Mission: A Venus Affair

by V. A. Jeffrey

  “Will is different. And he doesn’t sway his hips as if he were giving someone a lap dance.”

  “What’s a lap dance?” asked Jonah.

  “Never mind!” we both snapped.

  As soon as the doors slid open to our three bedroom suite the kids barreled in to pick their rooms.

  “Just remember, the biggest room is for mom and dad!” I reminded them. The labor mech set the hover-carrier down and unloaded the luggage.

  “Will you be needing any more assistance?” grunted the mech. Which surprised us both because labor mechs didn’t talk. The ones that I was familiar with didn’t have voice boxes.

  “No,” we both said. The labor mech silently left.

  “Bob, this is ridiculous! I never thought that I‘d be face to face with such a thing! I’d heard about such mechs but didn’t expect to see them on the market so soon.”

  “Neither did I.”

  “Make sure any courtesy mech that comes to our suite is a regular, standard, mechanical looking mech. No big-breasted, half-naked, half-witted acting female mechs.” I grinned again.

  “What?”

  “Would you prefer an Adonis model mech instead? I saw a few of those in the lobby as well.”

  “No! Bob, this is not funny! It’s an outrage!” Pam’s cheeks flushed deep pink. She was so pretty when she was upset sometimes.

  “Alright, alright. I’m just kidding anyway.” Personally, I wasn’t a fan of these new-fangled mechs either. I wasn’t a fan of mechs, period. Call me a card carrying member of the Luddite brigade (I’m not really a huge fan of them either) but they were poised one day to replace all humans in all and any sort of meaningful, fulfilling and good paying work with the way things kept going in about one hundred years. If they were going to be built they should be more advanced, like androids. Like Will.

  But then, I suppose that would make them an even greater threat.

  Vartan Inc. was only one of the companies building them to look this way; that perfect physical specimen look, specifically for the cities of Vepaja and Cythera. Personally, I thought it was ridiculous.

  “I’ll be sure to let them know down at the front desk.”

  “Thank you.” Pam got to work unpacking and putting things away while I checked my messages on the suite’s computer.

  “Pam,” I asked.

  “Yes?” she called from the master bedroom.

  “Since when did labor mechs have the ability to speak?” There was a pause. Then I heard Jonah answer.

  “A few of the new ones at school talk, sometimes.”

  “Really?” answered Pam. “That’s progress, I guess.”

  “Huh, interesting.” I pondered this for a few minutes, then went back to my work.

  It was about four hours later when we were all rested from the trip, mostly unpacked and ready to take the kids to the circus when I heard a beep from my computer. The holo-screen jumped out and turned on. And I saw that I had a message from Diamond Dog. I decided to look up the message and read it from my pad. Opening the mail program from the data pad I opened the message. It didn’t look as if it were sent through U-net. Or from Diamond’s usual web addresses, though I surmised that at times he used hidden IP addresses and anonymous mail addresses. He must be in-transit somewhere again, I thought. He was always on the move. I opened it:

  Bob,

  I know this seems like the last minute. But I need to meet with you over a special job. Meet me at Cythera’s Star, it’s a bar near a vacation resort station in orbit around Venus. It’s very important. Meet me there this Thursday at noon. Shouldn’t take you long to get there from your hotel.

  - D

  A job? Huh? I’m not a smuggler. I go on missions, not jobs. To me, there was a difference.

  Why didn’t he just call and leave a voice message? Besides, I thought he was on his way to Langrenus? But Diamond never did stay in place for too long. It wasn’t like him. Still, I was on a long, promised vacation with my family and spending some badly needed time with them. I resented any interruptions. Very soon things were going to go to hell and I wanted to spend what time I had left with them. I’d meet him later or talk to him later about it. I turned it off and left with my family.

