by T. R. Harris
**********
To my relief, Bill answered almost immediately.
“My Captain, where are you?” Bill said once our images synced. “It seems as though the whole of the galaxy is looking for you.”
“For now, my friend, I think it best if you don’t know where I am. But I want you to know that I’ve recovered the statue from the person who actually took it, and I even have her here with me.”
“So it was your friend Miranda?”
“She’s not my friend?”
“Well, it appears on every broadcast and alert bulletin in the Union that the two of you are a pair. I’m afraid even the government of your own planet has also joined the effort to find you and bring you both to justice.”
“I didn’t take the damn statue!”
“It appears to mean very little what you claim. At the most, your proclamation is only worthy of a few words near the end of the occasional broadcast. I’m afraid that if you are not found – and your planet is not absolved of responsibility – that there will be a catastrophic event with regards to Earth. There will be war, and the way it is trending, the only path to prevention may involve the destruction of your homeworld as a concession.”
I turned and glared at Miranda, who had suddenly turned sheepish.
“That’s why I need to get the statue to you, Bill.”
“Me?”
“That’s right. You’re a disinterested third party who can help broker a deal that will put an end to all this. In a way, I’m handing you the opportunity to become the most famous Zorphin alive.”
I saw Bill smile. I knew him well enough to know that the civil servant had ambitions far beyond his current position as a Transit Minister. If this actually worked, then the name Billork Kly Gon-Mok would indeed become known throughout the galaxy, and more than just a mouthful of letters.
“Then I will accept this responsibility; when can you bring the statue to me?”
“Well, it’s not that easy. We’re not on the planet, and there are presently five starships – probably a lot more – out here trying to stop us from making it back.”
I saw a cloud pass over Bill’s green face. “And if I acquire the statue, then they would be after me, too?”
“If they know you have it,” I answered honestly. “And that’s why we need to make sure no one knows you have it until after you’ve cut the deal.”
Bill hesitated a long time before replying. “How do propose you deliver the statue to me?”
“It will have to be off-planet. Everyone’s expecting us to return directly to Sylox. That can’t happen. Can you get a ship, a fast one?”
“I am a transit minister, Jason. That should not be a problem.”
I unbuckled from the sofa and drifted into the back bedroom for a little more privacy. I winked at Miranda just before sliding the pocket door closed behind me. I turned my attention back to Bill. “Good, then this is what I’d like you to do….”
**********
After speaking with Bill I drifted out of the bedroom and over to the pilotseat. Since we were now well out of the search grid, I activated the gravity drive and the internals. Even then I steered the Enterprise completely away from Sylox.
Ten minutes later Miranda slipped into the seat next to me. We sat in silence for another two before she finally couldn’t take it any longer.
“So what’s your plan, hotshot?”
I smiled. “I could tell you … but then I’d have to kill you.”
She grimaced. “I bet you’ve been waiting all day to say that. So really, what are you up to?”
“I asked Bill to meet us outside the Sylox system, at a place where I can give him the statue.”
“What’s so secret about that that? That was my idea to begin with. Where’s this special place?”
“It’s near an accretion disk created by a black hole feeding on a white dwarf. It’s near an area of restricted space surrounding a secret military installation of some kind.”
“You’re taking us close to a military base, why?”
“Look at it this way, if you’re going to meet someone for a handoff – and you’re expecting a lot of bad guys to be around causing trouble – what better place to meet than outside a police station? In our case, if a lot of ships show up to stop us, the military will notice and send out units to investigate. They were on our asses in nothing flat. If that happens, then we might be able to escape in all the confusion.”
“And what if the military decides to join those trying to stop us?”
“If that’s the case, then I’ll turn the statue over to them and let the bad guys try to do something about that. Shooting on a military vessel might not be the best course of action for them to take.”
“Now all we have to do is get to this secret location without getting ourselves killed.”
“Correct-a-mundo, sweet-cheeks. But with the speed of the Enterprise, I’ll take the scenic route. We should still get there with a day to spare.”
“The Enterprise … really? You named your starship Enterprise? You haven’t grown up much, have you?”
“At least I don’t go around stealing other people’s property.”
There was an awkward silence for a few moments after that exchange. And then Miranda snorted. “In the meantime we have to share this tiny motorhome-in-space.”
“Relax, sweetheart. You’re just going to have to control your animal lust for me, no matter how hard it will be.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, dork.”
“So, Miranda, when did you first decide to ruin my life? What did I ever do to you? And the poor Wilson family; it takes a really sick mind to pretend to be a relative just so you could hitch a ride to Sylox.”
“What do you mean pretend? I am a relative.”
“Cut the crap, Miranda. None of them even knew you existed until four months before the trip.”
“And I didn’t know them either, not until I was told.”
“Told what?”
“That I had an unknown cousin.”
“Who told you?”
“Mark did.”
“Wilson?”
