The Nightshade Problem: Sol Space Volume Two

by James Wilks

  She swung her legs over the cot and stood. “Is my crew okay?”

  “Crew’s fine, far as I know. Released your friends about fifteen minutes ago.”

  “Then you’re here to release me.” It wasn’t a question. She took several steps towards the bars.

  “Well, there’s a problem with that, y’see,” the mournful tone in his voice continued. “Seems that someone out there does not want you to leave this cell ‘cept flat on your back.” He produced a key from his pocket and held it up.

  Staples stopped, then took a step back. “You’re joking.”

  “‘Fraid not.” He slid the key into the cell door. “Someone offered me a lot of money to see that you got killed trying to escape.”

  “Hasn’t that one been done to death?” Staples asked nervously, then winced at her unintentional and morbid pun.

  “Old tricks are the best tricks, they say.” He turned the key. The latch clicked, and he swung the door wide.

  “You don’t want to do this.” She felt foolish saying it. It was what everyone said. Obviously the tall sheriff entering her cell did want to do this; he wouldn’t be doing it otherwise. “The man paying you isn’t who or even what you think he is. If you do this, he’ll have you killed too.” She felt as if she were begging, trying to ply him with reasons. The truth was she wasn’t at all sure that Victor would kill this man if he murdered her. Why eliminate an obedient pawn?

  The sheriff took a step towards her. “He might. He might at that. ‘Course, it is an awful lot of money.”

  He drew his pistol from its holster.

  When Jabir and Charis arrived at the Bodega, a local open-air market that was currently closed off with a heavy metal grate, there was no one there. The doctor had traded his coat for one of Jang’s spare ballistic jackets, and Charis was wearing her flight suit grays. The bag slung over her shoulder carried several pistols and magazines of ammunition. They looked around the darkened avenue for their crewmates, neither of them with the slightest idea about how to seem unobtrusive while alone on the street in the middle of the night.

  Two minutes later, they heard quickened footsteps from a nearby alley, and Charis doffed the backpack, reached into it, and fumbled for a pistol. She felt silly and helpless, but determined nonetheless. She was intensely relieved when Jang appeared out of the alley with Evelyn behind him. A man she had never seen before brought up the rear, a tall and broad man in a grey tee shirt and black cargos. His hair created a spiked silhouette as the three of them crossed the street to meet them. When they passed under a dimmed streetlight, Evelyn’s copper tresses shone like a beacon.

  Once they were a few meters away, Charis handed the bag to Jabir and stepped forward to hug the other woman. Evelyn detached herself after a few seconds only to rush to the doctor’s arms. He tried to affect a humoring air when he enfolded her, but his relief was obvious to Charis at least. A few moments of awkwardness passed while the computer scientist introduced the newcomer Overton to Charis and the doctor. When she did so, she explained that he was a friend of Dinah’s.

  “Where is Ms. Hazra?” Jabir questioned him quietly.

  Overton did not answer, but he gritted his teeth and shook his head. Jabir took this to mean that she would not be joining them.

  Charis retrieved her bag and then distributed the contents of the backpack to the others, though Evelyn refused a pistol. Overton expertly tucked his weapon into his waistband after performing a quick check. Jang reloaded his gun and then holstered it. The doctor fiddled with his, tucking it first under his arm, then inside his jacket, and finally settling on his waistband also. As he did so, he removed the magazine and slid it into his rear pocket.

  “Not much good without bullets, Doctor,” Jang commented.

  Jabir shook his head. “I swore to ‘do no harm,’ Mr. Jang. I’ll not extend that to terroristic threatening in this case.”

  Charis removed the pistol she had brought for herself last. She looked at it, glanced at the three men around her, and placed it back in the backpack. It felt most natural to her to carry it there for the time being.

  “I am sorry we were late,” Jang said as they headed out. “We had to free ourselves of our police followers.”

  “You make it sound like they’re a cult,” Charis quipped, but her humor was born from nerves, and it fell flat. The others did her the honor of not acknowledging it.

