Regan's Reach 4: Avarice

by Mark G Brewer

  Regan laughed. "Charlie - that's not a . . ."

  "No - absolutely not a . . ." and she blushed before flourishing it quickly and dropping it back out of sight. "The point is that it's probably a tube, less than ten centimeters and at a guess I'd say the ends are flat."

  "Very good, what do you think Jared?"

  "What was that thing?" He was still looking at the drawer.

  "Never mind, do you concur about the shape?"

  He seemed distracted but nevertheless nodded agreement.

  "Hilary, Lucas, any other ideas?"

  "I would be reluctant to commit on such flimsy information, but it does make sense in a human kind of way." Lucas seemed unconvinced.

  "I think Charlie's right." Hilary added. "Her instincts are usually spot on, so what do we do with the information, it's a big ship."

  "Have a treasure hunt?" Jared suggested.

  * * *

  "Attention all passengers and crew . . ." Lucas's voice resonated warmly through every space on the Fair Passage. Not even the bathrooms were exempt and ears perked up at what for most was a new voice and a rare official intrusion on their activities.

  "As you may be aware we exited the final portal in transit to Orion some hours ago and we are now cruising the Orion Nebula, just another small sparkle on Orion's belt." He chuckled warmly. "In honor of our entry and as a little fun while we cruise in to our destination we are going to have a treasure hunt. Everyone is invited to participate and the prize for finding the treasure will be what we will call 'First Choice'. Regan Stein will ensure the successful hunter, should there be one, will enjoy the privilege of first choice wherever there are choices offered on Rexis; accommodation being one such example.

  So, what is the treasure you ask? Somewhere on ship is hidden a mystery object. It is small enough to hide in the palm of a man's hand, smooth rather than sharp, longer than it is wide, light not heavy. It could be anywhere, but it will not be everywhere and when you find it you will know it is special. Bring your suspect finds to the recreation deck by the pool and they will be assessed; happy hunting." The message then began to repeat.

  A thought occurred to Regan as she listened and she looked at Charlotte. "We have checked Leith's cabin I presume?"

  "Thoroughly Regan, it was the first place we went to; in fact we've combed the entire route that Leith took following that sighting of him back in the corridor. We don't have visuals of him everywhere but we know where he went. Lucas is embarrassed because he should be aware of a foreign object in contact with any part of the ship . . . should have, but as we know . . ." her voice trailed off, the explanation unnecessary.

  Regan turned to Hilary who had come out of the collar and presented now in familiar avatar form, the gracious lady. She was staring wistfully, Regan noted, at the now vacant android, Lucas being back in the system. "Would you like to make use of it Hilary?"

  "Oh, heavens no," she replied quickly, "who knows where it's been?" And then suddenly realizing the implications of her words she blushed deeply and blundered on. "Not that it matters Regan - I'm sorry - I know that you and he - it's probably been . . ." and as she hesitated she couldn't help looking down at Regan's midriff.

  Regan chuckled at her discomfort, but in a friendly way. "Hilary darling I understand, and you know, I haven't updated you since I got back from Dahlia. We must do that now, and then we must talk about androids for you; why haven't you indulged might I ask?"

  Hilary hesitated a moment. "Regan, I have done some experimentation, but I'm saving myself shall we say; let's do the update and then we can talk, while the hunt is on."

  It took only a moment and Charlotte could tell they were off in their own world. What they were now doing was a mystery to add to her list. It was becoming extensive but she had the feeling all questions would eventually be answered. She looked over at Jared and nodded toward the door. He nodded agreement and they stood together. Both knew where they wanted to go; to the recreation deck, to wait for treasure.

  * * *

  Planet Regis, orbiting the Star Regil in the Orion Nebula

  Maynard followed the progress of the triennial delegation via delayed transmission and as Senate leader in the absence of Darius it was a simple matter to declare a public holiday on the first day of the meeting. Already his decision was being declared widely as a generous and thoughtful act, the act of a true caring leader. He deflected the praise half heartedly, claiming it was the sort of thing any leader would have done, knowing full well that such an extravagance would never have been permitted by the conservative Darius. Watching the news feeds he could see from the corner of his eye the look of concern on his wife's face. He chose to ignore it until she spoke.

  "Maynard, there is a cruelty about this that troubles me greatly."

  "And what cruelty is that, my dear?"

  "You know what I mean. You have announced the holiday deliberately so that everyone will be following the news feeds, and all will hear of the tragedy. They will see it as an act of war; it will be a terrible shock to the collective psyche."

  He turned with excitement, delighted at her insight. "Yes my dear, just the environment we need to cement our leadership and prepare them for the sacrifices to come. You know this is true - it is time for change and all change involves pain. Out of the pain will come growth and progress, progress that we need as a people; you and I my dear, we will lead Regis forward."

  Her stern look brought him up short; it was one of concern, not delight. "At what cost though Maynard - and what of poor Perin. Even if he succeeds in his quest he will be alone on Rexis until help comes. The genovirus may well deal with the technology, but what of the people there? He will never be able to hide from justice."

