“I suggest you now signal your artificial intelligence unit to power down your ship’s propulsion systems. The Light Saber will assume the task of propulsion.” Her tone remained pleasant as she issued this obvious order.
“Of course,” He kept his own voice neutral. “With your permission,” he lifted his arm to chest level, displaying a small comp-link encircling his wrist. He looked at her questioningly. She nodded her assent. He pressed a small indented button on its side. “Sherlock Holmes, this is Owens. Acknowledge transmission.”
Hec’s voice immediately answered, “Transmission is acknowledged Owner Owens. Please provide your access code.”
Owens keyed in the proper code on the comp-link’s tiny keypad.
“The code is verified. What may I do for you, Owner Owens?”
Owens was pleased to hear Hec’s flawless imitation of a typical AI’s, ‘Jeeves-the-butler’ voice intonation. “Lockdown the subspace servo-controls, bleed the capacitors and cycle the reaction drives down into level-one maintenance, standby mode. The Light Saber will provide the propulsion and ferry us to our destination.” He looked over to the Keeper of the Way.
“Inform your ship that you will remain on the Light Saber for the duration of the trip to Berralton,” she said.
“Did you get that Sherlock Holmes?” Owens asked. “I will not return to the ship…” he looked again at the Keeper of the Way. She remained silent. “…for a while,” he finished lamely. Hec confirmed that he understood and Owens signed off.
“Good, she said. “We only do this to discourage further incidents.”
“I understand,” he said.
A quiet chiming could be heard coming from the clear-jeweled bracelet on the Keeper of the Way’s wrist. She said to Owens, “Please excuse me for a moment, I am being paged by the Saber’s captain.” She rose from the chair and went into an adjacent room, closing the door behind her.
Owens sat and wondered if all the people of Golstar were all like this Keeper of the Way. If so, he would have to be very careful and guard every word he uttered. The information the diplomatic corps had provided covered these types of encounters, but the direct experience was quite another matter. He had only exchanged a few words with her and already he felt completely out of his depth.
She was gone only a few minutes. When she reappeared, her expression had turned grave. She practically marched across the wooden deck. Stopping before him, she motioned for him to stay seated. Standing, she looked down at him and the ice in her voice was almost tangible.
“I have just received some very disturbing news.”
He wondered at the harshness in her voice. He said, “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Yes, I am sure that you are.”
That didn’t sound good, he thought.
“Janus Owens, I had believed that we were quite clear on the conditions we set for your ship’s approach into this system and your own entry into the Light Saber. In fact, we took some pains to make sure that our instructions were straightforward. Yet I was just now informed that you have ignored one of those instructions.”
Owens immediately wondered if Hec had tried to scan the Light Saber.
Her eyes were as cold as her voice. “Those instructions should have been easy for you to comprehend yet… yet you failed to abide by with one of them. I am deeply troubled by your apparent transgression.”
Owens kept his face blank. He had no idea of what she was talking about. He reviewed their instructions in his mind and could not think of one that he had failed to follow. He fervently hoped that Hec had not tried to work around any of their directives. “I confess you have me at a loss. I still believe that I have followed your instructions to the letter.”
“Interesting… and I believe that you are mistaken, seriously mistaken.”
Point and counter point. What was this, some kind of a game? His patience was starting to fray again. “What exactly is the condition that you believe I have not followed?”
She leaned slightly forward, “I am most disappointed, Janus Owens. It was an uncomplicated request, ‘no electronics on your person other than a simple ship communicator and wrist-chrono.’”
“I followed that instruction.”
Her voice took on a note of challenge. “Did you? According to the Saber’s captain, it has been determined that you have indeed violated that request and in doing so, our trust.” She paused, staring hard into Owens’ eyes, waiting for him to respond.
Owens suppressed an impulse for an angry response. Instead, he said nothing. He wondered, was this some sort of test? What was she talking about? He followed all of her damned instructions. He looked back at her steadily without expression. He would say nothing more until she explained exactly where supposedly, he had failed.
She lingered, letting the strained silence grow. Owens remained stonily silent. Finally, she spoke. Her voice was raised and commanding. “Now you will tell me the purpose of the mechanism, other than your communications device, which has been determined to be on your person and is registering on our sensors even as I speak.”
He was startled by her accusation and could not keep from saying, “I don’t…” He clamped his mouth shut before he could say more and hesitated, trying to think of what she was accusing him. With a sudden sinking feeling, it finally dawned on him as to what she might be referring. He kept his face from showing any reaction, but inside he was reeling. He couldn’t believe it. His first few minutes on the Golstar ship and he had already screwed up.
In what he hoped was a calm, measured voice he said, “I believe what your sensors are picking up is my weight vest; it’s more like a webbed harness. I regularly use it to compensate for lower gravity conditions. It’s an aid to maintain my physical conditioning. It compensates for my Loder reflexes and muscles. It’s what allows me to function normally on a lighter gravity planet. I must have put it on automatically, without… conscious consideration that it might be viewed as restricted contraband.”
She stared at him with barely suppressed fury. “Explain the device!”
