Molly frowned, evaluating the science behind his explanation. “Ah. Ok,” she said simply. “We’ll leave you to it then. Stay safe.”
“Righty-ho,” he responded. “Talk soon.”
Molly made a slicing movement at her neck with her flattened fingers and Pieter killed the audio link.
Joel and Pieter continued to laugh, but more vocally now that the line was cut.
Paige joined in giggling. “I wondered why he sounded so odd.” After a moment she cocked her head. “Do you think it’s a cyborg thing? Or a real thing about antigrav?”
Pieter shook his head. “I’ve never heard of anything like that before. It might be something he’s picked up in the Federation.”
Molly tilted her head slightly. “Like a disease? Or a habit?” she asked, her face still deadpan.
Joel sniggered suddenly uncontrollably. “Remind me to ask him when he gets his ass back here!”
Aboard the Flutningsaðili, Level 5, Medical bay
“Ok, you’re all set,” Jayne said, putting the little plaster over where she had just given Max a jab.
Max put his finger over the plaster making sure it was secure. “Thank you, Dr. Jayne,” he said, slipping off the examination couch.
Jayne busied herself with tidying away the needle and containers of nutrient injections. “Come see me in a week for the booster, and then you’ll be good for another couple of weeks in artificial grav,” she told him.
There was a long pause as Max rolled down his sleeve and perched against the couch. “How are our newbies settling in?” he inquired casually.
Jayne looked up briefly and then put her eyes back on her instruments. “Adapting. I think. I’ve not really spoken to the one in the kitchen since we came on board. But I see the two girls and the older guy now and again in the mess hall. They seem to be doing ok.”
Max’s tone dropped to being a little more serious. “Anything we should be aware of?”
Jayne hesitated. “I’m not sure,” she answered slowly and quietly. “The girl. The young one… she was asking about who the client was the other day.”
Max’s gaze bore into her head from across the room. “And what did you tell her?”
Jayne shrugged. “Nothing. Just that we have lots of clients.”
“Anything else?” he pushed.
Jayne thought quickly. “Well I think I overheard her and the older guy in the mess hall mention something about drilling equipment.”
Max stood upright. “That doesn’t sound good.”
Jayne bobbed her head. “No idea why they’d be talking about it, though.”
Max folded his arms, and stroked his face with one hand. “Hmm. I heard he had found some kind of anomaly with the paperwork too. He was all for checking it out by going down there, until Mark put him off.”
Jayne suddenly spun round. “Max. Why is it so important that no one knows what we’re shipping? I don’t understand what the big deal is.”
Max glowered. “The big deal is that it’s what our clients pay us for. Discretion. We don’t know how this affects their business. Or the negotiations they might be involved in. We don’t know what kind of impact this knowledge could have in the wrong hands.”
Jayne had put one hand on her hip, and was now staring back at Max defensively. “So what we just work hard to make sure no one finds out about it?”
“Yes, yes we do,” he told her definitively. “That is why we are paid the big bucks, over any other freight service.”
Jayne sighed, and turned back to what she had been doing. “Ok fine. But I just don’t have any idea how they’re finding this stuff out.”
Max started walking across the treatment room to the door. “They must have come looking for it,” he theorized. “I suspect, Dr. Jayne, we have some spies in our midst.”
Jayne turned to follow his movement, the stress and concern showing around her eyes. “What do you want me to do?”
Max smiled. “Kill them.”
Jayne looked horrified.
“Just kidding!” he said, laughing confidently.
Jayne started laughing too, relieved. Mostly.
“I’ll do it,” he added seriously.
Then he started laughing. “Kidding!”
Jayne pointed at him. “You got me!” she said waving a tongue depressor she had picked up off the side. Though she was laughing on the outside something niggled at her amygdala. She didn’t entirely feel safe around this man, and she didn’t know why. Why did she feel like maybe he wasn’t joking about killing these people?
Max continued laughing his fake laugh as he strode out of the med bay. The door swooshed closed behind him, and Jayne’s laughing died immediately.
She sat down in a nearby swivel chair, and rummaged in the draw to her right. Finding what she needed she pulled it out, and unclipped the cap. She took the device up to her mouth and inhaled a drag of the substance, savoring it entering her lungs and her blood stream.
