Enlightened Ignorance

by Michael Anderle

  “I get that, and I agree. A lot of things have changed for me since we first met. That’s why I’m here on the moon with you instead of taking a real vacation to the Pacific Dream Dome.”

  “Being underwater is a lot like being on the moon,” Erik observed. “In both cases, you’re not going to like what comes in from the outside.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” Jia slowly turned her head, watching an elderly couple wander from statue to statue. They murmured between themselves and gestured at the statues.

  “I believe I’ve identified our mysterious warmonger,” Emma announced. “That might improve your mood, Detective Lin.”

  “I knew you could do it,” Erik replied enthusiastically. “Let’s hold off on this until we get back to the hotel. I want to be able to talk freely.”

  Emma stood near the door of the hotel room looking smug and satisfied, which wasn’t much different from her normal appearance.

  She gestured to a hologram of a muscular man with long, dark hair. “This is Mr. Jeffers, who in reality is one Remy Mont, age thirty-five.”

  Erik glanced at the man. It was hard to tell anything about a person from a hologram or image. He needed to be able to look a man in the eye before he could judge him, but the kind of man who would buy enough weapons to start a war harbored questionable tendencies.

  “What kind of record does he have?” Jia asked. “Obviously, he’s a criminal, if he’s coming here to illegally buy guns and pass them off, probably for terrorism. But he’s not been planet- or transport-flagged, so it can’t be that bad.”

  “He’s not a criminal,” Emma declared. “Or at least he hasn’t been convicted of anything. I’ll leave the philosophical debate to you. If he has a criminal record, it’s been cleverly concealed in a way I can’t easily detect.”

  She pointed with her other arm. The image of a crowd appeared to her side. In it, most people’s faces were contorted in rage. Some people lay on the ground, bloody. A few held stun rods.

  Erik gestured to the crowd. “What’s all this about?”

  “It is the scene of the only time Mr. Mont has been arrested,” Emma explained. “He participated in an anti-UTC protest that turned violent. There were mass arrests, in fact. According to the available articles, thousands of people were arrested during the riot.”

  “But he’s not a criminal?” Jia asked, skepticism on her face.

  “He was arrested, but the charges were dropped, and he was released,” Emma explained. “There was allegedly no evidence he personally participated in any violent acts, but I would assume his wealthy and influential father facilitated the charges being dropped. At least in part.” The crowd image vanished. “Mr. Mont is a trained engineer with a specialty in habitation dome design and maintenance, but he hasn’t worked for several years. His publicly-available records suggest mostly odd jobs, that sort of thing. Again, this is somewhat in agreement with the wealth and status of his family.”

  Jia frowned. “Sometimes the children of wealthy families don’t want to rely on their parents.”

  Emma smirked. “Touched a nerve, did I, Detective?”

  Jia sidestepped Emma’s question. “Why did he stop working as a dome engineer?”

  “All I found out was that he was terminated by the company contracting with the local government for dome maintenance,” Emma commented. “There’s not a lot of information available, but I did find one article suggesting that Mr. Mont was fired because he was judged to have antisocial tendencies, and his position made such concerns high-risk.”

  “And how do you know this is our guy?” Erik asked. “Being antisocial is a long way from buying a bunch of guns for something shady. Did you figure out how to reconstitute the video feed?”

  Emma shook her head. “I attempted to do that, but Mr. Barbu was too thorough in his efforts. In this case, it’s a matter of deduction.” She gave him a sly smile. “I took the liberty of going through recent local travel records. The population of the Moon and the limited number of visitors makes this sort of search far more practical than it might be in a place like Neo Southern California. He’s a recent arrival.”

  “You’re saying he’s not from the moon?”

  “No, he’s not. This is the first time he’s ever been here.”

  “You just searched through the records.” Jia folded her arms. “We don’t have a warrant for that.”

