by Drew Avera
Chapter 3
We started to make our way down to our stateroom as the peculiarity of our recent discovery loomed over us. Something was afoot and I was afraid that by the time we figured out what it was, it would be too late. The passageways of the transport ship were congested with activity. Everywhere we turned there was pedestrian traffic stifling our progress. I couldn't help but wonder if it was by design, something to impede our efforts to eventually bring The Syndicate to its knees. I recognized some of the faces of the men that matched the records we kept on the minor members of The Syndicate. These were not the planners and schemers of their organization, but they were the majority voters who were responsible for the oppression brought onto us by our government. These same people would come to claim power on Earth if we did not stop them. You could bet your life on that fact.
After several minutes of brushing elbows and side stepping around other people, we finally made it to our stateroom. We took our seats and sat quietly for a time. Laurel had started living with Kara and I soon after I was released from the medical bay. It was an arrangement that I had a little apprehension about, but over time it had been extremely beneficial. Laurel and Kara's friendship blossomed since our reunion and I noticed a determination in both of them to succeed in our mission. Determination and persistence are valuable assets.
"What now?" Kara asked, interrupting my train of thought.
"We sit and we wait," I advised.
"We should be piecing together this puzzle. I mean, what was Captain Fillon discussing with Ghon Abert?" she asked. The frustrated look on her face probably matched my own.
"Abert is the senior member of The Syndicate on board this ship," Laurel said. "Maybe it's simply the landing coordinates; or the living arrangements once we've landed. We've been stuck on this ship for six months; everyone is restless."
"Laurel has a point," I said.
"Yes, noted, but what about the guards walking around with gauntlets? Is that some kind of security protocol? Where did they come from?" Kara asked as she lifted her arm to show her gauntlet as an example. "I thought we were the only people who had these."
I looked over at Laurel for an answer. "I don't know," she said. "My job on this transport doesn't allow me that kind of privileged information. I'm just the person people come to when they have an issue with their staterooms, or if they have a complaint with the food, just customer service issues. Security of the ship falls under the responsibility of Captain Fillon. I'm sure he could delegate that down the chain of command, but he is kind of a take-charge alpha personality. I don't see him passing it along to someone else." That isn’t very comforting to know about our dear Captain Fillon, I thought.
"Is there some kind of armory on this transport?" I asked.
At just that moment the transport ship's intercom system buzzed to life. The voice of Captain Fillon filled our ears.
"This is the captain speaking. In the next twenty minutes we will be entering Earth's atmosphere. Travel throughout the ship will be restricted to authorized personnel only. I advise everyone to make their way to their staterooms and stand by. I expect for us to experience quite a bit of turbulence, and the safety of everyone on this ship is my top priority. You have ten minutes to return to your staterooms; anyone found outside after that time will be escorted—by force if necessary. Captain out."
The red light above our stateroom door began to flash. It signified the lockdown status of the ship. I could hear footsteps outside as people ran to their own staterooms, fearful of the impending force that would befall them if they failed to comply. I never would have thought Captain Fillon would resort to force when I first met him, especially in regards to dealing with associates of The Syndicate. It was obvious that, as the months passed, his personality had grown darker. There was something about him that had changed. Could his integrity have been compromised, or was he under the thumb of The Syndicate? I wasn't very fond of either possibility, to be perfectly honest.
"Laurel, how long will it be before we land?" Kara asked.
"That depends on where we are landing. Most times you will land within a few hours of entering a planet's orbit. I've only been on three flights and each one was a week of floating just outside of Mars' orbit to test the condition of the ship. I don't know if the gravitational pull of Earth is similar to Mars so my best guess is only an estimate."
"So you're saying we have time on our hands?" I asked.
"Something like that." She smiled as we resigned ourselves to the wait. Within a few hours we would land on a planet that held historical significance for humanity, but I couldn't help but feel anxiety for what it had in store for us. Was it like the home on Mars we left behind, or was it a wasteland? My mind raced as the possible futures that we were about to experience tore through my mind. The first pang of dread reared its ugly head. Only one thing was for certain, and that was the fact that our next course of action was two-fold: do our best to take down The Syndicate, and try to find a way to save Mars.
Chapter 4
We sat in relative silence as the pattering of feet and slamming of stateroom doors echoed down the passageways of the transport. The ten minute countdown prior to securing the ship seemed to last only seconds. I could still hear the running footsteps of passengers as the intercom system sprang back to life.
"This is Captain Fillon speaking. The ten minute limit is now over. At this point everyone should be in their locked staterooms. My navigation officer has estimated that four hours from now we will be landing on the North American continent. Once we have landed, the ship's security team will do a perimeter check to ensure that the natives in that area are not a threat to our survival. I will allow everyone to transit the ship, but the cargo bay will be off limits until I state otherwise. Thank you. And rest easy as we prepare to enter Earth's atmosphere. Captain out."
Kara exhaled dramatically, "Four hours? I wasn't too fond of the three hours you estimated," she said to Laurel.
