Sample of “The Minerva Conspiracy (Stone Chalmers #3)”

Prologue

The Chairman of the High Council of the colony world Minerva faced the UN diplomat. The Chairman sat behind a curved conference table, flanked by the High Councillors and others.

To the UN diplomat’s right, the tall, narrow windows let through and diffused a quarter of the afternoon rays from Minerva’s bright yellow G1-type star. Despite the dimmed and indirect light, the diplomat’s smile showed rows of gleaming teeth stark against his olive complexion. Behind and above him floated holographic lines of bullet-pointed text and a small UN logo in the lower right corner.

The hologram flickered, showed a new slide. The diplomat rested his open hand on his cocked hip. He spoke in a smooth American accent without looking at the words floating behind him.

“To summarize, when Minerva joins the Dubai Convention, multiple benefits will accrue to you. Instead of a four-month journey by warpdrive, you can instantaneously communicate with all of Earth’s scientists, intellectuals, and content creators. You can export products free of tariffs=̄=and the immense operating expenses of a warpdrive ship=̄=to UN member states. The quick and easy travel only the wormhole can provide will give you an opportunity to recruit immigrants. Finally, you’ll also receive the benefits of increased creativity when your society incorporates the vibrant diversity of the resettled.”

The hologram flickered again, showed Questions?.

“Thank you. I’m sure you want to know more. I can stay as long as you wish to answer.”

The Chairman of the High Council said nothing. He didn’t need to.

To the Chairman’s right, a blue-eyed man wearing a mustard-yellow blazer and a stubbly beard raised his hand. “What products does the UN forbid colonies to import to Earth?”

“Earth will accept a colossal variety of imports. Metals, fissionables, hydrocarbons, raw and processed foods, heavy machinery, consumer goods…” The diplomat made a juggling motion. “I can’t list everything.”

The man’s blue eyes narrowed. “I didn’t ask which imports are permitted. I want to know which ones are forbidden.”

“Oh. Forbidden.” The diplomat folded his arms. “Very few imports are barred by General Assembly resolutions. Weapons of mass destruction. Fission or fusion reactors. Techniques for human genetic modification. Molecular fabricators. That’s all.” He held his gaze on the man in the mustard-yellow blazer, then turned to the only woman in the room, a statuesque blonde with hair piled high and a Big Dipper pin high on the bodice of her crimson dress. “You had a question?”

Her voice sounded huskier than the smooth lines of her face suggested. “Under the Dubai Convention, what rights would the Minerva government have to select or reject resettled?”

“You may be assured that the resettlement authority takes the cultural background of a colony into consideration, and strives to assign resettled from a similar background when possible. Of course, the crises that create situations where resettlement is appropriate do not always conform to colonial prejudices. Though I am certain the leaders of Minerva are free of such prejudices. I’m certain your heart is large enough to welcome hungry and homeless women and children to your world.” The diplomat’s brown eyes softened with the final sentences. He drew in a long breath. “Anyone else?”

“No,” the Chairman said. “You’ve given us more than enough information to make our decision.”

The diplomat blinked once, but the smoothness of his next words signaled mastery of any confusion. “I’m glad my presentation has been helpful to you. Of course, should you or any member of the High Council need any additional information, message or call me any time, day or night.”

“Noted.”

“Very well. I’ll return to the UN base camp and await word from you. If you could reach your decision in four days, I and every UN employee, both here and on Earth, would be most grateful.”

“We’ll make our decision by then,” the Chairman said, finality in his tone.

The diplomat bowed from the waist. He turned and strode through the hologram toward double doors on the far side of the room. Against the floor of polished, blue-flecked gray granite, the hard soles of his polished black oxford shoes struck like whip cracks.

The hologram’s floating UN logo morphed into a magic lamp shape, sucked up the rest of the slide, then winked out of sight.

After the double doors closed themselves soundlessly behind the departing diplomat, the Chairman and Councillors rose from the curved table. Ceiling-high doors swung open in the twelve-foot wall of ceramic tiles behind them. Strong ventilation pushed robotic miniblimps into the conference room. The miniblimps bumped the ceiling as they dangled filters to scoop up any microscopic airborne sensors the diplomat might have left.

The ventilation chilled the Chairman’s face as he led the Councillors down a corridor toward the executive offices of the Minervan government. Twenty feet from the conference room, they stopped at a door to what looked like a utility closet. The bearded man in the mustard-yellow blazer poised his knuckles to knock–

The door swung open. A dozen monitors and status boards glowed in a windowless room. In the doorway stood a lean-figured woman. Her eyebrows arched and her mouth formed a coy, closed-lip smile.