  Emma shrugged. “And I’m not a police officer, Detective Lin. Technically, I have no legal rights, nor do I legally exist, and you didn’t direct me to do what I did. As far as the law’s concerned, I’m just a rogue algorithm that spat out some information. Need I remind you, this isn’t even a police case? This is an unofficial task set for you by an agent of the Intelligence Directorate who probably has more reason than most to worry about terrorism.”

  Jia dropped her arms in frustration but gave Emma a firm nod. Determination washed away the concern on her face.

  “I still don’t understand,” Erik admitted. “If you couldn’t recover the actual name and face from the data you grabbed from Barbu, how did you find out who our guy is?”

  Emma bowed. “As I said, Detective, via deduction. His body measurements match with more than ninety-nine percent accuracy. That, combined with the other information I uncovered, has convinced me. Unfortunately, identification will require your follow-up since my conclusions aren’t considered sufficient evidence within the existing legal framework, and that, along with the method of collecting my information, makes this a far less likely candidate for passing the information to the local authorities.”

  “Probably,” Jia mused. “They won’t jump just because we say jump, especially if we don’t have conclusive evidence. So, what do you have besides body measurements? There’s a reason that kind of thing went out of fashion centuries ago.”

  “A number of converging and unlikely coincidences,” Emma explained. She snapped her fingers theatrically and a moving holographic scene filled the corner of the room. Men in civilian clothes rushed UTC soldiers, clubbing them and shooting them with rifles. One man tossed a plasma grenade.

  “Another protest?” Erik asked, his expression darkening.

  “No, this is footage from the insurrection on Diogenes’ Hope,” Emma clarified.

  Jia looked down, cupping her chin in thought. “I heard a little about it, but I hadn’t paid much attention.”

  “To be clear, Mr. Mont is from Diogenes’ Hope,” Emma offered.

  Jia furrowed her brow in concentration. “But it’s way out on the frontier, right?”

  “Yes, thirty-nine light-years from Earth. It’s certainly not Molino, but it’s far from the core by all normal measures.”

  “How long does it take to get to the Solar System from there?” Jia asked. “Assuming you don’t stop along the way.”

  “A little over nine months under normal conditions, assuming efficient transfer,” Emma clarified. She summoned a jump navigation diagram. A blue line traced a path from the Trappist 1 system through different systems to their current location.

  Erik gestured to the map. “I haven’t been paying much attention to off-world news. When did the insurrection start?”

  “In January,” Jia answered. “It’s ongoing only because the insurrectionists had some spectacular early victories and have behaved with vicious ruthlessness, scaring much of the local population into at least tacit cooperation. This includes public execution of alleged pro-government figures, and in several cases, the murder of pro-government families.”

  Erik grimaced. “These guys sound more like terrorists than simple insurrectionists.”

  “It’s taken some time for the nearest military forces to figure out how to handle it without destroying the colony,” Jia continued. “They expect the colony to be retaken soon, but it takes a long time to get news from that far on the frontier, so who knows? It might already be over.”

  “Yeah, anti-insurgency is always tough.” Erik’s expression darkened. “Terrorists are ea
sy since most people don’t support them, but when you have a straight-up insurrection like that, you have to be careful not to alienate the locals or hurt people who are just trying to survive. In this case, that is likely most of the people. If the insurrectionists are making moves like you describe, the people are trapped between two bad decisions.”

  “Okay, but I have a problem with the timeline,” Jia continued. “It is impossible for him to have left Diogenes’ Hope and gotten here quickly. He must still have been on his way when the fighting started.”

  “Despite the way people talk about them, insurrections aren’t usually spontaneous events where a few plucky revolutionaries pick up some rocks and cry freedom. You need weapons, soldiers, and supply lines. Even if the first shots were fired in January, they might have been planning for years.”

  Jia nodded. “If Remy Mont’s an insurrectionist, he left well before his allies made a move. But for what, exactly? It can’t just be for supplies. It makes no sense to come all the way back to the Solar System, or even head to the core worlds. There are more developed frontier colonies than Diogenes’ Hope they could source weapons from. Smugglers and pirates are always willing to make money in those kinds of situations.”

