The Lifeboat

by Keith Fenwick

  “This will give us a march on the Chinese, the Russians, the Europeans and the rest of them. This will mean that we, the United States, will own the future on Earth and into space. We will dominate mankind’s exploration of space,” he added triumphantly, sounding like a warlord encouraging his people with a call to arms they could not ignore.

  Of the group, only the old doctor still appeared vaguely troubled; however, Bruce could see the others greedily dreaming of the immense power and wealth that would flow into their hands if they got control of the ship. They had been consumed by the possibilities and were avaricious enough that it seemed to be clouding their collective judgement.

  Brue wondered again if they really believed what they were saying. Whether any of them really imagined they could get access to the space patrol ship and its treasure trove of technology. It was all wishful, aspirational thinking. Or did they think, by talking up their capabilities, particularly Sue – if they believed they had the capability and they had some kind of self-righteous divine right to the technology – then all they desired would come to pass? Because as an outsider looking into their little conspiracy, that is how it seemed to him.

  Bruce was sure they really must believe most of what they were saying. This observation confused him as he thought they should be collectively clever enough, as it was clearly obvious to him, they had no chance of achieving their objectives. Reputations would be destroyed when they could not deliver, and they might achieve the exact opposite of what they intended. Not domination of the world and of the future of humanity, but instead being classified as an also-ran and a side note in the history books of the future.

  All of a sudden it dawned on him how easy it was for events to get out of control and gain a momentum all of their own, how projects overran, how wars were started and lost. Sometimes it seemed people who should have known better let the excitement of the situation overwhelm them or let greed get in the way of common sense, and then events took on a life of their own that was almost impossible to stop.

  If they paused to think about it, the brakes could go on now. It was easy to see that was not going to happen, of course, as the perceived opportunity was just too great to miss. Bruce almost felt sorry for them.

  Almost.

  “Turn it off. I don’t need to see or hear any more from that lot of fucken idiots.” He had a sudden horrible thought. “Are Myfair and Leaf getting all this?”

  No, the feed is going to you only.

  That was just as well; it would not do to upset either of them.

  Bruce looked over at the Skidians and wondered what was going through their minds. Myfair was like an automaton, just going through the motions, and Bruce felt sorry for him. However, in Leaf’s eyes he could see a glimmer of something he could not quite put his finger on. She looked almost smug, maybe all of her prejudices about offworlders had been proven true. Or maybe she knew something that was privy to her only. Bruce regarded her with more interest.

  “We need to make sure Myfair and Leaf come to no harm as well. I wouldn’t put it past those guys to take them into some form of custody and squirrel them away somewhere,” Bruce told the MPU.

  What do you suggest?

  “We just need to make sure no harm comes to them. I could take them home with me when I go. But what are your long-term plans for them? You can’t just cut Myfair off. What is he going to do with himself?”

  Exile is not uncommon for Skidians of his caste; he will get used to it and find some form of vocation eventually. I have plans for Leaf, though. She will be a useful ally for you, the MPU replied a little enigmatically without elaborating.

  Bruce thought that one over. Was the MPU trying to set him up with Leaf?

  “You’re a dirty old dog,” Cop told him. “All you can think about is sex.”

  Which was actually the furthest thing from Bruce’s mind at the moment.

  Fifteen

  Despite all the deceit he had just been exposed to, Bruce felt on top of the world. He perceived that he would soon he find a real sense of purpose in life, something to fill a void that he had not realised had existed until recently. After all, he was involved in a mission to save the world – and a successful one at that.

  Even the realisation he had made a poor choice in choosing a wife and – whether Sue knew it or not – that their marriage was over before it had even begun he viewed as just a bit of a speed bump. However, he had already made the decision to extricate himself as soon as possible, which fuelled his good mood. There was no point in hanging around and delaying the inevitable, and it appeared Sue felt the same, given the exchanges he had overheard. Unless she was also playing some kind of clever mind game that was beyond him.

