Bob looked doubtful. "Is it right to trap them there, a whole population?"
Brian was incredulous."Geez man, they're aiming to wipe out your kind and steal your whole planet!"
Regan nodded agreement. "Bob, they won't be trapped; this is their home planet after all. We can maintain diplomatic relations with them as they continue to develop so we won't be leaving them in solitary." Regan thought for a moment. "Maybe we can establish trade with them as we repopulate, break down barriers that way and hopefully in time we will win the younger generation over."
Bob still looked doubtful but nevertheless nodded assent.
By unspoken agreement the group began to pack up. Most of the troops were already dressed for a flight deck run and Regan quietly marveled at their discipline. Even though there were no doubt long periods between actions this group would always be ready she knew. She watched them as they walked away to join the others on the deck and then turning back she was surprised to see Bob and Ham with hands clasped like friends. They exchanged a few words and then Bob too departed.
"Well Ham my man, we need to make that jump to Gliese now, your job will be to find out what the plans are for Aaron and I will try to glean what I can from Reubus."
"Regan, you can be such a controller you know, I hardly need reminding."
She turned to engage him thinking about the earlier discussion with Hilary, help is the sunny side of control she had said. She decided to leave her thoughts for now and concentrate on the job in hand.
"Hilary, if you could please pop me down to the STEIN transfer chair we will be underway."
A slight shimmer appeared to surround her, and she disappeared.
* * *
Resting back in the transfer chair Regan surrendered to the sense of Ham joining with her and packing down for the jump. She closed her eyes, readying and enjoyed the feeling as the chair began to massage her body; it felt good.
Something niggled at her mind and she chose to delay, enjoying the massage a little longer while she followed the thought and considered what she might do about it. She decided to act, and separating a part of herself began to reach out with her cyber mind. It took only a few seconds to locate and summon a small servitor from the medlab; one with arms. A few seconds more and she had it trundling up the corridor using all her abilities to carefully screen the actions from Ham. Soon it was sliding through the door to the cabin she had monitored earlier. With another command the partition screening the little vacuum servitor opened wide and she nudged the med machine forward to grasp at the edge of the paper she could see just poking out from under it. Operating through the servitor she tugged at it gently and the paper began to tear.
Hmm, what to do?
Reflecting on the process she used to capture the ball earlier she decided on the same approach. Producing the rocking motion she had used to trap the paper ball she now worked both machines in synch, timing the rock of one to match the tug of the other, waiting for the perfect moment of rocking lift . . . and then - yessss - the paper ball slid out on the floor in front of her. Carefully now, using the servitor arms to unwrap the ball she opened it and spread the crumpled paper out on the floor. Then, rolling the little machine back she zoomed in from the ceiling, drawn by the beautiful writing, almost artistic in its look. She could see it was a poem, and as she read a small tear welled from her right eye before trickling down her cheek . . .
I ache
Sweet pain possessed
By hopes and dreams so real
Yet fragile
Held in loving arms
An anxious grip
Uncertain hold
I ache
Sweet love and promise
Possibilities
Yet there they hang
Suspended from my reach
Beyond my hands
With heart dread cold
I ache
For what could be
Despite the pain
All hurts and sorrow
A graft inspired
A planting in fresh soil
With fruit of gold
I ache
For you
Sweet love
My match
My joy
My heart's desire
Oh darling to be bold
Regan lay in the chair a moment longer, with her breath coming in short gasps, and a very personal ache gripping her chest. She tried to frame words, to capture her thoughts, at first with nothing coming, and then . . . "Oh Ham, what are you up to?" And she jumped for Gliese.
* * *
The Fair Passage
Charlotte slouched in her comfortable armchair, tired from the long explanation she had just given Jared on the progress to date. At first she had felt uncomfortable explaining things to him; will he be bored - he's not more than a child after all? How is this going to work? But quickly it became apparent the boy was totally, eerily focused. Questions he asked were intelligent and insightful, helpful even, and already they had whittled down the visuals they would review, still not with any guarantee of success but certainly with a much more likely chance of uncovering something she was sure.
Considering how unusual the boy was she found herself reflecting back on the moment Jared had arrived and an unusual discussion with Lucas. It had been somewhat unsettling . . .
She had wanted a private discussion and lifted one hand to Jared, indicating for him to wait a moment while she spoke to Lucas.
"Lucas - Jared and I would like privacy for our meeting please, and I mean complete privacy. Can you seal the room and not monitor us in any form. We will alert you when we leave the room later."
"It is done."
There was silence for a moment as Charlotte considered how she could possibly know Lucas had complied, and then Hilary had whispered in her ear. "He's still monitoring."
"Lucas you are still monitoring us, stop it."
They waited a few minutes longer. "He's still there, Charlie."
"Lucas - dammit - I know you're still there!"
The sound of Lucas sighing was almost comical. "How can you possibly know? That's ridiculous . . . look, I can't just switch off like that, on this ship I am everywhere, all knowing; I am omniscient and omnipresent, it's just not possible."