  “You’re right. It’s too elaborate a plan and has too many risks.” Erik pointed to the colony star on Emma’s map. “Even if he grabbed an entire transport and filled it with weapons, by the time he got back, it’d be over one way or another. He must have some other plan, but I think Emma’s right, and it has something to do with Diogenes’ Hope.”

  Jia hissed in angry surprise. “The moon is twelve hours from Earth. He’s going to launch a terrorist attack.”

  “Probably.” Erik considered. “But I’m guessing if he wanted to attack Earth, he would have just gone to Earth. More criminals there to choose from, even if he needed to be more careful. Chang’e is a much more likely target.”

  Emma smiled as the navigational map and image of Remy disappeared. “He arrived on May 22nd. There is no indication that he’s left. I should also note that based on the publicly available law enforcement lists, he’s not on any terrorist watchlists currently, which was why he wasn’t flagged upon arrival.”

  “He’s got to have some sort of local contact besides Barbu,” Erik concluded. “He’s not going to be able to do much by himself. That means we need to be careful. We need to find the guy without spooking him. We don’t want him burying himself under some trash and hiding. If he’s got help here, he’ll be able to hide.”

  “I think it’s time I borrowed drones and cameras,” Emma suggested. “This isn’t Neo SoCal. In a compact series of domes like this city, it’ll be easy to find him unless he’s already in hiding. If I restrict myself to external cameras, it’ll lower the chance of detection.”

  Erik shook his head. “I don’t want to risk us attracting special attention from the local cops or CID, not until we find this guy. If we’re right, we need to find him and verify if he’s doing anything, and we need to make sure no one tips him off. You just said this is a small city, so all you’ll need is a lot of drones.”

  “Do you have a lot of drones hidden in your pocket, Detective?” Emma raised an eyebrow.

  “Nope.” He grinned. “Time to go on a shopping spree.”

  “Yes, just what I always wanted to do on vacation. Go to the moon and buy a bunch of drones.” Jia rolled her eyes.

  “What? You could always pop a virtual reality helmet on your head and pretend you are…”

  “Back in Neo-SoCal?” she interrupted. “I can’t risk you doing something without backup. Specifically, my backup. I’m not going back to having a random partner assigned to me.”

  The two turned to leave, Erik asking as she opened the door, “So, are you saying there is a chance I can graduate to fake-boyfriend?”

  “Don’t die, or that’s a hard no,” she answered, amusement coloring her voice.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Six hours later, small fleets of Emma-controlled drones prowled each of the domes making up Chang’e City.

  In Erik’s hotel room, her holographic form stood in the center of dozens of projected visual feeds provided for the consumption of Erik and Jia, and she’d also routed the feeds to their PNIUs for more personal control of the massive amount of incoming data.

  “During all those years I was saving money in the service,” Erik began, “I never thought I would use any of it for something like this.”

  “You just spent a lot of money.” Jia smirked. “You could have bought another flitter for that much. We could go find a male AI in some lab for Emma.”

  “My female characteristics are mostly for your ease,” Emma replied. “I’m not organic. Your biological concepts don’t apply to me.”

  Jia laughed even louder. “Spinster for life. Your AI mother is crying in Digital Heaven.”

  Emma harrumphed.

  “It’s going to cost a ridiculous amount of money to ship them back, too,” Erik commented. He swiped the window in front of him, shifting to a new feed. “But Emma’s always complaining about having eyes, and this way she won’t have to hack as many drones. We’re not violating any laws. Not as long as we keep them in public areas, at least, so you don’t have to worry, Jia. Right now, we’re nothing more than concerned citizens.”

  All the feeds vanished except one. Erik’s and Jia’s private feeds shifted to match it.

  “Target sighted,” Emma announced triumphantly.

