by Don Viecelli
Wolfgang came running out of the bedroom upstairs and leaned over the railing. He had a flashlight. He heard Jack running to the side of the fireplace. He aimed the flashlight at the figure couched behind the sofa and fired his laser gun. The pulse just missed Jack. It hit the side of the sofa and burned a hole in the fabric. Obviously, Wolfgang’s laser was not set to stun. Jack adjusted his laser and fired back at Wolfgang. It just missed him and hit the railing. They fired more shots at each other.
Ivan used the distraction to try and make a run for it. He grabbed his briefcase off the desk and ran for the hallway. Jack noticed the movement and fired his gun at Ivan. The laser pulse grazed Ivan’s shoulder, paralyzing his arm. Ivan winced in pain and dropped the briefcase, but didn’t stop. He continued to run down the hallway holding his arm.
Wolfgang fired another shot. Jack was pinned down. He fired at Wolfgang and tried to figure out what to do next.
Ingrid had heard the conversation between Jack and Ivan. She opened her bedroom door. She saw Wolfgang kneeling down in front of the railing across from her room. He had a flashlight and was shooting at Jack down in the living room. His back was towards her. Ingrid looked around her room. She needed a weapon, something solid. She thought quickly. A lamp was sitting on top of her dresser. The base was shaped like a club. She grabbed the lamp, unplugged it and without thinking of the danger, she rushed towards Wolfgang from behind. He never heard her approach. She hit him on the head with the base of the lamp as hard as she could. The blow knocked him unconscious and he fell to the floor dropping the gun and flashlight.
Jack heard a thump and a moan from above. Then a gun fell through the railing and tumbled to the floor below. Ingrid cried out. “Jack, it’s me. Don’t shoot. I’m coming down.”
Ingrid picked up the flashlight and raced down the stairs. Jack checked the hallway. Ivan was nowhere in sight. He ran over to the stairs. He removed his goggles and grabbed Ingrid’s arm. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Ivan’s crazy. He was going to drug me, or worse. He killed my father!” Ingrid cried.
“I’m sorry, Ingrid. We’ll talk later. We need to get out of here before he gets help.”
Jack took off his backpack and removed the second thermal suit and helmet. “Here, put this on. My police shuttle is parked outside behind the house. We’re going to have to make a run for it. It’s very cold outside and the dust storm is increasing. The suit will protect you.”
Ingrid struggled to put on the suit. Jack helped her zip it closed.
“How did you find me?” Ingrid asked while Jack attached the oxygen pack.
“I had a friend track Ivan’s shuttlecraft when he left SpaceMed. How many people are in the house?”
“Just Ivan and Wolfgang. Wolfgang and two of his people kidnapped me and Wolfgang took me to Ivan’s apartment. Then Wolfgang brought me here.”
“Was that Wolfgang upstairs?”
“Yes. I hit him as hard as I could.”
“Good job. If things were different, I’d arrest him and take him to jail, but I’m afraid the police are involved in this. We need to get out of here and go somewhere safe for awhile.”
Jack checked Ingrid’s suit. Everything looked fine. He let Ingrid hold her helmet and night vision goggles. While she adjusted her helmet, Jack decided to look at the briefcase Ivan had dropped near the stairs. He opened the briefcase and looked inside. He saw a separate container with ten drug vials and several memcards inside. The vials were all labeled with ‘RDF 19’. He picked up one of the vials and showed it to Ingrid. “Do you recognize this?”
Ingrid took the vial from Jack’s hand and looked closely with the flashlight. “Yes. It’s one of the drug vials we produced at the lab. They were all produced from the same anti-aging drug formula. We called it Regeneration Drug Formula 19. How many vials are there?”
“It looks like ten vials. That means ten are missing. The memcards are probably from the lab, and maybe from your father’s place.”
Jack took the vial from Ingrid and put it back inside its container. Then he took the drug container and the memcards and put them in his backpack. He helped Ingrid put on her helmet and night vision goggles and made sure the oxygen was flowing. Then he put on his helmet and goggles, turned off the flashlight and turned on both night vision goggles. They were ready to go outside.
