by M J Gauntlet
What in the seven hells were spaceport emergency vehicles doing way out here? Zax wondered. While it was not all that uncommon to see Littleton police skimmers headed towards Last Town, it was rare to see both Centennial cops and spaceport fire suppressant rafts headed that way, let alone an ambulance! Reaching behind him, he unlimbered his collapsed floater and pressed a few buttons. Slowly, it began to mechanically unfold until it was about a meter and a half wide and three meters long. There was a low whine, as a section of the craft began to raise upward, then haltingly, it stopped. Cursing to himself, Zax reached down and yanked to unjam the floater’s collapsible seat, then pulled up the steering yok. Once everything was set, he thumbed the control panel and with a low hum, he glided towards the flashing lights of the roadblock.
After a minute or two, he had left the outskirts of Littleton and found himself gliding past the now closed and shuttered shops of Last Town’s main street. Slowing the floater to a crawl, he cautiously maneuvered down a darkened alley and rested against a dilapidated wall, as he peered around the corner along the road that led to the residential section of the settlement.
In front of him, was a holographic orange police barrier along with a police skimmer roadblock that was stretched out across the street. A small crowd of onlookers had formed at the barrier, but the cops were stopping all traffic headed towards the residential section of Last Town. Stepping off his floater, Zax walked to the edge of the alleyway and craned his neck around the corner attempting to see what was happening. As he stared at the scene in front of him, Zax felt a sudden sharp pinch on the toe of his work boot. Looking down, he saw a nip- nip studiously gnawing at his booted foot. With a growl of disgust, he kicked it against the wall. Momentarily stunned, the scruffy looking rodent regained its feet, shook itself vigorously and slowly backed away hissing at his intended snack.
Turning to look back along the street, Zax could just make out in the distance, a column of thick black smoke rising up about two klicks from where he stood. Staring at the rising smoke, he began to get an uneasy feeling in his gut. Stepping onto the floater, he stopped its hovering and switched over to manual control. Steering off to the right, Zax took a direct heading through the trees and underbrush towards his home. The traffic control chip in his floater would alert traffic control that he was deviating away from the proscribed vehicular lanes. Most likely, this would mean a traffic violation fine, but he didn’t care. The only thing that was important to him now, was that he got home as fast as possible to relieve the fear that was growing like a tangle weed in his gut. The floater accelerated off to his right, passing many occupied dilapidated houses to disappear into the foliage.
The man in the one seat skimmer who had been following several meters behind Zaxxion, growled a curse as he snatched at his communicator and pressed the activate button. After a prolonged silence, he savagely thumbed the button again. Still, no response. With narrowed eyes, he began to wonder if the procession of vehicles that had just passed them on the road had anything to do with the actions of his underlings.
Frowning, he watched his target disappear into the brush. Realizing that there was no way he would be able to follow the young man with the skimmer he was using, he briefly considered taking the skimmer higher to get above the intervening trees but abandoned the idea. Planetary traffic control would surely take note of his sudden unapproved course change and he wanted no record of his ever being here. After all, it was possible that whatever the emergency vehicles were responding to might not have had anything to do with his mission. Besides, following above the trees would be taking a chance that his mark might notice him.
Zaxxion’s floater broke through the underbrush and stopped suddenly at the tree line which surrounded the clearing that marked the perimeter of his home. Zax’s heart sank into his boots, when he saw that all the vehicles that had passed him on the road where now surrounding a smoking crater where his house once stood. The police were already setting up the electronic cordon, their holographic laser beams glowed dimly in the early morning mist. The faint hum of sniffer drones could be heard, as they dipped and rose around the jagged edged depression. Three body shaped tarps lay in the grass at the rim of the crater, while two more covered contragrav stretchers were being hoisted up out of the shallow still smoking hole. Wisps of smoke rose from each of the tarps, as though what lay beneath them were still smoldering. The emergency responders were still wearing their silver reflective fire-retardant hoods and gloves, even though the blaze had obviously been extinguished hours before.
