A Wilderness of Mirrors

by R J Johnson

  He laid out everything that had happened since taking Roxanne’s case. Shangri-La, the professor and his wife and the fantastic technologies they had invented. The clones. The nanites currently swimming through his bloodstream that threatened to end the life of the woman he loved unless he assassinated the six other people on the professor’s list.

  “The worst part about all this is Palmetto came to me and warned me about the professor and his wife. But I didn’t listen and now…” Meade took another drink, swirling the remaining liquid in the glass. “Now, I’m caught up in something that’s bound to start a war.”

  “I’d say you accomplished that,” Sarah said. “If what you’re saying is true, you assassinated the Coalition’s Secretary of State and my fast attack could be implicated.”

  “Then I better start telling the story a lot faster,” Meade said, gulping down the rest of his drink.

  She stood and began moving over to the bar.

  “Maybe I will have that drink after all.”

  Meade blew out the air remaining in his lungs. “I need a reload myself. Saying all that out loud reminds me how screwed I am.”

  She prepared them both a drink and shook her head. “I don’t think so. You’ve managed to do well so far.”

  “It’s my superpower,” he said morosely. “People always underestimate me.”

  She chuckled and then came back over, sitting next to him on the couch.

  “You did the right thing coming to me,” she said. “I’ll find a good place for the kids and take you back to the hotel.”

  A message appeared on her armbar and she grunted in surprise.

  “Something wrong?” he asked, taking another drink.

  “The opposite of that thankfully,” she said, looking bemused. “I had a crewmember monitoring the wireless for reports about our little adventure.”

  “And?”

  “And apparently they’re blaming a power surge for blowing up the secretary of state’s room.”

  “They’re covering up the assassination?” Meade asked, confused. “Why would they do that?”

  “The real question is ‘Who?’” Sarah said, taking a drink.

  Meade felt a chill run up his spine.

  “As for the why,” she said, taking another sip. “There are two reasons that I can guess at. They either knew what Mercer was up to and thought this was the perfect opportunity to shove it all under the rug…”

  “Or?”

  “Or, they have no idea what happened,” she said shrugging. “You fried the hotel’s security systems on your way in?”

  “I didn’t,” he admitted. “Someone else had taken care of that for me.”

  “A third party?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “An ally? Since when do you have friends?”

  “Haha,” he said sarcastically. He rolled the idea around in his head about who might have taken out the security cameras. If he had an ally, or competitor, that was something he needed to know.

  “Maybe it was someone who didn’t want me to fail,” Meade said. “That’s not the same thing as an ally.”

  “Still, that’s something,” she said. “My ship won’t be implicated, which keeps me from arresting you.”

  “Well, I’m thankful for small favors,” he grumbled. “Besides, I’m more interested in who knocked the video feed out. If there’s someone else on the playing field, I should know who it is.”

  Sarah tilted her head, looking at him as if he were an insect, “You know, I could arrest you and take you in. Explain what happened and get myself another decoration for catching a ruthless assassin.”

  “Except you won’t do that,” he said.

  Sarah grinned and shook her head, “Except I won’t do that, that’s true.”

  She polished off the rest of her drink. “So, tell me Meade, what do I do?”

  “First order of business is getting those kids to a safe place,” he said. “They’ve been through enough.”

  “And the second?” she asked.

  “Second is getting me back down to San Angeles. The professor has me taking out some very specific people. Maybe I can warn them or… hell I don’t know. I’ll figure something out. I always do.”

  “What do you need from me?” Sarah asked. “I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to help, but you know I’ll be there for you if I can.”

  Meade shook his head. “You’ve done enough. You pulled my ass out of the fire, and I’m grateful to you for that. You got lucky getting away. I can’t ask you to go any further.”

  “Bullshit,” she snapped back at him. “You called me for help and it was the right thing for me to do. I’ve got a feeling you’re going to need a lot more help before this is all said and done.”

  He nodded his thanks. “You’re a gem Sarah… sorry, Captain. You’re an absolute gem.”

  A second message chimed on Sarah’s armbar and she glanced down at it. This time, her face looked alarmed.

  “What is it?” he said, feeling his stomach sink.

  “Take a look at this,” she said. She waved the image up in front of them, and the video began playing on the holographic screen.

  It was the Coalition Secretary of State, Rex Mercer, looking none worse for the wear, speaking with a reporter about the explosion at his penthouse apartment.

  “I thought you said you killed him,” she said grimly.

  “I did,” he said, watching her display in disbelief. “That must be the second phase of the professor’s plan. He’s replacing the people I’ve killed.”

  “Then we had damn well get to work,” she said. “I’ll have my second officer take the children to a safe house. What are you going to do?”

  He pushed the brim of his hat up. “I’m going to get reckless.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  The Fifth Column

  Sarah’s fast attack dropped him off on the Venusian docks, leaving him behind. He watched her ship leave, grateful for having a friend like her.

  He opened his armbar to find a message from Emeline waiting for him.

