Timestar

by Robert George Mertens

  "None, Magistrate."

  "No."

  "Closing arguments, please."

  The closing arguments were brief, but intense. The prosecuting lawyer argued that because Frank was partial to the cause of the slaves, his testimony was biased, and if Frank had testified, he would have sufficient proof for a Class I conviction. As such, he insisted the court apply the fullest amount of punishment the law would allow under Class II.

  The defending lawyer argued that Class II evidence and testimony could have been ill gotten. The holograms could have been electronically manufactured, even with the best security measures, and the Drolmian's testimony was unsupported and he could have lied. So he asked the court for leniency under Class II.

  The judge gave it a few minutes thought and then rendered his decision.

  "The accused will stand before the court."

  Tog rose and walked in front of the bench, his guard escorting him.

  "Slave Tog, this court finds you guilty of sedition. I hereby sentence you, under the rules of a Class II conviction, receive four hundred lashes, in increments of fifty per healing, and you will work for the remainder of your life in the Deep Mines of Ecrorin."

  The courtroom was filled with murmuring again.

  "That's the maximum sentence," Gedibeh told Frank.

  Lord Wellum left immediately with two of his aides. Frank could tell he was roiling.

  "It's been a pleasure serving you, Frank Jameson," Gedibeh said, "And remember, only the best for our clients. The Imperial escorts will see you back to the Palace. I've other business to attend to, if you'll excuse me."

  "Certainly," Frank responded, "Thanks."

  Frank was not certain about what he had just done. If Tog was truly a murderer, then the death penalty might be justly served, he felt. But if he was not, then the penalty for sedition seemed awfully harsh. At any rate, he had done his best to do what he thought was best, and he was satisfied with the results.

  He and Maria followed their escorts back to the Imperial Palace and their suite. That afternoon, they had lunch at their favorite picnic spot.

  That evening there was another small dinner reception. Frank and Maria both attended but left early.

  Arriving at their suite, Suni contacted Frank and informed him of the spybot network's progress.

  "We have fifty-one spybots, mostly Iskolian, built and operating," Suni explained, "and it's building twelve more each day."

  "That's great," Frank said, pleased, "Soon we can get off this planet and move on."

  "What are we waiting for?" Suni quizzed him.

  "To make sure there're no defects. Make sure they're working alright and not getting found out."

  "Oh. Well, anyway, several of them already have low-level government jobs and are doing fine. We're getting access to quite a lot of information, but most of it's just the mechanics of the system. Once they learn how to work it, they'll get into some higher-up positions."

  "How long will that take?"

  "We expect it to be a week or two before we get access to any kind of classified data."

  "Wow, that soon?"

  "It would be sooner, but they're having problems with their legal documents. As you know, everything is put on the micro-discs, and we haven't quite mastered some of the subtler features of that storage technology. But we're getting there."

  "Keep up the good work, Suni, and let me know if anything goes wrong."

  "Sure, Frank. Bye."

  The week went by without incident, and Frank was notified that one of the spybots had finally made it into a supervisory position in the Imperial Security Force.

  The next day, Maria went out to look around the little stores again and do some more shopping. Mangle went with her. Two hours later, Frank was contacted by Suni, and told of a plot by the Iskolians to kidnap Maria. The spybots had uncovered the plan. Maria had been notified but she was presently being abducted.

  Maria was browsing in a novelty store when she was approached by the slave/salesperson.

  "Please," the slave appealed, "You're the one who saved Sahn and Tog? Can you help me? There is something you must see."

  "I'm not the one who saved them, but if I can help, I'll be happy to," Maria replied.

  "Follow me please," the slave asked, heading for the back of the store. Maria and Mangle followed.

  The slave halted, looking at Mangle. "Your servant—I'm fearful of it. Can it remain here?"

  "Mangle is my escort. He won't hurt you, I promise."

  "Still, please," the slave insisted.

  "Alright. Mangle, remain here until I return or call you."

