by Rachel Aukes
“Senator Heid, I must speak with you,” a woman called out from behind him.
He sighed, turned, and put on his politician’s smile. “Ah, Senator Liu. It’s always a pleasure to see you.” He cocked his head. “I thought you’d be at Legacy Starporation’s Grand Opening at Smithton today.”
She approached, carrying a large green plant. “I was, until I heard Corps General Laciam is taking the Unity to the fringe worlds tomorrow.”
“He is.”
She moved the plant to rest on her hip, but it did little to help her look serious. “Myr and Alluvia need protection. We need to keep at least two warships here.”
He held up his hand in a show of placation. “How about we go to my office to discuss this?”
“I would like that,” she said. “Oh, but let’s go to my office. I picked this plant up at the Smithton Market this morning and need to water it. It’s a Dieffenbachia Exotica. Isn’t it lovely?”
“It is,” Heid mused. Then, he held out his hands. “Here, let me carry that for you, Luna.”
She smiled warmly. “Thank you, Gabriel.”
Their conversation became easy, and they headed inside.
Twelve
The Gunpowder Plot
Parliament, Myr
The group of Myrads approached the Parliament building, and their reflections were made clearly in the smooth glass.
Critch nearly scowled. He looked like a viggin’ Myrad. He had to admit, Ali was an artist with makeup. He couldn’t even see his scars, though he didn’t even recognize himself through the silicon muck she’d used on his face and neck.
Birk snickered as he looked at his reflection.
“I hope no one gets a picture of us like this,” Throttle muttered at his side.
“Hey, I think I did pretty good,” Ali said.
“Yeah, you did too good,” Throttle said. “I look like one of you.”
Critch agreed. While all Throttle’s skin had needed was a tint of blue added, her hair had been colored to a deep purple, since Myrads had an unnatural obsession with bright colors. A long, silky, colorful coat hid her leg braces, and Critch was relieved to see that Throttle had become acclimated to walking a normal stride.
“You all look good,” Yang said. “Now, straighten up. Mother is ready for us.”
Yang turned and walked up to the comm screen embedded in stone to the right of the doors. He held out his wrist comm, and a light ran over it. An automated, slightly robotic voice came through the speaker.
“Welcome, Citizen Yang Liu. We have you listed in a group of six visitors for Senator Luna Liu today as part of your school project. Is that correct?”
“Yes,” Yang replied. “We’re interviewing her for our Political Science class.”
“Excellent. Each of your friends must have their wrist comm scanned, and then you may proceed into the building. Should you need assistance while inside, approach any wall screen.”
Yang nodded toward Critch, who approached first and held out his comm. He focused on not holding his breath while the light shone over the comm that had a thin piece of tech clinging to the screen that would feed faulty data to any scanner. A human could notice the slight variation, which looked like a polarized screen had been taped over the comm, but computers only noticed what they were programmed to notice.
“Welcome, Citizen David Smithton. You’re cleared to enter the building.”
Critch breathed easier as he stepped back for the remaining four to be processed. A hologram on the other side of the doors caught his gaze, and he found himself reading the so-called memorial. He cursed under his breath. Leave it to politicians to lie about what had started the war. Five citizens. The memorial said nothing about the tens of thousands of colonists that had been slaughtered.
“We’re all clear,” Yang said.
Critch turned to see everyone waiting. “Let’s go,” he said.
They proceeded. The large doors opened. Yang led the way, followed by the three torrents, Ali, and Ted. Critch noticed no weapons sensors as he passed through, and he looked around, still seeing none. The fringe stations had sensors at every entrance. That Parliament didn’t have any meant they assumed no attack would come from the ground. Between patrol ships and the EMP nets enwrapping each citizen world, the two planets were safe from colonist attacks. They assumed citizens would never attack their own if they were kept well fed and rich.
They were about to learn differently.
“Mother is on the second floor,” Yang said as he took the first steps on the massive staircase. “She arrived twenty minutes before us.”
