Box

by Richard J Lowe

  Reims joined Conway at his screen. The report was showing inconsistencies in an old accident report relating to the Maddock family. ‘Odd. Run a more detailed analysis.’

  ‘On it.’ Conway returned to his chair and started to work.

  Reims left him to it and went to get the drinks. By the time she had returned with two steaming cups of coffee, Conway was looking at the analysis results with a perplexed look on his face.

  Reims put his coffee on her desk. ‘Anything interesting?’

  ‘Interesting. You could say that.’

  Reims pulled her chair over to his desk and sat down next to him. ‘What is it?’

  ‘The accident report is for Mrs Maddock’s mask accident six years ago.’

  ‘She was a councillor right? I think I remember that on the news.’

  ‘That’s right. Well, the report’s been altered after being filed.’

  ‘Spellcheck probably,’ said Reims. ‘You know accident investigators can’t spell for shit.’

  ‘It’s more pervasive. Whole sections redacted and the rest with major alterations.’

  ‘Crap. Who filed it?’

  ‘That’s where it gets weirder,’ said Conway.

  ‘Who was it?’

  ‘Reynolds.’

  Reynolds had been forced to retire around five years ago after some sort of mental breakdown. Reims slumped back into her chair. ‘Well, shit.’

  ‘What is this?’ asked Conway.

  ‘A world of shit, that’s what,’ said Reims. ‘Has our search been logged?’

  ‘Logged and the results filed and flagged,’ said Conway.

  ‘Shit.’ Reims felt the word really applied to this situation.

  ‘What’s the problem?’ asked Conway.

  Sometimes Reims wished she was as clueless as he was.

  ‘We’ve just uncovered a cover up,’ whispered Reims.

  Conway glanced around the office at their fellow ColPol officers. Nobody seemed to be paying them any attention. He also dropped his voice to a whisper. ‘Shit.’

  Reims kept her voice low. ‘Now you’ve got it.’

  ‘But who?’ asked Conway.

  Reims assumed this was rhetorical. ‘Does it matter?’

  Conway rubbed his face with his hands. ‘We could just ignore it.’

  ‘We could.’ Reims realised she couldn’t. ‘Is that what you want to do?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Let me know when you make your mind up.’

  Conway stared at his screen for a few moments before responding. ‘We can’t ignore it, can we?’

  ‘That’s decided then.’ Reims rolled her chair back to her desk. Having made this decision, she felt a tingle of nervous excitement. They would have to keep this investigation off the system and work on it quietly under the cover of the artefact case. The artefact case. She groaned out loud.

  Conway looked over with a worried frown on his face. ‘What? What is it?’

  ‘We’ve got a meeting with Smith this afternoon. He wants a progress report.’

  ‘That won’t take long,’ said Conway glumly.

  ‘One advantage of having achieved sweet F.A. I suppose.’

  The progress report had gone as well as Reims had expected. Badly. The chief was obviously still getting leaned on, and all the shit was rolling downhill. After the pair of them had been lambasted and generally made to feel incompetent by Smith, she headed home in a foul mood. Conway would presumably continue worrying about what they had found once he got back to his wife and kids. Reims considered family an impediment to doing good police work.

  Back at the hab, she was greeted by the familiar smell of people and food. Josie and David were sitting at the kitchen table with a plateful of beans each.

  ‘Hi there Lucy,’ said Josie in between mouthfuls of food.

  David looked at his plate, avoiding looking at Reims. He had been on the receiving end of her temper after last weeks progress report and hadn’t said a word to her since. Reims supposed she would have to apologise at some point. Not now though.

  ‘Any of that left?’ asked Reims.

  ‘Sure, help yourself.’ Josie nodded to a blue ceramic pot on the side.

  Reims ladled a helping onto a plate and sat down at the table with the others.

  David, having finished his beans, got up and dumped the plate into the dishwasher. ‘I have to get to work.’

  ‘See you later, Dave,’ said Josie.

  Reims found it easier to just nod at him as he left the room and headed for the airlock.

  ‘You’ve not been home much lately.’ Josie’s statement carried an implied question.

  ‘Been busy.’

