The thief, p.10
The Thief, page 10
Eren glanced over at the guard who stood by the door and found the man staring off into the distance, his attention directed as far away from the display screen as possible. He wasn’t certain if the man was here to keep an eye on him, or if someone always stood guard over the hardware.
“And no one has been able to capture a sample of the smoke or any particles it contains?”
‘Negative,’ SIMON replied.
SIMON was an acronym that, in the Hesgyr language, stood for High-Processing Something Machine Something. It was housed in an ungainly rack of server hardware spanning the rear of the room. There was an interface board and an I/O box off to one side, but thus far it was happy to respond to voice interaction. As SAIs went, it was unremarkable. No personality to speak of, zero creativity and an utter lack of a sense of humor. Disappointing, to say the least.
“Not even in the…remains?”
‘Negative. The working theory posits that whatever disintegrates the bodily tissue dissolves in the process of performing its work.’
“A shame.” The only concrete evidence investigators had to evaluate was the physical state of the victims in the aftermath of the incursion. Having stood witness to their state, he wasn’t optimistic it would provide the answers they sought.
“Okay, let me see the list of locations that have been hit.”
The screen lit up in two columns of data. The sites spanned the gamut from sporting events to mining facilities, office buildings to military bases to housing complexes. The one thing they all had in common was the fact they were packed with people at the time of the attack. Targeted for maximum bloodshed.
The Confab insisted no pattern could be discerned, with one exception. While the path meandered across galactic arms, enough data points existed to paint a clear picture: the enemy was charting a course for Nythir.
“Thank you, SIMON. Now it’s time to talk about who might be behind these attacks. Can you display the location of every site where gaffaelers have, uh, ‘appropriated’ items?”
‘Time frame?’
“Since the beginning.”
It being a humorless, shackled SAI, it didn’t gasp or protest or chortle in disbelief at the request. ‘A moment.’
A holographic map of the Leo Supercluster projected out from the screen to take up most of SIMON’s room. Concord scientists hadn’t mapped how many galaxies Leo held, but it was certainly thousands. A sea of red dots speckled the map so thoroughly that at times, they blurred together to create solid blobs.
Eren whistled in appreciation; he’d remember to be offended at the scale of the Hesgyr’s thievery later. Then he snapped a visual with his ocular implant, thereby saving Concord countless years of effort in its exploration endeavors. Now they knew where to look for advanced civilizations in this corner of the universe. If he could pull off a way to copy the details on those civilizations, he’d be a star back home. He’d noodle over some ideas on making it happen later. “What’s the total number of sites?”
‘2,463,281.’
“All right.” He rubbed his hands together, blood pumping at the start of a new puzzle to unravel. “Go ahead and limit the map to jobs in the last hundred thousand years. I can’t imagine that even the most aggrieved civilization can maintain a grudge for over a hundred millennia.”
Noticeably more than ninety percent of the dots vanished. The Hesgyr could say appropriation was a way of life for them, but the simple truth was, they didn’t need new tech so much any longer. Also, most of the remaining dots were located in the far reaches of Leo, forming an uneven ring with Nythir roughly at its center. They’d stripped the local galaxies bare long ago. “Number?”
‘68,066.’
“Better, I guess. Do you have data on the civilizations in the Leo Supercluster that were wiped out by the Rasu?”
‘After several close encounters by gaffaelers with Rasu fleets—and six deaths—we started attempting to monitor Rasu movements. As a matter of course, in the three years since the Rasu vanished—’
“Since we killed them all, you mean.”
‘So it’s true, then? Concord annihilated the Rasu in a single assault?’
Eren cocked his head in interest. For a second there, SIMON had sounded almost…curious. Was the cold, dumb routine merely an act? “I’m not sure ‘assault’ is the correct word. It involved primordial life forms and supradimensional waves and all sorts of fancy stuff.”
‘Fascinating.’
“Is it?” He smirked. “Have you been holding out on me, SIMON?”
‘There is nothing to hold out, Mr. Savitas. Thank you for the information. It will enhance my analytical capabilities.’
“Uh-huh.” He glanced at the guard, who was now leaning against the wall by the door, arms crossed over his chest as he stared just past Eren’s shoulder. He suspected he might have gotten a rather different response if they were alone. “Back to what you were saying?”
‘Yes. The Hesgyr have been performing a cursory sweep of the regions affected by Rasu invasions to update the databanks, so they do not waste time scheduling jobs involving species that no longer exist. The survey is not yet complete, but they have made significant progress.’
“Great. Remove any locations your people have confirmed were destroyed by the Rasu.”
A disturbing number of dots winked out. For all the voluminous destruction the enemy had inflicted in Concord and Asterion Dominion space, it had been busily doing the same or worse in every other cosmic direction.
But Concord, the Dominion and their allies had survived. What if others had as well, if solely by the good grace of lucky timing?
“Do you have any data on species that were attacked by the Rasu but not annihilated?”
‘We have identified five species that survived Rasu invasions.’
“Let me see them.”
