Your Truth is Out There (Find Your Truth Book 1) (25 page)

“I owe you more than that, Planvc, and you know me, I’m good for it.”

“Yes, I know you are. One thing I should mention, while I have the chance. Remember that file you were working on for me, number Z7163?”

“Yes, I think so. What about it?”

“Well, when I incorporated it back into the other sections I was working on, it led to a small, almost unnoticeable, discrepancy, which I followed to another file that didn’t make sense to me.”

“How so?”

“I don’t really know, just yet. I’m still investigating, but something seems very odd to me.”

“Do you think Pigawitts is trying to hide something?”

“I don’t know. Possibly.”

“Okay, let me ask a different way. Do you think it’s anything the GTCA investigators would find?”

Planvc paused for a minute. “Hmmm … good question. They’re very good, you know.”

“As good as us?”

Planvc smiled. “Not even close. There’s no chance the GTCA finds this.”

Gsefx heard a moan from behind, signaling that one of the Alcorns was waking.

“I have to go. I’ll check in again as soon as I can. Keep digging on this, it could be important. And watch out for Xtlar, don’t get into any trouble on my account. Thanks Planvc!”

Gsefx clicked off the vidcon before Planvc could answer and turned around to see a dazed and very unhappy General looking at him.

“So, General Alcorn,” he said, “enough of the small talk. Where’s Henree?”

Qilzar was puzzled.

“By the Gods, do you think it possible that someone at Galacticount is really collaborating with the Ricnor gang?” he said to Lhvunsa. “It seems rather far-fetched to me.”

“As far-fetched as someone remotely taking control of your vehicle?” Lhvunsa replied, without hesitation.

“Fair enough,” said Qilzar, conceding her point. Having never heard of a vehicle being taken over, as his had been, it now seemed that anything was possible. “It’s just a lot to take in, I suppose. What do we do now?”

“What happened next, after they took control of your vehicle?”

He hesitated briefly as he pondered her question.

This isn’t the right approach,
he thought.
I know she means well, and is clearly very bright, but Lhvunsa is going in the wrong direction.

“Lhvunsa,” he said aloud, “you know how highly I regard you, and how much I trust your judgement, but since we know, or at least believe it’s someone at Galacticount, shouldn’t we go back to earlier in the rotation instead of going forward with my kidnapping? If we recount everyone I interacted with, we should be able to narrow the pool of suspects down considerably.”

“Perhaps,” said Lhvunsa, again without hesitation. “But you may not have interacted with them at all on that particular rotation. Hearing what the kidnappers said after they took you will help us narrow the list down even faster, I think.”

Qilzar thought for a moment, then nodded his head slowly. He still wasn’t sure, but he wasn’t about to argue. He’d learned quickly enough that when Gsefx’s wife had her mind set on something, it was best just to go along with whatever she wanted.

“Very well, my dear, I trust your judgment,” he said, even though he didn’t. “When they took control of the vehicle, I had no idea what was happening or what to do about it. I was trying to steer, press pedals, push buttons, and do whatever I could to try and regain control, all to no avail. My vehicle was taking me somewhere, but I had no idea where, certainly not to my home. I tried calling the GCP on the vidcon but that wasn’t working either, or so I thought. Eventually, I gave up fighting and let the vehicle take me where it would.”

“And where was that?”

“That's the strange thing, it didn't take me anywhere, it just flew me around. I tried watching the route we were taking, but the ship just flew in seemingly random patterns. Sometimes I backtracked on myself, sometimes I went far beyond any civilized areas only to come back around and re-enter heavily populated sections again. One time, I came within a few parsecs of Galacticount before being whisked back out again.”

“How long did you fly around like that?”

“I was a prisoner in my own vehicle the entire break between working shifts,” said Qilzar. “I actually fell asleep at one point, but was awoken by my vidcon not long before I was supposed to be back at Galacticount.”

“I thought you said it wasn’t working,” said Lhvunsa.

“I didn’t think it was. I certainly couldn’t make any outward calls on it.”

“What did you do?”

“I answered it, of course,” said Qilzar. “There was no video, only a voice. A voice, I would find out later, belonged to Ricnor.

