Moons of Jupiter

by Dave Lemel

  Simon sat up a little. “I did not know that.”

  Todd looked away from the window and at Simon now. “Yeah, well…it was. Considering what it was for, you know, protection of the whole planet…whole solar system, really! It seemed like a reasonable sacrifice.”

  “I can see that,” said Simon.

  Todd leaned back and continued. “Well, there were some environmental groups who couldn’t. They did not agree with destroying a state park for what was essentially a military base.”

  “I can also see that,” said Simon.

  “Yes, well, throughout construction, they were a massive thorn in my grandfather’s side. Finally, near the end of construction, a guy from one of the groups decided to try and blow up one of the dormitories. He failed to bring the building down, but a painter who was working late was killed in the blast. My grandfather kind of lost it after that. I heard my fair share of rants about those types of environmental groups growing up. Maybe you’re right, though. Maybe there’s a little more grey to the issue than I’ve considered.”

  “That’s terrible, Todd,” said Simon. “I never knew that. Look, I’m not in any way saying I condone killing people to further an environmentalist agenda; I was just saying it’s complicated.”

  Todd nodded. “No, no, I get what you were trying to get me to consider. Let’s just leave it at ‘it’s complicated.’”

  They sat in silence for a moment before Todd added, “There’s a plaque.”

  Simon looked confused and then asked, “Of what?”

  “A tribute plaque. In honor of the painter who was killed. I’ll show it to you when we get home,” said Todd.

  “Oh!” Simon responded. “Okay, sure.”

  The train pulled into the main station and slowed to a stop. Simon had been looking at a picture on his link of Penelope in her car seat that Sasha had recently sent. He looked up to find Todd wearing an expression of pure shock, like nothing he had ever seen before. Todd was frozen, not even breathing, his mouth slightly agape with his eyes, unblinking, fixed at a point just over Simon’s left shoulder.

  Simon turned his head slowly, half-expecting to find the Loch Ness Monster thrashing subway patrons on the platform behind him. No, Simon thought to himself, it can’t be. The face of the man standing just ten feet from the window certainly looked like the one he had walked past so many times in the hall at headquarters. “Todd,” said Simon, “that’s not Jay Gibson, is it?”

  Something about actually hearing that name out loud seemed to snap Todd out of his catatonic state. He blinked twice, and as he rose from his seat, he tapped the manual wand release on the inner wrist of his link. Simon heard the unmistakable sound of a wand exiting its chamber. He turned to find Todd with right arm outstretched, lunging toward the now open doors of the car. Todd didn’t even speak. He just ran through the opening, wildly firing his wand.

  TZZZ, TZZZ, TZZZ, TZZZ…TZZZ, TZZZ, TZZZ, TZZZ. The first burst of four gold pulses missed their target badly but succeeded in sending most of the beings on the platform into a frenzy. By the time the second grouping of four pulses had been fired, Jay had recognized that he was the target. He jumped behind a large grey support pillar, which absorbed the pulses without harm.

  Todd, still operating in a fit of blind rage, crashed into a pile of luggage left behind by a group of panicked tourists. As Todd tumbled over the suitcases, Jay spun out from the backside of the pillar with his arm outstretched. His hand was aiming the marshal wand he still apparently possessed at Todd. Simon yelled, “Wand!” as he jumped for the door. His wand shot into his waiting hand as he watched Jay squeeze off one well-aimed shot. The pulse found Todd’s left shoulder as he stumbled and sent him frozen and falling over the last bag.

  Simon ran to Todd’s seemingly lifeless body as Jay jumped up the steps two at a time back into the station above. As Simon slid down to his knees by Todd’s head, he could see that the pulse had not hit Todd in a manner that completely incapacitated him. Todd’s body was frozen, but his eyes were angry and darting around wildly. They found Simon, and through gritted teeth with a great deal of effort, Todd said, “Get…him.” Simon patted Todd twice on his cheek and said, “I’ll be right back.”

  As Simon ran for the stairs, he tapped an icon on the top side of his link. “Shelly, I need you in the main dome immediately. In pursuit of fugitive Jay Gibson. Last seen heading up the steps into main subway station from platform five.” In the garage where the cruiser was parked, Shelly came to life. The turtle-shaped hover droid shot up from its resting place and took off down the tunnel toward the domed crater at the other end.

