Music of the Spheres (The Interstellar Age Book 2)

by Daniels, Valmore

  Ever patient, Yaxche had resumed his position on the chair. The translator did its best to convey the meaning of his words: “The metal of the heavens will heal the body, but not the spirit. The Sky Traveler has always been two parts of a whole. The spirit half is frightened, and has run to the safest hiding place it knows.”

  Michael asked, “And where is that?”

  “In my dream I saw a small station like this one, looking upon three suns.”

  Michael guessed, “The Centauri System.”

  Before he could say any more, Dr. Amma raced into the room with a nurse and two attendants. She stopped short when she saw Yaxche in his ceremonial dress.

  Michael noticed Justine, who was standing next to Alex, deftly reach her hand down and grab the Kinemet disc.

  “What’s going on in here?” Dr. Amma demanded. “The monitors went berserk and—” She spotted Alex, looking hale and breathing steadily once more, and rushed to his side. Quickly, she took his vitals manually, and then looked between Michael, Justine and Yaxche.

  “I don’t understand it. All of his signs seem normal. But he’s still in a fugue state. What did you do?”

  Shaking his head, Michael said, “Uh, nothing. We were just standing here, talking.”

  The doctor motioned to the nurse. “I need to run some tests. Can you bring me the sequencer?” Then she shooed the three of them out with a wave of her hand.

  ∞

  In the waiting room, they were on the verge of sitting down when one of the receptionists stepped into view.

  “Michael Sanderson?” she asked.

  “That’s me.”

  “There’s a call for you. I can transfer it to the kiosk over there.”

  “Thank you,” he said, and quickly went over.

  The call was from Calbert, and he looked harried.

  Michael asked, “What’s going on? Is everything all right?”

  “No. The United Earth Corporate Council has granted an injunction against all Kinemet experiments until it can determine if it represents a risk to the safety of the world population.”

  Unable to believe what he was hearing, Michael opened his mouth, but couldn’t form any words.

  Calbert said, “Yeah. Happened real fast.”

  “And they have unanimous support?”

  “Almost. The only country corporations opposed were USA, Inc., Canada Corp. and the German Federation.”

  “Germany?”

  “The rumor mill is working overtime. Apparently, word got out who was behind the hijacking of the Diana, and the Federation denounced Klaus as a disavowed citizen working on his own. They’re just covering their bases.”

  “That’s one word for it.”

  “As soon as we receive the official notice,” Calbert continued, “we are obligated to quarantine the QR Labs on CS3.”

  “What about our Earth-based research sites?” Michael could feel his face flush with outrage.

  “They’re focusing on CS3 for now. It’s a smokescreen. Someone thinks we’ve unlocked the technology. And they’re right—Raymond says Kenny thinks he has a workable theory. We could be less than a few months away from human trials.”

  “Not if they shut us down,” Michael said in a grumble.

  Calbert pitched his voice lower. “It gets worse. The Arabic Conglomerates have proposed sending a team of observers from Luna Station to ensure we’re following the UECC’s edict.”

  Michael couldn’t believe his ears. “What?”

  “They’re already on their way. Due to arrive in about six hours.”

  “You have to do something to stop them. What does Ottawa say?”

  Calbert tilted his head. “Cooperate. We’re under scrutiny from the world court. If we balk at this point, we’re admitting we’ve been hoarding the technology.”

  Grinding his teeth, Michael said, “If they start snooping around, they’ll find out about Alex and everything else…”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Calbert, I have to go. I have an idea, and I don’t think you’re going to like it. If we—”

  “No,” Calbert said. “Don’t tell me. I can see the wheels spinning. Whatever you’re going to do, I need to be able to deny knowledge of it.”

  That made Michael smile for the first time during the conversation. “All right. If you don’t hear from me, then it worked.”

  “Good luck.”

  Michael cut the connection and quickly strode back to the waiting room where Yaxche and Justine were speaking in quiet tones. They looked up at him as he approached.

  He summarized what was happening, and said, “Justine, I can’t involve you in this, but I have to get Alex, Kenny and all our Kinemet research away from the Arabian observers.”

  It did not take her long to figure out his plan, and she put her own spin on it. “Getting us off the station is only half of it. Alex needs more Kinemet, and I know where there is a tidy little stockpile.”

  Michael noted her use of the word ‘us’ and he felt a swell of pride.

  Justine said, “Turnabout is fair play. How do you feel about commandeering a pirate ship?”

  Yaxche gave them that amused grin as he listened to the translation.

  34

  Canada Station Three :

  Lagrange Point 4 :

  Earth Orbit :

  Justine knew the assembled Board of Directors for USA, Inc., as well as representatives for NASA and a few generals of the U.S. Armed Forces, would be waiting for her to report to the conference room and link back to Earth with an A/V EPS within the hour. This was only the first of several problems.

  She needed to stall for time, but she needed help.

  As the three of them neared the infirmary, she said, “We need to take a quick detour.”

  Michael turned his head to her, though he didn’t break stride. “Oh?”

  “Lieutenant Jeffries and the others should be in here somewhere. Let’s see how they’re doing.”

