An instant late Leah pushed William to the ground and quickly maneuvered their position so that the art installations were between them and the gunman.

  Another shot rang out.

  “These projectile wounds suck,” said Leah as she took a closer look at the hole in William’s shoulder. “Had he used a beam weapon this would have already cauterized itself.”

  She reached for a small pouch around her ankle. “Don’t worry. I never leave home without my medkit.”

  Leah had picked up that habit from captain Philips, who believed that weapons and medkits should be carried simultaneously at all times. Standard Academy training for military cadets. Too bad for Leah, she hadn’t picked up the captain’s weapon carrying habit too.

  “This will stop the bleeding and prevent infection,” Leah said, as she applied battlefield foam to William’s wound.

  “Good thing that guy’s a bad shot,” said William.

  “He’s not a bad shot. His weapon of choice is bad,” said Leah.

  “Huh? I can assure you that really hurt,” William said, holding up his blood covered hand to emphasis his comment.

  Leah shook her head. “It’s obvious that he’s using a G17 projectile type weapon,” said Leah. “Not powerful enough to penetrate human bone from that distance. A more powerful weapon would have gone straight through your shoulder and into my heart,” she said, tapping her chest. “The way I was standing in front of you, a more powerful weapon would have sailed right through.”

  Several more shots rang out, but all of them ricocheted off the art installations.

  “He’s trying to flush us out,” said Leah. “He can’t hit us from there as long as we stay here.”

  By now the people who had been milling about the square had cleared out or taken cover themselves.

  “We can’t stay here forever,” said William. “He’s bound to come around from the side.”

  “He won’t, for the same reason he’s using a projectile weapon,” she said.

  “I’m not following Leah,” William replied. “This damn bullet hole hurts like hell.”

  “An energy weapon would have set off the automated security screens,” replied Leah. “He would have been rounded up the moment he entered Thinker’s Square. This is a strict weapons free zone. But the screens don’t detect projectile weapons, or even the sub 2.5K joule energy weapons.”

  Williams shook his head. Another shot rang out.

  “Why not just use a more high powered projectile then?” asked Williams.

  “Most people are not familiar with the old-style projectile weapons anymore,” said Leah.

  A moment later automated police units began entering the square from seven different directions and quickly formed a circle around the gunman. One of the units projected a human voice that said, “you are surrounded! Drop the weapon or you will be shot.”

  The gunman looked around helplessly and tossed his gun on the ground.

  The human voice then said, “get on the ground with your hands over your head. Do not move or you will be forcibly restrained by the police units surrounding you.”

  The gunman dropped to the ground without incident.

  A few minutes later three uniformed police officers wearing Ivy Township insignia carefully approached the gunman and secured him with variable pressure force restraints placed around his wrists, ankles, knees and elbows.

  Leah stood up and waved at one of the officers. “He’s been shot! He needs medical attention.”

  The officer nodded and pressed a button on his lapel, and a few moments later two human medics with a med bot in tow began treating William’s bullet wound.

  “This doesn’t look to bad,” said one of the medics, as Leah looked on. “Whoever dressed this wound did most of our job already.”

  William looked up at Leah and smiled.

  “The med bot recommends a visit to the hospital to repair internal damage,” said one of the medics. “The bot can do it here, but I think you’ll be more comfortable at the hospital,” said the medic.

  “Thanks,” said Williams. “I think so too.”

  Looking up at Leah, he said, “thanks darling. I’m going to be fine. I think you had better get going now, the captain is probably wondering why you’re so late.”

  She looked at her watch and said, “I should have been at the Lighthouse already!”

  “Go Leah,” said William. “Once I’m done getting this fixed, I’ll give our statement to the police. Since he technically shot me, I think my statement should be enough to hold him for further investigation.”

  Leah nodded. “Thank you. I’ll be in touch as soon as I can.”

  She bent down and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

  “See you soon,” he said.

