The Ship Finder Read online

  Art Terac followed Lena, and he grabbed her shoulder. She looked like she would attack Rachel. Two other rebel men were with them, but Wilson didn't know who they were.

  "I'm not a whore," Rachel said. She stood her ground in front of the metal barrier that separated her from the cliff. "Maybe you're just jealous because I'm with Bill, huh?"

  Lena ripped Terac's hand from her right shoulder and lunged at Rachel. "You're a spy, Rachel. Now your spying days are over," said Lena. She swung a blackjack at Rachel and hit her on the back of the neck. Rachel fell like a sack of potatoes, but Wilson caught her before she hit the pavement. She was out cold.

  "What the hell did you do that for, Lena?" Wilson yelled. "She told me she wants to join the revolution."

  "She's one of them! Don't you see it, Bill?" Lena said. "You've been taken in by her. We know she reports to the Great Leader himself. Did you give anything away to her?"

  "No," Wilson said. He knew Lena's intuition told her that he had lied, and she stared at him with her ice cold eyes.

  "I ought to throw her over the cliff right now," said Lena. "It'll look like suicide."

  Art Terac took a pace forward. "Lena, cool it," he said. "We need to question Rachel to learn what we can. I hope to hell that you didn't cause brain damage or something worse. You hit her pretty hard with that blackjack. Where'd you get it, anyway?"

  "It's just a rag with a bunch of rocks tied in the middle," she said.

  Wilson realized that he had just seen the true Lena, whom she had hidden from him. She loves the revolution, not me, Wilson decided. He didn't know what to say. The wind whistled and the rain beat down even harder on the small group as he pulled a smelling salt capsule from his medical fanny pack, cracked the capsule open, and held it under Rachel's nose. "This ought to wake her, if she's just knocked out," he said.

  As Rachel's eyes began to flicker, Terac said, "Let's take her back to the truck. I want to question her. We've got truth serum."

  Her eyes opened.

  "Are you okay, Rachel?" Wilson asked.

  "I have a hell of a headache," she said. He tested her for a concussion, and found none.

  Terac and Wilson each grabbed one of her arms. They supported her and walked her to the long, black truck that Wilson had noticed when Rachel had parked his rental car.

  Wilson asked himself, after they give her truth serum, will she say she's ready to join the rebels, or is she really on the government's side?

  Chapter 26 – The Whole Truth

  After Terac had hustled Rachel into the cargo area of the black moving van, he pulled off her jacket and handcuffed her to a metal support on the inside wall of the truck.

  She shook her hair and rubbed her head where she had been hit. "I want to join the rebellion," Rachel blurted out. "Lena, you and I are alike not just because we're clones. We hate the system that made us."

  "We'll find out about your true intentions soon enough," replied Lena.

  Rachel fell onto a cushion on the rough wooden floor of the van. Her handcuffed left arm dangled above her from the brace attached to the truck's wall.

  Terac rolled up Rachel's right blouse sleeve, wiped her arm with alcohol, and gave her a shot of truth serum. She looked scared, yet defiant, as she stared forward.

  After a short wait, Lena said, "Okay, Rachel, who do you work for?"

  "The Intelligence Service," Rachel said.

  "What's your mission?"

  "To find out if Dr. William Wilson of Earth is loyal to the Great Leader and the Upper Echelon."

  Lena focused an icy look on Wilson. She shook her head up and down.

  "Can I ask a question?" Wilson queried.

  "Sure," said Terac. Lena looked down and bit her lip.

  "Rachel, do you want to join the rebel cause, and if so, why?" Wilson asked.

  "I hope that I can join the revolution because I think that clones, sentient robots, and cyborgs are treated as second class citizens at best. We're really slaves. I'm just a toy for men to play with. I've tried to give my life meaning by doing a different job."

  Lena leaned forward and looked into Rachel's eyes and said, "What's that different career?"

  "It was a job in the Intelligence Service. But now I have a chance to get out of that and join the revolution."

  Lena fixed her gaze at Wilson, and then she asked Rachel, "Did you have sex with Bill?"

  "Yes. I love him. I want him to be my husband, if only he would ask me."

