“Take him to the medical bay right away!” Magnum commanded and three labor mechs bore him away. The walkway lifted and the ship's doors sealed shut.
“Shields up!” Magnum commanded and left down the corridor toward the cockpit. I slumped over in the buggy, once more feeling the breathable air surround me again. I shut it down and I sat there as the ship bore us way from the northern craters. Now I understood the reason for the mysterious lights of Langrenus. But was there anything we could do about it? I hadn't gotten anything tangible from the labs. Except for Justin. Maybe that was enough, though. I picked up the broken little recorder mech still mounted on the support column. I was sure Will had all the information he needed recorded and downloaded remotely from the mech back home. I would have the information sent to Robin later, but it still made me feel a little sad that the mech had come to the end of its usefulness. It also made me sad that the silver beauty of the moon was marred by corruption, greed, and conflict. This place too had been polluted. My romantic ideals of space were slowly being fouled.
And then I remembered that I had been taken into the beginning stages of Fiorjah genetic experimentation. Unlike most of the other human victims of those experiments, I had been given the so-called divinity serum and I was lucky enough to escape the next several phases. I felt nothing as of now, but worry grew in my mind as to what effects this would have on my body and my future. I gazed over through the viewport near the ship doors, looking to see if I would get a glimpse of the Fiorjah Mother. I saw nothing but black space. What would happen to me now?
13
“Don't get too comfortable, Robert,” said Magnum as a service mech helped me out of one of the medical tanks.
“What do you mean?” I mumbled, feeling very relaxed.
“Because we're going back. Orders from on high. You must finish the job.”
“Finish the job? I did what I was supposed to do already!”
“Apparently, there is more to do. For instance, that Fiorjah creature must be contained. I will take care of that, but there must be more information and evidence to gather from the company complex. I will be sending a squad of warrior mechs with you back into the mines.” He turned to one of his assistant mechs.
“Inform the authorities of this place out here,” he said. The mech warbled an affirmative and left. Magnum turned back to me. “Soon, you must choose your armored space suit.” I rolled my eyes.
“And what if I say no?”
“With us being the only first line defense against the alien shadow groups and the alien invasion, why would you do something foolish like that?” I said nothing, glowering at Magnum as he left the medical bay.
When I was finally recovered from the tank, dried with a light shift on, resting on a hospital bed, he presented to me a small array of impressive looking space armor to wear on a rolling hanger.
“They will also be outfitted with electrical field shields.”
Having no real choice, that's exactly what I did. I suited up and made my way back to the illegal mine, this time with twenty mechs outfitted with serious firepower and military issued shields, Magnum himself in the lead. We came in with powerful bullhorns warning the miners to leave the premises immediately. One of Magnum's assistants dispatched a group of mechs to go down into the mines with the bullhorns to warn those still at work.
After a pitiful resistance against us by security mechs and a few guards, everyone scattered from before us or tried to hide and issue sniper fire. The entire place was in an uproar. Employees were fleeing or attempting to, overloading the passenger freighters and barges, trying to escape. One freighter overturned, frightfully, crushing some of its passengers. It was a harrowing sight and I was sorry to see it, but the place had to be shut down. What we did do was make short work of the security mechs and top brass working there who tried to interfere. Magnum's mechs put most of the humans who did not try to fight under citizen's arrest and held them in energy bonds. Our team didn't trouble the miners or other low-level employees, who were abandoning the place as if it were a spaceship on fire.
“I've called police from Atticus Station. You won't get away with this!” Said a supervisor. I looked at Magnum worriedly.
“We've been in communication with Atticus Station. They are well aware of the fact that we are here and you will have some questions to answer when they arrive.” Said Magnum as-a-matter-of-factually. “There are a great number of questions this company and the station may have to answer to the media if this gets out. I'm sure they will not want that.”
“Yeah, such as why Atticus allowed all this corruption to go on under their noses in the first place!” I snapped. “Who in Atticus got paid off to keep quiet?” Magnum put the supervisor under civilian arrest.
With my squad I made my way back to the labs, this time outfitted with a body armor suit, helmet, and personal shield to protect against the lesser firepower of the mechs at the mining complex. I made my way back to the holding tank lair where the Fiorjah was now hiding out and what I saw surprised me. She looked as if she were gestating or hibernating and did not wake even with all the noise we'd made.
“She will be this way for a while until she digests all of the fire power we put upon her in our fight,” said Magnum's assistant.
“How did you subdue the creature?” I asked in disbelief.
“We used a special type of laser fire. It can't be bought or made anywhere else outside our special labs. The Boss is busy developing all sorts of technologies for the coming confrontation. Most that we've tested don't work well, but some of them work brilliantly,” the mech said.
