by Henry Vogel
“Yeah, I maintain it. But the network director grants me temporary access every time I update it. There’s no way to get into it otherwise.”
With a flourish, I entered one last command and turned the pad to face Greg. “You’re in CompSec, Greg. You know there’s no such thing as a completely secure system.”
“Holy hell, boy, how did you get this level of access?”
“Worry about that later. How many active processes run in the chip tracking system?”
Greg answered without thinking or taking his eyes off the pad. “Six. But I see eight running right now.”
“The next to last process on the list is mine.” I held up a hand when Greg opened his mouth to speak. “Again, I’ll tell you all about it later. Can you learn anything about the eighth process?”
We all jumped a bit as the wall comm buzzed. Dawn waved us to be quiet. “That’s the comm to the bar. Let me see what Ronnie wants.”
Tapping the comm, she asked, “Yes, Ronnie?”
“Cummings.”
“Tell him I’m busy.”
“Did. Insists.”
“Fine. I’ll be right there.” She keyed off the comm. “I don’t know what this is all about, but why don’t we just call security? You’re one of them, Michelle. They’ll show up in force.”
“No!” Michelle and I said at once.
Michelle caught Dawn’s arm. “I trust the people in security and they’ll try to help, but it will be big and noisy and it will get people killed. Please keep them out of this—at least for now.”
Frowning, Dawn nodded and walked out. Through all of this, Greg tapped away on the pad. A few seconds later, Greg smiled and leaned back, though he kept entering commands on the pad.
“That will keep Cummings busy.”
“What did you do?” I craned my neck to see the screen.
“I just did a little mix-and-match with your ID signals. A couple of people wandering by the bar are now reporting as you two and you two are showing as those two people.” Greg stopped entering commands. “And now the signal will swap to random nearby people every minute. That will keep Cummings and his crew busy for a while.” He steepled his fingers and looked at Michelle and me. “While we wait for them to scatter, you have time to tell me everything.”
So we told him everything, only leaving out my psychic ability. I’ll say this for Greg, he listened carefully and asked intelligent questions for clarification.
“That’s quite a story. From the way the two of you took over the story from each other, it’s either true or very well-rehearsed.”
“Doesn’t the backdoor into the network lend credence to our story? You’ve used it, so you know it isn’t made up.”
“The best conmen build their lies around a solid core of truth. You could have stumbled across the backdoor or been friends with a child of someone familiar with it. Or you could be the best hacker I’ve ever met and installed it yourself.”
“But-”
Greg held up a hand to stop me. “But this is so simple to verify that I’m withholding judgement until that DNA match is complete. And mentioning that, the way to HR should be clear. Let’s go.”
Michelle and I donned the overalls and we set off.
Dawn came to us when we returned to the bar. “The strangest thing happened. Cummings ranted away at me about where I’d hidden you until he got a comm call. After the call, he and his men rushed out of here. You know anything about that?”
“A bit, Dawn,” Greg smiled. “Do yourself a favor and forget these two were here tonight.”
Greg hurried us along little-used corridors, scouting heavily trafficked ones before leading us through them. When we left the entertainment sector, avoiding people got easier. Fifteen minutes later, we entered the station HR offices and found Nora waiting for us.
“You’ve been awfully mysterious about all this, Greg. Is there a problem with the station’s cutest pair of newlyweds?”
“You could say that, Nora. One way or another, these two are in serious trouble. How much and what kind of trouble depends on what you discover.” Greg looked around at the small staff in the front offices. “I’ll say more in private.”
Nora nodded and led us deeper into the office. Being in HR, she must deal with privacy requests all the time. We ended up gathered around a small conference table in a comfortable office.
“Now, what can I do for you?”
“Run a DNA scan on Matt.”
Nora’s eyebrows climbed in surprise and she resolutely shook her head. “Absolutely not. I cannot do a scan without legal justification. By Federation law, that’s an unreasonable search.”
I only saw one way out of this. “I give you permission to perform the scan and will sign whatever forms you require to grant authorization.”
Nora cocked her head in thought. “You realize anything I discover is valid evidence in a court of law. In fact, the results of all scans forward to the Federation automatically.”
“I knew the first, not the second. Is there a Federation consulate on the station?”
“No, the nearest one is on Eridani station. Does this information change your mind?”
I looked at Michelle, who took my hand and shook her head. “No, but it changes my timetable. How much time have we got before the Feds descend on the station?”
Nora drew back and glanced nervously at Greg. “Is he a terrorist or something?”
Greg shook his head. “Not according to his story. Tell her, Matt.”
I took a deep breath. “Here’s the short version. I’m Matthew Connaught, supposedly kidnapped heir to the Connaught fortune and the single largest holder of GenCo stock. The Feds will come in force because of the kidnapping cover story and because I’m a billionaire. Michelle and I are here because my parents, missing and presumed dead by everyone else, are alive and being held on this station. We’re here to rescue them.”
Nora blew out her breath in exasperation. “For God’s sake, Greg, you’re getting too old for practical jokes.”
“I’m not joking, Nora. And the more I observe Matt, the more I believe he’s not joking, either.”
