Ten minutes later, after everyone had settled back down in the deputy’s living room, Joseph Howlam began a more personal story.
“You see, when I first arrived on this planet, I was greeted by something your lexicon might refer to as an arbiter.”
“Arbiter…” Foster mumbled the word as he stood transfixed by the now transformed device. Eventually, he came to his senses and continued. “Yes. What’s an arbiter?"
“An ancient species of beings that are the very last word in what is allowed to occur, and what is not permitted to be.” Joseph replied in a hushed tone.
Justine scoffed, caught off guard by the deputy’s flowery choice of words. “That almost sounds like reverence.”
“No,” Joseph was quick to correct her mistaken assumption. “Not reverence, Agent Rushing… fear.”
“Enough with the ominous tones and semantics,” Foster said without looking away from the alien device. After eight years of waiting, he was ready to finally be rid of this mystery. “What’s their purpose, and how does it fit in with this thing?”
“Generally, one of their kind is left here to prepare the new arrivals for life on this planet. Then, after a short indoctrination phase, they slip back into the background to quietly observe the inmates.”
“Like a parole officer?” Justine offered.
“Close, but without the whole ‘checking in’ process. No, the only way you’ll ever run into them after your indoctrination phase is if you start running off at the mouth about who or what you might be.”
“Does that happen?” Justine asked, even though she knew enough about the term repeat offenders to know the answer before the words escaped her lips.
“All the time,” Joseph smirked. “Though usually, if one of us tries to relate their story to the authorities, they’re simply deemed insane and stuffed into the nearest loony bin.”
Foster ran his finger along the side of the device, looking for seams or ports. Satisfied it was a self-contained unit. He moved to press one of the strange glowing symbols. In a panic, Joseph quickly snatched the instrument back out of his hands.
“No!” He warned, dangling the device just out of his reach. “That would be dangerous to me.”
“Why?” Foster moved closer to examine the device further.
Seeing this, Joseph pressed the same spot on the device’s base he had touched earlier. Without a hitch, the unit powered down rapidly. Once it was off, he handed the now lifeless grey piece of metal back to Foster.
“Under certain conditions, this unit can be used to erase an implanted personality from a prisoner. Like if a prisoner is close to revealing the truth, or if an Arbiter ever felt physically threatened by one of us.” He looked at the device wearily. “All they would have to do was press a button.”
“How do you know that?” Foster asked.
“It’s the standard warning we all get on our first day in solitary.”
“If that’s the case,” scenarios of betrayal and murder rattled around inside Justine’s already cautious head. “How did you come by this device?”
“Book 4… by accident,” Joseph answered as he pointed back to the stuffed bookshelf. “You see, after wandering around for about five years on this wretched planet, doing all sorts of things I would later come to regret…”
“Oh,” Justine pointed back toward the now roaring fireplace. “Like the pictures on your mantle?”
“No,” Joseph said more forcefully than he wanted to or even expected to. “Those pictures represent the only good things to come out of this nightmare for me, Agent Rushing. No, the circumstances which brought me to have that device were of the more sordid and bloodier affair.”
“You mean the person who owned that thing was killed for it?” Justine needed to hear the explanation before any other stories could be told. “There’s a reason you were sent here after all.”
“True. I am not on this planet by accident. But the arbiter died because he came across a prisoner more fed up with this place than me.” Joseph watched as Foster turned the device over and over in his hands. “Tholoi are a dangerous species, Agent Rushing, especially when you back them into a corner.”
“If they’re so dangerous, how did you get the device?” She asked the out of shape man. “You don’t look ready to fight off a dangerous alien.”
“Mostly luck.” He said with a slight smile. “I got the upper hand on her right after she killed the arbiter. Which was a royal pain in the ass considering their unmatched talent for hand-to-hand combat.”
“I still don’t understand, Joseph.” Foster decided to ask his own burning question. “Why keep the tablet? Are you trying to get on the Arbiter’s good side.”
