by Drew Avera
Chapter 31
I followed Kara up the ladder that led to the cargo bay. I was torn between my recent experience of seeing Laurel after five years and then bumping into Sorell. I could feel the tension behind his maniacal smile and unsettling laughter. He was a plotting man, one who always wanted to be a few steps ahead of his enemy. As strange as it sounds, I could see similarities between us. I have a personal philosophy; always stay six steps ahead of your enemy.
The cargo bay was full of people carrying on about their normal routine. More shops had been set up in the hopes of continuing business as usual for many people. Based on the look of things, we were essentially a city moving through space. I stopped in the middle of a group of people and looked back at Kara.
"Is there anything that you would like to do?" I asked.
"I guess we can walk around the shops to kill a little time," she said. "Do you want to split up and meet back here in an hour?"
"I don't know if that's a good idea," I said.
"Relax, Serus, I'm armed and ready," she lifted her gauntlet to show me.
"Alright, but seriously, I want us to meet back at this spot in one hour."
Kara spit her tongue out at me as she trotted off. I was amazed at how confident she had become in just over a week. I was happy for her though, she seemed to feel like she had a purpose, and the stress of what she had been through had given her the determination to fight instead of falling into submission.
I walked to take a look at what some of the shops had to offer. There was everything from clothing, electronics, and furniture to make the staterooms a little homier. I was looking at a mobile reader at one of the Booths when I felt two hands wrap around my arms. I hadn't been paying attention and now two policemen had me by surprise.
"Serus, we need you to come with us," one on the men said. I allowed them to lead me away from the cargo bay without saying anything at all. We went down a ladder near the passageway where I had trained Kara earlier. The lights were dimmed, but I could make out the image of a few other people at the other end of the passageway.
The two men stopped about twenty feet away from the other group of people and then Sorell stepped into the light. He wore a smug look on his face, the kind of look that insinuated that he had won some great battle over me.
"It seems that we keep bumping into each other," Sorell said with another chuckle.
"It would appear that way I guess. What do you want?" I asked.
"Oh, that's a simple thing really. You see, I have an issue with someone who is focused on killing members of my Syndicate. It makes me feel uncomfortable, like maybe that person is going to take a stab at me." He looked at me warily when he said those words. "I suppose it could just be my imagination, but I really do get the feeling that you don't like me," he said.
"That's funny. I get the same feeling from you," I said.
Sorell laughed hard and began pacing in a small circle in front of me. "Do you know why insurance is the most powerful business on our society, Sorell?"
"No, I don't."
"It's because those who have insurance feel protected, those who don't have insurance feel helpless, and those who own the insurance companies can control them all. You see if you don't have insurance then we can have our doctors flat out refuse to help you, and it would be completely legal for them to deny you. On the other hand, if you do have insurance, but the cost of treatment is too great, then we can have you denied just the same. It really isn't about the money, but the power. No one wants to die so they buy your insurance feeling confident that they will be taken care of, and then all of a sudden we just pull the rug out from under them." He laughed again and it was making me sick.
"What's the point to your story, Sorell?"
"The point is, the electro-magnetic field is dying because we found that it would be profitable."
"Are you kidding me? Millions of people are about to die for some kind of profit?" I was shouting the words at him.
"Yes." He paced in front of me and shrugged his shoulders like the death of millions did not concern him. "You see, our society was about as close to a utopia as you could get, but the profit to be gained from our people was too low. People were living longer and costing us more. Technology that was so great one hundred years ago was becoming a burden to our pockets. We tried population control, but the benefits were not there like they had been historically. We needed another exodus, we needed an out. The last expedition to Earth showed that the Earth humans were savages. They had destroyed each other in the name of religion, or class, or the color of their skin. If we go there and set up a new government then we will be like gods to them. And I, being the leader of the Syndicate, am ready to be there god."
"You are a lunatic," I said.
"Quite so," he laughed at me and snapped his fingers. Two of the policemen stepped out of their ranks and walked through a hatch behind them. "The other thing that I love about the insurance business is how it can be used as a metaphor for any given situation. Say I have a lot of food, then I have an insurance policy to keep from starving to death. Or if I have a blanket then I have an insurance policy to keep from being cold. Are you beginning to catch my drift?"
"Yeah I think I am. So you think by catching me then you have an insurance policy to keep me from killing you?" I said.
Sorell laughed again his wicked laugh. "So close to the truth, yet so far away." He turned to the men as they were walking through the hatch with a third person. "No, Serus, my insurance policy is not that I caught you, it's that I caught your old fiancée," he said as he pointed to Laurel. "And one false move on your part will insure that I kill you both."
