"No, I don't think it would be better. I'm well aware that everyone with a job in space is surgically sterile and that you can't get pregnant until it's reversed. That still doesn't make it right for me to hop from one bed to another. Now what do you want to know?"
***
Ralph paused beside a port and stared out at the beautifully terraformed Venutian landscape. Aware that the corridor was clear, he made his way to the ship's main exit and stepped out onto the surface of Venus. Without wasting anymore time, he walked to the terminal where he hoped that he could verify that the Brump brothers still resided at the same address. As well, he needed a map and instructions on how to find it.
He reached the terminal and found a public Internet terminal where he found his electronic account was still fully accepted. Within moments, he had the information he wanted. Rather than take a cab, he decided that it was too nice a day to pass up and chose to walk instead. If nothing else, he knew that the slight delay would give him plenty of time to acclimate himself to the atmosphere and gravity of Venus.
Chapter 18
Jimmy watched the monitor as it showed the first strikes in what might turn out to be World War III. He didn't much like what he was seeing as the news reports came in from everywhere on the globe. His attention was drawn away from the monitor by the only thing that could as the intercom came to life.
"This is Captain Saberhagen. In light of the war breaking out on our world, Earth Station One is moving to a position of relative safety behind the moon immediately after Liberty launches this morning. While the station is moving, we will act as its escort and armed support. All ship's personnel on the station are being scrambled to rejoin us now. As soon as everyone is aboard, we will move away from the station and put ourselves at battle stations. This is necessary because the UN has already received threats against it and expects a possible nuclear strike to be launched at its headquarters and all facilities. Anything approaching within ten kilometers of the station is to be blown out of space if its identity and purpose cannot be verified as friendly."
"Main hatch reporting, Captain. All hands are aboard now. Hatch is secured."
"Stand by everyone. Initiate launch procedure. Good luck to us all. We might need it," Richard said.
Aware that he didn't have anything to do under the circumstances, Jimmy returned to his monitoring of the situation. He soon found a report on the same threat that Richard referenced. It was a very real threat in that the Chinese made it and possessed the weapons and technology to back it up.
***
"Well, it looks like I might have a chance to get Richard after all," Jerrod said.
"Can't you just forget it?" asked Daniel.
"Not at all. It's too bad that we got the wrong man, but that doesn't mean that I have to stop. All I have to do is wait for the space war to break out again and be on one of the ships that heads to Earth. I'll get my chance then somehow."
"Haven't you heard? It's in the news. Captain Saberhagen spoke with General Budakov this morning by radio about the war. Besides moving Earth Station One to safety, he convinced the General that the war can be kept from spreading to space provided that Mars and Venus keep their armed ships away from Earth."
"Did the General agree?" asked Jerrod.
"Yes, he felt that Richard was right. He promised that Venusian armed forces would not approach the Earth at all."
"In that case, I guess I'll have to try something else."
"Such as?" asked Daniel.
"Such as convince our people that we ought to be involved in the war. I have to make them believe that it's merely a ruse to send another attack against them. If they don't, then a little sabotage will change their minds."
Daniel exclaimed, "No, that's not the way! Don't do it, Jerrod!"
"Who's going to stop me? You?" asked Jerrod.
"No, but it's not right, Jerrod."
"Don't tell me what's right or not. I want Saberhagen and I mean to get him. If you're unwilling to help, then don't get in my way. I hope I can trust you as my brother to keep your mouth shut," Jerrod said angrily.
"No, I'm not going to tell. You're still my brother, even if I do feel you're wrong."
"It's not a matter of right or wrong. It's a matter of justice. That bastard broke my jaw. He's going to pay for it. Anyone who stands with him is going down as well. I'll see you later. I hope you'll change your mind by then about helping me."
***
Jimmy switched to a relay from the moon as he lost his direct connection to Earth's Internet. Far from wanting to profit on any catastrophe, he was strictly interested because of the safety of his relatives. As well, he wondered what Earth society would soon look like. Would he still have the same freedoms or would those be stomped under by some tyrant's or religious fanatic's heel? Other team members gathered around him. He wondered if they were thinking the same as himself.
"What's that, Jimmy?" Alex asked.
"I don't know. Looks like someone is too close to the Internet channel or using it to cover their transmission," Jimmy answered.
The intercom came on. Richard's voice soon followed as he spoke in a calm manner. "The US has just launched a laser-armed satellite for the purpose of knocking out nukes while stating that they will not use any of their nuclear armed missiles. Thought you all might like to know that seeing as we're one of the primary targets."
"You think that might be their satellite?" Alex asked.
"Not likely. Too much probability of screwing up a message that close to the Internet frequency," Jimmy answered.
"Any idea who's on what side yet?" Shelly asked.
