Space Stations and Sirens

Hub is Elizabeth Bartley's campaign set in the universe of James Schmitz's Hub stories. Beth ran a couple of solo adventures for me. My PC is Marius Lecks, an empathic doctor.

Attempts on one's life can be most inconvenient. It is understandable, therefore, if one decides to avoid a repeat attempt, and one traditional way of doing this is to make it appear as if the initial attempt was successful. This is what Katrina, President Pro Tem of the planet Lauren, decided to do.

In this task, she was aided by the forces of the Federation. The Federation very much wished to add Lauren to the planets under its aegis. Katrina wished to aid them. It was, then, very much in the Federation's interest to see that Katrina remained alive. The talented Fifth Eye Detective Jealousy Jones was also aiding Katrina.

Naturally, neither Detective Jones nor the Federation was neglecting to investigate the identities of those who had made the attempt on Katrina's life and those who had sponsored it. So as not to get in the way of their good work, and so as not to allow those who sought her life another chance, and so as to make it clear to the people of Lauren that they could, indeed, function indefinitely without her, Katrina decided to leave Lauren for a time. Dr. Marius Lecks offered her passage on the Galen.

This, of course, was hardly surprising. As Dr. Lecks had recently informed her, his brother, Curtis, was madly in love with her. Curtis wanted to marry Katrina, but, so convinced he was that he had not the slightest chance of gaining Katrina's assent, he had never mentioned this to Katrina. Katrina had been aware that Curtis had feelings for her, but not that he had the slightest desire for a permanent relationship.

It made sense for Dr. Lecks to find his brother to cushion the shock of the news of Katrina's death, and this provided an excellent cover for the doctor to pilot his ship, with Katrina secretly on board, to the space station where Curtis Lecks was investigating gambling resorts. There, he could assure Curtis that the rumors of Katrina's death had been exaggerated, and Katrina could ask Curtis a few questions.

Dr. Lecks sent a message to Curtis, asking whether he might visit, and Curtis, who had not yet heard the news, returned a somewhat baffled assent. By the time the Galen was in the same system, Curtis had heard the news, and he sent a short message that, in common parlance, could be construed as, "What the hell?" Marius sent him instructions to meet his ship at the space station dock.

Curtis came on board, taking in Marius and a bird who had been Marius' companion for some time. Before he could ask questions, Katrina, satisfied by Marius' reactions that Curtis was indeed Curtis, came out from the back of the ship.

"Shall I leave you alone?" Marius asked them. Receiving a silent, but clear, assent from both, he withdrew with his bird to the part of his ship where Katrina had concealed herself.

Marius was an empath, and, while he gave the pair as much privacy as possible, he did keep a mental ear out for emotions that might indicate trouble. He soon picked up pain coming from Curtis and satisfaction coming from Katrina. As these were brief and not repeated, he did not rush out to see what was happening.

Katrina had learned that Marius was an empath. He had assured her that he had respected her privacy, and that, in any case, she was focused enough that he did not, as a rule, pick up anything leaking. Katrina, well aware that psychic talent often runs in families, asked about his brother. Marius refused to reveal his brother's secrets, but this confirmed to Katrina that Curtis had a secret.

She was, then, determined to know what Curtis could do, and what Curtis had done to her. Reasoning that he would be hard pressed to either read her mind or to perform any other mental manipulation while in pain, she had caused him some brief physical pain, and had been satisfied with his answers. Curtis, she learned, was a receptive telepath, but had no power to manipulate her thoughts with psychic powers.

After a less physically painful, but quite intense conversation, Curtis and Katrina let Marius know that he could return. He did so, surprising them by bringing his medkit. Embarrassed and relieved that it wasn't needed, he saw no need to go into explanations as to why he had thought it might be needed. As Katrina was clearly not going to cause any permanent harm to Curtis, this left Marius with two questions: How might he and Katrina be of use to Curtis, a news reporter, in his present assignment? What was Curtis going to do to him for telling Katrina about how Curtis felt?

Curtis deferred a decision on the second, although he was furious with Marius on that score. This did not stop him from accepting his younger brother's offer of assistance, and he explained his current line of investigation.

There were rumors that the gambling on the planet was manipulated so that certain people would lose and get blackmailed. This was what Curtis was investigating, and he had found evidence of gambling establishments using hypnotic screens to entrance certain clients so that they'd gamble more.

"But there's something else," he said. "These places use machines to detect the use of psychic powers."

Marius gave him a worried look. "Did you --"

"My power's passive. I don't think so. Now, it's unusual, but not unheard of, for a casino to have one of these machines. But, the casinos boast of having two."

"In case one goes down, I guess," said Marius.

Curtis and Katrina exchanged a glance.

Curtis said, "Marius, this isn't like having a backup power generator. The machines aren't cheap, and psychics aren't common. This is overkill."

Marius conceded the point, and the trio spent some time investigating. They soon learned that a couple of compartments near the outer hull of the station were being rigged to explode -- by station personnel.

This probably wouldn't killing anyone, but neither Curtis, Marius, nor Katrina saw any reason to allow it to happen. The question was: Who on the station could they trust?

Curtis and Marius used their psychic powers cautiously, hoping to avoid alerting the psychic detecting machine on the station.

"The night shift head of Medical should be all right," said Marius. "Her secretary's compromised, and so is the day shift head. I'll talk to her."

