by Jay Cannon
After graduating from med school, Jerome had done a stint with Doctors Without Borders in Western Africa. The whole reason he wanted to become a doctor was to bring medicine to those who couldn’t afford it. He wasn’t interested in getting wealthy by being a doctor to athletes or other prosperous people. He felt that would be selling out. Wealthy people always had access to good medical treatment. He had seen too many in his neighborhood growing up who suffered due to lack of insurance or sufficient funds to seek treatment. His cousin had died of a simple sore that got infected because she couldn’t get treatment. Not only was being a doctor his calling, it was his passion.
Soon after arriving in Dakar, Senegal, Jerome started seeing patients. After a month he was sent to remote villages in Senegal and a year later to the Republic of Congo where civil war was causing thousands of wounded soldiers and civilians to go untreated. He worked sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, and the workload began to take a physical as well as emotional toll. The number of young casualties and rape victims was overwhelming. Jerome started taking amphetamines to stay alert and later methadone to handle the emotional stress. Finally, after working two days straight, he collapsed in the middle of an operation. He woke up a week later at a hospital in Djambala. Doctors Without Borders sent Jerome back to the United States. He was no good to them in his present condition.
Jerome was saddened by the dismissal, but understood why he was being sent home. He decided to take the opportunity to recuperate before taking up a residency at a DC hospital, but became increasingly restless. His memories of Africa were eating away at his soul, and he needed a little something to help him forget. Alcohol didn’t provide the intensity he wanted. Crack was cheap and plentiful. He felt he could safely use it just a few times to relax himself. A year later his sister pulled him out of a crack house. The teenaged girl that he had once inspired now had to extricate him from a drug den. Jerome went into rehab, came out clean, and returned to his residency. Six months later he was fired for stealing drugs. Denise didn’t find out about his dismissal until she got a call from the emergency room of the hospital. Jerome had been found passed out on a park bench, overdosed on heroin. This distressed Denise to no end. She had to get used to it though, because that was their relationship for the next few years. She would get him rehabilitated, he would be fine for a while, and then she would get another disturbing phone call.
CHAPTER 24
MORGAN AND BIFFLE BOND
Morgan set Pico down on a bench so he could watch Morgan hit a few balls. Morgan stood in front of the ball machine for the first time in his life. It felt wonderful to have a machine serve him balls instead of waiting for a ball to bounce back from a wall. He enjoyed being able to practice his forehand and backhand on a real court without having to hope that someone would invite him to play.
A voice came from beyond the fence surrounding the courts. “Is a machine the only competition you can find worthy of your greatness?” Through the gate stepped Biffle.
“Hey, Biffle.”
“So, are you going to show me some of your moves?” asked Biffle with a smile.
Morgan was puzzled. “I thought you were mad at me?”
“I was, but then I thought about it. I really want to be a great tennis player. And who better to help me become one than you? Plus I need a doubles partner since Frederick went off to college. You interested?”
“Sure, as long as this isn’t one of your goofy jokes.”
“Not at all. I want to win nationals this year. With you as my partner I can’t lose. I admit, in the beginning I didn’t care much for you and I really didn’t think you had much talent. I guess the teasing influenced you to improve your game to the point that you are now pretty amazing. I’ve had a hard time adjusting to all of this. Plus my dad has been riding me about winning nationals this year. I really want you as my partner if you can forgive me for being such a jerk…”
Morgan cut Biffle off. “Okay, I’m in. I’d like to be a great tennis player myself someday. It’s all I dream about. You can go to college and be whatever you want. I’d be lucky to go at all. If I can’t play tennis I might have nothing.”
“There’s always an alternative. Don’t ever believe that there is only one path to success. So tell me, how did you anticipate my moves so well?”
“Two things. First I clear my mind of everything except the tennis match. I don’t think about winning or losing or what people watching are thinking. I just focus on the match. Second, I watch how my opponent moves before hitting the ball. That is a great indicator of where the ball will be hit. That is how the Williams sisters got so good. They can anticipate an opponent’s intent in regard to where they want to place the ball. I’ve spent hours here, looking through the fence at people serving and watching where the ball lands. That’s what I want you to do today. Just watch different people serve and watch where the ball lands. After a while, try to guess where the ball will land. Watch one person for a set and then find someone different to watch.”
“Whatever you say, coach. I’ll get right on it. Why don’t we grab a smoothie once we are done with this?”
“Fine with me.”
CHAPTER 25
INITIAL MINING OPERATIONS CONCLUDE
Mining the atmosphere from a planet was much easier than trying to recover solid minerals. After just four weeks into the operation, Jupiter started to fall from orbit and accelerate toward the sun. Three days later Saturn fell from its orbit and started its race toward the sun, with Jupiter quickly gaining. Their moons had long since been pushed away into deep space so they would not affect the mining or be viewed from Earth. When Saturn’s rings eventually dispersed, its fragments were too small to be of any consequence.
The Andrea, from where Captain Shisal ran the operations, and the monitoring ship from where Mikael gave orders to the mining officers, were well out of range of the debris.
