by Kate Kyle
"Maybe," Rutger said equally quietly. "It's too late now, but I'm indeed, undercover."
"Should have asked. I've been living too long in this place. You get used to freedoms so quickly."
"I suppose it depends on how deeply your wounds and defenses lie," Rutger replied. "Is there any place we can sit and talk without risk?"
"I was going to offer you a brew from herbs grown locally." Ed pointed at a long building between the columns. "But maybe you prefer sitting outside, scanning the environment for potential spies," Ed said and added a smile.
"Outside. Don't have time for drinking."
They sat at the bench at the edge of the row. The couple sitting at the other end seemed to be completely engrossed in themselves. Rutger judged them harmless.
"What do you need to know?" Ed asked.
Good, German jumping straight to the matter at hand, no fluffy chit-chat. Rutger liked it.
Funny, how despite all that talk about there being a united Europe, they all held on to their cultural differences as though their little individual countries still existed.
Rutger outlined the problems with the new generation implants coming out of the Si-Carb's medical facility.
"Not heard much, to be honest," Ed said once Rutger finished. "Having said that, there may be a simple explanation. It's only the Earth-dwellers, right?"
Rutger smiled hearing the term.
"If you're telling me there are no issues here, then that'll be only the ones made by Si-Carb and fitted here."
"How long have you had the problems?"
"In the last six months."
"How many people have been affected?"
"Only a handful altogether, but according to my investigation it's everyone who had their Gen 1.2 implants fitted in the past six months in Si-Carb facility."
"Every single person?" Ed raised an eyebrow.
"No. What I meant is everyone who has had problems with the Gen 1.2 implants had them fitted in the past six months in Si-Carb. Twenty-six people so far that I know of. Some in PanAm, some in Europe, but none from AAPC."
"I see." Ed paused. He sat in silence watching a small group of three young women walk through the gate out of the station. Their steps echoed in the air, which reminded Rutger that they were sitting in an enclosed space. A completely artificial enclosed space, spinning in the Neptune's orbit, on the edge of the solar system. He had been off planet before, but mainly restricted to the Earth's orbit - a couple of sightseeing trips, with then his wife, and a one off trip to a large party. But this was his first travel to another planet.
"What are the symptoms?" Ed asked once the women had disappeared under the roof of the aisle to their right.
"It starts with dizziness, headaches. Then vomiting develops. Apparently, doctors see some sort of inflammation, around the implants but not always. Sometimes it's just increasing pressure inside the skull."
"Brain infection?"
"Nothing that they can find. And it doesn't always present in the same way."
"Is it dangerous? Has anyone died?"
"Not yet. As far as I know. By the time the symptoms develop, the implants are already embedded, so they can't be easily removed, and people need to be sent back to the facility that fitted the devices. Or kept in medically induced coma, or stasis, whatever the difference is."
"Interesting." Ed rubbed his shaved head. "Reminds me of something."
"Yes?"
"About eight, maybe nine months ago, a small group of local scientists were brought back from a remote research station. They came back sick, with similar symptoms and have been kept in Si-Carb hospital ever since, also in a medically induced coma."
Rutger took a while to process the story. Surely there had to be a connection?
"What happened? Why did they get sick?" he asked.
"Can't remember the specific details. There was a suspicion of some sort of lower gravity related sickness, or maybe a virus."
"Is there any information on those individuals available in the public domain?” Rutger asked.
Ed glanced at him.
"You mean on the PSSNet?"
"Yeah."
"You can always check, if you're lucky to find a functioning network. But I don't think there was more information published beyond the original reports. It might have been deemed confidential. After all these are private individuals who got sick and are in the hospital."
If only things were that simple…
"Could this be a government cover-up?"
Ed cocked his eyebrow, as if that was supposed to suffice as an answer.
"Don't tell me it's not done here," Rutger said, slightly annoyed at his old pal's smugness.
And okay, jealous of the luxury of being able to believe that a government cover-up was unlikely.
"Let me put it this way," Ed said, a note of amusement in his voice. "I'd be very surprised it there was any. This is Rebels' Republic, remember. We're here because we were sick of the politics sunward from Neptune."
"Yeah, yeah. I know," Rutger said, pushing aside the growing sense of envy. "But let’s return to the issue at hand, shall we? I've never heard of the problem with the scientists. Precious little non-technology news gets through from here, down to us, sunward from Neptune."
"Governmental cover-ups?" Ed said, cocking his eyebrow again.
"Relevance shortage?" Rutger fired back.
Ed's lips curved into a smug smile.
"I bet some of your compatriots would be deeply devastated if they heard that the Si-Carb clinic cancelled their rejuvenation sessions because one of the key doctors fell sick."
Rutger set his jaw.
There was little point in pushing that side of the conversation. Ed won. He won when he arrived on this bloody rotating pile of metal that only opened its tightly sealed doors for those with the desired skills, had the right attitude, or enough money. A sense of superiority must have been another of the requirements.
It didn't change the fact that Ed was Rutger's maybe only chance to get some inside info.
