Escape from the Planet Justice

by Mel-o-rama

* * *

dedicated to all my friends

who survived the Math Lab

and lived to tell the tale.

* * *

Chapter 1

The Old Game

 

I should have seen it coming…

 

1.1

 

“Check,” said Darond as he confidently moved his knight.

Thomlin stared at the board in confusion. What is this? he thought. Is he just giving up his piece? “I think you made a mistake,” he said out loud.

“Go ahead. Take my knight, and you’ll see what happens.”

The two were identical twins in their mid-thirties, but yet they were two entirely different people. Darond was rich and well known, while Thomlin was the typical lower class individual confined to live out his entire life in space.

Darond was the happy go-lucky person who waved at everyone he saw, while Thomlin walked with his head down everywhere he went – always mad at the world.

Darond also happened to be better at chess. That’s why it was taking so long for his brother to make his move.

“What are you waiting for?” he asked.

“Ron, I know you’ve got a trick up your sleeve. I just got to be sure.”

Darond folded his arms and scoffed at his brother. “You know what your problem is, Thom? You never take chances. You always have to know the outcome before you act.”

“It keeps me out of trouble.”

“It keeps you from living! How do you think I got where I am now? Taking chances!”

Thom answered, “We both know it’s because of Livvy!”

“You just don’t get it! Who saw her first? And who ended up marrying her?”

“I didn’t want her,” was Thom’s simple response. He had heard this speech many times, and he always grew tired of it quickly. Why do you always have to shove it in my face? I get it! You have money, and I don’t! I met the girl, but you married her! So what?

“She likes you better,” said Darond under his breath.

Thom managed a short nervous laugh. He knew what was on his brother’s mind. Livia had recently changed her will, leaving everything to Thom. Since then, Darond complained about it constantly, saying things like, “She’s doing it just to spite me,” and “Why you? Are you two doing something behind my back?”

Thom didn’t want to go there, so he didn’t say anything in response.

Awkward moments such as these made Thom wonder why he agreed to these weekly meetings. He knew they gave his brother an ego boost, but he could never say no. These meetings were too much fun. Every week they went somewhere different. Darond always paid for the trip. After all, it was only through his brother’s status that Thom was even able to go Planetside, or to see other star systems.

“Hello?! Why aren’t you taking my knight?!”

“That’s exactly what you want me to do!”

“So?”

Thom reluctantly took the knight. After which, Ron immediately made his next move, saying “check”.

Thom groaned as he saw a long sequence of more checks coming. “Ouch. Good move.”

“Thanks.”

Darond had much more time to practice. He had money and a successful career, so he had plenty of leisure time. Plus, whoever won these weekly games got to take home the chess set. Of course, Thom sometimes practiced chess on the Net, but moving pieces on a screen was nothing compared to touching real pieces.

Chess sets were also hard to come by. Only one person in a million knew how to play the ancient game, so sets just weren’t sold. Darond came across the game only because of his money. He taught Thomlin how to play, and that was the beginning of their weekly meetings.

The board itself was an expensive artifact from Ancient Earth. It was countless centuries old. The pieces were made of solid diamond – at a time when diamond was rare and outrageously expensive. The white pieces were crystal diamond and the dark pieces were opaque, black diamond. The board – being a half a meter along each side – was coated with a thin layer of a clear diamond “alloy”. The pieces were intricately cut with no lack of detail.

Suddenly, a high-pitched beeping alarm penetrated the room.

“What’s that?” asked Darond.

“Oh no! Not now! Don’t move. The gravity’s gone off again!”

But it was too late. A chess piece went flying through the air.

“Catch it!” yelled Darond.

“I told you not to move!”

“It slipped!”

“Well, it’ll come back down once they get the generator back on.”

At that, Darond started lifting slowly out of his chair.

Thom shook his head. “Darond! Will you stop moving?”

“I’m not moving!”

“Evidently you are!”

“What about my chess piece?” asked Darond.

“It’ll be fine. It’s diamond! I’m more worried about it scratching up my stuff.”

It was really a pain when the gravity generator went out, but Thom was used to it. If you held still, inertia would keep you where you were. However, if you moved anything, you could end up anywhere. You just had to be sure to be close to the floor when the gravity came back on. It was never out for more than a minute.

Thomlin laughed at his brother. The great and powerful business tycoon can’t even stay in his seat.

Today, Thom was especially irritated with his brother. He was looking forward to playing in the aviary at Gamma-17, but Ron called early in the morning to change their plans.

