by M. D. Cooper
Erin rubbed her neck as a ghost of the feeling of strangling hands returned.
Her door chime sounded. When she checked who was outside, she was both surprised and delighted.
She opened the door. The major blocked the sunlight for a moment and then stepped into her apartment.
“Reporting for your guard detail, ma’am.”
Erin could see the shadow of another Marine who had stationed himself outside.
“It’s great to see you again,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting this at all. I thought I would be assigned a couple of privates. What a coincidence that it’s you.”
Usef was standing at attention and looking straight ahead.
“When the General put in a request with my division for civilian guard duty and mentioned who it was for, I suggested that an experienced officer such as myself might be appropriate along with a regular detail. The general agreed.”
Erin found it amusing how the military never called Tanis ‘governor’; to them, she was always ‘the general’.
“You volunteered yourself? That was sweet of you, Usef.”
The major’s expression flickered, as if he was wincing inwardly, and Erin remembered the agreement they’d made aboard the Odyssey. “I mean, ‘Major’.”
Almost imperceptibly, Usef’s facial muscles relaxed.
“This is Private Karla,” Usef said, gesturing to the Marine outside the door. “She and several others from the battalion will be on the rotation. Currently, they’re outside securing the building’s perimeter and setting up monitoring. I won’t always be here, but when I’m not, there will be a lieutenant present.”
“Are you sure that’s necessary?” Erin asked. “It’s a lot of trouble.”
Usef gave a barely perceptible shrug. “General Richards thought it was necessary. I’ve learned to trust her judgment in these matters.”
Erin knew there would be no dissuading the man. She pulled the door wide, stepping out of the way. “Why don’t you sit down? Can I get you a drink?”
“I’d prefer to stand, ma’am. And I’ll take refreshment when I’m off duty. I’d like to do a sweep inside your apartment and then I’m going to check on the perimeter myself.”
“And then will you come inside?” Erin asked.
Usef inclined his head. “It will depend on what our threat assessment is.”
“So that’s a ‘yes’?”
“Perhaps, ma’am. Excuse me.” Usef stepped past her and performed a sweep of the apartment, her own limited augmentations noting that he’d deployed a host of nanoprobes and drones.
Glad I took the time to tidy up, she thought, as he wordlessly completed his sweep and then nodded to her as he pulled open the door to leave.
As the door closed, Erin asked the major,
Erin chuckled. Usef’s refusal or inability to loosen up even over the Link while on duty was entertaining.
Recalling Usef in his thong as he surfed a tsunami, Erin said,
Erin rolled her eyes. It was no use. It didn’t look like Usef was capable of being anything other than perfectly professional while in uniform.
Just as she was about to give up on getting an interesting conversation out of him, he added,
Erin smiled at the note of challenge in Usef’s mental tone. He was mostly joking, but not entirely. The major has a human side while he’s on-duty, after all.
She returned to her work. Others were combing the scene of her attack for clues. For Erin, nothing had changed. Aside from the possible introduction of an accomplice for Max, the investigation details remained the same. She went over everything she had relating to the sabotage, Max’s background, and the incident at the warehouse, for what had to be the fourth or fifth time. The report from the Eos had come in a couple of hours previously. The missing antimatter hadn’t been found, despite a thorough search of the ship. No one knew exactly when it had disappeared, only that the discrepancy hadn’t been noticed until Angela had requested an eyes-on verification of the reserves.
It didn’t look like Erin would be able to prove who had taken it. And the sabotage site on Irridia was utterly destroyed, including any evidence of who had planted the antimatter that had caused the explosions.
Erin ground the heels of her hands into her eyes. She was at a dead end. She needed more information if she was to move forward with her understanding of what was going on. The best source of that information was Max, she guessed, but he was nowhere to be found. The constabulary had spoken to the few contacts he had, but they’d all reported that they hadn’t seen him since his previous downtime on Carthage.
She was missing some important pieces to the puzzle. Where could she find them?
The only other potential sources of information were Pippa and Anwen. They’d both been on the Eos too, and they might have noticed something important, even if they didn’t know it was significant. Neither of the engineers had been officially excluded from the investigation, and Erin hadn’t had the opportunity to question them properly before all hell had broken loose at the warehouse—though with the suspicion landing squarely on Max, there had been little reason to do so.
