Teleport This (15 page)

“Is that something we should worry about?” asked Lyn.

“Her ship went off the grid days ago,” said Jon, “probably right after their run-in with the pirates. I still think she’s lying low and waiting for things to blow over. That would explain her silence.”

“Any idea where she might have gone?” asked Lyn, getting back into her professional mode. “Does she have a safe spot that you know about? Did you two ever discuss a time or place where you could meet if something like this happened?”

“No,” said Jon. “You see, Ellie is the safety net. Not just for me, but other members of my family sometimes run afoul with the law as well. Ellie was the youngest and we didn’t want her to follow in our footsteps, plus she didn’t really have the knack for it. Anyway, we all chipped in, bought her the freighter, installed an untraceable teleport system and we use it from time to time when we need to make a quick exit.”

“Who’s this ‘we’ you keep mentioning?” asked Lyn.

“Oh, my father, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins. That sort of we,” said Jon. “Now I can tell by the way you’re looking at me that you’re getting the wrong idea, but she enjoys it when we visit.”

“I bet,” said Lyn. “She was probably overjoyed when Gilbert showed up.”

“I’m sure they’re getting along wonderfully,” said Jon. “But you’re right, it’s time we collected him and made sure everything is alright with Ellie. Ellie2, where’s this beach house located?”

“Just under a three hour drive from here,” said Ellie2.

“That burns a day to go, check on Alicia and return,” said Jon. “Alright, we’ll take Lyn’s advice and leave Alicia where she is for now. I think our best or maybe only move is to return to the space station and see if we can find out what made that ship leave in such a hurry or where they went off to. Maybe I can get a handle on who hired this guy or what they’re after on Ellie’s ship.”

“Don’t worry, Lyn,” said Ellie2. “I’ll monitor everyone’s fingers while we’re there.”

18.

“Everyone comfortable?” asked Monti.

“Yes, but you don’t understand, we came here to…” began Ellie.

“We came here to get your help with Jon and if you’re not going to help us, then just let us go,” interrupted Talia.

Monti had restrained Ellie and Talia, but placed them comfortably in an interior room. Monti cocked his head at Talia and then looked at Ellie. “What were you going to say, my dear?”

“Just that I don’t understand why you’re making such a big deal about Jon,” said Ellie.

“Could I be missing something here after all? No matter,” said Monti, “Macnair has arrived and we’ll sort it all out. I’ll be back shortly and we’ll continue our conversation.” Monti nodded to the guards as he left the room. “Keep an eye on that one.” he said, indicating Talia.

Talia leaned forward and said in a soft voice, “Don’t say anything about the you-know-what. Let’s save that as a final bargaining chip.”

“Right,” said Ellie. “And thanks for all that bodyguard stuff you did out there. You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

“If I could have gotten free,” said Talia, “then I could have planned a rescue.”

“Using Gil, Franco and Holt?” asked Ellie. “Please, I’m surprised the ship hasn’t crashed into the planet by now.”

Monti, along with Macnair and his crew, entered the room a short time later. Monti pointed to Ellie.

“Hello,” said Macnair. “Monti tells me you’re the sister of a good friend of mine.”

“Oh, I doubt that,” said Ellie.

“Really?” said Macnair. “I’d be very upset if I came all this way and you’re not who we think you are.”

“Well,” said Ellie, “then I wouldn’t want to be in Monti’s shoes.”

“Don’t worry about Monti, worry about me.” Macnair nodded to Stace, who opened up the case he was carrying and began removing its contents. “Do you recognize any of these items?” he asked.

“Sure,” said Talia. “Standard mind probing stuff.”

“Not quite standard,” said Macnair. “I’m sorry to say. Sorry for you, that is.”

“Look, you don’t need to use that stuff,” said Ellie. “We’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

“I’m sure you will. People tend to tell me all types of things when I pressure them. Then at some point, half of it conflicts with the other half and in the end none of it adds up. I find it easier to conduct business this way. Soon I’ll know all there is to know about you and your brother.” Macnair motioned to Stace, “You may proceed.”

Stace finished setting up his instruments and connected them to Ellie and Talia through a cap that went over their entire heads and fastened under their chins, securing it firmly in place.

“I’m telling you there’s an easier way. We’ve got something you’d be interested in,” was all Ellie was able to get out before becoming unconscious.

“I’m sure you have,” Macnair replied.

“Hey, boss,” said Stace. “I got something strange here. The minute they went under, I picked up a repeating signal saying something about if we continue to probe them then all information regarding the location of the Nurridium will be deleted. Same thing coming from both their implants. What do you make of that?”

“It’s just a trick to stop us from probing their minds,” said Macnair. “Don’t pay any attention to it.”

“Wait a minute, there might be something to that,” said Monti. “They insisted that they did not come here to cut a deal for her brother. This is even before I made mention of my contacting you.”

Macnair thought for a moment and then the businessman inside him took over. “Wake them up.”

Ellie woke up to see Talia watching her. They were alone except for a couple of guards in the hallway.

“What’s going on?” Ellie asked Talia.

“I’m not sure,” said Talia.

“I don’t feel any different,” said Ellie. “How do I look?”

“Very stylish,” said Talia.

“Do I look like I had my brain melted?”

“How should I know? I never saw anyone with a melted brain before.”

Ellie looked around, “Where did everyone go?”

“I’m not sure, but my guess is they went to have a few drinks and talk things over while they waited for us to wake up. Five will get you ten that Gil’s program kicked in and now they’re all real interested in the Nurridium.”

“I suppose that’s better than having our brains fried,” said Ellie.

“Let’s hope so. These guys know a lot of tricks and I’m not sure if Gil’s program will hold them off. We weren’t really planning on this caliber of attention. Here they come.”

