by Jucha, S. H.
“If you quit working with him, why are you here?” Svetlana asked.
“Stratford,” Billings said, almost spitting the name. “Toyo offered him huge amounts of credits to come out to Jolares and work for him. He told Stratford he’d build a top-of-the-line lab for his experiments … move his family out … all expenses covered. Once out here, Stratford discovered he’d walked into a trap of his own making, created by his ego and avarice.
“The first thing Toyo did after Stratford arrived was to demand the names of his top associates in the biochemistry field. One way or the other, free vacation for the family or outright kidnapping, we all ended up under these domes, because Stratford sold us out. My family and I have been here for a year and a half.”
Svetlana studied Billings as they walked. Her instinct told her that the senior chemist was telling the truth. “Okay, we’ll see to your family as well.”
Billings held out his hand, and Svetlana shook it.
After a couple more turns, the doors changed from a utilitarian design to cabin doors with letters and numbers, indicating residences. Billings continued walking, but he noticed a frown form on the Méridien’s face. “The lab’s at the outer edge of the dome. Our residences were placed on the same level, so we wouldn’t require lift access to go to work, but our residences were located at the farthest distance from the lab to prevent any contamination with the compounds we manufactured.”
“How considerate for your children,” Svetlana remarked,
The Méridien’s tone told Billings that she wasn’t interested in his explanations about the efforts to protect their families and guilt crept through his thoughts. At a door labeled D4-L7-73, he stopped.
“It’s supposed to be for privacy,” Billings told Svetlana, when he saw her staring at the keypad located on the wall next to the door, “but security personnel have exclusive access and lock me and my family inside anytime they want.”
Billings rapped on the cabin door. “Stratford, it’s Billings. We have a problem in the lab.”
The door slid aside, and a middle-aged man demanded, “What’s the problem?”
Svetlana shoved the man backwards and entered the cabin.
The biochemist stumbled but managed to maintain his feet. “Who are you people?” he asked in consternation. Behind him, a woman sat on the couch, and two children played on the floor near her.
“That’s him. That’s Charles Stratford,” Billings said.
“What did you do, Emile?” Stratford shouted. His face was twisted in anger, as he took in what appeared to be an armed Méridien and two New Terran miners.
“I thought you’d like to meet some of the people who come from the planet where the drugs you created are being distributed,” Billings replied, a cruel smile on his face. “These are Harakens, and they want to talk to you.”
“Harakens?” Stratford said in horror. “Don’t hurt me, please,” he cried out. His eyes pleaded, as they traversed from one Haraken to the next. The woman stood up, gripping Stratford’s arm, fearing the worst.
“Both of you sit down,” Svetlana commanded. “First question … and I’m not in the mood to hear excuses or lies … do we understand each other?” When Svetlana had both Stratford and the woman nodding, she said, “Are you the creator of the addictive, hallucinogenic drug?”
Stratford looked from the woman to Billings, who wore a smug expression. Figuring his former partner already told the Harakens he was the creator, Stratford decided it wasn’t the time to quibble and simply nodded his assent.
“Do you know how it affects the brain … specifically, how it becomes so addictive?”
“Yes,” Stratford replied. It wasn’t a question he expected, which made him curious. “Why? What information are you seeking?”
Svetlana stared at Stratford long enough that the biochemist became extremely uncomfortable. It didn’t help his composure that Svetlana was wearing an evil grin. “We have a wonderfully even-tempered woman by the name of Terese Lechaux who can’t wait to meet you. You two will be working oh so closely together.”
“Commander, we’re a long way from the lab,” Oren commented.
“That was my thinking as well,” Svetlana replied. “I think we’ll hole up here. Besides, if I know our SADE, the lab’s entrance has already been fortified. I’d hate to ask Miranda to tear it down.”
“What about my family, Commander?” Billings asked, choosing to address the Haraken by the title her men used.
“Where are they, Billings?” Svetlana asked.
“Back the way we came, cabin D4-L7-48 … if you could spare one of your men with a weapon to guard my family.”
“Oren and Tyree, take Billings and collect his family. Bring them back here. I don’t want to defend two spaces,” Svetlana ordered. She tossed her stun gun to Tyree. “Don’t shoot Oren,” she added, laughing softly at Tyree’s grin.
* * *
Billings led Oren and Tyree back through the corridors they had just traversed. At cabin D4-L7-48, he pressed a single icon on the keypad instead of entering a code and rushed through as the door slid open.
“In quick,” Oren ordered Tyree, closing the door after they were inside.
The Harakens heard Billings calling to his wife, as he entered a side room. He returned quickly, saying, “My wife and daughter lay down for a nap. Give them some time to wake up and freshen up. Take a seat, won’t you?”
Oren shook his head in amazement and marched into the bedroom. Billings sought to follow him, but Tyree blocked the way.
After a few moments of a woman shouting and a child crying, Oren emerged from the bedroom with Billing’s wife and a young girl.
“There’s no reason for my family to be treated this way,” Billings objected, hugging his wife and shushing his child.
“What fantasy world are you living in, Ser?” Oren asked. “You’re a criminal, making illegal drugs that are distributed to teenagers. What makes you think you or your family is due any consideration?” Looking at the mother, Oren added, “Finish dressing. We’re leaving.”
