by Max Swan
She stood and holstered her disruptor pistol, and they walked around to the side of the building to a large area of lawn. Jane lifted a remote and touched it, and in the semi darkness a shuttle appeared. She opened the back hatch and walked in, followed by Paul holding the Professors body over his shoulder. Paul slid the Professor down feet first while Jane caught him, lowering the limp Professor to the floor. Paul then walked to the helm, plotted in the course, and stepped away. “The shuttle can take him back to Ship on autopilot. We need to clean up the mess we made, and find somewhere to sleep for the night.”
“What about the faculty dinner?” Jane asked.
Paul sighed, and said, “I’m not going. I need more Intel on the Professor before I could face something like that.”
“What of the Professors wife?” Jane asked as they walked out of the shuttle.
“We’ll have to hope the Professor can patch it up once we’re gone,” Paul said feeling guilty.
Jane touched the remote and the hatch silently closed. The shuttle disappeared as the camouflage reactivated, followed by a strong gust of air as the shuttle silently shot straight up into the sky. Paul grabbed her arm as they neared the door to the Science Faculty and said, “I’ll go back and straighten up in there. I’ll try to learn more about the Professor, and those whom he associates with. Once I’ve cleaned up the office and laboratory, I’ll find us place to spend the night. I’ll call you, and let you know where. OK?”
“OK. I’m off to the student bars, to see whether I can dig up any dirt on the Professor from them,” She said.
Paul reached into his pocket and handed her a fistful of hundred-dollar notes and said with a wide grin, “Don’t have too much of a good time, eh?”
She smiled and grabbed the money heading off down the path toward the road. Paul watched her for a moment feeling a little jealous, then returned to the Professor’s office. He wondered what Nadir would think once the shuttle landed on Ship.
*****
Several hours later the shuttle pulled up to a halt in the hanger bay of Ship, with Nadir and Dexter waiting silently as the hatch opened. Next to them was an antigrav stretcher with Dexter holding a remote control.
“Wow, he does look similar to the Major,” Nadir remarked on inspecting the unconscious Professor.
“He’s wearing an old-fashioned tuxedo, how quaint,” Dexter commented as he positioned the stretcher next to the professor and set it on the floor. Dexter pulled a medscanner out of his pocket and ran it over the Professor. It gave a low-pitched hum as he used it. “Hmm, stunned by a disruptor. Not the healthiest human specimen I’ve ever seen, but he should be OK. Stun should wear off in about four-hours with little ill effect,” Dexter said looking up at Nadir while placing the medscanner in his pocket.
“All right, help me lift his body on this thing.” Nadir reached down and grabbing the Professor under the shoulders, while Dexter grabbed the feet. Together they dragged him on the platform. Dexter hit a button, and it rose a meter into the air. As they walked out of the shuttle, the stretcher followed them floating in mid-air. Nadir walked to a station, and started the pre-launch countdown going for the shuttle to return to Earth.
Suddenly, in Nadirs mind, Ships frightened whisperings burst forth, “It’s near! It’s near! Run my love! Don’t let death touch you!”
As adrenaline surged through his body, his head shot up. In the corner of his eye, something dark moved. He spun quickly, ready to confront whatever Ship seemed so afraid of, to find nothing. Her urgent whispers still filled his mind, so he looked around the area. Mr. Crimpson, and the Professor were the only others present.
“Is something wrong?” Dexter asked, noting the odd behavior.
Nadir stiffened and looked down at Dexter briefly saying gruffly, “I thought I seen something move near the shuttle.”
Dexter tried to suppress a smile. “I haven’t seen anything except us.”
The shuttle had now entered the launch tube and was waiting for the final clearance to leave. Nadir touched the console and brought up an image of the interior to find it empty. He ran a scan for life signs, it indicated none. He sighed and gave permission, the shuttle launched.
“A rat?” Dexter offered lightly.
