Chutes & Ladders (Prosperous Book 1)

by A. Rhea King

  “Phillip, I won’t sign the papers. We aren’t getting divorced! You’re just afraid to be alone, and that’s not even logical because—”

  “Who said I was going to be alone?” Phillip crossed his arms over his chest.

  Tru stepped back, understanding the unspoken. He turned, grabbed his duffel bag and started for the door. No. I’m not leaving until I know just how long my marriage has been a lie. He stopped and spun around.

  “Who is he?”

  “Kevin.”

  “Your receptionist?”

  “He hates space too.” Phillip’s glare darkened. “He doesn’t go off every other month and leave me to worry about him. He understands me, something you have never done.”

  “Five years of marriage gone because you really can’t be alone, huh? How long have you been cheating on me?”

  Phillip flashed a hateful smirk. “Six years.”

  Tru’s stomach turned but not because Phillip was lying. It turned because his husband was telling the truth.

  Tru could barely get the question out, “You have been cheating since we began dating?”

  “I wasn’t cheating. You hadn’t asked me to marry you when we were dating. That’s how gay men work.”

  “That is not how gay… That is not how a monogamous relationship works, Phillip! Was it Kevin cheated with for six years?”

  “No,” Phillips snidely answered, “but that doesn’t matter.”

  “Oh, clearly! And you didn’t stop after we were married? After we said vows to each other?”

  “You vowed you’d always be there for me, and you broke your vows.” Phillip stormed up to him and jabbed his finger into Tru’s chest. “You have never been there for me! I’ve been alone for years! Kevin understood how lonely I was; you never did!”

  “If you thought you were alone, why didn’t you talk to me about it? When I asked you to go with me on science expeditions, or book and lecture tours, why did you always refuse? Before you said yes to marrying me, you knew what kind of life I lived. Why did you even say yes if you weren’t happy before I even asked?”

  “I thought you’d settle down after we were married and you wouldn’t keep traipsing across the world or space. You never even cared that I wanted a home and children. Hell, you even hate my cat!”

  “I don’t hate your cat, and we never talked about kids. So your idea of a healthy marriage is not to tell your spouse how you feel, expect your husband to just know you want him to change for you, and then dump all of that on him after he joined Merchant Raitor and is set to leave for nine months in three days? Does that sum up your logic here?”

  Phillip shrugged, turning away and going back to the window. “No point in talking about this now, is there? You’re leaving and abandoning me like you’ve always done.”

  Tru looked at the floor, nodding. “You’re right.” Tru glared at Phillip’s back. “Because you’re not my husband. I don’t even know who you are.”

  Tru turned, slamming his hand on the door controls. The door disappeared.

  “You were never around to find out!” Phillip yelled.

  Tru stormed out of the apartment to the elevator. He slapped his hand against the biometric pad to call the car.

  Phillip ran into the hall screaming, “THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, TRUMAN! YOU ARE AS SHITTY A HUSBAND AS YOU EVER WERE A PSYCHIATRIST! AND YOU’LL BE JUST AS SHITTY A MERCHANT RAITOR OFFICER! THERE IS NO WAY THEY WILL EVER LET YOU BE A CAPTAIN BECAUSE YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE!”

  Tru turned in the elevator, holding the door open. Phillip stood in the middle of the hall with his fists clenched. Down the hall, a door opened, and one of their neighbors poked her head out, to watch the fight.

  “I didn’t do this, Phillip. I didn’t cheat. I have never been unfaithful to you. Ever! I gave you everything you wanted, and that just wasn’t enough?”

  “You never gave me you! You were never here.”

  “I was here. You weren’t.” Tru dropped his hand, and the doors slid shut.

  “I HOPE SPACE KILLS YOU, BASTARD!” Phillip screamed before the doors closed.

  Tru closed his eyes. “First floor.”

