Chapter 11

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The rest of my time on Mars was spent relaxing in my apartment. It was bare of my own personal touches, but the furniture was still there. That meant I still had a couch, a soft bed, and an unfinished bottle of scotch. I had one drink, but it stung the messed up insides of my cheeks so I stopped there. I let a few calls from HQ go to voicemail on my home line. They wanted me to join them for a combination farewell drink and case closure celebration. I decided not to join them. I didn’t feel much like celebration. While I was alone with my thoughts for a few minutes I realized I wouldn’t be able to attend Greyson’s funeral. I supposed that I could have asked for a delay in my shuttle departure, but I wasn’t looking forward to waiting another two weeks before I headed back to Earth. My last night on Mars was a quiet night, and it was exactly what I needed.

The next morning, I left for the shuttle terminal early. The spaceport was on the northern side of the city, all the way out by the edge of the dome. The north side was the only area that had an exit airlock large enough to accommodate the shuttle. The ship fit about eight hundred travelers comfortably in its cylindrical walls. The eight traveler decks circled a long inner concourse. It was actually a pretty comfortable situation. Once you got up and out of the Mars atmosphere, it became more of a pleasure cruise. Three weeks was a long time and they didn’t even bother to put anyone out anymore. Instead, they turned it into a vacation. It was a particularly nice trip if you were in first class and had a suite on one of the outer floors. My cabin was right in the middle column. I was in the cheap seats, basically. They don’t go all out in a deportation, I guess.

While I waited for the ship to begin allowing passengers to board, I sat at a small table and enjoyed a cup of bad coffee. The area surrounding the shuttle was flat and marked off by tall fences. There was only one entrance on and off of the ship for passengers, the rest of the entryways are set aside for the large amount of cargo that the shuttle carried with it. They made the most of every trip between Earth and Mars, so many of the exports piggybacked on the passenger shuttle.

I watched a small cart zip by. It had a long train of hovering pads that carried some of the smaller cargo. A few of the larger white boxes that were stacked up on this cart had Mako Robotics printed on the side.

“Hey there,” a voice said. I glanced up. It was Nouvelle. I was surprised to see her. “You don’t think I’d let you go without saying goodbye, did you?”

She sat down across the table from me.

“I didn’t want to make a big deal about it yesterday. You looked busy,” I said.

“I was,” she said. “But I wanted to come by anyhow. See you off. I guess I’m the only one.”

“There really isn’t anyone else who would come,” I said.

There was a sudden loud tone and a voice came over the intercom to announce that boarding procedures had begun.

“We have a few minutes, right?” asked Nouvelle.

I nodded. “It’s going to take a while to get eight hundred people on there. I’m in no rush.”

“Good,” she said. “I have something for you.”

I lifted my eyebrows. She reached into her bag and pulled out a small metal box. It was the same one that Greyson had presented to me in the car three days before.

“I talked to the board at about three in the morning,” she said. “The suspension stands, but they want you back if you’ll consider it. Six months off Mars and you can come back to the Central Police.”

I leaned forward and took the box into my hands. I opened it. Inside was an uplink and lens case. Below that was my badge.

“I forgot to get this back to you yesterday,” she said. “They loaded the backup image from your broken uplink.”

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