Ghost Writer(79)

Four men sit around the table. Lou Boreman is on a rant, punctuating his statements with table thumps. Kant is fiddling with a cigarette pack, Dawes is listening calmly, but his face is troubled. Golanger keeps looking around and gesturing Boreman to keep it down.

Commander Shore enters the room, points to Boreman and Golanger, says a few words and they leave. Kant gets up and clears the table of the dishes. Dawes takes the commander aside. Shore nods towards the storage area. Dawes sees Minton and shakes his head.

Shore leaves and Dawes heads towards the storage area, but Minton is gone.



“Ms. Kirby?”

I blinked a couple of times and focussed on Welland.

“Do we need to be this formal, or can you call me Jen?”

She smiled. “We don't need to be that formal. I'm Barb. Can you tell me what you're seeing, Jen?”

I shook my head. “I'm not sure. According to his journal, Minton was convinced that the other crew members were conspiring against him. He spied on them, read their personal letters and notebooks, exaggerated their flaws in his own journal. I'm beginning to think it wasn't all in his head. Something odd was going on. I'm just not sure what.”

“Did he plant the bombs?”

“He doesn't say.”

“Who else would?”

I thought about Kant's story. I wished I had read more of it. I shrugged by way of an answer and closed my eyes again. This time I thought about Kant and his alter-ego, Kirkland Banes.



Kant was washing dishes, but his mind kept wandering. Through his eyes, the backsplash was a panel of futuristic displays, with a future vision consistent with old Star Trek episodes or the original Battlestar Galactica. He turned to Dawes, reading at the table, and saw Bone's McGee bent over a tricorder. When Dawes spoke, Kant snapped back to reality.

He brought over a couple of mugs of coffee and sat down. Dawes was reading one of Kant's notebooks. He was smiling and his comments seemed encouraging to Kant. Then Minton entered, white as a sheet. Dawes helped him sit down and signalled Kant to fetch more coffee.

Kant went to the percolator and scooped a couple of spoonfuls of sugar into a cup, then filled it up. When he returned to the table, Dawes was talking, an earnest expression on his face. Kant pushed the cup towards Minton who immediately wrapped shaking, blood-stained hands around it.

Kant recoiled. Dawes stared, mouth dropping open.

Boreman and Golanger entered, armed and weapons drawn on Minton. Boreman seemed to be doing the ‘stop, you're under arrest’ line. He kept talking as he approached Minton.

Minton stood, apparently at Boreman's command. He held onto his mug. He was still pale, but he seemed calm. He started talking.

Golanger paled. Boreman's mouth formed the words ‘Shut up,’ over and over again.

Kant watched the scene and tried to back away from it without anyone noticing. He looked from Boreman to Minton to Dawes, then back to Minton as the lieutenant threw his hot coffee at Golanger and grabbed his weapon. Boreman shot and missed Minton, but Kant fell back.

Kirkland Bane felt the blaster fire rip through him. The cool Number One was berserk. The behemoth Gabore fell like a ton of bricks. Poor young Penn died bravely. Bones McGee was caught in the crossfire. Then when the smoke cleared, Captain James walked through the door. Fade to black.



“Jen. Jen!”

“Ms. Kirby…Ms. Kirby? Jenny?”

“I don't know what happened, Captain,” I heard Welland say. “She just blacked out. I tried to catch her but…Wait. She's opening her eyes.”

I was? I blinked. I suppose I was.

Over my headset I heard Captain Campbell's voice, “What happened Jenny? Talk to us.”

“I had a vision.” I shook my head. I hadn't meant to say that. “Is Dora there?” I asked.

There was a pause, and I heard Dora's voice. “What is it, Jen? What happened?”

“What was the last thing Kant wrote in his story?”

“I don't have it here,” she said, “but it was something about mind controlling aliens and not knowing who to trust anymore.”

I nodded. Close enough.

“I've been looking at things in light of the material I've been reading, and I sort of envisioned a scene from Kant's story. You were trying to tell me that his story might contain his observations of what was really happening, right?”

“Right,” she said, but her tone was doubtful.

I looked around from where I sat on the deck. Then I felt around on the deck and found a dent behind me. A chill went through me. That dent wasn't from when Kant was first shot. That was the result of a bullet shot through him when he was on the deck.

“I need something to mark this spot,” I told Welland. She handed me a patch, and I pressed it onto the deck beside the dent. “I'm pretty sure that was caused by a bullet. Mary Lou should examine the surfaces for other evidence of a gun fight.”

“I'm sending her,” said Dora. “Maybe you should come in now, Jen. Passing out isn't good. Captain Campbell agrees.”

“Got to visit engineering first. Then I'll be happy to get out of here.”



Franchot had Sinclair and Hassan working, scanning surfaces with their flashlights, looking for anything that was out of place or suspiciously discoloured. Jorge was methodically recording everything. Their tanks were off but kept close. Engineering, which included the nuclear power plant, was a large area with many sections that weren't easy to access with a tank on your back. It was going to take them a long time to cover everything.