by Paul Barrett
Perhaps another thirty seconds passed before the men in the vans piled out of the vehicles, armed and ready for action. With a soft sigh, Gerard went to work.
As they moved down the hallway, a tingle started at Hawk’s scalp and crawled down his body. Seconds later, the world around him drained of color and transformed to shades of fuzzy gray and black. People changed from firm flesh to pulsing shapes of dazzling white, punctuated by areas of darkness where clothing or hair concealed skin. Sounds dimmed, overlaid by incessant, deep whispering voices, a ritual chant filtered through static.
“What’s going on?” Jonas struggled against Hawk.
“Stop it,” Hawk gave Jonas’s arm a sharp tug, which made him yelp. “A friend is watching after us.”
They walked in the aether, no longer solid in the “normal” dimension, invisible and silent to everyone around them. Though able to move across surfaces in the same space, they were incapable of affecting the physical environment. The solidity of the floor beneath them and the walls around them had become malleable, changeable with a thought.
Jonas shook, and Hawk almost felt sorry for him. It was unnerving to walk through this monochromatic, out of focus landscape with demonic voices circling and a constant feeling of something hovering beside you. Hawk had been close to terror the first time he did it. He didn’t feel especially comfortable now. He drew his sidearm. Laura looked at him, her raised eyebrow glistening ebony against her glowing, eyeless face.
Hawk shrugged. “It makes me feel better,” he said, even though it was a foolish notion; the gun wouldn’t work in this reality. Even if it did, it couldn’t injure anything that existed here.
They rounded a final corner and walked through the lobby. As they moved across the foyer, the glass doors at the front of the building opened. A group of about twenty armed men stormed in, wearing the uniform of local law enforcement special forces. Hawk and Laura both instinctively skipped a step, but continued walking.
“I sure hope Gerard knows what he’s doing,” Hawk noticed several more men running outside the building, presumably moving to the back to cut off any escape routes. No doubt someone had informed the police that the “wanted fugitives” were in the building, armed and extremely dangerous.
As the men spread out in the lobby with guns raised, bystanders sought hiding spots. Their screaming and yelling broke through as high squeals that briefly punctured the whispers.
“Here we are,” Jonas yelled.
“Shut up,” Hawk said. He put his gun against Jonas’ head, knowing the man would be unaware of the weapon’s inoperability. “Keep walking.”
The police spread through the lobby in a skirmish formation that revealed their familiarity with such tactics. Some of the officers looked right at them; no one tried to halt the trio as they shuffled through the lobby, every muscle taut.
Hawk noticed the extra tension in Jonas a split second too late. Before he could do anything, the man slammed the heel of his foot down on Hawk’s toes. Not painful, it still distracted Hawk enough that Jonas broke free from Hawk’s grasp and ran toward the nearest commando.
“Shit,” Hawk shouted as he tried to catch the fleeing Jonas. There was no danger of the commandos seeing them, but they needed to remain in close proximity for Gerard to keep them aetheric. If Jonas suddenly appeared in front of the police team, Hawk feared they would shoot before questioning.
“Help me,” Jonas shouted, waving his arms at the men who couldn’t see or hear him. “Help me.”
Hawk had his hands out, prepared to grab Jonas, when the fleeing man turned colorless in a flash of brilliant red light that momentarily blinded Hawk.
“Gerard lost him,” Laura shouted.
Hawk felt more than saw the high-watt blaster bolts as they fired off, sending throbbing pressure waves through the aether. His vision cleared as Jonas flew backward. His vibrant white skin turned black as he died with three burns in his chest.
A man with a smoking blaster and sergeant’s stripes shouted. “They’re invisible. Waste everything.”
“Let’s go,” Hawk said as auto blasters opened up around them, bursts of sizzling blue energy ripping through the drab. Screams pierced the air as frightened civilians dug for further cover; a few got caught in the crossfire.
They ran as the lobby turned into a shredded charnel house. Several bolts passed through Hawk. It did little more than leave a strange tingle as energy disturbed the aether.
They reached the double glass doors and jumped straight through them. This had less to do with their aetheric state than with the volley of blaster fire. It had destroyed every plate of glass in the lobby; beads of molten glass lay scattered on the sidewalk.
As they landed on the sidewalk, Gerard pulled up in the crew’s van. Hawk thought of the van door and mentally pictured it as not solid, hoping Laura remembered to do the same. He leaped, passed through the vehicle’s outer body, and landed on the wide bench seat. Laura followed behind, slamming into him.
The van pulled away. Color and sound returned with stunning fury as Gerard yanked them from the aether and back to the normal dimension. Hawk’s head swam. Nausea clenched his stomach.
“That could have gone better,” Gerard said, sweat beading his pale forehead. He entered the flow of traffic, unnoticed by any of the forces destroying Seladyne Propulsion’s lobby.
Hawk was holding his own against his queasiness. The fresh cut grass smell helped, making him think of calmer things. Laura wasn’t so lucky. Gerard turned up the van’s conditionalizer, and the bile odor quickly subsided.
“Agreed,” Hawk said when Laura’s stomach had stopped rebelling. “My mistake. I let Jonas get the drop on me.”
