‘‘You’ve got our attention, Zach,’’ Ona said.
‘‘It’s actually a favor for both the Earth and the Moon.’’
Ona put a finger to her lips, curling the lips ever so slightly. It was simple gesture, but effective. If I wasn’t looking at her holographic image it might have floored me.
‘‘What’s this about, Zach?’’
‘‘The vote tomorrow on the Moon’s freedom. I think you should convince the others to set the Moon free.’’
Ona smiled. ‘‘Zach, I didn’t know you were a Moonie.’’
‘‘I’m not. I just think the people of the Moon should be free.’’
‘‘Why?’’ Twoa asked.
‘‘I agree,’’ Threa said. ‘‘I believe all people should be free.’’
‘‘I’m on the Moon now,’’ I said.
‘‘Yes, we know,’’ Ona said. ‘‘We accepted the call. We found your timing to be incredible as always. What are you doing on the Moon?’’
‘‘I’m tracking the person who killed the council members.’’
Twoa stood up from her lounge chair. ‘‘We already have the Moon sympathizer Shannon Cannon in prison.’’
‘‘Talk to Captain Rickey. There is evidence that Shannon isn’t responsible.’’
All three of the woman shook their heads no. ‘‘We’ve seen that evidence; we’ve decided it’s not credible,’’ Ona said.
‘‘Why isn’t it credible?’’ I asked.
‘‘Because we don’t like it,’’ Twoa said.
‘‘It would just get the public all riled up,’’ Ona said.
‘‘True,’’ Threa agreed, ‘‘no use having the little people think needlessly.’’
‘‘They only need to know what we think they need to know,’’ Twoa added.
These ladies had caught onto how to be politicians very quickly.
‘‘I’m worried about the safety of the Earth if you don’t at the very least put off the vote,’’ I said. ‘‘Give me a little more time.’’
Ona gave me her famous indifferent wave. ‘‘Please, what could the little Moon do to us? Besides, Zach, we don’t give into terrorists or threats.’’
Okay this called for a change in tactics.
‘‘I’ve seen some of the psis here. They really are incredibly powerful,’’ I said. ‘‘If the Earth and Moon got together more, think of the advances we could make.’’
The three ladies laughed. Make no mistake about it, they were laughing
at
me.
‘‘Of course they are powerful,’’ Ona said. ‘‘Their second generations are modeled after us.’’
‘‘What?’’ I shouted.
‘‘Their second generations are modeled after us!’’ Threa shouted back.
‘‘We visited the moon eighteen years ago and sold them some of our DNA,’’ Ona said.
‘‘Why?’’
‘‘We wanted to see the Moon and they made us a great offer. We couldn’t refuse it. At the time we were only mega-rich, not ultra-mega-rich.’’
This was a strange turn of events, one I could tilt in my favor.
‘‘In that case, all the more reason why you should promote better communication with the Moon,’’ I said.
‘‘We’re all for communication with the Moon,’’ Ona said, ‘‘just under our rules.’’
‘‘Come on Ona, you’re supposed to be superintelligent. You know only trouble can come from that.’’
‘‘Zach, even if they could hurt us, we don’t negotiate because of threats.’’
I threw my hands up in the air. This was frustrating on so many levels. I needed to make another change of direction.
‘‘How about doing it because it’s the right thing to do?’’ I said, probably with more venom in my voice than I should have.
The three superladies stood there thinking. ‘‘Take the moral high ground? Interesting . . .’’ Ona said.
‘‘You call yourself superbeings . . .’’
‘‘We are superbeings,’’ Twoa said. ‘‘You’ve fought side by side with me, Zach.’’
‘‘Then act like superbeings,’’ I scolded.
‘‘You would not use that tone if you were on the same planet with us,’’ Ona said, with just a hint of a smile.
‘‘Maybe not,’’ I conceded. ‘‘But you know I’m right. You claim to be superior.’’
‘‘We don’t claim, we
are
superior,’’ Threa said proudly. ‘‘Some things are so obvious they don’t need to be claimed.’’
‘‘Then act it,’’ I said. ‘‘Give the Moon a break. Either vote for freedom or at least hold off the vote. Open up a dialog with them. Talk is good.’’
The three of them just sat there, pondering the possibilities.
Now I had them thinking. It was time to go for the finishing blow. I needed to appeal to their supersized egos.
‘‘This could be your legacy, ladies. Anybody can have superpowers. But how many people can free over a million people?’’
