Edge World

by Michael Guinn

  Chapter 20

  Federation Agent Liam Smithe had to borrow an OSI patrol aircar as he had sent Amanda and the girls home in his aircar. Well, he would send this back by Investigator Townsead who had flown them home. As Liam was landing, he noticed a second aircar parked by the house but didn’t think much of it. Nor was he surprised when no one came running to the door when he announced himself. Probably all three of them were sound asleep after their ordeal. But where was Tracy. He was reaching for his weapon when Jacob Erickson stepped out from the kitchen with a laser aimed at Liam.

  “You are just in time Agent Smithe,” said Erickson, “I was wondering how I was going to get you to come here without a bunch of officers trailing behind. Please put your hands on your head and walk into the living room with your dear friends.”

  Liam did as he was told, wondering what had happen to Tracy when he didn’t see her in the living room. Amanda, Tamara and Kristina were sitting in a row on the couch with their hands tied before them. Amanda had the beginning of a large bruise on her face and Tamara was rocking back and forth as if she was in pain. A little way into the room Liam saw a boot and leg on the floor sticking out from behind the couch.

  “Oh, yes, I am afraid I had to kill your officer,” Erickson said when he noticed where Liam was looking. “She tried to draw a weapon on me and she was just not fast enough. I would have had to kill her anyway just as I will have to kill all of you. If I can make it to one of our warehouses to store the dried plants Professor Blake collected and make you disappear, it will give me the time I need to figure out how to get off this planet. I have enough to keep me alive for centuries and plenty left over to bribe my way where ever I want to go. I have most of the liquid funds of the Traders Association so there are places where I can set myself up as a king.”

  While Ericson was talking, Liam was looking around desperately for some way out.

  “Stop that moaning,” he said to Tamara who was moaning softly and rocking back and forth, hitting her sister in the side.

  “Humm, you know, maybe I will take one of you girls with for companionship. I am afraid you are too old for my tastes Amanda.”

  “You didn’t think I was too old before, Ericson,” Amanda retorted, when you tried to rape me.”

  “Ah, yes, well you were young then. I have always liked young women. Now, which one should I take? Maybe I should try them both out while you are watching. Would that suit you Amanda?

  “You are a perverted son-of-a-bitch,” Amanda spit out.

  At that point Liam, sensing what was going on, stomped his right foot hard on the floor. Ericson turned more sharply to face Liam.

  “What do you think you are doing,” Ericson asked. Perhaps I will just get rid of … Tamara, jerking into Kristina, pulled out the stunner from the back of her pants that the boys had given to them back in the village. Ericson had not bothered to search them, being girls, but just tied their hands. With a two-handed grip Tamara shot Ericson right in the back.

  “Good job Tamara,” said Liam over Ericson’s stunned body, it took me a minute to figure out what you were doing.”

  “Tamara told me what she was doing so I kind a slid over so it would be easy to reach,” put in Kristina.

  “Well, I better get some cuffs on poor Mr. Ericson before he wakes up,” said Liam, kneeling down to turn him over.

  “I don’t think you are going to have to hurry, Mr. Smithe,” replied Tamara. “That was a law enforcement stunner. I don’t know where the boys got them but they need to be thanked.”

  “Well I plan on thanking Ethan,” said Kristina. Maybe continue what we started in that hut.”

  “What was that,” their mother asked?

  “Oh, nothing,” both girls said together, blushing a little.

  “Doesn’t sound like nothing to me!”

  “That stunner probably saved all our lives so the boys definitely deserve a good reward,” said Liam. At this the girls blushed even more.

  “I am sorry about Townsead, she was a great officer,” said Amanda. Erickson found some way to get into the house. We saw his aircar but it looks just like our housekeepers so we didn’t think anything about it. He must have just broken in and not have had time to hide his aircar. I told our escorts that we were clear and they were needed back at headquarters. I am sorry now.”

  “You girls go up to bed and try to get some rest if not sleep.” Amanda said. “We will take care of everything down here.”

  “Just a minute,” said Liam, “Tamara, Kristina, you are to forget anything said about plants. By anybody. I mean it. No matter who says or asks about plants on this planet!”

  “What about Charlie’s plants. Can we talk about those,” Tamara asked?

  “No. Absolutely not. Not Charlie’s plants or anyone else’s plants. Do you understand?”

  “Yes Sir,” Tamara said with Kristina close behind her.

  At this point both girls scurried up to bed leaving Amanda and Liam alone with the body of Tracy Townsead.

  “I had better comm Headquarters and have a team sent over. There won’t be much to do as we have both body and killer in the same room,” Liam said sadly. “I will have to make sure the officers keep Ericson isolated and not allowed to talk to anyone until we debrief him” Liam shook his head and then put it in his hands. “This is getting way too complicated. I am not sure the Federation can keep their secrete much longer. Anyway, they will destroy all of the plants including the ones that were harvested. Dig them up, burn them, if there are no plants then it isn’t a problem to the Federation.”

  “What about Charlie, Liam. He was using those plants as part of his Senior Project. He knows what the plant looks like and what it will do.

