by Gary Weston
‘Only one button on it,’ said Raven.
‘Maybe they designed it so once activated, it couldn’t be stopped,’ said Miller.
Carver said, ‘Such a ray of sunshine.’
‘Maybe there’s a way in this thing,’ said Hanson. ‘Cut a few wires.’
Thirteen seconds.
‘I can’t see any way inside it,’ said Carver.
‘Well, I’m not holding this thing all day,’ said Hanson
Nine seconds.
‘Excuse me,’ said Joy Dainty. ‘Men. Let a woman sort it out.’
Two seconds.
‘Here.’ said Joy and pressed the one and only button. Something went click.
Chapter 65
‘Buckle up, people. Take off in one minute.’ Karma Casey couldn’t wait to get away from the dead looking rock. The eight cargo ships had been loaded with equipment and people in record time, just as eager to get away. Her ship led the convoy out of the planet’s atmosphere, the long journey home begun. She set the course into the computer. ‘Computer. Take over the boring bits.’
‘Does not compute.’
‘Computer. Set autopilot.’
‘Computing. Autopilot set.’
Casey unbuckled and left the flight-deck, into the mid-section of the ship. Although not designed for people, the seats hastily cobbled together and comfort hadn’t entered the equation, and cramming one hundred and twenty people inside, plus their belongings in the rear section, had been a challenging experience. The Base had been gifted to the Korvalians as some small compensation for what the Humans had taken.
‘Finally, you’re away from there,’ she said to the first couple.
‘I thought the day would never come,’ said Joy Dainty.
‘Can’t say I’ll miss the place,’ said Raven. ‘And if I have anything to do with it, this is the last ship I ever get on.’
‘You’re retiring?’ said Casey.
‘Only from working in the field. I’m flying a desk from now on.’
‘He’s had enough adventure to last him a lifetime,’ said Joy. ‘The next big event will be our baby.’
‘You’re pregnant?’ Casey asked.
Raven grinned. He was getting better at that. ‘All in good time. We’ll find somewhere nice to live and play happy families.’
‘I’m pleased for you both. Well, I’d better get back to work.’ Her foot knocked something down by Raven’s feet and Casey saw something suspiciously round and shiny, half covered by Raven’s jacket.
‘That had better not be what I think it is,’ said Casey.
‘Relax,’ said Raven. ‘It never went off. Commander Carver said I could keep it for a souvenir.’
‘Not on my ship it isn’t. It has to go.’
‘But…’
Casey picked it up. ‘I don’t care how dead it is. I’m throwing it out of the ship.’
‘Oh, but…’
Joy said, ‘Listen to the woman, Tagg. I hate the damn thing. Captain Casey. Do us all a favour and get rid of it.’
‘My pleasure.’
Casey secured her helmet, went through to the rear section and opened the inner airlock door. She took the silver ball into the airlock, secured her belt to the safety line, opened the outer airlock door and hurled the ball as hard as she could. In the vacuum of space, the momentum carried it away from the ship. Then she made her way back to the pointy end of the ship.
The Korvalians had gathered to watch the ships take off, delighted to have their planet to themselves again.
‘Peace at last,’ said Principal LaH’vot.
‘Not going to miss them?’ said Regnad HoL’tor.
‘For about five minutes,’ said LaH’vot. ‘How about you, Regnad?’
‘Maybe I’ll miss them a little.’
Larlso HoL’tor rubbed the top of her son’s head. ‘Come on. It’s too cold to be standing here.’
They were about to enter the tunnels to go back to the city, when Regnad saw something.
‘Look. What’s that?’
Something had lit up a part of the heavens, bright and yellow. It didn’t last long, just a few seconds, then it had gone.
LaH’vot said, ‘I think it’s a sign things are fine now. Let’s all go home.’
Boom, boom. The end.
Deep Space Intelligence
The Masters
Gary Weston
ISBN: 9781301694310
Chapter 66
Joy Dainty knocked on the door. She did a lot of deep breathing as she waited for the door to be opened. She saw the scanner take her all in. Somebody was scanning her.