The meeting went well, despite the other doctor's insistence on pointing a blaster at a (mostly) disarmed Marius, a precaution he thought was only sensible. She wasn't pleased to learn what was happening on the station, and she wasn't surprised to learn that her secretary couldn't be trusted.

Marius put her in contact with a couple of people he and Curtis had cleared from station security. There was one unfortunate incident where a high placed security officer who might -- or might not -- have been trustworthy insisted on attempting to make a call. Marius hit him with a patch, knocking him out and administering a drug that might -- or might not -- keep him from remembering the incident. Marius left the man with the people he trusted in Medical.

"If he tries to arrest me, we'll know it didn't work," said Marius.

He was not arrested, and his victim claimed not to remember a thing.

Between medical and security contacts, matters were arranged so that the sabotage to the areas of the station that worried Curtis could not be completed. He wondered what the next move would be.

It was a move that deeply offended Marius.

"An epidemic!" he said. "A fake plague scare!"

"Clever," said Curtis. "This means everyone has to report for vaccination to a central location. There's probably a psychic detection machine there." He looked thoughtful. "Probably, the folks behind this aren't as concerned about psychics being on station as about psychics going down to the planet."

"They're wasting our time! Or worse -- they've started an epidemic for this!"

"Marius, you're going to report to medical to help vaccinate people, aren't you?" asked Katrina.

He nodded. "I have to."

"And you know what these machines look like? A lot of people don't."

"I do. I've seen them."

"Good," said Katrina "Do you think you might be able to do something about such a machine if you saw one while helping with the vaccinations?"

"I might," said Marius, smiling slowly.

"Meanwhile, I'll talk to some of the people in charge, as myself, trying to find out what's going on. Curtis can be in disguise as my assistant. They'll know I'm too important to make disappear, and while they're busy pacifying me, we'll see what Curtis can learn from their minds."

Marius and Curtis agreed. Maius not only found the psychic detection machine, but was also able to position himself near it. No one else in the room seemed to recognize it.

Marius helped vaccinate people, keeping a mental ear out for fellow psychics. After a few hours, he found a mind that was telepathic. While whoever was attached to the mind was still some distance away from the machine, Marius drew his blaster and fired twice. The first shot, unseen, though not unheard, by all, fried the circuits of the machine, rendering it useless. The second, visible to all looking in the right direction, hit the wall just outside the room.

"Get down!" Marius shouted. "Some lunatic fired a blaster!"

Most of the people within earshot complied, and no one seemed to doubt Marius' version of events. As the chaos sorted itself out, Marius made contact with the telepath, who was curious about what had just happened.

Marius explained the whole situation, then thought at the telepath, "Get the vaccination anyway, just in case. It won't hurt, and it might help. Come let the nice doctor vaccinate you."

"Ah, no thanks," thought a very nervous telepath.

"Look," thought Marius, realizing that his own curiosity was frightening the telepath, "get the vaccination. I don't care if you get it from me or from someone else. Okay?"

"Fine. I'll get the vaccination," thought the other, who then firmly cut the link with Marius.

Marius sighed, then told his coworkers that he needed a short break. They were unsurprised.

First, Marius tried to see if he could catch a glimpse of the anonymous telepath. Having no way of figuring out who it was, he was unsuccessful. He then reached out cautiously, as he'd done before, looking for any other psychics.

A faint trace seemed to be coming from a cafeteria area. Marius headed there, bought a light refreshment, and concentrated on locating the other psychic. He felt a wave of rage and was barely able to shield himself from a sudden mental attack.

When he recovered, he sent a second, more cautious query, trying to find the physical body attached to the mind.

"A plant?" asked Curtis, in disbelief. "You were psychically attacked by a plant? Twice?"

"Yes," said Marius. "That plant is very unhappy. It wants to go home. It's not sure where home is, and it hates everyone around it."

"Is it manipulating people's minds?" asked Katrina.

"I don't think so," said Marius. "It's angry and homesick, and it's not very subtle. It was brought to the station about a year ago. No one seems to know from where."

This gave Curtis a new angle of research. He learned that the plant was of a species that was illegal to import into the Federation. He also recalled seeing what might have been another plant of the same species at one of the casinos on planet. Marius managed a brief mental contact with the telepath he'd encountered earlier. The telepath had been to the same casino and left earlier than he'd intended, feeling distinctly uncomfortable. He thought Curtis was right about the plants, but wasn't sure.

"What do we do now?" asked Marius.

"Call Psychology," said Katrina, firmly.

The Federation organization in charge of dealing with matters involving psychic powers -- and keeping these matters as quiet as possible -- is perennially overworked. Nevertheless, Psychology sent someone to talk with Marius, Curtis, and Katrina as quickly as possible.

"We'll take it from here," said the Psychology rep. "The plants are called sirens. They're very dangerous. There's a reason sirens are banned from the Federation."

"What are we allowed to say and to whom?" asked Marius.

"You can tell anyone who'll listen about what sirens are and to contact us if they see any. Leave the rest to us." To Curtis, the rep said, "Run your story by us first."

Curtis nodded. He followed Marius and Katrina onto the Galen.

"Where to now?" asked Marius. "Home to Ivic?"

Curtis looked at Katrina.

"Why not?" she said. "I want to see this crazy planet of yours."