Axis crossing, p.7
Axis Crossing, page 7
“That’s done deliberately,” Escher said.
The pair watched virtual Ceda seek out security’s comtech servers. Then she used various applications to test the entry points.
“Oops,” Escher commented. “Someone walked away from a workstation without shutting down external access, and now Ceda has them.”
“Clever woman, your Ceda,” Bot-boy said excitedly. In his mind, he visualized a real woman doing Escher’s bidding.
“Is that your application there?” Bot-boy asked, pointing at lines of code on the display.
“Yes, my search algorithm is now resident on the security workstation,” Escher explained.
The display’s view split. On the left side, virtual Ceda displayed the best views of the couple, whose images Ceda had captured. On the right side, a whirl of faces flashed past.
“She’s fast,” Bot-boy remarked in awe.
“Bot-boy, remember that this is just a machine,” Escher counseled. “It’s executing my programming. There’s no woman in there.”
“I know,” Bot-boy replied quietly.
Escher felt sorry for Bot-boy. His world was severely diminished. Having been given the opportunity to emotionally expand it, Escher had curtailed the impulse. In that moment, Escher realized he was going to do whatever he could to help Jasper and his crew. And, yes, that would include Red.
“If the security agent returns, will he or she be able to see what we’re doing?” Bot-boy asked.
“Nothing will show on the display,” Escher replied. “However, if the agent runs some serious applications, the workstation will drag. Then the individual is likely to run an analysis on the computer. That’s when the agent will spot my app.”
Not too much later, Allie walked into the storeroom announcing, “Food!”
Bot-boy grinned at her, and Escher displayed a satisfied smile.
“I take it you’ve been successful,” Jasper said, taking in the expressions.
“Ceda, display,” Bot-boy said triumphantly.
The virtual mat projected two side-by-side faces.
“Meet Racer Deeming and Paula Palbrute, a partner pair bound for Transit One,” Escher said.
“That’s Reg-Rec territory,” Red offered, who seemed to have recovered from his run-in with Allie. He was careful to keep on the other side of the room from her. No doubt he could still hear the hum of the vibro-blade.
“Correct,” Escher replied. “Regolith Recovery is scouring the huge asteroid belts of a young system. Racer and Paula are here visiting his parents. They’re scheduled to leave in a month for their new positions with Reg-Rec.”
Jasper approached the display. He studied the images, glancing frequently from them to Escher and Ceda. “Close,” he pronounced. “Close enough to work.”
Escher had his doubts about Jasper’s plans working, but he kept that to himself. However, he hoped to use pieces of the concept to meet his goals. The first was to get Allie and Ceda to safety. The second was to locate and recover his parents, and the third was to help Jasper’s crew, if he could.
“We need to talk specifics,” Escher said, as he ended the program resident on the comtech agent’s computer. Then he truncated his network connection.
“What do you want to know?” Jasper inquired, taking a seat at the makeshift conference table.
“If that’s your attitude, Jasper, then we’ll execute my plan, and you can follow my orders,” Escher retorted.
“I hadn’t worked out all the details,” Jasper offered. He tried to act confident, but his eyes betrayed him.
“Then why don’t you and I work out the details now?” Escher requested in a conciliatory tone.
“Well, first we kidnap this couple,” Jasper said.
“Where does this happen?” Escher asked.
“At their apartment ...” Jasper started and then halted. He glanced at Ceda, who quirked her eyebrows.
Jasper had belatedly remembered that he was warned that Ceda would have her access revoked after she’d taken Escher’s computer.
“Suppose we did capture them,” Escher continued. “How do we get them back here? Are they unconscious? Did we stun them? If so, where’s our weapon? How will a gang of mickies carry two corporate citizens through public places and down a public elevator?”
“Enough,” Lita said firmly. “Stop this, Escher. You’ve made your point. We’re a bunch of mickies. We don’t have your education. We haven’t had your privileges, and, no, we can’t articulate a clever plan. How about you tell us how to help us and yourselves?”
“That’s easy,” Escher replied. “We drop the pretenses, and we use every resource to plan this together.”
“I thought that’s what we’re doing,” Jasper objected.
“Let me demonstrate,” Escher said. “Who has an idea about how to get two people from a public building down here?”
“Don’t muscle them,” Scrounger immediately replied, “too much hassle.” An encouraging wave of fingers from Escher had him adding, “Use subtlety; use trickery. What would entice them into the main tunnel, where it would be better to take them?”
“Does the couple have weaknesses?” Allie asked.
“Weaknesses?” Bibi inquired.
“Vices,” Allie replied.
She regarded Escher, who responded, “Worth investigating.”
“If you can find a weakness,” Scrounger said, “use Ceda, Allie, or Doc to offer the enticement. They’re less intimidating.”
“What about me?” Bibi retorted.
“You’d scare them, Bibi,” Scrounger responded, and the group chuckled.
“That will be step one,” Escher said. “They’re down here. Now what?”
Jasper had the sense to remain quiet. It had dawned on him that he was out of his depth and hadn’t the answers off the top of his head.
Doc raised her hand, and Escher nodded toward her. “Ceda and you look enough like this couple that you could pass through the gates with their cids.”
