"Gabi is from Earth? Is that what you mean?" Denton exclaimed while fighting to control the craft. The quad lift swerved left and right above the street, coming within feet of the buildings around it. The curious onlookers that had been fascinated by the craft on the ground scattered in all directions. Some took shelter in nearby buildings, others ran away as quickly as they could.
"Why'd you have to land this thing right between these tall buildings anyway? The park behind the building would have been better. It's a more open area, and there are much fewer people. I'm going to kill myself at this rate," Denton said, his voice terse, as he narrowly avoided breaking the glass on the third floor of an office building.
"You'll be fine. Like I said, use the autopilot if you have to. It has a take-off, landing and transport mode. "
"I'm not taking my hands off of the controls," Denton barked and gripped the controls tighter until his knuckles were white. He had to calm down. Otherwise, he would end up with his craft in the office of some corporate executive, trying to explain why he demolished their pristine office. He took a few deep breaths and focused on the controls and the sound of the aircraft. Although he rarely talked about it, he had been an excellent pilot at one point. Tanner had been right. It was like riding a bike, whatever that was. The point was, once you learn it, you never forget.
After a few minutes just hovering a few floors above the street, Denton relaxed. The movements of the craft, the whine of the engines and the vibrations that radiated throughout the hull of the craft became more familiar. He felt more in tune with it as the controls changed from being objects that needed to be subdued to an extension of himself. He took a deep breath and exhaled with relief. Maybe he'd be ok after all.
With the craft comfortably under his control and level in the air, he increased the throttle and the quad shot skywards. He cleared the surrounding buildings and glanced at the map on the control panel as he pointed the craft towards the spaceport.
"Is she still heading for the spaceport?" he asked Tanner.
"Yes, her destination still appears to be the spaceport. I think your destination should be the same."
"Well, yes, obviously.," he said and suppressed an urge to throw up as the craft suddenly dropped, reminding Denton of the unpredictable nature of flight and that he needed to be careful. He regained control and altitude and set a course for the spaceport.
"Alright, I'm on my way. Please alert the spaceport security office about the situation and have them detain her. She can't be allowed to leave under any circumstances."
"Right away," Tanner said and disappeared off the air.
In the silence left behind, Denton increased the speed of the quad. He enabled the emergency lights that would allow him priority access to the traffic lanes that lined the sky above the city. All airborne transportation had to follow set lanes and rules, not unlike ground-based traffic. Unfettered access to the skies would lead to chaos and endless accidents. As a result, only emergency vehicles were allowed to deviate from the invisible paths that crisscrossed the sky.
With the spaceport set as his destination, he allowed himself to relax and take in the view. He had leveled out at an altitude just above the regular traffic lanes, partially to avoid causing traffic problems, partly to avoid drawing unnecessary attention to himself from daily commuters.
He could see the spaceport in the distance, built on a vast open expanse at the outskirts of the capital city. Airborne and ground-based traffic streamed into it from all directions, and he could see shuttles from space arriving and departing on regular intervals. It was the main gateway to space on this side of the planet.
On both sides of the spaceport, the contrasts of Proxima b were evident. To his left, the landscape stretched out towards the horizon, ending in the dark and cold north while the desert and dead south, crowned by the presence of the sun in the sky, stretched out to his right. He couldn't help but smile.
"Denton, you there?" Tanner said.
"I'm here. Enjoying the view."
"Security has been alerted. She'll be taken into custody as soon as she tries to go through security."
"Good. I should be arriving just moments after she does," Denton said as he reviewed the distance remaining to the spaceport. "Meanwhile, until I get there, have you dug up anything else about Gabi?"
"I'm still pulling in data but..."
Tanner's voice suddenly faded and was replaced with silence.
"Tanner? Are you there? What happened?"
Denton changed the comm frequencies and tried again. Only silence. He tapped his headset gently, then more forcefully as the silence remained. Nothing. It was as if Tanner had faded away.
Denton almost jumped out of his seat when the craft AI abruptly interrupted his troubleshooting. "Proximity alert. Proximity alert. Alter course immediately. Alter course immediately." The tinny voice was accompanied by a flashing red light on the instrument panel. As if on cue, another craft appeared in view to his right, flashing lights visible on the outside of the fuselage. Denton sighed. He immediately recognized the insignia. It was the local airway patrol, affectionately called LAP.
"Hey Tanner, hello?" he tried again as he fought with the controls to avoid colliding with the patrol craft.
There was no response. The alarm kept blaring, and the patrol craft crept closer. He instinctively steered his own craft in the opposite direction, but the patrol craft remained glued to his side.
His HUD lit up with an icon that indicated an incoming transmission. He quickly accepted. He had to get rid of the patrol craft or risk losing track of Gabi.
"This is Officer Lawson with the Airway Patrol," a male voice with a constant pitch said. "You are in violation of the city airway code of conduct and neutral airspace regulations. Please reduce your speed and land at the closest AP station for further processing."
Denton rolled his eyes. The local governments had insisted that their autonomous patrol crafts be given names. It made them seem more human, yet they were easily distinguished from human patrols by their methodical manner and strict adherence to rules and regulations.