  “HEADING TO HOTEL ROOM. LEARNED SOMETHING INTERESTING. PING ME LATER.”

  He typed on his armbar, letting her know he was on his way. The indicator light blinked, which acknowledged she read the message.

  He waited for her reply, but it didn’t come. He frowned, unsure whether meant anything, but he couldn’t spend time worrying about her.

  Meade was about to walk toward the hotel when he was suddenly grabbed from behind. He yelped, but any further cries were stopped by a hand covering his mouth. He tried wrestling with his attacker, but it was no use. The grip holding him was too strong.

  His attacker began dragging him back into a nearby alleyway, and he tried kicking and punching his way free. But his attacker anticipated his every move and kept him from escaping their grip.

  A few moments later, he found himself pushed up roughly up against the alley wall, the wind going out of him.

  “You should be nicer to friends who have come to help you,” the voice hissed.

  Meade tried shaking off the cobwebs after his head slammed into the wall. If this was how his allies treated him, he really didn’t want to see what his enemies did.

  “You’re gonna need to be more specific,” he managed after a moment.

  The hooded figure drew back and pulled the cloak away from her face. It took Meade a moment to recognize who it was that had assaulted him.

  “You’re Palmetto’s bodyguard,” he managed after a moment. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “Helping you,” Gabriella replied crossly. She studied Meade with an intensity that made him feel as if she were examining his soul. “You created quite a mess earlier.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I heard,” he replied, rubbing the back of his head. He looked his assailant up and down. “Well, if you’re not here to kill me, what do you want?”

  “Palmetto sent me to assist you,” Gabriella said, a snarl at the edge of her voice. It was clear this was not h
er decision. “He thought I could be… of use to you.”

  “Where were you three hours ago?” Meade said. He checked his fingers for blood and was pleased to see there was none.

  The woman ignored his dig. “You managed to kill one of the Coalition’s most powerful men. Kudos to you.”

  “It didn’t take much effort,” Meade said. He looked at her, suddenly struck by a thought. “It was too easy for me to get that close.”

  She stared at him blankly and he realized what that meant.

  “You were there,” Meade exclaimed, putting it together.

  “I wanted to see what you were doing,” the National Directive woman said, turning her back on him. “The diversion looked like it would be useful to you.”

  “And disabled the video feeds,” he grunted in appreciation. “I owe you twice over it sounds like. Once for the cameras and once for the guards. After what I saw, I figured Mercer had the habit of dismissing his guards while he did his thing.”

  “Not an unreasonable hypothesis,” she replied. “But it appears the corruption ran deep in that department.”

  “So, you’re not mad at me?” he asked, feeling slightly shocked. “I figured you were here to arrest me and bring me in on charges.”

  “Your incarceration is not in line with my employer’s goals at the moment,” she replied.

  “Well, la-di-dah for me,” he replied, the sarcasm thick in his voice. “Guess I should be grateful for small favors.”

  “Yes, Mr. Meade, you should be grateful,” the National Directive woman stared at him with her cool grey eyes. “In addition to sending me to help you, Ambassador Palmetto has arranged for you to see some particularly crucial intelligence he believes would be useful.”

  “Oh yeah?” Meade asked, his hostility growing at the mention of Palmetto’s name. “What in it for him?”

  She extended her palm and opened it, offering a data card to him.

  “This is everything he knows about Professor Benson and Dr. Hahn’s operations.”

  “And what does Palmetto want?” Meade said, eyeing the data card in her hand.

  “He told me to remind you that the enemy of his enemy is his friend,” she said.

  He looked up at her and grimaced. Whatever the Ambassador was up to, free information wasn’t something he was about to turn down.

  “All right,” he said, taking the data card from her. “Tell Palmetto I appreciate the assist and if there’s anything I think he needs to know, I’ll be in touch.”

  Gabriella grunted, and then turned on her heel to walk away and leave him behind.

  “Hey, Gabriella,” he called out after the mysterious figure. “We know each other, don’t we?”

  She stopped, and turned, looking back at him over her shoulder. “Mr. Meade, you would remember me if we had met before.”

  She stalked off into the night, leaving him with his jaw on the ground. He decided he liked her and felt fortunate she was on their side.

  For now.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Bigger is Better

  Meade walked toward his hotel looking forward to a hot shower and a warm bed, but he wanted to see what was on that data card first.

  He inserted the card and opened the files Palmetto had provided to him. He scanned through them, unsure of what he was looking for.

  Most of the files were financial in nature and it made clear that the professor and his wife were incredibly rich. Far richer than they let on. They owned far more than the massive Shangri-La colony on Mars. They were also the proud owners of several hundred-thousand acres on the Homeworld, properties in the orbital cities, dozens of developments on Luna and …

  He gasped when he turned the page seeing the extensive construction plans contained within the file. Apparently, among the many companies the professor and his wife owned, one of them was a shipbuilding outfit located near San Angeles, a few hundred-kilometers away.