“That wouldn’t have mattered,” Gerard assured him. “I had him until he ran into an anti-aether sphere. All of those police had Triclum powered aether sweepers on their belts. As soon as Jonas came into range, there was no way I could keep him phased. Gave me a brutal headache. Lucky they were short range, and you kept away from them.”
“Aether sweepers?” Laura brushed her hair back from her face. “I don’t imagine those are standard issue.”
“Not exactly,” Gerard agreed. “They were well-informed of our capabilities.”
“No great surprise there,” Hawk muttered.
Laura rested against the back seat. “I wish we could have gotten out with Jonas; we could have learned a lot more from him.”
“I think we’ve got plenty to work with,” Hawk leaned back as fatigue struck him, a side effect of moving in the aether. “At least he confirmed my suspicions. Now, all we have to do is decide what we’re going to do with the information he gave us.”
Hawk glanced over at the deep breathing Laura to find her fast asleep. He turned to Gerard. “She must be—”
He got no further before his eyes closed and he sank into sleep.
25
The Larger Scheme
They returned to Ship without incident, although Gerard had a few tense moments when police cars passed by the van and then continued on their way.
“No visitors, Ship?” Gerard asked as he drew close to the port.
“All clear,” she assured him. Gerard frowned. Something didn’t add up. If their hunters knew the Knights were on-planet, then logic dictated they knew Ship would be in port. He expected to find the area crawling with soldiers and tanks, and had been prepared for a brutal fight to escape. Instead, the port looked no different than when they left.
As Gerard rolled onto the van’s cradle underneath Ship, Hawk and Laura stirred, awakened by the bumping of wheels on metal.
“Bring us up, Ship,” Gerard said.
“Aye.”
The van rose off the pavement, lifted by the cradle.
Hawk rubbed his eyes. “I’m starving. I knew there was a reason I didn’t like traveling aetheric.”
“I have a list of reasons,” Laura said, yawning as she stretched.
“We made it to Ship without a fight?” Hawk asked.
/> “Yes,” Gerard answered. “Once I left downtown, it was as if nothing ever happened.”
“That’s suspicious.”
“That’s what I thought,” Gerard said.
The cradle settled and Ship’s hull closed. As they stepped out of the van, Gerard activated a thin, saucer-shaped robot and set it to cleaning the van’s interior.
They said nothing as they rode the elevator to the main decks. When the doors opened, Ashron and Trey greeted them, both grinning.
“Glad you’re back. Did you remember my mustard? Where to now?” Ashron asked.
“What did you bring me?” Trey added, glancing at Ashron and giggling.
Hawk sighed. “Ashron, quit teaching Trey your bad habits. Everybody settle in for takeoff.” He headed for the bridge. “Meeting ten minutes after we leave the atmosphere.”
The others followed Hawk.
“Another meeting?” Ashron asked. “Boy, you’d think we work for the government or something.”
“We do,” Trey reminded him.
“Oh, yeah.”
“Where’s Wolf?” Hawk asked.
“Doing maintenance on the ventilation intakes,” Ship answered.
“Then let him know the drill,” Hawk seated himself in the pilot’s chair.
Everyone else strapped into their chairs. Trey grasped Laura’s hand.
“Someday I won’t have to do this,” he promised her.
“It’s okay. You can do it as long as you want.”
Five minutes later, Jeran Port Command cleared The Flaming Star for take-off. Five more minutes put them clear of the planet’s atmosphere, and everyone began removing their harnesses. Trey tossed his aside and dashed off the bridge.
“Going to get ready for the meeting,” Laura answered to Hawk’s quizzical stare. She smiled. “I think finding out you consider him part of the crew did him a world of good.”
Hawk nodded. “I always assumed he knew it. Ship, start flying in random directions and change course at random intervals. Once I have a destination, I’ll let you know.”
“Aye, captain.”
“Okay,” Hawk said to the others, “let’s go decide our next step.”
They arrived at the wardroom to find Trey laying out snacks; a cart loaded with beverages hovered behind him. The famished Hawk and Laura dug into the various sugary confections spread on the table.
“You know,” Ashron said, “you’ve got a great future in the food services industry.”
In his most haughty voice, Trey said, “I’m going to be a powerful magician, and if you make me mad I’ll turn you into a toad.”
“Isn’t that nice, Ashron?” Laura smiled through lips covered with sugar glaze. “Trey’s going to take you a step up on the evolutionary ladder.”
Ashron stuck out his forked tongue as Wolf walked in.
“Salt w—” Wolf stopped as Trey walked toward him with a large glass of salt water.
“Thank you,” Wolf sat in his oversized chair.
The crew had listened through Ship’s speakers to the events that transpired at Seladyne Propulsion. Once everyone settled, Hawk wiped his hands on a napkin and said, “Ship?”
“Yes.”
“Did anyone approach close to you in the port?”
“Four people passed within a three-meter perimeter at different times; they all moved on to other ships.”
“Do a hull surface scan and see if you find anything that shouldn’t be there. Check the landing gear, also.”
“Aye, aye.”
“You think there’s a tracker on us?” Laura asked.
