Episode 115. Part 4
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We’ve been had. The cowboys were just a lure to get us off our ship. We eye the gaping airlock unenthusiastically.
Nika: I’m sure whoever sticks their head in first is going to get shot at or somethin’.
Christian: So we go in through one of the cargo containers.
How? The closest container door is ten feet off the frikkin’ ground.
Arden: I’m going up the stairs.
And up he goes, without a gun drawn or anything. Just another glorious day as a sitting duck target, yes.
Nothing happens.
We get up there and discover that no one is lying in wait for us. No guns in our faces or bombs ticking down to our destruction. No scratches on the furniture we didn’t put there ourselves. Severely spooked, we split up into inspection teams. Arden and Rina check out engineering, Rick and Mike take the lower decks, and Nika and Christian go to the bridge. Better to do it in pairs than alone.
We find that every room and compartment has been searched on every deck. Every door, every cabinet, every drawer, cubby and locker on the ship have been opened and searched, yet nothing is broken or missing. Not even presumably provocative items like the Chempliant rounds or the valuable drugs in the med bay safe or the guns in the arms locker or Rina’s tools have been filched.
Someone went below decks and took the cover off our hovercar and left her standing with her doors open. Nothing and no one is waiting for us inside.
A business card was left on the Pilot’s chair on the bridge. It has a string of numbers, but no name or logo.
In engineering, Rina finds the bulkhead doors wide open and the core containment computer in reboot/test mode. It’s stuck in self-diagnostic, taking us offline for the next few hours.
We’re not going anywhere.
Nika calls all of us to the bridge to make our reports and we close up the doors and containers and cabinets as we go. As Nika waits for us, she plugs in the number string into our Cortex browser. It takes us to a site with a single sound file on it. Opening the file plays a voice message. The voice is accented Russian, the message: Found you.
The Potemkins have found the ship.
Shit.
Nika locks up the bridge and intercepts us in the passenger lounge. She asks Rina how long it will be before the engines come back online. A couple of hours. Can we run a check on the nav computer to make sure our ability to navigate hasn’t been tampered with? Yes. Nika runs the check. We’re clean. In fact, we go over everything aboard with a fine-toothed comb, looking for anything out of place, sabotaged, broken, you name it. We come up empty. Aside from the containment field reboot, nothing else really seems to be amiss.
We conclude that the cowboys were hired to beat us up as a delaying tactic so other parties could toss our ship and take our engines off-line. Why? Did they mean to strand us temporarily? If so, was it so something or someone could catch up with us? If we weren’t meant to leave, why not take our engines off-line permanently? And why toss our ship? Were they looking for something? If so, what?
Or was this nothing more than an intimidation tactic, some sort of head game?
Whatever the game is, we sweep the ship once more, just to be sure, including the shuttle. Arden, Rina and Nika cover the technical areas, Christian, Mike, and Rick cover the rest.
Below decks, Mike and Rick check the vac suits and the weapons in the arms locker—everything’s in working order, nothing hinky there. They go through the containers and our quarters again. Again, no traps or sabotage are found.
When Arden and Rina check the shuttle, they find the engines have been tampered with. It looks like the batteries have been drained. And as if draining the batteries wasn’t enough, the bastards have cut out the leads, too. If we’re ever going to reconnect the batteries once they’re recharged, Rina’s going to have to jerry-rig new lines. It’ll take hours and we may not have the time. The shuttle will have to wait—the Gift takes first priority.
The fact that the shuttle was messed with gives Christian the idea to check the escape pods. They check out fine, nothing’s wrong with them. While on the upper deck pod, something catches Christian’s eye, a smear on the cockpit’s viewport. Leaning closer, he breathes on the glass and a message appears, drawn on the glass with a bare finger: No escape.
Christian: (over the ship’s comm) Nika.
Nika: Yeah?
Christian: Come here for a second. I’m on the escape pod on the upper deck.
It’s right around the corner from the bridge, so she’s there in two shakes. When she gets there, Christian breathes on the viewport again and silently points at the message.
Nika: So….what? His plan was to have thugs beat the snot out of us and just come onto the ship and harass the hell out of us?
Christian: I don’t think the beating-up was ever part of it. There is something very strange going on here. They’ve sabotaged the shuttle, they want to make sure we can’t get off this ship.
Nika: Well, here’s my concern with that: we’ve just dropped off the two girls here. Is the Sheriff in on it or not?
Christian: (shaking his head) I doubt the Sheriff’s in on it.
Nika: He’s the one who asked us to stay.
Back at the bar, she means.
Christian: True. Well, we can go talk to him.
