Asteroid Outpost (Nick Walker, U.F. Marshal Book 1)

by John Bowers

  Tarpington was silent a moment, then shrugged.

  “I didn’t see what you saw,” he admitted. “As you said, my back was turned.”

  “Mine wasn’t. Rowan was agitated, for sure, but the situation could have been handled a lot better than it was. So I was wondering if brutality is standard procedure for those guards or if that was an isolated incident.”

  Tarpington sighed. “We depend on the mining company security forces to house prisoners. Given the nature of the general population on Ceres, I won’t claim that some of those security people aren’t less than ideal. There have been complaints of brutality, but prisoners always charge brutality if they think it will give them some advantage. You’ll hear charges of police brutality on Terra, too.”

  “Have you investigated those complaints?”

  “Some of them. We’ve never been able to substantiate anything. If you’re concerned about it, you might want to look into it yourself.”

  “Maybe I will. Are you the top man here, or do you work for someone else?”

  “I do most of the courtroom work, but the chief prosecutor is Gary Fraites. He’s on Mars at the moment, attending a conference. Should be back in a couple of weeks.”

  “How big is your staff?”

  “Except for Howard in the other room, whom you’ve already met, you’re looking at it.”

  “Wow. Must be a big job for one man.”

  Tarpington grinned again. “Like I said, I’m a narcissist. I’m happier than a pig in shit.”

  Nick stood up.

  “I won’t take any more of your time. It was good meeting you. I’m sure we’ll cross paths again.”

  They shook hands again.

  “Be careful out there, Marshal. It ain’t a big world, but it’s a mean one.”

  Chapter 5

  Although Marshal Milligan hadn’t insisted on it, Nick decided, since he was already in the building, to drop in on the defense attorneys as well. He found their office on the same floor as the prosecutor’s, but on the other side of the building. This suite was quite a bit larger, with two female law clerks in the outer office and several doors opening off it. Misery Allen was huddled with one of the clerks when he came in, and looked up. Her face quickly lit with a smile.

  “Marshal Walker! I was hoping you’d drop by!”

  “Really?” Nick rested his elbows on the counter and returned the smile. “I was hoping you’d be here when I did.”

  “Everybody, this is Marshal Nick Walker. He just arrived on Ceres last night. Marshal, this is Angie and that’s Carla.”

  Nick nodded to the clerks, both of whom were watching him with interest. They looked older than Allen, but not by much—both were still in their twenties. Misery Allen swept across the room toward an open door.

  “My office is this way,” she said. “Come on in.”

  Nick followed her through the door and she closed it behind him. Like Tarpington, her space was small, but immaculate. She took a seat and reached into a small nitro-cooler for a cold drink, placing it before him.

  “We’re not terribly formal here, but that’s the best water on four worlds. It’s native to Ceres.”

  Nick picked up the bottle, which was so cold it almost burned his hand.

  “Water? Native to Ceres?”

  “Of course. That’s our primary export. Water.” She settled into her chair and sat admiring him.

  “I thought Ceres was a mining world.”

  “It is. This whole asteroid is just one giant chunk of permafrost. We mine the ice and supply water to most of the Outer Worlds.” She smiled. “You were probably thinking of metal mining, weren’t you?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. I figured it was all iron and nickel and stuff like that.”

  “There’s plenty of that, too, in the Belt. Thousands of mining operations all the way around the sun, but right here it’s water.”

  Nick popped the top on the bottle and took a swallow. To his delight, it was delicious, better than anything he’d ever tasted, even on Terra. It was also painfully cold and refreshing.

  “That’s good stuff.” He set the bottle on the edge of her desk.

  She clasped her hands together.

  “I really want to thank you for what you did. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen anybody stand up to those Farrington thugs.”

  “I wanted to ask you about that. Is it common practice here to punch prisoners around?”

