Alien Cradle, Jeff Inlo [graded readers .txt] 📗

of luck."

"You just wanted to tell us this story, why not tell someone in the media?"

"I can't trust anyone."

The woman raised her eyebrows. "You think you can trust us?"

Rath actually allowed a light laugh to escape his lips. "I know, it's a bad idea. I just didn't realize it. I don't know. I was feeling trapped. I can't be too safe knowing what I know. They're going to come after me."

"Is that what you want from us, protection?"

"Sort of. No, not really." Rath struggled to explain in the simplest of terms and truly not caring if he offended his questioner. "I guess I wanted to drop the problem in someone else's lap, let you deal with it. I figured if you knew what I did, they'd be more worried about you and they'd leave me alone." Rath looked up almost hopefully. "You can understand that, can't you? It's not a secret if it's out in the open. Why would they even bother with me anymore when you know all that I know?"

"By 'they', I assume you mean Regency."

"I guess so. I don't know which councils are involved; I don't even know what it is they're involved in. The Authority seems to be a big part of it, though. They're the ones keeping the wraps on the system."

"You wouldn't happen to have any proof of what you're saying?"

"I have a few reports, maintenance logs, things like that. Who knows if they're any good. Everything I have is logged in my portable." He nodded to the components in front of him. "That's my wristband, too. You can pretty much check my whole history with that."

The woman frowned again, but this time deep lines formed around her eyes. At this point, she didn't like what she heard and she revealed as much. "You realize of course that if you were a plant sent by the Authority you'd have fraudulent credentials. Everything you have may be forged."

"Whatever," Rath responded in a tone of sheer futility.

"I see. Well, why don't you come and stay with us for a while. Give us a chance to go through your ship."

Rath didn't argue.

The SH-4 came into the Semele system fully veiled. It dropped out of Boscon Push completely unnoticed by the orbital control monitors and the heavily armed pirate vessels.

Jack was aware of where they were heading even before they dropped out of push. Taranson had advised him of the course being transmitted back by the tracking chips. Semele was the only planet that made sense. Rath was making a dash for the marauders.

"Looks like our boy planned on bargaining alright," the pilot offered. "He just had no intention of doing it with us. You were right about one thing. This Scampion must be scared, because a rational man does not deal with marauders."

Taranson eased the spy vessel about the system utilizing all of its evasive technology. He slid into a surveillance post near the boarded scout and read the data from sensors directed on the interior of the targeted ship.

"There's a lot of activity going on in there. I read core downloads and laser transfers to dishes on Semele's surface. We can pick up some of what's being said inside and it sounds like a bunch of techs going through the computers. I've got no match to Scampion's recorded voice pattern. If he's still onboard, he's being very quiet."

"This certainly does complicate things," Jack agreed. "He's probably not even on the scout anymore. He's either dead or being questioned down on Semele."

"What should we do?" Taranson asked.

"For now, keep us veiled and monitor the system. If they didn't kill him, then he's still here somewhere. I doubt he's been here long enough to convince anyone to take him away. My guess is they'll be careful with him, if they believe him at all. Can you monitor ship traffic?"

"Affirmative. We're already hooked up to their space control systems. Untraceable link of course."

"Good, I want to know if any ship goes into push. It's also time the Authority knocks out this pirate base. Can we get a message out of here that'll reach someone fast without being detected?"

"Absolutely. I've got six Boscon-driven courier balls that I can launch. We can set them with Authority base precepts. A message should reach Authority Command in less than forty standard hours."

"The launch won't be detected?"

"I'll keep a curtain around it until it reaches hyperlight. No one's going to see it."

"Fantastic, maybe things are finally going our way. I think the Authority would be happy to know that it can remove the problem of Rath Scampion and Angelo with one strike, don't you?"

Opal Listens

The pirates treated Rath a little like a prisoner and a little like a guest, as if they were concerned about insulting him but no so much so that they weren't going to keep a close eye on him. After landing on Semele, they brought him to some kind of administrative complex. Over half the structure appeared buried in the ground. When night fell, tight-lipped guards escorted him through empty halls, brought him to a nice-sized office with two chairs, a single desk, and stark white walls.

"Pirate headquarters," Rath thought to himself.

His escorts asked to sit and then simply left him alone with no further instructions. He had to wait less than a minute before the woman that boarded his ship entered and took a seat behind the lone marble-topped table.

Rath sighed uncomfortably.

"Something wrong Mr. Scampion?"

Rath looked down to the ground. "No, nothing at all. But I was hoping to meet with Angelo."

