The Call of Destiny

by Robert C. James

  “Mister Takashi is the new Minister of Defense. He’s here to check out our facility,” Benjamin informed him.

  Kione nodded. “Minister.”

  Benjamin threw him a ball and gave Takashi a bat and helmet. “He’d also like to see your fastball.”

  Takashi headed toward the batter’s box, while Kione moved the pitching machine aside and loosened up.

  “How fast would you like me to throw, Doctor?”

  “Give him everything you’ve got.” He winked at Kione and stood well back. “Are you ready!”

  Takashi removed his jacket and took a few practice swings. He nodded and focused his eyes at the mound. Kione went into his windup and hurled it over the plate. Takashi swung but was made to look silly, swiping at the ball much too late.

  The radar display read: 109 mph.

  Takashi looked at the end of his bat, attempting to hide his confusion. He took a few more practice cuts, and Kione threw it into him again. It blazed past his hacking swing. 112 mph.

  The minister shook his head. “Does he have a breaking ball?”

  “Throw him the curve, Kione,” Benjamin instructed him.

  Kione nodded and once again went into the windup. His pitch fizzed over the middle of the plate and then dropped. Takashi lunged and nearly tripped over his own shoes. He pulled his helmet off and stepped toward the mound.

  “That’s quite an arm you have there.” Takashi handed him his bat and helmet. “It’s a shame you’re not playing in the big leagues.”

  “If he were,” Benjamin said, “he’d be the best two-way player of all time.”

  “It was nice meeting you, Kione. Come, Doctor Tyrell, we have to talk.”

  He followed Takashi out through the door and watched Kione set up the pitching machine once again.

  “I need to ask you a question, Doctor.”

  Benjamin leaned on the back of a workstation. “Go ahead.”

  “You’ve studied this being since he arrived here as an infant. With all the information put together in your time, how feasible would it be to use his species DNA to enhance our own?”

  “I, uh—”

  “For hundreds of years, armies throughout history have sought to create the ultimate soldier.”

  Benjamin narrowed his eyes. “You want me to construct a super soldier using Kione?”

  “When he came into office and this program was explained to him, the president wanted to see if it would give us an advantage. You said yourself, Kione would be the best ballplayer alive if he’d had the opportunity. That’s no idle boast.”

  “And that’s because he’s intellectually far superior to us. Physically, he’s more advanced, but only slightly so.”

  “Sometimes on the battlefield, all it takes is that slight edge.” Takashi put his hand on the observation screen while Kione smashed another pitch through the air. “We’re at war, Doctor, I’m sure I need not remind you of that.”

  “No, Minister, you do not.” Benjamin sighed. “However, you’re not the first person to ask me about the possibility. Many of your predecessors have asked the same question. I’ll tell you what I told them. As of right now, the DNA of Kione’s species and that of our own are so incompatible we simply don’t have the technology or know-how to splice the two.”

  “Technology can be created. Know-how can be learned.” Takashi turned and looked into his eyes. “You have new orders, Doctor. Get the president his super soldier.” He watched Kione take one more swing and walked off to the elevator.

  “I knew I wouldn’t like him,” Benjamin lamented under his breath.

  *

  June 1, 2214

  Edinburgh, Scotland

  Present Day

  Charles hadn’t attempted anything like this since the war. He remembered the horror inside his chamber after receiving a new batch of Centauri. Their screams still haunted him.

  He’d developed his own method of stimulating a human’s nervous system at any point and at any threshold he saw fit. And while it’d taken time studying Kione’s unique anatomy, he now felt he had a good handle on how to use the same technique on him.

  He frowned, watching his assistants strap the alien down through the observation screen on what’d become known as the ‘bed of hell.’ He didn’t want to subject Kione to it but he’d run out of options. Drug therapy and other less invasive methods hadn’t come close to bringing his mental abilities to the fore. He’d hoped with what was originally designed as torture would provide the result he needed.

  Charles pushed in the intercom on the console before him. “Is he ready?”

  His assistants nodded and walked out from the laboratory, joining him in the observation chamber. Kione stared up at the ceiling, waiting.

  “Can you hear me?” Charles asked him.

  Kione didn’t answer. The effects of what drugs he’d given him would’ve worn off by now, so he was obviously ignoring him.

  “Okay, listen, Kione, in the hope I can stimulate your nervous system, I’m—”

  “Just do what you have to do, Whitlowe,” Kione interrupted him, not breaking his gaze from the ceiling.

  Charles nodded to Le Favre, and she wound the dial at the presets agreed to. “Level one.”

  Kione’s body stiffened at the power running throughout.

  Charles checked the readings. There was no change. “Go to level two.”

  The hum of the machine got louder. Kione’s eyes closed, and his jaw clenched. It was the first sign of pain. But his brain functions didn’t alter.

  On to level three they proceeded. Then four. And then five. Kione convulsed, pounding against his restraints.

  Sweat dripped down Charles’s brow. He wiped it away and studied the data. The alien’s nervous system had been bombarded to within an inch of its life. On the monitor, it looked like a brightly lit-up Christmas tree.

  He scowled. “Push it to level six.”