Arden pops his head in and suggests we check out nav systems, to make sure they haven’t been sabotaged—without nav, we can get lost in the Black, or if the nav has been hijacked, we could be redirected to a place not of our choosing. Like right into the arms of our enemies.
Nika groans and gets back onto the bridge to start her check of the nav systems there. If they’ve been tampered with, someone’s going to have to man the Chair round the clock til we kiss dirt again—just to be sure we are going where we think we should.
Meanwhile, Mike and Rick have taken their search to the outside of the ship. Mike walks the hull topside while Rick inspects the undercarriage. They’re looking for anything out of place or sabotaged—hull breach, damaged hydraulics, sugar in our gas tanks.... Anything. Rick finds footprints in the dirt all around our landing gear, but nothing more inimical than that. Nothing seems to have been tampered with on the gear.
On the bridge, Nika catches sight of Mike through the viewport and hails him. She tells him she’d be much obliged if when he was through with his inspection if he’d go back to town and ask the Sheriff if the man was in on this nasty bit of business. Christian offers to go with, saying he’s good at talking to and reading people. He’s not doing much good here, at any rate. Arden counter-suggests Christian check our food supplies against tampering.
Rina: (chiming in) I always told you tofu was poison.
Christian agrees and gets to work in the galley. Mike comes in from topside and double checks with Nika on the bridge—does he want him to go into town to talk to the Sheriff? Yes, she does, and Christian wants to go with. Mike goes out and takes Christian with him.
They get to the bar and it’s closed up for the night. There’s a light on inside, however, and Mike raps softly on the windowpane. Messner is sitting at a table with a databook open in front of him and at Mike’s tapping, he looks up, sees who it is and lets the two men in. They don’t linger on the threshold and exchange pleasantries but get inside quickly and shut the door.
Christian: We would be gone by now, but someone’s sabotaged our ship.
Messner: Yeah? Well…
The Sheriff puts his databook on the bar and swivels it around so Mike and Christian can read the screen. There is a picture of Mike on it, with the word “Wanted” in bold across it.
Messner: I didn’t finger those guys to be Alliance, but perhaps the Alliance employs bounty hunters or somethin’. (shakes his head) I don’t know.
Mike: (at the screen) Well…I ain’t been exactly low-profile. (to the Sheriff) This the first you heard of this?
Messner: The first I’ve heard of you, yes. Those girls? They strike me as innocent, but the rest of you? I don’t wanna get involved in any crazy Dust Devil business or like that. We’re just plain old—
Christian: We don’t want to involve you or the town.
Messner: The war was a long time ago. I don’t wanna be a part of any of that.
Christian: Which is why we’re here. We just want to be sure that you’re not involved.
Messner: (shaking head) No. This is a quiet town, a boring town. I like it that way.
Christian sizes the Sheriff up, getting a bead on the man. Messner is concerned about who we actually are. Are we a threat to him and his town? How can he be sure? We seem nice enough, helping out the girls…but this latest development bothers him. If it’s an act, it’s a good one, and Christian is inclined to believe the man’s concern is genuine.
Messner: I don’t wanna know what your business is, but you say you wanna leave? I think that’s a good idea.
Christian: As soon as we can leave, we will. You said there’s only one Cortex box in town? That you know of?
Messner: That I know of.
Christian: And it’s at the general store?
Messner: Yeah.
Christian: What about Aaron Marquess?
Messner: He was the one who brought me this.
Messner taps the databook’s screen.
Messner: Go easy on him. He’s just tryin’ to make a livin’ like everyone else.
Christian: No, I understand.
Messner: I don’t think he’s got anything personal going on, but…
Christian: (Of course not.) No.
Messner: When I tried to find out where he found out about this stuff, he mentioned a guy by the name of Yao. He mentioned that Yao was his contact and I think that he was the guy who was here before.
Christian: I don’t suppose he mentioned what’s about to happen?
Messner: No, but when the original guy was here, I think he said he was from Beaumonde. I don’t know if that means anything to you.
Christian: Of course. It does. Thank you. Very much. I promise, as soon as we can be off the ground, we will be off the ground. And I’m guessing you’re going to say that’s what you’d prefer and we’ll do our best not to come here again. We’re very sorry that you had to deal with this.
Messner: Well, as long as you’re not bringin’ trouble, that’s my view.
Christian: And I’d like to say for the record that the girls really are very innocent.
Christian looks at Mike, sees the man scanning the wanted poster intently, and that gives him an idea.
Christian: Can I get a copy of that for my databook?
The Sheriff has no problem with that and once the transfer’s been made, Christian and Mike head back to the ship. Christian comms ahead to tell us they’re on their way in.
