by Trent Falls
At about 2:21, an administrator interrupted Julie’s math class. She took her aside and told her, as gently as humanly possible, that her mother had an accident at work and that she had gone to the hospital. A short while later, a police detective and a social worker stopped by the school to tell Julie her mother had died.
From there, everything was different. The world Julie knew was destroyed – ground to dust and remade into something unfamiliar.
John had tucked her in to bed. He assured her everything was going to be okay. He promised he would be there to help. Silently, John didn’t know how long he would be there. He would be there at the very least until she was ready to move on to the next stage of her life.
It took a while for Julie to fall asleep. John spoke to her as softly as he could. He distracted her here and there with stories of life on Proxima Three. He told her of what her mom had been like when they were kids. Most of all, though, John told her how certain he was that Wendy loved her little girl so very much. There were a few difficult moments as he tried to get Julie to sleep. She cried several times more. In the end, her tears had put her to sleep.
John, left somewhat exhausted, slowly found his way back downstairs. His jacket and tie were gone. At the end of the stairs he turned left towards the kitchen. Most of the lights were out in the house. A pale light was on over the stove. A few of the wall sconces were set to low power, offering only dim lighting. It seemed to be an automatic night-light setting for the house, making the halls just visible enough to walk through in the middle of the night.
Rutherford was still downstairs, sitting at the dining room table. Mrs. Freidman from next door and Ruby West, the social worker, had gone home for the evening. John glanced over briefly at Rutherford as he walked slowly to the stainless steel doors of the refrigerator in the kitchen.
“You on duty?” John asked him plainly, one cop to another.
“I haven’t been on duty for two hours.” Rutherford replied plainly.
“What are you still doing here, then?” John asked him curiously while opening the right side door of the fridge. A few bottles clanked as the door opened.
“Just being neighborly.” Rutherford explained. “Really, I just wanted to make sure everything was okay with the girl.”
“It’s as good as one might expect….” John breathed as he scanned the contents of the fridge, “… which isn’t very good.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Rutherford noted.
“Thanks.” John nodded at Rutherford, then looked back into the fridge. “My sister never changed. It’s the same stuff in her fridge.” John rooted around, moving a jug of milk and a bag of leftover Chinese food. “You want a beer?”
“Sure, why not?” Rutherford replied.
John pulled out two golden brown bottles of Michelob and shut the door of the fridge.
“Sorry, this is all Wendy seems to have.” John walked back to the dining room table. He handed Rutherford his bottle and sat down to his right.
Rutherford twisted the top off the bottle and took a swig. John’s chair creaked slightly on the tile as he sat down.
“So, you’re a Marshal on Proxima Five?” Rutherford asked.
“Yeah.” John took a drink from his beer.
“What’s that like?”
“Oh… it’s…. fun.” John answered, taking another sip of his beer. “Really it’s not that bad. It’s kind of like being camp councilor sometimes. People, when they get that far from Earth, seem to think they can get away with more. As if they’re kids and mom and dad just went on vacation. Lots of robbery. Lots of vice. A few murders here and there.”
“We don’t really get anything like that.” Rutherford noted. “A lot of the people that live in this town are like your sister. Kind of well-off, don’t cause much trouble. Even our ‘slums’ are pretty tame.”
John took a deep swig of his beer. “I made thirty-two arrests last week.” John stated almost proudly. “Mostly extortion, prostitution, a few drug-related charges.”
“Wow! What do you do with them? I mean, do you have courts?” Rutherford asked.
“Yeah, we do.” John explained. “We have independent courts with judges. Once convicted, though, they usually go into work gangs at other parts of the planet. We don’t really have prisons.”
“And where were you stationed?”
“New Australia.”
“Ah! I hear it’s nice there.”
John shook his head and took another swig of his beer. “It isn’t.”
Rutherford grinned. He took another drink from his bottle.
“How long are you here, Marshal?” Rutherford asked in a more serious tone.
“Three weeks. I can stay longer, though.”
“The reading of your sister’s will is probably going to be in a day or two. Any idea on when you might come back?”
“I don’t know.” John shook his head slightly. “Why?”
“I wish Ruby had been able to stay for a while longer.” Rutherford exhaled.
John sensed something was wrong. He looked more sternly at Rutherford.
“Why? What’s up?” John demanded.
“There looks to be a good chance that you’ll be asked to be the girl’s guardian.” Rutherford stated.
John stared blankly back at Rutherford. He didn’t know what to make of what he had said. John was a Marshal on Proxima Centauri Five. The idea of returning to Earth hadn’t entered his mind.
“What about her grandparents? The Stevens’?” John pressed.
“Gail Stevens said that her husband was hit badly by Alzheimer’s a few years back.” Rutherford explained. “She didn’t seem very receptive at all to the idea of taking care of the girl. At her age it probably isn’t a good idea anyway.”
“There’s no one else?” John took another drink.
“You’re her closest living relative.” Rutherford explained. “I don’t think there is anyone else.”
“Uh….” John was stumped in thought. “Don’t get me wrong. I love Jules, but…. Um…I’m a Marshal on Proxima Five. I have a responsibility to my job and my people there.”
