by mikel evins
“I didn’t know that,” said Harris. “So it doesn’t matter if Solomon can see him. Not if he’s hiding somewhere private.”
“No,” said Jaemon. “It doesn’t.”
“Actually,” I said, “Maybe we can get around the enemy’s orders.”
“Lev?” said Jaemon. “How do you figure?”
“Remember Angel of Cygnus?” I said.
“Who can forget it?” said Zang.
“Remember the funny way she would talk to us?”
“That was because her mind was broken,” said Zang.
“Partly,” I said. “Partly it was because she wasn’t allowed to tell us certain things. But she found ways to tell us without telling us.”
“Just like that car that followed us back to Kestrel,” said Jaemon, getting the idea.
“What’s this?” said Harris.
“Our car spotted somebody tailing us,” said Jaemon. “It was on our way back from the Public Archive. Our car spotted them because their car was behaving strangely.”
“What do you mean ‘strangely?’” said Spader.
“It matched our car’s movements too exactly,” I said.
“Wow,” said Spader, blinking at Harris. “That must have been stunning to see.”
“Okay, okay,” said Jaemon. “You’re right. We didn’t even notice it. But our car did.”
“Why didn’t the other car just tell you what was up?” said Harris. “I mean, if it wanted to tip you.”
I said, “Our car said the other one had most likely been ordered not to talk to us, not to tell us anything about its passengers. But something they said or did must have led the car to believe they were planning something dangerous or illegal. The car couldn’t warn us verbally, because of its orders. But it could do something subtle that would make sure it was noticed.”
“It’s called a covert channel,” Yaug said. “When your usual means of communication is cut off or forbidden, you find a different way of signaling.”
“Yes, exactly,” I said. “Whoever is manipulating Solomon can order him not to tell us where Isaac is. But they can’t order him to stop having imagination or creativity.”
“Maybe if we ask the right way—?” Jaemon said.
“Let’s talk to Solomon,” said Zang.
34.
“I’ve got a private channel,” said Erdos.
The Captain nodded. The two Lambertans floated toward my side of the table and swiveled in the air to look at Erdos. It made the room lopsided. Jaemon, Zang and I were on one side of the table with the Lambertans floating above us. Erdos was alone on the other side.
“Solomon,” said Erdos. “I have a few questions. Could you please share the answers with the people in this room?”
“Certainly,” said Solomon. His voice was deep, cultured, and calm.
“Where is Lieutenant Commander Isaac right now?”
“I cannot say, Commander.”
“You don’t know?” said Zang. “Or you know, but you can’t say?”
“I cannot say.”
Zang raised her eyebrows and nodded at Erdos. Erdos nodded back thoughtfully.
“So how do we do this?” Erdos said.
I said, “Is Lieutenant Commander Isaac aboard you, Solomon?”
“I cannot say.”
“Has he left you?”
“No.”
Erdos eyed me for a second, then said, “Is he in the northern half of you?”
“No.”
“Is he in the southern half?”
“I cannot say.”
Erdos’s expression brightened.
“I’ll be damned,” she said.
“Is that a question, Commander?” said Solomon.
Erdos laughed.
“No, Solomon. I just love you, that’s all.”
“Thank you, Commander. The feeling is mutual.”
“Let’s narrow this down, shall we?” said Erdos.
After half an hour more, we learned that Gebre Isaac was in the Biru Park district, very probably in Theodora Harken’s secret apartment, or at least in that neighborhood. Erdos ordered a squad of her Security people to surround the area and pick up Isaac.
“Don’t ask Solomon where to find him,” she told them before ending contact.
“You think that’ll work?” Jaemon said.
“Hell, no,” said Erdos. “If you’d told me not to ask Solomon for help I would have ignored you.”
“So do you think they’ll catch him?”
Erdos shrugged.
“Everybody gets a lucky break now and then.”
“So what do we do while we wait?” said Jaemon.
“Um,” said Spader, “You know where he is. You sent people to pick him up. What’s the problem?”
“We know where he is right now,” said Erdos. “It’s going to take a few minutes for my people to get there.”
“And Gebre Isaac’s no amateur,” said Zang.
“No, he isn’t,” said Erdos.
“Besides,” said Zang. “There’s the other problem.”
“What other problem?” said Spader.
Zang and Erdos stared at each other.
“We know Isaac is bent,” said Zang.
“Probably bent,” said Erdos.
“Yeah?” said Spader.
“We don’t know he’s the only one,” said Zang.
35.
“Nuts,” said Jaemon.
We were in Harken’s secret apartment. Gebre Isaac wasn’t.
He’d been there, though.
“Oh, my poor creche,” said one of the Harkens. The small wet-chemistry creche in Harken’s apartment was a sparking, oozing ruin. Gel had seeped from its remains into the carpet, staining it blue-gray.
“This is more than sabotage,” said Erdos. “It’s a message.”
“What message?” one of the Harkens gulped.
“Exactly what you think,” said Jaemon. “‘You’re next.’”
The Harkens croaked in unison. They huddled together, vivid and hyperreal in the way that only the telepresent can be. They were still back at Kestrel, joining us in the apartment by means of a Fabric channel.
