Deep Space Dragnet (Rich Weed Book 2)

by Berg,Alex P.

  “I get the feeling she doesn’t dislike you as much as me,” I said. “Probably because you’re inherently kind and subservient.”

  Carl gave me a look that indicated he didn’t expect his trip to do any good, but he floated off toward the hatch nonetheless.

  Ducic’s nostril’s flared, and I thought he might hurl—at least until I remembered he wasn’t physically able.

  “You alright?” I asked.

  “I will persist.” He didn’t look particularly sure of himself.

  “I imagine this is why you chose to study pseudogravitation.” I shook my head. “I don’t know why Tarja is insistent on roaming the asteroid belt looking for warp signatures. Seems like a complete waste of time to me.”

  Ducic’s tongue lapped over the tip of his muzzle. “Despite my abhorrent reaction to these gravitational conditions, I understand her course of action. Her search efforts are not hindering us from performing our own analyses of data gathered from the Agapetes—at least not more than I have already mentioned in regards to my malady—and her theory about pirates exiting from warp does have merits.”

  “You think I’m wrong, then? You think the pirates do have advanced Alcubierre drive tech?”

  “I do not know, Rich,” said Ducic. “But I must admit—as possible as your theories regarding said pirates seem, they are not particularly plausible. They require jumps of faith, as you would say. If we assume instead a single leap, that of superior technology on part of our assailants, the assaults make sense. For example…well, I digress. Technical discussions do not interest you.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “Because of your disposition when subject was previously broached,” said Ducic. “You asked for a ‘rain check,’ which I have since come to understand is a euphemism for complete and total disinterest in a subject.”

  “What?” I said. “No. Come on, I was serious. I’d love to talk shop with you.”

  Ducic’s ears perked, and his death grip on the table eased. “For truth?”

  “Yes, of course. I value your opinion. Let’s talk physics, and engineering for that matter. I may not understand it all, but if you have theories about how the pirates might be doing what they’re doing—even if it conflicts with my hypotheses—I’m all ears.”

  Ducic’s eyes narrowed.

  “It means I’m listening and paying attention.”

  “Ah. Thank you,” said Ducic. “Well, to your point, I am unable to provide insights into the engineering required to modify an Alcubierre drive to match needs of pirates, but I have thought about physical requirements of such a device. Most glaring is a need for space-time precision.”

  “What do you mean by that?” I said.

  “At first I was convinced matching trajectories of ships in mid-warp would be impossible given our current understanding of physical principles, mainly based on the conundrum of detection. As I have mentioned, light cannot penetrate a warp bubble, which means traditional sensing methods cannot be used to track motion of a ship within said bubble. How, then, would anyone know where a ship within a bubble is, much less match its trajectory?

  “But your theory of pirates possessing a connection to someone at InterSTELLA—how would you say?—hit my nerve endings. What if pirates have access to InterSTELLA navigation logs? We pride ourselves on keeping detailed spatial coordinates of all ships that enter and exit warp. It is a necessity to make sure warp bubbles between passing ships do not interact. But what if an interaction was intended? A party armed with knowledge of ships’ trajectories could follow one of our ships, use a more powerful warp burst to catch said ship, and match compression and expansion parameters to bring itself alongside ship in question. It would be incredibly difficult, but only real barrier is precision.”

  “Precision?” I parroted.

  Ducic stopped himself. “Well, that is incorrect. Many other barriers exist. One would have to match warp bubble oscillation frequency between ships, which is theoretically possible but difficult in practice due to varying mass-energy requirements between ships of different sizes. And there are, of course, extreme energy requirements necessary to compress space time in an infinitesimal plane opposing two ships’ perpendicular expansion vectors. And that is without giving consideration to how space time would be affected outside the bubble. That level of compression could lead to anomalous temporal modes even within warp bubble.”

  “Anomalous temporal modes?” I said. “I thought warp drives only affected space time outside the bubbles.”

