The Stars are Red Tonight: The Paradisi Chronicles Read online

  “Do you think we should hide the drive somewhere, in case they find us?” Saya said.

  “What good would that do? Bobby didn’t have the drive, and they still killed him, probably after torturing him to find out where it was. Do you want that to happen to us?”

  She shuddered and then said, “Well, what do you think we should do?”

  “You said it earlier. We need to decode all the files. Maybe that will tell us who is after us, who we could turn to for protection. Give us a bargaining chip. If we can just get somewhere safe, I believe I can crack it, if I have enough time.” Trevor was sure about this part.

  “Or I could, but where can we go? It could take days if not weeks for either of us to crack it.”

  “I had an idea.” Trevor braced himself for her reaction. “What if we got help from your mother?”

  “What?!?”

  Trevor held up his hands. “Hear me out before you say no. We are sure she’s involved in some way, right?”

  Saya crossed her arms and was glowering at him, but finally she nodded and said, “I guess so.”

  “And we know that your name is on that passenger list. Which means we can assume she is the one who put it there. Which means she was intending to bring you on board to go with her as part of this Paradisi Project.”

  “But I won’t go! We don’t even know where the ships are heading. What was she planning to do, kidnap me and carry me on board? Who the hell does she think …”

  “I know, I know. But at least this means she cares about you. She doesn’t want to leave you behind.”

  “Yes, I suppose, but …”

  “So maybe she is the one who can help us. Give us the time we need to decrypt the drive. We already have a bargaining chip with her. We have you.”

  With this last sentence, Trevor could see Saya start to realize he was right. Her shoulders slumped, and her scowl softened. She uncrossed her arms before she spoke. “How exactly could we use me as a bargaining chip?”

  Trevor nearly clapped his hands together in victory. He thought they now had a chance to get out of this alive. He said, “This is the part you are really not going to like; you have to call her, right now.”

  “What! Why?”

  “Look, if you call her, you can explain the situation. If I am right about Frank, she already knows about the drive. So explain to her about what happened to Bobby and why we are in danger. Explain that we need her help and protection, and in exchange she will get to see you and get a chance to convince you to get on that ship. You do know how to reach her, don’t you?”

  As she opened her mouth to protest, he held up his hands again. “Now I’m not saying you have to promise anything. Just tell her you are willing to hear her out, and I am betting she will move heaven and earth to get that chance.”

  Saya sat in silence for a full minute before she spoke again. “What makes you think we can trust her? She’s ruthless when it comes to getting what she wants. As far as we know, she’s behind killing Bobby. Maybe she will just take the drive from us and have you killed!”

  Trevor sighed. “I know you hate her; I can see it on your face right now. You hate the idea of even speaking to her at all. But do you really think she is that evil? I think the fact that Frank has been reporting to her means she loves you and probably hired him to protect you. And I am hoping that love will translate into helping both of us.”

  It was Saya’s turn to sigh. “You know I really don’t want to do this, right?”

  “I know.” Trevor resisted the urge to take her hand in his and comfort her.

  “I swore to myself I would never ever call her again, especially for help.”

  “I understand. And if you have a better idea…”

  Saya sighed again and said, “I swore to myself, but…”

  “These are pretty extreme circumstances.” Trevor finished her sentence for her.

  “Yes, they are. And what kind of a person would I be if I let my pride win and someone else got killed? I couldn’t live with that. Not if I could save them.”

  With those last words, Saya looked directly into his eyes and fireworks went off inside him. She had said ‘them,’ but with that look Trevor felt like she only meant him. She is going to do this so that I don’t get hurt. She is swallowing her pride to save me.

  “All right, but if I am going to call her, I need to be able to pace when I do it.” Saya got up as she dug out her mobile.

  “That’s fine; you can walk around the entire mall if you need to.”

  “What am I going to say?”

  Saya seemed to be asking herself that question, so Trevor let her think. After a few moments, she squared her shoulders and said, “I think I’m ready. Wish me luck.”

  She smiled weakly, but Trevor grinned back at her, giving her a thumbs up. “You are going to kick ass. I am not even worried. Good luck.”

  His smile faded as she left the coffee shop and began pacing back and forth under the lights of the mall. He was hopeful, but as she’d left him, his confidence did too. He felt exposed and vulnerable.

  After what seemed like an eternity, she returned, and Trevor braced himself for the news.

  “You were right,” she said with suppressed excitement. “I told her about the drive, and Bobby, and she wants to meet us. She jumped at the chance to talk me into getting on the ship. I was able to sound like I knew more about it than I really did, thanks to what the drive had already told us. It was actually kinda fun. I think she completely bought the story I gave her.”

  “What story?”

  “I told her that we ran our own encryption routine on the files, so it won’t do her, or anyone else, any good to take the drive from us. I told her we wanted safe passage to where she is, so we can talk face to face. And I told her you were part of the bargain. If she didn’t keep you safe, the deal was off, and I would disappear again. This time permanently.”

  Trevor stared at the vision in front of him. He could barely believe what he was hearing.

  “Well, what do you think?” she asked, her curls bouncing with her enthusiasm. “Did I lay it on too much? Overplay my hand? What?”