  Jang led them back across the street and down a different alleyway. They turned left, then right, then right again, and Charis was almost immediately lost. She could still see the dim glow from the dome lights above her, but the alleys were too narrow to allow much of it to penetrate. After what seemed like a needlessly circuitous route, they emerged from between two buildings and the police station was across from them. It was made of cut stone and metal, like many of the buildings around them, and there were twin transparent polycarbonate doors on the front. Light shone from inside, and Charis could just make out the shoulder of a deputy at the desk in the lobby.

  Jang stopped them up short on the other side of the street. “Now, our goal is that no one is injured. If this is done well, there will be no shots fired. We will enter and demand to see the captain. If they refuse, I will do the threatening.”

  “You know how stupid this is, right?” Overton asked. It was the first time he had spoken since their round of introductions. “They’ll have cameras all over the station. They’ll know who we are and what ship you’re off. They’ll lock your ship down and you won’t be able to leave.”

  “Actually,” Charis said, “the ship’s already locked down.”

  Jang nodded. “This is a desperate and unwise move to be sure, but we have to rescue the captain. Once we know she’s safe, we’ll deal with the consequences.” He looked over at Evelyn and noted that she looked terrified. He opened his mouth to suggest that she stay behind, but the woman, anticipating his thought, shook her head.

  “We’re all thinking that Victor bought the police.” It wasn’t a question, but Charis raised her voice at the end of it anyway. “That’s what we’re all thinking.”

  “Rather say, that is what we must be sure is not true,” the doctor clarified.

  “Then let’s not ruin our stupid idea by thinking about it too much,” Overton said to urge them forward, and then adjusted his gun to be more easily accessible. His jacket concealed it, but just barely.

  “Then follow my lead,” Jang said, and he began to walk purposefully across the street to the police station. The rest struggled to keep up. Just as they were approaching the doors, they could see movement from inside. It was apparent someone was coming out to meet them. Charis wondered how it would go if the sheriff had seen them coming and was on his way out to greet them. She sunk her hand into the backpack and gripped her pistol. The door opened, and Clea Staples stepped outside, unbound and smiling faintly.

  Jang stopped abruptly, and Charis ran right into him. It didn’t do more than jostle him, but she stepped back several paces and looked with confusion at her captain. They all did.

  “Hi!” she said, and waved at them. Charis raised her hand from the backpack to wave back, then saw that there was a pistol in it and quickly jammed it back inside. Staples took a few steps to close with the group, stopped, and examined them, her eyes flicking back and forth.

  “Rescue attempt?” she asked Jang.

  He nodded stiffly.

  “I really appreciate it, but I’m fine,” she said.

  Evelyn moved up to Staples to embrace her, as she had not had the chance to at the restaurant or in the police station.

  Staples returned the hug. “God, it’s so good to see you alive, Evelyn. We were all heartbroken when Cronos Station was destroyed.”

  “It’s good to see you too,” Evelyn wiped a tear away, then shook her head and inhaled deeply in an effort to control her emotions.

  “Captain, I am quite relieved to see you emancipated and unharmed, but might I suggest that we do this somewhere more private?” the do
ctor inquired.

  Staples looked around her at the deserted street. There wasn’t a soul in sight. If they had been on Earth, she thought that they might have heard crickets. Jabir began to elaborate, but she cut him off. “No, I agree doctor. There have already been two attempts on my life in this town. I’m not eager to see if the third time’s the charm.”

  “Two, Captain?” Jang asked.

  “It’s, well… it’s not a long story, but it’s a strange one. It can wait. We’d better head back to Gringolet.” She gestured in the general direction of her ship.

  “Can I interest you in a firearm, Captain?” Charis asked, producing the pistol from the backpack more gingerly this time.

  Staples pushed her flight jacket to the side to reveal a pistol tucked in her own waistband. Jang recognized it immediately as the model used by the sheriff and his deputies. He cocked an eyebrow at her, but she shook her head and pressed her finger to her lips.