"Well, you certainly found it possible when Tyrian Juno was killed, or are you now saying you're simply hiding something?"
"That's unfair, you know I . . ."
"Lucas?" Jared's voice interrupted, it was clear and commanding.
"Yes, Jared Stein."
"You can - how shall we say it - sense something about me, can't you?"
"Yes."
"I thought so - and that is because I am . . . special."
"You shouldn't be here."
"Of course I should be here Lucas; I am Jared Stein, son of the charterer of this vessel. If my mother chooses for me to be here, I can be here."
"No - I mean you . . ."
"There is no one else here." Jared interrupted him.
"There - is - no one - else - here." Lucas repeated.
"Correct, and I will be able to tell if you are still monitoring because I am special."
"You are special." Lucas's voice now sounded dull, drugged even.
Charlotte had followed this exchange with eyes wide, having the sense that something else was happening in the background. Finally, it was Jared who spoke.
"Okay, the room is now sealed."
He had said it with finality, she remembered, quite definite.
"How do you know?" She had asked.
"Because I have sealed it, even Lucas doesn't know we are here now."
"But . . . how?"
He turned and disarmed her again with that broad smile, "Because I am special."
"Told you Charlie." Hilary had laughed in the background.
Now, having delivered to Jared the full story and her suspicions about a cyber stowaway, the boy looked thoughtful, sitting forward in his chair with fingers steepled in front of his f
ace, his lips pursed against them and humming quietly. How very Regan like, she thought.
"There is one flaw in your cunning deduction, Commander."
"Call me Charlie, Jared, everyone does - except Lucas." She glanced skyward with a wry grin. "So what is the flaw?"
"There is no other Mind active in this ship system; I know that for certain, I've searched it."
"Don't bother asking how, dear." Hilary cautioned, and indeed, she didn't bother.
Charlotte slumped down in disappointment; she had been so sure it was another Mind and Jared saw her look.
"But Charlie, listen, that doesn't mean there hasn't been a presence in the system, nor does it mean the presence, whatever or whoever it is, has left entirely. Let's work our way through those visuals we discussed."
"Yes, yes, of course, and Hilary," Charlotte relaxed now, looking skyward as she spoke openly, "there is no point in remaining hidden anymore, not with Jared, is there any way you can communicate freely with us both?"
"Err . . . yes, sorry Charlie, but I have already been communicating with Jared from the first moment the room was sealed, it's a sub communication thing. From now on I'll make sure you receive the conversation too."
Charlotte shook her head in amazement, and turned back to the screen. These bloody Steins, is there anything new to discover?
For two hours they pored over the visuals on Charlotte's tablet, double time, until Jared became frustrated with the pace and the size of the visual.
"Charlie, you go and rest; leave these to me for a bit."
"Hold on Jared . . . that man, walking there away from the refuse area." She tapped the screen to point him out. "I keep being drawn to him."
"What is it about him?" Jared looked at her strangely.
"I don't know, call it intuition, he just doesn't fit, he doesn't walk the same as the others, not so relaxed, more like a manager than a worker, and he's going just that bit faster and - there's just something about him - I don't know what."
Jared leant forward to peer at the figure intently and as he did she noticed the visual slowing to normal pace without him even touching the tablet. She shuddered. Without another action or word the visual then changed to earlier in the day, and soon she could see the man there again, walking toward refuse. Jared seemed entranced, hardly blinking as he watched. Looking back at the screen she saw he had frozen the image and somehow zoomed it in. And then he was flicking back and forth between images, before and after shots coming faster and faster until all she could see was a blur that made her turn away. Suddenly he stopped, and sat back with a grim look on his face.
"The hand." Was all he said.
"I'm sorry . . . am I missing something?" She peered at the still visual on screen.
"Look at his right hand, it's clenched, and it has been since he appears back on screen walking away from the refuse section."
She looked closely and sure enough she could see the right hand was clenched in a fist.
"Now look at this." Jared switched the visual to the man walking in the other direction earlier. His arms were moving freely, the hands were open and relaxed and there was no sign of the clench. Then the visual switched again to after and zoomed in on the tight right hand fist.
"He's carrying something." Hilary's voice came as a jolt to Charlotte but not to Jared.
"I think so Hilary, something small, something he picked up from wherever he's been." He turned to Charlotte. "We need to know who that man is and whether he's still on the ship."
She considered that for a moment. "To do that we need to consult with Lucas, can we afford to do that? What do you think Hilary?"
"Jared is probably the best one to know but I don't see the harm other than possibly alerting our secret stowaway, if there is one."
"We do have a window of opportunity," Jared offered, "I am certain at the moment there is no active mind in the system other than Lucas of course, the question is, can we trust him?"
Charlotte nodded, "Yes, I think we can Jared, our experience with Lucas via that small servitor says it all. At some level Lucas knows something is wrong and it is something that is happening right under his nose. He doesn't like it, he's afraid even, and he suspects it's a very cunning powerful Mind. Hilary doesn't know of any Minds capable of doing it."
"Oh I didn't say that exactly darling, I know of one Mind that could do it."
