by Frank Carey
"You're an elf," Mersa stammered.
"Nooo. I'm a non-corporeal AI who has never had physical form."
"Murph, you look like an elf..." Kalana said as she continued to stare.
"A very handsome one at that," Mersa added.
"Unlike Trent, whose corporeal image is imprinted on his epsilon field, I have no image, so the comm system had to improvise based upon my designation, vocal inflections, and point of origin. Since the Captain is my point of origin..."
"You're an elf. Damn," Kalana said. "You should send the system's programmers a gift basket because they did a fine job."
"Thank you, mistress. As Trent was saying, the system is incredible. I think it may rival the one the Immortal Bob uses at the Cube."
"He's right, Captain," Mersa added. "Even using state-of-the-art storage tech, they must be using the entire basement to house the data center."
"Can we search for anything pertaining to Peter and his business dealings?"
"I hate to ask," Mersa said, "But are we talking about legal or illegal?"
Kalana sighed. "Both."
"Yeah, we can do that, ma'am," Mersa replied. "I can create a search worm to filter-out the chaff while sending the interesting stuff to the boys for analysis."
"Good. Make it so."
The three got to work while Kalana tried to keep out of the way. After six hours, they came up blank. The worm could find no mention of Peter Ventana anywhere in the data. As far as the computer was concerned, Peter Ventana didn't exist.
"Computer, connect me with Lady Ventana, please."
"Working..."
"This is Diana."
"Lady Ventana, you had a son named Peter, didn't you?"
"Yes, he was your fiancé."
"He didn't go by any other name, did he?"
"No. He never used his father's name, nor did he use a nom de plume. What the hell is going on down there?"
"My team and I have spent the last six hours combing through your system, and we can't find a single mention of him anywhere in all that data."
"That's impossible. There should be thousands of records with his name on them."
"Captain, we found something," Mersa said.
"Diana, can I call you back?"
"Of course."
"Computer, end call. What is it, Mersa?"
"The boys found a false wall."
"Pardon me?"
"A hidden partition in data storage space. It’s designed to hide data by making it look like nothing is there. Imagine building a wall a foot out from an existing wall, but painting it to look just liked the one behind it. Unless your measure the room, you'd never know you were short a few square feet, but you hide stuff in the space between the two walls. The same goes for data storage. A false wall hides a partition containing data."
"How much data?"
"In this system? We could be talking about a secret recipe or the financial records of a star system, ma'am."
"Can we get inside?"
"I can, with the boys' help. It'll take us about an hour, but we can do it. The work looks like that of a guy I dated a while back."
"Where is he now?"
"Office of Security Witness Protection. He usually sends me a card on my birthday."
"OK, get started while I brief Diana. Guys, you're doing great."
"Thanks, Captain."
"Computer, connect me with Lady Ventana."
"Yes, Captain. Working..."
CHAPTER FOUR
Diana stood next to Kalana and watched as Mersa, with help from Trent and Murphy, breached the wall. The screens in the room filled with directory listings, revealing the contents of the hidden partition. Diana looked stunned followed by angry. "Computer, find Tellis and tell her to get her ass in here ASAP."
"Yes, Mistress."
The door opened a few minutes later and a woman wearing a jumpsuit stepped inside. "You rang, mistress?" she said.
"Sergeant Mersa, with your Captain's permission, could you explain what you found to my head of data operations?"
Mersa looked at Kalana. "Go ahead, Sergeant."
Mersa explained what they found.
Tellis glared at the screens. "That is patently impossible. The system would have informed me of the creation of a partition, and with all due respect, milady, your son didn't have the necessary skills to pull this off."
"It wasn't Peter," Mersa noted.
"Then who?"
"I'm pretty sure it was Caleb Proctor, ma'am. He'd only need an hour at a terminal to set up the program. After that, it was only a matter of plugging in data storage devices."
Tellis's eyes went wide. "How the hell do you know Caleb?"