"So far, it's kind of strange. I thought that Russia might be against the US, but they're allied with it like in World War II. They've already taken two nuclear hits by missiles that got through," Jimmy said.
"Any retaliation by them?" she asked.
"That's what makes it even stranger. The Russians are abiding by the US decision not to use nukes in reply. They're making surgical air strikes on the enemy's launching facilities only," Alex said.
"Is that all that's standing with the US?" she asked.
"No. Most of NATO along with Australia, New Zealand, and Israel are also aligned with them. Most of Central America and the Caribbean are neutral . . . Shit! Israel just took a nuke hit! Anyway, I was saying that they were neutral just like Mars and Venus. Some places are trying to stay out of this along with all the freighters that are following Richard's orders to turn back for Mars and Venus," Jimmy replied.
"Why'd he do that?" asked Shelly.
"My guess is that he probably thought it was a good idea to both preserve as much space capability as possible and save more lives. I think he's trying to keep the conflict completely out of space. He's probably caught between a rock and a hard spot with that US laser satellite. I guess he'll ignore it so long as it's only used for defense. Anyway, he's not holding back this time when he sees a chance to do some good," Jimmy replied.
***
Richard walked into the common area for Rescue Team One and glanced about. He noticed that all the members of both teams were present and gathered around Jimmy and Alex who were probably having the time of their lives explaining what was going on. "Excuse me for interrupting, but seeing as you're all here I'll speak my piece now instead of calling a meeting later in a conference room."
Jimmy turned down the volume on the monitor and turned to look at Richard who had a poor poker face on him. Whatever the news he held, it wasn't all bad he gathered.
"Seeing as everything on Earth is in turmoil, I've reached a decision on the rescue teams that will give you all some work to do. Since we're not going to have replacements arriving anytime soon from the surface, we're going to have to do one of two things. Either we do without or we train volunteers to be the replacements we need. I've opted to take the latter choice since I've been approached by no fewer than five people wishing to join the rescue teams. As well, I've reached one other decision that I will ann
ounce right now. Effective immediately, Technician Shelly Laumer is now Chief Laumer and in charge of Rescue Team Two. If anyone feels that I'm wrong to do so because of a conflict of interest on my part because she's been sleeping in my quarters, they're free to state so to my face later. Their comments will be duly noted in the log. However, I'm not going to change my mind. She's still the best qualified and experienced person for the job. Furthermore, I need a team chief so I can put my attention back on running the overall operation. The fact that she slept in my bed had nothing to do with my decision to promote her. In fact, it was the only reason why I delayed so long in making the promotion to fill the position. I really didn't want to promote her under a cloud. However, I have no choice now considering the circumstances on Earth. That being the case, I will not risk anyone's life with less than the best team leaders in charge. I just hope this doesn't piss anyone off so much that they quit the team. We're all needed and we must work together. Chiefs, I'm not going to saddle either of you with all the new people to train. Isaac, you'll have personnel transferring over from the second team. You'll only have one new team member to train while remaining first response team. Shelly, you'll have the dubious honor of training three personnel while acting as backup response. I'll speak with both of you later to make known exactly what I expect of our training program. That's all I have for now," Richard said.
"I thought you said there were five personnel?" Shelly asked.
"I disqualified one already. I felt he had the wrong attitude. If I'm wrong, then I guess it's just more ammunition for the UN to use against me later if they choose to go after my job," Richard answered.
"How soon will we get these new personnel?" she asked.
"They'll be transferring over by space tug later today. Pick the two personnel from your team who you want to keep. Have the others move their gear into Isaac's area so he can get them settled and briefed. Three of the new personnel are space newbies and are yours. The fourth has some time and experience in space. She'll be on Isaac's team. You can get more information about them from me later at my quarters or from the bridge crew. You can carry on now with what you were doing. Thanks for your attention." Before anymore questions could be sent at Richard, he was out of the common area to see to his other duties.
Shelly accepted the handshakes and congratulations from her friends. She was surprised moments later when Isaac presented her with her chief's insignia. He pinned them on her and then shook her hand.
"I thought maybe Richard would stick around some," Shelly said.
"I really think that Richard is actually as busy as he indicated. Keep in mind that he's trying to keep this war out of space as well as do rescue work. He'll probably thank you tonight," Isaac said.
"Yeah, I guess so. Um, I wonder how this is going to affect what I've been doing? Maybe he also left before this could come up in discussion," she said.
"You mean sleeping with him?" Isaac asked.
"Yes. What if I have to stay with my newbies to train them? Who's going to take care of Richard? He has nightmares when there's no one beside him to protect him from them," Shelly answered.
"I don't know. Maybe we'll have to see who's available and willing when the time comes. You don't have any claim on him, do you?" Isaac asked.
Shelly wanted to answer, but she was unsure what to answer. She stared blankly at him.
"Are you okay, Shelly?" Isaac asked.
