Banished Worlds

by Grant Workman

  “Less, but you retrieved her. You rescued my runaway daughter and have a space station for your trouble. I would think that is enough, more than enough, Mr. Danbeu.”

  “I’m not arguing about my payment. I did the job, retrieved your daughter, but under false pretenses, or at least incomplete information. I don’t traffic in human lives, especially, those of children.”

  Garrett cocked his head to one side. “It sounds to me like you want to back out of our deal. Do you want to go back to Lark, Mr. Danbeu? Would that make your conscience feel better?”

  “I’m thinking it would be better for you to walk away. Leave your daughter alone, and let life take its course.”

  Garrett powered down his armor and pulled the chest plate off, then opened his shirt. “This isn’t life taking its course, Danbeu.”

  His chest was a crisscross of scars and stitches. The damage was far worse than I had seen the first time.

  “This was a bomb from someone that didn’t like one of my policies. They thought I would die, and I nearly did. This isn’t life. This was someone’s choice to end my life. How is that just life?”

  “How does it justify killing your own kid just to stay alive?”

  “Agents, if Mr. Danbeu tries anything to interfere with this transaction, kill him.” Garrett closed his shirt. He was done talking to me.

  “Support President Garrett on this and you’re all as guilty of killing Jane Garrett as he is going to be.”

  They were in full armor with their face shields on opaque, so I could not see their reactions. I could read body language though. There were a few shuffled feet, but not a big reaction.

  “How many of you have kids? Would you kill your kids to stay alive?” Some of the weapons that were pointed at me were lowered a bit. Several agents lowered weapons to their sides.

  “Agents, you are under my orders,” Garrett reminded them. “You will disregard Mr. Danbeu and his opinions.” Garrett stepped over in front of me. “I’m willing to ignore this, Mr. Danbeu, but if you think you can turn my handpicked, personal agents on me, you are mistaken. And if you persist with this attempt, I will drop you back on Tirus.”

  “Tirus is a dead planet. You had it burned. You killed thousands of innocents,” I said staring down at the shorter man.

  “Tirus was a prison planet. All of its occupants were convicted killers. There was no one innocent on Tirus.”

  “How do you categorize the children of those who were sentenced to be there? Are they guilty because their parents were? More innocent kids dead by your hand?”

  Garrett’s face was tight, his lips a thin line, and his eyes filled with hatred for me. “How would you suggest I separate the two? Interviews, DNA sampling, what would your solution be?” He shook his head. “Tirus, had become an eyesore and is in a great location for expansion. It had become a cancer. One day someone would have investigated the place and seen how far away from the prison system Tirus had become. It was run by killers and lowlife bastards. No, it had to be stopped either way.”

  It hit me as he spoke that the strike was planned even before Jane had escaped to Tirus. It had been on a countdown of its own. Jane had simply reset their time frame. “You had planned, to destroy Tirus, only Jane ran there to get away from you.” I could hardly believe it. From the look in Garrett’s eyes, I knew I was right.

  “Yes, Mr. Danbeu. I did plan Tirus’ destruction. It will be a jewel in the network when it is restored. So we move on. Deliver my daughter now, or I will drop you back on Lark or Tirus if you push me. After all, Harry, how hard do you think it is to make you disappear? Controlling the information is the hard part and only a few, a very few, know the truth. Give me Jane.”

  “No. You can’t seriously believe I’m going to hand over Jane to be killed, do you? How many more days can your doctors patch you up before there is nothing they can do? Want to bet I can hold out however long it takes for you to die? You’ll be dead before I tell anyone where I hid her.”

  His hatred for me was complete and consuming. “Someone kill this man, kill Harry Danbeu, now!” he ordered his personal bodyguards. “Now!” he screamed.

  No one moved. Not one guard fired, and the last of the weapons trained on me were lowered.

  The door to the lobby cycled open, and in walked Deputy Collins, Roberts and a lot of agents in full body armor.

  “Agents stand down,” Collins ordered, making it official even though no guards had weapons on me. Collins walked over to Garrett and faced the man directly. “President Garrett, as Deputy Administrator, I am placing you under arrest for murder and intent to murder. I am freezing all of your authority as of this moment. You will be confined until the proper courts can look into this matter. You will not be receiving any organ transplants any time soon, Mr. Garrett.”

  “Have you lost your mind, Collins? You can’t arrest me, I’m The President.”

  “Not anymore, sir. You just broadcast your crimes and intended crimes over an open communications frequency to this entire station, and every ship, vehicle, and radio within receiving distance. Rei Gali station has a very powerful broadcast antenna.”

  Garrett’s eyes jumped to me and he started my direction.

  Collins stepped over in front of him. “That would be a mistake, another one.”

