J Mauldin - Final Solution

“Liberty,” I said. “Can you tell me what’s going on?”

She nodded, taking me by the hand and leading me into the privacy of the Captain’s quarters. After closing the door she began to rummage through the bedside table, overlooking the decanter of liquor loitering atop. “Want something to drink?”

“You’re dodging,” I said. “Give it to me straight. What’s going on?”

She produced two reddish silver cans of Coca-cola, handing me one while keeping the other for herself. She plopped down on the queen size bed and patted the spot beside her.

“He lied to me,” she began. “He lied to all of us; I just don’t know how deep it goes.” I kept my mouth shut and took a seat, clutching the cool can of obscenely expensive soda between my palms. “I knew dad would resist you being part of my life. I knew it, but I kept it up. And why? Because there’s something different about you. David, I love you, and he couldn’t allow that. Father had big plans for me, they just didn’t include a dusty person like you. Maybe he wants me to marry a governor, or a rich CEO. I don’t know, but right now I’m so furious I can’t even speak with him.”

I sighed and thought my chest might just collapse. A few days ago I would have thrown my arms around her at this offhand declaration of feelings, but there were more important matters to deal with. Besides which, I was still pissed.

“But why put this ship and the citizens of Mars at risk by taking me out of the picture?” I asked. “That seems a bit excessive. Foolish, actually. And your father is hardly foolish.”

“You should have seen him when we caught Graham and that little shit spilled the beans. Graham said it had nothing to do with our sexual proclivities, but only keeping us safe. He said that a relationship like ours was toxic to the environment of this vessel. It was Graham’s idea to send you after a phantom target just to keep you busy, and Father agreed. They wanted you in a position so that if we got too close, they could pin this on you. Soon as we found out we started to dig deeper. Kelly helped us uncover some video. We now have Father on tape talking to Graham about all of it. Father clammed up immediately and hasn’t said a word since.”

I rolled the can of Coke around in my fingers, first laying it on its side, feeling the bends of cold aluminum, imagining for a moment it had solar panels, ion engines, and rain guns. I pulled back the tab with a hiss, carbonated bubbles popping up through the hole and tickle the base of my nose. It smelled sweet. “Was that all?”

Liberty nodded. “Yeah. That’s all.”

“It can’t be.” I took a sip, allowing the sugary, fizzy drink to wash over my palate. I swallowed and held up the can incredulously. “Hot damn, tastes just like Monarch Cola. Even has that bite.”

She popped hers open and slurped a little off the top. “What did you think it would taste like? They make this crap for hundredths on the credit. It’s sugar, flavor, and sodium bi-carb. What did you think it had in it? Gold dust?”

“Yet they sell it for fifty credits a pop. Those bastards.”

“That’s capitalism for ya.”

“That’s rich assholes,” I amended, raising a finger.

She shrugged. “A product is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. Never forget.”

“Alright,” I said, taking another sip and setting down the can. “But after locking me up your father said me he’d taken out two birds with one stone. If taking me out of commission was one, what was the other?”

“He must have been talking out his ass. He tends to do that sometimes.”

“Normally I’d agree, but I don’t think so. He was earnest in his meaning.”

Liberty’s watch spoke. “Their response is coming in.”

She lifted her wrist. “We’ll be right there.”

“Whose response?”

“ The Razor’s .”

I shook my head at the notion, then proceeded to the bedside table, taking a drink from our former Captain’s decanter of whiskey before washing it down with Coca-Cola. Hot damn, it was fine, like liquid sex and lottery winnings.

“Feel better?” she asked from the doorway, her lips forming a sly grin.

“I’ll be back for the rest. You can damn well bet on it.”

She took hold of my right hand and rubbed it gently before placing it flat over her heart, my palm curving around her breast. “May not be gin, but would you like some company later to help polish that off?”

This was her way of apologizing, and would have to be enough. Actions were more powerful than words, and she was all action. “I’d like that.” I took her hands and kissed the tops of them, putting my forehead against hers and taking a deep breath. “Come on, let’s see what the Axis has to say. Perhaps God has softened their hearts to see reason.”

I took a seat at the edge of the room as far away from William Fryatt as possible. Dour Face sat between us, keeping his stun stick close at hand, a hard eye fixed on our prisoner. I couldn’t shake the idea that the other shoe was about to drop. There might not have been a spy aboard, and Fryatt’s intent might have been to throw me in the brig for intermingling fluids with his daughter, but there was more to this. My incarceration felt—too convenient.

“Here it is,” the Comm told Liberty. “What the? But this doesn’t make any sense.”

“Let me see that.” Liberty sidled up beside her, confusion growing as she scanned the message. She read it aloud, “Vindicator , we did not attack first. Your ship was headed for Europa, and therefore, we set to intercept you near Mars. We clearly understand your intention to turn our colonies to slag. We have detected radioactive materials on board your vessel far in excess of nuclear batteries alone. You are carrying fusion bombs. Therefore, there is no resolution that can be met but for your ship’s destruction. ”

The former Captain twisted in his cuffs.

“Wait. They were responding to our move? Not us responding to theirs? Father? Explain.” Liberty turned, a worried slant in her expression. She was putting pieces together not at my disposal. I had a feeling I knew the direction this was going. “Did you provoke them? Tell me, father. Did you?” The heart shaped birthmark on her neck flashed red as it filled with hot blood.

William Fryatt averted his increasingly sunken eyes, finding his bindings were far more interesting than addressing his daughter’s question. XO cleared his throat and looked angry, but kept his cool, waiting on Liberty to lead the interrogation.

Smith elbowed me in the ribs and handed over a tablet displaying sensor data from our last scan of the Axis’s ship, the Razor .

I swallowed at what I saw. “Is this accurate?”

“It is,” she replied, fingers rubbing the piercings of her right ear.

“You provoked them, didn’t you?” Liberty’s hands came up to cover her mouth. “You told them we were going to attack. Tell me it’s not true. Damn it, tell me!”

William Fryatt straightened his back and raised his chin in defiance. “A father must do what he can to protect his daughter.”

The room became a vacuum as absolute as the void. Even our computers took a brief respite, their constant white noise retreating from the gravity of the moment.

“How does this protect me?” Her open hands became fists. “Putting me trapped inside a can to be shot at day and night? You could have left me on Mars, and I would have been just as safe, if not safer. I had a personal security detail. Not even gangs like the Gatos would have messed with me.”

“But the Axis would have attacked us eventually. Our probes detected thousands of centrifuges enriching radioactive materials for battle. They were building bombs by the freighter load, and weren’t sending them back to Earth. That left only one purpose.”