Mirage (isaac asimov's robot mystery)

by Mark W. Tiedemann

  "Why?"

  "The body was switched somewhere. If it was in the hospital itself, it gives us a place to start."

  "Makes sense. And?"

  "The hospital very helpfully connected us to the administrative records datum and Mia was able to just peruse at leisure. That ambulance had been assigned to Reed, but it was decommissioned last year. Too old to be economically upgraded."

  "Wouldn't somebody have noticed on the scene?" Derec asked.

  "Who? An ambulance specialist? No, they use the same body shells. It's all the hardware inside that gets the upgrades."

  "So, that ambulance doesn't service Reed. It could service another hospital."

  "Or small clinics. But a vehicle has a data trail that follows it everywhere, even after they're 'officially' decommissioned. No record of any upgrade, no reassignment to any other facility. The vehicle officially is no longer in service at all."

  "What about the newscams? They were at Reed when Eliton's body arrived."

  Ariel nodded. "Mia's trying to locate an available record. Two of the agencies we contacted told us that they missed the arrival of Eliton's body, that it had been delivered through a secured access and none of them knew where. The first they knew, Eliton's body was already inside Reed." Ariel looked at the passing signs, then pointed. "Here we go."

  They began making the careful transition down to the slower strips and got off at Corridor Six. Ariel headed for the nearest directory. She wanted sublevel E. The directory indicated the closest escalator and elevator.

  "You wouldn't want to hear about my morning, would you?" Derec asked, following.

  "Sure. How was your morning, Derec?"

  "I had a meeting with Ambassador Chassik."

  Ariel stopped. "Chassik? Why?"

  "He wanted to do me a favor."

  "Chassik never does favors."

  "He offered to let me analyze the Union Station RI after it's been removed."

  "Why?"

  "Don't know. I told him I'd think it over."

  Ariel and Derec continued on to the escalator. As they descended to sublevel E, she noticed how few other people seemed to be around. Most of this area contained maintenance, service, and distribution facilities and those few people present looked like I-rated laborers, dressed in plain overalls. The sound of heavy machinery gave a throbbing background groan, and the air smelled warm, metallic.

  They paused at the intersection of an alleyway and the main corridor. Ariel slipped her portable datum from inside her jacket. The map of the area on the small screen also gave their location.

  "Down there," she said, pointing across the corridor and returning the datum quickly to its pouch. She looked around, frowning. "There's something else about this area…"

  They turned down a narrow passage covered by a wide strip of dull grey material, a guide path for movers. At the end they emerged into a wide area fronting a garage entrance. Old transports lined the wall to their right, grimy vehicles long unused, their identifying markings obscured by dirt and wear. Two wide transport exits opened on either side of the apron.

  "D. C. Municipal Transport Service Terminal," Derec read the sign above the main door. "Substation Six-E-Vernon Section."

  "This is the place." Ariel looked around, frowning.

  "Now what? Are we expected?"

  "I sincerely hope not. It's just… something else about this area…" She shrugged. "We get inside and look for that ambulance."

  "How?"

  "That's what I needed you for. You're good at getting by Al systems, aren't you?"

  "I'm the designated thief? Should have brought Bogard along for this."

  "Oh, absolutely. Let's bring a robot into a worker class section. No one here would mind."

  "Bogard is stealth-capable. No one would have noticed."

  Her own anger surprised Ariel. She drew slow breaths and suppressed it. "Mia still won't release it."

  "That has to change."

  "She's afraid."

  Derec shrugged. "All right, there should be another access, for maintenance crews or supervisors or whatever." He sounded ambivalent now, his voice dull and flat. He walked away from her, skirting the edge of the broad apron. He disappeared to the left of the faзade.

  Ariel searched the geometries surrounding the garage-suspended walkways, roofs, shuttered windows, sharp shapes piled up around massive supporting beams that ex tended into the cavernous heights high overhead. Mist obscured details of the main roof, haloing the bright points of light. She saw no one, which did not reassure her. She followed after Derec.

