Read Moron's Guide to Surviving the Space Race Page 14
With that last scene in my head, the memory faded away. I sat there looking at the amulet and decided to roll the dice. “You’re right, Martha. I lied to you.” She didn’t say anything, or even indicate that she had heard me. I knew she had however.
“Look, Martha, I’m still pissed at Gabby. If it hadn’t been for her, I wouldn’t be in this mess! I’d be somewhere in Las Vegas probably, finding a good job, and starting my new life! But no. I’m stuck running around out in space with no real plan. The money I won off Jim in our gambling match is nice, but all of it went to actually getting this ship to the point where it isn’t a flying death trap! When I found out she was trying to swindle Dave into coming back to Vegas and dooming him to a fate worse than death mining Moon dust in the middle of nowhere, all I wanted to do was shut her ass down. Best way to do that is Mark.” I took a deep breath and blew out a long sigh.
“So yeah, I lied to you. I set this up so I could stop them from doing this to any of my other friends. Truth is, she probably already sent half of them to that mining operation anyway and no one is looking for them. I’m not doing this for Gabby. I could care less about her. I’m doing this for everyone she hurt and probably will hurt. Fred taking her out is the best thing that could happen in this situation.”
I heard the intercom click back on. “If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be here.” Martha informed me. I waited but that was all she said.
“You can’t say that Martha. She didn’t know who you were. You don’t owe her anything.” I explained.
“You don’t owe Dave or anyone else in that situation anything. If they were going to let her dupe them, then that is their fault.” She argued.
“Touché. What’s your point?” I didn’t like having my own logic thrown back in my face.
“From what you are saying, it appears you’re going after Mark to help people that didn’t really do anything for you. But Mark gave you the money, the ship, and sent you on your way. He gave you your freedom. By that same token, he gave me mine.” I couldn’t see where she was going with this, but I had a feeling I was probably not going to like it.
“Okay, so we owe Mark? He set me up to die!”
“But you didn’t. He could have had his guy wait until after you were dead to kill Jim.”
“True, but he was doing that because he wants to be able to use me later. That’s how guys like Mark operate.”
“What do you get out of Dave? What do you get out of helping those at the mining operation? They can never know it was you that helped them, because if they did, you would wind up with a serious price on your head if all that I have read is true about organized crime. Nothing you are doing makes sense, Jack.”
“Fine, Martha, I don’t get anything helping any of them. I understand that and already knew it going in.”
“Then why?” She hit me with the hard question.
I sat there and went over everything in my head. I’m not sure exactly why, but I couldn’t help but want to continue this conversation. After a minute or so, I finally had an answer.
“Because it isn’t right, letting them get away with it. I’m not going all Superman or whatever, but if I can do something to stop this or at least fix it a little then at least I can look myself in the mirror and not feel like a total sleaze ball.” I explained to her.
“In for a penny, in for a pound.” Martha said to me.
“How is that relevant?”
“You are putting yourself at risk to do something noble. Even though your reasons aren’t noble or even logical. So if you are going to put yourself into this, than commit. Melanie and Jared used to have this argument all the time about their relationship. Why hold back? If you are going to do this, why stop yourself from doing it? We go through the Chung Crossing and even if we die, at least we know we are doing it for something noble.”
“If I’m going to roll the dice for profit, why am I not willing to roll them for noble causes when either way I’m still getting something out of it? That what you’re asking?” I asked her.
“More or less.” She informed me.
“Way to wrap me up in my own words, Martha. Why are you pushing for us to take the crossing anyway? Ultimately Gabby and Steve aren’t really that important. I could just drop an anonymous tip and forward your recording to the Feds over in Vegas.”
“Would that make any difference?” When she asked that, I sat back and contemplated the issue.
“It would take out Fred, and also save Gabby. Plus put a stop to the slavery ring.”
“But then you would have to find out who Mark hired next to do his dirty work. If you take out Fred, you won’t know who it is that takes his place. Most likely he already has a backup plan ready to be put in place.” Martha countered.
I sat back and sighed in frustration. “So the only option is to save Gabby, let Steve be buried, and move on from there.”
“Better, you get Gabby, then turn her over to the police and have her cut a deal. You lose the slavery ring, but you leave Fred in place.”
“Do what Fred is supposed to do only sooner. Plus, Mark will just explain it away as coming. The problem is Gabby being a moondust addict. She won’t roll on her source and even if we show her this, she’ll just run to him with it.” I thought about it for a moment. Then the light bulb in my brain turned on. “I have a better idea…”