by Tony Corden
Gèng nodded, and Leah headed for the portal to the Annoyance.
She took up her position on the floor of the Bridge and began reviewing all the material on each of the stars once again. After three hours she stood up to wander around and said, “It’s starting to all look the same. This time through, show me the information from a random star system after every one of the VIKAS files I review.”
An hour later, as she was looking through the information on the Star system called Triplo, when she sat a little straighter and said, “Gèng, there is a table here which records the proportion of eight precious and semiprecious metals at eight different locations in the star system. Each is compared with the proportions found in the Gorgian home system. I remember seeing a similar table in the data from the last random system you showed me but the sampling of data points around the system was much larger, and it included many other desirable resources. Put all similar tables up from the VIKAS systems.”
Five eight by eight tables filled with numbers were put on the screen. Leah said, “Do any of the other systems have tables similar to these? What I mean is, are they eight by eight or similar to the more detailed information on the random system?”
“All other systems have the more detailed survey results except for twenty-eight minor systems which have no data.”
“All right. Now, what can they mean?”
Leah looked back and forth between the tables and had Gèng look for commonalities. All the numbers were between one and negative one and expressed as decimals. She played with the numbers in her head when suddenly one combination cancelled out. She’d multiplied the ‘V’ system by 4 and added it to the ‘I’ system multiplied by 2 and so on. She tried the next number, and it didn’t cancel but was a whole number, 13. She quickly finished all sixty-four calculations and put the completed table up on a large screen.
(Author’s Note: I think there are just enough clues to decipher the next step. If you like working it out on your own then now is a good time.)
Leah stared at the table for several minutes before asking, “Gèng, what is the chance of this occurring randomly?”
“It is infinitesimal. This almost certainly leads to the data or is a key to decryption or a password.”
“Is there a part of the ship with a keypad where we could enter a code that either opens a door or highlights a screen, or something?”
“Lots of places require a code of some sort or other. The armoury, private quarters, the hold, engineering, the Bridge, even the food dispenser accepts codes.”
“What types of entry?”
“All are alphanumeric with some having an additional biometric component. The food dispenser can be voice activated.”
“Whichever it is I need to do some more work on it.”
Leah sat for another hour trying to find a connection when Gèng said, “Susan would like you to step into the tower when you are free. She has a few questions for you.”
Leah nodded and logged out. The main room was empty, and Gèng said, “Leah, I have relocated everyone to a new building. I constructed a work area for them on a new level. I noticed you prefer this lounge area to be empty when you come and go.”
Leah nodded, “True. I do want just a moment or two to collect my thoughts before needing to interact.”
Leah climbed the stairs to the new level and stood at an open balcony for a moment before entering; she just wanted to relax for just a moment. She could see down the valley and noticed movement in the trees. She stood staring until a deer stepped slowly into the open and headed for a small stream. Gèng had come up beside her when she noticed Leah’s focus. Gèng said, “I’ve added a few herbivores. I think I’ve found a way to code the rain and wanted it to be able to influence other things like the water in the streams and the growth of grass. I coded the grass so it grew like real grass, but I wanted a way to keep it from becoming too high. It was hard to find a rational explanation for the continual resetting of the height. This is a trial, and I’m still working on the code.”
They discussed Gèng’s project for a few minutes, then Leah stepped into the room where Susan, Sharon, Stephen, and George were all working on various tasks. Leah went around and greeted them all and answered a few questions. She left Susan until last.
“So Susan, you have questions. How can I help?”
“Yes! More comments than questions. First, Dunyanin filed an injunction against your feed being shown. The judge examined the contract you have with them and ruled in your favour. Audience numbers were slow to begin with, but the initial reviews of the Spectator feed were very positive, and the number of viewers is growing exponentially. This means you need to decide, and soon, about Guàn Enterprises. The way I set the company up, it is focussed on education and attracts a lot of tax credits. I think this new venture should be run from a different account. Otherwise you will influence not only the Guàn Enterprises’ tax situation but that of the other Pod users here at the facility.”
“Can you arrange that?”
“I can, and I have already drawn up the necessary documents, but I need a name.”
“Besides the feed, what else can the new company be involved in?”
“I’ve written it as a speculative investment company with potential to partition off successful ventures into daughter companies.”
“How about Guàn Investments?”
“That’ll work. Next, you need to find a financial officer to manage your money. George here is only able to give advice, and he is great at the moment, but you need someone to take this burden off you.”
“Have you any recommendations?”
“Not people I trust enough to let them loose with you. Don’t take this wrong but you’re too trusting, too naive.”
“How?”
“You haven’t checked what I’ve done. You let me do it and take my word for it. I could have cheated you, and you’d never know.”
“Susan, just because I haven’t said anything doesn’t mean I’m naive. You haven’t cheated me. I almost called you out on receiving a payment from Stephen for referring him. I didn’t because it was clear in the contract I signed with you that you had an affiliate relationship with his firm. The print was small, but it was there. I grew up in the Switch. Trust is necessary for every relationship, but we also check everything twice. The motto of all dealings is ‘Trust but Verify’. We do trust easily, but that’s because in the Switch the consequences of breaking someone's trust isn’t some electronic unfriending, it is much more primal and physical than that, it is something people don’t come back easily from.”
