by Sid Kar
“I agree,” Antrar said, “you go first. I will leave after your spaceship takes off.”
Evyk and Antrar smiled at each other and Evyk exited the room. He carefully walked over to his spaceship while occasionally sneaking a glance at his back to make sure he wasn’t being followed. He knew he was being paranoid but after what Antrar had told him – and even if only half of it was true – then paranoia was the operational necessity.
Chapter 14: Cloaked Man
Roofus Bolfus packed his laser pistol inside his jacket and then wore it over a sweater. He was not authorized to carry laser guns on Nestor, even though he was a spy for Nestorian Republic, but VC Remus had given him a card falsely identifying him as one of Remus’ own personal guards.
As Roofus put on his boots, he looked out from his window in a building located a few blocks away from the Senate. It was one of the few buildings that had sustained only minor damage during the Mercurian aerial assault and Roofus was thankful he had rented an apartment in a smaller building that was shielded by taller ones all around it and which were now in varying state of rubble.
The Infantry Corps was holding a full parade down the streets and he saw soldiers dressed in green with gold sleeves and carrying long laser guns upon their shoulders march down to the tune of the band. Chancellor Solus had said this would boost the morale and give comfort to the civilians who had lost family and friends and sustained damage to their homes. But Remus and himself suspected that Solus wanted to put on a show of force to intimidate the remaining Republican Guard as well as anyone who wasn’t happy with Solus’ appointment as the new Chancellor. Of the latter, there were many on Nestor, this was Remus’ home planet after all.
Roofus had a stack of photographs of Aurus Janus and these were the final items he put inside his jacket and then he was out of his room. He caught a public transport airship and was off to his destination.
He had thought over how he was going to proceed to find Aurus. Nestor had a population of three billion, Aurus was one person and so was Roofus. VC Remus would help but he was busy in the affairs of state and could only provide specific access. However, Roofus believed that there was one possibility. As a spy he had been taught that spies often got caught due to their personal quirks, compulsions, eccentricities and addictions. And spies received thorough training in hiding out. Aurus on the other hand had been a technical employee. If he had some particular addiction or an intense hobby, he would try to partake in it even while underground.
Roofus today was going to test this out. Boutrous Golus Company’s chief executive Tory Golus was a supporter of VC Remus and he had discretely inquired with her about her former employee Aurus Janus. She had sent over his records as well as a profile created from interviewing his co-workers to Remus through private, confidential mail. Remus had given a copy of these documents to Roofus who had spent hours studying them till he finally had a break.
The airship came to a stop and he got off of it. He spent the whole day flying in public airships visiting seven different antique and coin shops and handing out his photos of Aurus to their proprietors along with a small monetary contribution. He had no luck. Finally, near the evening he caught an airship to an antiques shop that was the last one on his list and he was going to call it the day after visiting this place. This place was located just outside of the nature preserve and Roofus walked down a dirt path surrounded by trees on either side towards the lone two story building made of wood with a painted sign in gold against the green background that said ‘Old Nestor’.
Roofus walked in and saw all manners of items that were most likely dated centuries old: carvings, paintings, tools, knives, projectile firing guns, toys, printed books and comics and assorted paraphernalia. An old man stood behind the counter but there was no other staff. Roofus figured he was the proprietor and headed towards him. The old man’s left eye was half closed, his hair had thinned and he had a big belly. He stood watching Roofus with curious eyes.
“Interested in anything particular, young fella?” the old proprietor asked.
“How old is Old Nestor?” Roofus asked intrigued by the shop’s name.
“Nothing here after space travel started,” the proprietor waved his hand around the room briskly pointing to all the objects, “Everything I got was made before we started colonizing other planets.”
“Hmmm…” Roofus said, “Must be from centuries ago.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you carry any coins from the old era?” Roofus asked.
“Sure do,” the proprietor replied, “But you won’t find them looking around. I keep them locked up in the second floor. Easy for some lifter to drop a couple of rare, expensive ones in his pocket and walk out. I will have to personally show them to you. Anything particular that you are looking for?”
“Actually, I was looking for an old friend of mine with an interest in coin collection,” Roofus said.
“And?”
Roofus took out a photograph of Aurus and slid it across the counter, “Seen him before.”
“Sure have,” the proprietor said.
“You have,” Roofus was delighted, “when was the last he came here?”
The old man scratched behind his ears and grinned, “Perhaps you are his friend or perhaps you are his enemy. I might be more inclined to think the latter because he seemed jittery when other customers walked in and he always paid cash and would never give his delivery address, insisted on carrying all the coins himself. But I could be convinced otherwise, make a decent purchase here and I will believe you are his friend.”
Roofus looked at old man’s face carrying a greedy smile while he caressed his belly. Roofus took out five notes of hundred ‘Nest’ each from his wallet and smacked them down on the table.
“Forget the purchase, I don’t need the junk,” Roofus said, “Money is all yours if you tell me all you know of his visits.”
The old man felt slightly insulted at the reference to his inventory but his mouth was drooling looking at the notes.
“Can’t tell you where he is,” old man said slowly moving his palm towards the cash, “But he must be from around here, not too far.”
