The thing about stories, and this story in particular, seems to be that the closer the ending seems, the longer it takes me to actually get there! Grr... The ending to this story has been looming just in sight for so long now, but with all the holiday cooking and writing and teaching and keeping up with crochet doll orders and everything else, reaching that ending has seemed as elusive as the shadow of a flickering flame. Case in point: I just stayed up all night working to get this story done, and there's still more to go! So, here's part IV of the finale. Part V will be coming quite soon, and then - then - then - then - might it actually be the conclusion at last? I sure hope so! LOL! Thanks so much for reading, and please stay tuned for more!
Chapter Twenty-Four: Part IV
"You beauty!" Frank exclaimed, giving the Wildfire's console a triumphant slap. He hoisted his furry bulk out of the cockpit and started down the ladder, calling out to Lister, "Dome shields are fully back up and running, all power's restored, and the communications relay Ace wanted set up with those scout ships the miners' hijacked is in place. The live feed from the common room can now be transmitted from ship to ship through Jupiter's radiation interference straight to any planet, colony or base we choose."
"GELF crews report our test signal has been received and transmitted. Comm relay test is a success," the Wildfire confirmed.
"So, what happens now?" Lister asked.
"That's up to Ace, really," Frank told him. "And Mother. My impression is my brother wants this set-up as a bargaining chip. The proverbial 'ace in the hole' as it were." He smirked a little. "If he does decide to put this relay-link into operation… Well, it would be like shining a whole host of floodlights on Mother's operations. The whole sordid story of the GESS project's bigotry, abuse, and mismanagement will get out. With so many eyes watching, public opinion judging, investors will veer away from her faster than a tricked-out space yacht. There'll be no cracks to scurry into, no shadows left to hide behind."
"Then the plan is to use this threat of public exposure as leverage," Lister said thoughtfully. "But, knowing what you know about what she's like, do you think it'll be enough to shift your mum's position? Get her to stop denyin' what she's done to you and the rest and invest in a cure?"
"To Mother, the Family Name is everything," Frank said. "She's spent a lifetime – our lifetimes – puffing up the value, the branding power, of our Family Reputation. Faced with the threat of losing that power…"
He took in a long breath and shook his head.
"She might hold fast," he said, "her damn selfish arrogance keeping her lying and denying as the whole scheme unravels around her. She might, if she were alone. But, with Metzeler in the room, and the limelight shining in their eyes… Mother will want to stay on top. She's the type to grab the first lifeboat and kick everyone else off. That's something Arnie knows better than anyone."
He set his jaw and looked straight at Lister.
"Ace knows what he's doing, setting her up like this," he said. "I think the question will be who'll fold first, Mother or Metzeler…and what might they be willing to give in exchange for dimming the spotlight?"
"Then it's emotional warfare, jus' like Ace said." Lister said grimly. He furrowed his brow. "Strange I never heard of any of this back when I was still livin' on Earth. It's not like I followed the news much, but a story this extreme I think I'd have noticed, even then. I mean, this could well have been the start of the whole GELF race! Unless…" He glanced at Frank. "Do you think—"
"Frank, I've informed Ace of your progress here," the Wildfire's voice cut in. "He wishes you and Lister to join him in Starbug's common room."
Frank stiffened, his fists clenching by his sides. Lister reached out, clapping a compassionate hand on Frank's thick, furry arm.
"You sure you're up to this?" he said.
Frank closed his eyes and pursed his lips hard. Then he sighed, and straightened his posture.
"If Arnie can face her, then so can I," he said.
"Good man," Lister praised, stepping back to let Frank lead the way out the sliding door.
Alynna Corbin of Channel 27's EarthNEWS pushed back her striped hair, tugged the wrinkles from her translucent silver pants suit, and held her breath, pressing a crystal glass she'd swiped from a serving tray against the air duct that passed from the corridor to Starbug's common room.
It had taken some stealth to sneak her way aboard the bright green transport vehicle. She'd slipped through the doors with the serving droids and stuffed herself in an equipment locker until she felt the coast was clear enough to start exploring, recording all she saw and heard with the trusty camera pen she'd carried with her since college – just in case a real news story should happen to crop up.
The battered old mining craft was bigger than she'd expected – much bigger – but she'd found the layout to be pretty straightforward. Before long, the sound of muffled voices had led her to the common room's closed doors, and the air duct that snaked along the ceiling.
The voices were clearer through the crystal glass, clear enough for the pen tucked behind her ear to pick up a distinct audio track. But Alynna wanted more. She wanted to see what was happening – witness the confrontation with her own eyes.
