Spectra's Gambit (8 page)

“Great idea,” said Spectra.

After cleaning up from breakfast we all walked down to the hangar where Nemesis was parked. Nanny met us as we approached and said, “Oh! You brought some more of your friends by! How wonderful!”

“Nanny, this is our team. We will all be living on board now,” said Spectra and introduced everyone.

“Living on board? Then you won’t need me to watch over Nemesis anymore?” Nanny asked with sadness in her voice.

“Oh, no, please stay! We would be glad to have your help with him,” said Spectra.

Nanny brightened back up and said, “Well then, let’s get everyone on board and find quarters!”

I chuckled as Nanny took over the situation. She got everyone on board and did the introductions to Nemesis flawlessly. She was unquestionably a great help, which left me wondering.
“Spectra, where has she been all these years?”
I sent to Spectra privately.

“Who? Nanny?”
she asked.

“Yeah,”
I sent.

“Well, I am not sure. I think in the Spirit Realm. To be honest, I don’t remember much about her coming or going from my life, but she contacted me a few weeks ago. She wanted to know how I was doing and all that. I think she was getting nostalgic. So when we met up with Nemesis and I realized he would need someone to take care of him, I summoned her,”
she sent back.

“She is great, and I think she will be a big help to us. How long can she stay?”
I asked.

“Until I dismiss her,”
sent Spectra.

“Do we need to pay her anything?”
I asked.

“No, silly,”
sent Spectra.
“She is a summoned creature.”

“That seems unfair. Can we not pay her with something?”
I asked.

“I don’t know. I never gave it any thought before. I will do some research and get back to you on that,”
she sent.

We spent the next two weeks poring over all the historical documents that still existed regarding the virus and the Cathratinairians. We extensively interviewed every member of the race who was currently awake and consulted with Shea, who moved to the station to help monitor Nemesis’ development and prepare for his upgrades. It seemed that since the outbreak of the virus not much work had been done over the decades to find the source. With all the remaining Cathratinairians in suspended animation, there was no concern over the virus spreading, and the collapse of the Empire had slowed, and even partly reversed, the advancement of medical knowledge, so the patients were just left to wait.

We were in our daily morning meeting recapping what we knew so far about the virus when Spectra suddenly called out, “Lice!”

“What?” I asked.

“That’s it! Don’t you see … oh, no! We have to talk with Doctor Leslie right away!” she said.

“Well, okay, but …” I began.

“No time! Let’s meet them in Doctor Hawthorne’s office!” she said as she grabbed my arm and rushed us off the ship.

“Jade, Kymberly, Saraphym: take the morning off,”
I sent.
“We will call you if anything comes up.”

While we ran, I sent a telepathic message to Doctor Leslie asking her to get Doctor Hawthorne and meet us in his office. Once we all arrived, Spectra pulled up some historical reports and said, “This is the model you gave us for the spread of infection based on historical accounts.”

“Yes, and it should be fairly accurate, as record-keeping at that time was excellent,” said Doctor Hawthorne.

“True, but it is limited to reports of symptoms, correct?” asked Spectra.

“Yes,” he answered.

“You told us that you believe the virus had a long dormant period before symptoms set in, right?” she asked.

“Yes,” he answered.

“So, this model actually starts at some point after the infection has already begun spreading through the race,” said Spectra.

“Correct, but we have no knowledge of the delivery mechanism, so that is the best we can do,” said Doctor Hawthorne.

“Lice!” said Spectra.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Unlike most races the Cathratinairians are completely covered in fur, and therefore have to deal with an annoying parasitic bug which we call lice. My race has the same problem; these tiny little blood-sucking creatures burrow deep in your fur and breed. What if infected lice were introduced into all the major population centers on their planet? The Cathratinairians are notoriously tribal; that is, they packed themselves tightly into a few cities where lice was a constant problem,” she answered.

“You might be on to something,” said Doctor Leslie. “Let me put a random distribution of infected lice into the computer and see what it would take to create a spread like that which occured.”

While she worked on that I asked, “But why the rush over here?”

“Because the Cathratinairians may be carrying infected lice, or more likely lice eggs, on them and that might cause a new outbreak of the virus,” said Doctor Hawthorne.

“Exactly!” said Spectra. “We might be waking them up and curing them just so that they can be re-infected later.”

“So, the bad guys infect some lice and insert it into the population centers, and the lice infect the Cathratinairians, but would that mean the lice would be killed off, too?” I asked.

“No, they are carriers only. The virus would not infect them,” said Spectra.

“Ingenious, really. While the virus definitely could spread through the air, having an additional infection vector of lice gives them more options. If the infection slowed down for some reason, they could introduce more lice or other carriers to help it along, especially since the virus would not be a danger for any non-Cathratinairian that might be transporting the infected creatures,” said Doctor Hawthorne.

“It works,” said Doctor Leslie.

“What?” I asked.

“If I use a multi-year dormancy and put infected lice in every city, the predicted spread pattern loosely matches what the historical reports say we saw,” said Doctor Leslie. “It is a far better match than aerosol alone.”

“Then if you will excuse me, I’d better get someone checking all the Cathratinairians for lice, and testing it for infection,” said Doctor Hawthorne.

“Wait; start with me,” said Spectra. “Since I am covered in similar fur, and I have spent time with them, it’s possible I might have picked up some lice.”

“Good idea, but we will have to check everyone on the station. Lice travels in human hair, too,” said Doctor Leslie as she ran her fingers through her long, full head of hair.

“But so many people have come and gone. If the lice are carrying it, then it could be out there already,” I said.

“Yes, which means we need to redouble our efforts at a vaccine; but before we panic, let’s see if we have a problem or not,” said Doctor Hawthorne.

