“Is the transmit booster registering?” Roy asked as he examined the com settings.
“It’s at one hundred percent,” Spring told him. “Anytime you’re ready.”
Roy nodded, and opened the connection. “This is the Makalu, calling Verdant. Makalu calling Verdant. Time is fifteen-hundred GMT, and this is our status report. I’ve gone over the ship again, and everything looks good for launch. We’ve had a personnel issue, though: Haylee, my pilot, has had to go to Portland to help her folks. I’ve put in a call for another pilot, who I’m waiting for right now. Don’t worry, though, it’s someone you know…”
Roy paused when he heard voices outside of the bridge, and a voice he recognized. He pointed at Spring and gestured at him to go and bring the newcomer to the bridge. As Spring got up and headed for the outer bay, Roy said into the com, “Yes, perfect, she just got here. So we should be able to leave on time at sixteen hundred.” He looked up as the pilot entered the bridge, and he waved her over to his station. “Hold on, Verdant, the pilot would like to say hello.”
Roy leaned back, allowing the pilot to come forward and approach the mike. “Hello, Daddy, it’s Anise! I’m so glad you guys are okay! Can’t wait to see you!”
Anise leaned back, smiling at Roy, who grinned back at her. Into the com, he said, “We are proceeding as scheduled. We’re still expecting a few last passengers to arrive soon, but I plan to button ‘er up at fifteen-thirty, so they haven’t got much time. If I haven’t heard from you before the hour is out, I’ll assume it’s okay to take off. Will call again if something unexpected happens. Makalu, out.”
Roy closed the connection, just as he heard more voices from the crew bay. He turned to Anise, who was already in the pilot’s seat and getting herself organized. “So, we’re leaving in an hour?” she asked.
“Unless we hear different,” Roy replied. “Anxious to see Ceo Lenz, are we?”
Anise turned to him. “You don’t know! I was a wreck when we all thought something horrible had happened to Verdant. Knowing Daddy’s okay… well, I can’t wait to see him again!”
“Well, it’ll happen sooner than you’d believe,” Roy grinned back at her. “So get comfortable, and I’ll be back later.”
Roy left the bridge and found Spring near the crew airlock, with two people standing before him. Spring looked up when Roy appeared, and nodded at the two people next to him. “Our last passengers, sir. This is Mattie Horn… and this is Dr. Emilio Vasqual.”
“Good timing,” Roy said, shaking both of their hands in turn. “We were going to lock up in another half-hour. Your seats are over there, and we plan to take off in an hour.”
Mattie Horn nodded, and started towards the bay with the seating. Dr. Vasqual looked about anxiously, and addressed Spring. “My samples were supposed to be delivered already. Are they here yet?”
“Samples?” Roy asked.
Vasqual turned and looked at Roy, seemingly trying to decide whether he should bother to reply. To prompt him, Roy added, “I’m the Captain of this ship.”
“Oh,” Vasqual said. “Of course, Captain. Well, I have agricultural samples that I’m taking back to Verdant. We’re hoping to use them to improve crop yields.”
“Your cargo arrived a half-hour ago,” Spring volunteered, and indicated their general location amidst the rest of the cargo. Apparently satisfied that they were aboard, Vasqual nodded. Then he leaned at Spring and asked, “What’s going to happen to them? Everybody’s talking about some weird drive you have, and there’s talk of radiation. I don’t want my samples damaged.”
“There’s no radiation,” Roy told him reassuringly. “The drive won’t affect them at all. So just relax, and take your seats before we close up.”
He left Spring to deal with the passengers, and headed to the engine bays. All of Dr. Silver’s staff, and his remaining crewmembers, had been delivered from their overnight quarters. Valeria and the rest of Dr. Silver’s staff had taken the time to change out of the clothing they had worn to their overnight lodging, and into clothing that had been waiting for them on the Makalu… a precaution against any bugs or other devices that might have been planted on their clothing while they were asleep. Roy planned to throw the clothing out, the moment they locked up.