She finally replied, "Sure, I'm okay. I'm still trying to figure everything out. This is all happening so fast."
"Well, I'm a little bit concerned since you didn't answer my other question. Are you involved with Richard?" Isaac asked.
"I don't know. I can't deny that I went farther once than just lying beside him. It's just that I can't sort out my feelings about that now. It's too hard to explain everything I know at the moment."
***
Ralph looked at the simple one-story home that the Brumps lived in. He felt of his gun in his pocket before he walked up to the door. He hoped that one or both brothers were home, though he was unsure about taking them both on unless he got the drop on them. Unless someone warned them of his intentions, he figured to have the element of surprise on his side. He knocked at the door and waited patiently.
The door opened. Daniel stared out at him without noticing the resemblance to Gene whom he had seen before. Ralph pulled his gun out and held it on Daniel who still didn't recognize him.
"What do you want? There's not much money in the house. We're mostly using electronic credits like everyone else. You can have anything in the house that you want," Daniel said as he backed up.
Ralph entered and closed the door behind him. "Where's your brother, Jerrod?"
"He left. I haven't seen him in two or three days now. Please, take what you want and leave me alone."
"You're part of what I came after, you bastard."
"Me? I don't even know you. What's my brother gotten me involved in now?" Daniel exclaimed.
"Nothing new. You're involved up to your eyebrows, you scum, and you know it."
Daniel exclaimed, "What? I don't know what you're talking about. What have I done to you?"
"You're responsible for my brother's death, you bastard!" Ralph shouted.
Daniel exclaimed, "I haven't killed anyone! Honest! I didn't even fight in the war! Ask my neighbors!"
Ralph angrily said, "You fought, but you did it to a declared neutral. You and your brother castrated my brother and left him to die. He was found before he could. He picked out your photos on the Internet for me before he took his own life. You bastards left him with nothing to live for!"
"That wasn't my idea! It was Jerrod's!" Daniel exclaimed.
Ralph demanded, "Why did Jerrod want to hurt my brother? Gene told me he never saw either of you before the day you attacked him."
Daniel cried.
"Shut your bawling! I want to know why!" Ralph strode over to Daniel and slapped him once across the face with his gun. The barrel left a cut on the man's cheek that bled profusely. Daniel put his hand to his face. He pulled it away a moment later to see his hand covered in blood.
"You've . . ."
"I'll do it again if you don't shut your crying and give me the answers I want! Now why did you two hurt my brother?" Ralph demanded.
Daniel cried, "It was a case of mistaken identity. Please, I didn't know that Jerrod was going to go through with castrating him. Jerrod was too mad to think straight after having his jaw broken by the man we thought we were after."
"You bastards didn't even make sure you attacked the right man! Who the? Oh shit!" Ralph exclaimed.
Daniel cried, "I'm sorry! I didn't know we had the wrong man until later!"
Ralph exclaimed, "You thought he was Captain Saberhagen, didn't you?" Without waiting for an answer, Ralph kicked upwards with his steel-capped shoes to smash Daniel in the stomach. Daniel fell backwards to sprawl onto the floor. He tried to raise up only to feel Ralph's foot slam against his jaw before he lost consciousness.
Moments later, Ralph stopped himself before kicking the helpless man lying before him again. He thought to look around while he had the opportunity for surveillance cameras such as were routinely found in many homes on Earth. Inside he found no surveillance equipment. As well, he glanced out the windows to see if the noise had alerted any neighbors. Outside the home, everything appeared the same as before he had entered with murder on his mind. He went to stand beside Daniel and wait for the man to regain consciousness.
As he waited his mind raced over the events that put everything into perspective. Ralph wasn't sure why Richard had broken Jerrod's jaw in the first place. He only realized that Richard was definitely the man they were after. Richard was first supposed to make the visit to Venus to verify the condition the POW's were living in. Neither of the Brump brothers apparently knew that his brother had taken Richard's place. There was still a lot that was unknown. Ralph wondered if Richard would admit to him what he didn't know if he called Richard
and asked. Or was that why Richard didn't want him to make the trip? Could Richard have known why Gene was attacked to begin with? It didn't seem possible, yet Ralph realized he had to know. He looked around quickly and found an electrical cord to tie up Daniel. Then he sat down at the typical Internet monitor Daniel's home possessed and logged in knowing that he would be leaving more evidence behind that could be used against him.
***
Shelly couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Amanda enter the airlock from the space tug. Even worse, she knew that Amanda would be on her team for her to train as Richard was standing beside her and Isaac to make the introductions and assignments.
"Chief Dickson, Trainee Ceriga David is on your team. Chief Laumer, I guess you know that the other three are on yours. Meet Trainees Amanda Norton, Sheila Blish, and Irving Del Rey," Richard said.
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