  ‘We’ve been worried about you, Lucy.’ Josie put her hand on Reims’s arm. She resisted the temptation to shrug it away.

  ‘Don’t be.’

  ‘We...I care about you. You know that?’

  Reims looked up into Josie’s blue eyes. They almost seemed to glow under the hab-lighting. She felt a slight thrill at the continued contact of the woman’s hand on her arm. Josie occasionally shared her bed and Reims knew that Josie wanted more from her. She had been deliberately keeping the relationship on a superficial level emotionally but Reims decided that now was not the time to keep her at arm’s length.

  ‘You, uh, free later tonight?’ asked Reims.

  Josie smiled and squeezed her arm. ‘I’ll come see you after my shift.’

  ‘I’ll be sure to set my alarm.’

  Josie leant over and kissed Reims on the cheek. ‘I’d better bounce. I’ll be seeing you later.’ She winked with an exaggerated suggestiveness.

  Reims watched Josie go, appreciating the way she filled her coveralls. It would do her good to have a bit of human contact. Maybe it would help her forget the shitty mess she had found herself in. Or maybe she could use her evening to look into that dodgy accident report.

  After finishing her beans, she retreated to her bedroom. After setting her alarm for fifteen minutes after Josie’s shift ended, she switched on her personal screen and loaded up her AI.

  Three hours later, she had her answer. Webb. Of course it was Webb. He had used privileged council AI access to modify the reports. The arrogant shit hadn’t done a very good job of covering his tracks; he had even put his name in the comment section of the AI directive file he had used.

  Webb’s picture occupied the centre of her screen. She had pulled up his file and read all about his rise to power. It was suspiciously full of promotions after his superiors met with unfortunate accidents. She should probably run those accident reports through the same process.

  That would have to wait for tomorrow. She had an appointment in the morning that she wanted to keep.

  Hours later, as the sun was rising above the rocky red mountains of Mars, Reims woke up for a second time; this time unaided. She lay on her side watching the gentle rise and fall of the bedclothes covering Josie. Arm’s length. Who was she kidding? Reims swung her legs out of the bed and stood up, being careful not to disturb the other occupant. She stretched, got a whiff of her armpit and pulled a face. Then, after planting a tender kiss on Josie’s forehead, she left to use up some of her water allowance to wash away the smell of sweat and sex.

  CHAPTER 32

  Kevin pushed his hat up off his face so he could see Simone.

  ‘Did you hear what I said?’ she asked.

  ‘Sort of.’

  ‘What did I say?’

  ‘In that case. No.’

  Kevin was gently swinging side to side in a hammock which was strung between two steel poles by the shore of lake Crystal. They had started naming things after the first new immigrants from Earth had arrived to form a settlement which was known as ‘New Hope’. He wasn’t sure how many people got the reference to an ancient movie. The gentle warmth from the sun coupled with the rocking motion had aided his now habitual afternoon nap. Simone had disturbed that by coming to talk to him.

  Simone tutted. ‘I said, we have to go
back to Mars.’

  ‘What?’ Kevin attempted to sit up in shock, but failed due to the physics involved with lying in a hammock. ‘Hang on, let me get out of this.’

  Extricating himself from the hammock he put his bare feet onto the short grass. Technically, it wasn’t grass; it was native to Kev’s world and its short blades were a deep blue/green. Simone had been talking about performing a chemical analysis to see if it would serve as grazing for terrestrial animals. That plan seemed to be on the back burner.

  Kevin wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. ‘Now. What the hell do you want to go back to Mars for?’

  ‘Revenge.’

  ‘Ah.’

  Simone’s hands were clenched into fists. ‘I tried telling myself it was for the good of the colony. Freeing the people from the oppression of the council.’

  ‘And it isn’t?’

  ‘It is. Slightly. Mostly though, it’s revenge. Webb needs to pay for what he’s done.’

  ‘You’re not going to find me disagreeing with that,’ said Kevin.

  ‘You’ll help then?’

  ‘Of course,’ said Kevin.

  ‘We can’t let Dad know.’

  ‘Of course.’

