Heat Seeker

by Scot C Morgan

  "I knew the battery crystal, from the diagnostic tool you let me use, had a stable oscillation. That fixed rate would...well, I hoped it would, and it did, override the erratic nature of the processing unit's energy core." She looked at Dewey. "You know, the toroid."

  "Right." Dewey barely sold the idea that he knew what she was talking about.

  ""But the problem, of course," Tiffin said, "was how to communicate that new pulse rate to all of the chips in the conductive gel." She glanced to Dewey again, then to Jake. "I mean, right? You have to get that part or it's all...kaplooie."

  Jake exhaled audibly. "I still can't believe I let you-"

  "Uh," Tiffin interrupted. "Saved you, didn't I."

  Jake nodded, shrugging slightly.

  "Well, the circuit board from the diagnostic tool." Tiffin laughed. "Obviously."

  "Obviously," Jake said in deadpan delivery.

  "That's the whole purpose of that board—transferring information from one point to another. But instead of pulling the information from the tip of the probe into the diagnostic tool to be interpreted, I just made it relay between the crystal-stabilized energy flux and the chips in the gel." She threw her hands up in a matter-of-fact victory gesture. "Using myself as the bridge, of course. Had to." She frowned and looked at her fingertips. "Unfortunately."

  "Thank goodness for your ingenuity," Dewey said.

  Jake put his hand on the rail of the bed again and looked at Sarah's camera on the ceiling. "And for Sarah's med bay."

  Tiffin nodded, looking smug, and she knew it. "Yeah." She leaned her head back to eye Sarah's camera. "Thanks, Sarah."

  "You disobeyed a direct order," Jake said, looking serious.

  His words and change in tone surprised and upset her. "After all I-"

  Jake held up a hand, silencing her. "And..." He smiled. "And you saved us all."

  Tiffin felt confused. She waited, hoping he would accept how valuable she was to the crew...that she belonged there. She had just proved that, but Jake had made it so clear he couldn't have her or Dewey on the ship anymore. Please.

  "You should have listened," Jake said. "But...I'm glad you didn't."

  Tiffin smiled, relieved at his words.

  Jake glanced to Sarah's camera. "You weren't the only one."

  "She seemed to know what she was talking about," Sarah said. "And, let's be honest, sometimes you stumble around inside me and have a little trouble getting a tool on the right spot."

  Tiffin and Dewey both smirked, but stayed quiet.

  Jake looked at all three of them. "It seems we might all be better off together after all." He turned to Dewey. "Maybe you were right."

  Tiffin wondered what Jake meant. Did Dewey talk to him? For me?

  Dewey squeezed Tiffin's hand, but let go when he saw Jake notice.

  "So you've changed your mind?" Sarah asked.

  Jake took a breath and slowly let it out. "I was wrong." He nodded toward Tiffin and Dewey. "You two showed me you are more than capable of making your own decisions...even if it was mutiny." He cracked a smile, and Tiffin and Dewey followed suit, though Dewey quickly withdrew his.

  "Thank you, Jake." Tiffin reached out and touched Jake's arm.

  "You saved our lives." Sarah sounded legitimately thankful.

  Thanks for not pointing out I also caused the problem in the first place. Though it was that Gefreety, really.

  Tiffin briefly eyed Squeakers in Dewey's hand. She scrunched her nose, mimicking the mouse.

  "Here's the thing," Jake said. "You've proved your worth your weight as part of the crew, both of you. But, if you two are going to stay aboard, you need to know..."

  "Know what?" Dewey asked.

  Tiffin glanced at Dewey and then looked at Jake. "That he's going after the General...no matter how dangerous that decision is."

  Jake nodded. "Not just for me and Sarah. For both of you, if you stay. You should know, more people have died at his hand than you can possibly imagine. He's the real deal. Deadly." He eyed Sarah's camera for a moment, the face Dewey and Tiffin again. "But a pain in my ass for far too long. My mind is made up. I'm going after him. If you two stick around, I'm afraid it's going to get ugly." He paused, apparently giving time for his words to sink in. "It's up to you. I'll accept your decisions."