"Hilary, it isn't Ham." Jared was quick to retort.
"If you say so sweetie, and even if it was he'd have his reasons."
"Hilary - I'll say it again, it isn't Ham." Jared's frustration with the suggestion was obvious.
"Guys, please, let's think about this." Charlotte stood and stretched. "That thing in the man's hand, if there is something in it; could it be a small processor?"
Jared peered at the visual again. "It would be a guess, but yes, of course. You're thinking it might carry the stowaway, and if it isn't currently connected to the system or active that would explain why I can't detect anything."
She turned to him suspiciously. "Jared, how is it that you can do all these things anyway? Your language is interesting; you say 'I' can't, not Hilary can't - or Ham . . . how is it exactly that you can check the system."
He smiled, "Like you, I have a processor, I . . ." and for some reason he clearly hesitated with the use of the personal pronoun and having to think before continuing. "We . . ." he thought some more finally settling on ". . . He searched the system."
"He? And who is he?" Charlotte asked.
"Mori . . . Mori searched the system."
"O . . . K." Charlotte decided to leave the matter until later as Jared seemed clearly reluctant to elaborate. Instead she returned discussion to the matter in hand. "Since you cannot detect any other presence in the system it does seem possible that the man is holding a processor with the secret passenger in residence?"
"And it is quite likely that the processor isn't connected anywhere on ship at the moment, if it remains on the ship at all." Hilary added.
Charlotte looked doubtful at that suggestion. "Oh I think it's still here, Lucas certainly suspects it and it seems quite possible he's protected himself by pushing those suspicions deep into his . . . god, can we call it his subconscious?"
Jared stood and stretched, uncurling from his hunched position where he had steeled himself for at least an hour. Suddenly he towered over Charlotte. "We need a Lucas copy to work with, a Lucas separate to the main system so that whatever alert he is afraid of triggering can't happen."
"How will we do that?" Charlotte asked.
"Jared, if we can get a processor from the STEIN, something substantial that will house the whole Lucas then we can seal this cabin and make it a war room."
He agreed. "Hilary's right Charlie, there won't be anything on this vessel that will hold a Mind like Lucas. I have an idea but I'll need to go over to the Behemoth; we could say I'm visiting mother but it will need to be soon. When do we go through the next Portal?"
"Uhh . . . Hilary, when do we go through?"
"We have time, it will be another twenty four hours. I suggest we gather back here as soon as Jared returns from . . . visiting his mother. The question still remains, how do we get Lucas to copy himself without alerting - whoever?"
Jared smirked. "Leave that to me."
* * *
Dahlia Orbital, Gliese 667C System
Regan flexed the android arms, pirouetted and moved smoothly into several yoga positions marveling at the flexibility, the strength and the overall sense of power. I'll be knocking forty soon, she reflected, damn - my body on the Behemoth can't begin to compare with this.
She glanced across at Hilary's avatar, likewise in a yoga pose. In Hilary's case it was cross legged with the white dress bunched over her knees, hands steepled over her mouth and eyes serenely closed. Somehow she managed to make the position look elegant and Regan noticed for the first time she appeared to be hovering just off the surface.
She was updating with her 'Earth' persona,
an update that Regan always carried with her just as she would carry a 'Dahlia' update back on her return. The gracious lady wouldn't be long Regan knew; an Orbital Mind of her power could absorb the latest version of her counterpart in the Earth system in a minute or so at most but she knew her AI friend would take a little longer. She liked to savor all the new experiences and as such Regan didn't interrupt, despite her own eagerness to catch up on the latest news from the Gliese system.
Ham was already off on his own mission to Fifino, she had felt his departure on arrival, only some deeply compacted backup remaining stored within her. She quite enjoyed these moments, operating on her own, although she had the sense Ham would be there in an instant should she call and not just from the backup. How, she also had no idea, or even if those hopes were true. Regan settled down to wait, mirroring Hilary's pose.
The gracious lady's hands swept slowly away from her face and out to turn palm up, and she held them as if in supplication. It was beautiful to watch.
"Well Regan," she said with a broad smile, "you never fail to bring interesting news; Jared and Mori? Now there's a twist I didn't see coming. And me teaming up with Charlie on the Fair Passage, what a lark eh - I can see fun times ahead. And I can see why you are here, so many new challenges . . . and what is up with Aaron and Moriah?" She 'tut tutted' in disappointment and shook her head sadly.
Regan nodded, "Well, you can see why I might be concerned; Moriah seems to have succumbed to the temptation of riches. Hilary, do you know anything about this Leith from Fifino? He seems a smart cookie and he could just be someone with an eye for the main chance, but I fear it's more sinister than that. I'm sure Moriah is out of her depth in all of this and that man has taken advantage. And now Aaron has been roped in with Ruben being the ace card; it's just not right."
"Hmm, and I gather Ham is already off somewhere to track down more information on Leith? I'm sorry Regan; I can't tell you any more, I have no information about him. Do you have concerns about the patent applications?"
Regan's Reach 4: Avarice Page 17