As he approached, Valeria was directing the staff to get ready for translation, as she studied a workstation herself. She looked up as Roy approached. “Morning, Captain.”
“Morning,” Roy said. “Everyone ready to go?”
“Pretty much,” Valeria replied. “Everything checks out okay, so we’re just waiting to hit orbit to get the ball rolling.”
“Glad to hear it. The last of our passengers are here, so we’ll be closing up at fifteen-thirty GMT… about twenty minutes from now. Let me know if you need anything.”
“You bet,” Valeria said, smiling back.
Roy then went into the adjacent bay, where his engine crew was working. “How’s everything look?”
One of the crew, Blake, turned to him. “Everything looks one hundred,” he said. “We’re almost done with the maintenance checks. We got all the kinks out of her last night, so we’re ready to hit orbit.”
“Okay,” Roy nodded. “We’re closing up in twenty, and taking off at the top of the hour.”
“We’ll be ready!”
Satisfied that everything was well in-hand on-board the ship, Roy descended the ramp from the crew airlock, and stepped out onto the tarmac. Not far from the ramp, Hunter and Goldie stood watching the general activity around the freighter, and the soldiers watching them in-turn. Goldie looked at Roy upon his approach, and asked, “What’s your status?”
“Everything looks good,” Roy told them. “The passengers are all here, the engines check out, Silver’s people are all ready, and our pilot is here.”
Goldie blinked noticeably. “Pilot? Where did our pilot go?”
Hunter turned to her, and said, “Happened while you were asleep. Haylee, the original pilot, went home to Oregon. Roy got Anise Lenz here for the return trip.”
Goldie looked in turn at Roy, then at Hunter. She finally addressed Hunter: “You saw her?”
“I admitted her,” Hunter replied. “It’s okay.”
Roy said to Goldie, “He said you all knew each other.”
Goldie nodded. “Just making sure it was someone we could verify.” Something occurred to her then. “Captain, you don’t know personally the people flying back with us, correct?”
“That’s right, I don’t,” Roy admitted.
Goldie thought a moment. “Do me a favor: Try to get pictures of your passengers, and send that to Verdant with their idents before we take off.”
“We’ve been checking their idents as they came aboard,” Roy stated. “They all checked.”
“Humor me, would you?” Goldie said. “Just to be on the safe side.”
Roy considered her request, and after a moment, he nodded. “Let’s see what I can do. We’re locking up in fifteen, and taking off at sixteen-hundred GMT. You guys ready?”
“We’ll be ready when you are,” Hunter said, nodding at the Wasps sitting fifty meters away on the tarmac.
Roy returned to the Makalu, found Spring, and motioned him over. He conversed with him privately for a moment, then made his way to the bridge.
On the bridge, Anise was deep into her pre-flight checks, examining the readings she was getting from the on-board systems, one-by-one. When Roy arrived, Anise said, “I heard Gordon is chewing nails over this situation. Is it true he refused to accept payment for the ship after Verdant commandeered it?”
“Sure is,” Roy replied, as he worked over his console. “He’s been the biggest ass you can imagine over all this. He even tried to sabotage the ship! Which reminds me: Are you going to tell him you did this run?”
“Only if I have to,” she replied. “I told Sergei, if anyone from RPI calls, to tell them I’m distraught, being hounded by the press, and not talking to anyone.”
“Good move,
” Roy admitted. “You should still work after this. I, on the other hand, am likely to be branded a pirate in the industry. There’s no telling who I’ll be working for in a year.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Anise told him. “You are already famous, worldwide, just by being associated with Verdant. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of offers when you’re done here.”
“You think?...” Roy’s interest in the conversation trailed off, as he watched one of the video screens on his station. On the screen, he could see Spring in the makeshift passenger bay, bringing new passenger Mattie Horn up to one of the wall coms. Although the sound was off, Spring appeared to be describing the com’s functions to her. As Roy watched the pantomime, he saw Spring ask for Horn’s ident fob, and he showed her how to use it to activate the com.
