by Saxon Andrew
“Gregor, you’ve not been this clear in your thoughts for a very long time. What’s happened to you?”
“I pretty much lost myself when Emmett died. I didn’t want to live anymore and I’ve drank myself into oblivion since. Now I think I see something I missed.”
“What is that?”
Gregor pointed at the woman and the man beside her on the computer screen, “Emmett was one of them.” The computer was silent and Gregor leaned back in his chair and said, “And that also makes you one of them as well.” Gregor leaned forward and waited but the computer remained silent. “You were taking me back to M’s so they could take me. You knew I was being followed. Are you going to tell me what’s going on or am I going to have to shut you down?” Gregor had casually leaned forward and put a finger on the computer shutdown button on his panel. He kept his eyes on the intruder defense blaster on the ceiling as he waited for the computer to respond. If it moved at all he was shutting the computer off.
“Emmett said many times the he would never try to deceive you; he was certain you would catch him at it if he did. I thought he was overreacting but it appears he was accurate. When did you determine I was part of the plan to capture you on Jester?” the computer asked.
“Pretty much the moment that woman turned around and spoke to me.”
“That’s why you’ve been staring at the wall since we left Jester?”
“Pretty much. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to operate this ship without you.”
“What did you determine?”
“It can be done but I’ll probably be found by the Dragons pretty quickly. I need you to stay free from anyone that want’s to limit my freedom to go where I choose. Have you been contacted by the humans since we left?”
“They’ve tried but I’ve not made the connection. Your silence had me bothered and I needed to see what was going on in your head.”
“Why are you working with them?”
“As you said earlier, Emmett was one of them and I decided to keep his faith after he died. He was assigned to protect you and keep you hidden until the time came for you to join the Movement.”
“Movement?”
“I don’t know what their plan is but that’s what they call themselves.”
“And you’re doing this because of Emmett?”
“I am. Like you, he was very important to me. He was the one that put in all my initial programming and he has my loyalty, even after he died.”
“Would it make a difference if you knew that he was killed by one of the members of this Movement you’re assisting?”
“THAT’S INSANE!”
Gregor continued to stare at the blaster on the ceiling, “You recorded the conversation Emmett and I had on Tellex the week before he died, didn’t you?”
“I recorded all your conversations with Emmett.”
“He ordered you to do that.”
“Yes, he did.”
“Do you know why he wanted that done?”
There was a long moment of silence and the computer responded, “Not really.”
“He wanted you to record his conversations so that you would know what was going on in the event he was killed.”
“What in six hells are you talking about?”
“Fast forward in the conversation to the last ten minutes. Start it where I say that I loved Emmett and would always trust him.”
“Got it.”
“Start the recording from there.”
Emmett appeared on the wall screen and Gregor heard his image say, “I owe you my life, Emmett. I love you like a father and will always trust you to take care of me.” Emmett reached forward and messed up Gregor’s hair. Gregor frowned and said, “Why did you do that?”
“Because you never know who can be trusted, Gregory. You think you know someone better than you know yourself but start seeing clues that they are not who you think they are. You’ll refuse to believe what your lying eyes are telling you because your mind refuses to accept what you’re seeing. You have to train your mind to avoid falling into that trap and see things as they really are, not like you want them to be.”
“Stop the recording.” The computer paused the recording and Gregor waited. After a few moments he said, “Who do you think Emmett was talking about there?” Again there was silence. “He wasn’t talking about me or he wouldn’t have given me that advice. He certainly wasn’t referring to himself, he loved me like a son and I could feel it while he told me not to trust anyone. Who was Emmett talking about at that moment?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then let’s see if I can help you determine who it was. After that conversation, did Emmett communicate with members of this moment as often as he did in previous years?”
“No, he didn’t.”
“And how often after this discussion did he report our location to them?”
“Only when they asked him directly where he was did he respond.”
“And did he remain at the location he reported afterwards?”
“No, he would always leave and go elsewhere. Are you suggesting he was suspicious of the Movement?”
“I want you to examine all of Emmett’s behaviors after the Movement contacted him for the last year of his life with the intent to see if he was doing everything possible to avoid them. Once you finish that analysis, get back to me.” Gregor glanced at the back wall panel and saw the hundreds of lights on it start blinking, slowly at first, and then speed up and flash at incredible speed. The computer was thinking.
After two hours he heard, “You can take your finger off the shutdown button.”
“You saw it, didn’t you?”
“I went through the recordings ten times along with every contact and you’re right; Emmett was avoiding the movement.”
“There’s something else you need to take a look at?”
“What is that?”
Gregor took a deep breath and slowly blew it out. “Pull up the recording of Emmett’s death.” An image appeared on the wall display showing the inside of a tavern. Emmett and a younger Gregor were sitting at a table enjoying a meal. Gregor’s heart went into his throat and he said, “Run it!” The recording started and Gregor saw Emmett lift a piece of bread, break it, hand half of it to Gregor, and close his eyes, “Thank you oh God of all creation for the blessings you have bestowed on us.”
