The Orion Deception (16 page)

She drew a deep breath and then exhaled, trying to remain quiet. She steeled herself and resolved not to break down. It was her turn to look out for her brother, she had to be strong for him now. He was depending on her.

Lainne regained her composure and opened the stall door, casually holding the folded up pants and shirt in the plastic bag from the gift store. Luckily, the only other women in the bathroom were occupied in stalls and no one saw her thrust the plastic bag into the trash can on her way out.

She walked out into the bustling terminal and headed toward the floating restaurant above the food court. A fast moving sidewalk moved her past the array of shops and kiosks in the busy terminal selling everything from clothes to food to alcohol from exotic places throughout the System.

The sidewalk stopped in the food court with nearly fifty restaurants and food stands in a large circular shape with a cafeteria style dining area in the middle. At the center of the dining area were a pair of anti-grav elevators ferrying travelers up to the restaurant high above the milling crowd. The food court was situated beneath a great dome rising high into the air and giving the restaurant goers a spectacular view.

But Lainne was too nervous as she stepped onto the platform to enjoy the view. Instead she scanned the crowd below through the glass walls of the platform looking for anyone who might be following her. The crowd was so large that she knew she would likely not discern anything of importance.

The platform reached the bottom of the restaurant and ascended through a large opening in the floor, then stopped. She stepped off the platform with a number of other patrons and bypassed the host, moving directly to the bar where she saw Heck staring idly at the news feeds.

Lainne eased down onto the stool beside Heck and placed her hand over his on the countertop. Though he said nothing and made no move to indicate he even knew she was there, Lainne was quite certain Heck knew the second she had stepped off the platform. The bar was situated near a great viewing window and Lainne watched huge spacecraft and smaller aircraft as they taxied to and from various gates. The sound and vibration dampeners engineered into the dome muted nearly all of the thunder of the spacecraft as they broke away from Earth's gravity; occasionally, however, a slight rumble or vibration could be felt through the seats in the floating restaurant.

"How long till our flight?"

"Boarding starts in one hour," Heck answered simply. He was quiet, his mind analyzing everything that had happened since he had lost Laylara through the wormhole.

"How did they find us?" she asked, exasperated. "Did they see through our disguises?"

"The disguises worked. Otherwise the locals would have had us when we left the taxi."

"What, then? Gelad?"

"As much as it is a possibility, I don't think Gelad betrayed us."

"He's a strange one, isn't he? He mentioned that he isn't a Muslim, and when we were in Jacksonville he told me he isn't Jewish. Does that make him a Christian?" Heck looked at her, waiting for her to continue and wondering why the sudden thoughts on Gelad's faith. Was she struggling with demons too? "I mean, who's a Christian anymore? Especially one in the service of the Israeli government."

Heck returned to his drink, nursing his trauma induced headache with whiskey. Not long ago he might have taken offense to that logic. But now his own faith had been shaken by the recent events in his life. He wondered how God could let all these terrible things happen to him. His life prior to the Centaurus Device had certainly been anything but charmed, he had endured his share of mayhem and danger. Somehow he had always come through relatively unscathed. He had had a sterling reputation in his circles; it was one he had become very proud of.

The famous Marshal Heck Thomas had done quite well for himself financially as well. He'd earned some well-deserved bonuses and rewards in his career and those early investments he made as a young man had paid off handsomely. He hadn't been hurting for money. Although he had never looked at it in quite that light before, he was beginning to think that perhaps his life 
had 
been charmed; at least until he had chosen to let someone into his heart and then lost her, lost everything. His girlfriend, his career, his money. His faith had become a casualty too. Faith in people, in God, and in himself.

Why is it that a man doesn't think about all that he has until he has lost it all?

"Do you think we will make it there ok?" the fear in her voice cut into his musings. Like himself, Lainne had lost everything dear to her. Her brother, her career, her life. And now she had killed someone. It was a justifiable killing to Heck. But to someone who had never had to take a life in order to save the lives of others, the mental trauma could be devastating. "Those -
people-
were terrifying."

"We will need to be very careful." Heck glanced casually around the bar where he could see the various time stations which displayed the time from everywhere in the Solar System. In reality he was checking his surroundings, and scanning the people who were in the bar. There was no one suspicious looking, but the Orion agents were going to be anything but. He had to assume there were more in the aerospace port, perhaps some even disguised as police officers. "If they are aliens, we have no idea what they are capable of."

"Do you think Gelad will meet us on ROS?"

"I do," lied Heck. He really wasn't sure, but he didn't want to shake Lainne up any more than she already was. He didn't have any reason to doubt the Israeli, but he couldn't be certain that the man hadn't run into his own trouble. Gelad still had superiors to answer to, superiors who could hinder him or even reassign him; or force him to turn against Heck and Lainne. The human factor could not be discounted. "Can I get you something to eat?"

"I can't eat," she whispered, regretting the candy bar from earlier.

Heck stood and punched the codes to his false credit account into a vid screen built into the counter. Then he took Lainne by the hand and the pair walked through the restaurant to the anti-grav platform and descended to the busy floor below. They left the food court, walking to a moving sidewalk where they could stand comfortably while they were whisked toward their boarding gate. Lainne just stared at the people and the store fronts as the platform moved them along to their destination. People from every part of the world and the Solar System were in this aerospace port, one of the busiest in the world.

