The Ripple in Space-Time: Free City Book 1 (The Free City Series)

by S F Chapman

  The travelers jostled along in uneasy silence.

  “Fortunately the neighbors sent me to the Institution for the Furtherance of Clones in Free City.” He laughed, “Evidently they thought I was too cute to end up in the local EurAfrican orphanage.”

  “Well that was lucky for you,” Lev nodded. “I know those fiefdom workhouses are pretty much the same as slave mills.”

  “It’s not much better in Free City, I’m afraid,” Ryo said.

  “Really?”

  The old Investigator smiled at his naive cohort, “You had someone who looked after you day and night for most of you life, right?”

  Lev nodded.

  “It’s not that way for most clones, especially in institutions. Seven kids died in my ward during the first five years that I was at the Institution. Four from illness, one from suicide and two were beaten to death.”

  “I had no idea that it was so rough.”

  “Most people think that the cruel world stops at the city limits,” Ryo shook his head in disappointment, “that everything is so much better in Free City compared to the fiefdoms. But it’s not true. If it was, I’d be out of a job.”

  Lev considered the dismal assessment. “How did you end up at the Inquisitor’s Office?”

  Ryo smiled nostalgically, “Two things worked out just right; when I was eighteen, I started working at the Institution’s accounting office. It was dreadfully dull but it did keep me busy. Just by chance, a minor embezzlement scandal caught the attention of the Inquisitor’s Office and they sent over a young Investigator Third Class named Helga Bennet.”

  “Your boss?”

  Ryo nodded, “She and I worked together for hours and eventually straightened out the mess. Helga liked my work and recommended me to the Recruiting Office. Within a year I was a Cadet Investigator.”

  “What was the second thing?”

  He grinned wryly, “With my tough upbringing, I can spot trouble brewing long before anyone else.”

  • • •

  Ryo decided that the two-hour road trip had been fairly uneventful as he steered the monstrous road machine through the citadel gates of Dublin. He paid their entry fees and the Dublin Municipal toll-taker directed them to the Free City Consular’s house.

  He pulled the creaky behemoth into an open space in front of the official resident. A brawny security guard barked loudly at them until Ryo presented his badge.

  The guard bowed slightly in deference, “Sorry Inspector Trop, the locals are constantly trying to snatch this prized real estate.”

  “It’s not a problem. Is Liaison Agent Norton inside?”

  “Yes sir, Norton’s been waiting for you.”

  Lev gawked at the fortress-like row house, “It seems so intimidating for a diplomatic building, almost like it was built to withstand a siege.”

  “Sadly, I think it was,” Ryo noted.

  The guard led them up the wide stairway and slid his fingertips over a small interface screen on the doorjamb. “Inspector Trop and his associate for Agent Norton.”

  After several seconds, the heavy steel door opened. A startlingly attractive young woman, probably in her mid-twenties, clad in stained blue coveralls and clenching an antiquated toilet plunger studied the visitors keenly. “Good morning gentleman, please come in and wait in the parlor for a few minutes. We’re all attending to a regrettable household emergency with the old plumbing right now.”

  “Certainly,” Ryo nodded to the reluctant plumber.

  Lev scrutinized the fetching mahogany-haired woman as she hurried off to deal with the calamity. “I certainly wouldn’t mind being on the household staff with her,” he whispered.

  9. News Item: A somber Commemoration Day Dateline: 9th of June, 2445; Roscommon Park, Free City, Earth

  Residents solemnly observed Commemoration Day during several somber memorial events throughout the city yesterday.

  The grim annual observance marks the end of the Second Amero-Asian War two hundred and forty-nine years ago and commemorates the loss of so many lives.

  Most citizens stood in brooding silence at 11:18 AM to contemplate the most retched of all human undertakings. Nearly a million people endured a cold drizzle in Roscommon Park to lay symbolic notes to the dead at the War Atrocities Monument.

  The destruction brought about by the Second Amero-Asian War is now widely regarded by scholars as on a par with, if not more detrimental to the advancement of human achievements than the slow and moldering decay of the earlier Dark Ages.

