Running With Argentine

by William Lee Gordon

  By now everyone in the room had turned to look at Mandi…

  The professor spoke first…

  "Haven't you told them anything?"

  ΔΔΔ

  "I'm Professor Jake Sullivan, from Denmany University on Asperia. I'm working on a grant from the Open Society of Enlightened Crustaceans.

  "As I told you, I'd be happy to help you calibrate your machines to process some ore… Metallurgy is a hobby of mine. But my major field of study is xeno-archeology."

  "Xeno? As in alien?" Barry asked. "There aren't any aliens. No one's ever found any."

  "Actually, we've discovered a large number of alien life forms. But you are correct in so much as we have never found any lifeforms that are intelligent. For that matter, we've never found anything even close to possibly being intelligent on an evolutionary scale."

  Looking around the professor realized that the group wasn't necessarily following his line of thought…

  "Think of it this way… We are fairly certain that mankind originated on a single planet in some distant past that’s so removed we've lost track of it.

  "Everyone can agree with that, right?"

  Argentine looked around to everyone and then spoke, "Yes, I suppose that makes sense. It's not something I’ve really put a lot of thought into."

  Several others in the crew nodded also.

  "Well, I can assure you that is the prevailing thought. The point is, human beings didn't just start out as human beings. We evolved."

  "Now you're just being insulting," the chief interrupted. "We all know that chimpanzees are our closest relative."

  "Exactly right!" responded the professor, oblivious to any insult. "But even before primates, life had to evolve into vertebrates. That was really the first evolutionary step that would allow intelligence to eventually develop."

  "Uh, just a minute, Professor," drawled Rory. "Do you have an evidence based theory to support that stipulation?”

  He took a bite from an energy bar, chewed it a couple of times, and then continued, “Couldn't intelligence just as easily have evolved in invertebrates? Exoskeletons could easily protect vital organs and neurological structures. What's the basis for your claim?"

  The professor started to respond but no one was listening. Everyone was staring in astonishment at Rory.

  "… So you can see, as astute as your observation is, there is good reason to believe otherwise. There is a Doctor McKinney on the planet Tarcer that actually tries to make a case for your viewpoint, but most don't really accept his ideas as wholly sound…" the professor continued, oblivious to what was going on around him.

  "Rory?" Argentine asked. "How do you… Where did all that come from?"

  "What? You think all he cares about are dream space motors and flux actuators?” said the chief. He then rolled his eyes, “He has hobbies."

  Argentine said, "Oh."

  "… So you see, it's absolutely critical I get to Trinity."

  "Wait a minute, Professor. Why do you have to go to Trinity?" Argentine asked.

  "I just told you, I have to see the alien artifacts for myself."

  "Artifacts! They have alien artifacts? Well, I'll be buggered!" Barry exclaimed.

  "No, no, no…" the professor interrupted. "They claim to have artifacts but no one believes them. The thing is, as I've already explained, I think there's a chance that they might be fossils. If I'm right, it could be the first evidence ever gathered of intelligent alien life forms."

  From the way the professor looked around, expectantly, Argentine assumed he was waiting for everyone to get as excited as he was.

  He was in for disappointment.

  Turning to Mandi, Argentine asked, "What aren't you telling us?"

  "Why do you just assume I'm holding something back?" she responded.

  "Because you are, and you always do."

  "I'm hurt, really… But if you must know it is a little bit more complicated than what the professor has mentioned."

  Argentine's look hardened.

  "I think he probably assumed that you already knew… Trinity is an embargoed planet."

  After a long moment, Argentine asked the question that everyone knew was coming…

  "Why is it embargoed?"

  "Because it lost the war, silly."

  ΔΔΔ

  The groans and curses being thrown out by the crew weren't in jest…

  "For the love of…"

  "Bloody hell!"

  "Somebody grab my gun…"

  "All right! That's enough…" Argentine said firmly.

  "We're not done here…

  "Professor, if your precious fossils are so… precious, why can't you go there openly to inspect them?"

  "Well, you see… I and my colleagues at the University are really the only ones that…"

  "In other words," the chief interrupted. "This is some half-baked idea of years that no one else buys into."

  "I resent that!" the professor said with vigor. Just because I'm the only person to put sufficient study into the subject to appreciate the…"

  "Oh geez… Man! Can you believe this?" interrupted the chief. "Argentine, we can't get caught up in this! We need to start making good decisions… We need to start thinking about ourselves!"

