Alpha Minor

by Simon Haynes

  Alice had undone her harness and was halfway out of her seat, but she paused at that. "What kind of a wussy name is Rover?"

  "Our neighbours had a dog called Rover," said Harriet, freeing herself. "He always came when you called him."

  Alice looked incredulous. "You want to name a fighter jet after your neighbour's dog?"

  "You watch. It'll stick."

  "I'll stick you in a minute," muttered Alice. She took the ladder to the airlock, removed her heavy jacket and stowed it in a locker. The hatch creaked open, and she pushed the ladder down, clambering out of the ship before the ladder had even reached the landing pad.

  Harriet followed more slowly. The engines were ticking quietly to themselves, and the instruments on the console were still illuminated. "You can shut down now, Rover."

  "Complying," said the computer. "Incidentally, there was once a book named after a planet rover. I enjoyed the series greatly, and I approve of the name."

  "You read books?"

  "I can fly vast interstellar distances without getting lost. You think enjoying fiction is beyond me?"

  "N-no, I guess not."

  "Anyway, there's little else to do between flights."

  Harriet smiled. "Don't worry, I have a feeling Alice will keep you busy. She's got her heart set on setting up a space branch of the Peace Force."

  "Excellent. I look forward to it." With that, the computer shut down, and the lights went off.

  Harriet followed Alice down the ladder, and found Bernie standing nearby, the robot's face a mask of surprise. Sunlight streamed across the rooftop, and Harriet shaded her eyes against the glare.

  "Trainee Alice. Trainee Harriet. Who gave you permission to land on the roof?"

  "It's all right, Bernie," Harriet reassured her. "Rover got clearance."

  "Who's Rover?" asked Bernie.

  Alice muttered under her breath.

  "Our latest recruit," said Harriet, and she gestured at the ship.

  "But this vessel is registered to that nice young lady, Teresa Smith."

  Harriet snorted. "That nice young lady tried to kill us both."

  "Really?"

  "Yeah, but we got her. She's in custody on Vasquez."

  "I see." Bernie gestured towards the lift, which stood open. "Follow me, please. We need to hold a debrief immediately."

  On the way to the ground floor, Bernie turned to Alice. "I have some good news for you, Trainee. The headmaster at the school which hosted your visit called to say they're very happy with you. The class was enthralled, and they want you back for another visit as soon as possible."

  "Really?" Alice looked surprised, but also pleased.

  "Apparently, the children are insisting. You made quite the impression."

  "Awesome." Alice cleared her throat nervously. "Er, Bernie, can I have a word with you?"

  "Of course, Trainee Alice. What about?"

  "In private, I mean. It's important."

  "Certainly you may."

  "Now? Before the debrief?"

  "Is it that urgent?"

  "Yes. It won't take long."

  "Then we shall talk first."

  "Is everything all right?" asked Harriet.

  Alice didn't reply, and at that moment the lift doors opened. While Bernie and Alice made for the staff room, Harriet turned for the front office. "I'll grab something from the shop while you two are talking."

  "Get me something," said Alice. "I thought there'd be food aboard Rover, but—"

  "Hah!"

  "Dammit Harriet!"

  Still laughing, Harriet strode through to Dave's shop. She figured Alice wanted Bernie to pay for flying lessons or something, but she had no idea why it couldn't have waited a few minutes.

  Birch was sitting in his usual spot, busy with his manuscript, and he raised an eyebrow as she walked in with a smile on her face. "Ah yes, Peace Force work. Always good for a giggle."

  "We arrested another crook. Took her ship, too. It's on the roof."

  "I had a busy day too. I found at least three typos."

  Harriet grabbed a couple of chocolate bars and took them to the till. "Thanks for dressing up in uniform, by the way. Foster was completely fooled."

  "Well, I don't know about completely, but she left happy." Birch snapped his fingers. "I almost forgot. Your new locks have been installed."

  "Dave, thanks so much! How much do I owe you?"

  "I'll let you know. And the other thing you asked about, I organised that too."

  Harriet nodded her thanks. "I really appreciate it. Anything you want, just ask."