Seventeen days after falling from orbit, what was left of Jupiter intercepted the remains of Saturn. They pulled toward each other and began to orbit each other, as Mikael had predicted. Mikael had worked closely with the mining officers to ensure that they mined the planets at the proper rates for their paths to intersect in such a way as to set up a common orbit.
The most critical part of the mission for Mikael had finally arrived. He had to watch the planets’ speed and distance from the sun to determine the right moment for the mining vessels to cease their operations and return to the Andrea. The vessels were extracting millions of tons of material daily, and Captain Shisal wanted to load as much as possible.
The heat of the sun was becoming an issue for the mining ships. Jupiter and Saturn’s imminent collision with Mercury was an even bigger issue. But the overriding danger to the mining vessels involved escaping the sun’s gravity and making it back to the Andrea. They were hurtling toward the sun at high speed, and were too far away to be beamed aboard or captured in a tractor beam. The strength of the sun’s gravity made a jump into dimensional space too risky to attempt. They had to rely on their gravitational engines to deflect them away from the sun enough to avoid its gravity well and yet not crush the ships. The cargo itself was not at risk of being lost because the last of it would be transported to the Andrea before the mining vessels lifted off the wrecked planets.
Mikael knew that the moment would come for him to give the liftoff order sometime during the next two hours, but he could not be more precise. It all depended on how fast the mining progressed and the impact that the reduced mass had on the acceleration of the planets toward the sun. He stood at the bridge of the monitoring ship, following the two planets as they hurtled through space. At their current distance, the sun was no longer appeared as a ball but as a giant wall of fire. Shields darkened the view enough for Mikael to see what was happening and protect his ship from the heat.
The commander of the vessel was the only person Mikael allowed on the bridge with him. Everyone else was ordered to other parts of the ship and all non-essential equi
pment was turned off. Mikael wanted nothing to distract him from feeling the gravitational forces around him.
“Get ready!” Mikael suddenly shouted. A few moments passed then Mikael turned to the commander and ordered, “Now! Get them off now!”
The commander sent a signal to the mining vessels and they all lifted off at once, using Mikael’s coordinates to avoid the sun and get back safely to the Andrea. Except for one that suffered an engine malfunction, all the vessels made it back.
Captain Shisal decided to subtract the cost of the vessel from the mining officer’s share of proceeds from the mission. Considering Shisal’s other options, the officer was happy to accept that settlement.
“Navigator,” said Shisal.
“Yes, captain.”
“Get us home.”
“Aye aye, captain.”
“Logistics,” said Shisal.
“Yes, captain.”
“Have you let home base know we are coming? I want a quick turnaround so we can start our invasion as planned.”
“Yes, captain, they have been informed. We should be serviced as soon as we arrive, and depart again on schedule.”
“Security,” said Shisal.
“Security here, captain.”
“Give me an update on the escapee.”
“We have not yet located him, though we did run across some unusual activity suggesting the alien’s involvement and have relayed the data to Uan. Our sources tell us there have been no events that point to the discovery of his presence or our plans to visit the planet.”
“I’m not totally comfortable with your status report. Stay on top of this. I don’t want any last minute surprises.”
“Aye aye, captain. This is our top priority.”
The captain continued with his departmental updates as the ship headed into dimensional space for its return home.
CHAPTER 26
CONFRONTING LOUIE
Uan and Calvin arrived at the abandoned building. They dumped the bodies out of the bags and left them in the Escalade. They abandoned the vehicle and disposed of the bags in a dumpster in the alley behind the building.
Uan spent the next week working with Calvin to get to know DC and American culture. He found that Americans wasted a lot of time on what they called entertainment and not enough time improving their lives. Calvin drove Uan around the city, from neighborhood to neighborhood, looking for signs of Pico and the mysterious human that was helping him.
Late at night, Uan walked through the back alleys of DC looking for trouble. Eventually, he hoped, someone would try to mug him. If he were lucky there would be three of them, and he would use his fighting skills to quickly pummel them into a bloody mess. He never used his weapons or killed anyone on these outings. He was simply whetting his appetite for violence. Calvin accompanied him on his late-night jaunts through the underbelly of DC, and Uan hoped that one night he would join in the fighting, but Calvin had no stomach for any of it.
During one of their drives through the neighborhoods, Uan received a call on his UCD.
“Uan here.”
“Uan, there is some strange news about a corpse being animated and attacking someone in a restaurant in the DC area,” said a voice from his device. “Images from the restaurant’s camera show a youth resembling the one that assisted the escapee, and possibly the escapee. When you find them, kill them both. Be sure you have identified the whereabouts of both before killing either one.”
“I know how to do my job,” said Uan. “Just tell me where the restaurant is.”
“The coordinates have been downloaded to your UCD. Keep us posted.”
“As always,” replied Uan and the connection ended.
Uan showed Calvin an image of Joey’s Diner. “Do you know this place?
“Yeah, that’s Louie’s joint. He runs the action in that part of town. The diner is just a front for his other activities.”
“I need to go there and find someone.”