  Many of the forbidden weapons from earlier conflicts were employed during the war with horrific efficiency. Biological agents, toxic gases, nuclear and high-energy particle weapons rendered Europe east of the Urals along with nearly all of Asia and North America poisoned and uninhabitable. By 2196 nearly 5 billion humans had fallen victim to the protracted conflict and its ghastly side effects.

  All citizens of Free City are familiar with the savagery that obliterated the great cities of New York, Beijing, Moscow and many others; regrettably only a few of these ancient communities have been rebuilt, most notably New Rome. Nearly everyone has personally witnessed the persistent effects brought about by the cataclysm beyond Free City’s borders in the domain of the Warlords.

  The war had no winners and not a single armistice or peace treaty was ever penned by the battling nations. Indeed, the combatants had managed to not only slaughter their enemies, but also themselves. No mere piece of paper could be held high as a symbol of victory after the long and unforgivable folly.

  10. The accomplice Ryo and Lev had been waiting for twenty anxious minutes in the parlor of the Free City Consular’s residence in Dublin as the house staff noisily battled an especially tenacious plumbing problem involving the third floor commode. Loud thuds and profuse swearing sporadically pervaded the official household. Through the open sitting room door, the men watched a worried old butler hobble by several times with yet another thick stack of white bath towels to sop up the gushing muck.

  Finally the young woman who had met them at the front door returned wearing clean khaki pants and a heavy brown traveling coat.

  “Thank you for waiting,” she held her hand out in greeting, “I’m Agent Keira Norton of the Free City Fiefdom Liaison Office.”

  The alluring woman shook the men’s hands.

  “I...well...hello,” Lev stammered giddily.

  “I’m Inspector Trop,” Ryo chuckled at the younger man’s reaction, “I believe that Mr. Fesai is relieved that you are not an overweight middle-aged gent.”

  Agent Norton glared at the shaggy tongue-tied man, “This is Dr. Fesai’s son? I read through the case files last night, but I had no idea that we’d be working with family members.” She studied his quirky and unconventional clothing, “There was some mention of Mr. Fesai’s baffling fascination with the Enlightenment Crusade.”

  Ryo’s communication device chirped softly, “Hi Boss, what’s up?”

  “Have you located Agent Norton?” Helga inquired.

  “Yeah, we just found her at the Consular’s residence.”

  “Good,” his irritable supervisor continued, “O’Neal in Bank Fraud just discovered a large and suspicious transaction that is undoubtedly a payoff of some sort.”

  “What does this have to do with the moon lab?”

  Helga rubbed her forehead wearily, “The recipient was just let go as a Lunar Orbit Traffic Controller. He was on duty during the explosion.”

  “Interesting.”

  “He just charged several drinks in a Dublin bar, I’m sending you the particulars.”

  The image of Helga changed to flashing text. Ryo studied the information for several seconds.

  “Well; we’ll get right to it, I suppose.” He showed the address to Agent Norton, “Do you know where this place is?”

  She nodded in dismay.

  Keira winced, “I’m afraid that’s not one of Dublin’s finer districts.”

  Ryo tugged at Lev as he absentmindedly ogled their new co
lleague, “We have transportation, let’s head over there now. How is it that you were unstopping the Consular’s commode, Ms Norton?”

  She smiled proudly to the old Investigator, “Well, as a Fiefdom Liaison, I’ve been procuring and screening new household staff members for the last few weeks. The Consular is quite particular about the credentials of his domestic employees. My guest room is upstairs right next to the misbehaving facilities.”

  Keira pulled open the front door and led the men out, “I plunged out the toilet twice on my first day here and the Consular fell in love with me.”

  “How did you pick up such a strange old skill?” Lev wondered as the threesome stood on the front porch. “Everyone in Free City uses waterless waste disposal, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything else.”

  Keira scowled briefly at Lev, “My parents ran Leitrim Imports in Free City when I was a kid and we were always moving around in the fiefdoms in search of new products. I’ve been to Mars twice and I lived in Dublin for several years.”

