Showdown at Jupiter's Edge: A Maxo Magnaveer Adventure

by Daniel P. Douglas

  As he meandered further into his speech, his image dissolved and was replaced by shots of the food barge and footage of a blond, white woman with large breasts and glossy, plump lips wearing a white nylon ballcap with the black D’Rump logo on it. Inside one of the barge’s container compartments, she stood next to a display of packaged goods and several large bags of rice and flour. She gestured to each while her teeth sparkled, then waved as the camera passed by.

  “…I will see that all of this is safely delivered to the Martian colony because it’s Mars first. Should be, at least in my book. So, Mars first! But, before that,” D’Rump licked his lips and air hissed as it passed through his once-again clenched teeth, “I need to make sure this doesn’t happen again, so I will be taking control of the shipping lanes. Taking them, wrestling them from that beast Solis et Novem and its sniveling sidekick the Cosmic Law Force. I mean, come on, gimme a break? They have caused all of this.”

  Alice’s compu-pad chirped, which drew Maxo’s attention to it. A message from the precinct ordered their return to the Moon “forthwith,” where they would be “confined and suspended” until the completion of an investigation regarding “multiple violations” stemming from the “unauthorized demolition of surplus Solis et Novem property.”

  “That’s what they’re worried about?” Maxo sighed. “How can that be? Where’s the all-points-bulletin about D’Rump?”

  “Sorry, sir, did you say something?” Leo asked.

  Maxo shook his head. He sat down, leaned back, and listened further to D’Rump’s speech.

  “…I care so much for our Martian patriots. I would hate to see anything bad happen to them. As I await word of Solis et Novem’s compliance, I can assure you that I and the food are safe in the haven we call Porto Blago. Any attempt to defy me will be met with serious, very serious, action on my part. My forces are strong, they would simply destroy you…”

  “He’ll go and get everyone killed,” Ariel said. “They’ll knock back his demands for control of Earth’s shipping lanes. All those colonists will starve to death.”

  “I bet they do give him control. What choice do they have?” Leo said. “I mean, Porto Blago is super-secret, and time isn’t on the side of the colonists.”

  “Who will rise up…” Ariel stammered, “…and resist this madness, who will stand up for what’s right?”

  Maxo stared at the compu-pad waiting for a message, any message from CLF to show he and Alice were needed to pursue D’Rump instead of returning to the Moon. None appeared, but then all became clear to him. This must be a test, he thought. What else would it be? Maxo stood and said, “They are looking for a show of initiative here, it’s one of the skills listed as a requirement for squad captain. They want me to show initiative. It’s one way to get ahead.”

  Confused, both Leo and Ariel looked at each other. “Are you okay, sir?” Leo asked.

  “Ah,” Maxo bellowed, “never better!”

  “What should we do, detectant?” Ariel asked.

  “First,” Maxo said, handing the compu-pad to Leo, “please go with Ariel and take this. Return it to Officer Mirza-Cheong. I will contact her and let her know she is to report to headquarters on the Moon and I will order her to release Captain Duffy into my custody. Please bring Captain Duffy back to the bridge of Candy Lady. I need her help.”

  “Help?” Leo asked. “With what?”

  “Operating this transport.” Maxo stood and strolled out of the briefing chamber. “We are going to find Porto Blago, save the food, and arrest Colonel Zaza D’Rump!”

  Chapter 4

  Captain Magnaveer

  While Ariel and Leo went to retrieve Captain Duffy, Maxo gathered the five other Digis on the bridge of Candy Lady. He stood on an elevated, u-shaped console platform facing the center of the bridge’s long row of windows, which currently offered a fine view of space junk.

  With the panorama of debris behind him and the Digis in front of him, Maxo felt as if he’d arrived at a true turning point. Convinced the CLF was testing him to determine his potential worth as a squad captain, Maxo could not wait to impress the brass with his initiative and eventual success. He was finally getting ahead in life.

  “I’m Detectant Maxo Magnaveer, CLF,” he said to the Digis, “and I am commandeering this ship to pursue Colonel D’Rump and bring him to justice.”