"I'm Angelo's wife," she said almost bluntly. "My name is Opal Stelbound. Angelo doesn't have a last name, at least he never told me about it."

Rath blinked with mild shock.

"Are you surprised that I'm his wife or that he never told me his last name?"

"I don't know," the scout managed.

"Probably both," Opal offered, "But it doesn't matter. Are you at least satisfied that you're talking with someone of importance? I may not be the top man, so to speak, but I have my own pull within the organization. Depending on what happens here, Angelo may be available later, but he is rather busy. I'm sure you can understand."

"Yes, I can."

Opal's eyes narrowed, almost with malice. And the room seemed to close upon him. The empty white walls melded with the woman's cold stare. "Can you, Mr. Scampion? Can you understand why he's busy? We've received the same reports that I'm sure you're aware of. The Authority has had enough of us and they're coming to attack."

Her sudden shift in emotion caught Rath off guard. He professed his innocence out of instinct. "I'm not with the Authority. They're after me."

"Of course they are," she responded with obvious sarcasm. "I'm sure that's why they gave you that nice scout ship. It's basically brand new. Or are you going to tell me it's stolen?"

"It's not stolen. It's a long story."

"I don't have time for long stories. The Authority is coming, remember?"

"I know. That's why I'm here. I'm trying to give you something that may save you from them. And if you can, you'll end up saving me in the process. Don't you remember what I said? Regency is trying to cover up the real story on Fenrir, the aliens. If you check my logs you'll see that I was there, that I had the scout bid. There was nothing on the planet."

"We did check your logs. We also scanned the accounts tied to your wristband. You've been receiving payments from the Authority for quite some time now, certainly long enough to train you as an Espial Op. Why were they paying you?"

Rath groaned. It was all coming apart. They weren't going to believe him. He was dead.

But Opal offered yet another surprise. "Did you know there's a beacon on your ship?"

The question barely broke through his despair.

"Excuse me?"

"A beacon," Opal stressed, "a guidance mechanism which transmits a signal that can be pinpointed by a simple tracking program."

Rath almost laughed. Of course. Where did the scout come from, where did the extra parts come from? Did he really think the Authority would just hand over a ship without an ulterior motive? He could almost sense the coordinator's manipulative hand at work.

"Lasonelli." he groaned. He could visualize the scout in the Planning Station hangar, see himself adding the modifications. "I probably installed it myself without even knowing."

"Explain." Opal demanded.

Rath considered the request. Explain. Was that done so easily? Where should he start? He decided to stick to the basics when describing the coordinator.

"Lasonelli is the council coordinator that tried to prevail on me that I missed the Fenrites on my initial scout. He's the man behind all the lies. He convinced me to stay on the Authority Planning Station which observed Fenrir. Some kind of crap about me being part of history, the first man on Fenrir. Just a bunch of more bull. In return, he paid me, gave me a new scout, and allowed me to install all the new equipment I wanted. I'm one stupid man."

"You didn't know about the beacon?"

"No, I didn't." Rath's tone was defeated, and he didn't expect to be believed. To his surprise, he was.

Opal tapped a laser pen against the marble tabletop. "Do you realize that it was that beacon that saved your life?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your story is too far-fetched to believe. It's exactly the kind of confusing tale which would make me expect you're buying time. The problem is that simple beacon. If you were a forward scout for the Authority, why would they want to put a tracking signal on your ship?"

Rath didn't know how to leave well enough alone. Unthinkingly, he offered his own theory for the beacon.

"What if they just wanted to follow me to you, to make sure they found you? What if I was supposed to lead them to you, wouldn't that be possible?"

"They wouldn't need to follow you to find us. We're not hiding. We've made no secret of where we are. You knew how to get to us and so does the Authority. Angelo wants it that way. He doesn't want to worry about which pirates and mercenaries are authentic and which were Espial agents planted to discover our headquarters. It's bold, but it makes sense."

Rath didn't see it that way. It was almost too unbelievable. "You think it makes sense to publicize your base? You're pirates!"

Opal scoffed at the remark. "Be that as it may, the Authority has been very busy, and we weren't as big as a concern as you might think. The rebel planets, that's what the Authority wanted to control. Those were the ones that caused a real headache for the generals and for Regency Govern. Semele was never a colonized world; we were never part of Regency. We made no contributions, paid no taxes. We were never on their books. So we never really caused them any true loss. Sure, we made our share of hits on freighters, but nothing that would interfere with the Authority's budget. But when one of these colonized worlds goes independent, the military uses a huge chunk of funding. That's where they concentrated their forces, until now."

"So