"Hi, cousin! Why are you calling on an encrypted channel and from an unknown number?"
"Georg, I have some very important information to tell you. The Green House intends to demand you make a report before the Emperor again."
"Again? What, was one time not enough for you guys?" I laughed.
"You don't understand, cousin. There's nothing to laugh about here. You've bruised the egos of many very influential figures, both from the Green House and other factions, and this time it will be much more serious. A whole office of lawyers is going through all the details of the great number of accusations, looking for precedents and preparing such a clever trap that even you won't be able to get out of it. You're being accused of high treason. Green House spies have found information that a Gamma Iseyek who marched in your group in the parade is an infamous and wanted terrorist, who is accused of a great many murders of Great House upper aristocrats. And they have witnesses who are prepared to swear that you were aware of that fact, but chose to have it covered up. The minimum is being charged with harboring a criminal; the maximum is high treason. And that isn't even close to everything. You're being accused of the murder of two members of the Green House. They're gathering a base of evidence and filing the motions as we speak. But the fact that you appointed a chameleon murderer as your authorized representative and head of your guard is already evidence of the fact that you approved of his actions and rewarded him with a promotion. You're being accused of ordering a double murder on Imperial upper aristocrats. That is a very serious charge, Georg. The accusers could demand your execution. But that still isn't everything!"
The girl on the screen began coughing slightly, then continued.
"The most unpleasant thing is that the head of the Orange House, who is obliged to be present at the meeting and lead your defense, has actually just made a secret agreement with our new head, Duke Amelius royl Mast ton Lavaelle, which supports the accusations made against you!"
"Are you sure of that?" I clarified, and Katerina replied with a pre-prepared confirmation:
"Yes! I swear, Georg, that it is true! I was personally there next to Duke Amelius when the call came in from the head of the Orange House, so I inadvertently heard all their agreements."
I furrowed my brow. Duke Paolo turned out to be such scum! He decided to get me out of the way with another's hands!
"Is that all or are there some other accusations?"
"There are, of course. The list of accusations itself is so long that you could read it for days on end. Inhumane treatment of captives, illegal enrichment, tax avoidance, harboring pirates and slavers, illegal production of narcotic crystals, disrupting the unity of the warp beacon transportation network... But, to be honest, most of them don't hold water and could be refuted quite easily. They were added to the list just to make it look more impressive. And then there's the unnatural, for an Imperial Crown Prince, intimate relations with an android, which they could very well prove, and that would be especially telling given that earlier you swore that it wouldn't happen in the presence of the Emperor himself."
"What nonsense is this? What relations with an android?" I chuckled, internally hoping that my laughter would come across as less artificial than it felt.
"I'm not familiar with the details of that particular accusation. All I heard was something about system logs that are periodically sent by each android model to the manufacturing company. It isn't hard to understand that, as the manufacturer belongs to the Green House, your very android is being subjected to the most in-depth observation and messages it sends are studied thoroughly. Allegedly, a message came in recently that indirectly compromises you, and the technicians are hoping to soon get more clear evidence."
"Alright, we'll deal with it. Thank you, cousin!"
I opened the opinion change menu and improved my personal opinion of Katerina ton Mesfelle right away by ten points, informing her of it. I thought that Katerina would like it; however, my cousin's reaction turned out to be totally different.
"What are you doing?" she asked, looking clearly frightened. "Don't you know that faction heads can see these personal relationship numbers? I already get the stink eye in the Green House because of my last name, Mesfelle. But for having a record like that in my standing, they could even call on me to make a report before the Duke. At the upcoming meeting with the Emperor, your mother and I are supposed to read the accusations against you, and you're spoiling my standing with these data logs... Ugh, let's hope no one noticed!"
With these words, Katerina put an idea in my head. I realized I could use this to try to lure my cousin to my side.
"Katerina, what difference does it make? You're like a naive child with all your worrying. 'Will they notice me?' Dozens of spooks listen in on every conversation between Great House upper aristocrats and report anything suspicious to their faction head. Right now as well, our conversation is being listened in on. The very fact that you called me and helped me has made you a criminal in the eyes of the Green House. I'm sure everything will be reported on in no more than five minutes to Duke Amelius."
"Are you sure of that, Georg?" True horror could be heard in my cousin's voice.
"Of course. A hundred times I've noticed that Duke Paolo knew about my confidential long-distance conversations before he should have. That is why these kinds of meetings are normally held face-to-face, without exception."
"I'm dead! What should I do, Georg?"
"The easiest option is for you to come over to the Orange House. With your last name, even that brute Duke Paolo won't be able to refuse you. And fly at a relaxed pace to either Sector Seven or Eight, no one will dare stop you. You could come to Tesse. My brother, Roben, would be happy at your arrival. If you don't want to go to Tesse, I'd be glad to see you on Unatari. I'm in great need of sensible, reliable people to manage the planet. I swear that I will provide for your safety in Unatari. No one – not the Green House, not the Orange House, not even the Emperor himself – will be able to get you here. Just make your choice soon, before your security service apprehends you."