  Art Terac shook his head at Lena. "We've heard enough for now," he said. "We can trust her. But the revolution comes before matters of the heart."

  Lena suddenly stood, opened the rear cargo door, and climbed out into a steady rain. The sky was dark and gloomy.

  Wilson followed her. The rain came down harder in sheets, and Lena was soaked. In the dim glow of a street light, Wilson saw her sob. He walked to her, and she looked up.

  "You bastard, why did you have sex with her, after I gave every fiber of my body and soul to you?" she asked, now less combative, but still out of control.

  "I had to appear to be totally loyal to the Sunevian Upper Echelon. That the Intelligence Service sent her to check out my loyalty is abundantly clear."

  "You could have resisted her and not done it with her," Lena said. She wiped rain and tears from her eyes.

  Wilson took a step towards Lena, but she shoved him away and wiped her eyes again. As rain dripped from her sopping hair, she walked to the front of the truck, jerked the passenger door open, got in, and slammed it shut.

  He went back into the truck's cargo section where Terac, Rachel, and the two other rebels sat. He grabbed a towel from the floor and wiped the water from his face.

  "How's Lena?" asked Terac.

  "Not happy."

  Wilson detected a repressed smile on Terac's lips. "She'll get over it," he said. "Now, let's decide what to do about Rachel." He unlocked the handcuff from her left wrist.

  Rachel began to rub her wrist where the manacle had pinched her. "You know I want to be a rebel. Let me join," she said, staring at Terac.

  Wilson guessed, Terac is in command of this mission, which is to capture and evaluate Rachel.

  Rachel was still somewhat under the influence of the truth serum, though Terac had given her an antidote when Wilson had been outside the van.

  "You can join us under certain conditions, Rachel," said Terac.

  Rachel's eyes were glazed. As she struggled to fight the last effects of the truth serum, she slurred, "What conditions?"

  "First, you must tell us everything you can about the Sunevian Intelligence Service. Second, and more important for the moment, is that Lena will assume your identity. She'll go with Bill to rejoin Raven and the crew of The Ghost Liner on their mission to blow up Emor's water system on Triod. You'll give her your secure government cell phone."

  "I'm glad that Lena will take my identity. I don't think I could hide my dislike for the Sunevian regime much longer aboard that ship," Rachel said. "What about Bill? Won't he be in in danger if he goes on that mission? Can't you figure a way to get him out of it?"

  "Bill has got to go because he and Lena must stop The Ghost Liner's crew from destroying Emor's water supply and possibly a large part of Emor as well," said Terac. "We don't have anyone else who's a member of the crew. Most importantly, if Bill goes missing, government intelligence would become suspicious. They would question Lena, who will pose as you, about what happened to Bill."

  "Where does that leave me?" asked Rachel.

  "We'll take you to planet Triod to help us there. After The Ghost Liner's mission is stopped, you, Bill, and Lena can work out whatever you must," said Terac. "But I stress one thing. We cannot let emotions get in the way of our mission."

  "Okay, I get it. I agree," said Rachel. Wilson dropped all his thoughts of deserting with Rachel. She began to cry softly.

  "Are you okay, Rachel?" Wilson asked, and he hugged her.

  "Yes, I just don't want to leave you," she said. "We
need to be together as soon as we can after this is over."

  "I promise you, we will," he said. Still holding Rachel, Wilson turned his head towards Terac and asked, "How can you be sure that Lena can take Rachel's place, and not be detected by Sunevian Intelligence?"

  Terac shifted his feet, glanced down, and looked back and forth between Rachel and Wilson. "That's a good question, Bill," Terac said. Our plan is simple, yet powerful. First, Rachel will brief Lena with as much detail as possible about every aspect of her mission and her relationship with Bill and the crew of The Ghost Liner.

  "Second, as I said, we'll give Rachel's secure cell phone to Lena. Rachel will provide us the necessary passwords to operate the device.

  "Third, we'll change the identification tattoo on Lena into Rachel's ID, which is 214993. We just have to change two of the last three digits of Lena's ID to match Rachel's number. Rachel's ID will also be altered. We can do that in Chinatown in Honolulu at a trusted tattoo parlor. Because Rachel and Lena have identical DNA, the Sunevians won't discover that we've fooled them," concluded Terac.

