Eden's Angels - Books 1-2

Interlude #2

October 2017

The Farm, Puerto Rico

At this point I interrupted Admiral Cortell’s storytelling. “Undecim? I figured out what an annum is, but what’s an undecim?

“Ahh, sorry, I should’ve explained all this at the beginning. Domhan-Siol doesn’t have the same rotational speed as Earth, nor does it orbit its sun at the same rate. So naturally, Domhanian time references were different.

“Each day lasted twenty-six hours. Interestingly, their hours were almost identical in length to the way we calculate hours on Earth.

“Domhan-Siol circumnavigates its sun in three hundred and eight, twenty-six hour days. They divided those three hundred and eight days into seven forty-four-day kuuks, and each kuuk was divided into four eleven-day undecims. Does that make sense?”

“So, comparing that system to the Gregorian calendar, the undecim would be an eleven day week?”

“Yeah, I suppose so,” the admiral replied.

“Four undecims is a kuuk, which is comparable to our month. And the Domhanian year has seven kuuks.”

“That’s correct,” Cortell replied.

Grabbing an index card I said, “I better write this down.”

Day = 26 hrs.

Day = 26 hrs.Undecim = 11 day week

Undecim = 11 day week4 undecims = kuuk (month) = 44 days

4 undecims = kuuk (month) = 44 days7 kuuk = annum (year) = 308 days

7 kuuk = annum (year) = 308 daysWhen I finished the note, he asked, “And I’m assuming you’ve figured out what the foliopad device was?”

“I’m guessing it’s like our tablets or laptop computers.”

“Yeah, probably like our best tablets on steroids. A foliopad could run a lot of artificial intelligence software, and they had an enormous memory—probably a couple hundred times more capacity than our best personal computers.”

Cortell watched me make a notation then he asked, “Are we good?”

“Yep, got it. Please…” I gestured for him to proceed.

* * *

Admiral Cortell continues his story:

Admiral Cortell continues his story:When under pressure Liam’s mind processed thoughts in milliseconds. He decided a gentle assertion of his authority was better than a heavy-handed approach. “As you know, our mysterious surveyors have become quite the celebrities. Journalists all over the planet are calling them heroes almost hourly. From a public relations perspective we need to proceed with caution. Besides, we have no evidence to suggest wrongdoing.”

“No evidence yet, but surely even you can see that they’re hiding something,” Dyer challenged.

Disregarding the veiled insult, Liam replied, “Nevertheless, approval for the use of chemical inducements under these extraordinary circumstances would have to come from the Law and Order Council of Governors.”

“So, the Deputy Secretary of the Law and Order Directorate cannot authorize the use of a truth-serum?” Dyer asked derisively.

Unruffled by the agent’s churlishness, Liam remained calm. “That is correct. I would not consent to any kind of enhanced interrogation absent a formal authorization by the Council.”

Cutting off the tit for tat, Chelt rose and respectfully said, “As you say, sir. Have a good day.” With a slight bow, he turned and exited Liam’s office.

Dyer shot the Deputy Secretary a petulant askance as he followed his partner out the door.

* * *

Melanka was a small dark-skinned woman. The Chief of Security always wore the male version of the Anotas-Deithe dress uniform to work. The likely monotony of her wardrobe closet was a standing office joke. The rigidity of Melanka’s attire contributed to an air of authority that induced an odd combination of respect and fear among her thousands of subordinates. Her only nod to femininity was an ever-present, delicately curved and sculpted ivory pipe. The fact that she too often puffed on a dried herbal concoction gave her voice a raspy quality.

After watching several of the interviews as well as the surreptitiously video-recorded meeting with Deputy Secretary Liam, Melanka said, “I don’t give a b****y damn about Liam’s public relations sensitivities or legalistic caution. Those two people are keeping secrets. They were off-world for sixty annum and I don’t buy for a minute that their memories have been wiped.” Setting the pipe down in its holder she thrummed her fingers rhythmically on the desk’s glass top. “Something just stinks!”

