Cyborg Claude

Episode 10

In the previous episode, Claude went to the bridge with Min and helped handle the encounter with the pirates, who proved to be a Goeken Space Agency ship in disguise. Min and Claude retire to her office after the event to talk. The truth of how they feel for each other is finally voiced, but much is still left unsaid.

This episode will bring us back to Salindra and Stefen, as well as, our Goeken spies.

Cyborg Claude Main Page and Table of Contents

Salindra checked out the sickbay, hoping to find a distraction, while Stefen ran through a checklist on his scrivpad. A cabinet in the back corner of the office caught her attention. Its dull black exterior with no labels and four drawers reminded her of the old file cabinets in her last residence on Goeken. Amid all the high tech that scaled far beyond the usual for a yacht sickbay, it sat all too quietly in the corner. No evidence of paper or printer existed on any of the desks or counter tops of the office.

She peeked over Stefen’s shoulder, but could not make heads or tails of the information on the scrivpad. She pretended to look at something else when he shot her a glance.

He walked away.

She sighed and perched on a stool. Did Claude have more excitement during this red alert?

Her stomach lurched. Things seemed to stretch, then everything popped back to normal a moment later. They had just traveled through hyperspace at a speed above what was allowed, hadn’t they?

She smirked. Her mind had wandered from Claude to why her stomach had lurched. What did that mean? She bit her lip, remembering the awkward moment before the red alert. She still knew nothing about the man other than he healed fast, could go months without saying a word to a colleague while in the field, and could adapt quickly to a new identity.

Stefen tossed his scrivpad on his desk. He paced while muttering in a language she could not catch.

“Anything I can help with?” She needed a distraction before she drove herself crazy.

Stefen stopped and blinked at her. “Uh, no.”

“Attention. All hands are allowed four hours furlough on the Deserka Prime station. Please be back at the ship by o one hundred hours.”

“Deserka already?” Salindra stared at the speaker on the ceiling. “Might as well go see what is different after four years.” She slid off the stool. “Are you taking time to go into the station?”

Stefen stared at her for a moment. “Are you asking me to go with you?”

Salindra arched her brows not expecting a question for an answer. She forced a smile. “Actually, I don’t know if I would feel comfortable alone on friendly ground. Rather silly, really.” She laughed nervously.

Stefen stopped pacing. “You are the info specialist that analyzed data right in Goeken’s backyard, aren’t you?” He stepped closer. “What was that like? Are you the type that loves parsing data?”

Salindra paused. Was she that much of a mystery? Time to dive in and see if she could connect to a coworker. “I like analytical work. I always have. My specialty is in communications, electronics, and mechanics. I honestly have to admit my curiosity had me peeking over your shoulder.”

Stefen glanced at the scrivpad nervously.

“I couldn’t make heads or tails of it, though I know a little chemistry and probably lots of biology were thrown in. Some of that is an assumption, since I know you are the medical officer.” She smiled at him. “I find all fields interesting, but know it is nigh on impossible for me to learn everything in my lifetime.”

“I work on keeping pace with technology in mechanics and electronics in the realm of medicine.”

“How much do you know about our current objective?”

“It’s related to bioengineering, possibly. My own studies have led to the belief that we can see what people are thinking and feeling beyond what brain waves will tell us.” Stefen adjusted his glasses. “If the Galactic Council figures this out first, we could all be doomed. Even if we are not officially at war, both sides have prisoners of war. It’s all espionage and subterfuge.”

“Good summation. We might need you to look at some things.” Salindra started pacing. “I’m not even sure if they could pull it off. They can’t even get bio scanners to work in their old city sections where there is metal. Not that it would be hard for them to get them on the market if they wanted them. Goeken is a mess. Small areas that seem like utopia surrounded by lots of desolate waste full of abandoned buildings where all the vagabonds hide.” She shook her head.

“Never been there.” Stefen looked about the room. “I really should run some tests, though I need to check something on Claude.”

“His wound?”

Stefen stopped and stared at Salindra. He muttered under his breath and tapped through commands on the scrivpad. He scowled at whatever it displayed to his queries. “Figures.” He tossed the scrivpad on the desk and spun to face Salindra. “Might as well go for a walk on the space station.”

“Sure.” Salindra gave him a quizzical look. She followed him out, wondering what Stefen knew about Claude, but she really doubted he would reveal much. On a whim, she stated, “Maybe Claude will want to go along.”

Stefen’s shoulders stiffened. “He’s in a meeting with Min at the moment.”

“Oh?” Maybe that was what he pulled up on the scrivpad the last time. She pondered why Stefen would get in defense mode over suggesting they bring Claude along. “Shouldn’t take that long.”

Stefen stopped and whirled to face her. “I’m hoping it takes a lot longer than expected, no matter what Min said earlier.” He snapped his mouth shut and turned away again to march on down the hall.

“You know we are supposed to be on the same team, but you are making me feel like an outsider.” She kept pace with him. “No wonder I’ve loved really long missions alone.”

“Are you implying I should spill my guts for you on stuff that is above your security clearance?”