‘Who are you?’ The voice sounded artificial, not human at all.
Joy had been rehearsing this for weeks. Four times she had stood before this door, but had chickened out before the door had opened. This time, she was determined to stand her ground. The locks clicked open. And the door opened just a fraction. Joy had her first glance of Tilly Jordan. A faced wrapped up in a blue silk scarf.
‘I’m Joy Dainty. If…can we talk?’
There was a long pause. ‘I need to see you?’ asked the artificial voice.
‘I think it could help. Please. Let me in.’
Nothing happened. Joy readied her knuckles to hammer the door. Another click. The door opened. Joy walked in. The apartment was basically white. Bland. No redeeming features. Bland. Tilly Jordan kept her back to the visitor.
‘Coffee? Juice?’
Joy said, ‘Just the chance to talk.’
Jordan spun around. The silk scarf covered up her lower face. ‘You are with him.’
‘Tagg. Yes. I…love him. Look. If this…’
‘Sit. There will do.’
Jordan sat away from her unexpected guest, pulled up the silk scarf to cover her face, and waited.
‘I’ll cut to the chase,’ said Joy. ‘I know what happened. Tagg told me all about it. That was…tragic.’
‘Tragic. An interesting turn of phrase. Shall I show you tragic?’
Before Joy could reply, Jordan unravelled the scarf to reveal what was left of her face. Joy gasped, looked at the floor, wanted to run away, needed to puke.
It was an abomination. Jordan’s face was still beautiful from the nose upwards. Below that, it was ugly. Valves and tubes for feeding. Stuff to keep her alive. Joy’s gut reacted, recoiled and was one step away from projectile vomiting. She managed to hold back.
‘I should go.’
Through a series of circuitry, Jordan expressed herself. ‘You have come to beg forgiveness for him?’
‘No. Yes, in a way. Look. Every night I endure his dreams. Variations on a theme. But it always comes back to when you were shot. I don’t want us to live with that for the rest of our lives.’
There was a nod of the head. The deep blue eyes sparkled with life. What was left of her face did not. It looked like a mad butchers nightmare. Cleaver and face. Above the nose, beauty, and Joy could see Tagg Raven loving that face. Below it was the stuff of nightmares.
Jordan said, ‘And I don’t want to live like this, but here I am.’
‘He loved you. Even after…’
There was something that passed as a laugh through the mess of a face. ‘Even after I ended up this way?’
‘That wasn’t his fault. Let him go.’
Jordan stood up. ‘He let me down. When I needed him most, he let me down. Look at me. Look at my lips. Oh. Sorry, no. I don’t have any lips. Hey. Why don’t you and your lips go back and kiss Tagg Raven? But in the meantime. Look at what he did to me and remember it well. He’s having nightmares? I am a nightmare.’
Joy got up. It was all too much. She backed away into a corner, towards the door. Before her was the stuff of nightmares, half her face a mass of tubes and horror. With tears streaming down her face, Joy ran to the door, rushing to the arms of the man she loved. He wasn’t there.
Chapter 67
‘Let her in.’
The heavy steel door clicked open. Joy Dainty stormed in. ‘W
here is he?’
Boss locked his fingers together and leaned back in the green leather swivel chair he’d inherited from two previous Bosses. Chairs didn’t change much. People did.
‘Joy. Such…a pleasure. How’s your new job in the botanical gardens going?’
Joy leaned over onto the walnut veneer desk with the green leather inlay. Like the chair, it had been an almost irreplaceable fixture. Almost like Boss himself.
‘Tagg. Where is he?’
‘Ah!’
‘I don’t like ah! Where the hell is Tagg?’
Boss stood up and checked his fish tank. He sprinkled food into it and watched the pretty fish devour their meal. They gobbled hungrily at the food.
‘Tagg is on a mission, Last minute thing. I’m sure…’
Joy snapped. ‘He’s desk bound, now. He couldn’t tell me?’
‘Would you have let him go?’
