The Criminal Streak Read online

  “Where are we going?” Jawn asked.

  “To check the transplanting.”

  They passed large sections where plants grew under all possible shelter. At the transplanting area, Jawn watched the workers take small plants from a tray and place them in holes in the covered soil.

  “Seeds are planted in beds and when the plant is about ten weeks old it is transplanted to the fields. Then new seeds are started.”

  In the next area, they found plants that were grown for their seeds and in the last workers were chopping off the tall stalks at ground level and placing them on pieces of plastic.

  “We have a weekly harvest day and today is it,” Georg said. “These plants are about three months old and ready for drying. From what we’ve been able to learn about tobacco growing before the hit, growers had to cure the tobacco for two to three years to make it mild enough to smoke. This strain was developed over the years and only takes a month to cure.”

  When the piles were high, the cutter picked up a rope made of twisted pieces of cloth attached to the plastic and pulled it away through the machinery.

  “Where are they taking them?” Jawn asked.

  “To the spreading area, where they will be placed in the direct sun. They’ll be turned twice a week for the month, and then we’ll remove the leaves, chop them up and package them.”

  “Does your group smoke the tobacco too?”

  “If we let them we wouldn’t have any to sell. But to keep them happy we have a tobacco party once a week and everyone gets enough to fill their pipes.”

  “How many others grow tobacco?” Jawn asked, thinking of the number of students he knew who smoked and knowing that, with as big as Megalopolis One was, there were certainly a lot more.

  “I don’t know the exact number. There are a lot of fields in the Fringe. Most of them are inside buildings where the floors have been taken out and the seeds planted in the ground underneath. But because we can cure ours in the sun, without worrying about theft, it’s the best on the market.”

  “Is that why you have a guard at the entrance?”

  “We have to protect it,” Georg said, with a wink. “There are some unscrupulous people out there.”

  Jawn smiled. It was good to see even a faint sign of the old Georg, the brother he remembered. Although Georg was seven years older, he’d always taken the time to play with him, or take him to the engineered forest, or watch television with him. Back then, Georg had had a great sense of humour, and had always kept Jawn and their parents laughing. Then he found out that his marks weren’t good enough to get him into university where he wanted to study botany and eventually work in the real forest. He was assigned a job in a factory, which only paid him enough to live on.

  During the three years he’d worked there, he changed, becoming quiet, angry, and sullen. He quit visiting and the last they heard of him, he’d been arrested for beating up one of his bosses and sentenced to the Fringe.

  Jawn was put to work carrying the trays of seedlings from the seeding area to the fields. The next day he learned how to plant the seeds and the day after how to lop off the flowers.

  Georg brought back left over food for them from the bar while the others supplied their own, usually by meeting the dole train. Occasionally for a treat someone would go to the store. That didn’t happen often because they didn’t want to draw attention to themselves.

  * * *

  Royd signalled the tower, and, when given permission, he landed the clipper at the Space Station, which was outside Megalopolis One. All travel to and from the planet left and arrived here. Beside it was the refuelling stations and the shopping area for travellers.

  Gwin and Royd didn’t speak as they grabbed their extra uniforms and the bags holding the few pieces of clothing and possessions they’d brought on board. They headed for the change rooms where they stood under the cleansing rays then donned their street clothes. Their uniforms were sent for cleaning and would be put back in their lockers ready for their next voyage.

  Gwin went into her reporting room while Royd went down the hall to his. Royd lived in Megalopolis Four and Gwin was glad she wouldn’t see him again until the Assembly of the Global Alliance. She turned over the recordings she had made of their journey and answered some routine questions about the flight. She never mentioned the tension between her and Royd nor that he had had a meeting with a strange person. That was up to him.

  Then, because the time measure was different on the planets they visited, she spent a day in a celerate machine to give her body a chance to adjust to her planet’s time frame again. All space explorers had to go through it. For those taking holiday cruises, it was optional. Gwin hated this delay. She was so close to Mikk, her mother, Britt, and yet she couldn’t contact them.

  When she was through the next day, she shuttled into Megalopolis One, hopped on the conveyor to the First Level Down and took the three tiered commute-train that ran nearest her multi-block apartment building. As much as she wanted to see Mikk, she knew not to visit him at work. He was usually too busy to see her and if he did, it was only for a quick kiss. She’d stop in to see Britt, buy some food, then take a luxury bath and plan the evening with Mikk.

  The train was long and packed with commuters since no one had private vehicles, and she had to stand. From the train stop, she joined the crowd that always surged along the wide walkways between the multi-blocks. On some days there was barely enough room to walk, while on others a person could stride with a sense of freedom. Today, although the crowd was smaller than usual, the constant chatter, clicking of shoes on the sidewalk, scraping of clothes and hundreds of other noises were hard to get used to again after more than five months in the total quiet of space.

