The Hand of Grethia: A Space Opera

by Guy Antibes

  “Can you keep Jan in the dark? After all, this is why he came here.”

  “Darling, you are married to a lawyer, and a damned good one. I will put a million credits into Jan’s account to keep him happy. That should keep you in my good graces at the same time.”

  Jan heard laughter. Talk turned to the day’s fishing after Jan had arrived and Royanne’s next shopping expedition off planet within the next week.

  Jan sat there shocked. The disappointment made his head spin. The duplicity! Well, he’d give the Freemen’s something to report about. He arose and took out a couple of mini-portals and exited the ship.

  He set the first one, burying it in the dirt just off of the landing pad and set the other and took it in the house.

  Rollo and his wife weren’t back yet. Jan was killing time looking at the book collection. The word “Grethia” caught his eye in a title. The title was “Grethia and Other Ancient Planets”. Taking the book down he opened it. The book was a history of ancient planets. Grethia was evidently a legend two thousand years ago when the book Jan was holding was printed.

  It was described as a mystery planet out of the mainstream of the empire. As Jan scanned the few pages on the Grethian legend, he realized that very little was known about Merinnia’s world. By Jan’s time, Grethia wasn’t even a legend. As he continued to flip the pages, Rollo came in the room.

  “There you are Jan. Found an interesting book?”

  “Actually, I have. This is a book about legendary worlds. I thought it might give me some background on my discovery.”

  “Did you find anything?”

  “Yes. Do you suppose I could borrow this for a while? Merinnia might find it interesting. She likes books. The Wankle’s had a few locally made ones that she read again and again. When I found her, she had been living without power for quite some time. She has been stuck to a viewer ever since I showed her how to use one. Maybe she would like to read this. I promise to return it.”

  “Jan,” Rollo said putting a hand on Jan’s shoulder, “consider it a gift for old time’s sake.”

  “I really appreciate that. Thanks, Mr. Freemen.”

  “Rollo”

  “Right, Rollo.” Jan said. With the money he probably skimmed off of the trust, Rollo’d probably be happy to give Jan the whole library.

  “Jan, can we have our demonstration?” Royanne said breathlessly as she rushed into the room after changing out of her hiking clothes.

  “Sure” Jan said amiably. “See this portal?” He picked the portal off of the seat of a chair. He laid it on the ground and placed the ancient book on it. “Now step aside. It either won’t work if you are too close or you will go with the book.”

  Jan pressed a stud and stepped quickly away. The familiar buildup of energy nearly stood Jan’s hair up. He looked at the focused faces of his hosts as their eyebrows rose at the feeling in the room. Then the book vanished and the power dissipated as the portal resumed its standby status. He looked at Rollo and Royanne’s stunned faces.

  “Where did it go?” Rollo said. Royanne merely nodded with a stunned look on her face.

  “Out here.” The two followed Jan out to the landing field where the book lay on the ground above the portal. “See?”

  “I can’t believe it.” Royanne said, clapping her hands. “Can people use it?”

  “Sure we all can. Step over here.” He enjoyed seeing the discomfort on their faces.

  “Not me,” Rollo walked away from the portal and towards the house.

  “I’ll go.” Royanne said, giggling. “If you can put these in stores, I won’t have to take the aircar into town for expeditions.”

  Jan told Rollo to go into the hallway in sight of both portals. Royanne shivered in anticipation. He leaned down and pressed the stud then held Royanne’s hand. The power build-up, then instantly standing in the living room, was a familiar feeling to Jan.

  “Now you can’t tell anyone about this.” Jan gave them a stern warning. “I’ve got engineers working on replicating these things, but the ancients put self-destruct mechanisms on them. We found a few of these on Gyron III. When we started to have our technicians reverse-engineer them one of them was destroyed and took the techs with it. They just sort of winked out of existence. I think we’ve just about got the workaround, so our plan is to introduce these within six months. Pretty amazing, huh?”

