Deception

by M. R. Forbes

  “What do you mean what’s outside of Metro?” Stone replied.

  “I don’t believe you don’t know,” Caleb said. “There’s no way that basic fact was forgotten.”

  Governor Stone stared at Caleb, his expression hard. “Be careful with what you say next, Sergeant. You can’t begin to understand the potential fallout. What was done was done for a reason.”

  “So you know?” Riley asked.

  “Yes,” Stone replied.

  “Know what?” Sheriff Dante asked.

  “This is about that,” Caleb said. “If you want to keep the colony alive, you need to come clean, at least to a few people. Like the people in this room.”

  “Know what?” Joe asked.

  Governor Stone bit his bottom lip and looked at the sheriff and the engineer. His eyes shifted to Riley and Caleb, and then he sighed.

  “You can imagine how the people would have reacted,” he said. “Considering what happened before. We decided to alter some of the data in the mainframe and do a hard reset of the system to keep it clean. To cover our tracks.”

  “Cover what tracks?” Joe asked.

  “It was Carol’s grandmother that helped with the reset. Getting the people to forget, to stop talking about it, that was harder. The war made it easier. We turned the truth into the lie, and the lie into the truth.”

  “What lies?” Sheriff Dante asked. “What truth?”

  Governor Stone paused again. He looked at Riley. “How bad is it, Doc?”

  “Life or death, Jackson,” Riley replied.

  He nodded and looked back at his people. “What I’m about to tell you has to stay with you, and only spread as much as it needs to right now. If anyone speaks of it without authorization, they’ll be treated as traitors to Metro and executed. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Governor,” Sheriff Dante said.

  “Okay,” Joe replied.

  “Metro isn’t in a bunker near Atlanta, Georgia. It’s on a starship, over two hundred years away from Earth.”

  Chapter 43

  Sheriff Dante and Chief Engineer King took the news better than Caleb would have expected. Dante’s face began to flush, and he could see how her chest begin to rise and fall more rapidly, her mouth opening slightly in silent, nervous fear. She didn’t speak. She didn’t question. She accepted.

  “A starship?” Joe said, calmer than Dante but still shocked. “I didn’t even know we had those, but it makes sense considering some of the problems we’ve been having. And I always wondered why Metro is a perfect rectangle even though it was assembled underground. I guess because it wasn’t.” He laughed nervously.

  “What does this mean for us, Governor?” Sheriff Dante asked, her voice strained.

  “We aren’t getting out of here anytime soon for one,” Joe said. “And if you broke down our door after two hundred years to tell us the situation outside the city is life or death, my first inclination is to think this has nothing to do with the trife. Taken with the way the systems went down earlier, I’d guess the problem is power related.”

  “One of the problems is power related,” Riley admitted.

  “One of them?” Governor Stone replied.

  “The primary reactors reached the end of their duty cycle ten years ago,” Riley said. “They’re putting out a diminishing amount of power, which has caused the Deliverance to switch to backup batteries. Now those batteries are running low.”

  “How low?” Joe asked.

  “Three percent.”

  “Shit.”

  “We have a replacement energy source,” Caleb said. “We can bring everything back up to full power. But we don’t know how to connect it to the interchange safely.”

  “I can probably help with that,” Joe said.

  “That’s what we’re hoping,” Riley replied.

  “What are the other problems?” Governor Stone asked.

  “We had a… problem, with one of our computer systems,” Riley said. “We’re locked out of navigation control by a layer of encryption we aren’t equipped to crack. If you have anyone who manages your subroutines and might be good at working around problems, we could really use them.”

  “Governor, I think Deputy Klahanie might be a good choice,” Sheriff Dante said. “He handles all of our recovery on the networked terminals and tablets we have left, and he has a real knack for that kind of thing.”

  “I’ll trust your opinion on Dale,” Governor Stone said. “Doctor, when you say navigation control, exactly what do you mean?”

