Wish You Were Here (Instead of Me), page 24
“Without the beacon you wouldn’t be able to skip into that underground hangar, even if you were parked right above it,” Greta said. “This had been planned for years.”
“Parker knew he was going to be caught after Oxfordshire,” Sean said. “This must have been his solution.”
“So we’ll assume his wife was collected from the Bristol Channel,” Greta said. “It’s a lot of effort for just those two.”
“Who are the other prisoners?” Jess asked.
“Killers and murderers,” Sean said. “Other than that Parker arrested some, I don’t know of any link between them and him. The only other point of note is that the items recovered from the tunnel beneath Nineveh were also taken. Most of the photographs and recordings were in the embassy database. The only unique physical objects were the broken flight recorder, and a few of the tiles that once covered the tunnel.”
“What flight recorder?” Jess asked.
“It belonged to a collector who would sometimes visit my student,” Celeste said. “Two thousand and six hundred years ago, their ship crashed. It was never clear why. The data on the flight recorder was corrupted. All that remained was a record of a previous trip to visit my student.”
“But the Voytay might not know that,” Sean said. “They might think it holds the secret to how your student was killed.”
“Where’s your spaceship?” Jess asked Celeste.
“Safe,” Celeste said.
“Can you fetch it? I assume we’re going to use that, and threaten to blow up a planet if they don’t give our kids back.”
“They won’t harm the children,” Greta said.
“You can’t know that,” Jess said.
“Their abduction was a crime of opportunity because they know who the children are,” Greta said. “They might try to ransom them, or use them as leverage, but they won’t be harmed.”
“Don’t you want to look for them?”
“Of course,” Greta said. “First, we’ll ask nicely. If that doesn’t work, we’ll find out where they’re being held and rescue them.”
“I will return to Iraq,” Celeste said. “It is possible there is something the archaeologist found that I overlooked.”
“We’ll head back to Ireland,” Sean said. “I want to interview the bomber we captured. Then we’ll go to Benson, interview the sooval prisoners, and then we’ll head to the borderlands, and meet up with Gunther before we have words with the Voytay.”
Part 7
In Our Galaxy, but Still Far, Far Away
Deep Space
October 2022 - January 2023
Chapter 28 - Imperial Justice
“Urgh,” Harold said. He’d tried to ask where am I, but his mouth was as dry as sandpaper, and just as coarse on his tongue. His head was pounding, and the beat grew louder as he sat up. A wave of nausea swept over him. He leaned forward, putting his head between his knees, and breathed slow and deep. The pounding began to subside. He rubbed his eyes and realised his glasses were gone. With the jolt of a quintuple espresso, he realised his clothes were missing, too.
Blinking, heart pounding nearly as loudly as his brain had been, he looked about. He was sitting on a bed in a chamber a little longer than the bunk, and about twice as wide. The walls were grey and windowless. What was probably a door was outlined in a pale red light. More light, this time white, radiated from a panel in the ceiling.
The last thing he remembered was being in the museum room at Area-51. This wasn’t a USAF hospital. On the floor was a stack of clothes. The trousers, tunic, and semi-rigid socks were of a style similar to those worn beneath a Valley spacesuit, except these were patterned in red and grey. Seeing no reason not to, he pulled them on. As he did, a story of Sean’s came to him, of how he’d woken up on Johann and Greta’s spaceship. Why he, Harold, would be in space, he had no idea, but the answer wasn’t going to be found inside the room.
When he’d finished dressing, he crossed to the door. Waving his hand in front of it did nothing. Pushing did even less. He tried pressing his palms against it to see if it would slide back into the wall. It wouldn’t. He sat back on the bunk, now certain he knew where he was. He was in a cell.
When the door opened, there were three red-armoured people on the other side. Two were dressed in the standard combat armour, complete with opaque helmets, but the third wore two strips of red cloth on each shoulder, hanging down to her waist where they clipped onto a belt. She wasn’t wearing a helmet, so he could tell she had the grey face of a towani, but without his glasses, her features were a blur.