  The six of them made their way through the town very carefully. Despite the hour, there were a few residents walking the streets. Some of them were up early to head to work, and others were wandering home after concluding late night revels. Jang and Overton watched them all warily. The security chief kept the lead and the former military officer brought up the rear; the two had fallen into an easy pattern designed to protect their civilian charges.

  After it was clear that they weren’t being followed, Jabir quietly questioned Staples. “Captain, I am far from an expert in firearms, but if I’m not mistaken, the weapon you brandished is not of the sort we keep on the ship.”

  “It’s the sheriff’s,” Jang muttered as he turned a corner, his hand near the pistol in his waistband.

  The doctor’s eyebrows went up. “I’m intrigued to hear how you relieved him of it.” The rest of them followed Jang into a larger avenue that lead towards the berthing area.

  “And then managed to waltz out of the police station,” Evelyn added, sensing an exciting story.

  “Actually, he gave it to me,” Staples said, glancing around her at both the darker alleys and the strangers passing by.

  When she did not offer more, Jabir prompted her. “I had rather hoped for a tale of fisticuffs. I had no idea you were so persuasive.”

  She chuckled. “Not hardly.” She glanced at the rest of them and realized that they were all anxiously anticipating the story. They had been ready to storm into a police station to rescue her, guns in hand if not blazing, and now there was no climax. They wanted the story, and though she would have preferred to wait until they were on the ship, she decided to tell it anyway.

  “The sheriff… Glover… came into my cell. I actually really thought that he was going to shoot me. Especially when he told me that someone offered him a lot of money to do so.”

  Evelyn gasped. “Seriously?” she asked.

  The question might have been rhetorical, but Staples answered anyway. “Quite seriously. He didn’t say who, but of course, we all know who, at least indirectly.” She paused as an intoxicated couple stumbled by. A moment later an automaton not unlike Brutus strolled by guiding two dogs on leashes. Staples looked around for a fire hydrant before continuing. “Seems our local sheriff is a good man. He knew the fight in the restaurant was self-defense. He said he didn’t have any real interest in money. If he did, this certainly isn’t the place to make it.” From the rear of their procession, Overton grunted his agreement.

  Staples conjectured, “I think he’s a rare breed; an honest, good man who believes in his work. The law is a big, complicated, and messy affair on Earth, but out here? He can keep things simple, and as long as things move smoothly and he doesn’t anger anyone, he can do what he thinks is right.”

  “He’s like a sheriff from the wild west,” Charis said.

  Staples arched an eyebrow at her; the navigator didn’t seem like a Western fan.

  “What?” she asked defensively. “John likes old movies.”

  “Fair enough,” Staples replied. “The point is, it’s pretty obvious that someone wants us dead, or me at least. Glover can’t be bought. In fact, I’m pretty sure that the only reason we’re walking free right now, self-defense or no, is that he wants to get us out of harm’s way.”

  “And off the streets before they get crowded,” Jang added.

  “That too. He didn’t say it, but he’d like us gone as soon as possible. The sooner we leave, the less likely it is that someone will shoot up another restaurant.”

  “It seems like no one ever wants us to stay out here. John says we’re still a good week out from being ready,” Charis said.

  “And I told him that. He’d like us to stay on the ship, but he won’t restrict us. What he will do is run extra security patrols.”

  “That must have been what those deputies were doing,” Evelyn reflected. “They weren’t following us to try to kill us. They were watching out for us.”

  Jang looked back and nodded. “I suspected as much.”

  Evelyn swatted him on the back of the shoulder. “You might have said something! I was terrified they were going to try to kill us.”

  Jang pulled an apologetic face. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t be sure.” They were nearing the end of the avenue. The berthing tubeways were just a few turns away.

  “You still haven’t explained the weapon, Captain,” Jabir observed.

  “Well, he thought I might need it more than him. He didn’t want to send me on without some protection.”