  The elevator descended. He leaned against the wall, willing his composure to hold until he could get into a hotel room and break down. He’d known something was wrong. Since he’d met Phillip his empathic sense told him that Phillip lied all the time, but he as so in love with him. He should have listened to his empathic sense; he should have seen the signs of Phillip’s infidelity. Phillip was right. As a psychiatrist, he should have been able to see that his own marriage was failing or his husband was unfaithful.

  Tru closed his eyes tight, pinching the Control of his nose to hold back the tears. In four days he would be on Merchant Raitor ship and millions of kilometers away from Texas, Phillip, and the failure of his first, and decidedly last, marriage.

  “Make every moment count so that your children will have knowledge to pass on to their children. Learn to know what you can and cannot change with your ever-open eye. Seek the strength of the soul, knowing that there is no other than yourself to steer your course and destiny.”

  —Alamet, Governing Hashuka Priestess

  Chapter 18

  AUGUST 2660

  TRU SAT ON THE EXAMINING TABLE IN THE INFIRMARY WHILE DOCTOR Laresth examined him. The Avinion was being very thorough and didn’t seem to notice Tru was becoming antsy. Tru glanced at Doctor Q’al when he joined them.

  “Your readings are better,” Doctor Lareshth told him. She was staring at the scanner, changing screens. “You still haven’t told me how often this happens.” She looked up at him, expecting an answer.

  He smiled. “I did tell you that.”

  “You said every time you have a premonition but not how often the premonitions occur.”

  “They occur irregularly. I thought this was an exam to let me get to full duty.”

  She picked up his wrist and scanned it. She looked him in the eyes and stared for a long time. If she were human, Tru would be uncomfortable, but he knew she was thinking, or maybe reading his mind for the information he didn’t give her. Information that he really didn’t have to give her. He didn’t keep track of his premonitions. They never seemed to happen when he needed them the most so he passed them off with the same inconvenience one might regard their seizures or asthma attacks.

  “The wrist fracture needs to be watched. It’s a hairline, and you must keep the brace on it for another seventy-two hours until the gel has promoted enough bone regeneration. I would prefer you to work from your quarters and office for another day as well. Then I will release you to full duty.”

  “Thank you, Doctor.”

  “May I speak freely, Captain Barnett?” she asked.

  He nodded.

  “Your body is reacting to the premonitions like a human does when he or she tries to do extraneous labor but has not conditioned themselves properly.”

  “My premonitions are causing over exertion?”

  “In a sense that you can understand, yes.”

  “I’ve never had anyone tell me that before.”

  “You have never been treated by an Avinion.”

  Tru opened his mouth to respond, but then closed it. She was right.

  “So… What should I do?”

  “Do you have any records of your premonitions? Anything would help.”

  Tru slowly nodded. “Some. When I’m aboard Prosperous, the computer knows when to record my vitals. The readings haven’t told me anything.”

  “Your profession is restricted to mental medical conditions. Permit me access to these recordings, and I shall consult with other Avinion, with your permission, of course, to see if there is a way we can help you cope better with the premonitions.”

  Tru stared at Lareshth. For some religious reasons, Avinion doctors avoided getting too involved in the health of non-Avinion patient. But if she was offering to help him figure out his premonitions, perhaps even stop them, he was accepting.

 
“I’ll give you access as soon as I get back to my office or quarters. Thank you.”

  “You are very welcome. You are released to full duty tomorrow, and then you may interrogate Ambassador Mullin.”

  “No. I have to—”

  “Is he going somewhere, Captain?”

  Tru slowly shook his head.

  “Then it is settled. You will wait one more day and resume your regular duties. Agreed?”

  Tru smiled at her. “Yes.”

  “Thank you for being agreeable. Be well, Captain.”

  Lareshth left the room. Tru slid off the examining table and grabbed his T-shirt sitting on the chair nearby. He pulled it on before he addressed Q’al.

  “She is much more forward than most Avinions I know,” Tru commented

  “Doctor Lareshth has worked with humans for almost a hundred years. She understands how to communicate with your species better than most.”

