by Bob Cooper
Acey stiffened up to resist, but they grabbed Hillary and shoved her out the door.
***
Captain Ryan dispatched a team to search Tim Arden’s place while Dirk, Raina, Billy, and Aidan headed to Raina’s office to decide how they could best help. They settled into two different rooms where Dirk and Aidan pursued their government contacts, and Billy and Raina worked on re-tracing Acey and Hillary’s actions from the past few days.
“Why don’t you start with the Brothers since you should tell them what happened anyway,” Billy said to Raina.
Raina contacted Ignacio and Jose’ and told them about Acey.
“Was she in contact with either of you?” Raina asked Ignacio.
“No. We had not heard from her since she left the meeting at your office,” Ignacio said.
“But wait! Jose’ says that Joe met with her. She asked to see him for some reason. Try talking to him,” Ignacio said.
“Thanks, I’ll do that,” Raina said. Finding Joe’s contact information, she called and explained what happened.
“I knew nothing good would come from this. I told her so too, but she wouldn’t listen,” he said.
“What do you mean?” asked Raina.
“Well, she asked me to meet with her and bring the preliminary findings and data from our survey of Dysnomia. She said you needed it for the legal proceedings.”
“That’s strange. I didn’t ask for that.”
“I had a feeling she was up to something. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have given her that information,” he said.
Dirk was in the middle of a conversation with his contacts at Global Earth Defenses trying to get more detail on Blair Coburn’s assassination and the lab hostage-taking.
Raina and Aidan walked in and saw Billy in the corner staring into the wall. Raina walked over and sat next to him. He looked up at her.
“I don’t know what to do. She’s gone, and I don’t know what to do,” he said in obvious pain.
Raina wished she could offer more words of encouragement but held him close instead.
“It’s going to be alright. I promise,” was all she could say.
Dirk ended his phone call and got everyone’s attention.
“It was a rogue element of the IIA that attacked the lab and assassinated Blair Coburn. They knew she was a proponent of disclosing the information regarding the Progenitor Project, and they wanted to stop her, as well as the work being done in the lab,” he said.
“Who’s they?” Billy asked.
“It has to be the Earthers. We know Tim Arden is a member, so they must be working together with the rogue element of the IIA to squash this project. Since Acey and the mining company found more artifacts, she needed to be…” Aidan stopped in mid-sentence.
“Joe said she wanted the preliminary survey information from Dysnomia. She said she needed it for the lawsuit, but I never asked for it, and neither did Robert. I think she was planning a trip there,” Raina said.
“But why would she engage Tim Arden, an Earther, with this information?” Dirk asked.
“Because Tim had the means to get her there. I checked his monetary transactions, and they show a large sum payment to lease a starship a few days ago,” Aidan reported.
“Why was she so adamant on going there in the first place? Didn’t the IIA tell her to cease all operations on Eris and Dysnomia?” Billy asked.
They all looked at him, amazed at his comments.
“What? Tell me why!” he said, yelling back.
Dirk explained to him what was painfully clear to everyone else.
“Ever since Acey was a little girl, her life was filled with obstacles. Growing up without parents left her in my care. I wasn’t a good substitute for her parents, but I was able to teach her to become self-sufficient and think for herself. She didn’t have many friends, but the ones she has proved to be friends for life. She would do anything for them. When Hillary was abandoned by her parents, Acey stood by her. When I was accused of murder, Acey risked her life for me. She is fiercely loyal. Now the company she works for is threatened, and I believe her desire to go to Dysnomia is her way of helping them. Her overwhelming thirst for understanding the artifacts is also a motivation. So wanting to go there, even though the IIA said not to, is typical Acey!”
Billy realized he didn’t have all the history the others had. All he knew was that Hillary, his fiancée, was missing and in danger. He had to do everything he possibly could to save her.
“I will secure a starship and start planning the trip to Dysnomia,” Dirk said, breaking the silence.
“It would better if you stayed here in close contact with your associates and get as much information about this rogue IIA group as soon as possible,” Aidan suggested.
Dirk was about to object when Raina cut in.
“Aidan’s right. You’ll be more of help staying here.”
“Okay, I’ll lease the starship under my company’s name,” Dirk said reluctantly.
“I’ll contact Captain Chris James and see if he’s willing to take us to Dysnomia,” Raina said.
“I’m coming,” Billy said, catching everyone by surprise.
“You’re in,” Aidan confirmed after looking for any objections. There were none.
“Then let’s get the show on the road.”
***
Hillary lay tied to the bed, looking up at the monitor on the wall. With her mouth taped, it was impossible for her to scream when the young man inserted a needle and extracted several large blood samples. She watched in terror as he put the vials into the analyzer and projected the results. After studying the DNA profile, he left the room for several minutes and came back with a team of doctors.
What do they want with me, Hillary thought. They hovered over the blood analysis, and Hillary could see them in deep discussion. She tried to get their attention, but no one noticed her. Finally, she attempted to scream thrashing as violently as possible. They turned to look at her. One of the doctors came over and ripped the tape off her mouth.
