by In Churl Yo
CHAPTER 15
They set off as the night sky gave way to a low-wattage blue, the pale glow offering just enough pre-dawn light for Caleb and Neema to navigate their way through the jumbled forest scrub. The air was dry and cold. The winds were fingers plucking at earth-tone colored trees, releasing dead leaves into the currents and adding to the crunch beneath their boots as they walked.
The two hadn’t spoken once since leaving the cabin. Instead they marched single file at a steady rhythm, intent on covering as much ground as they could in the shortest amount of time. Aside from a gulley and some downed firs, they were fortunate to not encounter many obstacles along the way. It wasn’t long before Caleb slowed their pace as they neared their destination, a wide flat saddle between two small peaks where yesterday the flashing object had caught his eye.
Neema didn’t need for Caleb to put his finger up to his lips to know they were close, but when he did she still felt a kick of adrenaline prickle through her body.
Caleb had gone over the various silent hand signals he’d be using to communicate with her before they had left this morning, as well as a broad outline of the operation. All Neema could think about now was how out of place she felt on this mission, how exposed and dependent she was, and she hated it. But her friends needed her, and Neema wasn’t going to let them down, even if it felt a little disconcerting that she couldn’t find her way back to the cabin on her own if she tried. She may have been out of her element here in the wild, but Neema was determined to get the job done no matter what.
Caleb raised his fist into the air, and they stopped. Kneeling in the high grass, he put two fingers to his eyes and then used them to point ahead, and Neema saw what Caleb was signaling to her—a military drone ship set down in a far clearing.
Weapons drawn, they made their way closer to the aircraft. Caleb had them approach from the rear, as most of the drone’s major guns were aimed in the other direction and he preferred to keep himself outside the line of fire and in one piece whenever possible.
The hatch was down, and they could see movement inside. Caleb motioned to Neema—follow me, stay close. The pair advanced until they were next to the open threshold. After a three count, they swung around and stepped up the ramp into the ship.
“Hands up,” Caleb announced. “Back away from that station.”
The seated man turned his chair around to face them with his arms raised.
“It’s him. The man in Taiwan who knocked us out,” said Neema. “How could he have found us all the way out here?”
“You heard the lady,” Caleb said. “Answer the question.”
Nox only offered them a smirk instead.
Caleb looked at Neema. “I don’t think he wants to cooperate, but then they rarely do.” He stepped up to Nox and reached out to grab the man’s shoulder but found nothing except a handful of air instead. The image of Nox flickered then began laughing.
“A virtual projection,” Neema gasped. “But that means—”
“It means our intruder has a two-hour head start,” said Caleb. “We need to get back to the cabin now.”
# # #
After a brief farewell, Milton watched Caleb and Neema disappear far in the distance behind a cluster of prickly shrub brush, and all he could think about was how cold he felt and how glad he was, despite all his earlier bluster, that it wasn’t him out there hiking for hours in the frigid backwoods. He retreated inside to the cabin’s pleasing warmth and found Zoah in the middle of a major sulk at the dining table.
“It’s still early,” he said. “We could go back to bed or maybe get a head start on those files.”
“I’m not tired,” Zoah answered.
“Right. Coffee then?”
“I hate it when we split up. We’re stronger when we’re together.”
Milton ran the tap and filled the blue enamel pot with water. “We haven’t really been together that long, but I get it. You’re missing your family.”
“What kind of thing is that to say? Of course, I miss my family. I miss them terribly, even Thomas if you can believe it. But something about all this doesn’t feel right. We should have stayed together.”
“No point filling yourself with worry,” Milton said. “You’re better off burying yourself in work. They’ll be back before you know it. Show me where you’re at with your analysis.”
“Now you’re just trying to keep me busy…” Zoah walked over to her station and powered it on. “Here’s my analysis: it’s the same as it was the last time I showed it to you.”
“Throw it up so I can see it.”
Zoah waved her hand across the virtual keyboard, then cupped an imaginary baseball in her hand and tossed it in the air. Scrolling lines and multiple windows full of documents filled the space above Zoah, and she began sorting through them by motioning with her hands.
“Alright, we’ve identified more than 800 manifest anomalies in the past year where items shipped and delivered showed major discrepancies. We did this by comparing departure and arrival inventories and matching them by their assigned drone flight numbers.
“The problem is that none of the warehouse records on either side of the transaction show any evidence of those items ever existing before or after the actual flight. It’s as if someone created the cargo out of thin air and then made it disappear before anyone was the wiser.
“Digging deeper, we discovered that many of these items were just widgets—nonsense objects made up for the benefit of anyone in shipping who might bother to inspect the manifest. But some of the cargo was real. We’ve identified 16 known fusion reactor core components including field coils, solenoids and cryostats and seven known oxygen generator components that can also be used to create or disperse most known engineered gases through chemical reaction. So, we know someone’s diverting a ton of inventory, some of it dangerous, but we don’t know why and don’t even know where it all goes.”
