Planetbound by DM Arnold (best contemporary novels TXT) 📕

“Senta did? I thought truth drug was illegal on this world.”

“It was a new variety. When I was under the drug I must've told them you were on the platform. I'm so sorry, Nyk. We were taught at Vebinad how to deal with truth drug, but I didn't have enough time to prepare. The officers stormed in here. One of them jabbed me with a stunner and the next thing I knew I was strapped to a pallet with electrodes on my head and a needle in my vein.”

“Prepare for it?”

“Truth drug is part and parcel of colonial politics. All of us receive it at the Academy as part of our training. We're given the drug and afterward we watch recordings of us divulging our deepest, most personal and most embarrassing secrets. We're taught how to guard our thoughts. I fought it as best I could under the circumstances, Nyk -- but I'm afraid I wasn't strong enough. I feel so badly -- my instructors would be displeased with me. If I only had a bit more time, I might've...” Her eyes began filling.

Nyk held her and kissed her forehead. “Oh, Andra... I know you did your best. I hope it wasn't too unpleasant for you.”

“I endured it. I do feel awful about Senta. I don't know why she has to be so hard-headed.”

“She's always been like that.”

“Internal Affairs put an ID trace on me -- in case I try to help you. Then they sent a skimmer out to the platform and found it wrecked by the storm. The escape capsule was missing, so I assumed you were safe.” Andra looked toward the door. “Did you scan your way in?”

“Yes...”

“I'm sure Internal Affairs has an ID trace on you by now. They're probably on their way here. I can take you somewhere in the groundcar.”

Nyk looked at Suki. “Please -- no more running,” she said. “I'm so tired and sore.”

He stepped into the study and gathered up the datacels. “I suppose we have no choice but to see how the oversight committee reacts to the evidence I've gathered so far.” He held Andra. “Don't fret -- things will work out.”

“I know -- or else we wouldn't be here.”

Nyk stepped from the shower and slipped into a fresh tunic. Andra and Suki sat at the kitchen table. He glanced toward Sudal. “I see a skimmer coming.”

He led Suki out the front door. The Internal Affairs skimmer pulled up to the house and a squad of officers stepped out. “Nykkyo Kyhana?” their leader asked. Nyk nodded.

One of the officers drew his stunner. “You don't need that,” Nyk said.

“ID him.”

Another officer presented a scanpad and Nyk pressed his wrist to it. “Nykkyo Kyhana,” the officer read.

“And, this is Sukiko Kyhana. She won't scan.”

The officer attached a white polymer band around Nyk's neck and another around Suki's. “These are stun collars,” he said. “I'd advise you not to try anything.”

“I won't -- neither of us will. We'll cooperate.”

“Please come with us,” the squad leader said and opened the skimmer door. Nyk sat in the cabin. As the skimmer lifted off he looked back at the Residence. Andra stood on the second floor with her fist pressed to her lips.

Nyk was led into an interview room. “Nykkyo Kyhana...” A middle-aged woman addressed him. Insignia embroidered on her lifxarpa identified her as an ExoService official. Seated beside her was Senta. “I'm Tomyka Wells. You've given us quite a chase. Please take a seat.” He shifted his weight to his right foot and stared at Wells. “If you'd rather stand -- suit yourself.”

“Nykkyo,” Senta implored. “Please cooperate. I've told Ms Wells you're a kind and decent man at heart.”

Nyk folded his arms and glared at the two women.

“I just want you home,” Senta continued, “where you won't get into mischief. I know you didn't intend to cause trouble -- you just can't help yourself.”

“Nykkyo ... may I call you that?” Wells asked. Nyk continued to stare at her. “Would you please explain to me what you thought you were doing getting involved with an Earth woman?”

Nyk remained impassive.

“Nykkyo -- I told Tomyka of the time you brought her here for emergency medical treatment.” He closed his eyes, clenched his teeth and modulated his breathing. “Don't look at me with such hatred, Nyk -- it's for your own good.”

“You do know what's going to happen,” Wells said. “You'll be kept planetbound, here for the rest of your life. You'll be subjected to economic incarceration. Your career in the ExoAgency is over. And -- the woman ... she'll be quarantined -- to neutralize the temporal contamination.”

Nyk shook his head. “NO!”

“So, you CAN speak,” Wells sneered.

“You don't understand -- she's pregnant with the child who'll give rise to Koichi Kyhana. If she's kept here -- you'll be committing temporal interference of the most dangerous kind. You could doom our entire race!”

“Nykkyo -- the rules are quite specific. No Floran Agent may reveal his true nature to an Earth native.”

“Rules have exceptions,” Nyk replied. “There are some special circumstances surrounding Suki.”

“Nykkyo...” Wells proffered a smile. “These policies were drafted by experts with much greater understandings of temporal issues than you or I. Do you possess credentials to challenge the best and brightest of our temporal thinkers?”

“I've taken a course in temporal theory...”

“An introductory one -- which you barely passed,” Wells said, consulting her vidisplay.

“... and, I have direct, field experience.”

“Nykkyo...” Senta said. “Stop deluding yourself.”

“I have here a no-contest agreement to settle your case,” Wells said. “If you'll please sign this -- I'll agree to probation and on-world confinement. You'll avoid economic incarceration.”

“And, Suki?”

“Quarantine.”

“Does she have any say in this?”

“As an off-worlder ... no.”

“Please, Nyk -- sign it,” Senta said.

“No. I demand a hearing before the entire oversight committee.”

“Very well.” Wells passed her hand over a proximity pad. “We've tried it the easy way.” An attendant entered the room and escorted Nyk out.