  "What about iris identification and fingerprints?" Wilson asked. "I've heard that irises in the eyes of identical twins are different, and so are their fingerprints."

  "That's true," said Terac, "but Lena can wear cosmetic contact lenses, just like Rachel does. They confuse computer systems that look at irises. The authorities know Rachel wears them. Identification by fingerprints is out of date, and the government no longer keeps records of them. And if you're worried about facial recognition cameras, clone faces are exactly the same."

  "All that sounds good, but I'm concerned that Lena is so irritated with me that the mission could be jeopardized," Wilson said.

  "She's a true revolutionary and can hide her anger with you in order to complete the mission," said Terac. "She knows the revolution comes before all else."

  "Okay," Wilson said. "But you'll have to get the tattoos changed fast, because we have to meet the ship the day after tomorrow in the afternoon."

  "No problem. The tattoo fix can be done tomorrow. Meantime, relax back here," said Terac. "I'll drive us to Chinatown. We have a few rooms set aside in the Green Dragon Hotel. Give Louis your keys so he can check you out of your hotel and turn in your rental car at the airport."

  Louis, one of the other two rebels, a man with grey hair and medium build, stepped up. Wilson handed him his keys.

  "Boss, should I take a taxi to the Green Dragon Hotel after I turn in Wilson's rental car?" Louis asked.

  "Yeah, that's fine, but call us after you check in at the hotel, if we're not there first," Terac said.

  Louis took a step back and said, "Dr. Wilson, I'll empty your car, and bring your stuff here before I leave."

  "Thanks," Wilson replied.

  In five minutes Louis returned with Wilson's and Rachel's items, and seconds later he got in the sports car and sped off. It wasn't long before the rest of the rebels left in the truck for Honolulu's Chinatown.

  Chapter 27 – Chinatown

  It was dark when Wilson, Rachel, and the rest of the rebels began the trip from Pali Lookout to Honolulu's Chinatown.

  Rachel and Bill rested on a small mattress on the wooden floor in the cargo area of the moving van in which they traveled. Another of the rebels, Jacob, a clone with brown skin, was lying on a small cushion with his eyes closed trying to sleep. Rebel mission leader Art Terac drove, and Lena sat next to him in the passenger's seat.

  "I wonder if the rain will stop by the time we get down to Honolulu," Rachel said. She had almost recovered from the effects of the truth serum that Terac had given her.

  Rain pattered on the sheet metal roof of the electric truck as it sped along. Its cargo area had no windows. Aside from the noise of the rain and the splash of the tires, the rebels in the cargo area had few clues about the weather.

  "I imagine this weather may change," Wilson said. "I studied the map, and I believe our route follows Pali Highway southwest. In a few minutes, we'll be out of the heights and the rain."

  "It seems to hit the roof less," said Rachel. "Do you feel like it's warmer?"

  "It sure is," Wilson said. He felt sweat run down his back. "Pali Highway is almost a direct route to Chinatown. I think we have about a half-hour before we get to the hotel."

  "I'll be glad when we get there," Rachel said. The truck's movement seemed to sooth her, and soon she dozed.

  It didn't seem long to Wilson before he felt the van turn right and enter stop-and-go city traffic. Wilson recalled that his travel book had warned tourists not to venture into Chinatown at night because of its high crime rate.

  After the truck halted, Terac climbed onto the rear bumper and rolled up the cargo door. Then he jumped down to the street to join Lena. Wilson, Jacob, and Rachel hopped from the van's cargo area to the pavement.

  "This is it," said Terac. "The hotel's across the street." He pointed to a bright red neon sign which read, "Green Dragon Hotel." The sign included Chinese character writing and a green neon lamp in the form of a dragon.

  The street was empty except for five men in shabby clothes about thirty feet from the hotel's entrance. Three of the men sat in aluminum lawn chairs, and the other two men stood. A few of the fellows held crumpled brown paper bags, which appeared to contain bottles. A soft, warm breeze carried the smell of cheap whiskey and stale beer to Wilson.

  As the rebels and Wilson crossed the street and approached the hotel, one of the rough-looking men raised his brown paper sack and took a swig from his bottle. He wiped his mouth on the upper sleeve of his greasy Hawaiian shirt.