“Where are we going?”
“We have to leave Mars for awhile. Follow me. Stay close.”
Jack checked the hallway one more time. He didn’t see Ivan. Jack didn’t think he was leaving the building, not with a wounded arm. Ivan probably went to one of the shuttlecrafts and was calling for help. More than likely, he was calling Captain Black. They would say it was a break-in and have him arrested. It was ironic, Jack thought. He was the criminal now. Their only chance was to get as far away from Mars as possible until Jack could figure a way to straighten this mess out. That was his plan anyway. But first they had to get to Ares.
Jack found an exit door in the hallway that led outside. He pushed against the door latch and the door opened. He stepped outside. Ingrid followed close behind him. It was cold and dark. The wind was blowing hard from the South Polar Region. It blew thin layers of swirling dust up and over the valley ledge twenty meters in front of them. Visibility was five or six meters. Jack looked back at Ingrid to make sure her suit was functioning properly. She gave him a faint smile. Jack knew she was okay. She was a strong woman. He admired her for that.
Jack put his gun away and reached inside one of his pockets. He pulled out a GPS receiver. It was homed in on the police shuttle’s location beacon. He followed the direction indicated on the lighted display. They were exactly 100 meters from the shuttle. Jack led the way. They reached the shuttle in five minutes. Jack climbed the ramp, opened the door and helped Ingrid inside. Jack followed and closed the door. The cabin pressure quickly adjusted as it compensated for the loss of oxygen.
Within seconds, the air was breathable and the green light came on. They removed their helmets.
“Give me your helmet and sit here.” Jack pointed to a seat up front next to his. He sat down and started the engines. He reached up and turned off the GPS location beacon. He wasn’t going to make it easy for his the police to find him. He called Sam while he performed the safety checklist.
“Hello, Sam,” Jack said when Sam answered.
“Is everything all right,” Sam asked anxiously.
“Everything’s fine. I found Ingrid. She’s with me, but we have to find a safe place to hide for a while. I need a favor.”
“What do you need?”
“The police will be looking for me. Some of them are involved in the murder of Doctor Johanson. They’re trying to frame me as an accomplice in the murder to get me out of the way. I have to leave Mars for a while. I’m taking Ingrid with me. I turned off the shuttle’s GPS location beacon. I don’t want you to track us leaving Ivan’s place. I’ll get back to you when the time is right.”
“How can they frame you?” Sam asked incredulously. “You had nothing to do with the murder.”
“They’re going to say I helped steal the drugs. They planted evidence in my apartment so they can arrest me. Then Ivan plans to have me killed while I’m in custody. Captain Black is working for Ivan. You need to watch your back while I’m gone.”
“All right, Jack. I’ll be careful. Let me know what else I can do.”
Jack thanked Sam and terminated the call. He turned to Ingrid. “Strap yourself in.”
“Where are we going?”
Jack told her what he planned to do. “We’re going to Ares and purchase two tickets on the next space freighter to Earth. I have a friend there who can help us. We need a safe place to hide on Earth until I can figure out how to fix this mess.”
Surprisingly, Ingrid was all for the idea. She even had a place in mind. “I think I can help you.” Ingrid told Jack about a place where they could stay. They discussed it while Jack piloted the police shuttle thro
ugh the immense dust storm now covering the southern half of Mars. Finally, they broke through into clear space.
As they approached the Ares Space Station, Jack knew he was facing the most difficult situation he had ever encountered as a police officer in his entire career. He thought about the drug vials stowed in his backpack. He knew that the vials were worth millions of denoms on the black market. But it was a deadly fortune. Ivan’s people were going to be looking for them and the drugs, and they weren’t going to stop until they found them. Everything now depended on getting to Earth undetected, and asking his friend for help. The outlines of a plan began to emerge. Jack looked at Ingrid and decided not to say anything. The plan would be risky and he wasn’t even sure it would work. Better to think it through all the way, he thought. They might not get a second chance.
