Jason King: Agent to the Stars 1: The Enclaves of Sylox (13 page)

“And we may not have time, Jason,” Cyrus added. “I’ve been getting directives all day from Earth for me to cut all ties to you, and to Miranda Moore – of which there are none with her.”

“They’re cutting me loose?”

“They’re not stupid, Jason; they can read the tea leaves just like anyone. If the Earth doesn’t throw you and Miranda to the wolves – and do it often and publically – then we could be drawn into a war we cannot defend against. The aliens are too powerful and too technically-advanced.”

I slumped down in my seat and stared out at the bright green grass of the outfield, still clearly visible in the quasi-darkness of nighttime on Sylox. I had really been counting on Cyrus – hell the entire Human delegation – to come to my defense. After all, I’m innocent. But now I was seeing that that didn’t matter, and that I was on my own. I was in the process of being sacrificed for the common good.

Well bully for me!

I went ahead and told Cyrus and the alien about my encounter with the gang-that-couldn’t-shoot straight earlier this morning. Of course, I left out the part about me actually working for them now. Cyrus found the information to be particularly interesting.

“You say this happened before the police told you what was going on?”

“Yeah, around nine this morning.”

Cyrus and the alien shared another seemingly telepathic look at each other.

“Jason, the Stone wasn’t taken until about four this morning. And the news didn’t break until ten.”

“So what? These guys are working with her. That’s obvious.”

“But they don’t know where she is, and that has them worried.”

“A double-cross? That’s what I thought, too.”

“Looks like it to me,” Cyrus said. “And now they believe she may be headed for a place called Hyben?”

Cyrus looked at Yorf as he mentioned the name of the planet.

The alien had his face buried in his datapad.

“Oh, this is not good,” Yorf said.

“What does it say?” I asked.

“Hyben is where the original black dwarf fragment was carved into its present shape. They are experts at working with precious minerals, such as diamond.”

“She’s going to have it cut down.”

“And if she does—” Cyrus began.

“—there will be no way of stopping the war,” I finished the sentence for him.

There was uneasy silence on the bleachers for several moments, as each of us digested the information we had so far. For my part, I felt like I was missing something – hell, a lot of something’s.

“So what’s keeping these two races from going to war right now? Why have I been given eight days to return the statue?”

“That is from an amendment to the original peace accords,” Yorf began. “Back at the time when the Capital was moved to Sylox, the ship transporting the Unity Stone became disabled and the Stone was lost for a period of two days. War nearly occurred at that time. Since then, the two opponents agreed to an eleven-day period of grace before acting.”

“So why do I only have eight?”

Cyrus smiled. “It’s because the Council believes either the Velosians or the Simoreans will act pre-emptily before the deadline, just to get a jump on the other side. Even though the agreement calls for eleven days to pass before war, everyone expects the first actions to take place a day or two before.”

“Unfortunately, that makes a lot of sense, even though it really screws me up. So exactly how did Miranda and I go about stealing such an important artifact in the first place? As one of the primary suspects in the theft, I’m supposed to know this.”

“Your Miss Moore placed a reading device on Orn’s data center when she first accessed the home,” Yorf answered. “It was able to record all of the Velosian’s entries and correspondences. It was from here that she learned of the access code to Orn’s office complex, as well as to the vault holding the Stone. Once ready to commit the crime, she returned to the property and reacquired the device and all the data it contained.”

“And none of the Council Member’s security firewalls detected the device?”

“Apparently not. It was not until after the theft occurred and a detailed scan of the data center was conducted, that signs of the device were detected.”

I looked to Cyrus. “Is that kind of equipment something that’s easily acquired?”

Yorf spoke again. “It is not. And most frankly, it is beyond the technology of the Humans, especially in light of the sophistication of the Council Member’s security protocols.”

“So she got the equipment from someone else, someone with the technology to bypass the security.”

