Dubious Heroes: a novel Read online

  “Bet you have a few questions”, he said, holding the weight like it wasn’t there, then slowly releasing it.

  “I imagine you have a few of your own”, I said.

  He grunted, and hit the weights again, the muscles of his legs as taut as steel cables.

  “You first”, he said.

  “Okay”, I said, as I went over to the treadmill, and stepped onto it. “Are you human?”

  “In most regards, yes”, he said. I wasn’t sure if he was being serious or not.

  “I was kidding “, I said.

  “I know”, he said, smiling. “So was I. Sort of.”

  “So”, I said, as I walked along, my leg throbbing, “Where are you from?”

  “Someplace you’ve never heard of”, he said. “Believe it or not, I was born this way, but it wasn’t an accident, either. I was engineered in a lab.”

  “Last I heard, that was illegal”, I said. I started walking again.

  “It is, and it has been, for some time now”, he said. He stopped the leg presses, and leaned back in the seat. “I was part of an experimental group designed to live and work on a planet with four gee gravity. The mining company who owned it wasn’t happy about having to use robotic miners, since they were expensive, and broke down a lot. Much cheaper to put humans on the surface, except that humans couldn’t handle the gravity. So, they paid one of the big gen-tech firms to grow them some high-gee people. I’m one of them.”

  “How many people did they, uh… make?”

  “About thirty of us lived”, he said. “No idea how many didn’t make it; the records are sealed. It was all legal, by the way. This was some time ago.”

  That was something of an understatement. The UP had completely banned the engineering and growing of humans more than sixty years ago.

  “So, did you ever do any mining on that planet?”

  “Nope”, he said. “Never made it out there. The mining company went bankrupt before any of us were adults. I found other things to do over the years. I haven’t always been a doctor.”

  “What kind of other things?” I asked, then instantly wished I could take the question back.

  “This and that”, he said. “It isn’t hard for someone my size to make a living, especially if you have a strong stomach and a short memory.”

  “Sorry”, I said. “It wasn’t my intention to pry.”

  “Don’t worry about it”, he said. “Turns out that while I had the stomach, my memory is far too good. So, I moved on to other things.”

  “Well, I kinda doubt this situation is what you had in mind.”

  “It happens”, he said, and shrugged his massive shoulders. “I knew there were risks when I took the job. There always are.”

  “Do you have anyone back on New London who might be negatively affected by all this?” I asked.

  “If there had been, I wouldn’t have been involved in the first place. I do care about what happens to the place, though. It’s sort of my adopted home. There are many good people there, some of whom I call friends.”

  “We will try to fix this”, I said. “In a couple of weeks, you should be able to leave and go back, if you want.”

  “Let’s just play it by ear”, he said. “I may hang around, to see what happens. The friend who referred me to you said that if I signed on, I probably wouldn’t be bored. So far, they were right.”

  “Which friend was that?” I asked.

  He smiled, and stood up, his head almost touching the ceiling.

  “Have a good workout, Captain”, he said. “And take care of that leg. See you next time.”

  Then he was gone. I continued walking on the treadmill, reflecting on all that he’d said, as well as something I’d noticed.

  Sometimes, when Big Mike smiled, it wasn’t reflected in those cold silver eyes.

  Overall, we had eight weeks to kill, and we spent the first three of those making our way out to Tau Ceti Three’s second planet; a big red giant called Firenze. It reminded me of Mars, but physically, it was much more like Venus. It was about twice the size of Earth, highly volcanic, had no breathable atmosphere, and humans generally avoided it like the plague.

  Gravity on Firenze was about two and a half gees, though that was hardly the best reason for avoiding it. The six hundred degree surface temperature was probably the biggest deterrent to tourism.

