by Vicky Savage
“He’s IUGA. Grab the stick.”
“What? I don’t know how to fly this thing. We’re going to crash!”
Ash latches onto the co-pilot control between his legs, and pulls it toward him. I’m thrown backward and the tail of the chopper drops.
“Not that hard!” I shout. “We’re going to flip.” He moves the stick forward slightly, and the helicopter begins to level off, but the wobbling gets worse.
“Should I do something with the pedals?” he asks.
“I don’t know. Just try to keep us horizontal.”
He holds the control steady with both hands, and we seem to level out a bit. “Get on the poly to Narowyn. Tell her we need a chopper pilot. Stat!”
Asher focuses on keeping us parallel to the ground while I call Narowyn. “We need someone who can fly a helicopter. Now! Our pilot’s down,” I say.
“On it.” She disconnects.
In less than fifteen seconds, Officer Kai from Urick’s team lands in the seat next to mine and quickly assesses the situation. “Holy shit! Hold her steady, Ash.” He turns to me. “Help me switch places with the pilot, but watch the throttle.” He points to a control between the seats.
Together we hoist Jim’s body through the gap and onto the floor. Kai hops into the pilot’s seat, grabs the stick, and puts on Jim’s headphones. “Okay, I got it, Ash. You can relax.” He confidently takes over the controls, and I feel I can breathe again.
“Anybody want to tell me what happened?” Kai says, once we’re flying smoothly.
“I identified the pilot as an IUGA automaton by the tattoo behind his earlobe,” I explain. “So I took him out.
Kai glances back at me. “Did he threaten you?”
“No. I wasn’t going to wait for that.”
“How do you know he wasn’t just on assignment working the disaster for IUGA?”
Truthfully, the thought hadn’t crossed my mind. I get kind of a sinking feeling inside. “Is that a possibility? I just assumed he was here for me.”
“IUGA’s licensed on this earth. They usually have agents in place before a huge disaster occurs. He may have been part of that force.”
“Well hell, what was I supposed to do? Ask him if he had any current plans to murder me?”
Ash calls Narowyn back to let her know we’re okay. Afterward, we fly in silence for a time before Kai puts the chopper down in a deserted field about five miles from the tent city. Once we’re on the ground, we search Jim’s body and the interior of the chopper.
“No sign of a weapon,” Kai says. “Not even a dog collar. Call your host and tell him where to find you. After he picks you up, I’ll reboot this dude and see if I can wipe a few hours of his memory. He’ll never know what happened.”
“Thanks for coming to the rescue, Kai,” I say.
He smiles. “No problem. It was kind of a boring afternoon, anyway.”
Within ten minutes of Ash’s call to Jack, we catch sight of the Range Rover crossing the field. I remain quiet on the drive back to the hacienda, wondering how badly I screwed up. If that chopper was really going to crash, Ash and I could have shifted out of harm’s way, but it might have slammed into a residential area, injuring people on the ground. I feel like crap.
Back at Jack’s house, we quickly change into our uniforms and stash our relief worker clothes in plastic bags. Jack promises to dispose of them for us.
“We can’t thank you enough for hosting us,” Asher tells him.
“My pleasure. Please give my love to Narowyn. Let her know we’re all fine here.”
“Will do,” he says.
When we’re alone, I say, “Sorry, Ash. Hope I didn’t ruin the whole mission.”
“Don’t worry about it, Beckett. I probably would’ve done the same thing in your place. Narowyn wants to see us right away.”
“Yeah, I figured she would.”
“Guess I was right about one thing,” Ash says with a smile. “It was a ride you’ll never forget.”
When we arrive in Narowyn’s office, she stands to meet us. “Are you two all right?”
We both nod.
“Sit down and take me through what happened.” We take seats at the conference table, and I recount all the details for her.
“I just went with my gut instinct,” I say. “In hindsight, I realize that he didn’t have a weapon and may not have known we’re Transcenders, since Jack booked the trip. But I believed he was going to try to kill us. I’m sorry.”
She drums her fingers on the table, her expression grim. “You did the right thing, Jaden. Your judgment was sound. That agent may have been innocently on the scene, but it seems too much of a coincidence to me. We’ll have to be a bit more careful on future explorations, if we’re aware that IUGA maintains a presence in the location.”
I quietly blow out a relieved breath.
“I’m sure you’re both tired,” Narowyn says. “We’ll have Captain Watterson do a little more digging into this matter. I’ll let you know if he finds anything new, but for now, we’ll put it behind us—no harm, no foul. I’ll see you both in the morning for your exploration report.”
FORTY-SIX
Morning comes too soon, after a restless night’s sleep. I feel a little lightheaded as Asher and I sit in Narowyn’s office to debrief her on our exploration. Thankfully, Ash takes the lead in summarizing the information contained in each file we collected. He also provides her with copies of the photos and video recordings we made.
