by Tal Turing
Lynda nodded.
“He isn't important at all, when you told the Doctor that I knew the same thing was true of Darren. I won't waste even the breath to speak with him. But I will tell my story and there will be a lot of people who will not be happy. As for the child, he can have it. Or he can give it to me. But I will not share ANYTHING with that monster. Ever.
But I can't leave the Doctor entirely to you. What about his files? The contents of that box?”
“Exactly. The lab is destroyed and unless he was extremely lucky, so is the Doctor; but who knows what else remains? We have to assume he had other colleagues to continue his work, in other laboratories. But we don't even know the details of what he was doing, the Doctor's files are all that we have left. So, I would like to get them to someone I trust, someone who can determine exactly what he was doing, what he planned to do next.”
“You have someone in mind?”
“Yes, one of the Sisters in Techview. She is a professor and she has contacts both among both corpers and the villages...and of course she is one of us.”
“Normally,” Lynda began stoically, “I would insist that box stay here, but my sanctuary was abandoned and it will take a while to sort out who I can trust here. Besides you.”
Cyn looked back at her.
“Thank you.”
“But you can't be the carrier. You realize that.”
“Yes,” nodded Cynnamon.
“So we will speak with Sister Gwenyth, first thing. She'll arrange a courier and we'll put it in their hands.”
“Agreed. But, eventually they will realize we fled the laboratory. And someone will suspect that we took something with us.”
“I have a plan for that, Miss Cynnamon, but you won't like it.”
“Try me,” Cyn laughed.
Aftermaths
Search
The next day, villagers scoured the area which had previously been covered by New Humantis Dome. Much earlier, the survivors of Lab 8 had been located and safely extracted from the storm shelter beneath the collapsed hangar. At the site of what would have been Humantis House, there were plenty of bodies but no survivors, some workers had managed to escape the collapsing house and found shelter in a pit, perishing when it flooded. No other survivors were found within what used to be New Humantis Dome.
However, in the mangled woods beyond the perimeter of the dome, searchers found the cold, muddy and bruised bodies of two young women; barely alive and unresponsive.
Edwyrd
“They have identified her positively?”
“Yes, deputy. It's her but she's in a coma and they are refusing to release her to us. The other one refuses to speak with us and she is a villager so...”
“Normally,” Ed began. “they would not be able to deny us, but with the political climate the way it is and with the charges against us, the good-will of the villagers might be the only thing to save us. We can ask, but we can't force them to release her.”
“We can't even see her, remote monitoring is the best they will allow.”
“We'll see about that,” murmured Ed as he moved for the door and arranged a private hugger.
“I'm sorry, Mr. Harilla, our instructions are that she has no visitors, not even family. That applies to both victims.”
“I don't know the villager,” Ed began even though he was pretty sure she was the one who spoke on the message. “But the other is one of ours. I just want to know how she is doing.”
“She is recovering, slowly. That should be enough for you. I will let you view her remotely for a short time, it's the most we will do right now. When she recovers, she'll be returned to you.”
Ed's face remained stoic as the video feed opened and he saw the medical chamber. It was after-hours and the room was dark. The Techview asset's normally tanned skin seemed devoid of color, her head was bandaged and her face had numerous cuts.
And although he tried to resist it, he couldn't help wonder how much worse she must have looked after he had finished with her. All those years ago.
Cyn
Cynnamon returned to the Domes one week later. She sat in the transport pod of a hugger with six armored members of Transom Security.
Cyn found it less intimidating that they didn't wear their helmets. But for the most part they sat quietly, removed from her, for the duration of the trip. But as Cyn rehearsed, in her mind, the responses to the obvious questions she would be asked; she noticed that each of the guards, at one time during the trip, had looked over at her. Their glances were neither hostile nor benevolent, curious looks if anything.
When the hugger docked, she was escorted off the hugger but not into the station as she expected. Rather they escorted her the opposite way, towards a private area where a corporate vehicle was waiting. Before she boarded, however, one of the guards brushed by her, and whispered.
“That's what they get for fucking with us.”
She considered the comment. From Lynda's message, it would be clear that Humantis had been conspiring against its big brother but Cyn was not sure the fact would be revealed. It seemed that it had. But there would be other ways to look at the events at Lab 8. It was unlikely that Transom would come out of this well.
Soon she was back in Transom House, brought in through a private entrance and down a series of hallways which, she knew, led to the executive wing. She hoped she was not being taken to Barrett. Perhaps she was being granted an audience with Patron?
She was deposited in a luxurious suite, similar to the one Tym Matheson had occupied. The guards wasted no time in leaving her, but as the door closed behind, and Cynnamon was in the middle of wondering why they would bring her here, it was then that she realized she was not alone. Sitting comfortably in an overstuffed chair was a monster of a man with long blonde hair. She slowed to a stop and looked at him.
“Nice place, huh?” he smiled waving her to sit.
