by Guy Antibes
Merinnia looked at Jan. She came closer to him and bent over to look him straight in the eye. “If I have to trust you, Jan, I guess I can trust anybody,” she pouted, pecking him on the forehead with a kiss and sauntered off to her own room.
Jan smiled. “Patience.” he said out loud. His relationship with Merinnia continued to remain one of sibling familiarity and nothing more. Jan had to restrain himself.How much more patience will I have to exercise? he thought. No way of knowing was his answer. He went back to viewing his news.
The next morning was dark and damp. Jan carried two of the mini-portals in a bag. He looked around the entrance. Riban didn’t fake the shabbiness of the outside. The insides must have been built inside the original run down facade. What a ruse, thought Jan. Riban lightly tapped Jan on the shoulder. Jan turned around in alarm.
“Here I am. Let’s get my demonstration.” Riban took out his unlocking device and the two went into the building.
“Wait here,” Jan said as he disappeared into the building. Seconds later he reappeared, taking the 50 centimeter square portal out of the sack. He laid it on the floor and made an adjustment. Stand here, Riban.” Jan ordered.
He set the controls and turned to walk back into the building. Riban could feel a quick rustling of his hair as static electricity built up. Then the scenery changed and he stood looking at Jan. Jan had a smile on his face.
Riban’s jaw hung opened, “What happened?” Riban looked out onto the manufacturing floor.
“You were teleported through my portal.”
“OK, let me see you appear. I’ll wait here.” Riban suggested, his confidence shaken somewhat.
“Be right back. Don’t get close to the portal or it won’t work.” Jan advised as he moved Riban away from the portal and slipped through the door.
Less than a minute later, Riban felt his hair accumulate static electricity. Then, Jan appeared. He walked off of the portal. “Let’s go back to the big office and talk.”
“Yes,” Riban paused, still shaken. “Let’s talk!” The men walked back up the corridor through office area to on of two large offices on the upper floor. The pair spent the next four hours together. When they emerged, both were smiling. Riban nodded his head, “I still have a hard time believing it, but sign me up. I’ll start today.” He shook Jan’s hand and walked out the door.
Jan retrieved the portals and sat in the open office area. Events were moving along towards their hopefully inevitable conclusion. Now with Riban on the job, Jan would have the time to get the answers that he came back to find. His thoughts continued for another half an hour. He finally rose, hefted the carry bag and left the building, now carrying his own unlocking device.
~
“So my son is back in town and has discovered some mysterious new technology eh, Riban?” Jan’s father looked with sheathed eyes into the communicator. “He has offered you employment? A man such as you can’t be profitably employed by just one company. Am I correct?” The image of Riban shrugged. “Good, I will provide you with 50% more of whatever he offers you. I want you to let me know constantly what the boy does. What about the girl?”
“I don’t know sir,” Riban bowed from the waist. “She is certainly intelligent, yet not sophisticated. That lends credibility to her story of being a farm girl on Gyron III. It is evident that she and Jan are bound together with shared confidences. They are like brother and sister.”
“Humpf. A sister he never had,” Smith said. “Keep your eyes peeled” He leaned over and his image vanished.
Riban, likewise, turned off his viewer. He looked over the device at the figure standing behind it and smiled. “I didn’t expect such lucrative employment with your father, but it will provide an interesting opportunity. You were right in forecasting his concern about your plans. Now, how do we structure our responses to my new employer?”
“I intend to set up two operations. The covert operation, I’ll run downstairs. You will run the open operation and take care of all of my details regarding administration. Merinnia and I will occupy the hidden factory offices until the proper time. You can tell my father everything you want about the open part of our operation. That way, no matter what you do, you can be open about what happens up here and in the warehouse below. Your reputation will remain intact with him until the very end. How does that sound?”
“Just right.”
~
Jan was at the communicator all morning in his new office. In ten weeks, people had been hired, equipment ordered and most of it delivered. Riban, Merinnia and Jan had split up the operation between what they called the upstairs and downstairs part of the business.
