Titan's Plague: The Trial, Tom Briggs [free ebook reader .TXT] 📗
- Author: Tom Briggs
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“Yes, Ms. Lynch, you could probably buy and sell all of us with that much money. However, before you leave, we need to ensure the public doesn’t see you as purchasing your way off of Titan.”
“I resent you saying that to my client,” Nancy interrupted.
“I’ll get to my point. There’s another fast cruiser arriving in four months.” He took a breath. “Give me three months on the ice-miner, with three more weeks of public service, and I’ll drop the charges to involuntary human-slaughter. You’ll be getting back to Earth faster than if you took the working cruise, which would be the next available if the trial lasts.”
Pati turned to Nancy, who met her stare. Nancy looked back at Jack Reagan. “Can I have a few moments to discuss with my client?”
“Certainly,” he said. He picked up his tablet and walked out of the conference room, shutting the door behind him.
“What do you think, Pati?”
“Besides I’m probably rich?”
“What do you think of his offer?”
“Should I take it?”
“Well, his logic is sensible. You can’t spend the money when you’re in jail.”
“I should accept the offer, then.”
“No way in hell you should accept his offer,” Nancy said.
“Really?”
“Of course not. He knows this case is falling apart at the seams. The offer is a last-ditch attempt to keep you from walking away scot-free. I say we tell him, thanks, but no thanks. The decision is up to you, though.”
Pati was at a loss. This could be the most important decision of her life. Three months wasn’t that long of a time, and it was light-years shorter than a repatriation trip back to Earth. On the other hand, Nancy was sure she’d be walking away with no service to the state, and in her last settlement, she’d gotten better than Pati could have hoped for. “Okay, let’s try to be nice,” Pati said.
Nancy got up and walked to the door. She invited Jack Reagan back in, and he took his seat as Nancy took hers.
“Sorry, Jack, not happening on the settlement,” she said.
He looked upset. “I’m not playing games here, counselor.”
“Games, you say,” Nancy exclaimed. “You should have dropped this case after the first JJ result. Now you think you’re saving the state’s resources by offering my client a shorter sentence. You must be the one playing games because you seem to think if you lose this case, you’ll get a do-over. Well, it doesn’t work that way, and if you don’t drop this case, and the JJ comes back with a 20, I’ll petition to have you removed from the state attorney’s office.”
Jack Reagan glared at Nancy. He didn’t respond, and tapped a few buttons on his tablet with the stylus. “If I don’t receive further information from you, counselor, I will see you at the settlement conference next week.” He looked at Pati, “Ms. Lynch,” he said, and walked out of the conference room.
“He didn’t take that well,” Pati said.
“Not our problem, Pati. He knows he can’t drag you through the mud, trying to wear you down and get a settlement. He seems determined to try, and I guess he’s pinning his hopes on the recordings and thinks they’ll show something to help convict you.”
“Nobody would be happier to have those recordings restored than me. It sucks not being able to tell the whole truth.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ve got a great head of steam here, and if Jack Reagan doesn’t get out of the way, his career will get crushed. He’ll have no one to blame but himself, because he has so little evidence.” Nancy shook her head. “He’s not a bad guy; he just doesn’t know when to quit.”
“Maybe he thinks he’s doing the right thing.”
Nancy shook her head again. “The right thing would be to leave you alone. You gave your testimony, and all the physical evidence supports it. I would think, after this ruling, he’d accept it. We can hope he’ll change his mind; I’m not holding my breath.”
“Would you really try to get him fired?”
“It won’t be me. If that score goes any lower in the third hearing, it’ll go to the mayor’s office, and he’ll have hell to pay. It’s a shame really because he’s not a weasel like Keebler, but he’ll have to suffer more.” She stood up and motioned for Pati to do the same. “That’s not our problem. We need to worry only about your case, which, I think, won’t go past the last settlement conference.”
Pati looked around the conference room before she walked out with Nancy. In this room, she learned that she would soon go free and that she was rich. How much better could it get?
The afternoon and evening had been a complete waste. First, she tried to see the constables investigating the rebreather sabotage. After waiting an hour to see them, they had no answers on the progress of the case. No leads, no persons of interest, and no reason a villain would want to kill her. Pati suspected the reason for the negative answers was a lack of dedication to finding a positive one. A positive answer that might lead to more work and possibly even an arrest, which would be even more work. She stormed out of their office in frustration, having made no new friends.
The rest of the evening, she had zero to do. It was Friday, and like on Earth, a day to celebrate the end of the workweek. Pati didn’t dare leave her room, though; she still believed someone was out to get her, and putting herself in harm's way for a good time could wait till she returned to Earth. Then, she could celebrate all week, and not just Friday evening.
With her blank agenda, she turned in early. Unfortunately, the drowsiness wasn’t happening right away, and she just laid there on her back. She pulled her arm away from her eyes and stared at the bedroom ceiling. At least in one-sixth gravity, she was comfortable. She let the frustrations of the day subside, and as they did, she relaxed. Within a few minutes, she felt sleep come again.
Then, she was in her bedroom. Not her bedroom, her and Richard’s bedroom when she enjoyed the lifestyle of the rich and famous. She sat at her dressing desk, empty of any hair-dressing tool, and the mirror didn’t reflect her face. The colors resembled the overcast dock in Dingle, which was strange because she remembered bright colors in this room.
“Hello, Pati,” she heard.
She turned and saw Richard standing there. He was wearing a tailored business suit, not the informal clothes he always wore. The only time he sported a business suit was when he had meetings with his father or brother and they required it.
“I am not Richard McLear,” Richard said next.
That was a shock. “Who are you then?”
“Call me Temujin.”
“Okay, Mr. Temujin, why are you in our bedroom?”
“We have met before.”
“I didn’t ask you that.”
“True, but I needed to introduce myself, and it seemed appropriate to give you a reference because I did not look then how I look now.”
“I don’t remember meeting a Mr. Temujin.”
“I identified myself as Richard McLear because I wanted you to know who ended your life.”
Ended her life? She was still alive. “Nobody has ended my life,” she said.
“True, you escaped your fate. I was highly impressed with your actions.”
She made the connection. This was the apparition that appeared on her water-mining ship as the life support systems went south. He said then his reason for ending her life was revenge for killing Richard, even though he wasn’t Richard, or was he? “So why are you here, talking to me?”
“I’ve decided you’re worth more to me alive,” he said.
“What?”
“By killing Richard McLear, you set my plans back at least one of your lifetimes. I had the perfect host, and like the others, he willingly agreed to the hosting. The anger I directed at you, well, I can only say I’m not proud of my actions because it took exceptional resources to reach you out there amongst the rings, and after all that work, you still survived. Then, my people tried a second time to kill you, and you survived that as well. Since that time, I decided you were far more valuable with us than dead.”
“I still don’t know what you’re getting at.”
“You will.”
“How?”
“You’ll join with one of us. We’ve been trying to entice you using more subtle methods. Unfortunately, my first emissary met with an untimely end when you…”
Pati didn’t interrupt when he paused. He seemed to search for words, although the words were to describe an action she took. She wondered what she did, without wanting to ask this, Mr. Temujin, did he say?
“Had your gravity treatment,” he said. “Few Earthlings have that treatment, and it was the first time we saw what could happen. It affected me, too, because she was one of my, I think the best word is staff, or maybe entourage is the better word. I had to substitute another who is now ready.”
“You want me to join with you?”
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