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  Conor and Alex entered cargo bay three. Kristi was waiting for them at the far end of the cargo bay. She was sitting on a gray, metallic crate.

  “What surprises do you have for me today?” Conor asked, giving her a warm, loving hug.

  “Nothing much,” Kristi stated, a sly grin spreading across her face. Pointing at a large crate to her right, she said “Why don’t you take a look inside that one?”

  Conor inspected the crate from top-to-bottom. It was taller than him, and had a large, red X etched into its side. He reached up to remove the crate’s lid and then stopped.

  “Wait,” Conor stated. “I’m not that dumb. Let’s see if there’s anything in there first.”

  Conor levitated the crate off of the floor and gave it a good shaking. Alex sat down next to Kristi and watched intently as the crate rocked back and forth. After a few more shakes, Alex asked, “Find anything?”

  “No,” Conor answered, obviously puzzled. “There doesn’t seem to be anything inside of it. I also don’t smell anything different about it.”

  Conor let the crate float to the floor and announced, “There’s nothing in that box. It’s empty. You sure you have the right one?”

  “Why don’t you open it?” Kristi asked.

  “Because you asked me to open it,” Conor answered. “I know you. I bet that there is an unpleasant surprise waiting for me in that box.”

  “Did you use all of your senses?” Alex asked.

  “Yes,” Conor stated. “I don’t see any danger. I don’t hear anything that could signal a problem. It has no smell. But, nevertheless, I’m not going to open that box.”

  Conor then asked, “Why don’t you open the box?”

  Alex smiled and answered, “Because I know what’s in there.”

  “What?” Conor asked.

  “Nutronic gas,” Alex answered, a wry smile growing across his face. “It has no weight, no smell, or taste and it is invisible. But one good whiff and it will knock you out cold and leave your stomach churning after you wake up.”

  “Then it’s a good thing that I didn’t open it,” Conor stated.

  “Yes, it is a good thing,” Alex answered, appreciating Conor’s growing sense of awareness. “It is a very good thing indeed.”

  Chapter 13

  WELCOME HOME

  Conor was astonished by the crowd’s size. He wasn’t the only one. Dee Sanders was beside herself with joy. She had hoped for a large crowd, but this was far beyond anything that she could have ever imagined. The city square was filled with thousands upon thousands of people, waving flags and cheering wildly as Brandix finished Michael’s introduction by shouting into the voice amplifier, “It is my honor to introduce to you the greatest IR Ranger of all time, Rylyn’s Number 1 favorite son, and certain to be your next Interstellar Justice, Captain Michael Armand LaRocque!”

  The crowd went wild as Michael approached the amplifier. Conor’s heart was racing as Michael tapped the amplifier, causing a loud crackling noise to shoot out of hundreds of speakers lining the city square. The crowd surged forward, pressing up against the security guards surrounding the elevated platform. Banners and flags waved everywhere as the crowd stretched out as far as the eye could see.

  Conor could barely hear Michael’s amplified voice above the din as Michael shouted, “It’s good to be home!”

  A thunderous roar of approval swept across the city square.

  “I have traveled all across the universe,” Michael stated strongly, his arms held out wide for dramatic effect. “I have visited and explored countless planets. But in all of my travels I have never seen any planet as beautiful as this one.”

  The crowd swayed back and forth as Michael continued his speech. Brandix and Dee Sanders stood at his side, their faces beaming with delight. Alex and Conor stood at the platform’s edge, trying to blend into the crowd of politicians who were there to pledge their allegiance to the LaRocque campaign.

  Alex leaned over to Conor, making it possible for him to hear over the amplifier and the crowd noise, and said, “Keep your eyes and ears open. I don’t care if Dee Sanders says that all of the people up here have been cleared. I would rather be too cautious than sorry. I don’t know hardly any of these people and that worries me.”

  Conor nodded his head and took a long look at the people standing on the podium closest to Michael, looking for any sign of danger. Everything seemed to be in order, except for a young reptilian woman who was squeezing her way through the people gathered on the podium. She was headed for the front, directly behind Michael.

  “Parasites, if you ask me,” Alex stated in Conor’s ear.

  “What?” Conor asked. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t listening. I was keeping my eye on that reptilian woman over there.”

  Alex followed Conor’s eyes to the reptilian woman.

  “What makes you think that she could be a problem?” he asked.

  “She has been moving forward at a steady pace,” Conor answered. “The first time I saw her she was near the back. Then, she was in the middle. Now, she’s maneuvered herself into the front three rows. She’s wearing a green patch, which is required to be on the platform. But purple is required for the front three rows.”

  “Good for you,” Alex announced. “I hadn’t noticed that. I’ll take care of this.”

  Alex spoke into his wrist transponder. Four armed guards surrounded the reptilian woman and politely, but firmly, escorted her to the back of the podium.

  “Nice job,” Kristi’s voice whispered in Conor’s head.

  “Thanks,” he answered using telepathy. “How’s it going back there?”

  “It’s quiet,” Kristi informed him. “I just checked the ship’s security monitors. Everything appears to be in order.”

