by M J Gauntlet
“Good, I’m glad that we have that understanding. First, I’m going to break all the rules and tell you a little about myself. Don’t worry, I think you will understand why I’m doing this in a little while.” Clearing his throat, he continued: “I am a six-generation citizen.” Upon hearing this, Zax’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Yeah, you know what that means, don’t you? Both my parents, my grandparents, AND my great grandparents were residents…Firsters.” He twisted his lips at saying the last word.
“For years, generations in fact, my family has been considered one of the select families of this world. We were given all the advantages the culture had to offer. If there was a piece of the pie to be doled out, we and others like us, made sure we got the biggest slices. For years I grew up thinking that it was the right and only way it should be, until that is, I fell in love with ‘backhander’… a Laster. My parents tried to dismiss it as a ‘passing phase’, just me ‘sowing my wild oats’ as they put it. But when it became clear to them that I was serious about the girl, oh how they howled about me ‘disgracing my bloodline’ and bringing shame on the name of Fuller. After they discovered that their pleas were falling on deft ears and their threats of disinheriting me couldn’t dissuade me from being with her, they shipped me off planet and then went after her family. By the time I returned, her family had moved to the southern hemisphere. They told me that when she heard that I was disinherited, she then wanted nothing to do with me, and to my lasting shame, I believed them! I became angry and bitter. It wasn’t until several years later, after she had been killed in a senseless lorry accident, that I found out the truth.”
Zax’s eyes grew wider and wider as the man spoke. The pain in the lieutenant’s eyes was genuine. Most of the Firsters Zax had encountered, usually fell into two categories: the ones who, once they became landowners, looked down on those that were still landless because they were stupid, or, those who blamed the landless because they were too lazy and didn’t ‘work hard enough’ to gain citizenship. Yet, here was a Firster (a Six Gen no less) who seemed to hold no animosity towards him. “I can see that you are now wondering why I, a Firster, should want to help you. Right?” Fuller queried, with a wry smile. Zax was astonished that the man seemed to read him so well. “Well…” Fuller continued, seemingly not noticing Zax’s startled look, “the answer to that is a little complex, but it has to do with who your father was and what he had done for all residents of the settlements. What do you remember, if anything, about the Last Town riot of a decade or so ago, or the part your father played in them?” Fuller abruptly asked.“Not much, I was a boy at the time but the only thing I do remember is that it was the night that my mother was killed,” Zax answered remorsefully.Fuller took a long drag on his smoke stick and let the smoke blow out through his nose. Then his voice began to sound like the lecturing voices Zax had heard on some of the history vids.
“You see, the aftermath of that incident sent shockwaves throughout the social strata. The citizenry was in an uproar because for the very first time, someone in the settlements had the balls to stand up and fight back. To add to the shock, several members of the upper crust were badly injured or killed. The authorities wanted your dad’s head on a stick, but when it was later revealed that not only was your father a naturalized citizen landowner, but that the so-called righteous citizens were illegally trespassing on his property, it caused a civil rights movement that rippled around the planet. On Bright, the one thing that is held higher than human rights are property rights. In the aftermath of this debacle, the unofficial ‘cleansing’ sweeps through the residential settlements immediately ceased.”
Zax frowned in confusion. “I don’t understand. How could something that happened over ten years ago, and is now practically forgotten, have anything to do with my father’s death tonight?” he exclaimed angrily, as he found himself raising out of his chair to stare Fuller straight in his eyes, “And don’t give me any of that accident bullshit. There is no way that explosion was coincidence. My father was murdered, and I believe you think so too.”
“Sit down and calm yourself young man, give me a minute and I will get to that.”
Mollified, Zax sat back down in the chair. Fuller gave a satisfied nod, then brought out a data pad from a side pocket and sat it flat on the table in front of Zax. With a swipe of his hand, he activated the pad and a holo- projected image sprung to life. Fuller leaned forward and pinched his fingers over the image to widen the image. In the air in front of him, Zax saw a picture of his father attached to a file that looked to be several folios long. Fuller scrolled through the windows until he reached a page marked in red flashing letters saying ‘confidential’ then stopped.
“This is the police file that has been kept on your father since the day he day he applied for Bright citizenship, using the Imperial exemption. As you can see it is quite extensive and contains all the pertinent information about him, including his addiction to the drug Jenkem, known on the street as Blitzo.” Zax gave a start out of his seat again, but Fuller waved him to sit back down. “Don’t get your knickers in a knot, son. This isn’t an attempt of incriminate your ol’ man, it’s just the facts. But it will probably play a part in how the legal system is going to handle this case.”
“What are you trying to say? That somehow what happed to my dad was drug related?!” Zax snapped incredulously.
“No, I’m not saying anything. Now will you shut the fuck up and let me finish. Just because we are not likely to be disturbed, it doesn’t mean we have all night in here!”