  Despite the challenges currently in his life, and those he knew to be on the horizon, Bruce was still looking forward to the planned road trip through to Las Vegas and joining his neighbours, who would be enjoying the Sevens tournament being played there. He was looking forward to the drive and two days of booze-filled fun, then it would be back to Portland to pick up little Bruce and back home, and the rest of his life.

  That they were going to get to the Sevens late did not bother Bruce in the least. He would enjoy the road trip and, anyhow, he was confident based on their recent form he would get to see the All Blacks play. It was not often they were not involved at the sharp end of the competition.

  While he waited in the car for Sue to get organised Bruce enjoyed a little fantasy about being called into the All Blacks squad as emergency injury cover and being on hand to score the winning try in the final. Chance would be a fine thing; there would be numerous better prepared and more qualified candidates at the ground. Still, it was a pleasant, harmless fantasy.

  “Where’s that bloody woman gone?” Bruce asked Wisneski who was hovering around the car at a loose end, not sure what to do with himself.

  He pulled out his cigarettes, noticed the no smoking sign on the dash, started to put them away but in the end decided to ignore the sign.

  “How would I know?”

  “Well you’re the security guy tasked with keeping tabs on us. Aren’t you?” Bruce asked a little unfairly.

  Despite the abrupt nature of his response Bruce quite liked Wisneski. He seemed to be a decent sort of guy. It wasn’t his fault the people giving him orders were a bunch of deluded wankers living in a little fantasy world they were busy creating for themselves. Bruce actually admired him for his sense of loyalty and commitment as he tried to navigate his way through this difficult situation.

  “Getting last-minute instructions from the general?”

  “How do you …?” Wisneski started to ask and then appeared to decide not to complete the question as because really wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.

  “I know everything, mate; just you remember that. Look, all I want is to enjoy my road trip for a few days. I’m not going to do anything stupid so don’t worry. So why don’t you go home and see the missus?”

  “Ah, my wife and I have just split up,” Wisneski admitted sheepishly. As he was so clearly embarrassed by the disclosure as though it was a sign of weakness Bruce didn’t press him any further.

  “My ex and the kids are back east. I hope to see them in a week or so. The kids, that is.”

  Bruce could see Wisneski suddenly wanted to talk some more. Bruce was in no way cut out to be some kind of ad hoc marriage counsellor – the idea someone would come to him for relationship advice made him feel uneasy. Besides, his own track record was not flash. That all Wisneski might have wanted was someone to talk to did not cross his mind.

  “What about these guys?” Bruce asked, changing the subject and gesturing towards Myfair and Leaf who stood beside the SVU they had ridden back in. Nobody had given them any indication of what they should be doing, and they seemed to have no inclination of their own. This was the Skidian way, after all.

  Bruce could not get over feeling a little sorry and somehow responsible for them, even if there was no reason to.
He was not morally obligated to look after their best interests either. On his first Skidian sojourn, the Skidians had treated him and Sue like some kind of lower life forms and had had no interest in their well-being. Bruce suddenly and vividly recalled the philosophy of his first boss ringing in his ears – the old cocky up the valley who Bruce had worked for on and off through his schooldays.

  The old boy, long gone now, had lived by a couple of guiding principles Bruce mostly tried to live by as well. Because, after a bit of reflection as a callow adolescent, they actually made a whole lot of sense: two wrongs don’t make a right; and if you shit on other people, they’ll wait for an opportunity to shit on you. Though it might not seem like it to an outsider, Bruce did try to live by these basic ideals. Most of the time.

  “Can you make sure they’ll be OK while we’re gone. After we’re back I’ll take care of them and they can come home with me until you or I work out what to do with them.” Quite how he was going to explain the odd couple to his parents and everyone else in the district was a challenge he’d deal with in due course. To be honest, there were some pretty colourful characters living in the district so they would actually fit in quite well. “All I ask is I get to enjoy my road trip. I’m not going to do anything silly, and we can start to sort things out when I get back. OK?” Bruce repeated.

