Unforeseen Help
by Sarah Baethge
copyright 2012 Sarah Baethge
Everything within this is either a product of the author’s imagination or its name/description is used fictitiously.
Part 2
Standing outside the head security office on the first floor, under the sign proudly proclaiming that said office was manned by: Captain Randy Turner; Kreft and Parker waited until the officer on duty left for his lunch. Sam could not get past the feeling that this office invasion was all going just a bit too easily when the two of them simply ducked into the unlocked office moments after the ‘security’ chief left for his lunch. Once inside, Way lost no time as he instantly started searching through objects on the desk for vehicle keys. Still on shaky feet, the lanky mercenary leaned against the door to keep it shut as his eyes fell on something he had never imagined coming upon in a public spaceport. He didn’t know if the contents of the room were more unsavory, or if it was the bizarre fact that the man he was with (who was supposedly out for ‘liberty’) didn’t even seem fazed to come upon what Samuel could only hope was an unusual situation upon this planet; but whatever the case, the scene before him simply radiated wrongness.
“What the Hell…” What Parker found disturbing was that sitting within the office, like any other ordinary piece of furniture, was a maybe 4 foot cube cage. Under lock within the cage was a somewhat scrawny and helpless looking man. Samuel couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something just wrong, almost dead, about the man’s eyes and the way in which he was watching the two invaders move through the room. “Who are you??” Parker finally asked the captive in an attempt just to kill his creepy lifeless watch.
“Don’t get involved,” Kreft commented quietly, as if by speaking under his breath he could just ignore the inconvenience of the unexpected prisoner. “We can do without giving them more reason to try and follow us.”
“Oh, come on!” The caged man pleaded. The look on his face was momentarily angry before he fell back with bitter laughter. “Yes, I can see that you two are busy, but it sure doesn’t look as if you’re on their side. I’m thinking we all have some of the same enemies here. I’ll admit, after what they did to me, I’d probably slow you down a bit, sure; but, if you’re against them, as it looks, I can only wish you guys the best of luck… Really, please just let me out of this cage, here. If we all go different ways they might follow me instead of you. If we go together, I’m sure I’ve a trick or two you might find to be of some use.”
Parker was left with an unsure look on his face, but it was Kreft who answered; “I’m sorry dude, we can’t afford to be slowed down. That’s the only reason we’re after a vehicle in the first place. No offence man, but you just don’t look right. I’m not all that comfortable setting free someone I don’t think is able to stay alive on his own. We can certainly do without getting stopped where the cops find a dead body in a stolen vehicle; or if we leave you alone out there, we’ll never quite know for sure if we caused your death or what...”
The man in the cage was quiet for a moment as he hugged his own chest. “Saying no offence doesn’t really make your foretelling of my death sting any less.” He pointed at a closet, “The keys you are looking for should be in the pocket of the coat in that cabinet. I’m pretty sure the key ring has the number for the license plate of the corresponding vehicle.”
Kreft and Parker looked at each other in surprise for a moment then both tried to thank the prisoner they now felt quite fortunate to have met, but the man had turned around, sitting with his back to them in the cage. Way cursed his self, and tried not to notice how the man they had not helped grew unnaturally still as if he no longer had the will to even breathe.
Parker may have been willing to do repulsive deeds for pay; but generally, when no money was involved, he liked to do what seemed like the right thing. “You really want to just leave him?” Questioningly, he took a step or two towards the closet Kreft was opening without realizing what he was doing. Angrily; the man who seldom found himself without an audience (when anyone knew his identity or whereabouts), came to realize that the TGR man, who knew his exactly who he was, was still seeming to ignore his words. Have I not been heard or what? It had been a while since someone who knew Sam’s full name had tried to argue with him. This stand-in rebel chief better not be acting callous just to try and impress me.
It was one thing for people to want his praise; but Parker had had enough of his ‘fans’ attempting to fascinate him with shows of their own cruelty. “Look man,” Sam tried to convince the guy he found himself stuck working with by acting unconcerned. Thinking; If it’s what the man wants; I can just be the cool guy here, he tried to sound as if he knew what he was talking about. “I’ve been around.
“If you can easily have someone owe you, it never hurts.” Realizing that he was now about halfway across the room mid-way through his advice, his mind said; hey! I can get the hang of walking here! What was I saying..? “-And anyway,” he tried to get his rhythm of speech back; “isn’t your supposed movement about ‘helping the innocents?’”