  Maynard stood and walked to her, taking her hands in his. "My dear, the people of Rexis are old and our nephew is resourceful. When we get there we will find him thriving I'm sure, and if not, he will have made the ultimate sacrifice for our people. He will die a hero."

  She looked far from convinced and turned angrily. "Maynard, I'm not sure this wasn't your plan all along. It seems that whether Perin is successful or not in this quest, you will still become regent here, that was the plan - wasn't it?" She waited for his response, staring him down, and when it came it did so with a slow considered turn to meet her eyes coldly.

  "And you will be my queen."

  His tone was clear. There would be no choice in the matter.

  * * *

  Perin shuffled nervously around the control room of the ship. It no longer worried him whether he would be missed at the delegates’ table; they didn't like the young upstart anyway. Instead he was in countdown mode and it dominated his thinking to such an extent he had no desire to dine with the condemned looking him in the eye. Why get to know those who would be dead in hours anyway? And already he felt tremendous guilt over the young intern who had worked so hard to make him comfortable. Briefly he had considered taking the young man into his confidence only to wisely banish the idea from his thoughts. He couldn't risk the whole mission, not for anything, not even for a totally innocent life. And at just that thought he broke again into a guilty sweat, after all, weren't all those on the vessel largely innocents?

  Pretending disinterest he tried to catch every conversation, listening for whatever tidbits of information about the rendezvous he could catch. There was precious little to go on and as up until now he had avoided all direct questions he decided to take the risk today. Sidling across to the Commander he took on his most confident calm manner.

  "How is our progress Commander, will we be there soon?"

  The Commander turned to him with obvious distaste. "Young Perin, I can understand how eager you must be for the entertainment." He turned back to his screen dismissively. "We will be there soon enough - and no sooner."

  Perin fumed at the impertinence. "Perhaps I didn't make myself clear Commander. When will we rendezvous?"

  The Commander spun his chair quickly, shocking Perin and he stumbled back.
The man then smiled mockingly and deliberately hesitated, an obvious act to make clear he was choosing his own moment to reply. "Seventeen hours young Perin," and then he consulted his screen, "a shade over in fact - plenty of time for you to choose your outfit." He laughed and again spun away.

  Perin felt a flash of panic shoot down his arms and had the sense his heart stopped for a second before starting to pound. He steadied himself with one hand on the Commander's chair before pulling himself together and walking quickly from the room.

  By the time Perin reached the cabin he was drenched in sweat. Stumbling through the door, sudden and unexpected palpitations drove him to the bunk where he collapsed face down to bury his head in the pillow. There he bellowed - a muffled sound that continued in one long wail until he was out of breath. He lay there a few seconds longer then pulled himself up and stripped, before walking zombie like to the small bathroom. Standing under the shower flow with his head leant against the wall he gathered his thoughts, imagining the stress draining away and enjoying the distraction of the pounding water. By the time he finished he felt ready, adjusted, prepared and with fresh purpose he dressed in a fresh suit, tidied his hair and then checked the time. With a groan he slumped back on the bunk - sixteen hours to go.

  * * *

  The Fair Passage

  Regan, Charlotte, Jared and Ham looked over the mass of objects scattered over the pool deck. They already knew without examining each piece they had not found what they were looking for. With the ability to scan each individual piece in fractions of a second the collective team of Ham, Hilary and Lucas had determined the efforts of the thousands on board had come up dry.

  "What do we say to them Charlie?" Regan asked.

  Charlotte shrugged and looked out to the hundreds gathered excitedly on deck and knowing there were many more following the action onscreen throughout the ship. Looking down again at the assembled pieces she spied a small cylindrical tube that did indeed look likely, even though she knew it was just a small torch. "Hilary," she whispered, "that torch I'm focusing on, who found it, a passenger I hope?"

  The response was swift. "Felicity Warren, twenty two, single engineer from Surrey in the United Kingdom, she was one of the first applicants."

  Stepping forward she picked up the piece and held it aloft. "We have a winner!" She announced loudly and the deck immediately roared with shouts and clapping. "Felicity Warren - you have first choice on Rexis; congratulations!"

  A high scream from the back drew all eyes and people quickly surged toward the excited woman to congratulate the winner. In the excitement Charlotte turned back to a smiling Regan and shrugged again. "I guess it's back to the drawing board. Anybody got any other ideas?"

  As the action among the crowd shifted back toward the bars the small team sat on the deck in a small circle. Hilary and Lucas appeared and joined them, making it a circle of gloom. They were focused on Regan, waiting for the call.

  "This means we will have to wait, we have no choice." Regan sighed long and hard.

  "What do you mean Mom?" Jared asked.

  "We can't let this vessel disembark people or connect in any way with Rexis until we know where the stowaway is; we simply can't without knowing their intentions." She paused considering what she had just said. "Yes, that's it; we'll have to quarantine this ship."

