Saving 1641

by Robert Jay Dilger

  “Would you be kind enough to check to see if our cards will be accepted?” Conor asked politely. “We are on official Court business and we are running late for a very important meeting. As you can see, we have top security clearance.”

  The guard swiped Conor’s security card and, as expected, it was rejected. The guard grabbed at his throat as Conor levitated him off of the ground and squeezed just hard enough to let the guard know that his life was now in Conor’s hands.

  “Let us pass,” Conor stated calmly.

  The guard turned blue and gasped for breath. Conor released his grip on the man’s throat for just a second.

  “Looks like you are both good to go,” the guard stated between gasps of breath, holding his throat.

  “Have a nice day,” Conor stated to the guard as he passed through the turnstile. “By the way, I disabled the building’s alarm system. The panic button hidden beneath your desk is now useless. You should also know that I know that you are thinking about using your wrist transponder to report us. If you do that, I will snap your neck in two. I can do that from three, maybe four, blocks away. The choice is yours.”

  Leaving the building, Conor turned to Jonnelle and asked, “Are we good? You seem a bit distant.”

  Jonnelle stared at him and replied, “I guess so. But you have me worried. Is there anything else that you have been hiding from me? Like, can you walk through walls?”

  “No, but I am full of surprises,” he announced taking her arm. “Come on. Let’s get moving. We are still on schedule and I want to keep it that way.”

  As they walked down the crowded street toward the parking garage at the end of the block, they passed an elderly couple window shopping. The older lady reminded Jonnelle of her grandmother and her favorite saying: “Some people hope for an adventure of a lifetime, I hope for a lifetime full of adventure.”

  “I like that,” Conor stated, hearing her thoughts. “I like that a lot.”

  “Me too,” Jonnelle answered as they approached the garage. “My grandmother is the best. I don’t know if I will be lucky enough to have a lifetime full of adventure, but thanks to you today has certainly been an adventure of a lifetime.”

  “We’re not done yet,” Conor answered. “Not by a long shot.”

  Chapter 37

  GOING HOME

  Walking up the garage’s concrete stairwell, they exited on the 3rd floor and headed for the hovercraft waiting for them near the garage’s exit. A young couple walked past. They were holding hands.

  “Isn’t that wonderful?” Jonnelle stated, taking Conor by the arm and pulling him close. “Romance is still alive after all.”

  Conor felt a strange tingling sensation as Jonnelle gently squeezed his arm, leaned into him, and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

  “What are you doing?” Kristi’s voice boomed in his mind.

  “We’re looking for the hovercraft,” Conor answered defensively.

  “That’s not the only thing that you are doing,” Kristi lectured him. “I know that you are young and your hormones and testosterone are in hyperdrive, but you have a job to do. So, do it! By the way, Kathryn is awake. The body cast is off and she is sitting up. She asked me to tell you that she misses you. I can see that you have been missing her too.”

  Conor blushed and removed his arm from Jonnelle’s.

  “We were just looking for the hovercraft,” Conor repeated.

  “Right,” Kristi answered, her sarcastic tone clearing indicating that she did not believe him. “I contacted you to let you know that Michael is awake and that he is going to be fine. The doctor has cleared him for visitors. I am headed over to the hospital right now. Brandix is already there. I will let you know what happens. We can discuss your behavior later.”

  Conor was about to respond, but Kristi severed the connection.

  “Kristi just told me that Michael is awake and is going to be fine,” Conor announced out loud to Jonnelle.

  “That is great news!” Jonnelle exclaimed. “That means that Alex will be released soon, right?”

  “Probably,” Conor answered, spotting the hovercraft. “But I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. Michael is meeting with Brandix as we speak. We should know about Alex shortly. But if you ask me Brandix isn’t any better than Kourdar and Casseday. You never know what he is going to do.”