  “I’m Zeke, Chief Cargoist, Candy Landy,” a Digi said. Like the others, he was wearing brown overalls, dark boots, and a wide, black utility belt. Unlike the others, who all looked quite young, Zeke appeared well past retirement age. “We heard.”

  Maxo nodded and waited for Zeke to continue. Instead, the Digi just stared at him. “If you don’t mind,” Maxo began, “while we await Captain Duffy’s return to the bridge, I’d like to learn about what each of you do here. Who’d like to—”

  “She’s no captain. She just works for the real captain,” a female Digi with a thick East Mexan drawl said.

  “We don’t know that for sure, Cassy,” another one said. He turned to Maxo and moved his hands up and down in front of him, mimicking a set of balancing scales. “It’s just that we were thrown together very fast to crew this ship. Everything seemed so rushed. Duffy’s been in constant contact with someone she calls ‘Spider.’ Seems like she takes orders from him.”

  “How do you know it’s a him?” Maxo asked. “Have you spoken with him?”

  “No, but she’s said things like ‘him’ and ‘he’ in reference to him. I’m Candy Lady’s communications specialist, so she’ll ask me to connect her to ‘him’ or she’ll ask if ‘he’ has called.”

  “Detectant Magnaveer, my name is Ming, and I am Zeke’s assistant,” another Digi said. “Cassy and Eli are right in what they say.”

  “About Captain Duffy’s role?” Maxo asked.

  “Yes,” Ming said. “I arrived at Mare Cognitum from Wuhan and had barely de-shuttled when I was paged to meet with Captain Duffy. I assumed she worked for Solis, but no. Still, I took the job because I wanted to put my logistics skills to use.”

  Looking at the sole remaining Digi, a burly young man with a ponytail and colorful neck tattoos, Maxo said, “Don’t I know you? Your face looks familiar.”

  “I was wondering when you’d get to me, detectant,” he said in a raspy voice. “Saving the best for last.”

  “Peter!” Maxo exclaimed. “I haven’t seen you since—”

  “Since I evac’ed you from the pistol range to the hospital last year,” Peter said. “Man, I really thought you were a goner.”

  Maxo raised his eyebrows. “That’s not what you told me aboard the hopper.”

  After puffing on a digitized cigarette, Peter said, “Well, we try not to be all doom and gloom.”

  “Peter, Peter, Peter.” Maxo smiled. “Thank you, again, for saving my life.”

  “Eh, wasn’t me.” Peter looked around at the other Digis. “It was a team effort.”

  “Of course, always is,” Maxo said. “So, what do you do here?”

  “Helm. I take Candy Lady where she needs to go, no questions asked.”

  Maxo nodded. “Like into this debris field?”

  The Digis stood in silent interest of Peter’s response. As they waited in quiet patience, the ship’s DynaFusion reactor hummed in the background as it continued powering all the on-board systems.

  “Piece of cake,” Peter replied.

  “Hmmm, I thought so,” Maxo said. He turned around and looked at the dense river of debris floating by, then faced Peter. “Good job.”

  ***

  After locking Duffy in one of the beat boat’s confinement cells, Alice headed to the galley and made an improvised falooda using strawberry jam along with milk, sugar, ice, and some of Maxo’s cinnamon. The drink refreshed and comforted her. She took several pleasing sips, then set out for the flight deck, but stopped when she saw Leo and Ariel enter through the hull’s lower airlock. At first, she hoped Maxo was with them, then cursed his name when she saw he wasn’t.

/>   “How can I help you, Leo?” Alice asked. She poked at her drink with a straw.

  “Detectant Magnaveer sent me and Ariel here to return this to you.”

  Ariel handed Alice her compu-pad, then said, “This is yours. We brought it from the briefing chamber.”

  Alice took the pad and put it into her cargoloons. She glared at them and said, “I guess I’m lucky you junkers don’t steal everything you lay your hands on.” She gestured, making air quotes when saying “lay your hands on,” implying Digis didn’t have hands.

  While Leo looked like a scolded puppy, Ariel laughed and slapped Alice twice on her shoulder. Still chuckling, Ariel said, “Good on ya, that’s funny. I get it, because we’re Digis.”