  “But, Doctor, if we go any higher, it’ll kill him,” Le Favre warned.

  “Just do it!”

  She sighed and turned the controls. Kione finally gave in and shrieked out in agony.

  Chapter 10

  June 2, 2214

  Ceres

  The transport pod they’d taken to Ceres wouldn’t have been Jason’s first choice, but the vessel from Mars was an excellent cover for himself, Agent Moss, and the ten other Intel operatives.

  Disguised as FIFO workers, in the green coveralls of the Reo Mining Company, they left the dank and smelly ship behind and made their way to their allotted barracks inside the small mining settlement. For somewhere so close to the civilization of Earth, it was a rough part of the universe.

  After cleaning themselves up with a shower, or at least the Ceres equivalent, Jason and Moss proceeded to the local tavern. It was a grungy cesspit, reminding him too much of his old haunt on Odyssey Station.

  They took a seat at a booth, and the Intel agent promptly ordered two Ceres Delights from a waitress. Sounds a bit fruity for my liking.

  “Ceres Delights don’t come cheap here.” The bar’s publican came over to see them especially. “It’ll cost more than you’re worth.”

  “That’s okay. Perhaps we’ll have a beer then,” Moss said. “And after, you could show us the back room. I hear you have quite the taxidermy collection.”

  Jason turned up his nose. Taxidermy? Really?

  The barman gestured toward a door near the bar. “Why don’t you come and see now.”

  Moss stood and told Jason to follow him. When they entered the back room, the publican flicked on the lights, bathing it in dull illumination. It was relatively spartan apart from a few covered-up pool tables. However, sure enough, on the walls were the stuffed animal trophies.

  The publican closed the door behind them and shook Moss’s hand. “I’m Agent Hightower, Ceres station. Good to meet you.”

  Moss introduced himself and pointed to Jason. “This is Commander Cassidy, CDF. He’s coming along for the ride.”

  Jas
on chuckled. What he’d witnessed was an act to ensure they were all working for the same team. He shook Hightower’s hand. “I thought this stuff just happened in old spy movies.”

  “We like to keep things simple,” the rough-around-the-edges undercover operative told him.

  “I guess you can’t go wrong with the classics.”

  Hightower ushered them over to one of the pool tables. He pulled the dusty old cover from it and pressed a concealed button beneath. The slate of the table flipped end over end and revealed a workstation with several components.

  “I’ve received your reports on the kidnapping of the three individuals.” He activated the console, and a holographic projection of the casino’s blueprints appeared. “As we’ve discussed, there’s little doubt Trentham’s holding them near the central safe.”

  “Yes, we’ve read over all the data you sent us.” Moss nodded. “Now it’s a matter of getting in there and taking out the obstacles.”

  Hightower waved his hand over the hologram, and several dozen red dots appeared throughout. “These are locations of the armed guards we expect to come up against on the lower levels of the casino.”

  “Expect to come up against?” Jason looked over the hologram with concern. “So you can’t be absolutely sure?”

  “Not to a one hundred percent certainty.”

  He frowned. “If any part of this plan fails, my people in there are likely to die.”

  “That’s the risk we run.”

  “You wouldn’t be so blasé if it were your friends down there.” Jason stepped toward him, and Hightower puffed out his chest.

  “Gentlemen, remember why we’re here.” Moss separated the pair. “Agent Hightower, can you show us your plan?”

  Hightower scowled and returned to the subject at hand. “The first team will go in disguised as casino workers. They’ll take out every key guard on the main floor. When they’re done, I’ll tap into the security systems, giving us access to all points leading to the underground levels. I’ll also knock out the lighting and alarms.”

  He pointed at three green circles on the hologram. “I’ll open the doors here, here, and here. Three teams will go in, eliminate opposition, and converge at the central safe.”

  Jason didn’t want to admit it, but even with the risk involved, it was a sound plan. By the time anyone knew what was going on, they’d already be at their target.

  Moss turned to Jason for his okay, and he nodded. “Good. What’s our extraction plan?”

  “I’ve got two pods,” Hightower said. “Once the mission’s complete, we’ll evacuate from the rear entrance, and if need be, the side entrance on the ceiling.”

  “Okay, let’s brief our teams. We get this done at twenty-one hundred tonight.”

  *

  Holding Cell

  “I’m really getting sick of being locked up.”

  Aly ran her hand over every part of the wall she could find. It’d been the umpteenth time she’d tried to uncover an escape route from their detention. Unlike Darius Lok’s makeshift brig aboard The Thor’s Hammer, there was no clear way out. Her new captors made him seem like an amateur.

  “Why don’t you sit down and have something to eat?” her father said from the floor in the corner. He offered her the food in his bowl.

  She turned up her nose. “I’ve never had a meal as bad as that grub. Even when times were tough on the Argo, we never ate like this.”

  “Perhaps not, but it’s better than nothing. We can’t afford to waste away in here. When Jason comes to find us—”

  “Do you think he’s coming?”

  Althaus awakened in the other corner and slowly opened his eyes. “He probably doesn’t even know we’re alive.”

  “A cargo ship doesn’t go missing without questions,” her dad said. “If Jason knows of our disappearance, which he will, he’ll locate us.”