  “I didn’t say anything while your daughters were here; they have had a rough enough day as is without adding more. Charlie was killed by some of Vera’s tribesmen when they found him picking that LL plant in the jungle. One of them will show us where tomorrow and we will recover Charlie’s body for a proper burial here in town. I suppose the girls will want to be present for the ceremony.”

  “I am sure they will,” replied Amanda. What did you do with the research team?

  “Nothing, yet. We are going to let them sit and stew for a couple of days. I am sure that Professor Blake is responsible for at least one murder if not more but it doesn’t matter. The Federation will take her for her role in the collection of the LL plants.”

  “That doesn’t seem much of a crime, Liam. Here she would probably be put to death.”

  “Yea, that doesn’t sound like much of a crime but the real charge will be violation of Federation Law. She will be sentence to the prison planet for life. And believe me that will be much worse than death. Probably her and Miguel Carlos will be the only two to be sentence by the Federation Court. The Federation Justice team should be here in two days and they will check everyone involved. That’s why I told Tamara and Kristina not to say anything about plants.

  “But if you destroy all of the plants what does it matter if someone knows about it,” asked Amanda?

  “It really doesn’t, but the Federation does not want anybody to be talking about any kind of longevity for humans.”

  About then a patrol aircar landed in what was becoming a crowded yard. Liam had turned off the security system so the officers could walk right in. They spared a quick look at Ericson, stunned and handcuffed then went over to where Sgt. Townsead’s body lay. They took off their hats for a second in memory and then they walked back to Ericson.

  “This the guy that shot Tracy, one asked?” At Liam’s nod the two officers grabbed the back of Ericson’s shirt and proceeded to drag him out the door, accidently knocking him into chairs, walls, and the front door. Liam shook his head for a second but didn’t say anything except to repeat the injunction to put Ericson in total isolation till further notice. He realized that Tracy Townsead was a popular officer and Ericson would pay for what he had done.

  Captain Santos also did not say anyth
ing to the two officers either. She was still in shock from nearly seeing one of her daughters mutilated by an insane woman. After the last two officers left with Tracy’s body she sat abruptly on the couch and put her hands to her face and began to cry. Immediately Liam went to her side and held Amanda while she sobed against him. After a while Amanda’s sobs subdued until they stopped and Amanda had cried herself to sleep. When she was sound to sleep, Liam laid her out on the couch and rummage out a blanket that he draped over her.

  Although Liam knew that there was urgent work to do at Headquarters, he didn’t necessarily trust the officers assign to watch over this house. He sat in a large comforting chair next to Amanda planning his actions the rest of the day. But the chair felt so good and the last time he had slept was…was …

  *****

  It was early the next morning when Liam, Amanda, Tamara and Kristina all woke at the sound of an enormous explosion. Liam was first out the front door, still dressed as he was the previous day, trying to reach OSI Headquarters. Once in the yard he could see a towering column of smoke down towards the warehouse district. Amanda quickly joined him.”

  “What in the world is that,” Amanda said leaning close to Liam and shivering a little.

  “Well, if I had to put money on it, I would guess that was someone connected to the conspiracy trying to destroy a stash of LL plants in order to remove some of the evidence of the existence of the drug.”

  Liam started towards his aircar while Amanda grabbed her gun belt hanging just inside the door and started running after Liam.

  “What do you think you are doing, Amanda, you need to be here to protect your daughters.”

  Without hardly missing a beat she turned to the two OSI officers sitting in their patrol aircar which was sitting on Amanda’s front lawn. “You two, go in that house and sit with your guns drawn. Let no one in except the two of us. My daughters are sleeping upstairs,” Amanda got out in a rush as she continued running towards Liam’s aircar, just managing to throw herself in before Liam took off.

  “Yes, Captain Santos,” they both said climbing out of their patrol aircar.

  “That should provide safety for the girls,” Amanda got out between breaths. Liam just shook his head.

  *****

  Even as Liam and Amanda approached the site of the smoke, it was dying off. There were a half dozen OSI as well as Militia officers already at the site, mostly just trying to get the on lookers back from the fire.

  “We are definitely not needed here and I am sure we will get a fine report from the Militia in due time,” Liam said a little sarcastically.

  When they got to headquarters it looked like a cat dropped into a nest of mice. Liam wasn’t upset about it much. This wasn’t the first operation of this size in which he had been involved. “ Don’t worry about how confusing it looks, Amanda,” Liam told her. “It will just take a little time. You have a good team of Lieutenants and the Federation men will have done this many times, so let them show you what they can do.”

  “All right, it is hard to do though. I have been Captain for only eight months and letting loose of the reins is difficult,” Amanda replied. “Or am I going to stay Captain, Liam?”

  We will discuss that tonight, Amanda. “Right now I want to interview Professor Blake. “Would you like to sit in,” he asked.

  “Certainly Liam. I want to see how Federation Agents work.”

  Liam laughed at that. “Which room has the best and most complete recording system? I know the Justice Team will want to see everything we have collected regarding these crimes, and more.”