“Sure, you could ghost right past the sentinels,” Red offered.
“For what purpose?” Ditz asked. “Where are they going, and what are they planning to do?”
“And how are they affording the trip?” Tammy added.
“The last question is the easy one,” Allie said. “For surface dwellers, their cids allow universal access for purchases. Transactions are batched and sent via the stations on a daily basis. Then the accounts, usually on Naiad, are debited.”
“Then the cids of Racer and Paula will allow Escher and Allie to purchase passage,” Tammy said excitedly, understanding the opportunity.
“We could always transfer some credits from a local,” Ceda proposed. Her smile was less than generous.
Jasper caught Ceda’s remark. “Didn’t like being outed by your friend, did you?” he asked.
“We never considered Thorne a friend,” Allie shot back. “He was a potential source of information. As it was, we learned something important from him.”
“Which was what?” Lita asked.
“Our parents and the other families were taken to Beta Two,” Allie said, which Escher wished she hadn’t revealed.
“Why there?” Bibi asked.
“Thorne didn’t know,” Allie replied. “Escher believes it has something to do with exotic compounds.”
“Are you thinking of sailing to Beta Two to rescue your parents?” Tammy asked dubiously.
Escher shook his head resignedly. “That would be foolish in the extreme,” he replied. “As Racer and Paula, we’d have no business being on Beta Two. Plus, we haven’t significant assets with which to lever my parents’ release. X-Ore took an enormous risk snatching these families. The corporation must think that it discovered something important enough to mitigate the fallout that’s coming from Raw Metals and the other major companies.”
“Then where will you go with your new identities?” Jasper asked.
“Answer this question,” Escher replied. “How long do you think these new identities will last?”
The question stumped the gang.
“When Racer and Paula are taken, we’ll have about a two- or three-day headstart,” Ceda answered. To the crew’s questioning glances, she explained, “The parents will search for maybe a day, then they’ll report the couple missing. These are highly placed corporate citizens. Security would scramble and search every location above the surface. When they don’t find them, they’ll start on the tunnels. A reward, a significant one, will be offered.”
Ceda let the gang fill in the rest of the details.
“Better make sure that Racer and Paula never know where they’re being kept, and that they never see our faces,” Scrounger mused.
“So, we can only hold the couple for two days max. Then we have to deposit them on the surface,” Jasper reasoned.
“That’s how long our new identities will last,” Ceda summarized. “Wherever we go, security’s report of the stolen cids will be about two days behind us.”
“We’ve one small item in our favor,” Escher said. “Ceda’s original cid will identify her as a clone. The production of clones is outlawed by Naiad.”
“I was planning on keeping your original cids with us,” Jasper said. “Insurance, you might say, against your failure to return.” He meant his tone to sound self-assured, and he was taken aback by Escher’s harsh laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Red asked.
“I recognize that your educational opportunities have been stunted,” Escher said quietly, but with menacing tones. “However, I thought that, at least, you could count.”
The gang bristled, and Allie sought to interfere. “What my brother is crudely pointing out,” she said, “is that Racer and Paula will be providing only two cids. There’s not one for me, which means I must remain behind. Effectively, I’m your insurance policy, unless you think my brother won’t come back for me.”
Jasper glanced toward Escher, and he didn’t like what he saw. For the first time, Escher’s eyes revealed something more than anger, possibly hatred.
“Everyone, take a breath,” Lita said. “We agreed to work this out together.” She regarded Jasper long enough for him to understand that she felt he had abrogated the agreement.
“Escher,” Lita said softly, to draw his attention toward her and away from Jasper, with whom he’d been locked. “What can you do on Naiad that will help you and us?”
“I don’t have an answer to that,” Escher replied, “and I don’t think anyone here does either. That part I’m going to have to play by ear.”
“Is that the extent of the planning?” Tammy asked.
“Afraid so,” Jasper replied. He wasn’t happy that there wasn’t a better idea, but he had to admit that Escher had thought through the challenges better than he had.
“I don’t understand,” Gat’r said mournfully. “We’re not going to hurt anybody, are we?”
Lita stepped behind Gat’r and soothed the back of his neck with her hand. “No one will be harmed, Gat’r,” she said. “The couple will be scared for a little while. Then we’ll let them go.”
6: Two Cids
The gang took turns tracking the movements of Racer and Paula. They quickly discovered that the couple had completely unscheduled lives.
Bibi and Red, who had the early evening shifts, noted that Racer and Paula had a predilection for joining other young people for soirées. Unfortunately, those events seemed completely random too — different domes, different residential buildings, and different hours.
“Escher, can you do something with your computer to connect these threads?” Red asked, after the fifth night of observing the couple. He glanced guiltily at Allie, who stared at him without expression.
“What details do you have?” Escher asked. He was surprised to hear that Red and Bibi committed everything to memory, and he recorded their recitations on his slate. “I’ll see what I can do,” he said, when they finished.
Tammy and Ditz replaced Bibi and Red for the early morning shift. It was usually a dead time for observations.
