* * *
Specimen was just waking up, groaning, as Raseen eased the shuttle into the docking bay of the Ophiuchi ship. It wasn’t so much a bay as it was a mass of soft strands ending in hooks. They latched on in a hundred places and pulled the shuttle in.
The Ophiuchi ship itself looked completely organic, biological. Like a massive hard shelled creature, segmented at odd angles. Normally Raseen would have been curious but there was something bordering on repulsive about the ship.
What made Raseen uneasy might be frightening to Specimen, best to warn him before he saw it.
Too late.
“Oh God...Did we just get eaten by a giant crab?”
Specimen had walked onto the bridge just as they were settling into a liquid filled chamber.
“No. Not a crab. This is our ride to GalCon Central. It’s an Ophiuchi ship. I do admit it’s a bit strange.”
“Strange?” Specimen stumbled back a step. “It’s a nightmare. Are those giant worms with hooks on their faces? My God they are...”
Raseen tried for logic. “Specimen, you know there are a great many, um, ‘zany’ creatures in the universe. This is one of them. It’s all perfectly safe. They are part of GalCon. Friends.”
Specimen shook his head. Looked out the viewport again, then looked away.
“’Zany’ huh? Whatever you say Raseen. I’m staying in the shuttle though. No way I’m going out there for a meet and greet.”
“That might not be possible. I promised they could examine you,” Raseen said.
“Examine? What?” Specimen’s glowing hands spontaneously shot out, as if by reflex.
“Specimen. You have to understand. Most galactics have never seen a human. They are a survey ship. They study life. It will be painless I swear.” Raseen could see Specimen wasn’t convinced. He squinted at Raseen. That was human for ‘not convinced’.
Raseen took another tact. “Besides, I cut a deal. They scan you in exchange for a ride to Central. You’re a soldier. Think of it as a necessary step to complete the mission.”
There. That did it. Specimen straightened his back and his expression blanked. He was part of that strange subset of humans. The tough guy. There would be no more complaints or arguments.
There was a knock on the airlock door, the Ophiuchi had arrived. They put their bioscanner in the side airlock. It looked like a mucus filled torture device. Through the com they asked him to step into it.
Specimen’s blank expression cracked only briefly.
Chapter Ten
Maggie sat in her cell by the door, speaking to Cannon through the wall intercom. He was agitated. He nearly tore the door off before she’d calmed him down. He was frustrated. Powerless. He knew he could break her out of her cell at any moment, everyone knew that, but that’s what they wanted.
“McMurphy wants us to seem like we are out of control. I think I understand his game. Power. He’s always about power. He needs us working for him. If we look like we are out of control, untrustworthy, we play right into his hands.”
“So promise me Cannon. You do nothing. For now.”
“For now?” Cannon’s eye had a glimmer of hope. He knew Maggie well. She could see he understood. Do nothing now. Later they would tear down this whole damn place if they wanted.
Most people under estimated her. Even after taking down the Torvin they still thought of her as nice. Weak. Only Cannon knew better. Cannon and Patty. Patty knew just about everything Maggie knew.
“That goes for you too Patty, I’m sure you are listening in.” With their mental link Patty was always listening in.
Maggie felt the USS Patton, about a quarter mile away in her docking bay, give a grudging affirmative. Maggie sent a joking mental image of what they were going to do to McMurphy once she got out. Patty sent back a feeling of joy and justice.
Maggie looked through the small window in her door at Cannon and said, “Let it play out. Someone needs to stick up for the super humans. Someone needs to fight the Conscription Act in court. It’s going to be me. So promise me you’ll stay out of it.”
“I will. For now.”
Maggie smiled at him. Hoping to reassure him. This hero business was his racket. All gung ho Marine Corps to the bone. Maggie was an art teacher turned superhero. She didn’t like it, but it was thrust upon her. People like McMurphy were trying to use and control super humans and Maggie was in the best position to fight it.
All over the world it was happening. You could see it on the news. Maggie hadn’t realized it when she was being arrested, but the last few days she’d had nothing but time to think. She scanned news coverage from all over the world. Made friends with security systems, interacted with covert databases the world over.
Just about every major government was doing its best to recruit and control supers. The problem was governments use people for their own ends, and supers were far too powerful to give over their free will, their conscience, to an unfeeling government. Governments could, and often did, order immoral things be done.
Super humans needed to be free of the politics. The squabbling. Maggie saw that now. They needed to be their own group. Only other supers could regulate supers anyway. Maggie’s situation was a perfect example. McMurphy claimed the authority to detain her, but he completely lacked the power. She could leave at any time. Even without her power over electronic minds she could simply kick the door off its hinges and walk out.
She wasn’t going to do that though. That would be selfish. If she could win this by playing the political game she could win not just for herself, but for everyone. For Cannon, Wraith and his family, Anne, even Patty.
So she played the politics game. For now.
* * *
Maggie stood in a small courtroom in front of three judges. They didn’t look like any judges she had ever seen. No black robes or funny wigs. These men had on military uniforms. Stars on their shoulders. Probably ranked ‘grand poohbah’ or something. They definitely thought of themselves as important, you could tell that by the way they shuffled in and looked over her head when talking to her.
