“Hey, if you want to collect autographs from the bums around the port, I won’t refuse.” He took the proffered book and pen, signed, and handed them back.
“You’re not a bum, you’re a spacer captain. You were on video and everything. My kid is going to love this autograph. Thanks a lot.”
“You’re welcome.” As the man walked off, Holden thought to himself, the video interview. Somebody saw me on the video and wants me dead? Somebody thought I died in the wreck of the Pisces III and just found out I was alive? Could the wreck have been deliberate? Sabotage?
He remembered seeing something strange on the ship, but what was it? The missing lifeboat! There had been something wrong with the way it had broken loose in the vibration. He strained to bring back the memory, and finally he saw it. The main clamps hadn’t been damaged, just the safety clamps. Someone had released the main clamps, then used the boat’s drive to rip open the safety clamps so it would look damaged. Someone had taken that boat and landed here on Valerian. If they had sent a message torp and were waiting for a pickup, they might still be here…and trying to kill him, when they saw him on video. It all began to make sense. Just a few more pieces to the puzzle.
Holden arrived at his destination in the worst part of town. He ducked down a small alley to a back door, where he gave a particularly patterned knock. A peephole opened, then the door, and Holden entered.
Inside was a beautifully furnished luxury apartment. In an easy chair was a small skinny man, dwarfed by the half dozen giants around him. At first glance one might dismiss the small man, but Holden knew better. He walked over, stuck out his hand, and said, “Hello, Spider. Have I got a deal for you.”
“I’ll bet, Holden. Every deal you ever brought me, I almost got killed or caught. What is it this time?”
“Somebody’s gunning for me. Already killed Lida and Snooker and a bunch of his card-playing buddies. I need the records of my last flight to get them before they get me. I went down to the StellTrans office all nice and honest, but since they cashiered me after the Pisces III was wrecked, they won’t let me have the records. I want to try another way. All I need from you is some help getting in and a fast getaway flitter.”
“You figure it was you they were after when they took out all those innocent bystanders? Tsk, tsk! People like that give crime a bad name. All right, I’ll help.”
Shortly after midnight Spider pulled his flitter into the alley behind the StellTrans office and got out to meet Holden. “Are you sure this is a job for just the two of us?” asked Spider.
“Any more would be in the way breaking in. Later on we’ll pick up reinforcements if we need them.”
“Okay, it’s your game. Let’s go. I just wish it were darker, that moon gives too much light.”
The two moved quietly down the alley to the back door of StellTrans. Spider attacked the door with one of the electronic gadgets hanging from his belt, and in a short time it swung open noiselessly. The two entered, and Holden led the way to the records section. After a short search, Holden indicated a particular file cabinet. Spider opened it, and Holden began to paw through the contents.
“Do you know what you’re looking for, Holden?”
“Yeah, I think so. I spent a day at the library. Several people have been working on using dual space for short distance transport and—ah, here it is! There was a Dr. Rasmussen on the Pisces III, he was one of those people.” He went back to searching the papers.
“I don’t see what that has to do with the murders.”
“He had something called a ‘Dual Space Congruence Generator’ on board. Spider, suppose you have people in a tightly closed room, and you open a gate to outer space. What happens to the air? And to the people?”
“Explosive decompression! Damn, I think you’re right. Grab the papers and let’s get out of here.”
“One more thing we have to do. Come on.” He led the way through the dark halls to the communications center.
“What’re we doing now? You’re not going to send a message, fer chrissake?”
“No, not exactly. This machine…” Holden paused and typed briefly on a keyboard, then pushed a button. “This is the lifeboat locater. It should show two. Mine at the port, and the murderer’s. Ah, there.” He gestured at the screen. “About one hundred sixty klicks north-northeast, up in the mountains.” The printer chattered briefly and he ripped off the sheet with the coordinates.
“Holden, you idiot!” screamed Spider. “Don’t you know that machine is slaved to the ones at the port and the police station? They’re going to get the same reports and wonder who the hell triggered the request. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
They ran down the halls to the alley door. Somehow, Holden tripped and fell heavily against the control panel just inside the door, triggering the alarms. Spider grabbed Holden and helped him up, then dragged him down the alley to the flitter. They jumped in and Spider took off, straight up from the alley, then looked around.