  The gangway turned right several meters from its entrance. Ariel experienced a brief touch of claustrophobia looking up the walls that formed the narrow canyon.

  She found Derec at the top of a set of metal steps, tentatively entering data into a small panel set alongside the human-sized door. His face was blank, now, only his eyes bright with concentration. Ariel stood by the comer, a few meters away, watching, as if she could do anything if they were caught.

  Derec grunted, then slid something into the reader at the base of the pad. He entered a few more commands and the door slid open with a grinding sound that made Ariel's nerves dance.

  "I don't think it gets much use," Derec said, retrieving a wafer-thin square.

  Ariel hurried up the steps and they ducked inside. Derec stabbed at a panel below a dull red light and the door closed.

  Except for the red lamp, the place was dark.

  "Great," Derec said. "It's an automated garage."

  "There has to be an office or a service station. "

  "Mmm. Maybe. Or it could be-wait."

  Ariel heard him pat the wall as he moved away from her. Then a sharp click and suddenly a wan yellowish light filled the immediate area. He stood by another panel filled with switches. A walkway ran directly along the side of the wall. Outside that, the garage itself remained lightless.

  At the far end they came to a row of cubicles, each containing a desk and datum terminal. The dust on the transparent walls obscured detail within. Derec ran his finger down it, leaving a clear trail.

  "You're sure this is the one?" Derec asked, brushing his fingers on his pants.

  "No. This is only the last known address."

  Derec walked slowly along the row, then stopped. "Ariel."

  The cubicle wall showed trailing handprints near its door. The desk and terminal inside had been dusted off and there were clear footprints on the dark tile floor.

  "Could have been the regular staff," Ariel suggested.

  "I doubt it. If there was a regular staff, it would be cleaner." He entered the cubicle and stepped up to the desk, then sat down and switched on the terminal. "What's the ID number on the ambulance?"

  Ariel brought out her datum. "Here." She showed it to him.

  Derec entered the code and sat back, absently tapping his chin with a forefinger.

  "Decommissioned thirteen months ago," he read from the screen. "It gives overhaul estimates, then lists component values for recycling it as parts… and a secondary market value for direct resale… a bid was made on it eleven months ago."

  "Someone bought it?"

  "It doesn't say. Just that a bid was made. It only gives an auction number." He frowned. "No further updates of any kind. It evidently was sold."

  "Is it here?"

  "It doesn't say that, either, but it does give a bin number on the original entry. I suppose we could just go look."

  "Let's."

  Derec entered a few more commands, then took the flimsy sheet that extruded from the printer. He closed the terminal down and stood.

  "Level Four, Row F, Bin Twenty-Eight."

  "What about lights?"

  Derec opened each drawer in the desk, then went to the cabinet near the door. "Ah," he said as he straightened, holding a flashlight.

  Their footsteps echoed loudly, mingling with the stray, obscure sounds of the garage. In the near total darknessbroken by constellations of readylights h
ere and there and the circle of their flashlight pushing before them -the noises made the space seem vast and complex. Ariel walked alongside Derec, trying to control her reflexive jitters at every click and whir and drip. It was not fear so much as a formless unease at not knowing where she was or what it looked like.

  They came to a stairwell. A fading LEVEL TWO glowed bright yellow in the halogen glare. Derec started up the steps.

  They emerged from the stairs adjacent to Row B. Vehicles occupied stalls. Cables and tubes connected each one to a diagnostic unit, but those they looked at showed their units all on stand-by. The machines appeared untended, the vehicles dirty, many in various stages of disassembly, and even that process seemed abandoned.

  Row F, Bin Twenty-Eight, was different.

  The diagnostic equipment was old but not neglected. Only the standby light glowed, but in the wash of the flashlight Ariel saw clearly that the control panel was clean. The ambulance itself shone neatly, grimeless and intact.

  "Well, well," Derec said and stepped into the stall. Overhead a worklamp came on. Derec, frowning, switched off the flashlight. "We better not stay long. What do you need?"

