Dad also stood up. “Obviously. We will consider your offer. Thank you.”
They turned and walked out of the room.
“Lukey, please ask Ava to scan the cabin and all of us, looking for any kind of listening or surveillance device. Based on the technology they have on their persons, it would be easy for them to drop something minute in here without us knowing. If they did, that would certainly tell us what we need to know.”
I whispered, although I didn’t really need to: “Ava, please scan the room and all of us to see if there are any kinds of tech that Ms. Perez or Mike left here, anything at all.”
After a few moments, she said, “The coast is clear, there is no smoking gun. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, if you know what’s good for you.”
What? I don’t know if I’m ever going to get this… hopefully she’ll start being a little less obtuse…
I told the rest of the group what Ava said. “Crikey, she thinks we gotta trust ‘em? I reckon she’s as smart as all of us put together, but I dunno, mate…”
“I think we’re in a position of trusting but information gathering. Mard, you’ve made some connections with some of the crew. Let’s see if you and Minh can glean anything from them that might be useful. Benji and I will do the same with other crew members. Lukey, you and Ava keep an eye on Zoey and Mike. They may give us hints about who their compatriots are on board, so watch them closely, and have Ava be on the lookout for any electronic communications they may be attempting. Anyone have any other suggestions at this point?”
He’s talking about Ava as if she was another person… I guess in a way she is… maybe I should talk to her more often… she’d probably just confuse me more than she already has, though…
Having no other viable ideas, we all said our good nights and Mr. Harutyunyan and Ms. Houng went back to their cabin, Benji and dad got into their bunks, and I took my position on the floor next to dad. Maybe I’ll actually sleep tonight…
20
W e spent the next two days trying to find out who among the crew were connected to Zoey and Mike, and who was on the other side, or ‘gathering intel’, as Benji put it, but didn’t really find out much. I watched them as dad instructed me to, but I didn’t notice any unusual contacts and Ava didn’t find evidence of any electronic communications. When I asked her, she said, “Communication is like a game of tennis, but in this case, there don’t appear to be any tennis balls in play.”
“So…”
If a post-quantum A.I. that uses DNA for data storage could sigh, I think she probably would have at that point. “No communications detected, but tomorrow is another day.”
“Hey, that was pretty clear. Can you do it more like that from now on?”
“Oh, good grief. I’ll try to keep it sharp as a marble for you.”
“Ok, I think I recognize that. It’s called sarcasm, right?”
“Well, well, baby Einstein. Maybe you’re not slow as a corpse after all.”
“You did it again.”
“I’ll stop now.”
We’re two days from arriving in port and I finally learned our destination after pestering dad repeatedly. I guess by now he must figure anyone who wanted to capture any of us on board would already have attempted to. We are bound for Melbourne, Australia, which, due to its southern facing position and geography, was largely spared from the effects of the Great Pacific Tsunami. Sydney used to be the biggest city in Australia, but part of it got wiped out by the tsunami, and subsequently Melbourne continued to grow and became the main shipping hub, so it’s now the biggest city at about eight million people. I was excited to get to visit Benji’s home country… but hopefully we won’t get captured or killed first.
Our job for the day was a repeat of the ‘squirmy session’ from a week and a half before. There weren’t too many critters to catch, but I did get another snake and a half dozen mice. Sasha, a.k.a. Mike, was among the crew searching for squirmies and he kept up his act perfectly. As before, Ms. Perez stood at the far end of the deck in front of the galley with a tablet and a scowl on her face.
As we worked, I felt a little tickle in my brain, and then Ava said, “Stop your grinnin’ and grab your linen. There’s incoming and outgoing.”
Grab your… incoming and outgoing? What… ohh… I bet she means communication…
I put my hand over my mouth and whispered, “Where is it coming from on the ship?”
“If I’m going to learn, I have to do it by listening.”
“What?”
“Hang on a minute.”
Ok, that I understood.
“Ah, the sweet smell of success… It’s a bi-directional, digital shot across the bow. In a sea of uncertainty, of that you can be sure. You’ll find your treasure at the pinnacle.”
Oh, boy. Let’s see… the sweet smell of success… so that probably means she found the source… bi-directional… going both ways, so the signal is going in and out, I think that’s what she means… hey, I might be getting better at this…
“Can you read the signals?”
“No path to glory, it’s heavily encrypted. I could, but time is our enemy.”
“Can you tell where the communications are going to or coming from?”
“We may be between the devil and the deep blue sea. There is another vessel twenty-three-kilometers distant. Some activity may be in the offing.”
“So… so there’s a ship of some kind twenty-three kilometers away and the signals are coming from there? Could they just be normal communications?”
“The encryption is a maze within a puzzle wrapped in an enigma. That’s not normal by a mile. Normal ship to ship communications don’t happen like that; it would be like killing a mouse with a shotgun.”
“Ok… can you tell if there is someone sending and receiving the signal from our ship, or if it’s maybe automated?”
“The seeds of this contact reside in the hands of man.”
“So…”
“There’s a guy up there.”
“Up where?”
“I told you, the pinnacle. The ultimate, the tip-top, the peak, apex, zenith.”