Joy was ready to hit something. Boss was temptingly close. ‘What do you think? I got home, all I had was a note. “Be back soon, see Boss.” Well, Boss. I’m here. So, tell me.’
Boss sat back in the green leather chair that creaked. ‘A last minute thing. Nothing dangerous. Tagg will be back in no time. A couple of weeks at most.’
‘Again. He’s desk-bound. Why him?’
‘He’s the best. He volunteered himself for this one. He took it personally. Look. Tagg will be back in no time at all.’
Joy stormed back and forth. ‘Where’s he gone?’
‘Space. That’s the “S” in DSI, by the way. It’s what he does. Nothing risky. More or less just a fact finding mission. Surveillance.’
‘I’m not putting up with this. He promised me. He’d be here to take care of our baby.’
Boss beamed. ‘You’re pregnant?’
‘No. We’re working on it. When is he due back?’
‘One can never tell about these things. Sort of goes with the turf.’
Joy demanded, ‘Why didn’t he talk to me about it? The first I knew was when I read the note.’
‘Because he knew you’d try to talk him out of it. All he told me was that he was onto something big. That’s all I needed to know. I’ve known Agent Raven for years. The Boss before me knew him also. Raven told me it was important surveillance work. Nothing more than that and that was good enough for me to authorise it.’
‘Where?’
‘I have no idea. We’ve had no radio contact from Captain Casey…’
‘Casey? She’s the one who brought us back from Nyzon five.’
Boss nodded. ‘Correct. DSI do have a few ships of our own, but mostly we have the authority to use any ship under Interplanetary Council control. Tagg talked Captain Casey into taking him after a few mods to her ship. He stressed secrecy was everything.’
‘But why Tagg?’
Boss wondered how much to reveal, not that he knew much. ‘Agents are trusted to just get on with the job. Things work best that way. Tagg’s new position of Information Co-ordinator allowed him access to all kinds of privileged stuff. My guess he’s onto something to do with drixolate running. His personal vendetta. That’s a guess, mind you. Repeat that outside this office, I will have you arrested.’
Joy didn’t doubt Boss would, too. It was almost too much. She went to the door, stopped and turned to face Boss. ‘I went to see her. Tilly.’
‘I know.’
‘You bastard. You had me followed?’
Boss shrugged. ‘For your own safety. How was she?’
‘Angry. Sad. Mostly sad. Her face…’
Boss sighed. ‘DSI has a record second to none for taking care of agents hurt in the field. She could have had more surgery. A bionic jaw. A tongue produced in a laboratory. New skin. She declined. She has already had forty three general operations to get her how she is today. All her food is just nutrients through a drip. Her voice is from an electronic implant. Tagg tried to persuade her. He…’
‘He loved her. I got that. All she wants to do is punish him. It wasn’t his fault. He didn’t shoot her.’
The door clicked open. It was Boss’s way of telling her this meeting was over. ‘As far as she’s concerned, he may has well have. Joy. I’m sure Tagg will be back soon.’
Joy stared at Boss and stormed out, the heavy steel door clicking shut behind her.
Chapter 68
Ten Days Later
‘Pull up. Pull up.’
‘Yeah. Like I’m not doing that. And leave that alone, ok?’
Captain Karma Casey had a grip on things. An unoccupied, a drone ship, was shooting at her and she was shooting back. They needed to get the hell out of there.
‘One more time. Stop messing.’
‘Just trying to help,’ said Tagg Raven.
Casey did a peculiar barrel-roll and missed getting her tail feathers fried by the drone’s laser, by a nano-second. A burst of speed and they were out of range. The battle class 3 was old, but in good order, and far more manoeuvrable than the cargo freighters she normally flew. She had been instructed to take Tagg Raven on a Deep Space Intelligence mission, but Raven had told her little about their objectives.
‘Remind me to slap you when we get home.’
Tagg Raven laughed. ‘My pleasure. I’m sure Joy will be one step ahead of you.’
Casey eased off the power. ‘Yeah. Tagg. Why was that drone ship firing at us?’
