“Thanks. My family's sitting at table #65,” I muttered sourly.
“Yes, sir!” She said, her voice tremulous and eager. The girl was gone through the crowds in an instant back towards the kitchen. I glared at the marmoset, now sitting upon a rafter, staring at me while enjoying its ill-gotten gains.
“I know a few folks on Mars who wouldn't mind sampling fried monkey on a stick,” I said, shaking a fist at the little creature. As if in answer to this threat the little scamp screeched, hurling a piece of my own fish at me.
I finally got to my table and doled out the food. My wife seemed to be suppressing a faint smirk, the closest thing to a smile on her I'd seen in weeks. Mary, as always, was beaming. I pinched her cheek. My son's eyes were following the marmoset along the rafters.
“Sorry Jonah but it looks like you and that monkey had the same idea for lunch. You can have what's left of my fries until the waitress gets back to our table with the replacement order of curly fries.” Jonah shot me a sour look. He shook his head.
“No, that's okay,” he grumbled.
“Alright! Fine.” I said, exasperated. I could handle nefarious aliens and human villains from outer space, and exotic and dangerous adventures on other planets but I was at a loss as to how to deal with my angry son. We ate in silence, amid the crushing noise of everyone else around us. Frankly, I was tired and ready to get back to the lodge but we still had the afternoon to get through.
“Daddy! I want to ride the river barge today. Can we ride the river barge today? And the underwater sub?”
“Sure, sweetheart!” Saved by my darling daughter.
After lunch, when we finally managed to squeeze ourselves out of the Banana Shack, Pam and Jonah went off to see the elephant parade while Mary and I went to stand in line to ride the jungle river barge. And we had a good time. The line for the underwater sub was far too long. But Marybear was happy to settle for the barge. The only kink in the rest of the afternoon was the screeching of numerous little marmosets swinging through the trees and visiting the barges, demanding treats from tourists. I could have sworn that the same little demon that stole our food was following our barge along with the rest.
“Honey, Mary and I are on our way back to the lodge. I'm thinking maybe I'll order take out for dinner.” I left a message from my wireless headset. Pam, still prickly with me, had stopped answering my calls, which I'd found more and more irritating with each passing day but I wasn't interested in an argument. There were about ten different restaurants throughout the big park that allowed for takeout. Holding my daughter's hand as she negotiated a frozen chocolate and caramel covered banana on a stick with the other one, I turned the corner down the garden path, slapping at a dragonfly that nearly landed on me. I turned back to see someone watching us. They slipped around a large tree and disappeared as I turned back again to see who it was. It was about three hundred paces ahead and I wasn't sure what this person looked like. Only that a figure, I was sure, had been trailing us. I glanced nervously at Mary. She hadn't seemed to notice. As we reached our lodge Mary ran up the front steps and I looked back again. A few people were making their way down the path and through the carefully landscaped lawn; families with their children, like me. I didn't see anyone who looked suspicious but I did feel something. An inner sense of being watched. I concentrated, my eyes scanning across the park. Somewhere deep in the trees up the path, someone was hiding beyond my view of sight, watching me and my daughter. I couldn't see them but I felt it keenly now that my senses were put on notice. Something alien. And then I began to worry for my wife and son, who were somewhere far off in the park.
“Daddy! What's wrong?”
“Oh, nothing sweetheart! Go inside. We'll order pizza.”
“Yay!” she exclaimed, jumping up and down. I handed her a stuffed toy I'd won for her at a carnival game stand. A huge, three-headed alien with yellow eyes. And wings. I didn't like the damned thing but the child insisted on having it for some reason.
I unlocked the door and ushered her inside. It was time to contact U-net. I had business to take care of. Locking the front door firmly behind me I peeked out through the window again. I thought I saw, far up the path a dark figure move from behind a crop of trees. And to my dismay a pygmy marmoset began chittering and screeching, throwing rocks and twigs at a dark figure obscured by the lush foliage of the park. I couldn't get a good look at who it was. The marmoset then ran across the porch and across the lawn, disappearing behind some bushes. Whoever it was slipped away after their hiding place had been revealed by the little monkey.
