by Niranjan K
“It is time, Mrs. Friedman,” Quinn spoke in her ear.
It was strange, getting used to Quinn, but she’d had almost a day of getting to know him. Alexander Selwood, she did not like, despite his allowing them to have Quinn. She could sense that he cared very little for what they were doing, and he had made no attempt to conceal his contempt for what he considered a suicide mission. Maya had wanted to strangle him, but Beltram had told them that he was necessary to the Resistance.
“Contact the others, Quinn,” she said, bouncing on her feet as she moved to the left where there were some trimmed hedges flanking a walkway which provided some cover if they were to stay low. The hedge on the left side was just a few feet from the outer wall of the space port, which was hardly ideal, but there was nothing else that could pass for cover anywhere in the entire complex. “Tell them to be ready.”
The first part of their plan went smoothly. The Ansaris could not teleport away, and before they could contact the Central Console, Tang and Ada had rendered them unconscious with old fashioned tranquilizer darts.
“They’ll be up soon,” Eva said, even as she was making her way across to where Colin stood, still cuffed, and blinking in confusion.
There was a small sound from inside the port and white smoke obscured the glass from inside. Eva was relieved. The explosives Ludwig had left in the toilets contained the same tranquilizer that was used on the two Elite. That should put the Defenders out like lights, giving Lee a chance to enter the port to deactivate the bots and the monitors and scanners for one hour. No flights were leaving or arriving in that window, so there was no other risk.
“Eva?” Colin gasped. “Are you mad?”
“You’re welcome,” she said, as she grabbed his manacled hands and pulled him away from the Elite. Already their fingers were twitching and she knew that they had to get away now.
“Deactivate the blocker, Ada,” she said, and Ada nodded.
“It went according to plan,” Ludwig said as he pulled down his mask and scratched his face. “This thing really itches.”
Eva wanted to reprimand him, but didn’t. She was too relieved that everything had gone according to plan. She pulled off her mask as well, and so did Tang and Ada.
“Quinn, get us to the rendezvous point,” she said as Ludwig opened Colin’s cuffs with a swipe from a card he had taken out of his pocket.
“We’re still within radius of the teleportation blocker from the dome, Mrs. Friedman,” Quinn replied.
“Costas,” Eva corrected absently. She and Maya had chosen to keep their names after marriage, but everyone around them still called them by Maya’s name, and now Quinn too. “All right guys, we need to move a bit farther away from the port, if-”
Something slammed into her back and she fell, even as she heard a thud as Ludwig went down, a spike embedded on his exposed forehead. She yanked her mask back up, pushing Colin to the ground, as she turned to find the two Elite running towards them. Tang jumped over the hedge with a yell, and dove between their legs, sweeping out with his right leg to topple one, and hitting with his left hand at the other.
“They’ll tear him apart!” Ada cried as she ran to his help, and Eva followed with a whispered exhortation to Colin to be still, and to stay down. The two Elite were having no trouble with Tang and Ada. Eva bent down to pick up the stasis gun from Ludwig as she flanked the one fighting Ada, felling him just as he was ripping her mask off. She turned to the other one just as he had succeeded in getting Tang in a neck lock.
“Drop it or he dies,” he growled at her.
“If I drop it, we all die,” she said, gripping the gun tighter.
There was really no way of hitting him without Tang getting caught in it too. Tang was struggling to breathe, and the Elite was watching her like a hawk. His spike gun was on the ground near his feet.
Behind the Elite, she saw Colin creep out from the hedges and towards them, the tranq gun that Tang had dropped when he had charged the Elite like a mad bull, in his hand. She just had to keep the Elite’s attention focussed on her so that Colin could shoot him from behind.
From the corner of her eye, she could see Ada bend to pick up something from the ground- perhaps her mask or the spike gun the other Elite had dropped when he was caught in the Stasis field. But Eva kept her eyes on the man in front. He appeared to be completely unfazed.
“Have it your way,” he said, breaking Tang’s neck, and bending to pick up his spike gun to fire at Ada’s exposed face with one hand while pushing Tang’s body at her with the other. She fell, and the stasis gun clattered to the ground. A second later, the Elite collapsed to the ground, inches away from her, a spike on his side and a dart on his back, and she saw Colin standing behind him with a stupefied expression on his face and a tranq gun in his hand.
Thirty Four
The insistent beeping of his phone was what brought George out of his daze. He started and looked around guiltily as he realised he’d almost fallen asleep during a press conference. Jay would probably kill him, but that was nothing new. He straightened in his seat, and tried to look interested in what was going on while surreptitiously disabling the holographic display on his phone and opening the message.
“We lost three, but they made it.”
He stared for a moment at the message from Raul before his still sleep addled brain could process it. He did sit up straight at that, and looked at the time. It was nearing 2500 which meant that the group was already on the shuttle to Ignis.
“Good work,” he sent, though it was anything but.
He was certain the team tried their best, but none of them were experienced at this. None of them were fighters, just ordinary people who were counting on surprise and daring to save one of their own. He wondered if they had managed to get Colin out or if he was among the ones they lost.
“Hardly,” came Raul’s reply. “Where are you?”
