The Search for FTL

by Ted Iverson

  “Gentlemen, dinner will get cold if we continue talking. I suggest we dine.”

  Ty and Alec exchanged glances. Feeling much better about the situation now, Ty spoke: “Paul, we accept your offer. I’m proud to have an old friend of my parents become a new friend to my brothers and to me. Your position and secrecy will live and die with us.”

  “Thank you very much. I pray that it will not come to the latter. We have a deal then.” He raised a glass. “And now we celebrate!”

  Three wine glasses, made of the finest crystal, met in midair, touching ever so slightly and vibrating with a musical ring. This signified a new alliance, one not to be taken lightly. Alec and Ty both knew that an ally such as Paul Spencer would be needed if they were to solve this incredible mystery that was deepening by the moment.

  Ty and Alec were now convinced of one thing: what had happened to the StarDancer was no accident! They also knew that the next step would be to fill in Orion and Zach about these dangerous developments.

  After dinner was over, the boys bid Spencer a hearty thank you and good night. They left the room and the restaurant and headed to the elevator at a brisk pace. Once inside the elevator, they returned to the second floor in silence as each mulled over what they’d learned. Paul firmly believed the prototype to be intact. Why wouldn’t their parents have left information with someone about its whereabouts? Even a clue to its whereabouts would have been better than nothing.

  Alec now knew that he would have to act quickly to find out what was going on, and he also knew just how much danger he and his brothers were in. Two Bindls in one place, especially here at the capital, was only asking for trouble. It was at that moment he decided he would need to pack up and leave the AxMet. He also decided that he wouldn’t tell Ty, since Ty was nervous enough about his first meetings tomorrow. After all, this wouldn’t be the first time Alec had packed up and left. At least this time he had a reason. Ty, he hoped, would think that he was off doing “cop stuff,” as he often would say.

  The elevator came to a stop, the doors opened, and the two stepped out. They turned and looked at each other. Ty broke the silence. “I don’t know where to begin or what to say.”

  “Say nothing,” Alec said with his finger to his lips. He glanced around. “Do what you have to, talk only to those you need to, and when you are done this week, get up to the Orbital Lab as soon as you can.”

  Ty understood. “Okay, I’ll think about it, but I doubt I’ll go. I know you think it’ll be safer up there, but I still have responsibilities at Space Tech.”

  “I understand, but please consider it.” They shook hands and each went to his room.

  Ty was exhausted. Wasting no time, he collapsed fully dressed onto the bed. He was starting to think about how tomorrow would turn out when his eyes closed and he fell sound asleep.

  In room 261, Alec rapidly shoved all he had into his duffle bags. Within minutes, he was packed and out of his room. He decided to take the stairs and quickly descended the two floors. Bursting out of the stairwell door, he came dangerously close to knocking a man sprawling onto the floor. He stopped only to find Paul Spencer regaining his balance.

  “Alec, why the rush?” he questioned. “Was our food that bad?”

  “I am so sorry, Paul,” Alec said. “I was just... well, something has come up and I need to check it out. Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate the hospitality and all but I...”

  “No need to say more, Alec. You know what you are doing and I understand. I will have my best man keep a close eye over Ty while he is here and if you need anything, why, you know where I’ll be.” He extended a hand.

  “Thanks, Paul.” His hand met Spencer’s and he gave a quick nod. As he headed out the door, he experienced an overwhelming feeling that he was being followed.

  As Alec hurried toward the hotel’s private landing strip, he shoved his hand inside the jacket he was wearing and made sure “Simon” was there. It was. Touching Simon’s cold, steel grip comforted him a little.

  Alec reached the Turtle, skipped an inspection of the ship, and quickly boarded. With lightning speed he had the plasma jets fired up. He hadn’t quite decided where he would hang his hat, but that didn’t matter right now. He kicked in the thrusters and began to taxi. He was unaware of the man in the shadows, leaning against one of the hangars, unaware of the small launcher perched on the man’s shoulder, and unaware that the launcher pointed right at his ship.