‘‘We can be like supersexy Lincolns,’’ Ona said.
‘‘True,’’ Twoa said.
‘‘I think Lincoln was pretty sexy,’’ Threa said.
‘‘Oh, gross,’’ Ona said.
‘‘Just loved the hat,’’ Threa said.
‘‘He was tall,’’ Twoa said, finger to her lips. ‘‘I do like tall men. They’re more durable. Maybe we should look into having him cloned and joining us on the World Council?’’
I’d tipped the scales in my favor; now it was time to slide the ladies back to reality before they decided to start cloning more politicians from the past. (That sent a shiver up my spine).
‘‘Kennedy had a great look,’’ Twoa said, her eyes off in space. ‘‘I bet we could . . .’’
‘‘So you ladies will do it,’’ I said.
Ona looked at me. ‘‘We’ll take it under consideration,’’ she said.
‘‘Remember, the DNA you free may be some of your own,’’ I said.
Ona smiled. ‘‘You made your point, Zach. We’ll try.’’
‘‘Try hard,’’ I said.
Ona snapped her fingers. The holographic images disappeared.
‘‘Wow,’’ HARV said, coming back online in my brain. ‘‘Not many people talk to Ona like that.’’
‘‘Yeah,’’ I agreed. ‘‘Luckily I’m on another planet.’’ Then it occurred to me, ‘‘You were listening?’’
HARV appeared. He was looking extra smug. ‘‘Of course I was listening.’’
Carol walked into the room. ‘‘I was listening, too.’’
‘‘GUS was too,’’ HARV added.
‘‘I thought you guys couldn’t listen in without me breaking into song,’’ I said.
‘‘We figured Lea put a mental block in you to make you break into song if you THOUGHT you were talking in front of others,’’ HARV said.
‘‘So the shock didn’t break our link?’’ I asked.
HARV just held out his arms and snickered. It’s never fun to get shocked. It’s even less pleasurable to be snickered at by your holographic supercomputer. ‘‘If you didn’t believe it, then it wouldn’t have worked.’’
‘‘You could have shocked me with less voltage,’’ I noted.
‘‘True,’’ was all HARV said as he turned away. He looked at a holographic clock on the wall. He pointed at it, just in case I hadn’t noticed. ‘‘I suggest you clean and rest up for your dinner tonight. It should prove most interesting.’’
‘‘That’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one always getting beat up.’’
‘‘How true,’’ HARV said.
HARV disappeared to wherever HARV goes.
I turned my attention toward Carol. ‘‘You were a part of this?’’
She shrugged. She was lucky she was cute. ‘‘HARV told me the idea. I couldn’t see any other way. At least I got them to lower the voltage.’’
‘‘Thanks,’’ I said.
‘‘I’m pretty sure either Elena or Lea killed those council people,’’ Carol said bluntly.
I nodded. ‘‘Yeah.’’
‘‘That’s all you’ve got? A
yeah
?’’
‘‘Yeah, they are at the top of my list, but I’m not ready to go pointing figures yet.’’
Carol was young, smart, and beautiful but she was still impetuous. She tended to jump then think. Many years and almost as many broken bones have taught me to slow down. I may still jump then think, but now at least I hesitate before I leap. Elena and Lea were the prime suspects, but the case was far from closed, since though the two shared some power and DNA, their motives would be at the opposite ends of the scale. I needed to learn what they would each expect to gain by killing the council members. Plus there are times when the murderer is someone you never expecteduntil it’s almost too late. It can be the loving wife, the devoted school marm. Like my old mentor used to say, usually right before she passed out: ‘‘only thing you can always be certain of is everybody is guilty of something.’’
‘‘We both better prepare for this dinner tonight,’’ I said. ‘‘It’s going to be interesting.’’
Carol smiled. She turned and left the room.
I headed to the showers. I needed to think about this a bit. On the downside, my computer had taken some perverse pleasure in having me shocked. He said there was no other way. He was probably right. I just wish he tried a bit harder for another way. But I knew I could count on HARV when the chips were down.
I had no idea what Earth’s next move was going to be. The powers that be were perfectly happy with the suspect they had locked up in prison. No need to go looking for another, especially one that came with such touchy consequences. My latest conversation hopefully changed all that, at least somewhat. Ona and her sisters were open to looking at other possibilities. My hunch was they wanted damning evidence, just in case they needed it to shove in someone’s face. Actually, knowing those ladies, they would be far more likely to ram damning evidence up somebody’s ass. The question was, whose ass were they looking to ram?