  “Amazing doesn’t describe it.” Rollo said drily. Royanne was nearly jumping out of her skin in excitement.

  “Now what about the trust?” redirected Jan.

  “Well, the trust is a little complicated. Your mother used a number of lawyers, including me, to bury the trust so Artis wouldn’t fool with it. I don’t know where the annuity comes from, but it amounts to about a third of a million credits per year.”

  “Three hundred thousand credits? That’s more than I thought!” Jan said overcoming the nauseous feeling the trusted friend’s lie created. “I had no idea the trust could generate that much more income!”

  “Yes. You can see why someone would try to wrest it away from you. I had put a million credits into your account for purposes of funding the defense for the petition, but now you can use it to further your business, if you choose.”

  While skimming my annuity while you receive further payment from Artis and Trimpnell, thought Jan. “That’s where the money came from. I wondered about how my account grew in just a year. I appreciate that. It made my re-entry into civilization much easier. I admit that I have used some of the funds since to fund my efforts.” Jan admitted. “How can I unravel the maze?” Jan asked, not eager to explain his actions.

  “Leave it to me.” Rollo replied. “I can work on it between fishing trips.” He laughed. Jan forced a laugh in return.

  “Do you think you can put my next year’s advance in my accounts? I would like to use the money to complete the introduction of the portals. Now that I know what I can be expecting, I need to get back to Impollon IV and back to my labs. You mustn’t tell anyone about the portals.”

  They both agreed. Jan disappeared upstairs to retrieve his things and found the two talking on their porch.

  Jan shook Rollo’s hand and hugged Royanne. He thought as they made their farewells, walking out to the landing pad, that even in their plotting against them, they hadn’t really tried to harm him. They had even expressed some concern for him, although he knew they were exhibiting much more concern for themselves.

