“That’s good information, MO Harve. Did you ever notice what they did to the cargos or crews and ships they didn’t retain?”
Noticing that he was being addressed by his rank, Harve felt confident that at least he’d cleared himself of being a pirate.
“The pirates were always angry when they sold warships. They wanted them to grow stronger but their leader refused. The same buyer bought every FTL-equipped ship the pirates captured, and quickly. Whoever it was didn’t haggle about the price or worry about being caught with the ships. It could take three hundred years or more to search the area where they might be based.”
The major just nodded as he listened. It seemed to Harve as if the entire interview was a square to be filled as part of an investigation, just so they could say that steps had been taken.
“That’s all we have for you, MO Harve. Please consider this interview confidential. You are not to speak about it to your captain or other shipmates. You’re dismissed,” the major said, surprising Harve by reaching forward to shake his hand.
Harve replayed parts of the interview in his head on the way back to the ship and soon became lost in thought. It’d take three hundred years of searching to find the pirate base. You’re a Libra. Use your superior abilities to narrow it down. It must be in the area that was controlled by the Libra Alliance. There, now you cut your search down to a hundred and eighty years! Harve smiled to himself as he mentally figured the general area of space. The base has to be away from shipping lanes, yet close enough to have brought the derelict ships and those without FTL drives they used to build the base.
Before he realized it, he was back in the hallway that led to his office. Going inside, he sat down at his monitor and brought up a map of the general area where the pirate base might be. Then he pulled up another map showing the last reported locations of all ships that had disappeared in the last six months. He was surprised to see that more than a hundred were missing. At first there didn’t seem to be any pattern, but then he took a closer look. The area on our side of the border with the Republic space has no missing ships, he thought. That area has no real shipping except for navy ships that monitor the border on both sides. Since the war ended, no one has been monitoring the border with the Republic in the area that had been claimed by the Libra Alliance. The base must be somewhere in that area!
Harve was stunned at how easily he’d figured out where the pirates could be. By superimposing another map of the areas that were three hours by FTL from where he’d been captured, he identified an area of space that a single ship could investigate in a month. If I report this information, will I just vanish … or will I have a much-publicized death as a warning to others? Can I still rescue my wife and child?
He sat in silence, not even noticing that the duty day had ended and engineering was completely quiet. He decided he couldn’t trust any Jacka.
Las Vegas, Earth
28 April 2129
Looking at the clock, Short Blade saw it was already seven. He dragged himself out of bed, feeling like he hadn’t slept at all. As he pulled on a fluffy white robe, he was pleased to see that it had been tailored to accommodate his additional set of arms. It had also been shortened so the bottom didn’t drag on the floor. As he strode toward the door ready to start his day, he hoped that Poland would be awake.
“Good morning, Mr. Short Blade. How are you doing this fine morning?”
At first he didn’t see where the speaker was, but then he glanced over at the bar and saw a woman in a white uniform. She was getting a can of soda out of the refrigerator.
“Busted,” she said with a smile. “It’s been a long night with your friend, Mr. Poland. I’m afraid this is my breakfast. The results from the samples haven’t come back yet, but I’m happy to tell you that he slept well. You know, I swear he’s already looking better. He has a little more color in his face.”
“Commander Poland was in the Gray Panthers and has had nanite therapy. The way he looked when we found him makes me believe that was the only thing keeping him alive. Now that he’s had some nourishment from the IVs overnight, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him ready to start eating and moving around today.”
For a minute the nurse looked at him like he was crazy, but then she remembered reading about the nanites the old warriors had been given and the benefits the therapy had.
“I’d like to see that, but the day nurse will be here in about an hour, and that will be the end of my day. My bedtime won’t be long after that.”
Short Blade studied the young girl for a few moments and figured she was another of the poor humans with bad working hour and few resources of her own. That must be why she had stolen the can of soda and didn’t even seem embarrassed about it.