  She waved goodbye and jogged back to her apartment to pick up her travel bag. All ready to go, she keyed an order for an air taxi, got in one two minutes later and sped off towards the Lighthouse.

  Chapter 6

  Captain Philips and Master Sergeant Wheeler had split up to search the Lighthouse security and visitor areas. While he doubted it was even possible, he wanted to make sure Leah hadn’t gotten lost in the enormous complex that was the Lighthouse.

  He’d tried messaging her via her implants but got no response. They appeared to be off network, or simply not broadcasting her presence.

  He also tried calling her apartment before Wheeler suggested they get in touch with Ivy Township police. Maybe there had been an incident.

  Sure enough, when captain Philips called the police station, the officer on watch told him about the shooting at Thinker’s Square, the injuries sustained by William and the fact that Leah had been unharmed.

  While the investigation had just started, the police had identified the shooter as Marcus Lehman, a mercenary for hire known to Foothold law enforcement. He’d been equipped with an anonymity screen, which hid is identify from the fugitive watch programs that monitored most city public areas and had been armed with a G17 fast action projective pistol.

  Luckily, while an expert marksman, he confessed to having never used that type of weapon before, and only did so at the behest of his employer – who he claimed he had never met.

  So far Lehman’s interrogation had revealed nothing regarding a motive, although he did confirm that his target had been Leah. Williams simply got in the way.

  Philips messaged Wheeler to meet him at Embarkation Point One. They were running out of time and would wait for Leah there. If she didn’t show up within the next half hour they would have to leave without her. Not an ideal situation, but he didn’t have anyone else lined up to take her place. He’d just assumed that his team picks would be present and available and hadn’t put a contingency plan in place.

  That was stupid, he thought to himself.

  A few minutes later he met Wheeler at the EPO.

  “Any sign of her?” asked Wheeler.

  “None.”

  “Same here,” replied Wheeler.

  “We’ll give her another 30 minutes. She’s on her way but have no idea if she’ll make it or not.”

  “So, you heard from her?” asked Wheeler.

  Philip shook his head no.

  “I got in touch with her local police department. Apparently, someone tried to kill her.”

  “Kill her?” asked Wheeler. “Who’d want to do that?”

  “She’s naturally brilliant,” said Philips, “even more so with her Level Twos. Someone might be afraid of that.”

  Wheeler shook his head. “I can’t imagine her having any enemies…”

  “She may have no enemies,” replied Philips. “But her employer, the government, has a lot of enemies.”

  “Does the admiral know?”

  “I sent a message to his office and the Ivy police is in touch with the MPs,” said Philips. “They are going to conduct a joint investigation. If Lehman doesn’t talk, I wouldn’t be surprised if the admiral doesn’t pull some strings to get a mind tap on him.”

  “Mind taps have been completely illegal for twenty years,” said Wheeler.

  “Illegal, yes,” said Philips. “And also well within the admiral’s purview, if he can show a clear and present danger to state security.”

  Wheeler shrugged. “Guess we’ll find out how that goes when we get back.”

  “Exactly,” said Philips. “You know, I’d hate to leave without Leah. She’s an extremely valuable asset – no offense to you of course.”

  “Of course,” repeated Wheeler with a smile.

  “If she’s not here in five minutes I’m going to request the Resolute delay its departure.”

  “Graham OK with that?”

  “Probably not,” said Philips. “He was very clear on Resolute’s schedule. She shoves off at 1800 sharp. But I know her skipper. He may be willing to do me a favor.”

  A moment later Wheeler spotted Leah being waived through the inner security screen. Clearly someone had ordered Lighthouse security give Leah the unusual privilege of a security pass.

  “Leah!” called Philips. “Over here!”

  “I’m so sorry I’m late,” said Leah, a bit out of breath. The Lighthouse facility was huge, and she ran for part of the way before security personnel gave her a ride on one of their Waxman Air Cushion Transport vehicles. “The guards were so nice…when they saw me running, they gave me a ride the rest of the way.”

