The Last Star Warden - Tales of Adventure and Mystery from Frontier Space - Volume 1 by Jason McCuiston

Author:Jason McCuiston [McCuiston, Jason]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dark Owl Publishing, LLC
Published: 2021-02-28T22:00:00+00:00

“What can we do for you, Warden?” A heavyset man of Asian-Earth descent casually glanced at the gold pocket chrono he’d just withdrawn from his silken waistcoat. “It isn’t every day that a living legend barges into a meeting of the First Five Citizens.”

“I take it you’re Mr. Chen?”

The man gave a smiling nod. “At your service. And I assume you’ve already met the Chief Constable. This is Augustus Sandoval, the president of the C-7 Mining Consortium, and these two young ladies are Ariadne Patel, the head of our operations fleet, and Portia Feldu, our esteemed mayor.”

The Warden nodded at the overly polite introductions. Although the women were attractive for their apparent ages, Coppenger was the youngest of the group by at least two decades. “Pleased to meet you all. But I’m afraid there is something terribly wrong going on here. People are disappearing and no one seems to notice.”

Coppenger raised an eyebrow. “Are you still on about this mysterious… Ryan, was it? I’ve already assured you, Warden, the man never existed.”

“Really? Well, the same thing happened to my friend Quantum.”

“Your friend?”

The Warden pounded his fists on the table. “Yes. The alien who accompanied me here. You met him just a few hours ago on the landing pad.”

Coppenger frowned. “I’m sorry, Warden. But you were alone. Look…”

A holographic recording from a security camera appeared above the table. It clearly showed the Warden meeting with Coppenger and his armed retinue. Quantum was nowhere to be seen.

“That’s… impossible.”

“You don’t look well, Warden,” Mayor Feldu said with a pitying smile. “Let us help you. I’d be more than honored to put you up in a suite at the City of Gold hotel as my personal guest. You would not want for the least little thing, and we could have a medical bot sent to you in the most discreet of manners.”

The Warden stiffened and looked at the blankly concerned faces. “Thank you. I am fine… I must have been mistaken. I apologize for the interruption.”

Coppenger smiled, extended his arm to guide the Warden back to the doors. “Think nothing of it. It was our pleasure. And please, if you need anything, anything at all, don’t hesitate to reach out to any one of us. We only want what is best for Cibola Seven, and that includes what is best for our guests.”

The Warden nodded at the young man’s deadpan smile.

Outside the Constabulary, the Warden started walking in a random direction. He was aware that no fewer than five constables were now following him while trying not to look like it. After changing directions and levels twice more, he raised this estimate to a dozen, half of which were plain-clothes or undercover operatives.

He was being watched.

“Perhaps going to the First Five wasn’t the brightest idea. Now they know I’m onto whatever it is they’re up to…” He stopped on a promenade and looked over a balcony at the throngs swimming between casinos and show bars. He realized he was looking for Ramirez in that crowd and shook his head.

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