Mir called pitifully for help. Strangely, the corridor that had been teeming with people only just three hours ago was nearly empty. At the far end, near the lock back to the hanger, Mir spotted a man waving all the other people past. Mir yelled at them pitifully. He couldn't be sure anyone could hear, and he was afraid no one would even care. He was drifting. Normally the best thing to do when drifting was to take careful stock of your surroundings, and assess the situation, but Mir didn't have time for that. He focused on the nearest object, and calculated his trajectory. He was headed for a far wall, but not very fast. He turned, and had to watch as his friends were subdued. One of the goons held a white handkerchief over Garret's mouth, and in a few seconds he stopped struggling long enough for them to bind his arms and legs the way Mir's hands were bound. Mir watched the process closely. It was some sticky substance that molded to whatever it touched as soon as one of the goons zapped it with some kind of taser looking device.
Puja was already bound, and had tape over his mouth. The goons were careful to put the tape over Garret's mouth only, so they obviously wanted them alive. Of course, if they'd just wanted to kill them, it would have been far simpler to just have used some kind of gun.
Finally one of the goons actually spoke. It was the one who had given the order to attack Mir in the lock. "If you stop screaming, and promise not to struggle, we won't hurt your friends any more than we already have." he said.
Mir wasn't really in any position to argue, and his cries weren't attracting any attention. He stopped yelling and waited for a goon to get to him. The goon was being careful, and Mir decided there was no way he was going to be able to kick off him and launch toward the other end of the hallway with his hands bound as they were. He allowed the goon to manhandle him back to where Puja and Garret were tied up. He saw a hand coming toward his face with a white kerchief, and then all went black.
---
Jasper allowed four hours to pass before he started to worry. He'd told Mir to check in at three hours, and usually he was pretty good about things like that. He was sick to death of debating the pros and cons of taking sides with either government. He didn't really give a shit either way, and wanted nothing to do with the conflict, if there was going to be one.
Unfortunately, some of the others had been miners for a long time, and felt that it was time to change careers. Here was the perfect opportunity to become mercenaries. For most people, mercenaries were an untouchable class. How did one become one, it was a little like hearing stories of the Wild West. All the beset mystery vids involved mercs in some way, and everyone had a story or two about having seen one doing something heroic at some point. Jasper had never seen one, and he really had no clue what they did outside of chase fugitives and criminals. He had serious doubts the life was as glamorous as everyone made it out to be.
Hubble, Elroy and Ingrid, the The Cluster's three onboard computers were all in agreement with Jasper, but perhaps that was because their positions after the switch to mercenaries were a bit more tenuous. They'd all have positions on The Cluster as long as it existed in its present form, but Jasper wondered about what they'd do if The Cluster became a ship full of bloodthirsty soldiers. Computers in general were noted for their pacifism. There had been exceptions, of course, and at least one famous computer mass murderer, but by and large, computers were very logical, and reluctant to act without knowing the full consequences of their actions. Whether this was because they still relied so heavily on humans for their existence in the first place was not exactly known, at least not to Jasper.
Even Ramrod had spoken up saying he would not be opposed to taking sides with the new government, as long as they negotiated their contracts to include some clause about only using their services as a last resort. He seemed to think that getting into the mercenary business was not a bad idea as long as nobody actually had to fight or loose their mining robots.
The group had grown quite a bit in size in the last hours. Many of the other "senior" spacers on board had been brought into the discussion. The group that was present was representative enough of the miner population to actually vote on issues involving the entire Collective. It was for precisely this reason that Jasper hadn't yet left the room. He was afraid they would pass a motion and his mining career would be over without having really gotten started.
One spacer in particular, an old grizzled pirate of a spacer, whose name was Ringo had been the most vocal about taking up arms on the side of Youth's Fountain. He said he knew for a fact that they could write regenerative clauses into their contracts, and they could receive various medical procedures for free if they negotiated correctly. Someone had asked how he was so sure, but he'd evaded the question. To hear him speak of it, he would be dying in the next few months without these procedures, and he *needed* The Collective to take action if he was going to survive. Jasper didn't really think the old spacer looked that old. But then again, if he'd been receiving regenerative therapy already, he could be any age at all.
Jasper excused himself for a few minutes, making his way to an unused com away from the hubbub of the group. He hadn't been paged, and he had no messages from Mir or the other two children. It was probably time to check in with the other parents. He messaged Garret's parents, but they were not in their chamber. He left a message asking if they knew whether Garret and Mir were back or not, and called Puja's chamber. His mother Qristy answered the phone.
"Hello?" she asked questioningly, making the one word sound more like 'what's wrong?' than 'who is there?'
"Hi." Jasper intoned. "Do you know where Puja and Mir are right now?"
Qristy appeared to mentally compose herself. "No, I was wondering that myself," she said. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, and Jasper realized he'd been looking at it unconsciously. He made an effort to look her in the eyes.
"Do you know where they went, exactly?" he asked. He was more concerned that Mir might have lied and not actually gone to the midway than if he was still there, and had just lost track of time.
"He told me they were going to explore the station." she said. "I didn't want him to go too far, and he sore he was just going to the midway. I know how big it is, I'm sure the boys just got lost."
"I'm no so sure." Jasper said. "It's really not like Mir to forget to check in with me, and I made sure to tell him to call if he wasn't going to be back in three hours."
Qristy bit her lip, and Jasper noted how young she looked. She couldn't have been that old when she'd had Puja.
"Puja doesn't have a wrist or handcom, does he?" Jasper asked.
"No, not that I know of." she replied. "I've never seen the need to get him one."
Jasper was beginning to regret not having picked one up for Mir the last time he'd had a chance. It just never seemed like a practical gift when they were going to be cooped up on a ship with full coms in nearly every room.
"Well, thanks anyway." Jasper said. "I guess we can't do much of anything but wait for them to call or get back."
"Yes, it's too soon to call mercurystation... er, Youth's Fountain's authorities. Besides, I'm sure they just got lost."
Jasper closed the connection, and noticed he had a new message in his inbox. It was marked urgent, so he opened it without thinking. There was a picture of Mir, Puja and Garret. They were kneeling in a hallway. Each of them had tape over their mouths, and their hands were tied behind their backs.
Underneath the photo was a short message.
"Your children will not be harmed as long as you do not side with The Corporation. Politics is personal. signed, --vigilante for youth's fountain"
Jasper just stared at the photo for a few more minutes. The image could have obviously been faked. But then why hadn't Mir checked in yet? Mir was also wearing the jumpsuit Jasper had seen him in earlier. Then again, Mir didn't own that many jumpsuits.
Jasper went back to the group of spacers. He moved into the center of the group and cleared his throat until he had everyone's attention.
"I have some disturbing news." he announced. "There has been kidnapping."
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