  “That was pretty good,” Alex stated, not realizing that Conor was communicating with Kristi. “Fortunately, it was a false alarm. She didn’t know that the first three rows were reserved. Apparently, she wanted to give Michael this.”

  Alex showed Conor a handwritten note containing the reptilian woman’s name, home address, and video number. Alex placed the note into his pocket.

  “I guess that we had better get used to this,” Alex continued. “Like moths to a flame.”

  “What?” Conor asked, not sure what Alex meant.

  “Power and celebrity,” Alex explained. “It’s intoxicating to some and an aphrodisiac to others. Some people will do anything to get power and to keep it, and if they can’t get it themselves they will do anything to be near it.”

  Conor nodded as if he knew what Alex was talking about, even though he really wasn’t sure what he meant.

  “I was just talking with Kristi,” Conor stated, changing the subject. “She said that it is all quiet back at the spaceship. But I have a strange feeling. I can’t explain it, but something tells me that we should get back there.”

  Conor turned to his left and looked over to the spaceship standing tall in the distance.

  “How long do you think it would take us to get to the spaceship if we had to get there in a hurry?” Conor asked.

  “Quite a long time, because of the crowd,” Alex answered.

  Turning his attention toward the spaceship, Conor thought, “Kristi, I think that you should check the security monitors again, just to be sure that everything is okay. I have a strange feeling, like something bad is about to happen.”

  “Will do,” Kristi answered, allowing both Alex and Conor to hear her thoughts at the same time. “But it is widely known that I travel with Michael. Although they are difficult to find, someone who had enough credits could get a hold of a holoreed. They could get past the security monitors with one of those.”

  “What’s a holoreed?” Conor asked.

  “It’s a mechanical device,” Kristi answered, still allowing both Alex and Conor to hear her thoughts at once. “In simplest terms, it creates a mirror image of the area around the holoreed, effectively creating a blind spot that security monitors and I cannot dete
ct.”

  “I know that this sounds crazy,” Conor stated, directing his thoughts at Alex. “I think that we should get back to the spaceship. Something is about to happen.”

  “Okay,” Alex replied in his thoughts. “I can’t leave the platform, but you go without me. I will catch up to you once Michael is done and I am certain that he is safe. I’d never forgive myself if I left the platform and something happened to him. Kristi, in the meantime, why don’t you do a random check of the spaceship? Start with the engine room. If I was going to sabotage the spaceship that is where I would go first.”

  The young woman’s fingers flew across the keyboard, entering one command after another in rapid succession as she worked her way quickly through the computer’s security firewalls.

  “These guys are good!” she exclaimed. “Real good. This is going to take some time. I know that it’s in here somewhere.”

  An athletic-looking young man with long reddish-blond hair stood nervously behind her. He whispered, “Hurry up. This thing is heavy!”

  “I’m working as fast as I can,” she answered curtly. “I got us past the ship’s security monitors, didn’t I? I found the bridge in no time flat, didn’t I? I cracked their computer’s firewalls, didn’t I? Besides, what are you worried about? As long as you hang onto that holoreed the mystic can’t see us and the rest of them are busy out there, basking in their glory, having the time of their lives.”

  “I don’t care,” the young man answered. “Do you know the penalty for tampering with a government computer? I do. It is 50 to 100 years in a detention center. I can’t believe that you talked me into this.”

  “Quiet!” she answered. “Someone is coming. Hide!”

  Two reptilians and a humanoid stood in the hallway, peering nervously into the bridge. One of the reptilians was carrying a holoreed; the other held a scanning device. The humanoid had a laser pistol strapped to his right leg.

  “There’s no one on the bridge,” the reptilian holding the scanner announced.

  “Good,” the humanoid replied, heading for the computer in front of the Captain’s chair. Settling into the Captain’s chair, he paused.

  “What are you waiting for?” the reptilian holding the holoreed asked.

  “Something’s not right,” he answered. “The computer system is open and operational. No one leaves their computer system in the operational mode when they leave their spaceship. They always lock it up.”

  “I don’t like this,” the reptilian responded as he headed back to the door and took a long look up and down the corridor. “I don’t like this at all. Are you sure that we weren’t followed?”

  “No one followed us,” the man at the computer answered, adjusting the computer screen. “Now stop worrying and do your job. The two of you make certain that this room is clean. The last thing we want is to have a hidden robocamera record us. And don’t forget to check the closets. Depending on the composition of the doors, someone could be hiding in one of the closets and the scanner might not pick them up.”

  The reptilian with the holoreed began to check all of the closets. The reptilian with the scanner continued to scan the room. Just then, Kristi entered the room. The man at the computer reached for his laser pistol, but Kristi was too fast. The laser pistol leapt from his grasp, spun around, and ended up pointing straight at the man’s chest. But instead of surrendering, he reached for the pistol. Kristi fired. A thumb-sized blue laser beam burned straight through the man’s right shoulder and hit the wall behind him, leaving a black scorch mark as it continued on through the wall. The man screamed, grabbed his shoulder, and rolled onto the floor writhing in agony. The reptilian holding the holoreed dropped it and charged straight at her. Using a leverage trick that Alex taught her years ago, she leaned to the side, extended her left foot, and punched him hard just beneath his shoulder as he passed, sending him crashing to the floor. She then turned to face the other reptilian. He threw the scanner at her head and ran for the door. The scanner stopped in mid-air, rocketed back at the intruder, and hit him in the back of his head, knocking him out cold. Picking up the laser pistol, Kristi walked over to the reptilian who had charged at her and was struggling to regain his feet. Pointing the laser pistol at his head, she asked, “Going somewhere?”

