Empty Space

by Alan Black

  Mrs. Altamont said, “Spit it out, Grant.”

  The doctor nodded. “She’s been assaulted, raped and beaten, we have three sets of DNA on her from the attacks and a fourth DNA sample not associated with any assault. We’ve run some blood tests and some toxicity screenings. We know she’s been drugged, but we don’t know what the drug is so we can’t give her anything to counter it. She is conscious and responsive. She’s obviously traumatized and not behaving normally.”

  Mrs. Altamont said, “What can you do for her?”

  “I’m afraid we can only clean her up, make her comfortable, and keep an eye on her for now. We’re still running some tests, but nothing—”

  “Excuse me,” York interrupted. “Doctor, did your tox screens check for devil’s breath?”

  The doctor spun on York “Who the hell are you?”

  Toby and Chrissie both spoke up at the same time, “He’s Ensign Sixteen from Empty Space.” “He’s York, he worked the hay harvest with us.”

  Captain Altamont snapped, “How would you know what he’s supposed to check for?”

  York said, “Devil’s breath. It’s an old Earth drug. Test for scopolamine. It used to be used by organized crime to control people. It’s a zombie drug they called the devil’s breath. It’s used to make people compliant. Devil’s breath also made them forgetful, not remembering anything they’d done. I believe she’s been given the specifically reconfigured 2B12 strain.”

  The doctor frowned, “Scopolamine 2B12?”

  York nodded, “Scopolamine should be easy enough to find, and once you locate the base substance, you can check for the specific strain. About a hundred years ago the drug was refined using a 2B12 process. It’s a drug we’re trained to use at the New Hope Officers Academy for interrogation purposes. I never heard about there being a counteragent. She may just have to wait for her body to flush it naturally out of her system. Until then, she’ll truthfully answer any question put to her and do anything she’s asked to do, but this strain of the drug won’t impact her memory. She’ll know everything she’s done and what’s been done to her. While she’s under the influence, she can’t stop herself from doing what she is told to do or saying what she’s asked to say.”

  Altamont shouted, “Did you do this to my daughter?” Two male relatives held him back. One was the fat man York had defeated in the wrestling match.

  York didn’t have any doubt Altamont would have attacked him if the man was free. He was sure he could protect himself from the older man. On the other hand, he was glad the man was restrained. He shook his head, “No, sir. I found her like this. I believe a group of junior officers from the Gambion did this. I found her after they abandoned her and left.”

  “They did this and left her alone this way? Where did the bastards go?”

  York nodded. “I don’t know where they are. I found their campsite up in the Torso Mountains, but their floater was gone and there wasn’t any clue as to where they went.”

  The doctor said, “How do we know you weren’t involved in this? Who are these men?”

  York said, “I’m prohibited by Navy regulations from giving any civilian the names of any officers I think are involved. I can only give those names to a higher-ranking active duty military officer.” He rolled up his sleeve. “However, I can volunteer my own DNA for comparison.” He looked at the doctor, “As long as you give me your word you will not keep my DNA on record as a permanent file?”

  It only took a moment for the doctor to extract a few cells, racing off to compare them against DNA from the assaults. Altamont glared at the fat man, “Do something, Baird.”

  Baird nodded, yanked out his comm unit and made a call to the Gambion. It amazed York that the fat man had a navy spacecraft’s number in his contact’s list.

  The doctor was back before Baird finished his call. “We have a DNA match on Ensign Sixteen.” He held up a hand to stop Altamont from attacking York. “His DNA is the fourth set on her. It’s only on her hands and one other, um, non-sexual location. The contact is limited to a few skin epithelial cells.”

  York nodded. “I had to carry her to the car.”

  The doctor said, “Those contacts would be consistent with the evidence. There aren’t any DNA matches for the two sets of fluids we found.”

  Mrs. Altamont said, “Two sets of fluid? I thought you found four sets of DNA. One is York’s, that should leave three.”

  The doctor nodded, “Two sets of fluid from the sexual assaults. There is a third set of DNA from bite marks on her breasts. They’re female.”