“Please call room service and order me a variety of meats. They’ll know what is expected. And order whatever you would like, as well. I don’t like to eat alone. I’m going to look in on Commander Poland.”
The nurse seemed apprehensive at first, but then she figured the little alien was just a nice guy, so she picked up the phone and ordered breakfast.
When Short Blade opened the door to Commander Poland’s room, he was pleased that there was no longer any stink. The blinds were closed and the light from the open door was the only light in the room. Poland was sleeping soundly. A nearly full IV bag hung from a bar above his head. Two empty IV bags were in a small trash can near the foot of the bed.
“Looks like they filled you up last night, old comrade,” Short Blade whispered softly. Backing out of the room, he closed the door softly behind him. He nodded to the nurse on the way back to his room. After closing the door, he pressed behind his right ear to initiate his comm device.
“Comm, Namid.” He waited for a reply, uncertain that the device had connected.
“This is Namid.”
“Namid, I found Commander Poland. He was living in an area of major blight and economic hardship, in a small house that was almost ready to fall down. He was in a chair, partially wrapped in a blanket, and unresponsive. I had him brought to my hotel room and had doctors examine him. He hasn’t gained consciousness yet, but at this point he doesn’t appear to be in any distress. They administered two IV bags during the night to alleviate his dehydration and malnourishment. I’m waiting for the doctor to come look at him this morning, so I’m pushing back our departure to tomorrow. It looks as if you’ll have a free day.” He decided not to mention the revolver that had been next to the commander’s chair.
“Okay, Short Blade. Keep me informed of how the commander is doing. Namid, out.”
Short Blade was preparing to get dressed when he heard activity in the next room and decided he should go back out. The nurse was sitting at the dining table and had already begun eating. He sat down across from her and lifted the silver dome from the platter. He was delighted to find a selection of small roasts and steaks, all just slightly roasted so they were still bloody,. His stomach growled and he felt his appetite coming back to him. He stabbed a steak with his knife, dropped it on his plate, and was just starting to cut it when there was a knock at the door. He started to rise, but the door opened just a few inches and a stranger in a suit spoke to him through the opening.
“I’m Jose, from your security detail, Mr. Short Blade. Is it all right to let Dr. Romano in? They haven’t made a list yet of who is to have access to your room.”
“Yes, Jose, the doctor and all medical staff should have unrestricted access to the room. I thought Dr. Romano was part of the hotel staff?” Short Blade said, a bit puzzled.
“Sir, when the Orient was informed that you needed a doctor, they asked Dr. Romano to come in as a favor. He has a balance with the hotel that needs fixing.”
Romano pressed past the security guard, giving him a dirty look for what he considered gossiping, but he didn’t call him out on it.
“Good morning, Mr. Short Blade, and how are you today?” Without waiting for an answer, he continued, “It would seem someone wanted the comma
nder dead. It appears that he has been fed small doses of poison for a while. We can only assume it was the nanites that saved him. Also, he hasn’t had food or water in at least a week. If you hadn’t found him when you did, he’d be dead by now. I’ll be making a report to the police later today.”
“No, Doctor, you won’t. At least not until Commander Poland can tell us what he knows,” Short Blade insisted. “He seems to be sleeping okay. If you would, please look in on him now.”
The nurse rose from the table to join the doctor. As Short Blade looked at the meal waiting for him, he lost his appetite. Anger started growing inside him at the thought of someone trying to murder his old friend. He returned to his room to dress, wondering what his options were. Now if this had happened back home, I could’ve taken care of the matter as soon as the doctor told me about it. As it is, I’ll wait until Commander Poland wakes up and then decide what to do. As he finished dressing, the badge on the inside of his jacket seemed heavier than before.
The table had been cleared and the night nurse was gone when Short Blade stepped back out into the living area. A new nurse was sitting next to Commander Poland’s bed when the doctor opened the door to leave the bedroom.