  The planet wasn’t totally without redeeming qualities though, six of them to be precise; the moons DaVinci, Akano, Conception, Ularev, Babylonia, and Nevensk. DaVinci was the closest to the planet, and Nevensk the furthest out. All of the moons were colonized, at least to some degree. Only DaVinci and Babylonia had what you’d call actual permanent settlements. The others were largely populated by mining crews. Akano was an almost totally automated facility, with only a skeleton crew manning it. The moon was too geologically unstable, making it too dangerous.

  DaVinci had a permanent population of maybe thirty thousand, and often served as a staging area for other mining operations. The big corporations had a heavy presence there, with the UP providing the muscle to back them up. As such, most of the administration of the other moons was handled by the authorities on DaVinci.

  The lone exception to this arrangement was Babylonia, which, at first glance, seemed to have no administration at all. It started out as just another mining colony, but didn’t have the large amounts of ore needed to be exploited profitably by the big mining conglomerates. So, a lot of independent miners came in and set up shop. Over the years they’d managed, quite literally, to scrape a meager living from the rock. If any of them had anything in common, it was their dislike generally for any of the big mining companies, and in particular, for the UP. As time passed, other independent-minded types in the area began showing up, and eventually a colony was born.

  Babylonia, as if inspired by its name, quickly became the poster child for everything undesirable in a frontier colony, which in turn, drew in more and more people who were looking for just that kind of rough-and-tumble, chaotic kind of place.

  A couple of times, the UP attempted to go in and enforce its own brand of law and order, which was received by the locals about as well as one might imagine. Eventually, the UP gave up, figuring the place would self-destruct, anyway. That was thirty years ago, and the place was still going strong.

  Babylonia wasn’t lawless, per se. There was a government, though they seemed to be firm believers in leaving well enough alone. Most of the citizenry preferred to mind their own business, and they expected their neighbors to do the same. Or else.

  We needed someplace to go where the UP or their minions wouldn’t be, which made Babylonia the nearest destination of choice. My chief concern had been making it without having a mutiny of my own to deal with.

  After three long weeks in space, we docked on Babylonia, and it was time for another crew meeting. Everyone was in their usual foul mood, so I got right to the point.

  “We’re here on Babylonia for two reasons”, I said. “First, because no one here is trying to arrest us-”

  “Yet”, Cozi said. I shot him a look, and continued.

  “-and second, because there should be some money for me to pick up. If it isn’t here, then this is going to be a very short stay.”

  “Money from where?” Cozi asked.

  “Money from home”, I said. “Luna.”

  “So, what?” Cozi asked. “You’re blackmailing TGS again?”

  “I’m not blackmailing anyone”, I said. “When I left Luna, they gave me a certain amount of authority, and I’m just trying to use it in, well… creative ways. Whether this works or not will depend on how TGS itself interprets that authority.”

  “So they’re supposed to send you some money”, Kyra said. “How much?”

  “I asked for a hundred grand”, I said. “We’ll lose part of it converting it to cash, and the rest, I’ll use to pay you guys, plus ship operations. I also have something else in mind. Provided they send anything at all.”

  “What
are the chances they sent it” Cozi asked.

  “I dunno”, I said. “Fifty-fifty? I don’t see much point in speculating. There’s a bank here that will or won’t have an account in my name. May as well walk over there and find out.”

  “And if it’s not there?” Lola asked. “What then?”

  “Then we’ll have another one of these meetings”, I said, “Because frankly, I’m fresh out of ideas.”

  “And if it’s there”, Big Mike said, “You pay us, you stock the ship, and...?”

  “Anyone who doesn’t want to stick with us should take this opportunity to leave. If you stay, I have something in mind that may help to fix the mess we sort of caused back on New London.”

  This had been a serious point of contention the first few days after we’d escaped, with both Lola and Kyra proposing all manner of rescue missions to retrieve Eng. Admittedly, I’m not usually known as the responsible one in any group, but some of their plans bordered on sheer insanity.

