Master of Shadows, Chapter 4: Lily

Alice was furious. “How could my ship have possibly been stolen? Was nobody guarding it?”

General Bradley shook his head. “We’ve got a whole army out there, Starman. There is no way anyone could have gotten past my men. It is not possible. We would have seen them long before they reached the airfield.”

“Apparently not,” Alice snapped. By now her starship was almost out of sight. “Somebody is on board my ship, and I am not happy about it. And I have no doubt that the thief has the Third Treasure with him. So much for containment!”

“Our space fighters are already on her tail,” the general said. “Once they are in range they will force her down. They are probably already closing the gap.”

Alice shook her head. “I very much doubt it, sir. The Raptor is easily the fastest ship on the planet, and her engines had just been completely rebuilt. As soon as it gets into space I bet it’ll engage its FTL drive and be gone. Do you really think those dinky fighters can possibly catch it then? I mean, c’mon! Your ships were already in the air and the Raptor still passed them by so quickly that they might as well have been motionless. It’s already too late.”

The general frowned. “One way or another we will get back your ship. The thief has already made a critical error. Starman-class ships come equipped with extensive security measures and are easy to locate. The armed forces of Ahmanya most certainly has starships that are capable of tracking it down and overtaking it, no matter where it might be hiding.”

“Fine,” Alice said. “And while you’re filling out the paperwork to get all that done I’m going to commandeer that freighter over there and chase it myself. If I can contact the AI on board my ship then maybe I can shut the whole thing down.”

General Bradley looked at her in surprise. “You want to requisition the Molly? Whatever for? That oversized piece of junk is used to carry a half-million tons of lima beans between Earth and Mars. It’s like sending a garbage truck to chase down a race car.”

“Depends on how you look at it,” Alice replied. “Right now it doesn’t have a half-million tons of yucky vegetables on board. Do you know how fast that class of freighter can go when it’s empty? All that power would be pushing an almost negligible amount of metal. I bet the result is really something.”

“That ship is fifteen hundred feet long!” the general exclaimed. “Do you know anything at all about flying cargo vessels?”

“Let’s have this conversation later, shall we? Just let the Incorporated Bean Farm people know that I’ll get their ship back to them as soon as possible.” With that, Alice took off running across the spaceport.

The general sighed. “Kids these days. I don’t know what the world is coming to. She’s actually going to give chase in an unarmed bean freighter. What, exactly, is she going to do when she overtakes the Raptor – wink at it? Charm it back home with her winsome ways?” He shook his head, and then ordered one of his men to let the IBF know what had happened to their ship. When that was done he sighed. “Enough of that. Let’s get some real pursuit ships into space, shall we?”

Alice quickly made her way to the enormous freighter, and then climbed the long ladder that led up to the ship’s airlock. Once on board she made her way to the bridge, where she found a couple crewmen lounging around. Alice told them that there was a national security emergency and that she had authorization from the military to commandeer their vessel. The crewmen grumbled but eventually cleared out, leaving her alone on the Molly.

After they had left the ship Alice removed a small silver disc from one of her suit pockets and placed it into the bridge’s navigation terminal. A moment later the main viewscreen came to life. On the screen a picture of a young man appeared. Alice sighed. You’re not nearly as advanced as Rachel, but you’ll have to do. Let’s get this over with.

Aloud she said “Bob, get us out of here as fast as possible. Use the emergency liftoff sequence to get us into space. Once we have left the planet I want you to locate the ship that is broadcasting this signal and catch up with it. Do whatever is necessary to overtake it.” As Bob fired up the massive engines Alice gave him the information he needed. The Molly slowly lumbered off the ground, but once it was in the air it gradually started to pick up speed.

Once they were in space and had a lock on the remote vessel Alice spoke up again. “There is one more thing. I need you to contact General Bradley on this frequency and let him know that we’ve got a lock on the Raptor. Tell him to follow us, and that if my math is correct we should be able to knock it out of hyperspace in about thirty minutes.”

Alice looked at the holoscreen and saw that the gap between her and their quarry was starting to close. I’ve got a bit of work to do before we catch up with you, she thought to herself. This is the tricky part.

* * * * *

The David Foster Spaceport was in a state of utter chaos. Irate passengers were forming long lines in front of the ticket booths, demanding to know when they would be able to get to their destinations. Other passengers milled around, not allowed to leave the spaceport but not knowing where else to go. Little children glued themselves to the windows and watched in fascination as tanks rumbled over the runways, looking for an intruder that had apparently just stolen one of the fastest ships in space. News cameras recorded both the chaos and the the epic chase and broadcast it live for all of civilization to see.

In the sub-basement of the spaceport, far away from the agitated masses of humanity, was a large suite reserved only for employees of Stryker Transportation. The suite was a quiet, out-of-the-way work environment for the small team of people that kept the spaceport’s wormhole transporters functioning. In the heart of this sanctuary Jack Rossman was trying to calm down his wife Lily. The two of them had been married for only three weeks, and were just about to go out for the evening when the army closed down the spaceport.