“Kal,” Harold said, and made the splayed-hand gesture of greeting. “Where am I?”
The reply came in Mid-Tow, but after a few words, an English translation began playing from a speaker on the towani’s chest. “Aboard a warship. You are a prisoner.”
“You’re Voytay, aren’t you?”
“If you comply, you won’t be harmed. Your friends are waiting. You are to follow.”
As they walked along the corridor, Harold squinted at walls and doors, but even if he’d had his glasses, there was little to see.
He was led to a large chamber, filled with tables that had five bolted-down stools, but only on one side. Two armoured guards stood in the middle of the room, back-to-back. One watched a large group of maybe forty people all dressed in white. The other guard watched a smaller group, perhaps a tenth the size, dressed, like him, in red. As best he could tell, neither group had grey skin.
“Harold! Hi!” Serene called out. A blur among the smaller group waved.
“Go. Sit. Eat,” his jailor said, so Harold did, making his way over to Serene.
As he got nearer, he saw the trays in front of the four people, sitting in a row with a fifth tray at the end. This chamber must be a mess-hall, and it must be a meal-time. Sitting with Serene and Tempest were a man and a woman. Even close up, he didn’t recognise the woman, but the man grew increasingly familiar until, when he reached the table, he realised who it was.
“Parker!”
“Hello, Harold.”
“Sit down,” Serene said. “Eat something. Are you okay?”
“Not really. What’s going on?”
“We’re prisoners,” Tempest said. “All of us.”
“Including Parker,” Serene said.
Harold sat at the place with the unclaimed tray. “This is food?” He bent down, peering closer, but it didn’t improve the appearance of the beige slab in a beige sauce.
“Standard military rations,” Tempest said. “It’s not great, but it’s edible.”
Harold sipped at the water, then glugged down the whole mug.
Tempest pushed their mug over to Harold. “You’ve been out for eight hours longer than us,” they said.
“My stomach feels it,” Harold said, taking a bite of the beige slab. The sauce tasted like a mix of tomato and vanilla. The slab was virtually tasteless, but had the texture of a sand-filled sock. “What’s going on?”
“A ship skipped into the museum. Actually inside it,” Serene said. “A beacon had been hidden in there ages ago. One of the American soldiers was working with them.”
“Washington,” Parker said.
“That name’s familiar,” Harold said.
“He was with us in Iraq after the invasion,” Parker said.
“He loaded a virus into the prison’s computer system,” Serene said. “It knocked out the lights, he opened the doors, and killed some of the guards. Most of the prisoners came with him.”
Harold turned to look at the neighbouring group. “Is that them?”
“Yep. We’d been knocked out by the shockwave when the ship appeared. Olawayo decided to bring us.”
“Olawayo?”
“He’s the traitor,” Parker said. “Him and Afiz.”
“Yeah, but you are still a bit of a traitor,” Serene said.
“What about the other two, Penn and Ricard?” Harold asked.
“They died during the prison-break,” Parker said.
“The ship skipped,” Serene said. “It arrived at a rendezvous where it was picked up by this warship along with another ship that had gone to England to pick up Awat. There was supposed to be a third ship, but it didn’t arrive at the rendezvous.”
“Awat? Awat Masadi?” Harold asked, squinting at the woman. “Sorry. They took my glasses.”
“Ours, too,” Serene said.
“Hello, Harold,” Awat said.
“So you weren’t behind cutting Clee up like Jack the Ripper?” Even without his glasses, he could see she was confused. “Sorry, that’s what we assumed, that you were co-ordinating everything on behalf of your husband.”
“What’s this about Jack the Ripper?” Parker asked.
“Yeah, we haven’t got to that yet,” Serene said, and quickly explained.
“That must have been the men who arrived… yesterday, I think,” Awat said. “It’s so difficult keeping track of time with no watch, and no windows.”
