by Jim Rudnick
Not a sound. Nothing. Time to go.
He eased the door open a few inches and peeked first to the left and deeper into the labs, and there was nothing to see.
Then he peeked to his right and the way out, and again nothing at all.
Time to go.
He slid out the door and down to his right.
An airlock cycle away from freedom and citizenship ... .
####
Tanner moved around the walkway, thought for a moment about the Juice Bar, and then kept on walking.
Marines here, marines there—security was good here in the Rotunda.
He'd just come from the Caliphate module and had noted not a thing out of place—no extra security there at all. No one who could remotely be considered military at all. He left a couple of marines at the entry access to the module and ensured they were on the Hospital Ship security PDA channel, and then his PDA sounded a chime.
As he walked, he glanced down and saw it was an EYES ONLY from Hospital security, so he motioned for some distance from his squad of marines around him who gave him some space.
"Sir, Provost Captain O'Malley said for me to let you know about that search of new personnel from the Caliphate? Sir?" a voice said which got Tanner's attention. He'd asked security to search the incoming profiles of all staff, healthcare personnel, friends, family, and even patients from the Caliphate in the past two weeks—and it sounded like they had something.
"Yup, go ahead—who have you found?" Tanner said, wondering how many and therefore what kind of foes he and his marines would be facing.
"Sir—not a single one that looks suspicious. Not one soldier, marine, Provost guard, Ramat, bodyguard, cop—not a single one. Family members were only three, and they're all older women—a mother and two aunts for one of the juveniles in the Caliphate wards. No friends at all, nothing else. Oh, well, one patient—but he's tall and way too thin to be any worry as he came aboard in a wheelchair, Sir. We have no suspicious Caliphate personnel at all—from any of their realm planets either," the captain said and he sounded as unhappy with the news as Tanner did.
"Captain, much thanks on this. Can I ask that you also check now for any military or trained personnel from anywhere else in the Confederacy? Yes, I know that's a bigger task, but please do look for us? We know we're facing something—just not what it might be? And can I ask what of the interrogation of this Doctor Bassem? He say anything?"
"Just the usual malarkey that he had no idea why this Ward fellow would have misunderstood him and the argument was about simple medical procedures. No idea at all, he said. Like most Caliphate citizens, he knows his rights, so we had to release him, but he is confined to the Hospital Ship. If I had to put money on it though captain—he's hiding something. Not like I make money on betting on Caliphatians like that patient a few years back, but the doc does know something—my money's on it, Sir," he finished off and they signed off.
Tanner nodded to the marine lieutenant, and they quickly formed up around him and off they went.
Caliphate wards checked and picket duty marines stationed there. Check.
Main landing bays all checked and marines on duty there. Check.
A smaller selection maintained a loose picket around the main lobby rotunda, the cafeterias, cafés, and gyms. Check.
At each of the other Confederacy member pods, he had a team of marines stationed who were checking IDs. Check.
"We're good," he said to himself. "If and when anyone tries anything, we've got the best marines on the RIM ready for them."
He motioned for the marines to follow him, and "now," he said to himself, "the only access point to the secret labs."
They took the walkway halfway around the rotunda and then marched off down the long corridor to the center of the Hospital Ship. At the junction between the main axis of the ship and the side corridor that led to the secret labs, Tanner stationed two marines there. Orders were, he explained, to check on every single person—no matter whom, and to record their admittance and their stated destination.
Farther on, at the last corridor to the big left-hand turn, he stationed two more marines, same orders too.
Down the final curved central corridor, he placed another two marines at the entry panel where anyone who wanted access had to place their hand on the panel, same orders.
Passing through for them was easy as they were also accompanied by a Provost security lieutenant who had a security passkey that would get them access anywhere on the ship.
Once through, they walked on past the unused conference room and labs where the scientists were working on whatever they were working on.
At the end of that hallway of the major pod section, they entered the changing room, and the lieutenant scanned the racks and matching helmets and nodded to Tanner.
"All accounted for, Sir. There are nineteen scientists over in the secret lab and only nineteen suits normally located here are missing—so the numbers are correct."
They then went straight through to the shower room and the Provost lieutenant turned it off before they even entered.
At the end of the shower room, they all crowded into the space down near the airlock door. It took a moment but Tanner eventually saw the force-field corridor outside was up and running, and it looked fine. No ceiling for most of it meant that it was open to outer space, and that would kill anything, the reasoning was made by the Hospital Ship administrators.
Anything but a Secret too.
Tanner looked at the Provost lieutenant as he'd just had a question come to mind.
"Lieutenant, could a Caliphate citizen wear a normally sized spacesuit? And yes, I know that they come in sizes, but surely a man six and a half feet tall could not wear a suit made for a shorter man, correct?" That did make sense, as there was no real stretch or play in spacesuit fabric, and the helmet was a metal on metal connection. No way it'd stretch, Tanner thought.
"Correct, Captain—there is no suit at all in the inventory for the secret labs that would hold a man past, say, six feet two inches at the very most. And all the suits, as we now know, are accounted for, Sir." The lieutenant was sure, and that made Tanner feel good.
