The Belt Loop (Book Two) - Revenge of the Varson

by Robert B. Jones

Something was wrong, she thought, but she couldn’t put her finger on just what it was.

  She waited a few minutes for the man to leave his table and then she slowly walked back to the front and rejoined Pax.

  He was still in expounding high-gear and she let him rant and rave. She said nothing about her strange encounter or about Captain Haad’s VOX call.

  The only thing she wanted to do next was get back to base.

  Chapter 19

  Boy, these guys are pretty easy to spot, Har thought. First there was the guy in the long coat hovering around the entrance to the BOQ building right across the quad from his. Then there was the little ground-car that followed his mom and that Pax guy’s car when she left for her lunch. Then there was the slimy-looking man with the long arms that hovered around the arcade while he played some holo-vid games. Now there was that same guy sitting in the back of the base theater while he wasted his time looking at a stupid video meant for little kids without any rational grip on real-life space adventures. Talking mechanical dogs chasing a bunch of stupid penguins around a space station. What crap.

  But he watched it to the end and did find himself laughing at some of the more asinine slapstick humor. The animation was realistic and the EFX were okay, but since that was the only film he was able to get into without a parent or guardian, he had to endure it. At least the fresh popcorn was good and salty, a taste he only remembered slightly from years ago.

  When the show was over he waited for his row to empty out and made his way to the street. Several kids were lined up on the sidewalk waiting for rides. He looked at the clear sky and decided the ten-minute walk back to Building Seven would do him good. One of the kids in the arcade had just got in from Bayliss and he was talking to another kid about how bad the weather was there this time of year. None of it made any sense to Har. He knew in the back of his mind that even though it was late, late autumn here and the conditions were rather enjoyable, on another world with different orbits and different stars the conditions could be a lot different. He would find out soon enough. They were scheduled to leave tomorrow afternoon on the courier boat.

  He decided to look Bayliss up on his reader when he got back home. Nothing like having a little advance warning if he was going to be stepping off the courier onto a planet full of volcanoes and prehistoric beasts. He’d check just the same, just to make sure he had the proper attire at his disposal as soon as the boat hit the spaceport.

  Suddenly Har ran to his right and ducked behind some bushes next to a small store. He waited for a while and ultimately was satisfied that his “tail” had probably given up, or maybe the guy got so depressed from watching that stupid video that he shot himself in the head out behind the theater. No matter. He could easily spot these men and even though he hadn’t a clue as to their purpose in following him and his mother, he knew deep down in his heart that they were up to no good.

  It didn’t matter to him that they looked like human beings. He knew that if he was to somehow rip off their skins, somehow peel back their faces, he would find aliens underneath.

  Now, all he had to do is convince his mother of that fact when she got home.

  * * *

  “What do you mean ‘you lost them’? Damn you, Yaneel, your incompetence is going to get all of us killed!”

  “How the fuck was I supposed to know that man was going to drive off to get into a flitter? Galuud, we can’t plan for every single eventuality. Sometimes things go wrong, you should know that. The humans even have a saying for it: Shit Happens.”

  Galuud was talking to Yaneel, one of his ground operators, on a secure voice communicator link. He was in his ground-car making his way back from Mattarese; Yaneel and that other clown, the vicious one called Paarit, were still hovering around the Navy Base trying to keep tabs on that tricky lieutenant and her vagrant son.

  “I’ll be sure to tell Colonel Inskaap what your sentiments are. See if he agrees with your take on the matter. Don’t you realize that some of those officers from that ship are going to be able to spot Teeluur as soon as they see him? In person? He’s good and the make-over was perfect but we have to keep track of the few remaining people that could ‘blow his cover’ and destroy the Vanuuiad. How many times do I have to explain it to you and that other genius Paarit Vuunis. You guys give stupid a bad name.”