“Everybody have a nice nap?” asked Macnair as he entered the room. “All nice and rested? Good. Now I want everyone to be quiet and listen while I explain to you exactly what is going to happen next. You’re going to tell me right away if this hidden Nurridium thing is a trick or the real deal. If you tell me right now that it is a trick, I will collect on my bet with Monti and we will continue from where we left off. If I find out later that it was a trick, I will cut off your arms. Everybody understand?” Lots of head nodding. “Good. Now tell me, was it a trick?” Lots of head shaking. “So you do have Nurridium hidden away somewhere?” Head nodding again. “Alright, let me hear it.”

Franco, Gilbert and Holt had watched with some apprehension as the shuttle descended into the planet’s atmosphere. That apprehension grew as an hour passed without receiving any communication from either Ellie or Talia. One hour became two without word and their apprehension blossomed into full fledged fear. Fear gave way to near hysteria as a sleek and well armed ship took a position off their port side and locked on weapons. Another hour went by before they received a transmission from the ship.

“Attention. We are sending a shuttle to pick up all personnel for transport to the planet.”

“We’re boned,” said Holt, turning to look at Gilbert and Franco. Both nodded silently.

It was a short time later that Franco, Gilbert and Holt found themselves reunited with Ellie and Talia and wearing similar headdresses.

“I’m warning you, tampering with us like this runs the risk of losing the data forever,” said Gilbert.

“No worries, boss,” said Stace. “I know from the short time I was working on the girls that the data goes into a lockdown routine and then gives a warning before deletion. I know these implants well enough to get around that. It will just take a bit of time to convince their unconscious brains that everything is normal-like.”

“No details, please,” said Macnair. “Just results.”

Macnair and Monti left and Stace began his work. In no time at all, he was swimming through their collective unconsciousness, making his way into their implants’ processors and programming. Gilbert’s code worked well enough against perceivable external threats, but Stace had them all thinking they were at the beach watching the waves go back and forth. Their guard was down and the information was out in under an hour. Thirty minutes after that, they were all awake and facing Macnair again.

“Nice work,” Macnair said to Stace. “Hal, take the ship to these coordinates and retrieve the rock while Monti and I enjoy dinner and, I don’t know, maybe a show. The rest of you are staying here and if that ship comes back empty, I’m cutting arms off of everyone.” Macnair heard a gasp from behind him and felt a slight tug on his sleeve. “Not yours, Monti.” He turned and walked towards Ellie, “And who knows, if it’s a big enough chunk of Nurridium, I might just forget all about that grudge I have against your brother.”

The last thing anyone heard was Monti’s voice fading away as he and Macnair walked down the hall. “I don’t mean to be a wet blanket, but if it comes to it, do you think you could do the arm cutting somewhere else? I’m not really set up for that kind of mess and this is new carpet…”

“Well, that was fun,” said Talia as the guards closed the door.

“We need to get out of these restraints and go after them. I’m not going to let them steal my Nurridium,” said Ellie.

“Your Nurridium?” asked Franco.

“That’s right, our Nurridium,” said Ellie.

“What do you propose we do?” asked Talia. “We’re locked in here and there are two guards in the hall. You probably don’t realize it, but these guys are way past state-of-the-art. Some of the stuff they have goes about a hundred light-years beyond crazy. That guy picked our memories clean.”

“I actually enjoyed the day at the beach,” said Gilbert. “Very relaxing.”

“I almost wished he took a bit longer,” agreed Franco. “The barbecue was almost ready. Hey, Holt, how come you weren’t at the beach?”

“I’ve got this fear of water since I almost drowned so beaches make me really nervous,” said Holt.

“So where’d he put you?” asked Franco.

“I don’t want to say too much since we’re in mixed company, but it was the best nudie bar I was ever in.” Holt leaned over and whispered, “Ellie and Talia were there.”

“No, we were at the beach,” said Ellie.

“Not in my mind,” said Holt.” Sorry, but you two were the featured dancers.”

“Great.” said Ellie. “Talia, you had listed all these fancy implants on your résumé when I hired you, let’s see them in action.”

“Yeah, about that,” said Talia. “Those implants are kind of like the guns and shields you told me your ship had.”

“You have a résumé for the job of enforcer?” asked Gilbert.

“Hey, it’s a profession just like anything else,” said Talia. “The hiring process isn’t that different.”

“But what do you put for past experience?” asked Franco. “Do you list all the body parts you’ve broken?”

“I can imagine the interview,” said Gilbert as he began impersonating the hiring manager. “I see you’ve broken a lot of legs. Is that a personal preference or is there a reason you shy away from arms and fingers?”

“Laugh it up,” said Talia. “When we get out of here I can update it with ‘experienced in killing coworkers.’ And by the way, I’ve been asked that question more than once during an interview.”

The laughter died down and the group sat there in silence for a while, each contemplating their fate, hoping that Macnair finds the Nurridium and is happy enough to let them go free with all limbs attached.

“Did anyone hear that?” asked Talia.

“Hear what?” said Franco.

“It sounded like a couple of bodies falling out there in the hall,” said Talia.

“Nope, but I did hear something that sounded like a door opening,” said Franco.

“That’s because the door just opened,” said Ellie.

“Then that explains it,” said Franco.

They were all restrained and positioned in chairs that faced away from the door so they didn’t see it open or watch as the unconscious guards were dragged in from the hallway before it closed.

“I think someone just came in the room.” whispered Talia. “Hello,” she said in a louder voice, “is someone there?”

“Don’t worry, I’m here to help you,” said the person that just entered the room, coming around front to give them all a look over. “Everyone okay?”