"So who is the backup on this? What's the escape plan?"
"I'm the backup, Heck. I got my fleet on standby, 'huntin pirates' in the area."
"So, where does your government come in?" he asked Gelad. "I thought you were taking point on this."
"We are. However, our involvement must be inconspicuous. We are on dangerous ground here, Mr. Thomas. The discovery of alien life could have catastrophic impact on all civilization. Imagine what this discovery would mean to the Islamic fundamentalist terrorists."
"Don't some of them already know? The Crescent Moon, for example," said Lainne.
"Indeed. The Crescent Moon is involved with Arnold, and they seem to be doing the bidding of the aliens. As we learned from our dead assassin, there is dissidence within the ranks of the Crescent Moon on that point. So there is a weakness there that can be exploited later."
"Even the atheists would use the discovery to further their hatred of anyone possessed of an eternal soul," mused Heck. "These aliens would 'disprove' Genesis in their eyes. Then you have the possibility that some in the religious circles would probably label them demons that prove the existence of Satan in the universe."
"They might be right on that count, Heck," offered Lainne, wondering if the strange men who accosted her and Heck at Jax Aerospace Port were in fact aliens. "In either case, the potential for mass warfare to erupt quickly across the Solar System is dire."
"And Orion's Sword is the cause of it all," stated Virgil.
"So, Orion's Sword is a real entity," stated Lainne. Virgil nodded to her from across the table.
"It's real," confirmed Virgil. "My own people tell me that the nature of the attack on Heck and Sixkiller right after Laylara disappeared fits with what we already know about 'em."
"How much do you know, old friend?" asked Heck, sarcastically.
"We gonna get to that in a minute, Heck," Virgil responded, ignoring Heck's impudent tone. "I know you heard this before, but I'm gonna say it again: you didn't hear anything from me!"
"Understood," said Heck after Lainne poked him in the ribs. After one glance into her eyes, Heck realized that he was being unreasonable. "You took a big risk divulging Commonwealth intelligence to us, and to a non-Commonwealth government. I won't betray your trust."
"Right," said Virgil, satisfied. "My people on the inside tell me Orion's Sword has been coming up in more and more chatter around the System. Confirming they are a secret agency that works for Rigel's Escape drift."
"Who exactly is in charge of Rigel's Escape now?" asked Heck.
"That is the question. Nobody knows," answered Gelad. "None of the informants we have sent to infiltrate that drift have ever returned. Consequently our reporting is limited."
"It's a shame that the Commonwealth has locked Israel out of its intelligence loop."
"It is nothing unusual for us, Mr. Thomas. That has been our story from the beginning," said Gelad. "We are here because we all have a common interest in getting to the root of this problem."
"What about all this alien nonsense? Where is this coming from?"
Gelad was silent a moment and a knowing look passed between him and Virgil. The Israeli let out a breath, as though a mental struggle had just happened and been resolved in one brief instant.
"Israel has in its possession an alien being."
Heck looked from Gelad to Virgil, suspecting that the pair of them was complicit in an extraordinary prank. But the dread look in the eyes of each man spoke the truth.
"How can this be?" asked Lainne. "Why hasn't anyone heard of this before?"
"Outside those of us in this room, and our respective intelligence agencies, none know. And it must remain that way."
Heck understood the implied warning. Although he had not himself been an intelligence agent, he had dealt with many of them. And he knew full well that assassination and murder were routine orders of business when it came to protecting intelligence assets, or in this case, an intelligence product. While he was coming to trust the Israeli agent, he wasn't yet sure how Gelad would act if given the order to terminate him or Lainne.
"Fine," he said, knowing there was no other option. In the meantime, Heck was now forced to give thought to what may happen when this mission ended, suspecting he might have to escape from Israeli custody. "Is the alien alive? Have you learned anything?"
"Ours is dead and we have learned little from its DNA," answered Gelad evasively.
"CBI has one in its custody too, also dead. From its DNA we do know it's essentially human," added Virgil. "But there are some differences."
"What differences?"