“No, but you could be nicer.”

“You could be less nosy.”

Salindra laughed. “I’m an information grub. It’s my job to be nosy, and it is ingrained in me to search for the hidden truths left unsaid.” She looked at him as they walked. “And how do you know I have a lower security clearance than the information you keep skirting around?”

“You have a decent clearance. Your chain of command has you reporting to Hawkins now. I know your whole medical record, since it is my right as the head of medical operations.” He stopped and faced her fully. “You want to know all about Claude, don’t you?”

Salindra nodded.

“I thought so.” He sighed. “For an information grub, you don’t know how to talk to the source itself when you have a couple of days to do so. You stayed locked in your room. You are like me because your information and your tools to parse it are your lover more than a person you are physically attracted to.”

She frowned. That really hurt, but he had it so right. They were two peas in a pod.

“Well, he doesn’t know much about you either. Do you even know where he stands in this agency? What his duties really are? How long he has been here? I bet you asked Hawkins. Claude knows your full name and function in the agency, but not much more.”

She gulped. “I don’t even know his last name or where he fits in the agency. The records don’t even show a Claude, though there is one that died five years ago or so. I know he was one of the field operations leaders. His overall rank in the agency is not even revealed in agent accessible data. So everyone named Claude in this agency is a big mystery. There is not a picture of that other Claude, which is overly odd.” She stopped and narrowed her eyes at Stephen. “Claude didn’t really die, did he?”

“Yes, he did. Along with twelve other fine men and women.” Stefen’s jaw clenched, and he turned away.

“Then who is Claude?”

“The Mystery Man.”

Salindra sighed. “Lovely. I finally feel attracted to a man and he is some dark enigma, just like he looks: tall, dark, and utterly mysterious.” She threw her hands in the air. “I don’t even know you for that matter, other than you are the medical officer and obviously close to Min.”

“And the amazing thing about you is that you didn’t have to run from the SSA until your tour was just about finished. You hold the record for the longest operative in the field undetected on one tour. The runner-up is two years short of your nearly four-year record.”

“Great! I’m a statistic in an agency where I don’t know squat about anyone I work with anymore. I’m in my thirties and have only one person who really knows me. He is my only confidant, my friend, and fills in as my father.”

“Sounds like you need a career move. Then again, you won’t be given a long assignment like that again.”

“I won’t?”

“Nope.” Stefen appeared to relax again. “You won’t go into the field again. You are going to stay on this side of things, but still in the information department.” He smiled. “You have your chance to fit back into society, starting with this crew.” He pushed his glasses up his nose. “You’ll have to do that by talking with them, the mystery man included.”

“Seems you have the most info, but doctor patient privacy rules will keep you from talking.” Salindra shook her head, but smiled at the irony of it all. Claude was dubbed the mystery man and her first victim to interrogate beyond Hawkins had all the answers, but no inclination to share.

“I would say that sums it up very well.”

“Okay, play shrink with me and show me how to act in normal society where I don’t have to hide and run from goeks with guns.”

“Oh, a challenge.” He grinned at her and his gray eyes lit up. “I’m up for that since the other subject I need to work on is tied up elsewhere.” He offered his arm to her. “Ready?”

She dropped her gaze from his face to his arm. He was quite gentlemanly when relaxed. She awkwardly tucked her hand into the crook of his arm. “Better now than never.”

She let him lead her off of the ship and onto the space station. A view in the shiny steel plating of the access tunnel made her giggle.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, I didn’t realize how much taller I am. I’m sorry, it just appears rather funny in our reflection.” She waved a hand at the mirror like surface.

He looked and smirked. “Not funny looking at all, though many will wonder how a geek like me got to escort a woman like you.”

She pondered her reflection. “I’m a geek with the wrong book cover.”

“I rather like the cover.” Stefen cleared his throat and led her on.

Salindra forced her worries to the back of her mind and focused on getting to know the doctor better while she sampled Deserkan life.

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“What do you mean, they aren’t on the ship anymore?” Conrad slammed a fist on the table.

“The room has not been occupied for hours.” The steward shrunk back from Conrad.

“Figure out where they went if they are no longer on this ship.”

“Yes, s-sir.” The steward fled the suite.

“You trust him?” Angela placed her hands on the back of a chair and shifted her weight to the left.

Conrad gazed at her for a moment. “He is a weasel, but usually comes through. He’s getting rather slow, however.” His knuckles turned white and his fingernails dug into his palms. “Any information about the man at all?”

“None. There isn’t a picture of him anywhere other than several fake identifications. He is definitely an agent for the Universal Alliance, but their records don’t even show his existence. He’s a mystery and may even be a mystery to the people he works with.”

“Angela, that is impossible!”

“On the contrary, my dear Conrad, it is not.” She smiled at him, showing no sign that his anger bothered her. “To keep a computer from finding information, you simply keep the information on a closed network or non-digitally.”

“How would he get food, clothes, money, etc? What account did the money come from for the clothes they bought? What about the woman if the man is such a mystery?”

