by David Gill
Night turned to day, causing Jenna to jump. The external base lights flickered and flared, rending the darkness asunder and mercilessly exposing Jenna in their glare. Inside the base building a figure moved along a row of windows and stopped facing Jenna. It gave her a wave. The sight of Carrick caused Jenna to retch, and she was unable to prevent the bitter juices from spraying into her helmet.
Jenna returned Carrick's stare. Now all the outer doors would be guarded, and she would no longer be able to enter the base without his knowledge. Carrick pulled a chair to the window and casually sat down to watch as the dust continued its inexorable pull at Jenna's leaden feet. She was trapped, with nowhere to hide and nowhere to go, except back to meet Carrick, which, with less than thirty minutes of air left, was inevitable unless she was effectively prepared to commit suicide. What would Carrick do to her? Then the enormity of her predicament overcame her and Jenna burst into tears.
'Brant, why did you leave me? Vance, where are you?' she cried. Through her tear-filled eyes Carrick appeared to be moving in the window. She looked again and saw him double up with laughter. He was taunting her, waiting for her to come begging at the airlock door. Another flood of tears welled to Jenna's eyes and then she heard the sound of distant voices. Someone was out there, and they had come to save her! Yes! The voices grew louder and angrier. Jenna looked desperately around, seeking the location of the jeering crowd, then remembered hearing the same voices before and recognized the sound of the Phasewaves talking to each other as they went out of synchronisation. The last strands of Jenna's optimism snapped. She let out a cry of anger and shook her fist at the figure in the window, losing her balance in the process and toppling slowly backwards. Next came darkness, complete and total, followed by silence. Jenna lay floating, weightless, in a black sea, not knowing where she was or what she was. Warmth and comfort slowly enveloped her in their embrace, easing the distress and driving away the fear until she slipped into a state of total relaxation and knew nothing more.
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Chapter five
Jarvine craned his head back for a better view of the giant moon hanging overhead, almost close enough to touch. Stars twinkled through a haze of smoke in the darkness around its circumference.
'What do you think of this place?' asked Slater.
The nightclub was crowded and full of noise and activity. Jarvine looked around the room. All the booths were full and several couples danced to slow music in the gloom of a central dance floor. 'This is something else.'
'It's not bad, is it? You wouldn't know you're on level ten below ground, would you?'
'I've lived in Kalmis all my life and I've never heard of the "Moonlight". How do you get in here?'
'Usually with friends,' said Slater, 'although having money won't stop you getting past the door.'
'So you come here a lot?'
'Some. The building is bug proof, so it's a nice, cosy place to be if you want to meet people and talk without worrying about who's listening. You're out of reach of the law down here.'
Jarvine was seeing a side of Slater he had not suspected existed, and he speculated about what kind of people Slater met in the club and why. The tall figure of a hostess wending her way across the dance floor with a tray of drinks caught Jarvine's eye. To his surprise, she came straight to their table and placed two heavy glasses on it. Jarvine could not keep his eyes off her. Her pure white skin and shaven head emphasized the finely structured bones of her face. She fixed Jarvine with a wide-eyed stare before turning away and, as she did so, he noticed that her dress consisted of hanging strips of semi-transparent material and that she was naked underneath it. He followed her progress back across the dance floor until the flashing white stripes of her buttocks melted into the darkness, unable to tear his gaze away.
'Forget it,' said Slater. 'She's way outside your price range.'
'What?' All Jarvine could see was a pair of steel-grey eyes boring into his and a long strip of white thigh.
'I said don't think about her; she's a rich man's toy. On the other hand,' he added pensively, 'it might be a different story if you were a millionaire.'
Jarvine dragged his attention back to the table. He picked up his glass and swallowed a large slug of clear liquid. 'Hey, this is good stuff.'
'They don't do second best. This is export quality, brought in from the Colonies.'
'Well, they sure know how to look after you.' Jarvine took another gulp from his glass and looked around again, but most of the booths were screened, hiding their occupants
'Let's get down to business,' said Slater. 'Have you got anything to tell me?'
'I still haven't made up my mind,' said Jarvine. 'I'm worried. If your plan goes wrong we're in deep trouble. The money wouldn't be much use to us then.'
'A hit for five million isn't going to go away. Think of what will happen if we don't take it. Whoever picks up the contract isn't going to worry about the carnage they're going to leave behind them. For that kind of money they're going to tear Plano apart. They'll probably take out the whole team and when the dust settles we're going to be the ones left trying to answer the questions.'
