OutReach Investigations, #1 by Keith D. Foote - HTML preview

Chapter 25

Chris was greeted warmly at Intergalactic Mining’s headquarters by Ms. Bishop as he entered her spacious office. The organization’s vice-president was a small-boned, attractive woman, with sharp, intelligent eyes. “Have a seat, Mr. Black. Ms. Firsov will be here shortly.”

Chris looked at the well-stuffed leather chairs. “Thank you, but I’ve been doing a lot of sitting lately. If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to stand.”

She smiled at him with her eyebrows raised. “As you prefer.”

Valery Firsov entered the office and registered surprise as she spotted Chris. The back of her neck tingled and her mind became fully alert. “Hi, Chris. What’s going on?”

Bishop responded, “Mr. Black has just returned from Belaria. He has uncovered evidence suggesting you have been involved in a number of crimes. Cloning, the theft of corbinite, and attempting to destroy a Belarian space station. Any comments?”

“I don’t understand. I don’t know anything about these crimes,” Firsov exclaimed, looking stunned.

“I came back from Ek-clar Station with a prisoner named Javis.” Chris suddenly realized he didn’t know Javis’ first name. “He was chief of security on Corbin III, and as I understand it, is your nephew. He explained your involvement with the corbinite theft.”

Firsov’s face went from light tan to grayish white.

Chris took no pleasure in the woman’s shock but continued, “It’s also my understanding you attempted to have Ek-clar Station blown up after you discovered some of the stolen corbinite was going to be used to destroy the Sanine home world. On top of all that, I believe you have been using cloned agents to do your dirty work for you.”

She sat down in one of the chairs and put her face in her hands. “I can’t believe Harold told you,” she mumbled.

Chris shrugged. “Being put into a state of hibernation by your agent, and left to die, didn’t exactly endear you to him. Also, it seems Raymond Ginyit managed to get him addicted to a narcotic. He was quite willing to tell us anything we wanted to know in exchange for the drug.”

Bishop suddenly spoke in a voice so filled with venom Chris snapped his head around to look at her. The look on her face froze him for an instant and he was glad she wasn’t speaking to him. “My daughter, Sharon, and some of her friends were traveling to Valencia while the theft was taking place. The thief took their ship and held the girls prisoner. She took the girls with her to Raymond Ginyit’s station where they would have been put into slavery if they hadn’t been rescued by this man and an ambulance pilot. Your criminal dealings have endangered both my daughter and the human race, and I plan to make sure you get the maximum punishment for your crimes!”

Walking to her desk, Bishop pressed an intercom button and said, “Security, I need you to escort Ms. Firsov down to your department and hold her until arrangements can be made to transfer her to U.N. police custody.”

After Firsov was taken away, Bishop shifted her attention back to Chris, and he was amazed at how quickly the woman could shift behaviors.

“We’ve made some inquiries with the League and with Belaria. Your story checks out completely, assuming your alias is Patient Hunter.”

“Yes,” Chris answered, mildly embarrassed. “That would be me.”

“You have the gratitude and appreciation of both myself and Intergalactic Mining, Mr. Black. I am especially grateful and owe you more than money can ever pay. Speaking of pay let’s discuss an appropriate settlement for the services you’ve performed. I assure you, I plan to see you’re paid well. You do understand Intergalactic Mining wants your experiences to be    confidential?”

To the best of his knowledge, the Terran news media had no knowledge of his experiences. No Martian laws had been broken, so he was under no legal obligation to inform his own government of what had transpired, and he wasn’t a Terran citizen, so he had no responsibilities to request a U.N. investigation. As long as no information was leaked to the news media, the whole adventure was strictly between himself and his employer, Intergalactic Mining.

“That’s part of my standard policy,” he said, “but before we discuss payment I was wondering if you could tell me what happened to Kelly Turner and the girls after we separated at Cavanaugh Station?”

“Certainly,” she responded warmly. “Kelly Turner is in the building. She can give you more details. I know they returned to Corbin III and from there flew back to Earth. Neither we nor the Terran Space Police have been able to find Cavanaugh Station, though we did locate Martha Apela. She was found inside a damaged space pickup with the body of a man named Dr. Philip Liechter.”

A curious sense of relief spread through Chris at the news of Liechter’s death. It was one concern he would never again have to worry about. “What will happen to Apela?” he asked.

“The doctors say they can’t repair the damage. They believe the best thing to do is to give her a mind scrub and start her on a new life. The only other option is to keep her in a mental institution for the rest of her life. We’re leaving the decision up to her relatives.”

“What about the Pam clones? What will happen to them?”

