Teleport This (21 page)

“What’s going on?” asked Simon as he and Lyn entered the bridge.

“We were being followed by Macnair’s goons, but this ship is equipped with a cloaking device and we’re sneaking away undetected.”

“How cool is that!” said Simon. “You know, if we told this story to any of our friends they’d just say that we took a bunch of sci-fi show episodes and tossed them in a blender with the Maltese Falcon.”

“Now that you mention the Maltese Falcon,” said Gilbert, “did we ever verify that the Nurridium was really Nurridium.”

“Of course we did,” said Ellie. “Didn’t we?”

“Holt said it looked like Nurridium,” began Talia, “then we decided to go to Monti’s and Holt was supposed to put it back in the rock just in case we needed to dump it fast, but he put it in the storage locker instead.”

“You’re basing all this on something Holt said?” asked Jon.

“Hey, people were attacking us over it. It has to be real Nurridium,” said Talia. “What else could it be?”

“Maybe a decoy to keep everyone busy while the real Nurridium is secretly being transported by other means,” said Simon. “It happens all the time in the movies.”

“The movies aren’t real life,” said Ellie.

“It has been lately,” said Simon. “At least for us three.”

22.

“Hello,” said Jon in a somewhat singsong voice as he received an incoming call.

“Hello, lover. Miss me?”

“Alicia, is that you? How are you able to get through to me?”

“I hacked into your device while we were on Earth and you were sleeping.”

“But it’s supposed to be hack proof.”

“Aren’t you cute? Of course it is, but it was, so it isn’t.”

Jon looked up to see everyone staring at him. They had just arrived back on the freighter. “It’s Alicia and from the sounds of her I’d say her implants are overloading.”

“You and your sister have something that belongs to me,” continued Alicia, now a video of her appeared above Jon’s device as he switched it to speaker phone. “Something very valuable.”

“What in the world would you want with it?” asked Jon. “You already have enough money to go out and buy a planet of your own if you wanted to.”

“But I don’t want to go out and buy a planet,” countered Alicia. “I have a perfectly good planet right now and I want to keep it. Keep it all to myself.”

Something is definitely overloading, thought Jon. “What about dear old Dad and the rest of your family?”

“They can stay,” said Alicia, “as long as they bow down to me as their queen and ultimate ruler.”

“Who’s being cute now?” asked Jon.

“I’m tired of all this running around and traveling in spaceships. My tan’s beginning to fade. I’ll pay you well for the Nurridium, no strings attached. It’s a good deal, you should take it.”

“And if we don’t?” asked Jon.

“Oh, I’ll probably kill someone, I suppose.”

“You’ll have to catch us first,” reminded Jon.

“Well, that’s the thing, you see I’ve already caught someone. Why do you think I’m calling?” At that point the picture panned back enough to include Jenny Wilson.

“Mom?” exclaimed Gilbert. “Is that you? Are you okay?”

“Hello, Gilbert,” said Mrs. Wilson. “I’m fine. Is that Lyn I see?”

“Hello, Mrs. Wilson,” said Lyn with a little wave. “I’ve found Gilbert.”

“Thank you, dear. Is this the woman you described on the phone? I must say, I really don’t approve.”

“Enough, please,” said Alicia. “I want my Nurridium and I am willing to trade.”

“Well, she’s not my mother,” said Ellie, “and I’m the one with the Nurridium so you better plan on sweetening the deal with that cash you mentioned a few minutes ago.”

“Finally,” said Alicia. “Someone that wants to talk business. How many of you are there, eight? I’ll transfer five hundred thousand to each of your accounts. Hell, I’ll even put up another five for Jenny here, but I want what’s mine.”

“Give us some time to think it through,” said Ellie. “We need to agree on how and where we make the trade so we’ll all stay safe. And that reminds me, your boy PJ shot up my ship so I’m going to need more than five hundred to cover repairs. You better make my cut a mil.”

