by M J Gauntlet
Zax took a deep breath, then just sank down into the chair. “It was, but I won’t say who gave it to me. I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.”
“Anyone but yourself, you mean. Do you know the penalty is for falsifying an ID to get off-planet?” When Zax shook his head slowly, she continued. “Well, let us just say that the Empire takes a dim view of it. There is also a heavy penalty assessed against any starship captain, who knowingly accepts one without reporting it. But we will put that aside for the moment, Messer…?” she paused.
“Grayson, Zaxxion Grayson,” he sighed, resignedly.
“Well, Messer Grayson, I have just received a port wide notice from the dirtside authorities that there has been a double homicide, just outside the spaceport grounds. Very near this wing of the terminal in fact. Would you know anything about that?”
“Huh...What...When? What does that have to do with me?” Zax sat up, shocked.
“That’s what I’m trying to determine Messer Grayson. It appears that two locals were found shot dead, just outside the landing fields. A strange thing was discovered about the bodies…one man was missing his thumb and index finger, which was found in the other dead man’s pocket. It appears that they had been severed by a weapon, such as this…” With her last words, the captain produced the force blade he had hidden in his rucksack and laid it on her desk in front of her. “Such blades are highly illegal on Bright and this one happened to be found in your rucksack! Please tell me, how is it that you have in your possession, such a weapon?
Zax collapsed back into the chair, defeated. “Ok, look… that is the blade that cut off the fingers of one of the guys that tried to mug me, but I didn’t do it! His partner swung the blade, missed, and accidently severed the fingers of his buddy. Honest.”
“Uh-huh…” she said skeptically, “let’s also allow that to pass for the moment, shall we? As it turns out it wasn’t this blade that killed them, it was a type of energy weapon with a unique residue signature. One that is frequently used by those of the Marcosian Restoration Worlds. Members of my crew inform me that your companion at the departure lounge was a Marcosian, is that true?”
Zax found himself only half listening to the captain as the phrases “…unique type of energy weapon…” and “…frequently used by Marcosian…” echoed in his head. When was the last time he had heard similar words? It was back when Lieutenant Fuller was telling him about the two killings associated with Lauria’s death! What was it he had said…”an energy weapon bearing a unique Marcosian signature…” Was it possible that the man who was so ‘helpful’ in the terminal, was the same off-world agent who had been chasing him all this time?!
“Messer Grayson! Are you listening to me?” Captain Ahosi said sternly. Snapped out of his thoughts, he refocused on what she had been saying.
“Wha...er…listen Captain,” Zax began, stuttering slightly. “He wasn’t my companion, he was just another passenger or someone that just happened by when those two hooligans tried to take…” Zax stopped immediately, when he realized that he was about to say more than he wanted to.
“Take your what?” Ahosi prodded, with a silky calm voice.
“Just my belongings, in the bag over there. The two guys who attacked me managed to take it and this other man, M’Lak Van Drayton, his name was, said that he chased them down and found it laying on the ground on the landing field. That’s the truth.”
“Humm…” was her somewhat, skeptical reply. Holding out her hand expectantly, she sat waiting. Finally, Zax realized that she was waiting for him to hand over his phony ID card. Reaching into the inner pocket of his coat, he withdrew it and presented it to her. Taking it in her hands, she turned it over a couple of times, then held it up to the bright lamp sitting on her desk. She gave a low, appreciative, whistle. “I’ve seen my share of bogus and fake ID’s and I must admit yours is damn good. It has all the right watermarks; the electronic strip and the photo is embossed. It almost looks as if it were governmental issue, like you said,” she mused, then placed it on the corner of her desk and picked up the force blade again.
“So, you claim that this blade belonged to your assailants and you simply disarmed them and picked it up off the ground?”
When Zax meekly nodded, she blew out her lips and seemed to come to a decision.
