“Up yours, you smart fucks. Always smart fucks telling me what I should do. I ain’t a genius like all you people, but I do know a few things. I lived in an air conditioned apartment while all you geniuses were sweating back there. I didn’t pass tenth grade, but I’m still smarter than all you shit heads.”
“Ah... if’n we promised not ta keep ya in prison would ya promise not ta run off and join up with the Stutchmans agin.”
“I’ll agree to that. I have no need for the Stutchmans.”
“Direct lie.”
“So what if it is? You’re all going to be caught and carved up soon anyway. Then I’ll be free and do what I want. If some of you are nice to me I may ask them not to kill you. Instead I’ll keep you as my personal slaves.” Rosco looked around the cavern at the hatred in the colonist’s eyes. “Come on,” he demanded, “kill these idiots. I’ll treat you right. The Stutchmans will too for anyone that’ll help them!”
“Lock this here fellah up,” Sam said with a sigh. “Ah will give ma decision on him after this here trouble is over.”
Jim turned and smiled at Rosco’s belligerent face. “There’s one thing we would like to know. How many explosive charges there are on the colony ship, could it be six?”
“I know nothing about that,” Rosco snapped. “I wasn’t there when they did it.”
“Direct lie.”
“Let’s play poker. Seven? Eight?”
“I told you shit head I don’t know.”
“Direct lie.”
“Nine? Ten?”
“Even if I did know, I wouldn’t tell you.”
“Eleven? Twelve? Thirteen?”
“Stop there,” Herb said. “He was lying when he said he wasn’t there, and there are twelve charges.”
“What?” Rosco said as his jaw dropped.
“Well,” Jim said with a satisfied smile, “smart man. You aren’t as clever as you thought you were.”
“I’m going to take great pleasure in watching them cut bits off of you, asshole.”
“Nothing pisses me off more than having an asshole call me an asshole. Is there an uncomfortable place where we can put this prick?”
“We found a small side cave back there,” Mort said. “I’m sure we could find something to secure the entrance.”
Sam nodded in agreement so Earl and Mort pushed Rosco toward the back of the cave.
“One last thing,” Jim called after them. “Are the detonators set off by a direct wire… or radio remote?”
“It’s radio remote,” Herb said.
“Do you know the frequency?”
“No, he does not.”
Jim watched as they rounded a bend ten meters away. “Now it’s time to see if Charles can be more realistic than that man. What do you think, Sam? Should we try for the trap and agree to giving him an orbital mansion, or tell him to give up and face the consequences?”
“Try a tellin’ him ta give up first.”
“Herb, can you put me through?”
“Not at the moment. He’s not in his cabin and that’s the only place we can call him without alerting his son.”
“I take it that you still have the open line to listen in?”
“Yes, but he hasn’t been in his cabin in sixteen hours. We’re a little concerned over that.”
“He’s probably in one of the women’s cabins enjoying his status,” Jim said.
“Low probability of that, he doesn’t seem to be interested.”
“All we can do is wait and see.”
* * *
The day progressed with continuing preparations and training. Levin completed the prototype of a plastic explosive detector and demonstrated it before all present. It was simple to operate with a small air intake that contained what was originally the tip of a dust spectro analysis probe. It detected traces of the hydrocarbon in the air. The colonists enthusiastically cooperated in everything they were told.
That evening brought an initial briefing for their move on the Stutchmans. Jim stood before the assembled group. Behind him was a large sheet of plastic on which was drawn a diagram of the camp, the nearby shuttle port and surrounding terrain features.
“Before dawn, the main group commanded by Sam will assemble just short of the settlement. Then Marie and I will slip into the port and take the shuttle.” Jim raised a hand and indicated Matt. “Another group under Matt here will take the main port tent complex. Matt, who do you want as second in command of your team?”
“Dan,” Matt said pointing to the Australian. “He can throw a boomerang at them if we run out of ammo.”
Jim smiled then continued with the briefing. “When word gets to the settlement, that should draw the bulk of the guards out to retake the port. Once that happens, the main group will sweep the settlement for remaining guards, rally support from the colonists and move out behind the guards who went to attack us at the port. That will catch them in the open between two forces. We’ll have a more detailed briefing on this tomorrow.”
“Are you sure they can jam the radio?” Matt asked.
“Affirmative,” Herb said. “Carol can block all surface to ship transmissions which are standard radio waves. The problem is with the parallel space accessing transceivers. We have no way of jamming them.”
“How many of those are there?” Jim asked.
“Two of them. One in the targeted shuttle and one in the guard’s complex of the settlement.”
“The last one’s mine,” Peter said from the cube. “Harry and I will disable it as soon as you’ve taken the shuttle.”
“Ok,” Matt said. “If by some miracle we capture the shuttle, capture the port and take out the guards. What’s next?”
“That shuttle will return to the colony ship at its regularly scheduled time. The one we have here will follow it using a method known as tagging to avoid detection from the Lydia.”
“I have three children on that ship,” one of the women said. “If they see us coming, that’s it for the ship. How safe is this tagging thing.”