“We don't have time for discussion,” said Magnum, ever the taskmaster. “Bring your ship overhead and cut open the roof to lift her out. Place her in the super tank. We'll take her back to headquarters,” he Magnum. I saw the strange apparatus that she used to animate humans that she used as flesh bags, or puppets, to walk amongst us. Now there was another kind of grim human disguise. There was no corpse sitting in the chair, presently. It made me shudder. I went to the far wall and put my gloved hands over it, feeling for what looked like a thin band of light penetrating through. I took a scanner from my suit and scanned the room. I found something hidden behind it.
“I think there's a secret doorway through here,” I said. Magnum and his squad scanned the wall further and finally found a tiled metal brick, pushed it and that opened the door. Down was a small, dark corridor and beyond that, a doorway.
“Stand guard here,” he told his team. “I'll go in with him.” He followed me down the hall and into the other door which was locked. I stood back and blasted it open. Inside was a small room with a table filled with tiny file disks and a computer.
“Let's get everything and take it home with us,” I said. Magnum took all of the disks and hard drives. I turned to see something intriguing. It was a space behind a curtain. I pulled it back to find a miniature version of what I'd found on the gorgon ship a year ago. It was a small blevdas, but there was another thing different from it. There was the holographic image of planet Eraut, with its three little shepherd moons encircling it. After a few seconds the planet hologram disappeared and another hologram took its place. It was a Fiorjah creature, but this one looked male and he was dressed in flaming armor. He held in his hand some kind of weapon, like the ceremonial blade I'd found on the gorgon ship, and raised it high above his head. A ring of fire encircled him as his body changed into many colors. Then he pointed it at me and I felt the heat from it or thought I felt it in my mind and on my face, even through my suit and armor. I backed away from this quickly and closed the curtain, feeling my heart beating rapidly.
“Are you ready to go?” Magnum asked. I nodded. As we emerged from the lair, with the exception of one laser battle after encountering the largest mech security force Hussa had, whose firepower couldn't touch ours, we had no resistance from anyone else. If there was anyone left they remained hidden somewhere in the complex. Finally, as we got outside we saw the flashin
g blue, red and white lights of the Atticus police ships. Anyone trying to flee in a ship would be caught now. At least that was my hope.
“Go inside. I will inform them of what has transpired here,” said Magnum. I took our booty and with the squad went back into our ship.
. . .
I felt anxious about these things being left untied and up in the air. I had a feeling that I would be back here whether I wanted to be or not. I also felt ambivalent about what they were carrying back to Earth – the Mother Fiorjah. She was in stasis. Why they didn't destroy her, I didn't know. I didn't like it and I put up a big protest about the matter while we were en-route to Langrenus.
“The Boss will decide whether or not she will be destroyed.” Said Magnum. “Furthermore, I do not work for you. We both work for The Boss. Good day, Robert Astor.” The mech said and that was the end of it. Maybe it was a good thing he didn't destroy the Fiorjah. After all, she was part of me now. What would that mean?
We headed back to La Luna spaceport and I went back to my quarters to write up my report to send to Robin. I also informed her of the disks we found and that I was going to have them examined by my own team on U-net. I left parts of the incidents out, such as finding the blevdas. But I put a note of it in my own private journal that I was now keeping. There, I made a note of Peter Crawford's contact numbers. I also made another note of Archibald's serial numbers and possible usefulness if I happen to be staying at Bradford or Butler Towers again. I wanted to study these things on my own and since the Big Boss had decided to be mysterious, I thought nothing of keeping some secrets for myself.
Sending the disks back home to Chip and Will by special mail, I sent a note along telling them to explore what was one these disks and to get back to me. And to have all the recorded files from the recording mech sent back to me. I also asked Will if the mech had recorded anything unusual in the mines.
“Apart from the illegal and horrible working conditions? Yes. But it would only confirm the things you saw in the labs. Humans with alien genetic material roaming around in the lower levels of the mines. I saw and recorded two such creatures. I have no idea if they are still alive.”
“Thanks, Will.” Later, I contacted Robin.
“I found out the issue with the lights on the moon. I wonder if Magnum's told you anything?”
“Not yet. We wanted to hear it first from you. Magnum may fill in any other details as needed,” she said.
“There's an illegal mine here planted in the north in the Poncelet Crater. They over work the miners there to fill large quotas of radon and other materials. So far, more radon gases are being produced there than anywhere else. So much so that it disrupts the natural phenomenon and has increased the emissions of gases in the lunar craters on large parts of the moon. Their dangerous and illegal production techniques affect the entire area and that is why the lights are so unusual. They've been in full operation for a few years, but I've ascertained that only the last year or so have they kicked up their production speed.”
“An illegal mine? I had no idea. And no one, not even the authorities are aware of this?”
“I'm not so sure they are unaware, at least not from how the miners recruited to work there talk. I think there's some tacit agreement between the authorities and the companies involved in the whole mess. I think money is changing hands, especially on Atticus Station, which is why they keep quiet and do nothing about the issue. However, it looks like Magnum has forced them to get involved. I'm not sure how he did it.”
“With the evidence that you and Will gathered, we've got something on them and they know it. Plus there's an eyewitness, Justin. Besides, Magnum often works as The Boss's voice when The Boss is not there. There's power there and wise people do not often wish to cross the one we work for.”