All five were located in a tight formation of galaxies on the facing border of the Shapley Supercluster, near the edge of one of the Rasu fronts. Eren made a note to tell his friend Caleb how he’d saved far more lives than he realized when he’d helped to end the Rasu.
“Now we’re talking. Show me the job data on these five.”
On the screen, five columns populated. Each one listed the date of the appropriation, the item taken and the gaffaeler responsible.
Two of the jobs were completed some eighty thousand years ago. While he didn’t eliminate them from contention, they definitely got knocked down to the bottom of the list. A third job involved a radiation-resistant paint finisher; cultures could be persnickety about the oddest things, but he found it hard to believe anyone would wage a gruesome campaign of terror and mass murder over paint.
The last two, though? Not only had they transpired in this century, the items stolen sounded like military or defense related hardware.
He did a double take…one of the jobs was performed by Tolje.
A sickening feeling stirred in his gut. He really hoped Tolje wasn’t responsible for all this, however inadvertently or however much the man had been following orders. Because that would suck.
Eren hopped off the desk he’d been half-sitting on. “Can you send me the details on two of the species: the Phae’soon and the Goljetsu? Everything the Hesgyr know about them, as well as the specifics of the gaffaeler jobs?”
‘I will need to request approval from the Confab. If I receive it, how shall I send the information to you?’
“Right. Good question.” The Hesgyr used cybernetics and quantum communications, but they weren’t as all-in on the technology as his people were. When it came to data transfer, storage and review, they seemed to use a combination of small quantum storage devices and portable connected tablets. “Um, have one of those tablets delivered to Tolje Alainor’s residence, if you don’t mind.”
‘I will do so. Is there anything else?’
“Not right now, but I suspect I’ll be back. Pleasure talking with you, SIMON.”
‘It was…I am pleased to have been of service.’
12
* * *
With the greatest of reluctance, Eren sent a message to Nyx on his way to Tolje’s apartment, asking her to gather a set of grade IV hacking spikes, a box of protein bars and a few changes of clothes from his suite at Corradeo’s estate. Since he was asking for a favor, he didn’t even include a snide remark about how he knew she had a master key to all the rooms at the estate and so should face no difficulty invading his private space.
The Confab had gifted him a pass to take a VIP car back, but he exited the car early and took his time walking the rest of the way, ruminating over the interaction with SIMON in his mind, letting pieces fit in here and there. He focused on what he’d learned about the attacks and the gaffaelers’ history. Whether SIMON showed sparks of genuine sapience was intriguing, but he wasn’t on Nythir to free shackled SAIs.
He’d just cleared the Transition to the Rydai District when a reply from Nyx came in.
Eren,
I’m currently offworld on a mission and can’t run your errands at the moment. Also, I am not your personal assistant. Assuming you will neither starve to death nor terrorize the Hesgyr with your nudity in the next twelve hours, I will see what I can do when I return home.
—Nyx
As pleasant as always. He shot off a quick note indicating her terms were acceptable.
“I’m only saying you don’t understand the—”
“No, you don’t understand, because you never listen to me! I have told you a hundred times by now, and here I am telling you a hundred and one—”
Eren winced and tried to swiftly back out of the doorway.
“Come on in, Eren. We’re done. I don’t know why I bothered.” Banka’s voice dripped with vitriol that transcended species.
“Banka, if you—”
“Shut up, Dad.” She jerked her chin in Eren’s direction as she stormed past him and out the door.
He braced himself and stepped into the apartment, where he veered toward the kitchen to give Tolje a minute to compose himself.
He filled a glass with water and turned to find Tolje staring at the closed door. The man’s shoulders lowered fractionally, but after a few seconds he faced Eren wearing a neutral expression. “How’d the session with SIMON go?”
“Ah, good. Listen, if you want to be alone for a while, I can go wander around or….”
Tolje’s head shook. “No. Why would I?”
“Well, that looked to be a nasty argument.”
“Only because you haven’t witnessed any nasty Hesgyr arguments. That was mild, especially for Banka and me.” Tolje settled into his chair and leaned forward. “So, the session. What did you learn?”
Eren’s brow furrowed, and he hesitated for a beat before collapsing onto the couch and throwing an arm along the top. If Tolje didn’t want to bare his soul about family problems, he wasn’t going to push it. “I’ve got my eye on two species: the Phae’soon and the Goljetsu. Assuming the Confab approves my access, someone will be delivering all the files on them here soon.”
“Why those two?”
“They were both attacked by the Rasu, but not annihilated. It appears Concord ended the Rasu before they were able to finish their work.”
“And?”
“And the items your people stole from them sound like things they could have used to protect themselves from outside attack. If they weren’t able to replicate the technology before the Rasu arrived, they might view the Hesgyr as being responsible for tremendous loss of life. Plenty enough to make them spicy for revenge.”
Tolje scowled. “We rarely appropriate something irreplaceable.”
“You’ve said that before. And if it turns out to be true in these cases, I’ll keep hunting. But we should at least check.”
“Even if you’re right, how would they have found us?”