‘Greetings, Et Qilzar,’ he said in that mocking way of his. ‘I trust you had a pleasant stay as our guest.’

‘Who is this?’ I asked.

‘No one to trifle with, I assure you,’ he said.

‘What do you want?’ I asked.

‘Nothing much. A very simple task really. All I want is the painting. Deliver that to me and your life will go back to normal,’ he said.

‘Painting? What painting?’ I asked

‘I see,’ he replied, a hint of disgust in his voice. ‘Are you sure you want to play it that way? I thought you were smarter than that, or more cowardly. Ah well, have it your way,’ he said.

‘Apparently you misjudged me, in more ways than one,’ I said, which I probably shouldn’t have, because his voice immediately turned cold and dangerous.

‘The painting from Irt,’ he said, ‘I want it and you know how to get it for me. Let me be very clear, Et Qilzar, from this point forward, everything you say and do is a choice, so think very carefully before making your next move.’

“I won’t deny it, Lhvunsa,” said Qilzar, “I did think about it. I thought about telling him everything, if for no other reason than to save my own pathetic skin. I wish, for all of our sakes, that I had. Perhaps then he’d have the painting and would have left us all alone.”

“If, in fact, that’s what he would have done,” said Lhvunsa, “then I agree with you and wish you would have told him everything. But he wouldn’t have, you know. That’s not the way Ricnor operates, at least not as far as his reputation goes. He would have killed us all as soon as he had the painting anyway, so we’re no better or worse off, and you still have your honor, Qilzar, which means more to Gsefx and I than you can ever know.”

Qilzar smiled, comforted by his friend's reassuring words.

“Thank you for that, but I’m not sure it matters because as it turns out, they didn’t need me for information at all. They already knew everything I could have told them. I don’t even know why they took me, other than as an additional hostage.”

“Finish telling your story and perhaps we’ll figure it out.”

Qilzar took another deep breath and went on.

“As I said, I thought about Ricnor’s proposal for a moment, then gave my reply.”

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ I said. ‘I know of no such painting. And where is this Irt you’re talking about?’

‘Well then,’ he said, ‘I see you’ve made your choice. It was the wrong one, but I must give you credit for standing by your friends. Not that it will mean anything when you’re all dead, which will be very soon, now. Goodbye, Et Qilzar.’

“I started to say something but the line went cold,” said Qilzar. “I looked out the window and realized that we were not far from my home. I tried the vidcon again, to call out, but no luck, it was completely dead, as I feared I would soon be as well. It wasn’t long before my vehicle pulled quietly into my very own garage and straight into my spot. The vehicle turned itself off and the doors opened, all without me touching a thing.”

“Before I could get out, or even turn around, hands grabbed me, pulled me out of my seat, and slammed me against the outside of my vehicle. A disgusting face pushed in close to mine. The disgusting face of a Palquistian.”

‘You’re coming with us,’ he said, ‘orders from above,’ he said.

“Another set of Palquistian hands grabbed me and together they dragged me toward another vehicle.”

‘Wait!’ I said, grasping at anything that would delay the inevitable. ‘I can’t just disappear without any kind of notice or warning, my colleagues will start looking for me.’

‘So, why should we care if anyone looks for you? They won’t find you,’ he said.

‘Maybe, but my colleagues are rather smart and quite tenacious. They might be better at looking than you think and are likely to involve organizations you may not want involved, like the GCP perhaps. Besides, a couple of quick calls and nobody will even think of looking for me for several rotations,’ I said.

‘I don’t know, I don’t think the boss would like it,’ he said.

‘Give him a call and ask if you’d like. I’m sure he won’t mind. Surely he doesn’t expect you to be able to make decisions like this on your own,’ I said.

‘What do you mean by that? Of course we can make decisions on our own and I’m telling you we’re leaving now, no calls and no more talking,’ he said.

‘Suit yourself,’ I said, ‘I’m just trying to help you out. I’ve got nothing to lose after all, since your boss has already declared me dead. I just thought I’d try to help your careers along, but clearly you don’t need my help.’

“We started moving toward their vehicle again, but didn’t get far before they stopped and stood me up.”

‘Wait here,’ the first one said, ‘my colleague and I need to confer on this matter.’