He continued, keeping his voice even, “It’s basically a simple, miniature gravity generator held in place by flexible nylar straps I wear under my clothing. It has a very limited field. It doesn’t have an off-switch for safety reasons. It wouldn’t do to have it accidentally turn off in the middle of ah… an activity.”
He was in a very deep hole, and one he had dug for himself. “I now understand your concern. It was thoughtless of me and I ask that you believe it was totally unintentional. I just put it on unthinkingly, purely out of habit. I had no ulterior motive. It was an honest, though I admit, thoughtless mistake on my part and I sincerely regret to have caused you alarm. It certainly wasn’t my intention to circumvent any of your conditions.”
His explanation did not seem to placate the Keeper of the Way. She ignored his apology. “Show me. Show me this gravity harness now,” she commanded.
Owens hesitated. He wanted to ask a further question, but seeing the expression on her face and the set of her shoulders he simply shrugged and started to comply with her order. With as much dignity as he could muster, he stood and removed his coat, draping it over the chair. Starting at the collar of his one-piece garment, he opened the almost invisible closure seam and continued down to his waist. He then pulled off the top portion of the suit and let it fall to circle his hips.
Sharné saw the crisscrossed black fabric harness snugged tight against Owens’ muscular torso. It crisscrossed his chest like bandoleers and held a number of small flat disks comprising, if the man were to be believed, elements of the gravity generator. She was unprepared for the sight. She fought the oncoming flush of color to her face. Other than seeing her father once with his shirt off when she was a little girl, she had never seen a living man’s bare chest.
Her anger was momentarily forgotten. Trying to maintain a cold indifference and ignoring her pounding heart, she briskly walked around him, feigning disinterest and inspected him
like a slab of meat. She couldn’t help but notice that the harness enhanced his resemblance to that of an ancient gladiator. She finished her inspection quickly and told him to put his clothes back on.
Although he maintained a stoic countenance, Owens was seething on the inside. What was next, a full body cavity search? So much for a momentous meeting between two cultures, he thought heatedly. He was angry at the cold young woman, but also angry at himself as well. He couldn’t have made a worse impression had he deliberately tried. He wondered darkly, if they would send him back to the Holmes, or simply execute him right there on the spot.
Having finished her inspection, the Keeper of the Way turned her back to Owens. As Owens finished reassembling his wardrobe, he heard someone enter the room. He resisted the urge to turn around and see who had entered. He was trying to think of something to say when the Keeper of the Way spoke first.
Without turning she said, “You will follow the guard back to the quarters that have been assigned to you. There, you will remove the harness and give it to the guard. I will confer with the Captain and call for you later.”
Owens took it as a hopeful sign that her voice had lost some of its coldness. He looked over at the guard. The man was almost as tall as Owens but carried nowhere near the body mass. Saying nothing, the guard turned and re-entered the corridor, obviously expecting Owens to follow him. Owens trailed closely behind, maintaining a respectable pace while still trying to think of a way out of his faux pas.
His thoughts carried him back to the briefings that took place on Denbus. He shook his head ruefully. His brain felt as if it was made of stone. All he could remember were the many speeches that reinforced the importance of the first face-to-face meeting between the two cultures; how everything was riding on his successful representation of Confederated Planets. He thought sarcastically, wouldn’t the Vice Consul be proud of him now?
Feeling a little desperate, he tried to think if there was anything useful from the diplomatic library that he had accessed during the trip out to Golstar; something that might help in this situation. His mind remained a perfect blank. At this point, that was about the only thing that was perfect about him. No doubt Hec would find his situation hilarious he thought sourly. Yes, Hec would certainly laugh his ass off… if he had one. And Owens knew he would deserve every derisive chuckle.
The guard abruptly took a turn down an adjoining corridor. In his mental fog, Owens almost missed it. Wouldn’t that be wonderful, he thought darkly, if he became separated from the guard? He wondered what that infraction might entail.
He abandoned trying to find some magical solution for the time being, and instead concentrated on following the guard. He noted some time had passed, and mentally agreed the ship was as big as Hec had reported. After taking a number of additional turns down lengthy corridors, they finally arrived at what he assumed were to be his quarters.
He entered into what could only be described as a Victorian bedroom suite, complete with a large, canopied bed. The guard spoke his first words and in a surprisingly high voice. He told Owens to remove the apparatus. The squeaky voice was at odds with the guard’s appearance. Owens was alarmed to find himself grinning. Stifling his grin, he quickly followed the directive and again partially disrobed and handed the harness over to the waiting guard. The guard momentarily staggered under the sudden increase in weight from the harness, then regained his balance and departed without uttering a word, his back bowed by the additional weight. Owens was left alone. He immediately broke out into laughter.
● ● ●
Sharné frowned as she listened to the ship’s captain. The captain looked down at the harness, lying on her desk. Her hair was pulled tightly back, away from her face, accenting her long, slightly crooked nose. “It is truly quite an ingenious device. The miniaturization is impressive and it is such a simple concept. It is indeed a self-contained artificial gravity generator, just as the outsider indicated.”
