22
Chester Carr glanced over at Officer Kubert and smiled as the policeman began to nod off in his seat. "Joe, exactly how long have you been without sleep? You look like you ought to be in bed. You know, this is something I can do without you. You can go home if you want."
Kubert, startled more by the realization that Chester had caught him napping than by the voice awakening him, snorted once or twice, then replied, "Yeah, it has been at least thirty hours or so..." He rubbed his temples just to the side of his eyebrows and added, "...but with the force as depleted at it is from this earthquake thing, we've been working voluntary twenty-four hour shifts. Besides, I'm pretty curious about what you've found down in that crevice. Don't know why, but something tells me you may be on the verge of a breakthrough with that soil."
Chess grimaced and took another look into the microscope at the sample he had been trying to analyze. "More like a breakdown, actually. Whatever this stuff is, it hasn't been entered into any geologic databases that I can find. I don't even know if it's been found at any of the other sites." There was a pause as the lanky Texan looked up from the equipment and sat back in his lab seat. "I'm probably just wastin' my time on something inconsequential when I should be doing more on the job at hand."
Joe rose from his seat and joined Chester at the table. Picking up Petri dish number four, he eyed the strange sample carefully and inquired, "Well now, that stuff came out of the fissure that the quake created, didn't it? And the guy that's running this shebang - Infatimo... Infanto..."
"Infantino!"
"Yeah, him! Didn't he say you should check out anything unusual about the site and confer with the investigators at the other sites?"
Chester smiled slightly. Kubert had a way of doing that to him. "Yes..."
"Right, and that stuff is about as unusual as anything we've encountered since this thing began, isn't it?"
"I suppose.."
"Have you conferred with your colleagues at the other sites and told them to be on the lookout for that - whatever it is...?"
"Yep! I reckon I have at that."
"Well, then? I'd say you've been doing the 'job at hand,' now. Wouldn't you?"
Carr marveled at his new friend and thought that this fellow was going to be someone that he would have to stay in touch with for the rest of his life. He did wonders for his morale.
"You know, Joe? If you ever give up on livin' here in the Big Apricot, you should think about movin' somewhere near my house! I could use a dose of this affirmation stuff on a daily basis! But anyways, I've uploaded all the information on our find to everyone involved in the investigation, but so far no one has reported back on anything similar. If it turns out to be an anomaly, I'll have to put a probable major geologic discovery on the back burner until we're sure the Earth isn't going to swallow us all up or something.'"
Chester's cell phone began to cry out for attention. "If it's your wife again," volunteered Joe as he began to rise from the aged couch he was sitting on, "I'll wait out in the hall. I'm sure you'd like a little privacy this time."
"Naw… Sit tight, Joe. It's Infantino."
Joe shrugged and reclaimed his place next to the spring that had worked its way through the cushion.
"Hello, Doctor. Anything new on our…? Really? Well, I guess that's something. Yeah, I'll get as much information as I can to everyone that needs it… Hmm…? I didn't catch that…? Well, it's back home in Fort Worth, but I can…Really?" Chester's face suddenly darkened. "That can't be a coincidence. How many were…? I assure you, I take no pleasure in... Well, what about rescue teams…? It was in a journal… written about two hundred years ago by my neighbor's ancestor. His name was Clark Kent… Yes, sir. That's right. That Clark Kent! That's why I didn't want to dismiss it out of hand… Yes, Doctor. I will. Thanks for the call, sir. I'll get down there before the day is over. Bye!"
Carr was silent as he clicked off the connection. Joe noticed the sudden difference in his new friend's demeanor.
"Perfessor?"
"Joe, they found the mystery element in the soil at all the sites. They just had to dig a little deeper than we did, but it looks like the first link in this caper." He was looking directly at Kubert, but still he was somber and distant.
"So… That's good, isn't it? I mean, you've finally got something to go on now, right? So what's wrong? You look a little shaken up." Joe suddenly regretted his last sentence as he realized the news that Chester had just received.
"Infantino didn't call to tell me about the mystery element. We might want to find a holovision. Cairo just got hit with another quake!"
"So what this appears to be is nothing more than an old-fashioned land grab." George was looking into files on the uninet.
"A what?" Guer-on was once again puzzled by Earth vernacular. George stifled a chuckle.
"Land grab. Our girl Jennifer has been a bad girl. She's been buying up Martian acreage like crazy - pennies on the dollar, of course."
"Well... of course." Guer-on agreed, although he had no idea to what he was agreeing.
"It looks as though most of the lands she's been purchasing are undeveloped areas... Land grants!"
"Yes... uh... 'land grants.' That must be it...?"
"See, once the first Earth colony on Mars was established, it was a given that more would follow. The terrain was mapped and divided into tracts of land that were granted to individuals on a first come first served basis. Anyone who wanted them could have them for free, basically, but there was a catch."
"Oh?"
"Yes. First of all, the receivers of the properties were required to relocate to Mars and actually live there. Since not all the areas were yet capable of supporting human life, these folks would become a part of the new colony until life support systems were in place. Then they were required to live on their lands for at least five Earth years."
"I'm beginning to follow you, but so far, it all sounds perfectly legal to me."
"Yes, except that each land applicant was limited to one Martian land tract apiece. The Colonial Land Commission, as it was called, wanted to make it difficult for anyone to gobble up all the land and sell it at outrageous prices later, but it appears Jennifer is part of a cartel that is doing just that."
"Let me guess. By using strong-arm tactics, coercion, and of course, blackmail to force the legitimate owners to sell at a fraction of the value of the land."
"Very good, Guer-on! Have you been reading over my shoulder?"
" No, as I mentioned earlier, I cannot fathom your symbols, but I must confess. Ever since the days of Kandor's life as a bottled city in Kal-el's Fortress of Solitude, our people have studied Earth society in case our city would ever be restored on your planet. Among the many ways we would gather intelligence on your planet, we received an old form of frequency waves then called 'television'..."
George grinned. "I think I know the term."
"Yes... that carried a great deal of information and entertainment. Much of this information has been saved in archives, and I have found a great deal of enjoyment from a form of entertainment called 'movies', in particular a genre referred to as the 'western.' What we have stumbled upon is eerily similar to the plot of many of these 'westerns.'"
"I must admit it does seem to have that feel, doesn't it? I don't think Roy Rogers or Gene Autry will be riding to the rescue, though."
"I see you're acquainted with the genre as well, eh?"
"Yes, but don't tell either of my kids. They think I'm enough of an anachronism already. I can't seem to have a conversation with them without Noel stopping me in mid-sentence and telling me how passe the subject..."
WHAM!
George was so shaken and surprised by the impact of an energy explosion just outside and astern of the ship that his feet almost went out from underneath him. He managed to grab a handrail to regain his balance, and promptly returned to the pilot's chair.
"What is it? What's happening?" demanded Guer-on.
George studied the monitors and sensors for a moment. "I can put it this way," he said solemnly. "It wouldn't hurt if John Wayne would show up now with the cavalry. Looks like Jennifer's gang is riding again!"