  Alec kicked in the plasma jets and lifted into the night sky. He didn’t notice the tiny object that had been launched at him, nor could he detect it on his radar. It was too small. As it tailed him, the man on the ground peered at a small handheld screen, watching the rear of the Turtle come closer. A timer on the screen counted down. When it reached zero, the projectile found its mark, adhering just below the left plasmat. It blossomed like a flower, and a tiny antenna rose from its center. The man touched a button and the screen went from video to map instantly. In the middle of the map, a small red arrow moved rapidly. The tracking device was working perfectly.

  An evil grin spread across the man’s face. “Now, Alec Bindle, we will see just where you end up.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Ty’s eyes opened wide and he stared at the ceiling for a moment, remembering last night’s dinner and all that Alec and he had learned. He still couldn’t believe it.

  Today was a new day though, not because it was Monday, but because this was the day he would enter the political arena. He decided it was time to get cleaned up and continue to refine the reports he had to give to the OEC. His meeting with them wasn’t until Wednesday, but he was meeting with two of the committee’s key members tomorrow: Senator Fillmore, who was a friend of his father, and the committee’s chairperson, Senator Thoma, about whom Ty was undecided. Ty wanted everything ready so he could show the committee how close they were to succeeding and how important it was for the committee to persuade the Senate to continue the grant money for Space Tech.

  As he brought himself to a sitting position, he saw the flashing light indicating there was a message on the hotel’s holopad. He reached over and touched the screen, and the image of Senator Fillmore appeared.

  “Good morning, Ty Bindl. Senator Fillmore here. I am sorry, but I have to reschedule tomorrow’s appointment. Something has come up and I cannot make it. I do have an opening for today at 11:00 a.m. if you can fit that in. This time also works for Senator Thoma. If this works into your schedule, please contact my secretary. Again, I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience.”

  Sighing heavily, Ty calculated his schedule in his head, deciding what he’d need to change. He punched the callback number on the screen and arranged the meeting.

  Great, he thought, now there’ll be no time to finish that list of questions. Everything will have to be done on the fly.

  Ty stood up and made his way to the head. He peered into the mirror with squinted eyes and rubbed them. When he opened them again, he noticed what a rumpled mess he was. He hadn’t even taken his clothes off before he hit the sack last night. He got out a set of fresh clothes and hung them on the back of the door leading into the shower room. Then he took out his shaving gear and started to shave, contemplating the man in the mirror as he did so. What he saw was a young man in his early twenties, tired and confused. He wondered for just a moment why he’d wanted to do all of this. Wouldn’t it have been easier just to have become a tech in the Orbital Lab and let someone else worry about this political garbage? He nodded to himself. Yep, it probably would have been easier, but that would have been a cop-out, not something his dad would have wanted for him. His father always said that in order to conquer a mountain there had to be a mountain to conquer. This was his mountain and today he’d start the climb. He smiled a little at that and went back to shaving, then paused again and put one hand down over his stomach, as if that would stop the rumbling. After I’m done here, I’m going to get some breakfast.

  Alec decided to leave the Turtle parked outs
ide of town at a tiny airstrip he’d noticed when first preparing for this trip. As usual, he’d committed to memory every airstrip within a hundred-mile radius of his destination, feeling this info might come in handy one day.

  When he arrived at the airstrip, the attendant on call asked him to park the ship in the main bay. When Alec said he preferred not to, the attendant reluctantly agreed to let him put the ship in what had once been a hangar but was now just a run-down Quonset hut. Alec felt it was less conspicuous. By the time he’d gotten the Turtle housed safely inside the hut it was already late, so Alec decided he’d just stick with the ship and call it a night.