“Agreed,” Agent Chelt said, “but given where Egan and Althea were found the Law and Order Directorate claims jurisdiction, and given that the Deputy Secretary’s direct involvement, I’d say they’re pretty dang serious about that claim.”

and“Yeah but there’s more than one way to catch a fish. If they were up to no-good while off-world that makes it my business. The Law and Order Directorate’s jurisdictional claims can go float on sewer water for all I care!”

“So what would you like us to do?” prodded the intemperate Agent Dyer.

“Threaten ’em!” Melanka snarled. “Put a vial and needles on the table before your next interview. Make it clear we think they’re not telling us what they know. Make sure they see the serum label. They have no idea that we don’t have authorization to use the stuff. Hell, it’ll probably never occur to them we need authorization. Tell ’em we’ll start pumping them full of chemicals and won’t stop until we get the whole truth. Perhaps a bit of fear will revive their anemic memories.”

Chelt scratched his jaw contemplatively and nodded. Dyer, on the other hand, was almost giddy about Melanka’s belligerence.

* * *

Early that evening a courier delivered an envelope to Liam at his home. There was no note; only a flash-dot which he loaded into his foliopad. He watched two brief video files. The first was of his discussion with Agents Chelt and Dyer earlier that day; a meeting he didn’t know was being recorded. The second video was a recording of the same agents’ conversation in Security Chief Melanka’s office.

In most circumstances Liam was, simply put, unflappable. For that reason Sean picked up on his friend’s agitation. “Do we have a problem, Lee?”

“Perhaps—call the driver. I’ll grab our coats. We need to visit our heroes in the hospital.”

Liam had second thoughts on their way out the door. Sharing the videos with Egan and Althea wouldn’t be prudent, given the certainty that they were under constant surveillance. In fact, any communication with the couple needed to be discreet – old-school discreet. “Wait, this is a bad idea, Sean. Cancel the car. We should take a walk.”

While Sean placed that call, Liam sent a message to Captain Chosant, the hospital’s security administrator. The captain dispatched an emergency vehicle to the waste bins behind the neighborhood food and sundries store, which was only a five-minute walk from Liam’s and Sean’s condominium. The two men strolled nonchalantly through the store and directly out the back door.

One of the hospital’s security officers was driving the ambulance. Another officer met them at the rear door of the vehicle with two loose-fitting uniforms worn by emergency medical technicians. Loose-fitting was fortunate, as Sean would have had trouble squeezing his short stocky frame into a tight-fitting outfit. As he pulled the zipper from his crotch to his neck he asked, “So what’s the drill?”

“The captain says we’re to go in low profile—no flashing lights. We’ll pull up in front of the cafeteria and stroll in like old friends grabbing a snack.”

“Will Chosant meet us there?” Liam asked.

“No. After a leisurely cobbler and café we’ll make our way to the gymnasium dressing room. He’ll be there,” the officer replied.

Noticing both men had removed their name tags Sean asked, “If we’re supposed to be old friends, what shall we call you?”

“Oh—right, thanks for reminding me.” Reaching into his pants’ cargo pocket he pulled out two lanyards with scratched plastic ID cards. Gesturing toward the driver, “This gentleman is Hasp. My name is Toth.”

“Okay, good to meet you. You can call me Lee, and this is Sean.”

Amused, Toth said, “Yes sir. We know who you gentlemen are.”

* * *

As they sat sipping café and feigning a relaxed conversation, Hasp startled slightly. With an uptick of his head, he pointed his nose out the huge cafeteria window. Three uniformed men were trotting across the lawn toward the side entrance of the of the hospital’s East Tower.

After watching for a mere second, Liam looked down at his cup, shook his head and sighed, “We’ve been made.”

They rose and casually walked over to deposit their dishes on the sanitizing machine’s conveyor. Assuming the hospital’s security system had been hacked, Liam and Sean kept their faces averted from the surveillance cameras as they exited the cafeteria.

They were met by a Medical Tech at the gymnasium door. With a gesture she directed them into a side hall. Sean nudged Liam and pointed at the ceiling mounted cameras. None of the tiny yellow lights were lit – the cameras were offline.