Heck's senses were on high alert, but he didn't sense anything further amiss. He felt good about getting back into space, out there he knew the dangers. He knew what to expect. He knew when he was piloting his craft that death was always one wrong decision away. While space was very predictable, down here it seemed that trouble could come from all angles and at all times.

They got off the platform and proceeded through the busy crowds to the next security checkpoint, another scanning tunnel as before. Heck hoped that the ID cloakers were still functioning, though he had no real reason to believe they would not. He thought about how he would evade capture if the ID scanners managed to properly identify him in the tunnel.  He didn't see much in the way of options and knew, sadly, that he would have to resort to quick and overwhelming violence. He would likely be forced into taking the life of a security worker, maybe more than one, to attempt an escape. But there was no guarantee that they would escape at all.

The ID cloakers did seem to be working, and they moved through the security tunnel without incident.

Heck breathed a sigh of relief as he and Lainne made it to their gate just as the boarding call for first class was being announced. In a span of fifteen minutes boarding was completed and the pair were seated in the luxurious first class cabin, waiting for liftoff. They were very quiet, knowing that at any moment their disguises might fail them and the security systems on the spacecraft could alert authorities to their presence; Heck had no doubt that there were Aerospace Marshals on this very ship.

Heck ordered a glass of whiskey for himself and wine for Lainne. Even though commercial spaceflight had come a long way since the 1960's, takeoff from Earth gravity could still be a grueling experience. Finally, the flight attendants took their seats and takeoff procedures began. The takeoff procedure for spaceflight from Earth gravity was very similar to that of traditional air flight. The trip from the spaceport to exiting Earth gravity took about as long as it took a traditional aircraft to reach cruising altitude, only the experience of the g-forces were stronger and the vibration more intense.

The captain made an announcement explaining the takeoff and orbit procedures over the loudspeaker and it was repeated several times in different languages. Flight attendants walked up and down the aisle, checking that seats were properly positioned and safety belts were in place. Finally, the attendants took their own seats and strapped in as the aerospace craft taxied to the massive runway needed for the great, lumbering, orbital ships.

A delay of some variety was announced over the loudspeaker, but Heck didn't pay attention to the cause. He was getting sleepy, wanted desperately to sleep, but knew that he couldn't. Lainne was quiet, too quiet. She was thinking too much about what had happened today. Heck wanted to talk to her about it, to help her work out her feelings, to help her understand. But he couldn't do it; not without jeopardizing their disguises. Who talked about shooting aliens in the first class cabin while waiting for takeoff anyway?

He resolved to comfort her silently however he could, and held her hand in his lap. Lainne leaned closer to him and smiled, her large eyes moist with unshed tears. But she was strong and did not let the tears free. Instead she just rested her head on his shoulder as they awaited takeoff.

Finally, the ship lurched forward and made a sharp turn to right itself on the runway. Then, the great engines roared and the shuttle shot forward, pushing the passengers against their seats. Faster and faster it went, impossibly fast it seemed, until it reached enough speed to attain lift. First the nose began to rise then, abruptly, the rest of the spacecraft followed. The spacecraft angled sharply up and stayed at that angle for some time as it mightily fought free of the Earth's gravitational pull.

Eventually the thunder of the great engines and the vibration of the atmospheric forces battering the hull of the spacecraft died away and the spacecraft leveled out. From here, the captain announced, the ship would orbit the earth one full time until it reached the desired break-free altitude. Then the spacecraft would engage its engines and propel itself across the void until it reached ROS, in orbit around the Moon. When the ship reached near zero gravity the pilot engaged artificial gravity plating under the spacecraft's floors and turned off the seatbelt lights.

Heck looked over at Lainne, sleeping soundly, with swelling pride. It was probably the first time she had been able to rest in days. He could not believe how much she had changed in such a short time. She had gone from being a nervous wreck to a confident woman. He didn't know what caused her to reach deep inside and steel her will, but steel her will she did. And Heck began to feel like they might survive the next few hours to ROS unscathed. He looked past her and stared out at the stars in space, finally feeling like he was home.

And then the explosions began.

Suddenly
fasten seatbelt
flashed on vidscreens and holovisions about the cabin and flight attendants scurried to their seats, looks of disbelief flashed across their pretty faces. Doubtless, the onboard intercom system was informing them of impending danger through tiny listening devices in their ear canals. Heck wanted to help, but he could not do so and still maintain his anonymity.

He had no idea what was going on and the window shades had all shut automatically. There was trouble coming and Heck suspected that it was something very bad. It seemed unlikely that pirates would be bold enough to brave the well-defended territories near the Earth and the Moon. But he had to prepare himself for that awful possibility, and that he might be helpless to save good people from certain death. It did not seem that many of the other passengers were aware of the explosions, in space there is no noise.

Can I do that? Is the life of one scientist worth the lives of the people onboard this ship?

He shook his head angrily, he knew the answer to that question. The truth was that this mission was far more important than himself or anyone else. Despite the experiences of the past few days, he still wasn't sold on the idea that aliens from another galaxy were plotting to destroy mankind by stealing away humanity's brightest minds. But admitted to himself there had to be something very large at stake; perhaps something that could tip the scales of power yet again in the Commonwealth dominated Solar System. But did he really care about the fate of the Solar System anymore?

He vowed to himself that he would do whatever he could to protect innocents, if he could do so without endangering his greater mission. His conscience would not let him do otherwise.