“Fine,” said Alicia. “Just remember Jenny here. I’m going to take a nap and eat some dinner so let’s get back in touch with each other in four hours. I’ll be expecting your call.” And with that the video disappeared and the call ended.

“Hang on a second,” said Jon as Ellie began to speak. “Where can I quarantine this?” He was holding his device as if it had the plague.

“I’ll take care of it,” said Franco. “I’ve got a portable containment chamber in my lab that will keep it quiet. You can work on it from there as well.” Franco took the device and left the lounge.

“How did she get my mother?” asked Gilbert.

“She was on Earth and she hacked into my device,” began Jon.

“And you used it to send Mrs. Wilson an email,” added Simon. “She must have come across that, put two and two together and decided to snatch your mom before leaving.”

“That sounds like Alicia. She doesn’t like to leave anywhere empty handed, but she usually limits herself to what she bought shopping,” said Jon.

“Do I have to remind you that we’re talking about my mother?” said Gilbert. “What are we going to do? They’re expecting an answer in a few hours.”

“Franco,” called Ellie over the ship’s intercom, “have you verified that the Nurridium is really Nurridium?”

“Of course, that was the first thing I did after Holt identified it.”

“Right,” said Ellie, giving Simon and Jon a ‘see, we know what we’re doing’ look before continuing. “Since Jon’s device was compromised, there’s a good chance they know where we are so we’ve got to get moving just in case they decide to make another run at us. Talia, move us off to a new spot, but keep us close to this main sector.”

“Right, chief,” said Talia as she left for the bridge.

“The rest of us will work on a plan to spring Gil’s mom,” said Ellie.

“I’ll get the tequila,” said Lyn.

“Captain,” Talia’s voice came over the intercom. “We’re receiving a signal. It’s coming in on the secure channel we set up with Monti.”

“What the hell, put it up,” said Ellie. A screen appeared at the opposite end of the lounge. Macnair’s head loomed large inside it. They could see Monti sitting in the background, his head still wearing the harness attached to the brain melting apparatus.

“Hello again,” said Macnair. “And Jon, I see you’ve decided to join the party.”

“What do you want, Macnair?” said Ellie.

“Same as last time, nothing has changed.”

“But I think things have changed,” said Ellie. “We’re here, you’re there and who knows where poor old Monti is.”

“Like I said last time we met, don’t worry about Monti, worry about me.”

“But that’s just the point, isn’t it?” asked Ellie. “We are worried about you. Poor old Monti thought he could trust you and look at him now. How are we supposed to trust you?”

“You can trust me to hunt you down and kill you if you don’t give me what I want.”

“It’s a big universe,” said Ellie.

“You’re right, you are absolutely right,” said Macnair, sensing he needed to take a different track here. “I don’t want to go to all that trouble and expense and mess. I want to make a deal, something that suits us all. I’m not a hard man to do business with.”

Tell that to Monti, thought Ellie. “There are eight of us. We want five hundred thousand each.”

“Four mil? I’m not one to bicker when the price seems fair.”

“And you forget about my brother.”

Macnair grimaced and for a moment Ellie thought she had bumped the price too far, but then Macnair smiled and simply said, “Done.”

“We’ll get back to you within four hours with a meeting spot and time. And Macnair, we want you there personally, just to ensure that everyone plays nice.”

“Absolutely. As you know, I’m a hands-on type of employer. Until then,” and Macnair’s image dissolved into the air.

“What the hell did you just do?” asked Jon.

“What about my mom?” screamed Gilbert.

“Pour the tequila, I have a plan.”

23.

Talia docked the small spaceship at the very tip of the Dahana space station. They had reserved a very specific area that, among other things, would allow their ship a quick getaway.

Jon had contacted Alicia earlier, “We’ve decided to make the swap at the Dahana space station.”

“It will take us about three hours to get there,” was Alicia’s response.

