A'NIR (Jim Able: Offworld Book 4) Read online

  JIM ABLE: OFFWORLD

  Episode Four

  A’NIR

  Ed Charlton

  Copyright

  © 2017 Ed Charlton

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN 978-1-935751-38-0

  *

  Published by Scribbulations LLC

  PO Box 1106

  Kennett Square

  PA 19348

  USA

  Previously

  Jim Able has traveled to a planet called Turcanis Major V. On TMV-I, the largest moon, he has met Sopha Luca, a member of the Regdenir religious sect and the only inhabitant of the TM system to have traveled offworld. Jim has discovered Sopha has illegally purchased a military-grade weapon.

  Jim has returned to TMV-I with Tella of Neraff, a philosopher with chameleon skin, to pursue Sopha. The pair has met with Sopha’s religious superiors, who agree he must be stopped from attacking the inhabitants of TMV—or Beauty, as they call it. Unfortunately for Jim and Tella, Sopha has found them first and has opened fire on their craft.

  #

  Chapter One

  Tella was already back in the cockpit, and the flier was dipping into the atmosphere of TMV-II, before Jim had truly comprehended what was happening. He switched the scanner to view farther toward the origin of the hostile fire.

  “One contact. Profile suggests a PR233, solo flier. Weapons firing!” Jim reported.

  “Avoiding.”

  Their flier lurched farther into the atmosphere and banked hard. Jim saw the missile explode, but Tella had moved them clear enough not to feel the blast.

  “This is not good, Jim.”

  “Agreed. It seems he’s been shopping at other places besides Pilo’s House of Lasers.”

  “Without knowing what he’s got, I’m loath to get in front of him again.”

  “Let’s try talking first.”

  “Agreed.”

  Jim activated the standard ship-to-ship system.

  “Sopha Luca. Sopha Luca. Reply, please. This is James Able. Reply, please.”

  There was no reply. As Jim began to transmit again, another missile entered the atmosphere ahead of the flier.

  “Unbelievable!” cried Tella. “He knows where we are, and he’s even compensating for the minimal refraction of the atmosphere! Jim, he is good at this!”

  “Yeah, great. If you’re so impressed with him, I’ll have him stuffed and mounted for you.”

  “Hah! Let’s see what we can do here.”

  Tella looped the flier back up to the edge of the atmosphere and threw the craft around the smaller moon, its engines howling with the sudden strain.

  “If I’m correct, we should have just blindsided him.”

  “How?”

  “I think he’s using his scanner array on TMV-One to follow us. Around here, we should be eclipsed by TMV-Two. He’ll have to come and find us himself.”

  “What if he doesn’t?”

  “We have time to see if he’s done us any damage.”

  “And he’ll be able to carry on with his new hobby while we do.”

  “Keep on the scanners and power up the weapons modules. I’ll check on our skin.”

  Jim did not need the instructions. He opened the safety catches on the weapons controls and sat poised to act should Sopha’s flier come around the moon. Tella opened the maintenance stores and took out a small camera unit. He unhooked the door of a small clear hatch in the ceiling and loaded it inside. He restored the seals and returned to the cockpit.

  “Okay. Launching remote eye. Let’s see how close he got.”

  Tella watched the monitor receiving the images from the camera. The flier’s black wings rolled by, small glowing spots showing where missile fragments had melted into the enamel coating.

  “Nothing too bad. No pressure leaks. Nothing broken off.”

  “How did he track us so easily? This is supposed to be undetectable!”

  “My fault,” admitted Tella. “We haven’t been running quietly. He had clues to follow. I’m putting that right.”

  “Good. Being fried isn’t in my contract.”

  Within a few minutes Tella announced, “Running silently. He can’t find us.”

  “Thank you. Now what?”

  “We can wait, or we can try to find him. You’re the expert. What do you think Sopha will do next?”

  ***

  Jim sat with his head in his hands. He stood to pace the confines of the flier. He unpacked Liz Curacao’s paper folder. He sat again in thought.

  “Tella?”

  “Jim.”

  “Check my math here. To get accuracy to one or two meters, how far apart do the first and the last scanning nodes need to be?”

  Tella leaned down to look at the scrawl of figures that Jim had written on the back of one of the sheets of paper. Curls and strokes echoed up its finger as it traced the flow of the calculations.

  It nodded. “Yes. That is correct.”

  “The spread is too big. He can’t fit them both on TMV-One.”

  “Hmm. Interesting.”

  They were both silent for a moment.

  “That’s why he was on TMV-Two,” said Tella.

  Jim shook his head. “We didn’t see any sign of a node. If it were there, we would have seen something.”

  “But he needs the spread, so it has to be!”

  “How can he hide it?”

  “There’s no way...except we know he purchased other armaments. Could he also have gotten some concealment technology?”

  “If he did, we’re sunk. Without knowing where he bought it or who it’s from, we can’t know what kind of system it is or even begin to think of countermeasures.” Jim threw down his pen. “Damn him!”