  “No, no, no, that is wonderful; you are amazing! Thank you. I … I didn’t expect you to…”

  “What? Care about your safety too?”

  “I guess I just …”

  “Well, I need your help, silly. I probably can’t crack that code on my own. So like it or not, we are partners in this. Until we figure out what is really going on, it’s you and me against the world. What do you say?”

  “I say hell yeah!” Trevor pumped his fist. But inside he began to worry.

  What if she is just using me because she needs me to get the information? What if she plans to ditch me as soon as I have outlived my usefulness to her? I didn’t hear what she told her mom. She could have said anything and made this story up.

  Trevor shook his head as if to shake the doubts out. I am being paranoid. Saya is smart enough to crack the code on her own if she needed to, and I bet her mother has a million tech guys working under her. No, the only reason this is going to work is because her mom wants to keep her happy.

  Well, he would worry about what Saya’s mom would do or not do when the time came. At least for now, they were one step closer to safety. “So what happens next?” he asked.

  “We are to go to the Space Needle and meet a man who will drive us out of town to a small airfield. There will be a private jet waiting to take us to some islands in the Pacific––you know––the Galapagos Islands where there’s that space elevator. Then we’ll go up the space elevator and take a shuttle to the Nautilus space station. Can you believe it! That’s where she is right now. Let Bobby’s killer try to get at us there!”

  Chapter Four

  The ice clinked in the glass as Caroline Kuttner picked up her drink from the edge of her desk. The scotch burned her throat going down, but she didn’t wince. She had made a career, a lifetime, of doing just that, not wincing. She didn’t w
ince while others were still crying for help.

  She walked to the window to look down at Earth. As one of the Founders on the Council of Ten, she actually got a window in her office on the Nautilus, one of the reasons she’d been reluctant to move over to the SS Great Republic three months ago when the countdown to launch began. Her quarters on the ship were tiny, even though she was the head of the Kuttner family, because room on the vessel that would travel a galaxy away to New Eden was at a premium. And, except for the bio-dome that housed hydroponics, there were very few places on shipboard where you could look outside. But then, there wasn’t much to see in the vastness of space.

  Not so for the space station. She watched the crystal blue water holding the little planet in a cold embrace, against the total blackness that stood between her and everything else.

  “This must have been what Columbus felt like before his voyage to America,” spoke her assistant, Marchell.

  She turned––surprised she hadn’t heard him enter. She’d come back over to her old offices on the Nautilus after the second call from Frank. She had more resources there––including her very efficient assistant.

  She looked over at him. “He thought he was sailing to India and found an entirely different continent. I would say if anything like that were to happen to us, we would all be quite screwed. Wouldn’t you say?”

  “Yes ma’am, of course.” He nodded and bowed like a parakeet dancing in a cage.

  Caroline brought the glass to her lips and washed the words out of her mouth with the remainder of her drink. “Get me another Scotch, would you?”

  “Yes, ma’am.’” Marchell left Caroline to her thoughts.

  She sighed as she looked down at the planet. So many humans, so many who have died or will die. She knew she had to stay resolved. She must not wince. That was what would save humanity from total annihilation. She pressed the cold glass to her temple. A drop of water slid down her cheek as she closed her eyes, shutting out the sight of so many souls that were condemned to death.

  Just then the door slid open and a man entered the room. Marchell was right behind him, her scotch in hand.

  “Thank you,” she said, taking the glass. “Why don’t you get Mr. Blake a drink? Coffee, tea, scotch?” She gestured for Mr. Blake to sit down.

  “Oh thank you, ma’am, a scotch would be wonderful,” he said as he took a seat in one of the chairs opposite her large desk.

  Scotch, like so much of the good things of life on Earth, was now difficult to get. Even harder to obtain on the space station. Would the precious barley seeds banked on the SS Grand Republic grow on New Eden? Would the strict environmentalists in the Kuttner family even let her try? Just one of so many questions that lay in the future.

  Caroline remained standing, her back to the window.

  “How have you been, Mr. Blake? Well, I hope.” Caroline turned and smiled widely at the little man.

  “Oh yes, Mrs. Kuttner. Very well. My youngest daughter, her asthma has all but cleared up since moving onto the station. The air quality on the surface was so bad she could barely breathe most days.”

  “I am glad to hear you are enjoying the benefits of your position here.”

  Just then the door slid open again, and Marchell appeared with the second scotch in hand. He set it down on the coaster next to Mr. Blake. He gave Caroline a knowing glance before he excused himself and left the room.

  “You have been very useful to the company, Mr. Blake.”

  “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “The information you bring to us regarding the Gunthers and their activities has proven quite valuable at times.” Caroline began to walk slowly around the large desk so she was on the same side as Mr. Blake.

  “I am very glad to hear that, ma’am.” He took a sip of his drink. His eyes had begun to shift around the room.

  “For example, the information you brought us that the Gunthers were behind the rumor that the Kuttners were refusing to share their seed banks with all ten of the ships was very useful.”

  “Yes, that is right.” Mr. Blake smiled proudly, his nervousness leaving his eyes.