"Then at this point, we have to believe that the secret labs are still secure. Does AI have any other records of any other entries, Lieutenant?"
Looking down at his tablet and punching a few buttons took a moment, and then another minute passed as the lieutenant seemed to be double-checking something.
"Sir, not anything at all, but the AI does show that at about four a.m. this morning, one Nathan Ward entered the entry pod here, got on his suit, it appears, showered, opened up, and went across. Then I'm guessing that for some reason, AI missed his return because he did the same entry again this morning just an hour ago."
Tanner looked at the lieutenant. "Does AI often do this, miss something?" He wanted to know and he wanted to know right now.
"Not very often, less than a couple of times a year—power fluctuations, surges ... that kind of thing usually is the culprit. But," he said as his fingers flew over his tablet, "I see no such culprits from last night, Sir," and that scared Tanner.
"But surely, if Ward went over last night, he had to come back to be able to use his own spacesuit this morning, right?" he said as the truth began to come to light.
"Sir, yes—that's the only way that this could work—it's not like he floated across with no spacesuit."
A couple of the closer marines laughed.
Tanner nodded but jumped back to his PDA and dialed back to ship security.
"Captain O'Malley, please—can I get him back on the air?" he said and after a few moments, he got a "Sir?" and he could hear the captain.
"Captain, can I ask about that patient that you said was admitted just a while ago? Can you tell me who it is?" Tanner had a feeling he knew already.
"Sir sure … I know it off by heart—it's the old VacJump champion—well, almost the champ—Jocko his name is—"
"Shit" Tanner said
and grabbed one marine by the arm.
"Son, you watch the airlock on the labs side of the corridor—you see anything, you sing out! Sergeant," he said and looked at the rest of the marines.
One stepped forward, slammed his foot down on the steel floor, and screamed out, "Sir, yes, Sir."
"Sergeant, get on the horn to ship security, I want a full detail down here STAT. Radio over to the head of the secret labs scientists, and I want a full evacuation of the labs—everyone out—in the next few minutes. Close down all work and get back over here. Marines, we're in for it, but from one Caliphate citizen only. And the thing to remember is that he will be armed and he will be carrying some kind of sample with him. He must not get away," he said as he turned back to the changing room and ran there as quickly as possible.
There, he quickly looked over the still hanging suits and picked one that looked close enough, and as he was struggling to get his first leg in, there was a loud yell from the airlock door.
"Sir, the other airlock is opening up," one marine said.
Tanner said, "shit," to himself as he tossed the suit on the floor.
Turning back and running back through the changing room and the shower room right up to the airlock door, he saw the airlock on the other side of the force-field corridor was almost completely open.
He shrugged as he realized he had no way around it.
Ordering the marines back behind the airlock area, he stepped up to the open plate and slapped it hard, and up behind him the force field suddenly popped into existence while the airlock door began to slide to his left. As he leaned far to his right to see across, the sudden bitter coldness of space made his eyes frost over so he blinked over and over trying to keep them warm which seemed to work. He grabbed the edge of the door as it slid and then moved to the left. Across the way, he could see a very tall Caliphate citizen—Jocko, who casually walked out and into the corridor.
Tanner yelled at him to stop, but then he realized that in space, there was no sound so his yell went unheard.
Jocko, however, suddenly saw Tanner, and that obviously was enough to make him lose his slow pace. He quickly trotted down the force-field corridor getting closer.
As he did, Tanner could see he was yanking a weapon out of his pocket with one hand, while the other appeared to be holding some kind of a transparent bag or the like against his chest. Whatever it is, he's keeping it warm, Tanner thought as he too struggled to draw his .41 automatic and it was hanging up in the damn holster.
As the gun finally came free, Tanner crouched down and took a few steps away from the wide-open airlock behind him. He drew a bead on Jocko and held up his hand to tell the man to stop. But Jocko did not stop, and he aimed his stunner at Tanner. Tanner put one foot out on the wall of the force-field corridor to his left and pushed off hard to slide to the right.
As he did, he squeezed the trigger, and two things happened at once.
Jocko's mouth snapped open with pain as he was hit, and he twisted to his left as the force of the bullet took over in this low gravity and lifted him off his feet.
But the force of the recoil of that shot also spun Tanner at the same time. He tried to keep his eyes on Jocko as his body also spun to his right, and he slammed into the force-field corridor wall. He whipped his head to the left first and then in a full circle as he brought his foe back into sight.
Jocko was hit bad it seemed to Tanner; there was blood floating like a small cloud around him, and he was jerkily still trying to bring his stunner to bear. But with one hand, Tanner was sad to see, he tossed an envelope or something like it up—up and out of the corridor through the top of the force-field corridor. Whatever it was, it sailed off end over end, and Tanner figured that was the sample and that re-entry back down onto Neres would burn it up as it fell from orbit.
He watched carefully to see if another round was needed, and he realized he was in outer space, cold and freezing but still alive. It had been at least a half a minute, and he knew this was more than he'd ever want to do again.