"Sensory mostly. Eyesight, hearing and smell appear to work slightly differently than our own. They are a physically weaker variation of Earth humanity, maybe from being on a world with lower gravity, but otherwise they are the same."
"What are talking about here? The genetic enhancement of humanity?" asked Lainne. "Could it be a sham? I've heard of the horrific experiments the Gellershaft have been doing beyond the reach of the Commonwealth."
"You raise an excellent point, one that we considered immediately. It is possible that these people were once human and engineered genetically to be different. But we can say that they are not humans as we know them. These beings have spent their lives under the light of an alien sun, one that gives off radiation in amounts and types that differ slightly from our own but similar enough for mutual survivability of our respective races. There are other discoveries which solidify the belief that these are beings who lived beyond this Solar System, but I may not discuss them with you. I am probably discussing too much already. And it doesn't really affect the task at hand."
"What is the task at hand? Other than finding Dr. Connor?"
"In order to obtain the assistance of our government, we require something from you in return. First, you must gather as much information about the goals of the aliens as possible. Second, we must have an accurate schematic of the drift on which you are about to be imprisoned in the event an assault becomes necessary. Third, we require intelligence on the FTL experiments being conducted on the drift."
"And if we do not agree...?"
"Don't ask, Heck," commented Virgil. "I'm really likin' being legit. If you don't go along with the plan, I might have to start a war with Israel to save your sorry ass."
"Says the man who sent me down this road in the first place," said Heck with a scowl.
"I'm sorry, buddy. You know I am."
"I know," Heck said with a sigh. "Turns out it wasn't so bad." Heck put his arm around Lainne, succumbing to his need for emotional connection. Lainne Connor was a vibrant and beautiful woman. She was kind and nurturing and very feminine, so very unlike the tough-as-nails cop that was Laylara Espinosa. Lainne smiled and leaned into him.
"What's the plan?" asked Lainne.
"You must get inside the drift, find Dr. Connor and obtain the necessary intelligence for us. We will get you in, supply and equip you, then get you back out."
"You make it sound so easy."
"Hah!" exclaimed Virgil. "I'm the one that's got to get your asses out."
"Tell me, Virg. Does the Commonwealth know about any of this at all?"
"Not all of it, no."
"And the part they don't know concerns my involvement."
"Probably easier to talk about what they do know," said Virgil quietly. "Like, I'm here visiting the Israeli Consulate on ROS to discuss joint patrol missions."
Heck just shook his head. Virgil was taking a huge risk in this endeavor. His entire kingdom, as he referred to his formerly criminal enterprise, could be seized by the Commonwealth government and he could be executed for treason.
"Virg, you don't have to go through with this."
"Like I got a choice now," he quipped. "Man, I do whatever it is I feel like I need to do. So be quiet and worry about your own ass."
"Right," Heck conceded. "Sorry."
"And quit apologizing, man. We're gonna get you on the drift," he went on, steering the subjec
t away. Heck noted this fact, but he was in no position to refuse either man. "We're going to provide you with deep cover identities, embedded DNA cloakers and some weapons. Since we know absolutely nothing about what to expect on the drift, you're on your own from there."
"So, we are going to pretend to be a pair of scientists from...somewhere...who are newly arrived on Rigel for what?"
"A conference," offered Gelad. "For the Mars Chapter of the Society of Ballistic Engineers."
"Right. I've never met a ballistic engineer, let alone pretended to be one."
"It will not matter," said Gelad decisively.
"And what if these aliens decide to test us, to prove our knowledge?"
"We will give you the necessary understanding of the fundamentals to pass scrutiny," answered the Israeli as he handed Heck and Lainne each a small satchel. "Take these. The subcutaneous injectors are your microbot ID cloakers. Your credit files and biographical histories are encoded onto the passport chips. You will also find a holophone for each of you, button grenades, and microcams which can be used with our VHT systems. Leave your microsensors running as long as possible, preferably on a coat or a shirt, and our operations room should be able to construct an accurate schematic from the data."
"You make it sound so easy, Gelad," Heck repeated wearily.