  “Entirely too common. Farrington Security is the worst. They’re the biggest operation on Ceres, and they have the largest lockup. They don’t screen their people very well. What you saw today was fairly minor compared to some I’ve seen. Prisoners show up in court with bruises all over them, eyes swollen shut, missing teeth, and sometimes broken bones. It’s disgraceful.”

  “And no one does anything about it?”

  “Not so far. I’ve filed several complaints—we all have—but it never goes anywhere. The PO says they’ve looked into the allegations but can’t substantiate them.”

  “The PO?”

  “Prosecutor’s Office.”

  “So what’s the story on Rowan? Is he guilty of the charges against him?”

  Misery Allen lowered her eyes.

  “Probably. He does have an outstanding warrant back on Terra, and he does have a drinking problem.”

  “I heard you say in the courtroom that there was no proof.”

  She stared at him a moment, as if disappointed at the question. She sighed and explained.

  “Marshal, my job is to represent the defendant, to give him the best defense I’m capable of. His guilt or innocence will be determined by the court, not by me. Part of giving the best possible defense is making sure the evidence is strong enough to back up the charges, and in this case the evidence hasn’t been presented yet. You’ll notice I never said he didn’t do it, just that no evidence had been presented to prove his guilt. I operate on a presumption of innocence, as mandated by the Federation Constitution.”

  Nick nodded, impressed by her passion. “So if he’s guilty—”

  “Let them prove it. Tarpington is good at his job, but he works only as hard as he has to. If someone doesn’t hold his feet to the fire, he’ll convict my client with little or no evidence.”

  “When the man was arrested, didn’t they take a blood alcohol?”

  “I haven’t seen one. If they did, let them present it in court. Without it there’s no concrete proof that he was drunk, and therefore no crime.”

  “What about the warrant from Ireland?”

  Misery Allen smiled. “I can’t help him on that. Whichever way this case goes, he’ll be extradited to face those charges. We’ll fight the extradition, of course—”

  “Why?”

  “Because that’s what the defendant wants. If he’s convicted in Ireland he’s looking at thirty years, which at his age is a life sentence.”

  Nick frowned. “Two people in Ireland are dead.”

  “I didn’t create the legal system, Marshal. I just work within it, and I use whatever tools it provides me. Fighting extradition is one of them. In any case, if he’s convicted here, he’ll be heading back to Terra anyway, for incarceration. He won’t be able to escape the warrant then.”

  Nick shook his head and spread his hands in surrender.

  “Sounds like your job is a lot more complicated than mine. And you can call me Nick.”

  Her smile beamed at him. For a moment his attention was arrested by how beautiful she was.

  “And you can call me Misery.”

  “Is that really your name?”

  “I’m afraid so. My mother was a bit of a pessimist, and just a little superstitious. She was so miserable when I was born that she thought naming me that might break whatever jinx was at work in her life.”

  “Did it work?”

  She laughed. “You mean, am I miserable? No, I’m not, so I guess it might have worked. At least maybe it helped.”

  “Why was your mother so unhappy?”
>
  “We lived on Ganymede. It’s a harsh world, even after terraforming, and it was even worse back then.”

  “Ganymede! God, I’ve heard about that place. One of the reasons I volunteered for this assignment was because I didn’t want to get sent there.”

  “You made a better choice. They’re still terraforming the place. It gets a little better every year, but it has a long way to go. Growing up was tough—have you ever tried to play dodge ball in a pressure suit?”

  Nick shook his head. “I’ve spent plenty of time in pressure suits, when I was in the Star Marines, but no dodge ball.”

  “It isn’t easy.”

  “How long have you been away from there?”

  “About four months.”

  Nick was startled. “Didn’t you go to law school?”

  “Yes, of course. On the SolarNet. After I passed the bar, I couldn’t find a law firm that would hire me, so I came here. Ceres needed a lawyer and they weren’t picky about experience.”

  “So you’ve never been to Terra?”

  “I’ve never even been to Mars. Ganymede and Ceres, that’s it.”