Far from where Spectra, Dusty and the others were beginning lice inspections, an older gentleman dressed in the clothes of a successful businessman was seated at a desk working on a computer terminal. The office was an ultramodern affair with view ports scattered on various walls, showing different idyllic scenes that could not all be from the same planet. The entire office had the feel of being perfectly planned out. Every piece of furniture, every plant and light seemed to be placed in precisely the best spot.

The old man sat there completely focused on his work, but then for no apparent reason he stood and made a gesture in the air, which caused all the view ports to turn off. “Enter,” he said.

A rather plain-looking human with steel-grey eyes entered through the doorway and stood before him in silence.

“Speak,” said the old man.

“Henrick, it has come to our attention that Spectra has left the Wizard Kingdom,” said the steely-eyed man.

“Finally!” said Henrick. “Where has she gone?”

“Clear across the galaxy, it seems. Our spy did not know why, but Spectra, Dusty and some others have been seen in the Phareon System,” said the steely-eyed man.

“Phareon? That must be at least a hundred thousand light years from home for them. What are they doing?”

“They recently purchased a stealth cruiser from a local merchant and are staying at a neutral hospital station. The locals have believed the hospital to be a wizard outpost for some time now, but this seems to confirm it,” he said.

Henrick walked over to his view port and clasped his hands behind his back. For a long time he was still while the steel-eyed man waited. Time seemed to stand still as neither of them moved at all. Finally Henrick broke the silence. “After all this time I had almost given up hope that she would work out.”

“We don’t know that she has,” said the steel-eyed man.

“Who did they take with them?” asked Henrick.

“Three other spiritualists. No one of note,” he replied.

The old man turned and smiled. “So a group of spiritualists has headed out on its own, led by Spectra. This is wonderful news for us.”

“I don’t understand,” the other replied.

“Wizards don’t trust spiritualists, and they do their best to discourage any use of that power line, to the point that the majority of spiritualists will never even learn the basic powers of the spiritual line.”

“Are you implying that they left because they are disgruntled?” he asked.

“Or they were asked to leave; impossible to guess right now, but it is likely that Spectra is up to something, otherwise they would have taken more powerful magi with them when traveling that far from support,” said the old man.

“Dusty is still with her, and previously he has kept her from us.”

“Spectra is crafty, and she has always been the one in control. I believe Dusty does not even know what is going on.”

“We have a couple of operatives out that way. Should I tell them to try to make contact?” asked the steel-eyed man.

“No, not yet, but put a tail on them. I want to know everything that they do out there. They would not have gone so far without Vydor’s knowledge and probably even his permission, so they may very well be doing something for him. If so, I need to know what his interest is out there.”

The old man gestured at his computer and activated a three-dimensional map of the galaxy. Using various hand gestures he manipulated it until the Phareon region was centered in the display. “Ah, yes, that is right; one table was found out there.”

“Who destroyed it?” asked the steel-eyed man.

“I am not sure; Vydor just said that it had been dealt with. I detected the destruction from my vantage point in the Spirit Realm, but paid it no heed at the time.”

“It seems odd for that lone table to be so far away from the rest.”

“Yes. I suspect they felt the distance would keep it safe. Still, it might be good for you to investigate the site where the table was; see if you can learn anything from the ruins,” said the old man.

“How am I going to get out there? We don’t have a gate point,” he said.

“Of course we do,” said Henrick as he cast a spell and opened a gate.

The last time I had visited this bar I was bringing a gift for the leader of the Wolf Pack. That gift granted me some protection from the other patrons there, many of whom had personal reasons to want me dead. This time I was answering a summons from the Wolf Pack’s leader, and I could not guess why he had called me. What I did know is that when one of the most dangerous and powerful criminals in the quadrant calls a special agent to a meeting, something big is up.

The bar was in a space station in the middle of nowhere. The entire station was a haven for criminals and outlaws. It was unlikely any law-abiding citizen would even know about the place, never mind visit. If they did, there was a good chance it would be the last time they were ever seen. Fights to the death were common and there was no real law enforcement. There was only an uneasy truce, loosely controlled by the strongest and most feared of the criminals.

I walked up to his table, doing my best to ignore the room around us. Like the last time I had met him here, his two associates Fang and Claw were nowhere to be seen but I knew they would be close enough to intervene should I try anything stupid.

“Greetings, Special Agent Byron,” he said as I approached his table.

“Hello. I must say I was surprised to get your message,” I said.

“The last time we met you gave us a new set of blades,” he said, drawing
one of the swords from its sheath.

I had stolen the swords from the military and used them to trade with him for information, but when I gave him the swords they had each had a short, curved steel blade with a gold grip and were decorated with several colorful gemstones. The one he had just drawn
was long, straight and pure black from pummel to point.

“Yes, it looks quite different now, but works just as well. It appears that these blades pick up traits from their owners and change to match,” he said.

“Interesting,” I said.

“I must say, these blades are a true work of art. They cut right through most armor and are perfectly balanced. We have been very pleased with your gift,” he said.

“I am glad, but surely a ‘thank you’ card would have sufficed,” I said.

“Perhaps. I have information for you, information that I know you will need to act upon right away,” he said.

“Information always comes with a cost,” I said.

“Indeed. I believe that you will be useful to me in the future, so I am willing to let you owe me for this,” he said.

As always, he held all the cards in our negotiations. He knew very well that I would not turn down the information he offered, because he knew that I knew he would not have summoned me out here unless it was extremely valuable information. The problem was that it put me in his debt again, and he was the kind of man who would call in his debts when he needed them; nor was he the kind of man that you said ‘no’ to.

“You know that my ability to repay you is limited since I am, after all, on the side of the law,” I said. By right I should have been trying to find a way to arrest him, but I was not foolish enough to think I would survive such an attempt. Besides, it was advantageous having an underworld kingpin who saw me as useful.