Superego-Fathom

by Frank J. Fleming

  Wade didn’t fire either; he just held the gun on me. Beside me, Diane was holding a smoking gun as well. And I heard laughter behind me. I looked and saw Sylvia standing behind us, holding a gun.

  “Hey, Angel of Death,” Sylvia said with a cocky smile that baited my fists. “Someone might have fiddled with your guns while you were napping.”

  “You stowed away aboard my ship?” Diane asked, tossing aside the useless gun.

  “I caught up with you during your escape from Natera,” Sylvia explained. “While Wade had you distracted, I noticed one car in the parking garage was capable of breaking atmosphere. So I snuck onto it. Figured following you would lead to some good intel. And you guys slept like angels last night; gave me plenty of time to get your next destination from your ship’s computer and figure out your reason for visiting and pass that on to Wade. I know you’re meeting some allies here, Melanie; we’d love to learn more about them.”

  I also dropped my broken gun. “Sylvia, I’m sorry I used your stun pistol on you. You get a chance to change since soiling yourself?”

  Sylvia frowned. “How about I give you a little scratch and we’ll see who can control their bladder?”

  “Or you can just tell us what you know,” Wade stated calmly, “to help us fight the Fathom. If you care about anyone in this universe, that seems like the better course of action. Who are you meeting here, Ms. Fincher?”

  Diane kept quiet. I moved closer to her, hoping she had a plan, but I doubted it.

  “Guess we’re doing this the hard way, then,” Sylvia said.

  “Guess so,” Wade answered. “You two. On the ground. Hands behind your head.”

  “Now!” Sylvia shouted. “Before I shoot out your legs!”

  No other plan yet, I knelt down, placing my hands behind my head, Diane doing the same beside me. Wade started to approach us but suddenly stopped and put his hand to his ear.

  “What’s going on?” Sylvia asked.

  “Getting word from command.” Wade listened for a few seconds. “I’m going to need that in writing.” Wade took out a handheld computer with his free hand and looked at the screen.

  “If you guys are busy with something else right now,” I said, “we have other stuff to do as well.”

  Wade ignored me and looked at Sylvia. “You got this too?”

  Sylvia also took out a handheld while still keeping a gun trained on me. Her eyes went wide as she looked at the screen. “What?!”

  Wade turned to us. It took a moment for him to get the words out. “There’s a restaurant near here called Prospects. You two need to go to it.” He lowered his gun. “We’ve been ordered to back off.”

  With a visible force of will, Sylvia lowered her gun as well and glared at me. “What the hell is going on?”

  I stood up. “Don’t ask me; I’ve been in a coma.”

  Diane slowly got up, too, keeping her hands visible. “I really think we’re on the same side. Maybe we can talk after ... whatever this is.”

  Wade holstered his gun under his coat. “I’d appreciate that.”

  Sylvia kept her gun in her hand, but it now hung at her side. “Is there really a criminal mastermind in charge?”

  “Considering how things are going with the Fathom, you’d better hope so,” I said.

  “You guys are just trying to help all the people at risk out there,” Diane said. “This isn’t on you.”

  Wade just nodded. Sylvia watched as we walked off toward downtown. Diane took out her handheld and typed a message. “I’m telling everyone to back off. We are compromised down here.” She turned to me. “So what are we walking into?”

  “I don’t know.” I felt very aware I didn’t have a working gun, but I tried not to let it make me anxious. “Let’s walk into it and find out.”

  CHAPTER 10

  “If Anthony wanted us dead, we’d be dead already.”

  Diane let out a deep breath. “So nothing to worry about, then.”

  “Well, if this doesn’t go his way, he could obviously change his mind.” And then we’d be dead. I knew who we were dealing with, and I wasn’t lying to myself about our chances.

  The restaurant Prospects was upscale with well-dressed staff. It had the ambience of a park, with a number of potted trees and even a stream running through the center of the restaurant. I assumed they were serving the lunch crowd now, judging by the height of whatever star lit Acarro that we could see through the restaurant’s glass exterior, and the place was nearly full. The maître d’ stared for a moment at the street clothes Diane and I were wearing. “Do you have reservations?”

