Deverau entered the walkway of the farm complex to see the unmistakable figures of eight MSS officers in uniform leading a group of forlorn-looking civilians. One was Pedro Serrano and another looked like Alex Pawlikiewicz, the farm worker from Ivan’s gang who had evaded arrest. They had to be the farm workers Mel had talked about in the rover.
With Jones and Mel behind him, he approached, but saw no sign of Doctor Kaito Tanaka.
Deverau lifted his WristTab to broadcast his credentials to all MSS officers in the vicinity. As he approached them, some checked their WristTabs and he heard his name whispered to the ones who hadn’t.
He stopped in the center of the corridor with Jones and Mel on either side, so they blocked the way. Leading the officers was an Earth-born woman with a sergeant’s insignia who Deverau didn’t recognize, which suggested she came from Noctis City.
“I’m Inspector Deverau of the MSS at Deimos City. This is Sergeant Jones and…” he took a second to remember Mel’s alias, “… Officer Walker.”
“Sergeant Chiang from Noctis,” she replied.
“What’s going on, sergeant?”
“These people were caught breaking into the field, sir.”
Deverau raised his eyebrows, firstly because he wanted to suggest that he had no prior knowledge as to what was going on and secondly because she called him ‘sir’, which was a rare honorific mostly used by people pretending to be respectful when they were, in reality, nothing of the sort. “I want you to let them go, sergeant.”
“I can’t do that.”
“I order you. As an inspector, I outrank you.”
“But I was given orders by Doctor Tanaka, who works for the Terraforming Committee and, therefore, outranks you.”
Deverau knew he was on dodgy ground with the tit-for-tat game of hierarchy and decided to act like he was in charge anyway. “Where is Doctor Tanaka?”
“She’s still in the field. She didn’t want to share an embarkation room with… these people.”
Deverau glanced over to Mel. “Officer Walker – go wait for her.”
“Yes, inspector,” said Mel, expertly playing her part.
She strode past them all. Several turned their heads to watch and, by the looks on their faces, some might have recognized her, but were confused by her uniform. Deverau needed to distract them while he came up with some kind of plan.
“Sergeant, I think you’ll find there has been some sort of mistake,” he said, noticing Mel doing something at the controls while trying not to let on. “These people are working to feed Mars. They should not be considered prisoners, but heroes.”
“They still broke into a field without permission, sir.”
“Sergeant!” One of the officers shouted from the back. “Should she be operating the embarkation room?”
Everyone – MSS officers and farm workers – turned to see Mel had opened the door and slipped inside.
Sergeant Chiang glared at Deverau. “What is she doing? The door has to be sealed this side for Doctor Tanaka to get through.”
Deverau made a play of looking worried. “I’ll deal with this!” He strode past the increasingly uneasy officers.
“Officer Walker!” yelled Deverau, pleased to have an excuse to get past the others, but making up his plan on the fly. “I said wait for her, not fetch her!”
The door to the embarkation room was closing again, but there was still enough time to slip through the gap before it sealed shut.
Deverau stopped at the door in a moment of indecision. His police officer training told him he should not allow Mel to be alone in the field with Kaito. But the reality was, if he went in there with her, it would leave only Jones to stop Chiang and her officers following them in.
Mel stared out at him through the narrowing gap, as if pleading for him to let her go.
“Inspector Deverau, what’s going on?” he heard Chiang shout behind him, followed by her angry, approaching footsteps.
He took off his WristTab, set it to record and threw it into the embarkation room. If he couldn’t be a witness to what was going to happen, he had to ensure he had the next best thing.
There was no longer space enough for his body to fit, but he could still thrust his arm inside to stop the door closing. As Chiang would well know.
“Remember what happened on the train,” Mel whispered.
It refreshed the memory of that last time they had been separated by a door. He pulled his shockgun.
He aimed it directly at her. “Officer Walker, stop!”
He saw the fear in her eyes as he fired – but deliberately too far to the right. The shockdart struck the surface of the door, pinged off and dropped to the floor.
Mel disappeared behind the closing door and it connected with the frame.
But he kept up the pretense. “I said stop!”
The door’s lock clicked into place. Deverau fired again. This time, deliberately too far to the left. The dart struck the controls by the side of the door and discharged. Arcs of electric blue sparked through the workings.
Chiang, her face red with fury, was suddenly there. “What’s your officer doing?”
“I apologize,” bluffed Deverau. “I don’t know what’s got into her.”
“You hit the controls!” Chiang went to touch the panel by the side of the door, but a spark flew out and she pulled her hand back.
“Again, I can only apologize.” Deverau turned the shockgun over in his hand as if it were some strange, unfamiliar object. “I’m rather out of practice with these things.”
Chiang pulled her sleeve down over her fingers and tried to operate the controls, but they were completely fried. Deverau allowed himself a moment of satisfaction, but maintained a straight face.
“Get this door open!” Chiang demanded.
“There must be some kind of emergency override,” said Deverau, trying to sound like he was being helpful while actually being the opposite. “These things are probably operated from central control, but I don’t think there’s anyone there at night.”
Chiang spun round to face her officers and the farm workers. “Which one of you can override this door?”
Deverau stared out at the farm workers. None of them said anything. Either they understood he had shot out the controls for a reason or they simply didn’t know.
Chiang was incensed. She yelled at one of her officers, ordering them to find someone in charge who could release the door. They pulled up their WristTab and started searching.
He hoped he had done the right thing in allowing Mel to go after Kaito on her own. If he hadn’t, he had just made a very impulsive, dangerous and career-ending move.