by Simon Haynes
Ten minutes later they were sitting in a cab, heading to her apartment. Alice was carrying a huge bat from some sport Harriet had never heard of, with a long rubber-clad handle and a thick wooden blade. It looked pretty damned solid, and she reckoned it would do a lot of damage. Judging from Alice's expression, she was more than ready to use it. She'd even given it a name: the Smith-basher.
They left the cab and took the elevator to her floor, strolling down the carpeted hallway to her front door. When they got there, she reached out with her access card … and froze.
The door was ajar.
— ♦ —
Harriet reacted instantly, thrusting her arm out to hold Alice back. She put a finger to her lips, and gently eased the apartment door open a couple of inches. She had no intention of going in, she just wanted to know if anyone was inside.
The apartment was deathly quiet.
It had to be Smith, of course. He had searched her bag, and he must have found something with her address on. Alice's idea about the gun had been right after all, and Harriet wished she'd thought of it herself.
The only positive was that Smith had been wearing an empty holster when he came to the office. If he'd left the gun aboard his ship, he was unarmed too. She didn't like their chances though, not even with Alice brandishing her new bat.
"Let's rush him," whispered Alice, as though her bat gave her some kind of immunity. "I'll knock his head off."
"Shh!" Harriet put her head on one side, and listened. There was no noise at all, but if Smith had heard them, he'd been standing still and listening too.
"Yahhhhh!" shouted Alice at the top of her voice, kicking the door wide open and charging inside with another blood-curdling yell. "Come out, you bastard. Come out and face me!"
Once Harriet's heart started beating again, she ran in after the teenager. The kitchen was empty, and as she ran towards the bedrooms she noticed cupboards and drawers sitting open. Alice was ahead of her, and after checking one room she darted past into the other. Then they checked the bathroom, but that was empty too.
"Well, he's not here," declared Alice.
"He probably jumped out the window when you started yelling."
Alice looked hopeful. "Do you think so?"
"No, of course not. He's long gone."
"Smith, you mean?"
"Who else could it be?" muttered Harriet. "I don't think Bernie's thought of sending burglars to turn my flat over … not yet, at least, but you know what her twisted training missions are like." She locked the front door, but it seemed inadequate. What if Smith came back later, when they were both asleep? "We can't stay here," she said suddenly.
"Can we go to a hotel?"
"Sure, if you pay for it."
Alice shrugged. "We could sleep rough. Wouldn't be the first time."
"No thanks." Harriet thought for a moment. "We could sleep at the office. Nobody would trouble us there, not with Bernie around."
"Bernie would trouble me," said Alice. "She'll be after me for that damned essay."
"More like that borrowed uniform, and the call-out you decided to handle."
"Look, we don't have to hide." Alice gestured with the bat. "We'll jam some furniture against the front door, and if he tries to break in I'll knock him into the middle of next week." She could see Harriet considering it. "If we leave now, he might confront us in the hall, or just outside in the street. We're better off here, trust me."
"I wish I knew what he was after," said Harriet. "I mean, why search the apartment? What was he looking for?"
"Maybe he knows we share this place. He might have been looking for a recent photo of me, or something with my real name on."
"Anything like that in your room?"
"As if. I move around too much to keep stuff."
"All right, the kitchen table weighs a ton. We'll shove that against the front door and stack some glasses on top. If he moves it, they'll fall over and wake us up."
Alice made a face. "You think I'm going to sleep after hearing he's been here?"
"There's always the office."
"Thanks. I'll pass."
They moved the table and Harriet stacked several glasses on top, making an unstable structure which would fall over if anyone so much as breathed on it. She just hoped the neighbours didn't play any loud music, or the whole lot would come down. As it was, she knew she'd lie awake half the night waiting for the crash.
After dinner she slipped a carving knife from the cutlery drawer and put it under her pillow. Then she realised she might slice her own ear off in the night, and moved it to the bedside cabinet instead.
