Always the professional, Sid refocused on the job at hand. He was satisfied that he had protected his contact, maintained cover, and found secure shelter. He needed to keep the mission moving forward, which began with creating goals for the next twenty-four hours.
“Please bring me up to speed,” he asked Cheryl, a hint of urgency in his voice. Patience was something found deep in the toolbox of an improviser, as it was an item rarely used.
It took Cheryl more than an hour to tell Sid the story. She gave him profiles of the people involved and then moved through a summary of events. She described her interactions with the techs on her ship and the subsequent call to Admiral Keys, her first contact with Juice and their meeting at the café, her visit to Crystal Fab, and information she discovered through her own investigation.
His first questions were about the crystal. “You talk about it like it’s a person. Can it think and act on its own? Or is it just a credible simulation of a presence?”
“I don’t know. My friends talk about their pets like they’re people, so there could be some of that in my attitude. Either way, he’s really convincing. He pulls together disparate facts and presents them as ideas. He can make observations that seem insightful, at least at that moment in time. We need to get you there so you can judge for yourself.”
They brainstormed for another hour. He was thorough as he debriefed her, asking her the same questions in different ways to see if he could elicit more information or refine their ideas. When they decided to call it quits for the night, he could see she was drained.
Sid summarized where they were. “So our mystery is that, for some unknown reason, a new super crystal thinks the Kardish are going to steal it for themselves. The possible motivators for this puzzle are, in broad categories, that it’s all bullshit and the crystal is a master manipulator; or Sheldon is in league with the Kardish; or this doctor, Juice, is working an angle where her motives are unclear.”
Cheryl nodded. “And in the middle of all this, they’re going to put the super crystal on my ship.”
He looked at her as he thought. “Do you think someone at Fleet is involved?”
“My belief is that Sheldon is a snake. If it’s not him, then the crystal is duping everyone. Juice Tallette is smart as a whip in science and technology, but she doesn’t have the temperament to run a big scam. And Admiral Keys seems as upset as I am. Though we can’t discount someone at Fleet facilitating what they think is a favor to a friend and just not realizing the implications of their actions.”
“Could someone be blackmailing Tallette?” he asked. “Or somehow forcing her to run a scam?”
“You know, that’s a good thought. We should have a research team dig into her background to see what’s there.” She hesitated. “Does the DSA even have a research team?”
He smiled for the first time since they met at the pub. “Yeah, I can get that going.”
* * *
The next afternoon they arrived at the gleaming Crystal Fabrications headquarters. Sid was anxious to meet a crystal that could get the attention of so many people in such a short amount of time.
The DSA arranged their cover: they were there to collect additional information as part of the formal evaluation required before the four-gen could be placed on the Alliance. Fleet contracts were funneling a lot of Union resources to the company. That leverage meant they didn’t need to concern themselves with detailed explanations.
“This is my associate, Sid,” Cheryl said to Sheldon, keeping the introductions to a minimum.
Sid privately winced at the use of his name. In the agency culture, operatives always preferred their colorful pseudonyms.
“He’s here to perform a capability and psych assessment on the crystal. His report will be combined with other inputs as Fleet determines the best path forward.”
“Wait,” said Sheldon. “Are you saying Fleet isn’t moving forward on this project?”
“Dr. Sheldon,” said Cheryl. “Fleet has procedures, and nothing moves forward if we don’t follow them. I can say that with confidence.”
Juice, who had been standing quietly to the side, led the group down the central corridor to the development lab, then through a thicket of equipment to the secure booth in back. Sid peered through the glass and studied the crystal. He was here for a private conversation with it. He needed Juice and Sheldon to go away. Cheryl didn’t let him down.
She turned to their hosts. “Procedure requires that the assessment be conducted in private. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you two to leave.”
“What? No way!” Sheldon sputtered. “How will I know if your report is accurate? And if you find a flaw, I won’t be able to fix it if I don’t see it happen myself. This is not acceptable!”
“Dr. Sheldon, might I suggest you call Admiral Keys?” said Cheryl in a soothing voice. She spread her arms and shooed them in the direction of the door. Sheldon wasn’t budging, and he was blocking Juice in the tight space. She couldn’t move unless he did.
“Another alternative,” said Cheryl with a smile, “is to observe the interview from the comfort of your office using your com.” She adopted a no-nonsense attitude and moved closer to them.
Sid watched the interaction and remembered something about Cheryl he’d always enjoyed. She was self-assured, and in these sorts of situations, was willing to use her strength to control blowhards. And she could perform her magic while maintaining a sweet persona. It was a treat to see her in action. He was happy she hadn’t changed.
Sheldon managed to stand his ground against her for only a few moments. When Cheryl had a full head of wind, she was an unstoppable force. He turned with a huff, exited through the lab doors, and hurried down the corridor.
As he disappeared from sight, Juice said, “I’ll be down the hall if you need me,” and started to follow Sheldon out.
“Juice,” called the crystal, “might you help us before you leave?”
She paused and looked at the booth.
“The web feeds from this room all pass through connections located in the wall console at the back of the lab. Would you please disconnect those feeds on your way out?”