“It was very bad, as you can see,” he says, “but probably worse because of the two moons. The waves were far higher than predicted. Sadly, the tsunami hit when the moons were nearly full.”
“That is unfortunate.” She lays the photos to the side. What are your impressions, Jaden?”
“The possibility of a similar quake in Alaska and a resulting tsunami on other Confederation earths can’t be ruled out,” I say, struggling to sound sharp. “When we share this data with the government, one of our recommendations should be to beef up the early warning system and evacuation methods. Fewer casualties would have resulted in Twin Moons with a little extra time.”
“Yes, excellent. This is very helpful,” Narowyn says. “Good work you two. It’s likely that lives will be saved because of your efforts. I shall read through these materials with interest.”
“Jack sends his love and wanted us to tell you everyone there is all right,” Asher says.
She tips her head and smiles. “Thank you for passing that along.” She turns to me. “Congratulations on your successful first mission, Jaden.
“I hope you’ll see fit to send me on another one, in spite of what happened.”
“Of course. This was only the beginning of many exciting projects to come. By the way, do you still have those glasses Ralston gave you in Domerica?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Take them to Dr. McDonald and ask if she can make some duplicates for you—sunglasses too. You should carry them with you on exploration so you’ll have a way of identifying IUGA agents before you enter confined spaces with them.”
“I will. Thanks.”
* * *
Life settles down fairly quickly after returning from Twin Moons. No new information surfaces up about the automaton pilot. It appears most likely that he was there doing legitimate IUGA business, but an attempt on my life can’t be entirely ruled out.
My studies in Alternate Earths and the Science of Transcending continue, and I add a class on Quantum Electrodynamics, taught by Luci. Our extracurricular work continues also.
Luci patiently coaches me on moving objects around the room gently instead of smashing them to smithereens. I still suck at it, but we have a mini-breakthrough when I’m able to slowly raise a book from her shelf. It hovers in the air for a moment before crashing to the floor. She says we’re finally getting somewhere.
As the holiday season approaches, the household staff becomes busy as elves. They festoon the common areas with pine boughs, holly, colorful st
reamers, and ornaments. Hanukkah menorahs and decorated Christmas trees appear on tabletops and tucked into every nook and corner. The trees outside the Chateau are strung with twinkling lights. All explorations are suspended until after the New Year, and the atmosphere at the Chateau is joyful and festive.
Eve and I do a little holiday shopping together. She knows her way around the malls, or gallerias, as they are called here, and she’s amusing company. But I’m always a little on edge about possibly bumping into Ryder when I’m out and about in Arumel.
It’s a confusing kind of hope/fear. If I’m honest with myself, part of me would like to see him again. I’m curious about what he’s like on this earth. But his suggestion that we form a friendship messes with my mind. Is that what he really wants? Would I be disappointed if it was? Is it only the perpetual contract that causes me to think about him more often than I’d like to? All I know for sure is that a flash of raven black hair or a familiar laugh in a crowd, sets my heart racing with a sort of eager dread that I might run into him.
Narowyn tells me to take as much time as I want to be with my family over the holidays, as long as I promise to be home at least a day before the hearing. She doesn’t mention sending a protection detail with me, although I wonder if she’s secretly assigned Urick or one of the others to watch my back while I’m away. I plan to take a pair of the special glasses Luci made for me, just to be on the safe side.
On the day before my trip home, Narowyn and I meet with Ted and Corinne to prepare for the January fifth hearing.
“Shall I order coffee and tea while we’re working?” Narowyn asks.
“Certainly, if you like,” Ted says. “This will probably take us a couple of hours. I’ll take coffee, black.”
Narowyn orders our drinks while the rest of us gather at her conference table.
“As we expected,” Ted says, “when IUGA learned about the presence of Ralston’s memory data in Arumel, they amended their counterclaim to allege that you have their stolen property in your possession and they want it back.” He extracts some papers from a brown file and slides them across the table to me.
“That first document is the amendment to the counterclaim, the second is our response, and the sheet on the bottom is a list of the Justices we’ve drawn and their earth of origin.”
I skip over the amended counterclaim and the answer and go straight to the list of justices. None of the names look familiar.
“We’ve done a bit of research, and we’re fairly happy with the panel,” Ted says.
“We drew three women and two men,” Corinne adds. “We view that as favorable. Women tend to be a little more sympathetic to individuals rather than large organizations. And, though most justices on the court tend not to flaunt their political leanings, we do know that Justice Akbar has come out quite strongly in favor of volitionist issues in her past opinions.”
“That’s good, right?” I say.
“It’s excellent,” Ted says. “She frowns on the use of guided destiny, which is IUGA’s whole reason for being.”
“The senior presiding justice, Rosemary Goodspeed, also seems to have more liberal leanings,” Corinne says.
“Oh, I’ve met her a few times,” Narowyn says. “She spoke at one of the commission meetings last year. I rather like her.”