That was as much as she could do, and she settled down with Alice to watch a movie.
"Did you have to choose horror?" was her only comment, as the end credits rolled.
After that she said good-night and turned in. As she lay there the darkness, with the actors' screams still ringing in her ears, she wondered whether she'd make it to the morning. And whether Bernie would let her carry the station's only gun.
Chapter 4
Alice woke early, and her fears of the night before seemed ridiculous with the morning sun streaming into her room. She got up quickly, dressed in her running gear, and made her way to the front door. Then she saw the kitchen table with its leaning tower of glassware, and her lips thinned. She wanted her morning run before work, and Harriet would be asleep for at least another hour yet. So, she moved the glasses and struggled with the heavy table until she judged there was enough clearance to open the front door.
Alice couldn't put the glasses back, of course, but Smith hadn't bothered them in the night, and she doubted he'd be back in the cold light of day.
After a moment's hesitation, she slid under the table, opened the door and left the apartment. Once outside, she ran down the broad street towards the park, passing several other apartment buildings on the way. It wasn't a wealthy area, but there were still robots around doing maintenance on the buildings and gardens, and a large team of construction bots was repairing a section of road where tree roots had cracked the surface.
She wrinkled her nose at the smell of hot tarmac, and took a couple of extra-deep breaths to clear her lungs once she was past the roadworks.
Alice ran without effort, loping along easily. There wasn't much traffic around, and she didn't see another human all the way to the park. The few shops she passed were all closed.
At the park she ran through the big gates and followed her usual path towards the small lake. The bushes were neatly trimmed, and there were many wooden benches and trees with memorial plaques. On Dismolle, a renowned retirement planet, there were memorial plaques everywhere. Alice's expression tightened as she ran past the trees and benches. Her uncle didn't have a plaque anywhere.
A few minutes later she reached the lake, and she began her first lap. It was a favourite run of hers, and she didn't hold back, belting round the neatly-tended path until her breath came in ragged gasps. The lake was hemmed in by bushes, which deadened the sound of her footsteps, and it was like running in a natural stadium.
After running at a slower pace for a minute or two, Alice took a seat on a bench. As she looked out across the lake, she could feel her heart pounding from the hard running, but she also felt a lot better.
"Oh. Hey there."
Alice turned. A woman was approaching the bench, apparently having just stepped out of the bushes. She was wearing jeans and a blouse, and a mass of dark hair framed her face like a fuzzy cloud. Instinctively, Alice glanced at her shoes, but the woman was wearing high heels. Clearly not a runner. "Morning," she said bluntly.
"Lovely day, isn't it?"
It was, until you showed up, thought Alice. She wasn't big on people at the best of times, and especially not while trying to clear the sleep from her brain. Eager to leave, she got up to resume her run.
"Just a minute," said the woman. "I want to ask you something."
Alice glanced at her. There was nobody else around, but Alice wasn't bothered about that. G
rowing up in children's homes, she'd often had to face off against much older kids, and she'd learned to fight dirty. Even so, she felt a sudden tension. The woman had been lurking in the bushes right along Alice's regular run, and if someone were setting up an ambush it would be the perfect spot. "What is it?"
"I don't suppose you've seen my dog, have you? About so big, sort of yellowish?"
Alice relaxed. "Sorry, I haven't seen a thing."
"Damn. I only arrived yesterday, and as soon as we hit the park he ran off. Haven't seen so much as a whisker ever since."
Despite her eagerness to continue her run, Alice's Peace Force instincts kicked in. "Maybe he's trying to get home, wherever that is."
The woman laughed. "I doubt it. We landed at the spaceport, and he hates the noise."
"You flew in?"
"Yes. I'm Teresa, by the way."
"Alice. So where did you come from?"
"Everywhere. My parents run a small freighter. We only landed on Dismolle to visit family."
"You're a spacer?" Alice eyed the woman. "What are you doing with a pet dog? They hate being in space."