  “Last one,” I added.

  “Agents, escort Mr. Garrett to a holding cell until a prison transport ship can be dispatched to this location.”

  Cursing me and everyone else, Garrett was removed from the room.

  Collins turned to face me.

  “If you’re going to file charges against us, make it just me. I planned it, I’m responsible,” I told Collins.

  “Like he did any of it alone,” Roberts said sharply, moving over beside Collins and me.

  “You’re not going to jail for any of this,” I told her. Before I said more or she did, Collins raised his hands to both of us.

  “I am not arresting anyone else today.” Collins and the rest of us looked to the doorway at the sound of footsteps.

  Jane Garrett, Price, Walter, and his two assistants joined our little group.

  “Mr. Price, is the open mic turned off now?”

  “As you ordered, Deputy Collins,” Price replied.

  “Oh, right, thank you. Now, Mr. Danbeu, yes, you broke a few laws with that communications stunt to save Jane Garrett. I’ll not be pursuing any charges, as you were hired to save her, you just didn’t know it was from her father, no one knew that. You completed the job. Although escaping from a prison planet is in itself a crime. Any good attorney would point out that you were attempting to escape from a dying planet in the middle of a disaster. That makes you lucky, not a criminal. There will be no charges against you, or any of your team, Mr. Danbeu.”

  “What about the space station and my interest in it?” I asked, mostly, just to see what his reaction was going to be. He surprised me.

  “You were hired to do a job and did so. Of course, you get your agreed upon payment.” Collins looked over to Roberts and Price who were standing next to Harry. “Agents Roberts and Price, you two are fired.”

  “What?” Price demanded, more forcefully than I’d ever seen him react. “What did I do?”

  “Mr. Price, agents are supposed to be loyal to the government, not to private parties. You helped Mr. Danbeu setup Mr. Garrett. I accept that in this case, you were right to do so. That aside, I believe that it won’t sit well with others who may have trusted you. People like to know they can trust the people they work with, it’s human nature, and Garrett does have powerful friends. The same goes for you, Ms. Roberts.”

  “He did a service to the government, helping get rid of a corrupt president,” Roberts told Collins.

  “I agree. That doesn’t change things. Other agents will not trust either of you from now on, no matter how many medals the government pins on your chest.” Collins answered her remarks. “You are both fired, effective immediately.”

  “I’m a scien
tist. It’s not like I can go get a security job and continue on with life. After getting fired from the government, no reputable company will talk to me, let alone hire me. What am I supposed to do?” asked Price.

  “That’s easy,” I said. “You can come to work for Rei Gali’s Research & Development Department,” I told him. “After I check out your references, that is.” I leaned over to Walter. “Do we have an R&D department?”

  “No, sir,” Walter told me. “But I can set something up for your associate.”

  “Great.” I tapped Price on the shoulder. “Two things, Price. First, easy on the budget until I see how this place is doing income wise. Secondly, don’t ever spy on me, or I’ll put you in a cell next to Garrett.”

  “Mr. Garrett won’t be here that long,” Collins assured us. “It will only be a day or two at the max until a ship is here to collect him.”

  “So you are the Acting President until his trial and a new person can be appointed or voted on?” Roberts asked.

  “I believe that is the chain of command.” Collins looked first at her, then Price, then to me. “Agents, return to our ship.” He pointed to three agents. “Until further notice, you three are my personal guard.” Collins reached out to me and extended his hand. “I am glad you saved the girl, although I did not expect you to survive. Thank you, Agent Danbeu.” Collins took his new office and agents and left.

  “Walter, you said I have quarters here somewhere?” I reminded him.

  “Yes sir, this way.”

  “Walter, it’s Harry, not sir. And get Price a room.” I slipped my arm around Mia and started after Walter.

  “Of course, Harry.”

  ***

  I lay in my bed staring up at the stars. In my quarters, there is a section of outer hull that can be retracted, leaving a transparent view of outer space. I lay there watching ships arriving and departing my space station. The thought of owning a space station still just floored me. How long would it take for me to get used to the idea of being rich and powerful?

  “Thanks for the call, Walter, I’ll tell him.” Mia sat the receiver back on the desk and walked over next to the bed.

  “So what did Walter need?” I asked. “What was so important that he felt it necessary to get me out of my bed?”

  “Garrett died a few minutes ago of organ failure. Collins thought you would like to know, so he had Walter call you.” Mia’s smile was a little off for her. We had become close, first on Tirus and now here, so I recognized the look of concern on her face.

  “What else is up?” I asked, and she hesitated. “Come on, no secrets, remember.”

  “I think Walter is still not sure what to make of us living together. I’ve noticed that conversations have abruptly ended when entering the offices. We’re the gossip right now.”