“Bring Mrs. Wilson, a Nurridium sensing device and be prepared to transfer the money into our account when we make the swap. The Palace is the best hotel on the station so I’m assuming that’s where you’ll stay. Once you check in, we’ll contact you with further instructions.”

“No games, Jon.” Alicia ended the transmission. She then turned and spoke to Jamal. “What do you think about that?” she asked.

“Perfect,” he said. “Our man lives there and can organize whatever help we need.”

A few minutes later, Ellie made a similar call to Macnair, “We’ve decided to make the swap at Dahana.”

“It will take us about four hours to get there,” was Macnair’s response.

“Bring a Nurridium sensing device and be prepared to transfer the money into our account when we make the swap. Do you have a favorite hotel there?”

“The Plaza.”

“Great. We’ll contact you with further instructions after you check in.”

“I hope you’re not planning anything too elaborate. I prefer things simple.” Macnair ended the transmission and turned to Hal. “What do you think about that?” he asked.

“Perfect,” he said. “You own half of the station. No problem getting any extra muscle if we think we need it. Plus the Feds have no jurisdiction there. They can’t even enter it.”

The hours passed and each party arrived. Instructions were sent detailing the meeting location. Ellie had selected a remote and little used location on the tip of the station. It was a conference center shaped like a pizza cut into three slices with the back of each room on the outside rim where the crust would be and the tip of each slice opened to a common middle area. Ellie had been there recently for the annual Freighter Captains’ Symposium.

“So what do all you captains discuss during the symposium?” Gilbert asked.

“We used to spend a lot of time discussing trade routes and cargos, but then we realized everyone was lying to keep their business’ safe and all to themselves so the focus shifted towards operational systems, reliable replacement parts and service centers. Stuff like that. We network together just like any other industry.”

“There has to be more to it than that,” said Franco. “It usually takes her a couple days to recover.”

“Hey, we’re spaceship captains, not gardeners. We work hard and we play hard. We also sympose hard.”

“Pardon me,” said Franco, “but most of your time is spent watching the navigational computer work. And don’t knock gardeners, I know a few that would kick your ass. Just admit that it’s an excuse for you to get together with your captain friends and complain about your crew and customers.”

“I admit nothing. Now let’s get set up for this party.”

Ellie, Talia and Holt were waiting for Macnair and his gang in conference room A while Jon, Gilbert and Simon where waiting for Alicia and her entourage in conference room C. Their spaceship was docked behind conference room B with Franco in the driver’s seat and Lyn guarding the airlock.

Macnair and his crew entered conference room A. Ellie was sitting on the crust side of a conference table while Talia and Holt stood behind her with their weapons ready. Macnair took a seat opposite Ellie.

“No need for all the fuss,” he said.

“I like fuss,” replied Ellie. “Are you ready to make the transfer?”

“Yes, but I don’t see any Nurridium. Not only that, but I brought the sensing equipment as you requested and nothing is registering. Is the Nurridium here?”

“Yes, it’s here,” said Ellie. “It’s nearby, but it’s in a containment chamber set up to mask its signature so your equipment can’t sense it. In a moment I will disable the masking signal and you will be able to verify its existence and location. At that time you will transfer the money into my account. If you fail to transfer the funds or make any contrary move, the containment chamber will emit enough antimatter to disintegrate the Nurridium.”

“You would destroy a fortune in Nurridium?” asked Macnair.

“In a heartbeat. That thing has been nothing but trouble since we found it and I’d be well rid of it. I’m keeping the containment chamber armed until we’re away, then it’s all yours. If you come after us, I’ll disintegrate it all. You’ve seen the specs on this piece, it’s fifty times bigger than anything else ever found and you’re paying a fraction of its net worth.” Ellie saw the green light flash on her panel, indicating that Jon and his team were ready to go. She disengaged the masking signal and Macnair’s sensing equipment lit up like a rocket. “A smart man would pay the bill and collect his purchase. Are you a smart man?”