“I’m not sure that’s possible. As for the reason I kept the tablet,” Joseph eyes went blank as he remembered some unspoken part of his past. “Someone has to pick you up at the airport.”
“Pick you up at the airport?” Justine looked at Foster for clarity, but all she found was a pensive stare. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that our alien friend here didn’t want the boys back home to find out someone had stopped signing for the packages.”
“No,” Joseph shifted in his chair uncomfortably. “I really do think someone should be there for new arrivals.”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“But?” Foster threw a smile in Justine’s direction. “There’s always a butt.”
“Stop acting like you're five, Foster?” They both shared a quick smile before returning to their storyteller. “Besides, what’s wrong with trying to be nice?”
“Nothing, Agent Rushing.” Joseph slumped a little in his chair. “But he’s right. My main purpose wasn’t altruism. It was saving my own butt.”
“What are you talking about?” Justine asked, trying to keep a smile off her face.
“He’s talking about these Arbiters. And how they might come looking one day if they discovered there was no one watching the store.”
“Exactly.” Joseph said.
“So, you’ve been trying to perform an Arbiter’s duties ever since?”
“I wouldn’t go that far, Mr. Evers.” Joseph squirmed a little bit more from all the truth finally being shared. “But I have been doing a pared version of the indoctrination phase.”
“And a little more,” Foster pointed knowingly to the device in his hand. “Like when mass murderers start spouting nonsense about being from another world?”
He looked at the deputy directly and his gaze was met with a resigned confirmation.
“What are you saying?” Justine asked. She thought back to earlier in the hospital room. How manic the murderous stranger was during their first interview, and how unresponsive he became after they returned from the morgue. Given the facts, there could be only one explanation. “You did something to the stranger in the bank.”
“Yes, Agent Rushing. I used this device to erase his mind. It was the only way to keep his secret and at the same time, keep mine.”
“Too bad it didn’t work.” Foster continued to rub the device, trying to get it to replicate what Joseph had made it do. It remained inert. Defeated, he tossed the thing to a startled Justine who just looked it over for a second before another question formed in her mind.
“How do these arbiters get human subjects? And for that matter, why use humans at all?”
“That I don’t know, Agent Rushing. In my part of the universe, the Arbiters spend their entire lives traveling from planet to planet, passing judgment on the guilty. Once they do, the convicted are put into stasis before being transported away. No one knows where. In fact, the only thing I remember after my sentencing was waking up to find myself surrounded by stars, in this weird body, before ending up here. And I’ve been fucking miserable every day since.”
Justine pointed at the deputy’s still aching chest. “Are you saying that this body was on your side of the universe?”
Joseph shrugged his shoulders apathetically. “I can only assume.”
“And were there more bodies… more human bodies?”
“I don’t know, Agent Rushing. But the arbiters patrol a great many worlds. And even though murder is rare, it still occurs.”
“Ok,” Justine yelped as she pulled Foster off the couch and toward the front door. Sitting there alone, Joseph made no move to follow them. “So, the woman in the morgue and the man from the bank were alien prisoners.”
“Yes,” Foster casually answered, “in the guise of normal people.”
“Foster, if he’s telling the truth, then other people are being held prisoner.” She pointed at the ceiling with her index finger, but she had something further away in mind. “Somewhere up there.”
“That is possible.” Foster looked at the ceiling, then back to her. “Though without a point of reference, you could have just as easily have pointed down.”
“Shut up, Foster.” She didn’t have time for his games. Not now. “If his story is true, then we have to rescue those other people before this happens again.”
“What?” Now it was Foster’s turn to look at her like she had monkeys flying out of her butt. “Rescue those people? Agent Rushing, are you the one going crazy now?” He pointed to the piece of grey metal clutched in her hand. “With this piece of alien technology and his story, Fitz Hume will have no choice but to let me go my merry way.”