  The hovercraft was a dark blue, older subcompact model, the type of hovercraft that one would expect a couple their age would be driving. It was selected purposively, to ensure that it did not attract any undue attention. Swiping his security card against its entrance pad, the hovercraft’s darkened viewer dome disappeared, the pilot and passenger doors receded, and their seats swiveled out, making it easy for them to climb aboard. After tossing their backpacks and laser pistols onto the rear passenger bench, Conor climbed into the pilot’s seat and Jonnelle took the front passenger seat. Pressing the start button, the hovercraft’s engine hummed to life, the instrument panel lit up, the doors closed, the viewer dome reformed over their heads, and the hovercraft’s computer asked, “What is your destination?”

  “Spaceport 45, shopping district side,” Conor replied. “Parking garage 14. Proceed on autopilot, activate the privacy screen, and use stealth mode.”

  As the hovercraft floated out of the garage its viewer dome darkened, allowing them to see out, but preventing everyone else from seeing in. They gained altitude swiftly and merged seamlessly into traffic. The city unfolded beneath them. Sunlight glittered off of the city’s numerous skyscrapers.

  “This really is the most beautiful city in the universe,” Jonnelle marveled from her seat. “I just love it.”

  “Not me,” Conor answered. “I can’t wait to leave.”

  “Why?” Jonnelle asked. “Everyone wants to live here. It’s the best place to live in the whole universe. There are plenty of jobs, lots of things to do and see, there are great places to shop, and the nightlife is second to none. You name it and it is here.”

  “None of that interests me,” Conor answered. “I just want to go home.”

  “I thought that this was your home,” Jonnelle replied, puzzled. “I saw your account. It says that you live here, in the capital.”

  “You shouldn’t believe everything that you read,” Conor answered.

  “I don’t,” Jonnelle replied. “But now you are being the cynical one. Everyone has to believe in something or someone. Otherwise, you’d go crazy.”

  “That is why I want to go home,” Conor answered. “It’s too complicated here. It’s a lot simpler where I come from. It’s easy to tell who the good guys are and who the bad guys are on my planet. Here, who knows? Everyone lies. Everyone has an agenda. No one trusts anyone. And for good reason. No one can be trusted.”

  “I trust you,” Jonnelle stated, looking him squarely in the face. “Even if you are a robot.”

  “I am not a robot!” Conor shouted.

  “Then why am I the only one who is hungry?” Jonnelle asked, changing the subject. “I have a couple of energy bars in my backpack. Do you want one?”

  “No thanks,” Conor answered. “I’m not hungry.”

  “See,” Jonnelle stated. “If you were human you would be starving by now. Everyone knows that robots don’t eat.”

  “I’m just not hungry right now,” Conor continued.

  “Well, I am,” Jonnelle stated, removing her seat belt and leaning over the front seat in an attempt to reach her backpack.

  “Come here,” she called out, as if she expected the backpack to obey her. She leaned further over the front seat, stretched her right arm out as far as she could, and grabbed the backpack’s support strap. Just as she started to lift the backpack, the hovercraft lurched sharply to the left, sending her flying onto the back bench.

  “What are you doing?” Jonnelle asked. “Are you trying to kill me?”

  “I didn’t do it!” Conor shouted, grabbing the steering mechanism. “Something’s grabbed us.”

  A local police ho
vercraft swooped in behind them.

  “Disengage your autopilot and have your papers ready for inspection,” the officer’s electronically enhanced voice echoed across the sky. “I have orders to detain all hovercraft operating in stealth mode.”

  Conor hit the accelerator button, but nothing happened. The hovercraft continued to lose speed.

  “He has us in a tractor beam!” Jonnelle shouted. “The hovercraft’s engine isn’t strong enough to break it. If you have any bright ideas, now would be a good time.”

  Conor let go of the steering mechanism, unbuckled his seat belt, and turned around so that he faced the officer’s hovercraft.

  “What are you doing?” Jonnelle asked, in a near panic.

  “Trust me,” Conor stated. “I can take care of this.”

  Conor focused on the police officer’s throat and squeezed. The officer’s face turned pale and then blue. Gasping for breath, he passed out. Conor guided the hovercraft to a soft landing in a city park.