  He felt again the rising desire to be gone from the area. Turcanis Major was no longer where he wanted to be. It could sort itself out for all he cared. Tella was watching him closely.

  “Jim. You must think clearly.”

  Tella sat down opposite Jim.

  “I have been around humans for several years now. I know they are wonderful creatures in many ways. But you all share one major problem.”

  Jim bit back his irritation at Tella.

  The Neraffan continued, “You do not manage your resources well.”

  Jim frowned.

  “You try to use the same resources over and over in a variety of tasks. You do not specialize well. How often, Jim, have you pried something open with the blade of a screwdriver, or hammered a nail with the side of your pliers?”

  Jim laughed. “What are you on about?”

  “You, Jim. Since Ch’Garratt, you have not known if you are screwdriver or hammer. Your boss, the troubled Elizabeth Curacao, also does not know her place. I do not understand why this is so difficult for you humans.”

  Jim turned away but glanced sideways at the Neraffan, unwilling to continue the conversation but curious enough to listen.

  “You blame yourself for a lapse of judgment on Ch’Garratt, for failing to notice something important.”

  “I’ve never told you about that.”

  “During the latter part of the night we got drunk, you talked of nothing else.”

  “Oh.”

  “It is obvious to any nonhuman that your skills are of a different type. If Elizabeth Curacao had wanted someone who could count the eyelashes on all the faces in a crowd, she would have found one. You, Jim, have a different set of abilities. You have empathy for alien races. You can work your way into their
technology and into their minds. You astonish me with the technical feats you have performed here. Your ease with me is something I treasure.”

  Jim waved his hand in embarrassment.

  “You have met Sopha. You understood the fire of his belief. We do not need to count eyelashes, Jim. We need to use the understanding you already have. I’ll ask again: what will he do next? You are the only one in the universe in a position to answer. You are the correct resource for this job. We have no other; we have none better.”

  Jim stared at Tella for several seconds. “Bastard.”

  Tella frowned and cocked its head to one side.

  Jim continued, breaking into a small smile, “I’m never going to let you get me drunk again.”

  Then, Jim thought for a while in silence.

  “Let’s go back into orbit around TMV-One. I want to hear what the Regdenir have on Sopha right now.”

  “Yes, Jim,” agreed Tella, smiling.

  Jim called Aplar. “Greetings, Margrev Aplar.”

  “Greetings, James Able. Have you located Sopha Luca?”

  “We have encountered him, but we do not know where he is now.”

  “Ah, that is unfortunate.”

  “What do you know of his movements there?”

  “We know he is currently contributing to the Regdekol. It is the first time today that he has been active.”

  “Yes, he was...distracted earlier.”

  Tella offered a question. “Is there anything in his latest contributions to indicate his current state of mind, or perhaps his immediate intentions?”

  “I do not know. We would have to spend more time in analysis.”

  “Please do. We need as much information as you can pass to us.”

  “Agreed.”

  Jim ended the call. “Okay, we know he’s still linked in. Myourn said he had friends who shared his conclusions about the Maggnir. I presume they’re at least giving him moral support.”

  “A strange expression, under the circumstances.”

  “I guess so. The only opposition he knows about is us—or more specifically, me.”

  “And he has prepared himself for this eventuality.”

  “We need to do something—something that he will not expect, something that will get him back down to the surface, where the Regdenir can get hold of him.”

  “We could damage his craft sufficiently to necessitate a landing,” offered Tella.

  “Risky, but an option. I was hoping for something more...personal.”

  Tella thought for a moment. “We could kidnap his family.”

  Jim’s eyes widened in shock. “That’s not quite what I had in mind. But...No, it wouldn’t work, would it?”

  “Why not?”

  “He loves Beauty above all things. Which would win if we made him choose between his family and his mission?”

  Tella nodded. They were silent, staring at each other.

  “All we need is to get his flier where I can get on board,” said Tella. “Nothing else matters. Once on board, I can destroy the laser. End of story.”

  “Agreed. So let’s look at it again. Three options: one, he lands on TMV; two, he lands on TMV-One; three, he lands on TMV-Two.”

  “Okay. TMV is difficult. He doesn’t want to land there, nor do the other Regdenir.”

  “TMV-One is difficult. He doesn’t want to be stopped. He’ll stay up until he’s finished now,” Jim said.

  “TMV-Two. We know he goes there. He was waiting for us there.”

  “But we don’t know for sure that he lands on it. We think he has the last scanning node there...”

  They both stopped, openmouthed.

  “The scanning nodes!” Jim exclaimed.

  “Are we idiots or what?”

  “I’ll call Aplar.”

  “Margrev Aplar? This is James Able.”

  “Greetings, James Able. Sopha Luca is not currently active in the Regdekol. Is he, as you put it, ‘distracted’ again?”

  “Ah...Not that we know. Listen, we need you to find out where he has put the scanning devices around your moon. I remember Dlavi Heruc admitted that one of them was on the roof of his home. We must find the others.”