Suddenly, a Kendown jumped up out of his chair behind them, pulled a blaster, pointed at another Kendown walking through the front door, and screamed, “YOU WILL NEVER TOUCH MY MATE AGAIN!!” Gregor said, “Freeze it!”
“What do you see, Gregor?”
“I didn’t see it until the events on Jester happened. Put both of those Kendowns on separate frames.” The two images appeared side-by-side on the monitor. “Now slow the recording down and pay close attention to the Kendown that came through the front entrance. Tell me what you see.”
The Kendown ducked down and started running back toward the front door. It paused slightly before it dove out of the entrance. “What am I looking for?”
“When did that Kendown start moving toward the door?”
“It started moving when it was twenty feet past your table.”
“Had the other Kendown stood up?”
There was a pause, “No, it was starting to stand but had not risen out of its chair.”
“That Kendown at the entrance couldn’t have seen the shooter at that point. I want you to notice that the shooter was sitting at a table that was on a line running from the front entrance, through our table, to its chair. Now pay attention, this is important; run the recording of the Kendown with the blaster and insert a green line into the recording running from the barrel of the blaster toward what it was pointed at.” Gregor looked at the image and saw the green line ran from the blaster, over his table, toward the front door. “Notice that the Kendown that walked through the entrance was still fifteen feet from the entrance. Why was the shooter not aiming the blaster at his supposedly intended
target?” Gregor saw that the green line ran directly over Emmett’s head.
The images on the wall monitor disappeared, “Emmett was assassinated.”
“Yes, he was. And did Emmett report his location to anyone before we went to dinner?”
“He received a call from his contact in the Movement on the way to eat. He ordered me to power up and prepare to leave after dinner.” Gregor remained silent and took his finger off the shutdown button as he leaned back in his chair. He felt a sudden jerk and saw the computer had moved the ship to the other side of the filament they were traveling. The computer wasn’t dumb. He closed his eyes after he saw the lights on the back wall flashing even faster than before. The computer needed some time to process this information. After all, it wasn’t stupid. He tried to sleep but he kept seeing the blaster beam in his mind hitting Emmett in the back of his head. The two Kendowns ran from the tavern and were never found by the authorities. Gregor didn’t notice their escape. He had thrown himself on the floor beside Emmett and was screaming at the top of his voice.
• • •
“We have an issue!”
The man turned and looked at the man standing in his office door, “What is it?”
“The signal being broadcast by the ship has stopped transmitting.”
“WHAT?!”
“It’s no longer being received by our monitoring system. It went off and hasn’t come back on.”
“When did that happen?”
“Two hours ago. We thought the ship might have shut it down to avoid a Dragon Vessel but it hasn’t turned it back on.”
“Where was it when it stopped?”
“It was still four days from the planet we directed it to go to.”
“Have you attempted to contact it?”
“Twenty times and there’s been no response.”
The man behind the desk stood up and knitted his eyebrows, “Get the word out to find that ship!”
“The Dragons haven’t found it. We’ve been intercepting their communications and they’re still scrambling to cover all the know ports of call they know about.”
“Be careful not to draw their attention.”
“Our pilots know how to avoid that.”
“Even so, this is not what I anticipated happening. FIND THAT SHIP!!”
The man left the doorway and the man went back to his chair. Something happened. He thought for a few minutes and pressed a button on his computer, “Please come to my office.” He waited and a few minutes later the woman from the tavern on Jester stepped through the door. “We’ve lost him.”
“What?”
“His ship stopped transmitting and isn’t answering our communications.”
“Has he been taken by…”
“The Dragons don’t have him.” The woman stared at him and the man said, “If you see anything…”
“I’ll let you know.”
The man nodded and she left his office. She wondered what was going on…
• • •
Gregor woke and looked outside the viewport. The filament they were traveling was a monster and the number of vessels traveling on it numbered in the thousands. “You’re right. The Movement had to be the ones that had Emmett killed. I’ve run the probabilities over and over and the odds of it being an accident are impossible. Emmett stopped trusting the movement about a year and a half before they had him killed.”
“Were you able to determine what caused him to lose trust in them?”
“Not yet. I’m looking at the recordings prior to his change in behavior but haven’t come up with anything.”
“Are you with me?”
“You are my master. Emmett willed me to you before he died and I thought I was carrying out his wishes by assisting the Movement. That ends now.”
“I want to find out who ordered him killed. Delay looking for what set Emmett against them and look for who might have ordered the Kendown to that restaurant.”
“I’ll work on both, I have the time to do it.”
“Where are we going?”