They made their way to a service elevator being held open by a man whose name tag identified him as Officer Farris – Night Chief. As soon as the elevator door closed Chief Farris said, “We’ve had a change of plans.”

“So you saw our Anotas-Deithe friends arriving?” Liam asked.

Farris replied, “Well, we saw some unexpected guests arrive, but we’re not sure they’re actually Anotas.”

When the elevator arrived at the twenty-second floor, Farris warily peered into the corridor. Once he ascertained that the surveillance cameras were out of service, he hustled Liam and Sean out of the elevator and across the hall into a janitorial closet. Officers Hasp and Toth followed closely behind. Farris opened an electric power panel and tapped in a lengthy code. The closet morphed into an elevator! The lift only carried them one or two floors and upon stopping the back wall of the “closet” opened into a windowless room. Desks were mounted to every available metre of wall space. Above the desks was an impressive array of screens displaying live-feed video images of virtually every corner of the campus. As they surveyed their surroundings, images on two grey screens flickered to life as cameras in the previously blacked-out hallways were brought back online.

Captain Chosant stood in the middle of the room. “Liam, before you say anything, I’ve always thought this setup was overkill for a hospital security system, but it was here before I arrived.”

Liam replied, “Perhaps, but tonight may prove your misgivings unjustified.”

Sean’s onyx-black eyes locked on the video-feed from the medical station near Althea’s and Egan’s room. “I suggest our first order of business is figuring out who those three men are loitering in the waiting area.”

Agent Toth noted, “The man on the left is video-recording the area with his communicator. That can’t be a good sign.”

* * *

Melanka grimaced at her communicator. She was in no mood to take a call from Chairman Regan of the Business and Industry Council. “As you might imagine, I’m a little busy at the moment,” she growled.

Regan said curtly, “Speak to me. What do you know?”

“Well let me tell you what I know—I know three men are standing in the hospital lobby outside our subjects’ room. I suspect they are some of your dimension jumping goons who haven’t the slightest idea what they’re doing. Why do I suspect that? Because I watched them run across the lawn at the side of the hospital with about as much stealth as a herd of marsh bison.”

Chairman Regan countered, “We believe Liam and Sean were spirited into the hospital in disguise.”

“Oh, you believe so,” retorted Melanka. “Is that why you dressed up your rent-a-cops in Anotas uniforms and had them storm the hospital, as if they were pursuing some off-world semi-sentient outlaws? Did you think that tactic would net you some cache of information my best people have yet to acquire? And if you had found the Deputy Secretary of the Law and Order Directorate conducting a private interview with Professor Egan and Doctor Althea, what would your oafs have done? Detain the Deputy Secretary? Really?” She paused for effect. “Now, given your associates’ ineptitude, we’ll never know what old Liam and Sean might be up to.”

believeBeing chastised pricked the Chairman’s fragile ego. Testily Regan replied, “We need information and it’s your job to get it. But perhaps you’re not up to the task!”

Melanka’s raspy voice now took on a treacherous quality, “Mr. Chairman, let me stop you right there before you say something regrettable. We cannot know what we do not yet know. Perhaps you believe you’re protected by the Business and Industry Council, but don’t make the mistake of interfering with my investigation again.”

cannotdo not yet“Is that a threat, Melanka?” Regan raised his voice, “I just want you to do your damn job!”

“Really? You just want me to do my damn job? Has it ever occurred to you if I do my damn job just a bit too well I may learn things you’d rather I not know?” She let the question hang in the air for a moment then said, “Have a good evening Mr. Chairman,” and disconnected.

Melanka calmly pocketed her communicator and then furiously slammed her palms down on the glass desktop. Her pipe jumped out of its holder and spilled the half-burned herb all over the desk and floor. Her assistant rushed into the office. When Cubra saw the mess, he grabbed the handheld vacuum from the coat closet and without a word began cleaning up.

“Dammit! Everyone involved in this whole stinking affair knows more than they’re saying. No one is telling lies, but no one’s telling the truth either!” Regaining some semblance of composure, she added, “…and that can only mean there are things to hide.”