  "Compliance," Mangle answered. "I recommend against this action."

  "I'll be fine."

  The slave led Maria through the back and into a small storeroom where he found a hatchway in the floor. He climbed down through the hatch and Maria, shortly, followed. When Maria got to the bottom of the step she found herself in a dimly lit passageway, obviously underground.

  "This way," the slave said, "we must hurry." And the slave started running.

  Maria had to run through the dark corridors to keep up with the slave. She passed several dark passages, but she was running so fast, she did not have time to stop and look into them.

  A call came in over the microset.

  "Maria, this is Suni. You're in danger. You've got to get out of there!"

  "What?" Maria stopped running.

  "We've uncovered an Iskolian plot to abduct you. This is it. You've got to run away! Mangle is on the way. I'm sending more help right now," Suni answered.

  "Mangle, come to me. Hurry!" Maria called on her microset.

  Maria turned back to run away, but it was too late. Two low-built, wide, scaly-looking aliens blocked her retreat. She looked the other way and there were three more. All the aliens carried heavy weapons. Maria made up her mind quickly, and ran madly toward the two aliens blocking her retreat. As she approached, they stopped advancing and blocked her. She lunged at them and swung with her fist. Maria saw one of them hit the wall and go down, but the other was behind her and had her locked up.

  Her skin suit magnified her strength as she tore away from the vise-like grip the alien had on her. Then she picked the beast up and threw it.

  By then, the other three were already on her and had her pinned down. The alien that she had slugged had gotten up and was now also helping. Four of them picked her up, though she struggled, and carried her through the corridor. One of them shrieked and turned to fire its weapon. Another stopped and fired its weapon. The tunnel became a thundering reverberator, as weapons fired and aliens yelled. Two stood off whatever was coming while the three carried Maria off, screaming.

  Maria looked back to see they were shooting at a blur. She barely made out that it was Mangle moving at supersonic speed. He was on the attackers in a millisecond. The two lay dead but Mangle was severely damaged by the weapons fire.

  Now the three abductors carrying Maria dropped her and retreated, returning fire as they ran. Mangle was slowed by the damage but still caught up with two more, jumping over Maria, who was lying on the ground, to get to them. Green alien blood spattered everywhere as Mangle tore up Maria's attackers. Mangle was covered with it.

  There was a shout in alien tongue. The last alien jumped for cover. Behind him was the slave, carrying a large, heavy weapon. He aimed the weapon at Mangle and fired. The roar of the blast was deafening in the restricted corridors as Mangle was thrown past Maria. She looked around to see that Mangle was down and disabled.

  The alien got up and aimed its weapon at Maria and fired. The blast punctured her skin suit and pain ripped through her left shoulder as the alien, failing its target, aimed to fire again.

  A small arms blast came from behind her and the alien went down. Maria looked back to see an Iskolian running to her rescue. She looked around and saw that the slave had leveled his heavy weapon on her and prepared to fire it.

  A shadow leapt over her and dived. A s
earing blast of heat, noise and shrapnel swept over her as she squirmed around to protect the opening in her skinsuit.

  She turned to see that the Iskolian had been a spybot. The slave still stood there and aimed at Maria once again. She looked on, waiting for the inevitable, but the alien exploded as fire was released from behind her. She turned to see five heavily armed warbots speeding towards her. Then five more warbots occupied the spot where the slave had been standing. They came to her.

  "Medical assistance is on the way. Please lie still and remain calm," the warbot said, comfortingly.

  Maria remained conscious long enough for the medbot to reach her. A hundred tiny arms reached out to gently pick her up and place her into a floating surgical bot, where surgery and sterilization began immediately. She saw outside the box, through the glass that workbots had arrived and were digging through the ceiling of the cave at a remarkable rate. A hole opened up and sunlight shined through. A moment later the hole was shadowed by something large.

  Maria was carried to the hole, but looked back in time to see Iskolian police arriving at the scene. The warbots blocked their way and refused to allow them passage. Workbots were picking up the pieces left behind, which used to be Mangle and the Iskolbot.

