Gold Rush

by Clay Moore

  Travel between the stars was always stopped short of the planet. The internal ship’s computer can keep track of the star systems, but also trying to keep track of worlds and other items in a star system were beyond most computers. Each system had a Gazetteer Satellite. This satellite was placed near the most common entry and exit points. When a starship arrived, it would check the satellite for location. And then the satellite will give the position of the prominent planets of the system.

  When the Satellite recognized Brian’s ship, it sent the Gazetteer for the system. The computer screen on the right side console showed the necessary information. That information was not written by someone from Alphacent.

  The main bone of contention is that Alphacent is not orbiting just Alpha Centauri. Alphacent is orbiting the Binary star Alpha Centauri AB. The Colonist did not understand astrometric distinctions and promptly named the World Alpha Centauri which was shortened to Alphacent over the centuries.

  “I have the least time jump to Alphacent’s Hyper Exclusion Zone’s border.”

  In spacer slang, a jump is a trip into hyper to move long distances within a star system. Most jumps are less than ten minutes in hyper. Brian leaned over and hit the hyper button. This was the so-called hyper button because the computer had to do last minute calculations before entering hyper. All the button did was say “Go!”

  A few seconds later he was back in hyper. When he came out, he was in a far orbit around a world that looked as Earth-like as possible. It even had the megalopolises of ancient Earth. Alphacent had a population of two point five trillion people. The Oceans were still blue and what land they had left was green and brown. This was a combination of a Radamite power economy and a draconian waste disposal system.

  Amarantha came out of the jump right on the button. Amarantha spun the ship on its axis. She started the two huge Starjets for the approach and landing. And moved the ship along the axis. This was a busy port of call for most merchantman.

  Brian put on his headset. He turned to the frequency used by convention as the com channel for Orbit control. Before he did that he had a small bit of business to do.

  On the first deck was a small tube. At the top of the tube was a magazine that held six small soccer ball sized satellites. From his chair, he could use a linear accelerator to fire the satellite out of the tube. He fired three of the satellites. They were programmed to go to their stations. They were supposed to be stealthy. They must have been because he was not challenged for the unauthorized release of material. All he knew was that the satellites would be online three hours later.

  “Alphacent Orbit control, this is PV-267. Request permission to enter Orbit for destination McKenney Starport.”

  “PV-267, you are cleared to enter orbit. The suggested flight path is on your overlay. Contact Traffic control for permission to land. Be advised that McKenney is booked up in the Private pads.”

  “I have a reservation, Orbit control.”

  “Smart man, PV-267.”

  Brian drove the ship through the rectangles and entered orbit four hours later. Traffic control put him in a slot, and he had to wait a few hours in orbit while McKenney got things sorted out. Traffic control transferred control of the ship to McKenney. McKenney was so busy that they had to land the ship via computer control. He wanted to be in McKenney inside of Touchdown, one of the seven megalopolises of Alphacent, and also the capital of the planet.

  Brian watched his descent through the window and his sensors. When he could make out the building, he looked at it. The Starport was almost a mile square. Instead of pads that opened up to the sky, the pads were in structures like chimneys. You descended the chimney while other ships ascended on the other side of the chimney. When you reached your pad, they would stop your descent and use your thrusters to edge your ship over into the pad. There you went through your shutdown procedure. The Pad hands would connect your ship to all dockside services you want.

  His small Agent Runner descended into the chimney. In front of him, he saw some of the pads. The landing pads were all of the uniform sizes. This is how Alphacent affects ship design. If you wanted to buy a ship and use the pad your ship had to conform to the size regulation. Brian had already checked Amarantha’s dimensions with the McKenney dimension app.

  His ship came to a halt. It rotated on its axis. His Main engines were shut off, and the Auxiliary Power Unit took up the load of the lifting null grav generator. Then the thrusters moved the ship across to the open Pad, number 30-124; thirtieth chimney 124th Pad.

  The pad workers had him hooked up quickly he was able to shut down the Auxiliary Power Unit. He had the atmosphere intake routed to the people spaces in the ship. When he was gone, Amarantha would reroute the atmosphere intake to the compressors for storage in the air tanks. He also cycled the bad water out of the ship. He also set the garbage on the slip floor.

  He had taken care of the ship’s needs. Now he had to get some information for his mission needs.

  A GIFT BETWEEN TWO FRIENDS

  Before he spoke to his contact, he thought he should spruce up. He took a shower and shaved., Then he put on one of his gray suits. Then he walked to the com unit in his cockpit. He dialed the direct number to McKenny Starport administration. The person on the other side looked like a worker drone.

  “Good morning, I need to speak to the Administrator concerning John Spades.”

  Brian saw the man start. He nodded and the “please wait” screen came on. Then thirty seconds later a dark-skinned man with his black curly hair done up in ringlets appeared

  “This is Venceslas Bosch, And who might you be.”

  “I am a friend bringing gifts.”

  “What kind of gifts?”

  Brian had a choice of offering himself, but that was not his style. Instead, he brought along a case of the finest Eridani scotch. Brian reached down into the little locker and took out one of the bottles and held it up to the video pickup as if he were some kind of gameshow model trying to sell the bottle. Brian could see that he was affecting Venceslas. He could see some of the drool coming out of his mouth.

