Showdown at New Texas
New Texas wasn't a planet. It was more like a solar system.
Galactic Union astronomers estimate that the N'Texas system once consisted
of six planets that, millenia ago, fell victim to some unknown catastrophe
that shattered them. N'Texas was a large—very large—asteroid
belt.
Nearer the sun, fifty-three large asteroids were home to
farming operations that provided the majority of the food to population.
The rest of the asteroids were mineralogically rich—with gold, platinum,
uranium, silver, mercury and hundred of other valuable minerals. On a planet,
some of the minerals were difficult to extract, buried deep in the crust.
At N'Texas, the minerals were easier to get to, and quite profitable. Each
family group owned their own asteroid, and the richer ones owned many.
Keeping track of the asteroids was a large computer—designed
only for that purpose—located on a medium-sized asteroid three AUs
out from the primary. The capitol, N'Austin, was on a smaller asteroid 14
AUs out.
I'm Rafael Ontiveroz, an agent of the Galactic Union Investigation
and Law Enforcement Department, or GUILD.
I came to N'Texas like any other traveler, and I expected
to be treated like one. Instead I was greeted at the N'Texas Port by the
president, Hirofumi Gota.
“Howdy, Mr. Ontiveroz,” he said. He was a short,
thick man withthinning black hair. His face was tanned, revealing his asteroid
mining origins. He wore a plain suit and a ten gallon hat.
I dropped my head into my free had. I was supposed to be
undercover. “When GUILD informed the marshall's office, I decided
I had to meet you.” He smiled and stuck out his hand. When I took
he clapped me on the back with his other hand.
“No one was to know about me but the marshal,”
I said.
“Aw, hell, Mr Ontiveroz, that don't matter at N'Texas.
Everyone minds their own business.” He took my suitcase, and with
the hand on my back, started pushing me toward the exit.
“Mr. Gota . . .”
“Call me Fumi.”
“Mr. Gota, I am on a case. A case you may have just
jeopardized.” I suppose I could have been more tactful, but this man
was interfering with my assignment. “I'm tracking a smuggler on behalf
of the Sabukan government, and her trail leads to New Texas.”
Gota snorted a quickl laugh. “Rafe, half the population
of N'Texas is involved in some sort of smuggling. There are just too many
asteroids to hide on. Just last week, the marshal arrested a miner in Sector
98 for running Nyloshan torpedoes.” Gota pushed his way through a
throng of people at the door of the port, and lead me into a two level tunnel.
A balcony ran down wither side to the far end, about a mile away, with doors
lining both levels. He snorted again. “I never have been able to figure
out why such a peaceful planet makes such destructive weapons. C'mon, your
hotel is just over here.”
“Mr. Gota, I appreciate your candor--”
“Here you go!” he said with a smile as he idicated
a sqaut blue door to our left with the sign CAPITOL HOTEL above it.
I grabbed him by the arm. “Look, since you've already
blown my cover, I need to access the claims database. Can we go to government
offices, instead?”
Gota scratched his head. “Well, I guess so. But--”
“Yeah?”
“Where you gonna put your luggage?”
I checked into the hotel under my assumed name, making
sure the president of N'Texas cooled his heels in the tunnel. As soon as
the bell hop took my luggage, I returned to Gota's side. “Let's go.”
Gota led me back to the port, and into a wing dedicated
for in system travel. We bypassed the throngs of ticket buyers, and headed
for his personal taxi, parked in a private bay at the far end of the terminal.
Gota's personal taxi was boxy, and a few years past its
prime. He noticed my upraised eyebrow and said, “Don't worry. I had
this for years. She's dependable and comfortable.” I shrugged and
followed him into the craft.
The taxi shot out of a smal port on the side of the asteroid
and we sailed into the maelstrom of N'Texas. The taxi's computer driver--accessing
the central asteroid database which calculated the orbits of all the asteroids
between the port asteroid and the capitol asteroid--slipped and slid around
the rocks until we reached N'Austin, an hour later. The computer landed
us at the government's port and Gota led me into the warrens of N'Texas
government.
Somewhere, deep within the maze of tunnels of N'Austin,
Gota finally led me to a small room with a computer terminal along one wall.
“This is a secure station,” he explained. “Sometimes,
I have to do som anonymous research to keep up with things.”
I sat in front of the terminal. “Just what makes
you think you can find a criminal in our database?”
I smiled. “I'm looking for Grady Conniff. A couple
of informants have suggested I can find her here.”
“So she's just listed herself in our database?”
“My father told me that a cat won't crap in its own
bed. A criminal can't hide if they break the laws around their hideout.”
I started examining their database. My first inquiries came up empty. I
expected that. I had been after her for three years, ever since the incident
at Sabuka. She'd disappeared, though her business empire continued to grow.
I began to expand the parameters of my search by adding in a few of her
known aliases, and then by adding her description.