  The shadow over the hole turned out to be the shuttle, brought in to carry her back to the Butterworth.

  "Safe," she said to herself, and promptly fell to sleep.

  Eleven

  Frank surveyed the wreckage and dead bodies that Mangle and the other warbots had produced. Mangle had done a thorough job. The brown, stout, scaly aliens were torn apart, limbs lying about in disarray, green alien blood spattered over the walls and left in puddles on the floor. Frank stepped over the bodies to inspect that of the slave spy.

  "It is Drolmian," the spybot reported. "No blood, only debris."

  The workbots had finished removing the remains of Mangle and the Iskolbot, and Frank ordered that the Iskolian patrollers be allowed in to investigate.

  "Frank Jameson?" someone called him.

  He turned. "Yes," he answered.

  It was the Chief Patroller. "Please accept our deepest apologies for this grave misfortune. I hope your crewmate wasn't injured too badly," he said. Then the patroller looked around and saw the devastation around him. "Great gods of Iskol! What happened here?" he asked, shocked. "How can this happen? These are Okofani warriors! And weapons! What are they doing here? What could do this to them?" The patroller had lots of questions. And so did Frank.

  "How's Maria doing, Suni?" Frank called over the microset secure channel.

  "Still in surgery, Frank. Dyna says she was hurt pretty badly. Whatever it was that hit her nearly severed her arm at the shoulder. The worst damage is from internal burns. Her flesh has been seared all the way through. Dyna will try to help her grow new flesh. She'll be recuperating for a while."

  "Do the spybots have anything yet on the culprit?" Frank asked.

  "They only know it's someone high up in the government."

  Frank had an idea who that someone might be.

  That afternoon, Frank got hold of Lord Traaka and requested an audience with the Emperor. Later that day Frank received word from Lord Traaka that the request had been granted. He was to meet with the Emperor on the following day. That evening Paddy contacted him again.

  "We have some more information from the spybots. This one's hot—top secret. You mustn't reveal that you know it, or you'll blow Net's cover." 'Net' was the word they now used for the spybot network. "The one who planned and instigated the attempted abduction was none other than Lord Wellum himself. We don't know whether he was operating on his own or had orders from higher up."

  Frank's anger built inside him. Maria would be scarred for life, and he vowed that Wellum would pay for it.

  "Actually, this is the small potatoes," Paddy continued, "we have it on good word that a fleet of Okofani warships is headed this way, and is due to arrive any time. They expect to engage us in battle when they arrive."

  "Okofani warships?" Frank said, "Do they know how many?"

  "Thirty-eight," Paddy replied. "And analysis of their hand-held weapons indicates that this represents a clear danger to us and our ship. We can't handle them, Frank. Suni recommends we pull out immediately."

  "What do you say, Paddy?"

  "I think, if worse comes to worse, we can always outrun them."

  "Based on what?"

  "Based on the fact that the planet Okofa is only twenty-four light-years and it's taking them thirty-five days to get here. At that rate, their speed must about two hundred and fifty c.

  "But Suni still says we should leave?"

  "She says it'd be a good precautionary measure not to have to outrun anybody."

  "I see. Well, I have one more meeting to attend tomorrow. Then we'll discuss leaving this planet."

  "Sure, Frank. By the way, we've decided to triple your escort. Crush and Batter will be joining Trong."

  "Okay, thanks."

  "Least we could do, love."

  The next day, Frank attended the audience with the Emperor. Lords Traaka and Wellum both escorted him and his three warbots to the hearing chamber.

  "Your escorts must remain outside," Lord Wellum explained.

  "I'll leave two of them here," Frank answered. "The third is my personal escort and must come with me."

  "We won't allow any of them into the Emperor's chambers. We've seen what your 'escorts' can do."