Jan developed plans with full cover stories, set up to handle a multitude of questions. Anyone heavily investigating the operation would see just what Jan wanted them to see.
Just before lunch, he exhaled and rested back in his chair. The office had not been changed from the way Riban had decorated them with the exception of some pictures of a beautiful, but rather primitive planet. Jan wanted Grethia and Diltrant as a constant reminder. Jan arose and went to the door.
“Merinnia, it’s time to go the planet Wyring in the Phyrgian sector and meet with my mother’s lawyer. He’s retired and I want to meet him face to face. Even with holographic communications, you can’t pick up all of a person’s body language. Mom kept all of the trust information from me for some reason and Rollo Freeman has been successful in evading my questions about it. Hopefully I can get a clue about who sabotaged my ship. Do you want to come with me?”
“I really need to stay here and keep the engineering efforts going. It seems there are always questions our people want and I don’t want you accused of acting like your lawyer.” She smiled. “We can handle it. I would look upon it as a favor if you left me here by myself to succeed or struggle on my own. You’ve been a great teacher.”
“Ah, you have your father’s blood in you. You are a great student who loves to command. I commend your attitude,” Jan said, bowing to Merinnia in mock fashion. “I should be gone for a few weeks. It depends on what I find. Join me for dinner and I will go over some things I want you to do while I’m gone.”
Merinnia smirked at the command Jan gave her and nodded her head. “I’d love to go out tonight. Something exotic?”
“You’re on!” Jan waved as he took the back way to the transportation hub and on to the office building.
It will be good to get away from Merinnia for a while,Jan thought as the elevator took him 170 stories up into the sky.We’ve been together for over three months now and I haven’t tired of her one bit. Amazing. Fianna and the others lost their attraction within the first few weeks. Merinnia is different. It seems our friendship continues to grow slowly. I’ll miss being with her…The elevator stopped his rise and his thoughts.
~
It will be good for Jan to be away for a while,thought Merinnia while she was getting ready for dinner. She talked to herself as she stood in front of the full-length mirror in her dressing room. “He has driven me crazy for months. I had a crush on him when I first met him. I discounted my feelings as infatuation. When we went to the Forbidden Continent, he was so gentle with me and with Fosan. Obviously we were a burden for him, but he didn’t act like we were.” She put on her dress while she voiced what was in her mind.
“When he saved my father, he turned into a hero. My infatuation continued. Has my infatuation turned to love? What a crucible for us! What am I to do? I promised Father that I would not get in the way of Jan’s mission. He didn’t have to tell me how. I’ll use this separation as a test for my feelings. Oh, how do I really feel? Frustrated at him, that’s what. He hasn’t regarded me as any more than a sister.” Merinnia felt her emotions swell as tears filled her eyes.
She clamped her lips together and stamped her feet to regain control of her emotions. Wiping away the tears and makeup, she blinked the tears back and committed to standing tall and working on figuring out her feelings for at least as long a
s it took Jan to return.
Dinner was difficult for both of them. Both were out of sorts and complained about the service and the food. The restaurant was part of a restaurant section in the middle levels of a housing building. There were thirty restaurants representing thirty different worlds’ cuisines. Jan had picked Elanje, a water covered world where the land consisted of millions of tiny islands covering the surface. The cuisine consisted of food harvested from the sea, for there was only one sea on Elanje. Each table floated on its own pool of water. The table gently rocked with the movements of the occupants. The sky was projected on the ceiling and clouds moved constantly overhead. There was a diurnal cycle of an hour, a clichéd effect, but it added to the atmosphere. The little island tables gave an exotic feel to the restaurant. The scented water added to the exotic sensation.
The effect should have been relaxing, but the anticipation of the separation bothered Merinnia to no end. They continued to struggle as they discussed a number of details to be seen to during Jan’s absence. Over dessert Merinnia took advantage of a lull in all of the instructions Jan had nervously delivered and said, “I will miss you, Jan.” Her hand reached across the table.