"Officer Lawson, my name is Denton Staxx. I'm with the Orbital Security Service, badge number CC887674. I am in pursuit of a suspect with possible ties to a terrorism investigation. It is vital that I continue immediately."
There was a moment of silence.
"Mr. Staxx, I am currently unable to confirm your identity," Lawson finally said. "Please reduce speed and land at the nearest AP facility for processing."
"Officer, I really don't have the time for this. How can you not confirm my identity? I gave you my information. Your dispatch should be able to easily confirm it."
"Sir, unless you do as ordered, your vehicle controls will be disabled and remotely routed to the nearest landing pad. At that point, you will be taken into custody and charged with resisting an officer."
"I don't have time for this," Denton mumbled and disconnected the call. "Tanner, are you there? Can you help me out here?"
There was no answer. Only silence. Moments later, Officer Lawson interrupted the silence by forcing a connection with Denton.
"Please reduce your speed and land at the closest AP station. Control of your vehicle will be disabled if you refuse to comply. Upon landing, you will be taken into custody and charged with resisting an officer."
Denton scanned the control panel with increasing alarm. He had missed something. The emergency lights were on, which to any other human would indicate that the vehicle was important. The problem was, of course, that he wasn't dealing with a human.
Weapons were also disabled, so there was no threat of violence from his craft, real or perceived. He wasn't carrying any suspicious cargo. The registration of the quad lift clearly labeled it as an official vehicle. Yet, robo-Lawson couldn't recognize this. At the very least, if it couldn't identify Denton as an officer, verifying the vehicle should be easy.
"Mr. Denton Staxx, control overrides have been initiated. Be prepared to surrender to the authorities on landing."
Denton felt the quad slow down and change course, presumably towards the closest department facility. If he landed and they detained him, Gabi would get away. He could not allow it.
He was about to start pressing buttons on random when he saw a label he had missed just moments earlier. The transponder. He felt a rush of adrenaline as he realized his mistake. Of course, the transponder was off. He was rusty enough flying these things it was no wonder he had forgotten to turn on the transponder. Not only did the transponder show the location of vehicles in the air but it also broadcast authorization codes to traffic around him. In theory, it meant that he should never have to talk to anyone because his craft was always automatically identified. He quickly flipped the switch.
Almost immediately, Officer Lawson responded. "Your vehicle ID has been confirmed. Control of your vehicle will be returned to you momentarily. Enjoy the rest of your stay in Balargia."
The quad rolled to the left as the remote control was released. Denton quickly leveled out the craft and took a deep breath. His headset also came back alive as the officer released the communications frequency for external use.
"....are you? Denton? Are you there?"
"I'm here."
"Finally. What happened? I've been trying to get you to respond for the last several minutes. Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine, I'm fine. The local law enforcement was about to have me arrested."
"What for?"
"It doesn't matter. It's been resolved."
"Good. I noticed he was approaching and I tried to get through to him. The data link must not have been operational."
"That explains it," Denton muttered.
"I'm sorry, what was that?"
"Nothing. The transponder wasn't on, and apparently the officer had trouble identifying me without the connection."
"Yes, the transponders are automatically turned off when the quads are landed. Oh," Tanner said and was silent for a few seconds. "You didn't turn it on, did you?"
"Like I said, it's been resolved," Denton said, avoiding the question.
"Your craft is identified as an official law enforcement craft both visually and through the transponder," Tanner continued. "If you forgot to turn it on, that's likely why...."
"If you knew, why didn't you say so earlier? You know it's been a while since I flew one of these things. I'm surprised they didn't pull out the big guns on me."
"They likely would have, at some point, but closer to the spaceport."
"And you didn't think that might have been a good idea to tell me?"
"You didn't ask. Besides, I didn't want to break your concentration. There was still time to turn it on, it was hardly vital to take-off and regular flight."
Denton grumbled under his breath, rolled his eyes and muted the link to Tanner. Denton quickly reset his course towards the spaceport and increased his speed. As he approached, he transmitted the landing protocols and craft identification. Moments later, he received the go-ahead to land.
He carefully navigated through the myriad of arriving and departing crafts and put down his quad near one of the departure terminals. He unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up. He had to brace himself against his seat for a moment while his body readjusted to being back on his feet. He then rapidly exited onto the tarmac and sprinted toward the terminal.
He was met at the entrance by a security officer. "Staxx?" the man asked as Denton approached.
"Yes, that's me. I'm here for the fugitive."
"Follow me," the guard said and pointed towards the inside of the building. "She's been detained, and she is waiting in one of our interrogation rooms."
"Very good," Denton said with a smile on his face. They made their way through the crowd of the terminal and through corridors invisible to the regular traveler until they arrived at the security quarters of the spaceport.
"Here we are," the guard said and led him to a room that simply had the number 1 on it. "She's all yours. I'll be down the hall in the monitoring room if you need me."
Denton thanked the guard, knocked on the door and entered the room. He froze just inside the door, his hand still on the doorknob, as his eyes caught the table and two empty chairs. He felt a sinking feeling inside as he realized that there was no-one there. Gabi wasn't there. She was gone.
~~~
Ah! So close but no, Gabi continues to elude Denton. What do you think happened?
As always, if you like this chapter, vote and leave a comment, let me know what you think :)