The Lifeboat

by Keith Fenwick

  Bruce thought about what Sue was saying. A part of him understood why the general and whoever he represented – the top echelons of the United Sates Government and the big corporates, he presumed – were so keen to get hold of the technology. But their arrogant imperial attitude that it was ‘theirs for the taking’ appalled him. What about the Skidians? It was their planet and their technology, after all. What about the rest of humanity? How did they stand to benefit from the technology? The answer was they wouldn’t, of course.

  He pulled out one of his going-to-town smokes and lit up. Smoking was a difficult vice to enjoy in parts of the United States, and Sue was always on his case about the habit.

  You could give up that noxious habit, the MPU told him. I can ease the impacts on your health. However, it doesn’t mean it is good for you.

  “When are you going to give up smoking” Sue demanded, echoing the MPU, changing the tack of the discussion and making Bruce a little uneasy as he wondered if she and the MPU were actually in cahoots about some things. He wouldn’t put it past either of them.

  Just because we agree on something, doesn’t mean we’re conspiring against you, Bruce.

  “There’s no way you’re going to be allowed to smoke around the baby.”

  “How do General Smith and Dr Roach and the others know anything in any detail about Skid?” Bruce asked. “How much do they know?”

  The silence from Sue was deafening.

  “How much do they know?” Bruce demanded. “What have you told them, and what right did you have?”

  “Everything I know. I told them everything I’ve had time to tell them while you were away at the rugby,” Sue admitted.

  “Who’s them?” Bruce insisted.

  “Oh, you know,” Sue began vaguely. “General Smith and the others.” To be honest Sue was not even sure whether she was still dealing with the government. Despite all their talk about doing the right thing for America and ensuring these marvels of technology did not fall into the wrong hands, she was not convinced that General Smith and Dr Roach were still working in the best interests of the government or the wider electorate, even though they maintained they were working for the greater good of the everyone. She was starting to wonder who they really meant.

  Sue knew enough about Bruce’s views as to what constituted the greater good from a United Sates perspective to venture any further comment. Bruce took the view that when the US Government or a big US-based corporate talked about the greater good, the statement really meant they were talking about lining the pockets of a few already hugely wealthy and powerful individuals. Furthermore, their interpretation of ‘what is good for America is therefore good for the world’ didn’t wash with Bruce.

  “I’ve got a rough idea what you’re talking about,” Bruce replied after a moment as he glanced in the rear-vision mirror at one of the big SUVs that was keeping a steady distance behind them. He wondered whether their conversation was being bugged. He assumed so, as Wisneski’s team had had ample opportunity to work their magic on the car while it was parked up. He also assumed that if it really wanted to, the MPU could jam the signals and listen in on the conversations in the following vehicles, but he was not all that interested at the moment.

  “Did you tell them you could access the ship and all its technology? That you could fly them off to Skid and open it up to colonisation once we had worked out how to transport large numbers of people across interstellar space?” Bruce asked for his assumed audience.

  The different agencies following you have managed to place tracking and listening devices in and on the car. Some of them have located and removed rival agencies’ devices. Do you want me to jam them? the MPU asked.

  “Not right now. But how many different teams are following us?”

  Three.

  “Three?”

  “Yes,” Sue replied in a little voice that ended in a strangled sob.

  “And how is that going to work?”

  “I told them I’d convince you to see it was in all our best interests for you to help. If not, they’re going to start running invasive tests on Myfair to see if they can work out how he interacts with the MPU so they can hack into the spacecraft themselves.”

  “Holy fuck, they can’t do that, that’s completely immoral,” he said. “Besides, it won’t do them any good,” he added, as much for the benefit of those listening in as Sue. “Don’t they get it that the MPU has rescinded Myfair’s access codes to any of the ship’s functions?”

  “The stakes are huge here, Bruce – the freedom of the Western world is at stake and our technological lead over the rest of the world.”

  “What a load of bollocks.” So that’s what they mean about the greater good – it’s all for their greater good. He was silent for a few moments as they left the city proper and the interstate opened up ahead of them. Sue fidgeted in her seat and nervously tried to gauge his mood and he did nothing to ease her mind.

  Bruce could see Leaf watching him each time he glanced in the rear-vision mirror to check on the convoy trailing along behind them. He wondered what she was thinking. Whenever he tried to catch her eye she glanced away. “What are you going to do? Are you going to assist them?” Sue asked hopefully, meaning the old general and whoever he was reporting to.

  “Nothing at this stage, nothing at the moment,” Bruce replied, deciding to keep his thoughts to himself. He wouldn’t put it past the general to be bypassing the government in favour of some shadowy, self-appointed elite that sought to take advantage for their own benefit.

  He drove on through the desolate, empty countryside. An environment pretty well devoid of life except for some scruffy-looking, scrubby bushes and shit loads of sand and rocks. Not much of anything except the now obvious convoy of vehicles following them down the mostly traffic-less freeway.

  “You will help out, won’t you?” Sue asked so desperately Bruce wondered what she had been offered to get him on side.

  For an answer he stamped his foot down hard on the accelerator and the car leapt forward.

