Spacestastic Mysteries

“What if the Island Committee actually,” Jake wondered, running his fingers through his hair, “brings people to the planet to expose them to the disease?  What if they knew about the disease, but they purposely brought people to the planet who they deemed their enemies to expose them to the disease.”

“That would be intriguing, but the question is then why expose their own people to the disease? Like Josh?  Either Josh did something to them or it was an accident.”

“If you think about it,” Drew chimed in, “all the people in captivity were humans…from Earth.  Is it possible they have a vendetta against Earth?  But why?”

“That is an intriguing prospect as well.  What possible reasons could they have to hate all humans?  What did we do to them?  Do they hate a certain sect of humanoids and decided to kill them all?  Or are they targeting certain human sects?”

Jake prompted, rubbing the kinks in his neck with his knuckles.  “Since Josh was humanoid, is it possible they didn’t realize how it would affect human physiology until he was accidently exposed?”

“What were you looking for?”

“The chip with my notes on it. I really didn’t think it would be here, but it was worth a shot.” I activated one of the terminals and hacked my way into the government database. “I wonder what they actually know…and what their intent is.”

“You are going to hack into their databases…as any good spy would. I am going to look around and see if I can find anything of significance.”

As I made my way through their firewalls, I managed to find a file with all of the Island Committee minutes in it. However, it was password protected. Managing to break the password, when the information ran across my screen, it was encoded. I worked to decode it when I felt something prick my arm, then I felt myself go limp and fall off the chair and into a puddle on the ground.

What seemed like seconds later, I blinked rapidly. I looked around and realized I was sitting on the couch of a fancy office. It sprawled the size of a quarter of a football field with a large oak desk and wooden, elaborately carved chairs in front and one behind. The walls were lined with shelves that housed old, dusty books and paintings. I’d been here before. I just didn’t remember when or why. Jake sat beside me.

“We meet again,” a voice whispered as he turned the chair around to reveal a dark-haired man with a goatee. His pale blue eyes—kind and with a hint of concern. “I am sorry I had to bring you here like this. The medication my guards gave you is harmless. I promise.” I ran my eyes over his harsh looking jaw with a scar on his left cheek. He was dressed in his standard black and white suit.

His name escaped my lips: “Stephan.”

“It’s me. You know I am not here to hurt you. I am here to help you and you help me. We can help each other. You know I would never hurt you…or your companion here.”

“How did you know it was me,” I asked him, searching his eyes.

“The Island Committee has spies everywhere around you, but I am the only one who sees how useful it could be if you and I worked together to solve this. I am the only one, outside of Josh, who helped keep you safe while you were here.” He turned to Jake. “You are Doctor Jake Riley. I am Stephan. No, I am not after her. No, we have never been sexually involved. No, I am not going to hurt you or her.”

When I caught Jake’s shocked face, I smirked. “Stephan forgot to tell you that he is telepathic, which is how I really suspect he realized we were on the planet.” I turned to Stephan and said, “Have your skills developed beyond the planet yet?”

Stephan shook his head. “Not yet.”

“I am glad that your telepathic skills don’t reach to our MASH vessel.”

“I couldn’t read you until you entered the café. I can tell, emotionally, that you are being drained by finally meeting your biological family. Your brothers and sister and I grew up together, but I didn’t really get along with the boys and Josh. I had a huge crush on Brianna though. I didn’t realize they were your family until recently. I am not sure about your parents though. They have never really liked me.”

“I am not sure about them either. I am wondering how it is that they are still in here. Everyone else was either killed or released with a return date. How did my parents and my siblings get to stay alive in this place?”

“We are on someone’s radar,” I told Jake. To Zebby, I said with grave deliberation, “We are in the SpaceCraft we brought here. Outside of me running a high fever, we are fine. The question is who knows we are here.” To Jake, I requested, “Please contact the Lightyears. Tell them we are alive…and that we will be back as soon as we can. Then could you call Zariah and Graham and tell them we are fine?”

“I am so glad that you are okay. You are my best friend.”

“I know. You are mine too. I am sorry they scared you, but we are fine for now. We removed the tracking devices under the tattoos they gave us while in captivity.”

“We need to wrap this up quickly because these people are set on killing you.”