Her mind made up that the engineering twins were her next avenue of exploration, Erin prepared to leave, telling Usef that she was going out for a while.
She laughed, realizing that the major had just made a joke.
During their banter, Erin had looked up where Pippa and Anwen lived. Predictably, they shared an apartment only a few streets away. Most workers employed on off-planet projects rented small places in downtown Landfall; unless you had someone at home on a more permanent basis, there was little point in living anywhere more substantial.
Erin drew plenty of stares on her way to talk to Pippa and Anwen, flanked as she was by Major Usef and Private Karla. Yet the major was correct; it really was better than being strangled. Then again, most things were.
A body modification center occupied the first floor of the twins’ apartment block, and several clients of the center passed Erin and the Marines as they drew closer to their destination. One of the customers had a third eye fitted into his forehead, but Erin couldn’t tell from the glimpse she caught if the eye was functional. Another had a row of long protrusions shaped like canine teeth running down her spine—which were easy to see, as she w
ore only a thin, skimpy top. The effect was striking, but Erin suspected that the woman would soon tire of struggling to sit and lie down comfortably.
The twins had been told not to stray far from home while the investigation was still underway, but when Erin tried to tell Pippa she was coming over, the woman didn’t answer. Erin contacted Anwen instead. She replied immediately.
Another body modification client emerged from the clinic. Erin stepped aside for a man whose skin was scaly like a fish’s. She suppressed a shudder, then smirked as she thought of someone she knew who might be interested in that adaptation.
She was tempted to admonish Anwen with a reminder that she’d asked them both to stay available, but the woman sounded upset about something.
she said.
As Erin took the elevator to the twins’ apartment, Walter proposed checking with Murry about Pippa’s movements.
When Erin stepped inside the apartment, followed by Usef’s hulking figure, Anwen was standing in the center of the living area, her arms dangling. She looked as though she hadn’t slept all night.
“I’m so sorry,” she repeated.
“Just tell me exactly what happened,” Erin said. “When did you realize Pippa had left?”
“It took me a while to figure it out. When I returned from my walk and she wasn’t here, I thought she’d only popped out for a while. I didn’t bother trying to speak to her over the Link to check where she was. I didn’t think a lot more about it until she’d been gone for over an hour. Then I started to get concerned. I reached out to her, but there was no reply. I was worried then, especially after what Max tried to do to her at Excelsior Spaceport. I thought I’d better contact you or the constabulary, but I…. Well, I had a funny feeling about it all. It wasn’t like her to not tell me where she was going.”
“Didn’t you think she might need help?” Erin asked, giving Usef an incredulous look.
Anwen looked down. Erin had the distinct impression that she’d guessed Pippa was doing something she shouldn’t have been, and she hadn’t told anyone her sister had disappeared because she was covering up for her.
This new information threw an entirely new light on things. Had Erin taken a wrong path in her investigation?
Anwen swallowed and took a breath. “I checked her room and saw that her case and a lot of clothes were missing. I figured out that she’d left and expected to be away for a while. Maybe forever.” Anwen’s face crumpled, and she hid it in her hands. When she spoke again, her voice was thick. “I don’t understand it. We grew up side by side, we’ve always done everything together. Why would she do this to me?”
“I don’t know,” Erin replied gravely.
said Walter,
WHISTLING WINDS
STELLAR DATE: 03.22.8937 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Government Center, Ushu
REGION: Tyre, New Canaan System
Isa had spent the previous day recording an in-depth interview with Tony, gleaning all his specialized knowledge about Tyre while also capturing his enthusiasm for the place. Now it was her last day in Ushu. After spending the day visiting another of the locale’s sights, she and Martin would be traveling to Mount Carmel that evening.
The more remote region promised infomentary segments aimed at Carthaginians who loved wild places and might be tiring of the relative accessibility of their home planet.
“What are you going to say to them?” Martin asked about Isa’s Tyrian friends as he and Isa were packing up their things in their hotel room. “Do you want me to deal with it?”