  “I hate this place,” Conor stated as he turned around, buckled his seat belt, and pushed the accelerator button.

  The hovercraft accelerated rapidly, hitting its top speed almost instantaneously. As they zoomed forward, Jonnelle went flying again, this time hitting the back of her head on the viewer dome.

  “Are you okay?” Conor asked, swerving the hovercraft to the left and then sharply to the right to avoid an oncoming flock of songbirds.

  “I think so,” Jonnelle answered, rubbing a bump forming on the back of her head. “By the way, that was very nice of you. You could have let him crash.”

  “I thought about it,” Conor answered. “But there are a lot of kids playing in that park. Some of them could have been hurt or killed if I just let the hovercraft crash.”

  Just then, a blue laser shot flashed over the hovercraft’s viewer dome.

  “Military hovercraft!” Jonnelle shouted, pointing behind them. “Lots of them. How did they find us?”

  “I have no idea,” Conor answered, pushing the steering stick all the way to the left. The hovercraft veered sharply as another laser beam shot past. The sharp turn sent Jonnelle crashing against the viewer dome again.

  “Put on a seat belt!” Conor shouted.

  “Now you tell me,” Jonnelle stated, rubbing her jaw.

  “Enough of this,” Conor stated as he released the accelerator button and turned the hovercraft around.

  Conor focused on the closest hovercraft as it bore down on them. Pulling a bolt from a metal rod in its engine compartment, the rod punctured the hovercraft’s engine, causing it to explode. He then focused on the second and third closest hovercraft. They exploded, sending more debris raining down on the city below. The remaining hovercraft decelerated and regrouped, moving into a v-shaped attack formation. Just as they were about to fire, all of the hovercraft exploded simultaneously, forming a huge fireball that could be seen and heard for miles.

  “That was awesome!” Jonnelle gushed from the back bench as they sped away.

  Reaching over the seat, she grabbed Conor by the shoulders and gave him a big, wet kiss on his right cheek. Conor blushed as he turned away and pushed the accelerator button.

  “I hated doing that,” he stated. “But they left me no choice.”

  “They fired first,” Jonnelle answered. “You have nothing to be ashamed of.”

  “I know,” Conor replied. “But they were just following orders.”

  “You had no choice,” Jonnelle stated. “It was self-defense.”

  “Tell that to their families when they don’t show up for dinner tonight,” Conor answered.

  “You had no choice,” Jonnelle repeated. “I would have done the same. Anyone would have.”

  Conor fell silent as he checked the hovercraft’s instrument panel, making certain that the stealth mode was active.

  “Everything okay?” Jonnelle asked. “You suddenly got very quiet.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Conor replied. “It’s just that I can’t count the number of people that have tried to kill me in the past few days, never mind the number that I have killed. It’s overwhelming. I just want it to end.”

  Jonnelle leaned forward again, wrapped her arms around him, and gave him a long, warm hug.

  “You are a good person,” she whispered, resting her head on his shoulder. “No matter what happens, always remember that.”

  Conor smiled and held onto her arms.

  Chapter 38

  THE RENDEZVOUS

  “There’s the parking garage,” Jonnelle stated, pointing with her right index finger at a tall building with a brightly painted number 14 on its roof.

  “I see it,” Conor answered, slowing the hovercraft in anticipation of landing.

  Jonnelle looked around in all directions, as if expecting to see someone following them.

  “I don’t see anything unusual,” she stated.

  Pressing the automatic landing button, Conor let go of the steering stick and said, “Relax, everything is going to be fine.”

  “This is too easy,” Jonnelle replied as the hovercraft descended, floated into the garage, and headed for an empty parking space.

  “Everything is going to be fine,” Conor repeated. “After we park the hovercraft, we make our way through the shopping district, and find launch bay 16. Anne told me that the spaceship waiting for us is captained by a friend of hers named Maggie Merson. Her job is to get us off-world by nightfall and to the rendezvous point in two days. Then, we sit tight until Anne lets us know that it’s safe to return.”