Erdos shook her head.
“It doesn’t seem like Isaac,” she said.
“You got somebody else in mind for it?” said Jaemon.
She stared for a moment at the savaged creche, then shook her head again.
“I’m not letting Isaac off the hook. It’s just...this makes me wonder if there’s somebody else in it with him. Isaac’s always cool and methodical. This looks...”
“Angry,” said Zang.
“Yeah,” said Erdos. “Angry.”
I rotated my head, scanning. The apartment was small in terms of square footage but with high ceilings. The building was full of Avians and the design reflected the tenants. Windows were large but too high for the ground-bound to see out of. There was a door at ground level but it was clearly the back door, present for the convenience of flightless visitors and service people. The main entrance was a large high window.
The place was surprisingly free of clutter, with a modest collection of perches, a few display cases and none of the extravagant mess of Harken’s museum office.
Zang grimaced.
“How’d he do all this without tipping the neighbors?”
She looked over at Erdos, who was still staring at the ruined creche.
“I thought of that, too," Erdos said. "My office claims we didn’t get a call, though. The first we knew about it was when the uniforms got here a few minutes ago.”
“The walls are soundproofed,” I said.
They looked at me. Jaemon looked at the Harkens.
“Why is it soundproofed?” he said.
“You’re asking me?” said one of the Harkens.
“Most places with Avians are soundproofed,” said Erdos, dismissing the question with a wave. “I should have thought of that.”
“This place is surprisingly—” Zang stopped and eyed the Har
kens. Then she went ahead and said it: “—surprisingly tidy. If it belongs to Harken, where’s the mess?”
“In my office,” said one of the Harkens, apparently unruffled. We waited, but they didn’t say anything else. I guess they thought they’d explained it.
“So Isaac’s not there?” said Lysander Harris, flickering into view. Like the Harkens, he was telepresent, watching our progress from Kestrel. Jaemon had invited him along, but he’d declined, unwilling to strap into a walker.
“Not a trace,” said Jaemon.
I pointed at the ruined creche. “I think that counts as a trace," I said.
“Fair enough,” Jaemon. “But that's all. No Isaac. No lurking henchmen.”
He looked around the main room, leaned back to peer down a hallway, lifted his gaze and traced it around the ceiling and the windows.
“No telltale transit glyphs. No lingering holomessages. No credit chips registered to a suggestively-named dive bar or possible conspirators hovering nearby.”
“We can locate him the same way we did before,” I said.
“Sure,” said Erdos. “And he can be gone when we get there, the same way he did before.”
“So how do we catch him?” said Harris.
“Maybe we don’t,” said Jaemon, scratching his head and frowning. He shot a look at Erdos. “I know it’s a silly question, but you did message him, right?”
Erdos turned to him quizzically, then put her hands on her hips.
“I’m not a complete idiot,” she said. “Yes I messaged him. I told him we’re looking for him. I said would he please ping me as soon as possible. I told my whole goddamn staff to look for him and bring him to me when they find him. Satisfied?”
“Okay,” said Jaemon, lifting his hands. “Just thought I should ask.”
Erdos went back to studying the creche. Jaemon looked over at me. He leaned close and spoke quietly.
“I just thought of that,” he said. “Don’t tell her, okay?”
I said, “What we need is a way to ask questions of Solomon very rapidly, and on a continuing basis.”
Zang looked over at me. After a second she nodded.
She said, “I get it. Just like we found this place, but all the time. As he moves around, Solomon tracks him for us.”
“Right,” I said. “We just need a way to pass the questions and answers back and forth with Solomon quickly enough.”
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me.
“What?” I said.
“Well,” said Zang, “You’re a mech.”
I glyphed puzzlement.
“So?” I said.
“Can’t you set that up?” said Zang.
“Why does everyone assume mechs know everything about data processing?” I said.
“Okay,” said Jaemon, “Who should we talk to then?”
“Doctor Yaug,” I said.
“Yes?” said Yaug. His telepresence flickered to life.
“Got a puzzle for you, Doc,” said Jaemon.
“I heard. I’m on it.”
“I just thought of something,” said Zang, wincing.
“Spill it,” said Jaemon.
“We just planned out that whole strategy right here in this room.”
“Yeah?” said Jaemon.
“By talking to each other,” Zang said. “Out loud.”
“Yeah?” said Erdos, turning toward Zang. A second later, she said, “Oh.”
She sighed and put a hand on her face.
“What?” said Jaemon.
Erdos said, “Suppose you were a hotshot covert operative. Suppose you just vandalized somebody’s creche and fled the scene. Suppose you know the people chasing you are going to show up soon. If you had a tap on surveillance feeds that could see and hear anywhere you wanted, what would you do?”
Jaemon looked around the room, at the creche, up at the ceiling again, and then back at Erdos.
“Oops,” he said.
Zang said, “Let’s figure out where he is now, before he has a chance to screw up our brilliant new plan.”
36.
“Well, hell,” said Erdos.