“Why would I want you to deal with it?” Isa asked.
“I don’t know. You’ve known them longer than I have. They act like they think you’re all friends. It’s going to be awkward explaining that you don’t want anything more to do with them.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine,” Isa said. “I have my faults, I admit—”
“Oh? Do tell,” Martin interjected jokingly.
“Thanks,” said Isa. “Anyway, getting my point across isn’t one of them. The only danger is I might be too blunt, but if they take offense, who cares? When it comes down to it, Samuel lied to me. It doesn’t matter how harmless his intentions were, that was deceitful and uncool. I mean, I appreciate all they’ve done to show me around their special places in Tyre, but I don’t have anything to apologize for, Samuel does. So I won’t feel bad about it. Besides, it’s only one day. I wasn’t going to see them again after today, unless they planned on following me all over the planet.”
“If you say so,” Martin said. “I’ll leave it up to you.”
He’d received a message from his intern, Malcolm, and he was looking happy and relaxed. Isa guessed that things were going well at his site and that Malcolm’s report had inspired Martin to feel more confident in the intern’s abilities. The knock-on effect was that Isa felt less guilty about Martin’s presence there. He seemed to be enjoying himself, too. Their time in Tyre was turning into the vacation they’d missed out on in Athens; it was a pity that Erin couldn’t join them.
“Are you having second thoughts?” Martin asked, watching her as he closed and fastened his case. “Would you like me to speak to our Tyrian acquaintances after all?”
“No, definitely not. I was thinking about Erin. I miss her.”
“Yeah, I miss her too. It’s strange we haven’t heard from her.”
“I guess she’s still busy with her investigation,” Isa said. “Are you ready?”
Martin picked up his case “Let’s go.”
They’d checked out over the Link, so all they had to do was take their cases to the pinnace, then they could set off for another day’s sightseeing. As they were leaving early, Isa thought she’d still have plenty of time to contact Samuel and cancel that day’s plans, but to her surprise, when they reached the bottom of the staircase, she saw that the Tyrians were already at the hotel and waiting in the lobby.
Perhaps the conversation was going to be awkward after all.
After Isa greeted them less than enthusiastically, there was an awkward pause.
“I’ll take these,” Martin said, holding out his hand for Isa’s case. Samuel and the others said hi, and Martin nodded as he walked around them, carrying the two cases through the lobby to t
he front doors.
Ada turned to Isa and said, “Are you ready? We have something really special planned for today.”
“I’m sorry, Ada,” Isa replied. “We changed our minds—we’re going out by ourselves today. I wanted to thank you all for showing me all the sights around Ushu, but it looks like it’s goodbye for now.”
“Oh, really?” said Rahmin. “What caused the change of plan? We have everything set up. We wanted to take you to one of the deepest chasms in Tyre. Hardly anyone knows about it.”
“That sounds really fun, but I’m going to have to turn down the invitation,” said Isa.
Looks were exchanged between the friends as they took in this new development.
“Sorry,” Isa added, not very sincerely. “Thanks for everything. See you around sometime.”
She moved to follow Martin and reached the hotel’s doors, but then Samuel stepped in her way.
Isa halted, a little shocked and alarmed.
“Are you sure you won’t reconsider?” He laid a hand on her upper arm. “This is your last day at Ushu, and you won’t find the chasm by yourself. I bet your viewers would love it.”
Isa didn’t reply. She looked into his eyes and then down at his hand.
He removed it and put both hands in his pockets. “I just want to help you make the best infomentary you can.”
“Yeah,” said Isa as she pushed the door open, pausing to look back. “I get that. I understand that’s why you lied to me about knowing Tony.”
“Oh,” Samuel said. “You know about that, do you?”
“Yes. And the fact that he didn’t suggest you could be my informal guides.”
“I told you,” Ada hissed.
Martin climbed back up the front steps. “Are you coming, Isa?”
“Yes,” she replied to Martin. She then glared at Samuel before turning away.
“That seemed a little more tense than you expected,” Martin noted as she approached, a look of concern on his face.
“Yeah…. I think he was embarrassed.”
Without another glance at the Tyrians, she walked down the steps with Martin.