  “We are meeting someone here,” Diane said.

  The maître d’ nodded in recognition. “And what are your names?”

  “Rico and Diane,” I answered.

  “Oh. I was told to look for a Rico and Melanie.”

  “That would be us,” Diane said.

  The maître d’ looked at Diane. “Do you prefer Melanie or Diane?”

  Diane forced a smile. “Just take us wherever you’re supposed to take us, please.”

  He led us into the restaurant. A few of the patrons glanced at us and our clothes that didn’t quite fit the atmosphere, but most paid us no regard. After we crossed a little bridge over the stream, I saw him. The immaculate suit. The dark eyes carefully watching us. That smug smile ... though it may have seemed slightly less smug than usual. He stood by a table with three chairs.

  I grab a knife from the table, and I end him.

  “I’m not sure that’s morally right,” Dip answered.

  But you’re not sure it isn’t.

  “Rico! It is very good to see you,” Anthony said. His smile seemed genuine.

  “You failed to kill me.”

  “Yes. Yes, I did.” He turned to Diane. “And we have not formally met yet.”

  “You told me you were going to kill her,” I said.

  His smile faded. “Well, that was an emotional time. I perhaps said some things I didn’t mean. But, you know, I’m glad now that I wasn’t more resolute.”

  “Do you have an antidote for the poison you put in me?” I asked.

  He smiled again. “Why would I use a poison with an antidote? Come on. Let’s sit.”

  He took a seat, and I sat across from him. Diane hesitated a bit longer and finally took a seat next to me. “How’d you get here ahead of us?” she asked.

  “I intercepted the intel of where you were headed from the two agents you just encountered,” Anthony said, studying Diane carefully. “I got here while you were charging for another jump. And found a nice restaurant.”

  It seemed unlikely he was alone. I scanned the room for Anthony’s support, trying not to be too obvious about it. If I knew him, one false move by either of us, and we were both dead.

  “Hi, I’m Jacqueline; I’ll be your server this afternoon,” said the smiling waitress. Despite the high sun, it still felt like evening to me. I hadn’t had any time to reset my internal clock since waking from the coma, and hopping planets always messed that up anyway.

  The waitress held out a bottle and looked at Anthony. “Here’s the wine you ordered, sir.”

  She filled Anthony’s glass with the crimson liquid, and he looked at us. “Try some. It’s very good.”

  “I don’t drink,” Diane stated, her gaze locked on Anthony but her face betraying no emotion.

  “And you know it’s not really my thing either,” I said.

  Anthony sighed. “I don’t want to drink a whole bottle myself.” He looked at the waitress. “Just leave it here. Thank you.”

  The waitress set the bottle on the table and walked off. I kept an eye on her for a moment, then put my focus back on Anthony. He smiled again. “So ... are you two an item? To be honest, Rico, I long ago gave up the hope of having grandkids.”

  “We’re not doing this,” Diane said firmly. “Just tell us what you want. Do you want the information I have on Mountain Fall? If so, there is no way I am giving it to you, so you mi
ght as well move on to whatever you have planned next.”

  Anthony laughed a little and sipped his wine. “You mean that info about the space station construction project related to Mountain Fall? I planted that on Iasperth so you’d get it and there would be a reason to keep the feds on you.”

  Diane finally showed some emotion as her eyes went wide. “What?”

  “I’ve been following you for a while, dear. When you escaped police custody and Rico’s body was never found, I figured there was a good chance you had him,” Anthony explained. “So I had my people keep an eye out for you, and you weren’t hard to track since I knew you were planning to come for me. I eventually found out where you stashed Rico. I was fine to let that be for a while, but as the situation got dire, you seemed like you might be of use. So I made sure you got the Mountain Fall information so the feds would bring you in alive. I also set it up so that the name you hid Rico under was implicated as someone who knew about Mountain Fall so he’d be secured and brought in.” Anthony let out a deep breath. “Unfortunately, I guess we have leaks. The Fathom found out about ‘Laurence Dunn’ and attempted to get to him first.”