Jan took it and finally got out, “I’ll miss you, too. But we can look at this as a test of how well you have adapted to this kind of life.”
The tender moment passed with what Jan probably thought of as a compliment, but Merinnia felt slighted.With this kind of life, me adapt? Of course I can handle it. Who does he think he is, with his condescension, she thought. She could sense anger swelling in her breast. She had to let it out.
“Well, you know, I can adapt just fine!” With that she slammed her napkin down and jumped up. Emotions began to rule her actions. Her motion set the table rocking as she jumped off their little platform leaving a bewildered Jan grasping the table for stability.
“What brought that on?” she heard Jan said out loud as she fled from the restaurant.
~~~
Chapter 37
Wyring’s sky cast a tinge of green over the entire world. The landscape was overly lush at sea level and the temperature and humidity that felt unbearable at the lower altitudes, but became ideal at the higher elevations. Most of the large cities of the planet were above 2,000 meters. Where the heavy atmosphere thinned to a zone more conducive to human habitation.
Rollum Freemen, had moved to Wyring to retire shortly after Efrena Smith’s death. Jan knew his mother trusted Rollo when she set up the trusts and he knew that after Freeman’s early retirement, he wanted to be an outdoorsman.
A bit higher up in the mountain ranges, the fishing was phenomenal. The aquatic life of Wyring was primitive and small. Settlers had brought fish with them to stock the streams and the fish had fit right into the ecosystem. Freemen had told Jan, on more than one occasion, that he had retired in heaven, but Jan had never visited before.
Jan first landed at Wyring City spaceport. His autodoc prepared him for the planet with information from his newly-updated database on Wyring. He went through customs and registered his ship for local transportation on the planet, and then Jan took off for Dystrea, a remote area of the planet where his mother’s lawyer had settled. The remoteness brought to mind Gyron III and the Wankle’s. An emotional tug shot through him as the memory popped into his mind.
He landed at the town and inquired how he could reach Mr. Freemen. His instructions were simple. It seems Mr. Freemen spent quite a bit on his retirement home and the locals all knew where he lived. Jan called ahead and left a message, Freemen was evidently out enjoying his retirement. Jan decided he could wait at Freemen’s place as easily as anywhere else.
Jan landed on the groomed field in front of Freemen’s house. There was a spacecraft significantly larger than Jan’s on a landing pad large enough for the two ships. Rollo must have made more money than Jan thought to afford a cruiser like that. Good, that means he must be here, thought Jan, as he landed his ship and walked out.
At this time of year, the weather remained hot and somewhat humid, even at this altitude. The tall trees were fir-like with sparse underbrush. As Jan flew in, he noticed many streams and small lakes. Freemen’s house was the stereotypical cabin in a remote area, made out of the local wood, but on a rather grand scale. Jan noticed the niceties of civilization, photochromic glass, security systems, communications antennae, and solar power grids on the roof. These were crafted so as not to take away from the rustic look of the home.
Jan walked up the six steps to the elevated porch and pressed the comm button. A face appeared on the holoscreen. The background was a lake. Obviously Freemen held a phone in front of his face.
“Yes? Jan! Sorry I didn’t answer, I fought with a fish. My you’ve changed. You look all grown up. I didn’t expect you for a few more days from your message. I’m fishing and Royanne’s out. I’ll let you in the house.” The picture shifted as Rollo sent the signal to let Jan inside. “There is an extra phone on a little table in the hallway. Take it and set the homing signal to setting 17. Follow it to me. I’m a not quite two miles to the east of the house. If you want to join me fishing, the right hand closet has a few rods. I’ve got all the tackle you’ll need with me. Come on and fish. You can eat what you catch for dinner. See you soon.” Freemen was off the air before Jan had a chance to respond.
Jan opened the door after he heard the click unlocking it. He found the phone, went to the closet and picked a rod and reel out of a rack that held over ten sets. He set the phone for seek and when he picked up Freemen’s signal, he followed it, finding a path that led in the general direction.