‘Probably because we wouldn’t be welcome on that planet. Nothing personal, but they’ll shoot down anything uninvited.’
Casey glared at Raven. ‘And you tell me this now?’
‘Hey. I didn’t know about the drone. It just doesn’t surprise me, that’s all. We need to go back and find out what’s going on, on this rock.’
Casey laughed. ‘Yeah. Like I’m going to do that.’
Raven insisted. ‘We need to swoop down over the surface. I need some shots of the operation. We don’t need to land, just do a fly over.’
‘Oh, that all? With us being shot at.’
Raven nodded. ‘Nothing to it. Into the atmosphere, a quick pass over and then out of there, back for home.’
‘That drone will have reported in automatically. They’ll be waiting for us.’
Raven said, ‘I’ll work the cannon. You do the flying.’
‘You know how to work that thing?’
‘Point and shoot. How hard can it be?’
Casey had no intention of finding out without Raven at least having some practice. ‘There’s a small band of space rock not far from here. Show me what you can do.’
It took half an hour to reach the remains of a smashed moon, the result of some cosmic collision billions of years before. Casey brought the ship side on and cut the speed to a crawl.
‘That rock there. Shoot it.’
Raven manoeuvred the twin triggers until the cross-hairs on the screen lined up with a large rock, half the size of the ship. He squeezed the triggers just as Casey took off again, the red flash of the laser cannon disappearing harmlessly into space, leaving the rock unscathed.
‘Hey!’
Casey snapped, ‘What? That drone is just going to sit there letting you take pot-shots at it? The time you took to line up, we’d be dead. You need to fire while we’re moving at speed. Ready.’
Casey brought the ship around and Raven concentrated. The first two shots missed, but the third hit a small rock, turning it into dust.
‘See?’
‘Are you seriously expecting me to believe that was the rock you were aiming at? See that one? Get that one, I’ll take us to the planet. Miss, we’re going home.’
Raven knew he had one chance at this. Casey took them on a loop and as they raced by the rocks, Raven blasted the designated lump and caught it with a solid shot, smashing it to pieces.
‘That do?’
‘Lucky, that’s all. You just keep being lucky.’
Returning to their target planet, Casey kept away from the lone drone plane. No doubt the reception would be hot. The marsillium coating protecte
d the hull from the atmosphere when the ship entered it, but it was no protection from laser cannon fire. As they flashed over the rocky landscape, the ground laser had them in its sites.
‘There’s the production facility,’ said Tagg. ‘Take us over it. Computer. Record landscape.’
‘Computer recording.’
The massive drixolate production greenhouses glistened innocently in the sunlight. They took up three square miles of ground. The pernicious drug produced from the plants’ sap was anything but innocent. The whole planet was uninhabited apart from those running the racket. As soon as one operation had been shut down, they sprung up on another planet. It was a none-stop war; a war that kept agents like Tagg Raven busy.
Drixolate was one of the most addictive drugs in the galaxy. Only effective on humans, all a drixolate runner had to do was to wipe some onto a victim’s bare skin, and within minutes, it would react with the blood, turning it into the body’s own worst enemy. One by one, internal organs would begin to shut down as the drixolate level dissipated naturally. The only way to survive it was a regular, daily dose to maintain the level in the bloodstream. There was no cure. Become a victim, you paid the price for your fix, or die a painful death. DSI agents were authorised to kill anyone associated with the loathsome trade, but to do so required incontrovertible proof beforehand.
Raven said, ‘Computer. Commence DNA recognition sequence.’
It was the latest weapon in the DSI agent’s tool-kit. It had been fitted to the underneath of the ship prior to take off.
The single laser ground cannon was being guided by the heat signature of the ship, firing automatically as the ship approached. Casey flew an erratic course to dodge the laser, as the computer recorded the landscape and the facility. The DNA recognition analyser spewed out results on the screen. In the three seconds it took to fly over the facility, it had identified twenty nine people in various locations and the computers database had matched the signals with known drixolate runners. This was all the evidence Raven needed. First he had to take out the ground cannon.