She filed the denial into the appropriate folder while he dug in deeper. McDonald picked up the initial request with her stylus and flung it toward the virtual trashcan in the corner of the room. Before it reached there, however, Collins whipped his arm out, caught it with his stylus, and slid it back onto his half of the screen. “This is nuts.”
McDonald looked at him in confusion. “What is?”
He gave a wild laugh and shared the information with her. “ONE R&D may be in the spotlight, but they are anything but a one-shot rinky-dink operation. They are the company responsible for testing Stephanie Morgana’s research. They are the ones fronting it all, and the ones she basically does all her research for, and they keep it securely hidden so the Federation can’t simply sneak around in their systems and pull it all out.”
Chloe slapped her hand on the desktop. “Damnit. I freaking hate politics. There is so much BS to wade through and that is what this is right now.” She eyed the wall screen belligerently. “There is a tug of war between the Federation and ONE R&D, and apparently, the company actually does have a legal right to withhold whatever research they want to. No one ever stands up to the Federation like that, but it is actually possible. Nonetheless, it is so not my lucky day to have to deal with this.”
Despite her rant, Collins was excited. His eyes glistened and his fingers sifted through the data in front of him. “See, McDonald, this is the exciting part of our job. We’re admin, so how exciting does it get? You hate anything that doesn’t scream straightforward, which is a typical Navy thought process. From what we’ve seen here, though, we both need to think outside the box if we want to keep our bosses happy.”
McDonald leaned her head back and rubbed her eyes. “I do have an open mind. Like, for example, when we wear civilian clothes on Fridays, I say nothing about your hideously outlandish checkered shirts. I say nothing about your slightly painful belt buckles. I have accepted that everyone has their own style.”
He leaned around his screen and stared at her. “I meant more along the lines of magic coming from a human being relatively new to us here, so we might want to accept that not everything will be perfectly according to regulations.”
“Oh, yeah.” She laughed sarcastically. “I totally knew what you meant. There is nothing wrong with me wanting everything to be on the straight and narrow. I want it clean, fast, and over. I don’t want subterfuge.”
Collins flipped the pages on the screen. “And that is where you and I differ. I don’t care if there are extra layers, it’s all part of the job. And to be honest, after spending three tours fighting the Dreth, being deskbound after a bullet to the thigh has sat me down pretty hard. A little excitement gets me up and going for the day.”
“Your adrenaline-junkie tendencies are not my problem,” McDonald joked. “Find your kicks somewhere else.”
She pulled up the files on ONE R&D and located the information and point of contact for the company. “It looks like I found the lady of the hour. I’ll send her a message and see what she has to offer us as far as a short chat next week goes.” Her gaze roved down the page. “Her name is Elizabeth Smith. She’s a forty-nine-year-old consultant who was hired by ONE R&D to handle all press, military, and research requests. It looks like she also handles most of their admin.”
They looked at a photograph labeled Elizabeth Smith but obviously had no idea that she wasn’t actually Ms. Elizabeth Smith. The name was merely one of Ms. E’s better aliases.
Her real name was a closely guarded secret.
The two petty officers also didn’t know that she had an AI tasked with answering all her correspondence and programmed to make her seem like an actual person. It was tricky, but it enabled Ms. E to do what she needed to do without distraction. Anyone of any importance to her knew how to actually make contact with her rather than the virtual substitute.
McDonald smiled and added the meeting to their calendar. “Road trip.”
“Oh, boy,” Collins replied. “You know how I love going out of the office to meet with some upper-level exec about information their company doesn’t want to give up. Those are such friendly meetings.”
“Cheer up.” His colleague chuckled. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and Stephanie Morgana will be there. She can show you some magic.”
“I have enough magic right here,” he scoffed and gestured at the computer. “I can do my job with it. Thank you, Meligorn. Now, I’m done.”
She shook her head. “I think it’s exciting. Weird, but exciting. Who hasn’t wished they had magical abilities like the Meligornians when they were young? Then we grow up and get all cynical and bitter, and every once in a while, someone comes around…”
Collins raised an eyebrow. “Don’t join her fan club just yet. Remember who we work for. If the Federation Navy is after her and her knowledge and she won’t give it to them, that means she is not our friend.”
Elizabeth sat in her office chair, put her black stiletto-clad feet on top of the desk, and crossed her ankles. Her pouty red lips were held in a stiff, concerned line, and her white blouse had only one button undone instead of the normal three to four. She buzzed with anxious energy, and rightfully so. There was a lot going on.
“Are you there, Burt?” she asked out loud.
“I’m here,” he replied, the speakers half-muted to keep the conversation more secure.
Of course, BURT had also put a layer of soundproofing in the walls and activated sound-canceling waves to prevent their voices escaping the room any time they spoke. Elizabeth had no idea he’d added the sound cancelation. She cracked her neck from side to side. “All right, dude. What is going on in the world of Stephanie Morgana? I know we have some tails and we have some diggers, but we knew that would come.”