Teresa hesitated, then sighed. "Okay, okay, you got me," she said, taking a seat on the wooden bench. "Sit with me a minute?"
"Why?"
"I just want to talk to you."
With a jolt, Alice realised the woman was a plant, probably working with Smith. She wanted to turn and run, but this might be her only chance to find out what they wanted from her. Keeping her eyes peeled, in case anyone else was lurking in the bushes, she stood and faced Teresa with her hands on her hips. "Talk about what?" she demanded.
"You have family out there," said the woman. "We can help you."
Alice felt a flash of red-hot anger. All those years she'd suffered, and here in front of her was one of the people who'd let her down so badly. Furious, she let fly. "Where was my so-called family when my uncle was shot right in front of me?" she shouted.
"But—"
"I was only eight years old, and you packed me off to a home! I didn't hear anything from my precious family then, did I? All those nights crying myself to sleep, all the times I got my head kicked in by vicious bullies." Alice took a deep, shuddering breath. "Listen, and listen real good. The Peace Force is my home now. Harriet Walsh, she's the only family I have. All the rest of you, you can stay the hell out of my life." Alice turned and ran, her vision blurred with tears of rage.
"Rebecca, wait!"
"Don't ever call me that!" Alice shouted over her shoulder, and she put her head down and ran as hard as she could. She tore the rest of the way round the lake, left the park and raced back to the apartment without stopping for breath.
When she got there, the tears were gone but the white-hot anger remained. She almost hoped Smith would step out of the shadows, so she could work off her rage on him, but she made it to the apartment without so much as a shadow out of place.
She paused at the door, wiping her face with her sleeve. Never show weakness, that was one of her iron-clad rules. And so, when Harriet opened the door and gave her an angry lecture on going out alone, Alice just apologised and then went to take a shower.
— ♦ —
Bernie was waiting when they arrived at the office. "Trainee Alice, you will continue working on your essay."
"Yes Bernie," said Alice meekly.
Harriet was surprised Bernie hadn't mentioned Alice's adventure of the previous day, but she was sure it would come up later. Robots never forgot … unless you wiped them, of course.
"Did anyone come in overnight?" asked Harriet, after Alice had gone to find a computer.
"Nobody has been here. There have been no calls."
Bernie sounded wistful, and Harriet wondered what a member of the public would think if they did meet the huge robot face-to-face. Even worse, if Bernie tried to shake their hand they'd probably end up in hospital. "Nobody, eh? That makes a change."
"On the contrary, it's the same every night."
Robots didn't get sarcasm, either. "Do you mind if I make a couple of calls? I want to upgrade the security at my flat. Someone got in yesterday, and we had to jam a table against the door last night."
"That is distressing. Did you catch the perpetrator?"
"He'd already left."
"He? Do you know this person?"
Harriet paused, then decided to tell Bernie about Smith. She explained how he'd come into the station looking for Alice, and how he'd got hold of her address.
"Why was he looking for Trainee Alice?"
"He says he's her uncle. But you should have seen him, Bernie. He looked like a bounty hunter or something."
"Did he not recognise you?"
"Me?"
"Certainly. Since you and Alice are sisters, he would be your uncle too."
Harriet frowned. Some time ago she'd asked Bernie to alter the official records, showing Alice to be her sister, and at the time she told the robot they were correcting a mistake in the paperwork. Bernie didn't know Alice and Harriet weren't even related. "Um, yeah. He's from a different branch of the family."
"In that case, yes, you are permitted to make calls."
"Thanks."
"The cost will be deducted from your wages."
Harriet sighed. If someone could install a slot in the top of Bernie's head, she'd make the world's best piggy bank. There was no use arguing, so she went to her desk to look up the nearest security firm.
"Hi. This is Lock'n'Bolt security. Our office hours are Mondays from two to three p.m. Callouts are by appointment only. Have a nice day!"