“I can’t believe this is happening!” Lily repeated. “I just can’t believe it. I told you not to work late! And now look what’s happened.”

“It was only an extra half-hour!” Jack protested. “I didn’t know that aliens were going to pick this evening to invade. It’s not like that happens all the time.”

“But the fact is if you’d left on time tonight we wouldn’t be stuck here. We’d be out of this mess, having dinner at the Lizard’s Watering Hole like civilized beings.”

“Probably not, actually,” Jack replied. “Didn’t the news guy say that the entire city was without power? It’s probably just as big a mess out there as it is in here. There just aren’t any good places to be tonight, dear.”

Lily sighed. “Whatever. Any place would beat being cooped up in here.”

Jack smiled. The two of them were holed up in the suite’s server section, which was a large room that contained the actual hardware that transported people via wormholes. The passengers themselves were received and processed at special terminals upstairs, but the actual machinery was all located in this one room. The transporters did not have to be in the same place as the passengers, a fact that was a constant source of joy to Jack. He enjoyed maintaining the complex equipment and had no desire to get involved with customer relations.

His wife had arrived at the office an hour earlier, intending to go out with Jack. Since he was tied up at work she joined him in the back room and waited impatiently for him to clock out. When the spaceport was locked down, however, there was nothing they could do but stay there and pray that the lockdown ended soon.

Lily turned her attention back to a large holoscreen that was mounted on the wall. Jack had tuned it to a local news station and the two of them had been watching events unfold.

“Do you think they’ll be able to catch the thief that stole the Third Treasure?” Lily asked.

“I doubt it,” Jack replied. “The Molly might be fast, but the Raptor is a breed apart. All Starlight Enterprise ships are fast, but that one is a Starman-class ship. It’s got features you can’t even imagine.”

“I bet,” Lily replied. “Hey, can’t we just use one of these transporters to beam ourselves out of here? I mean, why not?”

Jack looked at his wife and shook his head. “First of all, individual wormhole transportation is incredibly expensive. That’s why most people travel by trains – the cost is prohibitive for ordinary mortals like you and I. Second, we are definitely not allowed to use these things as our own personal toys. If we want to use them then we can buy a ticket like everybody else. That’s company policy.”

“But it’s technically possible,” Lily pointed out.

“So is getting fired,” Jack replied. “I’ve only been at this job for six months. It’s a good job and I’m very fond of it! I’d like to keep it a bit longer, if you don’t mind.”

“I suppose,” Lily sighed. “But I’m getting hungry. Isn’t there something we can do?”

Jack thought for a moment. “Come to think of it, there are some restaurants upstairs in the concourse. I bet they’re still open. If you wanted I could -”

Jack was interrupted by a flash of light. His blood ran cold. Somebody just transported directly into this room, he thought to himself. Jack slowly stood up. He looked around the room but he couldn’t see anyone. He and his wife appeared to be the only two people around. “Hello? Um, is anyone out there? This area is for employees only.”

Lily suddenly let out a shriek! Jack whirled around and saw that behind her an area of complete darkness was slowly materializing. It appeared to have no well-defined shape; it was simply a three-dimensional shadow. It reminded Jack of a black hole. It’s as if a part of spacetime had simply vanished, he though.

The shadow spoke. Its voice was very gravely, as if it was coming from far underground. “Which of you works here?”

“I do,” Jack said nervously. The voice had unnerved him, and he found it hard to concentrate. “But this area is off-limits.”

“Then we will pretend I was never here,” the shadow replied. An ill-defined area of blackness reached out from the shadow and handed Jack a piece of paper. “I need you to transport the object at this location into this room.”

Jack looked at the coordinates and frowned. He glanced up at a map hanging on the wall. “This is for a location on the west side of town. In fact -” His eyes suddenly widened. “In fact, it’s a location within the Ahmanyan museum! Why, you’re the thief, aren’t you?”

“I would get moving if I were you,” the shadow replied. “You don’t have much time.”

Jack shook his head. “Forget it. I’m not going to help you steal the Third Treasure.”

“Then we’ll do this the hard way,” the shadow said. In a brilliant flash of light Lily disappeared.

Jack couldn’t believe his eyes. “My wife! What have you done to her, you fiend? Where have you taken her?”

“That is not your concern. If you want her back then you will do exactly as I say. Failure to fully comply may result in… something unfortunate. And do not try to get cute with the transporter. I have abilities you are not aware of.”

Jack swallowed. This is the worst date night ever, he thought. I have got to get Lily back. This can’t be happening. Can it? How can this be happening? Why me?

Jack sat down at his desk and brought up the controls for one of the wormhole transporters. After placing the unit on manual control he carefully locked onto the foreign object.

Jack frowned. “This isn’t going to be easy. The shield is still in place, and that’s not an easy thing to override.”

“But you can override it,” the shadow replied. “Stryker Transportation teleports people to locations within the shield all the time as a normal course of business. That is why I came here. You have the tools necessary to reach inside the shield and retrieve my prize.”