Milton handed Zoah a mug full of double sweet, double cream coffee. She sat back in her chair and took a drink, feeling the weight of the data start to come down around her like a giant six-ton bean bag.
“Well, I’m just going to come out and say it,” Milton began, a smile wide across his face.
“What?”
“I’m totally digging your imperfections.”
“My imperfections. Really?”
“The only Zoah Lightsea I ever met before a few weeks ago was a digital projection, and everyone knows Virt avatars are just an ideal representation of us. We can edit our appearance so that we never look tired, never need a shower. Our hair is always done, our clothes impeccable...”
“And now?”
“Now I’ve gotten to know the real you. I mean, you’ve got that little scar on your chin.”
“I fell when I was three,” she said. “You noticed that?”
“Sure. When I see you now everything feels so much more authentic. Deeper, too. I’ve come to the realization that we’re not supposed to be so perfect, you know? We’re meant to accept and love each other’s flaws, everything, the good with the bad.”
“Your logic is circular, but your heart’s in the right place,” Zoah said, pulling him in for a quick kiss. “I accept you completely too, with all of your many, many imperfections.”
“Wait, you said ‘many’ twice.”
They kissed again and shared a quiet moment together. After a while, Milton paused to catch his breath and immediately noticed his partner seemed a little distracted. “Hey. Did I say something wrong? I’m a total idiot…”
“No, it’s not that... I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m still worried about Neema and Caleb. Do you think they’re okay?” she asked.
“They just left. They’re fine.”
“Caleb said no one has ever come onto his land before. Why now?”
Milton sat back and thought about her question. “No way to know for sure. Nothing we can do about it. I mean, you’re here. They’re there. What’s the point of worrying about somewhere yo
u’re not?”
Zoah sat upright in her chair. She looked at Milton, smiled, then turned and started typing commands into her keyboard.
“What? I said something again, didn’t I?” he asked.
“Give me a few minutes. No, wait, give me an omelet and some hash browns.”
“You want me to make you breakfast?”
She threw a wide grin at him. “Love you!”
“Now you’re just trying to keep me busy,” Milton said, “but I don’t mind. You know I like to cook.” He went off to search for the powdered eggs.
It took several excursions into Caleb’s larder, a trip into his cellar and 11 minutes out in the cold air by the fire before Milton returned to Zoah with a plate of food in hand. She paused working to show her appreciation then ate her meal as she went.
Milton knew better than to break the flow when Zoah had her mojo working, especially since this was the most activity he’d seen from her in a week. When he finished eating, Milton went to grab Zoah’s empty dish as she spun around and announced, beaming, “I did it! Well, you did it first, so we did it together, so yeah.”
Milton pulled up a chair next to her. “Tell me what it was we did.”
“Okay,” Zoah said and took a deep breath to control her excitement. “All this time I was mining the data hoping it might reveal some hidden purpose for all the covert manipulation we’d uncovered, but instead all I got was more incongruity. More ‘what’ without any evidence of ‘why’. But something you said made me think I was going about it all wrong. Instead of making the data speak to me, I should be listening what it isn’t saying.”
“You lost me,” Milton said.
“We couldn’t figure out where the cargo was coming from or going to,” she continued. “All we knew was that according to the manifest it existed for a brief period. What if it was going somewhere that wasn’t recorded in the system?
“I took one of the flagged drone flights and created an algorithm based on its fuel level, consumption and cargo weight to extrapolate possible flight paths within its stated arrival and departure points. Here’s what I got—this kidney-shaped area shows where the drone could have potentially travelled and still made it to its destination.”
A map of the United States appeared in the air above them. An area in the American Southwest lit up comprising parts of Nevada and states all the way across to Texas.
“The drones have an annoyingly long travel capability. I guess that’s why Ceres loves using them so much,” Zoah said. “But look what happens when I plot all 800 flights and keep only where they intersect.”
The highlighted area on the map shrank to a set of overlapping ovals near the New Mexico and Texas border. “When you said, ‘worrying about somewhere you’re not’, it got me thinking that instead of concentrating on the evidence of the cargo’s existence, I should be looking at where it wasn’t—or in this case where it wasn’t traveling.”
“This is great, Zoah! You’ve done it,” said Milton.
“Wait—you want to see something really cool? Check this out.” Zoah plucked a small window out of the air and threw it onto the map. Flight paths spread out across the continent from every hub to every Ceres facility, curved routes that connected tens of thousands of individual drone flights to their departure points and final destinations.
“Whoa,” Milton whispered.
“See? None of the regular flights come anywhere near the New Mexico/Texas border,” said Zoah. “In fact, it looks like most of them go out of their way to avoid the area altogether. These two samples don’t overlap at all.”
“Oh! I think… yeah… I’ve got a hunch. Follow me,” Milton said. He led her outside and into the barn. They boarded the captured drone, and Milton sat down in the co-pilot’s seat. “Now that we have a general set of coordinates, I want to check the navigational logs and see if our acquired ship has ever been where no drone has gone before.”