  “That’s pretty magnanimous of you, Bruce,” Wisneski replied. He seemed about to say something else but paused and tapped his earpiece as clearly a message was coming through. After a moment he gestured to the two Skidians. “We’re –going – to – put – you – up …” he said slowly, enunciating every word carefully so there could be no miss-interpretation for someone for whom English was a second language, “… in a hotel until Bruce, Sue and myself are back from Las Vegas. Two of my men will take you there shortly.”

  “That you?” Bruce asked the MPU. “Did you give the command?”

  But of course, the MPU retorted as Sue appeared from wherever she had been and plopped herself into the passenger seat. She reached over and gave Bruce an affectionate peck on the cheek which caught him a little by surprise.

  “OK, I’m ready to roll,” she said. “Vegas here we come. Shall we invite those two along?” she asked, indicating the two Skidians.

  This was not part of any plan, but Bruce replied, “I don’t have a problem with that.” He wondered whether this was supposed to be some kind of signal he failed to fathom the meaning of. Whether there was some ulterior motive in Sue’s offer, or whether she was just making a suggestion she hoped would not actually be accepted for form’s sake, or had simply not thought it through very well. Bruce could just imagine the idea popping into her head and Sue deciding to act on it ten steps from the car.

  Accept the offer on face value. I’m not sure Sue can pull off a sophisticated deceit, was the MPU’s opinion. We both know Sue is not half as clever as she thinks she is.

  Bruce wound down the window and called over to the two Skidians. “Oi, do you two want to come with us?”

  “I can’t let that happen, Bruce. I’m sorry, but I can’t. I have my orders,” Wisneski insisted, trying to intervene. “The Skidians are to stay here and we will look after them.”

  “Look, mate, I don’t think you or anyone else is in any position to stop us, if either of them want to come along,” Bruce reminded Wisneski. “And,” he added for good measure, “I’m holding you accountable for their well-being just in case anyone gets any fancy ideas if they don’t want to come along. Get me? And make sure General What’s-his-name understands this as well.”

  Leaf glanced at Myfair. She leant over and whispered in his ear. Myfair seemed to consider what she said for a moment then shook his head. Whatever was said, it did not prepare anyone for her next move, which was to quickly open the back door of the car and slide into the back seat.

  “OK. Solves that problem. Let’s roll. Wisneski, we’re on our way; what’s your plan?” Bruce asked before firing up the car and appreciating the satisfying burble of its big engine and the way it roared, and shook the car when he pushed the throttle to the floor.

  Wisneski appeared torn between the need to keep tabs on Bruce and Sue, and waiting for Shelly Shaw who was supposed to be his passenger. He wasn’t worried about tracking the car – GPS systems and helicopters were wonderful surveillance tools. However, Wisneski was old school and liked to eyeball things when he could.

  “Can’t wait for you to get your shit together, mate,” Bruce said and laid a satisfying patch of rubber on the floor of the garage as he put his foot down. He paused at the garage exit then pulled out onto the road with another satisfying squeal of rubber and a little fishtail. One of the things he had long planned was taking the opportunity to drive a big American muscle car on the wide-open roads of the Wild West, and the way things were working out he could really drive it like he had stolen it.

  “Do you really have to be so juvenile?” Sue demanded. “I haven’t even got my seat belt on yet, ya hoon!” She grinned at him and Bruce caught a glimpse of what could have been if she hadn’t been so unnecessarily demanding once she thought she had him under control. Clearly one of the areas they should have cleared up before they tied the knot was who actually wore the pants in their relationship.

