Lt. Reilly 2321

Chapter 9: New Harmony

The overhead light in the brig began to dim. There wasn't anything wrong with it. The computer slowly turns down the light between 1800 and 18.15 hours to simulate the change from day to night. That might seem like a superficial function, but when you are confined not just in jail, but on a ship in space, your brain starts to lose its rationale when you can't tell the difference between day and night. The simple act of changing the light level from day-watch to night-watch has a positive impact on a crews temper, mood, and fatigue. With nothing to do I was already nodding off as I was sitting on the floor with my back to the wall. Suddenly I felt something on my lap. Kayla, who had been keeping mostly to herself, decided to place herself on my legs and her head on my shoulder.

“What's wrong?" I asked.

“I'm scared," she answered.

“You know that they know we're innocent. Once we get to the next base, they'll take our testimony, and we'll be free to go."

That's what I'm afraid of," she said. “I've never done very well on my own. Have you ever gone a week without eating? It's worse than death. When someone offers you a meal when you're that hungry, you're willing to do anything. And I did. Sick things. Things that still gives me nightmares. I can't go back to that life."

I adjusted my angle against the wall and put an arm around her for support. “What if I said you could stay with me until you're back on your feet?"

“You mean that?" she asked.

“Well, I've grown kind of fond of you," I answered. She sat up and looked at me as if I was suggesting something more than I was. “As a friend," I added.

“Good," she said putting her head back on my shoulder. “Friends sound good." The next thing I knew she was snoring and I held her for a while as she slept.

Having the noise of stressed and restless snorts and congested breathing in one's ear would have been distracting to most, but after nearly two decades of hot bunking in a room of lung burned and overworked damage control and maintenance engineers, the sounds she made were mild. My mind raced with all I knew about our situation and the people who were after us. We had apparently put most of the clues together into a reasonable explanation, but something still seemed off. Then it dawned on me. The part Gerald wanted me to install. Where did he get it? He found it pretty quickly. Something about that seemed like more than just coincidence. He just happened to find the exact part we needed within an hour of landing, and it happened to be a part that would cripple the ship. The fact that I knew that it wouldn't work was due to my years of experience and training. Most of the guys they got to maintain cargo tubs were dropouts who learned as an assistant under other cargo crate engineers. So if someone deliberately gave Gerald the part, they would assume the ship would go down. And did they use the part that I told him wouldn't work? Who installed it? Or did something else cause the crash? But if Gerald had yet to make the cargo run for the Mr. Carplex then why would they want to bring down the ship. Because they wouldn't, but one of their competitors might. That's it. There's a third player in this drama. But why would they want us dead if Kayla was going to point the finger at Carplex? Okay, it would benefit Mr. Carplex to send his goons after us, but not to bring down the Glacier Runner. Yet, one of his enemies would benefit from the cargo run being sabotaged and from Kayla's testimony against Carplex. To get his hands on a government transport to use as an assault ship against a fleet ship would require a lot of power and influence, so anyone capable of challenging him in such a way would also need to have significant power and resources, or risk being hunted down by the Carplex organization. How could someone that powerful stay in the shadows and not be on the radar of the people investigating the crimes? The puzzle was starting to make my head hurt.