  He stared at her a moment, in wonder. “Wow.”

  “Pretty sheltered, huh?”

  “Well, I’m not sure. Given the environments you’ve had to live in, I’m not sure ‘sheltered’ is the appropriate term. By contrast, I think people who’ve never seen those places are more sheltered than you were.”

  She tilted her head. “That’s an interesting perspective. I will say that, except for the people, Ceres is the more comfortable place to live. Better than Ganymede, for sure.”

  “Ganymede has better people?”

  “Oh, absolutely. They’re not sophisticated, but the majority of them are hard working and honest. That’s more than you can say for this place. My mother used to read the Bible to me, and the term that sticks in my mind is ‘den of iniquity’. I think that pretty well sums up Ceres.”

  “And yet you’re defending the iniquitors.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, I guess I am. But I hope I won’t be here forever. Some day I’d like to set foot on a planet with a real atmosphere and a warm star overhead. Just to see what it’s like.”

  “I’m sure you will. What’s the name of the law firm? I didn’t see it on the door.”

  “Skinflint and Crony,” she said with a straight face. Nick blinked and she burst out laughing. “I’m kidding. That was my dad’s joke, that all lawyers were skinflints and good old boys. He warned me not to be like that.

  “This office is actually a government firm, like the PO. No legitimate law firm wants to practice here, so the Federation formed its own public defender’s office. I get paid the same way Tarpington does, and from the same people.”

  “Who runs this office?”

  “Geraldine Gabbard. She’s on Mars right now, attending a conference with Mr. Fraites. We also have three other attorneys. I’m the most junior.”

  “So you get the dirtiest cases.”

  She pointed a finger at him. “You’re quick.”

  “Shit rolls downhill,” he said. “Always has, always will. Are all your attorneys female?”

  “No, we have one man. He’s the sole, lonely representative of his gender.”

  “From what I’ve been hearing there are only about five thousand women in this place, yet nearly all the defense attorneys are female.”

  “Ironic, isn’t it? And both prosecutors are male. It gets really ironic when the charge is rape.”

  “How do you handle that?”

  “I haven’t had one yet. Rape and murder are too big for me right now—the senior people like to handle those. But I’ve sat in on a couple, and they can get pretty nasty. The good news—if you can call it that—is that with so few women available the rape stats aren’t nearly as high as you’d expect them to be, given the scum that inhabit this rock. The vast majority of women around here engage in prostitution at least part of the time. It’s the only way most women can make a living, and while it may not be ideal, there is a need for it.”

  Nick nodded somberly. “Keeps the rape stats down.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Can I ask you a personal question?”

  Her eyes narrowed to slits with her smile. “You can ask.”

  “How old are you? You look nineteen, but you must be older, with college and law school and all.”

  “Actually I’m twenty-one. The nice thing about SolarNet classes is that you can proceed at your own pace. I blew through about six years of classes in three years. Then it took a few months to find this job, and the rest is history.”

  “History.”

  “The last four months.”

  Nick took another swallow of cold water and gazed at the young defense attorney, enjoying the view. Not only was she gorgeous, she also had a sense of humor. He was liking her more every minute.

  “Tell me about those security guards,” he said. “Especially the one who punched your client. Do you know his name?”

  Her smile faded.

  “Benny Silva. He’s one of the supervisors at Farrington Security, a real asshole. I’ve seen him hit prisoners before. The other one isn’t quite as bad, except when he’s with Silva. His name is Hooley.” She cocked her head to the side. “What are you going to do?”

  Nick chewed his lip thoughtfully.

  “I told Silva that if I ever saw him hit another prisoner I was going to arrest him. I don’t think he was impressed. Maybe I’ll pay him a visit on his own turf. We might find any number of things to talk about.”

  Her eyes widened slightly.

  “You be careful, Nick. Farrington Industries is the biggest special interest on Ceres. If you rock the boat too much…”

  Nick grinned and shook his head.