“That’s right, Jason,” Cyrus said. “She’s obviously working with another race other than Human, and has been for a while. It took a lot of expertise and big bucks to forge the credentials to join the Wilsons for their trip to Sylox. And she also knew they would be working with you, the real estate agent who just happened to have the listing on the Council Member’s home.”

“I did think it was strange that Orn’s office was unlocked when I showed the house that first day. It had never been before.”

“That’s because it wasn’t unlocked – until Moore got there. It even took expertise beyond what we have to get through the security at the door.”

“Then why couldn’t she just access the house by herself? Why did she need me?”

“The external security is more sophisticated than that internally,” Yorf explained. “She could get into the office, but not the residence. For that she needed you.”

“And from what I’ve learned,” Cyrus interjected, “that house was way out of the price range of the Wilsons. Why were you even showing it to them the first place?”

“Miranda; it was her idea. Show them something extremely high-priced and then the other homes would look like bargains. Yeah, I fell for it, and so would you – if you’ve ever met the woman.”

“She also set up the CIA, as well. By going around blabbing about how she works for us, the entire Human government will be linked to the theft and held responsible. The operation is almost too transparent and amateurish in a way, but it looks like it may produce the desired results.”

“I’m glad you admire the tradecraft, Cyrus, but I’m being made the scapegoat in all this. Even though the entire race will be implicated in the theft, the government will do all they can to place the blame squarely on me and Miranda, just to cover their asses.”

“Can you blame them?”

“Nah, but that just means I need to do everything I can to recover the frickin statue before she has it cut down. Where exactly is Hyben? I haven’t even had a chance to check,” I asked Yorf.

“It’s about six hundred light-years from here. Your Noreen should make the trip in two days,” the alien said.

“Two there and two back,” I said. “Since I’ve already wasted a day, that only leaves me three to find her and the statue somewhere in a planet-size hiding place.”

“I will assist by researching all those on Hyben with the expertise to do the required work on the Stone,” Yorf said, “with a special emphasis on those who would accept such a contract. Many would not, considering the notoriety of the Stone and the implications of its destruction.”

“That would really be helpful, thanks.” I looked at both alien and Human and nodded. “The two of you are taking a terrible risk, but without your help the mission would be a failure even before it begins.”

“It’s still a long shot that this works out,” Cyrus said, leaving out the very important
for you
at the end of the sentence. “But we’ll keep working on this end to find out who’s pulling the strings back here. They have to be big, powerful and have a vested interest in the destruction of the Earth. And everyone leaves a trail, believe you me. Good luck, Jason. Oh … and
Hooah!”

I looked hard at Cyrus. I had had my suspicions, but now it was confirmed. Sometime in the storied past of Cyrus Blake, he had been an Army Ranger, just like me.

“Hooah!”
I replied back, just as the alien Yorf spoke up.

“I do not understand the translation – of which there is none. Is this a code of some sort among Humans?”

“For some Humans,” Cyrus answered. “Between the best.”

Chapter 18

I managed to get into the Zanzibar Executive Spaceport through the VIP entrance in Bill’s car, avoiding the four smaller news vans parked near the main entrance. The larger vans were reserved for my home and office; these were here just on the off chance I decided to bolt from the planet.

But even though I had gotten into the spaceport unseen, these bastards also knew where my hangar was located, so another cluster of vans sat on the tarmac blocking the large doors. Well, that would have to change. When the time came for launch, hopefully these crazed news hounds would be smart enough to clear out of the way, otherwise they would learn what a black hole looks like from the inside looking out.

I had the Noreen II for only six days before all hell broke loose, but during that time I managed to install some of the vital upgrades I’d been planning for weeks. My little Fusion flitter had been equipped with several armament upgrades, as well as two defensive counter measures. Fortunately, I’d never needed to use any of them here in the Sylox system. Yet with the Noreen, the entire galaxy was open to me, so having an effective means of protection was a priority.

Since the upgrades were not standard on the Fusion, I was able to remove them before Vol'ox came for the trade-in. I then spent three days reinstalling them in and on the Noreen II, which I had affectionately christened
The Enterprise
.