Because the ship's Captain didn't see Kayla and me as a problem anymore, but they wanted to keep us under protection, the forcefield to the cell wasn't put up. It was mealtime, and one of the guards came in with two trays. This time they each had a full meal that was the same as what the crew was eating, two slices of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, vacuumed pack salad, re-hydrated peas and carrots and a can of juice. It was the most appealing food I had seen in days, well actually considering the crap they were serving us on the Glacier, it was the best food I'd seen in weeks. I considered waking Kayla, so we could both eat, but she was sleeping more soundly then she had since our imprisonment. So, I decided dinner could wait. I put both my arms around her and closed my eyes, not comfortable enough to sleep myself, but content to hold her as she slept.

~~~

It took another two days for the engineering team to get the ship patched up enough to use the QSG and then six hours in quantum speed to reach the Alliance Space Base 34. We went straight from the ship's brig to the station's brig because technically we were still prisoners until everything was explained and all the proper paperwork was filled out, scrutinized, reviewed and approved by a half a dozen people, most of whom we never saw. Once the JAG was convinced we were more victims than villains, she entered our statements into the file, took Kayla's witness statement, forwarded it all to the Central JAG office on Earth as well as to the Alliance Congressional Justice office on Popella. And that was it. With a half-hearted, 'sorry for the inconvenience' from the JAG's second assistant, we were shown the door and were free to go. The orbiting space station was military only, so they had no problem transporting the two of us to the planet which was little more than a distribution port for cargo ships. From there we were able to book passage, but I couldn't afford tickets to get us all the way back to the Sol system.The best I could afford was a colony planet called New Harmony. We got out tickets and found a little shop where we could purchase some food for the trip. Of course, it was all prepackaged crap that was way overpriced. I suggested the nutrition bars and the vitamin waters as they were things we could keep in our pockets and didn't require anything like heating or utensils.

“I've never been to New Harmony," Kayla asked as we found a bench to sit on as we waited for our departure. “What's it like?"

“It's a human colony established a little over a hundred years ago as an early new settlement for the wealthy who wanted to live on an unspoiled world," I said as I opened one of my protein bars and took a bite. “It only took a couple of generations to spoil it. I read that it was like Earth had once been, with all the minerals, fresh air, clean water and open spaces not seen on our home world for maybe a thousand years. So naturally, it attracted thousands who saw an opportunity for wealth and exploitation.We'll be getting off at New Peoria, the capital city, and that will be the best place to find work as it's the largest population center." I pulled up a promotional video from its visitor's network page and had it projected in front of us in 3D. It showed that the city was modern and clean, with every block planned out to the inch with groupings of residential, commercial and recreational spaces. Some were clearly designated for the middle classes, upper classes and lower class without actual walls for separation. The very regulated, 'Berber' lifestyle that my older sister and younger brother flourished in with their spouses and kids was great for them, but nothing where I could ever feel comfortable being a part of. I don't know why. There was nothing wrong with being a part of a community and fitting in. I guess I was never the 'fitting in' type.

“It looks nice," she said with a slight bashfulness one might use when looking at a house they could never afford to live in. “Do you have enough to get a room there for at least a couple of nights?"

“I'm sure we can get something for more than a few nights," I said trying my best to sound confident, but the truth was I wasn't entirely sure how far my money would go. Before we left the military base, I was able to pop into the credit union to access my account, only to find it was still in paperwork limbo. I was able to take an advance of 2000 credits at a 3% fee. That's about a months' worth of pay. Enough for one person to book passage back to Earth, but not for two. At that point, I wasn't about to abandon Kayla, so I thought it best to find the cheapest place we could to crash for the short term and look for work to save up enough to get passage for the both of us.

The transport we took to New Harmony was an old cargo hauler that had been converted with rows seats and bars down the wide middle aisle for those who wanted to stand but needed a handhold. The trip was about nine hours, and if we had been rich, we would have been able to sit in a higher class where they had a private room with seats that converted to cots. But this was all I could afford. The car was overbooked, and we were one of the last ones to get a couple of seats together. Most people, humans and non-humans alike, boarded and filled the aisle. A Bazerionly, a humanoid-like character with a light layer of yellow fur and black spots, four eyes, antenna instead of ears and a small beak for a mouth stood next to us. Kayla who was on the end scooted over me and made me shift over into her seat so she could take mine.