  “A foreign agent set us on a course to the nearest star,” Caleb said. “We need to break the encryption to reset navigation and change our heading.”

  “Foreign agent?” Sheriff Dante said.

  “Don’t worry,” Caleb replied. “We already dealt with them. Now we’re trying to clean up the mess they left behind.”

  “How long do we have?” Joe asked. “To fix navigation control, I mean?”

  “Three hours.”

  The engineer’s face paled. So did Sheriff Dante’s and Governor Stone’s.

  “I warned you that we don’t have time to waste,” Caleb said. “In any case, that’s only problem number two. Once we fix the automated control system, we’ll need to manually adjust our heading to at the very least get us pointed away from the star while we reset the system and enter new coordinates. If none of your people know they’re on a starship, I guess it’s safe to assume you don’t have any pilots?”

  Governor Stone’s face split in a wry smile. “Actually, it may not be as safe an assumption as you think.”

  The answer surprised Caleb. “How so?”

  “The protocols always called for a percentage of the Metro citizenship to carry forward specific skill sets related to our situation, in this case as a starship navigator. Just because we altered the history of the city, that didn’t mean we could ignore what were vital directives from our founders. What it did mean is that our family had to internalize certain positions, to keep the truth about the city safe.”

  “You’re a pilot?” Riley asked.

  “Not me,” Stone replied. “My daughter. She’s been training since she was twelve years old.”

  “How old is she now?”

  “Fifteen.”

  Caleb looked at Riley. They couldn’t put the fate of the ship into the hands of a fifteen-year-old.

  “What does her age have to do with anything?” Governor Stone said, noticing his reaction. “She has more experience in a simulator than anyone else on this ship by hundreds of hours.”

  “And I thought I was repairing a game system,” Joe said.

  “I don’t want to argue about it,” Caleb said. “We’ve wasted enough time.”

  “Good. Then it’s settled. Sam, find Klahanie and get him here as soon as possible. Joe, head over to the mansion with one of my guard squads and pick up Orla. And remember what I said about revealing the truth.”

  “Yes, Governor,” both Sheriff Dante and Chief Engineer King replied, hurrying out of the room. Caleb was sure the complete shock had yet to hit either of them and would leave them both more stunned once they had a free moment to absorb it.

  “As for you, Doctor Valentine,” Governor Stone said. “Your identification chip is verifiable proof of your status and position both outside Metro and within it. Regardless of anything, you have both the right of authority to claim control of the Governorship, and the firepower to back it up.” He glanced at Caleb. “Bows and arrows are no match for high-powered rifles and real combat armor.”

  “Right now, I’m only focused on getting the Deliverance out of danger,” Riley said. “We can discuss politics once we’re safe. All I can tell you is that if you truly did act in the best interests of the colony, that will make itself apparent then.”

  Governor Stone’s face hardened, and he nodded somberly. It seemed ironic to Caleb that Riley would lecture the man about acting in the best interests of anyone besides himself. Like her, he would wait to worry about how to keep h
er from gaining control of the colony until they were safe from their immediate harm.

  “We’ll leave as soon as Klahanie and your daughter arrive,” Riley said. “We have a ship to save.”

  Chapter 44

  It took ten minutes to assemble the entourage that would follow Caleb and the others back out of Metro, with Deputy Klahanie the last to arrive at the law office. Governor Stone’s daughter Orla came quickly, practically running to the office after receiving the news that yes, Marines from outside Metro had entered the city, and yes, they were hurtling through space on a starship and yes, they needed her help to fly it.

  Orla was rail thin, a little too tall, short brown hair and kind of awkward when she moved. She was dressed in finer clothes than any of the other residents he had seen, but they weren’t particularly fancy. A pair of respun jeans, a cream colored shirt, a pair of worn sneakers. What really caught Caleb’s notice was her level of respect for him and the other two Guardians. She knew how to stand at attention. She always referred to him as sir, even though he wasn’t an officer, and she immediately started following Flores around like she was her long-lost mother. He had been worried about letting a child fly the Deliverance. Maybe that was wrong of him to begin with. He wasn’t worried now.