Ron had said, “I want to show you something, so let’s meet at your place today.”

Thom hated playing chess in his own apartment, because when the game was over, Darond would simply leave, and Thom would still be there having gone nowhere. He was also certain that Ron hated to come over and see how poor he was. In either case, they seldom met at Thom’s place.

A minute was almost up, and Thom was getting anxious, because the floating chess piece was getting closer to his porthole. These heavy duty windows were a luxury in space, and difficult to replace. A scratch could mean a micro fissure, and that would mean an immediate mandatory evacuation of the apartment. This never happened to Thom, but he saw what it did to his friend, who had to stay out of his apartment for a whole month!

Thom considered going after the piece, but he feared ending up on the ceiling when the gravity came back on. So, he simply remained still and cringed as the diamond approached the porthole. Just before it touched, the gravity came back on. The chess piece landed softly on the sofa. Darond came back down, not quite square on his chair, and he fell over with a clang.

Thom screamed with laughter at his brother’s misfortune.

“Hey! It’s not funny! How can you live like this?” he asked while he got back up.

Remarkably, the rest of the chess pieces stayed in their place on the board. Both of the brothers laughed as they both recognized the same position they had just left.

Thom asked, “Well, now that that’s over, what is it you wanted to show me?”

“Not yet,” Ron answered, suddenly serious. “After the game.”

The game continued for quite a while. Thom played as well as he could. He kept moving his king out of check until something happened. Ron ran out of steam! There simply weren’t any checks left, no way to force a checkmate, and now Ron was down a whole knight.

It was the moment Thom was waiting for. The tides turned, and Thom came down hard on his opponent. In frustration, Ron knocked over the pieces and said, “I give up! I should have won that one!”

“Ha! It’s the gravity that messed you up, wasn’t it!?”

Darond laughed and offered his hand to shake. “Good game, though! You deserved the win.”

Thomlin smiled. This is one reason why I agree to these meetings. When I win, he’s a good sport. He gracefully admits his defeat.

“I guess that’s it,” said Ron. “You get the chess set this week. Well, it’s getting late. I better get going.”

He made as if to leave, but Thom stopped him. “Wait a minute. Aren’t you going to show me something?”

Darond, suddenly out of character, looked unsure of himself. After an awkward pause, he said, “Perhaps later.”

“Oh, come on!” insisted Thom. “We could have been at the aviary! What do you have to show me?”

“Not here,” he answered, quieter than usual.

“What are you talking about? You called me and you…”

Thom stopped because Darond motioned with his eyes, as if pointing to the wall. Darond had a look on his face that Thom recognized instantly. He was communicating to his twin brother without words.

He doesn’t want to be overheard!

Thom knew exactly what his brother was thinking.

With his eyes, Darond pointed to the camera planted on the wall. Always running, the camera never slept. It was always recording and sending data to the Central Computers. These computers in turn were always analyzing the data. Together with Indisputable Evidence, cameras like this protected society all over the galaxy. Crime decreased dramatically ever since the system was established over a century ago. Fires and other emergencies were also easily mitigated.

But now, Thom could see in Darond’s eyes, the camera was the enemy. It was the spoiler of fun. This could only mean one thing. He wants to play the Old Game!

When they were young, they played it all the time. It was really quite simple – switch identities, and see how many people you could fool. They weren’t always successful, but they got away with some doozies. As they got older, it got harder to play, because more people knew them intimately. It was almost twenty years since they last tried it, with disastrous results.

Now he wants to play the Game as grown men? He must be starved for excitement!

“Oh no!” said Thom. “Don’t look at me like that…”

“Let’s go where we can talk,” interrupted Darond softly.

There was only one place they could go to avoid the camera’s calculating stare, and that was in the bathroom. Yes, the perfect system had one small hole in it. Cameras were everywhere, but people had to have at least one place to go for privacy. The original creators of the system fought hard to place the cameras everywhere. They said, “You can’t leave one stone unturned. Leave the cameras out of the bathrooms, and there you’ll have crime. People will slip and fall, and no one will find them until it’s be too late.”

It turned out they were partially right. Crimes still happened in the bathrooms, as some thought they could get away with it. But the Computers were too smart – analyzing all available data, there was always a little something to identify and catch the perpetrators. It could sometimes take a week to process, but ultimately nothing fooled the Computers.

Crime and accidents still happened in the bathrooms, but it was but a small price to pay for a bit of privacy.

And that’s where Thom and Darond went.

