Running With Argentine (10 page)

Climbing
the Gravity Well

For the next
couple of days Barry made sure to stay out of Argentine's way.

He didn't blame Barry, at least not much… Maybe. He
did
understand what it was like dealing with some of the radical theocracies, and
it had been his decision to hire Barry, but still…

He didn't have to like the way this had ended up.

So he wasn't really in the mood for surprises…

"First, we need to talk," came the voice of
Lieutenant Stark over Argentine's personal comm device.

"Okay, I'm on the bridge," he replied.

"Ah, do you think you could come to my cabin?"

Raising his eyebrows in surprise Argentine responded,
"I'll be there in five."

ΔΔΔ

"What is it
Lieutenant?"

Like for all of the officers, the lieutenant’s cabin served
double duty as an office. You entered from the corridor into the office area, and
then needed to pass through another doorway to reach the personal quarters.

He had been at his desk when Argentine walked in.

"Take a look at this," the lieutenant said while
motioning him to his computer's screen.

"It looks like a power consumption chart."

"It is, but scroll through the daily readings…"

"Explain it to me. What am I looking for?"

"Since we’re so shorthanded I've been taking those
readings three times a day instead of the standard once a day. I'm just a
little paranoid since we don't have enough people to monitor all our systems in
real time. I wanted to make sure that if something started going haywire we’d
have a chance to shut it down before it caused any damage."

"Okay, that makes sense."

"Take a look at the shuttle bay. The first report I run
every morning shows that the shuttle's systems are off, that it’s not drawing any
power. But look at these other reports… They show that the shuttle's
life-support systems are constantly on."

"Is it a glitch in our readings… Or, have you checked
the shuttle? Did we somehow leave the systems on?"

"I haven't checked it yet, but I did check our food
supply. Best I can tell we’re going through the supply faster than we
should."

Argentine and the lieutenant locked eyes.

"Chief, report to Lieutenant Stark’s office,"
Argentine said into his comm.

ΔΔΔ

The shuttle bay
on the Pelican wasn't very large, but it was always pressurized.

The three men entered the bay as quietly as possible. They
each carried an energy rifle.

As they neared the shuttle the chief pulled out a piece of
equipment and studied it for a moment. He then looked at Argentine and nodded.

The shuttle's systems were active.

They gathered by the hatch and Argentine used his fingers to
silently count down from three. He had quietly typed in his override code and
when his countdown reached zero he hit the hatch's emergency access control.

As it flew open, he rushed inside and pointed his rifle down
the length of the shuttle.

He heard the other two following behind him, but after just
a few steps he stopped in his tracks.

Sitting at a table not five paces in front of him was a
redheaded green-eyed woman eating something from a can.

Without missing a beat Mandi said, "Care for a
peach?"

Earth
2330 A.D.

Admiral Sanchez
looked up at the Army Captain sitting before him.

He then glanced back down at the top-secret report that was
still in his hands. It was a wonder they weren't shaking, the abstract thought
came into his mind.

Forty minutes ago he'd been contemplating what he thought
was the most sensitive information, and biggest headache, the Terran League
(and possibly mankind) had ever run into.

The Terran League had no idea what to do with the
discoveries on Betelgeuse. Only recently had the recovered records been
translated sufficiently to tell its fateful story.

The fragmentary ruins of what might have been alien
civilizations had been found before. But this…

Apparently, because of his scientific background, the powers
that be at the Terran League felt that he would be the best person to dump this
mess into the lap of.

On the one hand, it was an honor to be thought of so well…
On the other hand, this was his for life. He would never be given another
assignment and, assuming the universe didn't end tomorrow, his career was
effectively dead-ended.

The Admiral wasn't the type of man to dwell on those
thoughts, however. His task was to assume that the information was correct and
that there was an existential threat – and then formulate a plan to deal with
it.

How did you plan for something when you had no idea what you
were planning for? Or, for that matter, should they even believe it? It seemed
so fantastical and they had so little evidence.