  About to say something, Michael closed his mouth and gave her a slight nod.

  They found the lieutenant in one of the rooms where his men where convalescing. Private Genero had a cast on one arm, and Private Hodges had several stitches on his forehead. Only one of the Canadian soldiers stood post outside, and he saluted as the three of them passed by.

  The lieutenant stood up as they entered and gave Justine a bright smile. The other two started to rise, but Justine waved them back down.

  “Hello, Major,” Lieutenant Jeffries said. “We’re just waiting for one of the doctors to clear us, and then we’re ready for the debriefing.”

  “That’s what I’d like to talk to you about,” she said. “I want you to go to the meeting, but tell them I can’t make it.”

  “Pardon me, ma’am?”

  “Just say that there are some health complications from my being held hostage, and the doctors are keeping me here overnight for observation.”

  The lieutenant could clearly see there was nothing wrong with Justine physically, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

  “Something more important has come up,” Justine said. “I can’t tell you what it is, but unless you help me with this, everything we went through on Venus will be for nothing.”

  He blinked, then made a decision. “Of course I’ll help.”

  “Thank you,” she said, and then spoke to the two privates. “How about you? Are you up for the job?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” said Private Genero, and Private Hodges nodded as well.

  “Good,” she said, “because I’m going to need one of you to be a dummy.”

  Private Genero opened his mouth in surprise, but no words came out. Justine smiled at him.

  Lieutenant Jeffries laughed. “I think you just volunteered, Vic.”

  “If you can spare Private Hodges,” Michael said, “I might need some help in the QR Labs.”

  “Wouldn’t Calbert or Raymond have already contacted Kenny?” Justine asked.

  “Yeah.” Michael gave her an odd look. “But
I have a crazy notion I need to run by him.”

  Justine nodded. “All right,” she said to them. “Here’s the plan…”

  ∞

  Justine waited for Lieutenant Jeffries to step out of the room and speak to the Canadian soldier posted at the door.

  She shifted her sight to the hall and watched.

  “Private Johnson,” the lieutenant said to the young man. “Can you show me the way to the conference room you set up at your headquarters?”

  “Uh, just you? Sir?”

  “Unfortunately, my men haven’t been cleared medically yet, and I can’t wait any longer.”

  “Yes, sir,” the private said, and led Lieutenant Jeffries away.

  Justine snapped herself back into the room and nodded to Michael and Private Hodges. “You’re good to go.”

  Michael grinned and left the room with the private in tow.

  To Yaxche and Private Genero, Justine said, “Let’s get set up.”

  ∞

  Dr. Amma was the only member of the medical staff in Alex’s room when Justine entered. She was silently tapping and swirling her fingers around the haptic control on her holoslate, updating her patient’s chart.

  “How is he?” Justine asked in a quiet voice.

  The doctor glanced up quickly, and then resumed typing. “If I believed in that kind of thing, I would call it a miracle. It’s another complete remission. Physiologically, he’s in perfect condition. But it’s like his mind has shut down. It’s unprecedented.”

  She continued updating her notes, and it seemed to Justine that she was there for the long haul.

  Although she needed to be careful when using her Kinemetic talents, in case the station’s sensors detected any anomalies, Justine, with a bare flicker of thought, focused her electropathy on the doctor’s holoslate.

  The screen went dead and Dr. Amma jerked her hand back. She shook the tablet, and when that didn’t do anything, she tapped the power node a few times.

  “Damn,” she cursed. “If you’ll pardon me. I need to find another holoslate.” With an annoyed set to her face, she hurried out.

  Justine watched her disappear down the hall, then signaled in the other direction. Yaxche pushed Private Genero ahead of him in a wheelchair. The private was dressed in a hospital robe and let his head, wrapped with a single bandage that covered half of his face, hang forward, as if he were sleeping.

  A duty nurse glanced over as they slowly wheeled their way down the hall, and just as quickly dismissed them.

  Once the two were inside Alex’s room, Private Genero got out of his robe and pulled the bandage off his head. With his good arm, he helped Justine dress Alex in the costume and put him in the wheelchair. Then the private arranged himself in Alex’s bed.

  “You have to relax,” Justine said as she reached for the diagnostic cables still suctioned to Alex’s chest.

  After a moment, Private Genero nodded. “All right. I’m good.”

  In a single deft movement, Justine transferred the sensor from Alex to Private Genero, and the diagnostic monitor blipped only once.

  Yaxche once again took up duty as wheelchair navigator, and pushed Alex out into the hall.

  “Thank you,” Justine said to Private Genero. “And if they try to give you any trouble, just tell them you were under orders and had no idea what was going on.”

  “It’s the truth,” Private Genero said with a smile. “Good luck, ma’am.”

  Justine gave him one more smile, and then followed after Yaxche.

  ∞

  Things had been progressing according to plan, but as she and Yaxche made their way across the station to the port, their luck took a turn for the worse.

  Several uniformed men where hurrying about, setting up a perimeter. Justine couldn’t see any civilians in the area.

  “Sorry, folks,” one soldier said, spotting the trio. “We have orders to seal off the area for the rest of the day. If you had a flight, it’s been postponed until tomorrow.”