  “I have a bad feeling about this,” Jonnelle continued. “Ever hear of woman’s intuition?”

  “There’s no scientific evidence to prove that there is any such thing,” he answered.

  “Then how do you explain them?” Jonnelle asked, pointing at four uniformed guards standing in front of the garage’s turbolift. Three of them had laser pistols. The fourth had a laser rifle strapped over his shoulder.

  Conor scanned the parking garage with all of his senses. There were armed guards on every floor. He also noticed 14 tiny blue songbirds gathered around a feeder in the far corner of the garage’s rooftop. Conor grinned. The feed was laced with an aphrodisiac.

  “Must be an endangered species,” Conor stated out loud.

  “What are you talking about?” Jonnelle asked, giving him a hard shove in the ribs. “Pay attention. We’ve got trouble.”

  “I don’t think so,” Conor replied. “They spotted us, but their body chemistry has not changed. In fact, the best way to describe their current status is that they are bored to tears.”

  The hovercraft slid into the empty parking space and came to a standstill. Four small landing legs emerged from underneath the craft, holding it steady. An instant later, the hovercraft’s motor turned itself off.

  “We had better get going,” Conor stated.

  “What about our lasers?” Jonnelle asked. “Should we put them on, just in case?”

  “No,” Conor answered. “The guards will notice them right away and get suspicious. We’ll put them in our backpacks. If there is any trouble, I will take care of them myself. But I don’t think that they’re going to give us any trouble. As far as they know, we’re here to do some shopping, meet someone at the spaceport, or visit the University. Skyton U. is just on the other side of the spaceport. Do you have a preference in case they question us?”

  “We are here to do some shopping,” Jonnelle answered. “I have been here before and there are several good discount clothing stores nearby. If they ask us any questions, just tell them that I want to find some summer outfits and I forced you to come along for company. They are a bunch of guys. They will believe that.”

  Conor pressed his palm against the exit pad. The hovercraft’s viewer dome disappeared, the pilot and passenger doors receded, and their seats swiveled out, making it easy for them to climb out. They headed straight for the turbolift and the waiting guards.

  “Hello,” one of the guards called out.
“Sorry to disturb you. There has been a general alert. Something about a security problem at one of the downtown government buildings. Plus, there has been a major hovercraft accident. Apparently, several hovercraft collided in mid-air. Highly unusual. Anyway, standard operating procedure during a general alert requires us to keep a look out for anyone looking or acting suspicious.”

  “Well,” Conor answered. “There’s nothing suspicious about us.”

  “I can see that,” the guard answered, a grin spreading across his face as took a good look at Jonnelle. “Who’s that with you? Is she, by any chance, your girlfriend?”

  “She’s my sister,” Conor lied. “Is there a problem?”

  “No,” the guard stated, losing his grin. “We were just taking bets, you know, just trying to pass the time. I bet that she was your girlfriend. So, I lost. Malik thought that she might be your contract partner. No offense, but I figured that you two were a bit too young for that. Graham thought that she was your neighbor. Luca is the winner. He bet that she was a relative.”

  The guard handed Luca two credits.

  “By the way,” he continued. “Have you heard the latest about the Beta Cat?”

  “The Beta what?” Jonnelle asked.

  “You know,” the guard continued. “The Beta Cat. He’s been in all of the videopapers. Where have the two of you been hiding? The whole planet is talking about him. He is the one that was charged with trying to kill the new justice.”

  “Sorry,” Conor stated. “We don’t know anything about him.”

  “You two really don’t have any idea what I am talking about, do you?” the guard asked. “The guy’s name is Alex Kill something or other. Anyway, the videopapers are calling him the Beta Cat because he is from the Beta Prime system and supposedly has cat-like reflexes. The latest word is that he’s been cleared. Seems Casseday and Kourdar were behind the whole thing. Can you imagine that? They arrested the wrong guy! When was the last time you heard that? The talk shows are going crazy, claiming that the judicial system will never be the same.”

  “That’s terrible,” Conor replied. “The poor guy. I hope that he is compensated for his trouble.”