Chapter Ten - Harper PI pt 1

Chapter 10 - Harper PI part 1

Harper P.I. part 1

Location: Sinti IV spaceport

It had been an awkward breakfast and flight to the spaceport. Beka and Harper had gone out of their way to avoid speaking to each other and not meet the other's eyes when they were forced to talk to each other. Trance was standing by her man, but even she was showing signs of strain, fussing over Aurora and trying not to say anything to either her husband or Beka that might start the other one off. Dylan had been more than a little relieved when the Maru finally touched down. Maybe a little action was what his crew needed. Let them take their hurt and anger out on someone else.

The plan was for Harper and Trance to make contact with some of the local underworld characters who might have information on the mysterious Mr. Howard. Harper had been chosen since, as Beka pointedly and angrily stated, he had extensive contact with the Sinti IV underworld, and Trance because she looked harmless.

Despite its, by galactic standards, out of the way location the Sinti IV spaceport was a bustling center of trade. This was due to the Sinti government’s hands off attitude towards the spaceport. Starship registration fees were among the lowest in the three galaxies and the spaceport safety inspectors were notorious for their tendency to turn a blind eye to safety regulations. In addition the planetary government showed very little interest in what goods passed through the spaceport en route to their final destination.

In spite of, or perhaps because of, the lax attitude towards law enforcement beings from nearly every known race of the galaxies could be seen working in the landing zones or walking the streets and alleys of the spaceport. In addition to the usual humans, Nietzscheans, and Umbrites, an insectoid Than from San-Ska-Re might be found drinking with one of the amphibious Mugani of Cascada, while one of the felinoid inhabitants of Makrai VII might conspire with a group of the reptilian looking denizens of Kalderash to smuggle weapons to resistance fighters on Earth. The aromas of cooking from a multitude of planets assailed the visitors nostrils, while voices speaking dozens of different languages filled the air. Storefronts advertised wares and services with gaudy neon lighting in over a score of written languages.

To the gray skinned Perseids who had originally colonized the planet the spaceport was loud, colorful, and dangerous. By the standards of the other races on the planet it was business as usuall. Trance chattered and carried on like a schoolgirl on a field trip even though she was intimately familiar with the area from the days when the Maru called Sinti IV its homeport. She wandered, seemingly at random, through several thoroughfares looking in shop windows and commenting on changes made to the area since their last visit. Eventually Harper became tired of the sightseeing and reminded her of why they were on planet.

"The first thing we need to do," said Harper "is to see if the authorities have any information on our Mr. Howard, and to do that we need access to a computer. This information kiosk should do nicely." He pointed to one of the ubiquitous information terminals that were connected to the port districts public database.

A minute later Harper was jacked into the database and busily hacking his way into the Sinti IV police mainframe. After a moment he exited with a satisfied grunt.

"Well good news and bad news, my purple princess. The bad news is that the police don't know much more about Mr. Howard than we do. They have his name associated with several pirate attacks and a couple of murders, but nothing other than that."

"Then what's the good news?"

"The good news is that when the police try to trace the hack into their mainframe they're going to be looking at the Drago-Kazov consulate here."

"Then I guess we're going to have to ask someone who Mr. Howard is," replied Trance. "Maybe we could ask that Than over there." She pointed in the direction of an amber carapaced Than.

Harper looked in the direction she was pointing and did a double take. The Than was Moon Over Mountains, an acquaintance of Harper's from his days before he became a member of the Andromeda's crew. Moon as he was called collected and sold information. If anyone would have information about Mr. Howard, it would be him. Harper gave Trance a long hard look; Beka called Trance her good luck charm, but there were times when her luck was just a little too good for him to believe that it was simply blind chance.

Trance in return gave him a small smile, shrugged her shoulders and said, "Shouldn't we be following him?"

The Than apparently had a specific destination in mind and was in a bit of a hurry to get there. He was striding purposefully and not paying much attention to his surroundings, making it relatively easy for Harper and Trance to follow him. After a few blocks, Moon turned onto a side street and headed towards an inconspicuous two-story building.

As Moon walked into the building, Trance said to Harper, "Come on, we need to see who he talks to." So saying, she followed the Than into the building with Harper close behind.

As Harper entered the building, he automatically scanned the interior, and immediately backed out, pulling Trance with him. He hadn't seen much, but what he had seen was enough. The doorway had opened into what his parents had used to call a sitting room. The room was decorated in shades of red, pink and white. The dominant feature in the room being two large couches. Sitting on the couches were several bored looking females of various species, all wearing their species version of negligees. As he and Trance entered, several of the sitting figures looked up and attempted to smile. The room smelled of cheap perfume, and even cheaper liquor There was the sound of forced laughter coming from somewhere upstairs.

Once safely outside, Harper began to search the area. Looking around, he saw an open-air café across the street.

"We can wait over there until he comes out," he said. "He shouldn't be there for more than an hour, tops."

"But..."

"Trust me on this one, doll. You do NOT want to go in there."

Puzzled, but trusting her husband, Trance followed Harper to the open-air café. They took a position where they could watch the entrance, then summoned a waiter.