“What the hell are you doing? Let me go this instant!” she screamed, continuing to thrash around.
“How far into your pregnancy are you?” he asked, ignoring her pleas.
“Go to hell!” she said, spitting in his face.
It startled him, and he recoiled. Wiping his face, he turned a bright shade of red.
“Give me the umbilical needle,” he said.
Hillary watched in horror as he held the twelve-inch needle up to her face.
“I guess we’ll have to find out the old fashioned way,” he said, plunging the needle in Hillary’s stomach.
***
Tim watched Acey pace the floor on the monitor recording her movements. He sighed, remembering the night they had dinner and danced. She was a beautiful woman, and he would have liked to have known her better. Too bad, it was never going to work out for him. But he continued to fantasize about them becoming a couple. Closing his eyes, he started to hum the song they danced to.
“Am I interrupting anything?”
Tim jumped as he noticed Myra behind him.
“Uh, no. Just observing,” he said.
“Well, don’t get all hot and bothered. She’s not going to be around much longer.”
Tim knew what was expected of him. As an elite member of the Earther movement, he pledged his allegiance to the cause. The Earther movement was started by Earth’s main religions to preserve the purity of the human society by not allowing alien contact to “dilute” the tenets the religious organizations held fast. As more interstellar travel became commonplace, it was almost impossible to stop the introduction of alien ideas, technology, and ideologies into Earth’s culture. The Earther movement waned in numbers. Tim and the others represented a small group of hard-core believers that vowed to continue the cause. He chose this hard life and was totally committed. Turning his attention to Acey again, he closed his eyes and revisited his fantasy.
***
Tim returned Hillary to the room w
ith Acey as the ship landed. She surmised they were on Dysnomia since she had given Tim the documents but didn’t know that for sure. Before Acey could talk to Hillary, Tim gave them EVA suits.
“Put these on; we’re moving.”
Acey looked at Hillary, who was dazed and confused. She helped Hillary with her suit in time to see the entire crew head off the ship and toward a large cave. The cave complex had an artificial atmosphere, electricity, and running water. It looked like whoever built the facility planned on using it for a long time. There was a large gate securing the front entrance. Once inside, Acey and Hillary removed their EVA suits and were put into a room with computers and communications equipment. A tray of space rations and water set by the door.
"Are you okay?” Acey final asked. “What did they do to you?”
"Yes. They found out that I'm pregnant and seem very interested. How did they even suspect I was pregnant? Why would they care?"
"I don't know how they found out, but we have to contact Earth and let them know what's happened to us."
Acey got up and walked over to the computer. Sitting down at the table, she connected through the communications port.
Acey tried to contact Raina, but the AI responded with a restricted access message. She tried reaching out to everyone she knew, but the AI would not let her through.
Tim and Myra walked in while they were eating.
“Here, put this on and grab that computer. We’re going outside for a walk,” Tim said, tossing Acey an EVA suit.
Acey looked at Hillary. Hillary attempted to protest but was too weak to do anything
9
A idan waited for the Brothers and Joe Turner to show up at his office. He had painted the office, wired it for communications, and purchased office furniture from the tenants next door, who were moving out. It looked like a respectable place of business.
The Brothers and Joe arrived, followed by Raina and Billy. Aidan filled them in.
“Here’s my plan. We leave this afternoon. Captain James agreed to pilot the star cruiser Dirk leased. He’s willing to take us close enough to Dysnomia where we’ll locate their ship. Based on the information Joe furnished, there are plenty of places to land covertly,” Aidan said.
Ignacio squirmed in his chair, and Aidan could see he was not comfortable with the plan.
“Mr. Gonzalez, would you like to say something?” Aidan asked.
“Yes. This whole thing sounds very dangerous. We are dealing with some very treacherous people. You could get hurt or worse. Why not let the authorities handle this?” Ignacio answered.
“You are correct, Ignacio,” Raina cut in before Aidan could say anything. “But Captain Ryan made it clear to us that all his resources were dedicated to finding General Coburn’s assassin and freeing the hostages. Finding Acey and Hillary were his second priority,” Raina continued.
“We all have a big stake in doing what we can to get Acey and Hillary back here safely. Are there any other objections to what I propose?” Aidan asked.
He could tell everyone was uncomfortable with this mission, including himself. The longer they waited, the less chance they had of getting Acey and Hillary back safely.
“Okay, then, we meet up with Captain James at the ship at 1400 hours.”
The room emptied except for Raina, who sat there staring at him.
“You have no clue what you’re going to do when we get there,” she said.
Aidan didn’t have a clue. The IIA and the Earthers are dangerous organizations. They were heavily armed, and all he had was a used blaster he bought at a pawnshop. He had to do everything he could to get them back. He slowly raised his head to look at Raina.
“Not a clue. All I know is that she would do the same for us, and I’m not going to let her down again.”
There it was again—that foreboding look on Aidan’s face Raina had noticed ever since he came back into town. He couldn’t maintain eye contact with her. He stared at the table.
“What do you mean let her down again?” she asked.
