Chapter 9

We caught a ride on one of the sprayers out beyond the shield and had ourselves transported back to Capital. We met with Amphy Rulot and gave him the list of names and addresses we had gotten from Ms. Kama Sutra. He put some investigators on it searching the citizen data base for the appropriate planets. Damned if most of the names didn't turn out to be fake, though the addresses were real enough!

We threw away the 4 names that were valid and concentrated on the fake ones. There were 10 fake names, each one on a different planet. We asked Amphy to have the local cops verify that the addresses were real, and not vacant lots, etc. A couple of hours later, we got word back that all of the addresses were valid businesses, but each one was suspected of being a front for some criminal organization. Jackpot! It looked like it was now up to us to visit each address and find the boss for questioning.

We had nothing to suggest a preferred order, so we decided to take them in a random order so that they wouldn't know when to expect us to drop in. We decided on a very scientific choosing process. Amy wrote each name on a slip of paper and Augusta drew one from a hat. Our first subject was Ortho Elo. This was a female from a species that looked a lot like a hedgehog, but there were four tentacles growing from its chest. Amphy had us transported to the front door and I knocked, very politely.

My knock was answered by an explosion which would have taken my head off if I had not been enhanced. Now, this was down right unsociable, not to mention, impolite! We rushed through the now-open doorway to find ourselves in an abandoned reception area. There was a counter across the entire room with no obvious way through. This was no problem for our enhanced muscles and we simply hopped over it to find several of the hedgehog-like creatures unconscious on the floor. Augusta was detailed to stay and keep an eye on them while the rest of us looked over the structure.

Several doors were located behind the counter and we opened every one to be sure that no surprises were lurking behind them. They all opened into a hallway that led to an outside door at one end and a stairs at the other end. The stairs led both up and down, and, on a hunch, we went down. I was guessing that hedgehogs would tend to prefer underground quarters.

We went down at least 30 feet before we came to the end of the stairs. Arthur was left to guard the stairs and our backs while we investigated the doors leading off the hall. The first door to our left opened onto a broom closet, so we didn't spend any more time there. The second door was for an office with the usual inventory of desk, chairs, and some computers. This office was not occupied so we left it for the moment.

The third door led to what appeared to be the "boiler room." It was full of machinery: heater, air conditioner, etc. There was one occupant; it was sleeping in a reclining chair. I shouted at it, loud enough to wake it, "WAKE UP! WE WANT SOME INFORMATION!" I knew that it didn't understand English, but I thought the unusual sound would attract its attention.

It woke up, and I said, through the communicator, "We want some information and we hope that you can help us."

"Sure, what do you want to know?" it said.

"We're looking for Ms. Ortho Elo. Any idea where we can find her?"

"The last that I knew, she was in the office at the end of the hallway. But you better hurry, she usually leaves for home about now."

"Thank you. We'll leave you alone now so you can return to your nap."

We hurried to the door at the end of the hall. Based on what had happened at the front door, I didn't plan on being polite. I tried the door and found it locked. "Julia, please open this door for us."

She used one of her small explosive gadgets and the door flew open. We rushed inside, stun guns at the ready. The office was empty; it looked like Elo had left already. There were two doors leading off the office, besides the one we came through. One led to a coat closet and the other led to a powder room. So far, it looked like we had struck out.

We started a thorough search of the office in hopes of finding some clue about where Elo might have gone. Amy had taken some special courses and had become our computer expert, so she worked on the computer while we scoured the room for anything useful. Fortunately, Elo was using the Windrows operating system, so Amy was able to break in with little difficulty. After a few minutes, she called out, "I think I found something!"

Amy had discovered an e-mail file containing many messages addressed to Arly Torro. I clicked my communicator on to long distance and called Amphy. "What can you tell me about somebody named Arly Torro?"

"Just a minute... Ah, here it is. Arly Torro is a known criminal with ambitions to control the galaxy, though she doesn't have the wit nor the means to do it. Here is her home address."

"Is there any connection between Ortho Elo and Arly Torro?"

"Damn, how dumb can we be! Ortho Elo is an alias sometimes used by Arly Torro."

"That's enough for us to act on. We need you to transport us to her front door."

A few seconds later, we were all 8 standing at Arly Torro's gate. A guard asked us, "What the hell do you want. You're not supposed to be able to transport here."

"Chalk it up to luck and let us in," I said.

"Not a chance! I'll lose my job if I do that! Now get out of here!"

Such chatter doesn't impress me, but it does annoy me. I shot the guard with a 24-hour stun and asked Julia to open the gate for us. She cut off the lock, but the gate still wouldn't open, so she cut the main gate supports and it fell open. She was about to step forward when Jim yelled, "STOP!" He picked up a handful of dirt and dust and threw it through the gate. This scattered enough light that we were able to see several laser beams shining across the gate opening. It was also enough debris to trigger some machine guns which chattered immediately afterward.

"Humph! It looks like Ms. Torro doesn't want company. Jim, jump as high as you can and dribble some more dust down so that we can find the highest point guarded by the lasers."

The ploy worked and we found that the top laser we had already seen was the highest they went. We used that information to gage our jump as we leaped over the laser guard. We landed on a paved walkway which appeared to lead directly to the front door of a house. "This looks too easy. Everybody, switch on your full spectrum of vision and turn you hearing sensitivity to maximum, but be ready to cut off your hearing if we run into something loud."

We formed our usual column for hostile territory and Jim led off at point. "HOLD IT! I'VE FOUND SOMETHING WIERD!" We all stopped and I asked for more information. "My X-ray vision says that there is an opening under the walk. It looks like a lift shaft going down about 35 feet."

Cicero said, "That sounds like what we found at the office. I'll bet that Torro lives underground and this house is just camouflage."

I said, "You're probably right. Does anybody see a way to operate the lift?"

We all looked around, but couldn't spot anything we could identify as the lift controls. "Jim, you're our best jumper. Go back to the guard shack and see if you can find some controls. If so, lower us down the shaft and then jump after us."

Jim went back to the shack and a few moments later said, "I found the controls. Move to the platform and I'll lower you."

We did and the platform began to drop down the shaft. We came to a stop opposite a tunnel mouth barely high enough for Cicero to walk upright. We stepped in and were joined by Jim as he dropped down the shaft. So far, so good! We had found the entrance to Torro's home.

We formed our fighting column again and Jim led off. Justina had barely gotten into the tunnel when a portcullis dropped behind her. At the same time, one dropped in front of Jim. There was an eerie giggle that rattled through the tunnel and a voice said, "Well, I seem to have some uninvited visitors. I really didn't expect you to get this far. In fact, the bomb at the front door of the office should have discouraged you."

"Did you know we were coming and what triggered the bomb?"

"I've been expecting you for the last two years, ever since I signed on to that coffee scheme. You have been in my facial recognition system keyed to that bomb ever since I have had that office."

Amy turned to say something and I held my finger to my lips to shush her. It was obvious that Torro had us confused with our later selves. We might find this helpful.