When Matt hailed the cab for Destiny's Annex, he hadn't taken his instructions seriously. Who expects to find the way to his Destiny on the back of a cereal box? He'd used the secret decoder ring that came with the little frosted cookie-shaped candy masquerading as the most important meal of the day, and the message had said exactly this, "Go to the corner. Hail a cab. Go to Destiny's Annex."
"No. My name is RinBin."
Matt frowned at the non-sequitur. Then he remembered that Nibelanjers were notoriously literal minded.
"My apologies." he replied. "my meaning was to inquire whether you too had received a decoder ring?"
"I see. No I have not."
Hmmm.... was RinBin here to dance??? Really? "So.... what brings you here?" he asked.
"That cab brought me here."
Matt just barely stopped himself from smacking his forehead. "I meant, what is the reason for the visit to this establishment on this night?" he rephrased.
"I come in response to this invitation." RinBin held up a see-through strip of milar encrusted with what Matt assumed were Ninblanjer symbols.
Great, Ninjamblers get invitations, I get a decoder ring! "I do not read Ninjblanjerese. If it is not too forward, may I ask you what the invitation says?"
"It says nothing. It has no vocal apparatus."
Oh, this was going to be VERY frustrating. "Sorry I meant...." but the Ninjblanjer held up one of his six hands. There was a twinkle in his third eye.
"My apologies Decoder Ring. I merely jest. Attempting to employ human humor."
Matt grinned. A Ninjblanjer with a sense of humor. THAT was unusual!
"The invitation is a summons to this establishment employing a rather trite word play on the Ninjanblese meaning of Destiny."
"Ah. Somewhat similar to what I got then.... Must be somebody's idea of a joke."
"Apologies Decoder Ringer, but I think no joking is involved here. Do you see the Malthusian Grock Warrior at the door?"
"Yes. Had a brief conversation with him just now."
"Well, the cost of employing him nightly is roughly equivalent to the gross planetary product of some of the smaller colonies. To have him keep guard at this door implies significant commitment to the task."
Matt's stomach did a small flip.
Matt had run out of small talk. He fidgeted with the decoder ring while constantly surveying the line up and down. People continued to line up behind him, which in his mind, meant he wasn't the biggest loser out here tonight.
His new Nibelanjer friend watched him bounce in and out of the line, never stepping out far enough to actually lose his place.
"Mr. Decoder Ring ..."
"Matt, my name is Matt."
"Ah, much better, Matt, you seem to be a man of much action, but your action accomplishes nothing."
"That's me alright, you just met me and already you know me better than two ex-wives."
"Please explain why you are with the action?"
"I just bounce around when I'm nervous."
"I see. I too am with much excitement."
"Oh yeah, I can tell, I mean, why are you so excited?"
"So many people all coming to same place for secret reason. We see them go in, very slowly, but none come out. Must be very good inside."
"But why the secrecy? They give out secret coded instructions in cereal boxes, it sounds like a publicity stunt, but we get here and it's still a secret. Where are the cameras?"
"I think we will know soon, we have moved forward five places already."
"Not soon enough for me. I wonder what idiot came up with this gag?"
"I see many beings in line to go in. Maybe it not a idiot that do this?"
"Just because we're bigger idiots does not exclude him from the club."
"You think I'm an idiot too?"
"You're standing in this line talking to me. Don't you have something better to do?"
"No."
Matt waited for Rinbin to elaborate, but nothing came. "No? You have nothing else to do with your life?"
"Certainly. I have many other things I could do, but nothing better than this."
"That's sad."
"Not sad. My entire life has been planned out for me. Everything has been exactly as it should. I was expected to be exactly as I should. I was not expected to be here."
"Wow, you're quite the rebel, aren't you? Don't answer that." Matt continued to pop out and check the length of the line both ahead and behind. "I think, maybe you were right about one thing, you weren't expected to be here."
"I already said that."
"I know, I know. But have you noticed, you are the only Nibelanjer in this line?"
"No, I wasn't looking."
"Well, I looked. And, another thing, everyone else here has decoder rings. Where did you say you got that invitation?"
"I did not say."
"Where did you get it?"
"It was served to me with my morning meal."
"Your morning meal? Does your morning meal happen to come from the Allfoods Corporation?"
"I do not know, I don't go in the kitchen."
"Never?"
"Not ever."
"Why?"
"Why is not important."
"Who never goes to the kitchen?"
"Me."
"What if you want a water?"
"Someone brings it."
"You've never ever been in the kitchen and you're morning meal was served to you with an invitation to be here, and if you get thirsty, someone brings you water? Who are you again?"
