Teleport This (12 page)

“I went with escape course gamma,” said Talia. “I had no idea where either gamma or delta would take us, but I assumed that Franco had something in mind that would help us with our cargo. Looks like we’re heading towards sector C368.”

“Hmm, that’s actually a good choice,” said Ellie. “It sends us into a somewhat populated area of the universe. Lots of choices on what to do next. Depending on what we got, we can either sell it outright or fence it. Not bad. Now all we have to do is figure out what we got. Any thoughts?”

“We picked up a lot of freight, it will take some time to go through it all,” Franco said. “We’ll start with the last bit loaded under the assumption that they would want to get it off right away when we land. Did they seem to pay more attention to any specific part of the loading?”

“Not that I noticed,” said Ellie.

“Alright then, we start at the front and work our way back. Gilbert, you’re with me on this one,” said Franco and the two of them headed out of the bridge and proceeded to the cargo hold.

“Why would they sneak something on the ship?” asked Gilbert as they walked. “Wouldn’t they just hire a smuggler if it was illegal?”

“They could, but you have to remember that smugglers are crooks and need to be paid well so they don’t steal the stolen cargo. All this leads me to believe that we’re carrying something worth a real lot and it couldn’t be trusted to your average smuggler. Now someone on the inside at the mining station must have tipped off someone else and they decided to come after us.”

“Okay, I got all that, but how would we be able to sell it legitimately?”

“That’s the beauty of it. It wasn’t listed on the manifest. All we’re responsible for is the ore. Now depending on what it is, we’ll have to make up a convincing story as to how it came into our possession. That’s why it might be easier to unload it on a fence. Even better if we could discover who PJ was working for and cut a deal with them directly.”

“So how do we find the chunk of rock in question?”

“We’ve got geological scanners on board that should do the trick. We’ll outfit a few robots and have them go through the cargo. Something should register other than plain old ore.”

It took under an hour to set up the robots with scanners and put them to task. They started by positioning them in equally distant locations and performing a general scan of the entire cargo bay to see if any one area had a different reading than the rest.

“It all looks pretty much the same,” said Gilbert looking at the results with Franco.

“Right. Well, we can start at one end and work our way through, examining every piece or take a stab at a few specific locations.”

“Still thinking that close to the door is a likely location?”

“Yup. Any spot you want to place a wager on?”

“Dead center. Hardest for us to get at and well shielded by surrounding rock.”

“You’re on. Flip a coin to see where we start.”

The robots started to analyze the dead center location by deploying remote sensors that crawled through the rock and positioned themselves on the inner most area.

“Look at that piece,” said Franco pointing to the analysis screen.

“Big piece of rock, but not the biggest.”

“Look at those edges. There on the right.”

“I see what you mean, there’s a bit of the same thing over here on the left.”

“Computer, analyze this piece and report on the composition of the edge areas here and here,” said Franco as he touched the screen.

“External sensors can only penetrate a few inches into the specimen, but it seems to be uniformly iron ore. The edge areas you highlighted show a break in the rock and it actually extends around the entire piece, indicating that it may be two pieces sealed or fused together. I’m deploying a micro-probe into the joint area. Now detecting trace amounts of bonding materials. Looks like this thing has two distinct components that were glued together so that a reactive agent could be applied and the two pieces separated.”

“Do we have something here that would act as the agent?” Franco asked.

“Yes, sir,” replied the computer.

“Then let’s dig this thing out and open it up,” said Franco.

Getting to the rock was easier said than done. The cargo bay was full so the easiest way to get to it was to stop the ship, go to weightlessness and move half the freight out into space. Then the rock in question was moved into a holding chamber and the cargo bay was reloaded.

“Why didn’t you just dump the freight?” asked Talia. “Don’t tell me you’re thinking of delivering it?”

“Who knows?” said Ellie. “Whatever’s inside that rock might turn out to be worthless. I wouldn’t want this job to be a total loss. Still saving up for those shields, you know.”

A short time later, Ellie and Talia joined Franco and Gilbert in the holding chamber. “We used hypersonic sensors and discovered that there’s a small chamber inside the rock,” Franco explained. “We drilled into the empty top section and inserted a probe. There’s no electronics or booby traps in there, just something fairly dense that I can’t get a read on.”

“Any radioactivity?” asked Ellie.

“Nope,” said Franco.

“Any way there could be something alive in there?” asked Talia.

“Have you been watching scary movies again?” said Franco. “Of course there’s nothing alive in there.”