  “I reject what you say. If you’re so all-fired sure you can do a better job, why aren’t you up here with us instead of down in some sea resort playing ‘take me out to dinner’ with Teeluur? I’m sure Colonel Inskaap will be thrilled to hear how you lost your prime target while drinking and eating with Yorn’s doppelganger. That stupid intelligence guy is just as dumb as you are, to think we can follow somebody if they get into a flitter. I sure didn’t see an aircraft waiting for me down at that airpark on base. Just because you are the oldest first-gen on the planet doesn’t mean that you’re the smartest and can lay off the blame for the failure of your poorly-planned schemes on people like me.”

  If Yaneel had been in the same room as Galuud he would be dead now. Instead he was making excuses and idle threats he could not back up. Galuud made it a point to record everything and now he was relishing in his mind how this conversation would play for Inskaap. After it was doctored, of course.

  He kept his eyes on the roadway as he pushed the throttle open even wider. He had to get back to Haven and smack these imbeciles down a peg or two. Yaneel and Vuunis had no idea how many men were waiting in the wings for an opportunity to leave Canuure and get out into human space.

  “Just sit tight and keep your eyes on the boy. I should be there in about fifteen more minutes.”

  “Okay, see, Vuunis lost the boy. He was following him from the arcade and theater and he let him get too far ahead and, well, he lost him. We’re camped out close to their building and sooner or later, they have to come back here.”

  Galuud felt like just taking out his weapon and shooting himself. These guys were going to get him shot for their incompetence. “I’ll deal with you both when I get back. Just stay put and keep your eyes peeled for that kid and that woman!”

  No sooner than he broke the connection with Yaneel, the communicator rang immediately. It was that idiot Al Jane this time.

  “What, pray tell, do you want this time,” Galuud said.

  Jane told him what had happened to Haslip.

  “You have now become a liability to me, Jane. If I were you I would find some other way to exit Elber and your stupid indiscretion. What you do on your own time is your own business.”

  “Oh, no you don’t. You just can’t let me take the fall for this without trying to help me. I know things, I can expose you to the Navy authorities. You think I don’t know what you guys have been up to? Tracking ship movements, tailing certain fleet officers. I’m not stupid, Galuud.”

  For the first time in over two years Jane had pronounced his name correctly.

  “Did your hear me? I said, I’m not stupid!”

  We’ll see about that, human. “Where are you calling me from, Jane? Are you using the secure device I gave you to use?”

  Jane sounded out of breath and his next words were not entirely clear.

  “Calm down my friend, Jane. I lost your signal temporarily. Are you using the secure comm device I gave you?”

  “Of course,” Jane said, his voice at the point of breaking.

  “Fine,” Galuud said and pressed three buttons on his communications device. “Bye, then.”

  Even though he was still kilometers from the city he could see the explosion from the road. A tall stack of black smoke and yellow flame shot up into the afternoon sky and somewhere within the expanding conflagration was Alfred Jane. Parts of him, at least.

  * * *

  Feeling good about himself for the first time in quite a while, Uri Haad finally took a few minutes to relax in his quarters. He had made all the calls he had to make and lined up the officers he wanted to take on his little sojourn to Bayliss. Yorn, Gertz, Hansen, Gant, Digg
s and Mason. Top to bottom some of the best from the Christi and men and women he would be proud to serve with any time in any weather.

  His first reaction when he heard the explosion was to run outside and look toward the north, toward the spaceport. Nothing there. He did a three sixty and finally saw a dark column of smoke rising up over the trees to the southwest. Maybe some construction crew was doing some demolition down there, he thought. Then he heard the sirens. Whatever it was must have been off base and he estimated the tower of smoke to be roughly three kilometers away. Nothing to concern him other than curiosity.

  Twenty minutes later a yeoman messenger dropped off his large packet of orders. The first set was for him and the next batch for his crew. The messenger waited until he had endorsed the orders, left a copy for him and repackaged the rest for further distribution. He was all set.

  When his comm stack chirped some minutes later, he just stared at the device at first, unwilling to move himself off the couch. The insistence of the ringing finally made him answer. “Haad here,” he said.