Harriet declined to leave a message, and called a different firm. All she got this time was a disconnected tone. Then she tried a third company.
"Hi, this is the Mega Laundry. How can I help you today?"
"I was looking for Mega Locksmiths."
"Oh, we dropped that business. No demand."
"But I need some new locks."
"What, on Dismolle?"
"I know, but—"
"Sorry. How about a special on your weekly laundry?"
"I'll pass, thanks." Harriet tried three more firms, but they'd either closed down, or they'd moved into other services. That was the trouble with living on a peaceful retirement planet: You could get all the aged-care products you needed, but try and buy a school bag or a baby's cot … or new locks … and you were in for a long wait and a huge price tag.
Harriet thought for a moment, then decided to try another tack. She got up and walked to the grocery store in the reception area, where the elderly owner, Dave Birch, was sitting behind the counter with his customary sheaf of loose pages. She often saw him scribbling in the margins, muttering to himself, and she'd never thought to ask what he was doing. She assumed, from his intense concentration, that he was working on the shop's accounts.
"Dave, can I ask you something?"
"Give me a couple of minutes," said Birch, without looking up. "Got some specials on the second rack. Take a look while you wait."
Harriet went to check them out, and returned a few minutes later with a folding penknife and a couple of chocolate bars. She didn't need them, but the shop hardly got any customers, and the items were pretty cheap.
"Now, what can I do for you?" asked Birch, as he rang up the sale. Then he took a second look. "Rough night?"
Harriet tried to smooth her hair. "Alice took my damned hair brush again."
"Maybe you should call the cops."
"Yes, well, speaking of security … I need some new locks on my place."
"Sorry, I was never one for the tools. Whenever I cut a corner I end up in surgery."
"Do you know anyone who might help?"
"I used to know plenty of people who could remove a lock in thirty seconds flat. Installing them, not so much." Birch thought for a minute. "There might be someone I can call. What sort of thing do you need?"
"Just the basics. A couple of deadlocks, a hall camera, a lens in the door—"
"You call that basi
cs? Is there a crime wave I should know about?"
"A guy came into the station yesterday looking for Alice. I sent him off, but when I got home someone had been through my apartment."
Birch frowned. "Is he bothering her?"
"It's not like that. She told me this guy shot her uncle right in front of her, when she was a kid."
"And that's why we live on Dismolle," said Birch, shaking his head sadly. "It's a horrible galaxy out there."
"Yeah, well I don't want him getting into my place again."
"I'll find someone for you, don't worry."
"Thanks, Dave. Will I need to meet them? Only I can't get away until evening."
Birch grinned. "Don't worry, she won't need keys to get in."
"I won't ask too many questions, then."
"And I won't tell her you're a cop."
Harriet sighed. "I thought I'd end up in real estate, or teaching, or something in aged care. I just don't feel like a real Peace Force officer."
"You're good at what you do, Harriet. You have no resources here, and almost no backup, and yet you're making a difference."
"What about Alice? I dragged her into this with me, and I can't help thinking—"
"I was wrong about Alice," said Birch. "I told you not to take in any strays, remember? You ignored my advice, but you were right. She needed a family and a home, and you're both of those things to her. She does you credit."
"I can hardly look after myself, Dave. Now I have her on my plate, too."
"She's tougher than you think, and you're not her parent."
"Yes, but—" Harriet was about to continue, but at that moment the front doors opened and a customer walked in. "I'll leave you to it," she said, and headed for the office. She'd only taken three steps when she heard the customer speaking to Birch.
"I wonder if you can help me? I'm looking for a girl called Alice."
Chapter 5
"Trainee Alice, I have a mission for you."
Alice was busy doing as little as possible with her essay, and she felt a ray of hope as she looked up at the robot. "A mission? Me?"
"Indeed, and it is of the utmost importance."
Stunned, Alice could only stare at Bernie. She'd been certain there would be punishment for her little escapade with the case of the stolen wallet, but this sounded more like a reward.