Zax stood transfixed, with growing shock and horror, as he viewed the scene unfolding in front of him. His heart was in his throat, he found it difficult to breathe. The minutes seemed to stretch on for hours as he slowly dismounted the floater and leaned it against the trunk of a pongo tree. It took a tremendous act of will, to force his body to move towards the chaotic tableau of men and machines in front of him. Walking slowly forward at first, his gate changed to a shambling trot, which then turned into a headlong mad dash toward the ruins. As he reached the edge of the smoldering crater, he felt a strong hand grab him by his arm and violently yank him around.
“Hold it right there!” a sharp voice cried, “just where do you think you are going boyo? This is a restricted area Laster, so beat it! There is nothing to loot here anyway.” The disparaging voice belonged to a bulky man in a Centennial law enforcement uniform. Zax swung around and with a growl as he wrenched his arm out of the other man’s grip. The policeman snarled and started to instinctively reach for his stun baton on his hip, when another voice rang out.
“Something wrong, Sergeant Nehal? What’s the problem?” The so named sergeant vehemently cursed under his breath as he slowly turned to face the voice.
“Er, no problem Lieutenant, this Laster here was…” he began.
“What did I tell you about that Laster crap sergeant, huh?” the lieutenant angerly retorted, as he walked up to them. “The proper term is resident; you got that mister?” The abashed sergeant mumbled a reply under his breath, but the tall lieutenant was having none of it. “I said do you get that Sergeant Nehal? Because if you don’t, I’m sure I can find you a foot patrol with your name on it!”
“Er, no sir, er…I mean…yes sir, I got it!” the sergeant stammered. He then hurried off towards the far side of the smoking crater. Turning away from the rapidly disappearing policeman, the tall thin lieutenant turned to face Zaxxion. The man was half a head taller than Zax, and wore his dark black hair back in a pony tail. He sported a well-trimmed goatee and looked to be about thirty imperial years old, which meant with the aid of the nanites swimming around in his body, he was about sixty ‘T’ years old.
“Sorry about that son,” he said, in low voice. “My name is Fuller, I’m with the planetary law enforcement. Last Town is in my jurisdiction. Now could you please tell me, what is your business here? Would you happen to know anything about what has happened here?” Fuller said, nodding towards the smoking ruins.
Zaxxion swallowed hard and tried to get control of his emotions.
“That is…er… was my home. I lived there with my father. An ex-Imperial Scout pilot,” Zax replied, as he attempted to look around the cop, trying to get a better look at the bodies that were laid out on the ground just beyond where they were standing. Fighting tears back, he turned to look up at the lieutenant’s face. He could see real concern in the man’s eyes.
“Please, tell me Lieutenant Fuller, who were those bodies that the medics pulled out of the wreckage? Is my dad ok?”
“Sorry kid,” the man said, with a sympathetic shake of his head (noticing Zax bristle at the word ‘kid’) “The bodies were too badly burned to be able I.D. them via a facial recognition software. Right now, we are waiting for the DNA sniffers to analyze the bodies for positive identification. The results will be cross checked with the planetary data base for possible matches. Depending on the purity of the samples it could take some time before…” Lieutenant Fuller paused as h
is data pad chimed. Looking down at the pad he pursed his lips as the data flowed across his screen. Without turning his gaze from the pad, he spoke to Zaxxion.
“It seems that the results of the DNA scans are in quicker than usual. Two of the bodies have been identified as Horace Lahrs and a one Kass Oaton. Both of whom have rap sheets dating back years. Two of the corpses have no registered DNA on file, and the last body…” he paused, and raised an eyebrow in mild surprise, “is that of Ezekiel Grayson, a naturalized citizen of Bright.” Fuller stopped reading as he heard a sharp intake of breath from the young man at his side. Looking down at the boy, he could see tears forming in the corner of his eyes.
A light rain had just begun to fall, and the young man’s tears merged with the water running down his face. Fuller again looked down at his data pad, as additional information began to scroll across its holographically projected screen. Reading the fast scrolling data, Fuller’s eyes traveled back and forth between his pad and the face of the young man standing quietly, sobbing before him. The lieutenant tapped his pad blanking the screen as he narrowed his eyes in thought. After a second or two, he sharply nodded his head once, as though making up his mind.