“Thoughts, recommendations?” asked Ellie.

“I think somebody hid whatever it is in this rock real quick and I don’t think that they had a lot of resources available,” said Talia. “I think it was a one or maybe two man job. They cut open the rock, shoved this thing in and sealed it up. I don’t think it required any special handling. I say bust it open.”

“Franco?”

“I agree,” said Franco. “There’s no residue or other type of evidence that points to anything strange going on here. We’ve already exposed it to our atmosphere by cutting into it. I don’t think we’re running any risks opening it.”

“Okay, do it,” said Ellie. Franco applied the solvent and the rock opened. Two robots lowered the smaller half to the floor exposing the hidden chamber and its contents.

“Anyone have any idea what that is?” asked Ellie.

“Nope,” said Talia.

“Not a clue,” said Franco.

“From here it looks like a fancy bowling ball,” said Gilbert as everyone turned to look at him. “You know, the kind with the swirling colors going through it.”

Holt had just finished reloading the cargo and entered the room. “Hey, where’d you get that big chunk of Nurridium from?” he said.

“Nurridium?” said Ellie.

“Nurridium?” said Franco.

“Nurridium?” said Talia.

“So we’re not going bowling?” said Gilbert.

“What makes you think it’s Nurridium?” asked Ellie.

“I saw a show on the science channel the other night,” said Holt. “The biggest piece ever found was just larger than a marble, but that’s exactly what it looked like when they enlarged the picture. I bet that thing is worth some cash, huh?”

“What exactly is Nurridium?” asked Gilbert.

“Nurridium is like space gold,” said Franco. “All these wicked funky elements must be in the same area just the right distance from a star and then wham! The star goes supernova and Nurridium is made. Impossible to be manufactured, only found in space. The force of the supernova will send it flying into space at about two-thirds the speed of light so it’s impossible to calculate where it might be found.”

“What is it used for?” asked Gilbert. “Jewelry?”

“No, this stuff has a very functional application. Cut just the right way, one of these crystals can focus and amplify an energy beam a gazillion times. Little flecks smaller than a grain of sand are used in guns to turn the juice from a couple of batteries into something that can cut through metal.”

“And something this big?” asked Ellie.

“If we could cut it and attach it to the ship’s reactor, we could put a hole in a planet.”

“Aren’t there laws governing the discovery of this stuff?” asked Talia.

“Anything bigger than a grain of sand is supposed to be turned over to the Feds,” said Ellie.

“I’m guessing they don’t pay well,” said Gilbert.

“Just a finder’s fee worth a fraction of what we could get if we sold it on the black market,” said Ellie.

“They also offer life in prison if you’re found with it in your possession or selling it without a license,” said Franco.

“There is that,” said Ellie. “For something this big we should be able to negotiate an amount more substantial than their standard finder’s fee. We need a middleman to act as our go between and set up a deal.”

“They’ll want a cut,” said Talia.

“Sure, a small percentage,” said Ellie. “The rest of us all get equal shares, agreed?”

“Define equal shares,” said Talia.

“Gross minus costs divided by five, I guess,” replied Ellie.

“Five?” Talia raised an eyebrow at Gilbert. “We’ve been working with you for years and he’s only been here a few days. He’s not even a member of the crew. We could take him back to his home planet after we cash out and make him a rich man there using his own currency at almost no cost to us. Hell, we could all kick in a little and set him up an account out here so if he ever does come back this way, he’s got enough to get himself started. No offense Gil, but you don’t live out here and a reward in universal currency is no good to you on Earth.”

“And just how would you make me rich on Earth?” asked Gilbert. “Hack into a banking system and make me a millionaire? That’s great until I’m arrested for fraud. Or what, fill my closet with diamonds or gold bars? We all know I’d get myself killed trying to sell that stuff. Thanks for thinking of me, but I’m fine as is.”

“Now hold on a second,” said Franco. “I think Gil deserves a cut. Ten percent feels about right, agreed?”

“I’m okay with that, that’s what I was saying before,” said Talia.

“Agreed,” said Ellie and Holt.

“Thank you,” said Gilbert. “I feel very touched that you’re including me.”

“We just don’t want you selling us out ‘cause you’re not getting any,” said Holt, trying to be helpful.

15.

Agent Tomas spent a fair amount of time that night thinking about the best way to locate Jon and Alicia before going to bed. He had put together an intricate plan while sampling the beverages in the honor bar and was mildly surprised that next morning when, in the light of day, the plan still seemed to make sense. He took his time getting ready for the day and barely made it down in time to still get breakfast.