  Altamont spun on York. “You tell me who did this or by all the gods I’ll have you arrested for being an accessory or … or for obstruction of justice.”

  York shook his head. “I can’t. However, Doctor, you treated a Gambion junior officer after I fought him in a wrestling match yesterday. Do you have his records?”

  The doctor looked sheepish. “We aren’t allowed by law to keep DNA from routine medical tests.”

  York heard the unspoken conjunction and asked, “But?”

  “But, I already checked my records, since I haven’t, um … had time to delete them yet. He was Ensign Senior Grade Blade Balderano, right?”

  York smiled, “Junior. Yes that’s him.”

  The doctor shook his head, “His DNA didn’t match.”

  “Just because his DNA doesn’t match doesn’t mean he wasn’t involved. Just remember, I didn’t give you his name.”

  Baird finished his call and spoke up. “The captain of the Gambion admitted he has a group of junior officers who haven’t responded to his liberty recall. He refuses to give me their names or open their medical DNA database for a comparison test. He says he won’t give York orders to reveal names to us as Ensign Sixteen isn’t in his command and is actually assigned to Em.T-Sp8s. I left a message for Commander Paul at Empty Space, but I don’t want to wait for him to bother getting back to me.”

  York shrugged. “I am sorry, I can’t give you more than I already have, except to tell you if you find out who Balderano was with at the festival, then you are more than likely to know who you’re looking for.”

  Baird shook his head. “No. I have a faster way. Ensign Junior Grade York Sixteen. I am the planetary governor, Baird Altamont. I’m using my Republic government authorized powers to federalize Captain Altamont for these troubling slavery incursions. As ancillary to said investigation, I am ordering Captain Altamont to order you to give us the names of those missing officers.”

  TWENTY-ONE

  York woke late from a mid-morning nap. He would’ve slept longer but the smell of coffee in the air tickled his nose, interrupted his dreams and Vesper licking his face finished the interruption. He pat her, scratching behind her ears and along her sides. He found a spot on her side where every scratch activated a switch causing her leg to dance. He sighed with resignation as he swung his feet over the bedside. He had to get up to urinate anyway.

  Mimi fairly bowled him over with a hug in the hallway. “Thank you for finding Kenna.”

  York patted her gently on the shoulder with a flat hand. He tried not to push her away, but he wished she’d quit touching him. It didn’t feel bad, but it just wasn’t right. He’d been much more comfortable touching Samdon. “You’re welcome. I only found her by accident.”

  Fugget shouted from the porch, obviously overhearing their conversation. “That’s a load of mudslinging monkey manure.”

  York and Mimi joined him on the porch. Dogs, empty beer bottles and a dozen men and women, Jaden and Deliah among them, surrounded him. Their porch must have been a gathering point for several hours judging by the amount of detritus scattered about.

  York found an empty chair, let Vesper climb clumsily into his lap and shrugged. “Accident or not, they abandoned their campsite in a hurry. The rented floater was long gone, but they left meals uneaten and other items behind, things they didn’t bother grabbing, even in a hurry.”

  Fugget said, “Things like Kenna Altam
ont?”

  York said, “Exactly like her. Shoes, clothes, camping gear owned by the Gambion. Everything was left behind as if they didn’t take time to grab anything. They didn’t leave any clues as to where they went.”

  “The camping gear was owned by the Gambion?”

  York nodded. “I bagged everything I could pick up. Did you find the bags in the back of your car? I thought you would have by now. You may find some names on personal items as it’s kind of a military thing to stencil your name on your civvie undies, or you might find DNA evidence as to who was there, but you won’t find much else at the camping spot.”

  “Even if we could find it again?” Jaden asked.

  York smiled. “Yeah, I don’t know my way around very well and I must have accidently shut off the GPS.”

  Fugget said, “My Aunt Annie’s ancient ass! Your GPS wasn’t off by accident. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re covering up for them. Let my team get at their campsite, we may find out where they went.”