  "Hey, honeys, twin ladies, come here and talk to daddy," he said. His smile revealed rotten teeth with some black gaps between them. He gestured for Lena and Rachel to come forward. "I got a proposition for you two from my crew."

  "Sorry, sir, but the ladies are unable to grant your request," Terac said. Wilson grasped his ray gun, which was tucked in his waistband beneath his black jacket. By feel alone he set the weapon on nonlethal "shock." He saw that the rest of his colleagues were also ready for trouble.

  "Mister Blondie, you shouldn't speak for the ladies," slurred another of the thugs. Terac's light hair was bright despite the darkness. "Women have rights, you know," said the second thug. "So, I'm gonna teach you a lesson."

  He stood up from his lawn chair and drew a large chrome pistol from his belt. Terac dove to his right as the drunken ruffian fired a wild shot in the general direction of the rebels. Every one of the battle-tested rebels either dove to the ground or took other evasive action.

  Wilson pulled his ray gun out, squeezed the trigger, and hit the attacker with a shock ray, which displayed a blue laser-like line in the air. The man fell and dropped his heavy chrome pistol, which skidded across the sidewalk towards Lena. She grabbed the brute's weapon and aimed it at the first man who had called out to her and Rachel.

  "If you say another word, I'll kill you, or better yet, blow your balls off," Lena yelled. "Your friend's not dead, just knocked out."

  The man held up his arms, still holding his bag of booze in one hand. Then he backed up towards the dark alley behind him. His friends also eased backwards in the direction of the alley and the safety of its darkness.

  Afraid to say anything, the first man turned and ran into the alleyway, splattering much of his whiskey as he fled. The rest of the men escaped when they saw that Lena did not shoot.

  Except for the stunned criminal, all that remained were a few overturned lawn chairs and two broken bottles of spirits that had moistened the crumpled brown bags in which they had been kept. The smell of gun smoke and spilled whiskey loitered in the air.

  "Zap him again, if he wakes up," Terac said to Wilson. "I'll get some duct tape from the van to secure this fellow. Everybody else, go in the hotel, and check in. If they ask about the shot, say it was a firecracker that a teenager set off."

  The women and the other rebel, Jacob, went into the hotel and paid for their rooms. Wilson stayed behind to
watch over the stunned hooligan who was still out cold.

  After Terac came back with the tape, he bound the thug's arms and legs, and Wilson gave the ruffian an injection of sedative to make sure he would be unconscious for hours. Then Wilson glanced around to see if anyone was near, but the street was deserted. He also saw no one observing them from the hotel's windows or from any other building.

  Wilson and Terac each grabbed one of the thug's shoulders and pulled him along the sidewalk, the backs of his heels dragging on the concrete. In the obscurity of the alley, Terac took out a bright portable spotlight and turned it on. They peered down the length of the alleyway, which ended at the next street. The alley was deserted except for a couple of cats that scurried away.

  "The rest of the gang is gone," said Terac. "Let's pull him a little farther to that Chinese restaurant service entrance, and the cook will probably find him in the morning. I bet the thug won't say anything about us. Most likely he's always in trouble, and he'll be afraid to report anything to the police because he started it."

  "The police could still make inquiries," Wilson said.

  "We can check out early, maybe four in the morning," Terac said. "I can find out when the restaurant opens. If it doesn't open until lunchtime, then I doubt anybody will show up until about eight or nine o'clock to start work."

  "The restaurant has to have a sign with its hours of operation on the front door," Wilson said.

  "I'll check it after we drag this jerk behind the dumpster," said Terac.

  He and Wilson wrestled the unconscious, bulky criminal another fifty feet to the garbage containers by the rear alley entrance of the restaurant. Terac went around to the street side of the eatery to look for a sign. Meanwhile, Wilson entered the Green Dragon Hotel lobby where Jacob sat.

  "Here's a room key," he said. "We all have separate rooms because of the fracas the women got into."

  "I guess it's for the best until everybody cools down," Wilson said. "What rooms do we have?"

  "We've got a block of rooms from 1101 to 1106," said Jacob. "We have Lena in 1101 and Rachel in 1106."