"Ha, sorry, Kara," Laurel replied with a smile. I knew she had no way of knowing how long atmospheric-entry-to-landing would be on this alien world, but it was a frustrating thing that we had to wait so long to be able to move about the transport. That was plenty of time to let plans come to fruition and deeds to be carried out by evil men.
"Well I guess while we have absolutely nothing to do I can at least keep tabs on some of our distinguished guests," Kara said, as she pulled out the surveillance device. Its holographic display perched above her hand as she manipulated the controls. "It appears our dear friend Ghon Abert is on the loose."
"Really?" I looked over to the display. She had set the rogue passengers to appear as red dots on the image. I could see three personnel that appeared red. The first was Ghon; the other two were minor members of the board who we happened upon after a couple of months on the ship. Their names were Pharot Stite and Baron Linster. Their administrative file told me they managed distribution companies. Stite distributed technological devices and Linster distributed rations. He was also one of the distributors of Serum, a concoction I had consumed thousands of times during my years as a policeman.
"What are they doing?" Laurel asked.
"It's hard to tell," Kara said. "But based on the heat signature surrounding them, I would say that they are not alone. There are perhaps a dozen passengers in the cargo bay with them."
"Could they be crew members rounding them up to escort them to their staterooms?" I asked. It was wishful thinking more than anything else.
"It's possible, I suppose. I'll keep an eye on them periodically," she said, as she closed the device and placed it back into her pocket.
"Maybe I should go out there and check things out," I said. Boredom was something I had a hard time coping with. I really needed to find something to do with all of my pent up hostility. I could think of nothing better than confronting members of The Syndicate and settling a few scores. They deserved death; there was no doubt about that.
"I don't think that is a good
idea," Laurel said. "You heard what Captain Fillon said. The crew will apprehend you by force if necessary."
"I'm not afraid of throwing my weight around," I replied. I knew a few members of the crew and knew I could talk my way out of a confrontation with them if needed, but in the end Kara and I tried keeping a low profile to keep listening ears out of our business. That meant a large number of the crew didn't know what The Syndicate was up to and might get in our way.
"We know that," Kara jumped in. "It’s still not a good idea to go out there. Besides, what would you do if you saw them?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe confront them. Maybe just listen in on what's going on so we can develop a plan of attack. I have no reason to be afraid of them," I said, half-hoping for some kind of confrontation. There was an itch in the back of my mind that craved action and it only grew stronger as time went on. I hadn't really stretched my muscles in a fight since we took off from Mars. Sometimes you just wanted to see if you still had what it took to win.
"No, what about all of those shiny new gauntlets? Are those standard issue for a body guard?" Kara asked.
"No," I said. That was something that really bothered me. I felt the need to get to the bottom of where those things came from.
"Then it's settled. We will all stay here until the transport lands on Earth. We will have plenty of time to monitor their whereabouts in the meantime. Any plan that they have devised will not come together immediately. We will have a few hours to scour the ship while the security detail scans the perimeter after touchdown," Laurel said.
They were right. There was no need to draw attention to myself by breaking Captain Fillon's rules. I sat back in my seat and mulled over our plan. "Fine, we may as well rest while we wait. There's no telling what kind of conditions will find us once we've landed." All three of us took to our racks to sleep through the rest of the trip. I was surrounded by silence with the exception of the small sounds of the transport that I had grown accustomed to during the six months we had been on board. Those sounds were muted by my conscience until I drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 5
The roll of the transport ship, as well as the downward pitch that spent several seconds uncorrected, startled me awake. I leapt from the floor where I had been thrown and looked to check on Kara and Laurel. Kara was holding onto her rack by spreading her arms and legs against the inside of the bunk. Laurel was lying inside her rack rested against its side. Both of them looked back at me wide-eyed and fearful. We experienced quite a bit of turbulence, which slowed down the pitch-and-roll correction of the ship. No amount of forewarning could have prepared us for that initial jolt to our senses. Luckily, the ship straightened out and the turbulence that followed wasn't as painful to bear.
"What the hell was that?" Kara asked.
The answer to her question came via Captain Fillon over the ship's intercom. "Attention. This is the Captain. We are now in Earth's atmosphere. I apologize for the rough entry; our flight guidance system did not correct the ship properly and we had to manually take control of the transport. Everything is under control. Please remain calm and stay in your staterooms. Captain out."
"Well, I guess that answers that question," I said, as I rubbed the knot on my head. I hadn't noticed it at first with everything that was happening around me. It wasn't a big knot, but it did create a tender spot on my forehead above my right eye. "Is everyone alright?"
"Yeah, I'm alright," Kara said. She hopped down from her rack and rubbed her elbow where she had bumped it.
"Me too," Laurel said. "I was the lucky one. I just slid up against the wall of my bunk. I was scared for Kara though. If she fell, it could have hurt her real bad."
"No kidding. It looks like your quick reflexes saved you from a possible broken arm or leg," I said.
"Or broken neck," Kara added with a chuckle.
"Yeah, or that," Laurel said, adding to the laughter in the room.
