by Saxon Andrew
“Yes, sir, we even got their ship-to-ship communications recorded.”
“Have the escorts power up and then leave for star base. We’ll join them momentarily.” The three escort destroyers powered up their systems, then activated their star drives and left.
Kosiev looked out at the space where Moscow had been destroyed. “Turn off the remote control link,” he ordered. Moscow had been controlled during the battle from the bridge of the Earth cruiser Largo. A small hole in the Coronado screen allowed Moscow to receive commands from the controller onboard Largo. Even the communications were electronically sent through the link. There was no one on board the destroyer when it blew up. Largo and its three escorts were spread out along the sector where the attack was expected with all of their systems powered down. Military intelligence surmised that the Cainth could not detect unpowered ships. They learned that from their tactics during the first attack. Moscow had also been remotely detonated by having its entire skin of Coronado cells overloaded at the same time. At the time of the detonation her screens were holding, but it was felt that by destroying the ship quickly it would give false information about its capabilities.
“Lieutenant Mikado, copy all of the recorded information and send it on a secure channel to Directorate military intelligence. I thought the part about how we would not attack them was a nice touch. When our ambassador plays this for the Alliance assembly, things should get real interesting for our Cainth playmates.” Commodore Kosiev looked out where his ship had been destroyed. “I’m going to miss you, old girl,” he thought. “Just like last time, I think you bought us some time. Someone is going to pay for this.” Then he said, “Set the Douglas drive for star base and let’s go home.”
Grand Admiral Dorg stood at attention in front of the fifteen clan leaders that made up the clan’s central chamber. He had entered the huge, towering wooden structure eight drags earlier and had been marched into the central chamber and ordered to wait for the clan leaders. The Central Clan Assembly Hall was built on top of one of Cainth’s mountains and was more than 1,500 feet tall. It was made of wood from the stone trees that grew in the forests, and its wood was actually harder than most modern alloys. It was somewhat dark inside, and the torches used to light it were only barely up to the task. He sat on a bench looking up at the balcony where the clan leaders would arrive and waited for them, wondering what was going on. Once they arrived, he spent one third of a rotation explaining why he felt it necessary to attack an Earth ship. The clan leaders showed him the recording of the attack that the Earth ambassador had taken to the Alliance general assembly. He was stunned. Not only did the recording capture the four huge warships attacking the destroyer, but it also recorded all of the communications that took place during and after the attack. There was no way to pretend that this was an accident.
So he stood at attention and waited for his fate to be determined. “Admiral, do you realize that the Alliance has voted to remove us as the custodians over the humans? Further, no one from our civilization may enter their twenty-light-year limit for five years. Further, reparations also have to be paid to the families of the crew that you killed,” his clan leader said.
Dorg had tried to get them to see the danger represented by the humans, but they were just not listening. Then Terl, the top clan chief, stood up and silence reigned. “Admiral, you are hereby stripped of your rank and are sentenced to five years in prison or until such time as the Alliance ends its restrictions concerning the humans. Consider yourself fortunate that more severe actions are not taken.”
Two guards came up on each side and escorted him out of the room. As he left he shouted back, “You have no idea of the danger they are to our existence.”
After the Admiral was taken away, Terl asked the other members, “Does anyone wish to add anything?”
“I do,” said Krug, the chieftain of Dorg’s clan. “I agree with your punishment because he took these actions without consulting us, but the admiral has made several strong points about how the humans represent danger to our civilization. I also suspect that the only way the humans could have gotten this recording was to set up our ships to embarrass us and cause what happened. There had to be other Earth ships nearby.”
“Why do you think that, Clan Leader?” Terl asked.
“Who recorded this? Certainly not the ship that was destroyed; it didn’t even try to defend itself when we know after the first attack that it was fully capable of doing so. There had to be another ship, or ships, present, and if there was, why didn’t it come to the aid of the ship that was being attacked? I think they were there to record what happened and remove us from having access to them. I suspect that any information we learned from this encounter is worthless. They let us see what they wanted us to see. There’s one other important thing. Now that the former admiral has told us about the first attack, remember the photograph. That small ship destroyed two cruisers with their own missiles. Do we know how many ships they have? Do we know anything about their capabilities? Do you really think the Admiral wrong in his estimates? And one final item, do you think these humans have no ill will toward our race after we have attacked them three times?” Krug sat down and the room was silent.
Terl sat for a dreg, contemplating what Krug had said, and then stood again and said, after careful thought, “The safety of our civilization is our prime responsibility. You raise many unanswered questions here. The admiral was stupid and hasty; however, we may have been hasty in our condemnation and punishment. I think he was actually trying to protect our people from what these humans may be capable.” Then Terl looked at the clan leaders and said, “He already knows more about these humans than anyone we could replace him with. Thank you for your insight, Clan Leader Krug. I recommend we reinstate and place the admiral on probation and assign someone to watch him to make sure he keeps us informed of any future planned actions. He should be more informative after the punishment we just gave him. I would also recommend that since we cannot enter their territory that we get some of our friends in the Alliance to assist us in collecting intelligence about these humans. All in favor of this…” Everyone stood up. “It’s unanimous,” he said. “Let’s see what we can find out.”