“I take it by your reaction that Ezekiel Grayson was your father, right?” When Zaxxion jerkily nodded his head, the policeman’s eyes softened somewhat, and he put his hand on Zax’s shoulder. “Well I’m sorry son, I truly am, but I’m afraid that I’m going to have to take you down to the local precinct for questioning.” Zaxxion turned his tear stained face towards Fuller, blinked once then wiped the moisture from his face.
“Am I under arrest? If so, on what charge? I ain’t done nothing…” said Zax starting to object, as he felt the sting of anger rise up at perceived Laster prejudice.
“No, no nothing like that,” Fuller said quickly, his palms up, “it’s strictly routine in accident cases such as this.” Zax noticed the citizenship tattoo on his palm. “Besides, from the look of things here, I don’t believe you have anywhere else you can go. Am I right?”
“Acci…accident? You think that this was some kind of accident?” Zaxxion demanded incredulously. “If that’s what you think then you’re craz…” Fuller raised his hand sharply and put a finger to his lips, “Quiet son!” the lieutenant then hastened on, speaking in hushed tones, “This is not the time nor place to have this discussion, ok? Just come with me to the station so that we can possibly get to the bottom of what happened here.” As Zax’s ire gradually quelled, Fuller lifted his head and began scanning the field until he found a policeman standing guard at the edge of the still hissing crater.
“Officer,” he said, raising his arm beckoning the man over to where he and Zax stood, “I want you to make sure you secure the entire area and tell Sergeant Nehal that he is now in charge. Tell the sergeant, he is not to leave the site until I call in and have him relieved, you got that?” Fuller grinned wickedly, as he imagined the look on Nehal’s face when he received the order. Speaking again to the patrolman, he turned to face Zaxxion, “I’m taking this young man back to the station for questioning and will contact the sergeant when I am finished.”
“Yes sir!” the young officer said smartly and turned to leave.
“Just a second…” Fuller said, halting the young cop in his tracks. Turning back again to face Zax, he cocked his head to the side and pursed his lips.
“Tell me kid, how did you get here?” Fuller said, looking around.
“I…I got here by floater.” Turning, he pointed to the edge of the clearing. “See it there, between those two pongo trees?”
“Ah yes, I see it. Hold on a minute,” turning back to the still waiting officer, Fuller pointed over his shoulder to the idle floater.
“Would you please retrieve that floater over there and put on the back of my police cruiser, ok?” The officer nodded once and headed over to the partially hidden vehicle at a trot. As he approached it, the young policeman thought he saw a blur of movement near the floater, but as he trotted up to it, nothing was out of the ordinary so with a shrug of his shoulders he thumbed the floater’s starter and pushed it towards the waiting skimmer.
“Don’t say anything until we get to the station. Ok son?” Fuller said, in a barely audible whisper. “Everything said in the cruiser is automatically recorded, understand?”
Zaxxion nodded and followed him to the waiting patrol skimmer.
As Fuller and Zaxxion walked towards the waiting cruiser, a shadow amongst the darker shadows of the of groups of trees, watched them leave. Damn, damn, damn it to hell! The cloaked figure thought as he retraced his steps back towards his waiting skimmer. What the shit happened? Not only did I lose the main target, but I have don’t have one bit of useful data! How the fuck could TWO Cree assassins fail? As much as he hated the idea, it was beginning to look like he was going to have to get directly involved. It was the one thing he was desperate to avoid.
CHAPTER FIVE
Pulling the police skimmer into the station’s garage, Fuller maneuvered the vehicle into a vacant charging stall. Touching a stud, he released the locks on the cryoplast roof and it slid silently backwards. Pushing a series of buttons in sequence, he then unlocked the doors to the sealed back seating area, allowing Zax to exit the vehicle.
“Say Danny, how’s it hanging man?” Fuller joked, as he walked over to the armed policeman, currently on garage duty.
“Same as always man, long and hard,” the man replied, with a laugh.
“Look, I need you to take that floater in the back of the cruiser and make sure it’s given a full charge, ok?”
“Ok sure, but how should I log it?”
“Just bill it to the department. I’ll get the clearance from the captain.”
“Alright, but be prepared for one of his ‘we gotta keep within the budget speeches’”.
“Yeah, I know. I think I’ve heard that one at least a dozen times.”
“Make that a hundred times, man,” the attendant said, with a laugh.
“You got that right. Say hello to the wife and kids for me, will ya? Especially the one that looks like me,” Fuller joked, with a leer.