"I dated him for a short time. They guy had very skilled hands."
"Oh my gods! You're that Mersa. That low-down, sneaky hacker. He kept saying 'Mersa' in his sleep. I thought he was saying something in his native language."
"I wouldn't know, ma'am," Mersa said while trying to hide a smirk.
"Are you telling me you allowed this person near my computer system?"
"No, ma'am. I mean, maybe ma'am. His background checks came up clean."
"Was he clean, Sergeant?"
"Ma'am, he's one of the top hackers currently residing in the League. He's also a pick-pocket, grifter, and over-all scoundrel, but lord, can he kiss, right Ms. Tellis?"
The room got suddenly hot as evidenced by the amount of blushing going on. "You may leave, Tellis. We will discuss this matter later."
"Yes, ma'am," she said before leaving with a final, lingering glare at Mersa.
"Anyone, what are we looking at?"
"A warehouse, mistress," Murph said. "We have inventory lists, bills of lading, invoices, certificates of origin, insurance forms, customs declarations..."
"And maps, lots of maps," Trent added.
"What kind of maps?"
"Space routes to places I have never heard of. These places seem to be on the far rim of League space."
Mersa brought up a copy of an export license. "Captain, this is a forgery," the Basili sergeant said. "The authentication code doesn't jive with any on file."
"How is Peter involved with this?" Diana asked.
"How many companies are involved with this venture?" Kalana asked.
"About a dozen, ma'am," Mersa reported. "All merchandise is being routed through one company while the other eleven companies act as super shells around it."
"Was Peter part of any of them?" Diana asked.
Mersa typed in commands. "Mistress, Peter Ventana either founded, or sat on the board of all super shell companies. Only the exporter is missing his presence.'
"And what does the exporter export?" Kalana asked. "Murph, Trent, any ideas?"
"Could be anything, Captain," Trent said. "Give us an hour."
"Mersa, help them. We need to know what's being exported and where it’s going."
"Aye, ma'am."
Kalana took Diana aside. "Milady, what does House Ventana do to make money?"
"Legal pharmaceuticals, agriculture, mining, some manufacturing, and transportation."
"Anything illegal?"
Diana didn't hesitate. "Wine. We counterfeit fine wine and sell it for thousands of credits per bottle. The wine is completely safe, but no more than a few years old. It’s amazing what you can fake using modern technology."
"So that 2132 Old Boar Zinfandel you served at that party was fake?"
"Of course. Hell, Peter didn't even know."
"So, you have no need for all these shell corporations or a hidden database."
"No, not at all, but it seems my son did."
"Captain, got something interesting here. Murph, Trent hide someplace."
"Aye, Mersa. We're watching from a closet," Trent said, referring to a piece of secure memory in the system. From there, he and Murph could watch the area in virtual space.
"What's going on, Mersa?" Kalana asked.
"Someone is accessing the system from an off-planet
terminal."
"Can you ID them?" Kalana asked.
"I think so... Oh my gods..." Mersa said.
"What's wrong?" Kalana asked.
"The user ID is a biometric one. It belongs to Colonel Peter Ventana of Tralaska."
"That's impossible," Diana said. "We had most of Peter cremated. I watched with my own eyes."
Mersa and Kalana looked at her. "Most?"
"Family tradition is to save the right hands of our deceased in a temporal stasis storage site. Ours is in a vault below this level."
"You have Peter's right hand stored in a vault..."
"Yes, and it's wearing the signet."
Kalana's tail formed a question mark. "May I see it?"
"Why?"
"Call me a ghoul."
"Fine. Follow me."
"Mersa, keep me posted over the comms."
Yes, ma'am," she replied with a shudder as Kalana and Diana left the room.
CHAPTER FIVE
Diana led Kalana down a flight of stairs which ended at a massive, ornate, metal door framed in carved wood with tall candles on either side. "Reminds me of a crypt I saw on Earth." Kalana noted.