***
Max immediately pulled up a holo call as he strode down the corridor. “Yep. It’s me. Yes, I think it’s time to round them up. The younger one, Marissa, I think she told us her name was. And Rex, in accounting.”
He listened to the person on the other end of the call as he walked. “Yes, I’ll meet you down there. Do it quietly and discreetly. No need to alert the crew or any friends they have that we’re onto them.”
Max clicked off the comm and made his way up to the forth floor. He approached the same stark white corridor as he’d walked many a time already over the last weeks. And, in fact, on many trips before this, for various reasons. He keyed in his ID code, and let the device scan his retina, and then passed through the heavy door into the previously secret and restricted area.
He strode through the darkened warehouse, the motion-activated lights coming on as he walked. “Looks like you’ll be having some new company soon,” he called out as he approached the glass fronted meeting room where he had his hostages locked up.
The girl that was the most communicative came to the window. “You won’t get away with this, you asshole! People will know we’re missing. You’ll be discovered. And I’ll be there when they put you to death for kidnapping on Teshov.”
Max looked down at his nails and leaned against a desk that had a few chairs piled upside down on it. “My, my, my… what little you know about Teshov. Death sentences are only handed out to the general populous to keep them under control and afraid.”
He glanced casually up at her. “I wouldn’t fall into that category. I’m far too valuable to the people who actually have the power out there. And on Estaria for that matter.”
The girl’s eyes flared in furry. “You won’t get away with this,” she shouted, her voice straining painfully. The older man, Dr. Brahms came up behind her and placed a hand gently on her shoulder. She seemed to calm instantly, understanding that her position was futile. The older scientist led her back away from the window and sat her down at one of the desks with her back to their captor.
Just then lights started coming on again, guiding the path for the newcomers. There were scuffed, and uneven steps.
And boots.
Lots of boots.
A few moments later the party appeared from between the stacks of equipment and boxes, brandishing their weapons and their two prisoners in cuffs.
“Well, I suppose this is one way to meet the boss to vent your concerns,” Max cooed as the two humans looked up at him.
They remained silent.
He continued. “I suppose you’re going to deny any knowledge of what’s going on here.”
Sean called over to Maya. “Don’t respond. To anything,” he told her.
Maya nodded.
“Rex, is it?” Max asked, wandering over to him. “Fancy yourself as a hero do you?”
Sean looked straight ahead.
Max’s eyes narrowed as he looked Rex up and down. “Hmm. Do I detect military training in that disciplined defiance?”
Sean ignored him.
Max kept rambling, walking over to the glass window of the meeting room. “Well, you see the problem is, if I even suspect that you might know everything, then you’re a liability. And must be treated as such. But if I knew that you knew nothing… then…”
Sean scoffed. “You say that after showing us that you’re holding three hostages down here?”
“Ah, he does speak!” Pike turned back to him looking the strongly built human up and down. “Tell me,” he questioned after a moment, “you’re not entirely human, are you?”
Sean didn’t respond again.
“No matter,” Max retorted, signaling to his guards. “You can rot in here until our scheduled garbage dump. And then you can have a trip out into the space. Get up close and personal with the vacuum.”
Max paused, expecting one of them to crack and start blurting out what they knew.
Neither said anything.
Max waved for them to be put into the glass room and started to walk away. “Oh, and by the way, we’ll be rounding up your friends on board and bringing them to join you too. Just in case you were worried you would miss them.”
Sean stood glaring from the other side of the glass, and Maya walked into the room, putting her hands behind her head in frustration, pacing in a small area as the door was closed and locked behind them.
Max gestured for the security detail to clear the area, and then followed them out.
Gaitune-67, Carl Milberg’s residence
“Yo yo! How you doing man?” Carl Milberg sat down as the call connected.
“Good thanks,” came the reply over Carl’s audio implant.
Carl spun around on his anti grav chair in his home office. “So, are we ready to reroute?” he asked as casually as if they were talking about sport, and not illegally rerouting a freight ship.
“We are,” Pike replied on the other end of the line. “Go ahead.”
Carl poked at his holo and then flicked over to another screen. “Ok sending new coordinates and flight plan. As far as they know you’re on the existing flight plan. This way though you’ll arrive a day early, giving your client time to pick up their merchandise before any inspectors are expecting to see you.”
