What the hells? Did they know, somehow? She couldn’t properly confront them without intel backing her up. And without intel backing her up, she had no idea which way to play the meeting.
She shook from the effort of not pinging him, and he squeezed her hand too tightly for affection as the lift began ascending. “After. Now calm down and remember your role here today.”
It was the most innocuous statement he could make, and she got the message well enough: they would infiltrate the data vault after the meeting, when they were ostensibly on their way out. But the change in schedule gutted a huge chunk of her reasons for agreeing to the meeting. Also, who knew what might interfere with their new plan as well. If the Guides were behind her psyche-wipe and were now onto her, she was seconds away from being caught flat-footed and flailing.
But she would not be a lamb led to the slaughter. She would not be led, period.
Fuck her ‘role.’ The role served as an excuse to get into the building, nothing more, and her goal in doing so was slipping away with the speed of their ascent.
Dashiel was right about one thing—this represented the best and possibly only chance she would ever have of finding answers, and she would not allow it to be stolen from her the way her past had been. The records here would not have been erased, which was the point. Who she was, what she had found, what had been done to her and by whom—it was all within her grasp, but not for long. To reach it, she merely needed to improvise a little. It was hardly the first time.
The lift slowed to a stop, and the glass door slid open to reveal a spartan, circular room with a d-gate in the rear and yet another security gauntlet between them and it.
Dashiel stepped into the room then turned back toward her, hand extended—but she’d activated her kamero filter and pressed motionless against the back wall of the lift.
“Nika?”
She held her breath.
The lift began to descend once more.
Dashiel stared at the seemingly empty lift as it descended out of his sight. Godsdammit, Nika!
He couldn’t chase after her. He couldn’t so much as ping her. She’d abandoned him at the precise moment when his course became set in stone.
He’d told her earlier that if he needed to, he could pull off a convincing excuse for her absence…and now he had to walk in front of the Guides and do exactly that.
He breathed in deeply and schooled his expression, then stepped up to the security checkpoint. This part he’d done a thousand times, and he spent the precious few seconds it took preparing a variation on the story he hadn’t thought he’d need to deliver. Then he stepped through the d-gate and onto the Platform.
The Guides were already present behind the dais when he arrived, a rare occurrence even for private audiences. All ten eyes instantly fell on him, though it was Anavosa who spoke. “Approach, Advisor Ridani.”
“Guides, thank you for the honor of your time.”
“Where is your associate? We were informed of her entry into Mirai Tower at your side.”
His chin dropped, contriteness prominent in his expression. “I humbly apologize. She was overtaken by stage fright, as it were, and fled when we reached the d-gate. I felt it more appropriate to continue on and appear before you, rather than attempt to recover her and keep you waiting as a result. While I regret the disruption, I believe her presence is not strictly necessary, as I possess all the information you may need.”
No response was immediately forthcoming. He’d been watching the Guides for a long time, however, and the subtle shifts in their stances, together with periodic twitches of facial muscles, suggested they were silently conferring with one another.
He waited quietly, but his mind raced. While he stood here performing, Nika was skulking around Mirai Tower alone, at great risk of discovery, chasing clues to solve the mystery of what had happened to her five years ago. And without him at her side, she was doing so blind.
The vision he’d nurtured of how this meeting would lead to the missing pieces falling into place, the uncertainties resolving and the prospects for their future together aligning like a constellation crumbled to dust before his eyes.
He recalled her insistence that he provide her with a detailed schematic of the building’s layout…had she planned this all along? Had she never intended to appear before the Guides at all? He didn’t want to believe it, but doubt seeped in to poison his thoughts nonetheless. She kept insisting she wasn’t the same woman he remembered…maybe he should start believing her.
Guide Iovimer finally spoke, his voice deep and somber. “This is a most unfortunate development, Advisor. We have notified Mirai Tower security to be on alert for her presence, as unqualified citizens should not be running freely through one of our towers.”
Dammit. “A wise step to take. However, I’m sure she is simply frightened. You must understand—to the citizens, you are as gods.”
“We are but shepherds, helping the Asterion Dominion to find its way amidst a vast and dangerous cosmos.”
The party line had never rung so hollow. “As we trust in you to do.”
Guide Luciene took over the questioning. “Yes. Now, tell us about this virutox found in your limb augments. You claim several shipments of the augment were stolen during transit to distributors?”
Dashiel bit back the retort that flared in his mind. “There is no factual dispute as to this event. Administration Division surveillance footage captured the thefts at multiple locations as they occurred.”
“We expect an Industry Advisor to keep robust protection measures in place sufficient to prevent thefts from occurring out in the open on busy thoroughfares.”
Was Luciene trying to get a rise out of him? “I assure you, my security was robust—sufficiently robust for this theft to mark the first such occurrence in my time as head of Ridani Enterprises. Nevertheless, those measures have since been increased. It will not happen again.”
“Let us hope not. Have the security measures at Ridani Enterprises Headquarters also been increased? You suffered an infiltration several nights ago. Was it related to the theft?”