  Kevin looked over at the shelter they had built for their father. It was last in a row of four at the edge of the settlement close to the lake’s shore. The dark-blue door was closed. He had been keeping to himself the last couple of weeks, only sojourning out of his hut to get food and ask for more painting materials.

  ‘I’m worried about him,’ said Simone.

  ‘He’s probably worried about you.’ Kevin couldn’t be sure about this; he hadn’t had so many monosyllabic exchanges with his father since he was a teenager.

  ‘I know.’

  ‘Do you have a plan?’ asked Kevin.

  ‘Yes, I do,’ said Simone.

  * * *

  ‘You all set?’ asked Simone.

  Connie nodded. She was wearing a tank-belt, mask, and therms with a maintenance patch on the arm.

  Kevin finished adjusting his mask. ‘Ready.’

  ‘Are you sure Bannon will help?’ asked Simone.

  ‘As long as all we’re asking is for him to pass this on to ColPol, yes.’ Kevin held up a flash drive.

  ‘I’ll start bringing the box here on the hour in two hours time. That should give you enough time to get to Bannon and back again.’

  ‘We’re ready,’ said Kevin.

  ‘Good luck. Box, open the door.’

  Kevin and Connie stepped out of the Box and onto the surface of Mars.

  ‘We need to go this way.’ Kevin pointed through a natural rocky arch over a path through the rocks ahead. ‘We should be able to pick up the road and get to a public rover park in under an hour.’

  ‘Why here?’ Connie looked around, taking in the desolate rocky scenery. There were no habitats in sight and theirs were the only boot prints on the ground.

  ‘Dad used to come out here to paint. He would let us run around playing Colonists and Martians while he worked.’

  ‘Which were you?’ asked Connie.

  ‘I always got to be the evil martian,’ said Kevin.

  ‘And Sim was the heroic colonist?’

  ‘You got it.’

  ‘Suits her,’ said Connie.

  The going got easier when they reached the hard packed dirt of the road, and they soon reached the rover park. This was the first risk they had to take: using Lula’s cuff to use a public rover. Kevin held the cuff up to the rovers access panel and there was an audible click as the lock opened, allowing them inside.

  ‘That’s a relief,’ said Kevin.

  He swung himself into the driver’s seat and performed a quick check of the rover systems. ‘All looks good. Batteries even have a full charge.’

  Connie looked at him from the passenger seat. ‘What are you waiting for? A written bloody invite?’

  Kevin grinned as he flipped the switch that brought the rover’s engine to life. ‘Hang on, here we go.’ He purposely poured on enough power to spin the wheels in the grit of the rover park before sending the vehicle speeding down the road towards their destination.

  They arrived at the water mine as Kevin’s colleague Laurie was loading the dig-units in her charge into the elevator. They got out of the rover and Kevin opened one of the vehicle’s service hatches and poked around inside, pretending to be doing something constructive. He breathed a sigh of relief when Laurie didn’t pay them any more attention than a quick glance.

  He watched the dig-unit’s file into the elevator and start their descent, and then closed the service hatch, the subterfuge no longer required. ‘We’ve timed it almost perfectly. Bannon should be out in about fifteen minutes.’

  ‘How do you wear these things for so long?’ Connie was fiddling with the strap on her mask.

  ‘I have to admit, it has been nice not having to wear one outside back home,’ said Kevin.

  ‘You just referred to Kev’s world as home.’

  ‘We really need to pick another name,’ said Kevin.

  Connie’s laugh sounded tinny through the mask speaker. ‘I like it. Besides, everybody is used to it now.’

  ‘We could have called it something cooler.’

  ‘Perhaps. I like Kev’s world though. Reminds me of when I first met you.’

  ‘Me or Sim?’ asked Kevin.

  Connie rubbed at the mask strap behind her ear. ‘Both of you.’

  Kevin nodded towards the elevator. ‘Here they are.’

  Several figures emerged from the elevator and scattered, heading for their rovers. Kevin saw that Bannon was heading in their direction. Not entirely surprising. After all, they had parked next to his vehicle.

  Bannon was unlocking the rover when Kevin and Connie approached him. His eyes widened as he recognised them. ‘Jesus, Kev.’