  Simon arrived at the top of the stairs and pulled the official marshal photo of Jay Gibson up on his link. He ran to a subway security guard he noticed near the entrance to the seafood restaurant. “Have you seen this man running past here?” he asked while showing the guard the picture on his link. The guard took a look and exclaimed, “Yeah! He just flew past here and into the mall.” “Thanks,” said Simon and he ran up the ramp towards the mall above.

  “Shelly, head to the mall and see if you can spot him from above,” Simon said as he galloped up the ramp. Once at the top, he stopped for a second to catch his breath and take in his surroundings. Jay had avoided capture for a long time. He was not stupid. Simon guessed that as Jay got to this point, he had probably realized he had a gap on Simon. He most likely stopped running to avoid drawing unwanted attention to himself. He may have even ducked into one of the first shops here and be watching me right now , thought Simon .

  On a hunch, he pulled his link up by his mouth and whispered, “Shelly, I need you at my location. In stealth mode. As quiet as you can and as high as you can get.” Simon watched through Shelly’s eyes on his link as she made her way from the food court up to the second-level ceiling. She entered the area he was in, and once Simon could see himself on the screen, he said, “Stop. Perfect, Shelly. Stay right there.”

  With Shelly in position above and his wand raised, Simon walked into a clothing store to his right. Once inside, he made eye contact with the lone employee at the register and made a shhhhhh gesture with his left index finger over his lips. He parted two pairs of pants on a circular rack and crawled inside to hide. Simon watched on his link as Jay emerged from a small electronics store across the hall from the clothing store. Jay crossed the hall and entered the store Simon was hiding in. Simon lightly nudged a pair of pants and peaked through the gap he had created. There he was, standing mere feet away, wand in hand, looking around the store for Simon.

  Jay slowly turned left to right, scanning the store as he inched further in. “That marshal on the platform looked familiar,” he said. “That wouldn’t have been little Todd Jordan, would it? If it was, I have a message for him.” As he finished the word “him,” Jay stepped past a rack of shirts and perfectly into Simon’s line of sight. Simon raised his wand and fired a pulse directly between Jay’s shoulder blades. Jay’s body lunged forward before collapsing to the floor, frozen stiff .

  Simon quickly moved to take the wand from Jay’s right hand and check whether or not he was still conscious. After searching Jay for any more weapons, Simon raised his link up to his mouth and said, “Pod needed. My location.” Back in the main garage, a panel above the rear bumper of the cruiser opened. A small cylinder the color of black silk and about the size of a can of soup popped out and flew down the tunnel out of the garage.

  A crowd had begun to gather around Simon and Jay. Simon calmly asked the crowd to stay back and called Shelly. “Crowd control, Shelly.” Shelly zipped into the store and began buzzing around the duo until she had carved out a twenty-foot circle. The pod flew in and right to Simon, who grabbed it out of the air with his left hand.

  Simon placed the pod on Jay’s back and pressed a red button on top, holding it down for three seconds. The pod scanned the body of Jay and then instantaneously expanded into a large enough cylinder to engulf him. It did so and then lifted him off the ground a foot. It hovered ther
e, awaiting further instruction.

  “Shelly, take this pod out through the garage and then send it up to the Henrietta .” An orange beam shot out of the tail area of Shelly’s body. It seemed to wrap itself around the pod like a rope made of light. The pod rose to a height of eight feet or so, clearing the tallest of spectators. Shelly headed out through the door and back toward the garage with the pod containing Jay Gibson in tow.

  Simon parted the crowd and headed back down toward the subway platform where he had left Todd. “Ben,” Simon called into his link.

  The bridge of the Henrietta appeared on Simon’s link as Ben replied, “What can I do ya for, boss?”

  “You are not going to believe this, but…” Simon began before looking down at the screen on his arm. “Ben… Are you sitting in my chair?”

  “Oh, so I’m good enough to keep the ship that carries you around the solar system from falling apart, but I’m not good enough to sit in your chair?” Ben stood up and began waving his hands up and down the now vacant seat as he continued. “Here’s your precious chair. Empty and waiting for his highness whenever he returns.”