In the meantime, Escher set up a series of searches that he thought might lead to some information about the couple’s entertainment choices. It was the perfect time to make use of the security agent’s computer. Escher had discovered that the agent was on duty during regular hours only. After that, no one used the device.
Ceda and Allie were kept busy.
Escher ran searches on the tunnel networks for Scrounger’s part list. The gang member gave him an extensive number of items to track. Like Red and Bibi, Scrounger’s items had been memorized, and Escher marveled at the crews’ ability to persist without automation support.
Escher had shared Scrounger’s recorded list with Allie’s and Ceda’s slates. Then, as he located a part, he sent the dome, tunnel, and location to the women’s slates.
In nearly every situation, the tool, the piece of equipment, or the small machine was abandoned. When Ceda explained to the miners that Scrounger had sent them to collect the item, they acquiesced to the request. Although, they often stared quizzically at the shabbily dressed females, whose faces didn’t reflect the tunnels’ harsh conditions. If nothing else, the miners appreciated the removal of what they considered junk.
Frequently, Ceda and Allie arrived at a location, guiding a motorized cart to handle the load. During their travels, they kept an eye out for sorely needed furniture for the gang’s hideout. Pickings were few, and it was Allie who invented a ruse.
Supervisors and above had the authority to requisition cubicle supplies at will. Therefore, Allie reasoned that if they found items missing from their cubicles, they could easily replace them.
At Allie’s request, Escher supplied the dome, tunnel, and cubicle locations of managers. He was also asked to add their work schedule. He hadn’t any idea why his sister wanted the list, and he thought it better not to ask.
The pair waited near a director’s or a supervisor’s cubicle for the start of their shift. They always chose the cubicle of a single individual. Although a couple of times, they discovered the sleeping form of a recent acquaintance.
When the supervisor or director exited the cubicle, the cart would slide behind them. Attention would be turned toward Ceda, whose face frequently attracted stares. Meanwhile, Allie used a trick that Scrounger had taught her. She bent and quietly dropped a thin piece of pipe in the doorway.
To the managers, the door appeared to close, and they walked on. The alarm that the door was ajar would soon sound, but Escher had supplied an override code that would cancel the alarm and open the door. Then Allie and Ceda would slide in and liberate bedding, bathroom supplies, and food.
The women were careful to spread their raids out so that a localized set of cubicle strikes didn’t point to any one tunnel locale.
While Escher continued his computer operations, with Bot-boy constantly at his side, Ceda and Allie made incremental improvements in the gang’s hideout.
Jasper recruited Scrounger and Gat’r to secure the storeroom next to their hideout. It too had been abandoned when the tunnel’s end had run into great veins of crystalline quartz, which was of no value to Raw Metals.
Escher’s finds for Scrounger, which Allie and Ceda procured, were stored there. Then most of the parts from the original storeroom were moved next door.
Finally, Scrounger directed the other two on how to help him repair machinery and trade the results.
In the old storeroom, Ceda and Allie stocked the supplies that they’d liberated, or, as Escher termed them, pilfered items. At which point, Allie retorted sternly that Escher was illegally gaining access to security’s assets, which was a greater crime than theirs.
Bot-boy snickered and said, “You three have become criminals like us,” which made Escher, Allie, and Ceda briefly laugh, until the point struck home.
Gang members rotated home every day to find newer sleeping accommodations spread out on an even cleaner floor.
When Doc had marveled at the improved conditions, Allie told her, “Soon, Escher and Ceda will be gone for a while, and I’ll need your help collecting supplies, until they return.”
“Why me?” Doc queried.
“You’re the bait,” Ceda replied, chuckling. “Allie will need someone to attract a manager’s attention, while she pipes the door.”
“And you’re the most attractive of the crew,” Allie had finished.
“I don’t know how to do that,” Doc had objected.
“Then I’ll have to teach you,” Ceda responded, which is how Doc joined Ceda and Allie on their supply runs.
On the eighth evening of surveillance, Red and Bibi returned to the lair, and Escher invited them to join him. The crew members were pleased to roll a pair of nice matching chairs from the table to Escher’s side. They noted that Bot-boy’s rickety stool had been replaced too. Escher and Bot-boy sat in comfortable chairs.
“When you leave, we’re going to miss your help,” Bibi commented to Escher.
“I know how to search for Scrounger’s parts,” Bot-boy piped up. “Escher said that he’s leaving the computer to me.”
“With certain restrictions,” Escher quickly added, which eased the fear that had bloomed in Red and Bibi.
“No surface access,” Red surmised.
“Exactly,” Escher replied, and the trio observed Bot-boy’s crestfallen face.
“Too dangerous, Bot-boy,” Lita called across the storeroom, as she helped Allie load two worn, sullied sleeping pads on the cart to recycle. “With tunnel access and search capabilities, you’ll be a tremendous asset to the crew,” she added, which visibly brightened Bot-boy’s face in anticipation.
“Red, Bibi, this is what I have for you on our targets,” Escher said. “I’ve found correspondence from company elites, who regularly invite a select group of individuals to their soirées.”
“Do you know any of these people?” Bibi asked.
“I don’t,” Escher said, turning to regard Allie and Ceda.