She looked around the room as she eased into a chair. She nodded a response.
“Do you know what this room is?”
Her mind froze. Did they know that Tym had harbored her? But this was not that room and neither had he asked that question. She shook her head, honestly.
“Well, you should, because these are your new quarters. Nice huh? Room service, en-suite bathroom, a stocked kitchen and located in a nice, quiet wing on the executive floor of Transom House. I never thought I would ever see the inside of one of these places and I'll wager neither did you?”
Now she had to be careful with how she responded.
“But why would I stay here? Whose suite is this?”
He was satisfied with that response, it was the one that made the most sense. That she had been given to some executive.
“I told you. It's your quarters for the rest of your stay. As for why...well, there are reasons and then there are reasons. So who knows?”
“Why are you here?”
She might as well get that question out of the way. She dreaded his answer.
“I'm not here to question you. Quite the reverse.”
She wasn't sure if he was intentionally frustrating her or he was simply enjoying the moment. She decided to assume the latter.
“If these are my quarters, might I offer you something to drink? I would think that even executives are good hosts...” she smiled as she slipped out of the chair and walked toward the kitchen. He laughed at that.
“Thanks, yeah, some water would be great. I'm anxious to see if it tastes any better than the stuff I get at home.”
Cyn knew there would be a stocked refrigerator unit in the kitchen but naturally she shouldn't know that. So she strolled around the room, pretending she had never seen an executive suite before entering the kitchen and finding some bottles of water.
The interrogator didn't seem concerned at all and drank greedily from the bottle, ignoring the glass she had brought him.
She sat again and raised her eyebrows only slightly before taking a drink. Apparently that was enough.
; “You are wondering why I am here, rather than Patron or Harilla or Barrett. It's a good question and I don't know the answer. The best I can figure is that, right now, trust is the highest value commodity at Transom Industries and somehow my stock is higher than everyone else. It is widely believed that we have a highly placed traitor and all the executives are suspect and the Harillas as well. Technically I am under Eddie but the interrogation unit runs largely independent and I'm known to do what I want, even under intense pressure. So, here I am.”
“You said that you are not here to ask me questions.”
“I did.”
“But you also said that it is actually the 'reverse'. That's the part that confuses me.”
He finished his water and she slipped out of the chair to fetch him another. Why not? She would bring him water all day if he didn't want to speak about Lab 8 or what she had done there.
“Thank you, I could get used to this. What I mean is that if anyone is going to ask you anything, it would be me, or someone from my team, right?”
“I would think so,” Cyn nodded.
“And you would be damn right! So I am here to tell you that it won't happen, that no one will ask you shit and if anyone tells you they are from the Interview Division then they are full of shit and you aren't to speak with them. Even if they torture you,” he smiled.
“Okay. But why?”
“Listen, you are giving me too much credit. But I've seen the transmission from that place where you were held, hell, I think everyone has seen it by now. But we don't have access to any of those people who were there with you. They are either dead or protected by the villagers, people we don't want to antagonize right now. So you are hottest ticket in town and no one wants anyone else to ask you a question unless they are sure they will like your answer. Got it?”
“So I'm here to keep people from asking me questions?” Stym was already nodding. “And you don't have any for me?”
He laughed out loud.
“Oh, Miss Asset, I can assure you that I have lots of questions to ask and I am asking what and who I can. But my orders are that no one is to ask you anything, even 'how are you' is off-limits. So you will be quartered here for the rest of your stay, enjoying the good life, while the shit storm blows over and the smell dies down.”
“Then, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, why not?”
“Is this door...secure? No one can get in without...you know...without all of you knowing about it?”
“Absolutely, but that is true everywhere in Transom House. Private is private.” He looked at her with questioning eyes, sure she wanted to ask a different question.
But she didn't and she was worried. She still didn't know who or what had invaded her room on that second night in Transom house; the thought that it could find her manifested in her expression before she could stop it.
“But, there's nothing to worry about,” he assured her. ”No one even knows you are here. If you have a concern, ping my AI. Listen, only you can open the lock...or someone from security if there was good reason.”
She turned away, already dreading each coming night.
Private Meeting
The private meeting was held in virtual space: a constantly shifting stream of encrypted bits and bytes which represented the images, sounds and information exchanged. The meeting was initiated by the Top Five: SkyTran Corporation, Urbanic Inc, Daneel Tech, Providence and Halstrom.
At some point, a participation key was generated and sent to Paul Harilla, Patron of Transom Industries. His fellow Transom executives were allowed to observe only.
The next half hour was brutal for the Transom executive. Any one of the Top Five could exert significant pressure on even as large a company as Transom. Although that group had no power to create 'laws' or make rules which were binding on any other corporation, their decisions and agreements could drastically affect the profits and workings of all. An unfavorable attitude by the entire group could be the business equivalent of a death sentence; thus in many ways, their rulings were often accepted as commands.