“I’m sorry, Messer Grayson, but that is just not good enough. I could invalidate your passage aboard the Windjammer for possession of this fake ID alone, but combined with your rather hard to believe story and your association with a Marcosian, no matter how brief or innocent, it leaves me with no choice but to hold you for the authorities and let them sort things out.”
“No! No, you can’t,” Zax said, rising out of the chair, almost on the verge of tears. “I’ve got to get to Plato on your ship, don’t you understand, I’ve got to! Captain you’ve got to take me to Plato!”
Captain Ahosi’s expression hardened. “It is never a good idea to tell a starship captain, what she can or cannot do. Especially on her own ship, young man! Look, it is obvious that you are involved with something that is way over your head, and…” she paused as she took the fake ID card and there was a brief flash of light as she idly dropped it into her desk’s disintegrator. “…I won’t tell the authorities about the bogus ID, it would probably cause me more problems than you, and at this time I cannot afford any time delays. But I will not have someone on my ship, that won’t tell me the whole truth. Why is it so important that you get to Plato on my ship? After all, if what you say is true, you can take another ship later. The planet is not going anywhere.”
Fighting back the tears that were glistening in his eyes, Zax sank further down in the chair in desperation. “I have to get to Plato on this ship, because it is the only one that can get me there in time to meet another tradership, that is due to dock there.”
“And what ship might that be?” Ahosi said, with a small amount of curiosity.
“Captain Ito’s tradership, the Rapture,” Zax replied, in a small voice.
Captain Ahosi jerked her head up, as her lackadaisical attitude evaporated. Sitting bolt up in her chair, she gaped at Zax as though he had just grown a second head.
“Captain Murphy Ito?” she exclaimed warily. Her eyes becoming slits as she looked hard at Zax. “How in the several hells of Obsidian do you know that old space dog? What possible business could a dirtsider like you have with him?”
“It’s a private matter, but if you must know it is a matter of honor and the trader’s code. There is something I must give him and a favor I must ask of him in return. I’m sorry but if you have to know more than that, I am honor bound not to say any more, so you might as well throw me off your ship now,” Zax said defeated.
Captain Ahosi sat staring at Zax for a long time, then leaned back in her chair. “The prudent thing to for me, would be to do just that. I should put you out dirtside and let the authorities’ sort this out, but…if I did that, it is possible that they might hold my ship and her crew here on Bright for questioning, and at the present that might prove quite expensive for the ship and its crew shares. There is also the matter of a tradership debt of honor to be paid. I don’t know how valid this obligation you feel that the Rapture and Murphy Ito has towards you, but we traders tend to take such things very seriously. So, it appears that I am forced to take your word on both having nothing to do with the murders and having an honor debt that must be settled.” The captain stopped talking, raised out of her chair, placed both her hands flat on her desk and leaned forward to look Zax directly in his eyes.
“If it should turn out that you were lying about either the murders on the docks or the debt of honor, I will personally escort you to the nearest airlock and throw you out!” Sitting back down, she picked up the force blade. “Of course, I will have to confiscate this and lock it away for the remainder of the voyage. You will be able to reclaim it at planetfall on Plato when you disembark.” Leaning back in her chair, Captain Ahosi spoke out loud into the air.
“Windy, would you tell Pilar to please report to the captain’s cabin and escort our passenger Messer Grayson, to his cabin.” Turning back to Zax, she waived a dismissive hand. “Good day to you Grayson, and may you have a pleasant voyage aboard the Windjammer.”
Letting out a held breath, Zax rose just as the door to the captain’s quarters slid open and Pilar stepped into the room. She was once again smiling at him as she ushered him out into the corridor and started to lead him to his shipboard quarters. As the captain’s wardroom door hissed shut, Ahosi cocked her head towards the ceiling and spoke.
“Windy, was he speaking the truth?”
“All bodily indications are that approximately 35 percent of what he said was either an evasion, or a half- truth,” a mellow voice responded, in her head.
“Was he lying about the force blade or the murders?”
“No. In those instances he spoke the truth.”
