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CHAPTER 23

August 26, 2089

“Well, I’m glad you found nothing, Captain Jacobs.” Ray stood at the end of the captain’s ready-room table, nodding affirmatively. “I questioned the crew and there was little to learn there. Whoever did this must have done it during the test or even construction phase.”

“Probably. Have you gotten Dr. Burbank squared away?” Captain Jacobs asked.

“Yes. He’s eager to get to Mars and then to catch up with his wife,” Gaines replied. “What is our current Mars orbit ETA?”

“Actually, we will rendezvous with another Samaritan sightseeing cruise in thirty-six hours and drop him off there. You’re free to go with him if you like. We’ve been pulled to another mission and our trajectory will not take us back to Mars for a couple weeks. The cruise ship will be at Mars dock on four September about two in the morning. Is his wife there on Mars?”

“No, Captain Jacobs, she’s not. She’s on a transport back to the Moon and then to Earth. Any way you look at it, there’s probably a two-week interlude before they rendezvous again.” Gains chuckled a bit. “He made quite a sacrifice jumping on the Samaritan like he did. Good man.”

“Good man. I agree.”

“I’ll book me a suite on that cruise as well. No need to hang out here with you space jockeys,” Gaines said.

“Suit yourself, Gaines.”

“If there’s nothing else, Captain, then I need to go and get things lined up for our departure, then,” Gaines said.

“By all means. Nice meeting you, Gaines.”

“Likewise, Captain Jacobs. Likewise.” Ray shook the Space Force captain’s hand and began immediately cycling scenarios and egress path alternatives.

Once they were off the Space Force vessel and onto a private cruise ship, Pinkersly could assume Burbank’s life for the week or so it would take to get to Mars. Ray would work out identities for him before Mars. Mars and the Moon for the most part were the new frontiers. Many people actually had moved to Mars to escape the prying life of civilization on Earth. It would be easy to vanish Pinkersly there.

* * *

“I’m so sorry, Chloe. I can’t wait to get home either.” Chloe listened and watched the video download from her husband, who was apparently on his way home via the Mars cruise docks. She was used to Roy traveling with his job and often he’d be gone for a couple of weeks or more at a time. That was the life of being married to a spacecraft design and test engineer. He did get paid really, really well on each of his off-world excursions.

“The Space Force ship Northcutt is dropping me off on the sightseeing cruiser Bolivar, and I’ll transfer from it when we get to Mars in about five days. I’m already looking at my flight options that get me home soonest,” Roy continued very matter-of-factly and all business. Chloe wondered if he had to make the video transmission recording while not in private. He’d done that before too.

“I miss you, darling, and will be home soonest. Love you.” Roy waved goodbye into the camera and half frowned.

“I love you too, Roy,” Chloe whispered and then gently touched the datapad touchscreen, shutting the image down. Then she mused over the message a bit. “Hmm, he’s never called me ‘darling’ before.”

* * *

“Very good, Thomas—or I guess for now, we’ll always say ‘Roy.’” Gaines watched the video a bit closer to make certain there were no tells. “We’ll have to do another couple of these. Be careful about pet names and words of endearment as we don’t really know how Burbank spoke to his wife.”

“What do ya mean? I did pretty good,” Pinkersly argued.

“You called her ‘darling’ in that one. Don’t do that again.” Gaines looked at him sternly and then let his expression relax a bit. “Look, I have my AI searching his emails, chats, and other media where his family is concerned. Soon, before we do the next one, the AI will write the script based on the most likely turns of phrase.”

“You think the video rendering will keep her fooled?” Pinkersly asked. “I mean, do we really understand his facial expressions?”

“Don’t worry about it. We have hours of video-conference data on Burbank. The imagery is good.” Ray Gaines—at least that was his current identity—considered his next move. Did he simply toss Dr. Pinkersly out an airlock at some point once he no longer needed a live body walking around acting as Burbank, or did he just give him a new ID and tell him to get lost or else? He could tell by the way the man squirmed that he was probably considering the same things and was likely planning some weak attempt at escaping.

“Then what? Er, I mean, what about me?” Pinkersly asked.

“Thomas, Thomas, Thomas,” Ray repeated. He diverted his gaze to the porthole in his quarters at the continually brightening light that was approaching them. The cruise ship was almost there. Another day or so and they’d be off the Northcutt and away from the Space Force. “What will we do with you indeed? You were going to die anyway on that ship.”

“You’re going to kill me?” Pinkersly began darting his eyes about the room and Ray could see the panic in his face. He looked to Ray as if he were going to hyperventilate.

“Settle down, Thomas. I’m not going to kill you, or even have you killed. I don’t think. That’s up to you.” He paused and thought briefly and turned his gaze back from the star field on the other side of the porthole in the distance.

Ray knew that Pinkersly was a scientist not a survivor. And he was stupid because he had managed to get himself in very deep debt with some pretty serious gambling bookies. Thomas Pinkersly had a gambling problem that was quickly about to reach a crux. The only outcome of his situation would most likely have been his death, but before that, the death of his estranged wife and two teenaged daughters. That was before Ray had found him.

Ray’s employers had very deep pockets. He basically bought and paid for Thomas Pinkersly’s life with the deal that his family would be safe and taken care of well. The few hundred thousand Thomas owed his bookies was rounding error money to Ray’s employers. They’d already paid billions to implement the plans they had put in motion. Paying off his debt and putting his family up with enough money to support them for years was miniscule in comparison.

But Thomas . . . well, he was now a problem. He was a loose end. Ray didn’t like loose ends. He would have to find a place he could get lost in forever and become somebody else. Or that loose end would have to be tied up.



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