“What of its potential use as a weapon?”
The captain shook her head, “None that we can determine. In the ship’s engineer’s opinion, the device has no real practical use other than the outsider’s claim. It has no ulterior weapons capability; just a clever device used for gravity compensation, nothing less, nothing more.”
“It is good to know that is all it is truly used for. However, it does little to relieve my underlying concern. What do you have to say for yourself and crew?”
The captain looked up, “Your Grace?”
“Allow me to be more explicit. Captain, why did it take so long for you to notify me the device was aboard the Light Saber? Janus Owens was aboard for almost twenty minutes before the discovery was made. This ship represents Golstar and this incident does not reflect well on our competence or our position as a military super power.” Sharné’s tone was cold as deep space.
The captain visibly paled. She was of medium height, shorter than the Keeper of the Way but had not felt the difference in stature until that very moment. She was now beginning to feel very small indeed.
“Your Grace, the report from the initial scans only identified a communication device with an integrated timepiece which was allowed under the conditions.”
“There were no other devices detected?”
“None that were reported to me,” the captain answered. “I did not suspect another device until Engineering later informed me of the subtle anomaly in Owens’ physical scan when he first crossed the inner airlock. It was not until I ordered the second, lower level scan that we finally noted a distinctive energy fluctuation and its location. At that point, I immediately signaled you and shared our finding. You have my sincerest apology, Your Grace.” The captain was visibly shaken and looked ready to bow.
“Captain, my acceptance of your apology is contingent upon an incident like this never happening again,” she said in the same icy tone. “Such a lapse cannot be allowed lest it give a false impression of our military competency. We cannot have our superiority questioned by the likes of Janus Owens. Blunders such as this could very well put our position with Confederated Planets in grave jeopardy.”
The captain bowed her head in obeisance and said, “I understand.”
“Captain, must I remind you, you and your crew were carefully selected for this assignment by the Guardian himself? Thus far, your performance has fallen short of the faith he has placed in you. Do you understand my meaning Captain?”
The captain raised her head. “Yes Your Grace. You have my vow it will not happen again.”
“I will hold you responsible to see it does not. I speak for the Grand Patriarch when I say we cannot allow another such incident. Grave consequences will result if even a hint of a dereliction to duty, such as this one, should occur again. I will ask you once more. Do you understand my meaning, Captain?”
This time the captain did bow, though a bit shakily. “Yes, Your Grace, your meaning is absolutely clear. I will issue the appropriate reprimands to ship’s Engineering and conduct operational reviews with the crew at once. I will provide you a report when they are completed.”
“See that you do. I am not in the habit of lying, yet you have forced me into it. I now must concoct something reasonable to cover up this failing and I am not at all pleased by the necessity to do so.” She would not go to her father for guidance. It was her responsibility alone, so it would be her decision. She thought for a moment. “What is done is done; have someone bring the weight harness to the day room. I now leave you to your duty.”
She turned on her heel and left for the ship’s day room without waiting for a response from the captain. At Sharné’s departure, the captain collapsed in her chair and pondered her once-secure future, but only for a moment. Dutifully, she reached over and activated the intercom. It was time to tell the crew the bad news.
● ● ●
The angry tapping of her heels on the wooden deck echoed along the corridor as Sharné strode purposely towards the day room, trying to compose her thoughts
. She was still furious, furious with Janus Owens for his thoughtless violation of the conditions. Typical arrogance of Confederated Planets, she thought. She was angry with the Captain and her crew. The delay in discovering the contraband electronics was unacceptable and could have compromised her mission. She was angrier still with herself for overreacting to the unexpected discovery of the harness.
Sharné reached the day room. She immediately called for the ship’s steward to bring her some herbal tea. She sat and began to prepare herself for the next meeting with Janus Owens. Her thoughts were momentarily interrupted by the steward returning with the tea. Taking a sip from the delicate porcelain cup, savoring the subtle flavor, she considered what she could say to Janus Owens that would cover for the crew’s incompetence.
She was not a practiced liar. Truthfulness was a tenet of the Way. It went against all of her training to concoct a false story. But then she considered her mission. Was that not the reason for her presence on the Light Saber, why Owens was summoned? It was all based on the plan, a plan that relied on a false story, an elaborate lie. Yes, she thought, it was in the name of a noble cause, but a lie, nonetheless. And what was the harm of one more lie, if told for the greater good?
She sighed sadly. The ancient adage was true, she mused. One lie would lead to another, then another. And with more lies, the possibility increased that their deception would be uncovered. Lies are the bane of the Light and allow the Darkness to grow stronger. “Father,” she whispered. “What have you led me to? And where might it all end?”
CHAPTER 19
The colonel, known to his fellow conspirators as the General hummed to himself as he finished rereading the latest message. He nodded in self-satisfaction. All was finally in place and events were coming together quite nicely. The message in his hand confirmed the time would soon be at hand to begin the operation in earnest, his own operation, his special operation. Everything was prepared. He was confident that all would be ready; success was almost guaranteed.
Shadows of Golstar Page 21