  One such plan had us dropping Kyra on the far side of New London, then she’d make her way into the city, free Eng, and somehow arrange to meet back up with us. I knew that she was capable of leaving a path of destruction that would be legendary, as she tried to rescue him, but I seriously doubted that in the end, she’d succeed.

  To begin with, I had no intention of hanging around New London, since there was supposed to be a UPDF Explorer-Class frigate in the area, and just by some coincidence, it was looking for us. Once we were well away from the little British moon, the bitching tapered off, and the sulking started, which I pretended to ignore.

  Cozi spoke, drawing me back into our meeting.

  “Fix it, how?” he asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow. I can’t say I blamed him for that.

  “How about we see if the money is even here”, I said. “Even if TGS sent it, it might not have gotten to the bank here yet. Babylonia doesn’t have SpeedLink, so they would have had to transfer it to DaVinci first, then courier it over here. For some reason, banks aren’t keen on moving money via radio. Hell, they don’t even like using SpeedLink, when it’s available.”

  “Well, let’s go”, Kyra said, rising from her seat. I hadn’t realized she be joining me, but obviously, she was going.

  “Fine”, I said, rising from the helm. “We should be back shortly.”

  We left the Bridge, and headed down to the main airlock.

  “Will they allow us to carry our weapons into the port?” I asked.

  “Not only is it allowed, it’s advisable”, she said.

  “So, you’ve been here before.”

  “Yes, I have”, she said, and didn’t elaborate. Par for the course.

  We left the Enigma and the docks, making our way into the colony proper. If I’d learned anything so far, it was that one tunnel drilled through the rock looked a helluva lot like any other tunnel, regardless of whichever lonely outpost you might be on. We could just as easily have been back on Luna, New London, or even Iapetus.

  “This place isn’t nearly as violent as it used to be”, she said, as we walked along. “Still, keep your eyes open, and remember that the less you say to anyone, the better.”

  That sounded like damn good advice for anywhere, not just Babylonia. I intended to follow it.

  “Um”, I said, “Is that so they don’t figure out what an easy target I am?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Gee, maybe I should hold your hand, Mom”, I said, which earned me a dirty look.

  “Don’t underestimate this place”, she said, looking around. There weren’t many people walking around in the tunnels, but everyone we saw was armed.

  Most of the banks were located along the main shopping promenade, where we found the most people milling around. Babylonia had a population of around fifty thousand, although that was an estimate, since it was the kind of place where a lot of people took a dim view of being counted. I saw a branch of the bank we wanted, and we went in.

  They actually had a human on duty. I approached the woman sitting at her console. Kyra hung back, waiting by the door, trying to simultaneously look serious, but not so threatening that someone called the cops. The woman didn’t pay any attention to our weapons, which meant that if we screwed around, their security system would probably just kill us.

  “Hi”, I said. “I’m here to pick up a transfer. I handed her my identification chip. She scanned it, then consulted her vidscreen.

  “Shall I put this onto your personal chip?”

  “Can I get cash chips, instead?”

  “There’s a five percent fee”, she said. “What denomination chips were you thinking of?”

  “How about ten thousand each?” I said. Ten chips wouldn’t be a pain-in-the-ass to keep track of. Besides, I’d be spending the bulk of them, shortly.

  “You might want to have a look at this, sir”, she said, turning her vidscreen so I could see it. “Also, there’s a personal message attached to the transfer. Place your thumb on the screen to access it.”

  I looked at the screen, and my eyes must have bugged out a bit, when I saw the amount. The clerk tried to hide a smile. I stuck my thumb on the screen, and the message popped up:

  “If you’re really authorized to do this, and as far as anyone here knows, you are, then there’s no sense in transferring such a small amount. Good luck. Sandy.”

  I erased the message, it’s meaning clear. If I really had the authority they said I had, then the amount wouldn’t matter. If it turned out later that I wasn’t supposed to have it, then I was in deep shit anyway, regardless of the amount.

