The Many Worlds of Dean: Book 1 - Mars (15 page)

When Quinsil was faced the other direction,
Dean made his way into the restaurant. He began working his way
around the tables, towards the door at the back. As he went, a he
saw Meriyl circle back the other way, forcing Quinsil to keep his
back to Dean. He reached the door leading to Quinsil’s office and
quietly slipped inside. The few customers present were watching the
shouting match between Quinsil and his slave, so no one saw his
entrance.

Dean waited impatiently, hoping Meriyl would
be able to get Quinsil into his office. Just when he was about to
peek out the door, he heard the door opening and stepped back.
Quinsil followed Meriyl into the office still shouting. “I don’t
know what you have going on with that being, but you have no right
to…”

Quinsil stopped short when he noticed Dean
standing in his office. “What are you doing here?” he asked
angrily.

Dean reached down, pulled aside the special
panel he had had the clothing shop owner place in his new jumpsuit,
and drew one of his pistols. He pointed the firearm right between
Quinsil’s eyes and replied, “I am here to make a deal.”

Quinsil almost choked. He took a breath and
said, “I have no interest in making any kind of deal with you.”

Dean smiled with an evil glint in his eye.
“Sure you do, you’re going to sell me Meriyl.” He ignored the
sudden look of surprise on Meriyl’s face and said, “I will pay you
whatever her remaining debt is, and you will sign her over to
me.”

“Why in the universe would I do that?” the
angry alien asked.

“I assume you know who Bex is?” Dean asked
in retort. From the shocked look, Dean knew he was right. So he
continued, “Meriyl is here to spy on you and Quillitonoxic for Bex.
She already has enough information for Bex to crush you. That
information has not been transmitted yet, but if I push this little
button – Dean pointed to a small button on his suit computer – that
will no longer be the case. It’s simple; you sell me Meriyl and the
information never finds its way to Bex.”

Quinsil paused for a moment before he asked,
“How do I know you won’t send the information anyway once I sell
you the girl?”

“You don’t,” Dean said smugly. “But, if you
don’t sell her to me, you can be sure I will send the
information.”

Quinsil appeared angrier than any Gorroshtic
he had ever seen. He watched as Quinsil stomped one of his feet.
Reluctantly, he said, “Fine, but I promise you will never make it
off this world alive.”

“Whatever, “Dean replied. “Let’s just get
this done.”

Quinsil walked over to his work table and
had the computer bring up the necessary documents. When everything
was ready, Dean transferred the required funds and verbally agreed
to the contract. Meriyl now officially belonged to him. He didn’t
know if he should be happy or sick.

Their business concluded, Dean and Meriyl
hastily made their way out of the restaurant. As they began walking
in the direction of Quillitonoxic’s office, Meriyl turned to him
and asked, “I never told you what information I had learned. How
were you going to transmit what you didn’t know?”

Dean smiled and said, “I lied.” He pointed
to the button on his suit computer and said, “this button simply
lowers the temperature inside my armor.”

Laughing loudly, Meriyl replied, “Dean, I
didn’t realize you were so devious.”

Dean and Meriyl walked boldly right into
Quillitonoxic’s office. They found Dean’s evil partner standing
behind his work table. Quillitonoxic looked stunned as the pair
walked into his office and right up to his table.

“Hello Quill,” Dean began. “I believe you
and I have some business to discuss.”

Quillitonoxic began laughing as he reached
forward a pressed a button on his desk. “You are quite mistaken my
friend,” he said. “You have actually just made a fatal
mistake.”

As he finished speaking, a dozen guards
piled into the room from a side door. Each was holding a pistol not
so different from the two Dean was carrying. Dean immediately
reached down and activated his helmet. The helmet wrapped itself
around his head and the heads up visor lowered over his face.

“That won’t do you any good Dean,”
Quillitonoxic said. As you can see, you are hopelessly outnumbered.
Please slowly remove your weapons and place them on the table.”

Dean reached down and pulled open the panels
built into his jumpsuit. He carefully pulled his pistols out of
their holsters and placed them on the table in front of
Quillitonoxic.

Quillitonoxic reached down and pushed the
pistols out of Dean’s reach. “Now, I’m afraid you are about to have
a terrible accident.”

“You don’t have to do this Quill,” Dean said
with menace in his voice.

“Of course I do. You have what I want, and I
always get what I want. But first, I owe you some payback for all
the trouble you have caused. Before I send you away to your fate, I
want you to watch your girlfriend die right in front of you.”
Quillitonoxic turned to one of the guards and said, “Kill her.”

The guard raised his pistol and pointed it
right at Meriyl’s head. Dean could see tears streaming down her
face.

“Any last words you would like to say to
your girlfriend Dean?” Quillitonoxic asked.

As Quillitonoxic had been talking, Dean had
been using his eyes and his heads up display to target each of the
guards. His former commando instructor had taught him how to
properly target with his armor.

Dean turned to look at Quillitonoxic and
said, “Just one thing. Fire!”

Two square lumps suddenly appeared, one on
each of Dean’s shoulders. Several small blasts of air could be
heard, and then all of the guards dropped to the ground. Dean
lunged forward and swiftly grabbed both of his pistols.
Quillitonoxic was so shocked; he didn’t even try to stop him.