“What's wrong?" I asked.

“Nothing," she said in a whisper.

“You can't tell me you're freaked out by people from other races," I said, not lowering my voice as much as she was.

She lowered and turned her head towards me so she could talk even softer. “I'm just not comfortable around aliens."

“I hate to tell you this Kayla, but when you're not on Earth, you're the alien." I then pulled out my palm computer, turned on the translator function and found 'Bazerionly' in the menu. Then I looked up at the Bazerionly gentleman and said, “Hello Sir. Are you having a pleasant trip?"

He looked down at me, spoke in his language, and the translator said, “I am sorry, I am trying not to get space sick, I would rather not talk to you."

“I understand, Sir," I said, “Please let me know if you need to sit." He shook his head, which in his culture was a sign of acknowledgment and then faced front. I turned back to Kayla. “They have an extremely sensitive hearing. You can whisper from the other end of the car, and he would still hear everything you say, not that he would care."

“How would you know if he cares or not?" she asked.

“Well, for starts he's not wearing a translator. Most non-humans don't bother learning any of our languages because most of them don't care to deal with humans if they can avoid it."

Kayla's thought about that for a moment. “Now that you say that I've rarely met or even seen a lot of aliens and I've been to dozens of spaceports."

“Well, we're not exactly the most desirable creatures in the galaxy to hang around with. Some aliens see humans as backward and under-developed intellectually. Others see us as too aggressive and dishonest. And that's our fault. Most of the people who interact with other worlds are colonists who tend to be xenophobic after the Serken invention, the military, who hasn't always asked questions before shooting at unknown ships, and capitalists who come to them with diplomatic smile and words so they can take the resources of their world. If I wasn't human, I wouldn't like us either."

She looked at the gentleman from an alien world and then back at me. “I am just always afraid I'm going to do something that would upset them," she said. “Like smiling. I can never remember which ones find smiling to be an insult or threat, you know?"

“You don't need to worry about that unless you're visiting one of their worlds. If they are on a human-colonized planet, they expect us to act like us. If we try to change our behavior to suit all the other alien races, it becomes as confusing to them and it does to us."

“Oh," she said. “That's good to know. Are there a lot of aliens, I mean non-human races on New Harmony?"

“Well, I've only been there once on leave. It's a pretty crowded city. I saw a few non-humans walking around when I was there last, but mostly around the transit stations. I didn't get an alien-friendly vibe when I was there. But that was during the war. Things might have changed."

She pulled out a nutrition bar and started to open it as the only food we were going to have was what we brought with us. The Bazerionly standing next to me made a face, and his antenna curled.

“Put that away for now," I said to her.

“But I'm hungry," she said.

“And I don't want this gentleman to get sick all over me, put it away. Later when we can move to another part of the car you can eat, okay?"

“Okay," she said. I could see the strain on her face. She was not excited about our new adventure. Nothing was for certain. My finds were limited, and there was no guarantee that we would find work or even a place to stay that we could afford. I knew it would have been ten times worse for her if she was alone. It would have been worse for me as well. As much as I claimed to be a loner, I was glad to have someone traveling with me.

The trip felt like a day and a half, even though it took just under the scheduled nine hours. We each slept a little, but it wasn't restful. As we disembarked in the center of the capital city, my palm computer came to life linking to the public network and looking up everything that I had pre-programmed it to look for as we arrived.

In the older part of the city was the servant's district. An area originally built to house those who came to the planet to work in the restaurants and hotels before most of the jobs were taken up by bots. There was a one-room apartment that would rent to us for a month at a time. It cost over half of my advance, but it was safe, clean and partly furnished with one full-size bed, a table with a couple of chairs and wall entertainment and communication screen that would require a deposit to use that I couldn't really afford. Once we got our key to the front door, we took a quick inspection of the space and then headed back out into the city. It was early afternoon, so we had time to find what we needed. First was a small hole in the wall basic needs shop with five self-service kiosks, two out of order and two occupied, so we had to share one. On the touch screen we each selected packs of socks, underwear, t-shirts, a couple of button-down denim shirts for me and three cotton shirts, a blue, a red and a yellow for KaylaWe also picked up some toiletries and a couple of bath towels, but my budget was thinning out pretty quick, and we still had yet to buy food, so I convinced her that anything else we might need, like dishes or bedding could wait until we had some money coming in. Then we found a food supplier that was able to provide us with a couple of loaves of bread, a jar of peanut butter, a box of nutrition bars and half a dozen individual freeze-dried meals. That left me with about 20 credits. Enough to buy a couple of transit passes if needed or send an interstellar message to someone on Earth if we got to the point that we needed to beg someone back home for funds.

