Irena sobbed quietly for a few moments before pulling back. She smiled, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“You’ve got nothing to apologize for. This has been traumatic. It’ll take a while to come to terms with all this.”
“It’s not over yet. There’s still the issue of my parents.”
“That’s being taken care of as we speak. I’ve uploaded all the data to a secure server. Kallstrom will receive it shortly. Gylfie’s going to explain everything. When that goes public, your mother’s bid for the presidency will be over. Her rating will tank, ending any hopes of launching a bid to oust Kallstrom.”
“I’ll be relieved when they’re behind bars. For years, any time we were together, they’ve tried to rule my life. If anything, it’s actually a relief to know that they were involved in all this.”
“How so?”
“It means it wasn’t me, you know? Growing up, I always thought their behavior toward me was somehow my fault, that I couldn’t live up to their standards, but now it’s clear they had no such standards. They were the ones who were weak.”
“From the day I met you,” Harlan said, “I knew you were one of the strongest people I had ever encountered. And there’s nothing that has changed my mind on that.”
“You’re not so bad yourself.”
She flashed that smile again.
“So,” Harlan said, eager to move on, “what will you do when all this is over? With your parents facing life in prison and the immediate threat gone, what do you want to do? Will you rejoin the Earth Restoration Project?”
She shook her head and pointed out the window at the rolling black clouds and torrential rain. “I never want to come back here ever again. As far as I’m concerned, our future is out there.” She pointed to the sky. “Harking back to an era long gone seems wasteful now. We have an entire Solar system to reach out to.”
“With that in mind, I have a proposal for you.”
Irena’s eyes went wide. “I’m listening.”
“I suspected you wouldn’t want to rejoin the ERP, so then the obvious option came to mind. When we get back, I’ll be petitioning for Gylfie to take over Hugo’s role.”
“What will you do? I assumed you’d get that position.”
“I’ll continue working in the department as I’ve always done, but with Hugo, Aurier and the agents who were murdered no longer around, it means we’re short of staff until we get our new stream of junior recruits. I’ve not had a partner for quite a while now, and since we appear to make a good team, I’d like you to join the runners and be my partner as a trainee. What do you say?”
The smile on her face betrayed any sense of being coy. “I’d love that. Will I get my own cool retro uniform like yours?”
“Nah, you’ll have to wear the standard-issue gear. At least until you’re fully qualified, then you can wear whatever you want.”
“What’ll be our first case?”
“We bring the last dregs of Vanguard to their knees.”
“Sounds good to me.” She held out her hand. Harlan shook it.
“Welcome to the silicon runners, where our reach extends to all corners of the Solar system.”
42
Two months later,
Atlas Station
From his private quarters, Harlan heard Irena moving about in the living room of his apartment. She was playing some classical music and humming along to the catchy 20th-century melodies. Their combined sound filtered through the thin material of the door. It brought a smile to his face, this sound of domestic equanimity—a quality he hadn’t experienced for such a long time. Certainly not since Leanne had left.
He would join Irena later, but for now, he needed to finish his report. Since they had been rescued from Earth and returned to Atlas, the fallout from Vanguard’s exposed plan had put in motion a long procession of political and societal fallout. He left most of that to Gylfie and President Kallstrom to deal with.
Bashir and Greta were healthy again, going through rehab. Wilbur and Bella had agreed to work with the prosecutors on the case, bargaining for their own crimes, as Harlan had done with regard to the fracas with the crew of the SFF Wickham. Captain Saffile reluctantly agreed to drop charges in exchange for a promotion, as his types often did in such politically advantageous situations.
As for Irena’s parents; they were being processed, along with twelve cohorts. All were members of Vanguard, and complicit in their attempts to overthrow the Solar Federation and take control of the abbots—or to use their own phraseology: Project Inception.
Harlan re-read through the report of his evidence and findings until he came to the spot where he had paused to think on the final loose ends: Gianni and the signal. The two elements were really twin particles of the same atom. It had been the central theme of discussion during the journey back to Atlas. Why did Luca take Gianni back to Earth, and what was the source of the signal? During a raid on Europa’s AstroLab facility, Harlan had found the answers to both questions.
He centered the curser on the holographic screen and began to type.
… In regard to the anomaly described in subsection IV of Crime Report #554978.1, the signal was found to be an encoded FRB (Fast Radio Burst). Data from the AstroLab was provided by the Vanguard science team as per their plea deal—full details accompanied in Document Ref: 778107332. Post-encryption shows the signal to be the original attempt of Project Inception, that is to say, the endeavor to bypass the security of the QCA. Along with Fizon’s confession, the evidence suggests this was used as part of his initial cover story. That Gianni Mazzari implicated himself within the conspiracy reflects the corruption within both the SFSA and the attendant agencies assigned to contracts on Europa and its brethren moons.
On recovery of Mr. Mazzari’s shuttle, an analysis of the data within its computers was carried out by technicians in the employ of the Silicon Runners and under regulation of the Criminal Investigation Committee—Policy No.632, sub-section, XV. Video footage of Luca Doe and his associates kidnapping and incapacitating Mr. Mazzari was discovered and verified—evidence packet ref: 991.5. The trauma of the event and subsequent torture carried out to determine his level of knowledge of the signal and accompanied activities had damaged his psyche to the point where he had become mute. Further details of the damage his brain sustained and the likely effects can be found in the medical report by Drs. Kevan, Marsh, and Liao, within evidence packet ref: 991.6.