“We’ll be just a few minutes. C’mon, dear,” the mother replied.
“No,” Oren replied. “The child’s robe is fine. You can wear your robe too or change into that dress you’re holding, here and now, but we’re all headed out that door in the next moment.”
The wife’s expression implored her husband, but Billings just nodded toward the door and, with a resigned sigh, she took her daughter’s hand in hers and clutched her dress in the other, refusing to change in front of strangers.
“Tyree, I’m going out first. You take the rear. Watch our backs. People, stay close to me. Let’s go.”
Fortune was not with Oren. He opened the door and walked into three of Toyo’s security officers. With quick reflexes, he was able to stun the guard directly across the corridor from him. The officer to his right raised his stun gun. Oren latched onto the wrist holding the weapon, and his adversary grabbed the forearm of Oren’s gun hand. The two men, locked together, wrestled for control.
With Billings frozen in place and the wife screaming, Tyree was forced to shove the family aside to come to Oren’s aid. But, faster than the eye could follow, the third guard, who wasn’t carrying a stun gun, snapped out a blade and drove the long, thin, double-edged piece of hardened alloy into Oren’s back, between his ribs and into his heart, which shuttered, spasmed, and stopped.
As Oren slid to the deck, the guard pulled his blade free. Tyree gained the doorway and stunned the officer who had been wrestling with Oren. He threw up his weapon’s barrel in the nick of time to block the thrust of the third man’s knife. The blade slid off the stun gun, stabbing deep into Tyree’s forearm. A numbing sensation struck Tyree’s hand, and his stun gun tumbled out of his fingers to the deck.
Toyo’s knife-wielding attacker danced backward, a humorless grin on his face at having scored a crippling strike. Settling into a fighter’s crouch, the guard began tossing the blade back and forth, from one ha
nd to another, attempting to keep his adversary guessing as to the quarter where the attack would come.
Despite Tyree’s huge stature, he was by no means slow. While the guard tossed the knife between his hands, Tyree stepped on his left foot and his right leg struck out like a missile launch, his boot catching the guard squarely in the chest. The knife never reached the next hand as the smaller man bounced off the corridor wall and flew toward Tyree, who caught the man’s neck in the crook of his good arm.
The guard pummeled Tyree in the kidneys and ribs with powerful arms and fists of stone. Tyree grunted as the blows quickly took their toll. Amidst the girl’s quiet cries emanating from the cabin, the memory of his friend sliding to the floor replayed in Tyree’s mind. With an angry cry, he heaved up and back with all his strength, yanking the smaller man off the floor. A crack issued from the guard’s neck, and he went slack in Tyree’s grip. The Haraken opened his arm and let the guard fall to the deck.
Tyree glanced up and down the corridor, which was clear, for now. He retrieved his stun gun and Oren’s with his working hand and shoved one into his thigh holster and the other into the waistband of his pants. Tyree checked his friend, and his heart clutched when he discovered Oren had no pulse. His friend’s injuries were far too great for the nanites in his system to repair in time.
“Help me pick him up,” Tyree ordered Billings.
“We should leave him and come back later for him,” Billings suggested.
“Or I can just stun you and your wife, and let you explain these bodies when you wake up,” Tyree said, his anger evident.
“Help him, Emile,” the wife urged. “Hush, honey,” she said, trying to quiet her daughter.
Between the two men, they managed to pick up Oren, slinging his arms over their shoulders. With the dead Haraken’s feet dragging on the floor, the men struggled down the corridor.
Tyree glanced behind him several times to ensure the coast was clear and that the wife and child were still right behind them. At Stratford’s cabin, he kicked the door several times with his boot.
When Svetlana heard the boot strike the door, she sent,
Belatedly, Tyree had tried the same thing. “No enemy with us, Commander. Apologies for not signaling,” Tyree called out.
Svetlana slapped the door activator, and she took in the three men just outside the door. “Oh, Oren,” Svetlana lamented, clearing the way for the men to haul Oren into the salon. She helped Tyree lay their companion on the floor near the wall, and she too checked Oren for a pulse.
“What happened?” Svetlana asked, realizing there was nothing to be done for Oren and stripping open Tyree’s shirtsleeve to examine his wound. The bleeding was already slowing.
Tyree sent his recording of the fight outside Billings’ cabin to Svetlana.
“Can you move your fingers?” Svetlana asked, noticing from the vid that during the fight Tyree lost control of his grip and dropped his weapon.
“I couldn’t before, but feeling is slowly coming back,” Tyree replied, flexing a couple of fingers.
“How many of our people are we going to lose before we halt this madness?” Svetlana asked, sparing piercing gazes for Stratford and Billings.
* * *
Stan, the lab shift supervisor, led Miranda, Deirdre, Ellie, and Willem along the route Billings had taken only an hour and a half earlier. When they came to three bodies in the corridor, Stan stuttered to a halt, and the SADEs pushed past him to check on the men, while Deirdre and Ellie watched opposite directions of the corridor for more of Toyo’s security forces.