I shook my head. “It is going to take as long as it takes. You know that. We are not going to back down. The fact they are trying to convince people we are dead is a telltale sign they are up to something…and do not want people coming to find us.”

“Let me talk to the rest of the group and see what we can do to speed this along.” Once she disconnected the call, Jake walked over to me.

“Everything is alright. Graham said that they have people investigating the scene right now and that they have had people from Kilo-Ait try to interfere with the investigation.”

“That is because the people on Kilo-Ait know we are not in that SpaceCraft…and that if the Freedom Alliance investigates, they will discover that our DNA is not present in the vehicle.” I stood and paced in front of the bed. “I have no idea who knows we are here, but someone knows. We have to be careful, but the fact that they are trying to convince people we are dead indicates that they do not want people to come look for us…or maybe they do not want people to find out what they are hiding. I don't know why but I feel like I have to find the lab I used to work out of.”

“You think whatever they are hiding might be in there.”

“That or maybe the truth of how this disease started is in that lab. The lab was extremely guarded…and they had to know who was coming in and out at all times. I feel like whatever we need to solve that case is in that lab. It’s like there is a memory in my mind that I cannot bring into focus.”

He nodded his head and decided, “Okay.”

I pulled up the center of the East Hemisphere of Kilo-Ait on my QuanPad. I showed it to Jake. “So, if I remember correctly, and it has been awhile, but I believe the laboratory is in the University building over here. It is a hidden laboratory…like the one I had built into the Lightyears.”

“You had a hidden laboratory built into the Lightyears? Where and for what reason?”

“It is in my office…and so that I could work on IIB cases. I specialize in medical cases like this one…so it stands to reason I would need a lab. I put it in my office, so I could work on my cases, but still could hear if people were in my office or the waiting area.”

“I can see that. Do you remember where the hidden laboratory is at the University?”

“Yeah, I believe it is top floor, in the back, through the storage rooms.”

“Then let’s go.”

“What reason could that be? You willingly married another man, had relations with him and produced two children.”

“I told you…I don’t remember.”

“I think you do. I think you just don’t want me to know. I think that—”

“You think I am telling you that I don’t remember because I am covering up the truth?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, what? I have no trouble keeping information I do remember from you. Why would I make up the fact that I don’t remember the other reason I married Josh?”

“I don't know. Why are you?”

“Stop it! Stop badgering me about why I married Josh. I cannot change the past. I cannot change that I did it for you. Just stop badgering me.”

“You did it for him,” questioned Brianna, easing me around to look at her.

“Did I say that? I don’t know why I would say that.” Then I grabbed my head as it started to pound.

“I have been better than you two, it seems.  I have not been captured while I have been here.  I am glad to see you are both in disguise.  They will come after you if they know it is you.”  She looked to Jake.  “They will kill you, but,“ she persisted, glancing over at me, “they want her to fulfill tradition.”

“Fulfill tradition,” Jake repeated.

She nodded.  “If you marry one of their sons and have children with him, and he dies, tradition states you are to marry the next brother.  They want her to marry their son.  They are going to force it.  They don’t want their grandchildren to be raised by anyone not of their family.”

I rolled my eyes.  “I will not have my children raised by them…nor will I marry Philippe.  Josh was the sane one in that family.”

“They have their spies all around you.  You need to be careful because these spies are giving them intel on you…and they have killed the people who have not returned by the deadline.”

“What do you know about this disease?  Have you found any evidence that it has originated from here?”

“You are going to want to talk to Hunter Mayfield.  He is at the University and is one of us.  I have set up a meet for you and him tomorrow morning at 0900 hours.  I will send the location and the codeword to your QuanPad.”

“I appreciate that.  Has he been researching it for awhile?  Something in my gut wants to test the soil on this planet, but I don't know.”

“I’d trust your gut,” she agreed, catching my eye.  “I don’t know how it is possible to transmit it through the soil from one planet to another, but go ahead.  It would be a great use of your time while Jake and I get re-acquainted.  He has always had a thing for me.  Remember when we…behind the mountains five years ago.”

I raised my eyebrows, giving Jake an amused look.  “Really now?”

Jake shook his head and insisted, “I did not knowingly sleep or kiss anyone while I was here.  If something happened between you and me, Kasia, I was either out of it or it was non-consensual.”