“Good to know. There's also an unusually high incident of lung cancer and radiation poisoning with the miners who work at this particular mine. The company name of this particular mine is Hussa.”
“Hussa. Noted. You were able to infiltrate the workforce, then?”
“Not exactly. The lax company security up there worked in my favor. Otherwise, I'm not so sure I would have accomplished anything.”
“I see. Anything else?”
“Yes. NCO is also indirectly involved in this. While snooping around, I found plain boxes full of certain kinds of supplies. I pulled back the covers from these boxes and found that they were sent by the NCO.”
“Did you get any recordings or pictures of this?”
“I did. I'll have my team send them on to you. I also found out that there's another company selling a patented drug to only one mining company, Hussa. This drug is very different from the drug cocktail issued to employees by the other mining companies. This company is called Lane Pharmaceuticals. They operate behind a dummy corporation called I.E.M.”
“I.E.M.?”
“International Emergent Medicine.”
“This is wonderful information, Robert! Did you get a hold of a sample of the drugs they're using?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
“Why is this drug different?”
“It's a growth hormone and is used to prep employees at the mine for genetic experiments. Employees are disappearing there and dying either from the bad practices and if they don't die, the sick ones are herded off to secret labs and used for alien genetic experiments.”
“Oh my God.” She paused for a long time. “I'm thinking that Justin, the man you rescued from there can tell us more about this?”
“Yes. Has he?”
“Right now he's so sick that we're having him under treatment. He was shot and the laser grazed pretty deep, but it didn't hit any internal organs.”
“That's good.”
“But he has lost quite a bit of blood. We just want him to rest for now. Get his strength back. We'll talk with him when he recovers. We'll need him.”
“I'm sure he's going to need protection.”
“We'll take care of that. Thing is, I can't say too much except that NCO has been a thorn in the side of Vartan for a while. This kind of information will help us build our arsenal against them. We plan to take them down along with Hussa and I.E.M., if possible.” I didn't say anything to this but wondered if that was Vartan the corporation or Vartan the Boss. Did I really care about whether Vartan was having some kind of pissing match with another company? Not really, but I was helping to uncover wrongdoing and for now that was good enough for me.
“You'll find some interesting things once I get my team to send you the recorded files. The aliens are there as well. A very different kind of alien. They were a race once thought extinct by their own species.” She was silent for a few seconds.
“I look forward very much to seeing these files. As will The Boss.”
“I'm curious, Robin. Did The Boss have some idea what was going on out there?”
“We knew something odd was happening, but we didn't know exactly what. There was no clear plan. We needed to put a nose out there to find out.”
“You guys got anybody for your Plan B when Mr. Plan A finally drops dead?” I said, feeling a little irritated.
“What do you mean?”
“There were several times I could have died out here and no one would have been the wiser. I have a family, you know.” I recalled the unfinished experiment I went through. It was close on my mind every day now. I heard her sigh.
“I hate to put anyone in harm's way but with the shadow alien groups here and what's coming, what other option do we have Robert? And no, as far as I know, we don't have a Plan B. You're it,” she said unhappily. “And we would always care for your family should anything happen to you.”
“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take anything out on you.” I guess I was being a bit hypocritical. After all, I decided to throw in the towel with Robin and The Boss, whoever he was, on this whole thing anyway. I wasn't too much different from the workers at Hussa on that account. Sometimes you did dangerous things because you
saw an important gain on the road ahead. You just hoped you got down that road in one piece.
“I know you didn't. Your job is very difficult and dangerous.”
“So what's going to happen now?”
“We intend to drop a massive tide of cold water on Hussa's plans for all the pain, death, and problems they've caused. And if NCO is sending them supplies and materials they'll be taken down right along with them. And whatever else is going on there, that will also be investigated. Atticus will feel the heat when this bomb goes off. Your evidence will start the ball rolling, Robert. You're doing a good work and don't worry. We haven't been sitting around twiddling our thumbs. We've just spearheaded a preliminary investigation of Atticus. We think it might be of interest to conduct it right in the news media. See how they like that. We're also slowly building a network of people friendly to our cause. People we can trust. It's small, but all of this means so much. We're on our own, Robert. The Boss has power and influence. It's being used for your benefit, but we can't make a false move. We still have to be very careful.”
“The problem is we're all feeling this out on our own without a strict game plan. So in this confusion and secretiveness, what is a false move, really?”
“Good question. But remember the alien plants. They're everywhere. And we don't know who they are.”
“That's true.” I'd found one by accident on my mission. “I have another gem for you. But I have this only on hearsay, no actual evidence. There's another space station out there in the north. Unnamed from what I've heard.”
“You don't mean Atticus?”
“No. Like I've said, I heard this only in passing conversation and didn't have the time to investigate it.”
“I see. I may send someone else out there to investigate,” she said.
Mission: Lights of Langrenus Page 13