  “People died because of that,” Diane said through clenched teeth. “A planet was devastated.”

  Anthony was unfazed. “Not my doing. Just shows you what we’re dealing with.”

  Diane was boiling. It was starting to worry me, so I jumped in. “What do we know about the Fathom? All I know is they’ve got pretty little things talking for them and a big scary ship unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

  Anthony took a long drink of wine. “I know they aren’t who they seem; they can’t be. An advanced alien race that no one has ever encountered before? Nonsense. Have you ever seen one of those planets that decided to be ‘self-sufficient’ and close itself off from everyone else? They’re always primitive little mudholes. That’s just economics. You can’t become advanced without trade — to do otherwise would be like breaking the laws of physics. They have to have interacted with the other advanced planets at some point — especially to make that ship they have. They’ve just been good at hiding it, but we can uncover it.

  “And I think it tells us something that they’re so interested in Mountain Fall — I don’t believe they have many of those planet-devastating weapons left. I think their strategy was to use such overwhelming force that all of their opposition would collapse before anyone could see how hollow their whole ‘we’re an unstoppable force’ act is. But now Mountain Fall has given the Galactic Alliance hope. And I think if I can keep everyone holding out long enough — keep the major planets from being scared into pledging allegiance to the Fathom — their whole threat will collapse.”

  I took another quick glance around us. No one was looking our way, but never looking toward us could be suspicious as well. “And then you’ll rule the galaxy,” I commented.

  Anthony shook his head. “No, not me. The government I set up will be in charge. One much better than the old corrupt one that was just divvied up between the criminal syndicates. You may not want to believe it, but I’m the good guy here.”

  “You orchestrated the collapse of civilization,” Diane said. “And because of that, a murderous, oppressive group has nearly taken over.”

  Anthony shrugged. “They have obviously had these plans for a while, so all this proves is that I should have implemented my plan sooner. I’m trying to strengthen the civilized universe so something like this can’t happen again.”

  The waitress wheeled over a cart with three plates, with something that resembled beef on each one.

  “I went ahead and ordered for us,” Anthony said. “It’s a bauntan filet. A bit like steak. You should probably eat up, Rico. I know you’ve had nothing but IV fluid for a while ... not that it seems to have slowed you down much.”

  The waitress put the plates in front of us. “So what do you want with me and Diane?” I asked.

  Anthony smirked. “Does she still go by that name?” He looked at her. “Isn’t that the name of a woman you murdered?”

  “Yes. Yes, it is.” Diane picked up her fork and steak knife and looked for a moment at the food. Then she turned to Anthony, who was still smiling at her, and jammed the steak knife into his hand, pinning it to the table.

  As Anthony screamed, I froze for a moment. This was it. I had not properly informed Diane how dangerous he was, and now the hammer was about to drop, and we would both be dead. Diane did not hesitate, though, and quickly turned to the waitress, who was drawing a pistol. Diane stripped it from her hand and slammed the waitress’s head into the serving cart, tossing her to the floor.

  I had no interest in dying passively, so I jumped from my chair toward the first movement I saw, which was at a table next to us. My steak knife caught a man’s throat as I grabbed his gun and shot his “date,” who already had her gun in hand. Her gun fell into my other hand, and I immediately picked more targets, shooting a waiter as he fired a shot that just missed me, as the other gun caught an armed patron at another table. This was the point where I would usually just keep moving and shooting, but I gave myself half a second to look at what I was dealing with. It was the entire restaurant. Every single person there was armed and working for Anthony.

  “STOP!” Anthony screamed. “EVERYONE STOP!”

  And everyone, including me, froze, guns still in hand. I glanced behind me to see Diane had not joined in the shooting spree and instead kept her pistol aimed at Anthony’s head, Anthony’s hand still pinned to the table.