Maggie was surprised to realize that none of the cameras in the room were broadcasting. They weren’t even recording. There was a small gallery of people in the back of the courtroom, mostly military mucky mucks with slightly less impressive shoulder pads than the ones the judges had.
Plus there was Cannon and Cordel. McMurphy was sitting with what must have been an attorney off to the side, he had the briefcase, tie and bad hair of an attorney anyway.
So. This was to be a secret hearing. Only those present would see what was happening. She’d not seen anything about her arrest on the news either. They weren’t ready to make a public spectacle of her then. Not yet ready to use her as a bludgeon to scare other supers into compliance.
She’d half expected them to parade her around as a warning to people like Wraith and his grandkids, and Blondie. Show them what noncompliance with the Special Conscription and Registration Act would get them.
But no. That would just drive them further underground. They were after something else, her compliance. Her agreement to help them lure others into outing themselves so the government could press them into service. They hoped to use her for her fame, a recruiting tool.
Fat chance.
The judge in the middle banged a little hammer and everyone went quiet.
He spoke up, “Margaret Cole, we are here today to discuss several distinct areas of alleged misconduct. This is just a preliminary hearing. Nothing will be decided today. Right now we are limiting this to a general discussion, to see if further inquiry is justified.
Do you understand, Miss Cole?”
Maggie hesitated. Thinking. She made the decision. Yes. Now was the time. With a quick thought she turned on all the cameras in the room. Quietly. No one seemed to notice. With another thought she piped the feed to Patty, who waited patiently in her docking bay.
Record this Patty. We might need it later.
Sure
thing Maggie. I knew you had a plan. Go get ‘em.
Maggie stood up, “Yes your honor. I understand.”
The judge shuffled some papers and continued. “Let me start off by saying we as a nation owe you a great deal of gratitude. It pains me to sit here today on this issue. There are several instances here, as reported by numerous sources, that you have been willfully insubordinate. Refusing to follow orders, specifically refusing to recruit other super humans under the Special Conscription and Registration Act.”
“Some violations, such as using government property without authorization, those can be overlooked. With respect to you, we are persuaded that taking out the USS Patton on special night missions has a definite training purpose. So we aren’t going to pursue that beyond this hearing.”
Maggie could hear Director McMurphy shifting in his seat. Let him squirm. There were no teeth in that charge anyway. It was akin to borrowing a military jeep for the night. A giant flying one with transatmospheric and supersonic capabilities, but still no big deal.
The judge continued, “Our leniency on that issue, however, does not extend to the aforementioned refusal to recruit super humans. We have a report that says you have been in contact with at least 2, possibly as many as 4, super humans and have thus far refused to recruit them or share any information about them.”
“What do you have to say about these accusations? And more importantly, will you promise us here today that you will abide by the law from here on out?”
Maggie stood up, once again. She doubled checked the cameras. Again. Double checked with Patty that the feed was going through. Everything was working. At that point she was just stalling.
Well, here goes nothing.
“The reason I have not enforced the Conscription Act is that it is illegal and immoral.” Maggie’s tone was level. She squeaked a little at first, but that last part came out strong. She surged ahead, reminding herself to speak slow.
“The act is illegal in that it violates principals of the 13th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, those amendments guard citizens against involuntary servitude, slavery, and requires everyone have access to equal protection under the law.”
Maggie gave an unspoken thank you to all the draft dodging websites on the internet. With enough hours sitting in a holding cell researching something you could almost sound like you knew what you were talking about.
The judges were shifting in their seats. So, maybe Maggie did know what she was talking about.
“It is immoral to force people to join the military because of a condition they were born with. We don’t force black Americans to join against their will. We don’t force Jews or Japanese. We should not force super Americans either.”
“To defend freedom you do not start by enslaving an entire class of people. In the end, slavery never works out.”
There. Short and sweet. Put on a grim face for the cameras. Perfect. This was going well.
That’s when all hell broke loose in the court room. McMurphy was yelling at the judges and the judges were talking among themselves. McMurphy’s lawyer was trying to calm him down.
The best bit of theater, which Maggie hadn’t counted on, was from Cordel. Maggie had forgotten he was black. Even if she had considered it she never thought of him as an idealist. She should have known. He risked his career to allow Cannon and Maggie to escape. He was definitely a big picture guy.
Cordel’s bellow drowned out everyone. “That’s right! You listen to her! Service is a choice! A choice! We choose to serve!”
You could still hear his bellow even after Cannon had dragged him into the hallway and closed the door.
The middle judge was banging his little hammer again. The commotion slowly settled.
“Miss Marath...,er, Margaret Cole, you have given us something to think about. Much more than we had prepared to consider. We will recess for now and pick up again in one week. Court is adjourned.”
With that, the judges quickly exited. McMurphy was saying something but Maggie couldn’t make it out over the low roar of the gallery. Mention slavery and everyone goes batty. That suited Maggie just fine.