Finding work wasn't too hard if you didn't worry about things like standards or dignity. Kayla got a job as a waitress at a retro casino that preferred to have a pretty young woman serving drinks than bots. I landed a spot as a waste management bot technician. Basically, fixing the bots that collected the trash and cleaned the sewers. As you can imagine the ones that needed the most work were the ones with the dirtiest duties. Kayla worked late into the evening, and I worked the graveyard shift from Midnight to 9 in the morning. So, for the first few days, we didn't see much of each other. Yet after a week we got used to our schedules and started sharing a meal in the afternoon around the time I was getting up and an hour before she had to head off for work. The entire arrangement was very surreal. We shared a bed with no physical contact, exchanged the leanest conversation at our dinner table in our apartment like an old married couple, yet we somehow skipped over dating, romance, engagement, a wedding and the honeymoon and straight to the boring married life where you tolerate the person with you because it's safe and familiar. Frankly, I would not have settled for that. If I was going to spend the rest of my life with a young beautiful woman whom I cared about, I would want some of the passion and intimacy along with the discussion of what groceries to buy and who is going to pay which bills at the end of the month. But the arrangement was temporary. Just until we had enough money to get back to Earth and start over again in real jobs and pursue our own futures.

After three weeks we had set aside a tenth of what we would need to book passage home. We were quickly learning that the payroll taxes and mandatory deductions from the employers were structured to keep the service community in servitude for as long as possible. I wasn't worried. We were getting by and were making headway. It was just going to take longer than we planned. My skill hadn't gone unnoticed, so when one of the guys on the second shift got fired for something, they moved me into his slot, which put Kayla and me on similar schedules. It was nice to be able to see more of each other and later that same week we each had the same day off. Deciding to splurge a little we paid to have the video wall turned on for the day so we could watch a couple of movies, bought take out from the Old American restaurant down the street that specialized in old world fried chicken and sea muscles, and even indulged in an apple pie and a bottle of cheap wine. Enough of an expense to put our travel plans back another week, but we both decided it was worth it to live like normal people for a day.

We pulled the mattress off the bed and propped it up against the wall across from the video screen as a makeshift sofa. The movies were older and low quality, but the food was filling, and the wine gave both of us a warm and relaxed feeling. Halfway through the second film, I felt something odd on my neck. I looked to my left and noticed that Kayla wasn't watching the movie. Instead, she was looking at me and ever so softly, running her fingers through my hair and across my neck. I didn't know what to say. A part of me wanted what was about to happen to happen, and a part of me was saying it was a bad idea. Yet the opposition was not coming up with too many good arguments in my mind. My opinion of her had changed over the past few weeks. She was no longer a scared and complicated girl in my eyes. She was a mature and complicated young woman. Our eyes met, and a small smile came across her face. I said nothing but gave a very slight nod to say that I would not object to anything she wanted at that moment. The next thing I knew she pushed me onto my back and was on top of me, kissing me passionately. I put my arms around her and ran my hands up and down the curve of her back. Her kisses moved from my lips to my neck, where she showered me with a flurry of kisses and bites.

It was hot, it was wild, and it was too much. I pushed her up enough, so we were face to face.

“What?" she asked out of breath.

“I want to be with you," I said. “But I don't want it to just be s*x. You know?"

My statement was unexpected, and she looked perplexed for a moment as if she never equated s*x with intimacy. After a few seconds, she looked back into my eyes, tears building up in hers. She lowered her head, and we kissed, softly, slowly, deeply, passionately. From that point on we made slow and gentle love for most of the night until we fell into a relaxed and satisfied slumber shortly before dawn.