A shaft of Floran's golden morning light fell across Nyk's eyes. He looked around his cell. The narrow window overlooked the groundcar lot. An attendant opened the door and admitted a pair of Internal Affairs officers. One began attaching a stun collar around his neck. The other took his upper arm and led him down the corridor.

“Where are we going?” Nyk asked.

“Sudal clinic. You are to be interrogated.”

He was led to an awaiting skimmer. The craft made a short flight to a squat building, equipped with Sudalese storm shutters. Nyk was led down a corridor and into a treatment room. A middle-aged woman in hospital garb greeted him. She consulted a handheld vidisplay.

“Nykkyo Kyhana?”

“Yes...”

“You may undress behind that screen.” She gestured toward a corner of the treatment room. “There's a breechcloth if you'd prefer some modesty.”

Nyk stepped behind the screen and slipped out of the orange tunic. He certainly did prefer some modesty, so he donned the broad loincloth and emerged from behind the screen.

“Please have a seat,” the attendant said.

Nyk sat on the therapeutic pallet. The polymer upholstery felt cold on his bare back and legs. He glanced at a device on a cart. It had a large reservoir of a clear fluid and several smaller vials and bottles. A coiled-up length of polymer tubing was attached to a fitting. “I gather now this stuff is legal again -- they're using it rather liberally.”

“Internal Affairs lobbied hard to restore a tool they think they need. This new variety has been approved for the past half year. It is safe -- and, effective. Have you ever been interrogated?”

“Never.”

“I'll explain what to expect.” She began attaching electrodes to his scalp. “These probes monitor your brainwaves. The interrogator can determine when you have entered a truth trance.” She pointed to a control panel. “Two medics will supervise your procedure. One is an Internal Affairs interrogator. The other is a staff doctor, who will serve as your advocate. Both medics must consent before upping the dose of the drug. If either believes you are in danger -- the procedure is aborted and a rescue drug administered.” She affixed a patch on Nyk's chest near his sternum and another on his left side, below his ribcage. “These will monitor your heart. Any questions?”

“What will I feel?”

“You'll feel -- more precisely, you will remember -- nothing. Some subjects experience various degrees of discomfort afterward -- vertigo, nausea and the like. Those after- effects are short-lived, and are directly related to the dose of the drug.” She connected the last electrode. “When was your last meal?”

“Dinner -- last night.”

“Good -- we want you to have an empty stomach -- for your safety.” She withdrew a device from a drawer. “I'm going to start the IV now. Let me look at your arm.” She inflated a cuff around his upper arm and ran her finger along a vein in the back of his left hand. “This will do -- you'll feel a prick.” She punctured his vein and taped the catheter into place. “This is only saline for now. Make yourself comfortable.”

Nyk reclined on the pallet. A man wearing an Internal Affairs xarpa entered the room. “Nykkyo Kyhana?” He nodded. “Please scan this.”

“What for?”

“Identification.” He pressed his wrist to the scanpad. The officer examined it. “I have here a warrant for your interrogation with truth drug. Would you care to examine it?”

The officer handed a vidisplay to Nyk. He read the document. “Signed by Tomyka Wells.”

“I've been authorized to offer you this.” The officer poked the vidisplay and handed it back to Nyk.

“The no-contest agreement. Tomyka is trying to intimidate me into signing it. I won't.”

“Will you sign a voluntary interrogation consent form?”

“No.”

“Then, we do it the hard way. We will execute the warrant.” He turned to another officer. “Where's the witness?”

The officer left and returned with Senta. “Nykkyo -- PLEASE cooperate. Sign the no-contest form. I don't want to see you like this. Sign it and we can be home by evening.” Nyk shook his head.

The officer read the warrant aloud. “The subject has been read the warrant. Witness, please sign.”

“Don't make me do this, Nyk,” Senta said. Nyk turned his head. He heard the scanpad chirp as Senta pressed her wrist to it.

The officer escorted her from the treatment room. “We'll get started as soon as the staff medic arrives,” the interrogator said.

The nurse sat beside Nyk. “Let me give you some advice...”

“What advice?” Nyk replied. “Have you undergone this?”

“Yes, I have. During training, all attendants are required to experience the procedures they may administer -- to better understand what the subject is enduring. Nykkyo -- don't fight the drug. You can't win -- they'll keep upping the dose. Just the other day we interrogated a young woman. She was such a beautiful girl -- she looked like she belonged in one of the finishing schools. I felt sorry for her -- the poor thing fought the drug, and was so sick. Give yourself to it -- you'll be thankful afterward.”

A medic entered and took his seat at the control panel. “We have no signal on number seven probe,” he said. The nurse replaced the electrode. “That's better. We're ready to begin.”

The nurse sat beside him. “Are you afraid?”

“A little,” he replied.

“Would you like me to hold your hand?” He nodded.

“We're starting the agent,” the interrogator said. “Zero-five...” Nyk began to feel a burning sensation radiating up his left arm. “Zero-seven.” He tightened his grip on the nurse's hand. A roaring filled his ears.

“Relax and give yourself to it,” the nurse said.

“One-zero.”

Nyk closed his eyes. He felt as if he were falling...

“Nykkyo... Nykkyo...” He opened his eyes. The room was spinning. He grabbed the sides of the pallet. Slowly a pair of green eyes came into focus. “Nykkyo -- are you all right?”

“Senta!”

“They told me you gave in and they needed a light dose. I was thankful for that. Oh, Nyk! I do care for you. You probably don't believe it right now, but I do. I want you home -- so I can keep an eye on you.”

“Try to sleep,” the nurse said. “Your brainwaves will