I realize I want to one-punch myself for this. I blame me.
Garth took a deep breath, and Erik eyed the balcony before shaking his head as the man continued, “I know this is heavy stuff, and I’m probably totally reorienting your entire life paradigm right now, but it’s all completely true, and this is why it’s important this information be spread. Because it might be that all those animals out there are waiting for some sort of genetic switch to flip.”
Garth nodded knowingly as Erik continued his internal discussion, berating his recent idiotic life choices, including his decision to open his door.
“Uh-huh,” Garth continued. “And the next thing you know, the Navigators are back, and all around us.” He furrowed his brow. “Well, all around Australia and in a few zoos, anyway. Maybe they picked Australia on purpose because it was more isolated originally.”
Erik reached up, covering his mouth while managing not to laugh. “That’s, uh, a new one on me. Is it just the platypuses, or are there other experiments? I mean, did we kill off a bunch of Navigators when the passenger pigeon went extinct?” He scratched the back of his head.
Why am I even asking? It’s like watching a building burn down. It’s horrible, but you just can’t turn away.
Garth nodded. “Good question.”
Oh damn, I did ask a question. Erik eyed the door to the outside. I should throw myself off the balcony.
“Some evidence also points to octopuses, but just them, not squid. So, it’s well-documented that it’s potentially octopuses, and certainly platypuses, as far as surviving animals. Obviously, some extinct animals might have been Navigators, but not passenger pigeons, to the best of my knowledge. You know, there’s some decent evidence that the Navigators were actually alive on Earth around the time of the dinosaurs.”
“Decent evidence?” Erik asked. “Are you suggesting to me that we have a bunch of Navigator skeletons sitting around museums?”
“Yes, they’re around, but no, we don’t have their skeletons, and this doesn’t mean the Zitarks are Navigators. I mean, obviously, they aren’t much more advanced than humanity, so they couldn’t be. I’m not saying the dinosaurs were the Navigators, just that they were on Earth then. They might have killed the dinosaurs, but we can’t be sure.” Garth looked up as if he was contemplating whether the next statement would be over the line.
“I suppose it’s not that weird. I mean, those Navigator artifacts were buried on Mars.” Erik blinked.
Oh my God, I can’t shut my own mouth.
Why the hell was he letting some conspiracy theorist lead him down a path to believing the most powerful ancient race in the galaxy currently lived on as Earth animals?
The military had our share of nutjobs, but they had to at least be functional nutjobs who knew how to keep their mouths shut.
“Exactly.” Garth snapped his fingers and grinned. “I like you, Erik. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, but I’ve got to go. I just wanted to say hello. I’ll put together a list of interesting books for you to read. The more you know, the easier it is to spread the word.” He walked over to the door and opened it. “Oh, and welcome to the complex.”
“Thanks.” Erik went to open the door, not sure if he was amused, annoyed, confused, or some mixture of the three.
Garth departed, and Erik shook his head as the door slid closed.
He walked back through his apartment, heading to his bedroom. “After that, how hard can being a cop be?” he mused.
Chapter Thirteen
June 23, 2228, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Police Enforcement Zone 122 Station, Office of Captain Robert Monahan
Erik stopped himself from moving into parade rest as he stood in front of the captain’s desk.
Despite the presence of so many military-sounding ranks in the police department, they were a civilian force, and the customs and courtesies he’d absorbed into his soul over thirty years in the military didn’t apply.
There was also the fact that the man behind the desk didn’t radiate the kind of authority he was used to. It wasn’t that he didn’t respect the captain, but he could sense he hadn’t dealt with the kinds of dangerous situations Erik had throughout his career.
Captain Monahan furrowed his brow, his eyes darting back and forth as he skimmed several dense pages of text floating in front of him.
“Is there a problem, Captain?” Erik asked.
“I was just double-checking your application information,” the captain responded, a hint of bewilderment in his voice.
“If there’s something you need, I can send it directly to your PNIU. I have all the application files stored locally,” Erik suggested.
Captain Monahan shook his head. “That’s…not really my problem.”
“There’s a problem?” Erik asked.
“Sort of. Neither the enforcement zone nor the department has had to deal with anything like this for a long time, and quite frankly—”
“Nobody knows how to handle it,” Erik offered.
Captain Monahan let out a quiet chuckle. “Something like that, yes.” He tapped his PNIU, and the text disappeared. He shook his head. “So, Major Blackwell—”
“Just Erik, or Blackwell, if you want,” Erik cut in. “I’m retired, and other than using my veteran status to get the job, I don’t want to cause issues. I’m here to be a cop, not a soldier. I left that uniform and world behind, and I spent a long time flying back to Earth to start a new life.”
“Yes, I understand that.” Captain Monahan frowned as he looked at his newest detective. “Erik, I thank you for your service, but do you really think becoming a police officer on a core world, let alone Earth, is a good transition back to civilian life? You’ve been a soldier the bulk of your life, and Special Forces for a good chunk of that. That’s not exactly the kind of career path that most people would see ending in becoming a detective in a core-world police department. I have some concerns.”
