The Victor Project (13 page)

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     From the driver seat in his car, William snapped five shots in succession as Matt walked from the front door to his car.  In two of the shots, it was as if Matt was looking directly at him, which didn’t seem possible.  His car was at least forty yards down the road and mostly hidden by another vehicle.  The telephoto lens always made it appear more dangerous than it was.  With the two pictures that he had captured showing a full front view of Matt’s face, he was confident Grunt would be able to do adequate research.

     After three or four minutes, William started his vehicle and slowly drove it passed the Gables old house and into his driveway.  From inside the house, William made a beeline directly out the back door and into the yard.  Mr. Gable had constructed a six foot fence between the two yards, one which was somewhat difficult to conquer for a forty-five year old man.  Normally William would have planned this for days, but his gut was telling him that Matt wasn’t the ordinary neighbor that you read about in books.  Breaking into Matt’s house was the only way that he could be sure of what had moved in next door to him.  Breaking and entering wasn’t exactly the proper term for what he was about to do.  If he hadn’t lost his touch, the tools he drew from his pocket should admit him through the back door without any damage.

     When he had first joined the PERFs, an older man by the name of Russ took him under his wing to show him the ropes, so to speak.  Russ never admitted it, but in a round about manner, William got the impression that the old man had done a little time for burglary.  One of the testaments to this fact was his unique ability to overcome various locks.  The man also flaunted an impressive set of tools to complete the tasks.  After only one year of tutoring by the master himself, William carried the confidence to enter any house he chose, given that it had a keyhole.  The tools he now possessed were sort of a graduation gift from Russ.  To this date, they had only been used twice.

     The gloves made the task somewhat more challenging, but after a non-record sixty seconds, the knob turned with ease.  Luckily the neighborhood was quiet and from the back door of the house William could see no one.  As he closed the door, he wondered what was worse, breaking into a house in the middle of the day when it was light outside, or breaking in at night when you had to use lights inside.  At the moment both seemed equally terrifying.

     There was really only one true purpose for breaking into Matt’s house, to obtain a finger print.  A drinking glass was the optimal object.  It was easy to lift, prints stuck to glass well and a missing drinking glass could just as easily be overlooked, especially if you were lucky enough to find a generic style.

     In the kitchen, next to the sink sat the prize that allowed William to breath a little easier.  The six inch tall glass was somewhat generic in style although it was blue.  For piece of mind, William began to open each of the cabinet doors in search of its mates.  In the corner cabinet sat two shelves of drinking glasses.  A quick count gave seven neatly stacked glasses of the same color and style.  Placing his find near the back door entrance, William preceded to search the house for other clues.

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     The masses didn’t exactly flee the room after the meeting was adjourned.  John would have guessed that people would have been running for the exit, given the humdrum topic of the last thirty minutes.  None the less, it took him a few extra minutes to weave his way through the crowd and out the main doors.  Brent and Dan stood off to the side and motioned for him to come nearer when their eyes met. 

     “I didn’t enjoy one minute of that,” said John.

     “A god damn clown show,” said Dan.

     “Let’s find some place cozy where we can talk.  Follow me,” said Brent.

     The three worked their way down the corridor and to the elevator with John leading the way.  Two other C-Orbit station personnel stepped in along with them.  Brent waited for the other two riders to pick their level, which was O-deck, then Brent pressed Q.  They all knew to watch what was said and to play the game.  

     “When’s the last time you hit the planet?” asked Brent.

     “I haven’t been back since I came on board over two years ago,” answered John.  “What about you?”

     “I took a trip back only three months ago,” Brent answered.

     The elevator doors opened at O-deck and the two others quickly exited.  The main elevator flowing to all C-Orbit decks was monitored by security with voice and video.  Everyone knew that fact and everyone accepted it.  It had been a little scary for John to get used to at first, but finally resolved to the fact to never expect privacy on an elevator.

     “Anything changed on earth?” asked John.

     “Not a thing,” answered Brent.

     “Well, I guess that’s good.  What about you?” he said to Dan.

     “Six months for me,” answered Dan.

     Just then the doors opened to Q-deck and Brent dashed out first.  Evidently he had a good idea in mind for a place to hold a private conversation.  Brent was at least five steps ahead of them before the doors even closed.  Since Q-deck was the launch deck, it had per square foot, more maintenance rooms then any of the other decks that made up C-Orbit.  John hoped they didn’t run into anyone important.  The way Brent was charging down the corridor, someone would have thought the station was being abandoned.

     Brent had already removed his keys from his pocket before pausing at one of the doors.  As he and Dan approached, Brent swung the door open and hurried them in.

     “Damn it Brent, you weren’t exactly discrete in the way you got us down here,” said John.

     “Relax, no one saw us.  Besides we’re engineers, we can go anywhere on this ship we want,” Brent answered.

     “From what I just heard in that meeting, things are a little different,” said Dan.

     “Did you hear that bullshit?  M and O Modules completed and fully functional in one week?” said John.

     “He didn’t say fully functional,” said Brent.

     “Whatever, there’s a lot of work to do on those decks.  And what about getting P online in twenty days?  That wasn’t scheduled for another forty-five.  Hell I don’t think the damn atmospheric doors have even been shipped yet,” said John angrily.

     “Hey, I’m on your side, remember?  I thought that meeting was going to be purely kiss-ass,” Brent continued.

     “Oh it was that all right and a little extra,” said Dan.

     “Yea I saw a couple of bones go your way,” said John.

     “Jealous?” said Dan.

