shoulder "or get out and go foment riot and rebellion."
Harlan couldn't help himself. He laughed and took a drink before he
-left to do some fomenting.
\ No newline at end of file
+left to do some fomenting.
+
+==== Mellie: Detective, Resistance Operative ====
+
+Mellie probably wouldn’t have phrased how she was doing as ‘well’. She
+was running scared, every day, every minute. Someone would call her
+out. She knew it.
+
+Meanwhile, she had dug up some important information, but no one had
+contacted her to transfer it to the Boss. She now knew the identity of
+the mole in the detective squad and he was likely to find out that she
+knew at any moment. She had tricked him. It was just a matter of time
+before he figured out that he’d been had. And her life expectancy
+would decrease exponentially at that point.
+
+She had been sheltering in the bathroom, but she really needed to get
+back to the squad room and keep an eye on Tommi Roper, Detective
+second class and spy for the pirates.
+
+When she walked in the squad room, a couple of the guys looked up, saw
+her, and went back to their work. Five men were grouped around Behan’s
+desk and seemed to be arguing vigorously. She could hear the raised
+voices but didn’t understand the words. As she approached, the voices
+fell silent and the men stared at her.
+
+“What’s going on?” she asked.
+
+There was silence for a while, then Alex Biggers spoke up. “Roper here
+thinks you’re a spy for the pirates. He says he’s seen you close to
+both the Big House and the Presidential Palace, like you were
+delivering messages or somethin.’”
+
+Roper stepped forward and squared his shoulders. “I saw you walking up
+to the presidential palace yesterday. It was dark, but I know it was
+you.”
+
+Her gaze didn’t waver. She thought Now or never.
+
+"And why were you there after dark? Exactly what time did this
+'sighting' take place?"
+
+Roper sneered. "I was on a stakeout. Watching for any unusual
+activity. And it was just about 20:15"
+
+She nods. "20:15. Well, at that time I was having dinner with Lt.
+Marks."
+
+Eyebrows went up. Even Behan gave her a look.
+
+"And his delightful wife, Celia. Lt. Marks thought that Celia and I
+would get along well. He was right. I think I will enjoy knowing
+Celia."
+
+Behan grinned. The rest looked mildly embarrassed. Roper looked
+unhappy. "Well. I said it was dark. Musta been somebody who looked
+like you."
+
+Mellie smiled. "Actually, Roper, I've been wanting to talk to you. You
+weren't on any stakeout last night. You were meeting with O'Hara, one
+of the group leaders in State Security. He reports directly to the
+President. In fact, I'll bet he wanted you to join with Caspenski, the
+Syndicate goon who wants to take over from Cassidy. You work for the
+Syndicate, too, don't you, Roper? And you report everything to the
+pirates."
+
+The group around them had grown. There were a dozen men and a couple
+of women listening now. The uproar that followed Mellie's words
+brought in another crowd.
+
+Mellie raised her hand and the noise quieted down. "You're double
+crossing everybody, aren't you, Roper? You're a spy for the pirates.
+So everything you hear, everything you see, even everything you
+suspect, goes right back to the bastards who have this planet under
+their thumbs. Just how much are you getting paid, you traitor?" Her
+voice had risen to a shout.
+
+Roper swung a fist at her, but she dodged and grabbed his arm, pinning
+him over the desk. "You're not even a good cop."
+
+Roper yelled "You're a liar! You can't prove any of that."
+
+Smiling a predator's smile, Mellie pulled out a disc, the size of a
+contact lens, and inserted it into Behan's computer. A vid came up.
+Roper was walking toward a dark shape standing near a hoverlight on a
+rainy street. The figure turned as Roper came near and the light
+played across his face. Every cop gasped. They all knew that face.
+Dietr, head of state security for the pirates. The two men walked a
+little way together, then stopped and talked. Something exchanged
+hands. Dietr slapped Roper on the shoulder and Roper turned and walked
+away. The vid stopped.
+
+Mellie looked around at her colleagues. "Santorini will want to talk
+to him." She pulled the disc and handed it in a container to Biggers.
+
+Everyone looked at Roper. He spread his hands. "I was playing him. I
+wanted to get some info from him and go to the Resistance with it.
+C'mon guys. You got to believe me. I was born here. This is my home. I
+love Agalder. She's lying. She created that tape." His voice rose as
+five cops hustled him out of the squad room.
+
+Behan hadn't moved during the incident. Now he looked at Mellie. "Good
+work, Detective."
