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  The corridors of the freight terminal were not crowded. Most of the traffic was in the form of giant cargo containers and not passengers, and these all passed through the facilities under the terminal. Even after Prospect’s golden age had past, millions upon millions of tons of ore were shipped off planet daily. Iron was by far the largest export, and had been the first ore that colonists had discovered when they first reached the planet. Klyston was the next most important export. Human civilization now relied on it for energy, from hyperspace travel to planetary power networks. Then there were the lesser ores and minerals; masstrium, cronin, trivisium, the list went on.

  Each year the amount of ore exported from Prospect declined. As ore pockets dried up, miners had to delve deeper and deeper into the planet, which was costly and more time consuming. Because of this, new mining planets like Baoshi were starting to take a strangle hold on the ore industry. Prospect’s days were numbered, and now only the most desperate people ended up on the rock seeking work.

  Alana and David tried to blend in as they made their way through the terminal. David was sure there were surveillance cameras everywhere. While his and Alana’s faces shouldn’t raise any flags in the UNEC databases, there were other ways to identify them. The less noticeable the two of them could be the better.

  They rounded a corner and David could sense Alana tense up next to him. The corridor ahead became increasingly crowded and at the far end David saw men with assault rifles. UNEC Customs.

  “Just act natural,” he said to Alana, trying to calm her nerves. “We’ve got nothing to hide.”

  “Right.” She didn’t sound optimistic.

  They kept walking and joined the shortest line they could find. After a minute of being there they could tell this wasn’t going to be quick. The line was hardly moving. UNEC was doing a great job of keeping up its reputation. Just an organization of red tape preventing citizens from living their lives.

  “What the hell is taking so long?” Next to David, Alana was getting more anxious.

  “Calm down. We aren’t in a rush.” David hated when she got like this. In combat, Sergeant Ramirez was cold as ice. If she had ever felt fear in the face of gunfire David had never seen her show it. But their new profession didn’t come quite as naturally to her. He didn’t think she would ever get used to the acting skills she had to use during their clandestine activities.

  “But what if we get stopped?” she asked as they slowly inched forward..

  He turned to look at her. “Then you tell them the truth. Who we are and where we are going.” He paused. “So what are you going to say?”

  She took a deep breath. “We’re Mike and Shannon Dominguez, heading to Gaalto Base, looking for work.”

  David reached out and took her hand. “Yes we are. And I’m so excited to start a new life with my bride.” He gave her a cocky grin. She responded with her best stink eye. But she didn’t pull away. This charade had not been her idea, but she wasn’t about to blow their cover because it made her feel uncomfortable. She was not a great actor, but she did try. “And where are we from?”

  “Buffalo, but we got laid off from the factory we worked in. We saved up all our money to come out here and have a new start.” She knew the story. Now could she sell it?

  “Perfect, we’ll be fine.”

  She turned back and faced front. In a voice that could be heard by no one except for David, she asked, “Why couldn’t Windcorp get us planetside the old fashioned way? We’ve never done it this way before.”

  David understood her concern. In all the other times they had been to Prospect they had never come through Skylift Station. They always took the more direct route with the Katana. On the hot side of the planet there were plenty of places to hide a ship Katana’s size where UNEC’s sensors could never find her. The trick was to get past the Peacekeeper aerial patrols, which David was rather skilled at. But this time Windcorp had insisted they must fly a company ship. And that meant they had to get to Prospect commercially.

  He kept his voice low. “It’s different. But the notes they’re paying us will make this headache well worth it.” The two of them would be set for at least a year with the small fortune they would receive for this job.

  There were now only about five people ahead of them in line. David had done all he could to prep Alana. Now it was up to her. He nodded to her and she faced forward and put on her best calm face. You can do this, he thought to her. Maybe she was telepathic.

  He kept his face neutral as they got closer to the security checkpoint. Now he could see there were two echelons of Peacekeeper security. First, there were the PKs with the assault rifles. They were focused on the crowd and were looking for anyone out of the ordinary in line. Second were the PKs who were doing the actual customs searches. These were the guys Alana and David- or Shannon and Mike- had to worry about. They were focused on the individual passengers going through the security gates. While one PK looked at the body scanner and went through all of the passenger’s baggage, another did the interrogation. It appeared to be a game of twenty questions using the passenger’s identification documents. UNEC wasn’t joking around.

  The man in front of David stepped forward. This was it. They were next. David reached into his pocket and took out their documents. He handed Alana her passport and boarding pass, while he kept his, as well as the fake Gaalto Base job advertisement. He had to sell it.

  “Next.”

  The PK, in his black and grey body armor and tinted helmet, waved them forward. He took their passports and boarding passes. “Anything to declare?”

  David put his right hand out while reaching around the back of his jacket with his left. “We have two firearms, corporal.” He pulled out his HK semi with his thumb and forefinger. Alana was doing the same with hers. “They’re registered and there’s also ammo in our bags.”

  The PK extended a tray and they placed the pistols on it. He barely batted an eye. Prospect was not Earth. Weapons were a way of life out here. At first UNEC had tried to make them illegal in the Skylift Sector, but the large number of registered and unregister weapons in the corporate sectors made the effort futile. They settled on allowing only registered weapons on planet. At least that was the goal.