He blinked. “I don’t believe so, Guide Luciene. The investigation is ongoing, but my personal suspicion is that it was an instance of attempted corporate espionage on the part of a lesser competitor. And, yes, security measures at my offices have since been increased as well.”
They switched topics rapidly enough to throw him off-balance. “Your absent associate brought the alleged existence of a virutox in some of your limb augments to your attention. How did this occur? Did you know the woman before she contacted you about this?”
“Again, with respect, the existence of the virutox is not ‘alleged.’ Analysis by Justice has confirmed its presence in every augment tested.”
“And it did not originate from your production?”
“No!” He worked to calm himself, because dear gods he had just yelled at the Guides. “Apologies for the outburst, Guide Luciene. I take fierce pride in the quality of the products I make. The corruption of even one of those products is an insult to my company and to myself.”
“Did you know this woman?”
“Ah, no. She reached out to me to alert me to its presence after one of her friends was infected.”
“This friend purchased the limb augment illegally on the black market, one must assume. Do you make a habit of consorting with criminals, Advisor Ridani?”
“Certainly not. My only concern is the virutox. As I said, I take pride in my products, and I don’t want to see my company’s reputation besmirched due to the malfeasance of a third party.”
Anavosa finally stepped in to give him a reprieve from Luciene’s barrage. “We see. Rest assured that Advisor Weiss and the employees of the Justice Division are pursuing every lead to apprehend the perpetrators. You need not concern yourself any further with the issue.”
He frowned. “I have every faith in the skills of Advisor Weiss individually and of the Justice Division generally. Ne
vertheless, it is in both my business and personal interest to monitor the investigation and provide any assistance I can in order to help ensure the virutox is eradicated and the responsible parties caught.”
“Unnecessary. You are an Industry Advisor, and as such you would do well to focus on your purpose, that of advancing and growing Industry business.”
Not much of a reprieve, it turned out. He’d never seen the Guides so…snippy. Luciene was nearly always churlish, but tonight they were all curt, bordering on outright rudeness. It was an uncharitable characterization for ones so lofty, but he was feeling rather uncharitable toward them at present. The real question, though, was why were they being snippy?
His mouth opened to voice a more polite, more reverential version of that question—and he closed it. Shut up, Dashiel. If they’re hiding something, they aren’t about to volunteer its details to you, so just bend over and thank them for the honor of being allowed to do it.
He forced a terse smile. “As you wish. I will endeavor to fulfill your guidance.”
“Thank you, Advisor Ridani. Dismissed.”
He backed off the pedestal before turning and making his way out the open doors and toward the d-gate. What a frustrating and pointless audience! He still didn’t understand why the Guides had demanded his presence, and once here why they’d asked a string of inane and irrelevant questions.
It was almost as though it had been a stalling tactic….
Nika.
He hadn’t been the one they wanted to interrogate. How much did they know, and how much did they merely suspect and had hoped to extract from her?
It took all his self-control not to sprint the remaining distance to the d-gate.
44
* * *
As soon as the lift dropped below the top floor, Nika lunged for the controls and entered the level she needed. The lift stopped the next second, a mere five levels down, and she hurriedly exited.
She was somewhat surprised the security system allowed her to access this floor at all, but the checkpoint waiting in front of her proclaimed it would not be allowing her to proceed any further.
Of course, that’s what they all said.
She’d come prepared, and she approached the control panel at the checkpoint with outward confidence—not that anyone was watching, or could see her if they were. Taking care to keep to slow, careful movements and not tax the kamero filter’s capabilities, she attached the pre-programmed module to the interactive overlay and activated it.
Then she waited. Patiently.
Thankfully, Ryan’s routines were up to the challenge, and after several tense seconds the force field gave way to allow her to pass. Beyond it, the door to the vault slid open, and she removed the module and crept inside.
Her kamero filter shut off the instant she breached the doorway. Crap, there must be an interference field permanently active in the vault designed to expose stealth intruders. Intruders like her.
She breathed in, then out. It would be fine. According to the security system she’d just diverged, she had authorization to be in here, and her true identity remained buried under multiple layers of disguises.
Server nodes spread out in every direction and for an impressive distance, but this wasn’t her first data vault infiltration—it wasn’t even her first data vault infiltration this week.
There existed only four configurations used in high-scale data vaults, because those four offered the best combination of efficiency, storage density, robustness and security. A quick scan of the layout told her this matched the third of the four, which meant access hubs would be located at the quarter points in a diamond pattern.
She turned left, then shortly right and down the next row a quarter of the distance to the center. Bingo.
Fooling the security system into allowing her into the vault was one thing—fooling it into allowing her access to the Guides’ most precious data, another entirely. It was no longer a matter of entering a couple of inputs and letting a pre-programmed routine do the rest of the work.
She was skilled at slicing, but Parc was better—which was why she’d been studying his work since he got arrested and had incorporated some of his best techniques into her own preferred approaches over the last few days. Now she found out whether it was worth the extra effort.