  York said, “I can give you a data scan of the area, even though I’d rather you not look. You know who they are. I gave the list of names to Captain Altamont as ordered. The DNA in those bags of trash I collected will give you solid proof as to who was camping there and who was involved in the kidnap and assault of Kenna Altamont. Believe me, if I knew where they went, I’d have gone after them myself.”

  Fugget said, “I don’t know what you’re trying to hide, but I guess I don’t have a way to force it out of you.”

  York said, “It’s best you let it go and concentrate on trying to find Balderano and his dog pack.”

  Fugget nodded. “Next time you need to make a trip like you did, you let us know. You didn’t have to go after them alone.”

  York said, “Alone is better.” He looked across the empty streets of Saorsa City. “I guess the crowds are gone with the Gambion’s crew back on their ship.”

  Mimi nodded. “I’m glad Kenna is back. I’d rather have her safe and sound than sell another quilt.”

  Fugget said, “Oh, speaking of money, York. Captain Altamont left this credit chit for you.”

  York said, “I can’t take it. I don’t want a reward for bringing Kenna home. I didn’t go after her for money—”

  Deliah laughed interrupting him. “Oh hell, honey. Bringing Kenna home ain’t what this money is for. It’s for you taking first place in the freestyle wrestling championships.”

  York looked at the chit. “Wait! You mean I got to hit Blade Balderano Junior as hard as I could and got paid for it, too? Oh, I really like this place.”

  Fugget said “I think your pay from the hay harvest is in there, too.”

  “Wait. I didn’t help bale hay for pay. I was just doing it for the fun of it.” Looking at the credit chit was a surprise, Altamont didn’t pay by time, just a few pennies for each bale made and stored. The pay wasn’t much money per bale, however their team had moved a lot of bales. And they all got a small bonus for completing the job before day’s end. He tossed the chit to Mimi. “I don’t rightly need this. How many quilts can I buy from you?”

  Mimi looked surprised. “You’d clean out about three quarters of my stock.”

  York said, “Then, can you pick them out and ship them for me? I want to buy one for every child at your cousin’s orphanage. Can you make sure the children get them and they aren’t taken by the orphanage?” Mimi’s face grew dark and the side conversations on the porch died. “What? I didn’t mean to imply your cousin would steal the quilts, it’s just the only experience I have with orphanages is the one I grew up in and I wouldn’t have seen stitch or patch on anything like this …” He let his voice fade away since his words weren’t having any affect. “Did I say something wrong?”

  Fugget frowned, twisting his face as if something unpleasant had made a permanent nest under his tongue. “We had slavers hit a small group of floaters in the Ferguson district.”

  “Right. You mentioned last night about slavers hitting a couple of farmsteads there and you were waiting for information on who was taken and who was killed.”

  Fugget said, “Mimi’s cousin’s place was at one of the farmsteads. She and all of the children were taken. Their floater was burned down to the base metal.”

  “The slavers took the children?” York managed to choke out. There were very few people he had any feelings for, but orphans always caused a lump in his guts. It didn’t pull on his heart strings, but it felt more like someone was tying knots in the rope between his asshole and the back of his neck. He knew from personal experience orphans had little control over their own lives. A simple blanket or quilt could be stolen easily from them and they would have no recourse. To have their little lives sold to the highest bidder for the gods-knew-what was … was … was … all he could think of was how it just wasn’t right.

  York had no words for how he felt. He’d thought he was done with most strong emotions. Sure, he liked the Fuggets and the Altamonts, especially Kenna, but he also liked chocolate ice cream. And he would eat strawberry ice cream with little remorse over any lost chocolate if the situation changed. He liked Jaden and his wife Deliah, however he also liked classical hip hop music. He’d listen to neo-gospel if hip hop wasn’t available and he wouldn’t miss hip hop one toe tapping bit. He liked Vesper and he knew he wouldn’t lose any sleep over it if she became supper. Somehow orphans touched something deeply buried within his core.

