The Genius Asylum by Arlene F. Marks

Author:Arlene F. Marks
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: aliens, mystery, thriller, contact, genes, cyberpunk, humor, sic transit terra, science fiction mystery, space station, alien technology, future policing, sociological sf, sf spy story, human-alien relationships, Amazon Kindle, literature, reading, E-Book, Book, Books
Publisher: EDGE-Lite (an imprint of Hades Publications, Inc.)
Published: 2015-02-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

This was more like it. Drew stood just inside the entrance and gazed around him with satisfaction at a suite of furnished rooms that comfortably held his leather trunk along with all the worldly goods that he had brought with him from Earth. And it had only taken him four days to move into the space: one and a half to solve the mystery of Khaloub’s death and officially close the case; two to survive the Nandrians’ ceremonial arrival and victory party; half a day to gather Khaloub’s effects and package them for shipment back to Earth; and a matter of minutes to throw his own belongings into the trunk and have it transferred in from guest quarters. When he’d put everything away, reprogrammed the smart paint on the walls to a pale pastel blue, and put his own voice and thumb prints on the door lock, the place was finally his. Drew Townsend was home — in the middle of a former crime scene.

Well, why not? He was a former cop, after all. Drew was glad that Ruby had arranged with Orvy Hagman and the decon team to clean out the station manager’s quarters before he moved in. They’d also switched the vic’s bed with another and rearranged the furniture, all without having to be asked. Of course they had, he mused — they were Eligibles. When people routinely made intuitive leaps of logic, many questions simply never came up.

Not for the first time since coming aboard the Hub, Drew had to remind himself that he was Eligible too. Actually, he’d never stopped being Eligible, even when the Relocation Authority had deemed him undesirable.

Little Drew had been screened at school at the age of eight, like all the other offspring of Eligible parents. He had passed every test and been awarded the magical label that would get him the best education, the promptest access to health care, the choicest foodstuffs, and a ticket to explore the galaxy. None of those things had mattered to him, of course. All he knew at that young age was that he was no longer allowed to have fun. He had to study. He had to behave. He had to look and smell and sound just so. He had to fulfill his potential, or at least meet the daunting list of expectations that the Relocation Authority placed on him.

Being Eligible, Drew rebelled. He racked his brain for a way to escape from this cage that the Authority had dropped over him, and could find only one — acquire a juvenile criminal record. So, shortly before his twelfth birthday, Drew Townsend began misbehaving in earnest. The plan worked perfectly — the Authority revoked his Eligibility. His parents became sad and quiet, but he figured they would get over their disappointment eventually.

And then he awakened from an unusually long sleep to discover that his family had been posted off-world during the night, leaving him alone in an empty house; and a stranger with an eviction notice was banging on the door.

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