Chapter 15
I nspector Connor was on Danielle’s display screen in her living quarters and was asking her questions before she went out with Tag. “Do you really think this is a good idea?”
“Yes sir, I do,” Danielle said. “The interrogations at school turned up nothing. We know that our Superman has to be a student. So either we did not interrogate Superman, or he was able to manipulate the truth field. Before you removed all of the security personnel from the school, didn’t you interrogate every student above the age of twelve?”
“Yes we did. Leave no rock unturned, I say. And you’re right, we came up with nothing. Do you really think that the person we’re looking for could lie in a truth field and not be caught?”
“Logic screams that that’s the only answer. If our Superman has the ability to see cameras’ views, then he must be able to detect different kinds of electronic fields. Is it a huge jump to consider that if he can detect them he might be able to manipulate them?”
“We started measuring for psychic ability after we left, but I don’t know if that’s going to work,” Inspector Connor said. “Do you still think that he’s our best suspect to be Superman?”
“I’m not sure. I was there when he was interrogated and he was very relaxed and at ease. Even the innocent would be worried if they were going to be questioned. There was something else that bothered me.”
“What was that?”
“One of his friends was being interrogated while we were sitting outside, and one of the questions he answered showed he was being dishonest when he was asked how old he was. He had answered correctly.”
“Was that the only issue you saw?”
“No sir. The student questioned after his friend had the interrogator stop the session and call for a techn
ician to repair the truth field because it was not working properly. I noticed that after that Tag seem to be more at ease. I asked the technician later what caused the truth field failure. He said that when he checked it there was nothing wrong. He thought it might be a temporary electrical surge or something else that would throw it off.”
“What do you think, Miss Ash?”
“I don’t want to sound crazy, but I think Tag was practicing on the students before he went in to see if he could manipulate the field.”
“You keep adding to our Superman’s powers.”
“Sir, please tell me if you think I’m wrong. A lot of these conclusions that I come up with seem to come out of nowhere, but they feel right. I can’t tell you half the time how I arrive at them, and I’m not always certain they are correct. If you think I am wrong or headed the wrong way please stop me. I know you have a lot more experience than I do,” Danielle said.
“That’s just it, Miss Ash. There’s no other explanation than what you have deduced. I don’t want to believe that this person is capable of all the things we ascribe to him, but we’re left with no other alternative. What concerns me right now is that if you’re right, you’re about to place yourself in the hands of a very dangerous individual.”
“If Tag is Superman, I won’t be in danger,” she said.
“You can’t be certain of that.”
“I can be as certain of that as I am about any conclusion I’ve made.”
“How?”
“Unfortunately, Inspector Connor, this particular conclusion was not done completely logically. It’s something that I sense about him. He won’t hurt me.”
“Even so, I want you to go armed.”
“Inspector Connor, if Tag is our Superman, he was able to disarm and kill four skilled criminals in six seconds. What chance do you think I would have to use any kind of weapon? And if I go armed and he sees the weapon, he’ll know I’m with security because we’re the only ones allowed to legally carry them. It would blow my cover. Besides, I haven’t even begun my weapons training.”
“Okay, you shouldn’t go armed, but I insist that you have a way to call for help. Go to your mail slot and remove a package you’ll find there.”
Danielle did as he said and then opened the package. She pulled out a new com that looked exactly like the one she normally used. Inspector Connor said, “This is your new com. This one is programmed with all the same numbers you currently have, except that if you press your thumb on the crystal display and rotate it clockwise, it will immediately activate a locator beacon for us to find you. Touching it with your thumb won’t make it work; it has to be pressed down. It will also let us know that you’re in trouble and need help. If you’re out with him I am going to have floaters stationed around the city that can get to any place in less than sixty seconds. That’s how long you’ll have to delay for help to arrive.”
She took the new com and put it on her wrist. “Thank you, sir. I do appreciate your interest in my safety. I might be wrong about Tag, but he seems to have so many things that point towards him that I feel like I need to eliminate him as a suspect before I can move forward.”
“Then by all means, do what you need to do,” Inspector Connor said, “but don’t forget we’re right there if you need us.”
Danielle and Tag were walking through the entertainment section of Central City that evening. The bright lights and crowds out enjoying themselves gave a light and happy atmosphere to the young couple. She had picked him up in her floater even though he had protested. She won the argument when she asked how many floaters his family had. When he told her they only had one, she said, “It’s unfair to your parents to have to stay home when you go out. My family has two so I’ll drive.”