The judges hadn’t released her so she guessed she was still incarcerated. She walked back to her cell. Her military police escorts were soldiers first and cops second. Like all the military they were huge Miss Marathon fans. They were also 100% volunteers who had pledged to uphold the US Constitution. Her speech must have affected them as much, or more, as it had everyone else in the courtroom.
By the time she had gotten back to her cell the military police had stocked it with cookies, a huge flatscreen TV, a telephone and the most comfortable recliner she’d ever sat in. Somebody even ordered pizza.
Being a hero has it’s perks. Even in jail.
Chapter Eleven
Raseen still wasn’t used to the roiling tentacle free for all that accompanied communication with multiple Ophiuchi. The translator was having a hard time keeping up. Raseen couldn’t tell how many Ophiuchi were on his monitor, and there must have been several creatures off screen as well. They were having several conversations among themselves. Maybe arguing. Things weren’t translating in a way he could understand.
“Please, please, I am not understanding you. If you could speak one at a time the translator might be able to interpret.”
The roiling slowed to a stop and one Ophiuchi, who looked identical to all the others, began spinning and waiving its tentacles.
“We are very upset with your subterfuge, Raseen. This human, Specimen, is defective.”
They’d discovered his powers. Raseen was worried about that. Before he could respond the Ophiuchin continued.
“He appears to be missing his hands and his eyes are cybernetic. We have been forced to insert him into a regeneration bath. It is very expensive. We will be filing a complaint against you and demanding compensation when we arrive at GalCon Central.”
Ah, so they hadn’t discovered his super powers. Raseen hadn’t even thought about the hands and eyes. Specimen was as able, even more able, than any being he’d ever known. It had been months since he’d given any thought to his injuries.
Raseen said, “I do apologize. I did not intend to deceive.”
The Ophiuchi spun and worked its mouth hole. Raseen was starting to think it might double as an anus.
“We accept your apology. We will be keeping your human for the duration of the trip to assure no other misunderstandings occur.”
The Ophiuchi ended the connection. So, they were going to hold Specimen as a sort of hostage, to assure they were compensated for the regen tank. It shouldn’t be too dangerous. They were headed to Central, his instruments confirmed it. They were about a week away, maybe 3 more jumps. Specimen should be fine until then.
Hopefully they’d keep him sedated. Raseen would surely hear about it if they woke Specimen up and he became aggravated. They were scientists. They liked to study new life, experience new things. Raseen laughed to himself at what their reaction would be to green phantom hands swatting them around.
* * *
It’d been one week since Maggie’s hearing, the second hearing was postponed indefinitely. They still weren’t letting her out.
Maybe she shouldn’t have released the video of her speech at court.
Before she told Patty to release the video to every news outlet on the planet, the people of the world had no idea she was incarcerated. Now they knew she was not only in jail but she was also fighting for her civil rights.
The most famous woman in the world, once a hero, had become something closer to a deity. Every civil rights group in the world had come out in support of her. “Free Maggie” was emblazoned on everything. T-Shirts. Jackets. Graffitied onto walls. It really was a bit much.
Maggie sat and watched the evening news on her new big screen and laughed. They were replaying an interview from Cannon earlier in the week.
The interviewer held up the microphone to Cannon and asked, “Captain Ca
nnon, we know you and Miss Marathon are close. Why haven’t you rescued her?”
Cannon did his best superhero stance. He was really good at it.
“I could walk into Maggie’s cell right now. Tear off the doors and run off with her. It would be child’s play. But there’s more at stake here...” He paused and went on, sheepishly. “Plus she told me not to.”
The talking head came on for the inevitable analysis, “So there you go folks. Miss Marathon has willingly surrendered her freedom for this cause. Every day she remains in custody we are reminded of the injustice. Some are saying this is the next big civil rights battleground.”
Maggie leaned back in her recliner. She’d definitely made the impact she needed to. Hopefully the Conscription Act would be overturned. The only way to get super humans to come out of hiding was to let them know they wouldn’t be snatched up and shipped off to work for the military. At least some would volunteer to help when needed or asked. Forcing service on them could backfire, some would inevitably rebel against authority.
Maggie had a plan, to start a voluntary network of supers. It had already been started, more or less, with Cannon, Wraith and Blondie. But for it to work long term, in the open, she needed the mandatory service off the board.
* * *
Specimen regained consciousness in his hammock in that damned shuttle. Spaceflight really wasn’t for him. That hammock though, it was the most comfortable thing in the world. Looks like those squishy snake armed creatures were done scanning him. He looked up and saw Raseen looking down at him. The shuttle seemed a lot brighter than he remembered. Probably the lights had been turned up.
Raseen had on his concerned face. A weak approximation of the human expression. Raseen should really give up on mimicking human expressions. He didn’t have the facial muscles for it. Anyway, it made him look creepy.
“What’s up Raseen? How long was I out?”
“Ten days.”
“What?” Specimen shot straight up in his hammock, causing it to swing back and forth. He nearly fell out but grabbed a handhold to steady himself.
Miss Marathon #2: Bay City Defenders Page 6