  “This will not be easy without Sopha Luca’s knowing what we do.”

  “I don’t think that matters.”

  “Wait,” said Tella. “We don’t need them all—just one. If we know the frequency he is using, we can blind him.”

  Jim nodded.

  “Okay, Margrev. Go to Heruc’s house and call us from there. We need information from the control panel of the device.”

  “Very well. I shall call you immediately after we arrive.”

  “Now,” began Jim, turning to Tella. “How do we jam the signal such that he has to land somewhere?”

  “Hmm. He has to be able to trace it, but not stop it remotely.”

  Jim smiled. “Nect!”

  “Is there somewhere we can land near her?”

  “I’m sure.”

  #

  madharVnectVlatsinVux

  Greetings, Madhar Nect.

  We have a plan to stop Sopha Luca.

  We need you to arrange a transmission on a particular frequency.

  We need to land somewhere near the site of the transmission.

  We will use it to lure Sopha to land as well.

  Can you do this?

  Where?

  g101VnectVlatsinVux

  #

  g101VnectVlatsinVux

  Greetings, Jim Able.

  You don’t do things simply, do you? Why can’t you shoot his engines and leave him to drift in space?

  The Institute has a TV relay tower. We can patch something in there. There is a sports field below the tower. It should be good to land on.

  When will you arrive? I have to get authorization for this. That will not be easy, particularly in the present climate.

  Attached is a map.

  madharVnectVlatsinVux

  #

  madharVnectVlatsinVux

  Greetings, Madhar Nect.

  We are on our way. Forget the authorization. Let’s plan to apologize after, rather than ask before. We’ll help clear up the paperwork after we’re done.

  Just make sure no games are being played on the field.

  g101VnectVlatsinVux

  #

  g101VnectVlatsinVux

  Greetings, Jim Able.

  I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?

  If there is to be violence, I must make sure the students are all evacuated.

  madharVnectVlatsinVux

  #

  madharVnectVlatsinVux

  Greetings, Madhar Nect.

  We hope there will be no violence. Our hope is simply to gain access to Sopha’s craft.

  That should be enough for our purposes.

  Relax. Nothing can go wrong.

  g101VnectVlatsinVux

  #

  Chapter Two

  It was early morning at the Latsin Institute when the jet-black shape of the flier descended from the clear air. Several students stopped jogging around the perimeter of the sports area to stand wide-eyed and openmouthed.

  Madhar Nect approached, driving a small open-top vehicle. Several of her students were standing in the back, holding on to the rollover bar. Four more hung on to the back and sides. As he walked down the entrance ramp, Jim heard their shouting and saw them pointing.

  “So much for doing this quietly,” he muttered to Tella.

  “You are already a TV celebrity.”

  “I guess so.”

  Madhar brought the vehicle to a sudden halt in front of the flier. Her passengers leapt away and began to run around and under the wings of the flier, calling excitedly to ea
ch other.

  “Jim Able. You are traveling in style this time!” said Madhar Nect. To her students she called, “Take plenty of pictures. I want every child to own the model of this one too.”

  She and Jim shook hands, and the Turcanian drew the human into a hug.

  “Oof! Madhar, this is Tella of Neraff.”

  They turned to greet the Neraffan.

  “Madhar Nect, I am happy to meet with you,” said Tella, holding out a gloved hand.

  “Tella of Neraff. I...”

  Madhar stopped, her hand half-raised, as she stared at Tella’s face.

  “What’s the matter?” asked Jim.

  “I’m sorry...You seem...Your skin...Do you change color?”

  Tella smiled. “That depends.”

  “Oh my! You’re a gallassid! I had never imagined!”

  “What do you mean, ‘gallassid’?” asked Jim, feeling that the name meant nothing good.

  “I’m sorry; I don’t mean to be rude. We have folktales of creatures who are like glass. They have no color or features of their own. I had never imagined that there was any truth to such tales.”

  Jim turned to Tella. “Have your people been here before?”

  “I have not heard of it.”

  Madhar stepped forward, took Tella’s hand, and shook it.

  “Please forgive me. I hope I haven’t caused offense. They are old tales...” She hesitated and then continued quietly, so that her students would not overhear, “They are superstitious tales. The gallassidnir are rarely the good guys, if you understand me. You may find a certain...caution in peoples’ reactions to you.”

  “I understand. In fact, I would prefer to have little contact with your people for now. I have a mission to complete. We can turn our minds to cultural anthropology and more social matters when Jim and I have accomplished our task.”

  “Okay. Let’s get to work. I’ll take you to the tower. Do you have the frequency?”

  Jim and Tella walked with her, followed by the group of chattering students.

  “Margrev Aplar relayed to us the frequency setting from one of Sopha’s scanners,” Jim told Madhar. “We need to send a disrupting signal at this frequency. It should be something he can easily trace to here. Enough to make him land to investigate.”

  “He’ll see your craft. He’ll know it’s a trap.”