As Jan walked, he enjoyed getting some exercise again. His start-up activities on Impollon were grueling, but had left him without time for any physical activity. The walk reminded him of trudging around Diltrant. It was strange, he thought, how Diltrant would constantly come to his mind. What an experience that was. Then his thoughts turned to Merinnia. Why had she acted that way when he left? He really had hit some kind of sore spot. But Jan was confused since he had mentioned the same kinds of things before and there was no reaction. There must be something else, but Jan couldn’t solve the problem while he walked uphill towards Freemen.
The signal continued to get stronger. He went over a little rise to find a small lake. There on the far shore stood Freemen casting his line into the water. Jan called and waved. Freemen waved back. In a few minutes, Jan shook hands with his late mother’s attorney. Freemen was a tall spare man. Even with his white hair, the man still looked vigorous. The creases on his face were as much from outdoor activities as age. Jan always though Rollo was a bit of a dour person, but now he looked remarkably content. He wore a tan fishing vest over a plaid coverall, the legs of which were tucked into knee-length plastic boots. He obviously loved the ancient art of fishing. The large open tackle box by his feet was filled with an array of flies, lures and fishing tools.
“It’s good of you to come all this way, Jan” Freemen said. “Let’s get you rigged up and we can talk while we fish.” Jan handed him his pole and Freemen expertly set up Jan’s line with a lure. “You fish that way and I’ll dip my hook in the water over here. Have you fished with lures before?”
“Yes, I learned how to fish when I went through Space Quest training a few years ago. It was a survival course, but the instructor liked to fish, so we learned more than just putting a line in the water with a hook. I never did catch much.”
“No matter. This is a wonderful fishing spot. I generally catch a few to eat and throw the rest back. Just throw the line out and reel it in slowly.” Freemen cast his line out and started to reel it in. Nothing.
Jan cast his line out and reeled in and got a bite, but no fish. He started his inquiries. “Mr. Freemen?”
“Rollo, Jan. Everyone calls me Rollo. You know that.” the lawyer chided Jan calmly and with a smile.
“OK. Rollo. When do I get control of my trust?”
“That’s getting right to the point. Speaking of the point, wait a min
ute.” Rollo flicked his rod and began to fight with a fish. The battle lasted for a few minutes. Jan could see the fish jump out of the water. It was at least twenty-five centimeters long and looked to be very strong. Jan could see the excitement on the man’s face. This was something Rollo obviously enjoyed. Freemen took the hook out of the struggling fish’s mouth and let it swim back to be caught another day.
“Right now the trust is in dispute. A lawyer from Trigate has sought an injunction. A shell corporation has initiated the action, so I don’t know who is behind it. I have thought of researching to find the individuals involved, but haven’t gotten around to it. As you know, I’m essentially retired and just tie up loose ends of old cases from time to time. Your mother’s trust is one of them. Another few months without your return and you could have been declared legally dead.”
“Legally dead? I didn’t know I was gone that long.”
“You weren’t. Watch your line, you’ve got a fish looking at it.”
“I do?” Jan asked. Then he felt the fish strike. Jan snapped his wrist in quick response and Jan had a fight of his own. He forgot all except the battle between the fish and himself as he reeled the struggling fish in. It had a lot of fight. At the end, the line snapped and the fish, with a lure probably still in his mouth, escaped. “Wow. That was quite a fight. I don’t remember anything like that before!”
“That’s the “lure” of Wyring.” Rollo grinned. “I love it here. Great fishing. Give me your rod and I’ll put another on it. You were asking about your legal death?”
“Yes. That’s it. I sort of forgot my question. How long do I have to be gone? I thought it was a standard seven years.”
“Normally, yes. But this third party entered evidence that you were trapped in hyperspace and were presumed dead. Not missing. The legal rules on monitored accidents are different.”
“Wow. When did the clock stop?” Jan asked.