“You can’t be serious!” said Thom when they closed the bathroom door. “I know what you’re thinking and I’m surprised you think the Central Computers even care!”

“How do you know humans aren’t watching?”

“That’s against the law! You’re being paranoid!”

Darond responded, “Look! If we’re going to do this, we better do it right. No witnesses! If we’re caught, can you imagine the scandal it would cause?”

“It would give you publicity.”

“The wrong kind of publicity! If anyone found out, what would they think of me – the successful business tycoon? Who would trust me, if they knew I was such a playboy?”

Thom laughed as he replied, “Well, then let’s not do this if you’re so worried.”

“I’m not worried! I know we can do this.”

“But why do it?”

“Why not?” asked Ron. “Don’t you want a taste of the good life?”

“I’m already living the good life.”

Ron smirked. “Living out here in space isn’t living the good life! You’ve got unreliable artificial gravity. You’ve got no real sunlight. And you have to work a laborious boring job 30 hours a week.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault I was born out here. You Planetside people put us here. There’s plenty of room on the planets, but you still make us lowlifes live out here in space. Besides, why do you want a taste of my life?”

“I just want a break. That’s all,” answered Ron.

“Oh, I see. The good life isn’t so good for you, now. Is it?”

“I’m on vacation this week, and I just thought this would be a good opportunity for us to switch, like when we were young. We could have a good old time.”

“I don’t know,” said Thom. “This isn’t a good week for me. I’m pretty busy, and we’ve got this big project going down.”

Ron shook his head, saying, “This opportunity may not present itself again. This may be our only chance.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m just going to have to say no.”

Ron looked frustrated.

Thom thought, There he goes – getting mad at me because now it’s me ruining his fun. He hates it when I do this. He’s used to getting his way!

“Not even for old times’ sake?” asked Ron.

“No. Look at us. We’re grown men.”

“Oh, come on! You’re the one who always wanted to do it when we were young!”

“That was different,” said Thom. “It was fun when we were young.”

“It could be fun, now. You’d have a blast!”

“Does your wife know you want to do this?”

Darond answered, “Of course not! You know the rules. No one can know, before or after!”

Thom’s eyes went big as he asked, “What would happen if she tried to get a little frisky?”

“Oh! Nothing’s going to happen! Trust me! She wouldn’t touch me with a ten-foot pole these days!”

“But you know her. Livvy knows me all too well, and if she figured it out, she’d play along. She might attack me.”

“Yes,” agreed Ron under his breath. “She always did like you better. But you know what? If that happens, knock yourself out!”

“I couldn’t do that!” protested Thom.

“Believe me,” said Ron. “She wouldn’t even notice you. She avoids me like the plague, I tell you. It’s not going to happen!”

“Besides, I don’t know how to act rich like you. I don’t know how to run a trillion-credit organization. What if I have to make important decisions? I could cause an economic disaster on your planet!”

“I’m on vacation this week. I’ve given the board explicit instructions not to bother me with even the minutest of details. I’m telling you, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You can live it up in luxury for a week, and then you can come back to this – what do you call it? The good life?”

“What would you do here?” asked Thom. “You don’t know anything about being a lab technician. They’d see through you in no time.”

“I’ll call in sick.”

“For a whole week?!” asked Thom. “I don’t have that much sick time remaining!”

“I’ll fully compensate you for your troubles. Believe me, this is a win-win situation for both of us.”

“I suppose it could be fun, but I can’t think of any reason to do this. The Old Game was child’s play, and we’ve got so many responsibilities.”

“Do you want a reason?” asked Darond, sounding desperate. “I’ll give you a reason! Because you hate the Planet Dwellers!”

“Excuse me?” Thom was taken by surprise.

“I hate them, too! I’m just like you. How easily you forget! I was born in space, too. I learned to hate them, and I call them lazy snobs – just like you do. Well, haven’t you seen what I’ve accomplished? I married one of those stupid Planet Dwellers, and I took over a major establishment. I did what no lazy snob could do. I turned a failing business into a thriving enterprise, and now I laugh secretly in their faces!

“Every time I look at one of them, do you know what I think? ‘You can’t hold this boy down!’ That’s what I say to myself! And sometimes, you can see the shame in their eyes, as if they let a Spacer do what they couldn’t do themselves!”

Thom still wondered where this was going.