  Tiffin turned to Dewey and he nodded. "We want to stay." She looked at Jake again. "Thank you. You won't regret it. I promise."

  "Don't say I didn't warn you." Jake put his hand on the grip of his holstered blaster. "But...no more mutinies." He waited a second, then grinned and moved his hand away from his weapon.

  Tiffin giggled. "You got it, Captain."

  Chapter 27

  "Jake! Wait!" Tiffin ran into the prep room as Jake was checking the charge reading on his blaster. Ten minutes earlier, Sarah had informed Jake they'd reached the destination. Orbiting the planet, she had taken a geosynchronous position above Cromas, the city governed by a woman known as Lady Sonja. Jake planned to fly down and land as close as possible to the farm outside the palace, to find his contact, Lar. No screwing around this time, he'd told himself.

  "I told you," he said, looking up as he holstered his weapon, "you're not going with me on this one."

  "I know." Tiffin pulled her hand from behind her back, showing him a new comm device. "I thought you might need this."

  "Right." Jake took it from her. "I forgot those men took it."

  "Not this one," Tiffin said.

  "Yeah, I didn't mean that one."

  "I built it myself." Tiffin grinned proudly.

  Jake looked the comm device over. "But we had a spare, maybe two. Did you ask Sarah?"

  The speaker overhead made a soft click, then Sarah said, "She did."

  Tiffin nodded toward the device in Jake's hands. "This one's better."

  "Better?"

  "Yeah. It has...features."

  Jake raised his eyebrows. "Features? Really?"

  "Mm hm."

  "Still calls back to the ship, though, right? I can reach Sarah? Same distance?"

  Tiffin crossed her arms and rocked her hip to one side, looking confident. "Oh, yeah. No problem." She glanced at her vest pocked, which Jake noticed was moving a little. "Right, Squeakers?"

  "I thought I told you to keep that thing in your room, after-"

  "I know." She pulled the flap to her pocket open and glanced at her mouse. "But he's my little helper." She shut the pocket and looked at Jake. "Half the ideas were his."

  Jake started to reprimand her again for taking Squeakers out of her room after all the trouble earlier, but he decided to let it go.

  Turning the device over and back, he then ran his fingers over the buttons. Three were familiar, but he realized there were three new ones. "So, if I press one of these-"

  "Wait!" Tiffin grabbed his hand before he pushed one of the new buttons. "Not here. That releases the smoke cloud." She chuckled and looked around at the small room. "Not a good idea here."

  "Smoke cloud?" Jake said. "On a comm device?"

  Tiffin shrugged. "I made some improvements." She leaned in and pointed at the other two new buttons. "The next one is to set the looped audio decoy, and the other one...well, use it only if you absolutely have to."

  "Why is that?" Jake tipped the device to see the button. "What does it do?"

  Tiffin grinned. "Electric discharge. Area effect." She cocked her head to the side a little and raised her eyebrows momentarily. "About five feet. Five second delay. It should knock out pretty much anyone or anything in that area."

  "Wow. On a comm device."

  "Yeah," Tiffin said. "But if use use that last button, you won't have a comm device anymore."

  "Oh?"

  "No," she said. "It'll just be a doorstop after that." Her eye's widened. "I guess you could throw it at somebody still. Hit 'em in the head or something."

  Sarah laughed through the overhead speaker.

  Jake glanced at the camera beside it, then looked back at Tiffin. "Well, I guess..
.thanks. Those are some great upgrades. They might come in handy."

  Tiffin smiled, but then appeared quite serious. "I hope you don't need them. You will be careful, won't you?"

  "Me?" Jake said. "Oh, I'll be fine. I plan to get down there and deliver that thing." He glanced to the crate behind him holding the Gefreety. "Find out what I need to and get back here. No trouble. Quick and easy."

  "That'll be a first," Sarah said.

  Jake scowled playfully at Sarah's camera, then clipped the upgraded comm device onto the side of his belt. "Thanks, Tiffin. You really are a big help."

  Tiffin beamed and Jake gave her a pat on the side of her shoulder.