Dean pointed one of the pistols dead center
on Quillitonoxic’s head. He had already firmed up the target with
his heads up display, so even if Quillitonoxic moved, his armor
would force his arm to follow.

“I told you we didn’t have to do it this
way,” Dean said.

Looking resigned, Quillitonoxic replied, “I
suppose you are going to kill me now.”

“I hadn’t planned on it,” Dean said
boldly.

Quillitonoxic looked up sharply and said,
“You will never get away with killing these guards if you leave me
alive.”

“Oh, they’re not dead. I had the flachettes
in my armor replaced with tranquilizer darts. They’ll wake up in an
hour or so.”

Quillitonoxic looked down at the guards with
a surprised expression. Turning back he asked, “So what do you
propose we do now?”

“I propose to give you exactly what you
want.”

Looking remarkably confused, Quillitonoxic
asked, “What do you mean?”

Dean took a deep breath and said, “I don’t
want to kill you and I don’t want you to kill me. I also don’t want
you hunting me if I manage to escape. I want to be done with the
whole thing. I will sign over my half of the company, and you are
even welcome to the funds remaining in my account. Afterwards, you
let Meriyl and I leave this world.”

Confusion fought with shock on
Quillitonoxic’s face. “You would just give me your half?

“Yes, I will give up my half of the
company.”

“What about the girl? She is the property of
Quinsil.”

“That’s already taken care of; he sold
Meriyl to me.”

Shaking his head, Quillitonoxic agreed to
Dean’s terms. They quickly brought up the documents to perform the
transfer of ownership. Dean verbally signed over his half of the
company, along with all rights to his account. That done,
Quillitonoxic allowed the pair to walk out of his office. Now that
he had what he wanted, he assured the two they would not be stopped
and could freely leave the planet.

No wanting to test this too far, Dean and
Meriyl headed straight for The Path.

“Where do you want to go?” Meriyl asked as
they made their way.

“I have no idea. You pick.”

“Well, we will have to go somewhere we can
earn money. We are both broke now.”

“Not exactly,” Dean replied with a grin. “I
have about two million credits in gold tucked into my armor. We
need to hurry, this stuff is heavy.”

Laughing, she said, “I have the perfect
place in mind.”

As they neared the The Path, she asked him,
“Why did you let Quillitonoxic have all of your business. He’ll
just become even more wealthy and corrupt.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that too much,” he
replied. “I programed the central computer to release a rumor in
about a week that there is meat in the ice cream. I figure by the
time all the lawsuits have been settled, Quillitonoxic will be just
about broke.”

“Like I said before, you are very
devious.”

When they reached the metal arch, Meriyl
reached out and touched the side. A bright keyboard made of light
appeared in front of them. Meriyl rapidly tapped several keys that
glowed brighter with her touch.

“How does a couple weeks on a beach, sipping
drinks by the ocean sound?” she asked.

Dean smiled broadly and said, “Deal.”

Hand in hand, the pair walked through the
silver curtain.

Back on Earth, Dean would never know what
had happened, but his name would be remembered there for
generations to come. The crew of Destiny, including Bill, had spent
every moment possible on Mars attempting to either dig out the hole
he had fell into, or finding another way to get to the source of
the radio signal. Even after it was clear that his oxygen supply
would have be exhausted, they continued to search, determined to
not let his body remain on Mars.

After they returned from their last trip
down to the red planet, the somber crew notified Earth of their
failure and began their long voyage home. For much of the trip, the
crew remained heartbroken and performed their various duties
listlessly. Stacy cried often whenever she thought of the exuberant
youth that had saved her experiment. Bill kept pretty much to
himself, not even spending much time with Stacy. Sarah spent most
of her free time writing a book about Dean. Little did she know it
would become an international best seller when they got back to
Earth. Captain Rogers was never quite the same. Where once he would
laugh openly, after Dean’s loss, he would merely perform his duties
in the most perfunctory, professional manner. He left no room for
anything besides serious work.

When they finally arrived back on their home
planet, they were all greeted as heroes. They were almost
immediately whisked around the globe to meet with various
dignitaries and news reporters. They sat for numerous talk show
interviews. Each time, they would tell the world about the brave
young man that had given his life to save a fellow astronaut. Bill
quickly became the most vocal on the subject, openly daring anyone
to say a bad word about Dean.

SpaceTek had wanted to keep the entire
incident under wraps, and pretend Dean had been lost to an accident
on one of the later landings; however, the crew threatened to
release news of the alien signal if they weren’t allowed to set the
record straight regarding Dean. Government pressure to keep the
signal classified ensured SpaceTek’s cooperation. So now, Dean was
known the world over as the first person to set foot on Mars, and
as a courageous astronaut that lost his life saving another.

A month after the crew had returned, the
President of the United States declared a national holiday in honor
of Dean. Most of the world’s countries quickly followed suit. A
memorial service was held that was attended by more than ten
million people.

Statues of Dean were erected all over the
planet, and numerous Dean Danforth high schools began to pop up.
Dean was posthumously given citizenship to most of the world’s
countries, even many of the more troubled countries like North
Korea and Syria. Dean became known as the first true citizen of
Earth, and his name was used often to help negotiate peace in many
warring nations.

Dean Danforth would be remembered throughout
history as one of Earth’s greatest heroes.