“What about his association with the Marcosian?”
“Again, he spoke the truth.”
Relaxing, the captain leaned back further in her chair and lit a smoke stick with a thoughtful look on her face.
“This is turning out to be quite an interesting trip,” she murmured out loud.
“I am sorry captain, but I have insufficient data to currently make such a determination.”
“Never mind Windy, I was just taking to myself. Open a line to the port authorities and get authorization to leave.”
“Yes captain.”
Back in his small cabin, Zax listened to Pilar as she explained the workings of the cabin sanitary units and tried to get him to understand the importance of listening to every announcement that came out of the speakers.
“Firstly, what you must understand is that the Windjammer is a working trade vessel, which means that there are none of the frills you would find on mid and highliners. You will eat basically what the crew eats. There are no special menus for passengers. The common room is for both crew and passengers, but all food is to be consumed either in your room or in the shipboard galley. When this shuttle docks with the main ship, contragrav will be cycled from the shuttle to the main ship. At which time, there will be a brief moment of zero gravity. Many first timers feel queasy when this happens, and you might have to vomit. If you do so, the please try and do it in the fresher, or in a container. There will be a verbal warning when the ship switches contragrav and before entering transitional space. Make sure that you are in your cabin or at a drive station when this happens. Drive stations are marked on the bulkheads and I have entered their locations on your wristcom.
“Secondly, there is very little in the way of on-board diversions. The only view plates are on the bridge and both the engine room and the bridge are off-limits to passengers. You are strictly forbidden from entering either of these areas without express permission from the captain, is that understood?” Pilar asked sharply, after receiving a nod of understanding from Zax, she continued. “Although the com in this room will give you access to a surprising amount of digital and neural interface media, including games, learning material of all kinds and literature, and you will find that there are no ‘feelies’ or other such forms of ‘entertainment’, understand?” she said, wrinkling her pert nose to show her distain for such things.
“Lastly, unlike a luxury liner, every corridor and passageway are used as working space. Try to stay out of the way when crew personal is passing through. We are all pretty busy most of the time and don’t always follow the correct etiquette when hurriedly passing each other through the hallways, so you are likely to hear some very raw language. If you want to look around, then make sure you ask a crew person to accompany you, if they have the time. DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING OUTSIDE OF YOUR CABIN! If you see something you think is wrong or malfunctioning, contact me or another crew person immediately. Is that understood?” Zax nodded his agreement. “Good! Maybe later, I can take you on that ship tour I promised you earlier, but for now, myself and the rest of the crew will be extremely busy over the next few hours, so please stay out of the way. Right now, I am going down to the cargo hold to look after the containers we just onloaded dirtside, making sure they are secured. Until I come back, I suggest that you remain in your cabin until we have docked with the main ship. Take the time to access Windjammer’s secondary com units if you wish. I will be back to see you in a few minutes after we liftoff.”
As the door hissed closed, Zax sat on the cabin’s small utilitarian bunk and slowly allowed his body to relax. Laying back, he placed his hands behind his head, closed his eyes and tried to gather his thoughts. So…both Alfie and Stan were now dead, and there was no doubt in his mind as to who had killed them. The oh so helpful M’Lak said, they just dropped his pack. Sure. But why the charade? I was alone in that terminal lounge, so why didn’t they just shoot me and take the rucksack. It would have been cleaner and easier. Zax wondered. Laying there on his bunk thinking, he began to idly scratch at one of the pouches beneath his arm. Humm… that’s why they didn’t kill me immediately. They wanted to make sure that they could get their hands on the sphere and the data cube.
If M’Lak van Drayton was the one behind the attacks and the deaths of so many people, maybe including his father’s, then he would have wanted to make damn sure he located the objects this time. Thinking back, Zax remembered that Van Drayton did seem to ask a lot of questions, and then there was that odd violent reaction the man gave when Zax started to recite the traditional oath of obligation. Zax groaned silently, as he realized that he practically admitted to the Marcosian that he had the artifact on his person when he had spoken of his responsibility to deliver something to someone on Plato!