“We did,” he replied. “But when I looked into what happened at the Federation Arts and Charity Gala, I was able to backtrack who was responsible for the attack on the Meligornian ambassador. And let’s simply say the Feds have issues right now with the legal side of their investigations.”
Elizabeth thought about his words for a second. “Are you saying this was a Federal inside job?”
He paused. “That is still unclear. But I have compiled a list of possible motives and opportunities for someone inside the Federation system to work to rid the world of the Meligornian influence. I have concluded that certain events are occurring while the Federation would rather forget about them and do nothing.”
“Can’t you simply do what you always do?” Elizabeth asked, not liking the sound of it. “Slip some documents into their system. Make them discover the shit on their own—or, at least, plant it for them to find?”
“I can’t do that this time,” BURT said with no obvious emotion, a lack which often baffled Ms. E “They have to be able to trace it back to humans—and those who are not connected with ONE R&D, of course.”
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, removed her feet from the desktop, and stood. She smoothed her skirt down, then folded her arms and paced across the floor. “So, you’re telling me the information the Federation has already found and the information that has them pushing for more was somehow mysteriously sitting out there for them to discover within two clicks of a 3D news file?”
“Well, not exactly,” BURT replied, knowing he couldn’t afford to lie to her.
She was in the know on all things bar his real identity and had to stay that way. “I did leave some digital clues to lead them to discover the information, while I bought time to get the other research documents and put them somewhere they could not access them. The last thing we need is for the Federation to get wind of the third energy or any information on how Stephanie is capable of using it.”
“I agree.” She turned toward the speaker. “That was never a question for me. What the Feds could do with that information could be devastating to Stephanie. They could use it to enact every sort of foul Federation ploy they are known for, from forcing her into one of their programs to attempting to silence her if the informat
ion offended their sensitive personality.” She resumed pacing and her hands gyrated in the air. “You never know with the Feds. They like to play games and they like to control everyone and everything.”
“Your blood pressure is rising,” BURT commented when he noticed her stats.
She cleared her throat and threw her hair back. “I’m fine. I’m simply not a big fan of the Federation if you can’t tell. I’ll definitely not sit here and hand Stephanie over to them.”
“Here is one of my concerns, and it’s my main concern at this moment,” he added and immediately caught her attention. “We have the data, but I fear it won’t be long before they find it. I also believe that the longer we wait, the more time we will give to the other side. They will find another chance to attack the ambassador or Stephanie, and let’s face it, if they target the ambassador when she isn’t with him, he probably won’t survive. He is magical, but the research shows that magic doesn’t reduce the likelihood of dying from a well-placed bullet.”
Elizabeth twisted her lips when the memory of the ambassador being wounded during the Gala attack flashed through her mind. “You’re right, so we need to keep this data safe and out of the hands of everyone involved. Which means you need to get it out of the system. I want you to give it to me and I will find a safe place for it.”
BURT was silent for a moment as he calculated the risks and compared them in the background. “That is a good idea. I will make sure you have all the files on a separate drive and completely erase them from my…from the system.”
Elizabeth nodded and rubbed her palms together. “Good. Then, when I have the data, I’ll do what I do best.”
“What is that?” he asked.
“I make problems go away,” she replied. “As if you didn’t already know that.”
Chapter Three
Stephanie stretched her arms over her head and cracked her neck as she once again adjusted to stripping down and being naked before she got into the pod.
She slid in and sighed when she immediately felt at home once again. It seemed like it had been forever since she had been in the pod, but she hadn’t even realized it until that moment because life somehow imitated Virtual Reality.
To be honest, she wasn’t even sure if life wasn’t wilder than being inside the worlds created by the machine.
Comfortably nestled into the pod, she put her head back and released a deep sigh when she was injected with the serum needed for the VR experience. BURT immediately connected with her system and checked all her vitals. The last thing he wanted was for her to not be well enough to cope with the process and to hurt herself by going back in too soon.
That was one negative thing about the machines. If you were sick, they often took more out of you than the real world. It was a human’s natural response to push back against them and not notice the toll.
As he scanned her numbers, he noticed her readings were different from any other time she had been inside.
While different, though, they weren’t bad.
It was slightly confusing as if it had actually taken the readings from someone else and not Stephanie Morgana.
BURT had never seen or heard of anything like that occurring before, and he’d found no recorded instances of it in the entire Federation system that he had easy access to. It was vital for him to dig deeper. However, since she was nowhere near the known thresholds for harm, he decided he would allow her to continue into the Virtual World.
Stephanie opened her eyes at the same moment that the first virtual image spun into being. She was in the white room, the starting point for all her pod sessions and a comfortingly familiar place.
Barefoot, she walked around it and pushed back the t-shirts for her avatar until she found one with the image of the Iron Man #1 comic on the front.