  “Incorrect,” said Ducic. “Effects are measureable both within and without. The greater the compression, the greater the space time fluctuations. In fact, I should check ship’s chronometer logs to check for inconsistencies against the total warp duration as measured by stationary probes at warp entrance and exits.”

  I tapped my fingers on the table and lifted an eyebrow. “Good point. I was about to mention that myself.”

  “Were you?” said Ducic. “Then we are of like minds. Apparently you possess a keener understanding of physical sciences than I expected from your previous utterances.”

  Sarcasm was lost on him, but better for him to think I was smarter than I really was.

  “Pardon, Rich,” said Ducic as he released the table, “but I must return to my quarters. This discussion of ours, as one-sided as it was, has aroused in me new patterns of thought. I would like to grant them my focused contemplation.”

  “No problem.” Paige poked me as Ducic began to turn. “But one thing, before you go. I was hoping you could run a search for me on the InterSTELLA servenets.”

  “Of course,” said Ducic. “What for?”

  “Anything and everything you can get on the pirate attacks,” I said. “And not the stuff available to all employees. We need the classified materials, too. I want to know the entire chain of command. Who’s telling who to do what, who’s investigating which attacks, that sort of thing.”

  “I do not anticipate this to be problematic,” said Ducic. “For a friend such as you, Rich, I would be happy to.”

  A friend? Dang. Was that how Ducic saw me? I had to admit, the guy was growing on me, too.

  “I appreciate it, Ducic,” I said, “but let’s not get cocky. If I’m right about there being a mole somewhere in InterSTELLA, we need to be careful. Don’t push the limits of your clearance, and don’t stick your neck out unnecessarily. Do a general search and bring back all the data you can. That shouldn’t arouse any suspicions.”

  “Do not worry,” said Ducic with a creepy smile. “I will keep my neck as fully retracted as I am able. Thank you once again for physics discussions. I found them invigorating.”

  I gave him a wave as he retreated to his room, wishing I could say the same about our conversation, but I was more concerned about his statement of our friendship. Not that I was upset about it. Dorky though he was, I liked the guy. I just hoped I wouldn’t have to betray his trust somewhere down the line.

  21

  I felt a light touch and a shake, originating at my left shoulder. When I opened my eyes, I found Carl standing over me. A message icon blinked in the corner of my vision.

  “Hey, Rich,” Carl said. “I didn’t notice any random eye movement, so hopefully you weren’t too deep into your sleep.”

  I suppressed a yawn, undid my cot straps, and moved into a sitting position. “No, I’m good. I was taking a power nap.” I flicked open the message only to see an avalanche of documents pour out in list form. “Wowzers. Is this from Ducic?”

  “You told me to wake you if anything came back,” said Carl.

  “Did you go through the files without me?”

  “What do you think?” asked Carl.

  We both did, said Paige. I would’ve woken you myself, but you know I’m not plugged into that portion of your hypothalamus.

  “I’m not upset, if that’s what you’re thinking,” I said. “I was hoping you would’ve already sifted through thi
s stuff. Seriously, how many documents did Ducic send us? Three, four, five thousand?”

  Try just shy of ten, said Paige. Carl and I are still processing them all.

  “So,” I asked. “What have you found?”

  You want this one, Carl? said Paige. I’ll keep sifting.

  “Sure.” Carl sat down in the swivel chair across from my bed, more out of convention than any need to rest his legs. “There’s a lot of data covering all aspects of the attacks, the resulting manhunts—or ship hunts, rather, internal theories, security memos, damage control. The works. But you expressed an interest in the teams responsible for investigating the attacks, specifically the chain of command and what orders had been given to what parties, so let’s start there. According to the records Ducic provided, the first two attacks were kept secret even within InterSTELLA, at least to individuals with the level of clearance available to Ducic—”

  “Which is?” I asked.