“And now,” continued Ron, “I’m giving this chance to you. For once, you can do what I do. You can stare proudly into the eyes of a Planet Dweller, and put them in their rightful place! You can feel the exhilaration it provides. Heck – you could even tell them in their face what losers they are, and what would they do to you?”

Thomlin considered this proposition more seriously. He’s right! I really do hate the Planet Dwellers. Look at how much I’ve come to hate Darond even though he’s a Spacer like me! I could live among them for a week, and they’d never know the difference! I’d be laughing at them the whole time!

“Come on,” said Ron. “Can I count you in? For once in your life, are you going to take a chance?”

Slowly, Thomlin found himself saying, “Yes. Let’s do this. But on one condition.”

Excited, Ron answered, “Anything! You name it and we can begin!”

“Doryth’s off limits!”

“Oh come on!” said Ron angrily. “That was never a rule before!! Besides, you two aren’t even serious!”

“And I want it to stay that way. Send her the wrong signals, and it’ll be me who ends up marrying her. You remember what happened the last time we played this game, don’t you?”

“Oh, that? That was a tiny mistake.”

“She likes me too much, and she knows me too well,” said Thom. “You say one word to her, and she’ll figure it out. You can’t even let her see the birthmark on your leg. If she knows what’s going on, she will not be silent.”

“But how am I supposed to avoid her for a whole week?”

“You’re sick, remember?” answered Thom with a laugh. “If you want to do this, then this is my only condition. You can’t touch her.”

“Okay, whatever! I’ll leave her alone!”

Thomlin laughed inside as he realized he had just bent to his brother’s will. Over the next hour that followed in the bathroom, they switched clothes and worked out all the fine details. They went over names and routines, and all other information they needed to avoid being detected.

As Thomlin said goodbye and left his own room, he reached for the chess set to take it with him.

Darond, who was now Thomlin, said, “Darond! Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Thom laughed as he realized – oh yeah! “Thomlin” won the chess game, so he gets to keep the board. The cameras witnessed it, so the board must stay here.

For a brief instant, he wondered if this was a sign that things wouldn’t work out, but he shrugged it off. He told himself – just get me away from here and get me Planetside, and I’ll remember who I’m supposed to be.

Leaving the chess set behind, he closed his own door and began the adventure that lay ahead of him. Now he was Darond, and he was going to rule the week!

 

1.2

 

Darond was right about one thing. As soon as Thomlin walked out that door, he was charged with life. An old lady was coming down the hall toward him. He didn’t notice her, but he did what he saw his brother do all the time. He waved with a big smile.

In return, she averted her eyes and kept her distance.

Nice to meet you too! Thom said to himself, still holding on to his smile.

Turning around the corner, he saw his friend Sam coming. He almost said, “Hi, Sam” but caught himself just in time. Darond doesn’t know his name. Instead Thom simply smiled and waved.

Sam stopped in his tracks and sneered at him, as if saying, “Don’t even talk to me!” Then he moved on, avoiding any more eye contact.

Thom wanted to yell, “Sam! It’s me - Thom! Can’t you tell it’s me?”

I had no idea he hates my brother so much. He never does this when I’m around. So, I guess the truth comes out! He has no reason to hate Darond, but here we are. I put on different clothes, and he hates my guts.

Finally it dawned on him. Darond was a Planet Dweller walking among the Spacers. Of course they hate me! I’m one of the enemy now!

He walked past a café, where several people were watching a news item on a holographic vid screen. He saw the words “BREAKING NEWS” and a picture of Darond on the screen. Thom considered watching the news item, but decided to keep his distance. What if Doryth is in there? Or my boss? I’d be doomed!

Besides, I already know what the headline is – “Flash! Business Tycoon Takes Unprecedented Vacation!” If they only knew the truth!

He stepped on a moving sidewalk. He passed several others who were stationary. Each of them gave him the same hostile treatment.

For the first time in his life, Thom wondered if Planet Dwellers hated Spacers as much as Spacers hated them. He was beginning to see why.

The moving sidewalk came to a hub, and Thom stepped off. He walked up an incline to a small carriage that waited patiently for him. Once he sat down, he pushed a button that said “SPACEPORT”, the carriage began to move. It accelerated up a track until it met up with the main express track.

Along with other carriages, Thom zoomed several kilometers to his final destination. Once there, the carriage slowed down, went down a smaller track and came to a stop.

Leaving the carriage, Thom walked to a crowded gate. He was then surrounded by Planet Dwellers and Spacers alike. Oddly enough, Thom noticed that the Planet Dwellers were just as cold to him as were the Spacers.

