Messinants

by S. H. Jucha

  “I’ve just sent you the list of distributors that you’ve been requesting, Commandant,” Lise replied. “Now, I want my expedited shipment schedule approved.”

  “Not so fast, Lise,” Emerson said. He muted her call, while he checked the message she’d sent.

  “Is this a joke, Lise?” Emerson asked angrily, when he resumed the call. “Do you expect me to believe there are only six streak distributors on the JOS?”

  “You asked for an investigation into streak shipments from this end, Emerson,” Lise shot back. “We’ve uncovered six major pipelines to the JOS. Had you considered the possibility that these six individuals might have a good many people working for them? They might be the leaders of distribution chains.” She mentally thanked Jordie for alerting her to this possible response from the commandant and providing some alternative replies.

  “You have your list, Emerson. Do I get my approval?” Lise pressed.

  “When, and if, one or more of these people are caught distributing streak, then you’ll get your approval, but not before then,” Emerson replied.

  “At least, tell me if you know these stationers,” Lise requested.

  Emerson eyed the list on his comm unit. He mumbled the names out loud, as he read. “None of them are familiar to me, Lise. It’ll take some time to set traps and catch them either receiving the streak at El customs or distributing it.”

  “I expect to hear from you immediately afterwards, Emerson. Don’t disappoint me,” Lise said sharply and ended the call.

  Lise flipped the comm unit aside and returned to reviewing the reports on agri-production. The delay in the new agri-dome start would mean that food suppliers would turn to the JOS to make up for the shortfalls. Once those contracts got established, Lise knew they would tend to stay in place, and she hated the idea of more coin flowing from the domes to the station.

  A thought occurred to Lise, and she picked up her comm unit. She thumbed the device, expecting to access the virtual screen, but nothing happened. Disgusted, she tossed it aside and called her personal attendant.

  “Governor?” the woman asked from the doorway.

  Lise started to reply, but her strong sense of paranoia, which had served her so well, rose up. “Send me Tinder,” Lise requested.

  “Ma’am,” the attendant replied and hurried away.

  Moments later, Tinder, the governor’s comm tech, tapped on the doorframe, and Lise motioned him inside.

  “Check my comm device, Tinder, and check it carefully,” Lise ordered.

  Tinder glanced at Lise, while he was reaching for the device. The look on the governor’s face was all he needed to be sufficiently warned. He unzipped a small case that he was never without, extracted an analytics tool, and plugged it into the governor’s comm unit. He extended her device toward her, and she thumbed it for him.

  Tinder set Lise’s comm unit on the desk and examined the small screen on his analytics tool. Code was scrolling quickly past, and he murmured to himself. It was a habit he couldn’t break, and Lise ignored him. Tinder was one of the best comm specialists in the business. He was born on station, and she’d lured him away from the JOS with the offer of a nice salary, a house, and a dedicated girlfriend for two years. As it was, Tinder and his temporary girlfriend had become partners.

  “Uh-oh,” Tinder said abruptly, and Lise turned from her reports to eye him. “There’s a sniffer on this comm unit, Governor.”

  “The device is never out of my possession, and it’s never left open, Tinder. How is that possible?”

  “The only other means of accessing your device, Governor, would be while you’re online, either messaging or speaking with someone. Who did you last contact, Governor?” Tinder asked, buried deep in thought, while examining his analytics tool. When Lise didn’t answer, he glanced at her, noting her face was carved stone. “My apologies, Governor. That was a foolish question.”

  “What can you tell me about the conditions under which this piece of code found its way onto my comm unit, Tinder?” Lise asked, leaning back in her chair and thanking her stars for heeding her suspicions.

  “To insert code like this, which is elegant, by the way, could only have been done via the JOS comm servers. It would have to be done on the fly, while you and the other individual were connected. Two points to note, Governor. The first is that this action would require access by security personnel, and the second is that an amateur placed it.”