Spotting an access panel, Alynna climbed up a wheeled trolley stacked with dirty dishes, pushed the panel open, and pulled, squirmed, and wriggled her way into the duct. The space was just large enough for a maintenance tech to crawl through, but the thin metal sheeting made her every movement sound like drum cymbals. To move forward quietly, to a spot where she could watch the action through the common room's air grate, she had to use her toes and fingertips to crawl like an inchworm through the narrow space.
"You can't do this," Admiral Rimmer was saying as Alynna slowly, slowly worked her way into position. "You haven't the authority. Parading these mutant freaks in front of me, forcing me to listen to their nonsensical accusations…!"
"It's not nonsense!" Larkin snapped. "The fact is, you and your people misrepresented your smegging experimental mutagen as a health supplement! You targeted schools, hospitals, marketing your poison to children—!"
"What is this thing trying to say?" the admiral said haughtily. "Am I meant to understand those garbled sounds as some attempt at language?"
Larkin's eyes widened and he seemed to expand, but Amy and Grant quickly placed their hands on his large arms.
"That act won't play here, Mother," Ace said sternly. "I've seen the evidence. These allegations can be proven."
"Well, I say they're false. Fake! Just like you," the admiral sneered. "You're not a real human being. Merely a holographic copy – a computerized echo – of a lowly maintenance tech, no less! You know nothing. You are nothing. I don't have to listen to any of this. I—"
"Oh, but you do," Ace said, pulling a small tablet, about the size of a notepad, from the front pocket of his uniform. "It may interest you to learn, Mother, that since accepting my current position as commander of the Wildfire, I have earned numerous titles and offices – all very official. My authority as an independent interdimensional agent is widely acknowledged across numerous dimensions, including this one. As Ace Rimmer, I was granted this singular status in recognition of my sworn mission to serve as a paladin for those who call on my aid. In this case, the people your Project exploited as unwitting guinea pigs for your GESS serum."
He stepped forward, pad in hand, meeting his mother, and the general who sat silently beside her, glare for glare.
"That means, I do have authority here, Mother. More than that, I have a duty to put you both on report. Not only to the Space Corps and your deep pocket investors, who will surely rush to deny any knowledge of or connection with you or your Project. Oh, no. I'm reporting you all to the cruelest, most unforgiving authority of them all. The court of public opinion." He smirked. "Something this juicy is bound to go viral."
The admiral's cold features went pale.
"I'll fight you," she whispered, her voice as harsh as steel wool. "I have friends. Connections. You speak one word, just one, and I'll have it spun so hard you'll find you're the one under investigation!"
Ace snorted through his nose, shooting his mother a very small sneer.
"Ah," he said. "But, that's the beauty of submitting a report like this. I don't have to say a word. All I need do is press this button, here…" He indicated on the pad's glowing screen. "And your words, Mother – every word you've uttered since you've been here – will be sent via relay transmission to dozens upon dozens of receiving stations across the solar system. In fact," he said, "I think I'll do it now."
He raised a long finger, flexing it tauntingly as he moved it towards the the blinking button.
"It's like I told that last bunkmate I'd been assigned before Lister," Rimmer said with a reminiscing smile, "the day I had him transferred down to sewage processing after he glued my pillow to my ear: There are days when being an officious prat truly does pay off. Now, I'll just send off this official, authoritative report with all its detailed attachments and, in a few minutes, I'm sure we'll see the first reactions from—"
"Wait!" the admiral choked, the plaintive cry seeming to fly up her throat against her will. "Arnold, please…" She set her jaw and flared her nostrils, pinching her thin lips together so tightly they practically disappeared. "Tell me what you want."
From her hiding space, Alynna watched Ace Rimmer raise his eyebrows and turn his glance to the miners, who sat blinking in startled disbelief.
"Well?" he said. "I've opened the path. It's your game now. What do you want from these negotiations?"
Larkin, Amy and Grant shared a deep, meaningful look while the admiral sneered and General Metzeler hung her head, her eyes fixed on her shoes.
"We want acknowledgement," Amy said. "A public statement from both of you and from anyone else involved. We want to hear you admit that our condition is due to your lies and false dealings with our people. We also want a formal apology."
"Is that all?" the admiral scorned.
"We want assurances," Larkin said. "Legal, binding assurances that whatever it takes to treat our condition – be it genetic therapy, cosmetic surgeries, or anything else – our people will not have to pick up the tab. All our medical care, and I mean all our medical care, from now until a proven cure has been safely administered to us and verified to be fully effective, is to be paid for by the people and the organizations responsible for scamming us with that damned fake vitamin regimen."
"You've got to be kidding," the admiral protested. "If you think for one minute that I intend to concede to such an outrageous—"
"Pay it, Mother," Frank's low voice rumbled. Alynna turned her head, trying to aim her camera pen at the GELF who had spoken. "Agree to all their demands. Or, I'll transmit Arnold's report myself."