  Tru lifted his eyebrows. “Are you saying humans are complicated?”

  “Not all humans.” Q’al looked around Infirmary as if he was searching for something in particular.

  “I get the feeling you want to talk about something, Doctor. What is it?”

  “I took your advice and read your medical chart and service records, Captain. I was surprised to find out that your father was Silerium. I had met him a few times, and he never behaved like other Sileriums. Nor do you. You have shown some outbursts since we left the Mars port, but given how trying this crew has been, most rational beings would be obligated to a few outbursts. Otherwise, you are quite stable and reasonable. Understand, it’s not that I wish ill toward Sileriums, I am just not fond of them, and this puts me in a situation that I am neither familiar nor comfortable with.”

  Tru stared at him. Q’al didn’t see his discrimination and Tru leaned toward firing him for that, but that wasn’t the answer to this problem. Instead, he asked, “Would you like to be transferred, Doctor Q’al?”

  Q’al shook his head. “I need time to process, and I felt I should tell you where I am at with that. Have a good day, sir.”

  Q’al left.

  Tru inhaled a deep breath. Quietly he said, “I seem to doing everything wrong, Gracie.”

  The computer responded, I disagree, Captain.

  Chapter 19

  TRU AND ZALET ENTERED THE INTERROGATION ROOM. THERE WAS A TABLE bolted to the chair, and four chairs.

  The room had been a storage room once, but Merchant Raitor regulations required every ship to have a monitored interrogation room, so it had been renovated to accommodate. Tru loathed the room because it represented one of his duties that he wished he didn’t have. He was the judge and jury for every prisoner he took on his ship, while his head of security questioned the prisoner. He didn’t feel most Merchant Raitor captains had the experience necessary be judge and jury, but maybe he could use his ability to sense lies and his psychiatry background to coax Mullin into telling them where his wife was.

  “Zalet?” Tru said, looking at him.

  “Yes?”

  “Let me interrogate him.”

  Zalet looked at Tru. “You believe your premonition of them will help find his wife?”

  Tru looked at Zelt, surprised by the question. “How did you know about…”

  “After your premonition in my office, and being ill for two days, I made inquiries. You told Jackie about your premonition while she was caring for you, and she told me about it. I asked Admiral Larson what he knew of your abilities. He said that you are half Silerium, that your empathy is limited to sensing falsehoods and occasionally you have premonitions. He was, however, unaware that you are able to raise your voice to such a disturbing volume.”

  “I can’t raise my voice to a disturbing volume. I’ve never been able to do that.”

  “For some, even Avinions, abilities continue to form as they grow older. Perhaps that is the same for you.”

  Tru shrugged. That was a reasonable argument, but he still didn’t believe it had ever happened. “I asked Gracie what she detected, and she said nothing appeared out of the ordinary.”

  “Did she?”

  “Yes. She did.”

  “Gracie may not understand what she detected, Captain. We’re talking about something that goes beyond the logic of reason and science.”

  “I doubt she would make that kind of mistake.”

  “Do you?”

  “Yes, Zalet, I do.” Tru looked at him. “Gracie doesn’t make mistakes like that.”

  “I believe she is capable of such errors, just as you are, Captain Barnett.”

  Tru clenched his teeth to keep from snarling at Zalet about how wrong he was. He was feeling emotional today and didn’t know why. He focused on calming his anger.

  The two sat in silence for several minutes. Tru gave his head a slight shake to chase off his annoyance.

  “The initial question needs to be answered still. Yes, Zalet, I am hoping that by using my premonition, psychiatric skills, and ability to read lies, that I could find out where he hid his wife or her body. Her family deserves that closure. I know it’s against policy, but I would like to try.”

  Zalet looked at the table. He nodded slowly. “You may. But if I feel that your questions are getting off topic, or emotional, I will intervene.”

  “Agreed.”

  They were silent again, waiting for the guards to bring Mullin into the room. Both looked at the door when it opened. This room was not equipped with a vanish-door because the door was required to have a manual lock.