“Good,” Ted says. “We know relatively little about the other three panel members. Justice Cheung has a bit of a hard-liner reputation, Justice O’Brien’s opinions rely heavily on the unique facts of each case, and Justice Juma is a relative newcomer to the bench, so he hasn’t written much to date.”
The drinks arrive, and Ted relaxes in his chair and enjoys a few sips of coffee before continuing. “Jaden, the IGC Court is a court of chancery, which essentially means they’re not bound by the laws of any specific nation or earth in the Confederation. Their sole job is to find a fair and equitable solution for disputes between entities and individuals who operate inter-galactically.”
“So they just listen to both sides, and try to make a fair decision?” I ask.
“That’s basically it. We brief all the issues and provide the research, but they can do whatever they deem just, and there is no appeal. Their decision is final.”
“Okay. What do I need to do?”
“We’ll call you as our first witness,” Ted says. “You’ll be given an instruction regarding telling the truth. This court is equipped with sophisticated iris scanning equipment. Any deviation from the truth is picked up by the cameras and automatically noted on the transcript of your testimony. The justices are provided a report at the conclusion of the hearing highlighting any instances of detected deception.”
“You’re kidding?” The whole concept makes me uncomfortable. “I mean, can these cameras really do that? What if I blink funny or get something in my eye. Could the cameras mistake that for lying?”
Ted chuckles softly. “No. They’ve been in use for years in the IGC Court. They have a proven track record. This is state of the art equipment, Jade. You have nothing to worry about.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it,” I say. “So, what happens then?”
“Well, after you’ve taken the stand, I’ll ask you a series of questions. Address all your answers to the Justices, not to me or opposing counsel. Make eye contact with them, Jade. It’s very important. After my examination, the other side will be allowed to pose questions. They’ll try to trip you up, but just take your time before answering. Wait a beat or two before giving your response. After IUGA’s counsel is finished cross-examining you, the justices may ask a few questions. Again, just take your time before answering.”
“Okay, wait a beat before answering. Got it. But can you give me some examples of the kinds of things they might ask?”
“Yes. We’ll go over all of it. The court has ruled that no direct evidence links the automaton attack on you in Connecticut to IUGA, so they’ve excluded any testimony about that. Be careful not to refer to it at all.”
“It’s a lot to remember.” I guzzle my tea nervously.
“The most important part of your testimony will be when you relate the events that took place on the day of the attack at Warrington Palace,” Ted says. “We’ll run through your testimony several times until you feel comfortable with all your answers.”
I stare at the bottom of my empty cup. “I think I’m going to need more tea.”
Our meeting goes on into the evening, and even though we cover everything more than once, I’m anxious about the upcoming proceedings. More than ever I appreciate what’s at stake here—my future safety and possibly Ralston’s freedom. What really makes the acid swirl in my belly, though, is the thought that IUGA might come out of this without so much as a slap on the hand. Never having to answer for the devastation it caused in Domerica or for Ryder’s death.
The next morning, I drop off Callie at Ralston’s, distribute a few gifts to friends, and close up my apartment, before shifting to Oxford for the day to pick up souvenirs for everyone at home.
My insides quiver pleasantly as I board the flight from Heathrow Airport in London to JFK. When the jet touches down in New York, a warm feeling of home floods through me.
Dad and Lisa announce their engagement on Christmas Eve. I couldn’t be happier for them. They make a good couple, and for the first time since mom died, Dad reminds me of the happy-go-lucky guy who raised me.
I spend some time with Liv, but our interactions are brief and somewhat awkward. Our lives have taken such different directions, and I don’t feel good about making up Oxford stories to tell her. On my last night in Madison, I agree to meet her and a few friends from high school at Marou, a local dance club. I wear a pretty red dress I bought in Arumel, and I’m excited to see some of the old gang.
The music is loud and the place is packed as I step inside the front door. I scan the crowd searching for Liv, but my eyes are drawn to a group in the corner and one very tall, handsome man with hair black as a crow’s feather. My heart skitters in
my chest.
“Jade!” Someone on the other side of the room calls my name, but I turn and bolt out the door. Sprinting to my car, I can barely find my breath. I start the engine and pull away quickly. It was him. I know it was him. I’d forgotten he was due home from Zambia by Christmastime. Damn! Why did I have to go out tonight? Why did I have to see him?
My phone rings, and I turn it to silent mode. I pull onto the freeway and drive. I need to think. Part of me wants to go back and speak with him. I searched for him for so long. But I know that would just be inviting heartache. This isn’t my world anymore. The sight of him stirred up all kinds of crazy emotions, and I don’t know what to make of them.
It’s late, and I’m nearly out of gas by the time I reach home. Dad’s asleep and Drew’s out with friends. I text Liv and tell her something came up. She’s pissed, but she’ll get over it. I’m still shaken and confused, but tomorrow I’ll be back in Arumel, and I won’t have to think about it anymore.