Deirdre spared a glance for the open door. “Stan, whose cabin is this?”
“Billings and his family,” Stan replied.
“These two are stunned,” Miranda announced.
“This one is not. He’s dead. Damage to his cervical vertebrae,” Willem said. “There’s blood on the floor, but I see no external injuries on this man.”
“Quickly, Stan. On to Stratford’s cabin. Hurry,” Miranda urged.
Stan stepped over the bodies and jogged down the corridor. “Down there, number seventy-three,” Stan said as they neared Stratford’s cabin. The SADEs burst past Stan at an incredible pace, and Deirdre and Ellie sprinted to catch up.
“Svetlana,” Miranda called out, “we’re here.” Willem and she skidded to a stop in front of Stratford’s cabin door as it opened. They rushed into the room, and, moments later, Deirdre, Ellie, and Stan ran through the door.
Svetlana motioned to Oren’s body on the floor. “He’s gone,” she said.
“We saw the aftermath in the hallway,” Deirdre replied.
“How extensive is your injury, Tyree?” Ellie asked, when she noticed his torn shirtsleeve wrapped around his arm.
Tyree sat staring at Oren’s body, tears in his eyes and recriminating thoughts roiling through his mind for his failure to save his comrade. He snuffled and wiped his nose. “I immigrated to Haraken to get away from this sort of thing that started infiltrating my neighborhood. But these people,” Tyree declared loudly, standing and pointing his finger at Stratford and Billings, “had to create their drugs to poison our planet and force us back here to eliminate what their greed created.” Tyree advanced toward the chemists, as he shouted at them until Miranda stepped in front of him. Despite Tyree’s size, he found his way firmly blocked by the curvy SADE.
“His loss will be mourned, dear,” Miranda said, laying a gentle hand on Tyree’s cheek, and then running her hand through Tyree’s thick hair, much as a mother would caress a child. After a moment’s pause, Miranda turned around to the chemists and their families, keeping her body in Tyree’s way. “This is Stratford?” she asked.
“Yes, and he admits to creating the drug, which Billings confirms,” Svetlana said.
“Well, well, Ser. You’ve managed to rile up an entire planet over your insidious invention,” Miranda said, walking up to Stratford, who was seated on the couch next to his wife. “We’re here now to end your enterprise. I believe your future will be quite different from what you’ve imagined.”
“This wasn’t entirely his fault,” Stratford’s wife objected. “The entire family was held prisoner.”
“Hush, dear,” Miranda said quietly. “You wouldn’t have been here if your husband hadn’t developed a taste for creating things better left undone.”
“Our people on this level should be regaining consciousness within two more hours,” Willem said.
“A fight to reach us?” Miranda asked.
“A considerable one,” Ellie said, “but everyone was stunned. Unless our people on the main concourse have had trouble, Oren is the only one we’ve lost.”
“Now that we have the lab and the chemist, we just need our president to get our girls back. After that I vote for evacuating these diseased domes and turning our beams on them until they’re space dust,” Svetlana said.
Tyree walked over to Oren’s body and attempted to lift him, but Willem laid a gentle hand on his shoulder to stop him. “If you would permit me the honor, young Ser, I would carry your friend for you.” When Tyree nodded and stepped back, Willem effortlessly lifted Oren in his arms.
Deirdre and Ellie took the lead out of the cabin; Miranda herded the biochemists and their families behind them; Willem with Oren came next; and Tyree brought up the rear. They worked their way back to the barricade, which the crew had dismantled while they waited for their compatriots to recover. Toyo’s immediate forces, who fought at the barricade, were restrained and their weapons confiscated.
Jameson woke with his hands tied behind his back and seething at finding himself at the mercy of the Harakens once more. What mollified him to some extent was the use of the commander title to address either of the dark-light twins. If I have to be duped and captured, at least it was done by superior officers, Jameson thought morosely.
Once the Harakens resumed full strength, large teams traversed the levels, challenging small pockets of T
oyo’s security forces, who quickly surrendered in the face of superior numbers. And having identified the doors, which marked the security centers, the Harakens raided them for weapons and any security force holdouts.
Several hours after the Harakens landed, an eerie silence descended over Toyo’s domes. Patrons and service personnel returned to their rooms to wait the next turn in the events. The lounges, bars, and gambling parlors were empty. The only credits changing hands were between the inveterate gamblers, who were placing wagers among themselves on what the Harakens would do next.
-27-
The atmosphere aboard Alex’s traveler, en route to Udrides, was tense. Absent was the usual jesting that solidified the Harakens’ camaraderie. The Harakens were trained to fight with ships not hand weapons in open combat against adversaries, surrounded by civilians. No one wanted to be responsible for fatally injuring an innocent person.
Alex chuckled heartily at Julien’s comment. He turned around in his seat to eye the SADE and sent,
The tension in the traveler’s main cabin eased on hearing Alex’s laughter — implants opened and comms resumed.
As Alex turned around, Julien wondered why humans strived so hard to conquer one another and became wistful that he didn’t possess the power to cease the conflict among them.
* * *
Arriving over the top of the Udrides domes, Alex requested Julien establish a link with Kadmir’s comm station. Once connected, Alex sent,