After finishing breakfast, Tomas began searching the local hotels for Jon and Alicia. He was at it all day and came up dry. He returned to his hotel for dinner and was in mid-chew when he noticed Jon sitting a few tables away. Oddly enough, he felt mildly disappointed; his own hotel was at the bottom of his list.

Like any animal sensing danger, Jon’s head came up from his paper and surveyed the room. Their eye’s met and Jon smiled. Jon stood up and walked across to Tomas’ table. Tomas stood up as well, not to chase after Jon since he knew Jon would not run. Jon was many things, but one thing for sure, they all had style. Jon walked over to Tomas and held out his hand.

“Agent Tomas, nice to see you. Are you enjoying Earth?”

“Jon, always a pleasure,” he said shaking hands and sitting back down. “Earth seems nice enough.”

“Have you tried the veal?”

“I haven’t had the chance as of yet.”

“That's probably my fault. Kept you busy, have I?”

“A bit and as to that, I think we’ll just collect Alicia and head back as soon as we can.”

“There’s a small problem with that. You see, I've lost her.”

“Excuse me? Lost her? I don’t think so.”

“It’s the truth,” said Jon. "She left a note yesterday morning while I was still asleep saying she was going to the beach and I haven’t seen her since. I spent last night and all day today looking for her.” Agent Tomas gave Jon one of those ‘come on, you can do better than that’ looks. “Really, that’s the truth,” continued Jon.

“We’re going to get Alicia, take her back home and then go after Macnair. I’ve got a plan.”

“Oh, great, you have another plan. Is it as good as your plan to hide me in the ICC? Because that worked out really well.”

“All this running around has given me an idea,” said Tomas. “You see, Macnair’s following your trail like a dog after a bone so I’m going to keep dangling you in front of him like bait on a hook for a bit longer and when he tries to grab you, we’ll grab him.”

“But I don’t want to be bait. Bait always gets eaten. I want to be something other than bait, some type of non-bait item. I want to be the fishing boat.”

“Look, if anyone’s the fishing boat, it’s me. If you can figure out how we can use someone else as bait then maybe you can be, I don’t know, the fishing rod.”

“Fishing rod, huh?” said Jon. “I think I could be the fishing rod. They hardly ever break. Wait, does that include the reel and line?”

“What does that matter?” asked Tomas.

“Look, I can be the rod and the reel, but not the fishing line. Definitely not the line. It’s too close to the hook and bait. Not only that, but sooner or later it gets tangled up and then you have to cut some of it off and throw it away. I don’t want parts of me to get cut up and thrown away.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Just trying to find out where I stand, that’s all.”

“Well, let me explain it in a way you can comprehend.” Tomas drew a little picture on his napkin of what looked like a cloud with a person in the middle. “See this? This is shit town and that’s you, dead center. You are the mayor of shit town. No boats, no rods or reels and definitely no lines. Understand?” Tomas spoke slowly, “We are not really going fishing.”

After dinner, Agent Tomas accompanied Jon to his room. “So she’s been missing for two days and you haven’t had any contact with her in that time,” he asked as he looked through Alicia’s belongings.

“That’s right. I checked all the local police and hospitals, but came up dry.”

Tomas entered the room and looked down at his device screen. It had been monitoring their conversation and was indicating that Jon was being truthful. Tomas wasn’t so sure.

“I’ll allow you to keep your device, but you need to sync it with mine,” said Tomas. By syncing his device to Tomas’, Jon’s device will become a subordinate remote component. He can still use it, but it reports directly to Tomas’ device.

“Sure,” said Jon, taking out his device and putting it on the table next to Tomas’. A few beeps and some blinking lights later and the two were integrated.

“Tell me,” said Jon, “how were you able to track me to Earth?”

“It was all in the ICC computer,” said Tomas. “I just had to dig for a bit to find it.”

Not likely, thought Jon. “But how did you get to Earth? I had disabled the teleport.”

“That kept me going for a bit as well, but I was able to bring it back online remotely from the ICC,” said Tomas. “Let’s get some rest. We’ll start looking for Alicia bright and early tomorrow morning. I don’t need to remind you that I’ll be awakened if you so much as get out of bed to pee.”

“Well, I do sometimes pee at night and since I prefer not to do it in bed, I’ll apologize now for disturbing you.”

“Goodnight, Jon.”

“Goodnight, Tomas.”

