by Mike Luoma
Chapter Fourteen
Anita commands Alibi's Cruiser and leads a small squadron of ten other SAIF ships out of Ceres Central that afternoon. Alibi pilots the ship with Kit as his copilot. Katie, Piccolo and Anita ride along on the bridge. Four SAIF troopers are also on board for the ride, to provide added security and manpower once they land on the planetoid.
"I've got a surprise for you," Anita tells Alibi as he pilots the ship out from Ceres Central to a safe Transpace jump point.
"Oh really?" He asks.
"We need to make a quick side trip," she says. "We'll meet up with the SAIF ships at a staging area a short jump away from our destination."
"Why?" he asks her. "Where are we going?"
"Rigel Four," she says. There's a sparkle in her eye as she tells him, "We're picking up Krish."
"No way! How'd you get him to leave his house?"
"I sent him your footage of the possible Eldred," she says. "And I told him to stop being such an old fart!"
"Ha! Well, even better!" Alibi smiles. He punches in the Transpace coordinates for Rigel Four.
After their quick trip to pick up Krish, they head out for the edge of Tek'Tah space, to the staging area near the abandoned Eldred planetoid. Their SAIF scout ship's initial sweep of the area turns up no nearby Tek'Tah vessels, so they jump all eleven of their ships through Transpace and take up positions around the planetoid.
No enemy forces appear as Alibi breaks orbit and brings the Cruiser down for a landing unmolested. The ten SAIF ships array themselves in tight orbits to keep watch over them.
Alibi brings the Cruiser down in between the underground hangar and the lab building. He points out the stacked pyramid of dead human and Eldred bodies as they fly over.
"There. Those Eldred on that pile aren't all from twenty years ago," he says, like a tour guide pointing out the gruesome landmark.
"Oh. No. Are those..." Anita can't finish. She looks away, back from the viewport. "There are people on that pile, too," she says quietly, looking back at the others gathered on the Cruiser's bridge.
"Masakov, or Ashumeth, or whatever he called himself, did some horrible things here Aunt Anita," Alibi cautions her. "You might not want to look inside the lab building. It's a chamber of horrors."
"I'll decide what I can see and can't see, thank you, Alibi," Anita snaps rather curtly. "I've been dealing with the horrors of war since before you were born."
"I never thought I would ever see the Eldred again," Krish interrupts, still staring out the viewport. "Those are definitely Eldred bodies out there. The question is, are those from twenty years ago? Or yesterday?"
Alibi lands the ship near the lab building. They dress in EVA suits and head out of the Cruiser into the vacuum of the planetoid's surface. Despite Alibi's warnings, Anita has them head for the lab building. Krish asks to break off on his own to examine the Eldred bodies on the death mound. Anita sends him off with Kit and two SAIF guards to conduct his own investigation.
Alibi, Anita, Katie and Piccolo head for the lab building.
"Katie, you might want to stay outside," Alibi tries to warn her off.
"You don't need to protect me," she says curtly over the com. "I've already seen it. Nothing in there will shock me now."
Alibi is still arguing as they enter the airlock.
"Well, excuse me for trying to spare you guys the most disgusting sights I've ever..." Alibi stops short, his last word echoing in their ears as the inner door of the airlock opens on a vast, empty space. " ...seen."
Everything is gone. The inside of the building has been cleared out. All that are left are the echoes. Every monitor, every gurney has been removed. All the tanks and tubes and arcane machinery has been taken out. The only clue to the horrors that went on there are stains on the floor and raw wiring hanging from the walls.
Alibi wanders into the space looking around.
"It's all gone," he says softly as he takes it in.
"It's okay Alibi," Anita says, trying to comfort him, "I saw the footage. I know this is the same place. I can tell it's been cleaned out. I'm not going to question that."
Alibi keeps walking through the giant emptiness. He looks around at the walls. A flash of light on polished metal catches his eye. The manacles are still in place but broken open now, hanging from the wall. Alibi remembers the giant, drooling, mindless hulk that had been suspended there. He wanders over to where the muscular man had been held in place, strapped to the wall. All that are left are his shattered bindings. It looks like he might have busted out of them.
"Maybe he took out some Tek'Tah before he went down," Alibi says to himself. He walks over to the wall. A strange sensation stops him in his tracks. A feeling of... something. He grows aware that Krish is speaking in his ear over the com.
"There are fresh bodies here," Krish says. "But they're all human. The Eldred bodies still appear to be older."
"I do not think that the bodies of the ones we shot during the rescue are on this pile, Alibi," Kit says over the com. "I do not see any new Eldred bodies."
"Damn. Hey Krish," Alibi calls out, picturing the scene in his mind. "Any sign of a really big guy out there on the pile?"
"A big guy?" Krish asks, looking for clarification.
Alibi stares at the place where the man used to hang.
"Yeah, maybe six foot two? Muscular?"
"Nope. Haven't seen anyone matching that description yet. But we're still looking."
"You remember that big guy, Kit?" Alibi asks.
"I do," Kit says, "But I do not see him out here on the pile."
"Huh... " Alibi wonders, but moves on. "Do me a favor, Krish? Test some of those Eldred bodies. See how long they've been dead. You'll see!" Alibi insists.
"I will, Alibi. Just... nothing new so far. There are a lot of human remains on top of the pile."
"Attention, ground unit, we've got company," the voice of the SAIF commander in orbit echoes in their ears as it rings out over the com. "A wing of Tek'Tah fighters just showed up. They're keeping their distance for now. Could be scouts for a larger force, so I'm advising you to wrap it up down there and get back up here so we can head home."
"Advice noted," Anita replies. "Keep me informed of any change in mission status," she orders the commander.
"Aye, ma'am," he answers.