“He told us exactly what you said he would,” said the man in the yellow blazer. “So what do you advise?”

Her lips parted in a wider smile. She rocked her head, setting her long blond hair rippling. A gleam filled her hazel eyes.

“Surrender.”

1

The producer’s office fit with the blue, cloud-dotted sky outside the windows. Potted plants turned waxy, deep green leaves toward yellow LED spotlights in the ceiling. Water dripped from microirrigation systems and fertilized potting soil filled the space with the rich smell of springtime.

Even better as far as Stone Chalmers was concerned, the warming weather meant girls in the streets of Manhattan wore short sheer dresses. He would get back out there soon. Just waiting for–

The producer hurried in. Tanned face and a feathered haircut. “Didn’t mean to be late. My flight from Los Angeles got rerouted around thunderstorms in flyover country.” He sat on an angular, black leather sofa, stretched his arm along the back, and extended legs crossed at the ankles toward Stone.

“Mr. Chalmers, Rolston–I can call you Rolston?–”

“Why not?” Stone said from a matching armchair facing the sofa.

“Rolston, glad to finally meet you. We’ve been trying to put together this project for, for–” The producer lifted his hand from the back of the sofa and rolled his wrist. “Tarquinia, how long has it been?”

The producer’s assistant, Tarquinia, sat on the sofa six inches beyond her employer’s extended hand. Plunging neckline, tight skirt hemmed above the knee, and a high heap of russet hair Stone would revel in for the five seconds he would need to loosen it. She gave Stone a look hinting she would revel in it too. “Five years ago, we acquired the rights to your great-grandfather’s life story from his descendants from his second marriage. We didn’t discover he had heirs from his first marriage until your–brother–?”

“Cousin.”

“–until he heard about the project and threatened to sue.”

The producer nodded. “We don’t know what he told you, but, hand to God, from the start of this we wanted to play fair by everyone. We knew your great-grandfather had a son by his first marriage, but we had no idea your grandfather legally took his stepfather’s surname after your great-grandmother remarried. Hand to God, when your grandfather’s birth name disappeared from the public records, we assumed he’d died as a child during the Time of Troubles.”

“Understandable.”

The producer’s lips clamped together. He looked away from Stone, toward the bright spring sky outside the windows. Probably subvoking to the auditory nerves of–

Tarquinia dabbed her lips with her tongue, then leaned her cleavage toward Stone. “Rolston–”

“Call me Stone.”

“Stone. We know you might be unhappy about our mistake. Don’t hold it against the project. Hold it against me. I’m the one who failed to dig deeply enough to ensure all your great-grandfather’s heirs had the chance to buy in five years ago.” She puffed out her chest. “How can I make it up to you?”

Five seconds to loosen her hair, then… an hour later he’d stroll the Upper East Side looking for his next conquest. Back on the treadmill–

Seducing women is a treadmill? What the hell has gotten into you? He forced a lazy smile. “I’ll think of something.”

“Glad you have no hard feelings,” the producer said. “Let me tell you, we’re excited as hell to bring Plutarco Blanco’s story to the silver screen. It’s got everything modern audiences are looking for. Romantic drama for women, action scenes for young men, and older men will love the political intrigue and the principled battle against racism.”

Stone sagely nodded. “I was afraid that part might be neglected. Mestizos–you know, Mexicans who look Mexican?–envied my great-grandfather’s blond hair and pale skin.” He glanced sidelong at Tarquinia with a faint smirk. Her lips parted in a shocked o, but she leaned forward, pulled by his magnetism just the same.

Fish. Barrel.

Treadmill.

“Well, yes, right,” the producer said. “We were thinking more about the racism he faced from white Americans.”

“Oh.” Stone drew out the word and kept his poker face.

“Our working treatment so far doesn’t play up the bigotry your great-grandfather suffered from other Mexican-Americans, but script development on a project like this goes on until the last day of shooting.” He shifted against the black leather. “Now, Rolston, for licensing your rights to your great-grandfather’s story, we’re prepared to offer you–” He emphasized the next words. “–0.05% of lifetime net revenue.”

Net meaning after a thousand vaguely-worded expenses added up to a few pennies less than the gross. “0.05%?”

“Rolston, Rolston, I know that might sound low, but let me walk you through some example math here. We’re expecting a budget of half a trillion dollars–United States dollars–here, but this picture could bring a trillion in domestic box office alone.”