  “Captain Haad, sir, this is Lieutenant Commander Tims at the base Provost Marshal’s Office. Sir, I’m afraid I have some disturbing news for you. One of your officers has been found dead.”

  Haad stroked the side of his face. “One of my officers? Which one, commander?”

  “A Lieutenant Commander Gena Haslip. She was found murdered in a parking facility in downtown Haven. About two hours ago. The local authorities were notified by a civilian and eventually the notification made the rounds to us, sir. They recovered her identification cards at the scene and made the call to the base.”

  Gena Haslip? Murdered? Surely this must be some kind of mistake! “The ID is positive, commander? You’re certain it was Haslip?”

  “Affirm that, captain. Positive DNA match, positive on the prints.”

  “I see. As far as I know, she had no next of kin on Elber. Maybe some distant relatives on Canno.”

  “We’re accessing her personnel files, her CCD-214 from the archives. NOK notification shouldn’t be a problem. The brass up on five have been told as well.” Brass “up on five” was a reference to the Amiralty on the Fifth Floor of the NAVFLT Headquarters building.

  Haad hesitated while the information wound its way through his brain. “What happened to her, Mister Tims?” he said at last.

  “Captain, there were no witnesses. We’re relying on what information we received from the NHPD. They are running point on the investigation. It seems she had an altercation with a patron at one of the local taverns. It’s still not clear if that argument led to her death. I’m sure as the details reach the surface we’ll have a better idea of what happened. The NHPD tell me there are surveillance recordings being looked at now. From the parking garage.”

  “I need to be in the loop on this, commander. Where on base are you located?”

  The commander gave him a building number near the headquarters complex.

  Haad broke the connection and went into his bedroom and retrieved one of his utility uniforms from his closet.

  Damn. Death in the skies and now this.

  Will it ever end?

  Chapter 20

  Har was all over her as soon as she hit the door. Not only did he not ask her about her lunch “date” but he did not even mention Captain Pax Curton. Instead he ranted and raved about his latest conspiracy theory.

  “Why don’t you at least hear me out, Mom? Those creepy guys are all over the place. I saw them! Yesterday that fake cab-driver showing up just where we were having lunch? The same guy from the spaceport? Come on, Mom, listen to me. They’re all over!”

  Har walked excitedly around the room stopping occasionally to flap his arms for emphasis. He pointed to the door and said, “Then, today, they followed you! I saw them pull out right after you and that dusty guy from the ship. I’m telling you, they’re after us and all you do is question my eyesight.”

  Max looked at her son. She had never seen him so animated before. She figured the wait for the Bayliss trip and the military school that awaited his arrival was getting to him. He was seeing shadows in every corner, seeing evil henchmen in every car that passed.

  “Why would anyone be following us, Har?” she said in the most soothing voice she could muster. If he didn’t calm down soon she would have to call a corpsman.

  “Probably because of the aliens. Maybe while we were away they took control of this miserable planet and started to assimilate people. I read how they can get people to turn on their own families.”

  “That makes no sense,” she said. Then she thought for a second. “You said these men looked different. How?”

  “I dunno. Their faces. Their arms. These guys were knuckle draggers. And, they all wore gloves. Like they were covering up their fingerprints or something. If I hadn’t hid in some bushes, they’d have gotten me for sure. You’d be down at the morgue identifying my body right now instead of standing there telling me I didn’t see them.”

  His face distorted into a grand mal pout and he was on the verge of tears. Max breathed out a heavy sigh and reached for him. “Okay, Har. Why don’t we sit down and you can tell me again why you’re so upset. I promise I’ll listen to you and not make any judgements. That sound fair?”

  He sniffed a couple of times and headed for the small couch.

  Thirty minutes later Max had heard enough. When she put what Har told her with what she had seen in that restaurant down in Matterese, a lot of her doubts had been erased. Har was telling the truth. If she hadn’t seen Yorn talking to that same cabbie just hours before she could have dismissed his entire account of the strange goings on, chalking them up to just the anxieties of a child with an over-active imagination.