“Why?” Roofus asked.
“My left eye may be out of work, but I have a keen sight and sense of observation. You need that in this line of work,” the proprietor said, “he came in with twigs and leaves on his clothes. Not a lot, but enough to tell me he didn’t come from no city. He also mentioned he couldn’t buy more than what he could carry in his hands.”
This did not surprise Roofus, taking a public transport meant you would get on the radar as public airships only accepted electronic payments and that record was accessible to the police.
“Now tell me about his last visit,” Roofus asked.
The old man now brought his hand over the cash and picked it up with satisfaction, then said, “It was on the day those crazies from Republican Guard staged a coup, just before that damn alien invasion. He bought a lot of coins, more than he ever has before and said he might not come again for long or never. But he liked my collection and deals so he took my mail order catalogue and that was that. Never seen him since.”
“Alright, the money is yours,” Roofus said. Then he put both of his hands on the counter, leaned forward and looked the old man right in his eyes, “If you mention my visit to anyone, then I will come back and take back my money and I will charge you interest on that.”
The old man stumbled backward and raised both of his hands in acceptance, “hey don’t worry young fella; I am just trying to purchase comfort for my last days.”
Roofus walked out of the shop. The airship stop was some distance away and as he trotted back he tried to think about this new information. His hunch was right. In Aurus’ profile there was a quote from one of his old colleagues in Boutrous Golus who had visited Aurus at his house a couple of times and both instances Aurus had regaled his guest with long history lectures on his coins and their significances. Aurus was a coin co
llector nut. Roofus knew from his own experience as a spy hiding out from the authorities that a fugitive got bored out of his wits cut off from all public recreation. A personal hobby that could be partaken within the confines of a hideout could keep one sane. He knew of a fellow spy sent to Jak Confederacy who had been caught because he couldn’t keep away from the betting parlors.
Roofus caught an airship back to the Senate. He didn’t necessarily disagree with the old man that Aurus might be staying near the coin shop but that was a huge area for Roofus to search alone. He had to narrow down his target.
He entered the Senate using personal code of VC Remus. It was nightfall when he had reached and Remus had left for the day. Roofus accessed the database available to Senators similarly using Remus’ account and passcodes. Roofus knew that Aurus was not a native of Nestor and had no home here. But Aurus must have known that Boutrous Golus maintained offices here on the capital just like a great many companies from other planets did. VC Remus’ codes allowed Roofus to find every office of that company but none was near the vicinity of the coin shop. But Roofus realized it was unlikely that Aurus would hide out in an office. An idea struck him and he did a search for personal properties of the owner Tory Golus on Nestor and had four hits. And one was a small cottage just outside the nature preserve near ‘Old Nestor’ shop. Roofus clapped his hands in joy and a couple of Senators using nearby computers looked at him with wide eyes.
Roofus logged out and left the Senate in a hurry. This time he walked to a nearby airship rental shop and checked one out for a couple of days. At this time of the night the public airships traveled intermittently and he could not contain his patience. He was not getting reimbursed for these expenses but Roofus was too hot on the trail to fret over money now.
He double checked his laser pistol for charge while flying the airship and his heart started beating faster. Aurus had accompanied Tory on her travel to Nestor according to her report and must have known of her personal homes. Roofus knew he could be wrong and Nolfus’ co-conspirators could have hidden Aurus in their own place. But Aurus was unlikely to trust them after they had silenced Nolfus and could do likewise to Aurus.
He parked his airship outside ‘Old Nestor’ on the dirt ground. The shop had closed and there were no signs of its proprietor. The cottage was walking distance from here and Roofus decided to continue his journey on foot. His rental airship was old and its engine whistled, sputtered and revved to its own tune. He could not risk spooking his prey.
It took him half an hour to reach the address. As he got closer to the cottage he slipped from one tree to another like a cat. There was no light but he could not be sure about night vision cameras. When he was twenty five feet away he stopped behind a tree and put on his own night vision glasses and observed the home. It was a small home – even the rich weren’t allowed to build lodges near the nature preserve – with two rooms in the front and a single door surrounded by shrubs and lawn.
He took off the night vision and let his eyes adjust again to the darkness. He withdrew his laser pistol from his jacket, flicked off the safety and clutched it tightly in his hand. Then he tip-toed briskly to the front door and stopped just a feet away. He took a deep breath and waited for a few moments. He had brought along a small bottle with a dropper and he squeezed in the caustic chemical and injected it into the door lock mechanism. The liquid melted the pins and hooks inside the door lock.
The door was now ajar and Roofus merely had to pull it. Roofus grabbed the knob, slowly twisted it and gradually pulled the door open.
The old wooden door rattled off a crunchy creak against the dead silence of the night.
Roofus violently cursed the door in his own mind. It was too late for a silent entry. He yanked the door open wide, jumped inside the house and moved into the lighted room with his laser pistol drawn.
A man sitting on the sofa was jolted by the noise and started to rise when Roofus strode in and aimed his pistol. He had hundreds of loose coins of varied shapes and colors spread over the table in front and he dropped the coins he was holding on the floor.
