Russell’s smile faded and he suddenly looked shifty. “Well, he wanted to go for a walk.”
Aaron didn’t say anything right away, instead he slowly counted to ten. The last thing he wanted to do was to bite Russell’s head off. Finally, in a fairly calm voice, he asked, “Why did you let him do that?”
“Couldn’t stop him,” Russell said matter-of-factly, “we’re not in the military anymore.”
“He’s got some things to deal with,” Susan said quietly from his right side.
“We all do!” Aaron bit right back and then he took a deep breath. “Sorry. We all have things to deal with.”
“He’s supposed to meet us here.” Russell added, looking from Aaron to Susan. “Did you sell the shuttle?”
“Yes, for less than half what I wanted,” Aaron answered, then he turned the conversation back to where he wanted it to go. “Did you find a place to live?”
If possible, Russell’s face fell even farther. “Yeah, but it’s not cheap. It’s a two bedroom and the lady wants eight hundred and fifty credits a month.”
Aaron sighed, wondering what else could go wrong. “But it’s close to the spaceport?”
After a moment, Russell shook his head. “About twelve miles away. We can’t afford any of those that are closer. Actually, we’re lucky to find this place as the lady doesn’t much like the idea of five people living in that little apartment.”
What else could go wrong? Their money wasn’t going to last long and they still needed clothes and food. If things continued like this, they could be on the street in a few months. “All right, when is Adam going to be here?”
“Any time now,” Russell said, sighing.
Adam didn’t arrive for nearly thirty minutes and by that time, they all were slumped against the wall. He sauntered across the still busy street and stopped just short of the others, smiling from ear to ear. Apparently, he could sense the other’s moods because the smile slowly slid from his face. “What’s wrong?”
“Been a hell of a day,” Aaron responded. Russell was right in that none of them had to follow orders and this wasn’t that big an issue. He would need to pick his battles. Another thought occurred to him, he could always go it alone. He stomped on that idea pretty quickly. Everyone he knew was gone now and these people were the closest thing he had to family. “Let’s go see this place that Russell found.”
“Listen,” Adam said, still standing just out of the street, “I thought of a way for us to get the money we need to get a ship.” His grin was back now, looking hopefully from face to face.
“Really?” Jessica asked, looking hopeful for the first time in a while. Aaron realized that she had barely spoken the whole time they had been waiting on Adam. He would have to pay more attention to those types of things.
Susan placed a restraining hand on Adam’s left forearm. “Why don’t we wait until we get to our new home,” she asked.
“Something the matter?” Aaron asked, looking around as he spoke. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but undoubtedly Susan’s senses were sharper.
“Nothing to worry about,” she assured him, “but we have drawn some unwanted attention, probably best to wait a while.”
Aaron glanced at Russell, “Lead on.”
Roughly two hours later, they all stood in their newly rented home. In truth, the building was split into eight apartments, with theirs being the left hand side of the third floor. Two bedrooms, one bath room, a small kitchen, and a small common room—living here was going to be cramped.
The little old lady who owned the building had seemed resistant to renting to them, and she had demanded two months of rent up front; another seventeen hundred credits gone.
Trying hard to ignore his plan crashing down around them, Aaron smiled and turned to Adam. “All right, what’s this idea of yours?”
Adam’s grin came back full force. “Besides all the criminals, what’s the other thing that Beta Leporis is known for?”
There was silence for a moment as everyone racked their tired minds for the answer. Finally, Russell answered, “Casinos.”
“Exactly,” Adam answered, watching the other’s faces.
Aaron glanced around and saw his own confusion mirrored in the other’s expressions.
“Don’t you get it?” Adam said, his grin slipping a little. “Susan’s a telepath and Russell’s a telekinetic.” He swung his left hand vaguely. “Can you imagine what they can do in a casino? Send them in there with a thousand credits and they can walk out with a hundred thousand.”
“If we’re allowed to walk out,” Russell said quietly. His words seemed to deflate Adam’s mood.
“What do you mean?” Adam demanded, “these casinos have a good reputation. You don’t think they would try something. Do you?”
“Well,” Aaron said slowly, “they might, but there might be another way.” He liked Adam’s idea, but he felt it needed some fine tuning. “If we sent them in with a thousand credits and they came out with five or six thousand, that might be safer.”
“You’re not actually considering this!” Susan asked, a look of incredulity on her face.
“Why not?” Aaron asked surprised.
“It’s theft,” Susan said quickly. “Is that what we’re down to? Common thievery?”
In his estimation, this was exceptional thievery, but he felt the point would be lost on Susan just now. Her eyes narrowed and he spoke quickly, hoping that she hadn’t just read his thoughts. “And if this is the only way?”
“We were officers of the Commonwealth and now we’re reduced to common criminals.” Susan’s tone just dripped with disgust.
“We’ll do what we must to survive.”
Chapter 6
Aaron woke early the next morning in a rather grumpy mood. They only had two small bedrooms; Susan and Jessica had taken one and Russell and Adam had the other, leaving the lumpy old couch for him. His feet hung over the end and it had a peculiar odor; he tried hard not to think about what might have caused the smell.