  "Its log." Ariel handed over her datum. "Do you know how?"

  Derec took the datum and opened the rear door of the vehicle, looking up at the silence.

  "Either it's not alarmed or-"

  "We'll have visitors soon," Ariel finished.

  Derec climbed into the ambulance. Ariel peered into the darkness, listening. The glow from the stall's worklight cast marginal illumination across to the opposite row. It seemed less a garage than a necropolis, the broken shapes hunkering together in sepulchral consolation.

  A thud came from behind her. "Ow!"

  "Are you all right?"

  "Fine," Derec called from within. "Be done in a minute."

  Ariel stepped away from the stall. The various noises of the place seemed less sinister now. It was only an old, near-forgotten storage facility. She wondered how many of them were strewn throughout the fabric of Earth, niches wherein Terrans stuffed all the things they thought they might need again someday and then forgot they ever had them in the first place. Layers upon layers of urban complex, down she did not know how many levels, and at the very bottom, just before primal earth, actual soil, there must be an entire layer of nothing but storage lockers, garages, closets, stalls, bins, dumps, and depositories, filled with a history of experiment and expedience

  She started at a new sound. Not a click or a whir, but a faint grinding, like something rolling across broken pavement. She took another step away from the light behind her, careful and silent, listening. The grinding stopped.

  The skin up the backs of her arms rippled with chill. She felt watched now and stared into the murk, searching for eyes.

  Something moved to her left and she jerked to the right, heart racing. Ariel backed into the stall and went to the rear of the ambulance.

  "Derec," she said.

  "Done." Derec climbed out and shut the doors. "Clean. Like just recently."

  "Time to leave."

  He handed back the datum and went to the end of the stall. He stood quietly and listened, then gestured for her to follow. He sprinted across the driveway and entered three more stalls at random. Two of them lit up with worklights. He returned to this side and did the same to another three. One lit up.

  The sound started again, louder and clearer. Treads.

  "Probably an automated inspection unit," Derec said. "We triggered an internal security program, that's all."

  At the landing, she stopped. From below came the faint echo of voices.

  "Damn," she hissed.

  "Where?" he asked.

  "Up."

  They moved up the stairs as quickly as they could and came out on Level Six.

  The tread noise grew stronger. Ahead, Ariel thought she saw a reflection, dull red, and guessed it might be the source of the sound.

  They descended one level and sprinted along the dark stalls. Another machine-sound started toward them and they scurried into one of the stalls. The worklight above did not wink on and they hunched behind a mass that once may have been a functioning vehicle.

  Beyond, a large shape, its general dimensions outlined by small amber, red, and blue lights, rumbled past the stall. Derec took her hand and drew her out. They watched the drone roll around the intersection by the stairwell and disappear. Quietly, they walked after it.

  Suddenly everything was still. All the drones had stopped, apparently, their inspection done. Distantly, Ariel heard two sets of footsteps echoing.

  She heard two people descending the metal steps. Below.

  When it was silent, she tapped his shoulder and they continued up.

  At Level Eight the stairs ended.

  Derec shined his light. Most of the stalls here were empty. At the far end of the row was a bulky door.

  Ariel stopped halfway. "Derec?"

  "What?" He returned and shined his light into the stall.

  Packing crates, about forty centimeters on a side, filled the space. They had a familiar look, and Ariel knelt down by the nearest and lifted it.

  "About six or seven kilograms," she estimated. She turned it over, but there were no markings on its dull grey surface.

  "Hey," Derec said. He aimed the light into the next stall. More crates. Two more stalls were filled with them.

  A distant hissing began and Ariel snapped to her feet.

  "We need to go now," Derec said and hurried to the door. He studied the panel for a few seconds, then produced his wafer again. A minute later, the door lurched open and they stepped outside.

  Ahead stretched a narrow corridor between two other structures.

  The gangway deadended at a wall supporting a ladder that stretched up about fifteen meters. Debris gathered at the corners: grime-packed paper, indeterminate plastic shapes, accrued matter that crunched underfoot.