“Are you saying there aren’t any other veterans working for you?” Erik couldn’t help but grin. “When I asked about that, they told me there were other veterans in this department.” Sorry, Captain, but the screws have to go in. “Or is it that veterans don’t make good cops?”
“That’s not what I’m saying, and we have a few veterans, yes, but none who applied using your method, and none of them spent as long as you did in the military.” Captain Monahan gestured to Erik’s hair. “They were also a lot younger. That has implications.”
“I sent along a full physical, and I’ve had de-aging treatment.” Erik ruffled his gray hair. “The treatment doesn’t seem to have taken in my hair yet, but I’m willing to go up against any of your guys if you think I’m not fit enough.” He grinned. “I’d love to do it, in fact.”
The captain sighed. “It’s not about your physical fitness, Erik. I’m just saying, the vets we have working here are…different than you. Most of them served on Earth, or an inner planet or station. We have no one in the entire department who served on the border or even the deep frontier, and as I’m sure you’re already aware, Earth is a lot different than those places.”
Fair enough.
He shrugged. “I’m not saying you’d make a bad cop, but your experience might be better suited to a position in law enforcement on a frontier planet, where they could better make use of your practical experience. While I understand that you’ve had a de-aging treatment, that only changes your body. It doesn’t change your mind.”
“And?” Erik replied. “I have decades of experience.”
“You’re less than a year younger than I am, and I’ve spent almost as long as a cop as you did in the military. I wouldn’t be able to change jobs like that. Men like you and me, we get stuck in our ways, and the Army, in particular, has a way of really getting people stuck.”
Erik chuckled. “I’m not stuck in my military ways.”
“Maybe.” The captain frowned. “But I’m also confused as to why you relied on some arcane half-forgotten law to ge
t your foot in the door.”
“The Obsidian Detective Act is an old American law. That means it’s not going to guarantee me a position anywhere else on Earth, let alone the colonies.”
The captain frowned. “Aren’t you worried that forcing your way in might mean that you shouldn’t be in this position?”
Erik shook his head. “No. I needed a guarantee before coming back, and the law was that guarantee.” He shrugged. “Besides, I’ve got personal reasons to want to serve back on Earth and Neo SoCal, so using that option only helps with that.”
Captain Monahan frowned. “I don’t understand.” He looked at a record he had yet to close; it was still hovering in the air. “According to your records, you’re not from this area.” He eyed Erik. “You’re from Detroit.”
Erik nodded. “Yeah, I’m from Detroit, but I’m more interested in this metroplex. It feels like I could be more useful here. Besides, I’ve been away for a long time. It’s not like Detroit’s waiting for me.”
Captain Monahan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He slowly let it out before opening his eyes. He was clearly trying to keep calm, which amused Erik.
“I don’t think this department would provide the level of activity a man of action like yourself would find satisfying,” the captain explained. “Although technically we’re equipped to handle almost any crime, for various reasons that would probably escape your understanding just because you haven’t been here for a couple of decades, we delegate many cases. I don’t think you appreciate how slow that can make things.” He shrugged. “This isn’t some border or frontier colony overrun by a lot of insurrectionists or the disgruntled indentured. This is Earth, Erik, and things run here pretty well. A man with your distinguished record of military service will grow bored, especially coming right in at detective. Every other veteran here, regardless of origin, worked their way up, and that way, they better learned to appreciate the appropriate and balanced role of a police officer in Neo SoCal.”
Erik pursed his lips. “With all due respect, Captain, it’s like you said. I’m fifty-one years old. Thanks to the de-aging, I’m going to last longer than most, but I don’t see the need to spend years working my way up the ladder here. I’m not going to end up a better detective because I spent a year giving people tickets for trying to fly into the Shadow Zone.” He raised an eyebrow, adding an accompanying smirk for good measure.
“I’m not necessarily saying that,” Captain Monahan replied, open anger seeping into his voice. “I’m pointing out that absorbing local police culture could be helped by that sort of thing, and if you believe you need to skip those steps, it makes me think you might not fit in here.”
“You’re entitled to that opinion, but it doesn’t change anything. I didn’t do this because I was drunk and bored one weekend. I’m determined to become a detective, and I’ve done everything the law requires to get me to that position. And, yeah, I also know that this enforcement zone is actually understaffed right now. They specifically asked me if I would come here because of that.” Erik let the grin he had been holding back free.
The captain’s attempts to intimidate him were bordering on comical.
Captain Monahan frowned and jerked back, taken off-guard. “They let you know about that?”
“It’s not like police staffing is classified.” Erik shrugged. “I don’t know what you think I’m going to do, but I want to make it clear that after thirty years in the Expeditionary Corps, I’m not going to walk away because you’re uncomfortable with a highly trained soldier becoming a detective. I’ve done everything that’s been required of me. I’ve made sure to supply all the documentation. Every step along the way, I’ve done what I needed. I’ll be blunt, Captain… Did you really expect me to walk away just because you gave me a speech about working my way up?”
“A trained soldier isn’t the same thing as a trained detective,” countered the other man. “And, yes, I think you should listen to what I’m saying. There are regulations to observe, procedures to follow. You know this. A police department might not be as rigid as the military, but it’s still an organization that has rules and order, and I need people who are going to contribute to the order, not detract from that.”