Our stay was coming to a blessed end anyway. I listened out for my daughter who was playing with her new toy and then went to the bedroom and opened the bottom drawer. I felt around for the underside of the drawer just above it and found what I was looking for. My pistol was there, hidden in a small bag taped there. Pam didn't know that I had it and now wasn't the time to reveal that I was packing heat on our vacation because of nefarious shadows creeping about. She might blame me for ruining everything.
Even so, when we got home I was going to have a serious security talk with Robin and the rest of U-net. I got the feeling that things were about to heat up on my doorstep, literally.
3
October 1, 2154.
Work was going smoothly since I'd been back from Mars. My own mental well-being was another matter. It was quite a different beast from the workplace harassment I received at Teely's hands but no less stressful. I suffered several panic attacks that required medication after my last ordeal on Mars. But they were decreasing in intensity and frequency after the meditation and swim classes held on campus three times a week. Somehow my quest to fix things “out there” was breaking things closer to home. Like my close-knit family. Pam's attitude had not changed. She was still short and sour with me. Not to mention Jonah, who was angry with me for “leaving them all alone” as he put it. No explanation of why I had gone away had really mattered which put me in a frustrated funk. The Astor family home was tense to say the least and it was the first time I'd ever experienced this type of family discord. I didn't know what to do about it and I didn't want to burden my friends with it.
I took a drink of coffee and watched as all the systems checks came online, prepped my machines for the programs I'd be using for the day and were ready to go. I glanced at the cameras of production rooms as the labor employees, their dark blue overalls on, were filling the floors below to begin their work for the day. Production for housing materials to be sent to Venus had been fast-tracked recently and all employees in my division were required to put special emphasis on getting all of the product materials ready for shipping to the planet over everything else.
I glanced out of the window in my office. It was raining. Nothing but gray there. Behind those gray skies, the Black Fleet was hurtling through space toward Earth. I sat back in my chair, my mood drop into the toilet. I wasn't sure where I was in terms of success with U-Net or anything else. Or the future. U-net needed to be more cohesive but I didn't know how to make that happen.
An alert chimed from one of my computers. It was a message from Chip:
Will is picking up faint, odd signals and communications on occasion. Garbled. Especially when we go downtown. It's not imperative now but we should talk.
I was immediately intrigued. Is Will finally picking up signals? It was 9:00 am. I shot back a message to Chip.
I looked for Fred. Even he didn't show up. He was here at work but he was visiting less and less now. Most likely because of my long, unexplained absences. It made me feel even more depressed. I decided to look for any more messages before starting work. One in my mailbox was marked red. I stopped cold at seeing it, setting my coffee down. It was marked urgent and it was written and sent today. Thinking it was from Robin I was ready to open the word processor and fire off a letter about improving U-net communication when my eyes glanced down to the bottom, frowning. The message wasn't from Robin.
It was from E. Vartan:
Mr. Astor,
This meeting is of the utmost urgency and secrecy. I wish to speak to you at your earliest convenience today.
The Big Boss himself wanted to speak to me. If this was the case I wondered what in the world was going on? Something big was coming down the pike. Something big and ugly and deadly. I could feel it and now that the head of Vartan Inc. needed to see me face to face when he normally communicated with me through Robin, well. . .
It was about damn time! I was the fall guy here, getting myself into all kinds of life-altering scrapes for his benefit. But to say I was intrigued was putting it mildly. I guess it wouldn't be Robin I'd be having that security discussion with. I called for my replacement to come in and take over my duties for the time being and I was out the door to the most important office on the campus.
. . .