  3

  As cities go, Vepaja wasn’t particularly large. It was roughly one hundred fifty square miles and the advanced bio-dome made the sky shift from a clear, pale yellow to a greenish yellow depending on the slight weather fluctuations of the engineered climate system. And all this from a bird’s eye view while riding in a tram. Near the center the pyramid hotel was a very tall obelisk of gold and black, standing as a landmark and a quickly recognizable iconic symbol of the city. Vepaja: Gateway of the New and the Ancient. The city was like a jewel encased in jungle. The air was fragrant with delicate hothouse tropical flowers planted everywhere. Beyond its borders in the “wild” out there was a park reserve and the Eyraud Beach Campgrounds that edged the single, jade colored, Venusian sea.

  Having seen the circus show Moulin Rouge Extravaganza two days before, I found out at the hotel theater lobby that there were a Green circus show and a Yellow circus show which told different stories, and both which were dazzling storytelling, acrobatic and dancing extravaganzas. We’d already seen the Green one the day after we saw the Moulin Rouge. One memorable scene were the fabulous creatures. It started off as a shadow puppet show. Then these morphed into what appeared to be real animals. The first animals to come out were what the circus master called gorilla lions! Fierce and mighty from afar eventually they were revealed to be a clever and beautiful puppetry trick as acrobats climbed out of their magnificently painted jeweled and paper suits. I could feel the pulse of my son’s excitement, even above the crowd’s.

  I was determined to take the kids to the Yellow show later in the week.

  Today Jonah and I were on our way to this reserve to see wild animals. Mostly ligers and tigons, wildcats, silver back gorillas and other wild animals, and who knew what else.

  The tram had finally arrived at the Vepaja Jungle Reserve terminal. Pam and Mary were out on a shopping adventure.

  We made our way out along with the hundreds of other people milling off the reserve tram and my son and I zipped past the ticket counter. The line at the booths was impossibly long, snaking down past the tram. I don’t know why so many people refuse to purchase tickets to these kinds of things beforehand. They just end up looking like suckers. Really.

  We were shown to our private reserve hover car and our personal guide was already there to greet us. He was holding up our names on a large data pad.

  “G’day, mates!” he greeted us. “I’m Steve.”

  “Hi, Steve. I’m Bob and this is my son, Jonah.”

  “Good to meet ya.” He steered us into the car. I noticed there were several rifles mounted on the roof inside. Steve turned, giving me a double-take and gave me a quizzical look. I widened my eyes in question but said nothing. Jonah took out his reserve guide.

  “You guys say that you have lizard lions here? And what about other large lizards?”

  “Indeed we do, Jonah. What’s your favorite dinosaur?” asked Steve.

  “T-Rex, of course.”

  “Aw, we don’t have a T-Rex here. But we do have other lizards. Not quite as impressive as the Triassic or Jurassic dinos. I think you’ll like them.”

  “Predators?” asked Jonah.

  “Sure!” said Steve. “We’ve got all kinds of magnificent animals roaming around here in the jungles. Predators and non-predators. We’re expanding the jungles as well.”

  “How much have you expanded?”

  “About four hundred square kilometers so far. The rain forest around Cythera is larger and more impressive than this one. We hope to cover the entire surface of Venus with rainforests and savannahs one day. In about twenty years we hope to accomplish it. Hopefully, Venus will be a near self-sustaining planet like Earth – with a little help from this new, advanced expanding bio-dome we have.”

  �
�Impressive. Maybe one day the bio-dome won’t be needed.”

  “One day,” he said.

  If we have that kind of time.

  We set off through the jungle on a wide path that slowly seemed to disappear into the massive tangle of jungle, hovering close to the ground.

  “So what kinds of animals inhabit this region?” I asked.

  “We have the big cats, of course, everyone wants to see them, but we also have some smaller wild cats, warthogs, wildebeests, crocodiles, lots of tropical birds and insects and a new animal that was engineered interestingly enough, on Mars. We call it the lizard lion. It’s really an aquilops. Engineered to be larger than its ancient predecessor.” I frowned. Engineering dinosaurs? Out here?

  “Um, how long ago did you guys get these lizard lions from Mars?”

  “Oh, it was years ago. About a decade ago.”

  “Was it from the Triskelion Research Center?” Steve looked surprised.

  “How did you know?”

  “Oh, just a guess. I travel a lot for my company and I’d heard about the place in a passing conversation.”