'It's got nothing to do with us,' said Jarvine. 'They're all Gil's people.'
'Doesn't that send you a warning,' said Slater. 'A hit like this can't take place without inside information and guess who was kept out of the team, who wasn't around at the time. If I was doing the investigation I know where I would start looking. Make no mistake, we're going to be put under the same pressure whether we were involved or not. If whoever takes it on goes into Plano in force, three agents and a suspect could go down and after a hit like that the whole of the Security forces will be out for blood. At least if we do it my way only two get the chop.'
'It still sounds too risky.'
'Whatever happens, we're already involved. Even if we don't take it we could still get caught up; all it would take would be the slightest suspicion that we know something and you can guess the rest.'
'The more I hear the less I like the sound of it.'
'What's really worrying you?'
'It's Declan.' Jarvine pulled a face. 'I don't like the idea of killing Declan. Whatever happens, he's still one of us.'
'Don't be concerned about Declan. That Milo is more of a problem because he's got his own contacts, but I can arrange for his team to be recalled from Plano before we act. I'll take care of all the dirty work and finish off Jenna and Declan, but I can't do everything on my own. I need you to work with me and watch my back. If you don't join me I'll have to pull out.'
Jarvine drained his glass but, before he could put it on the table, replacements arrived and Jarvine found himself staring into the expressionless grey eyes. Once again he watched her sway from sight across the dance floor. 'So what do you intend to do?'
'It's going to look like an accident. I've got it all worked out; there won't be any recriminations.'
'How are you going to fake the accident?'
'Don't worry about that. Something will happen and then Jenna and Declan won't be around anymore.'
'Tell me about it.'
'Not unless you're with me. If you drop out the less you know the better.'
Jarvine thought it over. 'What happens afterwards?'
'We'll be protected, and the money will be paid anywhere we want.'
'Who's going to protect us?'
'Are you in or not?'
'I'm still working on it.'
'For your own protection I can't go any further unless you're committed.'
Jarvine was still undecided.
'Okay,' said Slater. 'I'm going to level with you. I've called in a favour from someone - I've got high level protection.'
'In the Department? How high?'
'Very high.'
'What? Above Gil? In the Security Service? A Council member?'
Slater picked up his glass and looked away.
'I don't believe you,' said Jarvine.
Slater
put down his glass. 'Listen, I've done favours for people in the past. Top people don't get where they are on their own; they've all got murky backgrounds and being on the Council doesn't mean that they're any cleaner than the rest of us. What I'm saying to you is that whatever the outcome there won't be a full investigation, and you and I will be in the clear.'
'I don't know,' said Jarvine, still unwilling to commit himself.
'We've been through some scrapes together in the past, but name one occasion when I haven't delivered what I've promised or failed to cover for you.'
Jarvine could not think of one.
'Here's what we do,' said Slater. 'In three days' time we'll take Jenna and Declan away from Plano and make sure they never come back. Afterwards their bodies will be discovered elsewhere and it will be confirmed that they died as the result of an accident.'
'There's full time surveillance, and what about Gil?'
'As I said, the support team at Plano won't be there when this happens, and Gil will have conveniently been called off the case. Afterwards Gil will lose the Department, which will be up for grabs. The powers that be will then be looking for someone to take over who wasn't involved in the fuck-up that lost a suspect and an investigator. How do you fancy helping me run the Justice Department? At least we can quell any backlash from the deaths, and I like the idea of taking it easy for a change, letting others do the running around. I already know of some deals we can get involved in; this could be the start of a very lucrative arrangement.'
'It sounds too easy, the way you put it.'
'It will be if we've got the balls to go for it. What future have we got hanging around with the likes of Gil and Declan? There's life out here.' He swung his arm expansively around the room. 'This could be your regular watering hole. Believe me, you'll meet powerful people in here, and all you'll need is that first wad of cash to get you through the door.'
'I guess you're right; it's time to make the move,' said Jarvine. 'Okay, count me in.'
'You won't regret it,' said Slater. 'You're going to look back on this as the best decision of your life. From now on things are only going to improve. You'd better get used to it.'
Jarvine looked around the bustling room. It had a good feel to it. The tall hostess walked past and caught his eye again. 'Yes,' he said. 'I reckon I could get used to more of this.'
The light was failing rapidly as Jenna and Declan approached their apartment, and the dark blue sky had become filled with a huge silver moon - a hollow giant, each of its tortured craters clearly visible to the naked eye. Tiny lights twinkled in the dusk all around the resort.