  “What are you doing, Bruce? Don’t do anything stupid,” she begged. “Slow down. Please,” she added as an afterthought. It was not clear whether she was fearful for her own safety or the possible reaction of the team following the car if they thought Bruce was trying to escape.

  Bruce could hear the throaty roar of the engine through the soundproofing, and his nostrils flared. This was why he had rented this car for the trip. Until that moment it had just purred along the road, champing at the leash to be given its head. Getting a speeding ticket was the least of his worries so he pressed the throttle to the floor. The dial on the speedo quickly headed for triple digits, and the digital fuel gauge headed skyward.

  “Slow down or let me out!”

  “You what?”

  “Slow down or let me out. I’m not going to carry on with you in this mood.”

  Bruce wondered whether Sue had thought to threaten him somehow, or shame him into slowing down. He had news for her, and seeing a sudden opportunity, slammed the brakes on and pulled off the road in a cloud of dust.

  “Get out,” he said and reached across Sue and opened the door for her.

  “You can’t mean it!” she squeaked.

  “I do, now get out before I throw you out!” Bruce glanced in the mirror. Three large SUVs had stopped in some apparent confusion a little way back. Bruce could imagine the consternation he had caused the convoy. Not only were the members of it trying to work out what he was up to, and if they had not realised it already, they would now be grappling with the evidence there was interest in Myfair, Bruce, and Sue from various other agencies. The secret was out, or at the very least other people were wondering what they were up to.

  “C’mon, get out or do I have to throw you out?”

  “But what’s going to happen to me? You can’t just leave me here.”

  “Yes I can. Come on! Get out.” Bruce unclipped Sue’s seatbelt, reached across and grabbed her handbag from the bac
k seat and tossed it out the door.

  “Get out. You wanted to get out, so get out.” Bruce could not even bother to pretend he was angry. If anything, he felt incredibly weary.

  “But …?”

  Bruce flipped the boot lid and took the key out of the ignition – in case Sue got any ideas about taking off without him – got out of the car, walked to the boot, grabbed her luggage and tossed her bags onto the shoulder of the road then slammed the boot shut and got back in behind the wheel.

  “But what? Somebody will pick you up, I’m sure.” Bruce nodded behind them at the convoy of SUVs.

  A couple of figures had emerged from the first vehicle. Bruce could make out Shelly Shaw and Wisneski in the rear vision mirror. They must have been wondering what the hell was going on. As far as they knew, what appeared to be a simple domestic spat seemed to be escalating out of control and with it their easiest access to the Skidian patrol ship.

  Sue was refusing to get out of the car now. This was not part of the plan and her usefulness to anyone would be limited if Bruce left her here on the side of the road.

  Bruce slid back into the seat beside her and stared at her.

  “Out!” he yelled, pointing to the door.

  Before either of them could react further Sue heard the rear door open and a shadow loomed over her. As she processed what was happening Sue found herself being lifted out of her seat by Leaf and dumped unceremoniously in the dust on the side of the road.

  “Let go of me, you stupid woman,” Sue screamed and beat at Leaf’s arms, trying to push her away. “Get off me,” she yelled, struggling with Leaf as Leaf tugged her hands away, leaving Sue splayed unceremoniously on the ground, screaming.

  “Don’t leave me here, Bruce. I love you. Please don’t leave me!” Sue screamed frantically. “I’ll do anything you want, but please don’t leave me.”

  “Thanks!” Bruce muttered to the MPU, assuming the MPU had somehow galvanised Leaf into action just as he had been weakening and almost about to relent.

  Nothing to do with me, it was all Leaf’s doing, the MPU replied as Leaf slid into the seat she had just unceremoniously pulled Sue from, and grinned across at Bruce.

  “What do you think of that?” Leaf asked, slamming the door and holding it shut against Sue trying to pull it open – because she did not know how to lock the door.

  Bruce started the car and planted his foot again. The car leapt forward with a satisfying squeal of tortured rubber. He watched the SUVs roll forward in pursuit again, not sure how long the chase was going to be allowed to go on. Either Wisneski and the others would give up, or the MPU would spirit him away somehow. However the journey was going to end, he was going to enjoy himself while it lasted.

  “Bloody hell,” he exclaimed. “Thanks, though,” he added for Leaf’s benefit.

  I told you she would look after you.

  Bruce glanced over at Leaf as he pushed his foot to the floor and the car fishtailed out onto the tar seal, leaving a forlorn looking Sue shrouded in dust on the side of the road, staring after them.

  The convoy moved forward again with one of the SUVs peeling off and stopping for Sue and picking up her bags.

  Bruce glanced across at Leaf again and she responded with another grin. This was going to be fun, just like Bonny and Clyde, though it was difficult to imagine a more unlikely travelling partner.

  Then something really odd happened. Bruce could almost sense the MPU was about to say something. In fact, it seemed to falter in the middle of a sentence so Bruce completely lost track of what it was telling him. Immediately his comprehension of what the MPU was, its very essence, was overwhelmed as he sensed a more organic mind connecting with his own. Then there was a sudden sense of vertigo as this new mind instantaneously fully integrated with his own. Whether this was the MPU’s doing or not he couldn’t tell, but there she was, some woman whispering inaudibly into his mind, which made no sense at all of course.