  “You know, you do look familiar, like I’ve seen you somewhere before.”

  “Um, well,” I was sure I’d never met Steve in my life. “I do a fair bit of traveling. Maybe you’ve seen me. . .in transit somewhere?”

  “Yeah, maybe that’s it. So, you’ve been to Triskelion, then?” I nodded, wishing I hadn’t blurted that out and was now wondering where this was leading to.

  “Brilliant! Perhaps you’ve heard of Dr. Lafayette?” My smile was tight-lipped. I felt my nether regions clench reflexively.

  “Right. Unfortunately, I heard he passed away.”

  “Ah, yes. I’d heard that too. Seemed like it was under mysterious circumstances. Did you hear anything specific about it?”

  “Sadly, no.”

  Even though my son seemed to be studying his park guide I knew he was listening intently to the conversation.

  “What a shame. We received some of our more interesting specimens from that lab under his direction. Including our most recent specimen, a baby gorilla lion. We won't be able to release her into the wild for another few years yet. What a shame.” I winced inwardly at “specimen”.

  Specimens! Gorilla lions?!? I said nothing.

  “So an aquilops," interjected Jonah, "that’s a dinosaur, isn’t it? How did you guys engineer that?” Jonah came in right on time, ending that uncomfortable conversation.

  “It’s a relatively small one, yes, Jonah. Not the actual bog lizards people think of on Earth.”

  “Well, that’s a relief.”

  “Big dinosaurs would be awesome, though,” said Jonah. I mussed his hair.

  “I’m sure they would, as long as they aren’t hungry meat-eaters.”

  “Now you gentlemen don’t want to do any hunting for this trip, do you?”

  “No, not today,” I said quickly. “Just riding through and seeing the sights.”

  “Aww!” said Jonah. “I wanted to bring back a bird! You said we could go hunting, dad!”

  “I know, I know. We have some time later, son. Plenty of time.” A flock of rainbow-colored parrots burst through a canopy of jade-hued tree tops.

  “What kind of birds are those?” asked Jonah.

  “Rainbow lories. They are thriving here on Venus. Gorgeous little birds, aren’t they?” They were indeed. It was a flock of flowing, moving color; arrows of color in green, purple, red and blue and white. Another wild bird called out from the distance. Insects chirped around us.

  We approached a lake after a few minutes of Steve guiding us through the dense brush and explaining what some of the plants were named and their function. Every plant here had a reason for being here, helping to nourish and build the soil and earth of this place. It would be amazing if they could really do the impossible one day, turn Venus into a self-sustaining, life-giving planet. Some of the plants had leaves as big and wide as a man and on the underside filled with insects that scattered as he gingerly turned them over. Jonah was fascinated with them. For me, the insects? Not so much.

  By the lake, we saw a jaguar slaking its thirst. Upon seeing us it bared its teeth silently and slipped away back into the jungle. Following along the lake we eventually came to a small river that looked more like a wide stream where we saw a group of hippos drinking water and bathing. One of them yawned widely. And then nudged her baby along into the river with her. They nearly disappeared except for the top of the mother hippo’s head and ears. The little one paddled beside her and then whirled around her. Steve told us the names of the entire herd of hippos.

  About an hour into our trip we came to a raised walkway behind an electric fenced area to a large, wooden, two-story canvas structure reminiscent of the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio, except it was built out of bamboo, timber and weathered canvas. People were standing around outside, some were going in, some were coming out.

  “This here is the Vepaja Reserve Teaching Center. If you ever change your mind about going hunting remember they will let you know here which game are okay to hunt and which animals are off limits. Hunting parties leave here around nine on Friday mornings, once a month during the fall season.”

  “Thanks,” I said quietly.

  “Sure! The teaching center is where you can get an up-close look at some of our animals here, like the silver back gorillas and the wildcats. A few of the more cooperative animals here work with the animal trainers, like Karina the panther.” I looked at Jonah.

  “Want to go see?”

  “Yeah!”

  “Okay. Hold on while we go down,” said Steve. I looked at a trail with a sign that said: “Moonless Trail” that wound down far off into the distance.