Fuller reached out to the projection and pinched the window closed, then with a swipe of his hand he scrolled through more images until he reached the one, he wanted.
Widening his fingers, he expanded the window until both he and Zax could clearly see it.
“These,” he said, pointing to a series of letters and numbers, “are the chemical traces the police sniffers picked up from each of the bodies.” Sliding the frame over the left, he brought up five separate imbedded windows. “The two sets of data in the upper right corner are the findings of both Kass Oaton and Horace Lahrs complete with recent mug shots of the pair.”
Fuller magnified the images then turned to face Zax. “Ever seen either of them before?” When Zax shook his head in the negative, he minimized the windows and continued. “The sniffers showed evidence of several legal and illegal substance in their systems. Alcohol, opiates, and various other drugs, but no Blitzo was found either in or on their bodies. Both have been known to traffic in Jemken, but never to any of the residents of Last Town.” Pressing a tab on his tablet he brought up two different images. The police shroud covering was pulled back, revealing frames that were severely burned. Both were nothing but two lumps of charred flesh. There was no way to tell if they were even human, let alone whether they were male or female. Pointing at the two images, he pinched magnified them, so that they stood out clearly in the air in front of Zax.
“These two bodies are most interesting. It appears, according to their DNA and nanite markers, they were both from off planet. In fact, the markers show that they were from isolated planets in two widely spaced Imperial quadrants separated by several thousand parsecs. Upon further examination of their clothing and some very interesting devices that happened to survive the fire, it is almost a certainty that both were members of the assassins’ guild…Cree killers.”
Zaxxion frowned, then opened his mouth to ask a question, but a stern look from the lieutenant stopped any further comment.
“Hear me out and then if you have any questions I will try and answer them,” clearing his throat, Fuller continued. “Listen, my captain is a simple-minded type of cop. He likes things clean and uncomplicated. I’m willing to bet that after reviewing the same data I am, he is shitting permacrete right now. If it were not for the evidence of Cree involvement, he would have closed this case as a simple drug matter gone wrong. But now that is no longer an option.”
“Why not?” Zax blurted out, provoking a
frown from Fuller for the interruption.
“Because… oncethereisevenahintof Creeinvolvement in anything, it automatically becomes an Imperial priority! Which means they will send in members of the SB…the Special Branch… to investigate the incident, and once that happens the feces will really hit the impeller,” he said in exasperation. “Look kid, when Special Branch starts an inquiry, they examine everything and anything that might relate to their investigation. That might mean a wide-ranging investigation of all the activities of the entire precinct. Sometimes these investigations go back years… and they are very, very, thorough.
“I bet you that right now, my captain is trying to devise a plausible scenario that will please the SB and keep them from digging further into the activities of this sector, but the dumb ass has all of the imagination of a Bright blindworm and is sure to fuck this case up grandly. Which means that it is likely that you will be either imprisoned or at least detained indefinitely, while the rest of the precinct, if we are damn lucky, will be placed on probation for the next five years! If that happens, then all of us here can kiss any chance of promotion goodbye. It would dead end a lot of careers, including mine.”
“Imprisoned? You mean I might be jailed? For what reason? It was my father who was murdered! Why would they want to imprison me?” Zax responded incredulously.
Fuller stared at him a sadly for a moment, then slowly shook his head.
“Look son, nobody really gives a flying shit who did what or with whom to a Laster. Special Branch is not all that different from any of the other enforcement branches. They want a simple, plausible explanation for events. If that means, it would be in their best interest to put forth a theory that your father was part of some terrorist group that involved the Cree, then believe me, they would push that scenario in a heartbeat.” Zax jerked his head up sharply, eyes full of both tears and anger.
“That’s right kid, in the final analysis to the rest of the universe, you and your dad are just Lasters and people will be willing to believe anything about you and your ‘kind’.” Zax dejectedly slumped his shoulders in understanding as Fuller nodded at Zax’s final realization of where he stood. Then paradoxically, the lieutenant suddenly sported a wide grin.
“Lucky for the both of us, I have a solution for our joint dilemma and a possible answer to what might have really happened to your father.”
Reaching down, the lieutenant swiped the screen returning the image to Zax’s father’s data page. Scrolling down until he reached a period dating back twelve local years, he then froze the screen once again.
“Remember when I said that your father had participated in the Last Town riots a while back? Well, the incident was a little more involved than that. The record shows that both he and your mother were confronted by at least two dozen or so drunk, irate citizens who were on a self-appointed mission to ‘clean the slums of scum’, a popular slogan at the time. When your parents stood up to them, the mob turned ugly and decided to use your parents as an example, to teach any other ‘uppity’ Lasters a lesson about standing up for themselves.” The lieutenant’s face then broke out into a wicked smile. “When the dust had settled eight of these righteous citizens were dead and more than a dozen lay critically injured, some with crippling injuries that required extensive reconstructive surgery. As I said before, amongst them were the sons of some rather prominent families. Unfortunately, it was also the night your mother was killed.”