Wow! Does everyone hate my brother this much?

One woman, a Planet Dweller, walked up to him, spat on his shoe and said with much contempt, “I hope you rot in hell!”

Thomlin stopped and stared at her as she quickly walked away. She was quite attractive if weren’t for the spittle coming out of her mouth and her hatred-contorted face.

I need to get out of here. This place is crazy!

He walked as fast as he could without running to the nearest dispatch console. Once there, he touched a screen to activate it.

A voice instructed, “PLEASE PLACE YOUR HAND INSIDE THE SCANNER AND STATE YOUR NAME.”

Thom placed his hand into an opening and said confidently, “Darond Hywater.”

He held his hand still as the scan took place. The scan seemed to take longer than usual, but Thom kept his cool. He remembered what his brother told him in the bathroom.

“The DNA scan will be the ultimate test. If that fails, then we might as well call the whole thing off. We’re identical twins, so we have nearly identical DNA. The scanners allow for slight fluctuations from the scans on file, and hopefully the differences between our DNA will be within their tolerance. Just don’t get nervous. Don’t do anything to tip the differences beyond the tolerance. Believe that you’re Darond, and the computer will too.”

Thomlin laughed to himself.

Yeah, right! Everyone hates me now! What’s this computer going to do if it thinks I’m you, Darond? Shock me?

Thom fought the urge to take his hand out of the opening, telling himself, If this doesn’t work, I’ll only have to go back home and switch back. Then this game will end without anyone ever knowing anything. Do I really want to do this, anyway?

The screen flashed green and the voice said, “HELLO DAROND. PLEASE INSERT YOUR ID CARD AND STATE YOUR DESTINATION.”

Thomlin cheered inside, realizing that he fooled the computer. Of course I want to do this! He was now officially Darond Hywater.

He inserted his brother ID card and said, “Valens on the planet Gaea.”

The screen then flashed “2500 credits” to indicate the price of the trip, and the voice said, “PLEASE FOLLOW THE GREEN ARROWS TO DOCK NUMBER SIXTEEN.”

On the floor in front of him, several green arrows appeared and moved in a forward direction. Thomlin laughed as he saw differently colored arrows going in different directions with people following them religiously.

Look at us, he said as he followed his own green arrows. We like to do exactly as we’re told. Go this way. Go that way. Do this. Do that. Give us a direction, and we’ll go. Of course I know where Dock Number Sixteen is. I don’t need any green arrows to tell me which way to go.

He deviated slightly from his course, and the green arrows caught up to his feet, showing him how to get back on track. Thomlin was grateful for one thing, though. In this part of the spaceport, everyone was too busy following the arrows to pay him much attention.

His arrows led him to a warp shuttle waiting at Dock Sixteen. He entered the shuttle, sat down in the lone chair, and the door automatically shut behind him. Thomlin secured his seat belt, and the ship started to move.

It slowly moved through the dock until it left the station. Gravity failed as soon as he passed the threshold to space. The engines kicked in and took the ship farther out, away from the station.

In the distance, Thom saw other warp shuttles coming and going, blinking in an out of existence. It was like clockwork, all being controlled by the Central Computers, ensuring safe passage to their destinations.

On the screen in front of him, words appeared. “DESTINATION: GAEA – VALENS”.

Below the screen were the controls of the shuttle, but they were safely guarded by a flat plastic covering. Most people didn’t know how to use the controls, but Thomlin know how. His brother taught him. However, there was hardly any need when the Computers had control.

It took a few minutes for the shuttle to get in position, and then the warp engines powered up. In thirty seconds, he would be hundreds of light years away, in orbit around his brother’s planet.

This was Thomlin’s favorite part. The engines would get louder. Space would begin bending around him, and then he would be catapulted forward. However, twenty seconds into the warp, an alarm sounded, and the engines powered down. The screen flashed on and off the words: “PROXIMITY ALERT”.

In front of him in the distance, a renegade shuttle crossed his path. It was flying perpendicular to many of the other shuttles’ path. Thom knew that they were powering down as well.

“Stupid yahoo!” he yelled as if he the other shuttle could hear him.

It wasn’t too hard to get to the manual controls, if you knew where the button was. It was hidden underneath the plastic cover to the front and a little to the left. Hardly anyone knew it was there.

Thom braced himself for the worst, as he once saw someone pull this trick before, and he saw the ship blown out of the sky by somebody else’s warp field. Thom’s engines had powered down just in time. During the last ten seconds, the warp would have been unstoppable, and the field in front of the ship would have torn the other shuttle apart.