  Alana and David placed their duffels on the conveyer belt and then stepped up to the body scanner. David went through first. It was a seamless process and he didn’t stop. The scanner checked every inch of his body for contraband. He wasn’t worried; he had nothing to hide in that aspect.

  Once through the other PK was waiting, documents in hand. “Welcome to Prospect, Mr. Dominguez.” He said it with such inflection that David felt anything but welcome. “What’s your business?”

  “My wife and I are here in search of work, sergeant.” He handed over the job ad. Alana joined him after passing through the body scanner. David slid his hand around her waist.

  The sergeant looked through their passports. “You came in on the… Gold Rush? That’s a freighter, right.”

  “Yes, sir.” Alana cut in before David could say anything. “To be honest we couldn’t afford passage on a ‘liner. This was the only way.”

  The sergeant didn’t look convinced. “So you’re telling me you spent all your savings and took a decrepit freighter halfway across the galaxy to start a new life all based on a distro ad?”

  Goddamnit, of all the Peaks, I had to get the most inquisitive one. “Buffalo is a hell of a place to live.”

  The sergeant stared David down. He didn’t look amused. He then looked back at their documents, scrutinizing the passports. He was on a mission to find something, anything, to keep these two passengers from getting through. No wonder the line had moved so slowly. Well, let him try. David didn’t know who Windcorp had gotten to make the fake passports, but he was sure they were the best available. I hope.

  “Please.” The PK looked up, and so did David. Alana had found her voice. “I know that this life isn’t gonna be easy. But you h
ave to understand, there was nothing left for us back there. Life was terrible. This is going to be our fresh start.” She was doing it. “Please, don’t make us go back.”

  David watched the sergeant. Slowly, his face turned from a look of skepticism to a look of pity. Alana had done it. They were going to make it through. The PK looked over at the corporal who had gone through their bags and got a thumbs up.

  “Ok,” he said. “Go grab your bags.” He leaned down at his desk to scan their passports.

  David turned to the conveyer. He gave Alana a nod. That had been quite a performance. Now, to just grab their bags, get off this station, and-

  “FREEZE.”

  David looked up. The sergeant and corporal had their pistols leveled at his head. Beyond them, the perimeter PKs were moving in, assault rifles raised. David and Alana put their hands up.

  What the hell?! David thought. We were through! He looked around for something, a clue as to where they went wrong. Everything had been perfect.

  Then he saw it. On the sergeant’s desk. It was the passport scanner, blinking red. Goddamnit Windcorp!

  “Shit.”

  3: Caught in a Web

  This room wasn’t as welcoming as the terminal had been. It was a small box. There were no spacious viewports. Illumination came from a single bulb in the ceiling. There were three pieces of furniture, a table and two chairs; clearly an interrogation room. The walls were black except for one which had the Peacekeeper Emblem emblazoned on it; a silver shield with a lightning bolt striking across its face against a field of stars, the words Ad Astra Per Aspera written above it. To the stars through difficulty, David translated from memory. More like causing difficulties.

  He and Alana had been handcuffed at the customs checkpoint and led off the main concourse by a handful of PKs. Now he sat in this room. He assumed she was nearby in an identical one.

  It had been a least an hour. He couldn’t say for sure because they had confiscated his watch. They were letting him stew, letting his brain wander. Well, it was working.

  What did they find? David was still mystified as to why they were being held. At first he had thought it was the passports, that Windcorp had screwed them. But that couldn’t be right. David had inspected them. They looked like top quality fakes to him. And they had been scanned when they had left Earth. Then what else?

  In all the times David and Alana had come to Prospect they had gone to great lengths to avoid being documented. They had never gone through customs before, and when on planet they had did everything possible to avoid the Peacekeepers. They only used cash and went out of their way to avoid surveillance cameras. They should be ghosts. There should be no records of people matching David and Alana’s descriptions having ever set foot on Prospect.

  David was still deep in thought when the single door to the room hissed open. Two individuals walked in, one in a Peacekeeper officer’s uniform, the other in black PK armor wearing staff sergeant chevrons.

  “Good morning. I’m Captain Burleigh.” The officer had an American accent. He took a seat across from David, setting a tablet down in front of him. The staff sergeant took up a position next to the door.

  David met the Captain’s eyes but said nothing. He was not going to volunteer any information. This man was going to have to work for his report. And he wasn’t going to find anything. David- or Mike- was sticking to his story.

  After a few seconds, Captain Burleigh spoke. “Please state your name for the record.”

  “Michael Lawrence Dominguez.”

  Burleigh made notes on his tablet. “What is your business on Prospect, Mister Dominguez?”

  David stuck to the plan. “My wife and I have come here in search of work, sir. We saw an ad for Gaalto Base while we were on Earth. It promised a new life. We thought that we had nothing to lose. This can’t be any worse than life in the slums.”

  Their eyes locked. Burleigh stared David down. He was looking for anything to raise doubt. David kept his cool.