  "I'll be back in a few hours," Jake said, stepping to the door leading to the shuttle bay. He glanced back and winked. "No trouble this time."

  Chapter 28

  "Come on you." Jake picked up the crate and headed to the back of the ship to lower the ramp. The Gefreety shuffled a little, but they'd fed it well just before Jake carried it onto the shuttle, and that seemed to keep it somewhat sedated. He touched his holstered blaster with his other hand, knowing there was a good chance he'd need to draw it before the day was over.

  Before pushing the button to open the shuttle and extend the metal platform outside, he tapped the appropriate button on the upgraded comm device on his belt, opening the channel to Sarah. "About to head out."

  "Okay," Sarah said through the comm unit. "Be careful."

  "Yeah." Jake glanced the Gefreety cage, then to his blaster. "I will."

  "You really think you'll find what you're looking for?"

  "You don't mean the contact for the Gefreety, do you?"

  "No."

  "They'll find me," Jake said. "Word that his men failed at the pickup site will have reached him by now."

  "Then he'll be sending more men after you."

  "That's what I'm counting on," Jake said.

  "They won't go easy this time, Jake."

  Jake smacked the button on the wall, opening the door and triggering the ramp to extend from beneath the shuttle to the ground. "Neither will I."

  "What if it's a deathtrap?" Sarah sounded scared.

  "It will be," Jake said, stepping through the door to take in the view of the city. "But I only need to leave one of them alive to find out where the General's been hiding."

  "I wish you'd change your mind about going after him." Sarah, clearly overcome with emotion, seemed to strain to keep her composure.

  Jake shook his head. "Can't. He won't let it go. So..." Jake looked back into the shuttle at the camera he knew Sarah would be watching him with. "I'm going to find out where he is." He turned back to the ramp. And kill him. "Someone out here knows." And I'll take down everyone of his thugs until I find one that tells me what I need to know.

  "Jake!"

  He turned around to look at Sarah's camera. "I know. Me too."

  As he started down the shuttle's ramp, he heard Sarah sniffling, tearfully...if she that was possible for her.

  As he stepped off the ramp, he pressed the trigger on the small piece of gear clipped to his belt to send the ramp back up and close the shuttle, securing it against any future curious passersby. The air felt cool and it smelled fresh and earthy. Surprising, he thought, for a city.

  He glanced to his right and left and realized what he was smelling. He'd landed in an empty dirt patch between a livestock pasture and a seemingly endless expanse of corn. Both seemed out of place next to the sea of buildings before him.

  Livestock? Don't see that much. He figured it belonged to one of the wealthier families in town. Pastured beef seldom found its way to the local markets, at least not any he had occasion to visit on his deliveries over the years.

  "Every place is different, though." Maybe Lady Sonja's.

  The city looked old for the most part, but not ignored. The buildings, mostly one-story, some peaking above at four or five stories, used a fair bit of metal in their construction. Glancing at the closest building, he recognized the source ore from the distinctive colored flecks still visible in the smooth fabricated sheets and beams. He immediately pegged the city, maybe the whole planet, to be heavy into mining. Only places he'd seen that much ferenium used for anything other than battle-hardened spacecraft was a mining outpost he once delivered to, where they'd built the workers' temporary housing out of it. But, from what he could tell, they used it for everything around here, and that meant the planet must be riddled with it.

  Must be the General's interest here.

  Having served as a mercenary under the General's command a lifetime ago, Jake knew the man all too well. If there was an angle where more power could be had, or a way to build up his means of fighting off the Galactic Enforcers while he continued his personal mission of spreading death and destruction on his path to become the galaxy's greatest tyrant, the General was sure to exploit it.

  "This much ferenium," Jake said to himself. "He must have an operation here."

  He looked at the cage holding the Gefreety. "You part of this, or just a coincidence?" Did I lead the General to this treasure trove or was the cargo job a setup from the get go?

  Jake had no way of knowing for sure which it was, but he decided it didn't matter. All he cared about was the real reason he was there, and that wasn't delivering the Gefreety. He knew, though not when, the General's men would try to take him out before he got back to the shuttle to leave the planet. He was counting on it.