  "Two days ago I would've agreed with you, Wellum." Lord Wellum grimaced when Frank intentionally left off the lord's title. Frank could tell he was furious. "But after the attack on my shipmate yesterday, I'm not taking any chances. I suggest you explain this to the Emperor and let him decide."

  "Very well." Lord Wellum went into the Emperor’s hearing chamber and returned a few minutes later.

  "The Emperor has agreed to allow you one escort," Lord Wellum explained.

  "Thank you," Frank said in a nasty tone.

  The four walked through the archway into the giant hearing chamber. The room was easily a hundred meters wide, two hundred meters long and the ceiling rose a hundred meters above them. The Emperor himself sat upon a large throne of gold, set above the heads of those around him. The walls were lined with the Imperial Guard, and above them were beautiful holographic mosaics that covered entire walls. Again, light filled the room from unseen sources, which Frank now knew, came from the walls themselves. Around the floor of the chamber were statesmen and royalty, gathered in groups, apparently having discussions. The Emperor was presently in audience with another group. A plush blue carpet, five meters wide, lay before them at the entrance of the chamber and led straight to the throne.

  Frank and Lord Wellum led the way, Trong and Lord Traaka following. When they were within twenty meters of the throne, guards barred their way. Frank and Lord Wellum stopped and waited. The Emperor was engaged in conversation with foreign diplomats.

  Frank looked around at the various groups in the room. He could tell from the looks he was getting, that many of them were upset by his presence.

  "Who are these people?" Frank asked.

  "They're all here for an audience with the Emperor," Lord Wellum replied.

  "Why are they looking at me like I just killed their mothers?"

  "Many of them have been waiting weeks to speak with the Emperor. Some have waited for months. Most of them arrived early in the morning and have been here all day."

  "When will I see him?"

  "You're next."

  Frank's turn to see the Emperor came fifteen minutes later. Frank and Lord Wellum approached the throne and bowed from the waist.

  "I am most grateful that you would see me so soon, your highness," Frank greeted.

  "Friend, Frank Jameson. How is my favorite Terran this fine day?" the Emperor returned a hearty and friendly greeting.

  "I could be better, your highness."

  "Please accept my sincerest regrets about the injuries to your consort. A full
investigation is under way and I assure you we'll find the culprit and punish him to the fullest extent of the law. If there is anything I can do to help you, my entire world is at your service. We have some of the finest medical facilities in this sector of the galaxy. Anything you ask."

  "Thank you, your majesty, but we have everything under control now."

  "Yes, you did. I understand it was your own escorts that came to your crewmember's rescue. You certainly seem able to take care of yourself. Our Chief of Ambassadorial Security is taking a thrashing for that, I assure you. Now tell me, Frank Jameson, how is your consort faring?"

  "She'll survive, your highness. She'll be permanently disfigured, but she'll be able to lead an otherwise normal life."

  "That is unfortunate, my friend. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

  "From the evidence, my sources and investigations reveal to me that this was a highly organized and well-planned attack. Aliens hired to perform the abduction tend to indicate off-world connections by the instigators."

  "I must explain something to you, Frank Jameson. In our world as in many worlds, the subject of slavery is an ugly one. There are radical factions on both ends of the spectrum. Some proclaim that slavery must be abolished, while others insist that it is an essential part of our society. And there are extremist groups on both sides of the line, whereas the majority of our people are somewhere in between. You've actually become quite a symbol among some of our people for freeing the slaves."

  "Me?"

  "Quite. You've more than once proclaimed your political view on slavery, and even in the Hall of Courts. Is it so wise to make such a proclamation and invite the obvious rebuttal?"

  "Which is what?"

  "You're own assassination, of course. Radicals are everywhere in our society, and try as I may, I can't protect everyone from everyone else with a differing view. You, however, are in a separate category. You have great power at your disposal, and many Iskolians will follow your lead. Already you've shown great financial prowess. In your time here you've become one of the wealthiest people on Iskol. I'm ready for you, Friend Frank Jameson. When you' re ready to give me your price, come see me again."