Mindguard (28 page)

Shocking: The
fulcrum on which the political stability of the IFCO spins has unexplainably
disappeared. In an unprecedented event, Thomas Liam Anderson, High Commander of
the Enforcement Unit, has not been seen or heard from in over 48 hours. Sources
within the Parliament and close to the Council of Presidents have confirmed
that the Commander missed several meetings and his staff refused to offer any
explanations regarding his absence. All attempts to gain information about his
whereabouts from the Enforcement Unit spokespersons have been met with silence,
leading to speculation about the Commander’s well-being. Join us tonight on
Impartial
Interrogation
to uncover the truth behind the Commander’s mysterious
disappearance as well as the way in which it affect the future of the IFCO.
Special guests: historian Mike Vernon and Andrada Romaine, Councilliary Aid to
President Igor Zhukov.

Commercial for the
political talk-show
Impartial Interrogation
with Rone Wilson, aired 2326

“Maclaine Ross
is dead.”

The words echoed
in his mind for a long time. The terrible truth of their message was the
culmination of a really bad day.

For Alex, the
last few hours had been a test of physical and mental endurance. The enforcer
who had waited in his residence on Tagatha 3 managed to easily overpower him
and place his hands in neurocuffs. He used a highly advanced personal transporter
to generate a Muench-Henriksen gateway right in the middle of the small room,
and they both stepped through it. Nobody would notice that Alex was gone; that
thought terrified him. He knew that the enforcers presumably stood for justice
and freedom, that he normally had no reason to be afraid, since he hadn’t done
anything wrong, but he also knew what many people were saying about this
military, whose influence was expanding beyond the boundaries of justification.

They
rematerialized in what looked like the arrival chamber of a spacecraft. There,
they waited a few minutes, before entering the departure chamber, which took
them to another spaceship. The process was repeated two more times. When they
reached the last ship, something about the ambiance of the place told Alex that
he was very far away from Tagathta 3.

They were met by
an older man with a goatee, who ordered Alex to follow him. The young mindguard
obeyed, bumping along the narrow, claustrophobia-inducing hallways of the small
vessel. They reached a holochamber where a bearded man studied a number of maps
and other holoscreens which displayed unrecognizable data. He made no sign that
he was even aware of Alex’ presence. A door at the other end of the room slid
open, revealing a woman of extraordinary beauty. If he were not trembling with
fear, Alex would have been very attracted to her. Her demeanor suggested that
she had the authority to decide his fate. The goateed man saluted her and she
responded.      

“Ma’am,” he
said.

“Dismissed,” the
woman said in a melodious voice, never taking her eyes off Alex. The old
enforcer turned around and hastily left, leaving Alex alone with her and the
map-gazer. 

“My name is
Field Unit Commander Tamisa Faber,” she said.

Alex was
surprised she took the time to introduce herself. He said nothing. What could
he even say?  ‘How lovely to meet you’? Anyway, she didn’t wait for a
reply and just continued talking. Her voice was not threatening, but everything
else about her was.

“Alex Lea,
you’ve worked in the position of Junior Mindguard for Ayers-Ross for several
months. Recently, you have been granted access to a briefing session concerning
the delivery of an information package designated AR16997418.

“I’m not telling
you anything about the mission,” Alex said and immediately regretted it. He had
meant to be brave but his survival instinct quickly took over and scolded him
for his imprudence. The woman remained calm.

“We already know
everything about the mission, Mr. Lea,” she said in a patronizing tone. “That’s
not why I brought you here.”

“Then?” he
asked, trying to sound as calm and detached as was possible under the
circumstances.

“You were not
supposed to be part of the mission and yet they’ve allowed you to sit in on the
briefing session. That’s not standard procedure for Ayers-Ross and you were
merely a junior mindguard. Why did Maclaine Ross include you?”

 “I… I
admire Sheldon Ayers,” he said cautiously. “The whole reason I joined
Ayers-Ross was so that I could study under Sheldon Ayers.”

“Go on.”

“Sheldon was
semi-retired, he almost never took part in active missions anymore.”

“Yet, he took
part in this one.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know
why?”