Kreft wasn’t looking towards Parker as he fished through the pockets of a cold weather coat he had found in the cabinet; although somehow, the idea of having a mass murderer/killer for hire get mad at how he treated others kind of rubbed him wrong. “Since when do you even care about the innocents?” The words practically hissed under his breath, as his mind was elsewhere. There! He nearly cried out loud in joy as his hand came upon something metal; this has got to be the key ‘cage dude’ was speaking of! Pulling the car key out of the pocket; Way started turning back towards that annoying little-kid looking Parker and the door “YOU have got to be the least qualified person in the universe to remind me-“
When someone, unnoticed, has come up right behind another, that person who has been stealthily approached is often startled.
To turn away from a secretive action only to find that an unexpected seven foot witness is suddenly looming right over you, and acting highly interested in whatever you have been doing; that would give most people bit of a start. Kreft dropped the key and shrieked in shock, jumping back with heart racing; but quickly he noted the lack of threat that the figure held for him specifically. Unfortunately, just as Way was noticing how misplaced his sudden fear had been, he also realized that the unexpected shriek had startled Parker into jumping backwards.
On most days, Parker would have simply slammed against the empty desk and gotten a good bruise or two for his trouble; but the desk was not empty, not today. Today it was covered by a full scale model depicting how the multi-leveled spaceport main building connected with the habitat and the surrounding lands where the storage spaces for the removable disembarking tubes (that would connect a spacecraft with its lobby) were and where garages that the space vehicles would be eventually parked in were located. Security was trying to determine where it would be best to locate a new office to watch over the landing and takeoff areas.
As in recent months the Registered Guard Trustees and the Supreme Shield had become nearly openly hostile to each other; the RGT was attempting to keep a closer watch on the luggage transported by spacecraft that came from or left to SS planets. Tighter restrictions on passengers allowed arriving at or leaving from Zandor were clearly in the foreseeable future; but so far the ‘Trustees had carefully avoided taking any actions that could be construed as openly anti-‘Shield. Clearly, as much as they disagreed with certain foreign powers; the political leaders of the planet weren’t quite ready to anger their foes in such a way that could provoke an all out intergalactic war.
But anyway, the surprised Parker found himself startled in
to jumping backwards upon the giant model covering the desk behind where he had been standing. Samuel may have been skinny, but the plastic model portraying the multiple pointed towers of the spaceport complex was not designed to withstand such a beating from a full grown man. He felt and heard the pieces cracking and falling around himself as his head slammed harder than he could have believed against the desk. The world went white.
Later, when thinking of the events that followed, Samuel could never quite remember the time between when he was on top of the desk, and a moment that had to be soon afterwards where he was laying on the floor with Kreft kneeling over him; grabbing his shoulders and shaking. “Wake up man! We made it down all of those stairs! Don’t you quit on me yet!”
Way was determined to deliver the mercenary now! He was unexpectedly beginning to actually like the guy. ‘The Evil Sir Samuel P.’s worry for that twerp in the cage could almost argue against his supposed heartlessness. If nothing else, Kreft wasn’t ready to be known as the one who avenged the Earth. Parker might have had more than his share of enemies out there; but like every well known performer of some legendary unspeakable deed, he was likely to have his own set of freakishly die-hard fans. And just because it would make people laugh, the TGR man knew he probably wouldn’t be able to resist telling the story of how he had managed to fell the supposed ’Infamous Hazard’ by shrieking like a little girl; so the story just can’t be true.
The man in the cage, of course, had heard the clatter and bang that came with Parker crashing through the model, and so was quick to turn around. He couldn’t get a clear sight of the two men (who were now on the other side of the desk chair), but he knew there was little chance that he could have been the only one to have heard the commotion. As they both seem to be moving, he tried to think quickly, if they can manage to get out of sight before anyone comes to check out that noise; I’ll find a way to take the blame.
“Hurry, get in that cabinet! Someone’s sure to come!” the prisoner whisper-pleaded across the room. Kreft wasn’t exactly sure about relying on a man he had just refused to help. Parker, who was somewhat unwilling to even risk standing up at the moment, didn’t stop and think twice about trust; he just quickly crawled on hands and knees into the closet. “Get in! Get in!” the prisoner urgently whispered to Kreft, “if you’re hidden, I might can talk your way out of here! If they see you they’ll shoot first before asking questions.”
Kreft almost asked the hostage just how he planned to explain the wreckage to the model, but when he looked over at the cage where the man they were left with no choice but to trust was; the poor caged fool now seemed to be busy attempting to pull the laces out of his own shoes. Way could think of no explanation for that action except to sadly conclude; that imbecile in the cage, on whom our lives probably depend, is literally insane.
Trying not to think of his chances, the scared rebel grabbed an elastic-lined wig that had unexpectedly been pulled off of his hired mercenary’s head as it smashed through a model tower in the fall. Using it to quickly wipe up a spot of blood or two, he raced into the closet after the other man. Closing the doorway as much as possible against their two forms; Kreft Way and Samuel Parker watched, almost in disbelief, as their unasked for help came from a man called Lenny.
