Short Story One Shot: Fearless

Team Savant is on hiatus for a few weeks. Here is an adventure of the Martian Detective Knight. To read the previous Team Savant story click Team Savant Short Story Egg-napped. 

It was a Harley Mach 5. The speeder’s chassis lay twisted and mangled in ways that seemed impossible. The Harley obviously rolled multiple times before stopping at the base of one of the red mountains.

Knight had seen this three times already. Teenagers bungee jumping from satellites or even swimming with tamed sharks. Sure, they were domesticated but some kids found that their instincts were still there…the hard way.

He swabbed some of the blood off the metal and placed the sample in the smart phone port. The victim…a Dr. Sheila Jones was a college professor at Pride. A picture came up. Young and beautiful. Her skin was fair—suggesting an absence of melanin manipulation. She would need a daily dosage of lotion to keep her risk of cancer low.

K1 scanned the machinery. “Sir, further examination shows that the victim’s blood has traces of the drugs shared by the other risk takers.” The metallic dog cocked his head sideways. “The vehicle is also registered in the name of the Pride University President.”

“Interesting.”

“How do you wish to proceed?”

“We should investigate.”

The two companions climbed into the hovering saucer. As soon as the saucer sealed, Knight breathed deeply. His teacher once told him that the hover cars produced an environment similar to the atmosphere of earth—before the nuclear event. Without a doubt, the air in the car was far superior to the air outside.

K1 directed the car over the sand dunes of the red planet, hung a left at the monolithic atmospheric station and drove straight to the University community. Pride University stood at the center of the settlement while the parking lot lay kilometers away near the residential area.

After registering with the settlement security, Knight and K1 strolled the two or three kilometers toward a system of metal hermetically sealed buildings decorated with fake plants and art work. At the sliding door entrance, the two stood still as a red light scanned them.

“Remove all weaponry and leave the K unit outside,” a soft voice said.

“I am a Ranger and he is my partner,” Knight said.

“This is a place of academia. No weapons are allowed in the buildings.”

Knight sighed, pulled out his peacemaker and gave the weapon to K1. The little canine swallowed it whole. “I will power down.” He lay down and placed his paws on his head.

“Goodnight old friend.” Knight pulled out his smart phone and pulled up the K unit app. He placed the phone into his pocket and waited for the door to open.

He stepped inside. A young secretary with an extreme low-cut blouse gestured toward the door. “The president will speak with you now.”

Knight noted that the receptionists’ skirt left little to the imagination. “What are you doing after work?”

“Sir, I am happily single.”

“How unfortunate.”

She smiled and continued her work.

He opened the door. The president leaned back. A middle-aged, tanned man of roughly seventy. His hair had the artificial appearance of jet-black dye. On his desk was the typical tools and toiletries found on the average desk, but one thing caught Knight’s eye—a small bottle of protective lotion.

The president’s smile revealed laugh lines. His dilated eyes shone brighter than his smile. “How may I help you Agent…”

“Knight is fine, Mr. President.” He sat down in the seat across from him.

“Call me Fence. I suppose you are here to report my missing speeder?”

“Yes, your speeder had a young woman, with drugs in her system splattered across it. A Dr. Jones, one of your employees.”

“Dr. Jones?” He frowned and shook his head. “Probably one of the new faculty. A shame. So she got high and stole my speedster?”

“Maybe. When did you last interact with her?”

“Interact? Not since the new faculty reception.” Fence ran his fingers through his curly hair. “Teachers teach and leaders lead, we hardly interact with one another.”

Knight nodded. “How did you know your speedster was stolen?”

“What?”

“It’s not like you can look out your window and see your speedster. You don’t have an alarm on it. So how did you know?”

Fence lifted his eyes up and to the left. “One of the maintenance workers told me—I forget who.”

Knight pulled at his glove and reached for the lotion bottle. He held it up. “You and I were born with genetically engineered melanin. Your cute secretary can probably tell me some things too. So, do you want to just… tell the truth?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Knight pulled out his phone and pressed the K-unit app. A holographic image of K1 appeared above the phone. He held up the bottle of lotion. “Scan.”

“Scanning…prescription belongs to Dr. Jones,” the holographic K-unit said.

“I want as many warrants as the Judge will allow,” Knight said. “And a drug kit too. Subject shows signs of influence.”

Fence’s hand shook. He placed both elbows on the table and then buried his face. He quickly lifted his head. “We were just doing some Fearless.”

“Fearless?”

“A drug that takes away all of your fears—I can get you some, if you want?”

“I overcome my fears—I don’t run from them. Now, what was your relationship with Jones?”

Fence held his breath. “We were lovers.”

“Why did she take your speeder?”

He studied his hands. “She became upset when she discovered my new secretary—I wasn’t going to cheat—just wanted some eye candy…she took my key and walked away. I called the police after I realized she wasn’t coming back.”

Knight noted his body language. “I believe you.” He stood up. “K1, secure the President.”

“What’s going to happen to me?”

Knight shrugged. “My boys in the drug department could really use someone with connections to the drug culture. Maybe they can work something out with you.” Knight grabbed the doorknob. “I am going to work something out with your secretary.”

The End

NOTE:

You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

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