Susan stared at Leah as if seeing her for the first time. She swallowed, then said, “That is good to know. I’ll find some names to recommend. The final thing is a report on where we are at with suggesting a way forward with your request to be able to pay Gèng, or at the least have her claim ownership of her work. We’ve had several promising workarounds and possible loopholes, but we always find an immovable roadblock several moves down the process. We have a few more to try, but both Sarafaraz and I feel like we are searching for a move that doesn't exist. The reality is we both believe it's checkmate.”
Leah opened her mouth to say something and then closed it. Her eyes looked into the distance for a moment then she grabbed Susan in a bearhug and said, “Susan, you are a genius. That’s exactly what it is. Keep trying; you’ll be surprised when you find the answer. It’ll have been staring you in the face for hours.
Leah left the room at a run and dove through the portal to the Annoyance.
When she arrived, she brought up the combined table and changed what was displayed. She stepped back and stared at for a moment then made a few more changes. Finally, she sat back with a grin and said, “Now, all I need is to find the place to enter the solution.”
The table now looked like a chess board.
Gèng said, “Why the elephant?”
Leah said, “It’s a famous Arabic chess puzzle. The solution is a series of moves with White moving first.
The elephant was a piece that moved diagonally like the bishop but for two spaces, and it could jump pieces. The solution is well known, but where to enter it?”
“Which notation is used for the moves?”
“I think that numeric makes the most sense. If so, the code would be 8488 7888 8365 2282 8182 8878 8288 7888 7677 8878 7486. If it’s alphanumeric it could be as complex as Rh4-h8 Kg8xh8 Eh3-f5 Rb2-h2 Rh1xh2 Kh8-g8 Rh2-h8 Kg8xh8 g6-g7 Kh8-g8 Ng4-h6# or simplified to h4h8 g8h8 h3f5 b2h2 h1h2 h8g8 h2h8 g8h8 g6g7 h8g8 g4h6, with or without spaces.”
“Now that I know three possible passwords or key phrases the chances of decrypting or unlocking the hidden data becomes manageable. It might be an hour or so while I try multiple avenues of attack.”
“I have some material to work on for Dr Whitfield so let’s get going.”
It was almost an hour before Gèng said, “Nothing!”
Leah said, “Nope, I’m sure it is the next clue. Maybe not the last, but it is the next one. Meredith would know the next step. If we are right, then she is a broker or recipient. She will remove the data from here for transport elsewhere. It may stay encoded until the recipient opens it. What can you take from a ship in Cosmos Online?”
“Nothing from the ship can be removed out of Cosmos Online. Only clothes, armour and accessories are allowed to be taken out of the world, and only if you are wearing them and purposely bring them. Everything else stays.”
Leah stood and said, “Believe it or not, but I’ve never been in the Captain’s Cabin. I just checked it was empty.”
She made her way off the bridge and down a short passageway to the cabin. She entered VIKAS-42316 and walked inside. The safe was open and empty, and nothing was in the closet. Everything was empty. Feeling dejected she exited the room and began walking back to the Bridge. Then she slowed and stopped. She said, “Gèng, I’ve been working on a paper to show the possibility that we could construct any number of aether-dimensions at a specific point in time and space, and after travelling through a uniquely constructed aether dimension we could exit at a different point in time and space. How many rooms could you construct behind any given door?”
“With enough processing power, I could create as many rooms as you desire.”
Leah turned and went back to the entrance of the Captain’s Cabin. She entered the numeric sequence, and nothing happened. She entered the complex sequence of moves and when she did the door to the room unlocked. She slowly opened the door to find a completely different room. The walls were painted black, and the only things visible were a large screen and a pair of boot prints on the floor which glowed red. Leah tentatively stepped into the room, and the screen began to glow with the same red as the boots. A voice said, “Full download of information for processing and transfer will take seven hours and fifty-two minutes. If insufficient time remains for a continuous download, then leave immediately. This is your first entrance. You have one remaining.”
Leah stepped back and closed the door which locked. She said, “What was that about?”
“I have no idea. But I don’t think it was about clothes and accessories.”
“What on earth is Meredith involved in?”
With that thought echoing in the ship, Leah logged out
It was a quarter to eight and Leah left the Tower for breakfast and to welcome the guests. Her dad was waiting and shared that Jimmy had arrived and brought both Father Andrew and Mrs Sperry. Also, John had left Lacey in charge of security while he and Amy were in Quickdraw and she wanted to check if Leah wanted to make any changes to the arrangements. Leah ate as quickly as she could and then grabbed several apples before hurrying down to meet people.
Altogether they expected almost fifty people to descend on the property: seven guests chosen by the bosses, ten bosses with security and at least two additional guests from each area for the committee to review and select the best ten. There was no way that Leah would have time to sit in on twenty interviews, and the following discussions, as she’d planned. She hoped the bosses would agree to Father Andrew and Mrs Sperry sitting in for her and her mother.