§ sysdir
Φ → passcode required:
< → δ {Σ (θn αn βn)} = ΗΓn
→ ∀ ΗΓn (ΗΓn |*>)
Φ → allowable attempts exceeded
§ Ηq
§ αβα
< → if (Ηq = αβα) {Ηq|n0}
→ δ {Σ (αn βn)} = ΗΓn
→ ∀ ΗΓn (ΗΓn |θ>)
< ββθ αθββ αα βθθθα θαβα θθθ ββα θαθθ αβαθβ βαθ βααβ θθθαθ
…
βα θαθ ββθθ αβαα αββα βαα αθβθβ θαβα ββββ βθαα αθ αθβαα
Τ → passcode accepted
§ sysdir
Φ → ID required:
<
This, she’d acquired on the sly when she’d been at Dashiel’s flat. Sorry for this, darl—
She blinked. ‘Darling’ was what former-her had called him in the memory. Huh. She must have subconsciously adopted the endearment.
< εΨβθθκγξ αθβΛΓ
Τ → Access granted to Advisor Dashiel Ridani. Enter file name or search query:
<
She initiated a search algorithm targeting her former persona.
§ sysdir § Ηq {∀ ΗΓn (∀ ΗΓn = ‘Kirumase’ || ‘ββαθ αθββθ ααθβθ αααθθ ααθθα αθαβα ααθβα αθθβ’)}
The results quickly returned to scroll across her vision for several seconds. There were a lot of entries…..
Y12,452.297 A7:
Responsible Advisor: Nika Kirumase
Subject: Rising tensions between Taiyoks and local merchants on Namino
~
Y12,455.014 A7:
Responsible Advisor: Nika Kirumase
Subject: Evaluation of indigenous species on SR213-Shi
~
Y12,456.405 A7:
Responsible Advisor: Dashiel Ridani, Nika Kirumase
Subject: Normalization of private contracts between corporations and prominent Chizeru clans
She really had been an Advisor, and a busy one at that. Since they were date-ordered, she scrolled down to the last entry and opened it.
Y12,458.094 A7:
REDACTED
Shit. Slicing past the redacted barrier would ratchet her actions up a level from merely viewing to altering. It was going to leave a trace in the system. The Guides would know someone had been here, in this file. But odds were this constituted her only chance, so screw it.
Finesse wouldn’t make the trace any less detectable, so she brute-forced her way past the security barrier.
Y12,458.094 A7:
Responsible Advisor: Gemina Kail
Subject: Involuntary retirement via exceptional-grade psyche-wipe and base reinitialization of Nika Kirumase, 12th Generation
Authorization: Alpha 4-1
Purpose: Rasu Protocol
The rush of adrenaline sent her head reeling, then forced it to snap back into focus. The Guides had not only known about her psyche-wipe, they had authorized it….
…and Dashiel was up there with them right now.
A wave of protectiveness surged to overtake the adrenaline, and she only barely stopped herself from pinging him. He needed this information!
But he’d been attending audiences with the Guides for a long time, and he wasn’t the naive sort. He may not get any revelatory answers out of them, but he’d be safe.
She willed aside the worry and concentrated on the information in front of her. Was 4-1 simply an authorization code, or did it mean one of the Guides had voted against her psyche-wipe? The possibility that she had an ally upstairs was encouraging, but with no clue as to which one of the Guides it might be, it didn’t h
elp her much at the moment.
Okay, one shocking reveal uncovered. Now, why? What in the hells did ‘Rasu Protocol’ mean, and why had it led them to take such extreme action against one of their most favored citizens?
Cluttered among the list of search results were log entries of files her former self had accessed, because naturally they logged this sort of thing. The surveillance state was often invisible, but it was designed to be.
So what had she accessed in the hours leading up to the issuance of the fateful order?
Access Date: Y12,458.094 A7
File: GM51K-d
Accessing Party: Nika Kirumase
Subject: Nullation of Ridani Enterprises outpost on exploratory world SR27-Shi
Responsible Advisor: Gemina Kail
Purpose: Rasu Protocol
~
Access Date: Y12,458.094 A7
File: YC102F-b
Accessing Party: Nika Kirumase
Subject: Nullation of Valen Ceramics outpost on exploratory world SR43-Roku
Responsible Advisor: Gemina Kail
Purpose: Rasu Protocol
~
Access Date: Y12,458.094 A7
File: BB14a-a
Accessing Party: Nika Kirumase
Subject: Nullation of Ichinosi Research outpost on exploratory world SR102-Ichi
Responsible Advisor: Gemina Kail
Purpose: Rasu Protocol
The same protocol. The same Advisor. Everywhere, the same—
“Well, what do we have here?”
Nika spun toward the voice as her hand found her Glaser and raised it.
< copy datafiles (∀ ΗΓn = ‘Kirumase’ || ‘Rasu Protocol’) to Ηq(storerec.NK1)
An impeccably attired woman with scarlet hair slicked tight against her scalp stood three meters down the row, gazing at her with what looked like contempt. “Security, intruder alert in Data Vault #4.”
Light flooded the vault, as well as a variety of other flashes and noises. The woman smirked. “Here I was, dropping in to check on some project updates, and what do I find?” She paused. “Security, activate exposure countermeasures.”
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