“The patient’s vitals are remarkable,” Romano told Short Blade. “Looking at him now, it’s hard to believe he was in the condition he was in when they brought him here yesterday. When he wakes up, he should be able to go about his business—in moderation.” And give me the nanites so I can become rich, Romano thought.
“If that’s the prognosis, Doctor, please unplug everything and let him rest.” Turning to the nurse, he said, “You can go. I’ll sit with him until he wakes. I’ll call for the hotel nurse if there’s a problem. Thank you both.”
Short Blade watched as the doctor removed the IV and disconnected the monitors before wheeling them out of the room. Poland slept through it all. Short Blade sat down in the chair next to the bed and brought up his messages on his wrist computer. There was an intriguing message from Dan Daniels asking Short Blade to contact him via secure communications as soon as he could. Apparently, Dan had some kind of a job offer for him.
I guess it’s time to pay the devil his due, as Jimmy would say. I owe him everything I have. Most likely I’d be on the street these days if it weren’t for Dan. I’ll contact him as soon as we exit the wormhole, Short Blade thought.
“Water. Water, please,” Poland croaked softly. Short Blade tried to get the glass with a straw to his face, but he couldn’t reach. Running out the bedroom door, he opened the door to the hotel hallway and signaled for the guard to follow him.
“My friend needs some water, and I couldn’t reach to give it to him,” Short Blade explained, annoyed that he couldn’t do it himself.
Poland sipped from the straw and then took the glass from the guard.
“Where the hell am I?” he asked, his voice sounding normal to Short Blade.
“You’re in the penthouse at the Orient Hotel in Las Vegas, Commander Poland. I visited you at your home, and you were almost dead. I brought you here so you could get well again.”
Poland seemed to focus as he spoke. “Ensign Short Blade, what the hell are you doing on Earth? Did you get deported for associating with humans?” Poland’s voice had a forced joviality to it that even Short Blade picked up on.
“Sir, do you know why anyone would want to kill you? You had poison in your system, and you hadn’t had any food or water in a while.”
Short Blade looked so concerned it made Poland laugh.
“Don’t ever take up poker, Short Blade. You’re too easy to read. It was my wife who tried to kill me. I met her when I was recovering from finding out that my entire family had been killed just before I returned from the war. She saw an old man with one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. She planned on having a short marriage, and then she’d inherit everything and have a green card. It was actually fun in the beginning—she tried to screw me to death and only wore herself out—happily, I might add. Then she’d ask me to do odd jobs here and there to fix up that little house of hers, hoping I’d hurt myself. After a while, I finally got the gist of what was going on. If she hadn’t been so transparent about it all, it might have worked. She finally gave up and I thought everything was going to work out, but it seems she decided to pull a Lucrezia Borgia on me. She was slowly poisoning me, and by the time I finally realized it, I couldn’t even get out of my chair. At that point, she didn’t even try to hide it from me any longer. She’d offer me glasses of water that weren’t even clear. I guess I just shut down. Ironically, the last date I remember was April first, April Fools’ Day. What’s today’s date?”
“Today is April twenty-eighth. Do you want me to have the police take care of her? The doctor was all ready to make a report stating that you’d been poisoned, but I told him to hold off until I’d spoken with you.”
“No, I’ll take care of this. You’ve saved my life. What brought you back to me? That certainly doesn’t look like a Gray Panthers uniform you’re wearing, and I don’t think you could swing these accommodations on per diem.” His eyes seemed to penetrate right through Short Blade as he spoke.
“Commander Poland, I came here to offer you a job. I salvaged the Beater from the asteroid field and got it back to Glory, where my base of operations is. I have a cattle ranch there and produce milk for distribution on my home world. I would like you to do a level-one depot inspection on the Beater and make any upgrades you think she could use. Guns and Jimmy have worked with me for a while, and I have a long-range shuttle with FTL capability that has kept me busy. When the Beater is operational, I’ll need another experienced officer. That post is yours, if you want it.”