At the top of the stairs, they turned.
“It’s so quiet,” Birk said.
“The entire place clears out when they’re on break. Even human security gets the time off,” Yang said, just before stopping at an office door. On the comm screen near the door was the face of an attractive Myrad woman and the name Senator Luna Liu, Myr.
Yang tapped a button on the screen. “Hello Mother, it’s Yang. I’ve got my friends here for the interview.”
The door opened. Inside, two people sat in chairs close to each other on the near side of the desk. The woman matched the picture, and the man was someone Critch knew all too well. By some miracle, he held himself back from running in and stabbing a knife through Heid’s eyes right then and there.
The woman motioned them in. “Come, come. Yang, how was your geocaching trip?”
Yang stepped in first. Critch and the others followed. Critch felt a step closer to retribution when the door closed behind them.
Yang shrugged. “I set up a new cache that I’m calling the Nutcracker.”
“Yang! Watch your language,” she scolded.
“I don’t mean it that way,” Yang said quickly. “I placed the cache in a grove of nut trees. The cache is hidden inside a case that looks like a walnut shell. They have to ‘break’ the shell to get to the cache.”
“Well, I think you could’ve come up with a better name for it, but we’ll talk about that later,” she said. “It’s your lucky day. Yang, I don’t believe you’ve met Senator Heid before.”
Yang gave a very good fanboy expression. “Senator, it’s an honor.”
Heid pushed to his feet. “It’s a pleasure to meet the son of a woman I have the utmost respect for.” He shook Yang’s hand and then turned to the rest of the group. “And who are your friends?”
Luna replied first. “These are Yang’s classmates. They’re here to interview me for class.” She smirked. “They’re all hoping that if they sweet-talk me, they’ll get put on the intern lottery shortlist for next year’s Parliament session.”
Heid smiled. “I wish you all the best.” He looked down at his wrist comm. “I have work to do, but I have time to take a question if you choose.
“I’ve got one,” Critch said.
Heid cocked his head to the side. “Your voice is familiar. Have we met before?”
“Yes. On Alluvia.”
“I apologize, I don’t remember. I meet a lot of people—it’s a part of the job. Now, what’s your question?”
Critch took a step closer. There was no sense in wasting time. “How many people have you killed?”
“What?”
That was the signal. Birk lunged and grabbed Heid’s left arm to prevent the man from placing an emergency call via his wrist comm.
Critch pulled out his blaster and leveled it on Heid. Birk wrapped Heid’s comm with a blocker before using a tool to detach it from the man’s arm.
Heid looked at Critch, then spoke to Luna. “What do they have on you to turn on a fellow senator, Luna?”
“They have nothing on me,” she replied. “I’m doing this for Gaia Welden.”
He frowned. “Gaia Welden? What in the world does she have to do with me? I don’t understand the correlation between her and why you’re allowing these hooligans to take me hostage.”
Luna glared.
After a couple seconds, Heid’s features
relaxed as though he found something humorous. “Ah. Damn that Seda Faulk.”
Finished removing the wrist comm, Birk handed it to Throttle, who placed it into a bomb-proof bag and handed it to Luna. “Hopefully, you can find some proof in there.”
Luna accepted it. “I have all the proof I need.” She turned back to Heid. “I see it in your eyes. You killed Gaia, and you don’t even regret it.”
Heid didn’t respond.
Critch nodded at Heid. “Take off your clothes, Mason.”
Heid’s lips thinned, but he did as instructed, all the while keeping an eye on Critch. When he left on his underwear, Critch motioned to those as well. When Mason was fully naked, Ali bagged his clothes in the same type of bag and gave it also to Luna, who was busy hiding both bags in a pot and setting the plant—which, it turned out, had been planted in a much shorter planter—on top. Birk and Throttle checked him for implants. Heid scrutinized Critch. “You’re not Myrad, are you?”