  “Is there anything new you would like to report now?” Caroline sat down in the seat next to Mr. Blake and crossed her ankles.

  The twitching returned to Mr. Blake’s features, and before he answered, he took a large swallow of his scotch, coughing as it went down. When he got his breath back, he said, “No, ma’am.” He paused looking frantically around for help. “I mean nothing since my report yesterday on how many of the medical staff on the other ships are related to the Gunthers.”

  “I have read your latest report, Mr. Blake.” She reached out and patted his hand reassuringly. She noted that he winced at the touch. This made Caroline smile even wider. At least he is smart enough to know when he should be frightened. “I must say though, it wasn’t nearly as useful as some of your earlier reports were, since this really was old news.”

  “Ma’am?”

  “You see, Mr. Blake, I wonder if maybe you have become too far removed from the sources of useful information. Perhaps you have grown complacent and comfortable, living up here.”

  “No, ma’am …”

  “Now listen, Mr. Blake, no one is blaming you. I understand the temptation to become lax in your efforts to help the Kuttners and AgriWW. It happens to many people. You have a few good bits of information, you use them to lead yourself to a prominent position, and once you are there … you stop trying as hard. You have reached your goal and see no reason to continue to work.”

  “No, ma’am, that isn’t …”

  “Trust me, when you have as many people working for you as I do, you see it all. You hear it all. Every excuse, every reason, every time someone drops the ball. But you see, Mr. Blake, this is a very crucial time for my family.”

  “Yes, Mrs. Kuttner. I understand …”

  “And we simply do not have the space or the resources to spare for anyone who cannot pull their weight. Now I want you to know that I understand why you failed to report about the hack of WelCo’s mainframe and the theft of encrypted files, and I don’t blame you.”

  “What? The what?”

  “It is all right, Mr. Blake. You don’t need to worry about that anymore. I have already taken care of everything. You and your family should be quite comfortable on your trip back down to the surface. I want you to know I understand and wish you all the very best.”

  “What? Mrs. Kuttner, I don’t understand.”

  But Caroline had already stood up and was pressing some buttons on her desk.

  “Mrs. Kuttner, you can’t do this. Please.”

  She dismissed his words like a slight breeze in the night air. Just then, two very large men wearing the uniforms of SS Grand Republic security officers entered the room. With a flick of her wrist, Caroline motioned for them to remove the now panicking Mr. Blake.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, please. I didn’t know about any hack job or encrypted files!”

  This snapped Caroline’s attention back to his small frantic eyes. “Oh, I believe that Mr. Blake. You misunderstood. I am deporting you and your family for your incompetence. If I thought that you had known about this and not reported it, we would be having a very different conversation. Be grateful you get to be with your family at the end.”

  Caroline looked coldly and directly into his eyes. “Now please, escort Mr. Blake to his family as they will all be traveling on the next shuttle to Solix Sky elevator for a trip down to the surface.”

  Caroline listened to the shouts of Mr. Blake until her door slid shut behind the large men. She took a long drink of her scotch. She pressed the glass to her temple again. Closing her eyes. This was the beginning of what was going to be a very long night. She wasn’t going to rest until she knew her daughter was safe with her.

  Caroline truly wasn’t sure if Blake had known about the hack or not. She assumed he hadn’t. Realistically, how could he have known? But what Frank had said about e
ncrypted files had her worried. If Blake had known what was in them and that they were worth killing for, she would have needed to go about this all differently. Mr. Blake might not see it this way, but Caroline was being merciful by just deporting him back down to Earth.

  “Frank is on line one.” Marchell’s voice caused her thoughts to scatter.

  “Thank you, Marchell.” She walked back over to her desk and pressed the blinking red light, the video screen appearing above the desk with Frank’s broad face as large as her own.

  “I have news for you this time, Frank.”

  “Ma’am?”

  “Sarah made contact with me.”

  “Ma’am?”

  Caroline hadn’t spoken with her daughter in over three years and had hired Frank to keep an eye on her out of desperation to know what was going on in Sarah’s life. It had taken everything inside her not to cry out of joy when her estranged daughter called her. Frank was probably the only person who could truly appreciate what speaking to Sarah would mean to her. And yet he didn’t even raise an eyebrow. This was why Caroline hired him. He couldn’t be manipulated. No emotions meant no emotions to play on or use.

  “She wants to be brought in. She wants to meet. I sent her to the Space Needle, a nice public place. She is still with that boy. I think she’s scared. She wants me to bring him in as well. What more do you know about him?”

  “Honestly, ma’am, I don’t know a lot. I hadn’t heard anything about him from Saya until today when he came to the shop. I know his name is Trevor Clark, he is twenty-five, single, and as I reported, he works with Saya at the WelCo call center. Been working there four years. I did a quick search … nothing came up. No trouble with the law … no living family members. From what I overheard, he obviously has some hacking experience … but what guy doesn’t, these days.”

  “I will have Marchell look into him further. For now, they are expecting someone to meet them at the bottom of the Space Needle by 9:30. What is your current location?”

  “I can be at there by then.”