CHAPTER FOUR
Retan
shoved the door of the security station open, everyone was staring at him with
wide-eyes as he stumbled across the station in his muddy clothes. He came to
the main desk and the young security officer that was standing there was
studying him up-and-down with a look of mixed surprise and incomprehension.
"Uh…May
I help you, sir?" He asked, trying to keep his calm.
"I
have something to say." Retan said. "Yesterday…I saw something go
into the woods…It came from the sky. I came here last night and no one would
believe me so I went to investigate by myself…I…I walked for hours and then I
heard voices and I tried to escape but there was a large flash! And I was
hurting in my back…I lost consciousness and…and…"
"Sir…I'm
sorry…This is not our business. There's a hospital down the road, I can bring
you there if you want."
Retan
stared at the young officer: "You don't believe what I'm saying do
you…"
"Please,
sir…Just come with…"
"It's
the truth!" Retan raised his voice and everyone was staring in his direction.
"You think I would make a fool of myself like this if it wasn't the
truth? What the hell are you thinking?"
Something
hard landed on Retan's right shoulder.
"Buddy,
you're coming with me." A deep voice said.
Retan
turned and discovered that a very large security officer was holding him firmly
by the shoulder.
He
was not going to let himself be impressed.
"I'm
staying here." He said firmly, staring defiantly into the eyes of the
large officer.
The
officer gave a crooked smile: "No you aren't."
* * *
Retan
hit the sidewalk hard.
"Stay
out of here." The officer turned on his heels and re-entered the security
station.
Retan
got to his feet and dusted himself; everyone who was walking down the street
was staring at him as he shouted back: "Coward! You don't even dare look
me in the eye!"
Then,
he realized that this was not appropriate behaviour for the director of one of Taran's leading computer hardware companies. So he calmed
down and quickly began walking back towards his apartment.
A
few minutes later, he had gone to his apartment, washed and changed clothes. He
felt a few hundred kilos lighter and ready for some more searching. He was
going to go back into the woods. Despite his reluctance to enter the muddy mass
of the forest near Uan, he was still going to
go…Something big was happening.
He
packed a briefcase with some food and water and put on his hiking boots.
Somehow, he knew this was going to be a long day.
He
came out of his building and began walking alongside the road that led to the
woods.
And
that's when he heard something…A voice…A familiar voice…
A
voice he had heard in the woods the night before…
"So…This
is the capital city." Sylvia was looking up at the massive skyscrapers.
"Please
watch where you're stepping, Lilly." Agatha said in a motherly tone.
"I don't want you to crash into anyone."
Sylvia
looked down and said: "Don't call me Lilly…You know I hate that."
"Of
course I do." Agatha grinned.
Sylvia
grunted: "Somehow I knew you were going to answer me with something like
that."
They
came to a large building with an inscription in Taranian
above the revolving doors that were used as entrance and exit.
"This
is where we'll be staying." Agatha said. "This is the Etheas hotel, the biggest and most luxurious hotel in the
area."
"Hmmm…"
Sylvia looked bored.
"We'll
be in the nicest room all the way at the top of the building. We'll have a view
for miles around the city."
"Great…"
Sylvia said. "And where will we get the money to pay for the "best
room in the hotel"?"
"Taranian money is easily replicated." Agatha smiled.
"I replicated about five million Taranian
credits in cash."
"Cash?"
"An
old expression…" Agatha said. "Let's go."
They
went through the revolving doors and to the reception, unaware that a man
wearing hiking boots was following them.
There
were two women, one was taller than the other and wore her hair in a ponytail.
The other one let her hair hang loosely and had a large smile for no apparent
reason.
Were
these really the people that he had heard in the woods?
Yes…They
had to be…He had recognized the voice of the bigger woman. She was the last one
who had spoken before he had lost consciousness after the flash of light.
He
stayed behind the revolving doors of the Etheas
hotel, watching the duo walk towards the reception. He was about to enter the
hotel as well when he heard someone say: "Director Retan?"
He
turned and came before two people in black suits, one man and one woman.
"Yes…That's
me."
"We
are governmental enforcers. We have orders to take you with us to our
headquarters. We have some questions to ask you."
"Uh…"
Retan knew it wasn't a good idea to mess with the governmental enforcers. They
were the most dangerous kind of Taranian you could
meet. "All right…I'll come."
