Mist In The Light

     The train whizzed through parking lots and shops on Highter Blvd. Shuttle Inspector Theodore Mulligan sat on the cushioned seat of the Express Gravity Grabber. The EGG was always on time and Theo new exactly when it arrived, passed a landmark, or made it's fifteen-second stops to pick up or drop off passengers. A "modern marvel," the press stated about the EGG train. This "modern marvel" was nothing compared to what he helped build. Theo thought it a more trivial bit of applied gravtronics compared to his systems. Looking at his watch, he had only fourteen minutes and nineteen seconds until he arrived at work on this cloudy Thursday morning.
     The EGG did have its points, though. It was very precise. Just as he knew, it arrived at Utyia Quarter at 7:52 am. It took Theo another six minutes to reach the factory by foot and check in.
     He eyed the news feeds and saw nothing but the usual: Duatery agents suspected in more killings. The victims this time were political activists speaking out against the core mining of Olant Six. Environmental extremists versus the militant regime that spawned from Earth during the unification of nations. He shook his head in disgust. Duatery played by their own rules, destroying planets and murdering opinions to do it.
     Theo's opinion had been voiced in the factory weeks ago, much to the delight of his co-workers even though there were growing pockets of support for the Duatery assassins. Pockets that resided close to his neighborhood and at rival companies. That, in turn, fueled his revulsion of them. He was never afraid of speaking his mind.
     The air in the Utyia Shuttles, Inc. lobby smelled stale as it always had. Theo has gotten use to it and couldn't smell it like he did on his first day, but he stuck that description in his mind so that he could describe his job in one word, if asked.
     "Good Morning, Jamie," Theo said to the girl behind the front desk. He flashed a genuine smile at the blond, slender receptionist. Her features were like that of a forest with snowy peaks above; serene.
     A beige-suited man with a courteous smile and thin beard nodded at Theo. The shuttle inspector waved tentatively. Theo didn't know the bearded man who greeted him. The factory didn't have many visitors, and when they did have them, Theo usually found out one way or the other beforehand.
     "Good Morning, Theo!" Jamie eyed him while answering incoming calls and fending off a courting smile from the visitor. Theo noticed something reflective around the man's collar. A necklace, perhaps? Theo couldn't tell.
     "Theo!" someone called out to his left.
     He turned and saw who it was. "Hey Jack, what's going on?"
     "You know, you work in a factory and you still dress to the tee," Jack said as he walked with him past the front desk and through the factory doors. "Anyway, have you seen the specs on the Kin Class shuttle?"
     "Kin Class? Never heard of it. Which branch is it for?"
     "The navy. It's sitting in Hal's office. It came in after you left yesterday." Jack just shook his bald head. He had it polished and Theo could see the shapes of the lights on his head. Baldness had been cured two hundred-fifty years ago, but Jack liked to get up and be out the door in ten minutes, or so he said.
     They punched in their codes and passed through the heat scanners and into the factory floor. There were dozens of different shuttles in different stages of completion. People were walking about or tightening panels or doing some other basic work on the shuttles, but robots were the dominant presence here. They welded the alloys, painted the hull, fitted the fusion cells, installed the computer systems and assembled the composite panels. The robots did ninety-eight percent of the labor. Jack and Theo continued around the three-kilometer long factory, passing a loud twelve meter tall robot assembler. Its tracks scraped the metal floor when it turned a corner to work on another shuttle.
     "Aren't those twelve-series assemblers due for replacement?" asked Theo.
     "Yes," Jack responded staring up at the robot's human-like hands fitting a large section of paneling on a passenger shuttle's starboard side. A drill-like sound emanated from the robot's hand as it used its finger to seal the panel.
     "Look how long it takes to seal that one panel. I toured a factory in Chazdale last week and saw an assembler seal a panel in five seconds. And it was sleek, too," Theo commented.
     "It'll probably be years before we see anything like that here. Isn't that the Coalition-owned factory?" Jack asked.
     "You bet."
     "They always have the best equipment," Jack sighed as they boarded a lift and rode to the far end of the factory where inspections were handled. They reached Hal's office, which was littered with disks and vid stills. On the wall was a blueprint of a shuttlecraft of some kind of which Theo could not recognize. A pale-faced gray haired man sat behind a desk eyeing a computer screen and jotting down notes.
     "Mornin' Hal," Theo said. Hal nodded but continued his work.
     "That's it, Theo. The new Kin-class shuttle. It has dual-rotation bays and a faster acceleration ratio," Jack exclaimed, pointing at the blueprint.
     Theo looked and couldn't comprehend what he saw. He turned to Jack, "We don't have a license to make a craft like that."
     "Well, I--"
     "We do now," Hal interrupted. "The competition has forced us to. Our company has suffered some setbacks and this is the result." He waved his hand nonchalantly. "This shuttle will the first in a new line for our new client."
     "Who's the client? The Coalition? I can't see why they need our shuttles. They produce their own en masse," Theo said with curious disdain. He stayed with Utyia mainly because of the product they produced. He abhorred war and stayed as far away from it as he could.