  Hours later he awoke to the sun shining through the many cracks and holes in the beat-up hangar. He’d need to get going to find out background information on all the OEC members. After that, he’d go to the archives and try to find any information on the OEC meetings that had included his parents. He needed to find a reason for yesterday’s attack.

  Right now, though, it was time to contact Orion and Zach. They’d be stunned to find out what Paul Spencer had said about the prototype.

  He turned on the auxiliary power just enough to power the radio. He was taking no chances now. He opened a secure channel to both Zach and Orion. “OBL1 and OBL2, do you copy?” Alec repeated himself: “OBL1 and OBL2, do you copy?”

  “OBL1 here,” Zach announced.

  “OBL2 here. Good to hear from you, Alec,” Orion acknowledged.

  “Well, don’t be so glad. We’ve got serious issues down here.”

  “I’m sorry,” Zach said. “Would you care to expand on that?”

  “First off, you’ll not reach me at the hotel anymore. I left last night. It’s too dangerous for two of us to be in the same place down here. For starters, Ty had an encounter in the jet yesterday. They were almost to the capital when they were intercepted. Our pilots did a great job of evading, but they had to deploy countermeasures after two air-to-air missiles fired at them. Fortunately, I was close by when I got the distress call. If it weren’t for the Turtle’s amazing speed and maneuvering capabilities, the outcome might have been different. I was able to damage the other ship, but I had to let it go in order to fly cover for Ty into the capital.

  “Ty got fired on?” Zach gasped

  “Is he okay?” Orion asked.

  “Yes, he’s fine. He was shaken up a little and pretty spooked, but he’s all right. That’s not all. We had dinner with Paul Spencer, the manager at the AxMet. You guys might remember him. Anyway, it appears he was helping Dad out on the information side of things. He told us a few key things. To begin with, and you’ll be as shocked to hear this as we were, he believes that the StarDancer was sabotaged. If that’s true, then Mom and Dad were murdered. From the way Spencer was talking, Axion would be my first suspect, but I’ll find out just what’s going on. Now, for another bombshell. He also thinks that the prototype wasn’t destroyed and may be sitting somewhere intact. If it is, then it’s paramount we locate it as soon as possible. It can’t fall into the wrong hands.”

  Complete silence followed his announcements. Up in the Orbital Lab, Zach fell back in his chair, his face ashen. Even though he was seated, he gripped the arms of his chair to steady himself.

  Meanwhile at the Outpost, Orion managed to get up out of his chair and walk slowly over to the observation window. He was now staring out into the great expanse with a blank expression.

  Alec, knowing what an effect this would have on them, let the silence continue. It seemed like hours as he waited for a response.

  Orion was the first to collect himself. With his back to Alec and the communications console, he tugged at his uniform to straighten it, turned, and slowly made his way back to his chair. He sat down and replaced his headset. “Sorry for the delay, Alec. So let me get this straight. You think that Mom and Dad were murdered and also that the prototype is in one piece. That’s what you said, correct?”

  Alec spoke clearly into the transponder. “Yes, you heard my every word. Astounding news, isn’t it?”

  Zach was regaining his color and equilibrium, but was still unable to say anything. Orion continued, “So then, they were murdered. Well, Alec, I don’t need to tell you what your job will be now, do I? Which leaves the little matter of a missing ship out there, doesn’t it? If the ship is intact, then we wouldn’t need the plans for the ship. I still think that the schematics must be somewhere, because we don’t have them here. The notes we found are good, but they weren’t complete, as you know. We need to see either that ship or the plans for it in order to verify what we’ve envisioned. They wouldn’t have left us guessing about all of this unless they had a reason, and if they knew someone wanted them out of the way—”

  “Then they wouldn’t have wanted anyone to find the plans,” interrupted Zach, who had finally come out of his daze. “One or both must be out there. I can feel it. If the prototype is out there somewhere, do you think Uncle Nate might know where, but just hasn’t said anything? After all, he was their accountant and best friend. You’d have to think he would know about it.”