Critch didn’t respond.
“I know you,” Heid said, but it was clear he was still trying to place Critch’s face.
“Found one.” Throttle grinned, snapped open her knife and sliced Heid’s skin near his spine.
He grunted but didn’t cry out.
She pulled out a tiny device. “You were right. He had at least one tracker on him.”
Critch nodded. “We’ll give him a more thorough scan back on the ship. Ted…”
Ted handed Heid a shirt and a pair of pants, and he dressed promptly. Throttle and Birk slid his hands into separate restraining bags and then bonded them together.
Luna spoke next. “You are a traitor, Gabriel. Our promise as leaders is to ensure the Collective is a place where everyone can feel safe. When you killed Gaia—and who knows who else—you broke that promise. You will pay for your crimes.”
Heid smiled. “How far do you think these terrorists will get with me today? You don’t think someone won’t notice the co-chair of Parliament being dragged out against his will?”
Luna grinned. “No, I don’t think anyone will notice. Do you remember my other son, Wang? Right now, he’s in the basement with a few friends of ours. They’re placing charges at every support beam.” She leaned closer. “You are a rot that has contaminated the whole of Parliament. Sometimes, the only way to stop a disease is to burn it out. Parliament is going to burn today, and everyone will believe you burned down with it.”
“You are a fool if you believe removing me and burning down a building will make things better,” Heid said before glancing at Critch and then back at her. “You’ve always been a stalwart defendant of keeping citizenship from the colonists. Do your new friends know that, I wonder?”
She kept a straight face. She looked from Heid to Critch, Throttle, and Birk as she spoke. “I am not a proponent of universal citizenship. As a mother, I want good lives for my sons, and I believe the Collective would fall into a depression if we don’t proceed carefully.” She turned back to Heid. “Yes, I may have deep philosophical differences with the torrents, but there is one thing we both agree upon. That is the criminality of your actions, Gabriel.”
“Mother,” Yang said. “Wang is ready, so you need to go.”
She nodded, grabbed the potted plant and strode toward the door. “Be careful, Yang.”
Yang smiled. “Always.”
She turned back to the occupants in the room, giving Heid a final glare. She spoke to Critch. “I have a favor to ask.”
Critch tilted his head.
“Leave a piece of that murderer for me.”
Critch nodded. “You got it.”
With that, she opened the door and exited.
When the door closed behind her, Birk and Throttle grabbed Heid and dragged him toward the door. Ted tentatively approached the senator and covered his bound hands with a jacket.
“Drake Fender, or do you still go by Critch?” Heid asked.
Critch ignored him.
“I suspected I’d see you again, but I was hoping the circumstances would be different. I admit, I’d much prefer our situations to be reversed.”
“I’m sure you would,” Critch said.
The floor rumbled and alarms sounded.
“There goes the north wing,” Yang said.
Critch shoved Heid forward, and they exited the office, herding around the senator and rushing down the hallway. At the front, Yang guided them to an elevator. They hurried into it, with their prisoner securely in the middle and Critch holding the muzzle of his blaster in the small of Heid’s back.
“Don’t use the elevator. The alarm’s sounded!” a young Alluvian woman called out. “Hey! Didn’t you hear me?”
They ignored her, and the door shut. Yang hit a button, and the elevator descended.
“I’m surprised you didn’t call out for help,” Throttle said.
“If I had, she would have come running, and you’d have killed her,” Heid said.
When the elevator reached the basement, the door opened.
Before them stood Wang, Luis, Miko, and three of Miko’s crew members.
“It took you long enough,” Yang’s twin brother said in a rush. “We’ve got to go now.”
They hustled through the vacant area to where an unloading dock door stood open and a van sat. It was gray, windowless except for the driver’s compartment, and had a plumber’s logo on the side. Miko’s crew helped secure Heid inside, restraining Heid’s feet to the floor of the van.
Miko ran his fingers across his wrist comm. “I’m blowing the systems.”
