Version Innocent

by Pete Molina

Chapter 18

  Terra was in her office at the UMG embassy when a call interrupted her. It was Agent Dawson. Terra turned off the screen she had been working with to hide the information and engaged the comlink with Dawson via her ocular implants. Dawson appeared to be standing in front of her floating in space.

  “Ah, Ms. Gates, it’s good to see you again.” Dawson said cheerfully with a big grin. Terra wasn’t exactly happy to see him, but she didn’t let it show.

  “Agent Dawson, I’m glad you called. I was just about to contact you about my meeting tonight at Sam’s crèche sister’s house,” Terra said, she was just finishing up her plans. It had taken her most of a week to get everything arranged, and she had her friend Emelda, the ambassador, call in a lot of favors to help her pull it off.

  “Of course, but I was getting anxious knowing that the meeting was coming up so soon. Can we meet?” he asked.

  “Certainly, where?”

  “At the Washington zip train terminal. There’s a little coffee place there near terminal six. Do you know the place I’m talking about?”

  “Yes, I know the one,” Terra replied. She’d been there a few times before, but only with others. She didn’t really like coffee.

  “How about in an hour. Is that good for you?”

  “Sounds fine.”

  “Good, see you there,” Dawson said, and he was gone.

  Terra breathed a sigh of relief. She had it all planned out, where they would go, how they would get there. But she still didn’t know how they were going to pull off the escape from the surveillance they were sure to be under. The bug was just one piece of it that she wasn’t sure how to deal with. She could go somewhere that would get rid of it, some place with a level five or better security fog field but it wasn’t easy to wander into a place that would have one without a purpose. Even if they could get around the bugs, she didn’t know how they would physically be able to get out of Stacy’s apartment. That was up to Jeff. She had the plan and had made the arrangements for them to get to Mars without being identified.

  The ship that was going to take them was already waiting for them on orbit. All they had to do was get to the Houston Spaceport and they would make their exodus. Terra took a deep breath to help calm herself. No sense getting all worked up over things that I can’t control. I just have to believe that Jeff will get us out of there as he promised. Terra got up from her desk and logged off her session. She stretched, went to the closet and got out some jeans, a long sleeve white blouse and some comfortable but athletic type shoes. She needed to be dressed for moving quickly and her normal business like suit and dress shoes wouldn’t do tonight.

  Once she was dressed, she left her office and headed up the lift tube to the Ambassador’s offices. Emelda was working when she poked her head in. “Emelda, do you have a minute?” she asked, not wanting to interrupt.

  “Of course, I always have time for you, Terra,” Emelda said, smiling. The last week had helped to mend the bad feelings Emelda had about Terra’s other version. Once she understood and really knew in her heart that Terra was not her that person, she had warmed to this new version of an old friend. “Are you leaving?” she asked.

  “Yeah, Agent Dawson just contacted me and wants to meet at the zip train station, probably to give me the bug and to reassure me that they can protect me from these guys.” Terra took a seat on the couch.

  Emelda got up from behind her desk and sat next to her on the couch facing her. “Well, everything is ready if you can get to the Spaceport. And please try to make it look as if you’re cooperating with Harding to find Sam 6.7 and not that your doing it for your own interests.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll put on a good show. And anyway our hands will be tipped tonight, I’m sure of it. Once I’m off Earth and out of the US, I’ll have a lot more leeway to do what needs to be done for Mars,” Terra remarked. She was looking forward to leaving Earth. It was a nice place to visit, but the politics were terrible, especially for a Martian.

  “I just hope whatever you find is worth all this.”

  “Me too. But I have a feeling that whatever it was that Sam 6.7 promised me, it must have been something worth a fight, especially considering my other version’s actions since my backup.”

  Emelda’s face lowered a bit and she looked genuinely concerned. “Terra, Ariel Stoneman knows that you’ve been restored. I didn’t tell her, but someone has tipped her off that you’re back. I heard that she was furious for two days before she got herself totally back under control. You really couldn’t have picked a worse time to go back to Mars. There are several important votes coming up that you could swing against Ariel. She’s been working on these policies for several years and most of the public isn’t happy about it, but she has most of the major shareholders on her side. If the vote passes, it will limit your family’s power, and considering your other versions actions, I can’t blame them. But you must stop them. You’re not that person and I know you have the UMG’s best interests in mind, not your own like Ariel. She’ll be waiting for you and she will do anything she can to stop you from attending the vote.”

  Terra wasn’t sure what to do. She hadn’t been expecting this. “Did you just find out about this?” she asked.

  Emelda nodded, “One of her staffers is a friend of mine. She lets me know what’s really going on. I’m sure Ariel would be very unhappy to find that out. Anyway, she was only able to send me word a few hours ago. Just be careful, Terra. And stop the vote from passing.”

  It was always like this, the responsibility of her family. She had been free of it for the last week, free of the obligations her family set upon her. But it was still there, just waiting for her. She wasn’t surprised that Ariel had an agenda, and she wasn’t surprised that it was focused on disempowering Terra’s family. She had to stop that from happening.

  “I’ll be careful, Emelda. And I will stop that woman,” Terra promissed. She had to get to Mars quickly to be there for the vote. Normally someone could vote from a distance, but there had been provisions slipped into the bylaws in the past few centuries that made it necessary for any voting block of more than ten percent to be physically present at the vote. This was why her other version, by going on hiatus, had essentially given the planet to the other major families even though she knew that they didn’t have Mars’ best interests at heart.

  “Good,” Emelda said taking Terra’s hands. “I know you’ll do what’s right. Have a safe journey home, Terra.”

  “Thank you for all your help, Emelda. I couldn’t have done it without you,” Terra said, embracing her friend. Her eyes were getting moist and she tried to hold the tears back. She was happy to have a friend again, confirmation that she wasn’t the monster her other version had become.

  “Now don’t you start crying, or you’ll get me going and I have a meeting with a senator in half hour,” Emelda feigned a reprimand and let her go. Her eyes were looking watery too.

  “I’ll see you back home,” Terra said, rising and making her way to the door before she did start crying.

  “I hope so,” Emelda whispered as she watched Terra go.