  He wanted to hurt someone much the same way he’d been hurt by the late Brother Calvin at the orphanage. He had hoped that Brother Calvin’s singling him out for abuse for as long as he’d been in his charge, had left the other children safe, especially those less able to deal with his abuse. A slaver taking a whole orphanage full of children was wholesale deviance. He clamped his jaw shut.

  Jaden said, “We’re all hanging here, hoping against all rational hope that the Ferguson investigative team can give us a clue as to where these bastards went.”

  Deliah said, “Every one of us here are members of a fast reaction swat team. As much as I want the animals who hurt Kenna Altamont, I want to go after our children first.”

  Fugget said, “What I want to know is whether this was random chance that they hit the orphanage location or whether they were tipped off to where they could get a floater full of kids.”

  Mimi tossed the credit chit back to York with a sigh. “I said more than once that we should split the kids up more. Dammit, Fugget, I told you we had room for a couple of children.”

  Fugget nodded, “Yeah and you know why we didn’t take any. As police reserve and military reserve we can both be called away for extended times at a moment’s notice and then what?” It looked like an old argument and they let it drop. More than one couple passed glances and glares back and forth, saying nothing.

  York knew one of humanities unanswered social dilemmas was what to do with unwanted children, disabled people, and the elderly. Many planets put such human flotsam in what amounted to little more than work farms or in facilities where the elderly had nothing to look forward to besides a lonely death. There were human societies where the elderly and disabled were allowed to wander into the wilds awaiting whatever death they could find. Other societies left young children to either fend for themselves or starve. He could see Liberty hadn’t resolved the issue any better than any other human society, on the other hand he could see these people cared. Their care was too little and too late, but a level of care was there.

  York said, “Was that the only orphanage on Liberty?”

  Mimi shook her head. “Liberty is a hard planet. We’re barely settled. People die and leave behind more children than we can take easily care for. There are other orphanages scattered around, but we’ve sent word to all of them to shut off their GPS locators and bounce all radio contacts through repeaters. They have to stay hidden until we know if they’re being targeted.”

  Fugget said, “We’re getting security teams to shadow them. Mimi and I are going to volunteer for the
detail if our swat expertise isn’t needed in Ferguson. We’ll have to go dark and go to a randomly chosen location to meet up with a randomly chosen orphanage and team up with randomly chosen security volunteers. If someone is passing orphanage locations to the slavers we can try to stop it by teaming up people who don’t know each other.”

  Mimi said, “Unfortunately, York, we’re going to ask you to cut your visit short. I’ve already called Ernie to come and shuttle you back to the station. We can’t take you with us to the orphanage as you … well, frankly—”

  York laughed, interrupting her. “You don’t trust me. Don’t worry, I’m not offended. I wouldn’t trust me either.” He handed her back the chit. “I still don’t need this and you have other children to give the quilts to, right? Besides, I might be a better help to you on Empty Space than staying here as an extra gun hand.”

  Fugget said, “What’ve you got in mind?”

  “I can dig into the station’s database to see if I can pick up any traces of ships and shuttles breaking orbit. The Gambion is here for slaver interdiction. I doubt they have their whole heart in it. I can assure you, they’re more concerned about locating their missing officers than finding out where a bunch of poor orphan children went. The missing officers come from upper class families on New Hope and other prime worlds. Those rich and powerful families are going to want to know what happened to their sons, daughters, and heirs. I don’t have to work with the Gambion while they’re here and they’ll leave me to my own activities. I can check for any suspect historical or immediate communications from Empty Space’s databases, especially if you send me the coordinates of where the slavers last struck.”

  He already knew his first data scan would be checking the area where he had found Kenna and Samdon. It would give Balderano and the dog pack what they deserve if slavers grabbed them up.

  TWENTY-TWO

  York and Vesper jogged along the corridor heading towards the hydroponic gardens. The acres of grass and plants were sadly overgrown and more tangled than the wildly forested areas of Liberty. Despite the automatic trimming, mowing and edging machinery, the oxygen giving plants proliferated faster than the machines could keep up. Thirty years of neglect left the area a virtual playground for York’s new companion.