On the Moon side, it was clear to me that Carol was mostly likely right—either Elena or Lea killed the council members. Of course, I wasn’t about to cross Melda off the list either. They all had the power to do it. Did they have the motive? Well, yeah, if you take into account that none of them seemed completely balanced. Elena’s motive could have been to screw with her uncle. Lea’s could be to protect the Moon as a warning to the council . . .
Free us or else
.
Melda was a trickier egg to crack. She didn’t show her power or her emotions as much as her daughter and niece. That didn’t mean that they both weren’t still festering under the surface. She had spent a lot of time with Randy, wrapping him around her long, slender, little finger. Randy’s clearance is top-notch. There’s a lot Melda could have come away with. Even if she didn’t directly kill anybody, she very well could have known what was coming. Did she try to stop it? I doubted it.
The other question was whether Boris ‘‘Bo’’ Sputnik condoned this. My hunch was he not only knew what was going on, he was the linchpin in this whole scheme. Nothing went down on the Moon without him knowing about it.
I was sure I would glean some more clues during our dinner.
Chapter 27
I was asleep on my bed when both the concierge and HARV beeped me. The concierge from outside my head, HARV from inside.
‘‘Mr. Johnson, your ride to the Head Administrator’s estate will be here in five Earth minutes,’’ the concierge said over the room’s intercom. ‘‘I assume you are ready.’’
‘‘Get up,’’
HARV said in my brain.
I sat up in bed and looked around. Wow. Nice digs. I rubbed my eyes, trying to rub the sleepiness out of them and brain.
‘‘You’re on the Moon,’’ HARV said.
‘‘I remember,’’ I replied.
‘‘Mr. Johnson?’’ the concierge prodded.
‘‘Don’t worry, I’m ready,’’ I said rolling out of bed.
‘‘Very good, sir,’’ the concierge said, then went silent.
I stretched. One of the advantages of only having one all purpose, non-wrinkle, stain- and smell-resistant suit is that I’m almost always ready to go on a moment’s notice. A mirror rolled down in front of me from the ceiling, even though I didn’t request it. A hint from HARV no doubt.
I examined myself, mostly to keep HARV from bugging me. I tried not to but couldn’t help to notice that I either had less hair or more forehead then I did when I was younger; on the plus side, most of the hair I had was still dark. The streaks of white I had just made me look more distinguished, or so I kept telling myself. My nose may have been a bit long and a tad bent, but my face wore it well, especially since I’m a guy who gets his nose busted a lot. It’s a good thing my girl’s a surgeon. That reminded me . . .
‘‘HARV, have you contacted Electra?’’
HARV appeared behind me and picked off a piece of lint, or at least acted like he did. ‘‘The ARC conference blackout is still in effect. I have been assured we will be able to talk to Electra tomorrow.’’
‘‘I don’t like that,’’ I said.
‘‘Yes, well that and twenty credits will get you a cup of real-non-soy-coffee,’’ HARV said. ‘‘Not much either of us can do about that except wait.’’ HARV pointed to my holographic image in the mirror. ‘‘Pull your jacket down. You look wrinkled.’’
I did as I was told. ‘‘Yes, mom.’’
HARV crossed his arms. ‘‘I’m not your mother. I just want you to look good, as how you present yourself is a reflection on me.’’
‘‘If you say so,’’ I said leaning into my own image, rubbing my chin. It was rough, but in a manly, good-looking way. I could put off shaving for now.
‘‘I don’t suppose I can convince you to shave,’’ HARV said.
‘‘Smart computer.’’
‘‘I’ve seen Carol. She looks radiant. No, radiant isn’t strong enough of a word . . . she looks
radioactive
.’’
I rolled my eyes. I didn’t even want to start to go there. ‘‘HARV, Carol looks great if she’s wearing a garbage bag. I hope you weren’t watching her dress again.’’
I didn’t see him but I heard him exhale in frustration. ‘‘I’m just saying, if you’re with Carol you should at least make an effort to look your best.’’
‘‘Why? She’s my niece and assistant, not my date.’’
‘‘Zach you are dealing with politicians here. Impression is everything.’’
As true as that may be, I didn’t let it affect me. Convinced I was ready, I turned around and walked through HARV who was standing there, arms crossed. I knew he hated it when I walked through him.