He relaxed only when renegade shuttle safely disappeared – gone to its next destination.

“Hopefully you don’t end up inside a planet! Stupid idiot!” yelled Thom again.

It took a few minutes for the shuttle to move again. Evidently it took a while for the Central Computers to recalculate the path. Thom sighed, ready to get on with his adventure.

The warp engines powered up again when Thom noticed the destination on the screen before him. It said, “NIOBE – QUARN”.

“What?” said Thom out loud. “That’s strange. That stupid yahoo must have confused the Computers!” To the computer he order, “Change destination!”

Nothing happened beside the warp engines getting louder.

“Computer! Change destination! I’m supposed to go to Valens on Gaea!”

Still, there was no reaction from the computer or the ship.

“Come on! Why are you ignoring me?! Are you shorted out?”

Thomlin reached under flat piece of plastic and found the manual override button. He pressed it, but nothing happened.

“What’s going on, computer?! You can’t override the manual override!”

Of course, Thom knew things would work out in the end. If he got sent to Niobe, he’d eventually get to Gaea, but he would be forced to dock. Then he’d have to lodge a complaint, and argue with someone until things got settled without any more additional credits being charged to Darond’s account. Thom didn’t want to go through the whole hassle. He’d rather settle it before the warp happened.

He looked at the ABORT button to the right of the plastic covering. It was only to be used in emergencies, but it would shut everything down. “I’m not going to Niobe!” he said as he pushed the button.

Again, nothing happened, and for the first time, Thom feared for his life.

Something is seriously wrong. Manual override and the ABORT buttons aren’t working? What else isn’t working? Am I about to explode?

There were only fifteen seconds left before the warp would happen. That left only five seconds to do something before it was too late to stop the warp.

Thom quickly pushed the communications button. “Help!” he yelled. “This ship is malfunctioning! Please stop it now! I don’t want to blow up!!”

He heard nothing but static coming from the other side.

“This is just great!” he said as the last ten seconds began. Space bent before him – beckoning him to move forward. Time came to a standstill as he flickered out of existence. His life flashed before him as he thought his time had come.

And then there was a moment of clarity. The events that had transpired in the past couple of hours suddenly came together to paint a terrible picture – the unnatural hatred of Darond – the woman who spat on his shoe – the newsflash about Darond – the malfunction of the warp shuttle – the over eagerness of Darond to switch identities.

As a planet – the wrong planet – came into view, Thomlin realized that there was no malfunction. This was all intentional. Darond was in a lot of trouble, and they were after him. The government had his ship now, and they were in control.

They’re after me!! They think I’m Darond! What did he do? What am I going to do?

The ship quickly descended into the atmosphere as a force field protected Thom’s ship from the heat.

Don’t panic! All I have to do is let them know I’m really Thomlin, and I should be okay.

With the spaceport in sight, he tried communications again. Calmly, he said, “Hello. There’s been some kind of mistake. I’m not Darond. I’m his twin brother Thomlin. You’ve got the wrong guy.”

Again, there was nothing but static coming from the other end. He halfway wondered if he was being a little too paranoid. I wonder if they think I’m crazy – blabbing something about having the wrong guy?! Are they having a good laugh?

Thom had no idea what was on the planet Niobe. He had never been there before on his chess trips with his brother. It looked like most any other planet. It was not a tourist attraction. That was certain. Usually, that indicated a governmental function, or industrial, or just plain low class and off the map.

As the shuttle entered the spaceport, Thom saw at least a dozen armed men surrounding a specific port. That’s my port!

The shuttle came to a stop, and then the armed men all had weapons pointed at Thom.

This is just plain stupid! What do they expect me to do? Run away?

He tried communications once more. “Come on, guys! I’m not Darond!”

But I told the DNA scanner that I was Darond. I provided positive identification. I used his card, and I stated his name, and my DNA matched. How stupid I was!! I fell for it all! I should have seen it coming!

The shuttle door opened even though Thom pushed no button to open it.

“Oh no!” he yelled outside. “I’m not coming out!”

He barely got to finish his sentence when the floor of the shuttle became electrified. Thom screamed in pain with the arc of electricity flowing through his body. Instinctively, he ran through the open door as fast as he could.

You can’t catch me! I’m not the guy!

He kept on running as fast as he could, but once he passed the door, he didn’t get far at all before everything went dark.

 

Continue to Chapter 2