The woman
sounded like she already knew the answer. She was testing his truthfulness like
you would  a small child.

“The client
asked for his services specifically.”

“And why did he
accept?”

“I don’t know.”

 “All
right, continue. The briefing session…”

Alex hesitated.
He hated the way the woman spoke to him, like he owed her the answers, like she
was so certain that he was going to do what she said. But what other choice did
he have? For a few moments, he thought about demanding some answers himself,
but he decided he probably wouldn’t get them anyway and he would just make the
enforcers mad. He sighed.

“Well, since I
hadn’t yet gotten the chance to work with Sheldon, I guess Mac wanted to make
it up to me by allowing me to observe him as much as possible.” 

“Is that your
mindguard
deduction?” She was mocking him but he refused to get caught up in her game. “Yes,”
he answered coldly, “that is my
mindguard
opinion.”

The woman turned
to the bearded man and looked at him as if to say ‘See, I told you’. He made
short visual contact and then returned to his data.

“You also had
coffee with Sheldon Ayers on that day, didn’t you?”

“I did, yes. We
got to spend some time together.” At the last second he refrained from adding:
‘What’s it to
you
?’

“So it’s all
about Sheldon Ayers then, isn’t it?” She displayed a cryptic smile.

“He is the
greatest mindguard in the world, perhaps in history,” Alex said.

“Indeed, he is,”
the woman whispered, with an absent gaze. “All right, you’re going to help me
track down Sophie Gaumont!” 

Alex let out a
loud laugh. He had planned it to be derisive, but it somehow came out sounding
like the giggle of a little girl.

“You think I’m
going to sell out Mac?”

Then came the
decisive blow:  “Maclaine Ross is dead.”  She said it with cold
hatred, but also with a hint of pride. At that moment, Alex hated her like
nobody before.

“You… you killed
Mac? Why?” he barely managed to articulate.

“Patience, Mr.
Lea, you’re going to get all the details… now that we will be working
together.” 

“What?” he
shrieked. “Screw you! All of you! I don’t know what the hell this is, I don’t
know what Anderson thinks he’s doing, but I’m not playing along!”

At the mention
of Commander Anderson, the woman and the bearded man exchanged a quick glance.
Its significance remained a mystery to Alex. He felt like wanted to strike her
but he wisely didn’t.

“Are you done,
Mr. Lea?” she asked. “Can I trust that you will remain calm long enough for me
to give you the information you desire?”

She interpreted
his silence correctly as a sign of submission, and continued speaking: “We
intercepted Ross’ team right here on Noriado2.”

“Wait, we’re on
Noriado?” Again, Alex was shouting. He looked around the room terrified. He was
in the desert? The woman seemed annoyed at having been interrupted, but she
remained calm.

“Yes, we’re
still on Noriado. As I was trying to say… we intercepted the team. Maclaine
Ross is dead, so are Jason Elden, Isabel Mensah, Simon Bayles and Luther
Brinks. The other two are under Enforcement Unit detainment.”

“You killed my
team?”

“They are no
longer your team, Mr. Lea…
we
are!”

“You’re insane,
who the hell are you? Since when do the enforcers practice kidnapping?”

“Alex…” Her
voice was now soft and sympathetic. “I understand your frustration, and your
loyalty to Maclaine Ross is certainly something the Enforcement Unit respects,
but that loyalty is misdirected.”

For the first
time, the bearded man shifted his focus away from the holoscreens and spoke.

“According to
Paragraph 7, Chapter 29 of the Transportation Law of 2321, only
government-issued information can cross the borders of the IFCO. No man is
allowed to cross private information. Any information that leaves the confines
of the IFCO is considered political and thus relevant to the government and the
Council of Presidents. Maclaine Ross was made entirely aware of this by his
legal advisor, Kriss White. By accepting this mission, Maclaine Ross knew that
he and his team could be accused of aiding in treason against the Federation.”

“Treason?” Alex
shouted. His whole body was drenched in cold sweat. “That can’t be, there must
be a mistake!”

“There’s no
mistake, I assure you,” the woman said. “Maclaine Ross knowingly withheld this
information from his entire team. The very fact that we are having this
conversation should confirm that I am telling the truth.”