Eren drummed his fingers on the couch cushion. “Possibly the hard way—by scouring the intergalactic neighborhood. On a per-galaxy scale, space-faring civilizations are pretty rare. Or possibly…SIMON said after the Rasu were destroyed, you began a survey of mapped civilizations located near Rasu territory to see who survived. Is it possible your survey ship was detected and tracked?”
“Extremely unlikely. But seeing as how you are here, I concede not impossible. We’re very careful, though.”
“I’m sure you are. But any civilization to survive a Rasu assault will be on heightened alert for fresh intruders from the stars. You might have tripped a warning system they didn’t have in place the first time a gaffaeler visited.”
“Damn, you could be right. Depending on who ran the survey. Not all gaffaelers are created equal.”
“No doubt.” Eren tried to sound casual. “What do you know about a species called the Goljetsu?”
Tolje shrugged. “Should I know anything about them?”
“Yes. Thirty-seven years ago, you stole an ultra-high-frequency deep space telescope from them.”
“Diewl. You think I’m responsible for all this carnage?”
“No. The attackers are responsible for it. Nothing justifies this degree of bloodthirsty revenge, not even….” He let the declaration trail off. The truth was, from the point of view of the aggrieved, millions dead at the hands of the Rasu may well justify such vengeance. He didn’t have to agree with the sentiment to empathize with it. “And no one, least of all you or your superiors, could have foreseen the toll the Rasu would inflict.”
But it was a platitude. Later, once the mystery was solved and greater bloodshed averted, he’d attempt to get Tolje, if no other Hesgyr, to begin considering the consequences of his actions. But not today. “So, what do you remember about them?”
“Do you have any idea how many jobs I’ve done in the last thirty-seven years?”
“More than a hundred, less than a thousand?”
Tolje snorted. “Close enough. Where are they located?”
“Galaxy—” A chime rang, and Tolje stood and went to the door.
A male Hesgyr handed Tolje a large box. “Delivery from MEM Services, to the attention of Visitor Eren Savitas.”
Eren waved from the couch. “I’m here.”
“Mr. Alainor, if you will sign for it? When Mr. Savitas has completed his work, follow Destruction Protocol 5.”
“Understood.” Tolje pressed a thumb to a pad the courier held out, then took the box and closed the door behind him. “Seems we won’t have to rely on my faulty memory.”
“All the better.”
Tolje set the box on his desk by the door and removed two quantum storage devices. One slid into an input slot on the desktop terminal, and Tolje opened up a series of files.
The Goljetsu were…ants was the best approximation. They sported six thin legs attached to a segmented exoskeleton, mandibles at their mouths, and antennae atop their heads. Unlike ants, however, they also had two additional limbs below their heads that served as more dexterous arms, complete with rudimentary digits. They averaged 0.7 meters tall and almost two meters long.
Eren shuddered; he would not want to meet a gang of Goljetsu in a dark alley. Or any alley, street or town. “You shapeshifted into one of these creatures?”
“Duwi, no. Our morphing capabilities have their limits. My body has too much mass for one, and my skeletal structure can’t shrink enough to create such narrow limbs. But I remember these buggers now. I did steal a telescope, but it had already been launched into orbit—I stole it from space. Never had to meet a Goljetsu in person.”
“Good thing.”
“Yes.” Tolje moved on from the visuals, thankfully, and they scanned the post-Rasu report. All exocolonies and space stations had been destroyed, as well as all cities of any size on the Goljetsu homeworld. A few scattered settlements on the planet registered as active, all of them on a single sub-arctic landmass; the report speculated that the surviving inhabitants had fled to the nonoptimal climate as a last resort. No communications were detected during the surveillance scan, which suggested the settlements were not talking to one another. During the two days spent surveying the world, no travel more advanced than foot traffic was observed.
The report painted a bleak picture. “They sound rather bad off. Request another flyby to confirm their sorry state, but I’d say you’re probably off the hook.”
“Good.” Tolje nodded slowly. “Not that I’d blame myself regardless, but better to not carry the twinge of doubt.”
This, Eren understood. Guilt was a heavy burden to lug around on the soul. But while Tolje was feeling vulnerable…. “Tell me how you learned the MAST existed and where to find it.”
Tolje smiled in apparent amusement. “Not a chance.”
“Oh, fine. Let’s review the other species.”
Tolje opened the file. “The Phae'soon. Class B3 civilization by our scale. Caste-based society, not unlike the Goljetsu in this respect. Hmm…militaristic sort. Not especially expansionist, though. They seem the paranoid, prideful type—convinced the universe is out to get them.”
Eren spread his arms wide. “Then the Rasu arrived and proved them right. Tell me the specifics on what your people, ah, procured from them.”
“Looks to be a weapon. Oh, yes, the Magelo Wide-Field Disruptor. We have four of these deployed in orbit around Nythir. Supposedly they’ll disintegrate anything that makes it inside the defense perimeter without authorization. We haven’t yet needed to use one and find out.” Tolje did the thing with his mouth that passed for a frown. “But we only stole one, then studied it until we could build our own. Why would they care about one instance of a weapon they already know how to build?”