  He left in a depressed state, sad that her mother’s friends had deserted her and him.

  ~~~

  Chapter 38

  As Jan took off and went into orbit around Wyring, he thought about his next stop, Rexalt II. Which bank? As he finished asking the computer to take him to Rexalt, he picked up the ancient tome.

  Grethia, he mused. He began to read in more detail and laughed at the fanciful legend. How different from the way things really were. He got thirty pages into the book and faded away into a deep sleep.

  The computer woke Jan up. “A call from Merinnia Wankle on the hypernet.” announced the disembodied voice.

  Jan woke up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Carefully, he closed the book and went to a viewscreen.This must be important, thought Jan. The screen fuzzed up then cleared to reveal a slightly disheveled Merinnia in his downstairs office.

  “Jan, someone broke into the offices just an hour ago. The alarms all went off. Four mini-portals are gone and the rest of the upstairs lab is half destroyed. They set off an explosive device.” Merinnia broke into sobs. “I’m sorry, it’s the middle of the night here. Riban woke me up and I don’t know what to do!”

  “Is Riban there?” Jan asked calmly.

  “No, he’s upstairs with emergency services and the police.”

  “Was there any damage to our hidden level?”

  “No, of course not.” she sniffed. Jan loved to see the sobs. He realized how much he missed being there with her.

  “I’ve got my own bad news. It appears my mother’s la
wyer is really in the employ of my father and his family, namely my step brother Trimpnell.”

  “No! You told me he was a trusted family friend. How could he?” Tears were replaced with a look of concern on her shocked face.

  “You should see their house and spaceship. They’ve been set up well for their retirement. However, I did get more information. I’ll be gone a little longer. I have a trail to follow. My mother left me a lot more than I realize. This might change our strategy, but I can’t say any more. Tell Riban to continue on all fronts. Make sure you say ‘all fronts’. You’re absolutely sure they didn’t penetrate our lower level?”

  “No. I checked and double-checked all of our security. Everything was intact.”

  “Good. Hopefully, their technicians will get their hands bitten when they begin to take apart the portals. I made sure they were warned about the self-destruct feature. I’ll see you soon. Take care of yourself and don’t worry. It’s not time to worry yet. I miss you.” Jan said as he signed off cutting the transmission. He was surprised the comment came out about missing Merinnia. He really did miss her. He remembered the comment Royanne said about being smitten.

  ~

  “I miss you, too, Jan.” Merinnia said to the blank screen. Her already tear-filled eyes began to send more tears down her face. After a bit, she sat straight up and wiped her tears and collected herself while waiting for Riban’s report.

  ~

  Rexalt II served for millennia as a central administration planet. Close to an old, dim sun, it sat at a point in space where a great deal of traffic crossed paths. The world, covered with buildings, had very little open space. Jan’s profile told him the sun would die out in fifty thousand years. He had visited Rexalt II once with his mother, probably as she set up her trust. He was only about ten at the time and remembered little except how big the sun looked in the sky when they first landed, yet how dim the light was.

  On his way in, Jan checked with the computer to inquire how many banks there were on Rexalt II. Over seven thousand was the answer. Was this a needle in the proverbial haystack? He checked the decontamination procedure to find there was none required. How was he going to find the right bank? Jan discounted going back to Wyring and trying to get the information from Rollo Freemen. That would open up too many questions for the opposition.

  Opposition, thought Jan. There really was opposition to him. To him as an individual, but more to the point, a huge chunk of Smith Mercantile stock was his and others wanted it enough to murder. Artis and his mother must have split the stock when they divorced. No wonder his father’s second family showed such animosity towards him.

  He sat back and tried to remember his trip when he was ten. He remembered the sun. It was still huge. He remembered it rolled all the way around the horizon. That meant the bank was on a pole. What time of year was it? They left Impollon when it was cold and in the middle of winter. He remembered going from darkness to light. He called the computer up and had it compare the seasons on both planets when he was ten. He came up with a match. It must have been the south pole.

  He then called up all of the banks that were located where the sun would barely show all day long. There were thirty-four banks in that radius. That was more manageable. He thought a bit and ran a search on the banks for cultural and planetary specialties. There were fourteen that specialized in Impollonian clients. Another search revealed eight of the banks were large enough to handle a large trust the size of his mother’s. From seven thousand banks to eight in about 10 minutes, thought Jan. Smiling to himself, he asked for instructions to land at the south pole spaceport.

  The south pole spaceport was a somber affair. The terminal was blown concrete that had been allowed to turn almost black with dirt. Like everything else on the planet, it had a nearly derelict look about it. The sky was a dim orange around the horizon. It was now the dark season where the sun never rose in the sky. On his walk to the terminal, Jan had to set the warmth on his clothing a little higher. Papers and debris clung to his clothes as a cold wind provided the only animation Jan could see. People moved so slowly, even in the frigid weather.