  Amanda laughed. It felt good; she hadn’t had many opportunities to laugh lately. “All of them have good recording systems but they just installed a new system in room three that collects all data from a person sitting in the chair used with the system. They say it will pick up yes and no answers from the person in the chair even if he does not remember the incident himself.”

  “Sounds useful if it works,” said Liam dryly.”

  Amanda quickly gave orders to have Professor Blake brought to interrogation room #3. When she and Liam entered, Liam was impressed by the room’s setup. There was no table, only three comfortable look chairs with end tables by each to record the talks. Just before Professor was brought in, one of the officers from Central Dispatch came in and handed a comm slip to Amanda and then hastily left.

  “What is that, Amanda,” Liam asked?”

  “Something that doesn’t make sense. Officers at the explosion site warehouse report they found two bodies badly burnt, lying just outside the warehouse door.”

  At this point two OSI Officers escorted a middle- aged woman into the room.

  “Put her in that chair and stay here with her. Agent Smithe and I have something to discuss,” ordered Amanda. She then walked out of the room motioning Liam to go out ahead of her.

  “What is it, Amanda,” Liam asked quietly even though no one could hear them?

  “The comm said one of the bodies appeared to be Jacob Ericson and the other was in an OSI uniform.”

  “It was just about an hour ago that we saw him carried off to detention,” Liam protested.”

  “Well, we had considered that there may be a couple of officers that are crooked. After all, promising someone hundreds of years of life would make a very good bribe.”

  “So true…so true. We are down to Professor Blake and Miguel Carlos, that we know of, that is if indeed Carlos left the planet because of his involvement in the conspiracy and not for some other reason. Ok, let’s go see what Professor Blake is made of.”

  Liam and Amanda re-entered room three. Professor Blake appeared to be comfortable although her face and hands were cut and scraped until it looked like she had been fighting wildcats. Several of the cuts had apparently been so bad that stitches had to be used in several places.

  “You look like you had a hard time in the jungle,” Amanda said.

  “We knew if Vera had caught us the least we would get was death,” Professor Blake said calmly. We had been working around her and knew exactly what kind of person our Vera was. I personally watched, well, all of us were made to watch while she skinned person while she was still alive. Or a guess she was though she had stopped screaming much earlier.”

  Liam and Amanda took their chairs while listening to Professor Blake.

  “I guess that might encourage you in your flight from Vera and her crew. By the way, this is Federation Agent Liam Smithe. Liam, this is Professor Blake I think she is from the University of San Paulo on Terra if I remember right.”

  “Yes, you remember right, although I haven’t taught there for a number of years.”

  “Was it there that you first discovered the LL plant effects,” asked Amanda.

  “No, it was about ten or twelve years ago that someone from the Pharmetco Company contacted me in regard to some research on certain plants. They wanted me to come here and collect as much of a certain plant that I could and bring it back to the Company.

  It was a very generous contract they offered me, and I still did not have tenure at the University, so I jumped at the chance I hired a couple of grad students and we came here about nine years ago. We spent about two years looking for that specific plant but while we were looking, we found dozens of plants that fit the description.”

  “Sorry to break in on you Professor but could you give me the names of the grad students you hired and where they could be found,” asked Liam.

  “I have their names and address at the time I hired them in my records but right now all I remember was Mike, Jerry and I think Leon. I am sure they are long gone by now,”

  “Alright it isn’t important right now. What happened when you returned without the right plants,” asked Liam?

  “Actually, I did bring back the plant they wanted. We had samples of all the different plants we could find and one of them was the plant they wanted.”

  “The LL plant,” Liam said.

  “What is that, the LL plant,
” Professor Blake asked?

  “The LL plants? That is just what we have been calling it. The Long Life plants. Didn’t they tell you why that plant was so important?”

  Professor Blake grew quiet for a minute, looking down at her hands. “I suppose there is no use telling you anything but the truth. Yes, though they never told me about the effects of the plant I soon figured it out. I am a plant biologist after all. They did some testing on the plants; I wasn’t included in that. Then they gave me a particular plant and asked me to go get as much of it as possible, and to keep it a total secret. I guess they figured since I already knew about it that they would continue to use me. They offered me an enormous bonus if I could bring back five hundred pounds of the stuff and it didn’t matter if it was dried.”

  “Did you get that amount,” asked Amanda. She was letting Liam do must of the questioning as he had done this many time before but she felt she could ask questions and Liam wouldn’t mind.

  “We got several times that amount. We went back to where I vaguely remember finding the plant the first time. Indeed, we found a meadow completely covered with the plant. About half our plants came from that one meadow. The rest was in little patches a foot or so across. Very hard work. We got some of Vera’s people to help us as there was a particularly insidious vine that wove in and out of the plants and had to be pulled away from them.”

  “How did you get your team together,” asked Liam.

  “Everyone except Dr. Pierson I knew and was able to offer them a fantastic job with great money. Dr. Pierson was added to the team at the last minute and we figured he was a spy set by Pharmetco to make sure we got the plants back to them.”