Pride was best hidden deeply in the back pocket, close to its favorite companion - the sun shining out of the asshole.
"Ha, ha, ha," Rutger said glumly. "No doubt they would. Still, your scientists are in coma and now, the clinic is filling with rich Earthians with fucked-up brain implants created and imbedded in Segedunum. Interesting enough for a consummate journo to do some sniffing around unless you've dumped your old profession already and become some sort of techno wizard?"
Ed touched his temple with two fingers, as if tipping a hat.
"Ed Weber technical writer and part time technology news reporter," he said. "I can definitely cast a net for you regarding both, the faulty implants and the scientists in coma, if you want."
Rutger considered the offer. His journalistic sixth sense was telling him the sick scientists might make a good story, but he had another favor to ask.
"No, not necessarily, unless, of course, those scientists also have had 1.2 Gen implants installed within the last few months. But there is one more thing…" Rutger let his voice trail off.
"Fire away."
"I arrived today on a ship with an emergency medical cargo, but only eight passengers had faulty implants. One of the remaining two is me, and the other is a certain entomologist who goes by the name of Lulu Zhou," he said and paused. Since he was the asking party with nothing really to offer in exchange for the information, the best he could do was to appeal to Ed's innate curiosity. Rutger hoped very much that Ed hadn't lost his journalistic curiosity.
Ed's nose twitched.
"How do you know her implants are not faulty?" Ed asked.
That part of his cover story Rutger had well thought out.
"She's an AAPC citizen who woke up halfway through the journey and appeared … alive and fully functioning. Apparently, she was a priority passenger, awaited by the port authority and happened to be the first patient taken off the ship."
Interest glimmered in E
d's eyes. Rutger relaxed his shoulders.
"Priority passenger for RR?" Ed asked. "There's quite a lot going on in the area of artificial biohabitat, to boost the station's self-sustainability in terms of food production. I think we may already be using bugs to pollinate crops. Maybe that's the reason why your friend is seen as so important."
"It was Si-Carb who escorted her."
"Ah, that's… irregular, eh?" Ed said, jerking his chin up. "I'd be sniffing around if I were you, but I see you're already doing so. I'll make a note of her name. Any other data?"
"If you look her up on the Net, there is an article on her disappearance from her research post. And her photo."
"Will do, and will ask around, including my sources in the darker part of this world. How do I find you?"
Rutger hadn't really thought about this.
"A coded message?" he suggested.
"No, the Net is unreliable. But there is another way," Ed said. "Here, in Segedunum, the network is divided in sub-nets, and they've not been so badly affected, not all of them. How about I'll send you a message to a temporary inbox on one of the local networks? We can set one up for you now." Ed pulled a tablet out of his pocket. "Central Square Café network," Ed said, glancing at Rutger from above his device. "Find it on your tablet."
Rutger pulled his device from the pack.
"How safe is it?" he asked, logging into the café's network.
"I often use it for anything that needs to be kept under wraps for a while. We do have things we keep under the radar until we have more information," Ed rushed to explain. "The net master for the café is an old mate of mine. He has set up a special double encryption diversion for the stuff that comes from and arrives for me."
"Good." It took Rutger a moment to create a temporary mailbox.
"What's your address?"
Rutger gave it to him.
Ed stood.
"I'll send you stuff as soon as I find out," he said and left.
As he watched Ed disappear into the distance, Rutger's stomach grumbled. He crossed the walkway, sat at one of the tables in the cafe at the end of the colonnade, and ordered some food and a hot drink.
While waiting, he used his new inbox to send a message to the person he had originally planned to get in touch with—the original 'insider' who might want to help him.
His ex-wife, Nicky.
He tried not to think that she was one of the reasons why he'd volunteered for this investigation. He wanted to see the place that appealed to her so much, she hadn't hesitated to leave her almost perfect life behind.
Her address was easy to find, on the Si-Carb site, of course.
He typed in the message that had been honed and refined over the previous few weeks.
"Hey. Don't freak out. I'm here on business; no bad intentions but would appreciate une échange."
Short and to the point. The use of the French word for conversation but also an exchange was a hint. His scientifically minded ex would appreciate the effort and certainly would read between the lines. She was smart. That's why she was here.
His order arrived on a plate carried by a drone. Of course, why would anyone in Segedunum want to work as a waiter?
Surprisingly, the food tasted good and the drink, a greenish herbal brew, which, as the droid server assured him, was as close to tea as possible, tasted… like green tea.
Once the warmth from the food and drink spread through his body, Rutger stretched his legs and leant against the back of the chair. His eyelids slid lazily over his tired, dry eyes.
His tablet pinged.
Rutger sat up and reached for the device.
A message from Ed.
He tapped on it.
'Asked around re the first thing, will keep you posted. As for the second, nothing more on the suspected kidnapping, but I've also run a face recognition search, including the most common changes and see what I've found. I must say, it's looking even more interesting now.
Good luck.'