Jim turned to face Captain Mull. “Captain?”
“Quite simple under the conditions. That ship’s a relatively large cargo carrier of New Hope design and manufacture. If the pilots of both ships coordinate their moves there’s no way for the Lydia’s sensors to detect the second.”
The woman nodded. She seemed satisfied with the answer. “What happens then?”
“The cargo shuttle will transfer you all through a docking corridor to the main ship where you will search for the explosives.”
“That will take too much time,” Matt said. “I’ve only seen diagrams of the thing, but it’s huge. Why can’t you just jam all frequencies and disable the detonator.”
“It’s not that big any more. Three quarters of it has been disassembled and now comprises a fleet of dead stick landers waiting to head for the surface. Carol, could you comment on the jamming question?”
“Yes,” Carol said as she stepped forward. “Even if I knew the frequency they used, jamming may set them off.”
Matt smiled. “Sorry for playing devils advocate here but I want to cover all angles. So what if they have put explosives on the landers?”
“Herb, could you answer that?”
“From the conversations we have overheard, there are no charges on the landers, just on what remains of the main ship.” The cube went silent for a moment. “Wait one, we have a V phone connect coming through. This time it’s the son, Ben. Psych team advises that you should answer.”
“Oh shit,” Jim said. “Put him through.”
“Mr. Young?” came a voice from the cube that Jim recognized.
“I’m here.”
“I’m getting tired of your games Mr. Young.”
“What games? All we’re trying to do is stay alive down here.”
“You know what I’m talking about,” Ben snapped. “Trying to make private deals with my father. You underestimated my intelligence didn’t you?”
“I have no idea w
hat you’re talking about.”
“Oh come now, bribing him with a mansion in orbit around that planet La Raza. You’re trying to turn my father against me and that is immoral Mr. Young.”
“So?”
“So, you can’t try that again. I have locked him away for his own good. I have to keep him from degenerates like you.”
“Degenerate? I was thinking the same thing about you.”
“Don’t antagonize him,” Herb said.
Ben let out with a low raspy laugh. “No, you’re the one that’s jeopardizing the welfare of this colony. You think they can survive without me? It was Jefferson in the early days of American independence that said, ‘I am thoroughly convinced that man left to his own devices cannot rule himself.’ I am the only one here with the intelligence and experience to rule.”
“I believe you’re taking that quote out of context...”
“No!” Ben shouted. “I know why you’re doing this. I know why you and the others are plotting against me. You’re jealous. You saw the look your wife gave me when I walked onto this ship. You’re afraid she would dump you and go after me; isn’t that right Mr. Young?”
“Ah...” Jim said as he looked around to see Carol’s shocked expression. “If you say so.”
“That other woman, Celia, she’s the same way. That’s why your friend is against me too. It’s the same with a number of the colonists. I threaten your virility. You’re afraid I’ll run off with your women aren’t you?”
“Ah... I never quite thought about it that way.”
“Well admit it then. You are a pervert in need of help. Just turn yourself in; I can get you counseling.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Well, you’d better think fast. I’m giving you an ultimatum. In twenty four hours I will start executing one hundred colonists every hour until you give yourself up. See what you’re forcing me to do. If you don’t comply, you will be murderers. This whole thing’s your fault and you know it.”
“Keep him talking,” Herb said. “We’re picking up something in the background.”
“Ah... I’m going to have to think on that first; can you give me more time.”
“No.”
“What are you going to do with us if we do give ourselves up?”
“I am going to establish a mental home where you will be placed until I decide that you’re well enough to enter society again. You see I am quite a sympathetic person. I know you can’t help yourself.”
“I’m still going to have to think about it.”
“You have twenty four hours. End transmission.”
Jim folded his arms and bowed his head. “Herb, what did you get at that end?”
“One of the psych team looked up the term in one of your books. You would call it paranoid schizophrenia. We have different terminology now but it means roughly the same thing. Another thing we detected was that he has no plan to put you in a mental home. It is the unanimous evaluation that he has planned something quite nasty.”
“Is that what you were trying to pick up?”
“No, there was another person in the room again. We give it an eighty percent probability that it was the same person present when Charles spoke.”
Jim frowned. “Looks like we have a wild card in the deck. Someone’s playing both ends against the middle up there.”
“Ah...” Herb said, followed by a brief silence before he continued. “Sorry for the delay, we had to look up your terminology. The team is in complete agreement with your statement.”
“There’s another old saying. ‘Never wear the crown. It’s better to be the power behind the thrown.’ That’s what the extra person’s probably doing.”
“Agreement at this end.”
“It looks like we’ll have to speed up our plans and strike tomorrow morning.”
“Agreed, and we’ll have to readjust our thinking to include an extra wild card, as you put it.”
Jim paced back and forth while thinking out loud. “This situation could plug up a hole in the plan. I could bring the shuttle up in plain sight and surrender. I could wave at him from the observation bubble, that should keep their attention away from the main party.”
“What if he asks to see the rest of us?” Carol asked.