“You are telling me that you don’t remember our relationship, our son, that you said you loved me…and that I was the only one you ever loved?”

“I would never willingly do that to Dani.” 

“Kasia!  Tell him the truth.”

She wrinkled her nose.  “Okay, okay, I was trying to see how loyal you are to her.  We have never been together nor do we have a son.”

Jake seemed relieved, then wondered, “Are you trying to find out if I am loyal because you are her friend or because you are interested in breaking us up?”

“She is trying to find out how you are going to handle it if Philippe starts throwing those accusations around.  We need to know any indiscretions they can bring up on you.  Me?  I don’t care and don’t want to know.  That is none of my business, but Philippe—he is going to be cruel and vicious like his father—and is going to make up information to discredit you.”

“We are in disguise.  We are safe from all that.”

“These people have their ways…we just have to make sure we are ready for anything.”

“And that brings us back to Project Sierra-Lima-Tango because as a part of it, a team was assigned to Kilo-Ait to observe. Their observation station was hidden in one of the mountains until there was a magnetic storm that caused some of the residents to see flashes of the observation station.”

“Like when you are at home during a thunderstorm and the power is out and you see flashes of the room when lightning strikes,” Jessa wondered, looking at me.

“Exactly. At that point, the Quavetezhdans investigated and attacked the observation station. That is when my team and I were brought into do our own investigation and tend to the wounded. Unfortunately, that is the mission that got me captured.”

Jake questioned, wrinkling his brow, “Does that mean your children are half-Quavetezhdan?” I shook my head. “Charlie and Spencer’s father was adopted. He was pure Earthoid. His biological parents were killed in a SpaceCraft accident. I’ve wondered if that is why his adopted parents were not as broken up when Josh died.” I put my hand up. “However, just for your knowledge, Quavetezhdans are transformers.”

“Transformers,” Tony questioned, then rubbed the muscles in his neck.

“Transformers—in that they are able to change form. I have only seen them change from their natural appearance to humanoid, but it is possible for them to have more forms.”

Nate posed, “So, how do you know that Josh was not Quavetezhdan?”

“A DNA test and there are certain instances that a Quavetezhdan cannot transform or stay in a transformed state—one is when they are sleeping and the other is in more intimate settings.” Everyone was silent for a moment. “I understand we are saving everyone inflicted by this disease, but I find it hard to care about a race of people who tortured me in such horrific ways. I will, of course, but I find it difficult.”

Zebby spoke up, “Of course, you do, but you are not going to want to make that trip to Kilo-Ait anytime soon. There is a bounty on your head of one trillion dollars to bring you back there, so they can kill you.”

“Where did you hear this from?”

“One of our team members on Kilo Ait. He said he overheard it at an Island Committee meeting as he is posing as one of their guards.”

“Okay,” Jake stated, looking over at me, “so going to Kilo Ait is out of the question.”

I shook my head and said with grave deliberation, “No, we are still going.”

I ate a few bites before I answered, staring at the food, “You know how there are snipers in war?” When he nodded, I continued, “They were killing people, making me watch, and they held me back from helping them. I could have at least saved some of them.”

He put down his burger and lifted my chin. “That's horrible. Especially to a doctor.” He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “Thank you for confiding in me.”

“That's only part of what happened. They wanted me to create diseases that would take out populations. Diseases that looked like normal ones, so no one would suspect.”

“Did you--”

I picked at my ziti while holding his gaze. “Create this one? No, this one was sloppy. It is supposed to blend in. This one has hallmark signs that it was humanly engineered.” I ate a piece, then sipped my soda before I continued, “When Josh contracted it, I worked hard to try and save him. I brought in every expert I knew…and still couldn't save him.”

Jake picked up his burger and took another bite of it. “But you are saving people’s lives by that therapy you discovered.”

I nodded, then whispered, “But it will not be enough. It will never be enough to atone for all those lives that I was forced to let die.”

“Colonel Kassidy, this is Henrick Balsam. I have some information I think you might find interesting. I knew your late husband Josh. I grew up with him and Peter on the Island. Peter, Adam and I were not as free as Joshua, of course, but the kids who were trained in useful skills like engineering or medicine were able to leave with the understanding that there was a return date. If you didn't return, you would be executed. Adam not returning got him killed. Peter and my return date is in six months. We need to figure out who these people are and to stop them.”