~~~

A hard and rapid knock on the front door startled me out of my sleep. Kayla was draped over me with her head on my shoulder and jumped just as much as I did from the sudden and hard noise.

“What the hell?" she asked.

In the three weeks that we lived there, no one had ever knocked on our door. Neither of us had made friends with any of our neighbors or any of our co-workers and didn't know anyone else on the planet, so there was no good reason for anyone to pay us a visit. Not bothering with clothes, I crossed the studio apartment to my pack and pulled out my laser pistol. Kayla pulled on her underwear and ran into the kitchen to grab a knife.

The person on the other side of the door knocked again and then shouted with a familiar female voice through the door, “Mr. Reilly. Please open the door, I need to speak with you."

“Just a minute," I called back. I looked at Kayla who shook her head as she wasn't certain who the voice belonged to either. I pulled on my boxers and the t-shirt that was on the floor, keeping my pistol in my hand the entire time. I then went to the door and looked through the peephole. What I saw didn't clear anything up. There was a very attractive blond haired woman in a green blouse, blue slacks, and carrying a brown leather purse. Her appearance was very soft and feminine as if she just dropped her small children off at school but the image was contrasted by a very harsh and serious look on her face like she was ready to survive a fierce fight. Since she didn't appear to be armed and was alone, I decided that it was safe to open the door to see what she wanted. Bringing my pistol up in case I was wrong, I unlatched the three locks on the door and opened it. The woman's face turned to look directly at me, and without the distortion of the peephole, I could recognize her. She was Captain Mitchell.

“Please let me in, Lieutenant. I would rather not stay out in the open." She said, looking from side to side to make sure she was not being followed.

I stepped aside and let her step in.

“What the hell is she doing here!" Kayla said with great annoyance in her voice.

“I don't know. I haven't had a chance to ask her." I said.

Kayla's face turned red, and she was still holding the steak knife in her hands. “I knew you weren't helping us out of the goodness of your heart. You have a thing for him, don't you? Well, you're too late. He's with me now. Right! Right? Go ahead and tell her. You're with me now. Go ahead." Her words got more and more shaky as the change in our relationship became more and more unclear in her own mind.

“I'm with Kayla now," I said looking at Kayla to reinforce the statement. Then I looked back at Captain Mitchell and repeated the statement. “I'm with her now."

“Congratulations," she said as a matter of dismissive courtesy. “That's not why I'm here." She said and then took a quick look around the apartment to confirm that we were alone. “Captain Lypsinka is dead."

“What? Gerald's dead?" Kayla said the fight no longer in her voice.

I knew Captain Mitchell wouldn't have made a face to face visit to deliver the news unless there was a greater concern. “How?" I asked.

“He was tortured and then murdered by a woman associated with the London Syndicate," she answered.

“There's a crime syndicate in London?" Kayla asked, honestly surprised as organized crime on Earth is practically non-existent.

“New London, one of the first colonies near Regulus 97," I answered.

Mitchell filled in the rest. “We had been cracking down on the major crime organizations prior to the war, but with our resources diverted for over twenty years to fight the Serken, the five biggest ones grew, expanded and went after each other. From what we can gather two of the organizations were wiped out, and one was taken over by the London Syndicate leaving them and the one that is known as the Apollo Organization. That's the one that Mr. Carplex is now the head of. We had been monitoring Ms. Molony, the woman who tortured and killed your former Captain. We were hoping that she would lead us to her higher-ups as up until then she had only been making deals and running contraband. Our intelligence indicated that she had been looking for an opportunity to participate in larger operations to move up in the organization. We had no idea that she would jump to pulling out fingernails and strangling a man. We had implanted a bug on her, and one of our AI's was monitoring her activity, but by the time the computer realized that she was inflicting harm on Gerald our agent was too far away to respond in time. We do have her in custody now, but she was able to transmit what she learned to her bosses before we caught up to her. And that's why I'm here."

I must have let my face shown my worry because Kayla got very scared. “What? What does that mean?"

“Gerald was trying to play both sides of the syndicates, make deals with both to double cross the other and lied to both.In an attempt to gain leverage against the London Syndicate he recorded a meeting he had with one of their bosses. He then drugged Ms. Johansson and put her in a hypnotic state where he played the recording for her and then programmed her to forget it until he gave her the command to recall the recording that she witnessed."

Kayla turned white as a sheet and stumbled to the mattress on the floor. “Why would he do that?"