Nadir turned and scowled at Dexter as he walked toward him. “Come on, let’s get the Professor to Medlab12.” As they entered a carriage he began to relax, because Ship suddenly calmed-down. None of this made any sense to him, especially why Ship was acting so strangely recently with these outbursts. Trying to understand what she’s presently feeling, he decided it was relief. Ships relief made him suddenly worry about Paul and Jane. He decided once they deal with the Professor, he would contact them, and see how things are going.
*****
Paul spent more than an hour looking through files on the computers, and paper ones too. He collected all the data he could about whom the Professor worked with at the University, and determined who didn’t like him from various e-mail’s he read. After he had finished putting the office back the way they found it, he exited the Science Faculty building, and headed back toward the street. As he was walking through the campus, a woman approached him from another building. She was a brunette in her early twenties, with a pretty face, nice figure, and dressed in casual clothes as University students do.
“Evening Professor, isn’t the faculty dinner on tonight?” she asked, eyebrow raised.
“Ah yeah, I’m out getting some fresh air?” he said.
The student smiled knowingly. “But the dinner is at Crown Casino isn’t it? You’ve come a long way for fresh air.” This is why Paul hated undercover work because he was such a bad liar. He felt himself blush, and the student laughed. “It’s OK Professor, I understand that your ‘extracurricular activities’ are important to you.” Paul nodded dumbly and the student reached into her bag pulled out a piece of paper, and gave it to him. It read, ‘Sue’ followed by a group of numbers Paul realized is her cell number. “Call me, I’d love some extra er tutoring,” she winked at him, and walked off.
Paul stood watching the woman walk away, feeling dumbstruck. He felt so unprepared for this, especially when he knew so little about the Professors actual life. Barrett has led us down a dangerous road with this improvised plan of hers, he thought. At least he had an idea why the Professors marriage was in trouble. The Professor must be a womanizer judging by that encounter, he thought. What the hell do these women see in this Professor? This body is so unattractive.
He made it to the street, and after what seemed like forever, he managed to flag down a taxi. He asked the driver to take him to a nice hotel near bouts, and the taxi dropped him off at a place called ‘Rydges on Swanston’. After getting a suite that had two bedrooms, he was taken to the room by a bellhop. The room looked like one of those period style Bed&Breakfasts you find on many human inhabited worlds in his dimension. The furnishings were all high quality twenty-first-century postmodernist style, with a large monitor facing a suite of soft chairs and a sofa. A small kitchen at one end. Two doors led off the livingroom that turned out to be bedrooms. Each bedroom had an en suite bathroom, and big comfortable bed. He had to admit he quite liked it, as he sat on the bed looking around. Pulling out his cell, he tapped Jane’s icon.
Once she answered, he immediately heard loud music coming through. “Hey Dick,” she slurred.
“Where the fuck are you?” Paul asked.
“At some club gathering Intel,” she said, then to someone else she said, “Yeah, I’ll have a gin and tonic, thanks.”
Paul laughed and thought: Good for her. After all the crap we’ve been through recently, who could blame her? “Jane, I’m at a hotel called ‘Rydges on Swanston’, room 118. OK?” he yelled down the cell.
“Rydges on Swanston, room 118, I got it. Don’t wait up for me,” she said and the cell went dead.
Paul noticed one of those antique phones and picked it up and put it to his ear.
He could hear ringing. A man ans
wered in a polite voice saying, “Front desk, how may I help you?”
“Is it too late to order room service?” Paul asked.
“No, Mr. Starr, what would you like?” the man said.
“May I get a steak dinner medium rare, and a bottle of vodka?” Paul asked.
“Yes sir. When will your other party be arriving? Do you want anything for them?”
“She’ll be here later, so won’t need anything.”
“Very good, sir, I understand. Your order should be up there in thirty-minutes.” The phone went dead. Paul put down the receiver and headed for the bathroom deciding he needed a nice hot shower. After he had eaten, he went to bed and slept without nightmares for the first time in a long while.