“You think that the leaders of the Island--Josh's family--is behind my brothers death?”

“It is run by a committee of people. Josh’s family is the only members we know, but we don't know the mastermind…or who ordered the hit, but yes, I do believe that the Island Committee killed Adam because he wouldn't return. I know that they use this University to work on hush-hush projects. One of which I believe is this epidemic you are investigating. I am sending you what I have to collaborate my theory. You comb through it and see if we have anything. If you have any questions, let me know.” Then the line went dead.

I moved my way out of the room and back down the hallway to see Jake coming toward me.

“We had to put the Wheaton family on your cocktail of medications for the disease,” Jake advised me, turning me around, helping me to negotiate our way out of the Hospital maze. “We had to get it under control. Apparently, most of the patients we worked on have it.”

“I am not surprised.” Once we finally made it out of the Hospital, he led me to the TravelTram. We took it to the Food Court. Sitting at a corner table in the back, I punched a baked ziti with a soda into the terminal screen embedded into the table. Jake typed in his order.

Then he looked at me and smiled. Taking my hand, he whispered, “We did well in there today. What did your source say?”

“He thinks the Island Committee had Adam killed because he didn't return by the date they told him to. Peter and my source have six months to return to captivity or be killed. We have to solve this by then because I know that I didn't want to meet my family, but now I want to get to know my brother and sister and their families. If we can help them stay alive and shut down the Island Committee…oh my lands, what if…”

“What if?”

“What if they killed Josh? He was a kid of a member of the Island Committee, but apparently his father was only one of the members. I was led to believe that Josh’s father was the head guy, but that may not be true. Nevertheless, he was my way out of that place.”

The android server who was a blond-haired, blue-eyed woman dressed in black slacks and a long-sleeved, white shirt interrupted our conversation with our meals. She slipped a burger, which lay on a pillow of fries, in front of Jake before setting down a soda. She put my ziti and soda near me. Then she scurried off to the kitchen. Jake and I shot each other an amused glance. “I told them that we need more varied types of androids to serve in the Food Court. They cannot all look like her.”

Jake raised the Privacy Wall around us, so no one could eavesdrop. “You think that Josh’s father would order a hit on his own son,” he returned to the original conversation, picking up his burger and putting it to his mouth, “that he did not have enough clout to save his son? And through this disease? Adam was killed in an explosion, wasn’t he? And why would they kill your sister-in-law and a lot of innocents?” He took a bite of his burger.

“Josh is dead? He was Adam and my best friend growing up.”

“Two years ago. He died of the disease. The one we have. I don't know if you know this, but he and I married to get me out of captivity. I was there for six months too…and he took a liking to me. It gave me an advantage in negotiations to release our parents, then Josh died.”

“Do you have kids beside the one with…” He gestured toward the hallway.

“My oldest daughter is Jake's, but Charlotte and Spencer were Josh's, and then there is Adam's kids. What about you?”

“I have two boys with my wife Sarah. They are twelve and thirteen—Ethan and Liam. Our sister Brianna is married to Brett and have four children—two girls—Hope and Francesca and two boys—Logan and Samuel. Of course, Adam was married to Aubry and had Max and Zac.”

“How does the birth order go? I am presuming I am the oldest.”

He nodded. “You are, then me, Brianna and Adam. I still cannot believe our younger brother is gone. I could not believe you took in his children when you never met him or them.”

“The Freedom Alliance couldn’t find anyone who was family, so they crossed the kids’ DNA with anyone in our intergalactic databases, and I matched them. They are a part of my family now, so I will not give them up without a fight.”

“No one is asking you to.” He tilted his head to the side to look at me. “You thought I would come here to take Max and Zac away from you?”

I nodded. “I have people fight me for everything I have, including my children, so…”

He shook his head. “Absolutely not. We are not uprooting them again. At this point, after their parents died, they need a stable environment.”

“I totally agree.”

“What is the deal with that Jake guy?”

“It is complicated. He and I met in high school. We were engaged. I kept putting off marrying him. We had Zariah, had a big fight and then he has spent the last ten years in captivity while I raised Zariah who is now fourteen.”

“Do you still love him? It is obvious he is still into you.”

I nodded. “However, a lot has happened to me in that ten years too.”