Yeah, call me sentimental and unoriginal, but I’m a big fan of the series, movies and spin-offs, even in reruns. And now that I had my own means of going where no one has gone before, the name seemed appropriate, if not a little pretentious.

I accessed my hangar unseen from the rear and once inside, I began preparing the tiny starship for my journey to Hyben. I was more than anxious to get off Sylox; there were just too many factions conspiring against me. I wished I could just start killing people. That was always a cathartic experience, but I couldn’t do that here on the planet. However in space, now that was another matter altogether.

With the upgrades I’d made to the
Enterprise
, I was confident I could counter any acts of aggression that befell me in space. Besides, no one who came up against me would be expecting the greeting they’d get. The weapons were well-hidden, and the specs of the N-Two didn’t show any of my upgrades. Call me arrogant, but I really wished some son-of-bitch would try me.

In reality, that was the last thing I needed – a battle in outer space. I was under the ultimate deadline, so I didn’t have time to dicker around with any would-be pirate, rogue or amateur advantage-taker in the vast emptiness of interstellar space.

I did a quick, yet detailed walk-around of the craft, and found two not-very-well-hidden tracking devices. Even though I suspected these were only the ones I was
supposed
to find – rather than those I wasn’t – I still took them through a side door to Simon Patel’s hangar and attached them to his Nova Model-Six. I knew he was heading out in a few hours for a hunting safari on some near-by exotic alien world, so this just might provide me with a little operating room before those who placed the devices realized their mistake.

I knew I was probably being overly cautious. Nothing in my seven years on Sylox had convinced me that the aliens – any aliens – were very sophisticated when it came to the ways of war, police procedures or even the commission of crimes. Their minds just didn’t have the same devious creativity as Humans. I was counting on this to help me do my job without too much interference, either from those trying to help or those who were not.

**********

Needless to say, it came as quite a shock to those waiting outside the hangar when the doors suddenly slid open and I maneuvered the Noreen out on the tarmac using chemical exhaust. The area filled with a thick gray smoke, made even darker by the dimness of the night. As news crews scrambled for safety, fighting for breath and cover, I initiated a very shallow gravity-well and lifted off. Much of the smoke was sucked up in the well, and I could see on the rear monitor a crowd of bewildered aliens staring up at me as I faded into the night sky.

Hasta la vista, suckers!

**********

The Noreen made quick work of the Sylox stellar system, and forty-two minutes after liftoff I was able to crank the engines up to full power without fear of disrupting any nearby gravity sources.

Hyben was forty-three hours away, and that time would pass with excruciating slowness. I didn’t have any detailed plan for once I got there – how could I – so I cleaned my weapons, tried to get some rest, and did my best to formalize a few the contingency plans I had bouncing around in my head in case I failed.

If failure was the end result of my little trek to Hyben, then I would be the only available scapegoat in the entire affair. Earth may be on the schedule for destruction, but it would be my hide that would be Earth’s only chance of survival.

So … would I surrender myself, admit to being behind the entire heist, and absolve Humanity of all responsibility? If I did, then I would be a hero back home, with monuments and high schools named after me.

Not!

I would be reviled, and my name would be synonymous with that of a Hitler or Pol Pot. I would be accused of risking the utter destruction of my homeworld – and its billions of inhabitants – for the sake of avarice.

Sorry, Jason, but there would be no statues in your honor or high school cheerleaders with your name emblazoned across their budding bosoms.

So as not to appear ungrateful – instead of being noble and sacrifice myself for the common good – I would simply disappear, trusting that the Earth would find some way of saving itself at the expense of my name and reputation.

Although the Noreen had a range of about five thousand light-years between recharging, before leaving the office earlier I had absconded with some seventy-four thousand dollars’ worth of Union credits from the escrow account at the office. It wasn’t much, but it would get me to the other side of the galaxy if I didn’t go balls-to-the-wall getting there.

And if everything did work out fine, then hopefully I could get the money back in the account before the regulators noticed.

At the time, that was the least of my worries.