The next morning he arose to the doorbell on the suite ringing, and answered it to find a neatly dressed bellhop standing behind a service trolley with nice smelling food on it. Paul smiled stepping aside, the bellhop brought it in, and left it near the table. Paul handed him a twenty-dollar note and the man smiled pleasantly, at him and left the room. He picked up a silver dome of the trolley and seen crispy bacon and took a rasher and shoved it in his mouth. It tasted wonderful. He put the dome down, and walked to Jane’s room, and knocked.
“Jane? You up? Breakfast is here,” Paul yelled through the door. Paul opened the door to see her lying in bed still, “Up and at em marine. We have a busy day ahead of us,” Paul said loudly.
She opened her eyes and moaned, “Oh God! Can’t I lie in for a while?”
Paul laughed, “No sympathy for hangover’s, Jane, its Corps tradition eh? Now get up,” Paul ordered.
She sat up, holding her head in her hands she mumbled, “Another fine day in the Corps.”
Paul left her at it, and filled his plate with breakfast food, pouring himself a cup of coffee, he sat and began to eat. Not long after Jane appeared in a white robe and approached the food screwing her nose up at it. She poured herself a cup of coffee, and sat opposite Paul not watching him eat.
“So what do the locals say about the Professor?” Paul asked her
She sighed, “Some interesting gossip, that’s for sure. It seems the Professor isn’t well liked,” Jane said sipping her coffee. “Then there’s his wife—” she began.
“Let me guess,” Paul interrupted, “The marriage is on the rocks because the Professor is unfaithful?”
Jane was surprised. “Yeah, he’d put a Greeter to shame by the sounds of it. But how did you know?”
Paul reached over and grabbed a piece of paper sitting near his palmcorder, handing it to Jane he said, “Let’s say firsthand experience.”
“Oh?” she laughed, realizing what she was reading. “Those I spoke to told me divorce is in the air. They’re all sympathetic toward Emma, and think she should leave him because he’s such a sleaze.”
“God knows why these young women fuck him. I mean look at me,” Paul said making Jane laugh again.
“The clincher is that his own faculty despise him, because he has agreed to cut spending. Meaning some will lose their jobs,” Jane said. She drank her coffee and refilled it.
“How is that the Prof’s fault?” Paul asked, piling more bacon on his plate.
“They say his neglect of the physics department is the reason they have no long-term scientific research programs on campus. Meaning no money coming in except what the Government gives them for students.” Jane replied.
Paul was feeling worried now. “Let’s hope they change their mind when I announce the greatest discovery in the history of this planet,” he said.
Chapter 10
Over the weekend Jane set out looking for a permanent place they could make their base of operations, while Paul built a GFM, from parts Dexter had put together for him. Something he hadn’t done since high school. Giving Paul a chance to study the mathematical principles of gravity manipulation, while building the device. It also gave him something concrete to present to the Chancellor of Melbourne University, Dr. Marcus Smythe. Showing a working knowledge of a GFM will keep suspicions at bay. At least, that’s what he hoped. So once Monday morning rolled around, he dressed in a neat suit, packed the GFM into a metal case with the papers Dexter had prepared, and nervously made his way to Melbourne University.
The taxi dropped him off in a similar spot to the first afternoon they arrived, and he recognized the path that led to the science faculty buildings. He stood for a moment looking blankly down the path feeling his mind empty into an intense daydream. Suddenly, from behind him, a deep male voice yelled, “Look out Professor!”
It didn’t seem to register with Paul, as the world moved in slow motion. Someone rammed into him, which jolted him out of his daydream. He rolled down a small embankment, entangled in another person. Noise suddenly overwhelmed his senses, a cacophony of metal twisting, and bending against its will, followed by an explosion. Paul rolled on his back once he stopped, and sat up looking around half-dazed. To his right, one hundred meters away, a small car had smashed into a large tree. Flames rose high from the car, and worst, the driver screamed in agony as they burned with the car.
“You OK, Prof.?” the deep male voice asked behind him.
Paul climbed to his feet, brushing the dirt and grass of his suit. Then he turned to the man, and said, “Thanks to you.”
He offered his hand and the man took it standing with Paul’s help. They turned and looked at the car, now engulfed in flames. The driver silent, and had to be dead.
“Poor bastard,” the man said.