“I’m afraid it will be several years before they recover from the damage done to them. Aside from the plasmonic implants restricting their thinking process, they’ve suffered a great deal of physical and psychological abuse. Intergalactic will pay for their expenses for as long as it takes, but none of the doctors are willing to make an estimate about how long they’ll be in treatment.”

“What’s the status of Kelly Turner?” Chris asked. “She’s been thru quite a bit herself. I was hoping she could have the option of being released from her contract, with full pay, if she wants.”

Bishop looked at Chris curiously. “We’ve already discussed options with her. She’s agreed to return to Corbin III until we can find a replacement. She’ll be returning to her home world in about two months, with bonus pay.”

There was a momentary silence.

“Let’s discuss your compensation,” Bishop suggested. “We want this to be kept as quiet as possible and we’re prepared to be quite generous.”

Chris paused. They wanted to be certain of his silence and were prepared to pay for it. He knew what he wanted, but was afraid he would be asking too much. He gulped. “I’d like Intergalactic Mining to give me the Saint Marie, the ambulance used for my transportation. It will make a great little forensics lab and the ship itself would benefit my business incredibly.”

Bishop’s face froze as she considered the request. It was not something she had expected. To replace the ambulance would cost a little over 280,000 credits. Not small change even to Intergalactic Mining, but considering they had begun negotiations with Belaria for the sale of corbinite, certainly less than a twenty percent commission. In her mind, she lowered his bonus from 50,000 credits to 5,000, and then decided to drop the bonus entirely.

There would be some flak from the tightwads on the board of directors but nothing she couldn’t handle. They’d find some way to deduct the cost of a new ambulance from their taxes anyway. “We’ll pay you your daily fee, and transfer ownership of the Saint Marie to your name. I’ll trust you in honoring your client confidentiality policy,” she said with a smile. She understood how important a person’s reputation was in a small community like Mars, and had deliberately used the word honor.

“It’s more than adequate.”

“Good,” Bishop said. “I’ll make arrangements to have Kelly Turner sent up here. I’ll vacate and the two of you can use my office.”

“Actually, why don’t you have her meet me in the lobby. She and I can go out for a drink.”

That quizzical look appeared on Bishop’s face again. “All right,” she said.

Later, at a bar near the hotel where Kelly was staying, Chris said “It’s good to see you again. Fill me in on what happened after we separated.”

She smiled at him. “You mean after you went off on an adventure and left me to babysit a bunch of young women,” she said.

Chris laughed. It was not a response he had been expecting. “Yes. That’s exactly what I mean.”

“We made it back to Corbin III without a hitch. The yacht runs a lot slower than the ambulance, though. The girls were typical adolescent girls, driving me crazy with constant chatter. The Pam clones didn’t know what to do with themselves, and on the second day they started clawing at their skulls, like they were trying to dig a hole in it. I got worried and sedated them. After we got to Corbin III, I turned everything over to Henry Lee and slept for the next two days. Henry must have sent a report to Headquarters, because the first thing out of his mouth, after I woke up, was that I had orders to take the yacht, the girls, and the Pam clones back to Terra. From what I understand the United Nations sent troops to raid the Cavanaugh Station, but when they got there it was gone. I’m kind of hoping something went wrong and it was sent spinning into the galactic core. While we were on Corbin III, the doctor removed the implants from the Pams’ brains. On the trip here they were constantly touching things. The girls adopted them as younger sisters and started teaching them about the ways of the world. We got here and I’ve been meeting with lawyers and corporate types off and on for about a week. It’s exhausting.”

They laughed and talked for another half an hour. During the course of the conversation, Kelly non-chalantly asked if the St. Marie operated smoothly, without any surprises. She wasn’t aware ownership of the ambulance had been transferred to Chris.

“There were no problems. She’s a sweet ship.”

“Yes, she is,” Kelly responded, thinking the secrets of the St. Marie were safe.

Later, Kelly returned to her hotel and Chris took a cab to the spaceport.

Chris was feeling good. The ambulance was parked at the spaceport and he would be able to go directly to Mars, without having to wait for the next flight out.

I suppose it’s time to tell Melody and my close friends about my clone origins, he thought, considering his actions when he returned to Mars. Either they’ll continue being my friends or they won’t. I should introduce Homer to Chester. Chester will enjoy it and it will be good for Homer to get another perspective on human behavior. Also, Chester will be fascinated with the fact the League has criminals in spite of the their genetic modifications. Cultural and experiential influences must still have a lot of impact.

The spaceport was coming into view. Homer was on board the ambulance, plugged into the Internet and sucking up huge amounts of data from it. Chris was looking forward to going home. He smiled. It had been an amazing three weeks and he was ready for a little rest and relaxation before the Martian War Games began.

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