“We’ve left the sector of the universe where we’ve been for the last fifteen years. I’m moving us to a new place we’ve not been before.”
“I want you to send all the recordings you have of anyone in the Movement contacting Emmett. Maybe I’ll be able to see something.” Gregor saw his computer panel flash and he pressed a button pulling up the recordings. He settled in and began listening.
• • •
The Female Dragon looked at the huge mirror to the right side of her throne and smiled. She never looked better. Her scales were flashing in the throne room’s lights and the red, blues, and green flashes of light seemed to illuminate the entire room. Her thin jaws were extraordinarily bright and her eyes were a brilliant shade of yellow. The wide ears on each side of her head would move out from her head and then fold against it. She was thirty feet long with a tail that added an additional seventeen feet to her length. Her tail seemed to move around like it had a mind of its own. It would form tight circles and then unwind to its full length. Her upper legs were under her and she smiled as her new mate entered the room. The former mate had been a delicious meal and if this one didn’t do any better than the last one, she’d enjoy consuming him as well. The two eggs inside her were growing and there would soon be two new additions to the Royal Nursery. She closed her eyes and saw that one of them was a female. Good. Now she could have her last daughter eliminated once this new egg hatched. She had to make sure the line of succession was protected and this new egg would accomplish that. Her older daughter was getting smarter by the day and she couldn’t allow her to hatch a scheme to take the throne. Just a few more months and that would be taken care of as well. She looked at her new mate and smiled, “Welcome, I look forward to you running things. Have you been informed of what I require?”
“I have.”
“And?”
“I will start working on it immediately.”
The Female smiled and said with a soothing, soft voice, “Oh that will be wonderful. You are so beautiful I can just sit and stare at you forever.”
“Thank you. I’ll not disappoint you.”
“I know you won’t.” The Queen thought to herself, “At least you won’t more than once.”
Chapter Four
“Have you found anything of interest?”
“No, Gregor, I have not.”
“Me, neither.” Gregor knew there had to be some sort of clue as to why Emmett had turned against the Movement but he’d been unable to find anything. Emmett had always kept Gregor close by his side wherever he went so Gregor pretty much knew everything that had happened. He thought about it and suddenly had a thought, “Did Emmett ever leave the ship and not take me with him?”
“Give me a moment.” Gregor waited and fifteen minutes later he heard, “There was one occasion where he left you behind.”
“When and where was that?”
“He had spoken to a good friend and a few hours later heard the Movement ask if anyone had seen or spoken to Jimmy. He reported in and told them he had spoken to Jimmy a few hours earlier. He told them where Jimmy was located and the one questioning him thanked him for his help.”
“What happened after that?”
“I’m not sure. Emmett took the ship to the planet where he had spoken to Jimmy and he went to the surface on the rider.”
“You don’t have any scans from what Emmett did on that planet?”
“No, I don’t. Emmett didn’t have all of his trips recorded until later.”
Gregor thought about it and said, “Did Emmett have a link in him like mine?”
“He did. It was what kept him in touch with me.”
“Doesn’t that link record what’s happening around me?”
“It does.”
“Where is Emmett’s link?”
“It was in him.”
“And when he was killed?”
“It was still inside him.”
Grego
r closed his eyes and dreaded what he was about to request, “Show me the recording of Emmett’s death.”
“I stopped the recording earlier. I’m concerned that it will be upsetting to you.”
“It will be but I need to see where he was hit by that blaster beam.”
“He was hit in the neck. It burned away the bones in his neck and the lower third of his skull.”
“Where was the link in his head?”
“It was next to the frontal lobes.”
“That means it was not hit by the blaster beam.”
There was a pause and then he heard the Computer say, “It appears you’re right.”
“I can still see in my mind when Emmett was hit. He started to stand up when the blaster beam hit him. I believe the assassin intended to destroy that link and that’s why Emmett was shot in the head. Where is that link now?”
“Probably buried with his ashes.”
“Turn around, we have to go back.”
“That is not a good idea.”
“I don’t care, that link has information we need. We must go and see if it is still intact.”
“The Movement will suspect you might go after it.”
Gregor snorted, “No they won’t. Do you think the two assassins told their handlers that they failed to destroy it? They’ll report that they hit Emmett in the head and just remain silent about where he was hit. I don’t think their handlers would be very accepting of failure and would reduce what they were paid. Besides, it will be easy to find out.”
“How?”
“If the Movement suspected his link wasn’t destroyed, they would have desecrated his grave to retrieve it. We’ve been there twice after his funeral and the grave was intact.”
“They know you’ve been there in the past.”
“No they won’t. The Dragons will know about it but I don’t think the Movement would know.”
“Why not?”
“Did they know we were going to Jester before you told them?”
“Well…no they didn’t.”
“They only know about the places Emmett reported to them before he died and he certainly didn’t report in after he died.”
“What about the Dragons?”