  “That is quite some gift.”

  “For a trivial request.”

  “What request?”

  “I need the time a liner is due to touchdown and what gate from which the passengers will be debarking.”

  “Done and done. Who would interest someone from Eridani.”

  “Harry Witherspoon.”

  “Let me see.” Brian could hear the clacking of a keyboard. “Ahhh there he is.”

  “When and what gate?”

  “I think I be thinking two of dat would be nicer.”

  “You got the math right. Two would be nicer. You know what I am?”

  “Of course. It was explained to me.”

  “One bottle.”

  “Okay. It’s getting hard to get a bribe around here.”

  “Wait. I am not through needing things.”

  “Okay, what else you need?”

  “Is there some way to get to the head of the line getting out of here?”

  “Yes, a platinum pass.”

  “I don’t know when I need it, or if I will need it.”

  “I hold it in your file and activate it at your command.”

  “I think that calls for a second bottle.” Brian showed him another full bottle of scotch.

  “You, sir, are a gentleman. When you go to the liner side leave the bottles on the customs scan machine. I pick it up later. Your target is on the new Central Lines out of Eridani. They will touchdown at gate 48 at 2:65 local time. We have a weird clock.”

  “I can see that. That’s two hours from now. I have to get some things ready.”

  “I think that things are going to get interesting around here.”

  “I will try not to make it too interesting.”

  “I got the balls of the city in my hands. If I am killed, the starport locks down, nothing in or out.”

  “Okay. Bottles will be at the location in a
few minutes.” Brian cut the channel.

  He opened the ship’s safe. Brian put on the concealed carry belt holster. He added the Pistol that he had put a couple hundred rounds through. Brian picked up a magazine and inserted it into the pistol’s grip. Then he took three magazines with him tucking them in the belt holster opposite his body from the gun. Then he reached into the penultimate shelf. A package had come just before button up from Quartermaster. It was a small segmented case. He opened it and saw six very sturdy metallic disks. The upward side was smooth and somewhat shiny. The bottom side seemed to want to grab at the weave of the cloth.

  He used these before in the Agent Training class. The side that seemed to want to grip cloth was the thing he had to use. He just had to throw the disk so that it would grasp cloth on his target. The shiny side would reflect the material it was on making it very stealthy. The trick was to just toss it on the person, not throw it like a throwing knife. He hit more often than he missed, but that was not enough to recommend him to throw the clutch ball in a baseball game. He broke open one of the sealed bags that contained six of the transponders.

  “Satellite one is at orbit position.,” announced Amarantha.

  Well, That was good news. The next two Satellites were the trickiest. If they were seen before they shut down their drives, Alphacent might destroy them, or scoop them up to find out who made them, and what they did. If they found what they did, the Service would have to go back to old fashioned personal surveillance. Brian did not want the mission establishing a traditional Station on Alphacent.

  Brian put the six transponders in his right coat pocket. He kept them in the bag because they did not grip the plastic used to package them. Brian picked up a throwaway bag and put the two bottles of scotch in it. He left the ship thus armed. He went through the pad floor and took the elevator down to the entrance to the gates. The Starport actually started 56 stories above the ground. It sprawled over a mile of real estate and cause the building at the bottom to subsume the ground level into their structure. The result was a block a mile on each side of the continuous building.

  He found the customs station. He saw the scanning machine. He put the bag on the device. The Officials all nodded at Brian as if this was done all the time. It was probably repeated many times a day. Brian ducked under a metal railing that guided people into the Starport. He followed the sign that said liner side. Then Brian followed that sign till another read to gates 40-49. He stayed outside of the gate area. Brian was in the guided trace for gate 48. Once someone got his bearings, he would want to begin the trek to the Customs and Immigration section.

  Brian activated his Slate. Advertising around the rat track was for this newsflash site. This site tried to look like an old-fashioned newspaper. He bought the day from the site. All the news flashes for the day was included. He read the paper. Nobody questioned why he was there. He was about to find out why.

  A family group wearing broadcloth shirts and blue jeans came bustling up. They were there to meet the liner. The older man that had to be the father of this family made sure that none of his family touched Brian. The father did this saying “He is an upper level. Don’t touch him.”

  Brian tried to ignore them. He figured that would be how an “upper level” might treat inferiors. This was unknown in Eridani. Apparently, there was a class system in place on Alphacent. Brian did not read that in the gazetteer, or in the briefing for the mission.

  Through the PA he heard the announcement for the Central Lines Datang, debarking gate 48. Brian slipped his slate into his left suit coat pocket. He did what all expectant people did he stood on tiptoes and gawked.

  Halfway into the debarkation, Brian laid eyes on his target, Harry Witherspoon. Harry had to buy his clothes with the idea of standing out. The particolored Suit could only be worn by a clown, and that was probably what he was. Brian went with the flow at first. He pressed forward through the throng. He had to be closer to Harry. He did not trust his tossing skills. This mission was too critical to trust to poor tossing ability.