“Arrived where?” Harold asked.
“The people who took me waited until after my son had gone to school, after I’d taken the police officers coffee. They shot them both and took me. I don’t know to where, but we drove for about six hours. They were soldiers. Mercenaries, I think. I never saw who their leader was. They would always go outside to call him. I think he was off-site.”
“Your son’s safe,” Harold said. “He’s being watched by towani soldiers, as well as by local police. Of course, that’s because they think you’re the mastermind behind this crime.”
“Are we sure they’re not?” Tempest asked.
“If I were, I’d not have kidnapped you three,” Parker said.
“You did once before,” Serene said.
“I wasn’t going to harm you,” Parker said.
“No, you’d have left it to the Voytay,” Serene said.
“And they haven’t harmed you yet,” Parker said. “Look, if I were behind this, I’d be in the control room, not sitting here.”
“Why didn’t they take your son?” Harold asked.
“I don’t know,” Awat said, her voice wistful and sad.
“Children make for complicated hostages,” Parker said. “Our previous encounter in Lenham House is a case in point. But they can still threaten him, and they have. As Olawayo said, they broke into Area-51. They can go anywhere.”
“Sure, but a rescue is dangerous and expensive,” Harold said. “Didn’t you say there’s a third ship that’s missing? So why go to all this trouble to kidnap you both?”
“It’s all about Mum and her student,” Serene said.
“I spent a year imprisoned in that tunnel beneath Nineveh, and three months examining it afterwards. In the years since, I returned there twice with the Valley’s chief archaeologist, Abi tol Demener.”
“Who you think might be part of the conspiracy, Serene?” Harold said.
“Not anymore. I’m worried Abi might be another target for kidnapping.”
“Not much we can do about that,” Tempest said.
“I suppose not,” Harold said. “But I still don’t understand why they kidnapped you.”
“These aliens have found something,” Parker said. “They haven’t said what. They want our opinion on it.”
“I’m an expert on the tunnel beneath Nineveh, and Alan is an expert on the chamber beneath Lenham House. Both of which were dug by one of these near-immortal chroniclers. I think they found another tunnel, and not on Earth. That’s all we know, but we’ve only been conscious for a few hours longer than you.”
Harold took a bite of what looked like a black bread roll. It was both as sweet and as chewy as toffee. “And why did they bring us?”
“Olawayo thought we’d make great hostages,” Tempest said. “The red-robe is furious about it.”
“The red-robe? The towani with the red strips of cloth on her armour?”
“That’s her,” Tempest said.
“Clee was a red-robe. I thought they were disbanded after Clee revealed herself to be a spy.”
“It looks like they’re back,” Serene said.
“Why’s she furious about capturing you two? I’m guessing I’m just extra cargo.”
“You were the first sapiens to break bread with the prophet after first contact, and you gave permission for it to happen,” Serene said. “You’re part of the prophecy, and part of our tribe. We made sure the red-robe knows. You’re safe.”
“Thanks. Why’s she furious?”
“Because it wasn’t part of the plan,” Parker said. “The deal was that Olawayo and Afiz would get rescued, and I would be abducted. No one else was supposed to be brought along. Olawayo obviously overestimated his position, and value. But I think there was something even more important. An object of some kind that was in the museum. That’s all Olawayo said before the red-robe broke his nose. It was very satisfying to watch.”
“Abducting us is a massive escalation,” Serene said. “It could lead to war. Or worse.”
“What’s worse than war?” Awat asked.
“Mum. We’re safe. The ex-convicts? I’m not so sure.” She pointed at the other group of sapiens. “Do you see they’re still wearing their old prison garb?”
Harold peered again at the prisoners. Serene nudged his arm, and pointed in the other direction. The red-robe had returned, this time with six armoured guards. She came straight to their table, and began speaking in Mid-Tow, with the words relayed in a flat English translation.