Rutger swiped to have a look at the attachment: A photo of a middle-aged woman, a little paler than Ms. Zhou and with a rounder face, smaller nose, but the same big, anxious eyes. To a machine, it would have looked like a different person, but a human eye could detect definite similarities.
The caption under the photo though read: Quinshan Li, one of the best New China machine development specialists."
Rutger whistled through the teeth.
"Machine development specialist out of New China," he said quietly.
Under a new name, after some facial changes… Now, it made sense. Rumors had been around that RR was trying, yet again, to build a true general AI.
Rutger drained his drink.
"Wonder what Jax will make of this…" he murmured. "But first, let's check if there is anything about Ms. Li on the PSSNet," he added, swiping to the main news site.
The site flickered and… a holo of a girl holding a red balloon appeared with the slogan, "Release the artifact!"
Then the PSSNet crashed.
9
Jax
Jax was furious. No, not just furious, she was frigging-furious. She pinched her arm and held it until her mouth twisted and all she wanted to utter was a scream of pain.
If she ever started swearing, this would be the moment.
She released her grip and an exhaled loudly. With relief from pain.
"So, you're saying you can't pay me because not all the cargo has been delivered?' she asked, as calmly as she could.
"That's right, ma'am," the voice on the other side of the conversation replied, completely unaffected by her pleas.
"And you're saying two of the passengers are missing?"
"That's right, ma'am."
A bot, an effing bot!
"But Ms. Zhou left the ship escorted by your retrieval team. She must be at Si-Carb facility by now. Unless she's been kidnapped."
"Did you say kidnapped?" the voice, still emotionless, said.
Jax cringed.
She did and she shouldn't have. That was probably one of the trigger words. She'd have to go through the whole stupid procedure now.
She curled her hands into fists until her knuckles turned white.
"No, that was a joke," she tried explaining.
"One should not joke about safety," the voice said. "Did you or did you not use the word kidnapped?"
Crap. Too late, she'd been caught up in a vicious circle. She should have never joked. Robots had no sense of humor.
"I used the word in a humorous sense, but I did use it," Jax said, feeling her chest deflating. She sat back. This was going to be a long and pointless conversation. "Can I please speak with your human supervisor?"
It might be the only way out of this pickle.
"I have to complete the procedure. Are you reporting a kidnapping?"
Jax exhaled slowly. A thought popped in her mind.
Actually, why not? Let them shoot themselves with their own weapons.
"Yes," she said, suppressing a smile. Any major change in her tone of voice would be likely detected and likely lead to further ridiculous, pointless exchanges.
"State the name and the date of birth, if known, of the person being reported as kidnapped and where and when last seen."
Jax read the required data off the screen.
"Last seen on the way to the Si-Carb transport vehicle assisted by Si-Carb staffing: three drones and a human supervisor. Time…" she found the time on the ship's vid-screen and gave it to the bot.
That'd be two hours earlier. Same amount of time that Rutger was gone.
Yeah… Even if they found Lulu, there was still problem with Rutger. Si-Carb wouldn't release the payment for her job, unless and until everyone was accounted for.
Where was he?
The bot ran through its steps.
A notification of an incoming message flashed on the main screen. Jax tapped the old-fashioned sign of an envelope.
A warning popped up.
"A message for t
he captain of the ship TransNeptunian Sleeper Service sent from a public box on a ViaAnnularum monorail stop. Do you accept?"
ViaAnnularum… she almost rolled her eyes. Something that could have come straight out of Rutger's mouth.
Jax tapped on 'yes'. At this stage, anything could be good news.
"Hey, Captain. Got some information. Coming back in fifteen, if you're on board and let me in. Reply immediately," she read.
The message was unsigned, but the sender was obvious.
At least one of the missing cargo items were about to return to the ship.
"Sure." She typed back and hit 'send'.
"I cannot recognize your answer," the voice in the comms took on an anxious note. "Do you confirm the information?"
"Yes," Jax replied, without hesitation. Either way, she wanted to finish the pointless procedure. If there was anything out of ordinary, the Authorities would send a human to deal with it. She could talk to a human.
Funny. Usually she'd prefer talking to bots. In the game, anyway. All to avoid collaboration, or quests requiring teamwork. Talking to humans was tedious. Humans had emotions… and demanded that these be taken in to consideration.
"Your report has been recorded. What do you wish to do now?"
Jax grinned.
Finally!
"To end this eff-" she paused with her mouth open.
She could do without a preaching on non-aggressive communication.
"I wish to end the conversation," she corrected herself.
The bot accepted the request and reassured Jax that she would receive an update on her report in due course.
Jax clicked off the comms and leant back in her seat.
Bots, why didn't Rebels develop a more human-like entities able to deal with shades of gray and a sense of humor? Did such a level of language processing really require a true artificial intelligence? And even if yes, why hadn't it been developed? Over the previous century humans had built more and more sophisticated computers, fusion engines. They'd started exploring the solar system, learnt to extend life well past one hundred and keep themselves young, and even control machines with the power of their bio-brains and a sophisticated technology, but they still hadn't developed true General Artificial Intelligence.