I sat down next to her and explained why I thought he might. “It's called a bio-transmission. Non-military ships can't shield their computers from extreme scanning like a military or government ship can. So, any data in any form can be scrutinized by a third party who really wants to get it. The only exception is a person's memory. There is no technology that can scan and decipher our brains. So, by having you witness the recording in a drug-induced state, he could implant it in a part of your brain that can use total recall upon request."

She began to shake, and I put an arm around her.

“Huh," she let out a small laugh, “And all this time I thought I had been raped."

“What?" I asked, not holding back the shock in my voice.

She pulled her legs up to her chest as the story was not something she felt comfortable telling. “A few months ago, before you joined the crew, we had a celebration after making a big delivery. Gerald bought a bunch of food and booze, which he never does, so we all took as much as we could.I thought I had too much to drink because I woke up the next morning in my quarters, half-naked and with a major headache.I assumed someone had taken advantage of me. My first thought was to find out who it was and kill him. But after I thought about it, no matter who it was, it would be my word against one of the boys. Gerald wouldn't think twice about getting rid of anyone who caused problems like a woman pointing fingers. So, I kept my mouth shut and tried to pretend like it never happened.I'm still pissed that he would use me like that, but it's a relief to know that I wasn't someone's s*x doll."

“Ms. Johansson," Mitchell spoke up to take back control of the conversation. “Your life is in danger. The London Syndicate will do everything they can to destroy you. The only way we can save you is to take you into protective custody and find a way to recall the information contained within you. Once we have that, then they won't have a need to kill you."

Kayla got very still as if someone had just dumped cold water over her. She looked at me and asked, “We don't have a choice, do we?" I shook my head. She looked at the floor a for a moment, nodded her head and then got up, not looking at either of us. She then grabbed a garbage bag and started filling it with the few possessions we had acquired over the past few weeks.

“You won't be able to take anything with you," Mitchell said.

Kayla looked back, barking in frustration, “Why the hell not!"

“There's a chance they are already watching you, waiting for an opportunity to grab you."

“I thought they wanted to kill me?" Kayla snapped.

Mitchell clarified, “They do, but they will probably want to grab you first and try to learn what you know before they kill you. Just like they did with Gerald. Something they would want to do quietly, but if they think you're running, they will strike. We must make it look like you're just heading out to do your daily business. That's why I'm not in uniform. I'm just a friend dropping by to take you out to lunch."

“But we're not coming back, are we?" Kayla said, looking at the bag of belongings. She had never owned simple things that she could call her own. They were more difficult to walk away from than a safe box full of money and jewels. Suddenly she realized she was standing there in her underwear. She dug out a pair of shorts and put them on, followed by a pair of pants over them. Then she pulled on a t-shirt, followed by a cotton colored shirt and then pulled a green button-down shirt on over it, tying the ends at her tummy rather than buttoning it, making it look more like a fashion style rather than an attempt to keep as many of her new clothes as she could put on. She then took a pair of socks and two sets of panties and stuffed them in her pant pockets.

“You look like your smuggling walnuts," Mitchell said. She then pulled her purse off her shoulder, took her gun out of it, stuck it in her waistband off her backside, covered it with her shirt and then handed Kayla the bag. “Here, whatever you can fit in here, you can take, but empty your pockets first. We have to keep everything looking as normal as possible."

Kayla was able to put a couple of more shirts, some more underwear and an extra pair of shoes in the bag, along with a can-opener, a coffee mug, her pocket computer that only contained her bank account info and some make-up. I opened a drawer, grabbed a hand full of clothes, stuffed them in my pack and then looked around for anything else, but didn't see anything that I really needed. Anything I judged as having value was the things I had already brought with me and never unpacked aside from some boxers and t-shirts. I took a pair of jeans and a shirt I hadn't packed, put on some socks and my shoes, put on my leather jacket and stuck my gun in the waistband of my pants and under my shirt. Then I nodded to Captain Mitchell that I was ready. We all walked out the front door, I locked it as if we were planning on coming back and then we all forced smiles on our faces as we walked out towards the hovercar that the Captain had waiting around the corner.