“Selwood Corp,” he answered. “They’re unveiling the new and improved Cryo tech. Or rather, they’ve unveiled it.” He checked his pad to read the write up the company had provided the Press. “It’ll hold someone in Cryo for 500 years.”
“Odd time for a press conference, but I’m watching the news, and I see Alexander is running true to form, not allowing photographers.” Raul’s next message read. “We should have recruited Flett.”
“We should have,” George agreed. “Think we can try now?”
“We may have to,” Raul replied. “What are you doing at that press conference? I didn’t think it was the kind of story you covered.”
George grimaced. “My editor was so impressed that I managed to get a quote out of Alexander at the funeral. So, here I am, trying to get a quote again. How goes the vetting?”
“Vetted successfully. Got the message at 2000 today. Isabel doesn’t have to go back to work after today.”
“Congratulations,” George sent again. “They are finishing the statement. Let me get my quote.”
“Don’t go get more than a quote this time,” Raul replied, and George felt his face heat up.
He should've expected it. He looked around. No one appeared to have noticed his chit chat with Raul. He looked to the front where Alexander sat next to David Flett. The scientist looked quite unimposing, and even nervous for someone of his brilliance and reputation. Alexander looked as impassive as he had been at the funeral, though George could see that his shoulders were stiff, and his posture rigid, unlike Flett whose posture was relaxed.
The press conference was being held in a large room with glass walls and a wooden floor which had thrown George for a loop when he had first entered, because who puts wooden floors in an office? Alexander’s house had them and George had chalked it up to one of the many odd things about the man.
There were three chairs facing the room and four rows of five chairs each for the press. George was in the middle of the third row, which wasn’t ideal, but it prevented him from making eye contact with Alexander. George wasn’t sure he would be able to
without blushing considering how their last meeting had gone. George hadn’t planned on sleeping with Alexander, but it had still happened, and even now George wasn’t certain who seduced who. Perhaps he should ask Raul, seeing as how he was so well-informed.
George asked something about what’s next for David Flett and the scientist shrugged. “I haven’t decided yet. I’m still in a bubble of joy and relief. Perhaps when I get my bearings back, I’ll know. Perhaps an even more energy efficient Stasis cell; perhaps a Cryo chamber that would last even longer; perhaps something completely different.”
One of the other reporters asked Alexander if this would be sold to the State as well.
“The State is the only buyer of this technology at the moment,” Alexander replied. “So, yes, we would be trying for a contract.”
Which was bullshit, since George knew through the Resistance that Selwood Corp had already got the contract, but it certainly was good policy not to announce it since Thaxter had been known to break contracts just to teach companies a lesson. He might not do it to Selwood Corp since this was technology they couldn’t get from anyone else, but there was no need to take chances.
New and improved prisons. Yay!
The next question broke through his abstraction. Someone was asking about the Ignis project in collaboration with the relatively unknown Raul Beltram’s company. How the hell did he know? George tried not to stiffen. Apart from the fact that the deal hadn’t been finalised yet, both companies had kept everything under wraps.
“It’s still in the negotiation stage,” Alexander replied. “All I can say at the moment is that it is proposed as a farming and habitat project that would benefit millions.”
When no more questions were asked about the project, George relaxed again. Even while applying for approvals to test Raul’s invention, they had been careful to leave out what exactly the invention could do, simply stating that it was to be used for irrigation. They hadn’t wanted to risk the State finding out that they had found a way to use Nishati to transport things between planets. If the State knew, it would be finding ways to modify it to transport people before they could even blink, and then bye bye all their hopes for a safe haven on Ignis.
The press conference over, George packed up his things, sent the details to his editor who once again reminded him to get a quote from Selwood to round off the article, and went outside to where Alexander was standing with Flett. He waited as the two shook hands and Flett departed, getting into a car. George’s eyes went wide at the sight. He knew that some people still preferred cars to hover cars, but George had never met anyone like that. If hover cars were old fashioned, cars were positively antiquated. Except for cab companies, no one even had hover cars these days, most preferring the mini shuttles that were much faster and energy efficient, despite being a lot more expensive.
He walked up to Alexander.
“Need another quote?” Alexander’s smile was teasing.
George laughed, even as he felt his face heat up again.
“Nothing else,” he said, but Alexander did look good, and George hoped his control wouldn’t slip.
“That’s what you said the last time,” Alexander said, as they walked to the gates where Alexander flagged down a hovercab.
“You don’t have a shuttle?” George asked, as Alexander opened the cab door and they entered the cab.
“My name is Ian. Where would you like to go this evening?” A pleasant male voice asked. George really hated the generic Sentient that all cab companies used.
“Home,” Alexander said, before turning to George. “I normally have Quinn teleport me.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“You looked like you could use a quote,” Alexander said blandly.
George laughed. “I’d like to keep things professional, this time,” he said, and Alexander looked surprised.
“Of course,” he said. “I wouldn't dream of anything else.”