"Similar function. Behind this door are remains of the Ventana family that date back to when the Goranthi hunted us."
"Any Tyens?" Kalana asked, referring to the Tralaskan demigods that popped up from time to time throughout Tralaskan history.
"Several. We even have one sitting on the Tyen council that rules the planet." Diana placed her hand on a stone embedded in the wall next to the door. The stone glowed for a moment at her touch as the door slowly swung open. Kalana was impressed with the melding of modern technology and ancient architecture.
The room lights came on as the two women stepped inside. Kalana could barely keep from going into stryker form when she saw all the hands. She was content to just shudder.
Diana saw her discomfort. "Don't you preserve your dead?"
"You're confusing elves with humans. Elves have funeral pyres followed by a party. For us, death is just another step in our spiritual evolution."
"Quaint." She walked over to a display case in the middle of the room. "This is Peter's. Note the ring."
Easy girl, Kalana though to herself, you're a doctor. You've seen far worse. Hell, you've put together things that made this look pleasant. She still shuddered. "Can you remove it from the field?"
"Why?"
"So, I can scan it."
"I can assure you, it's his. I removed it myself."
"And they call me a warrior. Please, humor me."
Diana shrugged, then placed her hand on top the display case. Immediately, the temporal stasis field collapsed, then the case opened to reveal the hand. Kalana held out her hand and transformed it into its scanner-equipped stryker form. She held it over the hand while she ran a series of medical scans.
"How the hell do you do that?"
"I visualize what I want and the bots do the rest."
"Don't you find it draining? It must use a lot of energy."
"I have two micro-fusion batteries buried inside my torso. They have enough capacity to power a small warship. If I feel drained, I finish off a bottle of high-grade ethanol."
"And you look like Gabriel when he's a robot?"
"The term is stryker, and yes, I look like him," Kalana replied, remembering Diana's meeting with Gabe in the courtroom during Kalana's sentencing. "Strykers are nanorobot-driven cybernetic organisms..." She suddenly stopped. "That can't be right." She scanned the hand once more.
"What's wrong?"
"Can I scan you?"
"Of course, but what's wrong?"
Kalana scanned the woman, then returned her hand to elf form. "The hand's DNA contains the DNA of someone who is your offspring. The DNA matches Peter's DNA"
"So, what's the problem?"
"It's not Peter's hand."
"Care to make sense. It contains Peter's DNA."
"No, it contains DNA that matches Peters. There are subtle differences which indicate that the hand belonged to a super clone of Peter. A mindless hunk of meat that looked like your son. Hell, you could use its organs to replace Peter's, but it isn't Peter.
"You have to be wrong. This is Peter's hand..."
"Call your house physician. Have her run a DNA scan."
"Computer! Get Dr. Walnash down here, STAT!"
"Working... She is on her way."
Moments later, a lab coat-adorned woman walked in. "Yes, milady?"
"I want a high-precision scan run on Peter's hand, and I want it done now!"
"Yes, milady." The doctor took the hand and carried out of the room.
While they waited for the results, Kalana tapped her earcomm. "Mersa, sitrep."
"Cap, the visitor is still accessing the data. I don't think I or the boys have been detected."
"Any way to get a visual without risking detection?"
"I should be able to get something."
The doctor returned with the hand, her face ashen.
"Mersa, do it. I'll be back shortly. Kalana out."
"Is that or is that not my son's hand?"
The doctor slowly shook her head. "It's from a highly sophisticated super clone. I've only seen work like this in the labs on Cora."
"Doctor, does this hand belong to the body I worked on?"
"Doctor Grenor. I thought you had been executed. Yes, this hand was taken from the body you worked on."
"He... It spoke to me on the operating table. Peter must have been running it remotely..."
"My son is alive, and I nearly killed you for killing him. My gods, what have I done?" Diana whispered.