  Simon laughed and started walking again. “Ben, stop. It’s fine. I don’t mind at all. I just didn’t know you hung out on the bridge like that when we were gone.”

  Ben sat back down. “I don’t usually. Just when I’m super bored or when I need to hide out ’cause…” Ben looked over his shoulder then turned back towards the screen. He leaned forward and cupped his mouth before whispering, “Foggen is driving me nuts.”

  Simon stopped at the top of the stairs heading down to platform three. “Well, I’ve got some news that will definitely fix the bored part. Shelly is taking a pod outside right now to send up to you for receiving.”

  “Oh?” replied Ben. “And who might this pod be carrying? ”

  “That’s the part you’re not going to believe,” said Simon. Ben sat up a little straighter in anticipation. “Jay Gibson.”

  Ben shut his eyes, and after a couple of seconds reopened them. He looked down at the floor and rubbed his forehead for a few seconds before finally looking up and speaking. “Well, that is certainly not something I expected to hear today. Where’s Todd? Is he okay?”

  “Jay stunned him right when the whole thing started. He was frozen but fine when I left him. I’m on my way back to him now,” said Simon. “Ben, I need you to get that pod processed and locked in the brig as soon as it arrives. Todd is not rational when it comes to Jay. He is going to want to take the cruiser straight up to unfreeze him and interrogate him with all the questions that have built up the last seven years.”

  “You’re right,” said Ben. “You are absolutely right. I’ll let Foggen know what’s going on, and we’ll get that pod on lockdown a.s.a.p.”

  “Perfect,” said Simon. “And Ben?”

  “Yeah, boss?”

  “Call H.Q. and let my wife know the situation.”

  “Will do, boss.” Ben got up from the seat before Simon added, “Make sure you only tell Sasha and insist that she be alone when you do.”

  Simon ended the call and headed down to the platform. As the area came into view, he saw Todd shaking off two older gentlemen who were attempting to help him. He then pulled himself up to a standing position with his one good arm. Still visibly furious, Todd looked around and spotted Simon. “Where is he?” Todd yelled. “Do not even come over here if you let him get away! I swear, I’ll—”

  Simon held up his left hand as he slowed to a walk. “I got him,” he said and patted Todd on the shoulder. “I got him.”

  Chapter 17

  Simon threw Todd’s arm over his shoulder and told him the whole story as he walked him up and out of the station. “I’m going up to the Henrietta right now and you can’t stop me,” said Todd as Simon finished.

  “Oh really, gimpy?” said Simon, and he slipped out from under the side of Todd’s body he had been supporting. Simon sat down on a bench, crossed his arms, and said, “You gonna hop all the way to the cruiser or crawl?”

  Todd hopped to the wall, leaned up against it, and raised his link up by his mouth. “Cruiser, I need you at my current—”

  Simon jumped up and grabbed Todd’s arm, shouting over him into the link. “CRUISER, DISREGARD!” Simon held Todd’s arm down with both hands as Todd tried to pull it back up.

  “Are you insane?” he asked. “We are in a mall inside a dome. You cannot call the cruiser here just because you’re angry!”

  Todd slowly relaxed the arm as his look softened from rage to displeasure. Simon reluctantly released his grip, and Todd swung around the arm of the bench and sat down.

  Simon took the seat next to Todd. Todd stared blankly forward. After a few silent moments looking at the side of his head, Simon said, “Look, man, I get it. I know—”

  Todd cut him off as he finally blinked and turned his head to look into Simon’s eyes. “No! No, Simon! You don’t get it! You can’t get it! Seven years I’ve waited for this moment. Longed for it. Dreamt what I would do when, if , it finally ever came. That wasn’t how it was supposed to go. This isn’t how it is supposed to feel. I at least need to go up there right now, unfreeze him, and get some answers. “

  “You’re right,” said Simon. “You’re absolutely right. About all of it. You just have to wait a little longer. He’s up on the Henrietta , frozen in a pod, locked in the brig. He is not going anywhere. We have a very important assignment that needs to be completed first. Then you will finally get your answers. I only met your dad once, but I am sure he would not want you jeopardizing the fate of the entire solar system for him like that.”