At twenty thousand dollars to see a movie in Manhattan…. “Fifty million people will go see yet another costume drama set during the Time of Troubles?”

“Easily. And that’s just domestic. Latin America will easily bring in another trillion. Another half trillion for merchandising–and, hand to God, from the novelization, the graphic novel, the action figures, the other collectables, that’s a conservative estimate–anyway, your share works out to a cool billion.” The producer spread his hands like a car salesman. “So we’ve got a deal.”

If Stone received a royalty check for as much as a million, he’d be astonished. But no harm agreeing. The distant cousins he hadn’t seen since his father’s funeral would get an ego boost from their glancing contact with Hollywood, then return to their tedious lives, longing for fortune and fame never to come.

He opened his mouth to speak. A message appeared in his vision, green letters laid over the producer’s tanned face and Tarquinia’s buxom curves by electromagnetic stimulation of his optic nerves by a tracery of wires around his hair follicles.

Code 909. Minerva. Report to my office before close of business tomorrow.

909 meant a special detail. Which reeked of boredom. Bodyguarding some politician, likely. Minerva? A colony world so recently discovered by the UN that it didn’t even have a sited wormhole mouth? And a mission so lacking in urgency Gray gave him over twenty-four hours to report?

A mission. After ten months–far longer than the inactivity period Gray had imposed at their last meeting, after his return from Trinity–after ten months, a mission.

Stone’s heart beat a little faster.

“Rolston, Rolston, what’s going on?”

Stone got to his feet. “An important project at work just came up.”

“You mean you’re leaving? I thought we had a deal here.”

Tarquinia shifted her torso to give Stone a view straight down her cleavage. “I thought so too.”

He kept his gaze at the level of their eyes. “Duty calls.” He turned for the door.

“Rolston, Rolston, I get it.” Humor with a manic edge sounded in the producer’s voice. “You’re playing the game. You’re right, we’re eager to close, but we can’t give you the keys to the castle. We can go as high as 0.075% of net. Just for you. Provided you don’t disclose your terms to the other heirs–”

The glass door made a faint mechanical hum as it swung toward him. “I’ll be in touch,” he said over his shoulder.

“Rolston!”

After an ear-popping elevator ride, Stone slipped out a revolving door from the building’s lobby to the sidewalk. The noise of ten thousand cars and a hundred thousand feet reverberated off the glass and steel faces of skyscrapers. Through the press of pedestrians he glimpsed a low, faceted black shape amid dense traffic. He crossed the sidewalk to the curb. Men wearing neckties loose under unbuttoned collars angled around him. Neck-craning tourists ducked their heads and muttered “Excuse me” in cornpone Midwestern accents. Leggy young women fanned their short skirts and stared at him from wide, downturned eyes.

Imagine how much more these passersby would react if they knew how many women he’d bedded and how many men he’d killed.

His black coupe, faceted like a stealth fighter aircraft, pulled up to the curb. It popped open its door as he approached, closed it after he climbed in. In silence and cool dry air, he settled on the back seat. UNICA HQ, he subvoked to the car. Priority.

The black coupe pulled away from the curb, heading east. The message from its transponder compelled cars in front to change lanes and turned the red light at Broadway green.

North and east of Times Square, signs began to bear the logos of UN agencies and global charities. Cameras grew denser, like fungi expanding through a concrete and alloy forest.

In the mid 50s, between Lexington and the FDR, the headquarters of the United Nations Interagency Coordination Authority looked like any other eighty-story highrise. Perhaps the sidewalk in front held more anti-vehicle obstacles, concrete bollards and welded steel spikes, than some other UN buildings. The coupe turned into the garage.

Soon after, the elevator pinged at the 27th floor. The doors parted. Despite his hammering heart and churning emotions, Stone walked with forced casualness to Gray’s office, rapped a jaunty pattern with his knuckles on the synthetic wood door.

“Come in.”

Stone entered and shut the door.

At his standing desk, Gray looked like the upper-level bureaucrat of his job title, Assistant Director of Operational Planning. His three archaic monitors held scrolling text and a video from high altitude of dusty buildings exploding. Gray typed on a split, angled keyboard that clacked with every keypress. Not for the first time Stone wondered if the archaic input devices and displays were a cover, and Gray used the exact same transcranial magnetic stimulation hardware as everyone else.

The monitors went dark. “You’re early, Stone.”