     “No, just thought you guys were becoming one of them,” said John.

     “So what about the modules, can your team do it?” asked Brent.

     “I think so.  If all the materials arrive in time, like as we speak,” said John.  “What about your group?”

     “I guess anything’s possible.  We’ll need a few more people, but I’m sure they’ve already thought about that,” answered Brent.

     “The real question is why the hurry-up,” said Dan.

     “Exactly,” said Brent.

     “Remember when we tested this deck a few weeks ago?  And we docked a bunch of transports repeatedly for a couple of hours?” said John.

     “Twenty-five god damn times,” said Brent.  “I had to look through a ton of magnetic-latch stress data after that.  Was that your stupid idea?”

     “What the fuck you been drinking?  You think I wanted a test like that?  Don’t you guys get it? asked John.

     “Get what genius?” said Dan.

    “I think that test was to see how fast they could load a bunch of civilians up here from earth.  Now they want us to hurry up and get this floating shopping mall completed.  Smells like we’re going to get a bunch of new residents,” said John.

     “No, that was just what you said it was, a test.  They wouldn’t push that many people up here that quickly.  For civilians there are all kind of tests they have to take, bloodwork, physical testing, background checks.  Those twenty-five dockings was just overblown bureaucracy test.  I think these fucking politicians just want to make sure they look good to the public.  I bet it’s an election year,” said Brent.

     “I wouldn’t know if it was,” said John.

     “Beats me,” said Dan.

     “So much for our cherished democracy,” said Brent.

     “You know there could just be something bad happening down there,” said John.

     “Your such a damn cynic.  You always were,” said Brent.

     “Being a cynic prevents me from following all the other cows off the cliff,” said John.

     “You think that if there was something going on down there, we wouldn’t know about it?” asked Brent.

     “Quite possible.  You think the government tells the masses everything?  How much truth do you think those poor bastards down there can handle?  I say not much,” continued John.

     “So what about the timing?  You think some deadly virus just happens to strike just as we are completing a space station that has taken years to create, much less years to plan?” asked Dan.

     “OK, you tell me who the mysterious five were in the meeting this morning,” asked John.

     “Don’t know, never seen them,” answered Brent.

     “They were straight up government, that’s for sure.  Did you notice anything weird about them?” asked John.

     “Where the fuck do I start?” said Dan.

     “Each of the five had matching briefcases and you can damn well bet they had matching pens, but not one of them took down a word of what was said, not one god damn note.   You know why?  Because we don’t exist, not to a lot of people anyway.  We can’t exist on any document that would leave this space hamster wheel,” said John.

     “You’re way out there, you know it John?” said Brent.  “Let’s get going, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

    Dan opened the door and peaked out to see if anyone was in the hallway.

     “What the fuck you doing?” said Brent.

     “Just making sure the coast is clear,” answered Dan.

    “We’re supposed to be here, remember.  Just walk out like you own the place.  The way you’re sneaking around, who wouldn’t be suspicious,” said Brent.

     “Hey I almost forgot.  Have you guys seen a couple of unfamiliar faces in your areas?  I saw a couple of guys up in the
solar maintenance room that appeared to be gathering data,” said John.

     “Yea, I caught two guys sniffing around down on RAS.  I asked them what the hell was going on and they gave me some mumbo-jumbo about a FSC inspection team.  It seemed like they would just as soon kill me than answer another question.  They looked more like thugs than engineers,” said Dan.

     “Yea, and I bet they are also government spies,” stabbed Brent.

     “Could be,” said John.

     “I was joking.  I’m not some paranoid freak like you,” said Brent.

     “I’m not backing down.  I say we’re in for a huge reality check.  Just be ready,” said John.

     “Look, you bring me some proof that C-Orbit is going to become the Alamo and I’ll stand next to you on this Mr. Bowie.  Until then, I think we’re just expected to be the pawns we are and get these decks ready,” said Brent.

     By the time the three had made it to the elevator, John had realized that the paranoia label that Brent had been throwing back in his face might be correct.  He had never minded being labeled as a cynic.  Many people had said that about him.  What he didn’t want was the crew thinking he was some antigovernment freak who wore aluminum foil underwear.  Brent pressed the button for P-deck three times before the doors had time to even close.  John could see he was a little more shook about the meeting than he was letting on.  John hit the button for B-deck and Dan just stood in the back.   

     “I have to go guys.  I got to get my people together ASAP and make this tin can run like a space-station,” said Brent.

     “I don’t have a clue where to start,” said Dan.

     Brent stepped through the elevator doors as they opened, then reached back and held them from closing completely. 

     “You guys keep me posted if you hear anything,” he said.

     “You got it,” said John.

     Dan had purposely waited for Brent to exit before his next statement.

     “You know, there have been a lot of transports coming from earth lately.  I can see them from my office,” Dan said.

     “Meaning what?” asked John.

     “Hell I don’t know.  You’re the one with the theories, I’m just an observer.  But I’ll tell you one thing, be careful what you dig up, you just might not like the smell of it,” he said.

     “I worship your advice Socrates,” joked John.

     The doors once again opened upon arriving at B-deck and the two exited the elevator quietly.  Dan noticed John heading in the opposite direction down the corridor and paused.

     “Hey,” said Dan wanting John to turn around.  “Watch your back.”

     John gestured with a salute, then regained his stride.  After a few steps he began to wonder if Dan was really joking about watching his back.  It wasn’t exactly what he wanted to hear at the moment.  The beeping of his phone nearly sent him into a heart attack.