“Get da fuck outta of here man, before I shoot you right now! You son of a bitch,” Danny countered, with a loud laugh.
Zaxxion was too deep in his dark, brooding thoughts to take much notice of the banter between the lieutenant and garage attendant. About the only thing that had caught his attention was Fuller was having his floater recharged. Did that mean he might be released soon? He had no idea. Everyone in Last Town had heard the stories of Townies who had entered the precinct, had come out badly beaten or had never been seen again. On the ride over, he had thought of making a break for it when the doors were unlatched, despite how nice the lieutenant seemed, but decided against it for two reasons: first, it would provide the excuse that law enforcement could use to arrest him and then ‘interrogate’ him. Secondly… he had nowhere to run to. Everything he owned or cared about was now a pile of smoldering, burnt rubble. He had no options and seemingly no future, so he might as well see what this cop Fuller wanted.
The lieutenant turned to face Zaxxion and covertly put a finger to his lips as he motioned him through the station portal. As they passed the duty desk, Fuller asked the desk sergeant to get the captain. The duty officer was a rather Rubenesque woman with dark smooth skin, wearing a uniform that seemed two sizes too small. Looking down over her semi-circular desk, she nodded to the lieutenant, then pressed a call button as she rose a questioningly eyebrow aimed at Zax.
“Hey Murph, whatca got here? A stray?” she asked.
“No Gladis, just a possible witness to that ruckus down in Last Town. I need to ask him a few questions.”
“What’s that you say Murph?” A tall police officer wearing captain’s bars on his uniform asked as he stepped out of his office. “This Last…um…resident, (the captain hastily amended his sentence when he saw the look on Fuller’s face) knows something about that explosion in Last Town?”
“Dunno chief, I brought him in to find out exactly what he knows. I’m going to have a long talk with him, and I’d like to use interrogation room number three if I may.” Upon hearing the room number, both Gladis and the captain exchanged knowing looks and Fuller nodded.
“As it so happens, I think room three is available at this time. They have just finished…er…cleaning it up, so it’s yours for as long as you need it. Oh, and don’t worry I will make sure that you are not…um…interrupted,” the man said, with a smirk. As the captain walked back to his office, the desk sergeant gave Fuller a mildly disappointed look, then waved them on“Let’s go resident, the interrogation rooms are this way,” Fuller said, pushing him slightly in the back as he pointed down the hallway with his shock stick. In mild surprise, Zax hadn’t even noticed that the man had drawn the weapon from his belt. With a fatalistic sigh, he nodded resignedly and shuffled off down the corridor. When they reached the door at the end of the hall, Fuller pressed his palm to the door plate. There was a momentary pause, as the portal recognized his palm print, then the door slid silently open. Gesturing with the shock stick, Fuller indicated that Zax should enter the room and take a seat in the chair positioned in the center of the room.
As soon as the door slid shut, the lieutenant promptly sheathed the stick, puffed out his cheeks and let out a loud exhalation. Zax’s face exhibited both surprise and confusion as the man’s posture assumed an attitude of relief and his shoulders relaxed. He then turned and pulled up a chair to sit across from Zax. Seeing the look on Zax’s face, Fuller’s face broke out into a wide grin.
“Sorry if I gave you a bad turn back there kid, but I had to keep up appearances so there would be no questions about getting access to this particular interrogation room.” When Zax’s face still showed confusion, the lieutenant leaned back in his chair, pulled out a smoke stick from his shirt pocket and puffed it alive. “No one will come and disturb us while the room’s ‘occupied’ sign is lit. You see Zax…you don’t mind if I call you Zax do you?” After Zaxxion shook his head no, Fuller continued, “You see Zax, this is the only room in the station house that has no surveillance of any kind. It is used for those ‘special’ interrogations (he said the phrase with disgust), the kind that no one wants any records of. No cameras, no microphones, no peepholes or recording devices of any kind. I am telling you this because what I’m going to say to you must never leave this room. If you ever breathe a word of what I’ve said in here, I will deny it. Then I will have you brought up on charges of assaulting an officer, withholding information, and being an accessory to arson. Do I make myself clear?” Stunned, Zax could only nod his head in the affirmative.