Critch looked back at the basement behind them. A series of pop-pop explosions erupted, and small fires lit at every electrical panel in the basement.
“There,” Miko said. “That should cover any vid feeds on this block.”
They climbed into the van. Wang’s friend, Luis drove.
Several seconds later, a massive boom rattled the vehicle.
“I can’t believe we blew up Parliament,” Yang said with wide eyes, and several voices chattered about their victory. Soon, silence blanketed the van as the repercussions fell upon everyone.
Without windows, Critch couldn’t see where they were going, so he focused his gaze on Heid, who was watching him.
“I’m impressed,” Heid said. “Kidnapping a senator in broad daylight is an impressive feat.”
“It’s amazing what can happen when citizens and colonists work together.” Critch paused for a moment. “You’re a smart guy, I’ll give you that. You did a lot of things right, to pull off all the stunts you have. The blight, the assassinations, the riots, the war—the list goes on. When I looked at the things I knew you had a hand in, it was always one side pitted against the other. Colonists against citizens or vice versa. That’s when I figured out what your weakness was. You never thought citizens and colonists could work together. Once I knew that, it was a piece of cake to walk right up the steps of Parliament and pluck you out of your own place.”
“I admit, I did not see you making that move. While bombing buildings is something you have a wealth of experience in, I’m surprised you chose to add kidnapping to your list of skills. I would’ve expected you to kill me instead.”
Critch smiled. “Oh, I’m going to kill you. I told you that when you murdered Demes. But before I kill you, you have to stand trial for your crimes. In the fringe, we have this thing called justice.”
“Ah, so you have found your scapegoat; someone to represent all the problems the fringe faces. You’ll try me, find me guilty, execute me, and then what? Will everything be better? You are a fool if you believe killing one man can change generations of attitudes and prejudices.”
Critch leaned forward. “The only thing I can guarantee will be better, is that you won’t be around to play your games with people’s lives. Other than that, the worlds can figure out their own problems without your interference.”
“You are an idealist, and certainly not a politician,” Heid said.
“I’ll take that as a c
ompliment.”
“You’re also shortsighted if you believe citizens and colonists will work together.”
Critch shrugged. “We don’t have to get along. We just have to agree to the big stuff.”
“We’re coming up to the docks,” Luis yelled back.
“So, where are you taking me?” Heid asked. When no one answered, he continued. “Somewhere in the fringe then. Perhaps Seda’s new base. I was hoping to see it.”
The van pulled to a stop.
Critch turned to Throttle and Birk. “I’ll see you back at the RP.” He held out his right hand. Birk grabbed Critch’s forearm, and Critch did the same to Birk’s, the colonist handshake. He then did the same with Throttle. “Good luck.”
Throttle nodded. “We’ll see you out there.”
The back door opened to the Liu private dock. Yang handed a keycard to Throttle. “My car is in slot G3. I’ll be waiting for you, so hurry back.”
Throttle grinned. “Have the engines warmed up, Chirp.”
Throttle and Birk jumped out and headed in a different direction from the rest of the group, which moved toward the Liu-Liu-1 and the Liu-Liu-2. Yang, Ted, and Ali broke off when they reached Yang’s ship.
“Be careful,” Yang said. “We’ll see you soon.”
Critch squeezed the Myrad’s shoulder and then looked across the faces of Yang, Ted, and Ali. “You did good back there. I’d go with you into battle any day.”
He turned and left before they said something sappy. Miko’s crew was loading Heid on board the Liu-Liu-2, and Critch followed them.
As soon as Heid was secured in a bed, Miko began taping black signal blocker sheets around the senator until he was completely covered, except for his face.
“All of it,” Critch said.
Miko covered Heid’s face, leaving the smallest slit for the man to breathe.
“We can’t be too careful. Not with this one,” Critch said. “At least two guarding him at any time. You go to the bridge and keep an eye out for trouble.”
