Floxham Island ~ Sinclair V-Log AZ267/M (3 page)

Nembier was
still a little bleary eyed when I went to do the interview with him
but at least he was awake enough for me to do what I had to do so I
could get to my appointment with the hairdresser and skin
therapist. As an official law enforcement freelancer, there is a
set procedure I have to go through once I’ve captured my target.
It’s not my job to ascertain anyone’s guilt or innocence but I do
have to make sure I have the right guy and let them know why
they’re being restrained and what I intend to do with them. Digging
out my digital scanner, I brought up Nembier’s fingerprint record,
retinal scan and DNA record and entered the quarantine room.

“Good afternoon
Professor Nembier,” I smiled.

“Huh?” he
grunted as he ran a hand through his hair and avoided my eyes.
“What the fuck are you talking about? My name is Tallion.” It was
hard for me to suppress a snigger as I prepared a fresh blood
sampler.

“Well okay
let’s find out shall we?” I challenged as I turned to face him,
blood sampler and scanner in hand. “Hold out your thumb please,
this won’t hurt a bit.” My eyes locked challengingly into his as I
took a second step towards him and he backed away. “What’s up Mr
umm Tallion,” I said as I took a third step forward. “It won’t
hurt; I just need a blood sample to prove you are indeed Mr Tallion
and not Professor Nembier as I first thought.” He backed away a bit
more, his eyes never leaving the blood sampler in my hand.

“I umm, I don’t
like the sight of blood,” he offered. This statement almost made me
whoop out loud with glee and I mentally gave myself a high five as
he unwittingly helped me win the bet I’d placed with myself. In
this job you have to find your entertainment wherever you can and
as I said, I like to think of myself as an excellent judge of
character. It has become a habit for me to continually test my
people skills and one of the things I do is try to guess which
excuse the target will use first to avoid the blood sampler. The
two most often used are a fear of needles and not liking the sight
of blood. Nembier struck me right away as a guy who was okay with
needles. He’s not the type to fret over something silly like a
blood sampler so I went with him hating the sight of blood and he’d
just won me another fifty. It took all my control not to thank
him.

“Don’t worry Mr
Tallion you won’t see any blood,” I assured him in my most
authoritative tone as I took a fourth step towards him. “This unit
is completely self contained and everything is done inside the
thumb sleeve.” That fourth step took me too far inside his comfort
zone and he leapt up and backed across the room yelling at me to
get away. Sighing with annoyance, I turned and nodded to the
medical aides who I had already arranged to be watching through the
one way glass and waited for them to enter and restrain him. Two
mountainous men entered and approached him assertively and had him
firmly restrained within seconds. Within another thirty seconds I
got my blood sample, took a scan of his fingerprint and retina and
within another two minutes I confirmed him as being Professor
Kluvak Nembier. He sat on the edge of the bed as I packed away my
scanner and blood sampler and I watched him closely as I clicked on
my digital recorder. A weird feeling coursed through me and I
suddenly felt sorry for the guy as he sat there with his head in
his hands looking scared and for a moment I could’ve almost
believed him to be innocent.

“Professor
Kluvak Nembier,” I said as I began the speech that was so familiar.
“My name is Sinclair. I am a Freelance Law Enforcer, tag reference
code Sinclair 27593-4/167AZP and it is my duty to inform you that I
now place you under restraint as per warrant code AZ267/M. You
shall remain under restraint until such time as I deliver you into
the care of the relevant authorities on Floxham 4 where you are to
be questioned in connection with nine murders on Agrillia 3.” After
noting the date and time, I clicked off the recorder and scanned it
into the record along with the identification details I’d taken
from him. “Thank you very much for your co-operation Professor,” I
smiled as I turned and left the room. If I hurried I might still
make that haircut appointment.