Standing, he began to stretch, trying to sooth his sore muscles; he just couldn’t live like this for long. It was then that he realized he wasn’t the first one awake; Susan was moving around in the kitchen and Jessica sat yawning at the small built-in table.
“Sorry,” she said, “didn’t mean to wake you. Want an emergency ration breakfast?”
“Not really,” Aaron answered honestly. If nothing else, he intended to get some real food before tomorrow; the small shuttle’s emergency rations were barely edible.
Just then, the other bedroom door opened and Russell emerged, followed closely by Adam. They looked as bad as he felt. He moved over and leaned against the small bar that separated the common area from the kitchen.
“Are we still planning on gambling today?” Susan asked. Her disapproval was still obvious.
“Unless someone has a better idea,” Aaron answered.
“We can’t go in these,” Jessica said, motioning to the clothes they were wearing and had been wearing for nearly a week.
Sighing, Aaron nodded. “You’re right, of course. First thing we have to do is buy new clothes.” With our luck, they’ll probably cost ten thousand credits, he thought. “Susan, you and Adam will go together. And remember, the plan is to win, but discretely. Don’t overdo it.” As a telepath, Susan would be an excellent player in games against other players. While she couldn’t read every thought, she should at least be able to pick up on a person’s mood—which would absolutely give her a leg up in the games.
“Why am I going in?” Adam asked. “Won’t it be obvious that I’m not gambling?”
“You will be gambling, but just take it easy and slow. Don’t lose too much. Keep your eye on Susan and make sure nothing happens to her.” Truth be told, he had an ulterior motive for sending Adam with Susan—giving him something to do would help keep him out of trouble.
“What about me?” Russell asked.
“You’ll be going in with Jessica, sh
e’ll be your girlfriend, wife, or whatever. Same goes for you; do not win too much. Make sure you lose some along the way.” Russell would be playing different types of games. Whereas Susan would be playing games that pitted her against other opponents, Russell would be playing games that had a mechanical aspect to them. That would allow him to alter the outcome of the supposedly ‘random’ games.
“What are you going to do?” Susan asked, watching him closely.
“I’m going to look for other options. I don’t like relying simply on gambling. We need a fallback plan.” That was true and he did intend to find some more options, but there was something else he had to do first.
Several hours later, Aaron left their small rented apartment. He had left earlier, just long enough to buy himself eight new shirts and three new pair of pants. He had come home long enough to change, and now he was ready to go. He had put on a white shirt with black pants and felt less conspicuous than in his old miss-matched hospital clothes. The new clothes made him feel better but he was still worried about how fast their money was disappearing.
Exiting the main entrance, he turned left, walking along the street. He knew where he was headed, having seen the building when he was out in the morning.
The mid-day sun was rather warm and he pulled his sleeves up above his elbows. Summer was already over with, but Fall had not really set in yet.
He walked several blocks before the residential neighborhood began showing the first shops; another six blocks and he was surrounded by businesses of all kinds. It wasn’t the stores that he was looking for, it was the library nestled in between the large clothing store and the small multi-species restaurant.
He didn’t even slow down as he approached the front door. If he paused now, he might lose his determination, and this was something he had to do—he had to know what happened.
Immediately inside the front door was an all glass foyer and he did pause here momentarily. The foyer was much nicer than he had expected. The building was five stories tall and the foyer was open all the way to the glass ceiling way above his head. “Huh,” he mumbled in surprise. Apparently even backwater planets like this world wanted their libraries to be impressive.
Continuing on through the metal and glass double doors, he stopped just inside to get his bearings. The first floor was rectangular, with small desks spread throughout the floor. A stairwell was just to his right and an elevator was along the left wall toward the back. Immediately in front of him was a semi-circular desk with several library employees working behind the counter.
There weren’t any books, the only books these days were in museums or collections; instead, computer terminals covered the small desks. Here and there, people were sitting at the small tables using the terminals.
“Can I help you, sir?” a young lady asked, smiling as she watched Aaron scan the room. She was attractive with shoulder length blond hair that was held back by a white head band. Her knee-length, white dress reminded him eerily of the hospital uniforms from the research moon and only added to the sterile feeling of the library.
Smiling, Aaron stepped up to the help desk. “Yes, can I get a private room?” What he was looking for wasn’t a secret, but he wanted privacy for this.
“Certainly, but it does cost ten credits per hour.”
“Of course it does,” he answered as he fished out his credit voucher.
Susan entered the casino and walked past the cheap tables and games. Adam sat at a table off to her left, slowly playing a game with a low minimum bet. She completely ignored him, even though he followed her with his eyes. She cursed under her breath; after all they weren’t supposed to know each other; he was only here to make sure nothing bad happened. On occasion casinos, and even other players, had been known to cause problems for a big winner; of course, she was supposed to win, but not win big.
