The three of them followed the fence that encircled the spaceport around until they could slip into a crowd exiting a commercial flight. After they blended into the crowd they headed toward the nearest Customs station. With no luggage to check or declare, they could head straight for the exit gates. Calin laughed to himself, it was almost boring to go through the Customs protocol when you weren’t smuggling anything. As they approached the exit gate, Calin and Dean pulled out the fake passports they had stored on the Sea Rover for emergencies. He was pleased to learn that Shona had a fake passport with her too. After a cursory glance at their passports, the Customs agent absentmindedly waved them through without even a pat down.
The main annex of the spaceport reminded Calin a lot of the Promenade on Harbor Station. The throng of people moved in waves, first one way then the other, oblivious to anything that went on around them. Their only concern was to get to their destination on time.
After they all climbed into an autocab he searched in the address listings for Mouse’s apartment, the hacker who had helped them with the security stick they had stolen only a few days before. When he found the listing, he punched the destination in. They settled their tired bodies into the worn cushions of the cab and silently watched the city of Puerto Espacial out the window.
Chapter 21
Puerta Espacial was a good idea gone bad. Developed from the beginning as a spaceport near the equator, its location was in the country formerly known as Costa Rica. This area was chosen because materials from all of the Americas could be transported there easily by land. And all the coastal areas would provide easy ports to ship cargo by boat. There were three designated spaceports on Earth; Costa Rica, the Congo, and Eastern Russia. The different countries' governments managed each port to provide transportation of tourists and cargo off-world.
But over time the spaceports had developed into hives of organized crime and villainy. Puerta Espacial relied heavily on manual labor by low-income workers, with Union bosses to ensure no robots replaced their human laborers. This job force created a secondary economy of crime, drugs, and prostitution. Puerta Espacial was originally designed as a jewel of space travel, modern architecture, planned growth, and organized infrastructure. And the areas the tourist saw as they made their way onto the transport rockets still radiated class and elegance. But the real world of the spaceport lay underneath their feet and behind the walls, out of sight. Outside of the designated tourist areas in the crowded streets of what was formerly Costa Rica was a rainbow of neon advertisements for VR dens, red-light districts, tattoo parlors, and noodle shops.
The autocab they had taken from the spaceport cycled through its hover program and descended to a marked off landing zone on the side of a bustling wet street. Its landing gear splashed into the puddles from the constant rain of the tropical weather. When they stepped out of the car, even in the night, the humidity made their clothes stick to their bodies. Calin took a deep breath of the heavy air before he reached back and offered a hand to help Shona out of the car.
“Hey! Don’t I get a hand too?” asked Dean with a chuckle when he exited the cab. He turned to look around them, then looked up and down the street and muttered, “What a shit hole.”
“Yea, well, Mouse likes it here. If we tried to rent a room anywhere on Earth, it would flag us in a heartbeat. Beggars can’t be choosers,” Calin replied.
Dean muttered under his breath, “Beggars have better places to live.”
Calin led them down the street toward Mouse’s place, but they paused to watch a news report blast on the giant vid-screen above their heads when it showed a video of Caldera City.
The announcer was in the middle of his report about the civil unrest that had rose up in Caldera City. “Marches and protests have been taking place all over the city with citizens demanding better working conditions and wages. On The Avenue, shops are being vandalized and broken into. Resist graffiti has appeared even in the tourist areas.”
The camera switched to a different news anchor, “In other news from Caldera City, there was a high profile burglary of the Capitol Building, where highly classified files and the employee payroll had been stolen two days ago.” the announcer went on.
Has it only been two days? Calin thought to himself. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
On the vidscreen they were still reporting on the break-in at the security office, “The authorities have two suspects that still remain at large.” Headshots of Calin and Shona flashed on the screen as the announcer continued, “If you see them, do not approach. Call the Planetary Patrol Division immediately.”
Calin ran his hands through his wet hair and complained, “At least they could have shown my good side.”
“You have a good side?” asked Shona with a laugh.
Dean grabbed their shoulders and gave a little shove, “Come on you guys, we need to get off the streets. Mouse’s place isn’t far.”
They headed down a narrow alleyway and ignored the VR chip dealers who murmured their deals from dark doorways. “Hey man, I’ve got the best VR chips, any experience or fetish you want”, or the Blue Glow pushers who stood around on the corners. And even Dean ignored the women in doorways who called out “Hey boss, betcha I can make you forget about her”. Calin kept one hand on his gun and his other hand gripped Shona’s arm.
They kept their heads down and crossed the busy streets when necessary to avoid the street cams. Calin led the way to a tattoo shop tucked into the corner of a ramshackle building. The sign in the window flashed tattoos, piercings, and body modifications, no appointment necessary. Inside, the tattoo artist had created the Milky Way galaxy all over a client’s shaved head by inserting diamond dust in the skin to give the stars a real sparkle. With a nod to the tattoo artist as he passed through, Calin headed to the door in the back and up the stairs to Mouse’s apartment.
