“We shall see, officer. Be warned, I don’t take kindly to false arrest and harassment.”
“Was that a threat?” the officer asked with menace.
“Take it as you will,” Lucius said, then fell silent as the technician took his prints, then gave him a treated towel to remove the ink.
The two officers left, and when the door closed Julius started to say something, but was silenced by Lucius’ raised finger.
“Let’s just wait and see.”
The hours passed slowly, with Chuck reporting anything G2 was able to find out. Around dinner time, the two were escorted to a holding cell and given something to eat. A couple of hours later another officer informed them that they would be held overnight.
When Lucius demanded to know the charges against them justifying their incarceration, the officer just shrugged her shoulders and said that the police had the right to hold them for twenty-four hours without being charged, then left.
Interestingly enough, other than having to surrender their wallets, neither Julius nor Lucius were searched, so they were able to maintain contact with G2 and the rest of the ground team. The night passed slowly, and when morning arrived, the two were given another questionable meal. Just as they were cleaning up, the evidence technician returned bracketed by two other officers.
“I’ve been directed to take another print from you,” he said, pointing to Julius.
“How’s that?” Julius asked, puzzled.
“He has the right to refuse. You took his prints and identification yesterday. And, according to law you have kept us for a day without charge. We have no obligation to cooperate with you any further,” said Lucius, moving to stand between Julius and the cell door.
“Please, let’s not escalate this any further. I just need another print and I’m sure that we can get you released if nothing turns up,” the technician promised.
“Lucius, let’s just give them what they want, they’re holding all the cards for now,” said Julius.
Lucius faced Julius and said, “Are you sure, son?”
“Yeah, I just want to get out of here as quickly as possible.”
Lucius moved off to the side as one of the officers opened the door, letting the evidence technician inside.
“Would you remove your right shoe and sock?” the technician asked, startling Julius.
“My shoe? Why?”
“Because I need an imprint of your right foot.”
Julius looked at Lucius, who just shrugged his shoulders. He sat down and untied his shoe and took it off, followed by the sock. The technician knelt in front of Julius and opened his kit. He first wiped off the sole of the foot, then blotted ink on the sole.
“Please place your foot down on the paper carefully, that way we only need to do this once,” the technician directed.
Julius made the imprint and watched, holding his foot off the ground, as the technician inspected the print.
“That’s fine,” he said, pulling several moistened towels from a dispenser inside the box.
Julius wiped off his foot as the technician packed up and left.
Lucius contacted Chuck and described what had just happened. When he described Julius giving his footprint, G2 interrupted.
“Excuse me, gentlemen. This is not a good sign.”
“Why’s that?” asked Chuck.
“Because this is the same means the FBI employed to identify Byron when his jumper was shot down over Iraq. Infants in the United States have imprints taken of their feet at birth.”
“Son of a bitch! Do you think their cover’s blown?” Chuck asked G2, as Lucius listened in.
“Perhaps. However, I have not found any information to suggest so. I have found that two phone calls were made from the police station to statistically unusual places this morning. One was made to the U.S. Marshals’ office, the other to the law office Lucius retired from in Boston,” G2 informed them.
“Damn. Okay, here’s the plan. G2, please conference in the rest of the ground team and Sondra.” Once everyone was on, Chuck continued. “I want the whale loaded up tonight. We may have to bug out at any moment and I don’t want this to be a wasted trip. Second, if they kick Lucius and Julius loose without comment, I don’t want either of them anywhere near the warehouse. They may be followed. And if they do have their suspicions about you two, we’ll have G2 keep an eye out for wherever you may be taken. Everybody got it?” asked Chuck.
Getting affirmative replies from everyone, he continued, “Good. G2 will continue to monitor your earpieces, Lucius. So everyone hop to. I’m going to discuss some contingencies with Todd for alternate pickup if Lucius and Julius can’t make it to the whale.”
Lucius quietly brought Julius up to speed on the plan.
“You really thinking we’re getting out of here?” Julius quietly asked.
“We’ll see, son. The others aren’t going to leave us behind. Just try to relax, no sense in getting all riled up for no reason.”
* * *
To the crew members on Jove, the novelty of weightlessness had quickly worn off. The lack of gravity made some tasks easier, some not so much. They had all mastered the art of jaunting around the spacecraft and chance collisions were almost nonexistent.
John and Phyllis were suited up and inspecting the attached crew module from Jove’s orbiting construction station when Susan radioed them to return to the ship.
“What’s up?” John said.
“It’ll be easier to explain when you’re back inside,” She said.
John looked at Phyllis, barely able to see her face through the tinted faceplate, but he could see her eyebrows raised in question. They both carefully jetted back to the airlock, John letting Phyllis cycle through first. Inside, David and Chester were waiting to help him out of his suit.
“What’s up?” John asked.