The CEO of Vartan Inc. had his office on the highest tower of the tallest campus building, the northern campus. It took a series of escalators and tunnel lifts to get there, and just general hiking across gardens and lawns and walkways outside. It was a rainy day and I was given a company rain slicker to stay dry. The security office directed by Jerome gave me a special badge to enter the topmost floors of the Northern Campus, where employees like me weren't usually allowed in.
Air traffic was light today and the rain was falling heavier by the hour. Dark gray clouds passed through the campus and the campus itself sat upon a sea of dark and light gray rain clouds, as if it were stationed on a planet with no land mass.
Approaching the massive building, an elegant art nouveau tower, very different from the other buildings on the campus, I felt in awe. It wasn't the first time I'd seen him or even talked with him but a few years ago after the whole debacle with Will everything surrounding the boss of Vartan Inc. had become secretive and murky. There was a so-called boardroom ouster of him and there was at one time an acting CEO but he was no longer with the company. Then things grew very quiet. And people, being as they are, simply went back to their regular work-a-day lives. As long as the paychecks came in regularly and the work schedules remained very busy, they didn't worry overmuch about these things. I couldn't blame them because before the 'incident', I was just a regular guy myself, just trying to do my job.
He must have come back to the company. Funny that I hadn't heard anything from Fred about it, though.
I checked in at the front desk in the lobby, showing my special badge. The receptionist made a call and soon I was directed to enter the lift. As I approached the console light next to it turned from red to green as the security lock was temporarily lifted. Riding in it was such a smooth trip that I only realized I was moving by the buffeted air currents and my popping ears that indicated how high I was. At times, employees and security guards would get on or off. These employees wore white or even silver. Security, no matter what campus, wore black.
Some took one look at my blue uniform under my soaked raincoat and frowned or even blanched at my presence. Which made me chuckle. Most either said nothing, ignoring me completely after assessing that I wasn't one of the highly educated and pristine chosen like them, or nodded politely and just went about their business. I swear, some of these folks thought themselves higher than British royalty.
The topmost floor was a subtle palette of the palest of color; white as cloud and snow, white like eggshell and gardenias and accented with gleaming silver surfaces.
A courtesy mech receptionist greeted me and pointed me the way toward the topmost office which had a door which sat behind a dais up a small flight of stairs.
“Welcome,” it said in a pleasing female voice. “You are expected, Mr. Astor. Please, right this way.” The mech gestured gracefully at the steps.
“Thanks.” I went up the steps to the wide doors. A retina scanner appeared on a holo-screen, scanning my eyes and face and then I heard the substantial sound of metal locks opening. This office was securely guarded. But from whom? I wondered.
The doors opened into the largest office suite I'd ever seen. The carpet was plush and all the furniture was white. In fact, it almost looked like a palatial housing suite. There was a soft, feminine touch to it as well. Vases of fresh flowers dotted the office and the smell was fragrant with gardenias. Before me about twenty feet away, sitting in front of wrap-around windows that showcased the stormy rain clouds that rolled by, was a short, round, middle-aged woman sitting at a wide, polished wooden desk that nearly engulfed her. She was surrounded by several holo-screens.
“Hello, Robert. Please, have a seat.” Her voice was a smooth and mellifluous contralto. I must have looked stunned at the grandeur of her office. She smiled slightly. Lines crinkled around her piercing blue eyes. I slowly made my way to a chair in front of her desk.
“Uh. . .” I managed to get out, staring dumbly at her.
“I'm Ellen Vartan.”
“Oh. . . I. . .I don't why I thought that it stood for Elias Vartan.” This was brand new geometry to me and I wasn't sure how to navigate this into my experience. She seemed to sense this and worked to make me feel more at ease.
“It once did. My father was unable to helm the ship any longer. So I took over the company.” I looked around her office again. There was an interesting quality to it, like a zen temple blended with a peaceful English garden. It was very different from Elias's masculine, baronial office, the one time I'd had the chance to visit with him.
“I have to ask, what happened after the destruction of Will?”