The Matron of SkyTran was especially miffed and critical of Transom.
"I would like to see Transom fully own up to its culpability in this matter. First, you damage the relationship that we have built with our villagers since even before the first dome was built in New Berlyn. Next, as that situation deteriorated, you failed to bring in the council or even notify any member until the situation had completely exploded and the villagers had attacked a sister corporation, a younger corporation. And if that act of violence, the first in our history, did not make matters completely unsalvageable, you actually had the bravado to kidnap and detain nearly every surviving officer of Humantis Corporation while protesting that you were the wronged party; and all the time you had operatives inside Humantis.”
“They kidnapped one of our operatives, it isn't the same thing!” protested Harilla.
“Come now,” started the representative of Urbanic, “it was one of your ops team members, correct? And you want us to believe that it was an abduction rather than just the insertion of an agent? It sounds like Humantis was set up to me...”
“We have provided all of our communication keys to Daneel. They will be able to verify what we say. You've seen the messages provided by the villagers, Humantis was engaged in corporate impersonation and were intentionally implicating us...”
“We do not doubt that trickery was used...we are debating who was the ultimate source, the master manipulator. You do seem to be the party left standing while a smaller, less experienced company with one hundredth of your revenues seems to have lost their entire executive board, leaving a weakened company whose new technologies you have claims on. It all seems very convenient for you...”
Patron stared at the SkyTran Matron and tried to keep from yelling.
"I have explained and we have documented.."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Harilla," interjected the Patron of Urbanic Corp. "we have heard your statements and have seen the witness testimony and the available documentation. From this point forward, discussion will be limited to the Top Five. We will adjourn and reconvene this afternoon."
And in case Patron didn't understand, his audio input was terminated. He turned and looked at his fellow Transom executives who themselves looked grim. Only Steve, who was not an executive, seemed to be relatively unconcerned.
Miriam
When Miriam regained consciousness for the first time in days, she was treated to a wonderful sense of quiet and calm. In truth, she might have opened her eyes even an hour earlier except the sensation was so wonderful. It was as if she were sleeping in a hammock in the middle of a still forest with a single beam of light shining on her body, keeping her warm. Gone was the buzz in her mind, the pounding in her ears, the racing heart beat, the maddening quivering of her eyes and, best of all, the Bugs were inactive,silent.
When her eyes opened, she saw several people in the room, and beautiful flowers on a nearby table, her favorite colors, that meant her Uncle was involved. It was just like the good old days, before all of this.
Miriam did not want to speak or even think, wherever the Bugs were, she didn't want their attention. Strange, it was hard to remember a time when they weren't with her. Almost.
One of the people in the room was her Uncle Ryk, his back was turned but she heard his voice now and recognized it immediately. She smiled mischievously. She thought to slip out of her bed, tip-toe gracefully across the floor and give him the surprise of his life. He hated when she startled him but she was so good at it! She started to rise and suddenly her limbs were tired and sore. She faltered and slumped back to the bed.
At that moment, Ann noticed her and looked alarmed.
“Hi Ann,” she smiled weakly, disappointed that her plan was so easily foiled. “You sure are hanging around my Uncle a lot. Anything you want to tell me?”
“Miri? Sweetie?!” the tall man turned to her, surprise and delight on his face. Ann, on the
other hand, seemed worried.
“Hi Uncle,” her smile broadened. “You brought me flowers. I love them.”
He rushed to her, his arms gently embracing, careful not to squeeze her too hard. She wrapped her thin arms around him and trapped him in a soft vice that held him close while she whispered. “Thanks for coming. I knew you would.” She held him longer, pressing the point home before releasing him and discovering the smooth, black, glossy patches on her arms.
“Ewww, what is this on my skin?!” Miriam exclaimed.
“How much do you remember?” Ann began softly.
“I don't remember my lovely skin turning black! Dynamic skin coloring is like the ONLY body enhancement I didn't get!”
“Your skin was all black when they found you and your hair was white,” Uncle Ryk offered.
Several thoughts went through Miriam's mind as she made superficial remarks about her appearance. She realized that they were alone in the room and the door was closed, strange for a hospital room. And the room did not look official, it was a storage room converted for the purpose. She also realized that Ann was wearing one of Ryk's shirts. There would be time to tease them both about that. But first she needed to remember what had happened.
She did remember something. The Gala, where she had had the most incredible headache and nausea caused by the irate and vile things that lived within her. Vile. There, she said it. She intentionally baited them and didn't care, but they didn't respond. In the end she had trouble seeing, and certainly lost control of her body enhancements, that explained the white hair.
She shivered as she remembered more. That asshole Steve had done something to her, had touched her, had stuck her with a needle, told her she wasn't needed further. Her temper flared, he had tried to kill her. Her last thoughts had been of her child. She had been a sitting duck, unable to protect herself or him and it was all their fault. Where were they?