  “We heard about the attempt on your life,” said Philips. “Ivy and the MPs are conducting a joint investigation. Graham has been informed and will likely direct significant resources into solving the case. And William is fine.”

  Leah smiled. “Thanks for the thorough update captain.”

  “You already know the Master Sergeant,” said Philips, gesturing towards Wheeler.

  “How could I forget?” she said. “Mr. Wheeler, your lecture on the morality of defense was subtle, insightful and frankly brilliant.”

  Wheeler bowed. “Coming from you, that is a true compliment. Thank you.”

  Glancing at his watch Philips said, “that’s all the time we have for our meet and greet. If we embark on the next elevator, we’ll make it to the Resolute with a few minutes to spare.”

  --

  Captain Philips, Master Sergeant Wheeler and Dr. Leah Thompson took seats next to each other, in a circular couch that faced one of the external windows.

  From here, looking up, they could see the massive cabling system that made the space elevator possible.

  Space elevators were basically enormous railroads into planetary orbit and consisted of four basic components – the cabling system, counterweight, anchor station and lifters.

  Most essential was the cabling system, which was made of a lytium-carbon nanotubes composite material forming a ribbon that was anchored to the planet on one end (the Lighthouse anchor station facility) and attached to a counterweight on the other end, approximately twenty five thousand miles into space. The centripetal force on the counterweight and cable kept it taught, allowing for travel up and down its length.

  Lifters were essentially AI controlled cargo holds, designed to transport both human and non-human cargo, up and down the cable. The Lifters used the cable to guide their ascent and descent to and from space, and clung to the cable via heavy duty traction tread rollers.

  The lifters were powered by an onboard Mav 9 high capacity storage battery that fed electricity to a nutonium-magnetic direct current electric motor system. Power could also be beamed to the lifters via several free-electron laser systems ringing the anchor station’s base. The lasers could also be used defensively against an attack on the Lighthouse.

  Lifters came in many shapes and sizes, depending upon their duty designation and could ascend the cable at different speeds, depending on load and scheduling requirements. Speeds on the higher end of the spectrum put a strain on the both parts and system and were avoided when not absolutely necessary.

  Philips, Wheeler and Leah had taken a first-class passenger lifter, comfortable and plushily furnished with both automated and human staff to tend to the needs of the passengers. Philips figured he’d treat his team to this as it might be a long time before they got to enjoy such creature comforts again.

  Chapter 7

  As the terminal came into reach, the lifter began decelerating softly, having climbed thousands of miles above the surface of Foothold, now clearly and officially in space as defined by official government code. The government was keen to keep track of such things, lest anyone got the idea that anything less than one hundred miles beyond the surface of the planet belonged to anyone else other than the government.

  A robotic attendant took their tickets as proof of passage, and a human attendant escorted them out of the lifter and onto another platform, which served as a hub from where space elevator riders could either visit shops, restaurants or recreation areas, or buy tickets to board other vessels to take them to other parts of the solar system. Very few interstellar voyages could be booked from space elevator hubs, as those usually originated on planet side space ports that had the facilities to fully service such vessels.

  Exceptions, however, did occur from time to time, especially for the military, which had a defacto presence on all the space elevator hubs. Beyond protecting the space elevator, the military liked to keep vessels in the vicinity as a rapid reaction force – better to have assets capable of interstellar flight pre-positioned in space than having to wait for them to come up from the surface.

  Not that surface to space flights were difficult per se; they were simply more expensive and could be more time consuming, as personnel on shore leave planet side were notoriously harder to round up in an emergency than those who were within easy reach on a space hub.

  The hub at this level was an enormous flat disk one hundred miles in diameter, its center pierced by the space elevator’s cabling system. Its periphery consisted almost exclusively of docking space, shipping and receiving platforms, repair and refueling stations, and gunnery strongpoints manned by Marines.