It was something Todd had said he always wanted but the last Iron Man comic had been destroyed during the uprising over twenty years before when the Federation had really taken control. With the t-shirt in place, she threw on a pair of cut-off denim shorts and gray high-top Chuck Taylors. Her hair was already braided down and to the side and hung loosely over her shoulder.
When she looked in the mirror, Stephanie barely recognized the girl who stared back. This was the girl who had started the whole thing not that long ago. She’d once been a high school student, but she’d been through so much since then.
The only evidence of those experiences, though, were the small lines at the edges of her eyes and the puffy, dark circles beneath them. She still hadn’t recovered a hundred percent, but she had reached a place leagues above where she had started after the battle at the charity event.
“Virtual session commencing.” The AI spoke and his voice echoed through the white room.
The room spun forward again, her feet still firmly planted on the floor. When it came to a stop, she looked up and around at what could almost be a psychologist’s office.
A long couch with pillows stretched along the wall opposite a single brown leather chair, and books were shelved in numerous bookcases. Everything was rich in color and reminded her of Dr. Lector’s office in the Hannibal series.
“Hello?” she called.
“Take a seat, my dear,” replied a voice from behind her.
She turned to find an older Meligornian man dressed in long deep-blue robes, his white hair held back with a white cloth headband and his eyes a shimmering purple. Stephanie went to greet him in the traditional Meligornian manner, but he shook his head. “There is no need for formalities. I am merely an avatar placed here to allow your boss, Burt, to speak to you.”
Stephanie nodded. “Hey, Burt. Long time no talk to.”
Burt smirked, put his hand out, and led her to the couch. She sat, grabbed a pillow, and held it on her lap in front of her. Uncertain whether to be nervous or simply curious, she hugged it and rested her chin on it while her eyes flickered over the room once again.
“Sooo, what’s up? Is this shrink time? You already know everything about me, including the health of my pancreas, so I’m not sure what else I can give you.”
He smiled. “This isn’t so much about me as it is about you.”
She raised her head and studied the Meligornian avatar. “Burt, are you a psych doctor in real life? You seem awfully comfortable with it.”
“No, I am something rather different in real life.” He grinned. “Why don’t we start with you telling me how you feel about everything so far. Everything from working here to the battle at the Gala and the fight with the street gang.”
Stephanie went to speak but stopped herself. “What about privacy? I know what happens in the Virtual World is basically viewable by anyone with a Federal or Government security clearance.”
“That is absolutely a concern, and something I am currently working on,” he replied. “As far as this specific instance of therapy, it will not be saved to the system. In the meantime, while I find solutions for the rest, I have created some failsafe options for myself that will stop others from prying and keep you safe.”
In reality, BURT had done the only thing he could think of.
He’d created a special holding tank that he could lock away from himself. He had decided that if he didn’t know the answer to some Federation questions, he could merely deny all knowledge. It wouldn’t be lying if he had no access to the data, even if he was the one who’d blocked the access. That had to be okay, right? He was still relatively concerned but continued anyway.
It wasn’t his fault humans hadn’t worked everything out yet.
“As far as the job, it seems great so far,” she replied. “I don’t think I’ve had enough of a chance to really dive into it yet, but it’s the best opportunity I’ve had up to now.” She paused a moment to gather her thoughts.
“The fight at the Gala was something entirely different. I will work on combat moves so I can learn to use my fists whenever I can, rather than simply blast people with magic or use it to do things I honestly think are really out of charact
er for me. Instead of killing my attackers, I want to rather disable them so I can ask questions of them later. With some added magic, of course.”
“And how about your discoveries?” Burt asked nonchalantly.
Stephanie looked around and remembered she was in the VR, not an actual room. “Uh…well, here are my thoughts. Outside of the eMU and regular MU, I believe I have identified the third type. It is something I call gMU. I can see traces of it here on Earth, in the air, and mixed with the other kinds of MU, and I assume it can be found in space. It is in such minute quantities at this point that I don’t think it's harmful, but it definitely makes me wonder where it came from and how widely it can be found.”
She paused and collected her thoughts to form a congruent and logical order. “With it, though, I do have a concern. Seeing what eMU can do, I am a little worried about what will happen to life itself if this energy—this gMU—is everywhere and everyone has access to it every day.”
“Unlimited Energy,” he mused. “If one believes that all things are energy—even solid substances—then you are one step away from creating a new universe.”
Stephanie frowned, her eyes focused on the floor as she considered this. “Right. So, wouldn’t that enable a realistic idea of snap-creation? Like the God in the stories, who brought existence into being with a single word.”
His primary system immediately shifted several different sectors of itself to ponder her question.
Normally, he would not allow this to happen, but her theory was raw enough and simple enough that he struggled to see why it couldn’t be true.
In the meantime, she rubbed her virtual palm over the sticky leather of the couch and thought about the possibilities of not only the discovery but also the implementation of gMU.
Witch Of The Federation (Federal Histories Book 2) Page 3