“Yeah.”
Paul followed the tire marks on the grass, and they crossed exactly where he had been standing. That car would’ve hit me, he thought with a shiver. The mission would’ve failed before I even got in the door. He turned to the stranger and held his hand, they shook.
“You saved my life, thank you so much. What’s your name?” Paul asked.
“Ah, we’ve met before, I’m Martin, Martin Leblanc, remember?” Leblanc said with a raised eyebrow.
Oh shit, Paul swore inwardly. Leblanc had on what looked like a uniform with the university emblem. He spotted a man in the same uniform behind Leblanc, staring at the car, in his hand was a shovel. He looks like a grounds man, Paul thought. This mission is going to be a nightmare trying to navigate all these people who know the Professor.
“Oh sure, sorry Martin. I think this accident has rattled me a little,” Paul said, gesturing to the car.
Leblanc bent over and retrieved Paul’s case and handed it to him, which he took with a grateful smile.
“Do you think we should call someone?” Paul asked.
Leblanc pointed to all the on-lookers with cell phones glued to their ears.
“Nah, I suspect the cops on their way by now.”
“Martin, I really have to get to a meeting, so I can’t stick around.” Paul didn’t want to be present when the police got here.
“Sure, there’s nothing that can be done for the poor bastard now,” Leblanc said with a shrug
Paul grimaced looking at the wreck. Leblanc noticed and said, “Don’t let it get you down, Professor. Probably another drunk asshole doing the world a favor.”
Paul nodded glumly, and after saying goodbye headed down the path to his office. As he entered the Physics building the same woman he seen a few nights earlier greeted him at the reception desk, “Morning Professor.”
Paul nodded to her and walked up the stairs trying to quell his nerves. The door to his office open already, so he walked in to find the Professors assistant behind her desk staring at her antique computer.
She looked up at him with a deep frown. “Where were you, Friday night?”
“Err, hi, Lynda,” Paul said, feeling his face go red. “Something came up and, well, I couldn’t go.”
She looked down at her hands, saying quietly, “I hope you have a better excuse than that for Emma.”
Paul didn’t answer and walked into his office and placed the case down on it. He went behind the desk and
looked at the picture of Emma again, wishing he knew another way to do this. It’s bad enough what they’re doing to the Professor, without ending his marriage as well. He’d noticed a button on the phone had Emma written on it and, after picking up the receiver, he pressed it. The phone rang, followed by an answering machine with what must have been Emma’s voice.
After the tone he said, “Emma, I know you’re angry with me, and I don’t blame you. I don’t deserve a wife like you. I understand if you want leave me. Sorry for being such an asshole, see ya.” Given the Professors reputation, she won’t believe a word of that message, he thought.
He opened his case and looked at the GFM to make sure it suffered no damage in the accident earlier. He turned it on. The lights around the side of the oval football-shaped device worked nicely, making him sigh in relief.
Lynda walked holding a cup of coffee for him. “What the hell is that?” she asked, staring at the GFM.
Paul turned and looked at her with a smile. “Something that’ll change the world.”
“It looks like a toy my kids would play with.”
Paul picked up the remote. “Watch,” he said.
He pushed a button and the device rose into the air and started to silently move around the room.
She smiled. “Aww, it’s one of those remote controlled hovercraft’s right?”
A man dressed in a fine grey suit and blue tie burst into the room, making Paul and Lynda turn toward him. Paul recognized him as Dr. Marcus Smythe.
“Richard, we need to talk,” he said with a deep frown. He stopped and looked at the GFM floating through the air. “What the hell is that?” he asked.
Lynda said, “He says this toy is going to change the world.”
Paul swallowed hard. “Hey Marcus, I’m showing Lynda my invention. I call it a ‘Geodetic Field Manipulator’, ‘GFM’ for short.”
“How the hell does it float like that?” Marcus asked.
“It’s bending gravity,” Paul said.
Marcus and Lynda looked at him with raised eyebrows, as if they were looking at a crazy person. Lynda ducked out of the way as the GFM whizzed by her head.