     "No. The Duatery Oligarchy. They've come across a gold mine of wealth and need to loosen their purses a bit." Hal seemed very pleased with the information he gave Theo. The inspector narrowed his eyes, trying to hold in his anger. "Duatery would like nothing better than to conquer the very planet that sprung them. That's all they're about." Theo wanted to say more, but it was his boss he was talking to. He had to show restraint.
     "We don't involve ourselves in politics. This is a corporation and meeting our shareholder's needs is a priority," Hal spat back as Jack tried to blend in with the wall, finding no way to escape.
     "Our shareholder's needs may not be in line with the Oligarchy's. What if they decide to sell because of the product we produce?" Theo avoided a few well-placed curses describing the gun-toting shuttle. It appeared more like a fighter than a shuttle.
     "That won't happen. Look around you, Mister Mulligan. The equipment is old and we still use an r-type comp system. The Kin-Class will bring us the modern tech we need. The Board already approved more countermeasure shuttle designs to produce for Duatery and our stock will rise because it's cheap right now." He paused, noticing it did nothing to relieve Theo's agitation before continuing. "Look Theo, I've got my bosses to answer to and while my beliefs are not up for debate, I have to go along with it because I was told to. The prototype is due to be complete in two months' time. I'll send you instructions. There will be changes. For the better, I promise."
     Theo hesitated and thought before opening his mouth. He couldn't let his personal beliefs get in the way of the Board's poor choices. He knew the company was slumping and needed a recharge, but to start selling attack craft to a hostile government was impetuous at best. Money was all important and all ruling and had been for four thousand years of civilization.
     He saw a mist in the light, clouding his plans to further his career at Utyia. His pride bit at him. He shook it away, making sure he wouldn't act in haste.
     "I understand, Hal. I'll be on the floor as you need me." Theo left his boss's office with Jack trailing. Three years at the company and through it he saw a divorce, two promotions, an MA in space aeronautics, a renewal of his pilot's license, and fifteen haircuts. He liked the people he worked with, including Hal. Jack had been with Utyia Shuttles for five years and usually avoided conflict, seeming to agree with the company and Hal much too often.
     "Hey, Theo. These new shuttles are our way off the bottom and finally bring respect to our company. Why are you so miffed about this?" He submitted to the change in Utyia's business automatically, not considering any alternatives. Theo had thought Jack's view was very undignified. What's a matter, Jack? I'll tell you: You've gotten too comfortable in your shelter of a mind.
     "Don't you see, Jack? It won't be too long before Duatery owns us outright. What do we do then? Become part of an effort to terminate our parent Earth?" He said in a hushed voice as they hopped onto the lift to the inspection floor.
     "What are you talking about? You know, it doesn't hurt to adjust to change. You might like what the extra money will do. Give it a chance, will you?" Theo had trained himself not to listen to Jack when the man talked out of fear for standing up for himself. Theo knew he, himself, would be returning to Hal's office after his thoughts coalesced into something less emotional. Jack, on the flip side, would go about his business, giving into his weak hearted individuality. The bald co-worker trotted off to his area of the floor with a pat of Theo's shoulder.
     Theo's basic function was to randomly inspect shuttles for flaws in the finished product. He averaged about six a day. He thought of how much that average would change once the new Kin's appeared. He shook his head, muffling his discontent at the prospect. Poor Jamie. An innocent employee caught in the pre-hurricane calm. And Jack, a pawn in harms way of a knight because Hal knew he could put him there with no objections from the pawn.
     Rounding his first shuttle, he saw a figure in front of him. It was the bearded man with the beige suit and polite smile. No one but authorized personnel were allowed on the floor. There were times when tours were conducted, but this wasn't a tour. The visitor had a silver necklace a touch below his collar that sparkled from the overhead lights.
     "Can I help you with something, sir?"
     The visitor came closer, his narrow eyes were the color of the necklace, which Theo could make out as chain-linked with a symbol resting in the middle.
     "I'm lost. Perhaps you could lead me back to the reception area?"
     His suggestion had a nervous inflection dotting the classic "professor-like" voice.
     "The inspection floor is off limits to all unauthorized personnel. There are signs posted all over. Didn't you see them?" Theo stared at the man's necklace, finally recognizing the symbol which adorned his collar. Duatery. What the...?
     Theo didn't react fast enough to dodge the laser that hit him squarely in the chest. He hadn't even seen the small pistol being pulled out by the Duatery agent. Theo's fall echoed through the expansive and shuttle-crowded factory. He coughed up blood, wreathing in pain. More mist clouded the light, blurring his vision.
     He couldn't help but wonder why no one mentioned the Duatery agent's presence in the factory to him? He heard several running footsteps that sounded like angry drumbeats paining his ears. Theo thought of all the "should haves" and "could haves," but felt the mist overtake him. The laser must have pierced his heart for the sudden wrenching in his chest left him numb all over. Was this how the environmentalists were knocked off?
     His jumbled mind wanted to see Jamie's sereneness again as the mist became too thick to see anything, anymore.