Calin and Mouse went way back, back when they were teenagers running the alleyways of Caldera City. Mouse had a talent for computers and tech while Calin had a talent to get into and out of trouble. When Mouse had done one too many big hacks, it took Calin’s contacts to get him out of Caldera City and down to Earth. So Mouse owed him a favor.
Without knocking Calin walked right into the apartment above the tattoo shop. He knew to knock was a waste of time, Mouse wouldn’t hear it. As he suspected, Mouse was in a recliner in the middle of the room, his lanky frame sprawled in a VR chair with the headgear over his eyes. With a big grin, Calin hit the power button on the Virtual Reality drive Mouse was hooked up to.
“Wha..! Who…! Damn it!” shouted Mouse as he exploded out the chair and ripped off the headgear. He frantically looked around, momentarily confused from being yanked back into reality so abruptly.
“What the hell?” exclaimed Mouse, until his eyes focused enough to recognize Calin who stood next to his chair with a big grin on his face. “Damn it Calin! You know not to do that! You trying to fry my brain?”
“Your brain is already fried,” Calin laughed.
Mouse, the confusion of being yanked out of VR without warning dissipating, laughed and nodded “Yup, it’s getting there.” as he crossed the room and gave Calin a big hug. “What are you doing dirtside? When did you get here? How long are you staying?” Mouse fired off question after question.
Calin patted Mouse on the back with one hand in greeting. Meanwhile, Dean and Shona stood over to the side, a smirk on Dean's face and a puzzled look on Shona’s until she coughed lightly and said “Ahem.”
Calin laughed again, “Shona, meet Mouse. Mouse, Shona”. Only then did Mouse realize there were other people in the room. He gave Dean a hug and turned to Shona with his hand outstretched. “Hello there, good to meet you again. Any friend of Calin…” he trailed off as he blatantly looked her up and down. He turned to Calin and said, “Damn, gotta give ya credit for this one.”
Shona was taken back and exclaimed, “Excuse me?” She looked at Calin with a bewildered look on her face.
Calin made a cal
ming motion with his hands to Shona, “Don’t worry, Mouse meant nothing by it. He doesn’t think about what he says before he says it.”
Mouse objected to that, “But I did! She is really out of your league, man.”
Pleased, Shona gave Mouse a pretty smile for the compliment.
“Now that the pleasantries are over, what do I owe for this surprise visit?” Mouse asked and grabbed a beer out of the fridge in the corner. He looked at his guest and extended it out to them with a questioning look on his face. After everyone declined he put it up to his lips and took a long swig. Then he paused mid-gulp and slowly brought the bottle down. He turned to look suspiciously at Calin and asked, “Does this have anything to do with that security stick you had me decrypt a few days ago?”
Calin shrugged “A little. We need a place to lie low for a little while.”
Mouse gestured around him, “Mi Casa es su casa. Whatever you need pal.” He grabbed dirty clothes off the couch in the corner and brushed off the pizza crumbs before he offered the seat to Shona.
As she sat down he asked with a lopsided grin, “As Calin told you how we know each other?”
She gave a negative shake of her head.
Mouse gestured around him and spilled some beer out of the bottle in his hand, “I wasn’t always the King of the Manor you see before you. I used to be a humble public servant of Caldera City government, IT Department of course.”
At that statement, Calin started violently coughing and tried to suppress a laugh.
Before anyone could answer a bright light blasted through the window as a loud bang came from the door. “This is the PPD! Open up!”
Mouse stood up, downed his beer and hurriedly finished up his story, “Short version, I got caught with sticky fingers in the government bank accounts, Calin here got me off the Moon and set me up down here.”
“Damn it!” Calin snapped as he interrupted Mouse’s musings. “Street cams must have picked us up.”
Dean peeked out the window at the street below, it was full of armored troop trucks, strobe lights, and patrol cars. He quickly ducked his head back as a security drone flew by the window, its flashing lights strobed across the room.
“Y’all go, I’ve got a back way out of here. I can hang back and buy you what time I can.” Mouse said with a wicked grin as he thumbed a remote that slammed metal panels down across the windows and doors..
Calin objected, “You don’t need to get caught again, especially in this mess.”
Mouse countered with a mischievous grin, “Hey, don’t worry about me. I’ve got one of the slickest lawyers in Puerto Especial. I’ll be out before breakfast.”
But at that moment the front door exploded into splinters and warped metal, followed by two gas grenades that bounced into the apartment and spewed noxious smelling gas.
“Um… on second thought, maybe I will come with you,” added Mouse.
When he typed out a command on a nearby keyboard, a section of wall slid up into the ceiling to reveal a door to the empty apartment next door. At the same time, canisters of hydrochloric acid inside Mouse’s computer servers activated to melt the hardware into slag. Mouse shoved all three through the door and slid the wall down behind them just as PPD troops stormed into his apartment.
As silently as they could, they tiptoed across the vacant apartment to its front door. Calin slowly opened the door and winced at the creak of the old hinges. Through the crack of the door, he peered down the hall to see squads of troops had piled into Mouse’s apartment. So far they were unaware they had been flanked.
He motioned everyone to follow him and led the way down the back stairs into the alley behind the building.