Jocko was done, he realized as the blood cloud continued to grow, and he looked back over his shoulder to the ship airlock. He stood slowly, took the very few steps back to get inside, and thought he never wanted to be in space like this again.
He stepped over the sill and slapped the emergency close button, and the huge hot blast of air almost knocked him down as the door slammed shut and the force field dropped too. Marines grabbed him and lay him down, and he felt like shit—cold, cold shit. He half-smiled at his attempt at humor, and he wondered if anyone would ever believe him.
He went through a short burst of the shakes and shudders as his body tried to warm itself up; he heard one of the marines, probably the medic, say that this was normal. The medic must have been on the emergency channel as he was also yelling for support and screaming about "No one on this god-damn ship should get second-class med help." There was a flurry of hands in a few minutes as he was lifted, gently placed on a gurney, and wheeled away.
His voice shaking, he asked that someone go and get Jocko, and he was assured that was happening right now.
His voice sounded funny, his muscles ached, and his major joints creaked as he tried to flex his knees and elbows. But his eyes felt awful as he had his eyes closed up tight. The underside of his eyelids felt like they were resting on ice balls.
Voices talked to him as they wheeled him to Emergency, and all were concerned with his health and his wellbeing.
"Better than Jocko's" was his only choked out answer.
####
While Tanner was in a Barony ward, enjoying all the attention, all hell had broken out on the Hospital Ship as a result of the Caliphate attempt at stealing the Ikarian vaccine.
That came to light immediately, and the covering by the Caliph was about the best she'd ever seen, the Lady St. August thought as her heel tapped on the floor of the conference room. She wouldn't have called it "holding court," but that's exactly what it was—she was hearing some testimony and yes, excuses and rationales and then making a decision.
It had fallen to her, as the Baroness was on Ghayth dozens of lights off; she was the Barony today.
Earlier, she had simply fired Dr. Bassem. She told him bluntly that she not only believed him complicit in the attempt to steal the vaccine, but that Hospital Ship security cameras and recording—surreptitiously yes—had proven him a liar. He was escorted off the ship, taken down to Neres, and then transferred over to the Caliphate Embassy for their removal off planet.
She then heard from the Ramat, the secret police of the Caliphate that had a small detachment here on the Hospital Ship. She listened. She told them she didn't buy their innocence in all of this, and she ordered them off the Hospital Ship within twelve hours. She was closing their detachment offices and residences too. There would never be another Ramat allowed on the Hospital Ship.
Then she heard from Doctor Mendoza, whom she was sad to learn, used the recent to-do to try to get more budget money out of her. He argued that the AI needed upgrading and the ship needed new power grids, and then there was the issue of the latest union uprising of the healthcare orderlies that had him worried. Him. "Not me," she said to herself, and she thanked him for his time and he could contact her aide and arrange to meet with the Barony financial ministry at his convenience. Typical, she thought, I'm here after an incursion incident and he wants more budget credits.
She heard then from this Nathan Ward and his fiancée, Lieutenant Irving, and she listened with a small degree of interest. She understood about addiction. And she understood about love. And she understood how Ward had succumbed at first to the lure of the trade of debts for the vaccine, but that was something he had apparently re-thought. His woman was good for him, she realized as the lieutenant gently interrupted his story to get him to explain more fully or to show that he knew it was wrong. She liked that. But there was going to be a price to pay for it, and it came to her suddenly.
"Fine—Lieutenant, yes, yes, yes,
I get it. I know what addiction can do—so here's what I'd like you to do. Ward, I'm firing you from the secret labs research team as of right now. In the next few days, you will receive official Barony orders to put together a small team to look at and study the fauna over on Ghayth. You're heading the team ... um, and I'm increasing your research rank to match that new lead status. But you're on Ghayth for, say, the next two years. You, Lieutenant, will be back on board the Atlas when you're ready, and that's my decision. Questions?" she asked and she received stares and nods and not a word was said.
Next, she thought and that got her to Tanner. His court-sanctioned time of ninety days was up in two days.
She made a note on her PDA to double-check with the head of the Appellate court; Tanner would be found sane tomorrow in public and that was that. She knew the Baroness had already made that a fact for the judge, but she wanted to both confirm that as well as let the man know she was a Royal too.
Once that happened, Tanner would receive his orders to report to the Atlas as captain. And she knew the Atlas was going to go to Enki and look into whatever was there—oh, there'd been the addition of the RN Marwick to that small group as well as the Duchy's DS Triumph along for the ride too.
But that was not what the issue was—it was Tanner himself that she still wanted to think about. He'd been cured, the reports said, of his alcoholism. So they said. That remained to be seen—and if she had to be totally honest, it was this "bad boy" thing that attracted her to him at first. Wonder if it's true, how it may have changed him. No way to know unless I spend some time with him.
And that was what she planned, but no more than just interest.
Then, there had been that kiss a few weeks back ...
Epilogue ~
It took quite a bit of time to first find the signal, then track it, and then pull up alongside of it, but the small two-seat scout ship did just that after two full days of searching. Above Neres, behind the orbit of the Hospital Ship, the scout had sectioned off the grids and had slowly traversed back and forth across the whole grid, looking for the package.