  “Explain the inconsistency, Tinder … elegant code but an amateurish operation,” Lise requested, her eyes narrowing, as thoughts churned in her mind.

  “Whoever created the code to accomplish the sniffing routine produced something that is practically undetectable, unless you suspected it was there. It would operate in the background for a period of time and then erase itself. Clever work, Governor,” Tinder enthused.

  “But?” Lise prompted.

  “During the call, there would have been an actionable program, a small snippet, that would have directed where to place the code on your comm unit. Only the code didn’t go where it should have gone. Instead it was placed in the general properties folder, which is what screwed-up the comm unit’s operations. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Hmm,” Lise mused.

  Tinder stood and slipped his hands in his pants pockets, where his fingers could fidget unnoticed. Having finished his work, he was unsure what to do next. He could hear the tapping of Lise’s nails and knew enough to wait and to wait silently.

  “Are you sure that removing the piece of code you’ve spotted will restore my comm unit without any further problem, Tinder?” Lise asked.

  “Absolutely, Governor. That’s the only item added since your device was last scanned three days ago.”

  “Remove it, Tinder, and keep it safe,” Lise ordered.

  Tinder yanked his hands from his pocket and set to work. In less than a minute, he was done and handing Lise’s device to her. She thumbed it, and the virtual screen appeared.

  “Tinder gathered his analytics tool, stuffed it into his case, stood up, and placed his hands behind his back.

  “You may go, Tinder,” Lise said perfunctorily, as she turned back to her reports. “Oh, and Tinder, that piece of code and where you found it is to be kept private. Do you understand me?”

  “Absolutely, Governor. Totally private, absolutely,” Tinder stammered, while trying to make a hasty exit.

  Lise stared at her monitor before her mind focused on what happened to her comm device. You’re an idiot, Emerson, and you’ve made a big mistake, for which I’ll make you pay, Lise thought.

  * * * *

  Liam, Devon, and Cecilia choked and wheezed, they were laughing so hard. Devon paused the latest exchange between Emerson and Lise to allow everyone to catch their breath. This time, the three of them met in a small conference room in a quiet section of security. They didn’t want to be seen together again in Devon’s office with the door locked and the glass darkened.

  “This is a stroke of luck,” Devon said, when the laughter died down. “We had no way to intercept the governor’s message, but the commandant accommodates us by reading the list for us during the conversation.”

  “It’s a bad habit of his,” Liam said. “I’ve been in his office, when he’s reading text on the monitor, and, invariably, he mutters the words he sees.”

  The threesome listened to the remainder of the recording from Devon’s comm unit. Then the lieutenant immediately deleted it and scrubbed the device’s log entry. The original file was in a safe place, with the other recordings, on a security server under a false name.

  “Six names,” Cecilia said. “Does that sound like a reasonable number?”

  “Hard to say,” Devon replied. “It could be like the governor suggested. Six key individuals distributing to a bunch of their frontline people.”

  “I think it was more a matter of timing,” Liam mused. “Emerson’s failure to approve Lise’s expedited shipping means the agri-dome is running far behin
d its construction schedule.” When the other two individuals regarded him with expectant faces, he continued. “If the agri-dome fails to come online in time, it means a short supply of food in the domes. Suppliers will make up the difference by purchasing from the JOS.”

  “Or maybe even the Belle,” Cecilia suggested. It was her turn to become the focus of the others, and she added, “According to my sources, Cinders’ ships loaded a huge amount of material to revive more of the colony ship’s hydroponic gardens. It’s possible that the Belle could ship the extra production downside.”

  “Won’t happen,” Liam said, shaking his head. “For one thing, Lise won’t allow Captain Harbour to gain an economic foothold in the domes. She’ll prevent that by keeping the specter of alien contamination foremost in downsiders’ minds. Then there is this other thing among Harbour, Lise, and, Emerson.”

  “You think it’s a power play by Captain Harbour?” Cecilia asked. She didn’t like the idea that one of the people she idolized was imitating the two individuals she hated.