“We need to get out of the city. Somehow they know we are here,” grumbled Shona as they ran down the alley.
“There is nowhere to run,” boomed a loud familiar voice as a large crowd of troopers stepped around the corner in front of them.
Shona recognized the voice of Captain Avis. She released a low growl as she snatched her gun out of its holster and charged forward, which forced the rest of them to rush forward with her. Calin’s cybernetic arm whipped up and fired off a volley of shots as they charged in an attempt to distract and confuse them. Shona took the lead and left them behind in her haste for vengeance. She continuously fired shot after shot toward Avis but her shots bounced harmlessly off his armor. She ran faster and launched herself off a crate in the alley, spun in the air and planted a heeled boot right into the side of Avis’s helmet to spin him completely around.
Unfortunately, the squad had regained their composure from Shona's sudden charge and returned fire to force Calin’s group to dive for cover. Avis continued his spin around to bring up an armored fist to backhand Shona, connected squarely on her chin and knocked her out instantly.
“No!” shouted Calin. He stood up to fire repeatedly at Avis. Mouse reached up and yanked him off his feet back behind cover just as the squad opened up with their blasters. The alleyway filled with bolts of burning light.
Avis calmly reached down, grabbed a handful of Shona’s hair and lifted her up like a doll. He held her up in the air in front of him.
“Cease fire!” he bellowed.
When the blaster fire stopped, he shouted. “Calin Aku, I’ve been looking for you. I believe you have something that belongs to my employer. I would like it back.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Calin shouted back.
Avis gave Shona a little shake, “Oh, I think you do. And if you want this little one to live, you will give it to me. The tablet, the clear tablet you took from the Moon. Give it to me!” he ordered.
“That old thing?” Calin quipped. “It was a broken hunk of junk, I tossed it. Why don’t you let her go and we call it even?”
“Oh, I don’t think so. Governor Silas is very insistent that you return the tablet you stole from him.”
Dean gave Calin a confused look and silently mouthed “Where’s the tablet?”
Calin whispered, “Nilos”. To which Dean muttered “Damn!”
“I’ll make it simple for you,” continued Avis. “Give me the tablet in exchange for your crew member’s life.”
“That will be a problem since I don’t have it.” came Calin’s reply.
“Then I suggest you find it. Bring the tablet to Caldera City and you can have this pretty little thing here back, possibly in one piece.” He gave Shona another shake for emphasis.
“You’ve got 2 days to get your ass back to the Moon with that tablet, or your little Master Thief here will join my special work crews.”
Avis gestured a command to his squad to opened fire on Calin and his crew. He dragged the unconscious Shona behind him by the hair, climbed into a troop carrier parked in the street and flew off.
Chapter 22
Calin raced aboard the Sea Rover, dove into his pilot’s chair and hit the release for the landing gear. He spun up the engines, hitting the panels with more force than necessary. Behind him, Dean had the ship ready to burn space in record time. Mouse quietly strapped into a passenger seat in the galley.
Dean activated the new stealth mesh with their normal countermeasures as Calin blasted the ship away from the Puerta Espacial spaceport.
“Rose, get me Nilos,” growled Calin.
“Right away,” she replied.
Calin plotted a evasive course back to the Moon to avoid the standard traffic lanes and tracking satellites as much as possible.
“I’ve got him,” said Rose.
“Yes?” came Nilos’s voice over the comm speaker.
“Nilos, we have a problem, a huge problem,” said Calin.
“What?”
“Avis has Shona, and he wants that Atlantean command tablet in exchange for her.”
“How the hell did that happen?”
“Long story, and it doesn’t matter. Do you still have the tablet?”
“Of course, but it won’t do them any good. You know that.”
“The
y don’t know that. Any chance you can program it NOT blow up when the DNA check fails?” Calin asked.
“That's not possible. It has been safeguarded against that very tactic. If we give them the tablet, the whole Moon could be in jeopardy.”
“We will have to deal with that when the time comes. Right now Shona’s life is in danger if I don’t give them that damn tablet.”
“I’m sorry but I can’t allow that. We still have not fully analyzed the tablet. There’s so much we can learn from it, even without the Atlantean base activated.”
“Damn it Nilos! Do you Atlanteans have ice water in your veins or something? This is Shona’s life we are talking about!” Calin snapped.
“Hey, I sympathize with you, I really do. But we cannot endanger the lives of millions to save one person. The Tereo Group has always had to consider the big picture in all that we do.”
"Nilos… please?" Calin begged. "Shona considers you a friend. Do you really want to do this to her?"
Nilos was silent for a minute and when he finally replied, Calin could hear the internal conflict in his voice, “I consider her a friend too, and you too. Even though this could cost millions of lives and my job, if you have a plan that can prevent them from getting the tablet, I’ll consider it.”
Calin exhaled in relief. “Thank you Nilos. I understand why you don’t want to do this, but we don’t have a choice. Can you get it to my outpost by tonight?”
“Oh yea, that won’t be a problem. It turns out Allia has some of the fastest engines we have ever seen. I will be there soon.”
“Thank you,” Calin replied gratefully.
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