  Leaving the shuttle behind him, he made a point of standing out as he asked around until he found someone who could tell him where he wanted to go. He figured he'd give the General's men a little help noticing he'd arrived. Why drag out the inevitable, he thought. Sooner that try to put me down, the sooner I can beat the information I need out of one of them.

  It was clear to Jake that most of the people he talked to knew of the Lady Sonja. She was, after all, the Governess of the city, but Cromas apparently operated like most of the other large reasonably prosperous places he'd been—with an unspoken disconnect and distrust between the ruling class and the people who actually made the gears of the machine run on a daily basis. The first many people he stopped and asked where he could find her gave him the brushoff. But asking for directions to his actual contact, her servant, somebody named Lar, would have been a shot in the dark. Finally, long after Jake grew tired of forcing a smile to approach people, an old man told him the way to Sonja's official residence, which, the man made a point of saying, only took visitors until midday.

  Jake thanked the man and, though the sky already looked to be shading into early evening, made his way across town according to the directions the man provided. Jake had good reason to think the servant Lar's place would be easy to find, based on Felik's telling that the guy lived on a farm adjacent to the palace. He was right. The farm stood out by contrast to the sizable palace and a number of other buildings which took up every other plot around it, except the land used for the farm.

  Jake was surprised he'd made it there without running into an ambush. He stood where the edge of the farm met the paved road he'd walked to get there. He figured he'd find Lar in the modest home at the far side of the farm. The sky had dimmed even more on the way there, making it easy for Jake to see the light shining out through the home's front window.

  Maybe that's where the ambush is gonna be.

  He took a breath and let it out, then glanced at the caged Gefreety. "Might as well get on with it, then. Right?"

  As he walked the path through the farm toward the house, he told himself he'd much prefer actually getting paid for the delivery first. Guess we'll see.

  A lone tree stood close to the house, but it was tall and offered no place for a would-be attacker to hide. The rest of the area around the house was cut short and devoid of anything big enough to conceal a man. If this is where it's going to happen, he thought, it'll have to be inside.

  He glanced around and noted that the location of the house offered a decent buffer against anyone in the
street or one of the other buildings hearing or seeing a scuffle. A shootout, on the other hand.

  As he came near the house, Jake veered from the path to take a quick look from a respectable distance through the window. If it was going to be an ambush, he preferred being surprised as little as possible. No one was in the only room he could see, so, after checking the sides of the house, he went to the door and knocked.

  A few moments passed. Jake heard nothing. He'd set the caged Gefreety on the ground and, instinctively, Jake's fingers drifted to the grip of his blaster. He heard someone approaching the door from inside the house.

  The door opened and as soon as he eyed the man, Jake discreetly moved his hand away from his blaster.

  "Yes?" the man said. Scrawny and no more than five feet tall, the middle-aged man posed no obvious threat to Jake. He noticed the cage beside Jake. "Oh, is that?"

  "Are you Lar?" Jake asked.

  "I am." He glanced at the cage again, appearing nervous.

  Jake would've dismissed the Lar's nerves as understandable, given how troublesome the Gefreety could be. The man must have known what he was getting. But Jake's gut felt uneasy, and he'd long ago learned to trust such feelings. Without making it too obvious, Jake glanced past Lar, scanning the room, and what he could see into the one behind it through an open doorway. Nothing going on, Jake thought, but his gut was persistent in telling him otherwise.

  "I'm in a bit of a rush," Jake said. "If you don't mind, I'll take payment and be on my way. I'll wait here." If it was going to be an ambush, Jake thought, he wanted it to happen on his own terms. Make 'em work for it.

  "Oh, right." Lar reached for the cage, but paused before grabbing the handles. "You don't mind, do you? I want to check it first, but...not out here. These things can be a little..."

  "Yeah, I know." He nodded toward the cage. "Go ahead. I'll wait."

  Lar carefully picked up the cage. "You sure you won't come in? I can get you a drink. It'll just take a minute for me to look at the creature and get your credit chip."

  Definitely nervous. Must be a surprise party in the other room.