The Ripple in Space-Time: Free City Book 1 (The Free City Series) (6 page)

He produced his badge and her eyes
narrowed,
“
I have information that an unemployed Traffic Controller named
Julian Korbus is currently in this establishment.
”

She glanced involuntarily to the
right.

“
I want you to point him out to me and we
’
ll escort Mr. Korbus out of here without any trouble.
”

The bartender shook her head
contemptuously,
“
You Free City jerks don’t have no authority in this town.
”

Ryo gripped the bar and lunged
towards her threateningly,
“
We
’
re after the
thugs who blew up that laboratory on the moon!
”
He sneered with
seething rage,
“
Do you want to join them in a Syndicate prison?
”

“
HEY YOU BARFLIES!
”
the big woman shouted suddenly,
“
Has anyone seen Jules Korbus?
”

Ryo didn
’
t bother to turn around, he was certain that outburst was meant as a
warning to one of the half-dozen patrons in the dingy pub.

“
I
’
ll shut down this place if I don
’
t find this idiot in the next
two minutes,”
the old Investigator snarled.

“You’ve got no cause; my license
and Municipal bribes are all paid up.”

He slammed his fist hard on the
greasy bar,
“
WE SHALL SEE!
”

The commotion was too much for a
sleazy looking fellow in a back booth, the man bolted for the side exit in
alarm.

“
RYO!
”
Lev bellowed.

Keira leapt sideways and grabbed
the fugitive's arm, but he deflected her with a walloping gut punch that sent
the woman crashing into a rickety table.

Ryo sprinted towards the escaping
man but Lev got there first. The younger man tackled the escapee and the two
tussled wildly on the filthy floor.

The old Investigator joined the
fray. He got kicked hard in the left side and stumbled backwards, slamming his
shoulder painfully against the unforgiving wall.

Lev jerked the bucking criminal to
his feet and Ryo sprang forward and wrapped his arm around the man
’
s neck.

“
STOP!
”
Ryo tightened his python-like
grip on the fugitive,
“
Stop or I
’
ll snap your friggin
’
neck!
”

The criminal
’
s face grew red with asphyxia before he drooped limply and slumped to
the floor.

A half an hour later, two leery
young beat cops led the battered and bruised Julian Korbus out of the wreaked
bar in handcuffs.

“
Is there anything else before we go, Inspector?” the
Sergeant asked.

Ryo stared angrily at the tattooed
barkeeper standing defiantly behind the bar,
“
Yeah, shutdown
this dump and lock up the bartender for impeding a felony investigation.
”

“
It won
’
t do much good, I
’
m sorry to say,
”
the officer shook his head,
“
she
’
ll be serving swill here again by Happy Hour.
”

“
I
’
m counting on that,
”
Ryo rubbed his aching shoulder,
“
hopefully the word will get out
that the Inquisitor's Office isn
’
t screwing around in this
matter.
”

• • •

Hours later, after finally getting
through to Free City, Ryo recounted the interrogation at the Dublin Lockup to
Helga.

“
You were right, Boss,
”
a dull throbbing headache
reminded him of the harrowing day,
“
Mr. Korbus just received ten
thousand Units from two pirates as a payoff for destroying the lunar orbit
traffic records for the day of the blast.”

“Pirates?” Helga stared broodingly
at him from the screen.
“
Why would pirates risk capture
to wipe out some routine administrative records? I
’
ll have Jackson check on the traffic data in the morning. Were the
Dublin Authorities able to extract the names of the guys?
”

“
Yes,
”
Ryo was still uneasy about the
grilling techniques used by the locals,
“
Olin Gristle and Bosco
Kremerling. Apparently Korbus was cellmates with Kremerling in the Outer
Reaches Penitentiary. I have no idea about Gristle.
”

“
OK, I expect you and your two assistants back here sometime
tomorrow.
”

11. News Item: Bold hijacking near Saturn
Dateline: 11th of June, 2445; Io Research Station, The
Asteroid Belt and Jupiter Colonies

Reports continue to filter in to
the Io Research Station about the unprecedented and bold hijacking of the
immense robotic space tanker
Xenon Lightning 54
as it crossed the orbit
of Saturn en route to the huge Kuiper Gas Refinement Facility yesterday.

Refinement Facility Officials
noted that the unarmed
Xenon Lightning 54
is currently the most valuable
vessel ever seized by outlaws, worth an astonishing 3.5 trillion Standard
Units.

Imperial Warlord Dimitri Verhovnyi
denounced the brazen crime from the Outer Reaches Palace on Titan this morning.