  “That trail. Where does it lead?”

  “That’s a game trail. From time to time, you’ll find carnivores that hunt it. It eventually leads to the south, nearly all the way to Cythera.”

  “I see.” I studied it on my guide map as we got out to go and see some demonstrations with a jaguar by one of the animal trainers.

  “Can we a least get a huge fish before we leave? I’ve been practicing, dad. You know, practicing my fish hook skills and shooting skills.”

  “I don’t see why not. Sounds like a good idea to me. What kind of fish are here?”

  “Piranha, barracuda, flounder, angler fish, sturgeon, stingray and coelacanths, crocodiles and slime eels, and leedsichtys.”

  “Which one can I go for?” Steve held up his hands.

  “Well, mate, it all depends on which one will impress your friends the most.” Jonah’s expression turned mischievous.

  “A prehistoric fish would be cool.”

  “I can set up a trip for you to do that with your dad’s permission.” I nodded.

  “Catch and release or catch and eat?”

  “Only catch and release for now. Especially with the prehistoric animals. Because of genetic engineering, the fish are plentiful here and there are plans to engineer more species to produce more but we want to keep it that way.”

  We entered to the learning center, passing by a small souvenir shop on the way up the steps. Steve stopped to talk with a female employee while Jonah and I followed a small crowd of people to the main auditorium, a semi-outdoor place that reminded me of the Triskelion gymnasium. I had to breathe slowly and count to twenty to calm myself.

  “Are you okay, dad?” asked Jonah which surprised me. I couldn’t let my son see me so out of sorts over this. Calm down, Bob. You’re panicking over nothing.

  “I’m alright, son. It’s just that all this activity is making your old dad a little tired.” Jonah gave me a suspicious look.

  “Did that man on Mars hunt you down like an animal?” he inquired suddenly, which gave me a start.

  “What?”

  “Mom told me about the bad things that happened to you on Mars the last time you were there. She told me a few weeks ago. I’m sorry that awful stuff happened to you, dad.” I was shocked
. And touched.

  “Some bad things happened there, yeah. But I survived it. He did some really bad things to me and to a lot of other people and animals. But I escaped. Don’t you let that change what you want to do in life. Don’t let fear stop you.”

  “You don’t have to worry. I won’t. And we don’t have to shoot anything. Right now I just want to see the demonstration of the jaguar eating and hunting.” I smiled. I think I felt tears welling up. I fought them down quickly. I didn’t want to get all teary-eyed in front of my son.

  “Go on and get our seats. Get some good ones near the front!” He ran to find our seats while I went to find the restroom. My com-link device pinged. I looked at it. A message streamed through:

  What happened? Meet me at Cythera’s Star! Urgent! I have something important for you and your boss for a brand new weapon! Urgent! Your wife and kids may be in danger if you ignore this message again! Please read attachment!

  -D

  There were directions to a house where I was supposed to pick up a ship hidden out in the jungle beyond the city limit. My heart started to thud loudly and I felt sparks of electricity course briefly through me. It was Diamond again. I frowned. The hairs on my neck prickled.

  Diamond didn’t communicate like that. This couldn’t be him. Whoever it was, they knew enough about me to make me worried. And the threat to my family was unconscionable. It would not be endured. What on Earth was this about? I felt the hard pit in my stomach grow, fueling tiny coals of anger there. What was so urgent? What did Ellen need from this person? I knew one thing. I didn’t need them at all but they definitely needed me.

  I felt something cave in my left hand and saw that I had been holding the restroom door stall too tightly and a chunk of wood had come off in my hand, drawing blood. I hurled the bit of wood to the ground.

  When Jonah and I got back to the hotel I was going to heighten security around my family, find out who this bastard was, and when I did they had better have a damned good explanation for this message.

  4

  Early the next morning I dropped the bombshell on Pam, reluctantly. Actually, it wasn’t a bombshell in that sense but I let her know that “Diamond” wanted to meet with me. Who it really was I didn’t know but I was sure it wasn’t Diamond. I saw no need to confuse or worry my wife about it at this time with that bit of information. She took it in stride once again, to my relief.