“You don’t know that!” Justine’s body suddenly seized up like she’d been shot with her weapon. “Besides, if we can help those people. Then Foster, we should help those people.”
“And how would we help them? Give NASA a call and borrow an old shuttle? I doubt this prison he’s talking about is anywhere within flying distance of Earth.”
“But still,” her own escape routes closing, she started grasping at straws. “We can’t leave them all alone.”
“Agent Rushing,” the scientist’s words were stilted and unfeeling. “We’re all alone if you think about. They’re just a little bit more alone than most.”
“Stop with the metaphysical bullshit, Foster. You know that’s not what I meant. You know it’s wrong to abandon them.”
“Why not?” Foster’s grin turned into a scowl. “I was abandoned at Wilson.”
“Hey,” even though she didn’t know him then, his words were like a slap in the face. “I didn’t leave you there. I came and got you.”
“Revisionist history , Agent Rushing." His scowl became sharper. "It wasn't a need to do good that brought you to my doorstep. You were just following orders.”
“That’s not fair.” Justine wanted to tell him that innocent people were being kidnapped and used as prisoner containment units for intergalactic murderers. No, she wanted to scream at him. But from the look on his face, it was clear all Foster could see was his anger and his freedom. And of course, his answers. “I didn’t even know you were there.”
“I know.” Foster’s scowl softened. “And I’m sorry for laying that on you. I really am. But my questions regarding this mystery have been answered.” Justine’s extremities unconsciously twitched as he continued. “Besides, once the government has this guy and his tech in custody, I’m sure they’ll spend the time and resources to help anyone trapped over there.”
“Sure, they will,” Hoover said in a disbelieving voice. “Prison break, anyone?”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” He shrugged off his friend’s joke while trying to give her a reassuring look. “But I’m sure they’ll look into it.”
“Really?” she clenched at the alien tablet, before asking, “Does that mean you’ll help.”
“No,” he sounded almost averse to even being asked. “Like I said, I solved my little mystery. To be honest, I’m ready for a vacation.”
With that final statement, Foster spun around on his heels and made a beeline for the front door. Caught off guard by Foster’s quick getaway, she just stood there, unable to move. Seeing him leave, Joseph stood up, walked over to the front door, and for a moment, stared into Justine’s confused face.
“Where’s he going?” He asked in a panic.
“Probably to the car, though I doubt he’ll get very far.” It was at that moment Justine remembered how keys meant very little when his AI was involved. “Hoover,” she hurriedly called out to the mostly quiet program.
“What?”
“Don’t start the car for, Foster. I know he’s ready to get out of here, but I don’t want him escaping just yet.”
“Are you serious, Agent Rushing. Why would I do that? He’s my best friend.”
“True,” Justine cracked the smallest of grins. “But I need just a few minutes with him before you two go riding off into the sunset.”
“That’s a lot to ask, Agent Rushing. But…” the program took a long pause before finishing his answer. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Oblivious to her strangely one-sided conversation, Joseph looked maniacally through the doorway. “He’s got to help me, Agent Rushing. I’m tired of this place. I’m exhausted with the endless life this body provides me.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked as her own needs bore down. “How can he help you?”
“Mr. Evers was smart enough to discover my secret, so that makes him smart enough to help me get home.”
“What do you mean, help you get home?” Justine tried to shoo the overexcited deputy away. “You heard him lecturing me about spaceships. We don’t have one. And even if we did, nothing we have could cross that distance. So, unless there’s something in that big ass barn of yours that would fit the bill.”
“No,” Joseph hurriedly answered. “There’s nothing in that barn that would do the trick, especially not a spaceship. But you don’t need a vessel, Agent Rushing, because that device you’re holding also doubles as an emergency retrieval unit.”
“What?” The problems flailing helplessly around in her mind seemed to find solid ground as she focused on the word ‘retrieval.’ “What do you mean, retrieval unit?”