  The Marines’ only job was to make sure the outward facing guns worked and to shoot at terrorist or any other threats to the hub and its immediate environs, as ordered by their NCOs.

  The hubs internal security was handled by Lighthouse police officers, who occupied barracks along the center rim. This was deemed most efficient, as they could provide security close to the cabling system (which was always a target for those with ill intent), and easily monitor hub activity and respond to disturbances quickly. Beyond the central rim presence, the hub was dotted by strategically positioned police stations every 10 or so miles out from the center.

  In other words, the hub was an extremely secure area and typically avoided by criminal elements.

  That’s why Philips felt genuine surprise when Master Sergeant Wheeler doubled over in agony, and then fell to the floor, as round after round of high velocity projectiles slammed around the Sergeant’s feet.

  An alarm sounded almost instantaneously, as civilians sought cover and armed police officers swarmed the area.

  Captain Philips and Leah dragged Wheeler behind a food stall and immediately began removing his shirt to tend to his wounds.

  “I’m fine,” Wheeler said, as he pushed their hands away from his abdomen, “I’ve got my duty shirt on,” he said, lifting his outer shirt to reveal the armor he wore underneath.

  “Good thinking,” said Philips. “First Leah and now you. Someone’s got it in for us.”

  “Someone doesn’t want us going on this mission,” said Leah. “Why?”

  Captain Philips’ comm buzzed. It was Todd Rutledge, the Resolute’s captain.

  “Captain Philips,” said,” said Rutledge. “I’m sending an armed escort. Get aboard immediately. Docking port 7, berth 12.”

  “Will do.,” said Philips. “Where are your men?”

  “They will come to you,” replied Rutledge. “Stay where you are.”

  “Do you have our position?” asked Philips.

  “Already transmitted to us by Lighthouse police.”

  “Acknowledge. Philips out.”

  “I guess they aren’t taking any more chances with us out in the open,” said Philips.

  A few minutes later five armed officers from the Naval Security Force, all with master-at-arms ratings, surrounded the trio.

  The Resolute’s uniformed police unit was responsible for all law enforcement duties aboard ship, at shore stations like the Lighthouse and other naval facilities. Officially given the rating of space master-at-arms (SMAA), they typically initiated crime scene investigations committed aboard naval facilities.

  A moment later, Naval Security Force officers were joined by two plain clothes officers from the Space Naval Criminal Investigative Service (SNCIS). The SNCIS performed detective duty for the Navy, and were sent to support, and eventually take over, investigations.

  “Captain Philips,” said the lead SNCIS detective, “My name is detective Amori Johnson. This is my partner Selena Almetti. After the SMAA team finishes securing the scene, we’ll be taking over this investigation. Since time is of the essence, captain Rutledge has extended you and your team permission to provide your official statements after you’ve gone aboard. The Resolute will be in comms range for a few hours after she takes off, so that is how long you have to prepare and send us your statement.”

  “Understood detective,” replied Philips. Looking at Wheeler and Leah, he said, “Frankly, I think our statements will be rather brief. One moment we were standing over there and then Wheeler took one in the gut. He’s wearing his duty armor, so there was no damage.”

  Speaking to the group, detective Johnson asked, “is that all you remember?”

  Wheeler and Philips nodded.

  “I would add,” Leah said, “that whoever shot Wheeler used a projectile type weapon. My guess it’s a G17 design.”

  “G18,” replied Johnson. “Lighthouse police have already secured the weapon and recovered the shells.”

  “Makes sense,” said Leah. “A G18 is more powerful than a G17. They used a G17 when they shot at William and me. They knew we were civilians and don’t wear armor. So, the G17 was perfect and weak enough not to raise any suspicions. They used a G18 on Wheeler, figuring he’d probably just be wearing light armor while at the Lighthouse but still needed a weapon that would fly under the radar.”

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21