Chapter 31
The Circus is in Town
Don and Scott kicked the problems around for the next few hours. The hotel had nothing on file that they could release to the public so Andrea's location was still unknown to them. Scott, again, thought maybe that visit to one of the massive structures on the side of the mountain might reveal some information about their actual use if other than luring customers shopping.
After some discussion it was decided and they put some thought into a simple straight forward plan. They boarded a shuttle to the space station where Scott's ship was stored. Their idea was to retrieve some items to assist in their investigation and to get Fortried to help them as his strength and ability might be needed.
"Open the Pod Bay doors HAL." Scott said as he approached his little ship.
"You are just hilarious." NARD's sarcastic proper voice said as it opened the hatch to allow their entrance.
"Kind of cranky, isn't it?" Don said as they entered.
"Naw, he just missed me while I was gone." Scott replied. "Fortried's location please?"
"C deck, the mezzanine area." NARD replied. "Colby would like a word when you are ready."
"Roger that, I'll do that after we go get Fortried. I want everyone in on what we are planning and it's best for all to get it firsthand. Oh, and NARD, this is Don Ranks."
"Don, I have it as Gordon." NARD correctly delivered.
"Well, I shortened it to Don." Don said.
"Shortened, then it should be Gor." NARD stated.
"I didn't like Gor so I made it Don." Don argued.
A moment later NARD said. "Good to meet you Don, I am RD, don't ask.".
Don was still smiling over NARD's shortening his name as they approached the mezzanine area on "C" deck. The noise of the crowd enjoying some type of entertainment literally rocked the place.
"Wow with this crowd, and the size of the mezzanine, it will be hard to locate Fortried. Maybe we should split up and make our way around each side as we search. Actually he will be easy to spot unless he is sitting down somewhere then he might blend in some." Scott said as he pointed to his right as he started to the left.
Scott suddenly stopped and grabbed Don's arm before he could get started. "Don't bother looking, I see him." He pointed at the middle of the area and the entertainment the crowd was enjoying.
"Oh crap, he's beating somebody up. Holy shit, he just tossed some little guy way up in the air." Scott was stunned for a moment, froze in place until that little airborne person started to do spins and flips as he ascended and descended to a catch by the large warman. "Disregard my assumptions. It looks like the circus is in town and the clowns are performing. What have I got myself into here?"
The applause was thunderous and took some time to diminish. The throng started to break up and move away as they realized the performance was finished.
"Scott!" Jacque shouted as Scott and Don approached him and the warman. He ran over and shook Scott's hand. "Good to see you buddy."
"I don't understand, what are you doing here?" Scott asked.
"There is no way I would let my good friend have all the fun so I thought I might join you, maybe I can help." He then turned to Don. "Hi, I am Jacque and you are?"
"Gordon Ranks." Don said as his eyes flickered back and forth between the lack of statue of Jacque to the towering build of Fortried. "Sorry for staring, good to meet you too. Call me Don."
"Fortried." The warman said as he extended his huge hand out to Don.
Don's hand was swallowed as he shook the large beings hand. "I have been looking forward to meeting you ever since we found out you were on board with Scott. You are even more than I expected, wow."
"Thank you, I hope that was a compliment?" Fortried's deep voice questioned.
"Oh yea, it was and I am glad to meet you." Don still stared in amazement. "You two make an unusual pair if I may say so. Your flying stunt was simply breath taking in its danger. Your aerial performance and the height you reach showed both your ability and the strength of Fortried. Simply amazing. The crowd was stunned."
"I know I was shocked to see you two out here in the open drawing attention to yourselves. Here we're trying to stay under the radar and you guys are blazon in your approach, maybe you don't do undercover work." Scott smiled as he relayed his thoughts.
"Sometimes undercover is protected by a layer of misdirection. It's like a magician uses one hand to attract your attention while the other hand performs the trick." Jacque said. "It's pretty hard for Fortried and I to go unnoticed as you can see."
They trooped back to the ship and NARD set up the communication with Colby.
Colby, of course, wanted to know how the coordination with the warring planets was going, were they able to get the fighting to cease.
Scott didn't pull any punches as he explained what they had been up too. It was then he brought in all the players involved so far.
After introducing all the players to Colby and explaining what their investigation had revealed so far, Scott went into a overall picture of their immediate plans. "With the help of Fortried, Jacque and Don here, we will attempt to enter one of those massive structures that form the net that's suppose to attract shoppers. We would like to find out if the originally installed operating system's program has been modified to perhaps induce innocent bystanders to become slaves to someone's whims."
"I have to agree, with the assassins being simply normal people under some type of spell, a modification of the operating system would be an avenue I would explore." Colby comments were short and to the point. He then spent a few moments with Scott and Don only while the others waited outside. He let Scott know how disappointed he was in his avoidance of the job he had sent him here to do but he did understand. Colby also made sure they knew what the ramification were of enlisting outside help in a dangerous mission such as this. He then wished them speed and success in the mission before he signed off.
They all trooped over to where Gordon's small vessel was parked. Don and Scott entered leaving the others outside. Don took Scott through the intro and operation procedures of the three new defensive devices Cliff had sent along. Scott was really excited about the size of and the stopping ability of the individual personal shields.
The Weapon Depleter and the Hologram Camouflage Transmitter were also inspected with rapt attention by the senior Coordinator. Scott was surprised at the number of each of these units Don had brought with him.
"They all look so innocent, they don't even look like a tool much less a defensive device. Wow, it looks like Cliff made sure you had enough of these items. You would think he knew we would be accompanied by additional personnel but, I can't guess how he would have known." Scott stated as he picked up and closely scrutinized the small items.
"Actually, I don't believe he had any ideas of that possibility. I think he was covering all bases in case some of these got damaged somehow." Don said as he accepted the items back from Scott and placed them in a carryon bag.
They. all four of them, took individual shuttles down to the planet. Once there, they all made their way to the small android shop to confer with Luke about what to look for in his program.
After some lengthy introduction to Luke were taken care of they got down to business.
"We have to be able to tell if your original program has been altered in any form. Is there something that we would notice right away if we looked at the program?" Scott asked Luke.
"I'm not sure you could but that doesn't matter, I will know as I'm going with you." Luke said as he extended his chin in a determined manner.
"I'm going too, I want to know if someone is using my likeness to kill people. That's not what I signed on for when I modeled for Luke here." Andrea forcefully added as she came from the rear of the shop where she had been monitoring their conversation.
"Whoa!" Luke said as he swung around to face her. "Andrea, I didn't tell you all of this to get you in danger. What did your council tell you abo
ut this?"
"He told me to forget it, but hey, it's not his face that is being used if what you say is true, so I'm going, end of discussion." Crossing her arms in front of herself she set up her stand.
Each introduced themselves to Andrea admiring not only her beauty but her determination to search for the truth no matter what.
It started with one on a quest for the truth. It had now turned into six in search of answers. A six pack of personalities, for their own individual reasons, on a mission that could well be to their detriment.
Don took the next hour explaining the operation and use of one of the small items that Cliff had sent. They each took the offered item. Now each had a personal body shield for their individual protection. The power supply on each would last several days unless they were tested by phasers fire. The length of charge would be reduced by the phasers settings and discharge strength. When needed they could be recharged to full power in a very short time.