“Susan will tell you, it’s kind of unbelievable,” said Chester, anchoring his feet and pulling the chest plate of the suit over John’s head. “She said you can take a moment and get into some clothes, then meet her in her compartment.”
Removing the rest of his suit, John hurried along and cleaned up in record time. When he emerged from his compartment, he couldn’t fail to notice the sideways looks from the other crew members. When he tapped on the door of Susan’s compartment, she told him to come in.
“Have a seat,” she said, pointing to the chair at her desk.
“So what’s this all about?” he asked, clearly curious.
“Let me play back a message we received while you and Phyllis were outside.”
She activated the computer in front of John.
When the picture came up, John’s heart stopped. On screen was Sydney, looking very much like she had the last time he had seen her. Susan began the playback.
“Project Jove, my name is Sydney Atkins, a resident of this colony. I am contacting you on this closed frequency with a request. I am requesting the opportunity to speak with John Mathews, who we understand is a member of the crew. Furthermore, I request that said conversation be as private as possible. Please advise on this same frequency if this request will be honored.”
John was stunned speechless. Susan waited for everything to sink in, understanding what a shock the message was.
The first thing John could think to ask, his heart racing, was, “Did everyone else see this?”
“No. But everyone knows about it, and about you. I wasn’t able to stop the crew from discussing you. I did explain the reasons for concealing your identity from the media and general public, and what your relationship with Dean Atkins was at the time of her departure. The rest is up to you to reveal, or not. The question is, do you want to respond? I can’t imagine that you don’t,” she said frankly.
“How do I do that?” John asked.
“If you’d like, you may talk to her h
ere. I will leave you two alone. But I ask that if anything is discussed that impacts this mission in any way, I expect to know about it as soon as possible. You understand?”
“I do, and I promise to update you when we’re done.”
“Very well. Just click here,” she said, pointing to an icon on the screen. “I’ll leave you to it,” Susan said, leaving the compartment and sliding the door shut behind her.
John took a deep breath and let it out slowly. His heart was racing and his palms were damp. He hesitated, completely unprepared for what was to come, then he clicked on the icon.
Moments later the screen lit up, showing Sydney in what looked like a kitchen that could be anywhere on Earth. The two just looked at each other, maybe waiting for the other to speak. Then Sydney finally said, “I guess long time, no see would be an understatement.”
“Um, no kidding. I’m sorry. I didn’t really imagine we would ever speak again. You look great.”
“Thank you, John. As do you. I’ve missed you, believe it or not. Although the sight of you out on the lawn in your underwear in the rain has always stayed with me,” she said with a smile.
“Not my finest hour,” John replied, beginning to calm. “I was very happy to see your name on the roster in the message you all sent back.”
“I’m curious, did you get in trouble for letting me go?”
“Let’s not go into that,” he said bitterly.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t want anything like that to happen, but I just couldn’t stay. You know that.”
“Of course I did. I have hundreds of questions—”
“I know, John. I’m not speaking as a representative of our community. I am really only talking to you because of our past relationship, and because I was very curious how you managed to wrangle your way onto the mission.”
“How did you find out? Only two people on the mission knew who I really was, at least up until your message came through. How did you find out?” he asked.
“Nothing stays secret forever. Besides, there’s a lot about this place that would blow your mind!”
“Probably no chance of my getting to see it in person, is there?”
Sydney shook her head. “I’m afraid not. And I am authorized to tell you that we are declining the offers made by the United Nations and Brazil. We simply cannot see how either relationship would benefit us. And given the American soldiers still stranded in our outpost, we can’t trust any offer of sanctuary from anyone. The people of Earth, especially the governments, covet our technology too much. There’s not a government in the world that wouldn’t murder to acquire one of our ships.”
“Speaking of which, why do you have people on Earth right now? We were informed of that whole two-ship razzle-dazzle as we arrived here. Can you tell me what’s going on?”
“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can tell you.”
“I guess I’m supposed to ask, are you or someone else in contact with the other ship parked out there?”
“We are not. The only conversation we are ever going to have with either ship is between you and me. And there are special circumstances for this conversation, based entirely on doing the right thing,” she said, somewhat cryptically.
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“John, we have a daughter.”
Sydney could see that he was stunned. He obviously had no idea what to say.
Moments later, all he could think to say was, “How?” sending Sydney into laughter.
“I’m sure if you think about it, you’ll figure it out. I’ll explain while you get your thoughts together. You have no idea the dozens of times I had that same conversation with girls at the college. And to have had it happen to me was a joyful accident as far as I’m concerned. I was as surprised then as you are now to find out I was pregnant.”
“A daughter… Is she—how is—I mean, she’s fine, right? Smart, pretty like her mom?” He said, his head finally above emotional water.