Rolling up one of his shoelaces into a ball, the caged man tossed it so that it landed within the broken model parts on the desk. Kreft (who was getting a bit annoyed at all of the shoelace-fun) nearly demanded that the moron quit playing around and focus on what he was doing; except that as soon as the warning entered his mind, a security man (not the man who had been working in the office) entered the room with his weapon drawn, and looked disapprovingly at the detainee.
Confused for a moment, the lone security man looked over at the broken model. “Just how did you manage this one, Lineal? If I didn’t know better, I’d say you weren’t alone.” Turning completely away from the cage to which he had been talking; the spaceport security crewman walked over and took a closer look at the ruined mock up in disbelief.
Not wanting him to possibly notice the slightly ajar cabinet, Lenny folded his remaining shoestring in two, and used his finger to launch it across the room. With perfect aim, (or perhaps a bit of luck…); the shoelace snapped directly against the back of the guard’s head. Slapping the back of his head the guard turned around. “What in the world…” In a bit of surprise he stared at the shoelace on the floor before looking angrily towards the prisoner
-who was pointing the security man’s way and laughing hysterically, before launching into an almost giddy array of questions; “-but just how could I have done that? I must not be alone! Yes, are you gonna search all over for my entire clandestine band of secret friends? Wait, if I’m all alone and I couldn’t have done that, will you set up a new model and get me some new shoes? My feet must be quite state of the art, I’m thinking! I wouldn’t want to damage them… Oh darn, will this mess up the new security plans?” *smile* “I’m sorry, that probably means they’ll punish you since Randy’s still at lunch and all.” *!grin!* “You don’t happen to be held responsible for my actions right now, do you?”
As the somewhat mindless chatter didn’t seem to be getting to any type of an end with Lenny’s expression growing ever more joyous; the guard, who didn’t care to hear of his own probable blame for the wreckage, had moved so that he was now standing directly over the cage staring angrily downwards. “Just shut up.” said the guard, reaching past his hand-cuffs as he traded his pistol for something else. The evil glint within his eyes made his hatred of Lineal more than clear as he detached the device from his work-belt.
The move was almost enough to stop Lenny’s carefree monologue, but unwilling to lose the full attention of the officer who obviously held some new threat for him; the prisoner continued, although, the tone of his taunting threats had lost its happy zing began to sound almost like a frightened whine.
“Wait now! Are you actually trying to intimidate me with your damn remote?? You fool; I made that thing myself! Not for use against me, mind you… But anyway, I KNOW! You can’t even kill me with that! Think now, after what all you people’ve done to me do you think I’d really balk at a little pain! It’s pointless! You-“at this point, an agonized squeal was all that came out of the little man’s mouth as his figure within the cage fell flat. The guard momentarily held the remote he was still depressing pointed at the prisoner, even after his victim’s voice had petered out with the loss of consciousness.
After a moment Randy Turner (the officer who actually controlled the office) came back from his lunch-break. Looking over at his fellow employee, the captain covered his nose. “Oh, geeze; I know he can be annoying, but did you really have to come in here just so you could zap him ‘til you singed something so early in the day? I’m still supposed to work in here and now it smells like burnt flesh! How did he even bother you, as you’re stationed out in the hallway? Do you just get it off on zapping some dork in a cage? That’s messed up.”
“Hey look,” the man from outside said; pointing over at the broken model. “He found some way to break what you were working on with his shoelace. Then he started on about how he was gonna get me blamed for it. My first thought was to just give him a bit of hurt. You can blame him, anyway; he just egged me on with reminders of how I couldn’t really hurt him, so I guess I got a little carried away...”
“You better hope he’s right and you didn’t actually hurt him. From what I understand, more than a bit of trouble has been taken to keep this one alive. RGT think they might still need the great ‘mind of Lineal’ for getting around the SS. Don’t ask me how they plan on securing his cooperation. I’m just pretty sure that’s why they brought him here, though; they want to be able to present him quickly to off planet interests, or something.”
Turner frowned at the broken model; took a final doubtful look in his prisoner’s direction, and started back towards his office door. “Now get on out of here,” he called to the hallway guard.”
I’m gonna have to bring the architect who’s on his way out to this complex up to the model on the seventeenth floor. It may not have the storage spaces for the tubes and all, but we’re already paying to have the guy come all the way out here from the North. That model’s better than nothing.”
And so, the two guards left the security office. They never even suspected that right within the little closet hid two of the very men who were responsible for the heightened security measures that the RGT was attempting to enact.