  Two guards came in with Mullin and sat him down across from the two.

  One pulled his wrists up to a metal loop on the table and said, “Engage restraints.”

  Mullin winced at the mild shock he received when the electromagnetic cuffs formed around his wrists.

  The guards stepped back, standing on either side of the former ambassador. And then nothing happened. Tru sat placidly in his chair, staring at Mullin. Zalet did the same thing. Mullin shot dark glares from one to the other, expecting something from them. But nothing came right away.

  “WHAT!?” Mullin finally yelled. “Ask your questions or release me! I haven’t done anything wrong!” He landed his glare on Tru. “You fucking prick!”

  Tru inhaled as he crossed his arms over his chest. He exhaled, telling Mullin, “Three days ago you were prepared to kill a man aboard my ship, Mullin. I’m upset by this.”

  He smirked. “You don’t have proof I was going to kill anyone. I was caught with an unregistered weapon, that’s all. Besides, I have immunity.”

  “If you hadn’t been stopped, you were going to kill him. As for the immunity, you and I both know that if you were caught attempting murder on my ship, you don’t have immunity. Cyne pointed that out as the two of you plotted Tobbin’s murder at the 16th Hole Bar and Grill in Detroit.”

  Mullin clenched his jaw.

  “What I don’t understand is why you would risk your career to kill Tobbin. So he slept with your wife. My husband cheated on me. But I didn’t try to kill him or his lover over it.”

  Out of the corner of his eyes, Tru saw Zalet glance at him.

  Tru added, “Was revenge really a good reason to destroy your career?”

  “She’s my wife!”

  “Who you smacked around and shot in the leg.”

  Mullin didn’t hide his surprise.

  “Where did you take her after you shot her, Mullin?” Tru asked. “Who was driving the car you had waiting?”

  “How do… You’re bluffing. That’s not at all what happened.”

  “But it is. Tell me where you took your wife.”

  Mullin looked away.

  “You told Cyne you didn’t kill her, so where is she? Or should I ask where her body is?”

  He smiled at a memory. “She’s not dead. Yet.”

  “Tell me what happened after you left your house the night you shot her in the leg.”

  He smiled at Tru. “Do you really want to know?”

  �
��Yes?”

  “Come closer. I’ll tell you.”

  “I can hear from here. Tell me where Melie is.”

  Again Mullin was shocked by Tru’s words. “How do you know her nickname? Did you fuck her too?”

  “No.”

  Mullin laughed. “Then how do you know her nickname, Captain Barnett?”

  “Where is Melie?”

  “She’s somewhere that they take excellent care of people who are crazy.”

  “How did you get them to believe she was crazy?”

  “She was screaming like a lunatic. They’ll keep her there for a long time.”

  Mullin laid his hands on the table, looking at them. They had been instruments in whatever horrible thing he’d done to his wife, and he was proud of that.

  Tru placed a hand on the table too. He softly gasped, making everyone look at him. His eyes darted back and forth for a couple seconds, and then he focused on Mullin. He placed his hand back in his lap.

  “Why did you order the doctors at the hospital to put her on such potent drugs, Mullin?”

  “So you’re a gay psychic Selerium?” Mullin spat. “Merchant Raitor really is hard up for decent people, aren’t they?”

  “Are you hoping the drugs will kill her? Is that your plan? After all, you have told them to just keep increasing them every time they’ve contacted you about her.”

  “I’m hoping she never comes out of that place sane! She deserves it!”

  “She deserves to stay in Tokyo Mental Health for the rest of her life.”

  “YES!” Mullin sat back, realizing what he’d just done. “I mean no. No. She’s not there.”

  Tru looked down. “Guards put him in Brig stasis for the remainder of the stint.”

  “No. No!” Mullin reached forward to grab Tru, but the guards pulled him back. “Leave me in a cell. Don’t put me in stasis for eight months! I’ll go insane in there!”