  "Regan, can we leave an announcement until the last minute?" Charlotte was thinking things through. "The colonists don't know exactly when we're meant to arrive anyway; perhaps our friend is monitoring things and when they realize the other ships are disembarking maybe it will flush them out."

  Ham perked up. "We could create a false data stream indicating just that; maybe even suggest we're going to transfer key files or something to the other ships."

  Regan looked thoughtful. "It might work I guess, and anything is worth a try; do it Ham, and Charlie, yes, we'll keep this to ourselves. Lucas, make sure no one gets information about the other ship’s movements."

  "It will be so."

  There was a flash, enough to cause a blink, and suddenly the avatar form of the dandy man stood in their midst, he seemed lost for a second and then found Regan, walking to her without any explanation a look of desperate concern on his face.

  [Bob?] She stood. [What's wrong, what are you doing here?]

  [Regan, there's been a development, just now, an explosion in space. A vessel carrying a Regis delegation for the Triennial discussions has just exploded.]

  [How did it explode?]

  [We don't know, and our vessel has cleared the area for safety. The explosion was massive and came without warning. There would have been no survivors and our Commander took our delegation away from the danger area quickly. He did the right thing, all our leadership was aboard however we need to get ships there quickly. Regan, this is a game changer. On Regis they will assume we have attacked their leadership. We will get word to them immediately but . . . whether they will believe us . . . I don't know, particularly after the android incident.] He looked apologetically at Ham. [I had to let you know, it may change everything.]

  As Charlotte watched she had the sense she was the only one left out, something was happening but unable to sub, she had no idea. It was only a second but it seemed as if the eyes of all the others, including Jared, had glazed for just a moment, and then they were back.

  "Right, that's decided then." Regan declared, as if something had been discussed and voted on. "Ham, you will get Brian's team on board the STIEN Traveler and leave for Regis immediately. You and I will also take the Interceptor from the STEIN and make for the explosion zone, just in case there is something to discover. Charlie - you, Jared, Hilary and Lucas will continue with the plan to flush out the visitor. We will get back as soon as we can." She looked around the group. "Any questions?"

  There were none.

  * * * *

  Chapter Ten

  The STEIN Traveler Pods, Interceptor and Saucer were all faster by an order of magnitude than anything else in the galaxy, at least as far as they knew to date. Regan had only encountered two of the six humanoid species Ham claimed existed so she guessed it was possible someone, somewhere may have a faster ship, but for the moment she was happy to be the fastest on the block. As she contemplated speed and Aaron's improvements to all their vessels she reflected on whether she had indeed taken him for granted. It was all too easy as she continued her personal crusade for advancement and peace among all humanoids, to forget the individual, and that everyone had their own needs and desires . . . Something to ponder on later.

  To save time Ham jumped them nearer to the incident site. It was always a risk going to warp in any system, particularly areas of space that were unknown in case there was something in their path but on this occasion he judged it worth that chance in case by some miracle there were survivors. Nevertheless he first scanned the way ahead to minimize the risk.

  Keeping them well short of the expanding debris zone they emerged safe and cruised in quietly, continuing to scan space out to millions of kilometers.

  Ham was unusually quiet, Regan noticed, and thought she knew why. Reaching out she gently stroked the android arm of her companion and then rested her hand on his. "You're having memories of searching for me I guess - and not particularly pleasant ones; am I right?"

  He didn't answer, simply slipping his hand on top of hers and squeezing in acknowledgement. "I guess so, but this is nothing like that search. There is so much more to see out there than I had to work with back then, this debris field is huge. And disturbingly there seem very few pieces of substance."

  "So what does that mean?" She asked.

  "It means the explosion was cataclysmic, maybe even several simultaneous large explosions as it seems the ship hasn't just broken up; it's been decimated."

  "Could it have been a missile, or missiles?"

  "I don't think so, the pattern of debris doesn't indicate a collision of any kind, simply an expanding field like you'd see with an exploding firework, everything
emanating and travelling equally from the one point. If I'm correct and there were several simultaneous explosions, then it can only be sabotage."

  "You mean someone from Regis has done this - they've taken out their own delegation?"

  Ham looked concerned. "Regan, they've taken out more than just a delegation; this party would include most of the Regis leadership including the Premier. It could mean there's a takeover underway back on Regis, and whoever has done this wants to make it look like an attack from Rexis." He turned to her in concern. "Regan, Bob might be right, this could mean war."

  She chewed on her lip. "And it all happens just as I'm bringing in thousands of happy campers. Shit, shit shit!"

  For seven hours they searched the debris field at speed, continually displacing those objects in their path behind them and so smoothly there was never hindrance to their progress. Nothing of interest presented until Ham detected a larger object tumbling away toward Regil, the system’s star.

  "Shall we take a look?" He asked disingenuously; there was no chance he would ignore something so interesting.

  She smiled, knowing they would already be on the move. "I guess that's what we're here for."

  Ham didn't rush, taking twenty more minutes to bring them within deep scanning range, and then he accelerated rapidly. Regan, also following the data stream, could see what had captured Ham's attention.