“Boy, she’s hard to argue with,” Tag thought. They had had several discussions during the evening, and though he thought he was pretty smart, he was no match for her skill at putting things together. He was amazed at her insights. But there was still a part of him that wondered why she had wanted to go out with him. Every boy in the school had asked her out or wanted to ask her, and she had politely declined them all. Then she asked him out. “What’s wrong with this picture?” he wondered. He knew he was not the best looking. Shoot, even Eric was better looking. He could still hear Eric on the com before he left home: “All right, Tag. Make sure you take a shower, wash under your arms, and shave that peach fuzz you call a beard. Then go out and buy a mask because none of that will help.” Then Eric laughed out loud and suggested that the mask should be a copy of his face. He finally told Tag to have a good time and that he was lucky to be going out with such a special girl.
“And she is special,” Tag thought. “She knows she’s beautiful but she doesn’t wear it like a crown. She has a ready smile, a quick wit, and seems to enjoy other people.” He normally could not relax around females, but she had him laughing and feeling quite comfortable within fifteen minutes of leaving his house. But that still didn’t answer why she chose him.
“What’s that look on your face about?” Danielle asked. They were walking out of Checkmate Cinema where they had seen an action movie that really wasn’t very good, but the popcorn was.
“I was wondering why you chose me to go out with. You know as well as I that you’ve been asked by a lot of others. You don’t have to ask to be taken out. I guess I was trying to figure out, why me?”
“You have a pretty low opinion of yourself, don’t you?” she quipped.
He looked her straight in the eye and said, “Danielle, I know that I am average in appearance and I’m okay with that. People like me, but I am not among those that are the most popular. There’s nothing about me that jumps out and screams, ‘Date me because there’s no one better.’ Of course, that’s excluding Eric.”
She laughed out loud and said, “That sounds like Eric.” Then she looked at him still looking into her eyes and said, “You’re serious?”
“Yes, I am. You could have your choice of anyone; why me?”
“Because of me,” she answered.
“Now I’m confused,” Tag said.
“Let me try to help you. When I was in school…” She stopped, paused, and said, “The school I was in before I transferred here, I had a huge crush on a boy named James. It started in my middle levels and quite frankly I felt like he was way out of my league. He looked great, he was one of the most popular, he was athletic, he moved gracefully, and I felt he was the most wonderful thing I had ever seen.”
“What happened?”
“In my middle level, I was not much to look at. I wore glasses and had a very small body. I’ve been described at that age as looking like a twig with a head on it. I really felt like I had no chance with James, so I never told him how I felt.”
“I find that hard to believe, Danielle. You’re beautiful, easy to talk to, nothing like what you’re describing.”
“Well that’s how it was, Tag. That is until I entered my higher levels. I developed fast and no longer needed glasses. Then one day James asked me out.”
“Boy, I’ll bet that made your day.”
“You have no idea. The day seemed like it would never get to the time he was going to pick me up. All my dreams were coming true. And then he was there and we left to go out into a world that now seemed like paradise.”
“You had to be on top of the world,” Tag said, feeling somewhat jealous.
“I was. We met a group of his friends at a fast food place and just sat around and talked. I was having a great time. Then one of his buddies came over and talked about how he had gone through the worst experience in math class. James asked him what the problem was, and he said he just couldn’t figure out the answer to one of the questions.”
“Then what happened?”
“Well, James asked if he remembered the question and his friend had written it down on a piece of paper. He showed it to James and his friends and they shook their heads and said, ‘No way, man. No one can do this.’ I thought I’d impres
s them, so I took the paper and answered the question. It really wasn’t that hard.”
“Big mistake, Danielle,” Tag said.
“I know that now, but James dropped me faster than a bad habit. I was heartbroken. But I learned from that experience.”
“What did you learn?”
“I learned that although James was great to look at, his conversation was boring and he was shallow. I learned that boys don’t like their women smarter than they are. I learned that when they find out you are smarter, they leave skid marks trying to get away. And lastly, I learned that beauty, true beauty, comes from the light that emanates from a person’s inner fire. It’s that glow that makes a person beautiful to be around. To answer your question why you; I wanted to confirm to myself that you really are as smart as Leila said you were, and I wanted to see if the fire behind your eyes was real.” Suddenly, Danielle realized that looking for Superman was not the real reason she had asked Tag out. It was a good reason, but not the real one. At some level, she was drawn to him.
“So shut up and have a good time,” she said to Tag, “or you want I should tag ya one?”
Tag laughed and said, “No, that won’t be necessary, I’ll behave.” And Tag suddenly realized that for the first time since second level, Leila had not been in his thoughts. “Danielle is special,” he thought. As they continued to walk toward her floater, she placed her hand in his and felt that little shock again.
Neither said anything all the way home. When she dropped him off she said, “Tag, you’re it. You have to ask next time.” The she left.
Danielle thought, “Girl, you’re a chocolate mess. How did he get you to open up like that? He’ll probably just mark this up to a bad experience.” Then her com beeped. “Hello,” she said.
“How about tomorrow at seven?” she heard Tag ask.
“I look forward to it,” she said.
“Like you did with James,” he said with a twinkle in his voice.
“Don’t press your luck, Tag master, I can catch you and pop you a good one.”