  It was daytime so the ceiling high above, which was actually the underside of Ground Level, was a bright blue with a sun shining. As their planet rotated and day turned to night outside, so did the simulated sky slowly darken and artificial stars appear. The architects of the multilevel megalopolises had decided that the residents of each level should experience the changing of the day to night and back again and had designed the ceilings to act as the real sky. They’d even built in storms with dark clouds, lightning, and thunder but no rain. There was no need for moisture inside.

  Megalopolis One contained four underground levels, a ground level, and four levels above ground. The above ground levels were completely enclosed so no one could be touched and possibly burned by the sun’s rays. The residential areas on the levels were made up of fifty three block wide, six storey high, apartment buildings called multi-blocks. They surrounded a five-block wide, five-block long square, which contained an engineered forest and a central plaza.

  The engineered forest was a block wide and situated between the apartments and the six floor high plaza. On the first four floors of the plaza were a shopping area, police station, five banks, medical centre, six restaurants, and two theatres. On the fifth and sixth floors were the schools ranging from grade one to university.

  The fifty multi-blocks were separated from each other by block wide walkways.

  There were four three block long archways, one on each side of the multi-block, which ran from the outside walkway to the inside square. When she reached her multi-block, Gwin walked through the nearest archway. In the engineered forest, artificial birds chirped in man-made trees and manufactured grass and flowers grew in synthetic dirt. Children played on the slides and swings and merry go rounds of the playground while parents sat on benches under the trees, listened to the birds and inhaled the scent that was periodically sprayed from the flowers.

  Part of the engineered forest contained the mechanical aquarium where power driven fish and other man made creatures swam near the glass. On a huge panel was a list and pictures of creatures that had once inhabited the oceans.

  As was her habit, Gwin took the time to stroll through the forest, but the enjoyment wasn’t there. She’d just returned from a planet that was so similar to what theirs was like h
undreds of years ago. Trees grew naturally, birds sang, flowers bloomed. She wondered what these people would do if she told them about it. Would they believe her or turn away? After all, other than their yearly distance train ride through the real forest, this was what they were used to.

  Gwin continued her walk, turning into the police station when she reached it. At the entrance desk sat her best friend, Britt. They’d met in university and had been friends ever since living on the same floor in the multi-block. Britt worked at the police station as a receptionist, listening to people’s stories of lost children, or stolen purses and wallets, or problems with their neighbours and then sending them to the appropriate section.

  “Gwin.” Britt’s face lit up. She came around the desk and gave Gwin a hug. “You’re finally back. I was beginning to worry and so was your mother. She’s been phoning me every day for the past week wondering if I’ve heard from you.”

  “I’ll call her as soon as I get to my apartment.” Gwin put her bag on the floor and sat in the chair in front of the desk while Britt returned to hers. “What’s happened while I was gone?”

  “Well, the police finally arrested the guys who have been robbing the grocery stores in the multi-blocks. It seems they were systematically working their way through all the levels.”

  Gwin remembered the robberies. One had taken place in a store while her mother was shopping and she’d had to stay with Gwin for a few days to calm down.

  “And they’re still trying to find the murderer of the clients of Harlot Row.”

  In one multi-block on ground level nearest the space station were the hotels and restaurants for visitors from other planets. In the multi-block next to that was the Hub, which contained the bars, nightclubs, lounges, cabarets, and Harlot Row. The patrons, both off and on planet, of these establishments also attracted the pickpockets, petty criminals, and dealers who lived on the edge of society, not wanting a job to support themselves and so far, not having been caught at their crimes. There had been four clients found dead in the hallways of Harlot Row over a three month period with the fifth one being killed just before Gwin went on her space trip.

  “How many have died since I left?”

  “None. And that has the police worried.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they’re wondering what happened to her.”

  “Her?”

  “Well, it was all men killed so they’re assuming it’s a woman and probably a prostitute. And you’ll never guess who the fifth guy was.”

  “Who?”

  “Thom from grade twelve.”

  “Short Thom? The one who liked you so much?”

  “The very same.”

  “Do the police know of the connection?”

  “Yes. I’m the one who identified him.”

  “That must have felt weird.”

  “It did. He hadn’t changed any since high school.”

  Gwin stood. “I’d better go. I’ve got to buy some groceries before going to my apartment.”

  “Don’t forget to phone your mother.”

  “I won’t.”

  Gwin was at the door when Britt called to her. “I’ve been booked for day two on the real forest visit. I hope you have been, too.”

  “There’s probably a message. I’ll let you know.” She waved and left.

  Gwin needed some food since she’d cleaned out her freezer and cupboards before leaving. She entered a grocery store. All of the meat was either frozen or vacuum packed in packages before being sent to the stores. The vegetables that wilted fast were also frozen; the only fresh ones on the shelves were potatoes and carrots. She picked out some staples to last until she could do a complete shop then stood in a long line at the check-out.