“Sure. Let’s get a cab.” They hopped into a cab and were at Joey’s Diner within five minutes. The police were there when they arrived so they had the cabbie drop them off down the street and out of view.
“That’ll be seven dollars,” said the cabbie.
“Here’s ten. Keep the change,” replied Calvin.
“Thanks. Go Bengals!”
“Whatever,” replied Calvin.
“What did he mean by ‘go Bengals’?” asked Uan.
“Your face paint or tattoo makes you look like a Cincinnati Bengals football fan. Don’t worry about it.”
“I do not understand what you mean.”
“Based on your accent I take it you’re from Scotland. You must have fans there that dress up and paint their faces in support of a sports club.”
“This is the way that I look. We’ll just have to figure out some way to make me stand out less. For now, I need you to find out what happened in that diner.”
“Okay, I’ll go check it out and be right back.”
Fifteen minutes later Calvin returned.
“It appears that some dead guy went off on Louie because Louie was trying to shake down the sister of some junkie. Louie lets the two go and takes off.”
“I am not sure what you are trying to tell me, but it sounds like the Louie person can help us?”
“Yeah, but how can a dead guy attack someone?”
“The person I am looking for has the ability to move things with his mind. It was probably him that caused all of that.”
“What kind of crap is that?”
“The kind of crap that gets you noticed and then gets you killed once I find the little creature. Where can I find Louie?”
“He’s supposed to be holed up in one of his drug dens over on Fourth Street.”
“Okay, I want to go pay him a visit.”
“It’s not going to be as easy getting to Louie as it was getting to Bo Sam.”
“I am not worried about it being difficult to get him. I will get us in. You just show me where he is.”
Calvin and Uan walked the few blocks to the building where Louie was holed up. They stood across the street and scouted it out before making their move. This was an older working-class neighborhood. Kids were on the street with their bikes. An old lady pulled a basket of groceries behind her. A young mother carried a baby that was fussing with her necklace. A young kid approached Uan, who had his hood pulled over his head and wore shades to cover his eyes.
“Do you go to Woodrow Wilson High, mister?” asked the kid. “You better leave before the Dunbar guys see you.”
“I am not a high school student and I am not worried about students beating me up.”
“You should,” the kid continued, “they’re bigger than you and will beat you up.”
“Marvin, stop bothering that man and get over here,” the kid’s mother yelled.
“Mom, he smells like cookies.”
“I’m sure that’s just his cologne. Now come on so I can get you home.”
“You know, if you just put on some orange-colored makeup to cover the dark areas, you would look like you just had a bad tan,” Calvin said seriously.
Uan gestured across the street. “We should be focusing on our target, not me wearing makeup.”
The building where Louie was supposed to be hiding out was a three-story brown-brick apartment building with bars over the first story windows. Standing around the entrance were several men wearing black leather coats. They were obviously guards and probably carrying weapons. Another guard watched from the top of the fire escape on the side of the building. Yet another walked the perimeter of the roof.
Calvin said, “So I guess we’ll wait here until Louie comes out then grab him before he gets into his car, or maybe even better follow his car to some place with fewer guards?”
“No, we are going to go in, find Louie, and see what he knows,” replied Uan.
“I assume you are going in alone since you are some sort of stealth ninja. They would see me right
away and I’m not so good at that fighting stuff.”
“I will not be able to recognize Louie and they may use slang I do not understand. I do not want to kill anyone over a misunderstanding.”
“Right. I know how sensitive you are about killing someone unnecessarily,” Calvin chimed sarcastically. “So how do we sneak past the guards?”
“You cross the street over there, out of view behind one of the trees. I will sneak over and take out the guards on the stairs and the roof. Then I will create a distraction to draw everyone’s attention to the other side of the building. When that happens I want you to come over and climb the fire escape.”
“How am I supposed to get on the fire escape when there is no ladder reaching the ground?”
“You cannot jump that high?”
“No. Do I look like an Olympic athlete?”
“Fine. I will help you get onto the fire escape. Do you know what might make a good distraction?”
“There’s a transformer on the telephone pole on the corner. If you can take that out it should cause an explosion that will definitely get their attention. You should probably use a gun with a silencer or otherwise they’ll just send everyone up to the roof to kill you.”
“I will think of something. You take your place. I will see you at the bottom of the fire escape once the diversion takes place.”
Calvin nodded and walked down the sidewalk until he could cross the street away from the scrutiny of the guards. He looked back to see what Uan was doing but he had vanished. How does he do that? he thought.
Uan was in stealth mode and headed toward the fire escape. He leaped to the third-floor landing. The guard flinched as something next to him made a sound, and he peered across the landing looking for what might have caused the sound. A moment later he was face down with his neck broken.
Uan leaped to the roof and saw two guards there across from each other. He stood next to one and waited until the other looked over the side of the building. He quickly snapped the neck of the guard standing next to him and ran for the other guard. The man heard a noise behind him and looked around to see the other lying flat. He reached for his radio as Uan threw his spear, which penetrated his chest and pinned him to the roof.