  “Level three,” said Carl. “As if that means anything. Ducic’s clearance was recently increased from a level one before he was assigned to us. The highest level is a five…I think. It’s possible the knowledge of levels higher than that is known only to those with said levels of clearance.”

  “Right,” I said. “Go on.”

  “As I was saying, the first attack shared within the InterSTELLA community was the third. From memos released after the fact, it sounds as if key security parties knew prior to that attack, but they didn’t share it with top company officials until then. Perhaps they feared for their jobs or that they’d be mocked given the implausibility of the attacks. Either way, it was after the third raid that an emergency meeting was called among the board of directors. In it, InterSTELLA’s chief operating officer, one Salvig Halloföl, explained the extent of the crisis and what was known at the time. After the conclusion of the meeting, he ordered the chief security officer, a man by the name of Kapono Nalani, to spearhead the investigations into the pirate attacks.

  “Kapono Nalani in turn drew up an extensive plan of action which he sent to the head security officers at each of InterSTELLA’s ships in the Sol and Tau Ceti systems, including the Snowbell. In it, he directed each security team to devote a full fifty percent of their man hours to the investigation, and he authorized funds to hire external teams to also take part in the investigation. For the record, Vijay Chatterjee is not the head of the Snowbell’s security, but rather a senior officer. The true head, Ai Matsura, delegated the task of finding the Snowbell’s external team to him.”

  “Wait. Back up a sec,” I said. “External teams? We’re not the only one?”

  “Apparently not,” said Carl. “There are several that have been recruited in the Sol system, and a memo from a ship by the name of the Olsynium shows a team is currently being put together on Cetif.”

  I scratched my head.

  I know what you’re thinking, said Paige.

  “Of course you do,” I said. “You’re inside my head.”

  She ignored that. You’re trying to resolve your belief that our investigative team was put together with the intent that it would fail with the fact that many different such teams have been hired. And that Ducic, rather than being denied access to critical information, was granted increased access to files prior to being assigned to our team.

  “And I suppose you have a theory that would explain why?”

  Look, Rich, said Paige. I like your theories about the pirates and InterSTELLA subterfuge. They might even possess some kernel of truth. But I think it’s more probable we’re not being intentionally misled.

  “Then why has Vijay completely ignored us?” I said. “Why pair me, Tarja, and Ducic? Why not put together a team with a greater knowledge base, more experience, and a better chance of solving this thing?”

  Convenience? offered Paige. Think about it. What motive does Vijay have for putting a large amount of effort into assembling his team? He doesn’t get a bonus if we solve the case, and as you might remember from Nalani’s commands, all security forces must allot half their time to internal investigation of the pirate attacks. That doesn’t mean Vijay’s other work has magically disappeared. Don’t you remember how curt and distracted he was? How stressed he seemed? I’ll bet he chose you and Tarja based on availability rather than ability. Ducic probably got thrown in with us because Vijay has his own investigative team to run and didn’t want to lose someone who might have relevant knowledge of warp travel. I’m sure he’s ignored us thus far because he thinks we’re a waste of time and resources.

  I glanced at Carl. “What do you think of all this?”

  He shrugged. “It makes sense. Recall how persistent Vijay was that you take the job, and how relieved he was when you accepted it? That could be explained by your conspiracy theory in which he chose you for your ineptness—not that I’m saying you’re inept by any means—but it could also be explained by the fact that you’re the only private investigator on Cetie and he didn’t want to waste any more time tracking down another man for the job.”

  I pursed my lips. Maybe Paige had a point. Maybe there wasn’t a grand conspiracy brewing in the belly of InterSTELLA. Maybe we had been set up to fail—but not out of malice, rather out of convenience. It would explain a lot, but it would put us back at square one with the pirates, with the evidence leaning more toward them actually attacking the cargo freighters, by who knows what means, than them enacting an elaborate plot to infiltrate them from within.

  I hate it when you think stuff like, ‘Maybe Paige has a point,’ said Paige. When do I not have a point, and a good one at that?