"I am Rinbin."
"Where does Rinbin live?"
"It is not important."
"Why are you the only Nibelanjer here? Where do you live?"
"I'd rather not say."
"Of course, more secrets. Why would I expect anything else?"
Matt’s curiosity grew. “You say your life has been planned out for you. Who planned it?”
“I’d rather not say.”
“Does anyone know you are here?”
“You know I am here. Others in line know I am here.”
“Yeah, cut the crap. Does anyone from your home know you are here, beside yourself?”
“I do not cut crap.”
“You know what I mean. Tell me the truth. Does anyone from your home know you are here?”
“I’d rather not say.”
“Do they know you are gone? Or did you sneak out or something?”
“I cannot know what they know currently.”
Ando Weir's lanky frame paced back and forth across the entrance to the club. He wrung his hands around his Grey skinned wrists, and expanded his overly large eyes as stretched his already thin neck trying to peer around the imposing Malthusian Grock warrior guarding the entrance. Loud music from the club permeated the entry way, filling their ears with a monotonous drum beat. Despite the din, Ando's edgy voice cut through the air and grated on the nerves. “Why is it taking so long?”
Dap Cord sat in a dark corner of the entrance. He was the mastermind hired to do the job. It was his idea to lure the target in with this grand opening. He calmly dealt out another hand of solitaire on a small desk and said in a deep soothing voice, “Because it's a good plan, and good plans take time to develop.”
“I still don't see why we don't just go out there and get him.”
“That's because you're a dim witted moron! Look out there and tell me what you see?”
“I see a bunch of saps standing in line for nothing, that's what I see.”
“How many?”
Ando stopped pacing long enough to make a rough count. “I dunno, maybe about three hundred.”
“You know what you call three hundred people standing in a line?”
“Uh...ummm...”
“It's not a riddle you imbecile! They're called witnesses! So, you'll just have to wait.”
Ando continued his pacing. “I don't think I can wait.”
“That's your problem right there. You need to pause between your sentences. You don't think. End of sentence, pause. You can wait. End of another sentence.”
“I don't think you're being very nice to me.”
“There you go again. You still don't think, and of course I'm being nice to you just because I haven't stapled your flapping lips shut yet, now have I?”
The Grock warrior glanced over his shoulders as if expecting an order to squash Ando.
Ando stopped pacing long enough to view the line through a pair of binoculars. “What do they want with him anyway? He doesn't look very remarkable to me.”
“I don't know, and I don't care. But, he looks remarkable to me, remarkably like half a million imperial credits that is.”
“Who's that guy he's talking too?”
“What do I look like to you? The information directory?”
“I'm just making conversation, you need to lighten up.”
“And I'm just looking for my stapler, so you need to shut it.”
“What about all these people? Why do we have to take them too?”
“Do you want the inter stellar police force putting all their considerable people to work hunting you down?”
“Ummm, isn't that exactly what they're going to do if we take all these people?”
“First, they'll have to interview all their families. Thats three hundred families with mothers and fathers and maybe some brothers and sisters. Then they will have to track down all these missing people, not just us. And these people will be going a lot of different directions for them to follow.”
“Hey, that's pretty smart! I like that!”
Dap shook his head and groaned from his corner, “I'm sooooo glad you approve.”
“Ando, you can tell the Grock to let another 30 or 40 in, if that will shut you up.” Dap waived his arm to dismiss Ando.
“Bout time. We’ll be here all night by the time the target gets inside.”
“Yeah, well patience. Bet you lose everything prematurely, don’t ya? Just go.”
Ando ambled toward the Grock, enjoying his moment of command. “Hey, let some come inside. 30 or 40 should do it.”
The Grock Warrior looked past Ando to Dap for confirmation.
from WordlingerThe Grock Warrior unhooked the rope allowing the next group in. Matt and Rinbin dutifully filed forward into the club. The Grock stepped in front of Matt and said, “All full.”
“But I'm with him,” Matt explained, “can't you let us stay together?”
The Grock glanced over his shoulder and Rinbin nodded his concurrence. The Grock shrugged his shoulders and simply said, “Ok. You go.”
The Grock slammed the door shut behind Matt.
Matt turned sharply and objected, “Hey! What gives?”
Ando ushered the group in front of them through the next set of doors, then shut those doors as well.
Before Matt could renew his objections, the Grock warrior was all over him. He gripped Matt under the arms and lifted him into the air like he was a child.
Dap spoke into a small radio, “We got him, start up the transports.”