Agatha
was negotiating with the receptionist and Sylvia was getting slightly bored.
She began walking around the lobby, studying the beautiful carpets and amazing
decorations that were placed around the large room.
After
a few more minutes, she was started to get hot under her jacket and decided to
step outside to breathe in some fresh air.
She
stood at the top of the steps to the entrance of the hotel and took a few deep
breaths. The air was cool and soothed her…It had been a long time since she had
had the chance to breathe real air. Not the bottled-up oxygen used aboard
starships.
Suddenly,
she heard a loud noise.
Everyone
on the street was looking around, confused. What had happened?
Sylvia
walked down the steps and looked around. Down the street, there was something
burning, smoke was rising up into the sky from a burning vehicle that had
toppled over. Nobody was doing anything to see if anyone was hurt so Sylvia's
instincts burst in and she dashed towards the site of the accident.
A
few minutes before…
Retan was
escorted from the hotel to a sleek black mobile into which he entered and so
did the two governmental officers.
The
man took the wheel and started the mobile, the woman sat in the back of the
vehicle next to Retan. She took a black mallet from under her seat and opened
it.
"What's
that?" He asked.
Inside
the mallet were diverse menacing-looking tools with sharp and jagged edges. The
woman took a syringe out of her infernal mallet and tapped it with her fingers:
"This is a powerful anaesthetic…Please relax."
Retan
jumped back as she jabbed at him with the syringe. He grabbed the arm that was
holding the instrument and swung it around wildly. She was smaller than him and
he managed to pull the syringe out of her hand. It flew across the mobile and
planted itself in the man's shoulder.
The
man let out a roar and almost immediately thereafter, his head lolled to one
side and the mobile went out of control.
The
woman tried to grab the wheel but her arms were too short and the mobile
collided with another one coming in the opposite direction.
Retan
was jolted like crazy, his head hit a window and blinking lights began
appearing before his eyes. He struggled to stay awake but couldn't…He could
smell something burning but he couldn't move…
Sylvia
pulled the door of the upside down vehicle open and pulled one of the occupants
out. It was a woman in a black suit, her nose was most obviously broken and she
wasn't breathing. The next person Sylvia pulled out was a man that was
strangely familiar, he had a wound to his forehead but he was blinking and
looking up at her in amazement.
"You're
going to be all right." She assured him. "Just be strong."
"I…"
He tried to speak and a trickle of blood came down from his lower lip.
"I…know…"
"You
know?" She frowned.
"I
know…you were in…the forest…"
Her
eyes widened…She remembered him…She had barely seen his face that night but now
it came back to her. He was the man that Agatha had shot at with a phaser the
night before in the woods. He had recognized her!
Suddenly,
in the distance, more Taranians wearing the same suit
as the dead woman that Sylvia had pulled out from the vehicle. They were
holding some sort of weapons and were running towards the crash site.
The
man grabbed her left shoulder: "Help me." He said with difficulty.
She
stared at him, not knowing what to do…This man knew who she was and he could
reveal this information to anyone! But then again, was it safer for her to
leave him to the people that seemed to be part of some important
organization…Maybe he was a criminal, or even a lunatic!
But
strangely, her mind didn't do what her better judgment was deciding was right.
Someone was entering another one of those vehicles a few meters away. Sylvia
pulled the man to his feet and began walking towards the vehicle. She shoved
the occupant outside of the mobile, threatening him with a phaser—it worked
even though he didn't know what it was—and she shoved the wounded man into the
passenger seat.
She
sat down in the driver's seat and stared in incomprehension at the controls.
There was on large wheel right in front of her, a few blinking red and green
buttons on the right of the wheel and a blue button on the left.
"Uh…How
do I work this thing?" She looked to the wounded man for support.
"The…Green
button makes the mobile work…The wheel is for turning." He said.
"Right…"
She hesitantly pressed the green button and the engine of the mobile roared to
life.
"Now…Red…to
go faster…" He said.
She
nodded and pressed the red button.
The
mobile began moving, it moved slowly at first but the longer she pressed on the
button, the faster it went. She was now on the main road, accelerating faster
and faster. The Taranians in black suits watched
helplessly as the mobile escaped.
* * *
In
the Etheas hotel, Agatha gave a pleasant smile to the
receptionist: "Thanks a lot." She turned and was surprised not to see
her sister anywhere.
"Sylvia?"
She called. "Sylvia?"