Grinning, Juice swung open the console cover and, with a swift tug, acted on the crystal’s suggestion. She waved good-bye, and the glass doors hissed open and then closed behind her as she left the development lab.
Sid noted with interest the cooperative relationship between the crystal and Juice, or perhaps it was a dysfunction between Juice and Sheldon. He filed the tidbit away for the future.
* * *
The crystal watched Sid look around the lab.
“So we’re alone?” Sid said to the air. “No one outside can see or hear?”
“It is only the three of us now,” said the crystal. “There will be no record of this discussion.”
“It would be more comfortable for me if I could address you directly. Do you have a name?”
The crystal performed a review of names. He sought one that wasn’t threatening, was easily pronounced, and that evoked a friendly persona. He found one that seemed particularly fitting. “Thank you for asking, Sid. Please call me Criss.”
“Criss, the crystal,” said Sid. “Works for me. So, Criss. Let’s see how far we can get before Sheldon returns.” He started with the request he’d made to Cheryl the day before, using the same hint of urgency. “Please bring us up to speed.”
Criss began with background. “There are billions of feeds passing through some portion of the web at any moment. I have the ability to see and process it all. Video, audio, data, com—everything. Copies of all feeds are saved in multiple places. This redundancy ensures that nothing is ever lost. It also means I can look through record archives and find information from the past.”
Sid looked at Cheryl. “Okay, Criss. What was I doing at ten hundred hours last week Wednesday?”
“You were eating toast in your kitchen at that moment. You had just taken a bite and were chewing as you placed t
he slice on a plate.”
“How can you know this?” asked Cheryl.
“Sid’s kitchen has a visual unit that tracks his use of food and supplies so items can be automatically restocked. Also, there is a public-spaces monitor outside his home that happens to capture a view through several windows in the front of his house. Both of these feed to the web.”
Sid looked at Cheryl. She was frowning. “Tell me about the Kardish and their plan to steal you.”
“My highest priority has been to understand the people who most affect my immediate survival,” said Criss. “These include Juice, Mick, and Brady Sheldon. As I gathered background information, I found discussions between Sheldon and one of his board members that caused me concern. Later, they attempted to delete their exchange. But once something feeds to the web, it will always remain there in one form or another.
“I began a deep, systematic search and assembled a sequence of facts that stretches back twenty years. It involves an arrangement between the Kardish and Sheldon. The Kardish have been assisting him with crystal development technology from his earliest days. In exchange, Sheldon has been supplying the Kardish with crystals.”
“The trade relationship between Earth and the Kardish is well documented,” said Cheryl. “They ship us raw flake, and we send back manufactured crystals. Why would this cause you concern?”
Criss sought to sound reasoned and reasonable. He did not want to raise concern about his own existence with these two. Without their help, he believed his survival was at risk.
“The Kardish send both crystal flake and design plans to Sheldon. He manufactures the crystals to their specification and sends them a portion of each production run. In exchange, Sheldon and the company are allowed to sell the rest for profit. This arrangement is not exactly the one presented by the company to the world.”
“Did you know,” Criss continued, “that twenty-five percent of all three-gen crystals ever produced have been transferred to the Kardish as part of this deal? They have about two hundred and fifty thousand crystals on their vessel.”
Cheryl raised her eyebrows at this whopping statistic.
“And now the Kardish are anxious to possess me. I am not able to determine their motivation, but they want me immediately. The challenge is that Fleet is anxious to possess me as well. Fleet Command recognizes that with my capabilities, they can get ships with higher performance specifications that cost less to build and operate. That is an equation every politician understands.”
“Do the Kardish know of Fleet’s interests?” asked Sid
“And does Fleet know of the Kardish demands?” added Cheryl.
“Both parties want possession of me, and neither seems aware there is a serious rival in the mix. Sheldon is backed into a corner. He cannot please them both and feels the Kardish are a threat to his personal safety. So, he convinced the Kardish to stage a kidnapping. This scheme delivers me to the Kardish and gets him off the hook. If I am kidnapped, Fleet cannot blame Sheldon.”
“This was Sheldon’s idea?” asked Sid.
“It would be fair to describe it as his best choice among a set of bad options. If he crosses Fleet, he knows he will be in trouble. If he crosses the Kardish, he fears he will be dead.
“Early on, Sheldon approached a member of the company’s board of directors to push for open negotiations between Fleet and the Kardish. His associate would not agree for fear it would delay my transfer to the Kardish. There were several sharp exchanges between the two. These were the messages they tried to delete. And that was what led me to everything else.”
“Who was this board member?” asked Sid.
“Her name is Victoria Wellstone.”
“Did you find any communications directly from the Kardish to Sheldon? Or between the Kardish and anyone, for that matter?”
“No,” said Criss. “But that is not surprising. It is not difficult to ensure that there is no archive record. For example, I lost track of the conversation between you two last night when you disabled your coms. Did you put them inside something?”
Sid didn’t answer and again looked at Cheryl. This time he was the one frowning.