Katerina closed her eyes, sat like that for ten seconds, let out a sigh and said decisively:
"Alright. I'll fly to you in Unatari immediately."
The call cut off, and I mentally applauded myself. Having one of the main accusers come over to the side of the accused broke down the whole picture of my guilt in the eyes of an impartial observer. Because if I'm such a malicious criminal that the Green House wants to make me answer for my crimes, then why are their people fleeing to my side?
My conscious was tormenting me slightly. I had a good relationship with my second cousin, and I was sure that she needed to be together with me. And, who knows, maybe all long-distance conversations were overheard by the omnipotent special services?
There was just one important thing left to be solved. I pressed the call button.
"Bionica, are you far?"
"I'm in Princess Likanna's room right now. I'm reading her bedtime stories. Is it urgent?"
"No, no. When you're free, come to my office on the second floor."
While my secretary was away, I turned on the news. What I saw was worrying: there had been another alien incursion, once again in Sector Fourteen. The system we had just taken back from the aliens was lost again. The Red House fleet that had been defending it was well and properly crushed. Its losses were higher than seventy ships of various classes, including the battleship Red Rage. Again, it raised the question about the loss of connection with distant systems and the necessity of forming a united fleet composed of both Red House and Imperial forces for liberating the people there.
I listened carefully to the news and began to think. I had no idea why they hadn't turned off the warp beacon in the threatened system after the first attack. They could have at least turned it into "on request" mode like mine in the Hnelle system, right?
Ten minutes later, the blond android came into my office.
"Your Highness, Princess Likanna
has fallen asleep. Did you have some questions for me?"
"Yes, there are a couple things. First, I'd like to know about the results of the second day of the pirate hunt.”
Bionica smiled:
"It couldn't be going better. Another hundred thirty criminals were arrested, a few accounts that had slipped by were brought to light, and the funds in them were frozen to the tune of almost four hundred million. Two crystal manufacturing labs were destroyed. The criminal "King" Janis the First was discovered by shell collectors on an uninhabitable island and was killed by the police detachment they called. The reward will be split up between fourteen lucky people. The last "King," Velesh the First, has only used his card once. Yesterday, he bought a bottle of soda in a minimarket in the Astorimma airport."
"When did that happen?" I wondered.
"Immediately before the start of the ceremony. Literally a couple of minutes before our liner touched down. The police have already checked the security footage and discovered a tall, light-haired woman using the card. Clearly, this pirate King has an accomplice. We are trying to identify her as we speak."
"Can you show me that footage?"
Bionica came up to the screen on the wall, called up the service menu and entered a long set of abstract symbols into the command line. I opted not to mess with the strange options she had available, which it turns out could allow her to access police files on the other hemisphere of the planet directly from this terminal. All of my attention was directed at the screen where footage from a camera in a small minimarket began rolling. I carefully looked over the visitor, who, not trying to hide at all and almost purposely flaunting herself in front of the camera, walked up to the refrigerator, chose an item and handed over the card to pay.
"That's not a woman. The movement is too angular, the shoulders are too wide. That right there is Velesh the First in makeup, a wig and a set of fake breasts!" I said, expressing my hypothesis.
"Yes, the police also came to that idea. The likelihood of them being the same is eighty-four percent."
"Nevertheless, the cheek on that guy!" I said in admiration. "He doesn't look like he's dying of thirst at all. I suspect that Velesh intentionally showed up in front of the cameras just to show everyone that he was at the ceremony too. Alright, we'll leave Velesh for later. For now, I'm more interested in your logs and how often you send them to the android service company."
"I do not do that myself. My built-in BIOS automatically sends them all data about my location and status once a day. It’s a built-in defense to prevent androids from being stolen and so competitors can't try to take an android apart for reverse engineering."
"And what information exactly is sent? I'm already none too pleased by the fact that my traveling through the galaxy is being monitored through my secretary. What else is in those logs?"
Bionica thought it over, clearly trying to find an answer to my question in some internal control and debugging programs.
"Uh oh!" the girls face grew long suddenly, while her eyes became round in horror.
And that “uh oh” was another thing that left me none too pleased...
Friends and Allies
Bionica was lying on the table with her arms stretched out along her torso. The girl was conscious, and her blue eyes were staring up at the ceiling. She was giving instructions on her disassembly to the technicians bent over her. A chameleon from the bodyguard team put down the user's manual and picked up a screwdriver. He spent a long time reading an inscription on the android's temple, then confidently pressed one of the points near Bionica's earlobes with a surprisingly long finger. The upper part of the android's skull moved smoothly to the side, revealing computer chips, little flashing bulbs and rows of large, dark blue crystals.
"The internal computer jack for equipment diagnostics is located on the right side, slightly above my ear on the inside," commented Bionica in an absolutely normal, calm tone of voice. It was as if she wasn't bothered by the fact that her head was open and its contents were available for anyone to see.