George rolled his eyes, though he remained silent, thinking of the rescue mission to keep his thoughts from straying where they shouldn’t. It might have gone badly in a way, but it was still unprecedented. To the best of his knowledge, no one had ever freed a prisoner captured by the Elite. Despite the cost, it could be considered an achievement, but it was hardly to be expected that the State was going to advertise its failure. It was a story he would have loved to write, but he knew Jay would kill it before it was even born. Not that he could be blamed. George had heard stories of free press, and even Thaxter often talked as if they still had it, but all they had was an illusion of freedom.
George glanced at Alexander who was keying something into his pad. He wondered if Alexander had heard of the fate of the rescue mission. Considering Quinn had been part of the mission, it was possible he learned of it before even Raul. This close, George could smell Alexander’s cologne and he inhaled deeply, hoping that he could get his quote and get out before he did something stupid again. He had no idea why he felt so out of control when it came to this man.
Alexander’s pad beeped as they were entering the house, and a holographic image of a man whom George remembered seeing at the funeral appeared before them. He was a large man, with broad shoulders, a thick neck, slightly flattened nose and small eyes. His thick, muscled arms were now clasped in front of him and his eyes were wide.
“Mr. Selwood,” he said, agitatedly. “We’ve had a theft. Two cryo units are missing!”
George stared at Alexander, who didn’t seem as troubled as he should have been at the news.
“Anthony,” Alexander said. “Calm down. Have you informed the Investigators?”
“Immediately.”
George could place him now. It was Anthony Corbin, the head of Security at Selwood Corp. He was speaking, telling Alexander that the Investigators could turn up nothing, that they thought the company had made a mistake in their accounting as there was no evidence of any break-in, the Sentient reported nothing anomalous, there was no evidence anyone had tampered with Miley, and also the fact that there were 135 units left which was the exact number provided by the State.
“But Mr. Larsen swears that there had been 137 initially. He is certain that we have had two extra ones in storage for years though there are no records for it anywhere.”
George couldn’t help but think of the similarity of this to Martinez’s death. It was too much of a coincidence, but if it wasn’t, then he would have to rethink his theory that Alexander was behind Martinez’s death. What man stole from his own company, after all?
“All the units provided by the State are there?” Alexander asked. “We do have enough units to meet our commitments to the State in time, don’t we?” George somehow couldn’t tear his eyes off him.
“Yes, we do, but-”
“Then, leave this for the moment.” Alexander said. “Tighten security and have an internal investigation. In the absence of concrete evidence, I don’t see what else we can do, and Anthony? Relax. This isn’t your fault. It is probably something wrong with the inventory software. We’re using a new one, aren’t we?”
“Ania swears there’s nothing wrong with it,” Corbin said. “And Mr. Larsen is certain there were two extra ones.”
“Even the best softwares are subject to glitches,” Alexander said. “Don’t worry about it. Victor is probably mistaken, or perhaps we had repurposed those. There are a lot of possibilities beyond theft. If we’ve done all we can, there’s no point in worrying.”
“Of course, Mr. Selwood,” Corbin said, before the hologram disappeared.
Alexander turned to George with an amused smile.
“Looks like you got a story,” he said, and God, George wanted him!
George grabbed him by the lapels of his coat and dragged him down to a kiss, which surprised him more than it surprised Alexander. Alexander’s arms went around him, and he dropped the pad on to a small side table that materialised there. Alexander broke the kiss and smiled at George.
“This how you were plannin
g to keep things professional?” There was a teasing note to his voice.
George chuckled. “Why? Did you have any other plans?”
“Nothing important,” Alexander said as he kissed him again.
Thirty Five
The room was rectangular, with a similarly shaped long metal table, with five chairs on its left and four on the right, and one chair at its head. There was a door facing the head of the table, and a glass wall to the right which was tinted. The five chairs on the right were occupied, but silence reigned in the room. Toshi Saito sat on the chair closest to the head of the table and surreptitiously observed the others. Valeria sat next to him, her face impassive, only the way she drummed her fingers on her knees betraying her nervousness. Frank Yan sat next to her, statue-like in his immobility. His slanted black eyes gave nothing away, and his smooth shaven face and scalp gave him a child-like appearance. His small and slender frame added to the illusion of child-like innocence. Konrad sat next to him, restless and making no attempt to hide it. He drummed his fingers on the table top, bit his nails, and threw furtive glances at the door and the clock. Rishabh sat at the end, seemingly immersed in the game he was playing, but every now and then, his eyes would dart to the door.
The door to which their eyes unconsciously strayed was a large one made of clear glass. It led on to a corridor, the metal wall of which was just visible. Toshi kept his gaze averted from the door. When their Ruler decided to come, he would come. Glancing at the clock or the door wouldn’t help any. All five kept their eyes from straying to the four empty chairs opposite them. Elena and Luis were both off planet, on their way to Aeras and Hafi respectively. The two Ansaris, Ibrahim and Hassan, had been missing since yesterday when they, along with the prisoner they were bringing, had mysteriously vanished. All three had reached Nizhoni, but no one had seen them since they stepped outside the spaceport. The Defenders at the Defender Base had been knocked out using some kind of tranquilizer in gaseous form, and all security and surveillance equipment in the port had been deactivated for an hour.