  Aly wasn’t sure whether her father was saying it just for her sake, but regardless, hoped he was right. She couldn’t stand another minute being in confinement. She wanted to go home to the Argo. That’s if she hasn’t been destroyed.

  Her dad looked up at her. “What’s wrong?”

  She sat on the floor beside him. “I’ve played out what happened over and over since they threw us in here. I can’t seem to get my head around how easily they took us by surprise when we were returning to Ganymede Station.”

  “We saw Trentham’s ship approaching on the scanners.”

  “Right. But before we knew it, they boarded. There was no other vessel on our screens.”

  “It was a chaotic time.” Her dad shrugged. “The Argo’s systems were shot from rescuing you at Io. Our scanners could’ve been playing up.”

  Aly pondered, no closer to an explanation. He waved the bowl of food in her face again, and she relented, taking a piece of whatever was inside it.

  Chapter 11

  Tokyo, Earth

  “Doctor Tai, you have an incoming message.”

  Susan opened her eyes ever so slowly at the computer’s alert. Without thinking, she tried to place her feet on the floor. But they didn’t move.

  Every single time…

  While the nightmares had subsided since her initial surgery on Outpost Watchtower, she’d still not gotten used to waking without the use of her legs.

  Her wheelchair had crept away from the sofa and sat in the middle of the living area. Damn it, I must’ve left the brake off.

  She threw herself to the floor and crawled with her arms like a soldier through the muck. If there was one thing Susan took out of her disability, it was that her upper body was the strongest it’d ever been.

  “Doctor Tai, you have an incoming message,” the computer repeated.

  “Just wait!”

  Susan grabbed her chair and hauled herself up. She waved her messy hair aside and turned to the wall monitor. “Open commlink.”

  The blank screen was replaced with the image of an ageing man with thin wisps of gray hair. Behind him was the vast cityscape of Lexington, Centauri’s capital city.

  “Doctor Tai,” he greeted her with a smile. “My apologies for not being able to contact you sooner.”

  “No need to say sorry, Mister Buehner, it’s I who should have thought about the differing time zones.”

  He chuckled. “What can I do for you?”

  “May I first ask if this is a secure channel on your end?”

  Buehner ran his hands over his workstation. “It is now.”

  “Thank you,” Susan said. “I’ve been in contact with several people on Earth and Centauri regarding a man who may have committed war crimes while in the commonwealth government’s service. So far I’ve found little information.”

  “Well, if there’s anyone who can help, it’s me. I have a large array of records dating from the outbreak of hostilities all the way to the final surrender. With that said,” he continued, “you should understand at the conflict’s conclusion, investigations on both sides determined few violations took place at the hands of Earth forces.”

  “Yes, well, history is written by the victors,” Susan lamented.

  “And those victors tend to dispose of proof painting them in a bad light.”

  “Let’s hope your archive is as extensive as you claim.” She reached down and pressed the panel on the coffee table. The file photo of Doctor Whitlowe appeared on the monitor.

  Buehner froze, and his mouth quivered.

  Tai raised an eyebrow. “Do you recognize this man?”

  “Not personally, but his features…”

  “I’ve determined he was an extractions officer for Earth Intel. He went by the name of William Ramsey. If there’s anything you can tell me…”

  He bit his bottom lip. “Leave this with me, Doctor. If I gather any concrete information, I’ll let you know.”

  When the screen when blank, she began to feel some hope. She was getting closer to Kione. But will it be too late?

  *

  Ceres

  “We’
re going in now!”

  The initial obstacles were out of the way. Hightower and his team eliminated the guards on the main casino floor with ease.

  Jason had a communications device fixed over his ear, and through it he listened in to Hightower make his way to the security section. Several shots echoed over the commlink, followed by silence.

  “We’re in!” came the call. “All teams stand by.”

  Jason gripped his rifle and glanced at Agent Moss and the other two operatives by the side entrance. It seemed like an eternity waiting for the order.

  “Security system compromised,” Hightower wailed. “All teams, go!”

  The door clicked open, and Jason pulled his infrared visor over his face. Moss stormed through and immediately dispatched their first victim at the top of the stairwell with a knife through the man’s face.

  Jason grabbed the goon before he fell over the railing and placed him on the floor. Moss pointed downward, and they all followed.

  Two more guards appeared from the darkness at the bottom of the stairwell. The frenzy of the situation had them confused. Moss crept up behind one and slit his throat while one of the other operatives cracked the butt of his rifle into the back of the other’s head.

  Third wheel much…

  They continued onward through the corridor, turning left and then right. Jason had already committed the map to memory and realized they were only fifty meters away from the central safe room.

  Around another corner, bullets rained on them from ahead. Moss lurched backward and fell to the floor in agony. “Damn it!”

  Jason pulled him behind cover to safety and inspected the bloody wound to his arm.

  “They’re not supposed to be there!” Moss managed to say.

  “A hiccup, no doubt.” Jason turned to the other two operatives and pointed back down the corridor.

  They jumped out from each side and fired. Their assailants collapsed in a heap with bullets to the chest.

  “Can you keep going?” Jason asked Moss.