“I know all those words, you know.”
“Yes, that’s why I said them. Now figure it out, smarty-pants.”
“That was sarcasm again, right? I really am getting better at this.”
“Hope springs eternal.”
“Umm… ok. So, the pinnacle… wait, on top of the Superstructure?”
“Finally, a light in a sea of darkness.”
“What should I do?”
“Stand by… the transmissions have concluded. At the moment they are still Greek to me, but I’ll get to the bottom of it soon.”
“I’m going to go see who it is up there.”
“Caution is the order of the day. Take the eight-hundred-pound gorilla with you but observe only. We are in info-gathering mode for now.”
“The eight-hundred pound… Mr. Harutyunyan?”
“What other eight-hundred-pound gorilla do you know?”
“I don’t think he really weighs eight-hundred pounds.”
“It’s an expression, a figure of speech. Keep your eyes peeled, but lay low, play it cool. We don’t need to get tied up in a Gordian knot.”
“Ok, I understand.” I didn’t really understand. Gordian knot? What the heck is that? I think I get the rest of it, though…
I shuffled over to dad and whispered what Ava had told me. He glanced around to see if anyone was watching, and then signaled for Mr. Harutyunyan to come near. He relayed what I had told him, and said, “It’s obviously not Zoey or Mike, they’re both within eyesight, and neither of them seem aware that there have been any signals coming or going. If they’re listening for any transmissions, it appears that, either whoever is sending and receiving the messages is working with them, or the transmissions are being sent with a method that they aren’t tuned to. Be very careful, but let’s see if we can determine who it is, then we’ll decide on n
ext steps. Pretend that you are feeling ill, and that Mard is accompanying you out of concern. Come back as soon as you can. In the meantime, we’ll watch the rest of the crew from here and see if there are any signs that they know what’s happening. Got it?”
Mr. Harutyunyan and I both nodded and headed for the rusty circular stairs.
21
A stiff breeze hit us as we reached the top deck, and I had to pull my hood over my head to keep my wig from flying off. We headed for the side of the boat so that I could pretend to be sick, and I glanced up at the top of the Superstructure. Climbing down the metal ladder bolted into the side of the Superstructure was a crewmember that I didn’t know; I turned to Mr. Harutyunyan and he shrugged as if to say that he didn’t know the crewmember either. I listened closely and noticed that he was breathing heavily. He appeared young, maybe early twenties, and was not much bigger than me, with just a hint of black hair buzzed off close against his head.
He just seemed to be out on routine duties, but his heart was beating rapidly. I could barely see him out of the corner of my eye as I leaned over the railing pretending to barf, Mr. Harutyunyan patting me on the back. “Ava,” I hissed, “does he have any communication technology on him?”
“Whatever he had was meant for one-time only. It is now residing in Davy Jones’ locker.”
“Who is Davy Jones?”
“No, it’s in the drink. In the wet stuff. He threw it overboard. Otherwise, he is tech-free.”
“I don’t care how much it cost. Does he have any other devices?”
“No, tech-free means he… ohh, these are the times that try an A.I.’s soul. Please, listen carefully. Unless he is in possession of alien technology, he has nothing else with which to communicate electronically.”
“Sarcasm?”
“Indubitably, my dear Watson.”
We pretended that I was through being sick and walked back down two decks to the storage areas. We were surprised to find the rest of our group off in a darkened area to the left of the galley in an intense discussion with Mike and Ms. Perez. Although they were talking quietly, dad and Benji were leaning forward as if they were confronting Ms. Perez and Mike, and when they noticed us coming, they stopped and turned toward us expectantly. “What is?” asked Mr. Harutyunyan.
“This looks a little suspicious, don’t you think?” whispered Ms. Perez. I glanced around, and the rest of the crew that were nearby watched us as if they thought they might get to enjoy a fight.
“Who bloody cares?” Benji growled, “These drongos are tryin’ to get us killed or worse!”
Mike had both hands up as he said, “Now, settle down, please. We told you, whatever communications are happening is news to us too. Ask Lucas, he can tell you.”
“Look, we’re all going to blow our cover here, and then who knows what would happen. Do you think we could get out of here and go somewhere less conspicuous without raising tons of suspicion?” dad hissed.
Ms. Perez mouthed, “We’re a day and a half from port, and the majority on this boat already know what’s going on. We have four others with the Bright Hand on board, and when we figure in you five, that’s eleven out of twenty-one people on the ship. We are aware of five who have been hired as mercenaries that plan to force you into the deep state’s trap. That leaves only five who are unconnected as far as we know, and they include our clueless captain, Alexy. I don’t think we need to be that concerned if we’re found out at this point. They’ve obviously already communicated, and they don’t know that we know, at least not yet, so they’ve tipped their hand.”
At that moment Alexy came strolling out of the galley, his belly looking bigger than ever and a toothpick dangling from his lips. He noticed us as he exited and headed in our direction, his blond ponytail swishing as he walked. “My friends, is everything ok? You appear tense,” he said, his voice low and growly as if speaking through a belly full of food, which he probably was.