“You five may share the same room. You will be well treated if you follow instructions. If you do not, you will be sedated until we arrive. Follow him.”
One of the guards led them out of the mess-hall and down another wide corridor. This time, Harold gave up trying to make out any details, and instead counted the doors. He’d reached ten when they came to their cell.
When they had stepped inside, the door closed behind them.
“How big is this spaceship?” Harold asked.
“Massive,” Serene said.
“And old,” Tempest said. “This is the old imperial style of bunk-room.”
Harold slowly made his way around the room. There were five sets of bunk beds with an upper and lower bunk, each of which had a retractable privacy screen. To either side was an empty locker, while in front of each bunk was a table with a single bench, facing the door. On the left of the room was a small washroom. On the right were larger lockers that, like the others, were empty.
“Weapons and armour would be stored in here,” Tempest said, pointing at the bigger lockers.
“Why do the tables only have benches on one side?” Awat asked.
“Towani think it’s weird watching people eat,” Serene said.
“Compared to the other cells I’ve been in, this isn’t so bad,” Harold said.
“Agreed,” Awat said. “How long will this voyage take?”
“If we’re going to Ellowin, the capital planet of the Voytay, months,” Serene said.
“I bet we’re not,” Tempest said.
“Wherever we’re going, it’ll still take ages, and that will give you lots of time to explain everything you know, Parker.”
“We’re going to be here a while. Call me Alan.”
“Not until I’ve decided I don’t completely distrust you,” Serene said.
“What do you want me to say? I wanted to set Earth up as a planet independent of both the Voytay and the Valley. We’d be open to visiting pilgrims, but we’d continue on just as before.”
“That doesn’t sound very appealing.”
“How’s your father’s plan working out? Have all the nations of Earth come together to harmoniously sing the praises of Nowan?”
“Well, no,” Serene said. “But give it time.”
“Let’s not fight with each other,” Awat said.
“No, if we’re going to fight anyone, let’s start with Olawayo,” Parker said. “At one time, he was based out of Addis Ababa, but he ran the team that worked the African countries where saying you were with the U.N. made you a target. After twenty years of that, he could have taken a lump sum pay-out, and retired anywhere in the world. Instead, he requested a transfer to Britain. That was about ten years ago. He introduced me to Afiz, and eventually suggested we offer her a job. Nadia’s a genius with technology. She’d often fly overseas to consult with other local teams. I think it was on one of those trips where she and Olawayo began to scheme.”
“When did you tell Olawayo about your plan to cut a deal with the Voytay?” Harold asked.
“The Voytay and the Valley,” Parker said. “And I first mentioned it… I don’t know, but soon after he joined the British team.”
“What, at the same time you offered him a job?”
“No. I said the UNCA wasn’t working. There had to be another way. He agreed. I won’t say we bonded over that, but we began to discuss options.”
“Are you going to say sending a visiting card to the Voytay was all his idea?” Serene asked.
“No, but it was as much his as mine.”
“But you joined the U.N. so you could learn more about the vault beneath Lenham House,” Harold said.
“Sure. It was the cause of my father’s death. I wanted answers. At first, I thought I would get them from the Valley, especially after what we found in Iraq, but excavations there were halted. The Valley, like the old empire, takes its sweet time over everything.”
“And what was your plan for if things had gone as you’d wanted?” Tempest asked.
“Yes, I’d like to know that, too,” Awat said.
“I’d have had a deal to respect our independence with the Voytay. The Valley would have followed suit. I thought I’d be detained, but because I’d ushered in the new era, there was no way I could be charged with a crime.”
“That’s naive, Alan,” Awat said.
“Did you know any of this?” Serene asked Awat.
“Not exactly. I knew Alan wanted Earth to be free and independent, but not that he was trying to bargain with this alien empire.”
“I didn’t tell her.”
“If you had, I’d have stopped you,” Awat said.
“Who was your contact at the embassy?” Tempest asked. “Who’s the spy?”