Jack bit his lip. He knew this was a terrible abuse of his authority, but he felt like he had no choice. I’ve got to get Lily back. I’ve just got to. I can’t leave her in the clutches of that monster. Taking a deep breath, Jack keyed in the necessary information to unlock the shield and allow the transport to take place. After making sure that everything was exactly right he nervously activated the transporter. There was a brilliant flash of light, but nothing appeared.

“I don’t understand,” Jack said, with panic in his voice. “I know I locked onto something. I know I did! But where is it?”

“It is there,” the shadow replied. A moment later an object suddenly popped into view. A large, crystal sphere was sitting in a box on a platform about twenty feet off the ground. Jack couldn’t see it very well from his desk but he recognized it immediately. “The Third Treasure,” he whispered. “You had it cloaked!”

“Exactly,” the shadow replied. “With the cloak engaged no one could see it. When I was unable to get it out of the museum I simply raised it off the floor so the guards would not bump into it and then came back for it later. It was quite simple, really. All I needed was your help. I appreciate your cooperation.”

With that, the shadow and the Treasure disappeared in a white flash of light.

Jack screamed. “Wait! No! Don’t leave! What about my wife?”

Working quickly, Jack pulled up some additional tools on his holoscreen. Stryker Transportation had a legendary reputation for safety, and had installed state-of-the-art equipment to monitor all local wormhole activity. In the unlikely event that something went wrong it was able to find out where the errant passenger had accidentally been transported – even if it was not the one that had done the transporting.

Jack pulled up the logs and found the recent transports that the shadow had made. His eyes widened when he realized that it had beamed in from a location in deep space and then beamed out again. Judging by the distance between the entrance and exit points Jack realized that the ship must be in hyperspace.

“I know we can do this,” Jack muttered to himself. “Hang on there, buddy. Let’s get this done.”

As he worked at the console he suddenly noticed something. Hey, that’s odd! Lily and the shadow beamed onto the same ship, but apparently the Treasure was transported somewhere else. He thought a moment. I’m going to go after my wife. The Treasure can wait. All I need to do is get on that ship. I’ll find Lily, make it to the ship’s transporter, and then beam us both back. Won’t take but a minute.

Jack nervously locked his equipment onto the transporter on board the distant starship. He knew he had to act quickly as the ship was rapidly getting out of range. Jack swallowed. Here goes nothing, he thought to himself.

He pressed the button. Instantly he was enveloped in a white flash of light. A moment later he found himself in what appeared to be a large cargo bay. Crates were stacked neatly against the walls, and a large shuttlecraft sat in front of him.

As he started to turn around he suddenly felt something knock him off his feet. Jack slumped to the ground, unconscious.

* * * * *

“We’re almost there,” Alice whispered. The Starman was on board the bridge of the Molly, in hot pursuit of the Raptor. The Molly had been chasing the fleeing starship for the past twenty minutes and was beginning to close the distance.

Alice glanced at the holoscreen and saw that a small fleet of police cruisers were closing in as well. They’re at least five minutes behind me, though, she thought to herself. Aloud she said “How’s it coming, Bob?”

“I have completed the modifications,” he said. Alice smiled. Like many modern starships, the Molly had claytronic systems – machines that were built out of programmable matter. This was done so that on-board devices could be completely reconfigured in the event that an upgrade became available. Since the very atoms that made up the devices could be changed programmatically it was possible to rebuild all the components of a machine by simply assigning it a new pattern. For ships that spent decades trekking through space this could dramatically minimize downtime and maintenance costs, saving companies enormous amounts of money.

Alice used Bob to programmatically replace some of the ship’s machinery with something more useful. Bean counters are out, and advanced weapon systems are in, she thought to herself. This is going to be fun.

“We are now in range,” Bob announced.

“Wonderful,” Alice replied. “It’s about time, too.” The Starman reached over and pressed a button on the holoscreen. Immediately the Molly began emitting disruptor waves. Normally the disruptor shield was used to keep vessels from forming wormholes, but with a few modifications it could be turned into a directional weapon that could knock a ship right out of hyperspace.

The weapon was quite effective. Within seconds after the weapon was fired the ship dropped out of space. Alice quickly stopped the pursuit and pulled up beside it. That ship isn’t going anywhere, she thought to herself. I bet those engines are completely fried! That’s a nasty weapon – powerful, but messy.

A few minutes later the police cruisers dropped out of hyperspace as well. When the holoscreen said that she had an incoming call Alice accepted the communication. The head of a uniformed police officer appeared on the screen.

“I’m Captain Friday,” he said. “That was a nice piece of work back there! I don’t know if we would have been able to catch up to it or not.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” Alice said, sighing. “Do you realize what we’ve done?”

The captain shook his head, puzzled. On the screen Alice saw an aide come up to him and whisper something in his ear. His eyes grew large and he double-checked a nearby holoscreen. “Surely not!” he protested.

“I’m afraid so,” Alice sighed. “There’s no doubt about it. We’ve been chasing a decoy, Captain – a small probe cleverly built to give off the same trace signal as the Raptor. There’s no telling where the real ship is!”