The Interstellar Police Force, Book One: The Historic Mission by Raymond Klein (ebook reader 7 inch txt) 📕

jeans, then back up and met her eyes. But, Bollar’s race was asexual and, even though he was in human form, he still had no interest in copulating with a human female, or anyone else for that matter, “I’m sorry. But I’m not interested,” he said. “Why don’t you just run along, little one.” He stood staring at her.

Jennifer straightened up and rolled her eyes, “Okay, fine. I’ll just find someone else.” She turned and started to walk away, but looked over her shoulder. “But if you change your mind,” she . “I’ll be on the bench in Grant Park by the statue.” She gave him a wink and turned and continued to walk away. That’s when she realized how hard her heart was pounding.

Chapter Forty

Trent was throwing items from Colus Valda’s pockets onto the ground. An empty jar of Motts Apple Sauce, round cardboard coasters from Ray’s, an empty juice box with a bent and yellow-stained straw. Trent reached in further and all of a sudden wished he was wearing gloves. “Ah! Disgusting.” He pulled out a three-day-old banana peel, black and slimy.

“It wasn’t bad a couple of days ago.”

“Shut the hell up, Valda,” Genghis responded. Which only made Colus giggle.

“I can’t get over that,” he smirked. “I mean, come on! How did that happen to you, anyway?”

“Yeah well, they're running diagnostic tests to . . . Shut the hell up, Valda, or I’ll zap you again!”

Trent shook residue banana slime from his hand, then wiped the rest on Valda’s coat. He continued to search Valda and found a half-eaten bag of Doritos. “Ooh, crunchy goodness! Can I finish those?” Colus said, reaching for the bag.

“Keep your hands where I can see them, Valda,” Trent said, then roughly spun Colus around and pushed him against the dumpster to go through his back pockets. He found his wallet. Inside were five, twenty-dollar bills. “We know you’ve been working with Bollar. Is that where you got the currency?” Trent spun him around again to face him. “When was the last time you saw Bollar? Where does he live?”

“Wait a minute . . . Who?”

“Keep it up, Valda,” Genghis said. “We got a deep freeze waiting for you, you might as well cooperate.”

“Oh, come on! Can’t you just put me in a holding cell? I don’t know anything. He would contact me and we would just meet up somewhere. I don’t know where he lives.”

“What’s his next job?” Trent asked, while going through the wallet.

“Hell if I know! He never told me anything like that. He just wanted the Interrupter so he could pull off his heists. Honest! I was supposed to meet him today and get it back.”

“You mean, you don’t have the Interrupter on you?” Genghis asked, glancing up at Trent. “Hey, Valda? Guess how we found you.” He waited until Valda made eye contact with him. “It was turned off . . . intentionally! We’ve been tracking you on the town’s cameras.”

“That double-crossing son of a bitch,” Colus Valda said, to no one in particular.

“Yeah, honor among thieves, huh Valda?” Trent said, while pulling Colus’s I.D. from his wallet. He then discarded the wallet to the pile of items he'd pulled from Valda’s pockets. Trent looked at the I.D. It was similar to the one the replicator made for him.

“Doctor Alfred Carroll?” Jeff looked at Valda, “Doctor?”

“Yeah, what can I say?” Colus shrugging. “It’s what the replicator gave me.”

“You’re a doctor?” Genghis asked. “A doctor of what?”

“Hell if I know,” Valda reached for his I.D. “Does that little card say?”

Treat pulled the card from Valda’s reach, took the palm of his other hand and shoved it in Colus's face, pushing him back against the dumpster. “Hey! Watch it you damn screw, I’m a doctor.”

Trent was searching his mind. The name was familiar. He thought back to the one and only file they had on the human race, ever since The Great Fire of 4045. “That’s it!” Jeff remembered. “It’s from the human film Tell Your Children. Doctor Carroll is a high school principal . . .”

“Yeah, but a doctor of what?” Valda interrupted.

Trent ignored him and continued on. “He was a high school principal warning parents of the dangers that smoking marijuana cigarettes posed to their children.”

“Mari-what-ies?” Valda asked.

“It was also released under the title of Reefer Madness,” Trent finished.

“Yes, okay, but what is he a doctor of ?” Valda insisted.

“Shut the hell up! So, Valda,” Genghis said, thinking back to the movie he and Trent both studied. “Burning down buildings and making people play musical instruments incredibly fast, huh!”

“What? No! Well, the buildings,yeah maybe, but the musical in . . . nooo.” Valda then got frustrated. “Can we please stick to one thing at a time? A doctor of what?”

Chapter Forty-One

Genghis kept an eye on Colus Valda while Trent brought the cruiser to the front of the alley. The moon was full, low in the sky, and behind the Thunderbird as he put it in park. It gave the vehicle an eerie grayish silhouette that seemed to stretch into the alley. Jeff climbed out from the driver's seat and reentered the alley carrying the duffle bag. His elongated shadow reached out and touched Genghis and Colus before he got to them.

Trent placed the duffle bag on the ground and started to go through it. “Hey, what yah got there, copper?” Valda asked, trying to peer into the duffle bag.

“We have to change you back, Colus,” Trent said, while setting up a portable replicator. “Can’t send you to cryogenics in human form. Could cause the life support system to malfunction.”

“Yeah,” Genghis added, “wouldn’t that be a shame?”

“Oh, thank goodness! I hate this body I have. I can’t do anything without getting short of breath. I honestly don’t know how these humans can go about their business without stopping every five minutes to rest up.”

“Yes, well, you won’t have to worry about that anymore, will you, Colus?” Trent activated the replicator. A thin red