  I shook my head. “You know I appreciate your insights, however snarky. Yours too, Carl, even without the snark. But right now I need time to think. Alone. Why don’t you both give me a little space? Go over the rest of the files Ducic provided. Goodness knows that’ll take long enough.”

  You want me to switch off? Paige sounded mortified.

  “No, no,” I said. “Just let me do some thinking on my own. It’s good practice. Who knows—I might even have a revelation.”

  22

  As it turned out, revelations were hard to come by.

  I lay on my bunk, hoping answers would come to me. True to their words, Paige and Carl had stayed away, Carl in the physical sense and Paige in the mental. Unfortunately, their absence hadn’t sparked a blaze in my neurons.

  I stood and began to pace back and forth in the small quarters. Physical exertion often helped me think, and while I preferred a good weightlifting session or sparring match against a prospective kick boxer, a walk would have to do. At least the ship’s acceleration had been constant for a while. Might as well take advantage of it while I could.

  I clasped my hands behind my back as I walked. So. Pirates… How in the world had they pulled off the heists? As far as I could tell, I had to resolve three major elements. How had they gotten on board the ships in the first place, what had they done with the cargo, and where were they hiding now?

  For the first point, either the pirates had matched the trajectories of their targets and boarded them mid-warp or they’d been onboard the entire time. Either possibility posed major problems. The former, while physically possible as told by Ducic, seemed practically impossible. The technology needed to effectively pull off such a feat didn’t exist, and if it somehow did, there was no reason to believe it would be in the hands of a crew as foul-mouthed and inurbane as that captained by commander Horatio. However, the amount of coordination, subterfuge, and chicanery needed to successfully pull off inside jobs to rob six different InterSTELLA freighters, each with their own crews and chains of command, seemed equally as unlikely.

  At first glance, the situation with the cargo seemed much easier. Either the pirates took it for their own gain, or they disposed of it through the warp bubble. The former made more immediate sense, but it was impossible without the technological leap theorized by Ducic, which to me meant the latter was the more logical choice. But why
would they do that? I liked my theory about someone planning to scuttle InterSTELLA from within and massively shorting InterSTELLA stock, but Paige hadn’t found any evidence of a company official taking up such a position in the stock markets. Besides, if said official were the mastermind behind the operation, how would they convince so many crewmen and women, themselves InterSTELLA employees, to engage in an act that would immeasurably harm the company?

  Finally there was the issue of the pirates’ physical location. Tarja was right. They had to be hiding somewhere. The asteroid belt was as good a guess as any, just as the Sol system’s asteroid belt would be, but the pirates wouldn’t be able to drop in and out of warp within the belt without the aforementioned technical advancements. From Vijay’s own word and the documents obtained through Ducic, it appeared as if InterSTELLA scouts had been unable to find evidence of the pirates’ travels either between or on either side of Sol and Tau Ceti. That indicated they must be somewhere within the systems. But where? And how could they possibly enter and exit warp without the InterSTELLA scouts noticing? Wouldn’t they leave energy signatures? Maybe they wouldn’t if they had their mystical advanced Alcubierre drive tech, but I doubted it.

  My feet wore a groove into the floor, but still I paced. What if Ducic, Tarja, and I all made good points, but none of us had hit the nail on the head yet? What if the truth of the pirates’ attacks lay somewhere in the middle? For example, what if the pirates possessed some level of advanced technology, but not to the level Ducic proposed. Maybe the pirates were good at hiding their tracks—eliminating their warp signatures somehow. Tarja had been right about the presence of thieves on that asteroid. If the pirates could mask their warp signatures, they could hide in the asteroid belt through more conventional means. I couldn’t recall what the paths of the other freighters that had been targeted looked like, but given they’d all carried heavy metals, chances were they originated in fields of space debris. And certainly, I had to be right about the level of InterSTELLA involvement. No way the attacks succeeded without someone relaying the pirates the information they needed about the freighters and their flight patterns.