by Ted Iverson
“Possibly, but what fun would that be? I have a plan.”
“A plan? Yeah, like making us spam in a can!” Ty was terrified. He tried to wriggle lower in his seat, but the tight restraints held him in check. As he focused forward, he saw a red-hot streak zoom by the left window. It smashed into a large neon billboard that was advertising the latest science fiction movie. The bolt hit right where the sign’s blast image had been, creating a real incendiary hole, featuring live fire, sparks, and smoke. “Whoa!” His voice shook.
“That was close,” Ed exclaimed. “It appears they’re targeting us, Ty. This calls for protocol six.”
“Protocol six?”
Dodging the bolts that were landing closer with every shot, Ed explained. “Protocol Six, Section Eight, Volume Two of Space Tech’s own Security Manual. You must not have read that yet.”
The hover moved violently to the right to dodge a bolt. It landed dangerously close. The hover then rolled over on its side to slide between two massive hover buses. Ty braced himself to avoid being strangled by the restraints. “No, I haven’t read it!” he screamed.
Ed righted the hover and maneuvered into a sharp upward spiral, with energy bolts still rocketing past them. Calmly, Ed said, “Protocol Six, Protecting the Project. Section Eight simply states that as a designated ‘Protector of The Project’ one is allowed to do whatever is needed to ensure that all property and individuals associated with it remain safe.”
“Anything? What exactly is anything?”
“This.” The engines shut down. The hover reached its apex, stalled and turned nose downward, plummeting straight at the other hover which, until that moment, had been behind them. A red bolt raced toward the falling vehicle.
Ty put his hands over his face and screamed. The world around him exploded with an intense brilliance. He felt for sure they’d met their maker. Spreading his fingers to peek through, Ty realized that he was, in fact, still alive.
“Shields, gotta love those shields,” Ed shouted. Still concentrating on the fall toward the oncoming vehicle, Ed added, “I love a good game of chicken.”
Ty wanted to scream again, but he had no voice and there was no time. He could only out the front window, paralyzed.
Ed gave the wheel a nudge to the left and the hover immediately responded. The other hover, thinking that Ed had begun to veer out of its path, kept drawing closer.
“Three, two, one!” Ed reignited the engines and pulled the wheel hard to the right. His hover, its engines screaming, cut across the forward section of their pursuer, forcing him to cut hard to his right to avoid a collision. That surprise maneuver allowed Ed to hit the plasmat engines for a split second while expertly pulling off a quick turn to the left. Now Ed was behind the attacker. The front hover was forced into evasive maneuvers: diving quickly back into the flow of traffic and sliding recklessly between, over, and under the drove of traffic. At one point he did a complete inverted loop around the boom of a massive construction crane, a move Ed duplicated to perfection.
Ty thought that he was about to pass out when he heard someone yell, “Fire at him!” It occurred to him that that someone might be him, although he wasn’t sure.
“Not yet, innocent people could get hurt.”
Innocent people? What about me? I’m not exactly a criminal. Ty decided it was time to close his eyes tight and just wait.
The front hover flew up and over more traffic, then dove back down, narrowly missing the cab of a large dumpster. It then entered a long stretch of tunnel.
Knowing he wouldn’t make it into the tunnel before the dumpster, Ed pulled back hard on the wheel, treating it more like a plane’s yoke. Avoiding the entrance to the tunnel, he climbed the large rocky hill, leveled out, and once again called on the plasmats for a boost. Covering the tunnel’s distance in a third of the time it normally would have taken, Ed swung the hover straight down the other side of the hill and brought the vehicle to a stop at the side, facing away from the exit.
The hover hummed as it waited. “They’ll exit here, probably shoot straight up to see if we’ve followed.”
Back to breathing, but keeping his eyes closed, Ty asked, “Won’t they see us?”
“It’s possible, but I’m counting on them coming out quickly because they think we’re following in the tunnel. They won’t see us here.”
“You mean, you hope they don’t see us. That’s your strategy?”
“Sometimes all you need is a little luck. I could rub my lucky rabbit’s foot if it would make you feel better.” Ed laughed. Suddenly, just as Ed had predicted, the other hover shot out and straight up. Ed had been right. Their unknown enemy never saw them. Ed pressed forward on the yoke and followed. As the other vehicle exposed its engines, Ed pressed two small plasma buttons and two small blue orbs shot out from his hover. With blinding speed they reached the other hover, striking it in the rear. Eyes open now, Ty discovered their hover was streaking through thousands of bits of debris that were falling to earth. The debris crackled and hissed as it bounced off their forward shield. “That, Ty, is Section 8.”
“You—you killed them!” Ty peered out the back at the thick black smoke that hung in the air.
“No. I was, quite simply, ‘protecting the project.’” Ed tapped more buttons on the nav panel. “I think we can still make it in time for your meeting.” The hover leveled off and dipped back into traffic as if nothing had happened.
“Meeting? Oh yeah, that.” Ty’s voice trailed off. The color had yet to return to his face.