She seemed
delighted when I gave her a large tip. She’d done an excellent job
on my hair and I was genuinely pleased as I checked myself out in
the mirror in her salon on deck five. Not too much off, just a tidy
up and a zap of Tricholox to thicken it up and give it more body.
Tricholox is marvellous stuff for those of us not blessed with
naturally thick and luxuriant hair. I’m no scientist so the
minutiae of how it works isn’t exactly my thing. All I know is that
after they give you several injections all over your scalp it makes
the hair twice as thick as it is naturally and lasts for three or
four months before needing a top up. She smiled and I winked at her
as I left the salon and headed next door for my dermal appointment.
A pretty red headed gal smiled at me as I entered and gave my name.
She offered me a drink while I waited and I was soon enjoying a
cold Andolian beer. A leggy blonde appeared and bade me follow her
into a cubicle where I was soon hooked up to a dermal optimiser.
This machine is a one step skin perfecting machine that cleans,
smoothes, tightens and freshens all in one go. Cold goo is spread
all over the face and then they put this thin fabric mask thing
over the top. The machine has a sort of helmet that comes down over
your face like a close fitting space helmet and when they switch it
on you can feel your skin tingle and the muscles of the face
tighten up. It feels strange but it’s not painful and when you’re
done, the whole effect is a cleaner, fresher and younger looking
face. When the procedure was finished I was pleased. In the space
of one afternoon I’d got my man restrained, been installed within a
first class cabin with private bathroom and offered a free cruise,
had my hair seen to and several years taken off my face. The leggy
blonde also received a large tip along with my Unicom number just
in case, and I went to check out what other delights the liner
offered.

CHAPTER
TWO

As I think back
now, I’ve been doing this job for almost fifteen years and in all
that time I haven’t taken much time off and I can’t remember the
last time I actually had a holiday, so when Captain Hann offered me
the run of the liner for the three days it would take to get to
Floxham 4, I took full advantage. Apart from checking in with
Nembier every day to make sure he was behaving himself, my time was
my own and I spent my days relaxing by the pool on the sun deck and
my nights enjoying the leggy blonde. Boy did she know how to please
a guy and it was with more than a little reluctance that I checked
in with Hann on the morning before our arrival at Floxham 4 to
thank him for his hospitality.

“Thank you
Captain for your hospitality,” I smiled as I extended my hand.
“I’ll have Nembier installed in my ship once we get into orbit
around Floxham and we’ll be out of your hair.” He shook my hand and
offered me a seat before making me an offer I still don’t know to
this day I was wise to accept. It seemed like the sensible thing to
do at the time so I didn’t hesitate and maybe the leggy blonde was
partly to blame.

“You’re very
welcome Mr Sinclair but there’s really no need to take your own
ship down to Floxham. As I told you when you first arrived on
board, we have supplies and visitors to deliver to the prison,
after which the liner continues on to The Oasis. After a day in the
sun we return to pick up the visitors, before continuing with the
cruise. If you wish, you can tag along in our shuttle for the trip
and continue with us after we return to pick you all up; at least
until you get yourself another job. You’re more than welcome to
remain on board for as long as you wish and I will admit that
having an official law enforcer on board is good for passenger
morale.”

This was the
defining moment of the job. Looking back on it now in the cold
light of day, I could’ve done so many things differently but at the
time it seemed the obvious thing to do and despite everything, I
was beginning to like Hann and our little power game that I was
happy to let him win so he would remain gracious and helpful. It
didn’t take me long to accept and the thought of spending a few
more nights with the blonde’s long legs wrapped round me was more
than a little persuasive. Memories of her and the skill with which
she lured me into a state of complete euphoria soon had me smiling
as I returned to my room to packed my stuff before making a trip to
my ship for anything I thought I might need, and how many times
since then I’ve wondered whether I made the right decision, I can’t
begin to count.