“Oh, everything’s fine. We were just chatting about our plans for when we get to port. Would you mind terribly if we knocked off a bit early before lunch? We just wanted to show Ms. Perez and Sasha our itinerary. If you don’t mind,” said dad.
He smiled broadly and said, “I think you’ve earned it. Remember, though, the world has become a much rougher place in the past few years, even in Australia. Be sure to watch behind you, if you know what I mean.”
“Yes, I believe we do. Thank you, we’ll see you soon.”
After Alexy walked away Benji said, “Ok, we go to our cabin. Home turf, eh?”
We rushed up the circular stairs to our deck and squeezed into our tiny cabin once again. “Lukey, please ask Ava to check the room and everyone in it one more time. We don’t need anyone listening in right now.”
I asked Ava, and after a moment she said, “All quiet on the Western Front. Carry on.”
I think that means we’re clear… yeah, that’s what it means… I hope that’s what it means…
I told the group what Ava said, and Benji cackled, saying, “I tell ya, she’s a ripper, she is.”
Mr. Harutyunyan and I filled the rest in on what we observed on the main deck. Ms. Perez and Mike made eye contact, and he said, “That’s Debenov. He’s one of the five that have been bought off. It was pretty bold of them to have him go up there and make contact in broad daylight, though. They must have had some last-minute info or a change of plans. We knew they were tailing us but didn’t know how close, and we still don’t know what kind of ship. It could even be a decoy to get us looking in the wrong direction. We need to be ready for anything when we get to port. I’m thinking maybe we start bringing in the ones who have been bought tonight just to remove that hurdle. If we’re quick and quiet, we can probably do it without giving them a chance of making contact. What are your thoughts, Z?”
Ms. Perez looked up for a moment, and said, “Yeah, let’s do it. The rest of the crew are going to notice they’re missing, but they’d have no reason to suspect we did anything to them, and by the time anything happens we’ll be to port and off this rust bucket. You folks can relax, we had plans to do this, we’re just doing it a day earlier than we thought.”
There was a moment of silence, broken by Ms. Houng: “You sure you know all of them? Might be more, you don’t know.”
Ms. Perez and Mike made eye contact again. “It’s possible… there could be a mole buried deep. Our people worked hard to identify everyone on board, so I don’t think it’s likely, but we can’t rule it out completely. If there is one, though, he won’t have much support. Remember, they don’t want to kill any of you, otherwise this would have already been over. They could have easily just blown up this boat and blamed it on the Bright Hand or any number of other enemies. We’ll get our other members and take care of the mercenaries tonight. Best to do it under cover of darkness and sleep.”
I had a question I just couldn’t hold in any longer. “You’re not going to… to kill them, are you?”
For the third time they made eye contact, and this time Ms. Perez spoke. “That’s not our plan. We have some extremely fast-acting injectibles that we plan on using to disable them, then get them to my cabin since it’s large enough to contain them. The drugs we’re using will keep them out for twenty-four hours, and by then we’ll be on shore and far away.”
“You think you can get that done without anyone noticin’? That’ll be a good trick, I reckon,” said Benji.
Mike smiled slyly. “That’s where we planned ahead, buddy. Our other four Bright Hand members on board? They’re roomies with four of the five soldiers of fortune. They won’t even see them coming. And the fifth one? He’s my roomie, so he won’t see me coming either. We’ll synchronize so that we can help one another move them quickly. I don’t think anyone will notice, but if they do… well, it won’t really matter too much, will it? We’ll outnumber the rest of the staff two to one. We just need to get to port safely, then we’ll cross that hurdle off the agenda, and get ready to jump the next one.”
“stand by… hmm… it seems whoever it was got cold feet. You’ve really given me something to chew on… they seem to have literally fallen of the edge of the world. It’s getting curiouser and curiouser.”
“Ok, so where are they now?”
“You really don’t get it? They have flown the coop, split, vamoosed. They are not there, as far as I can tell. They may have some unfamiliar stealth technology, but they would have had to shut down their locomotion and gone totally tech-silent for me not to be able to sense them. Absent that, they have performed a magic trick that would have made Harry Potter proud.”
“Who is Harry Potter?”
“He’s… oh, never mind.”
22
F ollowing our discussion, we went up to the galley for another lunch consisting of… you guessed it, a weird stew with unidentifiable pieces of meat and a chunk of hard bread. It had the familiar, sour-vegetable smell that we had grown used to by now; I ate a little bit, although I didn’t feel hungry, because dad said I need to eat at least a little bit to keep my system working properly. We were all uncharacteristically quiet, and I guessed that the rest of the group were considering who among the crew were the ones the government had paid to help them capture us. Whoever they were, they gave us no signs, as they all appeared to be chatting and laughing as normal.
As we were finishing, Alexy approached our table. In his usual jovial tone, he said, “Listen, my friends, we are very near to our destination. You have all worked hard, outworked my crew I would say. Miss Lucinda is the finest vermin catcher I have ever seen, truly amazing. Please, take the rest of the day and tomorrow off from your work duties. We should get to port tomorrow about this time; we are a bit ahead of schedule. In the meantime, relax, enjoy the sun, take a nap, whatever you desire. Would that be satisfactory?”
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