  “That doesn’t fit,” Liam replied. “I think Harbour is acting more as a disruptor. She’s probably trying to do the same thing as the three of us, preventing Lise from consolidating her power, with Emerson’s help.”

  “Too bad we can’t join forces,” Devon added.

  “I don’t think that would be smart,” Liam rejoined. “It works better if there are two separate attacks. It’ll be harder for Lise and Emerson to figure out who’s working with whom.”

  “So, what do we do with the information we have?” Cecilia asked.

  “We have to get to some or all of these distributors on Lise’s list before Emerson finds a way to do it without our involvement,” Liam stated.

  “Without warrants, what will be our excuse for the surveillance?” Devon asked.

  “Oh, didn’t I tell you, Sirs?” Cecilia asked, in mock surprise. “I received an informant’s message about illicit drugs arriving on the El from downside.”

  “Seriously?” Devon asked.

  “Well, I will, as soon as I get to a kiosk, from where I can send it anonymously,” Cecilia admitted, grinning.

  “That works,” Liam said, adding his smile to those of the others. “We have an open case with Lily Tormelli, which the commandant has requested we thoroughly investigate. Now, we’ve got this potential lead, which might allow us to track the source of the woman’s streak.”

  “I’ll need to order an intercept on El cargo storage and the landing pad,” Devon said, working his way through the process. “Sergeant, after you receive your text message from this helpful source, forward it to me with a request for surveillance. I’ll send you the approval, and you can assign personnel to the tasks.”

  “Understood, Sir,” Cecilia replied. “Knowing our targets, it should be easy to monitor the vids via our recognition applications. I suppose we’re also looking for which crew members are assisting them.”

  “Yes,” Liam agreed. “On another matter, Sergeant, did the code get placed on Lise’s comm device?”

  “Yes, Sir,” Cecilia replied.

  “What type of information are we expecting from it?” Devon asked.

  “None, Sir,” Cecilia replied. “I decided it was too risky to use a straightforward attack.”

  “Then what did you do?” Liam asked, his curiosity piqued.

  “In our last discussion, you indicated to me that fomenting relations was the preferred course of events,” Cecilia replied. “I decided to indict the commandant in the governor’s eyes. I selected some sniffing code from my personal work and, during the call, I had the server implant it on the governor’s comm unit in such a way as to make the device inaccessible.”

  “How does that help us?” Devon asked.

  The governor has a comm specialist, Tinder, who’s one of the best. He’ll locate the code in a heartbeat, and he’ll explain to the governor that it’s smartly written code that’s been placed in the wrong folder.”

  “But, this Tinder person will know it was transmitted via security’s servers,” Devon objected.

  “Yes, he will, Sir, but he’ll also be telling Lise that it was ineptly placed during the call,” Cecilia explained.

  “Ah, I get it,” Liam said. “It was security’s resources that were involved but not necessarily security comm personnel, who would know how to do the job properly.”

  “Just so, Major,” Cecilia replied. “The governor should see the commandant’s inexperienced hands all over the attempt.”

  “Oh, that’s good,” Devon said gleefully. “That’s so sneaky, I don’t know how to classify it. Sergeant, I’m glad you’re on our side.”

  “Proud to be considered part of the team,” Cecilia replied, with an expansive air of accomplishment.

  * * * *

  Liam, Devon, and Cecilia moved as quickly as the number of hours in a day allowed. None of them clocked their overtime, not wanting to alert the commandant’s coin-pinching fingers.

  What surprised the threesome was the rapidity of visits by the mainstream distributors. One of them was showing up daily to collect a package.

  “Now, it makes sense to me,” Devon said, after reviewing some of the initial recordings with Cecilia. “Smaller packages shipped in large containers are more easily missed by inspectors. These little amounts can be slipped in cargo crew members’ overall pockets. Then they casually meet the distributors on the passenger landing pad.”

  “No wonder the custom inspectors have rarely alerted us to a seized shipment,” Cecilia had added.