  “I’ll contact Uncle Nate,” Alec said, “and I’ll find out what he knows. Guys, there’s a good chance that Dad didn’t tell him about the ship. Just because he was the corporate bean counter and Dad’s best friend doesn’t mean that Dad wanted him to know. Think about it for a moment. If Dad knew that someone was after him, then he would have figured that Uncle Nate, and most likely Aunt Peggy too, would be in danger if they knew. Gentlemen, Dad would have never put them into that position. Nonetheless, I’ll question him.”

  “Good point, Alec,” Orion said. “You get to work, and Zach and I will continue to go over all the notes and plans we gave to Ty, making any last-minute changes he might need. Zach, go back through Mom and Dad’s offices there and see if you can find anything that might have been missed. Alec, keep us updated on everything. Also, if Zach can’t find much more at the Lab, he can take a shuttle back down to HQ and look there. We’ll let you know what happens.”

  “No, not good,” Alec said, shaking his head. I can go back, but it’s really too dangerous for you two to be back here now. Stay put. No questions. If we are separated it will make it more difficult for anyone to get us. Okay, guys, go to work. Alec out.”

  “OBL1 out,” replied Zach.

  “We got it, Alec. Be careful. Orion out.” Both images faded.

  Alec swiveled his captain’s chair around and stood up. He peered out the front window of the ship again and searched through the morning dust. He wasn’t sure just what he was looking for, but he felt something wasn’t right. He didn’t see anything, but made a mental note to be alert. Turning swiftly, he headed to the back of the ship where the Hare was stored.

  The Hare was meant for two things: escape and combat. Alec had never thought he would have to use it for either. He looked the ship over more closely. He could only shake his head in amazement. Incredible. I might have to use it for both. He opened the cockpit and took out a small list, then flipped through a few pages and proceeded to run checks.

  Ty finally made his way to the AxMet’s small café. He grabbed the morning paper and found a seat at the counter. As he opened the paper he smiled. It was nice to see that some things were still in print. Most everything else had gone to the holonet. He had just begun to read when the waitress asked him if he would like a cup of coffee. He looked up from the paper and was startled to find himself peering into the eyes of their waitress from last night.

  “Yes, I would like a cup of coffee. Black will be just fine. I’m just curious: don’t you sleep?” Ty asked with a smile.

  “I do actually. Well, occasionally anyway. When I’m not in class or working here.” She smiled back at him warmly. “My name is Samantha, but as you see,” she tapped her name tag with her pen, “you can call me Sam. I’ll be right back with your coffee.”

  Ty watched as she left. Her shoulder-length black hair seemed to dance in the morning’s light.

  After a moment he re
alized he was staring. Maybe he shouldn’t. Joanne might not like it. Then again, he reasoned, theirs was just a working relationship, so if he wanted to look at other women it was fine. Still, he was feeling guilty about that thought, so he picked up the paper and began reading again.

  A few minutes later, Sam arrived with Ty’s coffee. “There you go, sir. Will you be ordering breakfast today?”

  It was then Ty realized he’d been thinking about both women and had forgotten to look at the menu. He managed to stammer out, “Yes, but... well, I haven’t looked at the menu yet. What do you suggest? On the lighter side, please. I’m still pretty full from dinner last night.”

  “Let’s see. We have a wonderful fruit cup, one egg with toast, or—”

  Ty interrupted, “The one egg sounds great today, over-easy with wheat toast.”

  “Just what I would’ve ordered,” Sam replied grinning.

  Once again Ty found himself staring at her, this time at her smile and captivating green eyes. “Thank you. By the way, my name is Ty Bindl. I’ll be staying here for a while, so I am afraid you’ll be getting tired of me,” he said jokingly.

  “Very nice to meet you, Mr. Bindl. I figured you would be here for some time. Mr. Spencer is very picky about who he invites to dinner. You must be pretty important,” she said inquisitively.