Nothing.
Damn.
It was time to switch to Plan B. Or Plan C. Whichever would
work.
*****
For the second time in a week I arrived at N'Texas (without
informing the local law enforcement officials). I had disguised myself as
a balding database salesman. Instead of trying to keep a low profile, I
was loud and boisterous and obnoxious. I gave myself a headache.
After leaving the N'Texas shuttle, I took a ferry over
to OhOneFourSeven, the largest entertainment asteroid in the system and
took a room in a respectable, but rowdy, hotel on the sixth level. I appeared
to get comfortably drunk and let it be known that I had information for
Grady Conniff.
After two days, I found myself in a small bar on level
one, near an assayer's office. It had been decorated as a western saloon,
complete with dancing girls and a robot playing a piano. Full size figures
of western heroes surrounded the room in front of a 360 degree mural of
the inside of the Alamo. The tables were wagon wheels covered with glass.
The place screamed “Tourist Trap!”
I parked myself at the bar and started being obvious—I
bought drinks, I bragged, I told stories. Late in the evening, an attractive
brunette sat down beside me.
She was gorgeous. She was about six feet tall, and wearing
a skimpy outfit. Grady Conniff in the flesh.
I gulped and tugged at my collar, only half acting. “Hello,
darling,” I said, putting as much drunken lust into my voice as I
could.
“Word is that you have been looking for me,”
she said, her voice silky and soft. “Why?”
“Oh. Sorry, Ms. Conniff. Didn't recognize you in
here.”
“A girl's got to unwind somewhere,” she said,
scanning the room. “You are drawing a lot of attention toward me and
I want to know why.” Her hand drifted up to my collar as she leaned
close.
From across the room, it would have appeared that we were
getting familiar. But the sharp poke into my neck told me she had a weapon,
and she was ready to use it. “Uh, there's a GUILD agent looking for
you.”
“Ontiveroz?” I blinked. That damn president!
“Yeah.”
“I've never seen you before. Why would you want to
come here and tell me that?”
“Look, Ms. Conniff,” I said, repeating my cover
story, “I got some debts. I figured you'd pay pretty good for that
information.”
“How did YOU know where to find me?” she asked,
jabbing the point of her small knife into my neck.
“OW!” I said. “My bookie claims to be
a big shot. He said you were here. I figured I could spread the word that
I was looking for you, and then I could warn you...”
“Thank you--?” she began.
“Mase. Mason Bridges.”
“I think not, Mr. Ontiveroz. If you will accompany
me--” she dug the tip of her knife into my neck again. I had no choice.
She took my arm, poking the knife into my side, pulled me to my feet. Slipping
her arm through mine, she lead me from the bar and to the asteroid's port.
She pushed me into a small shuttle. The shuttle wove through
the asteroid belt for more than four hours, guided by the central computer.
Conniff sat next to me in silence, making sure I didn't try anything.
Finally, we landed at a small asteroid in a dense cluster,
known locally as the Luckenbach Cluster.
Four men wearing suits appeared by the car immedately.
They roughly pulled me from the car and hauled me into Conniff's home.
Conniff lived in fine style. Artifacts and artwork from
dozens of Galactic Union worlds filled the rooms.
Finally, we arrived in a plush living area, and Conniff
settled onto a sofa and glared at me. “I have to give you credit,
Mr. Ontiveroz. You've gotten closer to me than any GUILD agent ever has.”
“You haven't made it easy, Ms. Conniff. But now that
we're all settled, I am placing you under arrest for importation of addictive
substances to Sabuka.”
Conniff laughed. So did the guards. That's when I stomped
on the foot of the goon on my right, punched the goon on my left in the
face, and kicked the goon behind me in the groin.
With two goons down, and one hopping, I spun to face the
fourth. He reached for a blaster, but before he could pull it from the holster,
I smashed my right palm into his nose. Blood sprayed across his face and
I hit him in the throat with the edge of my left hand.
Hopping goon tried to grab me, but I flipped him into the
goon on the left. Both men crashed into a display of the finest Sirian crystal.
I saw Conniff bolt towards an exit across the room. I chased
after her, tackling her just outside the room. We slid down a corridor and
into a wall, knocking Conniff out. From my waist band I pulled a small com
device. “Kesterron! Lock on to my signal. Get down here. I have her!”
*****
Conniff was tried in a New Texas court for illegal emigration,
and was deported to Sabuka for trial. Found guilty of importation of an
addictive substance, she was sentenced to fifty years in a Galactic Union
prison. I was promoted to Field Supervisor and assigned to Purgos, the Galactic
Union Capitol. Sabuka awarded me their highest honor, Crescent of Honor,
for capturing Conniff.
But I'd give it back if they would let me out of the office
and back out in the trenches.
Maybe I should have let Conniff go.
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