"Alibi, we've got to go," she says to him, a note of apology in her voice.
"Ah, hell," Alibi swears. "There's obviously something to this place or they wouldn't keep trying to chase us off!"He insists.
"True. They have been rather protective." She pauses, looks around the lab space, "Of apparently nothing."
Krish chimes in over the com.
"Found something."
"A new Eldred body?" Alibi asks hopefully.
"No, sorry," Krish replies. "But I think we've got Masakov's body. Kit made the identification. We're going to wrap it and bring it back for testing."
"Wrap it up there, then," Anita tells him. "Time to go. The dogs are barking at the door."
"So I heard," Krish agrees. "See you back at the ship."
"We should go," Anita says to the group. "I'm sorry, Alibi."
He hangs his head. Anita turns and leads them towards the building's airlock.
"Whoever they are, they're good," Piccolo observes.
"What the hell does that mean?" Alibi asks.
"Gotta be good to clean a place out like this as fast as they did. Takes a lot of manpower to do it, quick as they had to. I've, uh," he stops. Alibi walks over to him.
"You've what?" Alibi prods him.
"I've, uh, I've been a part of a clean team before," Piccolo admits. "Sometimes you gotta clean an operation out before the, uh," he stops again. He looks at Anita, looks back at Alibi. "Well, you know. Before the law shows up and stuff. I saw this place before. Would've taken a lot of people to clean it out like this so quick."
"Or a lot of Tek'Tah," Anita says.
"Or Eldred!" Alibi insists. "He had a lot of them working
for him here."
Anita doesn't respond. She heads out the open airlock onto the planetoid's surface, leading the way back to Alibi's ship. Alibi lags behind the group, looking around the empty building. Her silence speaks volumes.
Alibi knows Anita believes there was something here, but he's pretty sure she's not convinced that there were new Eldred running around. She thinks he's been fooled, or simply mistaken. He can almost hear her thinking out loud, it's so obvious. He trails the group as they reach his ship.
Krish comes bounding up with Kit and their two SAIF trooper companions trailing, carrying the wrapped up body of Masakov and a pallet of sample boxes between the three of them.
"Alibi, could you open the cargo hold for the samples?" Krish asks. "I want to take them back to Rigel Four for testing."
"Sure." Alibi makes his way to the back of the ship to help Kit and the SAIF officers load their cargo.
"Ma'am, we've got more company. The Tek'Tah have showed up in force," the SAIF commander cuts in over the com.
"Let's get going," Anita says, opening the ship's airlock. "Alibi?"
"In back, loading up," he says over the com.
"Let the guards finish. You and Kit get up to the bridge. Get us out of here now!" Anita says coldly, methodically. "Everybody else, get on board."
"Jeesh," Piccolo sighs too loudly.
"Lock it," Anita snaps back at him. No one else says another word as they move quickly to get on board the Cruiser.
Once back on the bridge, Alibi lifts the ship up off the planetoid to rendezvous with their SAIF escort. He brings the Cruiser over to dock with a SAIF Stinger Ship to drop off their SAIF personnel. Then they fly free and head back to Solar Alliance space. The SAIF squadron goes its own way.
"Damn it," Anita says to no one in particular as Alibi begins charging the Transpace engine for the jump back to Rigel Four.
"Damn what?" Alibi asks.
"I don't like it," she answers. "Why are the Tek'Tah so obsessed with this rock? What are they hiding?"
"Don't know," he says with attitude. "Since you're letting us get chased away."
"I might be curious, but I don't want to start a war," she answers sharply. "Today we keep the peace. I'm sure the Prime Representative will appreciate that!"
"Sorry," Alibi apologizes, but he's not sure why.
Their first Transpace Jump takes them to Rigel Four. They drop off Krish and his gruesome cargo, as the scientist takes Masakov's body back to his home lab for testing. Once Krish is home, Alibi brings the rest of them back to Ceres Central.
After finishing the post flight checklist Alibi leaves the bridge and finds Aunt Anita, Katie, Kit and Piccolo waiting for him outside the Cruiser. Everybody looks uncomfortable.
"What's going on?" Alibi asks as he approaches.
Piccolo shifts uneasily before he speaks.
"I'm, uh. Huh. Well, I... uh... should be going, I guess," Piccolo stammers out. "Other jobs, work to do. You know."
"I see. So? Go ahead," Alibi says. "Don't expect a tearful goodbye from me!"
"You're just going to let him go?" Katie asks, suddenly angry.
"He has not done anything, except lie. Repeatedly," Kit points out.
"Nothing we can hold him on," Alibi admits.
"This sucks!" Katie says. She storms off. Anita glares at Alibi and then follows after her.
"Katie? Katie dear, hold on," she calls as she goes after her.
Piccolo stares at the fleeing girl, almost looking hungry.
"Hey!" Alibi shouts at the man. His head snaps back around to Alibi. "You touch her, I'll kill you, no questions asked. So you better be going to get a new job. This one? Her? It's over."
"It is over," Piccolo nods. "Too much trouble." He looks down at his feet, glances up at Alibi, and then over at Kit. He shrugs. He turns away and walks off across the Ceres Central port.
"I should probably be going as well, Alibi. I should check back with my people," Kit says. "But I have enjoyed your company. You have changed my mind about humans. And I have not killed you yet, have I?"
"No, you haven't," Alibi admits, "but what do you mean? You're leaving too?"
"I am. There are things back on Hur to which I must attend. But you can get in touch with me on your Wand, if you need my help. I would gladly assist you again, should the need arise."
"Thanks."
Kit gives him contact information. Alibi stores it for easy retrieval on the Wand. Kit offers a nod and then turns to go. He walks off through the port. Alibi watches him go. He finds himself standing alone next to his ship.
"Huh," he says to himself. "What now?"