“That’s the only reason I can think of that they didn’t send an army to take Ship, since they knew we were here.”
“Maybe we’re starting to strain their resources,” Ashron said brightly.
“That’s wishful thinking,” Gerard told him.
“So, what’s the game plan?” Ashron said.
“An excellent question,” Hawk picked up a cookie. “What would you do in this situation?”
“Great.” Ashron turned to Laura. “He doesn’t have a clue.”
“No, no. I know what I want to do, but I want your input.”
“Yeah, right. I’ve heard that ‘surround yourself with good people’ spiel before. You want to hear our ideas and then claim they were yours all along.”
Hawk stared at the ceiling. “Are you sure we can’t replace him, Ship?”
“I don’t think we could find another Lorothian crazy enough to work with us.”
Hawk sighed. “Oh, well.” He took a drink of fizzwater before continuing. “Jonas’s little tirade about the Council ceasing to exist has me concerned. Even though it may have been an empty threat, it certainly sounded like he believed it.”
“Come on,” Ashron said. “You don’t really think there’s anyone out there with the guts and power to take on the Council, do you?”
Gerard spoke up. “There are several corporations with the resources to make a good effort at it. UCT is among that group. If any two or three of the bigger Corporations banded together, the Council would no doubt fall within a few months.”
“So why hasn’t anyone done it?” Ashron asked.
“There’s been no reason for that sort of cooperation or action,” Gerard told him. “Think about it. For as large a governing body as it is, the Council is reasonably benevolent. It places surprisingly few restrictions on the Corporations.”
Ashron picked up a piece of wrapped lettuce filled with meat. “So why does someone suddenly want to do it now?”
Hawk spoke up. “I think we can safely replace ‘someone’ with ‘UCT.’”
“Okay, why does UCT want to do it now?”
“Because Moran is pushing the buttons,” Gerard answered. “And he has somehow convinced them his personal vendetta is profitable. If they take possession of Ship and duplicate her, he could well be right.”
Ship’s voice piped up. “Excuse me. I detected a foreign object on the secondary support strut of the port stern landing gear. It’s transmitting a signal.”
“Can you scramble the signal?” Hawk asked.
“Negative. It’s a broad beam transmission so I would have to flood the area around me, which would interfere with my equipment. If you patch me to it, I could send a false image.”
“Okay. Cancel the random flight pattern and head for…” Hawk paused, looked at Ashron. “Loros. We’ll do a patch after a while and make them think we’re still heading that way while we head somewhere else.”
“Aye aye, Captain.”
“Thanks,” Ashron said dryly. “If they blanket my home planet with radiation, you and I will have a little talk.”
Ignoring him, Hawk said, “Okay, this is what we need to do. We’ll go ahead and relay what we know to the Council. I suspect they’re going to want more proof than the rantings of one not very reliable and now very dead person. However, his warning plus what we already know times the fact Moran seems to be heading it up equals a high probability the threat is real.” He picked up a piece of bread and placed slices of cheese and salami on it. “Now all we have to do is figure out how real the threat is.”
“That should be easy, shouldn’t it?” Trey asked. The others turned to him.
“Go on,” Gerard said.
When he realized he had unwittingly put himself in the spotlight, Trey squirmed as if his chair had turned into a bed of warm coals. Picking at his shirt as he wiggled, he said, “Well, to go after the Council you’d need a whole bunch of ships, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes,” Gerard answered.
“Well, someone has to build them or buy them or something. There’s got to be records of all that, right?”
“That’s true,” Hawk told him.
“So can’t we just look at UCT’s records and see if they’ve been putting out that kind of money to ship companies?”
There was a brief silence. Then Laura leaned over and hugged Trey. “Have I told you today what a wonderful kid you are?”
/>
Trey blushed furiously.
“That’s a great idea,” Hawk said. “Hacking into their system may take some work. You, Gerard, and Ship can work at it while we head to Red’s.”
“We’re going to Red’s?” Ashron asked.
“Yeah,” Hawk said. “Strangely enough, it’s one of the safest places I can think of that will still allow us to pull together the resources we need.”
“Yeah, because things went so well the last time we were there,” Ashron said with a roll of his eyes.
“Resources for what?” Laura asked.
“When we get to Red’s we’re going to disguise ourselves and Ship. Once we find out the threat is valid, we’re going to pay personal visits to the various heads of UCT, starting with the chairman of the board, and put a stop to the threat. Any questions?” Hawk looked at the five of them as they turned to each other, brows furrowed in concentration.
After about fifteen seconds, Ashron said, “Well, no, I guess not.”
“I think you stunned them, Captain,” Ship said.
“The fact he even has the inkling of a plan stunned the hell out of me,” Ashron told her.
“I have a question,” Trey said.
Hawk looked at him. “And that is?”
“How do you disguise an entire ship? Or Wolf?”
“Fair question,” Ashron said. “They’re both about the same size.”
“I guess disguise was a bad word. How about ‘hide’?”
“How do you hide a ship?”
Gerard held up a finger to keep Hawk from speaking. “Think about it.”
Trey thought a moment, his eyes darting rapidly around the room and a frown on his face. Then his expression brightened. “You put it in a bigger ship.”