“That’s right. He contacted me and said he’d found out through his diplomatic sources that Jennifer and I were related. He invited me over to their house for dinner, and then a week later asked if I wanted to come to Sylox.”
“Bullshit. Why would he do that?”
“He said he knew of my degree and thought it might be a good opportunity. He’d use his connections to get me an internship and then Jennifer and I could get to know each other better. He also thought it would be good for her and the kids to have someone else to spend time with on a strange planet.”
I looked at Miranda for several seconds, studying her face for any signs of deception. If there were any, then I missed them.
“So you really do have a degree in Galactic Affairs? I thought you were a jewel thief?”
“Not a very successful jewel thief, and the last time I was in jail I started taking some college courses figuring I needed something to fall back on. I always liked to travel, and with all the aliens running around, GA sounded like a natural fit.”
“So when did you get the idea to steal the Unity Stone?”
“That wasn’t my idea. I was approached before we left Earth and offered a sack full of money for the job.”
“Who approached you?”
“A couple of guys in expensive suits—”
“Humans?”
“That’s right.”
“You’re saying Humans wanted you to steal the Unity Stone? That doesn’t make any sense. And didn’t you say you were hired by aliens?”
“They were working for the aliens, which met when I arrived on Sylox. By then you had already been identified as the source of entry to Orn’s house.”
“And as a scapegoat for the theft.”
“That was never discussed. You were originally just a way to get into the house. All I was supposed to do was get close t
o you and get the lockbox code and some DNA.”
“So you screwed me – literally.”
Miranda’s eyes softened. “That wasn’t part of the plan, it just happened. But it did serve my purpose.”
My ego inflated to a level I refused to let Miranda see. So, she slept with me because she wanted to. Well look at you, Jason King, you stud, you.
“So what happened next? Obviously you didn’t do everything according to plan.”
“I did most of it. I got you to make contact with the CIA chief. That was also part of my instructions, I guess to establish your ties with the Human spy network—”
“I meant about the diamond.”
Miranda smiled, coy and seductive. “C’mon, Jason, it’s a twenty-nine thousand carat diamond. That’s ten times larger than anything ever found on Earth. And they just wanted me to turn it over to them once I had it. By then they’d already paid me half the money, so with over three million dollars and the diamond, it didn’t take much for me to screw them, too, especially with aliens running the show.”
That comment sparked an incongruity I’d heard earlier. “You say it was Mark Wilson who put you and Jennifer together?”
“That’s right. I had no idea who the Wilson’s were before then.”
“And he’s the one who persuaded you to come to Sylox?”
“That’s right, and I didn’t want to go at first. It’s a pretty drastic change, as you know. But he said it would only be for six months.”
“And then after that others came to you with the plan to steal the statue while waving millions of dollars in your face.”
“That’s exactly it! I didn’t set out to steal anything, or to hurt you. That came later.”
I placed my head in my hands and shook it. Could it really be true?
When I lifted my head again I saw Miranda’s eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. “You can’t be thinking that?” she said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“What … that Mark Wilson is the mastermind behind the theft? But it makes perfect sense. He and his people figured out that the way to access the Velosian vault holding the Unity Stone was to get the codes off Orn’s computer at his house. Then they needed a sexy, down-on-her luck jewel thief to get the codes and execute the theft.”
“You think I’m sexy?”
“Knock it off; this is serious. To gain entry to Orn’s house, all Mark had to do was look in the Multiple Listing Service to see that I had the listing and then arrange to be shown the property. I suppose that was your idea?”
Miranda pursed her lips. “It’s what they wanted me to do. They provided all the equipment for me to get into the office and bug his computer.”
“And other than Mark Wilson, you can’t say for sure who ‘they’ are?”
“I probably met no more than four or five people face-to-face. It’s obvious you’ve never done this kind of work before, but the fewer people you have direct contact with the better. But Mark never steered me in any direction.”
“He didn’t have to; he had others to do that.”
I suddenly had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. What about the kids? If Mark Wilson was the bad guy here – and he’s eventually found out – then it would devastate the Wilson children. Jennifer said they’d only been married a year, so it wouldn’t be so bad for Heather. But the younger one – Jonathan and Melissa – children of that age usually cling to a father figure with all their hearts.
I also hoped Jennifer wasn’t involved in this; I seriously doubted she was. But now she would have to deal with a possible counterfeit cousin as well as a new husband who could turn out to be an evil mastermind of galactic proportions.
But the kids, that’s what really bothered me. I have to admit, I kinda liked the little munchkins.
“It still doesn’t make sense that a Human would be behind this, not with the possibility of the Earth being destroyed because of it,” Miranda said.
“So you’ve finally accepted that?”
“Your friend Bill kinda confirmed it.”