  "Professor," Argentine said calmly. "Just how do you know Mandi and why are you two working together?"

  "Well, she came recommended by the society I get my funding from. They said she could get me there."

  Argentine turned to her, "And just why would the Society for Smart Fish recommend you?"

  “Crustaceans… Enlightened Crustaceans.”

  “Whatever.”

  "Oh, I occasionally do business with them," she responded. "You might say they're one of my… contacts."

  "And this load of ore? Our contract says we’re to deliver it to Paladin III…"

  "Yeah, well… It's their job. So, if you want to get paid you’ll need to let the professor stop off at Trinity first…"

  Argentine closed his eyes. The headache had just hit with full force.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Friend or Foe

  En Route to Trinity

  “Who do you work for, Mandi?”

  Argentine had told the rest of the crew to learn everything they could from the professor and pointed at Mandi, “My day cabin… Now!”

  On reflection, he realized that he had given the crew an order… and they’d followed it. As strange as it might sound, he hadn’t really been thinking about the crew that way. They were a group of people running for their lives. Sure, he made the occasional suggestion, but usually they went forward by consensus… didn’t they?

  More amazing still, Mandi had followed him to the day cabin.

  “I work for myself, but you know that because we’ve had this conversation before…”

  “Yeah, but every time we talk about it the answers keep changing. I’m going to ask you again, who are you working for?”

  Mandi sighed…

  She couldn’t help but liking this big lunk of a guy, but…

  “Look, it’s maybe sorta possible that I felt just a tad bit guilty about getting you caught up in my problems on Asperia. I do work for myself but that doesn’t mean I don’t do the odd job here or there for some of the Open Societies.”

  Argentine was trying hard to concentrate on Mandi’s words but there were two things that were very distracting… One was his headache; the second was her… feminine allure? Whatever you called it, he was experiencing the same feelings he’d had at the café when they’d first met. When you were one-on-one with her she had the ability to make you feel like the rest of the world was out of focus…

  For the briefest moment he actually considered that she might have drugged him.

  She wasn’t beautiful in the classic sense, but between her looks, her spunk, and her personality she was an overpoweringly attractive woman.

  However…

  “Mandi, when we first met you told me you worked for the Of
fices for Inner and Outer System Employment on Tiffany’s Planet. Then you stowed away and led me to believe you were a down on your luck computer programmer doing what she had to to survive and escape. Then we discover that you’re a wanted criminal on Asperia who was brought up by the cartels…”

  “Just one,” she murmured.

  “Now, you’re turning out to be some freelance specialist that does illegal contract work for the Open Societies…”

  “What’s your point?”

  “My point is that I have no reason to believe anything you tell me! You’re asking me to put myself and my crew in danger and you won’t even come clean on who you are!”

  “You’re a fine one to talk!”

  “What?” he asked.

  “Maybe I play my cards close to the vest; maybe I don’t come right out and tell strangers my whole life story the first time I meet them, but at least I don’t lie to myself about who and what I am!

  “It’s not easy being a woman with no family; I’ve got to protect myself… but what’s your excuse?”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Argentine asked, suddenly confused.

  “You claim to be so protective about this crew of yours… so tell me, what’s your plan?”

  When Argentine didn’t immediately respond she continued…

  “Everyone’s counting on you to lead them into some kind of safe future yet you have no clue what that is!”

  “We’ve been running for our lives! We’ve barely stayed a step ahead of trouble…”

  “Exactly! You keep running away from trouble… When are you going to start running towards your future?”

  Argentine was dumbfounded.

  He had no idea what she was getting at but the way she was saying it made her words sound profound. Was he missing something?

  “Your people need a leader - and you won’t even let most of them call you Captain!”

  After a moment, Argentine said, “We’ll get to where we’re going… but I still need to know if you’re leveling with us…”

  She gave him a hard look and said, “When I found out the Asperian Police were taking a hard look at you I realized I might be able to help. I knew of a society that desperately wanted to get a team to Trinity to prove their fossil theory. I told them I’d make it happen on the condition that they pulled some strings with the police.

  “That was my price so I had to give up my normal fee. They’ll pay you when you deliver the ore to their agents on Paladin III - they have to so they can maintain their cover… but I’ll be expecting a share of that fee. It’s the least you can do to repay me for saving your ass… again.