  Burleigh finally broke the tension. “I’m sure you are wondering why we stopped you, Mister Dominguez- if that is your real name.” He tapped a few buttons on his tablet and then spun it around so David could see. On it was a snapshot from what appeared to be a security camera. It was of a figure sitting at a bar. He wore a black shirt with a brown jacket over it. The camera angle provided an excellent view of the figure’s face.

  “Look familiar.” David looked up but said nothing. He remembered that day. It had been two runs ago the night before he took off. He had gone out for a quiet drink in the Sony-Tero Sector. The night had been uneventful. He’d had a couple lagers and then headed back to get some rest. Since when do corporate bars have Peak surveillance cameras? he thought.

  “This photo was taken two months ago at a bar planet side.” Burleigh’s eyes bore into David. “Our facial recognition servers didn’t find any matches from customs or immigration. Which means that whoever this person is should not be on Prospect. This person came here illegally. Prospect immigrations laws are some of the most lenient in the galaxy, so I doubt this person is an immigrant. That brings me to the conclusion that this person is involved in some type of illegal industry.” He waited for David to respond. David remained silent. “If you say nothing, it will be perceived as an admission of guilt.”

  David pushed the tablet back to the Captain. “I don’t know who this is, but it’s not me. This is the first time my wife and I have ever been off of Earth, let alone to Prospect.”

  Burleigh sighed. “I find that hard to believe.”

  “We are only here to find work, settle down, and drift into the background. We are not illegal immigrants, and we are not involved with criminals. I give you my word.”

  “Your word? And why should I believe you?”

  “Because I’m just a simple, honest citizen, sir.”

  With surprising speed, Captain Burleigh reached across the table and grabbed David’s right arm. He slid David’s jacket sleeve back, revealing a tattoo. “Yes, a simple, honest citizen. A citizen who, according to your passport, has never done any military service.” He let go of David’s arm. “Would you mind explaining to me why a man who has never served in the military has a tattoo of the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor, the crest of the former United States Marine Corps, on his arm.”

  Burleigh waited for a response but David had none. He cursed himself for not having the ink lasered off when he had the chance. Any explanation he gave now would sound like a phony excuse.

  “Well if you’re not going to talk, I’ll tell you what I think.” Burleigh got up and walked around to David’s side of the table. “I think your name is not Michael Dominguez. Your companion is not Shannon Dominguez and is likely your partner, not your wife. I think you two were in the Marine Corps together until a few years ago when the U.S. Congress disbanded it. Since then you have been doing whatever work you can find, mostly of the illegal kind. I think this is not your first time on Prospect. In fact, I think Prospect is like a second home to you. I think that was you in the security photo and you are kicking yourself right now for making such a rookie mistake. I think you two are smugglers!”

  By this time Captain Burleigh’s face was inches away from David’s. David reached up and wiped the spit from his cheek. The whole time his eyes were locked on Burleigh’s. He didn’t blink and he didn’t betray anything.

  Burleigh stepped back to his side of the table, adjusting his uniform and regaining his composure. “So tell me, am I correct?”

  David calmed himself. “Sir, my name is Michael Dominguez. I have come here with my wife looking for work. Whoever that is in the photo you showed me, I’m pretty sure the resolution is not clear enough to prove anything in court. I have done nothing wrong. I have nothing to hide. And unless you are going to charge me with something, I don’t think you can hold me here anymore.” He moved to get up.

  “Sit down.” Burleigh’s voice was level but stern. The staff sergeant stepp
ed in front of the door. David took the hint and returned to his seat.

  Burleigh spoke. “Mr. Dominguez, or whoever you are, I may not be able to hold you here, but I am going to give you some advice. I advise you and your companion to continue to Prospect and take those jobs that you have the advertisement for. I advise you to start a life here. I advise you to live the life that the Dominguez’s should be living.

  “Should you decide to pursue an illicit line of work, planet side there are over five thousand Peacekeepers to deal with you. My troops will find you, they will capture you, and you will be punished to the full extent of the law. If you decide to make a smuggling run off planet, your attempts will be thwarted. In orbit I have seven interdictors and three cruisers. All of them carry interceptors that are faster and more maneuverable than any smuggling ship out there. My pilots will find you and they will shoot you out of the sky.

  “So this is your final warning. Stay on the straight and narrow while you are here on Prospect or you will find yourself in the brig of one of my cruisers or worse, floating in space, dead.”

  David was released. A PK led him from the interrogation room, through a labyrinth of administrative offices, and back out to the terminal concourse. Alana was there waiting with both of their bags as well as their pistols.

  “You okay?” David asked as he stuck his HK back in its skeleton holster.

  “Yeah,” she said, picking up her bag. “They just kept asking me the same questions. Why did they stop us? I thought the passports were clean.”

  David picked up his own bag. “I’ll tell you later. Let’s get out here.”

  He looked around for a directory. They needed to get to the turbolift lobby and then get planet side. While the Peacekeepers still had a presence down there, it would be easier for them to disappear. Captain Burleigh had been right on the money with his speculation, and that scared David. They had to be careful. The PKs would try to keep a close eye on them. The sooner he and Alana disappeared the better. This mission had just gotten a lot harder.