“Did you see where I was last stationed?” Erik asked.
Captain Monahan nodded. “Mu Arae. I get that it was tense there, but you never saw any action, right? The Zitarks backed off once they realized we were ready to fight, so I assume you spent a lot of time playing cards.”
Erik wasn’t surprised to hear the captain didn’t know about the massacre. The military hadn’t technically classified the loss of the 108th as such, and they had made it clear they would prefer that Erik and the support staff “minimize discussion of the incident for general morale purposes.”
He wasn’t sure how they were keeping the families of all those men and women quiet, but it wasn’t all over the net, so whatever it was they were doing was working.
He wasn’t stupid enough to think personally running around shouting about it from the rooftops would help. If there was some high-level conspiracy, either corporate or governmental, they were likely keeping an eye on him, and everyone else who knew about the incident.
“Yeah.” Erik grunted. “The lizards did back off, and that’s the point. That system’s a long way from Earth. I’ve mostly been on ships for the past year, and they weren’t always the nicest ships with the most well-equipped recreation options. I’ve had a lot of time to read and take tests. If you scanned my application and file, I’m sure you saw that I passed all the proficiency tests, and I’m well beyond your fitness and marksmanship standards.”
“Yes, I saw all that.” Captain Monahan tapped his desk. “But those tests have to be taken in a controlled environment. I’m sorry, Erik, but some test you took on a transport twenty light-years from here isn’t good enough. I’m not trying to say you did anything wrong, but I don’t think we can just pretend it’s the same as taking them here.”
“You ready to seriously argue that?” Erik dropped into the chair in front of the desk and offered the captain a lopsided smile. “I’m willing to bet if I pushed on this, I could get those requirements waived, but if you really are dying for me to take them again, I will.” He chuckled. “It’s not like I cheated. I spent a lot of time studying police procedure and local regulations, with all that free time on the way back.”
The captain raised a finger and opened his mouth just as his PNIU chimed. “One second.” He tapped the device. “This is Monahan.” He tilted his head. “What? Yes. Why can’t we just send some patrol officers? She is? Fine. No, go ahead and have her handle it then if she’s already on-site. Wait. I’ll be sending someone else soon. Okay. Good. Inform me if something else happens.” He looked back at Erik, a smile creeping onto his face.
Erik had seen that kind of look far too many times in his career, usually from ambitious governors or higher-ups who thought they could use him as a tool to further their own careers. Sometimes it had ended well.
Most of the time, it had been a pain in the ass.
Captain Monahan leaned forward and folded his hands in front of him, an almost eerie calm settling over his face. “You know what, Erik? Maybe I’m making too many assumptions. If you spent a year studying and training, then you know the deal, and I shouldn’t second-guess you. You’re not some fresh-faced kid. I’m still convinced this job will be a little too slow-paced for you, but if you’ve put that level of thought and effort into this, that has to count for something.”
The captain nodded slowly, a hungry gleam in his eye. “Since you spent so much time studying the regulations, I take it you’re familiar with the rules concerning active detectives and the relevant personnel requirements for working cases?”
“Yeah.” Erik nodded. “I need a partner. I’m not picky. I’ve worked with a lot of people in my military career. I can get along with almost anyone on the job, and I don’t need to be a buddy off it.”
“I’m very gl
ad to hear that. I’m counting on that, to be honest. We have a detective who needs a new partner, and you’re right. We’re undermanned, so I should be happy you’re here for as long as you stay here.” The last part came out very mocking in tone, but what followed was far sterner. “Remember, though, Erik, you’re not the commanding officer here. I am. I respect your time in the military, but you will respect my time as a cop. Are we clear on that?”
“Yeah, we’re clear, Captain. I’m not here to be a soldier. I’m here to be a detective.”
Captain Monahan offered Erik a thin smile before tapping his PNIU and then poking at a display only he could see. “I’m transmitting an address to your PNIU. This will be a good test for you. I need you to provide backup for a minor disturbance. This isn’t normally something a detective would handle, but we happen to already have one on-site, so you might as well go and meet your new partner at the same time.”
Erik stood. “Sounds good.” He extended his hand. “I am happy to be part of the department.”
The captain shook his hand. “And we’re happy to have you, Detective Blackwell. Your partner will probably be finishing her handling of the incident by the time you get there. Her name is Jia Lin. She’s pretty new herself. Only been on the force for a year, but she’s very…dedicated. I’m sure you’ll find her interesting.”
“Okay, I’ll head right there.” Erik turned to leave. As he made his way through the bullpen, he scoffed quietly under his breath.
Great, what’s going on? Did Lin get her last partner shot? He thinks she will push me away, or I’ve just stepped off the fresh-meat ship, slipped on some oil, and shot myself in the leg by accident.
Chapter Fourteen
Jia sighed, her arms folded over her chest, and tapped her foot on the ground. It was nighttime, but with so many lights in the metroplex, it was never truly dark. The sheer dome of light above the city washed away almost all the stars.
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