  "There is one thing." Birch hesitated. "You're about to debrief, right?"

  "Sure. I've got to tell Bernie everything that's been going on." Harriet grinned. "Well, almost everything."

  "Can I sit in?"

  Harriet's eyebrows rose. "That's your payment? Half an hour of Bernie tutting and telling me and Alice off?"

  "I miss the old days," said Birch. "The tough captain running the show, the officers joking around … and then the part where the detective paces back and forth, telling all the suspects how it really went down."

  "Did you just say 'went down'?"

  "Hey, I'm hip with the kids, you know."

  "Yeah, don't do that." Harriet spread her hands. "But sure, of course you can sit in."

  "Bernie won't object?"

  "You saved her from Foster. She wouldn't object if you painted her orange and used her as a bollard."

  "Excellent." Birch put the sheaf of pages down. "Lead on, Officer Walsh."

  — ♦ —

  When they reached the staff room Alice and Bernie were sitting together at one of the tables.

  "Are you certain?" Bernie was asking her.

  "Yeah, I'm sure." Alice noticed Harriet and Birch. "You won't say anything?"

  "Of course not," said Bernie.

  "About what?" asked Harriet.

  They both looked around. "Nothing that concerns you," said Bernie. "Not yet, at least."

  Harriet tossed Alice a chocolate bar, and got a nod of thanks in return. "Is everything okay?"

  "Certainly. And if you have quite finished throwing food around, I wish to start the debrief."

  "No problem. Oh yeah, Dave's sitting in."

  "An excellent idea. As an experienced officer, he can point out any mistakes you two have made."

  "That's not quite …" began Harriet.

  "Now, you will recount your version of events."

  Harriet stood at the head of the table, and Birch took a seat nearby. When everyone was ready, and Alice had finished noisily unwrapping her chocolate, Harriet began. She outlined the events on Vasquez briefly and accurately, while Bernie sat in silence, presumably recording everything. When Harriet got to Teresa's threat to kill them both, Bernie growled quietly, and when Harriet described the shot which had taken Teresa down, she could have sworn the robot muttered 'good riddance'.

  "So Teresa just got greedy at the end?" asked Birch, who'd been following along, enthralled. "She saw the chance of a haul and took it?"

  Harriet shook her head. "She was working with Smith from the start."

  "What!" exclaimed Alice.

  "She fed him information on the pair of us. But I think she always intended to double-cross him." Harriet looked around the table, seeing the surprised faces. Well, she had an even bigger surprise for them. "By the way, it wasn't Smith who broke into the apartment, it was Teresa."

  The reaction was everything she expected. Birch looked stunned, Alice's jaw dropped and Bernie sat there like a piece of stone. "But why?" demanded Alice. "Smith had the box!"

  "Yeah, but Teresa managed to get one of your hairs off the brush. Sure, it was my brush, but you're always losing your stuff and borrowing mine."

  "That's true," admitted Alice. "The other day I forgot to put your toothbrush back, and I thought you'd notice for sure."

  "Alice!" exclaimed Harriet.

  "Oh, I didn't put it in my mouth. I needed it to clean someth
ing."

  Harriet turned to Dave. "Can you organise another lock for me? I want something for the bathroom cabinet."

  He hid a smile, and nodded.

  "Anyway, speaking of locks. Teresa managed to open your uncle's box behind Smith's back. It must have been while she was aboard his ship, after the break-in, but before he abducted me at the spaceport. She discovered the photograph, dismissed it, and assumed there was something special about the box itself. But she couldn't just take it, because Smith would know immediately."

  Alice's face cleared. "She asked me for that box, right after I got it open!"

  "When you said no she knew she'd have to steal it, which is why she showed at the hotel the next morning and offered to fly us home, despite being badly wounded. Then, when we found out the truth about the photo, she switched plans and … well, you know the rest."

  "Harriet, that's genius!" said Alice, her voice full of admiration.

  "Well, it was easy once I worked out the bits and pieces."

  "Not you. Teresa! What a plan!"

  Harriet frowned at her. "We're supposed to lock criminals up, not applaud their efforts."