Michelle leaned forward. “Nora, just run the test for us. Please?”
“Michelle, did he feed this story to you to get you to marry him?”
Michelle leaned back and slid an arm through mine. “I’ve known Matt for years, Nora. I already know the truth.”
Nora looked at each of us in turn then went to her desk. Grabbing her pad and a stylus, she returned. She tapped through a menu then slid the pad in front of me and handed me the stylus. “Sign every highlighted field. You’re Matt Atwood until I say otherwise.”
I got busy signing while Nora waved her chip across the reader on a locked cabinet. She came back with a small device, inspected the forms, and then motioned for my left hand. She held the device to my finger and I felt a sharp prick. Heading back to her desk, Nora plugged the device into her pad and tapped away.
“Connaught. Matthew. Middle name?”
“Bernard,” Michelle answered.
Nora smiled. “I see she’s still answering questions for you, Matt.”
“She does a lot of other things for me, too.”
Nora glanced at Greg. “Why do young people always feel compelled to bring their sex lives into every conversation?”
Before anyone could respond, Nora’s pad beeped. She glanced at the pad and then gave me a hard look before smiling. “Would this be a bad time to ask for a raise, Mr. Connaught?”
Greg flashed a brief smile. “So the DNA scan is a match?”
Nora nodded and then looked concerned. “Please forgive my flippant way of announcing that, Mr. Connaught. Considering the circumstances, it was thoughtless of me.”
“Nora, I’m still the same guy you advised to marry Michelle a couple of days ago.”
“I-I’ll try to see you that way, Mr. Connaught.”
“And let’s start by cutting out that ‘Mr. Connaught’ stuff. I’m jus
t plain old Matt.” I gave Nora my best friendly smile.
“Matt. Right.” Nora flashed a brittle smile. “Of course, I was only joking about the raise.”
Greg piped up, “Well, I’ll take a raise if you decide to hand some out.”
I looked back and forth between the two of them. Both were nervous, though Greg hid it better. “Look, I really am the same person I’ve always been. None of that changed just because you learned my real name. As for raises, you should know there’s a sizable reward for assistance leading to the safe return of my parents. Once my parents are safe, you two can have the reward.”
Greg and Nora exchanged glances, then Greg asked, “How sizable?”
“A quarter of a billion credits.”
Nora flopped back in her chair, incredulity written on her face. Greg blew out his breath with an audible whoosh. “That was ‘b’ for ‘billion,’ right?”
“Absolutely. Trust me, my family can afford it.” I stood up and started pacing. “But first we’ve got to rescue my parents. Greg, pull up plans for Pegasus Station. I’ll show you where we believe my parents are being held.”
Nora reached for her desk comm. “While you’re doing that, I’ll call security.”
“No!” Michelle and I, joined by Greg this time around, shouted at the same time.
Nora actually jumped at our reaction. “Why ever not? They’re far better prepared to handle this sort of thing than we are.”
“If we knew who and what we were up against, I’d agree with you,” Michelle said. “But we don’t know any of that. We can’t bring security into this without making some noise—and noise could cost Matt’s parents their lives.”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, Michelle, the four of us aren’t a crack commando team. At the very least, Greg and I will be useless in a fight.”
“Speak for yourself, Nora. I can take care of myself in a scrap.” Greg might have been more persuasive if he hadn’t sucked his belly in before speaking.
“We need you two to stay right here.” Michelle pretended not to notice Greg’s relief at her announcement. “Nora, if things go seriously wrong you can call security for help. Greg will use security cams to scout ahead for us and the chip tracking software to keep Cummings and his officers out of our hair.”
“I see.” Nora radiated disapproval. “And are the two of you crack commandoes?”
“Not exactly commandoes, but I’ve got extensive training in this sort of thing.”
Nora threw up her hands. “I give up. Make sure to give me a list of your next of kin before you leave. I’ll need to know who to alert when you get yourselves killed.”
“That’s getting into the spirit of the adventure, Nora.” I gave her a thumbs up. “Remind me to authorize a big pay raise before we leave, too. I don’t want you losing out entirely if we end up getting killed.”
Nora frowned at me, but her eyes had a bit of sparkle. “All right, boss, I have a different question; one which requires a real answer.”
“Shoot. Metaphorically speaking, of course.”
“Is there anyone nearby we can call if you get into real trouble? Someone here on the station, I mean.”
That question caught me by surprise. “Uh… I’ve got nothing. Michelle?”
Without even pausing to think, Michelle said, “My partner, Lizzie, and Flight Commander Nancy Martin.”
I nodded my agreement. “Those are good suggestions, but tell Nancy who Michelle and I are before you send her to help us. Otherwise, she might space me before we can explain the situation.”
Nora’s eyebrows climbed to her hairline. “I can’t tell this Flight Commander anything unless you tell me first. You can make it brief, but tell me your story now.”
Michelle launched into the story, leaving me free to check out station plans with Greg. I showed him the non-opening door we’d found in ship maintenance and then Greg began searching through the system for access codes to it. By the time Michelle wrapped up our story, Greg threw in the towel.
“I can’t find any codes for that door and I can’t find any plans showing what’s beyond it.”