  “Nothing to worry about, just a friendly visit. But there is one more thing I need to ask you, and you have to be absolutely honest with me.”

  Her expression turned serious and she nodded. “Of course.”

  He leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice. “If you lie to me, I’ll know it.”

  Her eyebrows popped up and she swallowed. “I won’t lie. I swear it!”

  He held her gaze for a long moment, then glanced over his shoulder to make sure the door was closed.

  “Would you be at all interested in having dinner with me this evening?”

  Chapter 6

  Nick walked the three blocks back to the Marshal’s office and stepped inside. Milligan was peering at his holo-monitor through narrowed eyes, a cloud of smoke hanging about his head. Nick sat down at his own desk and logged onto the computer. He hadn’t used the equipment yet but found a user profile already set up. He created a password and waited for the system to log him onto the SolarNet.

  “How’d it go?” Milligan asked without looking around.

  “Interesting morning,” Nick replied. “I stopped at the courthouse like you suggested and started getting acquainted. I met Misery Allen, Judge Maynard, and Dave Tarpington.”

  “Did Tarpington try to suck your cock?” Milligan was still staring at his monitor.

  Nick laughed. “No.”

  “Did Judge Maynard?”

  Nick was silent a moment, and Milligan looked around.

  “Not exactly,” Nick said.

  “She will. She already put the screws to you, didn’t she?”

  He nodded, unable to suppress a grin. “Yes, sir, she explained it all to me.”

  Milligan puffed his cigar a moment, then turned back to his monitor.

  “Well, if she rings your bell then go right ahead. But don’t fall in love with her.”

  “No, sir. Falling in love isn’t part of my career plan.”

  Nick ran a SolarNet search for Farrington Industries and got quite an eyeful. Farrington was the largest of four companies mining permafrost on Ceres and had its own fleet of freighters to transport the water to Mars and the Outer Worlds. It also hauled water for the smaller companies for a substantial fee.
The company had been founded by two brothers, Harvey and Henry Farrington, a dozen years earlier. Harvey was the company president and Henry was…Nick frowned—Henry’s role wasn’t clearly defined. He wasn’t even listed as a vice-president, so…what did he do?

  Nick scrolled the information and his brow knitted. The profit and loss statement for FI showed annual income in the billions, but it wasn’t listed on any of the major stock exchanges. New York, London, Tokyo, Singapore, and Bradbury City made no mention of Farrington, though it was clearly a major operation. Nick glanced up at Milligan’s back.

  “How come Farrington Industries isn’t listed on the stock exchanges?”

  “Private company,” Milligan said. “It isn’t publicly traded.”

  “They don’t have investors?”

  “Nope.” Milligan spun his chair around. “Harvey Farrington is one rich son of a bitch.”

  “Harvey. What about Henry? What does he do?”

  “Nobody knows. He’s always at his brother’s right hand, but his contribution to the operation is unclear. Harvey is the man in charge.”

  “How did they come to dominate the market in only twelve years? Surely permafrost mining was going on before that.”

  The old man nodded. “More than a century. But Harvey came out here about a dozen years ago and purchased a couple of operations that were in financial trouble; then he started acquiring others and consolidating everything. Within three years he was the top cock on the rock.”

  Nick sat in thought for a moment, considering.

  “Is the operation aboveboard?”

  Milligan’s eyes narrowed. “You’re thinking it isn’t?”

  “I dunno. That’s quite a success story, isn’t it? Have they ever been investigated?”

  “Investigated for what? There’s no law against making money, or running a successful corporation. Unless you know something I don’t.”

  “No, sir.” Nick chewed his lip. “Have any complaints come in about brutality from their security people?”

  “All the time. Same with the other operations here. Same with this office. Anybody who deals with criminals gets accused of brutality. It goes with the job. By this time next week, someone will probably accuse you of the same thing. It’s the easiest charge to level and the hardest to prove, but when someone is looking at prison time he’ll grasp at every straw in sight.”