Nobody paid any attention to Rinbin. He quietly stepped behind the Grock warrior and unfurled four of his six arms. He placed the upper two on either side of the Grock's head. His third hand went over the Grock's upper heart, and his fourth covered the lower heart. Then, Rinbin started to sing.
Matt had no idea what he was singing about, the words were all gibberish to him, but the sound was beautiful. Rinbin's voice was slightly deep and sounded like a chorus of cellos. The Grock Warrior loosened his grip slightly and Matt managed to wriggle free. He started looking for the exit, but had to stop when he heard the a new voice behind him. He turned around and saw the Grock staring deeply into Rinbin's eyes. He was crying and singing in the sweetest tenor voice.
Matt was stunned, and started to say so when Dap threw a rope around him, pinning his arms to his chest.
With the Grock subdued, Rinbin turned to assist Matt, but Dap had already pushed him out of the room to the transports. Rinbin started searching for the exit but heard the transports lift off and knew he was too late.
He pressed his finger to his temple, activating the transceiver under his skin. “I was too slow. They have taken the outlander. Yes. Yes. Understood, I will pursue.”
The Grock Warrior put his arm around Rinbin and said, “It's ok. Everything will turn out just fine.”
Rinbin hoped it would be so, but could offer no response.
The Grock then excused himself saying, “I have to go call my mother.”
As the Grock’s eyes cleared, he realized that all the doors in the chamber were shut and he was alone with Rinbin. Dap and Ando were missing. “Hey, what?” he said.
“Aren’t you going to make that call?” Rinbin asked.
“What call?”
“Your mother.”
“Why would I call my mother?”
“My mistake. Where’s the exit?” asked Rinbin.
“Exit? I operate the entrance.”
“Can you open the entrance?”
“Yes.”
“Please open the entrance,” Rinbin said.
The Grock released the lock on the entrance, and a crowd swarmed in from the line.
Rinbin slipped out.
from LitMOOMatt's head swooned. He felt like his brain was spinning around inside his head, and the room rolled around beneath him. He thought he was going to throw up, but stopped himself when he realized a hood was over his head. He shook his head and discovered the floor really was moving beneath him, artificial gravity. He'd been snatched. As clarity returned to his mind, he realized he must have been drugged. He tried sitting up, but was still too wobbly.
"Ah, Mr. Schuster," Dap said, "I see you are awake."
Dap pulled the hood off of Matt's head. Matt blinked and closed his eyes till he could adjust to the light.
"You gave us a pretty good chase, Schuster, but you'd be surprised what kind of information a little money can buy."
Matt managed to finally pull himself upright and said, "You must have me mistaken for someone else."
"Please don't tell me you want to carry on with this Matt whoever charade?"
"I'm afraid I can't help you, Buddy."
"Hmm. No matter. I'm just a collector. First I collect you, then I collect the reward for your capture."
"You're really barking up the wrong tree."
"No, I don't think so, but then, I don't really care." Dap patted Matt on the neck with a micro hypodermic swab and said, "Good night, Mr. Schuster, or whoever you think you are."
Rinbin had raced from the nightclub to the spaceport. A fast single seater was warmed up and waiting for him. He kept his eyes on his handheld monitor, and followed Matt's departure. He didn't want to test the range of the marker he slipped into Matt's pocket and rocketed the small ship off the ground and on their tail as quickly as he could manage.
Another brash voice bellowed."How do you not know he'smissing two livers? Everyone KNOWS the story of how he lost them.
"Matt's head was pounding, distinctively reminding himof a marching band walking across his forehead. Groggy, he tried to open hiseyes, but blinked them shut again; there was a blinding light shinning downfrom above and it pierced his retinas with cruelty. Matt felt cold all aroundhis body. He attempted to move an arm but it stayed at his side.
"One liver, three livers, what's the difference; wholoses a liver and doesn't get it replaced right away anyways?"
Shocked by the voice, Matt caught his breath. 'Great,' hethought 'I'm in an organ chop shop. That's what they were doing with all thosepeople. Put a ring in cereal, trick them into showing up thinking it's all funand games, then CHOP CHOP cut a few organs out, and bam, the next day there 300people wake up in ice filled bath tubs with "Go to doctor NOW" pinnedto their shirts. Typical.
"It doesn't matter, it's your problem," The hissyvoice remarked. Matt guessed from the deep, throaty sound that it was aDiberian, one of the less savory races, not unusual to see involved in shadydoings.
"I'm not waiting anymore for him to wake up. It's yourshift now, enjoy."
A door slammed and there was much grumbling. Footsteps andsuddenly Matt was being shaken. He grimaced but kept his eyes shut.
