Titan's Plague: The Trial by Tom Briggs (story reading .txt) 📕

Pati pushed the doorbell and heard an old-fashion buzzing sound. “Come in,” the English-accented male voice told her, and she almost laughed hearing it. With English as the primary language of humanity, throughout an entire solar system, it seemed incredible that she could still distinguish her Irish accent from an English one, even with the lands separated by only a saltwater river.

She didn’t dwell and stepped through the door into an open-space office. She noted six, maybe seven desks, with people hard at work on meter-wide screens. Not one of them lifted their head to note that she’d walked into the room.

“Hello,” she said to the room.

None of the workers took notice. She waited a minute to see if one would finish their task and greet her. After two minutes, she tried again with a slightly louder voice, with the same result. The nearest desk had a young lady with blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. She approached her.

“Pati, you made it,” Connie Pearson said from behind.

She wore the same business attire as when she visited Pati at her old house, and she looked the same as that time. Pati extended her hand, “I’m glad you could meet with me with such short notice.”

“No problem at all, do you want to come back to my office?”

“Sure,” Pati said. Connie turned and walked toward the end of the large room. Pati caught up with her and leaned in close as they passed a worker at his desk. “What, do they do?” Pati asked, pointing back at the workers.

Connie stopped and looked around. “They build our local television shows. We need content and would have to purchase it from Earth if we didn’t have them. Pretty much every local television show you’ve watched since you came to Titan began on those screens.”

“Where are the actors?”

“Can’t afford to bring them here, and the computers easily replicate them on the screen. Earth has an abundance of performing arts people, so it’s never too expensive to shoot a pic there. Here, they’d just be an unnecessary expense.”

It surprised Pati to hear this, but when she gave it some thought it made sense. Back when she was married to Richard, she had time to watch some shows they produced here on Titan, and the characters were as real as anything she’d seen on Earth. One of the male leads had her thinking about sending him a message if Richard divorced her. Maybe the simulated actors were too good to be true.

Pati returned to the real world as they stepped into Connie’s office, and unlike most offices she walked into, she had to study her walls. “How much did it cost you to ship all of this?” Pati asked.

The office walls were made of the fake wood used throughout Karakorum, but on the dark-brown walls were sports memorabilia, plaques of accomplishment, pictures of families, and items she couldn’t quite identify. She saw more of the trinkets hanging on the walls than she could see of the walls.

“Please, sit here,” Connie said, motioning to a small, round table with two chairs that sat in a corner next to the door. Pati walked left and took one of the padded chairs opposite Connie’s desk. Connie stepped behind her desk and pulled out a tablet and stylus. She then took the other chair at the table, putting the table and stylus on top.

“You’ve something critical to discuss with me,” Connie said. She drew a few lines with the stylus as she made the statement.

“What are you doing with the tablet?” Pati asked.

“It’s called shorthand. I can record words better than with voice recordings, and I can put my own notes alongside. It took me a long time to master, but it’s paid dividends many times over.”

Pati nodded, somewhat fascinated with the idea of writing notes.

“What do you want to tell me?” Connie asked.

The question reminded Pati why she was there, and she didn’t know where to start. “I’ve been contacted by extraterrestrials,” she said, and waited for Connie to kick her out of her office.

Connie did not break eye contact as she took her notes, and her expression widened slightly after Pati made the declaration. Her stylus stopped; she put it on to the table, and she leaned forward. “How?” she asked.

“You believe me?” Pati said.

“It depends on what you tell me. Your story will have to make sense.”

Pati nodded. “Yes, I see what you mean. How do you want me to tell you what happened?”

“Start talking. I’ll interrupt only if I have to.”

Pati told her about the dreams, how she met the girl, and about the ecstasy she would feel at the end of the dream. She told her about seeing Richard in her dream, and after the fight, how she woke up and saw the apparitions in her bedroom. Finally, she went through how it related to three separate attempts to kill her, and how she didn’t want a fourth.

Connie took notes without asking questions.

Pati stopped talking and waited. Connie kept writing notes.

“The apparitions were just like what I saw in my dreams,” Pati added.

Connie continued to write notes and did not indicate she had any intention of asking a question.

“Since it was like what I saw on the mining ship, I’m convinced the things are real, or at least real beings. Things that are living and are like us. Except they’re not like us, only that they’re people.”

Connie didn’t stop taking notes.

“And, I think the one who talked to me had taken over Richard McLear,” Pati said.

“Why?” Connie finally asked.

“Oh, because he’s always identified himself as Richard, although he said he’s got a different name.”

“What’s that?”

“I can’t remember. Something that began with a T. He said he was linked with Richard somehow.”

Pati stopped talking. Connie continued to take notes. Pati waited her out this time.

“You said that you saw the apparition on the mining ship. Did this have anything to do with the mutiny you alleged happened?”

Damn, Pati thought. If Nancy wanted to kill her for coming here before, she’d mutilate the body for this. Pati resolved before she met with Connie not to talk about what happened on the mining ship. That was for the trial, and she could discuss enough of what she’d experienced since then to get her point across.

But maybe she could also use this to her advantage. “Connie, I didn’t mean to discuss what happened on the mining ship. Because of my trial, I really shouldn’t talk about it, so I need you to promise me something.”

Connie put her stylus down and leaned back. “What do you need? Because I’m the one that needs your information. I will not dictate conditions.”

“Thanks, Connie, I appreciate you saying that. I need you to wait until after they reach the verdict before publishing anything I tell you.”

Connie shrugged. “It’ll take me at least a week to get the story in order, and your trial ends this week, I think.”

“I’m meeting with my lawyer tomorrow for final preparation,” Pati said.

“Is everything going well?” Connie asked.

Pati nodded. “I think so. We’re not necessarily going to settle, and the preliminary scores would have me acquitted if final. After tomorrow I should be able to get rid of this.” Pati lifted her ankle above the table and pointed to the bracelet.

Connie studied the bracelet for a second. “Weren’t you down at the docks a few days ago with Nancy Tate? I thought you weren’t allowed to be there if you’re wearing one of those.”

“Nancy got me permission to be there. We were going through the mining ship to help build my case.”

“They let you back on your ship?”

“It was a tough time, too. I hated reliving the events.”

“Like meeting with the apparition,” Connie said.

Pati recognized the statement as trying to draw out more information, although Connie was no longer taking notes. “Do you need me to go into that yet? Like I said, I’d rather wait until after the trial.”

Connie smiled. “I want to hear as much as possible, because I assume you don’t have any hard evidence I can use.”

Pati shook her head.

“Normally, that would be a problem,” Connie said. “Except, and I need you to keep quiet about this too, I’ve been told about other people seeing the same apparitions, and much like how you describe it.”

Pati noticed her own jaw had just dropped. She closed her mouth, thought about what Connie said, and realized it shouldn’t be so surprising. If these beings existed on Titan, and they had already taken over Richard McLear, why wouldn’t other humans have been contacted?

“What do we do, then?” Pati asked.

“It depends on what you tell me. I’m not just putting together a story, I’m trying to build a case that not just our government, but humanity must react to. I like the idea that I’ll be the one who presents the problem. However, I think it’s more important to ensure the right people find out about this.”

“Who are the right people? I spent the last few weeks trying to figure out who I’d call first. If you hadn’t been good to me in the past, I might have gone to the constables.”

“And that’s the problem. Had you gone to the police, there might be someone in their command who’d cover-up everything. That can easily happen with governments because somebody stands to lose in these situations. With us, we get it out there, and the