  “No, we were just going for a walk,” Justine said, and smiled benignly. She turned back around and cursed under her breath.

  They went back to the main corridor. Yaxche watched her patiently as they walked.

  Stepping closer to a communications kiosk, she tried to connect with QR Labs.

  A harried looking receptionist answered. “Can I help you?”

  “Michael Sanderson, please.”

  “I’m sorry. He’s already left.”

  Justine pressed her lips together. “By himself?”

  The receptionist clearly looked uncomfortable answering the question, but she said, “No, he was with Kenny and a soldier. They were—” Her head moved closer to the camera. “Are you Major Turner?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you. Mr. Sanderson left a message in case you called. He said…” She glanced to another screen as if to check her notes. “…‘Look for me.’ ”

  The receptionist wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know what that means.”

  “Thank you,” Justine said, and severed the connection.

  Using her sight to find one person out of the hundreds on the station would be like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack, so Michael wouldn’t have said that unless he knew she could home in on him somehow.

  She took a deep breath and expanded her senses out, and almost right away sensed the signature pattern of an object irradiated from Kinemet.

  Focusing on it, she saw Michael, Kenny and Private Hodges pushing a large trolley down the cargo hall two floors beneath her. There was something mechanical on the trolley, but it was covered with a black plastic sheet. Whatever it was, it had come into contact with Kinemet at some point.

  She quickly scanned the route to the loading area. There were scatterings of workers, but there was no sign of any soldiers.

  “Come on,” she said in a low voice to Yaxche. “We’re going in the back door.”

  ∞

  When she reached the main loading bay doors of the port, Michael and the others were already there waiting.

  “I hoped you’d figure it out,” he said to her, and patted the object on the trolley.

  “What is it?”

  Kenny answered, “It’s a prototype quantum drive. Fully functional. We just need fuel and a few hours to hook it to the ship’s main systems.”

  “Where’d you get a quantum drive?”

  Kenny smiled. “Don’t forget, Quantum Resources designed the first engine. We were working on an improved version just before you Americans sold your share of Quantum Resources to Canada Corp.” He said it as if he had been a part of the process. Obviously, Kenny felt that the actual date of his enrollment in the company was irrelevant to his personal investment in the organization.

  Justine turned to Michael. “You’re not bringing it aboard just to hide it from the UECC and the Arabs, are you?”

  “No,” he replied, a wild grin on his face. “We’ve got a ton of Kinemet, a quantum drive, and a pressing need to bring Alex’s body and consciousness back together. You heard Yaxche: Alex’s essence is in a world with three suns. What do you say, are you up for it?”

  Justine let out a low whistle at the notion. “We have an untested ship, an untested light-speed drive and an untested pilot. Talk about flying blind.” She gave a little bob of her head and a quick laugh. “Of course I’m up for it.”

  ∞

  They raised a few heads on their way across the deck to where the Ultio waited, but they quickly went back to work. Justine was certain they had far too much to do clearing a bay for the unexpected ship to worry about two uniformed soldiers and two scientists wheeling cargo around.

  She was sure someone would ask why they had a Mayan Indian in ceremonial garb following them while they pushed someone in a wheelchair, but they were not stopped.

  They arrived at the air-locked loading bridge, which was attached to the ship like a long umbilical, traversed its length, and once they reached the
end, Justine and Private Hodges turned the latch to raise the bay door. They all helped maneuver the Quantum Engine inside and back to the engine room.

  Justine led the private back to the loading bridge.

  “Are you up for one more task?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said.

  “If we pull this off, pretty much every country corp., news agency, and police force in Sol System will call us traitors or pirates. I want you to do me a favor—and this goes for Lieutenant Jeffries and Private Genero as well.”

  “Anything.”

  “Don’t defend us.”

  He looked startled. “Pardon me?”

  “If you stick up for us, it will incriminate you. I appreciate everything you guys have done, but the last thing I want is for them to prosecute you. I told Private Genero to say he knows nothing; he was just following orders. Same for you.”

  “I can’t do that,” he protested.

  “Yes you can. You could even tell them I threatened your life. Maybe you three will get lucky and get through this without a court-martial.”

  His voice tight with emotion, Private Hodges nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Understood.”

  She smiled at him. “Good. Now go find the nearest peace officer and report us to him.”

  ∞

  Canada Station Three was primarily a launching point for Canada’s Space Mining Division. It’s secondary function was as a scientific complex with various wings of the station leased out to interested country corporations who might not have the resources to build their own orbital.

  Acting as a waypoint for flights between the Earth and the Moon was a distant third in the station’s mandate.

  There was usually a considerable amount of traffic to and from the station, and it was tightly monitored.

  When Justine prepped the ion engines of the Ultio, and disengaged the electronic couplings from the loading bridge, it was less than a minute before flight control buzzed in.

  “Uh, hello, Ultio. This is CS3 Port Control. You have not been cleared for disembarkation. Please identify yourself.”

  Yaxche, sitting in the navigator’s chair, looked at Justine to see what she would do.

  Instead of answering the call, Justine continued monitoring the ship systems and adjusting power levels.