  Upon entering the port, Jan went to the exchange desk. “I’d like a few thousand credits in the local exchange.”

  “What will you be exchanging?” a young man asked flatly.

  “Impollon credits on my card. What is the current rate?”

  “About 1.53 Impollon credits per Rexalt dollar. However, I don’t have that much cash. You’ll have to go somewhere else.”

  “Isn’t this an exchange booth? How can you run out of cash?” an exasperated Jan Smith asked.

  “I don’t really care. It doesn’t make a difference to me.”

  “I’ll take whatever you’ve got. I have business in town. I’ll get more cash later.” Jan said.

  “If you say so,” the man said without emotion. “I can get you 350 dollars. Do you have the credit card?”

  Jan handed it over and observed the lackadaisical way the man went about his business. Jan hurriedly walked over to the Traveler’s Bureau.

  “I’d like to find a hotel that will take credits. I plan on being here a week,” he asked.

  “Just a moment,” an elderly lady dressed in a dreary dark brown dress. About five interminable minutes later after she slowly pecked her way on a keyboard in front of a holoscreen, “I have two you can choose from. Enjoy your stay.” she said unenthusiastically, gave him the printout and turned away from Jan to sit down and look in another direction.

  What a place! These people were the most morose lot, he had ever seen. Everyone moved so slowly, as if every effort hurt. He walked out of the terminal and hired an automated taxi to take him to the first hotel on the list.

  Jan looked up at the hotel. It was made out of stone that might have been pink at one point. Now it was a dark gray, colorless facade. The design would have been interesting if it was clean, but even the windows were filthy and dull. Jan shrugged at the sight. This must be typical for Rexalt, he now thought, as he entered the dreary lobby. He didn’t remember the slow pace of the populace as a child.

  The woman at the check-in desk processed Jan’s room. Jan paid an advance with his most of his cash and signed in under the name Garst Bloodin. Two noble names, he thought. He smiled as he laid the dollars on the counter.

  “Thanks,” sighed the woman.

  “Is anything wrong?”

  “Anything wrong? Only the planet is dying. What’s the use of being positive when the planet is dying.”

  “This planet won’t die for another fifty thousand years. You and all of your progeny won’t be around by then. Why all the gloom?” Jan asked barely suppressing a smile.

  “We are all gloomy because the sun will implode and our dead bodies will be consumed.”

  “Dry away your tears. You won’t have to worry.”

  “What else is there to do?” she gave Jan an incomprehensible look of despair.

  Jan shook his head and walked away. A young man slowly joined him while Jan held the door open. On the elevator, the man sighed.

  “Does everybody sigh on this planet?” Jan said with a touch of irritation to his voice, his humor gone with the realization everyone on the planet felt this way.

  “Well, with the sun imploding and all, yes.” said the young man.

  “How do you get anything done if you are waiting for the event to occur fifty thousand years from now.”

  “It’s fate. We must make our living so we and our children can make enough to fly off the planet.”

  “And when do you plan on doing that? In forty thousand years or so you can give yourself plenty of time before the end?”

  “Now you’re making fun of me.”

  “You’re making fun of yourself” Jan said as got off the elevator.

  The rooms were adequate, but like everything else on Rexalt, a little seedy. None of these people would be here when the sun died. Why didn’t they do something to make their lives a little better? He was sure th
is culture had been sighing for a long time and would for an even longer time to come.

  He powered up his phone and linked with his ship’s computer. At least the infonet operated at a decent speed. He called up the list of banks to investigate and sat back to figure out just what his approach would be. A little craftiness seemed in order.

  The next day after two uninspired meals eaten in the hotel, Jan took his list and went out into the chill air of the southern winter. His perusal in the planet’s infonet revealed nothing about his accounts. However, the banks on his initial list grew by one in an afternoon and evening of searching. The banks opened during normal business hours.

  Yasmic Defence, Limited was the first bank Jan entered. Jan’s first dour encounter of the day was with a secretary. The girl was young and would have been pretty if the sourness had been removed. She wore a medium gray dress with a touch of dark red color bordering her high neckline and cuffs. Her lipstick was also a dark red bordering on black. It did not match her fair hair and skin. Jan didn’t have a clue what was fashionable on Rexalt. This culture had nothing to do with normalcy, he concluded while he waited for fifteen minutes to get her to recognize him.

  “Yes, I am looking for the bank that is the custodian of my trust. I remember coming to Rexalt’s south pole when I was little while my mother set up a trust for me. I want to find it to see what my principal is. Do you have records of trusts set up 15 to 20 years ago?

  “May I have your name and your mother’s name and the current trustee?” Jan wrote them down on the slip of paper that slowly made its way across the young woman’s desk. She took the paper away and went to a man sitting in a desk against the back of the wall behind a waist-high counter. They conferred in whispers for a while. The man gave Jan a disagreeable look, then addressed himself to a keyboard and screen. A few minutes later he came to Jan, who had by now gotten up from his seat by the secretary’s desk and was reviewing the promotional literature of the bank. Somber and boring.