“Aurus Janus, sit back down and do not make a move or I will send a laser bolt across your skull,” Roofus said.
Aurus remained on the sofa but started shaking and his fingers danced involuntarily in fear while he pleaded, “Please don’t shoot. There must be some misunderstanding. I have kept my promise to Cloaked Man and stayed quiet. Ask him, or let me call him.”
“You do no such thing?” Roofus said now confused himself, “Who the hell is cloaked man?”
“He didn’t send you?” Aurus blurted with amazement.
From the corner of his eye, Roofus saw slight movement down the corridor behind him and he jumped inside the room just in time to avoid incoming laser that splattered against the opposite wall. Roofus took cover behind the wall, swung his pistol in the hallway for a couple of moments and returned fire.
“You stay where you are,” Roofus said to Aurus, “You are not in the line of fire of whoever that is, but I can drop you in a second.”
Aurus was already frozen with fear except his hands which were still trembling.
The gunman fired a dozen more lasers into their room then Roofus heard the door creak open and footsteps rushing out of the house.
Roofus plunged forward towards Aurus; pistol whipped him across the forehead and dropped him unconscious on the floor. He would return for him later.
Then Roofus also ran out of the house towards the sound of the footsteps now running into the nature preserve.
Roofus could not see his target but he could track him by his footsteps as his spy training had taught him. It was too dark for the gunman to take accurate shots but he had to be careful of stray lasers. Surprisingly he fired no lasers at Roofus but kept running.
Roofus didn’t fire either to avoid giving away his position as he was moving zig-zag across the trees while trying to catch up. Then the footsteps stopped and Roofus jumped behind a tree himself and waited. The man muttered some words then started firing his laser.
Roofus realized then that the man had been talking on the phone with someone, maybe even with the Cloaked Man whom Aurus had mentioned.
Then the gunman made a dangerous gamble by coming out firing his laser at the tree that Roofus had taken for cover and rushed him.
Roofus had to think fast, he could not look out from behind the bark and fire back. The gunman was good, even a professional, who was alternatively firing lasers on both sides of the tree.
Roofus waited for a laser to strike the right side of the tree and then ran out in that direction while the gunman switched his aim to the left and took a shot there. Roofus aimed his pistol at the momentary flash that he saw and fired off two shots of his own lasers. He would not get a second chance, he was out of cover and the gunman was turning his own laser pistol towards Roofus. Just then one laser flew over the gunman’s head but the other one struck him in the chest dropping him to the ground with a thud.
Roofus stopped running and carefully walked over to the dead body.
He picked up the gunman’s laser pistol and lifted it close to his face. It was Gormus 0.88, the same type of laser pistol used to kill Nolfus Berrum. Roofus put the gunman’s pistol in his jacket while he walked back to the cottage with his pistol drawn. There could be more gunmen. And while Aurus didn’t appear a soldier type – he was quaking in his boots at the sight of the laser gun – it was plausible he would attempt some foolish action.
But Roofus encountered no third person and Aurus was still knocked out on the floor. The cottage was secluded and it was unlikely anyone had heard the laser shooting but Roofus wanted to take no chance. He could not explain himself to the police without involving VC Remus and then the conspirators would know of their investigations.
Roofus walked over to Aurus, took one glance at the coins out of curiosity, they were old and rusty, from a time when electronic money had not existed, then grabbed Aurus by both of his legs and dragged him
out of the house and dragged him to the spot in forest where the dead gunman lay. Roofus would wait for him to wake up before he began his interrogation.
Chapter 15: Stardjacker
“Commodore, the Battleship Avenger is out of this solar system and will soon disappear from our long range gravitron scanner,” Horyett said.
“How long?” Raptor asked from his command station.
“Three hours, I will give you one hour warning,” Horyett replied.
“No need for that, we will be out of here soon,” Raptor said.
“We can’t load Col. Jarvyk and the Strike Soldiers that fast,” Dorrvyk said, “They haven’t even begun dismantling their base.”
“That’s because they are not coming with us,” Raptor said. This raised a few brows in the command room, “We are not going to attempt a ground invasion of a planet controlled by aliens about whom we are nearly clueless just on a whim. Our army has special plans and teams in place for that, if they so require it. More importantly, I don’t want a repeat of the coup attempt on Nestor. The Strike Soldiers will help maintain order. Disgruntled Nestorians may not think twice about firing on their Infantry Corps, but they won’t dare start a war with us.”
“I agree with the Commodore,” VC Barryett said, “our garrison also serves as the symbol of protection. It will be a while before our fleet reaches here.”
Thankfully, Raptor said to himself. He didn’t want to take orders from Segwyk. They would be out of Nestorian space from one side before Segwyk’s fleet entered from the opposite side.
“Meanwhile, Capitan Pulf, you are taking control of the laser section,” Raptor said to the assistant laser officer, a young man with crew cut and square face, who turned around, stood up and saluted Raptor, “It’s a step up and a big responsibility, but don’t fret, me and VC Barryett will be watching your section controls on our terminal.”
“Yes sir,” Pulf said, hesitated for a moment and then spoke, “Capitan Alvina sir? Is she ill?”