Io Research Station Astronomers
have been unable to detect the telltale ion trails from the missing craft,
leading some to speculate that the pirates may have covered their escape by
towing the stolen vessel rather than operating its monstrous ion drive engines.

As of this morning, no ransom
demands have been received by Refinement Facility Officials. Warlord Syndicate
Underwriters have warned that they will pay no more than the customary ransom of
1.75 million Standard Units to recover the vessel.

There are currently no clues as to
the location of the mammoth tanker or the identities of the hijackers.

12. Free City University
Keira stopped and stared down yet
another long nondescript corridor.
“
Why are we wandering around Free
City University today?
”
she asked Ryo with some
annoyance.

“
Well,
”
the old Investigator rubbed his
chin for several seconds before pointing down the hallway to the left,
“
Lev seems to think that even though the lunar traffic control
information was destroyed, we may still be able to discover something about
what happened on the day of the blast.
”

“
Why would the University have that information?
”

Ryo shook his head,
“
I have no idea, but the case has been stalled since we got back from
Dublin over a week ago, so any leads would help.
”

Keira tugged on his arm,
“
Are you sure we
’
re on the right floor? I swear
that we
’
ve gone past this same spot at least once before.
”

“
He said door 1272 in the basement of the School of Advanced
Physics, so it could be anywhere around here. Let
’
s go down a
floor and see what we can find.”

Seventeen minutes later, after
following the instructions provided by an unenthusiastic janitor on Sub Level
5, Keira pointed to the long-sought portal in weary victory.

Ryo tapped perfunctorily on the
door before pushing it open.

It was a dark office of some sort.
Weirdly shimmering light spilled from a large video display that took up most
of a worktable on the left side of the room.

The dark silhouette huddled in
front of the screen turned to scrutinize the new arrivals.

“
Great, you found it; come on in,
”
Lev stood and beckoned them to the table.

“
You have an office?
”
Keira asked as she shuffled
carefully into the dark room.

Lev pulled up two more chairs,
“
It
’
s nothing special, just one of the many doctoral
workstations.
”

Keira slumped onto a chair.

Ryo studied the screen.
“
What have you got for us?
”

Lev sat next to the woman,
“
After you told me that the guy that we captured in Dublin erased all of
the lunar orbit traffic records around the time of the explosion, I spent a few
days trying to figure out another way of discovering what went on at the site.
”

He pointed to the slowly shifting
images on the screen,
“
It turns out that the University
Astronomy Department has five different satellites orbiting the moon right now
for various student projects.
”

“
How does that help us?
”
Keira asked.

“
I found out that one of the satellites is just an old
cosmic ray detector, so that
’
s worthless to us; but at least
two of the others are used by Professor Hendley's Moon Surveying class. We
might be lucky enough to find some images of the Sea of Crisis around the time
of the blast.
”

“
OH!
”
Ryo patted Lev
’
s shoulder,
“
Nice job!
”

“
I suspect it
’
s going to take awhile,
”
Lev warned,
“
all of the video is raw footage without searchable
timeframes.
”

Ryo nodded,
“
You two work on this and I
’
ll be back by lunch time.
”

Just before he pushed open the
door to leave, Ryo glanced back at the two seating together in front of the
monitor,
“
I
’
ve got a hunch that I want to
check out.
”

• • •

Ryo traveled across the drizzly
Quad to the soaring edifice that housed the School of Biology. He had been to
this building several times before and wouldn
’
t have any
problem finding the proper room.

Compared to the arcane and
forbidding School of Advanced Physics basement, the towering Life Sciences
Complex was cheery and well lit. Ryo slipped into the bustling Department of
Advanced Applied Molecular Biology Office on the twelfth floor. A half dozen
energetic students were fluttering merrily about between some sort of group
project involving green algae and a jovial middle-aged man in the center of the
room.

The din was quite extraordinary in
the overfilled office. Ryo navigated past the young scholars to the big man.

The gentleman’s face broadened
into a wide grin,
“
Ryo Trop, damn good to see you!
”

“
Professor,
”
Ryo bowed slightly,
“
I
’
m looking for Zmuda. Can you help me out?
”

Just as the Investigator had
expected, the good-natured teacher
’
s demeanor turned solemn.

The professor glanced at his busy
charges,
“
Come with me.
”
Before they departed he raised
his hands high like a country preacher and shouted to the throng,
“
Keep working! You
’
re doing great!
”

The academic unlocked a
nondescript door in the back of the room and led Ryo into a small inner office
staffed by a muscular red-bearded man and a petite raven-skinned woman. The two
looked up in unison from their paperwork.

“
Carry on,
”
the professor nodded to the
workers,
“
we
’
re just passing through.
”
He opened a closet door and slid several coats aside before prying open
a well-disguised rear door.