  As she waited, Gwin thought about the Hub. It was a very popular place and she and Britt visited it almost every weekend. Like some visitors, it wasn’t the bars they went for. It was the bright, flashing lights on the fronts of the buildings, the atmosphere of suspense as if something exciting was about to happen, and the different appearances of the visitors from other planets. A night at the Hub was their entertainment.

  Gwin climbed to the third floor of the six-floor building, which had three room apartments for single or childless occupants and four or five room apartments for families of up to three children.

  She went to Room 322E and put her card in the lock. Inside, she glanced around and saw that her small, three-room apartment was much the same as when she had left so long ago. She smiled to see her plant still alive and blooming. She went over and smelled its fragrant red blossoms, thankful to Britt for caring for it.

  None of the buildings in the megalopolises had yards, so every apartment dweller was allowed one live plant to look after. If the plant died it could be up to a year before they received another one and only after they had proved the plant’s death had not been through their negligence. Gwin had had this plant for three years and looked after it as she would a child. When she was assigned space trips, Britt watched it and she returned the favour when Britt went away. Because of the lack of vegetation in the city, most people protected their plant zealously, hiding it when they had company or taking it into the bedroom with them at night.

  Gwin unpacked her underwear, running it through the washing machine before putting it away. When she was finished she checked her terminal and found a rapidly blinking light. Most of the messages were from her mother asking her to call as soon as she was settled in. One was from Mikk, also wanting her to call him. And another was from the Real Forest Visitation Committee reminding her that it was her multi-block’s turn to visit the real forest next week and assigning her day two.

  “Great,” Gwin stated out loud. In the four years that she and Britt had lived in the same multi-block, they’d only managed to be together on the train once.

  The planet was set up with the majority of people being confined to the megalopolises. The only ones outside were the farmers, the fishermen, the real forest caretakers, and the convicts in the Fringe. Three city holidays were given during the year. One was for the visit to a farm, one was for the visit to the sea, and one was for the visit to a real forest.

  Gwin quickly sent a message to the committee to confirm that she would be at the distance station for pick up on day two. She called Mikk at work on the compu-phone and he invited her over for dinner before quickly hanging up. She tried her mother, who wasn’t at home. With that taken care of she ran a tub of water, stripped and climbed in, luxuriating in its warmth. It sure beat stepping under the cleansing rays.

  Water in the megalopolises was strictly for human use since there were no lawns or gardens or live pets to be watered, and so far it hadn’t had to be rationed. When the great cities were being built, the major rivers on the continents were diverted towards each site. The water was collected and stored and the used portions were purified for watering the farms.

  Gwin dressed then took the conveyor to First Level Up and the commute-train to Mikk’s multi-block. She’d just barely rung the bell when the door swung open and Mikk grabbed her in a hug.

  “I’ve missed you,” he said, as he kissed her lips, then forehead, and cheeks.

  Gwin laughed as she returned his kisses. She’d missed him, too, so very much.

  Mikk held her at arms-length to look at her then hugged her again. “It’s good to have you back safely.”

  Gwin leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed. This was where she belonged. Maybe she would request reassignment to a job with less travel once they were married.

  Mikk mixed them a drink then sat beside her on the couch as he listened to the account of her trip. “And that planet is so beautiful,” she concluded. “I sure hope they don’t chose it.”

  Mikk smiled. “Ever the environmentalist. You should have been alive four hundred years ago when our planet was beginning to fail because of industrial pollution and overcrowding. You would have solved those problems.”

  Gwin smiled in return. It wasn’t the first ti
me she’d told Mikk about a planet she’d found that had impressed her with its life forms. She enjoyed comparing what was growing on it to what had once grown on theirs and giving names to animals and plants.

  “Is there anything you can do?” Mikk asked.

  “Not really. The organization has our reports on each of the planets we visited. They’re going to see that one is best suited for habitation.”

  “What if you told them your feelings?”

  Gwin smiled. “I don’t think the feelings of one lowly explorer is going to make much difference to them.”

  Gwin wanted to change the subject. Talking about that planet depressed her. “How is your research coming? Have you found a solution to the ice crystal problem yet?”

  “I’m close. I’ve now got five frozen specimens.”

  “And how long are you going to leave them that way?”

  “A few more months. I want to see what other effects a long term freeze does to a body.”

  “So, you might have it done within a year.”

  “Sooner, if these tests work out.”

  Gwin wondered what it would be like to suddenly wake up and be on another planet in another galaxy. Just the knowledge that she’d flown that far and was making history for her planet would be exciting.

  “Don’t even think about going,” Mikk said, as if reading her thoughts.

  “But it would be so thrilling to be marking new territory.”

  “We don’t know if it works yet, and we haven’t even figured out how to refreeze the astronaut for the return trip. It might only be a one way flight.”

  While Mikk finished the preparations for their meal, Gwin wandered around his apartment. It was slightly larger than hers and was on an outside wall with a window. She liked to look out and watch the moon and stars. Being a space traveller she never tired of seeing the sky, even if was artificial. And if she cut back on her trips, this would be all she’d have to look at.