  “Are you coming back to bed?” I asked.

  “Can’t, got to shower, got a job interview. You hired Price, not me, so I’ve got to find a job. I won’t sponge off of my boyfriend.”

  “Who’s the interview with?” I sat up, feeling a little hurt, but since I was seeing a doctor every day, sleeping, eating, and no one was beating on me, I was healing quickly. I patted the bed. “Come to bed.”

  Mia sat down next to me. “I’m serious, Harry, I won’t live here and off of you, no matter our relationship. I have to earn my own way.”

  I opened her robe and pressed my face against her bare skin. “Do you really think you’re going to have time to do two jobs?” I asked, drinking in the perfume of her skin.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I just figured with you owning half of this place with me, one of us really should learn how to run it.”

  “You have Walter to run this place. I’m not taking his job.”

  “I’m not going to learn it. I’m going to drink and wander around giving orders that hopefully, people will ignore. You though, you need to work with Walter and learn how to run our space station.”

  “Harry, I haven’t seen you drinking this morning and you aren’t making any sense.”

  “Didn’t I go over any of this with you yesterday when I put forty-eight percent of Rei Gali stock that I own in your name?”

  “You did what, Harry?” she said sharply and pushed me out to arm’s-length from her warm, soft body.

  The push hurt my healing injuries, but I did not let it show, I smiled.

  “You’re serious?” Mia could see my face and had gotten good at reading me.

  “Yes, well, there are some minor issues. A couple of things I insisted on, knowing you. First, the stock is on a payment plan, part of your salary goes to the purchase of the forty-eight percent until you have paid for it. You work for Rei Gali, me, and under Walter’s instruction until you finish paying me. Secondly, if you decide to ever sell the stock you own, you can only sell it to me. If you were to die, it all reverts back to my ownership. Same thing if I suddenly die, you get everything.”

  “You’ve planned this all out.” Mia folded her arms across her chest.

  “Are you all right? I would have given you the shares of stock, but we both know you like to earn what you get. You will be learning this station’s operations. You can even learn to fly it if you wish. You can start in whatever department or section, you’d like.” I could see it in her eyes. Something was still wrong. “What’s the matter?”

  “You just arranged my life, Harry. You should have asked, consulted me.”

  “It was a surprise, a pleasant one, I thought.”

  “It should be, Harry.”

  “But …” I said.

  “I haven’t been sleeping with you, Harry, for you to give me stuff, even big stuff. And I know you thought having to work it off in my pay would solve that. But Harry, you don’t just sign over half of a place like this. Do you know what that makes me look like?”

  “So come back to bed, you can sign everything back over to me tomorrow and go find your own job.”

  “No,” Mia said solidly.

  “No to what, not back to bed?”

  Mia stood up, pushed her robe the rest of the way off. “No to signing anything back to you. I’m paranoid, not stupid.” She crawled into bed and wrapped her warm body around mine. “I’ll take care of everything, Harry, you just sit back.”

  I stretched out in our bed and decided life had not turned out too bad. I hoped it stayed that way.

  The End

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Grant Workman is a former U. S. Air Force aircraft crew chief that wrote science fiction and fantasy stories as a hobby. He was born in Ohio and grew up in Florida in a career military household. After enlisting in the military he was sent to Southern California, where he still lives after his Honor Discharge. Grant worked as an aircraft mechanic at the then McDonald Douglas Aircraft company which is where he met Mary Alley, a fellow aircraft mechanic.

  Mary (Alley) Workman, was born in Northern California, living in several states and a foreign country while also growing up in a career military household. After working as an Administrative Assistant in Colorado for several years, she moved to Southern California, became a mechanic, and eventually become an aircraft mechanic. Together they crafted machines that fly as well as stories that send the reader soaring.

  While working together at MDC, they began to collaborate on Grant’s fiction stories. In 1993, they married and in 1996 self-published the DNA based vampire tale, The Guide, with Author House.

  Grant begins the writing process and originates the ideas which come from his love of science fiction and fantasy realms. Mary performs the first edits on the stories rough drafts, as well as being a storyline consultant. They have since created over a dozen completed stories of fiction: horror-vampire and werewolf tales; space travel adventures; alternate dimensions; time traveling sword fighters; futuristic off-world military; and murder mysteries. Their study of Sil Lum Kung Fu and other martial arts are used in the many action fight scenes of their storylines.

  There is always anothe
r story to tell, another character to create and one more person to inform about the truth that only women can be werewolves; care to know why, just ask them. Currently, they have novelized a fantastic screenplay by Neil Johnson, Descent into the Maelstrom, into a riveting book that is soon to be a major motion picture, and is available on Amazon.Com as a paperback or Kindle download.

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11