"Now will you tell me why you didn't want to follow the Than into that place?"

Harper swallowed hard. No matter what he said he was going to be in trouble. By the time he had finished explaining what a brothel was and how he knew about them and the possible reasons a Than could be in one he was nearly as purple as Trance. Trance, to her credit, hadn't asked him if he knew any of the ladies in the sitting room personally, but he could tell from the look in her eyes she was wondering. Fortunately Harper was saved from any further interrogation by the emergence of Moon from the building.

"Come on, let's go before he gets out of sight," said a relieved Harper.

They had already paid for their meal so they were able to leave without delay and continue to follow the Than. They followed him out onto the main thoroughfare and then back into another side street. Harper smiled to himself. He knew where Moon was going.

Their destination was a bar. There were no illuminated signs advertising the place. Either you knew where it was located or you didn't, and if you didn't you had no business being there in the first place. When Harper was known as 'The Professor' he had conducted more than one deal at the bar. To those who knew of it, it was called 'The Chichin's Place', but no one could say why. It was a place where deals were brokered and allies betrayed. A place where the police never arrived while wearing their uniforms, and when they did arrive, it was only to pick up their payoff money. A place where if the money was available a person could purchase a slave, a shipment of illicit drugs, or arrange for a political assassination. Harper stopped before entering and checked to make sure both his gauss pistol and force lance slid easily in their holsters. Trance noticed what he was doing and raised an eyebrow.

"It's that sort of place," he explained.

The bar was dimly lit. This was not done for any romantic reason but as a courtesy to its customers, some of whom were not eager to have their features easily identified. Nor was there any music, live or recorded. The bar's patrons did not come to be entertained. Several appreciative pairs of eyes were cast in Trance's direction as she and Harper walked into the establishment, but the eyes were quickly averted when Harper placed his hand near his holstered pistol. Trance was attractive and exotic and would undoubtedly bring a good price if she was sold to one of the spaceports' brothels, but not so high a price that the patrons were willing to get involved in a shootout for her, especially when there were more easily available women elsewhere, women who did not have protectors.

The Than was sitting at an empty table, Harper and Trance immediately sat down at the same table. The Than looked up, first in alarm and surprise, but then relaxed fractionally when he recognized Harper.

"Friend Harper, now this is a surprise. To what do I owe the honor?"

"I need some information about a man, Moon."

The Than's guard immediately went up again. "Information can be expensive," he said in a carefully neutral voice. " Especially information about people, since they often object to others knowing their secrets."

"Perhaps this will help," Harper said as he reached into his jacket and retrieved a large bundle of currency notes that had previously belonged to the late Steven. During the entire conversation, Trance had been smiling sweetly, trying to look as harmless as a teddy bear and totally insignificant. Her hands had been in plain view on the table, but her tail had moved under the table and had removed Harper's gauss pistol from its holster. The weapon was now concealed under the table with its business end pointed at the Than. It was a maneuver that she and Harper had practiced before.

The Than reached for the wad of bills, but Harper jerked his hand back. "First tell us how we can find Mr. Howard." From the tone of his voice he was not making a request.

The Than paused, obviously debating if the money would be worth the consequences of giving out the information. "Many people would like to speak to Mr. Howard concerning many different things. He is a man who protects his privacy."

Harper began counting out the bills in front of the information salesman. It was a significant amount of money. If a Than could sweat, Moon Over Mountains would have been sweating.

The Than abruptly attempted to get out of his seat, and just as abruptly Harper slammed him back down into it.

"Keep you hands where I can see them Moon, " growled Harpers as the Than sat back down hard in his chair. There was the unmistakable sound of a gauss gun powering up. The sound caused the other patrons in the bar to look up, but after deciding that they were not the intended target, they went back about their business.

"We really would appreciate your help, Mr. Moon," said Trance, making an effort to sound cheerful and friendly. "I'm sure that the money my husband has will be more than enough to pay for your passage off planet."

"And if I don't cooperate?" asked Moon, glad that the design of a Than's vocal apparatus made it hard for humans to discern emotional overtones in their voices.

"Then I expect my wife will make an example of you to encourage the next person we talk to. Our mutual acquaintance nearly killed me and our child, and she takes that sort of thing quite personally. At this range the rounds from the gauss pistol she has aimed at your abdomen will quite probably cut you in half."

"But I don't know how to find him. I swear to the Divine that your species worships. I don't."

"I'm sure if you think very hard you can come up with the name of someone who does," said Trance, still smiling sweetly. There was nothing sweet about the expression in her eyes however.

While Than didn't sweat, they did share one involuntary physiological reaction with humans. When sufficiently frightened, they lost control of the organ than served them as a bladder. Moon felt wetness spreading over his legs. It was Trance's smile that broke him. Moon had heard horror stories about what mammalian females did to those who threatened their young. The stories tended to dwell on the length and painfulness of the death of the threatener. "Try warehouse Alpha 11 7 38 1A."

"See, I knew you could think of someone if you tried."

Harper laid the money on the table, and then he and Trance walked out of the bar, weapons in hand covering each other's backs. It was that sort of bar.

Chapter 9

Chapter11