"I'll agree to nothing," the admiral snapped. "I demand a lawyer! I'll not be held hostage like this. Not by this blackmailing traitor," she glared at Ace, "and certainly not by a weak, useless turncoat like you!"
"When was I ever a turncoat, Mother?" Frank demanded. "All I ever did, my entire life, was to follow the path you laid out for me. I followed your rules, I met every challenge, and for what? You lied to me. You sabotaged my career, my marriage – turned me into…into this…!"
He stared at his hands, his warped face a map of searing pain.
"How can I face my children?" he rumbled. "How can I tell Janine…?"
"Janine," his mother snarled. "I warned you not to see that filthy chav! Faux-celebrity Earth-trash, that's what she was. That's all she'll ever be!"
"Janine is my wife, Mother," Frank said. "She's the mother of your grandchildren—"
"Half-breed Earther weaklings!" she cried. "I spent top-dollarpound to ensure your genes were engineered by the best in the business. It was a promise I made to you, and to your brothers – an assurance that my boys would always belong among the upper crust! But you betrayed that promise, Frank. You watered down our Family's future potential, you corrupted my perfect codes by breeding with that – that—" Her face twisted, and she spat, "We'll see how long the Nehb parasite sticks with you now. With that face only a mother could love!" She laughed.
"I have heard enough!" Frank roared so forcefully that even the admiral sat back and blinked. Using his formidable bulk, the furious GELF rammed his shoulder into Ace and yanked the report pad from his hand.
"You deserve to rot," he growled at the admiral, his nose dripping and his eyes wet with tears. "You and Metzeler and Father and all the rest of you heartless, inhuman gene-editors who scoff against the beauty, the sheer genius of nature's so-called 'imperfections'!"
He wiped his face harshly with his arm, strings of snot catching in his matted fur.
"Variation is strength, Mother," he said. "And you can't stop it. Not with engineers, not with money, and certainly not with that hateful arrogance you carry around with you like some smegging chain of office! Ace, here is the proof, don't you see? He came back after three million years to help us set right what you put wrong!"
"You're a fool," the admiral said. "A fool and a follower. That's why you could never make the jump past middle-management, Frank. It wasn't I who caused your career to stagnate. Everybody knew, Frank Rimmer could take orders, but when it came to giving them, he didn't have an original thought in his head."
She sneered.
"You're an embarrassment, Frank. Even more than the holographic bonehead, here. Arnold Judas may have been short on brains, but at least he had guts enough to strike out on his own. But you… You took the safe path. The middle road, where you wouldn't have to think or take chances. Just do as you were told."
"You're a monster," Amy said.
"Look who's talking," the admiral scoffed, and Larkin rose to his feet.
"Transmit the report, Frank," he said. "Show the whole system what she really is!"
"Don't, Frank," Ace spoke gently, placing a hand on his brother's trembling arm. "Not yet, not like this. It won't get you what you want. I know."
Frank's arm continued to tremble, his thick finger moving closer to Rimmer's report pad.
"The truth can be a tool or a weapon, Frank," Ace said. "It can build up or tear down. Release the facts too soon, divorced from any context, and you run the risk they'll be turned against you, barbed with falsities and spin. Give me the pad, Frank, and I'll do all I can to ensure that when this report does reach the public, the truth it reveals will be paired with justice. Not vengeance."
Frank's hand shuddered, and Ace took his chance to snatch his pad back. He checked over his report, then handed it to Kochanski, never taking his hand from Frank's arm.
"Frank needs some air. Could you take over here?" he asked, turning his gaze to her, and to Lister. Lister straightened in surprise, sandwich crumbs tumbling off the front of his jacket.
"You mean, us?" he asked. "Me and Krissie? You want us to handle negotiations?"
"Aren't you the one who settled things with that Pan-Dimensional Liquid Beast we met in the Mogadon Cluster?"
"Back on Christmas Day," Lister recalled. "That's right."
Ace smiled.
"I have full confidence in you, Skipper," he said. "Keep them calm and talking until I get back."
"Where do you think you're going?" Larkin demanded as Ace led his distraught brother toward the sliding doors.
"Adam," Amy chided gently. "Let the brothers have some time. Ace is right. We can handle things from here."
Larkin scowled, but kept his coldest glare fixed on the admiral and General Metzeler.
"Fine. Go," he said. "I guess your brother needs you more than we do."
"I'll be back," Ace promised. "Until then—"
"We'll smoke you that kipper, Ace," Amy said, and winked. "Thanks."
Alynna Corbin watched Ace walk his brother out of the room, then slowly, gingerly, slithered her way back through the air vent to follow him.
To Be Continued...
References include - Red Dwarf: Out of Time; Dimension Jump.
I'm still planning to get this story finished by Christmas. Stay tuned, and please review! :D