And you’re four months late calling me in. “I was in a meeting and needed an excuse to leave. You earned me an extra, let’s see, one-fortieth of one percent of–”

“The film based on your great-grandfather Blanco’s life and death?”

Stone’s eyes blinked wide. How did he–?

Because he was Gray. Rivers of information from ten thousand sources flowed past his eyeballs.

“That’s the one,” Stone said.

“I’ll buy a ticket to the premiere.” Gray made a quarter-turn to his sitting-height desk and gestured at the visitor chairs facing it. “Sit, and tell me about Minerva.”

Stone sat, faced a broad, glass-topped desk bare except for an inbox, an outbox, and a five-ball pendulum, all of which appeared to have never been touched. “A colony founded during the Time of Troubles. An Interstellar Transport Bureau scout ship reported the colony’s discovery around the time I went to Trinity. An ITB diplomatic mission went out to bribe or blackmail the colony’s leaders into acceding to the Dubai Convention.” Stone subvoked up the diplomatic mission’s departure date from Earth and the warpdrive flight time to and from Minerva. A date from the previous week appeared in his vision. “That mission just returned.”

“And with success,” Gray said, now seated across the desk from Stone. “Minerva acceded to the Dubai Convention. A wormhole is currently under construction at Hawking Station. The terrestrial end will be sited in the Mojave Desert 130 miles from Los Angeles. The ITB warpdrive ship that will tow the other end to Minerva departs Earth orbit for Hawking Station in five days. You will be on that ship.”

Stone let out a long breath, and the stress of inactivity bled from his shoulders. “You suspect some ITB employees on the ship are saboteurs?”

“No.”

“I get it. You want me to assassinate a Minerva politician or two.”

“No.”

Stone scowled. “Then what? I’ve been cooling my heels for almost a year and you’re sending me on a mission I’m overqualified for?”

Gray peered down his nose with narrowed eyes. “You will go where I order you. Unless you wish to move your hiatus from the temporary column to the permanent?”

The pattern in the carpet caught Stone’s gaze. “Of course I’ll go.”

“Good. Your assignment is to gather intelligence on the Minerva government relating to any threats it may pose to the UN.”

Blood drained from Stone’s face. Reading public websites, maybe hanging out in bars where colonial government clerks drank together and vented about their bosses. His lips clamped together and he breathed heavily through his nose.

“Minerva is unlike other colonies.” The way Gray said the words made Stone frown and look up. “Every other colony we’ve discovered to date was founded by people looking backward from the middle of the 21st century to some imagined golden age, typically comprising ethnocultural purity or monolithic religious belief. Minerva was instead founded by American scientists and engineers who believed their golden age lay in the future. Unlike other colonies, which settled on planets with native biospheres providing breathable air, the Minervans found a waterless and lifeless rocky world and terraformed it. Their economy is heavily roboticized and computerized. They have more molecular fabricators per capita than does Earth. To the best of our knowledge, they lack artificial intelligence, and if I were a praying man I would thank God for that.”

“But Minerva acceded to the Dubai Convention–”

“My hunch is Minerva acceded too easily.”

Stone felt more like himself. Through a smirking mouth, he asked, “A hunch?”

“If my job didn’t require hunches, a computer could do it.” A pause, then Gray said, “Your cover will be an employee for a UN import regulation agency. Under this cover, you will meet Minerva government officials and corporate executives. Find whatever you can, however you can, about possible threats to the UN, and return through the wormhole after ground transportation links are established.”

A grin creased Stone’s face. However you can…. How many women worked for Minerva’s government and large businesses? And how many of those would open their secrets to him as readily as they would open their legs? “I’ll pick up the cover story packet from Jürgen right now.”

“No hurry. The shuttle from Cape Canaveral to Hammarskjöld Orbital Port launches in three days. Fly to Florida the day after tomorrow.”

A mission and two more nights in Manhattan. This day got better by the moment. Still, work to do before he left Gray’s office. “You want regular reports?”

“Yes. Copy what you find to encrypted data devices and throw them in the UN’s Earthbound diplomatic pouch–you’ll learn the address when you hypnogogue your cover.”

“What about our field office?”

“Our field office is not yet established. The team to do so will be on your ship, under a cover which I will not share with you. Even after they establish the field office, I don’t want you generating sigint that Minerva counterintelligence might pick up.”

Stone’s nose wrinkled. “You’re worried about colonial counterintelligence?”

“No,” Gray said. The tone of his next words trickled a frigid feeling down Stone’s spine. “I’m worried about Minerva counterintelligence.”