  When he told her he had memorized the license plates on the car that had followed Pax Curton’s speeder when they left for lunch, she decided to take the next step.

  She called her captain.

  * * *

  Galuud finished the report, encoded it and transmitted it to the waiting ship. If everything went according to plan, the little Malguurian boat with the huge engine would make orbit in a few hours. Then that human officer would be unloaded onto a faster ship still. Once the cargo and the message was safely out of Elber’s gravity well he could relax some.

  Inskaap would then be responsible for whatever happened next and his part in the plot would come to an end. He would wait a few weeks then vanish. Perhaps try to migrate to Bayliss or Canno. As long as he looked even remotely human he could never return to Canuure. He would be set upon as soon as he stepped off the gangplank. Bale Phatie had whipped up so much anti-human sentiment throughout the Domain it was dangerous just to be seen in this guise without a military escort.

  With all the spies and agents Inskaap had operating on the human outposts, soon it would be difficult to continue with his activities. In the back of his mind he could see a slew of other operatives on Elber just waiting for the chance to sell him down the river. He could also see incompetents like Yaneel and Vuunis doing something to get themselves caught. Once apprehended, they would quickly give him up to the authorities. That was something he could not allow to happen.

  He secured his hidden transmitter, closed up his little apartment, checked his intrusion alarms, then headed for his ground-car-for-hire. With no incoming ships scheduled to arrive for a few days, he would troll the perimeter of the Navy Base looking for customers. Maybe he could get lucky and find a bunch of drunk sailors heading for the bars and whorehouses west of the facility and score enough information to help him find a way off this miserable planet. Information he could use as a bargaining chip should he have to face the wrath of Inskaap, should his handling of the Yorn thing somehow unwind in an unfavorable direction.

  But, before he made his way to the cab stand at the main gate, he had a little errand to run. He had to have an up-close and personal talk with his two operatives. Yaneel and Vuunis.

  They needed immediate attention.

  He woul
d give it to them.

  * * *

  “Ma’am, we’ve intercepted another one,” the young ensign said. “Just like all the rest: seven columns, four-digit numbers, fifty-five rows to a page.”

  Lieutenant Mols took the pages. The cover sheet was marked CONFIDENTIAL in red letters in the upper left and lower right corners. In the center of the page was the emblem of the Third Navy Fleet Of Elber Prime. She flipped to the second page and ran a finger down the first column of numbers. Finding the sequence she was looking for, she scribbled something on a pad. Next Mols scanned the pages of text into her computer. There had been four pages in all.

  “Thanks, Ensign Fuld. I’ll handle this from here.”

  The junior officer left Mols’s little office. Niki Mols was in a small secure room in the bowels of the NAVFLT building with almost a half-hectare of mainframe computing power sitting on a raised, cooled floor just behind the bulkhead aft of her cluttered desk.

  The IS — Intelligence Service — main thrust was carried out upstairs on the eighth. She controlled seventeen linguists, cryptologists, voice-intercept specialists, and their attending electronic technicians. In total, her staff contained almost fifty people. All were military, eighty percent Navy. Her fledgling endeavors were sanctioned from on high by her Uncle Vincent Paine. Not that she had anything to try to campaign for. Her unit delivered results, tangible intelligence that was ultimately distributed throughout the Admiralty.

  Once the scanned pages appeared on her huge monitor, she punched a few keys and another pane popped up with a blinking cursor. She typed the “key” group of numbers from her pad into the little box and hit the ENTER key.

  The run through her decryption program would take a while. Running the 1,540 groups through all 15,398,460 possible combinations took time. She ripped the scribbled note from the top of her pad, being careful to remove the next few sheets as well. These pages went into her shredder and the resulting confetti was dumped into a burn bag for incineration. Mols took her security clearance seriously. With her urging, Admiral Paine would be mandating security reviews of every officer in the Third from lieutenant commander to Admiral Geoff himself.