We were at a South Ring transit station. Doctor Yaug had successfully created a Fabric loop that could query Solomon in the odd, indirect style that had enabled us to locate Gebre Isaac before. The queries had led us to the station. Now our tactic had stopped working.
“So what’s the problem?” Jaemon said.
Zang, Erdos, and Jaemon were on the platform with me. We had cut the feed for the Harkens. We didn’t need their input and the excitement was winding them up. The ghost of Yaug was still with us.
Yaug said, “Any time we ask for any information about Gebre Isaac, Solomon replies, ‘I am unable to offer information on that subject.’”
“So,” Zang said. “Isaac was listening.”
I said, “He probably gave Solomon a stock phrase and told him to say it any time we asked for any information about him. Maybe Solomon could encode a covert channel in some other way.”
“I’m sure he could,” Yaug said. “In the lengths of pauses between words, or in the frequency harmonics of his voice, or in any of a hundred other ways.”
“And?”
“I’m analyzing. I haven’t found anything yet.”
Jaemon shrugged.
“If we could think of it, so could Isaac. He probably told Solomon not to do any of those things.”
“Yes,” I said. “I’m sure he tried to prevent Solomon from using any of the obvious tricks.”
“‘Obvious?’” said Erdos.
“Well,” said Jaemon, “Obvious to brainiacs like Lev and Yaug, anyway. Isaac does seem to be pretty smart. But my money’s on Lev and Yaug.”
“And Solomon,” said Erdos.
“Mine too,” said Zang. “Given enough time. How much time do we have?”
Jaemon shrugged.
“Depends on what Isaac does next,” he said.
“What will he do next?” I said.
Jaemon shook his head.
“Beats me. What’s the worst thing he can do?”
Erdos frowned, then her eyes got wide.
“Shit!” she said. “Solomon, first priority.”
“Ready, Commander,” said Solomon.
“Block all transit traffic within a kilometer of Kestrel. Allow us through, and any Security units acting on my direct orders. Nobody else.”
“Effective when?” said Solomon.
“Immediately,” said Erdos. “Let’s go, people.”
She was waving hard at transit cars. One of them saw her and pulled to a stop, floating to the platform and opening its doors.
“In! In!” said Erdos, shoving at my back and Zang’s.
Zang looked grim. Jaemon was frowning. I didn’t know what Erdos was thinking, but I trusted that it was important.
“Let’s go, let’s go,” said Erdos. “Solomon, how’s that shutdown coming?”
“Clearing now, Commander. We have a few cars that are already in the blocked zone, and a few more trying to make it past the block.”
“Hold them!” said Erdos. “Get incident teams on them right now, armed for a firefight.”
Our car accelerated away from the station.
“South docks,” said Erdos. “Step on it.”
She gave the car Kestrel’s berth number.
“You got it, Commander,” said the car.
“What is it?” said Jaemon. “Zang, do you know what she’s doing?”
“You said it,” Zang said.
“What did I say?” Jaemon said.
“What’s the worst thing Isaac can do?” Zang said.
Jaemon frowned for a second. He spoke slowly.
“I guess he could kill the Harkens.”
He paused for a moment, then nodded.
“He trashed their creche. They haven't made a new scan yet. If he kills them now they’re gone for good. But they’re aboard—”
He stopped and his eyes went wide.
37.
“Kestrel,” said Jaemon, opening a channel.
“Here, Dear,” said the ship.
We were in a transit car, rushing through the tubes down the south drive spine.
“We’re on our way back to you now. We think Isaac’s going to hit you again.”
“I’m informing the Captain,” said Kestrel.
“If he shows up,” said Jaemon, “He’s there to kill the Harkens. We can’t let that happen.”
“I understand.”
“No sign of Isaac?” said Erdos. She was talking to her incident teams. “He’s got to be somewhere!”
“Easy,” said Jaemon. “Here’s the curve.”
Our commandeered transit car slid up the wall of the tube as the inertia mashed us into the seats. Zang and Erdos were sitting side-by-side, neither one noticing the other, both tapping their feet rapidly, pressing their palms against their knees, craning to peer out through the translucent fullerene canopy of the car.
Other cars pulled aside and slowed, making way for us. We whipped by them faster than normal transit velocity. The inertial gravity around the curve was brutal, crushing us deep into the seats, pulling at my companions’ faces. They squeaked and sighed as the crush slowly released them.
Then we were almost there. Kestrel’s berth was nearly in view.
“The Captain and crew are informed,” said Kestrel. “We have assigned—”
The Fabric vanished.
Lights in the transit tube dimmed. I heard a change in the quality of the ambient sounds. Something barely on the threshold of my attention disappeared, leaving an unfamiliar silence in its place.
“Uh-oh,” said the car. Its voice sounded strange, hollow.
“What?” said everyone, all at once.
“Power’s out,” said Jaemon.
“He’s ahead of us!” said Erdos.
Zang swore in tandem with her.
“Don’t worry,” said the car, “I can keep going.”
“How?” said Jaemon.
“Stored power. I’ll be slower without the trunk in the tube, and I can’t go as far, but I can get you to your berth.”
There was a bright flash down the tube somewhere ahead of us.