  “When difficulties present themselves,” she shivered fleetingly before buttoning up her jacket against the chilly wind, “you learn really quickly how to deal with the copious crap in the fiefdoms.”

  • • •

  Relegated to the tattered rear section of the lumbering old vehicle, Keira studied the two men in the only slightly more favorable front seats.

  Ryo Trop was well-known and highly admired by the staff of the Liaison Office. Keira considered herself especially lucky to be included in the particularly high profile case with such a respected Investigator. Certainly a favorable outcome to the inquiry would greatly enhance her prospects at the Liaison Office.

  Although she had reservations about working with someone as inexperienced in investigative work as Lev Fesai, she was inexplicably interested in him. She studied him carefully as he gawked at the dilapidated neighborhoods of Dublin. He had an extraordinary headful of wayward black curls, far longer and less tidy than convention currently allowed. His smooth and fluid movements contrasted with his stark and angular features; not unlike a shark or a fast Interceptor spacecraft, she mused.

  His brief dossier had mentioned his stalled efforts at obtaining a Doctorate Degree, minor use of herbal hallucinogens and his regrettable tendency towards womanizing; definitely not traits that Keira condoned, but there was some intriguing quality about him that she couldn’t quite rationalize.

  “How are you doing back there?” Ryo glanced in the rearview mirror.

  Keira smiled at the fatherly Investigator, “I’m doing OK.” She shifted around and leaned forward, “I’ve got a background question about the investigation. I’m afraid I don’t know much about antimatter. I recall from High School that it has something to do with energy storage, but that’s about it.”

  “You’re asking the wrong guy,” Ryo laughed. “Fortunately we have one of the leading authorities on such things right here with us.”

  He nudged the preoccupied younger man.

  “Antimatter; OK, let me see if I can explain it.” Lev stroked his chin for several seconds. “Every subatomic particle with mass, and there are dozens, has an essentially identical opposite called an anti-particle. It’s almost like a mirror image, I guess.”

  Both Ryo and Keira nodded.

  “Electrons have an opposite called anti-electrons,” Lev continued, “a few people still call them positrons. Electrons and anti-electrons have reversed electrical charges; negative for electrons and positive for anti-electrons. If they happen to encounter each other, annihilation occurs and they are completely destroyed, converting all of the mass of the two particles into energy in the form of gamma rays.”

  Keira frowned, “What does that have to do with energy storage?”

  Lev smiled, “Since well before the Second Amero-Asian War nearly all energy storage has used antimatter. But there have always been some big problems with handling antimatter. Mainly because storing a bunch of charged anti-particles is particularly difficult.”

  Ryo glanced at Lev as he negotiated the potholed streets, “Why is that?”

  “It’s hard enough to keep the little beasties in a vacuum container completely devoid of even the merest trace of ordinary matter; anti-electrons all have the same electrical charge, so they repeal each other. That and the electrical attraction of the surface electrons on the inside of the container pull the anti-electrons to the walls of the container and annihilation occurs.”

  “So a vacuum bottle filled with antimatter will explode?” Keira asked in horror.

  “It could,” Lev chuckled, “but there’s a clever trick that keeps that from happening.”

  “What?” Keira wondered.

  “Magnets, or at least magnetic fields,” Lev smiled. “About four hundred years ago, scientists produced anti-hydrogen for the first time, slowly over many years other anti-atoms were fabricated. All were fairly difficult to store until anti-iron was created. It could easily be indefinitely suspended in a vacuum container using magnets. The same magnets are used to manipulate the anti-iron into a reaction vessel where it is methodically pelted with single regular iron atoms to cause the release of well-controlled amounts of energy.”

  Lev swiveled around to face her, “Now everything from electrical power plants to space freighters uses some sort of antimatter-based power system.”

  • • •

  The cross-town trip had taken nearly an hour.

  “Force will be necessary here,” Keira warned Ryo, “probably blackmail as well,” she added.

  Her eyebrows arched up as she pointed surreptitiously to Lev while he stared out at the ramshackle neighborhood.