“Damn. Cops in the air already, see the flashing reds? You have got me in a mess, and I’m not happy.”
“Well, you said this was the fastest machine on the planet, so move. North-northeast. One hundred sixty klicks. I’ll give you the exact coordinates when we get closer.”
Spider did a little fancy maneuvering and ended up with a clear path in the indicated direction, then poured on the juice. Soon they were well outside city limits and slowly beginning to outdistance the police.
Holden looked back at their followers, then said, “Why don’t you slow down a bit so we don’t lose our buddies back there?”
“Are you crazy?”
“Well, I said I’d get us reinforcements when we needed them. Or would you rather face those murderers alone? The ones who blew up a ship and killed a hundred people to hijack a gadget? The ones who found out there was a survivor and possible witness and had no qualms about killing Lida and Snooker and his poker buddies while trying to get rid of that witness?”
Spider looked at Holden for a full minute, then turned back to the controls and cut his speed a bit. The rest of the trip was spent carefully cutting the speed in tiny increments to let the cops close in without catching them. Finally they got to the indicated place and spotted the lifeboat gleaming in the moonlight.
Holden pointed to it and said, “Land right under the nose. They won’t be able to take off past an obstacle without a long involved computer override sequence.”
Spider did as directed. In minutes the area around was filled with police flitters, most landing, a few maintaining air cover.
Holden asked, “You got a PA system in this boat?”
Spider nodded and handed him a mike, then flicked a switch on the dash. “Just press the button and talk. I have our outside ears on, too.”
Holden pushed the button and asked, “Is Lieutenant Kells out there? This is your good friend, Holden.”
After a pause, the voice of Kells replied, “Holden, I might have known it would be you. You’ve got your ass in a sling this time. Give up. Make it easy on yourself.”
“Why, Lieutenant, I’m on your side this time. That lifeboat has the murderers on it. The ones who blew up my ship. The ones who killed Lida and Snooker. It also has the hijacked gadget they used for the murders and the kidnapped scientist who invented it.”
There was a long pause. “Why in hell should I believe you?”
“Well, why is there an unreported lifeboat from the Pisces III out here in the mountains? Just ask yourself that. But I’d be a little careful opening it up. I’ll bet the guys inside are pretty desperate right about now.”
There was another long pause. Finally Kells said, “Holden, you stay put while we check out the lifeboat. Don’t try anything, we’re keeping you covered.”
Holden and Spider sat there for over an hour. They couldn’t see much, but there were sounds of gunfire, and the occasional “whump” of an explosion. Finally the voice of Kells said, “Okay, Holden, come on out. Your story seems to
check, but we’re still going to hold you while we investigate.”
Holden let out a long breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding.
Holden walked out of the StellTrans building and found himself face to face with Lieutenant Kells. “Good morning, Lieutenant,” he said.
“Good morning, Captain. How are you this morning?”
“Oh, I’m fine, but it’s not ‘Captain.’ They reinstated me at a temporary rank of ‘Commander’ so I could ship out as Second Mate. There were no ships here with any higher openings, and I’m kind of anxious to get going. They’ll bump me back up to ‘Captain’ when there’s a ship available.”
“Well, that’s good. Bon voyage, Commander, and come back to see us here on Valerian when you get the chance.” He saluted in an offhand way, then turned and left.
Holden watched him walk down the sidewalk. At the corner, Kells encountered one of the spacebums who lived in this area near the port and began to harass him. A few words like “bum,” “deadbeat,” and “arrest” floated back on the breeze. Shaking his head, Holden turned to the street to flag down a cab. He had a ship to catch.
About the Author
James Hartley is a former computer programmer. Originally from northern New Jersey, he now lives in sunny central Florida. He has published five fantasy novels, The Ghost of Grover’s Ridge, Magic Is Faster Than Light, Teen Angel, Cop with a Wand, and Magic to the Rescue, and has two more, This Wand for Hire and Fortunatus due out soon. He has had short stories published as e-books, the collections Five from the Future and Worlds Away and Worlds Aweird, in anthologies, and in various e-zines and print magazines. He is currently working on a new novel, Magic versus the Empire. He is a member of IWOFA and the Dark Fiction Guild. His website is:
http://teenangel.netfirms.com
Blog: http://jameshartleyauthor.blogspot.com/
Worlds Away and Worlds Aweird Page 18