  “As for trusting me or not, decide whatever you want - I don’t think I care anymore.”

  With that, she turned and walked out of the day cabin.

  ΔΔΔ

  “So, do you trust her?” the chief asked?

  “Not for a moment,” Argentine laughed.

  His laugh died abruptly and he sighed…

  “The truth is, I really don’t know what to think. Ever since we met her it’s been an emotional roller-coaster.”

  “For whom?” the chief asked. “You or the crew?”

  Argentine looked up at his friend. “Both, if we’re being totally candid. Not that I’m under her spell or anything…”

  “Uh huh,” the chief commented.

  “Hmph… Anyway, I still don’t know whether to throw her out of the airlock or play along with her schemes until we can break free.”

  “Well, the reality is that we’re no worse off than we were before we met her. And assuming we do get paid for delivering our cargo…”

  “…and assuming we don’t get caught violating the embargo,” Argentine interrupted.

  “And assuming we don’t get caught,” agreed the chief. “We are on track to getting our feet underneath us. Once we do that we can break free of her altogether.”

  “Um-hmm.”

  “Argentine,” the chief repeated. “We will be breaking free of her, right?”

  “Yes, of course…”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  A Mystery

  En Route to Trinity

  A knock came to Sami’s door…

  “Want some company?” Mandi asked.

  Sami had returned to her room. Lieutenant Stark and some of the others were still questioning the professor but she’d wanted to review what they knew about the curved space around Trinity.

  Her room was the most comfortable place for that.

  Sami broke her reverie with the astrogation computer and nodded for Mandi to enter.

  “I get the feeling you’re not too happy with me,” she said softly.

  Sami sighed. When Mandi had first walked on the bridge she’d been delighted. She really liked her and she’d been afraid she’d never see her again. But, now…

  “It’s just that you always seem to complicate things. The only thing Argentine wants is to find someplace we can all build a life. Someplace safe and … safe.”

  Mandi pursed her lips in thought…

  “I really am trying to help you, you know… all of you.”

  “Yeah, I guess I do believe that. It’s just that everything gets so complicated.

  “You know, you’re always talking about what Argentine wants… What do you want?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean… are you in love with him?”

  “What? No!” Sami exclaimed. “Ewwwe no… I mean, he means everything to me but not that way!”

  “So you’re not… jealous?”

  “No, and anyway I didn’t think you two…”

  “We’re not! I just wanted to make sure you weren’t thinking otherwise.”

  “No, I mean… at least not much.”

  Cocking her head, Mandi said, “You’re very protective of him, aren’t you?”

  “Why shouldn’t I be? He protects all of us! None of us would be here without him.”

  “I think you’re underestimating yourself. He’s a good guy, but I can’t see that he’s overly strong, or decisive, or brilliant…”

  “No Mandi, you don’t get it.

  “Argentine is the only person that could have gotten us this far. You’ve watched him interact with each of us but all you see is someone that’s inconsistent. What you’re missing is that he treats everyone differently because everyone is different!

  “Barry is headstrong and brilliant, but he always does what Argentine asks. The chief has been closed and protective of himself and Rory ever since he was assigned to the Pelican. Now, Argentine’s got him taking care of all of us like family.

  “And don’t even get me started on the lieutenant…

  “Argentine doesn’t fit into any kind of leadership mold… people respond to him because of what he is, not because of what he’s trying to be…

  “…And the weird thing is that besides you, he’s the only one that doubts that about himself.”

  After a moment Mandi said, “You really care about him, don’t you?”

  “When he first came aboard the Pelican things weren’t… very good for me. He saw who I was… what I could be. Yes I care about him. I’ve told you before; I’d do anything for him.”

  “Sami, I’m sorry I don’t see the same things in him that you do. All this talk about finding someplace safe just seems naive to me. The spiral arm is not a safe place. It’s going to take someone strong and decisive to guide this crew and keep it safe and I’m just not seeing that…”

  “You still don’t get it,” Sami interrupted softly.

  “You think he’s indecisive… but that’s only because he hasn’t made up his mind about you.”

  ΔΔΔ

  She wasn’t sure why, but Mandi found that thought unsettling. She was used to being the one that judged others… she wasn’t used to it being the other way around.

  She wasn’t used to it because it never mattered to her what someone else thought of her, and it didn’t now either… did it?

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