“Damn! I wake up from a nightmare and have a dream waiting for me! That long-range shuttle of yours, it’s not from the Gray Panthers, is it? With Beater’s help, I designed one and then sent the suggestion in to headquarters, along with all the design specs.” Poland’s excitement practically bubbled, but then came to a sudden halt. “Oh, shit! When you found the Beater, did you find the captain?” He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his temples while he waited for the answer.
“We found his body and took it back to Glory, where we gave him a military funeral to the best of our ability. We documented it for the crew and anyone else who might be interested. About the shuttle, I got it from the Gray Panthers after the war ended and my service was no longer needed. Mr. Daniels knew what I was facing, going back into my society as a runt, and he wanted to help me start over.”
“Well, at least Johnson’s demons are at rest. He was a good man. I don’t have a wrist computer anymore, or I’d start looking at possible upgrades to the Beater. When are we leaving?”
“We’ll leave tomorrow, if you’re up to it. So you’re not going to do anything about your wife’s attempt to murder you?” Short Blade asked, shocked.
“I’ll visit her today and tell her there are no hard feelings. Then I’ll get my stuff and get out. After that, I’ll probably call an attorney to divorce her. Maybe I’ll blackmail her and take the house away from her as part of a settlement. It’s a piece of crap, but it’s the only thing she loves in the world besides getting high.”
Poland threw back the sheets and sat up, kicking his feet over the side of the bed. After taking a moment to catch his breath from the physical exertion, he jumped down and stood unsteadily for a moment.
“I’m guessing these white boxers are the extent of my wardrobe?”
“Jose, have the hotel send up a personal assistant with a tape measure. Thank you for helping the commander,” Short Blade said, dismissing the bodyguard without another thought. He watched Poland get his land legs back as he walked over and opened the curtains.
“Damn, it’s bright out there. I don’t remember the last time I saw the sky and the sun,” Poland remarked. As he turned from the window, he almost fell over. Grabbing the arm of a nearby chair, he sat down. “I’m feeling better by the minute. Just need my bo
dy to catch up with me. After I get some pants, can I borrow some transportation to get my things?”
“I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. While we’re waiting for your pants, there should be a robe in the closet.” Humans look so ugly with no fur. I’ll never get used to seeing them without clothing, he thought. “How does some breakfast sound, Commander?”
“Breakfast sounds both nauseating and good. I need to brush my teeth and get rid of the crap that’s growing in my mouth first. Now that I think about it, I’d just about kill for a stack of pancakes.”
As Poland disappeared into the bathroom, Short Blade went to the living room to order breakfast for the two of them.
The food arrived at the same time the personal assistant showed up at the door. Short Blade tried to hide the fact that he was salivating from the smell of the meat. Poland entered the room as the tray of food was being put on the table.
“Now that smells good!” he said before turning to greet the assistant. “Hi there, little lady. Wasn’t expecting a girl, but that’s not a problem for me if it isn’t for you. What’s your name? Come sit down at the table with me. I haven’t eaten in over two weeks.”
Poland sat down and piled his plate with food. The young woman sat down too and tried not to stare at Poland or Short Blade. The old man’s robe was gaping, showing a very muscular physique beneath it, and the little alien reminded her of a stuffed toy from the carnival.
“My name’s Mary. I was told you needed my services. So, what can I do for you?” I have a feeling this is going to be one strange day, she thought. Who knows? It might actually be fun.
“My friend’s wife tried to murder him, and he escaped without a stitch of clothing,” Short Blade told her. “He’s been unconscious for two weeks, so we’re not sure what size clothing he’ll need. Did you bring a measuring tape?”
Even the little lion’s voice is cute. Wonder if he’d let me hug him? Mary thought. “I have a tape measure in my pocket,” she replied. “After I take your measurements, what sort of clothes would you like?” she asked Poland, smiling.
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