  “Don’t worry,” Ryo snorted as he parked the hulking conveyance in front of the rundown pub, “we can take care of ourselves.”

  “I do have the Dublin Coroner on speed-dial,” Keira quipped.

  “That won’t be needed.”

  “Before we get started here,” he admonished his young cohorts, “I want to forewarn you both that no one will be leaving this pigsty in a body bag today.”

  Lev shifted uneasily at the caution.

  Keira bit her lip and nodded.

  “When we go in, I want Lev to wait quietly in the background.” He stared sternly at the young man, “Keep an eye out for surprise attacks and for anyone trying to sneak out. Yell like hell if either happens.”

  “OK.”

  “Keira, I’ll do the talking when we get inside, you stay well behind me and keep an eye out for trouble. This joker’s not likely to want to cooperate.”

  Ryo took a deep breath and steeled himself for the coming confrontation, “Keira, will you alert the local beat cops that we may have some trouble here within the next half an hour? Tell them we’ll call if we need help, otherwise they should stay away.”

  She quickly sent off the message as Ryo finished up his instructions.

  The trio stopped on the sidewalk to study the battered exterior of the shady drinking establishment. A rusty marquee loudly proclaimed Satan’s Lair in flashing red lights.

  Just inside the door, Ryo stopped his cohorts for several tense seconds as his eyes adjusted to the gloomy tavern. A hideous and hefty bar woman scrutinized them from behind the counter. Several solitary late morning inebriates were scattered about at the booths and card tables.

  Just as he had instructed them, his colleges took their positions.

  Ryo watched the proprietor carefully as he approached the bar.

  She flexed her heavily tattooed biceps menacingly, “You three don’t belong here.”

  He produced his badge and her eyes narrowed, “I have information that an unemployed Traffic Controller named Julian Korbus is currently in this establishment.”

  She glanced involuntarily to the right.

  “I want you to point him out to me and we’ll escort Mr. Korbus out of here without any trouble.”

  The bartender shook her head contemptuously, “You Free City jerks don’t have no authority in this town.” />
  Ryo gripped the bar and lunged towards her threateningly, “We’re after the thugs who blew up that laboratory on the moon!” He sneered with seething rage, “Do you want to join them in a Syndicate prison?”

  “HEY YOU BARFLIES!” the big woman shouted suddenly, “Has anyone seen Jules Korbus?”

  Ryo didn’t bother to turn around, he was certain that outburst was meant as a warning to one of the half-dozen patrons in the dingy pub.

  “I’ll shut down this place if I don’t find this idiot in the next two minutes,” the old Investigator snarled.

  “You’ve got no cause; my license and Municipal bribes are all paid up.”

  He slammed his fist hard on the greasy bar, “WE SHALL SEE!”

  The commotion was too much for a sleazy looking fellow in a back booth, the man bolted for the side exit in alarm.

  “RYO!” Lev bellowed.

  Keira leapt sideways and grabbed the fugitive's arm, but he deflected her with a walloping gut punch that sent the woman crashing into a rickety table.

  Ryo sprinted towards the escaping man but Lev got there first. The younger man tackled the escapee and the two tussled wildly on the filthy floor.

  The old Investigator joined the fray. He got kicked hard in the left side and stumbled backwards, slamming his shoulder painfully against the unforgiving wall.

  Lev jerked the bucking criminal to his feet and Ryo sprang forward and wrapped his arm around the man’s neck.

  “STOP!” Ryo tightened his python-like grip on the fugitive, “Stop or I’ll snap your friggin’ neck!”

  The criminal’s face grew red with asphyxia before he drooped limply and slumped to the floor.

  A half an hour later, two leery young beat cops led the battered and bruised Julian Korbus out of the wreaked bar in handcuffs.

  “Is there anything else before we go, Inspector?” the Sergeant asked.

  Ryo stared angrily at the tattooed barkeeper standing defiantly behind the bar, “Yeah, shutdown this dump and lock up the bartender for impeding a felony investigation.”