  Deputy Klahanie could have passed as Orla’s brother. He was just as thin, and almost as tall as Washington. He had dark hair and a thick beard like Governor Stone’s, small eyes and a big smile. He was loud when he spoke and almost too outgoing. He started flirting with Flores as soon as he had the chance, but she didn’t seem to mind too much. Caleb could have put her back in line, but he decided they all needed a moment of levity and normalcy.

  Once Caleb explained how it worked, Chief Engineer King didn’t seem to think connecting the alien energy unit to the interchange would be all that difficult. But Caleb knew from experience that things rarely went as smoothly as their potential suggested.

  They headed out of the law office in a group of twelve, which Flores quickly dubbed the fellowship of the ring. She called him Aragorn once and referred to Riley as Saruman. The way she laughed when she said it gave Caleb the impression that her moniker wasn’t flattering.

  It took fifteen minutes of walking to reach the back of the engineering corridor to the torn and damaged former seal. Caleb watched the expressions of the Metro colonists as they reached the broken hatch. He could see the tension on Governor Stone’s face. The worry over what this new direction meant for his hold on the city and the concern they wouldn’t live long enough to find out. He noticed how Joe and Carol King were focused and intense, ready to do their job to the best of their ability. Orla and Deputy Klahanie had a look of nervous excitement and an eagerness to explore and discover. Sheriff Dante and her two deputies were still in a state of shock, putting one foot in front of the other and doing their best to maintain their composure. Caleb could see the goosebumps on her wrists and the slight shiver of anxiety in her hands.

  He didn’t blame her for being afraid. Now that some of the smoke had cleared, he could see how extensive some of the damage around the hatch was. They were lucky they hadn’t damaged anything critical with their explosion.

  “You should have just knocked,” Joe said from behind him, drawing a laugh from Orla.

  “The weld was on your side,” Riley explained. “We had no other way to get through. I tried hailing you from the bridge, but nobody answered.”

  “Our comm station has been down for close to eighty years,” Governor Stone said. “I always assumed if you needed to reach us, you would find a way. And you did.”

  “Sergeant Card, how far to the bridge, sir?” Orla asked.

  “About ten minutes walk from here,” Caleb replied. “Doctor Valentine and Private Flores will lead you and Deputy Klahanie up there. Private Washington and I will take Joe and Carol to the interchange. We left the energy unit nearby. Governor Stone, Sheriff Dante, you’re welcome to tag along with whichever team you want.”

  “Sheriff Dante will go with you, Sergeant,” Stone said. “I’ll go up to the bridge with my daughter. You’re sure it’s safe out here?”

  “As of an hour ago it was,” Caleb replied. “I lost one of my best Marines securing the ship.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, sir,” Orla said. “What happened?”

  Caleb glanced sideways at Riley. What would the people of Metro think if they knew the truth? Would they even be able to wrap their heads around it well enough to believe it was possible? “It’s a long story. We can brief one another on everything once we’re safe.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  They navigated past the damaged section of corridor and out into the ship, taking one of the corridors aft toward the stern stairwell. The klaxons and audible warnings had stopped, leaving the ship in a state of dead silence. The quiet felt strange to Caleb. It was the first time things had been calm since he had thawed. Of course, the calm was a lie. The stillness and silence made it too easy to forget the truth of their situation.

  “Does the whole thing look like this?” Deputy Klahanie asked. “It’s kind of plain.”

  “What did you expect?” Flores asked. “This isn’t the love boat or a Disney cruise.”

  Klahanie’s face flushed, and he didn’t answer. The group dropped into another silence until they reached the stairwell.

  “This is where we split up,” Caleb said. “The energy unit is on the landing one floor down. The interchange is on Deck Twenty-four. The bridge is on Deck Six.”

  “Six?” Governor Stone said. “Not One? The bridge doesn’t have any windows?”