Sydney laughed. “She’s fine. She’s just like any smart ten-year-old. She’s interested in science, gymnastics and loves learning. And I told her all about you, everything. I’ve decided that it’s not a good idea for her to speak to you, and I apologize in advance if that seems heartless. But I think that’s best for her. It’s because of her and her alone that the council has allowed us to speak. I am not going to talk to anyone but you, and I’m not sure how long they’re going to let this go on, they seem to be leaving it up to me.”
“May I see a picture of her, Sydney?” he asked, almost pleading.
A moment after he asked, a window opened up on the screen with a picture of his daughter showing her smiling. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her teeth were bright-white in a huge grin. John was silent as he drank it all in, but had the presence of mind to press the key for a screen capture.
After a moment he said, “She’s beautiful, she takes after you.”
“That’s not the half of it. Her temperament is very much like yours. And she has a serious streak in her just as deep as her sense of humor. You should be very proud of her.”
“Does she have a stepfather?” he asked, really asking another question altogether.
Sydney looked him in the eye and said, “No, she doesn’t. She has half a dozen uncles who take very good care of her. She’s well loved and cared for. All the children here are. We live for each generation having it better than the previous one. Our students test off the charts compared to the same age children across America.”
“What’s her name?”
“Her name is Joy. I named her after the brief time we had together.”
They were both silent, knowing that there was nothing to say about the past, and that there was little future for them either.
“I don’t know if I’m supposed to say anything about it, but thank you for the message,” John said.
“It was far too little, given how we parted. But it was all I was allowed. Even sending that was pushing it,” she replied.
“About that, why don’t you want to have any contact with the people of Earth?” John inquired, moving to less emotionally charged ground.
“Because there’s nothing Earth can offer us. Our technology is further advanced than what our birth planet has to offer. We are nearly completely self-sufficient. And we have the ability to travel and explore anywhere in the solar system at will. We have no greed in our community, as a matter of fact, we don’t use money, barter or any other exchange of value for goods or services. Be sure to tell everyone that when you get back. That alone should turn a few psychologists and economists on their ears!” she said with a laugh.
How does that work? John wondered, confused.
Almost reading his mind, Sydney replied, “It works like this: when something needs to be done, someone steps up and just does it. Everyone here contributes to the good of the community. Believe it or not, no one has ever been called out for not pulling their weight. Most people have a couple of jobs just for variety; I teach and I also chronicle the history of our community. Joy is already looking like a budding scientist. Her uncles are the brightest people Earth has produced. Oh John, I wish there was some way for you to join us, but you can’t. I’m sorry, and like you told me, I wouldn’t have had a moment’s peace had I stayed in Atlanta.”
“If what I went through was any measure, you would never have seen the light of day. I’m glad you’re here. Are you allowed to tell me about your community at all?” he asked.
“Some. I might as well; that way you can maybe tell others a little about us. By the way, are you recording this conversation?” she asked, winking at him.
“I’m not. I did do a screen shot of Joy. But I have to believe that whatever we’re saying is being recorded somewhere. By the way, can the Svoboda people listen in on our transmission?”
“They can’t. The transmiss
ion is encrypted. Don’t worry about it, John. We’re very thorough. Tell me what you’d like to know. We can at least chat a while about my home.”
“Very well, then. How did it start? I mean, when did your people move to the moon?”
“The first habitat was opened several years before Neil Armstrong arrived. As a matter of fact, the soldiers stranded on the moon are in the very first outpost that was built. By the time that outpost was habitable, travel to and from the moon was a trivial matter for the originators of the community,” she explained.
“To and from the moon? Where were they based here on Earth?”
“I really can’t say. Nor can I divulge the names of the first members of the community. One of the biggest concerns when the habitat left the moon, when we sent the goodbye message, was if our relatives would be persecuted in an effort to pump them for information or used as hostages against us. Do you know anything about that?”
“No, not directly. I interviewed Jaylynn Williams’ boyfriend, Travis something or other, but it wasn’t anything like an interrogation. He was the one who filed a missing persons report on her. Is she okay?” he asked.
Sydney smiled. “She’s fine, John. Everyone here is fine. We have a much better standard of living than most everyone on Earth. The air’s cleaner, the water’s cleaner, and we eat a lot healthier than most. As I said before, our children are smarter and happier than most everyone living in America, and no one is treated like a second-class citizen or slighted because of their skin color.”
“I guess that’s not likely to be true in America for a long time, if ever. Although whites are projected to become a minority in the United States soon. Maybe things will change then,” he suggested.
“It’s doubtful, John. Right now about four hundred families control over half the wealth in America. And the fact that it seems to be all right with the rest of the country is a problem. You know, for well over a century blacks in America were free and equal citizens, and yet their standard of living is still nowhere near equal to that of whites. For decades we were talking equality, an equality that’s not likely to ever manifest itself. The originators of this community decided to hell with that, they’d just go and make their own way instead of waiting for a greedy, fearful and small-minded populace to decide to flatten out the tilted playing field. And look at what we have accomplished.”
Confrontation Page 46