  Glancing at Ariel’s hand, Alice regretted her remark and apologized. “I’m just a little upset with Maxo. Strike that, upset with myself for something I said to Maxo, but it’ll all be okay.”

  Leo looked around the beat boat and up the ladder leading to the flight deck. “I’ve never been aboard a CLF beater before.”

  “Unless you’re a space cop,” Alice sighed, “you probably wouldn’t have reason to.”

  “Unless you’re a copper,” Ariel said, “or have been put under arrest and transported to Mare Cognitum.” As Leo and Alice looked at Ariel with a mix of curiosity and disbelief, she smiled at them and said, “Charges were dismissed.”

  “Ah,” Alice said, nodding. She took another sip of her falooda and heard her compu-pad’s pager beep, indicating an urgent message had just arrived. She grabbed the pad and opened the message, which was from Maxo.

  “Commandeering Candy Lady to pursue the Colonel,” it stated. “He has seized Martian food barge. Release Duffy into my custody, then depart for headquarters. Report to investigators upon arrival. You may have to resign for targeting those sats, but there’s more to life than the CLF, so I’ve heard.”

  “Oh, you have got to be…Meter ghoom jana!” Alice exclaimed, borrowing a slang expression her Pakistani stepbrothers used back home when very, very angry. “What a fantastic, fucking fool. And it’s only Tuesday!”

  Leo and Ariel’s sensory inputs told them Alice’s anger was off the charts, and both took a step back from her. Ariel looked over her shoulder to make sure the airlock was still open.

  “He’s a child, so incredibly childish, he’s a goddamn zygote!” Alice yelled. She sucked on her zalooda’s straw but flung it aside to gulp the rest of her drink. She threw the cup against the nearby bulkhead, wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her tunic, and glared at the two Digis.

  “You know,” Alice said, “this is some real bullshit. Nobody cares about the sats until I shoot them and then suddenly its ‘forthwith’ this and ‘report’ that?” She wagged her finger at both Leo and Ariel. “And you can tell that Detectant Magmahole that he’s one fine space case. Aww, screw dheela hona,” Alice screamed, borrowing again from her stepbrothers when they referred to someone who was batshit crazy. She stomped her feet and made a sound like a turbine operating beyond its recommended factory settings.

  Alice took a step toward the lower deck then stopped and turned. “Well, come on,” she barked at Leo and Ariel, “I need you to take Captain Duffy back to her ship.”

  ***

  Reclining in a wide, padded flight seat in his quarters, D’Rump watched news streams on multiple screens while eating deep fried potato slices and hamburgeenies. His left hand remained gloved but not his right hand, allowing him to lick grease and ketchup from his fingertips, which he then wiped across a cloth napkin draped in front of his yellow bed gown. Schilling stood nearby, watching every moist caress between D’Rump’s pointed tongue and his puny fingers.

  “Crooked losers!” D’Rump bellowed, jarring Schilling out of his erotic fugue.

  “Sir?” Schilling asked.

  “The…,” D’Rump responded but paused to wriggle further upright in his seat, “…news people. Crooked! Sad and weak!” He flung his greasy hand toward the screens. “They are totally taking the other side.”

  Schilling frowned and nodded, then said, “They deceive the people and deny your greatness and the rightness of your cause, sir.” He placed his hand over his heart. His lips quivered and his voice became deep. “I am so relieved to see your P.B.N. allies speaking the truth. They do you justice.”

  “Don’t they realize I didn’t have to give up my comfortable life for this? Here I am, trying to make things better, and I’m the bad guy? I am the least bad person anyone has ever met!” D’Rump shook his head then turned his attention back to a half-eaten hamburgeenie. Before taking a large bite, he said, “Have we heard anything from Solis et Novem? Directly? According to the news, they are weighing options for an armed response.”

  “Only a repeat of their earlier refusal. They insist on the immediate return of the barge and promise to take any and all legal action against you.”

  “Bah!” D’Rump’s eyes widened. “They think I’m bluffing. They think I’m not serious.”