And then forty minutes ago the captain had walked into his
office…

"What is your name again, son?"

"Jacoby, Sir. Captain James Jacoby, Terran League
Army."

"How many others know about this report, Captain?"

"The actual report was written by me, sir. And no one
else has seen it. I spoke to my commanding officer who pretty muchly laughed it
off as a joke. He told me it was my career, and then directed me to the Space
Navy Admiralty, who immediately routed me to you."

The Admiral made a mental note to vet everyone that might've
been exposed to this information…

"And how did you become aware of this…
Object
that you talk about?"

"I work in Army intelligence, Admiral. I understand
that they have now put you in charge of the discoveries on Betelgeuse, but some
of the preliminary information was made available to us. Amongst that
information was the description of crystalline objects…

"It triggered something in my memory that I'd read in a
report long ago. I tracked it down and actually found the artifact stored in a
warehouse. No one believed it authentic, but no one had bothered to throw it
away either."

The Admiral made a decision…

"Captain, you now work for me. Consider yourself
attached to the Terran Space Navy and bump yourself up a level in rank… What's
above captain in the Army? Major?"

"Yes, sir."

"Okay, Major Jacoby. Your first assignment is to gather
the artifact and bring it here. I will also want a detailed report on anyone
that might be privy to even a portion of the content of this report…"

Once the new major had left his office, the admiral looked
back at the report and started reading it again…

Climbing
the Gravity Well

"Explain."

"Well I couldn't very well let myself starve. I didn't
think you'd mind if I pinched a few peaches."

"I'm not talking about the peaches, Mandi,"
Argentine said. "I want to know what's going on here?"

"Mandi?" Sami said with surprise. "You know
this woman?"

Looking at Sami, Mandi said, "Don't worry, dear. We
shared a few laughs and a cup of coffee. We barely know each other at all…

"By the way," she continued. "How long until
we reach Asperia?"

"We're not going to Asperia… We're turning the ship
around and taking you back to Tiffany's planet."

"What!" the chief and Barry said at the same time.

"I highly suspect that she's a wanted criminal and I
don't want us getting caught up in her machinations," Argentine said
angrily.

"Then why are we taking her to Asperia?" Sami
asked. "And why were you having her hide in the shuttle?"

"I wasn't having her… She's a stowaway," he said
forcefully.

"A stowaway?" said Barry.

"That's not possible," said the chief.

"Come on Frank, I think the game is up," Mandi
said with a reluctant smile. "You should probably tell them what's going
on between us."

"Yes Frank, you should tell us what's going on between
you," Sami said with her arms across her chest.

Trying to pretend that his face wasn't growing red,
Argentine said slowly, "There is nothing going on… But I promise, if this
woman doesn't start explaining there will be."

Looking directly at Mandi he concluded, "And she won't
like it… one… bit!"

"Oh, hold your water," she said.

And then to the group in general, "Is he always this
uptight?"

It didn't help Argentine’s focus that through his peripheral
vision he noticed Sami nodding.

ΔΔΔ

"This
whole situation isn't complicated at all," she began.

"I needed a way off of Tiffany's planet so I hitched a
ride with you guys. It's no big deal."

"Don't you think you should've asked? For that matter,
why didn't you just buy passage on another ship?" the chief wanted to
know.

"If I'd asked you might've said no. It was really so
much simpler this way."

"And you needed to get off the planet without the
authorities being able to trace you," the lieutenant said as he finally
entered the conversation.

"Well, there is that," she responded.

"This is all bloody well and good, and it seems like
you're having a jolly good time with us, but I'm still missing something… Why
did you pick our ship?" Barry asked.

"With all the information your Captain was kind enough
to provide me about yourselves I thought you would be a good choice."

"What kind of information?"

"All sorts of good things, including the fact that
you're on the run. This, by the way, is why you’re not going to take me back."

All eyes now turned to Argentine…

"I never said any such thing," he responded.

"You didn't have to. When I mentioned being able to
hack into databases and identify fugitives from other systems… Well, your face
spoke volumes."