From Vanguard defendants Howe and Patterson, we learned that Luca Doe took personal responsibility for Mr. Mazzari and what he saw as, “his own damn fault for letting that bastard discover the signal.” This responsibility led to his using Mr. Mazzari as a living, breathing experiment for his own brand of psyche manipulation, the basis of which, according to Patterson, was, “to develop a framework of obedience with which to develop and codify the new instructions for the unlinked abbots.” Patterson added, “no one within Vanguard, especially Project Inception, saw the validity of transposing human conditioning to an AI-driven mind.” And that, “Luca was losing his own grip on reality and defied Vanguard on numerous occasions.” Howe has testified the accuracy of this account and suggested that this schism was the reason why Luca Doe apparently went rogue within the organization, transferring his base of operations to Earth.
There is still conjecture as to the internal politics of Project Inception, and whether this is an accurate account of Luca Doe’s motivations. My own evidence is insufficient to recommend an alternative in lieu of the aforementioned defendants' reports. Any further investigative activity will be sent as is appropriate.
Harlan stretched his arms above his shoulders and stood up. There was more to add to the report: boilerplate legal stuff, but he’d joined all the necessary dots and referenced all the appropriate pieces of evidence. It was now down to Kallstrom’s legal team to piece it all together into the final coherent account for the courts.
At least now, those in Vanguard would be brought to
justice, and Bella could finally put her poor brother to rest and attempt to move on now that she had her answers. He wasn’t sure that knowing her brother was an experiment-gone-wrong was any kind of solace, but it was the only one available, and he figured that was better than not knowing. At least she would have her say in court and would see those left alive in Vanguard pay for their crimes.
It was not nothing. He’d come to learn that over the years. Some of the most hideous crimes could affect the relatives of a victim in ways beyond comprehension, and yet he’d seen it so often that the conclusion of a case, and the meting out of justice, helped the victims and those around them find a slither of light in the all-consuming chaos of universal indifference. That tiny crack of goodness, of righteousness, helped light their path to acceptance so that they could live again, knowing that in this world of suffering and struggle, there was something out there diligently working as a bulwark against the darkness.
And it was that realization that drove Harlan to do what he did.
The music stopped.
He went to the door, opened it, and stepped into the living room. Irena turned to face him. “Hey. Report finished?”
“All the important stuff is done. You want some coffee? We’ve got a few hours to kill before we have to submit the report, and I could use a break.”
“Sure…. But there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Oh?”
“It’s Leanne. She came by earlier while you were working. She didn’t want to stay, but left you a note over there on the kitchen counter. I didn’t read it.”
She blushed as she said this. He waved it away. “It’s fine. I trust you. Did she say anything else? She was due to meet with her legal team today. I still can’t believe she agreed to testify.”
“I have a feeling those plans have changed.”
Harlan walked across the room and picked up the polymer envelope. A hand-written letter was inside, along with a data card. The note simply read:
Harlan, I’m sorry.
I cannot face what is to come. I’ve always been a coward, and I can’t escape my nature. Don’t wait for me any longer. You deserve to move on.
Please don’t try to find me; you will only find pain.
I will always love you.
Leanne.
His skin prickled with heat, and his fingers trembled. He thumbed the data card over his terminal and looked at what Leanne had given to him: a decree nisi for a divorce. He collapsed forward onto the counter as a wave of emotion rose up in his chest.
Irena placed a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
He took a deep breath, stood up, and faced her. “I think so. Leanne has given me the one thing I’ve wanted for the last decade. Finality. I can now let her go.” With that, he leaned in and kissed Irena. She returned his kiss with eagerness.
After a few moments, they broke away. Harlan looked into her eyes and saw a new world of happiness and completion staring back at him. She smiled and laughed out loud, then wrapped her arms around his neck. His terminal chirped with a series of notifications, but he ignored them. The world of justice could wait, just as he had waited so long to be whole once more.
Finally, he could live a life worth living again.
Finally, he had a measure of his life again.
Afterword
Dear reader, thank you for reading my book. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, I would be most grateful if you could leave a review. These help us small authors a great deal. Fewer than 1 in 100 readers tend to leave reviews, but they’re easier than you might think. Just a sentence of your thoughts will be fine and a star-rating. These help Amazon market books and enables me to continue writing you stories. Thanks!
Also by A.C. Hadfield
The Carson Mach Adventures
The Atlantis Ship
The Terminal War
The lost Voyager
Blackstar Command
Prominence
Magnitude
About the Author
A.C. Hadfield is a pen name of Colin F. Barnes. Under Hadfield, Colin writes space opera novels across a spectrum of pulpy adventure (Carson Mach series) to classic hero's journey tales (Blackstar Command), and explorations into post-Earth colony life (Vanguard Rising).
A.C Hadfield’s newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dISpxL
Visit Website: http://www.colinfbarnes.com/achadfield/
Vanguard Rising: A Space Opera Adventure Page 30