Passing Adam, she continued on to the more moderately expensive games. Even though she was past him, she could still feel his eyes and she unconsciously smoothed her sleeves. One good thing about being sent to gamble was that she had been allowed to buy nicer clothes. It was rather imperative that she looked the part. Not that the brown shirt and grey slacks were extravagant or anything, but they were the nicest things she had worn in a while.
She stopped in the aisle between several game tables and scanned the games around her. She knew most of the common card games, it would have been impossible to be in the military and not know how to play cards, but she wanted something that she knew intimately.
The two nearest tables were mostly full of players, but there were several open seats. Both tables had a maximum two hundred bet limit and the people sitting around the table looked like they could afford that and more. All the current players were men and most of them were older.
She realized that one of the old guys was watching her, but he wasn’t making eye contact, his eyes were just a bit lower. After a moment, his eyes came up from her chest and he realized that she was watching him. Completely unabashed, he grinned at her and patted the chair beside him. “Come over and sit here, darling. I’ll teach you how to play.” He was probably in his fifties, pudgy, with a full head of grey hair; his nose seemed almost as wide as his face.
She grinned right back at him. He was making this easier on her. One of the things that she had dreaded was taking money from innocent and friendly people. Based on first impressions, she wouldn’t mind taking his money at all.
The small room that the library assistant had led Aaron to was cool, but nevertheless, he sat at the small desk sweating. Even though there was a desire to know what happened, he dreaded what those answers might be.
The room was a tiny cube, with only the one desk. Two people might be able to squeeze behind the desk, but it would have been tight. A small computer monitor and keyboard sat on the desk; a small microphone was attached to the monitor.
Ignoring the keyboard, he spoke the words he didn’t want to say, “Show me Gamma Crucis.”
Moments later, a picture of Gamma Crucis appeared on the small monitor and an electronic voice began speaking. “Gamma Crucis is the third planet orbiting the yellow star Crucis, located in the Andarouge spiral. Gamma Crucis’ population is a mixture of–”
“Stop,” he said, not wanting an ancient history lesson. The computer cut off abruptly. He sat there in silence for several moments, thinking how best to phrase his request. “Show me Gamma Crucis as it is now.”
“Unable to comply,” the electronic voice said. “Access to the planet and information on its current state is strictly controlled by the Miram Union.”
Aaron sighed, he should have guessed that the Union would control the flow of information. They didn’t exactly have an open society, plus what they had done there was bad for their image. It was okay if everyone knew what they did, just so long as no one had any proof. “Show me what happened to Gamma Crucis during their war with the Miram Union.”
The electronic voice began speaking again. It started at the beginning of the war and, at least initially, most of the information was not new to him.
“Skip ahead six months,” he said abruptly and the voice paused, adjusting to the new location of the material.
“During the first half of seven hundred and eighty seven D.E., the war continued to go badly for the Commonwealth, and the decline gradually began to accelerate.”
Leaning back in his chair, Aaron folded his arms across his chest and propped his feet on the edge of the desk. That was a little over a year ago, roughly the time when he had been asked to volunteer. He hoped for some new information about his home and this is where it would be.
“The Unionists laid siege to Gamma Crucis and the death and destruction was heavy on both sides. The Unionists lost more, but the Commonwealth’s losses were more costly. Gamma Crucis held out for seventeen days before surrendering.”
Aaron’s feet hit the floor hard. Seventeen days? They had only held out for seventeen days? The automated defenses of Gamma Crucis were without pee
r. How could they have been defeated so quickly?
“After several costly defeats, the Unionists gave up on a direct assault. Instead, they mined the asteroid belt and steered asteroids onto a collision course with the planet. The defensive forces launched an all-out assault, trying to destroy the asteroids before impact but without success. The exact size and number of the asteroids that impacted are unknown, but the devastation was reported to be cataclysmic. Reports continued to trickle out during the initial stages of the bombardment, but all reports stopped after two days.” Pictures began flashing across the screen, each one showing unimaginable devastation. “These are the last pictures that made it out before communications were lost. The Unionists have not allowed communications to be reestablished.
Even as tears welled up in his eyes, he clinched his fists in rage. His home had been reduced to a burning pile of rubble and there wasn’t a thing he could do to the cold-blooded murderers. Swallowing hard, he forced the hopeless feelings away. There wasn’t anything he could do—he had to keep reminding himself of that, though.
“Most of the civilized planets quickly denounced the ruthless manner of the attack, but the Unionists ignored them. The Lagashian Empire was the only one capable of coming to the aid of the Commonwealth, but they were entangled in their own war and chose to ignore the issue.”
More pictures appeared on the screen. It was more than he could endure. Closing his eyes, he did something he hadn’t done since he was a child—he wept.
Adam and Susan were the first to return that evening. It was still early in the evening, and Aaron was nervously waiting for them. He sat in the dark in the small common room.
“How did it go?” he asked, even before Adam had closed the door.
“Not bad,” Susan answered with a grin. “For the day, I’m up sixty four hundred.”
Long Shot Page 6