“I know.” Rutherford explained. “I hear where you’re coming from, trust me.”
John set his half-filled beer bottle on the table. He took a deep breath. It was an odd and very unexpected spot to be in. Return to Earth? To raise his eight year old niece?!?
“You got any family at New Australia?” Rutherford asked.
“No. A few close friends if that counts.”
“You got a girl back there?”
“Yes, I do.” John nodded. “I don’t know if she’s… going to like the idea of coming back to Earth.”
“Well, I don’t want to tell you what to do, Marshal.” Rutherford noted. “I know what you do is much more than a job. What you do is probably a lot more personal since the security of your town is far more dependent on you. There are people that will step up and do that job, though.”
John shook his head. “It’s not that simple. Lots of people on Proxima, organized crime in particular, figure they can buy off the law. I’ve never given in to that. I know once you go down that road that the system would fall apart. I can’t trust the next guy to, you know… do what’s right.”
“Yeah, I know it’s not so simple. It might seem like you’re the only one that can do that job but, believe me, there will be others.” Rutherford noted. “I don’t think there’s anyone else who’s going to be able to step in to be that girl’s parent.”
John gave Rutherford’s words some serious thought.
“And what happens if I say no?”
“You know what’ll happen.” Rutherford replied. “She’ll go into the foster care system. End up being taken care by whoever. We screen foster parent applicants pretty thoroughly so she’ll more than likely end up with a good family…” Rutherford took a deep sip from his bottle. “But you never know. There’s no replacement for real family.”
John took a deep breath. “You
have kids, Sergeant?”
“Yes sir.” Rutherford grinned. “Two. A boy and a girl.”
“And what’s it like being a parent?” John was genuinely curious.
“It’s the most amazing thing ever.”
John breathed. A myriad of thoughts raced through his head.
“You know, I was in the war. I saw a lot of things… I can’t….”
“I was in the war, too, Marshal.” Rutherford replied. “I know it sucked. I know you did a lot of things you didn’t necessarily mean to do. I know there’s a lot of shit in your head because of it. All I can tell you, if it helps, is that you’re not that guy anymore.”
John took a final swig of his beer. Clearly, he wasn’t too cozy with the idea of dropping everything and becoming a parent.
“I’m not trying to convince you either way.” Rutherford added. “I know it’s a lot in one day. The future of your niece will depend entirely on what happens from here on out.”
John twirled the empty beer bottle in his hand. His mind was flooded with disjointed thoughts. He didn’t know what to do.
John set the empty beer bottle on the table.
Ten years or so later, John Carn found himself in a Martian stockade beneath Hutchinson City. Alex was laying on the bench at the back of the cell. Even though the cell was large enough to hold several occupants, John and Alex were the only ones in the cell. The cell was at the end of the line of a corridor filled with other detention cells. John could hear the rowdy voices of other prisoners further up.
There was a sudden whooping from down the hall. It was the typical howls that often erupted from uncultured males at the sight of a beautiful woman. There were cries of “Hey Baby!”, “C’mere sweetie!”, and “Hey honey! I need you to come over here and hold something for me!” A few wolf whistles pierced the air.
Before he knew it, the form of Aiyana Rodriguez walked out into John’s field of vision. She was beautiful, even in a black suit, black jacket, and a white shirt. Her face was a little older. She looked much more professional than how he remembered her back on Proxima Five. All the same, he was still stricken by her beauty.
“John Carn.” She said his name almost as a curse. Her brown eyes slowly met his.
“Aiyana.” John responded with a tad of uncertainty.
“And Alex Scoffield!” Aiyana looked past John to see Alex standing up from the bench.
The dark skinned lanky pilot walked towards the bars and Aiyana.
“Do you know what kind of trouble you both are in?” Aiyana noted sternly. “What the hell are you…”
“Alex isn’t involved in this.” John interrupted sharply. “I forced him to come here. Anything that’s gonna be done to punish anyone it’s going to be done to me!”
“Oh come on, John!” Aiyana growled back. “To you expect me to fall for that line of bullshit?!?”
“I don’t expect you to believe it.” John answered flatly. “That’s just the way it was.”
“Right! Right!” Aiyana smirked in disbelief. “I’ve known you both going way back to New Australia. There’s no way you’d convince Alex to do something like this. And I’d be ridiculously surprised if you could make him move his ship against his will, least of all in the perpetration of a crime.”
“I don’t care what happens to me, Ana! This is serious!”
“And how dare you come here! Did you expect I’d break the law and take you in? Did you think after all this time I’d gush all over you! Did you think you could use me like that? Take advantage of our history?” Ana was livid.
“I’m going to go lie back down.” Alex turned away and walked slowly back to the bench.
“ESF has an all-points on you.” Aiyana glared at John. “Evading an officer of the law. Leaving Earth without a travel visa? Obstruction of justice? What the hell did you do? And what were you yelling at me at the port how they ‘took your little girl’?”
“My niece was kidnapped two days ago.” John explained, taking a deep breath that he released as a sigh. “A few days before that, I was approached by a mercenary named Andrew Rochette. He wanted me to join an expedition led by one of my former squad leaders from the war – a guy named Scott Euler. I told him to go pound sand. They didn’t like me saying no so they kidnapped my niece and took her off-world.”