  "You have to admit she's a pretty sharp customer. I mean, Smith's just a sledgehammer, but she's a stiletto. Shiny, deadly and slick."

  "All right, that's enough of the hero worship."

  "There's one thing I don't understand," said Birch. "You got to the storage locker, Teresa tried her double-cross, Harriet put her down … so what happened to the missing cargo?"

  Harriet and Alice exchanged a glance. "The storage locker had one of those DNA locks on," said Harriet at last.

  "It sort of went off," said Alice. "Everything in the locker just vanished."

  "That is not acceptable," said Bernie. "You were both in charge of—"

  Birch laid a hand on the robot's shoulder. "Bernie, think of the expense they just saved you. The cost of freighting this cargo to Dismolle could have run into the thousands."

  The robot looked thoughtful.

  "Not to mention the paperwork," said Birch. "Booking stuff into evidence, cataloguing everything, storage fees … it's a nightmare."

  "I suppose there is that," said the robot. "But I am curious about the cargo itself. Did either of you find out what it was?"

  "I'm sure we don't need to go into that now," said Birch. "They're not robots, Bernie. Just look at them … they're exhausted!"

  "Very well. I will schedule a further debrief tomorrow. Are there any further matters to discuss?"

  Birch raised his hand. "I have a question for Harriet, if I may?"

  "Of course," said Bernie gravely.

  "How come you're only a trainee? Why haven't you been promoted yet?"

  Harriet reddened. "Thanks, but—"

  "Well, it seems the debrief is over," said Bernie, interrupting her. She stood up. "You both performed admirably under difficult circumstances. You're a credit to this department."

  Alice got up as well, crumpling the chocolate wrapper. "Can I get another one of these, Dave?"

  "Sure. Got any money?"

  "Not right now. Can I owe you?"

  "Yeah, all right. Come on."

  The two of them left, and as Bernie went to follow, Harriet stopped her. "Can I speak to you?"

  "Not if it's about Trainee Alice."

  "It's not, it's about me."

  "Very well, Trainee Harriet. It seems to be the day for confiding in me. Tell me, what have you done wrong?"

  "Eh? Nothing. It's just … you know I've always had doubts about the Peace Force, right? You and Dave, you both keep telling me I'm doing a good job, but it just doesn't feel like it."

  "Trainee Walsh …"

  Harriet interrupted her. "Bernie, do you think I should quit?"

  Chapter 30

  "That's your question?" Bernie stared at her in genuine surprise. "Why would you consider such a ridiculous idea?"

  "Yesterday I walked into a trap, and there were three men waiting for me. I could have been killed! Then I drove straight into a different trap at the spaceport and got kidnapped. And all the things I do actually worry about, like flying back to Dismolle aboard Teresa's ship, turn out to be trivial nonsense." Harriet spread her hands. "I have absolutely no feel for this job, none at all. I'll never make a decent officer."

  "You were not killed, Trainee Walsh. And while you were kidnapped, you freed yourself and then arrested your captor." Bernie reached out and patted her gently on the shoulder, making her collarbone creak. "I would rather have one trainee who suffers from self doubt, than a hundred over-confident, trigger-happy, self-important wannabe heroes."

  "Thanks, but we both know Alice is way better at this than I am. You should put all your resources into her. She's a natural."

  "You realised Teresa was bad. Trainee Alice didn't see it."

  "Even so—"

  "And there is another reason why you cannot leave the Peace Force."

  "Oh?"

  "You cannot quit, because Trainee Alice has already done so, and I cannot run the office on my own."

  "Alice quit?" Harriet stared at the robot in shock. "Why?"

  "She would not reveal the entire story, but I believe she took something she was not entitled to."

  "It was only a toothbrush!" protested Harriet. "I'll just get another one. They're not even that expensive."

  "I think this may have been a little more serious than your toothbrush. But, as I said, she would not tell me."

  Harriet's expression hardened. Alice might not have told Bernie, but she was certain she'd get to the bottom of it. "Wait here. I'm going to sort this out."

  "I did promise not to mention any of this to you, but under the circumstances—"

  "Don't worry, I'll tread carefully." And with that, Harriet hurried out of the staff room.