"You're a hacker?" Barry asked in surprise.

"Of course she is," said Lieutenant Stark.
"It's how she was able to get aboard ship and hide out on the shuttle
without us being any the wiser."

"Yes, how did you figure it out? If you don't mind me
asking…" she asked.

"Never mind that," Argentine said. "You're
going to give us your story. From the beginning. No more tangents, no more
trying to change the subject… Just a straight linear story of who you are, what
you did, why you're trying to get away, and how you ended up here…

"If you don't do that to my satisfaction you're right,
I won't take you back to Tiffany's planet. But I have zero compunction about
throwing you out an airlock…"

There was something in Argentine's tone and posture…

"Fine, fine… You win. Where do you want me to
start?"

"At the beginning."

She sighed...

"Okay, if you must know, I was born on Tiffany's
planet. Have any of you ever been there? On the planet I mean?"

When no one responded she continued…

"It's not a great place to grow up. Oh, there's plenty
of opportunity for hard work, but I found at an early age I preferred to use my
mind. Combine that with a small aversion to authority and, well… I found myself
without a lot of legitimate opportunities."

"I sincerely hope this is not going to turn into an
Oh,
woe is me
, story," Argentine commented.

"No, because I found I didn't need the traditional
opportunities. It turns out that I've always been good at writing software. Or,
more accurately, breaking software.

"I'm not a criminal… Or, at least, I'm not a crook. I
don't steal from people. But the government has a lot of money and wastes most
of it. Why shouldn't they waste a little bit of it in my direction, huh?

"At any rate, I learned, kind of the hard way, that you
can't just program the government computers to send you money every month.
Eventually, some real person will take notice.

"So I cleaned up my act… You might say I got religion
even… And I started using my skills to give myself gainful employment without
having to mess with all those pesky credentials, references, and educational
requirements.”

When she didn't continue Argentine loudly cleared his
throat.

"What?" she asked, surprised.

"Tell us the rest…"

"Well… I found that there were some jobs that I like
more than others…"

"And…" he prodded.

"And I ended up working at Platform III's Office of
Inner and Outer System Employment."

As the silence grew uncomfortably long, she continued…

"And I started augmenting my income again… But it
wasn't anything terribly dishonest," she rushed to assure everyone.
"I just looked for newbies coming in from out-system that were running
from something and offered to help them for a small fee."

Argentine cleared his throat again.

"Okay, I
helped
them by not turning them in and
my small fee was whatever they could afford. But it's not like they were
innocent spacers!" she protested.

"And the government was starting to catch on,"
Argentine finished for her.

"Well, let's just say that I thought it was time for a
vacation," she said brightly.

"So, as you can see there's no harm, no foul… All this
folderol is for nothing. When we arrive at Asperia I'll take my leave and we’ll
never see each other again," she said with a smile.

"And I promise you, I'll send you some money for the
peaches."

ΔΔΔ

Argentine had
seriously thought about throwing her out the airlock. Well, maybe not seriously…
But he wouldn't claim it hadn't crossed his mind.

He was in his cabin with Lieutenant Stark and the chief. No
one was really offering up any good ideas.

As a matter of fact, earlier that day when Mandi had made
her revelations she'd finished by standing up and muttering something about
needing to find an empty cabin.

No one had stopped her as she left the room.

"She obviously can't be trusted," the chief
finally said.

"No, but what do you want me to do? Tie her up? Confine
her to her cabin? We’ve still got three weeks to Asperia," responded the
lieutenant.

"Once we get there we’ll be rid of her," Argentine
mused. "We just need to throw the fear of God into her and makes sure she
leaves the ship alone in the meantime.

"Can you handle that, Lieutenant?"

He shrugged… Then nodded.

"So, for the next three weeks we’re just supposed to
treat her like one of the crew?" the chief asked in exasperation.

"Do you have any better ideas?" Argentine asked.
"Besides, she's certainly got some spunk about her. It could make for an…
interesting trip."