  “Huh,” Evelyn said. “What a nice guy.” As Jang made another turn, the tube that led to Gringolet came into view.

  Chapter 7

  The hardest part was convincing Overton without Brutus present on the ship. The virtual day had broken outside, and they had all been up for many hours longer than they would have liked, but there were too many questions to be answered to allow for sleep. Overton did his best to poke holes in the Victor theory. He conjectured that Brutus was being controlled remotely by someone, or that he was merely an impressive simulacrum of AI. Jang, Staples, and Charis took turns explaining how they had explored all of those explanations and more.

  Evelyn was easier to convince, as she had been with the crew through much of the initial job that had brought them out to Jovian space. She could see that the pieces fit, and as a computer scientist, she understood that true Artificial Intelligence had likely been possible for several years had anyone dedicated enough time and money to the project. It was the limitations imposed by both legality and resources rather than technology that had prevented something like Victor from coming into existence before now, and so she was not shocked with the explanation the crew provided. She seemed both intrigued by the possibility of meeting Brutus and angry with him. Whether he had intended it or not, it was Brutus’ actions which had caused the death of Herc Bauer and nearly resulted in the annihilation of her intellect.

  Gradually, as the five of them sat in the mess hall of the ship and snacked on chips and salsa, they brought the two newcomers up to date on all that they knew.

  “I have to say, I kind of wish you hadn’t told me,” Overton said. He sat on one of the folding benches attached to the table with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. He stared at the floor.

  Evelyn looked at him, her long hair swaying gently in the light gravity. “Why?”

  “Because now I’m in it too.” He looked at Staples, Jang, and Charis in turn. “I can’t go back to my life.”

  “That’s true,” Staples agreed. “But we didn’t do that. I’m afraid you got involved with the wrong woman.” She was at this point reasonably sure that when Dinah had disappeared for several nights on Cronos Station during their first trip there, Overton had been the cause.

  “Wish I could say that was the first time that happened.” His voice was equal parts bitter and amused.

  “The truth is, whether we told you all of this or not, you’re a target. Believe me, we’ve talked a lot about this.” She looked at the other crew members. “We’re not eager to
bring anyone into this that we don’t have to. Anyone who knows is a target. Victor is on a slash and burn to get rid of anyone who knows that he exists. The only thing keeping him in check is his fear of exposing himself in the process.”

  “Yeah, I know you’re right. I guess this means I’m with you now.” He glanced up at his new captain. “How’s your dental plan?”

  “Non-existent, I’m afraid, but our doctor is very good.” She managed to muster a welcoming smile. “You’re welcome to join us. I think you’ve proved your worth, and if Dinah will vouch for you…” She left the sentence for him to pick up. Though she didn’t want to inquire as to her chief engineer’s whereabouts directly, she hoped that Overton would offer something up, but she was disappointed.

  “What about me, Captain?” Evelyn asked, batting her eyelashes coquettishly.

  “I can’t ask you to join the crew, Evelyn. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve been a member on shore leave since you left.” This time her smile was more genuine.

  Evelyn flipped her hair. “Naturally. Why wouldn’t you want me?”

  Jesus, Staples thought, the woman might be smart as a whip with computers, but she radiates sex. She wondered idly if Evelyn’s enhanced pheromone levels had worn off yet. “I’ll let that drift,” she replied.

  “So what’s the plan?” Overton asked. “I mean, I get that we’re in a bit of a stalemate here. You can’t expose Victor without giving up Brutus, and he’s got to watch his moves so he doesn’t expose himself; he’s also trying not to kill his only son. The question is, what do we do? Do we have a plan?”

  There was an uncomfortable silence for several seconds before Staples admitted it. “Not as such. We’ve been in survival mode since Cronos Station exploded. The priority for the moment is getting repaired, refueled, and leaving. I’m not entirely sure where to, but towards the core is safer than out here.”

  Overton grunted, but nodded as well. “Survival isn’t much of a long-term goal, but it’s a good short-term one.”