  In little more than a week, the six distributors had been identified, accepting packages from cargo crew, which had been removed from the holding areas without passing through customs inspection. Security’s next phase of operation swiftly followed.

  Cecilia and Sergeant Miguel Rodriguez waited near the El’s passenger exit into the JOS. Devon monitored the handoff of streak to a distributor. He watched the individual walk up the exit arm and queue for transport via the station’s ring.

  “The distributor’s boarding the next cap,” Devon sent, which the sergeants picked up on their comm-dots, discreetly hidden in their ears. The lieutenant sent an image to their comm units to identify the man.

  Cecilia and Miguel were dressed as stationers, lounging around the exit corridor, as if they were meeting El passengers. Both wore common-appearing skins, so as not to attract attention. When the distributor stepped out of the cap, the sergeants bracketed the individual, and Miguel whispered, “Security. Keep walking, cross the main promenade, and enter the side corridor. Cooperate and it will go easier on you.”

  As it was, the stationer was stunned at being caught after two years without so much as a hint of trouble. He complied, walking woodenly between the security personnel.

  In swift order, security swept up four men and two women, who had been on Lise’s list. Then they arrested the three cargo crew members, who were complicit in the illegal trafficking.

  It was at this point, when Liam filed charges against the distributors, that his operation came under the scrutiny of the commandant. Liam and his people had been able to stay steps ahead of Emerson’s parallel investigation because the commandant wasted time attempting to obtain warrants against the distributors. The Review Board had refused to issue them to the commandant. There was insufficient evidence of the distributor’s complicity, and the Review Board wasn’t about to take the word of the downside governor, as to the distributor’s guilt.

  Cecilia had gathered only two other security personnel to help her with the surveillance. They were people she could trust, and the small group monitored the efforts of Emerson’s second team, who were recording imagery from the identical vids in the El landing pad and inspection areas. It had been a race to capture proof of the operations that could compel the Review Board.

  Emerson’s eye-opening moment came when he presented his vid evidence to the Review Board.

  “I’m not sure what’s going on in security, Commandant, but
the Board issued warrants for the arrest of these six individuals days ago,” Captain Henry Stamerson, head of the Review Board stated, with more than a little ire.

  “That’s not possible, Captain,” Emerson declared. “This is the first time I’ve presented this evidence.”

  “Agreed, Commandant,” Henry replied. “It was Major Finian who requested the warrants earlier, and they were granted.”

  Emerson was livid, as he stalked away from the captain’s office. He didn’t wait until he returned to security before he called Liam.

  “Major, if you’re aboard the JOS, you’ll be waiting for me outside my office by the time I get there,” Emerson had shouted into his device, and passersby stared open-mouthed at him.

  When Emerson arrived, Liam stood where requested. Emerson signaled the door open with his comm unit and closed it once the men were inside. He was furious that he couldn’t slam the door, an action he’d seen in old vids.

  “Sit, Major,” Emerson ordered, his strident voice reaching for upper octaves. “Why wasn’t I included in your investigative loop? This is another key occasion when you’ve failed to keep me informed of your actions. I’ve a mind to put you on report, Major, and if you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself demoted in rank.”

  Liam sat quietly eyeing the commandant. He couldn’t make up his mind whether to accept Emerson’s berating or let the commandant know that he’d had enough.

  “Well, what do you have to say for yourself, Major?” Emerson demanded, when he failed to produce the apology he expected.

  “I was thinking that Lise Panoy would love to hear that you’d demoted me, Commandant,” Liam replied. His calm demeanor was gone, and he stared hotly at Emerson, whose mouth hung open.

  “What do you mean by that?” Emerson demanded angrily. He attempted to appear enraged by Liam’s comment, but concern had crept into his eyes.

  Liam regarded Emerson and made up his mind. As he rose from his chair, he said, “Only that the two of you are so friendly that I’m sure the governor would be delighted to know that you’d removed a potential obstacle from her path to Pyre domination.”