“Insane! What the hell kind of expedition did he want you to go on?” Aiyana demanded.
John breathed. He was starting to hate explaining this.
“The Norn.” John answered flatly. “They’re looking for the Norn.”
Aiyana laughed aloud. “The Norn?!? Seriously?!?”
“The man that took my niece is Scott Euler.” John continued with a dead serious calm. “Euler saved my ass more than once during the war, but he’s a stone cold killer. Whether he finds the Norn or not is irrelevant. He’ll kill her when this is all over. I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit back on Earth and just let that happen.”
“You should sit back on Earth and let ESF handle it!” Ana argued.
“ESF is a bunch of jerk offs!” John replied sharply. “By the time they figure out where my niece was taken this will all be over. Euler sent me a message to come here, to Mars. So here I am, waiting for the next step.”
“You’re going to let this man play you like that?” Aiyana countered.
“It’s all I got. I’ll play along until I can figure out how to get Julie back.”
“So you come here, expecting me to let you stay here and then move on when you know where you’re going next?” Ana asked sternly.
John gave the question some thought. “Yes.” He answered simply.
Aiyana laughed in his face. “No!” Ana took a few steps away from the cell, giving her back to John for a moment before turning back again to stand in front of him. “No! You’re out of your mind! Letting you go would make me an accessory to your crime. I’ll go to jail and it’ll expose this facility to the ESF.”
Aiyana started to walk away.
“They’re going to kill my niece, Ana!” John shouted after her.
Aiyana turned back on her heels to walk quickly back at John.
“Her name is Julie Stevens. She’s eighteen years old! She just graduated high school!”
Aiyana stared at John for a while. It was as though she were trying to cut into his head with her gaze to see what might be there.
“Come on, Ana! All those years we worked together on Proxi Five!” John pleaded with all of his heart. “You know things work differently out there! You know I’m right! He’ll do it! He’ll kill her!”
Ana held her gaze silently on John for a moment.
“Guard!” Ana yelled out.
The rustling of body armor grew louder very quickly. In moments, two armed security officers in grey padded armor appeared around Aiyana.
“Open number seven.” Aiyana ordered aloud, keeping her gaze on John.
“Ma’am. This man is dangerous.” One of the armored guards noted.
“I’ve known this man for years, Sergeant. If there’s one thing I know it’s that this man won’t hurt me.” Aiyana noted with a hint of sentimentality in her words.
The Sergeant depressed a key on his wrist computer. He then spoke into the device. “Open seven.” He ordered.
The door’s mag locks clanked as they released. The steel barred door slid open. The guards remained ready with their stun guns, prepared in case John tried anything. John walked out slowly, stopping to stand in front of Aiyana. He silently waited for instruction on what to do next.
“Take him to interrogation room two.” Aiyana ordered the guards.
The grey armored prison guards did as Aiyana asked. John was led away down the worn prison corridor. John glanced back over his shoulder towards Aiyana, who remained standing in front of the cell. The guard shoved John forward, causing him to nearly miss his stride.
“Keep moving!” the guard barked at him.
John walked on as directed.
Aiyana turned to look back
at Alex. The jail cell clanked shut again. Alex, sensing that Aiyana was watching, sat up on the stone bench at the back of the cell.
“I seriously doubt John forced you to do anything, Alex.” Aiyana noted to him accusingly.
“I’m fine, thanks! How are you?” Alex replied back smartly.
“I know. I’m sorry to be inhospitable.” Aiyana took a more restrained tone, yet remained serious. “You’re both wanted men, though. You can’t bring your problems here.”
“You seem to be a big shot around here.”
“I’m Chief Operations Officer.”
“Really? That’s…. amazing.”
“Why do you say that? I kept New Australia going after you guys left.” Aiyana stated somewhat defensively.
“Hey.” Alex grinned, shaking his head. “I didn’t mean anything bad by that. I think it’s great. Really.”
Aiyana paused to breathe. She realized she was perhaps overreacting a bit. Ana regained her calm. She shut her eyes for a moment, opening them to look at Alex again.
“I’m sorry.” Aiyana said in a calmed tone. “I’m sorry we had to meet again like this.”
“Yeah, me too.” Alex walked back to the bench and sat down. He grunted as he sat, having had a long day. “Do me a favor … go easy on him. I don’t think he’s ever gotten over you.”
Aiyana eyed Alex, giving his words silent thought as she held an emotionless face.
“I won’t make any promises.” Aiyana said before walking away.
John found himself seated behind a white rectangular table. There was only one door into the room. A wide two-way mirror was set across from him. John knew it was two-way mirror because he used the thumbnail test when he walked in. It was an atypical interrogation room. John had one himself in New Australia that was similar.
He waited. He imagined what it was like for the suspects he had brought into his station. What had they thought? The feeling of anticipation, of waiting for the door to open, was a bit odd now that it was reversed upon him. If John had been running an interrogation he might have waited out in the observation room drinking a cup of coffee and reading the news on his datapad while the suspect stewed.