  “I don’t like your attitude, Mr. Burke,” Diane said calmly, not paying any attention to the forty people pointing guns at us. “I want you to work on that. Maybe you’re not doing it intentionally, but you’re kind of provoking me, and —”

  The waitress at Diane’s feet moaned. “Quiet,” Diane said firmly yet calmly as she kicked the woman in the head. Diane’s face, hard as stone, turned back to Anthony. “As I was saying, you’re provoking me, and I’ve had a rough time lately, so let’s tread a bit more lightly, okay?”

  I realized I had built up a bit of a mythology around my father. He was always in control. No matter what happened, it was as if he had planned it. And he was feared. Not even the smallest slight against him went unpunished. But here he was, just a bleeding man staring down a gun, and he was afraid. And the fear permeated him. I could tell the fear wasn’t just about the gun pointed at his face. And it made me feel fear as well. Was that empathy? Eh, probably not.

  Anthony slowly reached for the knife in his hand. “This was about —”

  “Leave it,” Diane said as his fingers hovered over the knife, once again not raising her voice but her eyes so threatening that one could almost forget the gun.

  He moved his hand away. “This was about us working together. These are some of my best people. I don’t want any more to die.”

  I wasn’t pointing my guns at anyone in particular, so I stuck them in my waistband and sat back down at our table. “If you didn’t want anyone to die, you shouldn’t have invited me.” Luckily, the filet tore apart easily with just a fork, and I took a bite. It was marbled with fat — whatever it was. Quite good, and I was hungry.

  “Here’s my problem,” Diane said, her voice steady. “You seem to want our help with something, but you’re not approaching it correctly at all. You’ve made a mess of everything. All the known planets are in chaos. People are suffering. People are scared. There’s some weird space boogeymen on the verge of forming the largest dictatorship the universe has ever known. And to orchestrate this mayhem, you committed a massacre on a planetary scale. And you manipulated your son, whom you then shot in the back. And you destroyed my life in the process as well. You hurt and killed those around me. So how do you come to us asking for help? You do this silly little show of a fancy dinner, like you’re all unconcerned and still in charge. But you’re not in charge. And I do not want to see another one of your stupid little smiles. I want you to do the proper thing and grovel.”

  “
The massacre on Zaldia wasn’t really my doing. You have to understand —”

  “You’re still not groveling properly,” Diane interrupted. “Maybe you don’t want to do it in front of such a large audience.”

  I had another bite of my filet and glanced at all the people pointing guns at us. Anthony looked around at them, too. Surely he had someone who could take Diane out and then deal with me, but Diane didn’t look the least bit scared. Certainly not compared to Anthony. “Everyone leave,” Anthony said, trying to keep his voice calm despite the knife in his hand. “Everyone!”

  The people with guns looked hesitant.

  “Now!” Anthony shouted, regaining a bit of his authority.

  The guns lowered and the restaurant began to clear, the dead bodies and the downed waitress being dragged out as well. The whole time, Diane never took her eyes off Anthony, and he didn’t take his eyes off her. It was a staring contest, and one was clearly winning. When everyone had left, Diane sat back down and slammed her pistol down onto the table before leaning back, relaxed, into her chair. “So what do you want from us?”

  Anthony winced through the pain and stammered, “What I need ... what everyone needs ...”

  “Just take it out,” Diane said.

  Anthony grabbed the knife and yanked it out of his hand. He dropped it to the floor and grabbed a cloth napkin, wrapping it around the wound to soak up the blood. “What everyone needs is hope that the Fathom can be defeated. That’s what will keep us going. The general public, of course, doesn’t know about Mountain Fall, and I can’t be certain how long it will take us to find it.”

  “Thinking of you in control of that sort of weaponry does not give me hope,” Diane said.

  “It wouldn’t be me; it would be the Galactic Alliance ...” He waved his uninjured hand dismissively. “Never mind. What I’m trying to say is there is now a new source of hope to give people the courage to oppose the Fathom — someone who has struck back against them and lived. One who has humiliated them in a very public manner and made them look feckless.”