The man stepped through the portal
and beckoned Ryo to follow him.

“
Welcome to the CRAMP Operations Central Headquarters. To
the outside world I
’
m Professor Malcolm Evans, in here I
’
m called Lieutenant Zmuda.
”

“
Lieutenant?
”
Ryo laughed,
“
The last time I saw you it was Sergeant.
”

Zmuda shrugged,
“
I gave myself a promotion.
”

Ryo studied the spacious and
well-organized situation room,
“
It
’
s been awhile
since I
’
ve needed your encyclopedic knowledge of the clandestine
and I seem to have forgotten what CRAMP stands for, although it does come up
periodically at the Inquisitor's Office.
”

“
Combat Ready Advanced Mission Personnel. As you may recall,
we
’
re a group of concerned citizens of Free City, mostly
academics and scientists with a few paramilitarists thrown in, determined to
return all of humanity to the high ideals of the past.
”

“
Who are those two in the other room?
”
Ryo wondered.

“
Jasper and Mixion? They
’
re part of the
CRAMP. I used an unusual new procedure to clone them as adults in the Advanced
Biology lab about a year ago from some genetic information that I found in a
really old database.
”

Ryo was perplexed,
“
There are plenty of human clones in Free City, myself included, why
fiddle around with old stock?
”

Zmuda smiled,
“
Their DNA isn
’
t registered anywhere. If they happen to lose a toenail
clipping or maybe an eyelash or two while carrying out a covert operation, no
Investigator would ever be able to track them down.
”

Ryo chuckled,
“
So you
’
re making my job harder?
”

“
Not really, none of our especially nasty projects are in
Free City. Right now the good stuff involves insurrection and resource
reallocation in the fiefdoms.

The old Investigator laughed,
“
Technically the Inquisitor's Office regards the CRAMP Operation as
subversive, not insurrectionist.
”
Ryo loved the lively back and
forth with his cloak-and-dagger friend,
“
The difference centers around
the presumption that you hold antiestablishment views but you haven
’
t killed anyone yet.
”

“
Oh but we have Mr. Trop. CRAMP Operatives did in Madame
Kufuzu at the Trade Conference in New Rome less than a month ago.
”

“
Why would you guys bother knocking off one of the many
wives of the Warlord of EurAfrica?
”

Lieutenant Zmuda smiled
fiendishly,
“
Daniel Kufuzu is absurdly well-protected and we need some
of his DNA for a cleaver little assassination effort that the CRAMP is putting
together. So we bumped off his wife and collected some residual samples from
her corpse. I
’
ve got the specimens in the lab right now.
”

“
Do I really want to know the details?
”
Ryo asked half jokingly.

Zmuda
’
s eyebrows arched up,
“
I
’
ll tell you
anyhow as part of this proposed bargain: I
’
ll supply you with whatever
information that you came looking for today and you will let me know if anyone
in the Inquisitor's Office pins Madame Kufuzu
’
s untimely death
on the CRAMP.”

Ryo thought for several seconds
about the ramifications of the deal,
“
OK, I
’
m in.
”

“
Excellent;
”
a smug smile crossed his face,
“
my colleagues and I are developing something that we call the
x-pathogen, which shows promise in infecting only a single individual with
deadly results. It
’
s still very crude, but we hope to use it or something like
it to eventually end the current feudal system and allow all humans to live
freely again.
”

“
Lofty goals,
”
Ryo nodded.
“
Tell me about pirates, particularly anything that you might know about
two characters named Olin Gristle and Bosco Kremerling.
”

“
Why is it that pirates always end up with the best names?
”
Zmuda scratched his head for several seconds,
“
I
’
m not familiar with either of those two, but it
’
s been a few years since I
’
ve done any field work in the
Asteroid Belt where they all seem to congregate.”

Ryo slouched in defeat.

“
Why the interest in these two low lives?
”

“
They paid off a Lunar Traffic Controller to destroy some
records on the day that the Ultra Energy Lab was obliterated.
”

“
Dr. Fesai was a dear friend of mine,
”
Zmuda winced.
“
I have a strange feeling that
Daniel Kufuzu or perhaps his step brother Dimitri Verhovnyi are involved with
these pirates due to their past misdeeds with some of the roving marauders.
”

“
Alright, I
’
ll look into that,
”
the Investigator smiled.

After several minutes of light
banter, Ryo followed the big man back into the student-filled main office. He
watched with quiet amusement as Lieutenant Zmuda returned to his alternate
persona as Professor Malcolm Evans.

“
Ah, you
’
ve done a fabulous job!
”