Ty’s meeting with Senator Fillmore fell into the ‘getting to know you’ category. He was able to voice his concerns about the FTL grant and show the senator some of the blueprints Orion and Zach had come up with. The senator assured Ty of his support and indicated that he would do everything in his power to get more senatorial backing for continuing the grant, but he made no promises. He told Ty that the meeting being moved up was a good indication they were trying to catch him off guard. A bad presentation would help discourage the extension of any more grant money for the project. They parted on good terms, but the outlook was discouraging. Ty really wished he had more to go on.
As he walked down the steps in front of the Senatorial Personnel Occupation Building (SPOB), he could see the hover, but no Ed. He stopped dead on the steps and frantically looked around. After all that had happened today, he was in a near panic. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ed casually approach the driver’s side. Ty began a fast walk to the vehicle, hitting the bottom of the stairs at a near run.
He swung open the gull wing door and slid in so fast he almost made it onto Ed’s lap. He slammed the door shut and turned to see Ed holding an Icee in one hand. “In a hurry?” he asked calmly.
“What was that?”
“A cherry and arctic blue Icee, very refreshing. I still have a little left. Would you care for some?” He tipped the cup toward Ty.
“Huh? NO! I meant you weren’t at the hover when I came out. I thought that, well, I mean...”
“You thought that something happened to me?” A deep chuckle followed. “Well, thank you for caring, but I’m fine. I just got a little thirsty and there was this storefront back there, and, well, I could see the machine through the—Never mind. A boyhood indulgence, I’m afraid.” His grin eased the tension and Ty relaxed enough to smile. Ed fired the ignition and they were off.
Chapter Twenty
It had been a long day. Alec walked from the interrogation room at the police station to the roof where the Turtle awaited. Daylight was slipping away as he entered the ship. He instinctively gave it a quick search. Due to recent events he felt that he couldn’t be careful enough. After his walk-through of the ship and a double-check that the Hare was secure, he made his way to the cabin.
He lowered himself into in his pilot’s chair and sat there for a moment, thinking about how they’d gotten nothing from his assailant. Noticing that the holopanel’s message light was flashing, he touched the panel and Ed
’s image appeared. The recording began: “Alec, an update on our situation.”
Alec’s hand reflexively went to his head, and he dragged his fingers slowly through his hair then let his hand fall limply to his lap.
“We’re doing fine,” the recording continued, “but we did have another, how shall we say, adventure. We were followed to Senator Fillmore’s. We managed to escape without harm. However, the gentlemen who followed us are no longer. This might throw a wrench in things if we were identified. It could possibly be misconstrued as murder. Nonetheless, it was self-defense and what is done is done. I have apprised Paul and, hopefully, he is working to put out the fire. We’re currently heading back to the AxMet. I’ll fill you in with more details later.” The image faded, leaving Alec with an even bigger pit in his stomach.
The attacks now numbered four, all here on Earth. It was only a matter of time before Orion and Zach would be on the receiving end.
Alec sat motionless for a long while, staring out at the growing darkness, trying to digest the latest news. He noticed lights beginning to illuminate the capital. It was eerie way. He’d never really paid attention to the city like this before. The lowest part of the horizon was bathed in a deep, blood-red hue. The upper part was a deeper blue than he remembered ever having seen. It eventually deepened into the black of night. He couldn’t even see any stars. Sitting on top of the building, he suddenly felt alone.
He decided he needed to talk to someone, and that that someone should be Orion. They’d always been able to talk about everything. He tapped the console and an image of an exhausted-looking Orion appeared.
“Orion here. What’s up, Alec?”
“We’ve had another incident.”
Orion let out a long sigh. “Details please?”
“It seems that Ed and Ty were being followed on their way to meet with Fillmore and a chase ensued. Ed managed to disable the other vehicle.”
“Disable it? Who was driving? Were they able to get any information from the—”
“Orion,” Alec interrupted. “Permanently disabled it. Ed blew it into a thousand pieces.”
“He vaporized them? Ship and pilot?”
“I suppose the answer to that would be unequivocally yes. But Ed and Ty are both okay.”
“That makes everything just peachy now, doesn’t it? Now what?”
“Ed contacted Paul right away. Paul will try to use his contacts to diffuse the situation.”
“Diffuse or cover up? I don’t think the latter is the way we operate. We should come out and tell the truth.”
“Normally, I would agree, but times aren’t normal. If it gets out that we are killing people, good or bad, in self-defense or not, it won’t go over well and the holonet will eat it up. We need to try to keep this under the radar. Whoever is behind this has a plan. I’ll figure it out, but I need more time.”
“I know you will, but this seems to have gotten out of hand pretty quickly, so whatever you do, find out fast.”
“Will do. Alec out.”
Ty awakened from a deep slumber and turned his head toward the clock on the bedside table. It read 8:30. He rolled over, thinking he’d catch some more shut eye then bolted upright. 8:30!
He jumped out of bed and shot to the bathroom to clean up. He planned to take Paul’s advice and head over to watch the Senate proceedings that began at 9:45. If he wanted to make it and not cause a stir by showing up after it had begun, he’d have to hurry. He rushed through his usual morning ritual and barreled out of his room to grab a quick bite at the hotel café. Sam was there to serve him.