“Well, the part about the Earth being destroyed only came up after you decided to keep the statue, making a war all but a inevitable. But I could see Mark’s plan working, if you had given it to them. Then the worse that would have happened is that we – both of us – would have been accused of working with the aliens to smear the good name of the Humans. Mark could then claim that the aliens’ goal was to get the Earth expelled from the Union so we’d no longer be competition for their builders. Jonk Limbor and his Linoreans would be disgraced, having risked a galactic war just to get rid of some business competition. After that, Mark’s people would become the premier builders in the galaxy. And they’d be heroes – very rich heroes.”
“Who’s Jonk Limbor and Linoreans? They sound like an old ’50’s rock and roll band.”
That was actually pretty clever and brought a smile to my face. “Hardly; they’re the ones following us now. They’re group of galactic building contractors and industrialists powerful enough to have their own money. And more-than-likely, they’re the ones you’ve had contact with, which could all be part of Mark’s plan. And if he did want to get even more ambitious, he could let the war happen between the Velosians and the Simoreans.”
“Why would Mark – or even these Linorean characters – want to start a war? Who benefits from a war?”
I looked at her with a cockeyed expression. Who benefits from a war? Was she kidding?
“A lot of people benefit from war, sweetheart, especially the contractors who’ll be there to help rebuild a ravaged galaxy.”
Were the ambitions of Mark Wilson that Hitler-esque? Would he go so far to start a war simply for the business he could siphon from it?
Whatever the initial goals were of Mark Wilson and the Linoreans, when Miranda absconded with the Unity Stone, all of them got turned upside down. Now it appeared everyone was just scrambling to make the best of things, while also trying to tie up any loose ends – such as me and Miranda Moore.
“So it’s about the money?” Miranda said.
“It’s always about the money.”
Chapter 28
As it turned out, I didn’t so much take the scenic route back to Sylox, just the long one. Space, for the most part, was just that – space – and with not a lot to look at. Sure, occasionally we would streak close enough by a star to express a few oohs and awes, but mostly it was bored-out-of-your-gourd tedium.
So it came as a great relief when sixty-four hours later I throttled back and began to drift in dark status within sight of the brilliant accretion disk I’d first witnessed about two months before.
Damn, had it only been two months ago since Miranda Moore first walked into my life? Of course, I knew now that there had been parties conspiring against me long before that – which made me feel both special and violated at the same time. I had less than a day to return the statue, so no matter how long this affair had been in the works, it was going to end – one way or another – in about nineteen hours.
I had given Bill my ETA, after adding seven hours to it. I wanted to make sure I could get in the area ahead of any traps that might be set. As it turned out, all was quiet, as far as I could tell.
Miranda was really getting used to this zero-g thing. In fact, I believed that if she had her choice, she would prefer to live out her life this way. I let her have her moment, flying around the cabin like a bird and laughing.
Seeing her happy like this also created a pang of sorrow in the pit of my stomach, because no matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t see this thing ending well for her. She had been a willing participant in the theft, and simply giving back the statue wouldn’t get her off the hook that easy. She was destined for some serious jail time.
So as she did ball-rolls in mid-air, drifting across the cabin until kicking off the bulkhead at the rear and then soaring over me like Superman, I let her play. In our hectic, responsibility-filled adult lives, we get so few opportunities just to
play.
But playtime ended about five hours later, when a proximity alarm began to clang, sending both our hearts racing. By then, Miranda had tired of playing bird and was instead drifting near the ceiling, half-dozing – at least until she would gently bump into something and wake up, startled. When the alarm sounded she looked like one of those cartoon characters with every limb shooting out in all directions in an exaggerated fashion.
I was in the pilotseat, with it spun around and facing into the cabin, while absent-mindedly admiring Miranda’s floating body. When the alarm sounded I spun the seat back around, as Miranda flailed away for a moment until her hands found something to grab onto. Then she propelled herself into the copilot seat.
“Is it your friend … or someone else?”
Unless Bill had brought company along, this wasn’t him. “Three ships, as far as I can tell. There may be more out of range.”
Even as I watched, the contacts maneuvered to a stop, and then winked out as they each went into dark status. My computer marked their last known locations.
“So they know about the meeting,” Miranda said. Her voice conveyed resignation and gone was her playful demeanor. “Do you think Bill told them?”
“I hope not. He’s a friend, and I was really counting on him to help us.”
“He may not have had a choice.”
“We’ll see – look, there’s another one.”
There were now four hostiles in the area, all dark and lying-in-wait for yours truly.
**********
The next two hours went by like molasses in January, or whatever month that saying referred to. I’d never actually seen molasses – let alone in any month of the year – but the saying conveyed my frustration with the wait.
But finally it was over.
A larger ship – evidenced by the gravity signature of its drive – appeared on the scene. It came to a relative stop, yet maintained a charge on the gravity drive, as well as its internal generators. This had to be Bill; he wasn’t trying to hide. I thought how those in the dark ships must be chomping at the bit, anticipating my arrival at any moment.