I smiled as I took a seat in the chair by the door. I didn't want to risk being thrown across the room again. I looked at the time on the digital display on the bulkhead and figured that we would be landing within the hour. "Almost there," I said, as I pointed at the time.
"Finally we can get out of this tin can and breathe fresh air," Kara said.
"I'm not sure how fresh it will be," I said. "Remember history class in school? The teacher said that the nuclear wars could have affected the air quality."
"Yeah, but that was several centuries ago. I would think that the Earth would have restored itself over that long a period of time. Besides, when the expedition visited earth last time there were still humans living on the planet," Kara replied.
"I'm sure everything will be fine," Laurel added as she climbed down from her bunk. "Captain Fillon told me they took some satellite images of where we are landing from the probes we deployed a couple of months ago. There are a few large civilizations. Some are even the size of some of the cities back on Mars. Cities like Plenum and Ferette for example."
"Why were they taking those images?" I asked.
"I imagine so they could plan out where we would settle. The topography is fairly flat in that area, so it should provide a steady landing surface. Why do you ask?"
"It just strikes me as odd," I said. "That was around the time that Ghon was snooping around the bridge and started conversing with Captain Fillon."
"I'm sure it's unrelated," Laurel replied. "If it was part of some scheme, I doubt he would be so casual about showing the images to the crew and staff."
"Maybe you're right," I said.
"I've got a reading on Ghon and his lackeys," Kara cut in. She was holding the surveillance device, and showed the image to us. "They are still hanging out in the cargo bay. Right now they are near the exit doors of the bay."
"I wonder what they are doing?" I asked.
"Wait, isn't that where you said the armory would be located if there was an armory on this ship?" Kara asked Laurel.
"I think so. That would be a logical place to store weapons if you needed to defend the ship," Laurel said.
"Or if you were planning an invasion," I said. "Maybe that is what's going on. Ghon is arming The Syndicate to take control of one of the cities on Earth."
"Why would they do that right now? They don't know what kind of military force they will be dealing with. It seems illogical to me," Kara said.
"They could have used other satellite images to ascertain that information. Maybe with the use of heat sensing technology or x-rays of the cities," Laurel said.
"Can they do that?" I asked.
"I don't know if it will work from long distances, but Captain Fillon used heat sensors to find an appropriate landing spot when we returned in inclement weather during a training mission."
"I'll be damned. Maybe Fillon and Abert are in on this together," Kara said.
"I hope not," Laurel said. "Could it be just a coincidence?"
"Maybe, but I wouldn't hold my breath for that," I replied. Another bout of turbulence interrupted our conversation. I could feel the reverse thrusters activating beneath the ship to slow us down. "We must be landing now." The whines and clashes of the transporter sounded as the ship slowed and eventually made landfall with a thud. It wasn't a slamming sensation, but it wasn't exactly the most gentle set down I had imagined it would be.
"This is Captain Fillon. We have landed on Earth where expected. I am allowing free transit throughout the ship, but I remind you that the cargo bay is restricted. Our security detail is preparing to go out and survey the area. Once it is deemed safe, we will allow you to disembark. Please stay clear of the cargo bay, both for your safety and the safety of our security personnel. Captain out."
The intercom fell silent and the three of us looked at each other. Now that the transporter had landed I could feel an unusual shakiness in my legs. It was as if my body wanted to correct for a list to one side or the other. It was the kind of sensation that I often heard the fishermen in Archea describe to me when I was a kid. I chuc
kled to myself at the sensation. "What do you say about going and grabbing some food?" I asked.
"Alright," Kara said, as she led the way to the galley. Laurel and I followed her out of the stateroom. All three of us walked in a peculiar way, almost like we were drifting side to side like a drunkard. I hoped the sensation would not last very long. We passed an open hatch that led to the cargo bay. I slowed as we walked by and could see the security detail Captain Fillon was sending out to survey the area. Amongst those men were several other men armed with gauntlets, and in the middle of the crowd was our primary target, Ghon Abert.
Chapter 6
I watched the crowd of people grow as we sat in our booth and ate our first meal on Earth. The activity of the crowd roared with excitement, but I did detect some anxiety on the faces of some of the other passengers. I looked over at Kara between bites of food and asked, "What can you tell us about Ghon's location now?"
She pulled out the surveillance device and powered it on. The holographic display appeared and I immediately recognized that some of the red dots were no longer on board the transport. "Ghon and some of the others have already disembarked; they are heading south from our position," she said.
"But Captain Fillon did not give the all clear," Laurel said.
"He wouldn't need to if this was part of their plan," I said.
"Seriously, I'm telling you, I don't think that Captain Fillon is involved in any scheme.”
"The evidence points to the fact that he is involved, at least to some extent," Kara said.
Laurel placed her face into her hands in frustration. She had known Captain Fillon for the past three years and she felt he was her friend. The sad truth is, I knew Thom for the same amount of time and he betrayed me at the drop of a hat in order to secure a lottery ticket to Earth. People put in extremely desperate positions can surprise you; often times the mask shatters and you see them for who they really are. I was afraid Laurel was about to catch a glimpse of the real Captain Fillon.
