Cyborg Claude
Episode 4
In the previous episode, Salindra gets Claude to a safe house in time to pass out when she shoves him through the door of her emergency contact’s home. He comes to when she is scanning him and once settled, he asks for something to eat. Salindra is left wondering about his appetite and how fast he is healing.
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Claude cracked an eye open and sniffed. Chocolate? He sat up and grabbed the cake. He listened to the water filling the tub while eating the cake much slower than the stew. The food had done wonders for his body and his mood.
He cocked his head, but only heard occasional splashes. What would she do if he walked in there? He had the urge to. He rolled onto his stomach and buried his head under a pillow. Urge or no urge that would not be the thing to do. He started laughing when he realized they both had to share the bed. How would that even work out? Maybe he should just go in there.
He sobered enough to sit up again. Other things needed figuring out. The most important dealt with a way off Goeken. He needed to know the date.
His gaze traveled over the small room, taking in all the details for the first time. He picked up a small remote lying on the nightstand and aimed it at the only wall that could have a view screen. A quick change of the volume relieved his ears from the blaring voice. He smirked upon recognizing the news anchor. Goeken news was always a joke, but this anchor made it more amusing.
“And what are we talking about today, hmm? More drivel on the despairing decay of half the world. Maybe a bulldozer and a brain would help.” He chuckled.
Her commentary had to do with how well the Space Association’s security worked. He slapped his leg and his chuckling turned into a hearty laugh. From a bird’s-eye view through the quarantine shield, a man in a dark trench coat climbed easily in the back of a transport and drove off backwards. Someone had been watching.
He sobered when they showed a closeup of his face. Well, one with his shades still on and the turned-up collar blocking most of his jaw from the overhead view. Good, more to just make it all mysterious. Then again, this might make the Space Association crack down on security. He had gained a prized possession that now sat on a thumb drive in Salindra’s case they could not afford to lose.
He knew she had left nothing behind, no matter how fast she had to run. She was a resourceful woman that could hide better than anyone he knew. Several searches of the old building had not turned up one scrap of evidence that anyone lived there. Most of the place contained ruined relics no one cared about anymore. A shame, really. All that history left to rot.
Time to go home. Nothing left to do here except make sure the information and Salindra got safely back to Droeken or the agency. Not bad, considering he had three more days to finish the job on Goeken itself. Of course, this meant he had to go with the secondary exit plan. He did not have three days. Did he even have three hours? Probably not.
He rose and rummaged around the dresser, wondering if there would be anything interesting in it. One drawer contained women’s clothes with a medi-scanner hidden in the back. She must have used it on him. Did it surprise her as much as it did every new medic he saw back home? Bioengineering was an amazing thing.
He moved down a drawer to find the reward of generic Goeken men’s clothing that might fit him. His new look included tan dress pants with a pale blue polo shirt. He laughed at the view in the mirror.
His knock at the bathroom door gained no answer, so he opened it wide to find her relaxing in the tub. Her eyes were closed and a set of earbuds blared with music. He shook his head and pulled the drain plug. He leaned on the doorjamb. A lopsided grin spread his lips when she sat bolt upright and screamed.
“You scream well, I see. Of course, if this had not been a test, you may either be dead or at least uncomfortably constrained by now.” He paused while that sunk in. “Now get dressed so we can get off this cursed planet before they think too much about why people want to travel to the space station without advance tickets.” He closed the door.
She was out of the bath and ready to get dressed within two minutes. That showed she had some military training to jump fast without question. She scowled at him now.
“And why do we both have to leave?” Her tone was all command, and it only amused him more.
“Because you can’t go back to where you were, you can’t stay here and all the information you have needs to get off this planet while the getting is good. I could take it, but it would be easier getting off this planet as a couple.”
She sighed and nodded. Then she arched her brows over intent eyes.
He looked down at his attire. “Rather scary, isn’t it?”
She nodded and searched the drawer of women’s clothes. She pulled the towel up further when she glanced over her shoulder. With her new outfit in hand, she returned to the bathroom and closed the door.
He sighed.
Moments later, they were heading down the backstairs looking like a regular Goeken couple. Her dress flattered her curves, even if the style did not appeal to him. He got caught gazing at her when they stepped into a kitchen tended by a burly man.
“Derek, I need some way to carry this safely off the planet.” Salindra held up her case. “After all the work, we can’t have this lost.”
Derek grinned and quickly reappeared from what appeared to be a pantry with a medium suitcase in hand. “Had it all set, but if he is going, we need to throw some manly stuff in here.” He tossed a wink at them.
Claude arched his brow. He dug through the information that he had learned in a two-day crash course for this assignment. No mention of a Derek anywhere. Of course, he had not been told much about any of the agents outside his agency except for Salindra. She held the key to how they could strike back at Goeken. She had all the information and the knowhow to compile it into a viable scenario.
Salindra grabbed his arm and steered him down a hall. Derek held the door open while she maneuvered them through. Claude grappled with the suitcase when she shoved it at him. He arched his brow at her smile of amusement.
“Are you feeling okay? You seem suddenly in a daze.”
He smirked. “No, but that is nothing new.” He noted her quizzical expression with satisfaction before turning away. He stopped in the doorway leading to the front stoop. “Does it ever stop raining around here?”
“Sometimes.” She took his free hand and pulled him into the rain. “There is usually a cab down the street to catch.”
One sat at the corner waiting for someone to notice his idleness. The cross street bustled with people hurrying in the rain. They beat another person to the cab and jumped in. The ride to the spaceport took less than fifteen minutes, making Claude wonder how far Salindra had taken him through the sewers. That thought made his side hurt more when he shifted to climb out of the cab. In a couple of days, the biotech in his system would have it mostly healed.