+
+The stunned audience, consisting of cops and clerks broke free of
+their shock and started talking all at once. Behan leaned toward
+Mellie. "Good work." he repeated. "But you painted a target on your
+back. Be careful."
+
+She nodded and headed out the door. She needed to see Santorini.
+
+
+==== Mellie: Detective, Resistance Operative ====
+
+Mellie Kaminsky was feeling pretty cocky after successfully taking
+Roper down. She climbed in her little tan AirSedan and lifted off on a
+course to the Green Palace. But before she reached her assigned
+traffic lane, three AirScooters surrounded her. The men on them were
+dressed in black and had black helmets. One pulled right along side
+her vehicle and smashed the passenger side window. Mellie shot him
+with her phaser, but he kept coming, like it had no effect at all. He
+pulled open the passenger door and came in.
+
+She took a crowbar that she kept in the car and swung it with all her
+might against his left shoulder as he crawled in the vehicle. That
+stopped him. He screamed and fell back against the passenger door. The
+door swung open. Mellie pushed hard against the thug. He grabbed her
+wrist as he fell out of the sedan. Praying that the seatbelts would
+hold, Mellie stabbed him with a knife that she always carried. He let
+go and disappeared, falling.
+
+The other two had been waiting to see if their colleague would take
+care of the problem. When they saw him fall thousands of meters, they
+attacked together. Mellie dived and then rolled her sedan, doing
+acrobatic maneuvers that she had learned at the Academy. She came up
+behind one of the scooters and rammed him hard enough to leave him
+hanging onto his bike with his hands while his legs flailed in midair.
+
+She was just congratulating herself when she looked up to see the
+third scooter right in front of her. The rider tried desperately to
+get out of her way but there wasn't enough time. She slammed into him
+and together they fell.
+
+Desperately Mellie threw the sedan into reverse and managed to
+disengage from the scooter. She pulled up hard on the stick, trying to
+come out of the dive. And she almost made it.
+
+==== Harlan: Thief, Resistance Operative ====
+
+Harlan had just hopped on his AirScooter when he heard the sound of
+the collision in the sky. He looked up. There were just a few sparks
+falling. He thought it looked like a sedan vs scooter accident and
+took off to see if he could help. He recognized Mellie's sedan as she
+pulled free of the scooter wreckage. His heart seemed to stop as the
+little sedan's nose was pulled up, away from the hard, hard ground. He
+reached for the com to call for help, but all they heard at the Green
+Palace was a scream as her sedan plowed into trees along the highway.
+
+He came down almost as fast as she had, his scooter skidding sideways
+and throwing up a wave of earth and grass. Running through the trees,
+he tripped and fell twice but barely noticed. He found the wreckage
+back in the woods. The vehicle was wrecked, steam pouring from the
+front. He saw a few flames. But he couldn't see Mellie. The protective
+bags covered all the windows. Then he saw a hand pawing at the window.
+It dropped to the door handle and the door cracked open about five
+inches. The bags were still in the way, but the hand shoved a crowbar
+at him. He had the door off in three minutes.
+
+Reaching through the bags, he felt her. He also felt blood. Cutting
+the seatbelt with his knife, he started to pull her out. But she
+resisted him briefly. She cried out as he removed her from the
+vehicle. Her face was covered with blood and she was cradling her
+right arm.
+
+He tried to stand but his knees gave out and he sank to the soft
+ground. Holding her gently, he wailed, great, heaving sobs that
+threatened to tear his chest apart. He tried to talk, to tell her that
+his heart would die if she did, but she hugged him, pointing out that
+there were flames coming from the front of the car and would he please
+take them somewhere else?
+
+He carried her to the road where Santorini, Behan, and most of the
+detective squad were just touching down. Mellie lifted her left hand
+and waved at them. Behan sagged against his sedan as he realized that
+she wasn't dead. Hanson and Biggers gently cleaned some of the blood
+off her face. Finding a scalp laceration, they packed it and then
+placed a splint on her arm.
+
+She accepted all these ministrations with good grace although she
+yelped a few times. By the time the emergency vehicle arrived, she was
+already bandaged. The emergency personnel scooped her up and headed
+for the hospital. They let Harlan ride with her because they realized
+he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Getting her out of his arms
+was hard enough.
+
+Mellie was the only one to notice that, while everyone recognized
+Harlan, no one made any attempt to restrain him. He was a thief, but
+he was also a legend. And Agalder had few legends. Its people tended
+to treat those legends with respect.
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projects / universe.git / blobdiff