After talking to Lacey and double checking the room allocations and security, she headed towards Jimmy who was waiting to welcome the other gang-leaders. As she approached, he waved away his bodyguard so they could talk in private.
“Leah, have you any further news on Lin?”
“Nothing concrete, we’ve begun to get readings from the trackers, but it will take time to narrow it down to the exact place. You probably know as much as I do about that anyway. I’ve heard nothing more from the people who took her, but I’m fairly certain I’ll get a message changing the time sometime in the next hour.”
“They will probably change the venue; I would never have given you so long to prepare.”
“I need time to enter a world and they know I’m not able to be present in the two worlds we’ve had interactions in before.”
“Are you certain? Where would you meet if it was you?”
“Somewhere I knew all the angles, somewhere I had an edge. Unfortunately, I don’t know all the places she has that much influence.”
Gèng spoke into Leah’s mind, “Leah, we do have a picture of where she is most influential. I did that research for you, and besides Cosmos Online and Dunyanin she has a major presence in only three or four other worlds.”
Leah said, “I’ve been corrected. We do know more. Thanks for the advice Jimmy, I’ll check it out when I get back to the Pod. Now, are you ok to handle the bosses and guests with my dad? I plan on staying only long enough to talk with the guests and welcome them.”
“Sure. They all know what happened to your mother and have loaned me people. I know it’s been hard on you, but the truth is we are all working together in a way we haven’t before. We realise we can do more this way. More for us, sure, but also more for the people in the areas we control. My contacts in the local government have said that a small task force is being formed to evaluate if our changing relationship is a threat or not. Whether you like it or not, the word on the street, and in the official discussions, is that you are at the centre of whatever is going down.”
“Thanks for that added stress, Jimmy. We need to talk more about this because I’d prefer to keep a low profile here. So please remember, no gang-related talk with the bosses which doesn’t concern the Pods and access to them.”
“Don’t worry, today is all about choosing who gets this opportunity. Still, you need to open your eyes and see that you are fast becoming the focal point for lots of people.”
“I don’t want or need that, Jimmy.”
“No one needs the attention and responsibility. And, if you wanted it then we would all be more hesitant.”
“We?”
“We! You do realise that I’m tied to you here, not you to me. You’ve been calling the shots for days, and it doesn’t irk me. But enough of that; the people are arriving. You greet the kids, and I’ll handle the bosses. Don’t take too long with them, and then leave them to Lacey. You get back to looking for Lin.”
“I will. And Jimmy, thanks for the help.”
“My pleasure Leah, my pleasure.”
Leah welcomed all the kids, and after splitting them into their respective groups, she left the twenty waiting for interviews in the care of Michio and took the others with Lacey to do a security check and show them their rooms. She was pleased to see River, Harold and Kyle had all come down to welcome them. After answering some initial questions, she excused herself and headed back to the Pod. It was just after eight thirty, and she needed to talk with Gèng about other possible meeting places.
As soon as she was sitting in her favourite chair, she said, “Okay Gèng, what do we know about Meredith?”
“I looked at reviews and articles going back to before she was sixteen and she has been seen on over three hundred publicly accessible multi-player theme worlds and almost twice that number of private or personal worlds. Of the three hundred, she has maintained a constant
presence in less than fifty. Some she visits less than twice a year. She is the number one ranked player on five and in the top ten players in another five. Quickdraw is one of the three hundred but not in the top fifty. All the worlds she is most regularly seen in have significant earning potential.”
“So it’s possible, but not likely, that she has the resources there.”
“Since you had the conversation with Jimmy, I did some digging, and I think she may very well have the resources. I agree with him that she is likely to change the meeting point, but she would be able to arrange something easily. She has a small cadre of well-known subordinates, and each of these does maintain a presence, and a major one, on worlds Meredith has visited repeatedly. I suggest she runs businesses through these people.”
“Can you check the data from Reed and see what the crossover is with the Emerson’s and North Shore Holdings?”
While Gèng compared the information, Leah watched the hologram from Thad. He expressed his concern over everything that had happened to her in Dunyanin and wanted to know how he could support her in any way. He also wondered why the communication rings weren’t working. Leah had removed the rings to save having to answer questions. At the end of the message, Leah paused the image and examined his face. She liked his face and wondered for the hundredth time if she should trust him with everything, but in the end, she steeled herself and closed the image.
She had several other messages to deal with including one from Susan saying the new company was all set up. The message included a recommendation of three possible candidates to help with finances. She was interested to see that one of them was a Leon Scorsese. If it was who she thought it was then maybe Peter would be able to set up a meeting.
Another message was from Sharon who said she was heading to Pneumatica for a few hours. Spectator had requested access to Leah’s feeds even when Dunyanin’s feeds came online. They would add them to one of the packages and were interested in negotiating a deal. Sharon suggested waiting to see if Dunyanin had any stipulations on the issue but thought it a great idea in principle.