Sitting up in his bunk, Zax belatedly realized that his earlier feeling of somehow meeting the man before was accurate. Thinking back, Zax realized that he had seen the innocuous man, both on the train from Centennial and sitting at a table in Plex. Obviously at those times he showed no signs of the extensive tattooing Zax saw on him at the spaceport terminal.
No doubt it was this Marcosian who had likely placed the tracker bugs on him (Zax seemed to remember that someone looking like him brushed up against him on the gravtrain) and who had also followed him to the lawyer, killed her, then somehow tracked him to Lauria’s. Zax’s heart sank painfully, as it slowly dawned on him … he had been alone with the man who had ruthlessly killed the woman he loved, Lauria.
Zax’s face hardened as he fervently hoped that M’Lak van Drayton’s parting words would indeed come true: that in the vastness of the universe they would indeed meet again! As for right this moment, Zax was dead tired. As he sat on the bed’s edge, he felt an itch beneath his right armpit. Pulling back the flap, he withdrew the spherical object and the irritation ceased. Zax figured that he should soon clean out the small pouch of flesh, but decided to postpone that task, because he was overcome with drowsiness. As he stretched out on his bunk, Zax fell instantly asleep. But his sleep was far from peaceful, once again filled with another strange dream:
He was floating alone! Where were the others? Where were the makers? He was still powerful, but now he was impotent without direction or purpose. He would wait. He would keep himself ready and renewed for when the makers returned and filled him with purpose once again…
**…systems search commencing… tertiary level intellect identified…contact…intelligence insufficient…expanding search parameters… no contact…interface restricted by biological safeguards…end search…**
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The ‘White Tower’
Military Headquarters
Hidden Deep in the Marcosian Restoration Worlds
REPORT OF AGENT M’LAK VAN DRAYTON
DATE: 1256 YEAR OF RESTORATION, UG 5116.14.012 PLANET: BRIGHT, MUTABA SECTOR, UNITY IMPERIUM
Glory to the Goddess
UG 5015.00.2
Discovery of new data indicating Ezekiel Grayson in possession of information of critical importance regarding lost alien X’haChe artifact
. Covert search initiated to locate Ezekiel Grayson.
UG 5016.13.005
Subject Ezekiel Grayson located on planet Bright with son in settlement of Last Town. Previously, Subject Ezekiel Grayson involved in altercation with natives of planet Bright resulting in the death of accursed Nubian wife, man and son unharmed.
UG 5016.14.033
After over a T-month long surveillance, Cree were contracted to secure target and interrogate. RESULT: Cree failed and were eliminated by target. Target also eliminated.
UG 5017.01.000
Secondary target, Zaxxion Grayson, acquired and locator attached. Subject followed in hopes of being led to artifact(s). Target contacted by Alicia Wilkerson, Attorney. Follow up interrogation of Wilkerson revealed existence of Imperial Bank Safe Deposit Box in City of Plex, Bright: Attorney Terminated.
UG 5017.01.002
Zaxxion Grayson gained access to Imperial Bank Safe Deposit Vault. Indeterminate if artifact(s) is (are) in his possession. Before agent can make contact, target is summoned by local police. Imperial Special Branch present at interrogation. Speculation: ISB called in due to Cree involvement. ISB not, repeat not currently aware of existence of artifact(s).
UG 5017.01.003
Grayson forms an attachment to Imperial Bank employee, Lauria Talbot and revisits the vault. It is this agent’s opinion that artifact was secured in vault and is currently in the possession of Grayson. Target discovers tracers and disarms them.
UG 5017.01.004
Arrangements are made using local assets to secure Lauria Talbot as leverage and to gain delivery of artifact(s) in exchange for the woman. Acquisition of Lauria Talbot fails due to ineptitude of assets. Talbot is inadvertently killed. Local assets were Terminated.