“What if we can find someone who has access to the door? Will that help?”
“Probably. I’d just have one set of permissions to check, anyway.”
I took over the pad and setup a remote connection to the pad back in our borrowed apartment. “I’ve been plotting the movement of every ID chip for the last day. Let me narrow it down to just the area around the door.”
I tapped away for a minute and the display zoomed in to a ten meter circle centered on the door. A lot of people passed by the door, but two ID signatures came to the door and just vanished. One of them reappeared outside the door three hours later. The second one was gone for nine hours. From there, Greg easily identified the owners of the two chips.
The ID chip which disappeared for nine hours belonged to a freight handler named Alfred Morgan. Nora called up his HR file while Greg fished out the identity of the other person.
“Well now, that is interesting.” Greg leaned back and looked at me. “It appears your nemesis Fred Cummings is in this deeper than you thought.”
“Cummings is connected with those hidden wormholes and Hector from Rockville Station. How can he be in on my parents’ kidnapping, too?” I shook my head. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
Nora looked up from Morgan’s HR file. “I’m sure it makes perfect sense, Matt. You just don’t know the facts that connect everything.”
“Well, it’s past time to start figuring it out. How much time do you think we have before the Federation offices on Eridani Station get the results of my DNA scan?”
“Seven or eight hours. Say an hour to organize a response team, two and a half hours in the wormhole.” Nora ticked off hours on her fingers. “Call it ten to twelve hours.”
“We’ll call it nine,” Michelle said. “Daddy taught me to always plan for less time than I expect to have.” Michelle turned to Greg. “You and Matt said those IDs just vanished at the door. Do you have any idea what could cause that?”
“Some kind of electronic shielding, I’d guess. If you can find a way to turn it off, we’ll be able to actually help you out when you’re beyond the door.”
Michelle nodded. “Matt, we’re depending on you for that. I don’t have the technical background for it. Nora, is there any way I can get my hands on weapons? We left our blasters on board our ship, which is docked back at Eridani Station.”
“People sometimes get a bit rowdy here in HR—as you saw during the orientation—so we keep some stun sticks and tasers on hand. I can give you both one of each.”
“It’ll have to do.” Michelle turned back to Greg. “Can you give Matt and me the same permissions Cummings and Morgan have while leaving all our existing permissions in place?”
“Already done, Michelle.”
Greg stood as Nora pulled our weapons from the same locker which held the DNA scanner. We pulled our coveralls on again. I stored the taser in a pocket and pushed the stun stick up my left sleeve.
Greg shook my hand and gave Michelle a hug. “Good luck, kids. Be careful.”
Nora hugged both of us. “I’ll be praying for you two. And for your parents, Matt.”
We had nothing else to say. With a half salute, Michelle and I headed off to rescue my parents.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Old Enemies
Walking out of HR, Michelle and I dialed up a comm connection with Greg so he could help us avoid Cummings and his men.
“I don’t know how useful I’m going to be, kids,” Greg told us. “I still show you two bouncing all around, from one ID chip to another, but I called up tracks on Cummings and his officers. They’ve broken up into pairs and have scattered all around the entertainment and housing sectors of the station.”
Great. Our path to ship maintenance went right through those two sectors.
“Looks like they figured out they were chasing ghosts. We can’t really complain, sin
ce it let Michelle and me get to Nora’s office unseen.”
Michelle pulled up the station map on the maintenance pad. “Is there another way we can go that won’t take too long? I’m not seeing much on the map.”
“Let me check.”
We heard Greg tapping on the pad then heard Nora say, “Give me that thing, Greg. I’ve got an idea.”
“Kids, Nora wants to talk to you, so I’m handing it off to her.”
We heard clacks and taps as Greg and Nora fumbled with the comm, then Nora spoke. “Do you two remember when you got to the station two days ago?”
Michelle answered, “Sure, Nora. How could I forget my wedding day?”
“The passenger dock you came through is right next to the freight docks. There’s a corridor joining the two, though hardly anyone uses it any more. The freight dock runs the length of the station, so you can take it all the way down to the ship maintenance sector.”
“That sounds perfect, Nora.” Michelle pulled up HR on her station map. “I’m guessing the room labeled ‘Orientation’ is the one we want?”
“Yes. And just on the other side of that room you should see the corridor.”
Michelle scrolled around the screen, zoomed in, and grinned. “Got it.”
“Good girl. Now, if any of my HR people or any of those freight handlers try to stop you, just wave that pad around and tell them you’ve got your orders.”
“That’s what Matt and I did earlier this evening. Look like you belong, act preoccupied with work, and most people leave you alone. Daddy taught me that trick years ago.”
And that’s exactly what Michelle and I did. She held the pad in the crook of her arm and referred to it anytime someone from HR came near. We got the occasional nod you get when you pass people in a hallway, but even those were rare. Once again, the coveralls rendered us all but invisible.
Moments later, we walked through the orientation room and the door toward the passenger dock. The door to the freight docks was right where the map showed it. I waved my ID chip before the reader and the door slid aside. When we opened the door at the far end of the corridor, the noise came as a shock after the quiet of HR after hours.