Milton accessed the drone’s navigation system command structure and released the restricted lockouts on the flight data records, then began reviewing the logs. “Here, look at this—maintenance layover and propulsion refit, undisclosed location, New Mexico. There’s a node point access code here. You think I should?”
Zoah shrugged her shoulders. Milton flipped his visor down and began typing commands into his cufflink. “There aren’t any obvious security measures,” he said while motioning with his hands in the air. “I’m in—looks like a standard Ceres mainframe set up. There’s something here called ‘Projects’. I’m going to drill down into it.”
“No, you shouldn’t,” suggested a familiar voice behind them. Zoah and Milton turned around and recognized the face that delivered the warning.
“Taan,” said Milton. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I missed my ship,” he said and raised a handgun at them. “Actually, I was doing a bit of reconnaissance when I caught your computer signal. In the spirit of full disclosure, I should warn you that a trace program was initiated the second you logged on to that server. You need to terminate your connection now.”
“Why? What’s on that server? Something you don’t want me to find?” Milton asked.
“I’m trying to help you. My name isn’t Taan. It’s Nox. If you don’t disconnect they will send a fleet of armed drones to this location.” Nox pulled back on the pistol’s slide and ejected the chambered bullet then let the magazine drop out of the handle, disarming the weapon. He placed the empty gun on the ground and stood back with his hands up. “Full disclosure,” he reiterated.
“Heelo,” Zoah called out. The toy drone woke up from its resting place in the rear of the ship and hovered in next to her. She pointed at Nox. “Watch him. If he moves, fry him.” Heelo beeped an affirmative and flew into position.
“What if he’s telling the truth?” Zoah whispered into Milton’s ear.
“You want to trust this guy after what he did to us?” he whispered back.
“I count 10 seconds before they get a lock on your position,” Nox said.
“Do it,” said Zoah.
“We might not be able to get back in,” Milton said.
“Five seconds.”
“Do it now.”
“Fine,” Milton relented and cut the node point link.
Then a loud roar shook the ship, the barn and everything around them. They looked at each other, frozen, trying to figure out what was happening. Nox took advantage of the moment and jumped for the open hatch, narrowly avoiding the arc of electricity Heelo had directed at him. Zoah and Milton followed him off the ship and through the barn.
“Let him go,” Zoah told Heelo and the small drone dropped back to her side.
Outside, they found Nox with his hands up in the air looking at a military drone ship hovering right above him, its weapons pointed in his immediate direction. “They shouldn’t have been able to find you so quickly,” Nox said. “Maybe I can negotiate your release into my custody.”
Milton gave Zoah an ‘I told you so’ look. She sighed, and they both raised their hands in surrender together.
The drone ship spun around on its axis until its rear hatch faced them. The cargo door lowered slowly, revealing a man aiming a long rifle directly at Nox’s head.
“Move away from them now,” Caleb commanded.
Milton and Zoah dropped their arms and smiled in relief.
“I suppose this means negotiations have concluded,” Nox muttered. He dropped to his knees and placed his hands behind his head.
CHAPTER 16
Caleb knelt behind his prisoner, making sure the 550-cord restraints were all secured to the chair, and when he was satisfied, walked across the room to face the man who had tracked them halfway around the world.
“So, I understand your name is Nox.”
They set up a makeshift jail inside one of the barn stalls. It wasn’t much for security, but it would do until they figured out a long-term solution. Milton fixed cameras throughout the space so they could keep an ey
e on Nox from inside the log cabin, and even now they watched as Caleb interrogated their intruder.
“You’re doing this all wrong,” said Nox. “This? It’s all wrong.”
“We aren’t used to keeping prisoners here,” Caleb said.
“Oh, I can tell. First, you’ve put me in a wooden chair, and it’s unsecured to the floor. Second, there’s no guard posted. You assume you can get out here fast enough if you see something amiss on the remote camera feed, but that would be a mistake. I could break out of these restraints and steal back my ship in less time than it would take for you to put your pants on.”
“Isn’t the first rule of planning a jailbreak not to tell the jailers your plan?” asked Caleb.
“I don’t want to break out. I’m here to help you.”
“So, you’ve said. Let’s start with how you got here.”
“There’s a tracker on the ship. Tell Milton he shouldn’t feel too bad about not finding it—the component is embedded in the hydraulic system and is only active for a brief time during take-off and landing. He would have uncovered it eventually.”
Milton gave Neema and Zoah an exasperated look.
“Do you work for the Ceres Corporation?” Caleb asked.
“What do you think?” said Nox.
“You’re a company man, but for some reason you went off the reservation.”
“Well, there you go.”
“I’m not convinced,” Caleb said. “You’ll have to do something to change that.”
“The facility in New Mexico—are you planning on going there?” asked Nox.
“Why do you ask?”
“It’s the most fortified base on the planet—impenetrable next-gen protection systems, elite security personnel and zero-tolerance protocols for unauthorized visitors. If your big toe so much as crosses their outer perimeter, you won’t just lose the toe but everything that’s attached to it as well. I’d just as soon you don’t try.”