“I -”

“This man was
undeserving of your loyalty. He was undeserving of the loyalty of Jason Elden,
Isabel Mensah, Simon Bayles, Luther Brinks… and Sheldon Ayers. Alex, I know
this is hard to accept. I can grant you some time to let it sink in, but not a
lot. Please understand, the Enforcement Unit has no secret agenda. We are
simply trying to stop the transportation of unauthorized information which
could pose a threat to interstellar security.”

“I don’t -”

“I know it
doesn’t make sense right now, Alex. Are you aware of Maclaine Ross’ personal
history, of his father’s political affiliations?”

“What? No, what
affiliations?”

“Alex, I need
your help.”

“You killed my
team you crazy bitch!”

The woman kept
her composure. “We acted in self defense. Your team also killed a member of
mine.”

Alex could see
in her eyes that she was telling the truth. She let him study her face for a
few moments, never taking her eyes off his, then she continued: “In this
encounter, in which we
both
have lost team members, Sophie Gaumont and
Sheldon Ayers managed to escape.”

Alex’ eyes
widened. Sheldon and Sophie were on the run? How had they managed to escape
this incredible army that had apparently taken out even Maclaine Ross himself?
His mind was looking for answers, racing to connect the dots.

“Prototechs,” he
said, louder than he had intended. “They’re both prototechs. They escaped and
you can’t find them. That’s why you need my help, to track them down.”

“That is
correct,” she said, with a smile that suggested she was satisfied with his
conclusion.

“I won’t,” he
answered. “I’m not afraid of you. I’m not afraid of any of you. I won’t help
you take down Sheldon Ayers… or Sophie…”

Tamisa’s smile
widened. “You’re in love with Sophie Gaumont,” she guessed. He didn’t reply but
he couldn’t help blushing. 

“Alex,” she said
softly, “we have reason to believe that Sophie is not aware of the true purpose
of the mission. We suspect that her father deceived her and that this mission
is a danger to her
and
the well-being of the IFCO. Neither Sophie
Gaumont nor Shedon Ayers are criminals as far as the Enforcement Unit is
concerned. We hold Horatio Miller and Maclaine Ross responsible and consider
Kriss White an accessory. We intend to prosecute Miller and White accordingly.
But first, we must stop this information package from reaching its destination.
It’s true, because Sheldon and Sophie are prototechs, we cannot detect them. We
know from the mission files that their final destination is Carthan but we have
no way of locating them once they are on the planet, at least not in time to
stop them. That’s why I need you. I know Sheldon will take charge. I need you
to think like him, I need you to try to predict his movements. Get inside his
mind. You have my personal guarantee that no harm will come to either of them
as long as they don’t pose a direct threat to any of my men.”

Alex was torn.
He cared about Sophie and he idolized Sheldon Ayers. This was his chance to
help save them before it would be too late. Unless the woman was lying. He had
no reason to believe that anything she said was true. But why would the
enforcers even be involved in this if it wasn’t?

“I’m telling the
truth, Alex,” she said. If he weren’t a mindguard, Alex would have thought she
had read his mind.

“Alex, use your
intuition, use your amazing intellect.”

She came closer,
so close he nearly expected her to kiss him. His fear dissipated and he felt
incredibly attracted to her. From this close distance, he could better see how
stunningly beautiful she was. Her dark eyes were deep, intelligent and wild.
They revealed a person who was, at the same time, unhinged and very composed.
Her lips were full and feminine, lips that could as easily kiss as they could
give the order to kill. He could smell her perfume.

“Tell me Alex,
am I lying?” she whispered. “What does you instinct say?” He looked at her for
what seemed like an eternity. “No,” he decided. She nodded as if to say ‘all
right’.

“Stay here and
collect yourself for a while. Timekeeper Kernis will give you access to our
files on Maclaine Ross, so you can convince yourself that I’m telling the
truth. Read about his family history, specifically about the actions of his
father, Jensen. Perhaps then, things will make more sense. You’ve got an hour,
then we need to get to work, all right?”