An area at the
rear of the shuttle was blocked off with some spare wall boards so
Nembier could be adequately restrained without the passengers
getting upset at seeing him. Two of Hann’s security guards returned
with me to the quarantine room and together with the two
mountainous medical aides who helped me get the blood sample from
him three days before, the five of us had him installed within the
shuttle without a fuss. Hann shook my hand once again as the
passengers and crew loaded and I was pleased to see that Flark, who
I found out was actually called Commander Morry Laymon, would be
Captain for our sojourn to Floxham. Try as I might, I just couldn’t
see him as Morry; he’d always be Flark to me. Thirty minutes later
we left the belly of the Sally B and headed down towards Floxham
Island. It would make me feel a whole lot better about things if I
was able to say that I had some inner dread as we approached the
prison but I’d be unnecessarily dramatic and totally wrong if I
did. It was with relative calm that I whistled to myself and looked
at the other passengers and not once did I feel any kind of dark
cloud inside, no deep foretelling of impending doom hammering at my
skull to put me on my guard. Since then I’ve wished so often that I
did have some kind of dark foreboding that day; many lives would’ve
been saved if I had but then many more might’ve been doomed to be
lost later on.

Let me tell you
a little about Floxham Island, just so you can get the feel of the
place. It’s one of my regular delivery points so I’ve been there a
few times with what I call my cargo and it’s not a place I really
enjoy visiting. Floxham 4 is an uninhabited planet with a
mountainous and deeply forested environment. Although I say
uninhabited that’s not strictly true; it is inhabited but not by
people. A long time ago the Inter Galactic Law Enforcement Agency
decided, in its wisdom, to build an outpost there where prisoners
could be tried, sentenced and incarcerated all in the one place and
where all of the forensic testing and evidence could be processed
on site. They cleared several square miles of forest but before
they could begin to build, they had to dig a deep trench three
hundred feet deep and five hundred across. The purpose of the
trench was to keep the indigenous animal life out of the complex so
the builders could do their job in safety. You see, Floxham 4 is
home to huge predatory creatures; millions of them roam the entire
planet and no one would survive long beyond that trench. That’s one
of the main reasons they built the prison there; the knowledge of
the creatures ensures none of the prisoners dare try to escape.

The prison is a
self contained living environment, like a small town and not only
houses the prisoners and the staff but also has accommodations for
visitors and those who work in the other aspects of law
enforcement; judges and court officials etc. Those who visit family
members incarcerated there are allowed a three day visit twice a
year and they spend the whole three days down there and the
accommodations are comfortable despite it being a prison. The food
is good and the staff know how to have a good time and I didn’t
mind being stuck there for three days with Nembier. It’s my job not
just to deliver my cargo, but also to go through some official
stuff with regard to the case, do my report and officially hand
them over and that normally takes the better part of a day anyway.
The leggy blonde wouldn’t be there, which was a shame but there’s
always the hope of a sexy female judge to help me while away the
time.

The prison’s
automated comms system welcomed us as soon as we arrived at the
planet, and guided us down to the landing station that we could see
framed in dull glowing yellow lights below us. Sneaking a look at
my fellow passengers as we descended, I tried to get a handle on
them. People watching is fun and I suppose it’s because of my job
that I’ve become so good at reading people and I find myself
automatically summing people up whenever I meet them, even when
there’s no need. It’s a habit I’ve got into and I don’t feel the
need to stop doing it just yet. They were a mixed bunch; one old
man with a young kid by his side, two guys who looked to be in
their twenties, one of whom had dark brown skin and bright eyes, a
teenage girl and a nice but rather plain young woman. One of the
guys, the solidly built man with deep brown skin was obviously
military; the way he held himself and his firm gaze told me that
right away. The other guy looked a bit soft and seemed to be more
of a thinker than a doer. The plain woman looked tough and I knew
instantly that here was one tough gal that didn’t need a man by her
side to make her feel complete. This woman looked the type who
would argue with you and know she could hold her own in any debate.
She was one of those women who believe that she has what it takes
to survive in any situation, but lacks any actual experience of
having to do so. The teenage girl looked scared and frail but I
could tell she had an amazing strength inside of her that she
hadn’t needed to discover yet. It was the old guy and the kid who
really caught my attention though and I knew right away that there
was a lot that old guy was hiding. He made me feel uneasy but I
didn’t know why and the kid didn’t make me feel any better. As I
looked into the kid’s eyes it was as if he didn’t quite belong in
that body somehow. He made me shiver inwardly and I looked
away.