  According to the intelligence he was looking at, the professor was using that space to build something big. Bigger than anything before.

  Curious, he began pawing through the files until he found one that gave him an overview of the project. Projecting the image above him, he gasped at the size of it.

  It was a ship – an incredibly massive one according to the blueprints. There wasn’t much information about the purpose of the ship, but it was easily the largest one Meade had ever seen.

  “Holy hell,” he whistled, looking at the blueprints. “What the hell is that thing?”

  Whatever it was, it didn’t look friendly. The amount of armaments and armor made this warship look like something out of nightmares.

  “Dreadnaught,” he whispered, looking at the name of the vessel. He shook his head and pinged Emeline. She needed to know about this.

  “Meade?” she asked, her face relaxing once she saw him. “Thank God you’re alive.”

  “We can thank Sarah actually,” he said, happy to see her face. “It’s a good thing she got there in time.”

  “I saw your message,” she said.

  “Yeah, forget everything. I was handed some new information about our friends, the Professor and his wife.”

  “Hang on,” she said, looking back on the bed, he could see a variety of files were scattered. She began pawing through them, searching. “I’ve got something on them too. Did you know they own a construction company here on Venus?”

  Meade smiled. She was already one step ahead of him. “Just learned that myself, thanks to of all people, Palmetto.”

  “Palmetto?” her face scrunched into disgust. “He came through?”

  “In more than one way,” he said. He recounted his encounter with the National Directive woman, omitting the name at the end. Emeline already had enough to think about, he didn’t need to add the fact the system’s most terrifying assassin was now on the tale.

  She rubbed her chin, thinking this over. “Send me the data.”

  “On its way,” he said, typing a few buttons.

  She glanced at her screen and began thumbing through the files. “Jim, there’s a ton of material here.”

  “Check the files named ‘Dreadnaught’,” he said, a grim expression on his face.

  She pawed through them until she found the one he referenced. She expanded the blueprints and her eyes went wide. “Jesus Christ, this thing is nearly two kilometers in size.”

  “They look like the generational ships the Coalition and Consortium have been touting since Rosetta,” Meade said. “But you can see there’s all sorts of guns and torpedo tubes that are definitely not standard issue. It almost looks like someone took the original plans for the generational ships and turned them into warships.”

  Emeline examined the plans in front of her.

  “Could be some kind fan art the professor was making,” she said, but she didn’t sound hopeful.

  “He look like the artistic type to you?” Meade asked. “I jus’ can’t figure on how they plan on crewing that thing. Something that size easily needs thousands of crewmembers.”

  “We know exactly how they’re crewing them,” Emeline said, staring at him with patient disappointment. “It’s those cloning vats. They probably have acres of them working to create all the meat puppets they need to staff that thing.”

  Meade felt his stomach drop, knowing she had to be right. The professor could use his cloning vats and neuro-resynchers to create a literal unending supply of experienced staff for his Dreadnaughts.

  And all of them would be under his control.

  “Creepy shit,” he said shaking his head. “Em, we’ve got to find and destroy those things before they launch.”

  “I like the way you think,” she said smiling at him through the viewscreen. “Blowing things up is my second favorite activity.”

  “Yeah well, if we ever want to get back to your first favorite activity, I need to get back to my target list,” he said.

  She blushed and then cleared her throat.

  “Fair enough. Y
ou get cracking on the next name on your list. That should keep the professor and his wife off our backs,” she said. “Meanwhile, I’ll take a trip up to over to their shipbuilding outfit to see what I can find out. According to the timeline, three of them have been constructed. One of them is supposed to be coming to San Angeles for the treaty renewal. The other two are still in the Venusian shipyards before they launch for shakedown trials.”

  Meade looked up, realizing his bubble-car had finally arrived back at the hotel.

  “I’m home,” he said. “Let me get settled and I can call you before I go to sleep. That good?”

  She drew herself up and quickly brushed something away from her eye.

  “What?” he asked, looking at her concerned.

  “Nothing,” she said, her voice sounding small. “I’m not going to sit here and torture us by saying something like I badly wish your arms were wrapped around me right now. Just go back to your room, take a cold shower and think about all the ways you’re going to make up for this sexual drought of ours when all this is finished.”

  He smiled at her through the viewscreen.

  “Ok darling,” he said. “Let’s go take on tomorrow together.”

  She grinned. “I love it when you get romantic.”

  “Sleep well honey,” he said, missing her more than ever.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” Meade replied.

  She closed the connection and the display winked off. Meade swallowed and began moving into the hotel lobby.

  At least he had that cold shower to look forward to.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Sleep Tight

  Emeline was right, the hotel they were staying in was top of the line – especially the shower.

  Water on Mars wasn’t exactly hard to come by, there was plenty underground and the industrial recyclers kept it pure enough. But unless you lived in one of the elite towers located in A Block, the pressure and heat one experienced depended wildly on your neighbor’s shower schedule.