“She is a field operative for an unnamed agency funded through Chancellor Gerald Krollin. They figured him out recently and his screw up led us into weeding out an enemy agent in our midst.”

Angela slid a scrivpad across the table to him with Salindra’s picture and profile information displayed on its screen. “Salindra Dethvar has been assigned somewhere covert for a decade. Her forte is linguistics and engineering, both mechanical and electronic.” She crossed her arms.

“We believe she was on Goeken nearly four years. Four years, Conrad. How much information has she got her hands on? To top it off, she has the rank of captain in the Droeken Armada.”

Conrad stared at the picture while Angela rattled off more facts than he expected. “So we can figure out everything about her, but nothing about him? Whose bank account was used?”

“Salindra’s, but the trace to the real source of the credits gets jammed up and doesn’t connect to Crollin’s funding. It goes through a front on Droeken.”

Conrad shoved the scrivpad across the table toward Angela. “A front we know of?”

“It’s set up on Goeken under the false name of Howard Dunbar. The address is an apartment, which agents will covertly check out.”

Conrad paced. “I wonder if they have photos of all the people going in and out of the apartment.”

“I told them to check all sources for information.”

Conrad stopped and spun to face her. “Since we are forced to wait, what do you suggest we do to keep me entertained?”

“Not what you are thinking, despite how I dressed earlier.” She smiled slyly. “I have a headache.”

Conrad scowled. “Now I know why I don’t bring you along that often.”

“You are too single-minded and try too hard at some things, my dear.” She winked at him.

“And you are a tease. I could fire you.”

“Very true. You could. And then what?”

Conrad threw himself in a chair. “You’re an evil woman.”

“Why thank you.” She gave him a small bow with a mischievous smile on her lips. “I can do this job because I’m not like most Goeken women. I don’t enjoy some of it, but I have the guts to do so. The mystery man knows how to kiss. And he is in very good shape with no pain from the gun wound you gave him. Obviously, they have access to medical resources right on Goeken.”

Conrad growled.

“I see you have a vendetta against this mystery man.” She sat down and crossed her legs with her foot swaying languidly.

The doorbell chimed before he could shoot some quip back at her. “Come in!”

The steward blurted out his information as soon as the door closed. “They could be on one of four ships that left the spaceliner in the time frame you stated, sir.”

Conrad rubbed his forehead with his fingertips. “I see, and the information for these four ships will be given to me when?”

“I memorized the ship identifiers, sir, and who the owners are. Two belong to the imperial court of Callineefollian, UB-6542 and 6541. I know that belongs to the prince and his entourage. He spent all of eight hours here and went home much poorer. The third belongs to the Space Liner Association, and it brought special cuisine for a banquet that the prince attended. It left with only the pilots on board and no cargo. The fourth belongs to the Zen Yacht Club. It stayed only three hours. There is no official records of who came and went. The cameras in the access tunnel malfunctioned at the time. The serial number is Z-123.”

Angela’s scrivpad beeped, announcing an incoming message. She picked it up and checked the message on the opposite side of the room from the steward.

“Nice work. That will be all for now.”

“Yes, sir.” The steward bowed and made a quick retreat from the suite once more.

Angela arched a brow at the scrivpad. “Looks like the yacht is the answer and our undercover ship encountered them in space.” A frown creased her brow. “They figured out the truth of our ship. They bypassed our security.”

Conrad leaned toward her over the table. “Do we know where that yacht is now?”

Angela tapped the scrivpad several times. Her brows crawled up her forehead while she scanned the information.

His fingers drummed the table.

“It’s docked at the Deserka Prime station.”

“And we don’t have an agent there and have never figured out how they keep finding them.” Conrad pushed away from the table and resumed pacing. “Is there a way for us to get there today?”

Angela tapped her scrivpad. “Please report the fastest way to Deserka Prime available from this spaceliner and estimated time of arrival?” Several seconds dragged like minutes. “Let’s see.” Her smile faded as she read.

“What?” Conrad glared at her. Something had to work out for them on this. He would get this mystery man if it were the last thing he accomplished in his life.

“Well, we need to book a room on an Aenglodonian vessel that is docked here and advertising a quick ride to its territories. It makes a pit stop on Deserka Prime and is allowing one hour of furlough for the passengers if they so desire. The cost is five thousand credits per person.”

“That price is ludicrous!”

“And your desire to capture your mystery man is worth how much?”

Conrad growled. “Book it. We are newlyweds looking for a more exciting honeymoon and have the money to blow on it.”

“Nice phrasing.” She smiled while making the needed connection and request for a room. A moment later she said, “We have thirty minutes, husband.” She chuckled. “We’ll be on Deserka Prime in two hours, thanks to hyperdrive technology.”

Conrad snorted. Even the tone of her voice grated on him. The woman had her uses, but he would leave her home when he did not need a woman tagging along. “Good.” He strode into his room to throw what little he had unpacked into his bag. It would be a fast hike to the docking area to get there in time.

Soon I will have you, and your little lady friend will be the icing on the cake.

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