“In that case, I’ll have to suit up and make faces at him from just outside the observation deck.” Jim turned to Carol with a grin. “Are you throwing these problems in just to protect your boyfriend?”
Carol contorted her face into a pronounced expression of disgust. “Yeuck, I’d sooner kiss a duck on the lips.”
Chapter 15
Jim peered at the cargo shuttle over a small rocky outcrop.
“Where’s the hatch Marie?” He said without looking back.
“On the other side. You can not see it from here.”
Jim ducked. “Margaret, are there still only two guards at the shuttle itself?”
“Yes, and the five in the port tents are quite relaxed and not paying any attention to the launch area.”
“Ok,” Jim said while standing. “Time for me to go into my act.”
“Be careful Jim,” Carol said over the radio.
“We can’t do this any other way. We’re too far away to use a stunner and too close to the shuttle to use a laser pistol.”
Jim commenced his casual stroll toward the cargo shuttle one hundred meters away. From where he was, he saw one guard walking his rounds close to the curved side of the large craft.
“He has spotted you,” Margaret said, “and he’s calling to the other guard.”
Jim continued his jaunt as he saw the man draw a sidearm. Raising his own arm, he gave a friendly wave. The man didn’t react. He stood there, awaiting Jim’s approach.
The guard was a large man dressed in a modern protective suit. While watching Jim, he occasionally glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the corner of the ship.
“He’s quite confident,” Margaret said. “We doubt that he intends to use the weapon, just yet.”
Jim glanced to the left and spotted a second man appear from behind the ship. “That’s nice to know,”
“The other man just used a pen phone,” Margaret said. “We intercepted the call and told him to apprehend you and bring you in unharmed.”
“Did he fall for it?” Jim asked anxiously.
“He did. We used a computer generated voice that exactly copied the voice of the woman he had been talking to.”
Jim continued to walk. The plan seemed foolproof, but he still had to force the cordial smile that was part of it. Plans were one thing, execution was another. Jim feared the human factor involved and the level of intelligence of the men he now faced. If they were too stupid they may react on emotion and kill him on the spot. If they had some degree of intelligence, they may realize something was wrong and disobey orders, killing him anyway.
Jim approached to within ten meters.
“Halt right there,” the first guard said. “Who are you?”
“Jim Young. I’ve come to ask you if you want to surrender.”
The two men advanced separated by a few meters. “Raise your hands and turn around.”
Jim complied with the order. “I’m not armed.”
“Shut up,” the first man said as he cautiously circled around to Jim’s left side. As he did so, he crossed in between Jim and the second man. To Jim, this showed a distinct lack of training. An experienced team wouldn’t cross that line. He couldn’t decide whether this was good or bad so he just kept it in mind.
The men moved with a considerable degree of wariness. They seemed to know that all was not as it appeared, but Jim was counting on them not knowing exactly what was amiss.
Jim smiled at the second man and left his hands raised as the first slapped the sides of his suit. The man had obvious knowledge of frisking techniques, but Jim couldn’t figure out at which end of the practice his experience lay.
“I told you I wasn’t armed,” Jim announced flippantly. �
�Could you hurry up and surrender. I’ve got better things to do than to stand here and have you get your thrills feeling my body.”
“Go that way stupid,” the first man said, shoving Jim in the direction of the port tent complex.
Jim stood fast as the man shoved him a second time. “Looks like you’re going to have to use force,” Jim said as he gave the man an arm which was seized and an attempt made to drag him.
“Grab his other arm Al,” one said. “I don’t know what this moron’s up to, but he won’t get away with it.”
Jim held out his other arm which was roughly seized. This time he didn’t resist. After a couple of paces Jim pivoted his left thumb inward to touch a control pad attached to the palm of the glove on his suit. Bright blue sparks jumped from the surface of the outfit to the hands of the two men. Their bodies jerked in a mild spasm and the two fell limp to the ground.
Jim looked down at the two unconscious bodies. “Hey Levin, it worked.”
He then turned to see Chris and Marie running to join him.
“I’ll set up one of the extra sensors here,” Chris said.
“Twelve,” the voice of a controller said. “There’s one alone in the tent next to you. He’s sitting against the wall two meters away.”
Jim stood watching Matt in the distance as he crept around one side of the port’s main tent. The figure hesitated turning its weapon in the direction of the tent’s outer wall.
“Is this thing effective through plastic material?” Matt asked over the system.
“Affirmative,” Levin said.
“Right... right... right... stop,” the controller said.
“Did I get him?” Matt asked after a couple of seconds.
“Affirmative,” the controller replied, “he is now unconscious.”
“Right’oh you poofters,” Dan, the Australian member of the freedom fighters, said over the system as Jim entered the shuttle’s airlock. “Hands in the air and don’t you bloody well move.”
“We’ve got ‘em all,” Matt announced.
“I told you buggers not to move,” Dan said. “Anyone else want to join your mate here on the floor.”
Assured that all was going well so far, Jim and Marie quickly walked through the shuttles inner cargo hatch.
To Wake the Living (The Time Stone Trilogy Book 2) Page 29