Agent Tomas awoke the next morning and quickly discovered that Jon had gone. Jon had left him a simple note that read, “Sorry, but I need some alone time.”

Tomas examined his device and, as he suspected, syncing with Jon’s device had the inverse effect making his device the servant, explaining Jon’s ease of escape. It took some time, but he managed to set his right. He ate a quick breakfast and proceeded to Jon’s teleport station in Simon and Gilbert’s original lab. He had already hacked into this teleport system when he first arrived and with any luck Jon was in too much of a hurry to notice or care. Tomas had embedded programs designed to track the use of this teleport system when he initially worked on it a few days ago. He was able to get into the teleport control program and discovered that Jon and Alicia had used this station to leave Earth just over two hours ago. He retrieved their destination codes and physically disabled the teleport by unplugging the control cables. Tomas then went to the backup teleport in Simon and Gilbert’s secondary lab. He smiled as he entered in the codes for the ICC. Everything was going according to his plan and the bait was back in the water - he just needed to keep up with it. Agent Tomas disappeared in a flicker of light.

Jon stepped out of the shadows and examined the teleport. Those sly bastards, he thought, meaning Simon and Gilbert, as he realized they had built a second teleport. He had suspected something was up since he knew that it was impossible for Tomas to have gotten the information about Earth from the ICC computer or remotely activate the other teleport.

People are always underestimating my talent, Jon thought. Earlier that evening he had easily found Tomas’ tracking programs and gave them enough false information to keep him planet hopping for a while.

Jon was preparing to disable this teleport as well, just in case he was underestimating Tomas, when the teleport received an incoming signal and brought itself online. A moment later, Jon found himself looking at a surprised Simon accompanied by a young woman.

“Jon!” screamed Simon.

“Hello, Simon.”

“This is the guy we were looking for?” said Lyn with one arm around Simon and the other waving in the air. “And he was here waiting for us? I love this guy!”

“Where have you two been? And what have you been drinking?”

“We were on this space station and we were drinking this stuff that’s red in the bottle, then it turns green when you pour it into your glass, but you know what the really strange part was? It was blue when you piss,” said Simon. “Did you piss blue?” he asked Lyn. “I was pissing blue.”

“That’s Trapezian wine and you two are completely done in. Well, you’re lucky you arrived when you did, I was just getting ready to shut this station down. I’m sorry to say it, but we’ve had a run-in with the law.”

“Was it that Agent Tomas guy?” asked Lyn. “Is he a giant tool or what?” she said, accompanied by more arm waving.

“Simon, please introduce me to your traveling companion.”

“Don’t even think about trying to sweet talk me,” said Lyn as she walked up to Jon and began poking him in the chest. “You’re number one on my shit list.”

“Not surprising,” said Jon. “I am the mayor of shit town.”

“Jon,” began Simon, “this is Lyn. Lyn is a private investigator hired by Gilbert’s mother to find him. Lyn, this is Jon.”

Lyn gave Jon a nod and turned to Simon. “We were pissing blue? Damn, I would have liked to have seen that. First time I was jealous of a guy’s hands on approach to peeing. No, wait, that’s not true. I have been camping and I’ve always wanted to write my name in the snow. Third time.”

“Sounds like someone has a case of penis envy,” said Simon.

“Yeah, right, that’s something a girl wants, another thing sticking out of the front of her body. Like boobs aren’t enough.” Lyn looked down, “Even if I had a penis, I wouldn’t be able to see it.”

“As I see it,” said Jon, “we have two choices. Either I have three or four quick ones to catch up or you two have some coffee because I don’t think we can communicate as is.”

“First things first,” said Lyn. “Shut this puppy down so our buddy Agent Tomas can’t come back and spoil the party.”

“Right,” said Jon.

A short time later they were back in Jon’s hotel suite, exercising option one. Jon was filling them in with what went on while they were gone.

“So I had teleport number one set up to alert me if anyone began messing about with it so I knew right away when Tomas was in town, I just didn’t know how he got here. I didn’t think he’d come by ship, not really enough time to get here. I followed him around for a bit, that’s how I discovered the second teleport and then I let him catch up with me. Now I’ve set him off on a wild goose chase.”

“And this Alicia is really missing?” asked Lyn.

“Yes and that’s the strangest part of all. Now tell me what you two have been up to.”

“Well, we took teleport number two to the ICC and met up with Agent Tomas and grabbed this little gizmo before being sent back,” Simon said while taking his device out of his pocket.