  The reptilian clasped his hands behind his neck, signaling his surrender.

  “Looks like I got them all,” she announced triumphantly.

  “Looks like I got here just a bit too late,” Conor announced as he walked through the door. “I still can’t see how they were able to get in without …”

  Conor stopped in mid-sentence.

  Pointing at the storage closet at the far end of bridge, he asked, “Can you smell that?”

  “No,” Kristi answered. “But your sense of smell is better than mine.”

  “Heather,” Conor answered. “I smell heather perfume.”

  “I can’t smell it,” Kristi answered.

  “Hey,” the man who had been shot pleaded. “I need a medical kit!”

  “There is a medical kit in that closet,” Kristi answered, pointing to the back of the bridge. “Maybe you should get it. Just in case someone is hiding in there.”

  The man stood up and hobbled toward the storage room, holding his right hand over his laser wound. Just as he was about to open the closet door, the young man who had been holding a holoreed opened the door, his hands raised high into the air, and pleaded, “Don’t shoot, don’t shoot, we’re not armed!”

  The young woman standing next to him punched him on the arm, hard.

  “Some tough guy you are!” she yelled. “Captain of the wresting team. Got an athletic scholarship to attend Skyton U. Big deal! Don’t shoot, don’t shoot. We’re not armed. You coward. You’re nothing but a sloberian toad.”

  “Excuse me,” Conor stated to the young woman. “Would you mind placing your hands behind your neck?”

  “Place my hands where?” she asked. “I will not!”

  “Hey!” the man who had been shot shouted. “Will the two of you knock it off and get me a medical kit? I have a hole in my shoulder!”

  The young woman reached behind her, grabbed a medical kit, and tossed it to the man.

  “Here you go,” she replied curtly. “Now shut up, will you?”

  “Excuse me,” Conor tried again. “Who are you and what are you doing in our spaceship?”

  “Who us?” she answered innocently. “We were just looking for, ah, an autograph. Yes, that’s it. We were looking for an autograph when these three guys came sneaking aboard. They were messing with your computer thingy over there. If I were you, I’d check it out. I think they were up to something.”

  “Enough of this nonsense,” Kristi stated, pointing at the holoreed at the young woman’s feet. “If you were here to just get an autograph then why did you bring a holoreed with you? Now keep quiet and sit on your hands while I sort this out. If either of you move, I will shoot you. Is that clear?”

  The young man sat down. The young woman hesitated, but seeing the determination on Kristi’s face and the hole in the man’s shoulder she quietly sat down and waited.

  “Let me see your shoulder,” Kristi stated to the injured man as she handed the laser pistol to Conor.

  The man reluctantly removed his hand from his shoulder. The laser wound had cauterized itself as it passed through his shoulder.

  “Too bad,” she announced. “Looks like you are going to live.”

  Addressing the other intruder, she asked, “Do you know the penalty for tampering with a government computer?”

  “It’s 50 to 100 years in a government detention center,” the young man with reddish-blond hair blurted out.

  Kristi turned toward the young man and stated sarcastically, “Thank you counselor, but didn’t I just ask you to be quiet?”

  “Sorry,” the young man answered.

  Turning her attention back to the reptilian, she stated, “The young man is correct. The penalty is 50 to 100 years in a gov
ernment detention center. In case you have a hearing problem, let me repeat that. The penalty is 50 to 100 years in a detention center, not one of those cushy rehabilitation facilities. A detention center. And because this particular computer is the property of a candidate for the Interstellar Court of Justice, it is highly likely that you are going to get the maximum sentence and be sent to a remote detention center reserved for hardened criminals. You know the type of criminal that I’m talking about. Murders, rapists, and serial killers. Not exactly the type of person that I would want to have as a cellmate. I’ve heard stories that would give you nightmares. And in case you were thinking that you might get off early for good behavior, we will make certain that you serve all 100 years. We have the political influence to make that happen. Don’t you agree?”

  “Yea, so what?” he answered. “What’s your point?”

  “The point is, if you tell me who paid you to do this, I’ll let you go and forget that you were ever here,” she answered.

  Conor couldn’t believe his ears. He started to speak, but Kristi motioned for him to remain quiet.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he answered.

  “I’m talking about 100 years in a detention center with hardened criminals,” she answered. “And I am talking about no early release.”

  “We don’t know who paid us,” he answered.

  “Shut up, you fool!” the now bandaged man shouted. “Don’t tell her anything. She’s not going to let us go.”

  “If you tell,” she promised. “I will let you go. You have my word and my word is my bond.”

  “Promise?” he asked.

  “Promise,” she answered.

  “We were wired 30,000 credits, 10,000 each, to dump some stuff into your computer,” he blurted out. “We were supposed to get another 20,000 credits each, once the job was done.”