Max made sure he’d received the new flight path data on his holo. “Great. Thanks Carl,” he replied once he confirmed it was received.
Max hesitated for a moment. “One other thing,” he started. “We’ve had to take two new personnel offline. Suspect they might be corporate spies.”
Carl sighed. “Ok. We’ll have to tighten up the vetting process. Maybe look at bringing it in house if those folks over there can’t get their shit together. That’s the second lot in as many shipments.”
Max’s voice was serious. “Yeah. It’s a concern. Especially with everything that is on the line.”
Carl shifted his tone to match the seriousness of Max’s. He continued to swivel idly in his chair though. “You don’t need to tell me. I’ll look into it. Want me to look into these guys while I’m at it?”
Max shook his head. “No. No need. They’ll not be around much longer.”
Carl chuckled in a single exhale of breath. “Lemme guess… You’re taking out the trash?”
Max’s voice lightened a little. “You know me so well, Carl Milberg…”
“I do,” Carl answered. “I know where all the bodies are buried,” he joked.
Max’s voice had a slight edge to it. “As do I, Carl, my friend. As do I.”
Carl felt awkward for a second. “So. Erm. Well, good luck with the trash disposal and… the unloading when you get there. Gimme a shout next time you’re passing this way.”
“Sure. Will do,” Max replied, his professional-casual voice resuming. “We’ll do a beer…”
“Plan!” Carl confirmed, thankful he didn’t have to do these calls with video. It would be much harder to hide how he really felt about the guy. “Bye for now then…” he concluded.
The call ended, and Carl continued to swivel in his chair for another few seconds, before closing his screens down and pulling up the next thing.
Just then then he heard the airlock activating and realized he only had a few minutes of productive work time left. He whizzed through his communications and responded to everything that needed attending to urgently. He closed down the screen just as he heard footsteps coming down the hallway to the office door.
“Hi honey,” Paige called as she breezed on past en route to the kitchen. “You ready for a glass of something?”
Carl smiled and swiveled around, getting up from his chair and padding through to meet her. “Would love something. I think we’ve still got a bottle of red open from last night.”
He heard the clattering of dishes and pans, and the fridge door opening. He stepped into the kitchen to see Paige already figuring out the most complex puzzle of the day… what to make for supper.
“So how was your day?” he asked, reaching over the central island to the bottle of red.
Paige sighed, straightening up and still looking at the contents of the fridge. “It was ok. Hard work. Lot’s going on. Yours?”
Carl grabbed a couple of glasses from a shelf behind him and popped them on the side and started pouring the wine. “It was ok. Another shipment in progress, so just keeping an eye on things,” he told her.
“How do you feel about mac and cheese, with broccoli on the side?” Paige asked, glancing over at him.
Carl wandered over with a glass of wine for her. “Sounds delightful,” he said, passing her the glass and returning to the stool at the island and settling himself down.
Aboard the Flutningsaðili, Level 2, Mess Hall
Jack strode into the dining area glancing around. She spotted Brock sitting with Auggie at the end of a long table. His expression was one of a broken man.
She marched over. “Hey Tallus. Auggie,” she said nodding at the second broken-looking soul. “You guys alright?”
Brock looked up. “Yeah. Just. I never thought that working in a kitchen could be so exhausting.”
Jack nodded sympathetically, but continued to glance around the hall as they talked.
“What’s up?” Brock asked, noticing her distraction.
Jack looked at the seat next to Auggie, and then stepped round to it. She sat down and leaned in, lowering her voice. “It’s Marissa. And Rex,” she said, glancing sideways at Auggie, trying to be discrete. “I’ve not seen either of them for a while. Have you?”
Brock shook his head. He had his arm on the table, his fork hanging over his food. He tipped his fork a little in Auggie’s direction asking him the same question.
Auggie shook his head.
Jack’s eyes carried an intensity and seriousness that Brock recognized as being unusual. “You want some help looking for them?”
Jack glanced at Auggie and Brock immediately understood exactly what her reservation was. “No. No. I’m sure they’re fine,” she said, her tone becoming lighter and more casual. “I mean, where would they go on a ship in the middle of nowhere,” she laughed.
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