  She magnified the feed, revealing a familiar man with long, dark hair. The potential terrorist was currently engaged in the not-so-nefarious activity of eating a red bean bun.

  They hadn’t expected to find him gunning somebody down in public, but the mundane activity was a reminder that the most dangerous man in a city might not look the part.

  Jia didn’t doubt that Mont was up to something. Even terrorists had to eat before they went around murdering innocent people.

  “Should we pass this on to Alina?” she asked, looking at Erik. “You said she gave you a way to contact her.”

  “Not yet,” Erik answered, his focus on the picture. “But yeah, she gave me a single-use address. She told me to send a message there, and she would contact me within twelve hours in a secure way. The thing is, we believe Mont might be up to something, but if we can figure out what his target is and where his base is, she might be able to handle this without much trouble. It can be a smooth operation instead of a mess.”

  “That means we might have to watch him for a long time.”

  Emma scoffed. “I can easily track him.”

  “I mean, we can’t be just anywhere,” Jia clarified. “We’re going to need to be able to react quickly.”

  “Nobody ever said investigation was going to be glamorous.” Erik shrugged and gave her a jolly smile.

  Jia sat on the edge of Erik’s bed. A map floated in front of her. Two data windows were open on either side of her, each containing detailed information about where they’d tracked Mont throughout the day.

  She was seeking a pattern. Even Emma could only do so much.

  The AI could provide Erik and Jia with plenty of data about the locations, but without knowing what they were looking for, all she could do was point out potential high-casualty targets. They had no idea if Mont was seeking maximum death or something different. His requests for weapons might be focused on taking out a military or police target.

  His wanderings brought him close to both.

  There had to be a pattern. If Jia looked at it long enough, she would discover it. There was no way Remy Mont was exploring Chang’e City as a tourist.

  Were they wrong to trust Emma’s deductions?

  A machine couldn’t claim real instinct, even a unique, advanced prototype, but Remy Mont being a terrorist and insurrectionist fit. It wasn’t illogical that a man from a rebellious colony might travel across the galaxy to seek his perceived revenge.

  Jia understood, but that didn’t mean she sympathized.

&n
bsp; These men were more Cao Cao than Liu Bei. She wasn’t going to let Mont take it out on people who had nothing to do with it.

  “What are you up to, Mont?” Jia murmured.

  Mont walked into a tightly packed residential apartment block comprised of row after stacked row of identical units, although most of them were underground. He headed to a ground-floor unit and waited. The door slid open and another man stuck out his head, looking both ways with a suspicious frown.

  “What do we have here?” Erik murmured.

  “Ah, this is interesting,” Emma announced. “The man who answered the door has a police record. He’s a gun goblin, among other things. He did several years in prison for participation in an assault on a police station in Paris and the attempted assassination of a councilman. He claimed he was framed, but it was rather convenient that a number of other people were involved in a known anti-government terrorist group.”

  “Is he also from Diogenes’ Hope?” Erik asked.

  “No. Earther, born and bred. He was planet-flagged, and it’s only recently he’s been allowed to leave the planet after finishing his probation.”

  Jia narrowed her eyes. “That’s suspicious and also convenient for Mont.”

  Another image of the same apartment appeared, taken from a lower altitude and a flatter angle. The drone providing the feed hovered between the close trunks of two tall trees, the only vegetation in the entire area.

  “Should you be getting that close?” Erik asked. “We don’t want to lose these guys yet.”

  “I’ve calculated the possible angles of sight,” Emma replied. “There’s a very low probability that they can see the drone. Even if they do detect and disrupt it, I have others in the area. They won’t be able to escape.”

  The second drone allowed them to peer directly into the apartment. Emma highlighted two other men standing close to the door.

  “The man on the right has no public arrest record based on facial recognition,” she reported. “It’s very unlikely the lunar databases are out of date.” She added a red glow around a bulge underneath his jacket. “There is a high probability that’s a pistol.”