Meanwhile, we haven’t been idle while they’ve been gone. We’re checking our life support systems now, as well as the lifeboat systems, our water, our communications gear, our nav systems, our avionics, etc. All these systems may have been sabotaged, but all our checks and diagnostics show they’re working well within their nominals. Nominal isn’t exactly the verdict we’d like…but still, nothing appears to be wrong.
Our men board the Gift without incident and since there’s nothing left to do, we wait for our engines to come back online. The second they do, Rina listens hard—nope, nothing unusual screams for her attention. She checks them again. Still nothing.
Christian fills everyone on the conversation with Messner and how the Sheriff didn’t know this was going down—of that, Christian is relatively certain. He also tells us the Chinese gentleman who’d been asking after us is Mr. Yao, from Beaumonde, and that he’s Aaron Marquess’s contact.
Nika: Sonuvabitch—
Arden: Okay. Fine. I hate Beaumonde. Nuke it from orbit.
Mike: There’s millions of people livin’ on Beaumonde.
Arden: I don’t care. I don’t know any of them.
Christian: Here’s the odd wrinkle—
Christian opens his databook and shows the rest of the crew his copy of the wanted poster. There’s a moment of shocked silence. You could hear a pin drop. Then:
Rina: Yebani v’rot.
Indeed.
Christian: Now, here’s the problem. We’ve got two separate issues here, but are they combined? Separate? He’s here. (pointing to Mike) And granted, it’s not hard to figure out he’s on the ship if you’ve been watching us at all the last couple of months. But Potemkin should be interested in us.
And not Mike. Right?
Arden: He’s trying to get us off-planet. (meaning Potemkin)
Nika: No. He was tryin’ to keep us on-planet.
Arden: If the Sheriff is interested in arresting Mike, we’re gonna leave ASAP.
Christian: The Sheriff isn’t interested in anything but us not being here.
Rina: I like that idea.
Arden: But that doesn’t mean that Marquess wasn’t told to go give this to the Sheriff and maybe spook him.
Rina: Can we be not-here?
Arden: I’m all in favor of not-here. I was all in favor of being not-here before we went to the bar.
Christian: But we couldn’t have gone yet. (A beat) I’m in trepidation of what’s going to happen but on the other hand, it’s not going to happen if we don’t go. Let’s go and find out what he’s done to us and get it over with.
Rina: Leave, beat the bushes, see what jumps out… I get it. Let’s go. We can’t learn anything here.
Nika: All right. Spin us up.
Rick: Let’s do it. I know I’m just a passenger here, but let’s see what happens.
Christian: (to Rick) If you want to get off now…
Rick: No. I don’t want to be here.
Nika: You sure about that? Cuz this could get ugly.
Christian: This could get very ugly.
Arden is all for putting on our vac suits before we leave atmo. And we all thought Rina was the most paranoid person on board? What if we didn’t leave atmo just yet, but went to another city on Angel, like Jibril, and make a stop, pick up some cargo? We could also make another planet with the fuel we currently have, depending on where we go next. We’d originally planned to go to Salisbury and that’s still within our reach. But if we do make a stop on Angel first, we should find a major city with a major spaceport to dock in, and take advantage of their internal security and tech support. With the proper support, we can make a proper intensive inspection of our entire ship, to be certain that we’ve found and fixed everything Potemkin’s done to her.
We consider stopping in Jibril before we burn atmo for Salisbury. The only fly in the ointment is the delay. It would take at least another day on the dirt to get all of that done.
Nika: I don’t think we actually need Jibril. I’d rather just go to Salisbury myself, if that’s where Mike needs to go. That was our next port of call.
Christian: (to Mike) Are you going to be safer there?
Nika: My other question is: If they’ve tagged us and we lead them to Salisbury and we leave you there…?
Mike: I’ll be fine.
Christian: Do you have friends there who can help you disappear?
Mike: Yes.
Christian: Well, then. Maybe it would be best if we did go to Salisbury.
Nika: I’m thinking “yes”. Honestly. I think the longer we stay on Angel, the more likely it is that even if these two things are unrelated, since the note Potemkin left said ‘found you’, it could be he’s just trying to keep us on the ground so that he has time to try to get here from somewhere else on this God-forsaken planet.
Maybe. Maybe not. It could just be straight-up psychological warfare. But really, the thing that matters is Mike’s safety. He’s a wanted man, and wanted publicly, thanks to that damned poster. Salisbury is remote and Mike has already said he can disappear once he gets there. Salisbury’s in the same system as Angel, toward the edge, and going on pulse, we can make it in a couple of hours.
Nika: Spin us up.
Rina: Spinning up.
We leave the dust of Angel behind us and turn our faces for Salisbury.
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