“I know all this must be overwhelming for you…and you are going to want a DNA test to confirm what I am saying. I am also thinking you are going to want to speak with all your contacts to collaborate my story.”

“Spoken like a true Federal Agent. I just have to give the information to my Clue Club sisters. We will know who you are by tomorrow night at the latest.” I didn’t see any signs of worry or anxiety. “Jessa is the heir to the IIB. Alex is an empath. Zebby is my best friend. All of them have my back.”

“Does Jake know you are IIB?”

I nodded. “On my current case, he is my partner. I don’t usually take on partners. I find they slow down the process because I have to run everything by them, but I don’t mind working with Jake on this one.” I sipped my drink before admitting, “Yes, I will want a DNA test, but I will also do a thorough background check. I don’t trust easily.”

“I don’t blame you. I am that way too. I think it comes with the job. I am here for a few days, so where do I bunk?”

“Let’s see—”

Jake called over the music, down the hallway, “He can stay in one of the rooms on my side of the quarters.”

“He wants to observe you,” I advised Peter, pointing toward Jake’s side of the quarters. “As long as you are on the up and up, you should be fine. Jake is good people, but he cannot stand people to hurt the ones he loves…and he loves me.”

He moved off the barstool and headed down the hall.

Once Jake got Peter settled in, he moved back down the hallway and came over to me. I put my hand up. “I am going to take the fingerprints from his mug and run them. I am going to test his DNA and run it against mine. We are going to give his name to our contacts…and we are going to make sure he is above board.”

“I didn’t break up with you. We had a fight…and we needed time to cool off. We would have worked it out eventually.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think we would have. I don’t get over people telling me that they never loved me…that no one ever could love me…that I was way out of your league, that I was nothing but white trash.”

“What are you talking about? I never said any of that. I would never say any of that.”

“CHIP, play JRBU.”

Jake’s voice played, “Jordana, I am relieved that things are out in the open. I am glad you know now that I have never loved you. It was fun slumming with you, but how could you think I would ever love you? I was just getting back at my parents for divorcing. I could not love white trash like you. You will never amount to anything. No one will ever love a girl like you who sleeps with other men and passes someone else’s daughter off as mine. We are through, and I hope you get all you deserve.”

Jake’s eyes widened. “I know that sounds like me, but I did not say any of that. I don’t know who faked my voice to send that to you, but it was not me. You have to believe me.”

“It matches your voice print.”

“Then someone patched together parts of my voice, but I did not say that nor could I ever. How could you ever think that I would say that?”

“We had that fight, and then the next day, this was left for me. As angry as you were, it made perfect sense that you would want to stick it to me and hurt me.”

“Which is why I don’t understand why you kept it.”

“Because proving that recording wrong became my sole mission in life outside of work and our daughter.”

When I saw the stricken look on his face, I said with grave deliberation, “I am sorry. I tricked you. I knew I would know by the look on your face whether you sent it. You clearly didn't. I didn’t think you did because we have a connection…and I could not reconcile the connection with that recording, but who knows? You could have been a talented actor. Again, I am sorry.”

“I am relieved that you really didn’t believe I sent it. The question is who did because I take issue with someone making you think I don’t love you…and never have. That is absolute rubbish. I loved you before you ever loved me. Who would send that to you?”

“Oh, I don't know. Maybe the person who got a DNA test done on my daughter…and once she found out that Zariah was yours, tried to prove I was an unfit mother because I travel the galaxy with her in tow, so she could take my daughter and raise her. I have had Child Services investigate me so many times that they banned her from filing any more complaints against me.”

He stared straight ahead. “My mother.”

“I don't know for sure, but she is an Engineer and has the ability to put that recording together…and she is the person in your family who hates me. I don’t think she liked you dating a white girl, but that is neither here nor there. She is the only one who caused me trouble about Zariah after you were captured.”

“I don’t understand her interest in torturing you and Zariah. I cut them out of my life when they made me choose you or them. I chose you.”

“I don't know. It is possible it is not her, but who else would want me to believe that you never loved me…and that no one would ever love me…”

“The fact that she tried to take my daughter away from her mother is a problem whether or not she was the originator of that recording. I am starting to see why you are hesitant to be with me again.”

“I am surprised that you still would want to be with me considering that bombshell I told all of you.”