A moment later, the ident data on the fob displayed on the screen below Horn’s face. Roy smiled at the data, and made sure his station was recording the information. And already, Spring was thanking Horn for her cooperation, and then asking the next passenger up to the com to demonstrate how it worked.
Well, if nothing else, Roy mused, he might be suited for a job in espionage…
37: Return
“Attention. I have an anomaly.”
Everyone in CnC looked up upon hearing the voice of the GLIS. Then they looked to the group of Julian, Reya, Kris, Aaron and Dr. Silver at the central workstation. Reya said, “I’ll bet we’ve got one.”
As they watched, footage from the Makalu displayed on the main column in CnC. One of Roy Grand’s crew had brought a man within camera range, and a few moments later, the data from his ident fob displayed under his image.
Reya read the data. “Doctor Emilio Vasqual. Verdant citizen.” She consulted the travel data she had on Verdant citizens on Earth. “He was supposed to be in Chile, visiting family, and bringing back some agricultural samples related to his work.”
Julian examined the image in the column. “GLIS, give us a photo from Dr. Vasqual’s file.”
“That was good thinking of Lt. Maina to screen the passengers,” Reya commented. “Why didn’t we think of that?”
Kris shrugged. “You don’t think like a politician.”
“In that case,” Reya said, “I don’t feel so bad.”
At that moment, a haggard figure came through the double-doors into CnC. Everyone looked up as Calvin Rios entered the room… then they all reacted with concern as they took in his state. To put it plainly, he looked like hell. Calvin had a two-day growth of beard, and he looked like he hadn’t slept in longer than that. His eyes were sunken and haunted, and they flicked from person to person with sleep-deprived irritation.
“Thank you for joining us, Doctor,” Julian said at once, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. He started to ask about his wife, whom he knew from Reya’s report had gone missing. But something in Calvin’s eyes, coupled with the urgency of the moment, told him this was not the time to ask. “We need your help with a problem.”
“What’s that?” Calvin asked in a raspy voice.
“Our freighter is coming back,” Julian said, steering Calvin to the main workstation and indicating the column. “But there’s an impostor aboard.”
“What!” Calvin seemed to draw himself up upon hearing the news. “Who is it?”
A moment later, a face appeared in the central column, next to the image sent from the Makalu. The man in the Makalu footage, and the image in the file, were of two different men.
“Bingo,” Reya nodded. “We have a ringer.”
Calvin looked at the two faces, and visibly deflated. “I don’t know him.”
“It’s supposed to be Doctor Emil Vasqual,” Julian pointed out. But this,” he indicated the other face, “is the man on the freighter.”
Reya looked at Julian. “We did get a confirmation from Dr. Vasqual that he intended to come back.”
“Or we thought we did,” Aaron stated. “It may have been faked. Or it may have been real, and someone intercepted Vasqual.”
“Not that that’s not important,” Kris said to them, “but right now we need to concentrate on why they put an impostor aboard the Makalu.”
“Sabotage,” Reya said immediately. “Of either the Makalu, or Verdant itself.”
“But how?” Aaron asked. “I find it hard to believe Captain Grand wouldn’t be able to detect a significant amount of weapons or other hazardous materials loaded into his cargo.”
“Possibly someone expects to take the freighter on a suicide run,” Dr. Silver suggested. “Look what an impact did to Tranquil.”
Kris glanced over to Julian, in time to see a pained look flash across his face. Between his late friend Evelyn Volov, and the information they’d recently received from the Makalu that Anise Lenz would be aboard the freighter, she imagined Julian was exerting an effort to keep himself calm.
In the meantime, Calvin had been staring at the faces. At the moment when it seemed as if he wasn’t even paying attention to them, he said, “A surgically-placed tactical weapon doesn’t need to be large to be effective.”
Everyone stared at him a moment, without speaking. “Then he could carrying or planning almost anything,” Reya finally stated. “What can we do about that?”
“Warn the Makalu,” Calvin rasped. “They can arrest him, lock him up or something.”
“He could have some remote device concealed on him,” Dr. Silver said. “If it was not discovered on him in time, he could still manage to set off whatever he has in mind.”