"Diana! Focus! We must get back upstairs. Doctor, bring her!" Kalana hurried out of the room. In seconds, she was back in the data center. "Mersa, what do you have?"
"The terminal being used to access the data center is equipped with a camera. I've accessed it, but I haven't activated it."
"Why not?"
"Little green light," Trent said over the room speakers as the doctor helped Diana to a chair. "It'll go on the moment we activate the video feed."
"Do it," Kalana ordered.
"Activating remote camera in three... Two... One... Mark!" Mersa said as she tapped a key.
An image formed on the room's main screen. It was of a Tralaskan male in his early forties. He was looking down at something next to the terminal. He looked up and saw the green light. A frown formed as he stared at it.
"Go to two-way, now."
Mersa tapped another key. The look on the man's face went from confusion to horror. "Kalana? Mom!"
"Hello, Peter. What the plark is going on?" Kalana asked in a voice that could freeze lava. Peter hit a button. Trent materialized in mid-air and immediately dropped to the floor. Meanwhile, Kalana felt Murph return to his place inside her skull. All the screens in the room went blank.
"System is completely down," Mersa reported.
"Peter?" Diana said as she fell into a dead faint.
"Yes, Peter Ventana seems to be very much alive," Kalana said as she went to stryker-mode, her eye slits pulsing red with anger.
CHAPTER SIX
Kalana, still in stryker-mode, stood in front of the window and stared at the herd of lorses passing by the house. Behind her, Diana finished briefing Dr. Walnash, Tellis, and the head of Ventana security, Moria Ventana, Diana's sister. Off to the side of the room, Mersa and Trent sat in front of a terminal, pouring over the reams of data Mersa could retrieve before Peter shut down the system.
"Mistress, can I order you some tea?" Murphy asked from his perch inside her skull. His voice was filled with concern for the captain hadn't moved in over an hour.
"No, Murph, but thank you. You sound worried."
"I am, mistress. Your life signs are abnormally calm for someone who just saw her fiancé resurrected from the dead. Lady Ventana, on the other hand, fainted, which I would consider normal."
"Anger trumps shock, my friend. That son-of-a-bitch played al
l of us. When I get my hands on him..."
"Mistress, may I point out that there may be a logical explanation for his behavior, one that will alleviate your need to commit murder."
"Give me an example."
"He is working undercover for one of several security organizations. He was blackmailed into performing this deception. He did it to protect you and his family. He..."
"Stop! I get the picture. You're telling me not to jump to conclusions and that I should give him the benefit of the doubt."
"Yes, mistress."
She realized the herd outside the window had stopped and were staring back at her, as if they were waiting for her to make a decision.
"You're right. I love him, and love means that I need to give him a chance. Anyway, I can always use a pulse-blaster on him later."
"Yes, mistress."
With a final look out the window at the herd, she reverted to human form and walked over to where Diana stood.
"I see you have come to grips with my son's return from the dead," the lady said.
"For now. Can you trust them?"
"Tellis, Walnash, and Moria? Yes, with my life. They will make sure that life goes on uninterrupted while we search for my son. I need to know what the hell's going on as badly as you do."
"I understand," Kalana replied. "You realize we can't let this news leave the estate. If Peter is innocent, then revealing what we know could lead to his actual death."
"Moria will make sure of that. So, what is our next step?"
"Let's go see what Mersa and Trent have found."
They joined the two sergeants at the terminal. "Mersa, where are we?" Kalana asked.
"We were able to download about ten percent of the partition data before Colonel Ventana shut the system down. Analysis of the files shows a series of purchases from several companies on Cora, one supplier on Orta, Ventana-Omega Interstellar, and Elven Industries Ltd."
"VOI is our exotic pharmaceutical arm. It produces very expensive, one-of-a-kind, drugs purpose-built for one-time use, usually in one-dose quantities."
"Ma'am, how can you make profit from a single dose of drug?" Mersa asked.
"You sell it for several million credits," Kalana replied.