  ‘Hi, Bannon,’ said Kevin nonchalantly.

  ‘What the hell are you doing here?’

  ‘I missed your wit and charm.’

  Bannon threw a look over his shoulder. ‘Get in the damn rover.’

  Once all three were inside, away from prying eyes and ears, Bannon let out a stream of creative cursing.

  ‘Watch your mouth, there’s a lady present!’

  There was a chuckle from Connie in the back seat. ‘Don’t mind me. I’ve heard worse.’

  ‘Seriously, Kev. They’re watching me,’ said Bannon.

  ‘Then it will be easy to give them this.’ Kevin held up the flash drive.

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘This is everything Lula found on my Mum’s accident.’

  ‘I don’t get it.’

  ‘It wasn’t an accident,’ said Kevin.

  Bannon’s brow furrowed as he processed this information. ‘Then what? Who?’

  ‘Sabotaged equipment. Webb.’

  ‘Who?’ asked Bannon.

  ‘He’s some big-shot scientist and councilman.’

  ‘Shit. So what’s that got to do with me?’

  ‘I want you to give this to someone in ColPol.’

  Kevin carefully watched Bannon, trying to gauge his reaction. The man remained silent as the seconds ticked by.

  ‘Alright.’ Bannon held out his hand. ‘Your mum was good people, Kev.’

  Kevin let out the breath he had been inadvertently holding. ‘Thanks.’ He placed the flash drive in Bannon’s outstretched hand.

  ‘That’s it? We’re done?’ asked Connie.

  ‘Yes.’ Kevin put his hand on Bannon’s shoulder. ‘Good luck, Bannon.’

  Bannon was looking at the flash drive resting on his palm. ‘Yeah. Thanks. Guess I’ll give this to Conway. He seemed okay.’ He pocketed the drive and activated the door release. ‘Now, get out of the rover before ColPol comes and arrests all our asses.’

  CHAPTER 33

  Reims was on her way to the ColPol building when her cuff’s alert went off. She pulled over and tapped the icon to access the message. It was from the
AI that had been monitoring known associates of the fugitives. Dimitri Ivankov’s wife, Lula, had taken a public rover. It didn’t take long before Reims had a location: the water mine. She was almost on top of it.

  She spoke to her cuff. ‘Call Conway.’

  The call went to voice mail. ‘Lula’s popped up on the network. I’m going to the water mine to check it out.’

  The rovers motor whined into life as she turned the vehicle in the direction of the mine and hit the accelerator. This was the first progress in the case for weeks. Damned if she was going to sit around waiting for Conway to make an appearance. She set the public rovers tracker to appear on her rover’s satnav.

  Reims wondered what Dimitri’s wife was doing at the mine. That’s where she’d last seen Dimitri, tasing him moments before she got sucker punched. She slowed as she approached the rover park, hoping the dust from the road obscured the ColPol markings on her vehicle.

  She checked her taser had a full charge, slipped out of the rover and approached the parked vehicle. It was empty. Reims quickly scanned the rover park making sure that nobody was watching her. Satisfied she was unobserved she used her ColPol privileges to activate the door release without changing the current registered user and climbed into the back seat of the rover. Then she scrunched down so she wouldn’t be visible when Lula returned and settled down to wait with her taser at the ready.

  Reims’ cuff lit up with an incoming call.

  ‘Shit.’

  It was Conway. She quickly switched her cuff to ‘do not disturb’. She could talk to him later.

  The door release clicked open and Reims readied her taser. Two people entered the rover and closed the door. The one in the passenger seat was a woman. That must be Lula.

  ‘I have fifty thousand volts pointed at the back of your head. Raise your hands and don’t even think about trying anything.’

  The two occupants of the rover obligingly stopped moving and raised their hands.

  ‘Reims?’ asked the man in the driver’s seat.

  Reims recognised that voice and felt a thrill of triumph. ‘Kevin Maddock? You have got to be shitting me.’

  ‘I shit you not. It’s me,’ said Kevin.

  Reims savoured the words as she spoke them. ‘Kevin Maddock, you are under arrest, again, for unlawful appropriation of colony property and absconding from colony police custody.’