  Meanwhile Leaf also appeared to have morphed into something quite different. The Skidian version of Wonder Woman without the tights.

  “Enacting personal security protocol alpha,” she began urgently, “based on intelligence from the offworld female. Please secure Myfair and the young offworlder as a priority. I will monitor the situation here until you are able to provide full support.”

  Bruce chanced a peek at Leaf. “What do you want me to do?” he asked with interest. Finally, a Skidian with real balls, it seemed.

  “We are currently a diversion. I suggest you continue as you are until further notice,” Leaf replied, all business now, in a way he had never seen in a Skidian before.

  Seventeen

  The two of them sped down the interstate in silence; it would have been hard to speak over the engine, given its head and almost running at full noise, and the thrumming of the tyres on the road. It was a bit of a surprise to Bruce the soundproofing was so poor on such a modern vehicle until he realised the back window had been blown out.

  “How much time do we have?” he asked as he processed this, wondering how he had missed it. “How long before the MPU is able to extract us?”

  Bruce was a bit worried about the extraction process – how were they going to get him out of the car, and would the MPU get to them in time? If he survived the next little while his life was going to get even more interesting. In some ways getting home to the farm seemed like a decent kind of sanctuary for the moment. However, almost immediately he realised that wasn’t going to work out for any length of time.

  “Not long,” Leaf replied, as some kind of 3D map superimposed itself on Bruce’s brain.

  He did not stop to consider how that actually worked. He was too busy marvelling at the images – it was like having some kind of computer monitor in his head while his real eyes gave him uninterrupted normal vision on the road ahead.

  He was intrigued by the dots representing the tracks of the various vehicles following them, a convoy of wheeled and airborne vehicles was trailing them. Different teams identified by their radio transmissions were represented by different coloured dots. Other icons appeared to represent various types of aircraft were also hastening towards them.

  “Holy shit!” He took his foot off the accelerator a touch. There was no chance of outrunning his pursuers and there never had been.

  “There is nothing to worry about at the moment,” Leaf reassured him. “Your pursuers are still trying to decide how to proceed. Removing Sue from the vehicle was not high on the list of scenarios they thought would play out, so Wisneski is having to reconsider his plan of attack.”

  “Serves them right.” Bruce decided it would not really help to point out that she, Leaf that is, had actually pulled Sue from the car.

  “It won’t take them long to come to a decision, Bruce. You are an extremely valuable resource they believe they can ill afford to lose. However, if it looks like you are going over to the other side, they won’t hesitate to try and destroy this vehicle with us in it.”

  “But doesn’t that simply defeat the purpose?” Bruce asked, a little exasperated. “And I don’t understand this business about going over to the other side? What other side?”

  “The people following us, and those they report to, simply cannot comprehend you might be operating in isolation. They are convinced if you won’t assist them, you must be angling to be in the pay of the Chinese or Russians, or someone else. Or you are playing one party off against the other to extract as much money and leverage out of them as you can.” Leaf did not have any idea what this information. The MPU was giving her a simultaneous background to the commentary she was passing on to Bruce. And in the process the MPU wasn’t holding back about its prejudices and low opinion of what it knew about the offworld political process and the lack of a single, effective ruling body it could negotiate with.

  “At the end of the day they won’t hesitate to try and neutralise you if they think you are going over to the other side. They will go to any lengths to stop you!”

&nbs
p; “Bugger.” Bruce paused for a moment. “How the hell do they think I would ever have time to make contact with anyone? I just haven’t had the time, the opportunity or the inclination.”

  “We’re dealing with desperate, greedy people who are blinded by the possibility of huge technological breakthroughs and ready to believe anything if they think it can advance their cause or stop anyone else from taking advantage of the information.”

  “But they’ve only, really only, just become aware of the Skidians and their capabilities.”

  “But you have to understand these people, and no doubt the Russians, the European and Japanese agencies, the Chinese and others have been planning and preparing for an encounter like this for years. All the major powers have been practising first contact scenarios and how they can gain advantage or leverage over everyone else.”

  Bruce thought this over for a few moments. Of course there must be people thinking and planning, making contingency plans for first contact scenarios.

  “And all those plans have mostly focused on how to benefit technologically from an encounter with more sophisticated visitors from outer space. Not many organisations have given much thought to how events might unfold if the first encounter was with a group of aliens bent on colonising or using Earth’s resources for their own needs. The scenarios I have detected all seem to assume your governments are confident of their ability to negotiate with alien visitors on their own terms and that they have the capability to resist any alien invader who had other ideas.” Leaf paused for a moment. This was the most Bruce had ever heard her speak at one time. “There seems to be a global view that either Earth could beat off any attack, or any alien civilisation would respect your sovereignty.”

  “In other words they’ve watched too many Hollywood blockbusters.” Bruce pressed his foot until he felt it touch the floor and the car leapt forward again. The following dots on his internal map seemed to hesitate for a moment then gathered themselves to continue the chase.