“You mean all that business before Will's resurrection?” she asked.
“Well. . .yeah.”
“I suppose full honesty is in order.” She clasped her hands together, laying them on the desk. “Before I do that I want to thank you for performing these dangerous missions for U-net. There aren't many I can trust in this world but I do trust you. The android's difficulties started long before his first generation body was sent to Recycling. As for my father, Elias, something happened to him years ago. Something dark and frightening, which is why I'm running Vartan Inc. now. Will was destroyed because Elias was no longer himself. My father came home to my mother a very different person and my mother panicked.”
“What do you mean?”
“He was acting very strangely. He didn't seem or sound like himself and his habits had radically changed. My father was once an ebullient, dynamic man, full of verve and energy. He became sullen, depressed and withdrawn except when he would fly into rages for no apparent rhyme or reason, tearing up the house. Several times my mother had to lock herself into her bedroom. He could no longer remember things like he once did. And he would have terrifying nightmares. One night my mother recalled that he was on the phone with someone and the conversation sounded sinister.” I recalled that eerie conversation between Teely and his shadowy cohorts a few years ago. And shuddered.
“My father was no longer himself. I couldn't put my finger on it at first. So I started watching him closely, moving in with my parents and also watching over my mother's safety. One night after an odd conversation he left the house. I followed him. He went to meet with someone who gave me a cold, sick feeling. My mother said he'd always had short, strange episodes a few years after their marriage but that it became far more pronounced just a few years ago, right when the company had their last VPHILM project. One day I spied him talking with someone on holo-vid screen. This person was an alien. The first time I had ever seen one of them. A Miku male and he had red eyes, one of the aliens who had that rare eye color. He was extremely pale with unnaturally large tentacles. He was monstrous looking. I was so frightened when I saw him that I almost fainted. They were speaking in an ancient, dead form of the Gymori language. It sounded a bit like whales communicating. It was so far out of my experience, so beyond anything I've ever known that I didn't know what to think but I had to act fast! It was as if they had him under some type of mind control. My father had become their puppet, a flesh and blood automaton. They slipped in between the alien language and English and fro
m it I gathered that they were attempting to take over the largest corporations in many countries. Vartan Inc, my family's company built by the original Baron Elias Vartan over a century ago was next.”
“How did they get him under their control? Where did he even meet them?” I shuddered involuntarily.
“That's a long and murky story. These aliens have been here for many years making their painstakingly slow and steady bid to infiltrate human society and prepare the way for their own people. They haven't quite gotten there yet but they've made huge strides and all they need is help from outside sources to catapult their progress. My mother said that my father first encountered one on a lavish business trip many years ago. He had been drugged and taken somewhere and when he woke up back in his bedroom he was different. This happened when my parents were newly married. His transformation and their mind control were extremely subtle over the years. He told me himself what he'd managed to piece together about what happened on that trip many years ago after I'd taken over the company and ousted him. I've put him under the care of a nurse to help him recover but I doubt he will fully recover. They've really messed with his mind and he's suffered for a long time.”
“Is this what introduced Teely into the company?”
“Yes! One of the things they ordered him to do was hire a loyalist agent, one of their people hiding in human skin, as the new CFO. Teely, in turn, had others like him hired on. I've managed to root them out, one by one. It was difficult and dangerous. I've had several attempts on my life. This office might look harmless but it's a fully armed barricade, as well as this entire building.”
“Teely!” I seethed. No wonder Vartan hadn't done anything about the CFO 's theft when I'd brought it to his attention. Instead of investigating Teely he had Will destroyed, along with all records of such activities. Teely, it seemed, now that I thought on it, was the real boss at the time. All the awful harassment I'd suffered for opening my mouth about the malfeasance now made perfect sense. I also wondered how much valuable raw material and money he had funneled to his loyalist compatriots over the years? And that bastard was still out there.
Mission: Blackguard Conspiracy Page 2