Popori de Cacha gave his subordinate a flat tablet with a thin cable coming out. The chameleon confidently stuck the plug into the jack, and some lines of text ran across the computer screen.
"Menu, subsection Guaranteed Service, pick Settings there, and in the list that comes up choose Notification Settings," said the android girl, continuing to give instructions. In the menu there, you select History and see the time and contents of all logs sent."
"There it is!" shouted Popori de Cacha contentedly after a couple of minutes. "Sixteen days ago a command came in that significantly expanded the scope of the logs. Before that, this model would report only on the technical condition of its systems, once per day. But look here, the size of the reports sharply increased, and the sending frequency also went up to four times per day."
"Can you figure out who sent that command and what was in it?" I wondered.
Popori de Cacha asked his subordinate something. He spent a long time poking around in the settings and answered evasively:
"The command came in over normal service protocol from an android service center. There is one on every more-or-less developed planet. I could try to decrypt it, but that'd take time. And we probably wouldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. The service center simply changed the settings of the service reports and the reporting frequency. Since then, the android has been sending its coordinates, reporting on highly complex decisions made by its artificial intelligence, which approach the limits of what its programming is capable of, and also about the use of the model's expanded set of functions."
Hmm, I thought, trying to digest this information. In normal words, the spies tracking Bionica had the technical ability to understand that, yesterday night, the android thought intensively and had sex. They could even determine the coordinates of the place, but no more. It seemed like not enough to accuse precisely the owner of the android of breaking generally accepted traditions and morals. Because there could have been someone else the girl used her "expanded set of functions" with, right? And what if I had delegated my super-administrator rights to an authorized representative? It wasn't coming together somehow...
"We're missing something. My enemies are sure that they can access a fuller picture. How would that be technically possible?"
"My Prince, it seems I've found something interesting." The chameleon stopped tapping his fingers on the virtual keyboard. Both of the creature's eyes were focused on the screen. "Approximately an hour and twenty minutes ago, a command came in to provide video recordings and all full logs from internal systems for a specific period of time yesterday. From midnight to twelve forty A.M."
I estimated in my head. As it were, at that time, I was swimming with Bionica, after which I got a bit too intimate with the android in the underwater cave. If my foes see that footage, it's over... Which is why I took the chameleon's next words as a gift from the heavens:
"The incoming command was declined by the android's system, because it contradicted another earlier order coming directly from the owner of the model. This plotter simply didn't have enough rights to carry out their mission."
"The Prince's order was clear," Bionica turned on the recording, and I heard my voice from the side. "You must never tell anyone else about it under any circumstances. That is an order." "To get the requested information, special rights were needed, which, at that time, the plotter did not have. However, my Prince, if the command really were to come in from an android service center, then next time your enemies could simply raise their privileges to service level and get around your order."
"Turn her off immediately!" I demanded.
Bionica did not resist, instead simply observing in resignation as Popori de Cacha pressed the hidden buttons near her collarbone with his fingers. The girl's eyes closed, and the little bulbs in her electronic brain went out.
"What shall we do, my Prince? The robot has become dangerous, and for your safety it must be disassembled and the memory ba
nks destroyed.”
I stood near the window in thought, looking out into the night sky. The risk of the information in Bionica's memory leaking was very great, and the consequences would be extremely unpleasant for me. But nevertheless, I was in no rush to agree to the leader of my guard's suggestion.
"Look, we'll leave destroying Bionica as a last resort. She has become my friend, and I do not abandon my friends, as you yourself well know. For now, let's try a different approach. The fact that agents of the Green House are living and working worry-free on my own planet is in no way amenable to me. Find out where the company's android service office is, and order everyone there arrested in my name – no exceptions. Let them be brought immediately to me on the island. On your way, you can even bruise them up and scare them. I need to make use of my fearsome reputation!"
I chuckled, and Popori de Cacha made a fairly good imitation of my smirk with his huge lips and rows of tiny, sharp teeth.
* * *
They were delivered at two in the morning. By that time, I was actually starting to nod off, which is why, when the reasons I was forced to stay up arrived, I received them with such a dissatisfied grin on my face that even the imperturbable Phobos and Deimos flinched involuntarily.
"There were three total employees of the Bioengineering Corporation, which services humanoid robots on Unatari," reported Popori de Cacha.
I walked up closer and looked over the arrestees. Hmm. Who do we have here? The company director was a tall, older man with a big forehead and a bald head that shone back at me in the lamp light. The technical specialist was a young man who looked athletic and had dark curly hair – probably a favorite with the women. And the android programmer had humanness settings set so low that even an unobservant person would never confuse it with a living human. The people were clearly in a frightened state and were totally silent, afraid of raising their eyes to me again. The android looked absolutely unshakable though, as if what was happening had nothing to do with it whatsoever.
Sector Eight (Perimeter Defense: Book #1) Page 27