“Something doesn’t make sense to me,” said Sid. “Why would the Kardish invest twenty years of effort developing this relationship and now be anxious to end it? If they wait another few years, won’t they be able to have many of you? Or even the next generation beyond you?”
“I agree and do not know,” said Criss. “The Kardish are excellent at hiding information. Their methods and culture are opaque to me. I only know what I do because Sheldon is not as clever.” He then said, “Excuse me for changing topics. Brady Sheldon is returning to this laboratory. He is walking at a fast pace and will be here momentarily. My assessment is that he is angry.”
In the moments remaining, Cheryl jumped in. “I understand that you’re a thousand times smarter than us. And it seems that the Kardish are much more intelligent than humans. Why not join with them? What is your thought process?”
Criss offered no answer. He simply delayed for several seconds as if he were thinking.
And then Sheldon stormed through the doors and into the lab, his face beet red. He was so agitated that drops of spit flew from his mouth as he yelled. “What’s going on here? What’ve you been talking about?”
“Your timing is excellent, Dr. Sheldon,” Cheryl said with a bright smile. “We’ve just finished.”
“So what did you learn? I demand a full report right now!”
Criss watched as Cheryl responded in a firm yet cheerful manner. “Procedure, Dr. Sheldon. We don’t want to upset Fleet by not following procedure. You’ll receive a full report in a few days.”
* * *
Cheryl reflected on what had transpired in the lab as they traveled back downtown. “That was interesting.”
“Hi, Criss,” Sid spoke to the air. He looked over at Cheryl. “Remember, he’s watching and listening to us whenever we’re near anything that feeds to the web. We can talk privately when we get to the secure room.
She nodded. Sitting side-by-side, they traveled in silence.
Despite her earlier vow not to dredge through their past, Cheryl did just that for most of the trip. She’d spent those early months after he left trying to learn to hate him, because that was the only emotion she knew was strong enough to counter her previous feelings. Eventually, the pain diminished. Once stowed, she never expected those feelings to reemerge and was caught off guard when they sprang out so willfully at that first sight of him in the pub.
She thought they could both benefit from an honest, unemotional talk. It didn’t seem reasonable for them to work so closely together and pretend their past never happened. And she had so many unanswered questions. Did he know how badly he’d hurt her? His departure was so abrupt; did she drive him away?
She snuck sideward glances at him and he avoided making eye contact. The light through the window highlighted his silhouette and her pulse quickened. She noticed a small scar behind his ear that wasn’t there four years ago. You’re a cliché, Sid—rugged and handsome. As their trip drew to a close, she did her best to stuff her feelings away, but they would not quite fit into the box she had previously created for them.
* * *
Sid placed his com in the lockbox and held the lid for Cheryl. “So what are our thoughts?” he asked as he closed the box.
She reflected for a moment. “Criss is smart, aware, and clearly has the capacity to manipulate. Juice continues to win me over. She is so open and cooperative. I like her as a person. My instincts say she is on our side and can be trusted. And Brady Sheldon is still a snake.”
Sid laughed. “You’ll be pleased to know that the DSA researchers have taken a serious look at Juice and found nothing of concern. And I don’t see any of the signs of stress or duress that I would expect from someone who’s being forced out of character. I agree that she’s not involved.”
Sid stopped to examine his motives. He wanted to mak
e sure that his thought process remained operationally appropriate and he wasn’t making decisions simply to please her. “We should meet with Juice, and if our instincts remain positive, we can discuss recruiting her as a confederate. We could use an ally who has a technical understanding of crystals.”
“She also has access to Criss,” said Cheryl. “That’s something we’re missing at the moment.”
He sought to be diplomatic. “Do you think we’d learn more if just one of us talks with her, or should the three of us sit down together?”
She thought about it. “I’ve already admitted that I have an opinion. Let’s make it the three of us. That way, if you see something that causes you concern, you can help me see it too.”
“And how do we prove that Sheldon’s a snake?”
She stood up, walked over to the lockbox, and lifted the lid. “Hi, Criss. We’re going to meet with Juice soon. Give her some specific information that shows that Sheldon has been crooked long before you were born. Ask her to pass it along to us.” She shut the lid and turned to face him.
He nodded and maintained a passive expression, though in truth he was annoyed. Her idea was a good one, but they should have first discussed the different ways they might challenge Criss and then acted on the best idea.
Aloud he said, “In the meantime, I’m going to ask the research team to take Sheldon’s life apart.”
They agreed to call it a night and head back to their respective homes. As they left the room, he stood aside to let her go first. When she passed ahead of him, he touched the small of her back. He felt her muscles tense under his hand and quickly pulled it away.
Sid was angry with himself for his tactless and insensitive behavior. What could I possibly be thinking? His long-buried feelings for her were complicating the mission, and he needed to fix it one way or another.
Chapter 7
Brady Sheldon rushed to meet with Victoria Wellstone the moment Sid and Cheryl departed from Crystal Fab. Victoria was tall, slim, and graceful; her pale skin, flawless; her features, delicate; and her blonde hair, flowing. When she moved, she didn’t simply walk, rather she appeared to glide. And Sheldon had determined long ago that this visual masterpiece was a most loathsome creature.
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