Up ahead, Ares appeared in the night sky. Jack prepared for landing. He would dock in a public hanger and abandon the shuttle. It would be days before anyone found it. By then they would be gone. Now they just needed to find a freighter headed for Earth.
Chapter 16
Earth
It took a few hours on Ares for Jack to obtain fake identification for Ingrid and himself and make travel arrangements for the trip to Earth. It wasn’t very hard to obtain fake ID’s and a new billing card. Jack knew someone who could provide this type of service for the right price. To make sure the transaction could not be traced, Jack paid cash for everything.
As a further precaution, Jack placed his backpack with detective badge, ID card, weapons and Ingrid’s wallet with ID in a storage locker for safekeeping. Then they both bought new clothes and suitcases for the trip. They disguised their appearances as best as they could.
Space travel had improved dramatically over the last twenty years. It used to take six months or longer for space settlers to reach Mars. Now the trip only took thirty days and passengers could be put into cryosleep if they wished for the trip.
With their new aliases, Jack called a couple of freight companies to see who had room for two extra passengers. It wasn’t that unusual for travelers to seek rides on cargo freighters for the trip to Earth. It was much cheaper than taking the big space cruisers. Besides, freight captains didn’t ask a lot of questions.
Jack found a ride leaving in an hour. He and Ingrid immediately headed for the cargo deck on the lower level. Jack located the ticket office and paid for two one-way tickets in cash. They were quickly escorted to the freighter.
A young looking medical officer met them on board and showed them to their quarters. He told them to undress and put on clean robes for the medical evaluation. Jack locked their things in a storage locker. After they both passed the evaluation, the officer escorted them to a large room with several cryosleep modules separated by curtains. The officer allowed Jack and Ingrid to say goodbye to each other. Then he helped them climb into separate cryosleep modules and injected them with drugs to prepare them for sleep. The last thing Jack and Ingrid remembered were the glass covers closing over them as they quickly drifted off to sleep. They would remember nothing about the trip until they awoke.
The space flight was uneventful. Thirty days later the cargo freighter docked at the Magellan Space Station that orbited the Moon. The medical officer woke up the sleeping passengers and checked their condition. There were six other passengers. Jack and Ingrid got dressed and Jack retrieved their things from the locker. Since Jack and Ingrid had been living on Mars for an extended period, they needed time to adjust to Earth’s gravity, which was almost two-thirds greater. Fortunately, this could be done gradually while visiting the space station on a two-day layover. Gravitational forces and atmospheric pressure on Magellan were the same as on Earth. They both spent the time relaxing, exercising weak muscles and exploring the space station. Jack spent most of his free time researching Ivan’s holdings on Mars and planning strategy for returning to Mars. Finally, they were permitted to leave the station.
Jack and Ingrid transferred to a space shuttle for the flight down to Earth. They landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the morning of February 23, 2094. It was not quite spring on Earth. It was the first time in almost ten years that Jack had set foot on Earth soil, breathed fresh outdoor air, felt the wind against his face or felt the sun’s rays directly on his skin. He could smell the ocean’s salty, humid air in the breeze as he and Ingrid stepped outside to catch a train to the airport. It was almost 80 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Jack took a few moments to realize where he was and let it all sink in.
“When’s our flight?” Ingrid asked as they stepped into the air-conditioned train and found a seat. Jack carried a small duffle bag. The rest of their luggage had been pre-checked in for the flight.
“Two-thirty. We should be in North Carolina by three-thirty. We’ll rent a car when we get there. How are you feeling?” He looked at her closely. Her skin was pale, but she looked even better in the sunlight, Jack noticed.
“I feel like I ran a marathon. How about you?” Ingrid answered, wiping the sweat off her face.
Jack smiled. “I feel better than I thought I would. The doctor said it’d take a few days to recover our strength again. We just have to take it easy.”