“Fancy seeing you again! Let me guess: one egg over-easy with wheat toast?” Her smile was infectious.
Ty glanced at his watch which now read 9:00. “I’m running a tad late this morning, so how about a quick bowl of oatmeal with a tall, cold milk?”
“I think we could handle that this morning.” She giggled and walked off.
Ty couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something different about Sam. Not a bad different, just something unique. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and pushed all thoughts of her out of his mind. He needed to focus on the day and try to relax.
He had no sooner opened his eyes, than she returned. She set the bowl of steaming oatmeal in front of him and placed the glass of milk next to it. Then she placed a large muffin next to that.
“I know you didn’t order it, but you just can’t go through the morning without eating a good breakfast. At least that’s what my mother used to say.” Her tone was as jolly as ever.
“Thank you, Sam. If you don’t mind, I’ll take it with me in the hover.”
“You promise to eat it?”
“I promise!” Ty smiled.
“Okay, I’ll grab you a box after I wait on that table over there.” She gave a quick point and disappeared.
Ty ate quickly and was just finishing up when she appeared with the small container. “Here you go!”
“Thank you, Sam. How much?” He reached for his wallet.
“Nothing today, Ty. Mr. Spencer told me to put everything on a tab for you.”
“Okay, that sounds fine. But here is your tip.” He grasped her hand and placed a few bills into it. “Thanks for the great service. See you at dinner?”
“Maybe.” Smiling, she turned and went back to work.
Ty left and made his way to the lobby where Ed was waiting.
“I was beginning to worry, Ty.” Seeing Ed tapping his watch made Ty glance at his.
“Are we going to make it on time?”
“Are we going to make it on time? You know how I drive. I bet we’ll be early!” His laugh was deep and contagious. “After you.” He followed Ty to the hover.
Ty was relieved. It had been an uneventful trip. They hadn’t talked much on the drive. He figured Ed was just being polite and could sense his nervousness. “Ed, I’ll contact you before I leave the building. Right now I really don’t know how long I’ll stay. The plan is to stay long enough to learn something about how all this works. I’m really hoping it’ll help me tomorrow.”
“I’ll be waiting for you and I promise I won’t wander off this time. If you do happen to need me in there, well, just let me know.”
“Thanks, Ed.” Ty took a deep breath and headed up the steps.
The doors seemed to open in slow motion as he pulled on the handle. He entered the building and found himself in a large lobby. It was beautiful: columns as ornate as the ones lining the outer part of the structure, arches, paintings of past senators, and gorgeous wall hangings. Light fixtures that had to be hundreds of years old clung to the tall ceiling.
Ty composed himself and made his way into the senatorial chamber. He wanted to avoid being noticed, if possible, so he discreetly found a seat near the back and sat quietly as the session came to order.
“Do you remember anything else?” Orion asked the droid. They were in Orion’s quarters, seated across from each other. “Anything else at all?”
“No, sir, I do not. I am totally repaired and all my functions are operating within normal range. I was hoping that I would be more help than I appear to be.”
Sighing, Orion spoke, “Well, it was worth a try. I mean, you do know how the outer skin was developed and that is as important as anything. I guess I was just hoping there would be more.”
“Sir, I sense you are disappointed with me.”
“Not at all. I couldn’t be more pleased. I do think that it’s time we all get back to work. I’m going to have you lead the construction now. Whatever you need—materials, ships—you just ask. You are the man now. So to speak.”
“Thank you, sir. I believe that may be a compliment?”
Chuckling, Orion went on, “Yes, that would be a compliment. I have things to do right now, so I won’t keep you any longer. If you need me, just call.”
“Sir, this is an honor. I will not let you down. My crew and I will work around the clock.” With that the droid headed through the hatch. Orion though
t to himself that the droid appeared energized and excited. He shook his head over the ridiculousness of that thought then sat down to work on some figures for the ship. If the droid could actually construct the outer hull of the ship, it would be huge, something tangible. It was a tall order, but one he felt sure they could and would accomplish.
Alec was up and had already delved deeply into investigating Axion’s background. He was the only real suspect. Even Paul thought Axion might be behind everything. Alec could find nothing on him though. After the senator’s press conference about the accident, Alec had asked Ed to do some nosing around. He hadn’t found anything either. Axion seemed to be clean. Even his rise to the Senate seemed to be on the level. If Axion was behind these attacks, what would his reason be? He stood to gain from FTL as much as anyone. If it were successful, Axion would have been behind the committee that pushed the project along, which would surely give his political career a huge boost. Yet Alec felt as Paul did: there was more to Axion. He needed more info, but where to find it was the big question. Alec decided to check on Senator Thoma. If he was as close to Axion as Alec thought, maybe he’d find something there. He got up from the table and went to search for another holodisc.
Back at the senate, Ty was closely watching the proceedings, impressed by the way Axion was running the meeting. He had a firm grasp on every item that came up and never let anyone go off on a tangent. If they strayed off the subject, he guided them right back. It seemed as if he was in total control of each moment. There were occasions where he would disagree with another senator, and somehow that senator would eventually see things Axion’s way.
That, Ty thought, is particularly disturbing.