  As he got closer to the target, he could see that the particolored suit was rumpled, probably the only one he has. Brian reached into his right coat pocket and took out a tracker. The distance was ebbing and flowing between them. Then suddenly the mass of people came to an abrupt halt. Brian reached out and barely touched Witherspoon.

  “Tracker Activated,” said Amarantha through his earbug

  Brian let the crowd flow around him. Then he ducked under the metal railing that was guiding everyone to the Customs and immigration section. The officials saw it, but they said nothing. That bugged Brian. Why didn’t the rules pertain to him? He went back to his landing pad and boarded his ship. He asked that question of Amarantha, and she also did not know.

  He needed to get to his hotel. He went into his quarters and packed the suitcase with a ship work uniform, a couple of pairs of golf slacks, a red and a blue knit golf shirt, two grey suits and the black suit., and the Tuxedo He took his toiletry kit, and appropriate shoes. He sealed his suitcase and put it on the lift to the first deck. He walked back to his quarters. He put on the bed the box for the chemicals he may need. He also added a pneumatic gun to shoot the needles if he needed. To this, he added the silencer for his pistol, his slate and his broadcast power unit that would charge all of his devices. He made sure of his Personal com and the earbug that allowed Amarantha to talk with him. Then he threw in a couple of filled magazines. Then he shut the case and engaged the hasps.

  He walked out of the ship and down to the entrance of the starport with his suitcase, briefcase, and a black overcoat. He just walked through the VIP exit, and no one challenged him. He grabbed the second taxi in line and asked to go to the Hotel Clement.

  A MEETING OF THE MINDS

  Andrea Martin finished reading a report from the Gold operation, Planetary Interests was operating by proxy out of Eridani. She was angry after reading the description. She pushed the intercom with her receptionist. The dark-haired bimbo was only meant to be scenery and relay orders to other people. She answered the intercom.

  “Yes, Miss Martin?”

  “Ask Director Hecton to step into my office please.”

  “Mister Hecton, Yes, ma’am.”

  Five minutes later Anton Hecton walked into the office. He wore a suit of Lovat lumpy silk, the color of his cobalt eyes. He had a shock of white hair brushed back to make the hair get out of his eyes. A gold ring was on his right ring finger. When he smiled, he showed his biosculpt teeth. Under his left arm, he wore a forty caliber, six-inch barrel Lammertech A-15. The gun was an indication of his real job in Planetary Interests.

  “Well Mister Security Director, Explain what happened on Eridani?”

  Anton winced when she used those words. Anton had to have her office cleaned when she was really ticked.

  “The relatively new Eridani Secret Service did what they had to. With the assistance of their Planetary Police, they managed to roll up our operation quite nicely. The last operation was conducted quite differently.”

  “How differently?”

  “The degree of brutality was more than what the Eridani police services normally do. What was being said in the second case is that you will die if we catch you again.”

  “Have a seat.”

  Anton breathed a sigh of relief. He unbuttoned his coat and sat down.

  “How excessive?”

  Anton crossed his legs and made a show of settling into the chair for more time. You had to feed her this kind of information in a particular order if you wanted to stay alive.

  “There appeared to be a single agent or agency. This agent if he exists managed to band the locals together. From the reports, he led them in a battle and decimated our forces. They appeared to also have gotten military support during the battle.”

  Anton stopped at that point. Andrea waiting for Anton to proceed. He remained silent.

  “What really happened?”

  Anton sat still looking at the conditi
on of his Nails. Then he looked up and began his tale. “My sources in the police said that the so-called special investigation unit discovered the first mine. The unit had a rather important guest with them, a new kind of agent with more power and responsibility. As soon as Gold was involved, he assumed command and dropped the Marine Squad on site. Gold is the responsibility of the Eridani Secret Service.”

  “Yes, I know. I remember our many briefings on the subject over the years. I thought they were mostly gathering intelligence and analysis. This action seems out of character.”

  “You are correct as usual. The Secret service appears to have subsumed the Eridani High Guard Intelligence Division. As you know that organization was mainly interested in gathering intelligence for the contract selection committee. They also sold their analysis to anyone. Companies and government could subscribe to their daily briefing. More detailed analysis was available for a substantial price.”

  “I know. I read our copy when it comes in. It’s pretty accurate.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Too freakin’ accurate if you ask me, which you just did. Eridani Secret Service touched on our operations.”

  “Did they name us as the culprit.”

  “No. What an Agent force does is allow them to gather information personally. Signals give us one part of the puzzle. Boots on the ground complete that picture. Agents are used to recruiting spies. This agent does not appear to be involved in data collection, or at least that is not their primary job.”

  “What could it be?”

  “At a guess, assassination.”

  Andrea sat with her jaw hanging slack. “Are you telling me that someone over in Eridani grew a pair?”

  Anton smiled at that rejoinder. “That appears to be the case.”

  “Are we in danger?”

  “Yes. Any time an opposition force adopts a new tactic we are in danger. Eridani has one of the best trained and equipped military. What would happen if they took one of these trained military men, and trained him in tradecraft, and then point him or her at a mission? Military people are direct. One of the things you will have to train in them is to the ability to improvise.”