The trip to the local airport took thirty minutes. The train pulled right inside the terminal. Jack and Ingrid left the train and looked for their departure gate. They were early, so they decided to have a quick lunch. Ingrid ordered a salad and Jack ordered a sandwich. Jack found a news station on the Internet tablet at their table. They listened to the news while they ate lunch. It was amazing how much had happened while they were asleep for thirty days. Jack searched the Internet, but there was no breaking news about Mars or anything concerning them. Jack would have to find another way to check on things there. He was also going to have to purchase a new smartcom. He couldn’t make calls on his for fear of it being traced.
They finished lunch and walked to their gate. They were headed for Wilmington, North Carolina. Ingrid had told Jack her family had inherited a vacation home from her grandmother on one of the islands off North Carolina. Ingrid had vacationed there many times while growing up. It had been several years since she and her father had been to the place. They rented it out during the summer season. It wasn’t being used now. Ingrid was certain nobody knew about the place and they would be safe there. Jack agreed. It sounded like a good place to hide until he could figure out what to do next.
The plane landed in Wilmington right on time. After they retrieved their bags, Jack rented a car and drove down the coast on Highway 421. They were headed for Bald Head Island, about thirty-five miles south of Wilmington.
Jack had never been in this part of the country before. Everything was new and exciting to him. It felt so good to be back on Earth under sun and sky. He began to realize how much he had missed being home, or almost near home, relatively speaking. His last real home had been in Chicago. His family used to vacation along the shores of Lake Michigan. He never got to the ocean until he was in college. He knew he would enjoy this.
They crossed the Intracoastal Waterway on Snow’s Cut Bridge overlooking the Atlantic Ocean just before a place called Carolina Beach. The traffic was light. It was too early for the tourist season to begin. The weather was warm with a strong breeze blowing in off the ocean. They could see the ocean on the left side of the bridge. Sailboats were on the water, sails billowing in the wind. It looked so beautiful with the sunlight bouncing off the green-blue water. Jack couldn’t wait to take a swim in the ocean.
Jack and Ingrid continued down the highway past Kure Beach and Fort Fisher and drove over a new bridge that crossed the Cape Fear River to Southport. When they arrived, Jack turned in the car at the rental agency. They couldn’t use it on the island. Ingrid said they had to catch a ferry from Southport. The local residents of Bald Head Island had refused to permit a bridge to be built. It was the only way they could prevent tourism from overwhelming their beautiful island.
Ingrid explained that Bald Head Island stil
l had over two thousand acres of white beaches, rolling sand dunes, salt marshes, tidal creeks, a nature preserve and several miles of blue ocean that surrounded it. It also had private residences, a large recreation and golf center, a village town hall, a post office, a small fire and police force, a medical center and other community services. Old Baldy Lighthouse near the village hall could be seen from every beach. Transportation on the island was by solar or hydrogen powered golf carts. It was a paradise waiting to be explored and Jack couldn’t wait to get there.
The ferry took twenty minutes to cross the Cape Fear River to the island. Jack and Ingrid stood on the top deck of the ferry and leaned over the railing to watch the waves as the ferry cut through the water. The sun felt warm on their faces. The wind was blowing through their hair. Jack watched as Ingrid threw out some breadcrumbs to feed the seagulls that followed the ferry. The birds cried for more food and filled the sky overhead.
Ingrid looked happy. Jack couldn’t take his eyes off her. Ingrid caught him staring and smiled.
“It’s beautiful here, Ingrid,” Jack said, thinking how beautiful Ingrid looked as well.
“I know. My father loved this area. You will too. Wait until you see the beach house. It’s right on the ocean. We’ll be there soon.”
The ferry pulled slowly into the village harbor and docked. Jack and Ingrid rolled their suitcases behind them as they walked down the ramp to the harbor deck. Ingrid called the rental agency that took care of her place and informed them she planned to stay for a while. They were delighted she was back and said the place had just been cleaned. Jack found a taxi driver who drove them to Ingrid’s house on the southeast side of the island in a solar-powered cart.