  — ♦ —

  Alice was in the shop, checking the dates on a box of chocolate bars.

  "For the last time," said Birch, exasperated. "None of them are past the use-by. And even if they were, I'd still make you pay full price for wasting my time."

  "I'm shopping smart."

  "And I'm hopping mad," said Birch, shaking his manuscript at her. "Please take one and go away."

  Harriet strode past, grabbed Alice by the elbow and half-dragged her out of the shop.

  "Thanks!" shouted Birch, just before the doors closed.

  "What's up?" demanded Alice.

  "I thought we could go for a walk. The weather's lovely."

  "Huh?"

  "Yeah, it's a lovely day for quitting the Peace Force."

  Alice was silent.

  "Don't blame Bernie," said Harriet. "I put her on the spot."

  "She wasn't supposed to say anything."

  "Yeah, well I may not be a detective yet, but even I would have noticed you not turning up for work." Harriet glanced at her. "So what is it? Are you running off to become a space pilot?"

  "School teacher," said Alice, through a mouthful of chocolate.

  "What, you?"

  "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

  "But … you're great at this job! You're tough, you can handle the stress, you never back down…" Harriet's voice tailed off. "Yeah, I guess that goes for teachers, too."

  "I trusted Teresa, and … well, I could have got you killed. I'm not good enough for the Peace Force, Harriet."

  Harriet hid a wry smile, having just gone through the same conversation with Bernie. "Course you are. We're trainees, Alice. We're supposed to be writing essays and learning about the law from books, not chasing all over the place hunting down crooks."

  "Don't. I'm not changing my mind."

  "If you think Bernie's making you write a lot of essays, wait until you get to uni."

  "Yeah, but if I make a mistake at uni, there's no danger of you getting killed." Alice stopped, her expression determined. "Don't try and change my mind, Harriet. This is best for everyone."

  "Okay, okay." Harriet decided to leave it … for now. "Shall we head
home? It's been a long day."

  "Bernie won't like that."

  "Well, you've just quit and I'm pretty sure she can't fire me, so we're good." Harriet took out her commset. "Bernie, I'm taking Alice home. See you in the morning?"

  "Very well, Trainee Harriet. And … good luck. I tried to convince Alice to stay, but perhaps you will succeed where I failed."

  Harriet smiled as she tucked the commset away. Bernie was an eternal optimist.

  — ♦ —

  At the apartment, Harriet used a keycard on her impressive new front door lock, letting them both into the apartment. Alice went straight to her room and laid on the bed, staring up at the ceiling with her hands linked behind her head. Harriet put her new toothbrush in the bathroom, then returned. "Come on, let's go for a run."

  "Not really in the mood," said Alice.

  "Yeah, but I'm not cooking dinner if you don't."

  "Not hungry."

  "I will get a bucket of water."

  "Fine! I'll go for a run!" Muttering under her breath, Alice got up, and together they took the steps to the ground floor. They set off slowly, getting accustomed to the exercise, but by the time they reached the park they were running fast. They were both still in uniform, which was hot and uncomfortable, but Harriet knew that getting Alice to change and come for a run would have been nigh on impossible. "Round the lake?" she suggested.

  Alice nodded, and they ran past the trees and benches with their weathered memorial plaques. If anything, the sight made Alice's expression even more sullen. When they were halfway round, Harriet drew up next to a wooden bench. "I'm puffed. Quick rest?" She threw her jacket over the back and sat down without waiting for an answer.

  Alice shrugged and perched on the edge of the bench, looking uncomfortable. "I know what you're doing," she said at last. "It's not going to work."

  "What am I doing?"

  "You're trying to get me to talk, then you'll tell me I'm a good little Peace Force trainee, and then I'm supposed to change my mind about quitting."

  Harriet gestured dismissively. "Actually, you're not that good a trainee. You don't finish your work, you rarely follow orders and you're a bit too keen on shooting first and apologising afterwards."

  Alice stared at her.

  "But I do think you could be great Peace Force officer, in time." Harriet shrugged. "I guess we'll never know."