“They moved away from me and briefly talked back and forth in low voices, then came back as if they’d reached some kind of monumental decision.”

‘All right, one call,” said the first one again, ‘and you’d better make it a good one. You can use the vidcon in our vehicle.’

‘Oh no, that won’t do.’ I said. ‘They’ll see where the code is coming from when I call. If they see it’s coming from your vehicle, they’ll start asking questions and that won’t be good for anyone. I must call from my home. We’re right here, it will only take a few ebyts.’

‘Hmm … that makes sense, I suppose, but we need to make it quick. We’re expected back on time. Let’s move,’ he said.

“We went inside and they watched as I called Xtlar, who wasn’t available, of course. I left a message, but convinced them it was still necessary to speak to a live being, and they allowed me to connect to the operator, who connected me to Gsefx.”

“And that’s when you left him the first traveling code, which you knew he would translate into the word, ‘Ricnor,’ said Lhvunsa.

“That was my hope,” said Qilzar.

“How were you able to call me?”

“Well, my dear, as you know, Palquistians are not known for their brainpower, I assure you. I’m pretty certain I could have talked them into almost anything, short of letting me go. I simply told them that you were a news reporter friend of mine and that we had a lunch appointment scheduled for later. If I failed to show with no warning, you would know something was wrong and wouldn’t stop until you found out what it was. But if they wanted to take me back to their boss with a snoopy reporter on their tail, it was okay with me. They practically entered your code for me.”

“While part of me hoped you would answer, I was, in truth, greatly relieved when you didn’t. I wanted to warn you, without dragging you any further into this mess than absolutely necessary. So, I left you the message with the second code. I’d overheard one of them mention Mindaal, and hoped that between you and Gsefx, you’d figure it out. Little did I know that Ricnor had already set traps for you both, which made my efforts worthless.”

“Not worthless at all, Qilzar, at least not to me,” said Lhvunsa. “You tried to protect and save us when you knew it would be dangerous, and perhaps even deadly to yourself to do so, and that is worth more than you can know. Besides, I can’t help but believe that Gsefx knowing the information that you passed along to him made a difference in his getting the upper hand from the two Ricnor sent to take care of him. You may very well have saved his life, and ours along with it.”

At this, Qilzar brightened considerably.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” he said.

“Well, you may just have to start giving yourself a bit more credit, Et Qilzar.”

“Perhaps,” said Qilzar, who still felt as if they were missing the big piece, even as it was staring them right in the face, “but none of this explains how Ricnor knew about the painting, or any of the other paintings, or even about our trip to Irt—or Earth—in the first place. I tell you, I haven’t told anyone. Not even Xtlar, who for some reason has been trying to get me to talk about what happened that rotation.”

At the mention of Xtlar, Lhvunsa’s eyes opened wide, as if she just realized something horrible.

“Oh Gods!” she said.

“What? What is it?”

“I told Xtlar.”

“What?” said Qilzar. “What did you tell Xtlar?”

“I told Xtlar that we were going to Earth to rescue Gsefx.”

“When would you have told him that?”

“When you first called and told me that you fired Gsefx. I hung up on you and called him. He confirmed what had happened and told me that he’d ordered you to bring him back. I told him then that I knew Gsefx was on Earth, and that I was going to make you take me there to bring him back. It’s Xtlar. Qilzar, he knows. Xtlar is the one behind all of this.”

“Wake up!” said Klarnus, as he reached across from his seat and smacked Dilnch along the side of his head. “Wake up, you fool!”

“Huh …? What …?”

“I said, wake up!”

Klarnus slapped his Jikian partner a second time and Dilnch jerked up, then looked around at the inside of Gsefx’s vehicle, which was now acting as a secondary section to the larger ship. He seemed to find the economy-sized portions of this section rather cramped in comparison to the luxurious spaciousness he was used to inside the larger area they used to occupy all by themselves.

“Where are we?” he asked, still trying to get his bearings. “What in the gralt happened? Wait, I remember now, you knocked me out, you piece of Flingorium flotsam. What’d you do that for? I was about to take care of that juricking Earthling and the next thing I know, your ridiculous head pops up in my line of sight, followed immediately by your fists. What in the galaxy is wrong with you?”