“Captain,” said Akrins, the sneer of a smile on his crooked mouth. Belle inwardly shuddered as he looked at her. “Nice of you to join us mere mortals.”
“Perhaps I find your company irresistible, Akrins,” said Belle.
Matlock also stood up, disposing of the packaging on the table. “Captain. You said you'd look at that laser setting with me?”
Belle knew this to be code for Matlock wanting to say what was really on his mind, without Akrins in earshot. “I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, Sergeant Matlock. But if you want a second opinion, now is as good a time as any.”
They left Akrins to eat his meal and made their way to the rear of the ship. Once inside the armoury, Belle said, “Ok. Spit it out.”
“Jazz. What do you know of the Romulus?”
“The Romulus? A state-of-the-art ship set for some secret mission. That's about all I know of it.”
Matlock sat on a supply case. The dim light in the armoury casting spectral shadows across his face. “I've a nephew, my brother's son. Nice kid. His mouth runs away with him if he's been drinking too much. About five years ago, shortly before Davron got his hands on that ship, I went to my brother's birthday. It was a fun night.”
“Is this going anywhere?”
Matlock shrugged. “Maybe. Anyway. True to form, Sammy, my nephew, had over indulged. He was getting a little too loud and I could see trouble coming between him and another kid. Some girl involved. I dunno. I decided it would be a shame to let a fight spoil the party, so I stepped in and steered Sammy away. I got him to sit down quietly in the back yard. He was just getting his head together, when he started telling me of his new job. He was working on the internal fitting of the Romulus. He'd heard things, Sammy told me. Seen things, too. The Romulus was a faster than light ship. Physics had been turned on its head. The mission was to test the ship to its limits on a two year mission. Davron took it months before the mission was scheduled to depart.”
Belle thought about that. If what Matlock had said was true and not the drunken ramblings of some youth, it explained a lot. “I guess if Davron was going to steal a ship, it would make sense to take that one.”
Matlock grinned. “Guess the name of the company who supplied the hardware to drive the ship.”
“I'm thinking, Davron Industries?”
“The ship had been ordered during the height of the war. After the war ended, Davron Industries were the only outfit capable of finishing the ship, still operating after the war. Paul never let his son near any of the company's projects. They may have been father and son, but they barely tolerated each other. Paul was all about business. Patrick didn't approve of some of the things his father got involved with, especially the weapons production. But I'd say it was a safe bet that a genius like Patrick would know all about the projects.”
Belle said, “Such as any security systems to enable him to steal it, for one thing. And of course the faster than light speed capability.” More pieces of the puzzle were dropping into place. “He knew that ship inside and out.”
Matlock nodded. “Burns and the W S A will only tell you what they think you should know. That won't necessarily be what you need to know. For what it's worth, don't trust Burns. Or anyone else in the W S A, for that matter.”
Belle went to the door and paused before opening it. “Thanks, Dale. We need to get back to work.”
Chapter 20
It made sense. Belle was putting it all together in her mind as she lay on her cot. Patrick Davron took it on himself to carefully monitor his father's business interests. He knew all about the Romulus. How to get in it, fly it and use it. He had to escape from Earth, and in something that couldn't be caught. With the ship being so fast, finding new planets to live on became possible. But that was still only part of the mystery.
Why was Davron firing at the Earth? He had no need to even leave his new home. He could make a life for himself with no fear of ever being found. Had he gone mad? Perhaps he didn't understand what he was doing, either.
Belle thought about the images, flickering and dark, transmitted from the Romulus to Earth. He wasn't really human any more. Sitting there half hidden in shadows; huge tentacles stretching out of the side of his body. He was nothing like the young man she had been with on the Romulus, or on that space-station laboratory, with tears running down his face when the awful reality of what had happened to the animals at the hands of the humans. Even as a holographic projection she had felt his inner turmoil, his anger at what people had done, the suffering all around him.
There was more than that, though. He had lived alone with no human contact for years. Just a flying monkey for company. On top of everything else, that could have easily tip him over the edge. He had become even more unpredictable and dangerous. She had to return to the Romulus and learn more.
Picking up the HATED, she checked that it was fully charged. She had locked the cell door after her, so she was ready to go. Again, she pressed the green tip which started the green cloak of fog. Then she twisted the third cube to its first engraved mark. Closing her eyes, she drifted towards another state of consciousness, until all she could see through her closed eyes, was the fog. The green mist thinned out, and once again, she was with Davron on the Romulus.
Chapter 21
“Come on, Muffin. We both need the exercise. Catch the damn ball.”
The ball was a bunch of rags tied together with string. Muffin was in his favourite place on the gantry yawning his head off. An after dinner nap was more on his mind than throwing a ball about. Davron gave up.
“Ok. I give up. But come down here and take a look at this. Come on.”
Muffin scratched himself under his chin as if deciding to oblige or not. He sighed and pulled himself up with the rail and flapped his leathery wings then glided, more than flew, down to Davron's arms.
“Ok, pal. Press that sensor there. That's the one.”
Belle joined the pair as the screen lit up. All she could see was space. Lots of it, with a few stars scattered casually about.
“Ok. I'll just magnify the image. That's as good as we're going to get, this far out. Now. See that one there? The blue and green one? That's where I live. You and me will be there together.”
“Eh, Eh, oooh!”
“I couldn't have put it better myself. Now, our place is in a clearing, about a mile from the ocean. Good surfing and fishing. Another couple of days at this speed and we'll be there.”
“Ooooh.”
“Ok. Time for bed, pal. I'll see you in the morning.”
“Eh, Oooh, Eh.”
Muffin kissed Davron's cheek, launched himself off his arm and flew back up to the gantry where his blankets were. He settled into them, tucking his head under his wings, and went off to sleep.
Davron switched the screen off, and checked a couple of things on the control panel dimming the flight-deck light at the same time. He turned to go to his rooms, when he suddenly stopped. For a couple of seconds, he seemed to be staring straight at Belle. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head, then continued out of the room. Belle took a deep breath and woke up in her cell on the Venom.
“What the hell was that about?”
She applied what logic she had. She had sent an enhanced holographic image back years in time, using the HATED and her own imagination. She, her physical self, was where she was right then. On her bed. And yet, she had that most weird sensation that for one split second, he had seen her.
Belle put the HATED in its place to be charged up, close to the light which she dimmed a little. Then she pulled the single sheet over her and drifted away into a sleep full of strange dreams of planets and flying monkeys.
To be continued...
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