“Yes, I know. I was there, remember?” Zax said sardonically.
“Well smartass, what the records don’t show was that about a week after all the furor had died down, an envoy spaceship landed containing representatives of the Nubian Federation. Claiming that they had come to reclaim the remains of their dead tribal sister, they stayed about a fortnight then left with the body of their tribal member. And by some strange coincidence, during their stay on Bright practically every one of the individuals who were involved in the riot and had subsequently escaped trial or judication, had either mysteriously went missing or met with an untimely fatal accident.
“Now, because a few of these individuals were members of some of the wealthiest and most influential families on Bright, and people like that have long, long, memories. While they don’t have the juice to seek retribution against the Nubians, it is not out of the question that they still hold deep animosity towards your family, especially your father. And believe me, they have enough eunits to hire the Cree to carry out their revenge.”
“Wha…what? Are you trying to tell me that it is these rich Firsters that wanted me and my father dead? That members of these wealthy families have waited this long, until everyone has forgotten about the riots, to finally get their revenge?” Zax asked stunned, “Is this really what you think happened?”
“Remember son, I said I was going to give the captain a plausible explanation as to what transpired and believe me, they are going to eat this crap up with a spoon and ask for seconds. Hell, I might even get a promotion from the brass for saving their asses, and as an added bonus, this explanation might just get you off the hook with the Special Branch spooks.”
Zax suspiciously narrowed his eyes at Fuller, “You didn’t answer my question.”
“What question was that, exactly kid?”
“Is that what you believe happened to my dad?”
Fuller checked his imbedded chrono and shook his head in the negative. “No son, I don’t think that is what really happened last night at your home. But before I tell you what I think really went down in your house, let me show you something.”
Leaning over, he again pinched down the current display and then waived his hand through the projection and quickly brought up a series of images that were obviously pictures of the crime scene around Zax’s former home. Moving to the side to give Zax a clear view of the image, he leaned over his shoulder and pointed to a spot in the right-hand corner of the display.
“See those there? Those two smallish blurred outlines that were burned into the floor of the house?” Zax narrowed his eyes and tried make out the fuzzy images. Fuller widened his fingers, so that the images expanded to fill the space in front of him. Zax again squinted, then turned to face Fuller.
“Those look to me like some kinda shadows or imprints of an insect, maybe,” he said finally. Fuller nodded his head once in agreement.
“Yep, that’s what I thought when I first noticed them back at the site. So, I had the sniffers go over the remains and perform a planetary DNA database scan and comparison. When the results came back as negative, I then had the computers widen the search to include off planet origins…” swiping his hands to the left a new image appeared, “and here is what they finally came up with.”
Two menacing looking creatures, both with a many segmented frames, floated in the air in front of them. Each had several jointed legs which were divided equally down the length of their bodies. As the image rotated, Zax could see two pincer-like limbs that protruded outwards just behind their upper thoraxes. From what might have been their heads (the creatures were eyeless), two half a meter in length needle like thin antenna emanated.
“What the fuck are those?” Zax said, recoiling in revulsion.
“Those are Aquiline Bloodworms. One of the nastiest creations God has ever made. The presence of these creatures at the crime scene is just one of the reasons, I don’t believe that either of you were targets of some revenge assassination attempt! It is my belief, that assassination was not the main reason your father was attacked. In fact, I believe that the Cree wanted to take you both alive at first, then after they had extracted whatever information they were commissioned to get, kill you both.
“How could you possibly know what the Cree wanted, or that they weren’t working for some rich family on Bright?” Zax asked, with a slight edge to his voice.
“First and foremost, no matter how powerful and wealthy a family on Bright might be, they are not going to take the chance of getting involved in a Nubian vendetta. When it comes to fe
uds, Nubians don’t play. They will carry a blood feud on for generations and will not rest until their honor is satisfied. If that means killing every member of a family, tribe or sect, then that is what they will do. They have been known to wipe out whole blood lines. They want to eradicate your DNA from the entire human genetic pool. While your father was not Nubian, your mother was, which means that you too would be considered as part of their tribal culture. No family, no matter how powerful, is going to risk the kind of fallout that might follow your murder.
“Secondly, from what I hear about the Cree, one of the creatures would be more than enough to accomplish any assassination. Not only is the cost of hiring a single Cree exorbitant, their reputation makes it totally unnecessary to hire two.
“Lastly, the main reason that I’m convinced that what happened to your father was not just an assassination attempt, is the presence of these two critters at the scene of the deaths. Aquiline Bloodworms are off world creatures that are on the ‘proscribed to transport’ list which means, automatic mind wipe if you are caught smuggling one on planet. They are both, expensive to purchase and difficult to keep alive in transport. One other little fact about them… they are used almost exclusively for torture.