"Wake up you worthless glarfnock! You LIKE getting mein trouble don't you?"
Matt was still. He felt the unknown person set his limp bodydown again and breathed a slight sigh of relief. It was then that he got aswift punch in the stomach. Matt sat up with a wheeze and cough, eyes wideopen.
"Ha! I knew it, I saw you make a face, I saw you sigh,you faker!"
Matt turned and scowled, ready to come back at him with afist, but stopped dead cold.
from AylceRinbin check the controls readying for an approach to Tau Pont. His hand paused. “They will certainly notice Matt is human,” he thought.
“This is Web Mother. Report.”
“Where is the real Schuster now?”
“That’s classified. You know that. We discussed that before you began this mission.”
“Has he been moved recently? Are you sure he’s secure?”
“He’s secure. Now get your probe and get out of there. Why the questions?”
“Schuster has a sub dermal transponder. They will know if he’s exposed, so let’s expose him. Stop cloaking his signal.”
“What? Are you crazy? We’ve gone to a helluvalot of trouble to keep him safe. We’re not going to expose him. What are you drinking man?”
“I’m drinking pomegranate juice, but I don’t see the relevance.”
“Literal asshole,” Web Mother mumbled.
“We have to retrieve Matt. He’s not a trained operative. If you expose Schuster, they will wonder why they are receiving a homing signal. They will not know if they have the real Schuster or not. This will be my opportunity to extricate Matt.”
“Forget the stupid human. He’s expendable.”
“No. Expose Schuster under your watch. One hour should be long enough.”
“What makes you think they won’t kill Matt when they realize he’s not Schuster?”
Belkin closed the comm unit. I don’t know how they know I’m going to Destiny’s Annex, but they can’t know that I’ll be expecting them. He landed his small craft and taxied into a hangar where it would be out of sight.He left the gear that he’d brought with him from Tau Pont in the rear of the ship and hurried to Destiny’s Annex.
The place was deserted. The hundreds of beings who had been invited to the hoax were gone, either by way of decoy ships arranged by Dap or of their own means. He entered through an unmarked door at the rear and descended a narrow stairwell. At the bottom he turned left, opened a beat-up wooden door and entered. The subterranean lobby was a brightly lit, sterile antechamber. He placed his hand on a scan screen and said, “ Boomerang.” The adjacent metal vault door opened. Inside, lab techs moved about purposefully. The huge tank o fviscous blue liquid dominated the cavernous chamber.
“Belkin, what kept you? Do you have it?” A Nibelanjer approached him.
“No, I—“
The Nibelanjer produced a hypodermic from his lab coat pocket and stabbed it into Belkin’s neck. “Dispose of this waste.” He waved at two workers nearby.
from sweemzotThe workers in the subterranean lab approached Belkin’s blood-spewing body. “Rinbin, could you give us some warning next time? Or use an injectable? I’m tired of cleaning up blood. A little tidiness wouldn’t hurt,” Dap said.
“Stop talking to me like I’m my OCD brother, Reesborg. He never leaves a mess, now does he?” Rinbin replied. “And if he doesn’t finish the mission with Lady Arvan, you won’t have to clean up any more messes. You’ll be the bloody mess, Mr. Mastermind. Your plans have failed at every turn, Dap.Two hours. You have two hours, then we finish the job my way.”
from sweemzotMatt woke from his dream in abject terror. Rinbin wasn't who he said he was. He put his faith and his very life into the hands of a fraud, and called him friend. Matt breathed in deep gulps of air to calm himself. As the terror subsided, he became acutely aware that he was in a big overstuffed bed wrapped in thick soft furs. He sat up and tried to blink the sleep from his eyes. His head hurt. Had he been drugged again?
"Good morning darling."
Matt's terror returned as he recognized the voice of the notorious Lady Arvan.
"Am I ... did we ..."
"Relax sweetie, I never take advantage of a sleeping man."
Matt's relief was tempered by his trust in the dubious nature of her honor. "My head hurts, did you drug me?"
"You think I need drugs to get a man into my bed?"
"No, I think you would use guns."
She couldn't argue that.
"If you didn't drug me, then it was RinBin. He fooled us all!"
submitted by Ivory
from skipper"No, darling, it wasn't R.B., you were targeted by these lobe inducers we found. Schuster had many enemies, including me. I don't know what he stole from your files, but we think it was destroyed, leaving you the only one with the information and they want it."
"So this lobe inducer scans my brain and tells them what I know?"
"No, the lobe inducer plants false memories into your brain to break the trust between you and R.B. Their hope is to catch you alone. Their extraction methods are even less pleasant than the lobe inducer."