'What prompted Carrick's appearance?' asked Declan.
'I found out later that when a person dematerializes and becomes aphysical a life force is released. Conversely, a life force is needed to revert to the physical state.'
Declan pondered upon Jenna's statement.
'Let me help you,' said Jenna. 'What is released when you give up your body is a unique form of energy, something that cannot be reproduced artificially, but it's not personal and anyone inside the machine can then use that life force to materialize. That's what happened in this case; Carrick absorbed the energy from Vance's life force as soon as he entered the machine and used it to assume a physical form.'
'I'm not sure I understand any of this,' said Declan.
'Let me put it another way. Once you are inside Phasewave you adopt a formless state and can exist indefinitely, but to change back to a physical state you have to replace the life force you gave up when you became aphysical, either with your own or with someone else's, but that life force can only be supplied by another human being.'
'So where exactly were Ellen and Carrick?'
'They were living as formless states of energy under our very noses inside Unit Nine.'
'So why did they need Vance's life force? What prevented them from using their own?'
'When Ellen and Carrick first entered the machine something went wrong and their life forces were destroyed, leaving them trapped inside. The only way they could escape was to obtain two replacement life forces, which would be become available if they could trick us into entering the machine. Once they had possession of our life forces they could then resume physical form and take our places outside.'
Declan thought for a while. 'So there was no Scyros Maddoc and they had never been transported to Vennica?'
'That was all an elaborate hoax; they had been waiting for the next crew to arrive to provide the necessary life forces to release them.'
'What were they doing in there in the first place?'
'I'll talk about that later,' said Jenna. 'At the time it was too much to take in and I couldn't work out what was happening. Only later, after Ellen had filled in some of the details, did I begin to understand the process.'
'You actually met Ellen? In the flesh?' said Declan.
'Oh yes, I met Ellen.'
'If what you say is true, how could she materialize without a life force?'
'I unfortunately provided her with a life force,' said Jenna. 'I gave her Carrick's.'
Declan followed Jenna up the stairs to their apartment in silence. The picture at the back of his mind had fragmented into small of pieces which were slowly settling back into some semblance of order. He tried to assess Jenna's credibility, but had to admit that he had no idea whether she was telling the truth or not. It would have been difficult to concoct such an incredible story and for what purpose? If Jenna was trying to prove her innocence she would surely have fabricated something more believable, but her story was developing so effortlessly and sincerely that he found himself willing it to be true.
The internal heating had taken the chill off the air by the time they entered the apartment. Declan sat and absentmindedly watched Jenna make coffee while he wondered what was going on inside her mind.
Jenna turned and saw him staring at her. She flashed him a quick smile. 'What are you thinking about?'
Declan was caught off guard. The soft lighting and angle of her face made her look incredibly beautiful, and Declan had an instant vision of Carrick's hands on her body. The thought sent a pain into his chest. 'I wasn't thinking about anything,' he lied.
Jenna laughed. 'You were a long way from here; I've learnt that much about you over the last few days.'
Declan got to his feet and walked around the room. The possibility of Jenna being in danger had not unduly troubled him before, but now the seriousness of her situation was becoming apparent he was reacting in an unusual manner. He tried to analyse his newly discovered emotions but could not understand why he felt the way he did. Jenna handed him a cup of coffee and they sat in silence.
'Where are you from?' Jenna asked.
Declan was taken aback by the question. 'Spaceport,' he replied.
'So you had no parents?'
Declan shook his head. 'The breeding programme had stopped by the time I reached age. I missed being sent to the Outstations and stayed on Vennica.'
'Another experiment that went wrong,' Jenna snapped, and Declan was reminded once again that she had come from the Colonies.
'It was one of those things,' he said.
Jenna put down her cup and stared at Declan in astonishment. 'You say it was one of those things! A billion people lose their lives and you say it was one of those things! Don't you realize that people like you were being bred to kill people like me?'
'I wasn't being judgmental,' said Declan. 'I merely intended to indicate that these things happen.'
'I can't believe you just said that. My whole family, every one of them, was wiped out in the uprising. Declan, you can be a very cold and unfeeling person at times. Just when I think I am getting to know you, you come out with a crass statement like that.'
Declan was puzzled. 'You misunderstand. What occurred was inevitable, just as it will inevitably reoccur within two thousand years. Look at history, look what happened to our ancestors. Why do you think the settlers from Earth came here? I'm sorry I upset you
, but I was in no way condoning what happened. These events take place and it is wrong to deny them.'