  He was determined to enjoy himself on their honeymoon; he had been looking forward to the trip before they had to take the long trek down to New Zealand and life down on the farm. However, with the way things had developed between him and Sue, he had been bracing himself all morning for a long and challenging trip with her. Initially he thought things in the car would be so tense the atmosphere could almost be cut with a knife. By the looks of it, though, perhaps for her own reasons, Sue was also apparently determined to enjoy herself.

  Bruce and his passengers rolled into the forecourt of their Las Vegas hotel late on the second day of the trip. As he had hoped, Bruce had thoroughly enjoyed the drive and had even stopped to let Sue get behind the wheel at one point, just so she could share the fun. While they had not spoken much on the trip, and Leaf almost not at all, the mood in the car had been far from the ugly, angry, sullen one Bruce had imagined it might descend into. He had half expected to complete the journey in an angry, festering cocoon and to be sleeping on the couch in the hotel, or possibly even another room.

  He and Sue had even tried making love to keep up a semblance of normalcy on the first night; however, Bruce’s mind was not really on the job and he did not enjoy the process. He suspected Sue had faked her own orgasm, probably reflecting his apathy and lack of interest.

  Bruce wondered what the MPU made of this behaviour – on Skid there was nothing approaching normal sexual relationships between couples that was normal on Earth. In fact, the practice of recreational sex was almost unknown amongst Skidians unless they belonged to a select group at the highest strata of Skidian society. Maybe this state of affairs had been engineered by the MPU in the first place. In the old days, normally Skidians might procreate in a highly regulated and structured environment maybe once or twice in their lifetimes if they were lucky.

  Recreational sex was unknown among the masses until the self-styled, most sophisticated and advanced society in the known universe fell apart on them. At that point those few Skidians who survived reverted to more primitive behaviours which included, amongst other things, the discovery of sex, and they went at it with unbounded enthusiasm. The MPU must have had a hand in that as well Bruce belatedly realised.

  “No free rooms sir,” the receptionist responded when Bruce asked for a room for Leaf. With all the action in town there were no rooms to be had in the hotel or, it appeared, across the rest of the city.

  Bruce had assumed it would be easy enough to book another room for Leaf when they arrived and had not thought to book ahead. Clearly he had been wrong.

  “OK, no problem; she can stay with us.” Bruce ignored the scowl this generated from Sue as he picked up his bags after being handed their room cards.

  “Do you have shuttl
es to the Sevens?” he asked, checking he was getting everything he had paid for. He had chosen this hotel as they were supporting the local leg of the World Series.

  “Yes sir, there is a free shuttle leaving in an hour from the forecourt. Shall I book you a seat?”

  “Two seats, please.” Bruce decided that come hell or high water he was going to be on that shuttle, with or without Sue. He assumed, at that point, Sue was going to join him and he was okay with that as long as she promised not to be a pain in the backside. But he was not so sure about her state of mind. Suddenly her mood seemed to have changed; she didn’t look all that interested in the rugby and was glancing around the lobby looking for someone she expected to be there.

  Bruce decided she might have other things on her mind, and he thought he caught sight of Wisneski and Shelly Shaw lurking o the forecourt, just out through the main doors. They had not been conspicuous during the trip down but Bruce was sure they knew exactly where they were.

  “Right,” he said once he had dropped his bags on the bed. “Which one of you lovely young ladies are coming along to the Sevens with me today, and who wants to come tomorrow?” he asked, more out of good manners than anything else.

  The response was part what he expected after overhearing the conversation the day before and the MPU chiming in at the same time: Wisneski is in the foyer with two of his agents.

  And part surprise.

  “They’ll struggle to find a room,” Bruce told the MPU as Sue responded with, “Take Leaf, she might enjoy it. I think I’ll have a rest. I’m tired after all the excitement over the last few days and could do with a lie down.”

  Yeah right! Bruce thought.

  “I would like to come with you,” Leaf agreed rather formally. This was such an unexpected turn of events Bruce immediately smelt a rat. It felt like a set-up by the MPU – despite Sue’s suggestion, it had the MPU’s signature all over it.