  Schilling paced alongside the flight seat and reminded his boss about destroying the tug and beacon as a warning, but those may not have been big enough targets to send a clear message. He then went on to make several suggestions while D’Rump finished his meal. “But I think the best thing to do,” Schilling said, “is to show them once again just how serious you are. Outmaneuver them, embarrass them, back them into a corner before moving onto your backup plan.”

  “Bend them over and show them I mean business, eh Millie? Hit ‘em hard!”

  Schilling wobbled and fanned his face. “Oh, yes sir! Teach them a lesson…or two.”

  D’Rump clutched the napkin and wiped his lips, then tossed it aside. “Prepare the Comets, Millie,” he said, rolling out of the seat.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And I will contact Spider.”

  ***

  From the elevated console platform on the bridge of Candy Lady, Maxo and Captain Duffy watched Alice maneuver the beat boat above and away from the upper carriage bay. She engaged its DynaFusion propulsion, which accelerated the boat to just shy of half an A.U. per hour. In the blink of Maxo’s eye, the beater raced away, heading to the Moon.

  “Confirm F.S.-L.S. disengaged?” Duffy asked.

  Eli, the Digi responsible for operating the transport’s communication systems, checked his display panels and tapped the right earpiece of his simulated headphones. “Confirmed. Ship’s under our control.”

  Maxo scrolled through an interface panel and noticed a red tab next to a button labeled Release. He tapped the red tab with his forefinger.

  “Careful what you touch, detectant!” Duffy said. “These interfaces are set up around the new Quantum operating system.”

  “I know, I know,” Maxo said.

  “Push the wrong button and next thing you know we’ll all be junk data in the universal holo array.”

  Maxo furrowed his brow. “Junk data?”

  “Yeah, like junk D.N.A. It’s there but doesn’t matter. It has no use.”

  “I know the feeling,” Maxo said, glancing around the bridge. He put on his sunglasses and folded his arms.

  “Don’t feel bad, not even my Digi-person crew are qualified on the entire system, just their various parts. I’m the only one fully certified.”

  Maxo gazed at Duffy and said, “You seem very cooperative. Trying to score points for good behavior?”

  “Please remember, I’m innocent of any wrongdoing. I’m just playing my part to help the authorities track down a pirate.” Duffy noticed one of the console’s monitors was showing more video about D’Rump’s seizure of the food barge. “I hope he succeeds.”

  Maxo shook his head. “You can’t be serious?” he said. “Why would you say such a thing?”

  “Don’t tell me you think Solis et Novem, or the CLF for that matter, really care about you or anyone out here. The Colonel cares.” Duffy sneered and pointed a finger at the console monitor. “He wants to give power back to the people.”

  “Oh
, that’s ripe,” Maxo said. “You’ve been duped, Captain Duffy. His magnanimity is fake.”

  “No, it’s not! You’ll see,” she said, sulking. “All I know is, my connections and I will finally get what we deserve.”

  “Connections?” Maxo asked. “You mean you’re not working alone?”

  Duffy laughed. “Let’s just say I’m not the only one who stands to make a lot more money when D’Rump succeeds.”

  “Is that what it’s really about? Coin?” Maxo gazed around the bridge. “Judging by this ship, I’d say you’re doing quite well working as a contract hauler for Solis et Novem.” Maxo noticed Duffy dropped her gaze toward the floor. “Plus, you get to be your own boss. No one second guessing you or telling you what to do. You’re the captain of one of the biggest, baddest ships around.” Watching Duffy’s face, Maxo said, “What more could you possibly want?”

  Duffy peeked at Maxo and said, “What everyone wants. To get my way. To get what I want.”

  “That’s all that matters?”

  “Hasn’t it always been that way? Look, in a universe that’s one giant, data-driven hologram, why should I care about anything other than what I want? And what I want is a bigger piece of the action. Just like you do.” Duffy smiled and hopped off the platform. She approached Peter, the helmsperson, and Cassy, the navigator. They were a couple of meters away seated in back-to-back flight seats within an oval-shaped console station. The flight system computers projected a map of the inner solar system above each of them.

  “Ariel reports thrusters, DynaFusion cores, and Trans-Holo converters are all in the green,” Peter said.

  “What course and speed shall we set?” Cassy asked.