"Ain't nothing a problem for Heck Thomas!" Virgil said, smiling broadly with a wink for Lainne. She smiled warmly in return, surprised to find herself charmed by the man's jovial disposition despite his womanizing nature.
Heck shook his head at the sight, knowing she wouldn't be so charmed when she found out he had over thirty wives and concubines around the System. Then again, most of his wives wouldn't be so charmed if they knew about his other wives and concubines.
"Easy, Virgil. You aren't her type."
"And you are?"
"Gentleman, it’s time to go." Heck was grateful that the Israeli interrupted when he did, allowing him to avoid the trap he had just fallen into. "We have a shuttle to catch."
Virgil's mirthful eyes silently promised Heck that the fun wasn't over. Rather than engage the irascible pirate he simply led Lainne out of the room behind Gelad.
Heck, Lainne and Gelad rode in the first class passenger deck of the luxury spaceliner Columbia II, compliments of the Israeli Special Police. The Columbia II was a very large ship that was designed solely for the transportation of passengers through space without entering atmosphere. These luxury spaceliners never had to deal with the rigors of atmosphere entry or reentry, turbulence, gravity or the myriad other problems that can arise when shifting between air flight and space flight. Thus design engineers were free to implement frivolous extravagances like swimming pools, night clubs, restaurants and gifts shops aboard these wondrous luxury spacecraft.
And so it was with this ship. In fact, Heck thought that these marvels of frivolity were more like the cruise liners sailing the seas of Earth rather than something with which to travel the stars. Heck disliked these ships immensely and wanted nothing more than to be at the controls of Sixkiller, cruising the system and searching for fugitives.
But it was not meant to be. And would probably never be again.
He let out a great sigh as he stared out the viewing window from his first class stateroom. That life was behind him now, taken from him by the fools of the Ryevolutzia when they forced him to become an outlaw to save the life of his girlfriend. While the Ryevolutzia had certainly suffered for their crime, he had suffered far more. He wondered if he could ever get used to being an outlaw.
A sudden image of the face of his longtime friend, and former partner, Deputy Marshal Stephen Doolin, flashed in his mind. He and Dooly had been close friends and Heck thought he had known everything about the man. And despite what he had let on, Heck did indeed have some knowledge that Dooly was related, albeit very distantly, to the notorious 19th Century outlaw of the same name. Heck knew that his own ancestor had been instrumental in the killing of Dooly's ancestor, but that was ancient history. Could any grudge short of the infamous Hatfield-McCoy family feud truly span three centuries?
Yes, he decided. And there was no mistaking the hatred in those eyes.
Heck shot Dooly on the deck of the Stalin nearly two months ago for his unforgivable betrayal, and he had watched the man die. Yet somehow he had survived. But how? And what was he up to now? Had he linked up with the remnants of the Ryevolutzia after throwing his lot in with them during the struggle to regain the Centaurus Device? He hated to admit it, especially after his new friend David Hall had taken over the post of the Director of the Commonwealth Bureau of Investigation upon the arrest of former Director Gem Revelier. But the Bureau had to have had a hand in Dooly's survival. He hoped that that hand had been nothing more than simply caring for a wounded person, namely one Stephen Doolin. Heck swore that if there were any other betrayals to be discovered in the Bureau, he would exact a most dreadful revenge.
Dooly would face a reckoning one day, whether by the hand of Heck Thomas or by the hand of God remained to be seen.
A gentle snort and a slight stirring from the king-sized bed in the bedroom behind him drew Heck's attention to Lainne, sleeping soundly. During the long trip to the Outer System the two had had ample time to catch up on rest and had spent a good deal of time in each other's company. Lainne had never been aboard a luxury ship like the Columbia II and Heck had taken great pleasure in entertaining her. They had enjoyed movies in the holographic theater, dined in the liner's five-star restaurants, watched meteors from the observation decks and had a great time forgetting their troubles; for a time.
As the dawn of their inevitable arrival drew nearer Heck grew more and more anxious about bringing Lainne along on the mission. They all knew that Lainne might prove to be the only one capable of identifying her brother, especially since the man might be disguised or have his appearance altered in some way. But it didn't ease the dread feeling Heck had been plagued with of late.