  “No,” Riley replied. “There are high-resolution cameras that will give you a look at what’s outside.”

  “How do we know what’s in the cameras is real?”

  “Why wouldn’t it be?”

  “You tell me, Doctor. Maybe I'm overly cynical, but I can’t help but entertain the idea that this is an elaborate hoax. What if the war really is over, and you’re just testing us to see how we react? It could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to run an experiment like that.”

  Riley laughed. “You’re right, Governor. You’re right that the war on Earth is over. We lost. Badly. If any humans are still alive back there, I guarantee they’re in worse shape than we are right now.”

  “My point still stands. We have no idea of knowing if what you’re showing us is real. We have no way of knowing that we’re really in space.”

  “We can take you down to the hangar, Governor,” Flores said. “We can open the outer blast doors again, and you can experience space first-hand.”

  “Flores,” Caleb said, suppressing his outward amusement.

  “Sorry, Alpha,” Flores replied.

  “We’re definitely in space,” Caleb added. “Joe, Carol, Sheriff Dante, you three are with me. We’re heading down. We’ll meet up with the others on the bridge once we hook up the unit.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Joe said.

  “Bucket-up Marines,” Caleb said. “I don’t know if the ATCS network will reach from the interchange to the bridge, but it’ll help us communicate from further away.”

  “Roger that,” Flores said, shifting her helmet from under her arm to her head. Washington did the same.

  “Deputy Klahanie,” Sheriff Dante said. “Stay calm and take your time. You’ve got this.”

  “Thanks, Sheriff,” Klahanie replied.

  “Let’s go,” Caleb said. “The sooner we get the energy unit hooked up, the sooner we get out of this mess.”

  Chapter 45

  “This is a power supply?” Joe said, looking skeptically down at the energy unit. The temporary closure was over the sphere inside, hiding the real source of the unit’s energy production and giving it the appearance of a small, matte black alloy box.

  “Yes,” Caleb replied.

  “I thought it would be bigger.” Joe knelt down beside it. “Where did it come from?”

  “An alien spacecraft. We think the same aliens who sent the trife.
”

  Joe ran his hand over the smooth surface. “It isn’t even hot. How does it work?”

  “Quantum something,” Caleb said. “The reactor is inside. Let’s leave it closed until we get it to the interchange.”

  “Okay.”

  “Washington, can you grab it?”

  Washington nodded. Joe stood and moved aside to let the big Marine pick up the energy unit. They started down the stairwell, taking it to the lower deck.

  “Wash, take point,” Caleb said. “Sheriff Dante, I’d like to talk to you about something.”

  Washington shifted position to get in front of the group, while Caleb slowed until he was in the back. Sheriff Dante slowed with him.

  “What do you need, Sergeant?” she asked.

  Caleb let the others get almost a whole flight ahead of them before he replied. “I want to talk to you about Doctor Valentine.”

  “What about her?”

  Caleb had been trying to decide if he should bring Riley up before things had settled. He realized that the longer he waited, the easier it would be for her to manipulate the truth and become more embedded in their future decisions. He didn’t want her to be part of anything for any longer than needed, and he wanted at least one person from Metro to be suspicious of her motives and actions.

  “There’s no delicate way I can think of to put this. I have reason to believe Riley Valentine murdered at least one member of the crew and has committed a number of other acts that have put both this ship and the colonists in unnecessary danger. But with everything else happening on the ship, I haven’t been able to do anything about it.”

  Sheriff Dante was silent for a moment. “I see. Do you have proof to back up the accusation?”

  “Circumstantial,” he replied. “And hearsay. But I believe the ship’s mainframe has archives of footage that will prove her duplicity.”

  “I see,” she said again before pausing. “Sergeant, why are you telling me this? For one thing, you have more authority on this ship than I do. For another, even if you didn’t, you have no solid proof. No evidence I can use to do anything. Why didn’t you deal with her before you entered Metro?”