He stopped and pulled a paper out of a dispenser near the door. Salindra mock pouted when he read it while they stood in line. He absently tossed his passport onto the counter and finished reading an article. He folded the paper neatly when she dug through a purse.
“Two round-trip tickets to the spaceport. We’ll be returning two days from now.”
The attendant checked the passports and then arched her brow at them. “What is the reason for your travel?” A standard question asked with too much curiosity.
Claude leaned close over the counter as if to reveal the greatest secret to the woman. “She wanted to see if I could be spontaneous at all.” He winked at the attendant, who blushed and smiled.
“There is a flight leaving in an hour with seats available.”
“Perfect.” Claude smiled. “I would like the latest return flight we can get for two days from now.”
“Certainly.” The attendant tapped the computer screen and then looked up again. “How would you like to pay for this?”
Claude answered by placing a hard plastic identification card on the counter. A moment later, their passports and his card were handed back to him. He gave the woman a big, warm smile while he scooped everything up. This planet worked like bygone years, including sliding backwards with all the identification requirements. Once on the space station, things would become easier.
Salindra’s hand shook in his.
“You haven’t eaten yet. Would you like to get something quick, or would you like to wait?”
He gave her a reassuring squeeze while they passed two troopers complaining about the weather controls. Didn’t Goekens know it was useless to control the weather? No other planets bothered except in small scale containment areas.
“I can wait since we will need the time to get to our gate.”
At the gate, the boarding had begun, but Salindra froze. Claude gently urged her forward. He boldly handed over their passports and tickets upon reaching the gate. The trooper barely looked at them while the attendant swiped the tickets through. He kept a smile on his face.
Salindra amazed him. She could sneak away without a fear, but now she was shaking.
The trooper arched a brow and handed the cards back.
Claude put his arm around her shoulders to guide her quickly onto the shuttle. She remained quiet. He left the silence unbroken.
His nerves finally relaxed once he stepped onto the Space Liner that would take them to a station in the Droeken Empire.
Conrad stood staring out the window at the city lights. The rain fell despite the weather control system. No doubt it was broken and the organization controlling it would never confess such a thing despite three straight days of rain. It had made this afternoon’s search more dismal in the old sector. He rubbed his nose, thankful for the technology that quickly healed it at the medical center. An annoying stuffiness remained and some pain medicine had only turned his headache to a dull pounding.
A knock and then the door swooshed open. “Sir, we may know where he’s at.”
Conrad continued to look out the window. “May know?” He wanted concrete news. Why did that seem so impossible for anything over the past couple of months? Too much loss and nothing to show for it except guesses and searches through rusty old buildings.
The young man, his personal aide newly assigned to him, launched into the report.
“A man and a woman bought tickets to the space station about two hours ago. They are the only ones to have bought tickets at the last minute. There is no record of them having yet checked into a hotel on the station or onto a space liner. We are scanning to find information. There is one space liner currently docked and departing in one hour for the Droeken system, sir.”
Conrad spun from the window and strode towards his aide at the door. “Get me to the station and I want accommodations on that space liner.”
“Yes, sir.”
With a quick salute, his aide was gone before Conrad reached the door. Maybe this new fellow would work out unlike the last one. Then again, what attire would he be wearing in the field this time? He shook his head, hoping it would be appropriate. He did not have the time to worry about it, however. Company was required for this trip.
He whistled while he strode down the hallway to Angela’s office and entered it to sit on the edge of her desk with a grin. He waited for her to look up.
“You know I hate how you just waltz in here and do that.”
“But this time I have an offer you can’t refuse.”
She looked over her reading glasses at him. “Oh, really?”
He kept his smile on, but he wanted to snatch the glasses off her face. Simple laser surgery would fix the issue for both of them.
“I do.”
She sorted the papers on her desk into a binder. “At least you came at the end of a project this time, though I am wondering what you really want.” She pulled her glasses off and rose from her seat with the binder in her hand. “I’ll give you a chance to tell me what I am getting into while I walk down the hall to hand this in on time.” She checked her watch while she stepped around the desk.
Conrad had no choice except to follow. He did not have time for games, though he loved to play cat and mouse with her. Of course, that tactic had not gotten him far in the year of working with her. Time for a well overdue tactic change.
“I would like you to be the field op that goes with me on an important assignment that starts immediately.”
The directness worked because she stopped in her tracks. “What made you decide on me? You haven’t given me a chance in the field for more than minor things since I came here, despite my experience.”
“We have a good idea where the man is that has been infiltrating our system and stealing important documents. It will mean a trip on a space liner.”
“Oh.” She smirked at him. “And let me guess, we go as a couple and share a room. Make it a suite and I might think about it.”
As if on cue, Conrad’s aide approached. “Sir, you have a suite on the liner waiting for you, Lieutenant Ackernum’s travel needs are set up with yours, and a car is waiting to take you to a shuttle that can have you at the space station in time to catch the liner.”
Jeremy paused and looked at the tablet in his hand. “Cameras show that the man and woman got on the space liner, but they changed IDs. They swapped clothes at an intergalactic store on the station.”
Angela arched a brow at Jeremy. “Definitely better than the last aide you had, Conrad, but how fast will you scare this one off?” She laughed and swatted Conrad with the binder. “Let me hand in my report and I am guessing I’m cleared to go on this already.”
“Yes, ma’am. You’re both cleared and will be given a full briefing and your travel papers on the flight to the station. You have your usual driver for the trip to the spaceport, sir.”
“Thank you.” Conrad nodded, impressed with the efficiency of this young man. Now if the squad he had worked with this afternoon had been as efficient. Then again, none of them had been agents. They were uniformed grunts and nothing more.
The man he hunted reminded him of someone, but he could not remember who. Whoever you are, you won’t have a place to hide from me on a space liner.
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