises, aren’t you? You might have cracked his skull with that shot.”

  Lenny was on his knees. Blood oozed between his fingers.

  Merron’s voice downshifted. He sounded regretful. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Freaks are addicts, that’s all. Lenny, are you okay?”

  “Fucker…” Lenny whispered, still clutching at his head.

  I twirled the wrench in my hand and watched Merron closely. At last, I pretended to reconsider.

  “You know, I think we should go back up. We’ll talk to the captain. He’ll know the right of it.”

  Some of Merron’s tension left him. He took in a deep breath and turned around. “Right this way, McGill.”

  I followed him up for twelve steps—then I clocked him one. I hit him harder than he’d hit Lenny—but I figured he’d live. Probably.

  Merron sagged to the deck, and I tucked the bloody wrench into his claw-like hand. Then I turned back.

  I met Lenny, who was still holding onto his aching brainpan.

  “What…? Where…?”

  “Merron is going up to get some help for you. In the meantime, why don’t you show me around?”

  Lenny’s eyes were wide with fear and pain. He nodded his head, but he didn’t say a thing.

  Turning around, he led me down another sixty steps. At the bottom, we came to a sealed door. Lenny leaned into it, and his muscles bulged as he tried to spin the wheel.

  “It’s stuck,” he said.

  I stepped up to help. Together, we grunted and heaved. At last, the wheel spun and the door groaned open.

  “After you,” I said.

  Lenny led the way into the dark hold. Down here, I saw fewer containers. Instead of countless stacked bricks of shipping goods, there were platforms hung with c
hains and gears.

  “These are elevators. We can bring containers down from the upper levels—or send them back up.”

  “What is this, then? The lowest dungeon in the ship?”

  “Yes. It’s kind of a lower hold. They keep the heavy stuff down here usually—it works as ballast for whatever is on the upper decks.”

  “Great. Now show me something interesting, Lenny.”

  He eyed me for a time. “Are you going to kill me after? Like Merron?”

  “Not if I like what I see.”

  Lenny looked furtive. “You’re not going to like it—but I’ll show you anyway.”

  He walked through the containers, and I followed warily. He was acting as weird as everyone else on this ship, and I wasn’t enjoying the experience.

  Could the disappearances be as simple as this? Were nosy inspectors finding drug deals gone wrong in the depths of gigantic holds? I hoped it would be that easy—but I was about to become sorely disappointed.

  Lenny led me to a… a device. My father would have called it a contraption. It was about the size and shape of a dentist’s x-ray machine. There were thick wires sprouting out and spiraling around. The whole thing had the look and feel of a prototype built by insane engineers.

  The machine had a swinging arm with a big glossy head on the end of it. The head had handles on the sides, and Lenny grabbed one of the handles. He brought the cone-shaped projector around to aim at the container, almost touching the side of it.

  I watched him as he worked. Once he had the head aligned, he pressed a button. I heard a humming sound, and a white electrical arc light began to shine.

  “Holy…!” I began, but I cut off.

  The machine had a screen on it. When Lenny activated the camera head thing—or whatever it was—the screen lit up as well. It showed us what was inside the crate. That took a second to understand, but when I did, I laughed in relief.

  “I get it. This thing is a fluoroscope, or an x-ray—whatever. You guys use it to see inside the containers, right?”

  Lenny looked at me with bloodshot eyes. One drop of blood had run down his left cheek and dried there, looking rust-red.

  “Not exactly.”

  Then, as I watched, he reached for the console on the x-ray machine, and he pressed a button. There was a flash and a snapping sound.