  Todd’s eyes burned slightly as he sat back and blinked hard. Simon is the sappy one, he said to himself, you do not cry. Todd stood up, tested his left leg, and said, “Okay.” He took a limp step forward and looked over his shoulder. “C’mon,” he said, waving Simon up. “I’m sure your wife is dying to ask us a few questions of her own right now.”

  Sure enough, by the time they had gotten back to their room, Ben had called down to inform them that Sasha was awaiting their call back at headquarters. After filling her in on the chain of events surrounding the apprehension of Jay Gibson, they went over the meeting with Jack. As they wrapped up discussing the plan for heading to Io, Sasha said, “Just one more thing.” She looked directly at Todd. “Marshal Jordan, you are not to break protocol once you are back aboard the Henrietta . I’m sure you are extremely anxious to sit down with the prisoner and interrogate him, but Jay Gibson is to remain in a state of suspended animation until he is back at headquarters here on Earth, just like any other prisoner. Is that understood?”

  Todd responded sheepishly. “I had a feeling you were going to say that.”

  “Is that understood?” she repeated.

  “Yes, Mission Commander Cain,” Todd replied as he stood and saluted. “Understood loud and clear, ma’am!”

  “You two get some sleep,” Sasha said. “This is a very important and dangerous assignment you are undertaking. I need you both well rested and with clear heads.”

  “I’ve got it,” replied Todd. “Seriously, I do. I’ve waited seven years. I can put it out of my mind for a few days and focus on the task at hand.”

  Simon added, “And I’ll smack him around if he looks distracted. I love you, honey, and give Penny a big hug and kiss for me.”

  Sasha turned toward Simon, “Marshal Cain, that is highly unprofessional talk…” Sasha paused and smiled. “Of course I will, and I love you, too,” she finished as she ended the transmission.

  Chapter 18

  Simon slept like a rock. Todd, however, tossed and turned, failing miserably to keep the contents of the brig on the Henrietta orbiting overhead out of his mind. After waking from his second stretch of half hour-ish sleep, Todd gave up the fight. He got out of bed, dressed as quietly as he could, and slipped out the door.

  As he walked from dome to dome, Todd’s mind darted from topic to topic like a hummingbird dancing around a
flower bed. How could I let my emotions get the best of me like that when I spotted Jay? How could Jay have turned on my father after all those years as partners? How could this be the last time I will ever be out on an assignment with Simon? How exactly are we going to infiltrate the facility on Io?

  Todd’s link dinged, and the screen lit up with Simon’s still very sleepy-looking face. “Todd, if you took the cruiser and went up to the Henrietta, I’m going to finish this assignment without you.”

  “Relax,” Todd responded. “I couldn’t sleep so I went for a walk. You want some coffee? I’ll grab us a couple and head back.”

  “Yeah, coffee would be good. And a muffin if you can find one. Where exactly are you?” asked Simon as he tried to recognize the background behind Todd.

  Todd looked around for a second. “You know…I’m not really sure. Wasn’t paying attention. Dome L, maybe? I’ll figure it out and be back shortly. ”

  Twenty-five minutes later, Todd opened the door to their room, and the smell of fresh coffee and blueberry muffins followed him inside. “No muffin for you?” asked Simon as he dug into the bag and found a single muffin inside.

  “Ate half as I walked and threw the rest away,” replied Todd. “I knew it would just disappoint ’cause I’ve been craving one from Lori’s. Should’ve just gone for the cookie instead.”

  Todd slumped into one of the chairs and took a large gulp of his coffee. Simon took the other chair and peeled the wrapper off the bottom of his muffin. “You know,” said Simon, “if there really is a Vikard facility under the surface over there, and if what they’re building is as important to them as Lombargnor says it is, shouldn’t we be expecting an extraordinarily high level of security? I mean, shouldn’t we have a bit more of a plan here?”

  Todd sipped his coffee again before answering. “Ideally, yes, I suppose we should. Problem is there is nearly zero intel on this facility. Its existence hasn’t even been confirmed.”

  “MMIXACHLY!!” Simon tried to say through a mouthful of muffin. He swallowed hard and continued more clearly. “Why are we being sent to a facility we aren’t even sure exists, with an explosives expert to blow up something that may not even be there?”