Matt carefully wrapped the skins around his waist as he climbed out of the bed.
Lady Arvan was disappointed to see such modesty. "I think it's all very funny. You chase Shuster to learn what he learned that you know, and his friends are chasing you to find out what Schuster knew that you forgot."
"Very funny, only you left out the part about the crooked cops sitting on my files. They already know everything I know, so why would they still be after me?"
"Because they don't know what Schuster stole from you. There's a gap in your files that they want."
"Great, I just need to sneak under the noses of some very crooked cops, and peek into my own files."
"First you get dressed. Fresh clothes are in that closet over there." She pointed to the double doors that opened into a walk-in closet larger than Matt's apartment. "Then you eat. After that, we'll go look at your files."
"Wait! I was only kidding!" But, he was too late, she had already left the bedroom.
The closet was filled with men's clothes of every size, and more than one species. He found a rack that was his size and tried not looking like a pirate or a thief. When he left the bedroom, an aide stationed outside the door directed him to breakfast.
Rinbin was already at breakfast.
"She is an extraordinary thief, and she has many renowned thieves in her employ."
Matt followed Rinbin to the den where they had his files laid out for him. They were sorted chronologically which made it easy for Matt to run through matching up with the way he remembered the cases. He ran through the files then shrugged his shoulders, "They're all here. Whatever they are after, must be in those other files when I was loaned out to military intelligence."
Everyone at the table groaned. Lady Arvan left the table to huddle with her people. Matt grabbed two of Rinbin's hands and placed them on his temples and nodded. Rinbin hummed silently and heard Matt's thoughts. "Lady Arvan is too interested, and it was too easy for her to get my files here. We need to get out of here."
Rinbin stood and announced, "Lady Arvan, before you try to breach military security, I think Matt and I should simply waltz in there and request a look at his files. If we fail, then we should have served as a diversion for whatever you have planned."
Lady Arvan didn't want them out of her control. "I like that idea, but I think I should go with you, in case something goes wrong and you need to escape."
Matt said, "Two cops and a pirate go into a bank. The first cop tells the bank manager to act normal. The second cop also tells the bank manager to act normal. The pirate looks the bank manager in the eye and asks, "Is this really how you normally act when two cops and a pirate come into your bank?"
Lady Arvan blinked at Matt, waiting for an explanation.
"I think," Rinbin said, "that Matt is merely pointing out that two cops and a pirate don't belong together."
"Why didn't you say so?"
Matt just shrugged.
Lady Arvan had no adequate excuse to accompany them, so she let them go. She felt confident that she could always catch them again.
submitted by Ivory
from skipperMatt and Rinbin were given a new craft, but it had a tracer on it just like his original craft had. As soon as they had breached the outer rings, Matt turned on the communicator and dialed in an older encryption code.
"Matt," Rinbin said, "do you not think they know that code already?"
"I hope so." He picked up the mic and said, "Jimmy? Jimmy? You don't have to answer, just listen. I need you to go get the file from grandpa's cabin on Lake Finch. Be careful little brother, I don't know how they learned it's approximate location, but they must know it's around there somewhere, because it's only fifteen kilometers north of Destiny's Annex. I want you to take the files to dad's old friend Judge Milner. He's the only one I trust. I'd take it myself, but I'm pretty sure they're watching me. You better hurry. You'll want to get in and out before anyone else gets there. Good luck little brother."
"Matt, I do not wish to cast bad luck upon your plan, but, if you know they can crack that encryption, did you not just put your brother in mortal danger?"
"I might have if I thought he was listening."
Matt dialed an entirely different comm code and a much newer and uncracked encryption code. "Hap 9, Hap 9, safe house 15 is compromised, expect numerous party crashers momentarily."
"You set a trap for them."
"Yes. Once I figured out which file was missing, thanks to your Lady Arvan, I had a clue how important it was to them."
"What was in the file?"
"I don't know. It was encrypted, and we couldn't break it, but six weeks ago, the decryption squad cracked three of their most secure codes."
"So you think the missing file was one of those codes?"
"Maybe, or perhaps they simply thought it would be a matter of time before they broke it's encryption too."
"What do you think was in the file?"
"Judging from the many people who seem keen on getting it, I'm guessing it has a list with names and numbers, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of those names were cops, judges and lawmakers."
"Too bad you don't have a copy."
"Yeah, but with this many people in custody, assuming the trap works, we should have a few willing to sing like a canary."
"What is a canary?"
"It's a bird that sings."
Matt took Rinbin to meet his superiors. He hoped that he might talk him into a transfer.
The End
Submitted by Ivory