He had already loved and lost once, he didn't know if he was strong enough to lose again.
A bright light in the darkness of space shone in the distance, it was Rigel's Escape. This drift and its mysterious operators had become the focus of his current quest to right someone else's wrongs. It was a quest he had been drawn into unwillingly, as with so many quests before, and it was something he was tiring of. He vowed to put all this behind him when the time was right. Settling down on a nice drift in the Outer System with a new identity and a new life seemed very appealing to the career lawman as he watched the flickering lights of the drift.
That drift signified the purpose of his existence these past days, weeks even. And here they were, perhaps twenty-four hours from boarding the now infamous floating city along with thousands of others seemingly ignorant of the trap into which they were about to fall. Were there any other operatives from the Commonwealth Intelligence Agency, or from any of its member states, aboard Columbia II? Heck doubted it. It didn't matter anyway, there would be no way to ask for or receive assistance from anyone once they had boarded Rigel's Escape. They were alone.
Despite his apathy toward the destination of the System's playboys and well-to-do, Rigel was indeed a sight to behold. As the Columbia II drew inexorably closer to the opulent city-state in space, Heck grew more and more impressed. The vids he had been watching made the city appear like a great Earth metropolis beneath a dome complete with an illusory sun and lazy clouds drifting across a blue sky. Towering skyscrapers pierced clouds that provided just enough shade, while robotic -yet lifelike- trees dotted the cityscape and provided a realistic feeling breeze. Great solar panels lined the base of the floating station, sensitive enough to capture solar radiation from the Sun and other distant stars. And yet, the advertising vids did not do justice to the drift's design.
The skyscrapers did indeed tower high above the clouds, nearly to the atmosphere-like dome itself. Shuttles and small personal aircraft flew around the cityscape, ferrying people here or there. Blazing light
s and colorful signs revealed a Las Vegas style ambiance over one section of the city that Heck later learned was the casino district. Golf courses, racetracks, football stadiums and other venues, even a vast lake, covered the city's sporting district. It reminded him so strongly of Earth cities like Monaco and Monte Carlo, though much more organized and structured, that Heck couldn't believe there weren't more of these islands in space. Try as he might, he just couldn't find anything suspicious about it.
And that's what concerned him.
"Are we there yet?" came Lainne's sleepy voice from the bedroom. Heck turned in surprise and looked at the clock, wondering how long he had been gazing out the window. It was nearly 1700 System Common Time and the two had a meeting with Gelad to discuss their arrival plans over dinner.
"Probably tomorrow," he replied. "With a little luck."
"That long?" she said, crawling out of bed.
"I'm afraid so," he answered. Lainne was eager to be off this ship and begin searching for her brother. Although Heck had done his best to distract her with all there as to offer aboard the luxury liner, Lainne had still been understandably distracted. Knowing that the woman was suffering from the simplest form of torture, the unknown, Heck decided to go through the routines with her. Again. He always found that planning a course of action or formulating routines did wonders for the idle mind. "We'll spend much of today maneuvering the ship into an orbital spacedock. Then, customs officials will board the ship and search it and any baggage going aboard Rigel. Tomorrow, after we clear Rigel customs, we'll board a shuttle that will take us from the orbiting spacedock to Rigel.”
"You've done this before?"
"A time or two," he admitted. "Though not on anything this nice!"
The two smiled and Heck looked back out the window as Lainne closed the door to the master bedroom, Heck assumed she was getting dressed for their dinner meeting with Gelad. They were to meet with the Israeli operative at 1730 at the observation deck restaurant. It was the most formal dining environment on the ship, men were required to wear a coat and tie while the women were expected to wear a proper dress. The restaurant was typically reserved for the VIPs and dignitaries aboard the ship, though exceptions were made from time to time. The observation deck was on the uppermost level of the luxury spaceliner and boasted a viewport that encompassed its entire ceiling and all the walls, or bulkheads as they say aboard ship. The views were so stunning that when Heck looked out at the stars and planets he often had the sensation of being exposed to space itself.
The Orion Deception Page 16