Aidan didn’t want to get into this now, but Raina wasn’t going to let him off the hook.
“What happened to you while you were gone,” she continued to pry.
Aidan stood up, straining for the right words. After being so close with all of them and having gone through so much on Antares and then with Dirk’s trial, he couldn’t justify his behavior anymore. He owed them all an explanation.
Acey was the one he was most concerned about. How would she take it? But the damage was done with her, and he didn’t know if he could ever get Acey to understand and accept what he did. He shook his head and sat back down again.
“Please don’t tell anyone yet, especially Acey. I want to talk to her first. There’s someone new in my life. I met her while….”
Suddenly, the office com link buzzed and lit the flashing red emergency light. It was Dirk.
“Aidan! Turn on the news,” he said in a somber voice.
“Why? What’s going on?”
The monitor displayed a video of hostages taken from the lab attack held by hooded and armed militants of the Earther Movement proclaiming they would all be killed if the government didn’t cease all operations and projects dealing with alien civilizations.
“Oh my god,” Raina exclaimed as she watched the video play.
“Aidan, this is all connected. Acey’s abduction is part of their scheme. We can’t wait any longer to get them back,” Dirk said frantically and then hung up.
***
Tim led Acey to a rover and watched as he loaded it with gear. He drove down the dry riverbed to a small cave north of the main cave complex. The blinking device on Acey’s waist reminded her if she didn’t cooperate, she would be blown to bits. Tim had studied the preliminary surveys Acey provided from the mining company and determined this would be the best place to start. They had to crawl through the first fifty feet of the cave’s entrance before it opened up to a giant cavern. Their oxygen supply tanks contained enough air for three hours, so they had to work fast.
Tim held the scanner in front of him and watched as the screen displayed the contents behind the rock walls. Nothing suspicious showed up. He adjusted the settings to get a finer penetration and scanned again.
“Nothing. Maybe we’re in the wrong cave,” he said.
“Maybe there is nothing here, and this is a big mistake,” Acey answered sarcastically.
Tim gave her a dirty look and directed her back towards the entrance.
Moving forward, Acey saw it first but didn’t say anything. It was a set of glyphs carved into the sidewall of the cavern, and it caused her to hesitate for a second. Tim noticed it and pulled Acey back to him.
“Did you see something?” he asked.
Acey didn’t answer. Her curiosity tipped him off, and she was angry with herself. Tim moved to the wall, inspecting it closer. He saw the glyphs and turned to her.
“Do I need to remind you how your girlfriend will suffer a slow and painful death if you don’t cooperate?”
An ice-cold chill ran through Acey as the reality of the situation caught up with her.
“Why are you doing this? Who are those other people on the ship?” she asked in frustration.
“None of your business. Scan your computer and decipher these glyphs,” he answered, shoving her towards the wall.
Acey didn’t need to. If this was anything like what she found on Eris, there should be an artifact to open a hidden door leading to a secret room. But Acey couldn’t find it.
“The artifact the miners found on Eris opened the wall leading to a hidden room. Without it, we can’t do anything here,” she said, hoping he would believe her.
Acey watched as Tim took his pack off. He pulled something out and pointed it at her. Acey gasped and jumped back.
“Relax. Is this what you’re looking for?” he asked.
Acey cautiously moved forward to see what he held. It was the artifact she found on Eris.
“Ho
w did you get this?” she asked.
“Just take it and use it,” he ordered.
“We need to take cover. If I remember correctly, the blast was huge,” she said.
They moved to a safe distance away. Pointing the device at the cavern wall, Acey pushed the blue button. She fell to the ground as the wall shattered, throwing rocks in all directions. Waiting for the dust to settle, they moved into the cavern to the exposed door. She hit the blue button again, and the massive doors opened. As on Eris, the console stood in front of the main display wall. The hexagon containers were embedded in the other walls. Tim smiled as he walked up to the wall, brushing off the dust and debris to examine the glyphs on them.
"Have you deciphered what these mean?" he asked, pointing to the glyphs.
"No. I had no time either on Eris or back on Earth.
"Well, get to work. We have almost two hours of air left," he said, moving down the mineshaft.
He was out of sight when she opened her computer and frantically activated the emergency locator beacon, but the Iridium-encrusted walls prevented her signal from leaving the cave. Connection to the Academy databases proved impossible. She was confined to what was stored locally on her computer. She found a subset of a database that contained some remnants of symbols when researching the Antares Codex on Antares Proper.
"This is useless," she thought. But she realized she had to make it look like she was doing something. Aiming the computer at the glyphs, she began to record all the glyphs, on the console, on the hexagon-shaped containers, and on all the walls. It was no use lying to Tim about the database since he would find out anyway. If he thought she was stalling on purpose, it would only hasten their demise.
Tim was out of sight—probably talking to those back at the main cave, Acey thought. With nothing else to do, she ran the scans against her local database, not expecting anything to come of it. It took only a minute or two for the report to display on her monitor. Several symbols matched those found on Antares. Acey looked at the results with skepticism. Even though they were in the database, no translation existed for them.