  Ariel handed him the crate and went up first. At the top, her arms burned slightly from the exertion. She climbed onto the roof and looked down at Derec. He climbed one-handed, the crate tucked under his other arm. His breathing came heavy, too, and he gave a loud "Hoot" when he reached the top.

  Sitting on the rooftop, Ariel looked up at the ceiling of D. C. high above, almost lost in a tangle of struts, roadways, and the reaching towers of surrounding buildings. One structure was being taken down or repaired, its skin tom aside to reveal the skeleton beneath. This was an old section of the city and it struck Ariel how empty it suddenly appeared to be. From here they saw and heard no one but the distant background hum of thousands of machines.

  Her pulse raced. "Now where?"

  Derec looked around. "Let's see your map."

  She handed him the datum with the grid pulled up on the screen.

  "Well… if we keep going south we should come to an elevated strip."

  "Which way is south?" she asked.

  Derec pointed past her. She turned to look and saw a low wall, and beyond that, the cubes and polyhedrons of industrial structures. They had more climbing to do.

  "Let me see that." She looked at the map. The area still struck her as familiar, but she still could not see why. "Great," she said. "So who do you think that was?"

  "Maybe there was a security guard on the premises after all?"

  "Took long enough to come look for us."

  Derec looked back the way they had come. "This was awfully easy. You'd have thought they'd change the ID codes for the ambulance."

  "Who would think to look for it?"

  "Maybe. They seem to be pretty open so far."

  "Really? Then why try to kill Mia? For that matter, why put a fake body in the morgue?" Ariel asked.

  "Two fake bodies, if what you told me is true." He shook his head again. "And that doesn't make a lot of sense. They shot Eliton once at Union Station and then twice more afterward? Why?"

  "Maybe the replacement body didn't want to die. "

  "The second body… reconstruc
tive surgery or a clone?"

  "Either way. The same ambulance that picked him up did not deliver him to Reed."

  "Seems less a cover-up than a confusion. Which might work even better." Derec hefted the crate. "These probably won't be there for long, whatever they are. As for the ambulance, after a point they probably just don't care what anyone finds out. The cover-up is only short-term. The question remains, how much is being covered up and from who? Is it all Special Service or just the two agents that assumed control of the investigation? Who do we ask without alerting Cupra and Gambel-"

  "They'd never manage it," Ariel said. "Besides, could two agents on their own bar you from working on the RI?"

  "I wouldn't have thought so." Derec stood. "And how far is it really to the next strip?"

  Ariel sighed and opened her datum. After studying it a few moments, she also got to her feet, pointed, and began walking.

  Nineteen

  Mia forced herself to walk across the apartment again, her right leg aching in protest, pain stabbing up to her hip with each step. Sweat pooled at the base of her spine and around her neck.

  "Please refrain from further exercise, Ms. Daventri," R. Jennie asked her again. "You are clearly in distress. It is my duty-"

  "I understand your duty, Jennie," Mia said through clenched teeth. The wall was only a couple of meters away now. Then she had to turn around and make it back to the sofa. "I have to do this to build strength and recover. If I don't, I will be confined to the sofa or bed longer than necessary."

  "You could also cause further injury to yourself and extend that period of confinement."

  Mia came up against the wall and paused, breathing hard. "Are you medically qualified to diagnose, Jennie?"

  "I am certified for nursing and emergency medical administration."

  "But…?"

  "I do not have the same qualifications as a medical specialist."

  Mia turned and let her back rest against the wall. The sofa was maybe four meters away. "Then kindly let me decide for myself how much I can manage."

  R. Jennie stood near the hallway that led to the bedrooms, motionless, arms at its sides, and yet somehow managed to convey doting concern. It looked briefly at Bogard standing near the apartment entrance, as if looking for support from a fellow robot. But R. Jennie had already tried to enlist Bogard's aid in making Mia see reason and had been rebuffed. Bogard understood what Mia was doing; if it disapproved it kept that opinion to itself.