“It would be best,” Kris said, “to alert the Makalu covertly. Warn them to watch Vasqual for signs of threatening or devious activity.”
“But how will they know what that is?” Aaron asked.
Kris looked at Aaron, about to comment… and it occurred to her at that moment that that may have been the first time Aaron had directed a question or comment directly to her since she had broken things off with him. It took her a moment to reorient her thinking to the task at hand. “Asking odd questions… concerns about his cargo… sudden bluster, demands for information, or sudden panic. All of those could be signs of a covert plan in action, or distraction from something else.”
Julian turned to Reya. “Can we put all of that into a coded message, and get it off to them before they do the translation?”
“In about fifty minutes’ time,” Aaron added.
“Yes,” Reya replied. “There’s time. But we’d better figure out what to tell them.”
“Then let’s get on it.”
~
The Makalu was only ten minutes from launch when it received a message from Verdant.
“What?” Roy said when he was told. By mutual agreement, Verdant wasn’t scheduled to communicate with them again, unless there was something wrong. After checking his watch, he said, “Put it on.”
Anise flipped the switch on her com, and the voice of Julian Lenz came through. “Makalu, Verdant. Copying that we received your last message. Nice to hear your voice, too, Ani… I can’t wait to see you. That’s excellent news. We are standing by to receive you on schedule. Verdant out.”
Anise reached to close the connection, but Roy’s outstretched hand on hers stopped her. Anise looked at Roy, who silently mouthed, “Wait.”
They watched the board, where the red transmission light was still burning. After another few seconds, it blinked once, then went out. Roy then closed the connection.
“What happened?” Anise asked Roy when he leaned back into his chair.
“Julian and I arranged a few coded phrases before we left,” Roy explained. “Just in case of emergency. He just alerted me that there’s an encrypted message in that last signal. Give me a minute.” Roy worked on his own board for a moment, then removed an earpiece from its storage slot and inserted it into his ear. He started to replay the message… then he looked at Anise, and pointed to the earpiece on her board. After resetting the board to tightcast to both earpieces, he started the deciphered message.
“
This is Reya Luis. Your passenger Doctor Emil Vasqual is an impostor. We suspect he has been inserted in order to sabotage you or Verdant, probably after your jump. Be on the lookout for erratic behavior, such as asking odd questions, concerns about his cargo, sudden bluster, demands for information, or sudden panic, that could indicate imminent action on his part. Try to re-examine any cargo he’s brought, but covertly. If he suspects you’re on to him, he might take action which could endanger the Makalu. Be careful. Verdant out.”
Roy and Anise exchanged alarmed glances. Anise whispered, though no one else was within earshot, “What are we going to do?”
Roy checked his watch. “Act natural. We launch in seven minutes. Get ‘er ready. I’ll be back before then.”
Roy left his seat and started aft. When he reached the side bay holding his small number of passengers, he leaned in and called out, “We’re taking off in six minutes, folks. Make sure you’re strapped in tight.” He pointedly ran his eyes quickly over everyone in the group, including the man who had identified himself as Vasqual, but did not linger over anyone. Then he continued aft as casually as he could manage.
Once he reached the bays, he found Valeria amongst Dr. Silver’s staff and the Verdant drive. “Small problem,” he said in a low voice, so as not to alert the others. Valeria looked at him, taking note of his expression, and moved to the corner, out of earshot of the technicians. “Dr. Vasqual is an impostor,” Roy explained. “Verdant thinks he’s a saboteur, and warns us to watch our asses.”
Valeria stared at him. “That’s it? Did they tell you anything else?”
Roy shook his head. “They don’t know what he’s going to do. And neither do we. We’re still launching, though.”
“Is that a good idea?”
“Don’t want to tip him off that something’s wrong,” Roy explained. “Just keep an eye on things back here, all right? If I can tell you anything else, I will.”
He stopped by the engineering bay as well, to warn his men to keep anyone, absolutely anyone, that wasn’t part of the crew out of the engine bays. Then he headed forward, still trying to maintain calm.
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