  I converted the balance into cash chips, less the five percent fee, and stuffed what was left into every available pocket on my coveralls. I thanked the clerk, and left the bank with Kyra in tow.

  “Well”, she said, “Looks like we got the hundred grand.”

  “In a manner of speaking”, I said.

  “Don’t fuck with me, Doon”, she said. “I’m not in the mood. Did you get it or not?”

  “What kind of mood would a million credits put you in?”

  “You’re kidding”, she said.

  “Afraid not”, I said. “Someone figured that if I needed money, then damn it, they were going to send me some money.”

  “I’ll say”, she said. “Tell me you didn’t just walk out of there with a million credits on you.”

  “Only if it will make you feel better”, I said. “Besides, after the fee, there’s only nine-fifty.”

  “Jesus Christ “, she said, looking around, scanning the people in the area. Her hand had slid to the vicinity of her pistol. “If that babe at the bank tipped anyone off, we’re fucked.”

  “Then we probably ought to get back to the ship”, I said.

  “You think?” she said, grabbing my elbow, and half dragging me along as she broke into a run. We cut through the scattered pedestrians, some looking at us, and others purposely not looking at us. Ten minutes later, we reached the walkway tube into the Enigma. Big Mike was waiting by the walkway hatch, doing his best to look menacing, and was succeeding marvelously at it. I was glad he was on our side.

  “No pursuit, at least not that I could see”, Kyra said to him. “Where’s your pistol?”

  “I don’t use guns”, he said. “Well, not anymore.”

  “Whatever”, she said. “Let’s get moneybags here inside the ship.”

  They hustled me aboard, and we all went to the rec room. Everyone was there, except for Cozi, who’d stayed on the Bridge, ostensibly on watch. We waited a few minutes, while he made his way down to join us. When he entered and sat, I began.

  “The money was there”, I said. “Thanks to Kyra and Mike, I even made it back here without getting mugged. TGS sent more than I asked for, but that doesn’t really change my plans.”

  I walked around the room, handing each person a cash chip.

  “I’m giving each of you twenty grand, which is about what you’d have gotten for the water run to Tzing, if New London hadn�
��t seized our cargo, and neglected to pay us for it.”

  “How much did they send?” Cozi asked.

  “I’d rather not say”, I said, “But I know how quickly information like this travels, so here it is; they sent a million.”

  Eyes widened around the room.

  “Yeah, it’s a lot”, I said. Mostly, I’m just glad I am able to pay all of you. It also means we have the cash we need for a few other things, as well as putting the rest of my plan into action.”

  “Which is?” Lola asked.

  “Well, it is apt to make what we’ve done so far to seem like a cakewalk”, I said. “This is why I wanted to make sure that everyone was paid, and all debts are settled. If you want to leave, now is the time to do so. We leave port in three days, and we may not make port again for quite some time. If at all.”

  “That’s not enough time to fix that landing strut”, Cozi said.

  “It’ll have to be”, I said, “Because that’s all the time we have. I’ll leave any repair work to you and Angie to sort out. Kyra and I are going to be hiring a few extra crew members. I don’t want to put anyone on the spot now, but are any of you not going to be joining us?”

  “Depends”, Mike said. “On what you have in mind. At this point, I’ll say yes, but I reserve the right to change my mind.”

  “I can live with that”, I said.

  “What kind of crew are you hiring?” Cozi asked.

  “Basically, we need muscle”, I said.

  “I don’t have any doubt we can find some thugs to hire here”, Cozi said, “But do we really want those type of people aboard the Enigma?”

  “We won’t be looking for thugs”, Kyra said. “We’ll be interviewing and hiring three or four freelance soldiers.”

  “Mercenaries”, Lola said.

  “That’s what they’re called”, Mike said.

  “Call them whatever you like”, Kyra said. “I want a few people who are used to taking and following orders, and who are also professionals when it comes to dispensing a certain level of controlled mayhem.”