Annihilation: Love Conquers All (15 page)

“Thank you, Inspector Connor. I’m sorry that my good fortune comes as a result of what happened here tonight, but I promise you that I’ll not disappoint you, either. You’ll inform the rest of the team about my assignment before I arrive in the morning, won’t you?”

“Here’s the beautiful part, Miss Ash. I don’t have to. Julie has already done it. See you in the morning.” His communicator beeped.

“Inspector Connor,” Julie said, “I’ve taken the liberty of using one of our clerical staff and his wife that is on leave from her job to be Danielle’s parents. I’ll be sending pictures momentarily.”

“That is satisfactory, Julie.”

Danielle turned to go and felt a huge sense of pride that Inspector Connor thought she could be as good as Julie. “This new job is going to be exciting,” she thought, and she looked forward to the coming day. Her communicator vibrated and she answered to find Julie on the other end. “I’ve sent a floater to pick you up and take you to your new living space; it will be assigned to you as your departmental transport. I have also assigned a Sandra Wong to pick up your medical equipment.”

“My former boss,” Danielle thought. She laughed and realized, “A pay grade five, no less.” Then she saw Sandra walking toward her with raised eyebrows. Sandra had obviously been hustled out of bed to pick up the medical floater. She had also been directed by Mr. Whorton to explain how she had wasted the talents of one of her subordinates. Yep, Danielle was going to have a good time. Then she said, “Thanks, Julie. I appreciate all you’ve done for me.” Danielle could see Julie smile in her communicator just before she broke the connection. Danielle walked by Sandra and nodded. The former supervisor’s expression was priceless.

D
anielle arrived at school just before Leila and Tag’s public floater arrived. One of her assigned parents took her by floater to insure arrival at the time most students arrived. She had to admit that all of the security forces and the platoon of marines made quite an impression. She knew about it, and she was still intimidated by the scene in front of the school. She paused a few minutes, looking at all the security people and their vehicles. Then she walked forward toward the entrance. As she approached the front of the school she recognized John Sinclair and Colonel Ortiz standing on each side of the entrance. As she started up the steps she noticed that the girl whose test had been taken was right behind her. She looked at John Sinclair and raised her eyebrows, and he got her message because he, too, immediately recognized the girl behind her. The security officers had set up a portal that each student had to walk through. As she went through the alarms went off. A security officer came forward and said, “Please follow me, miss.”

As soon as Leila stepped through the portal the alarms went off again, and the same security officer turned and asked her to come with him also. “Perfect,” Danielle thought, and followed the security officer into the school.

The two girls were taken to an office, asked to sit down, and told that someone would be with them shortly.

“What the heck is going on?” Danielle said to Leila.

“I don’t know. What are all these security people doing here, and did you see those marines?”

“Sure did. Does this happen very often?”

“No! It’s never happened before.”

Oh, by the way, I’m Danielle Ashford. I just transferred here because my parents have a new job at the bank. What a way to begin my first day!”

“Hi, Danielle. My name is Leila Barber. I’ve been going to this school since my first level and trust me, I’ve never seen anything like what’s going on outside. I wonder why I set off an alarm.”

“Me too,” Danielle said. “I’ve never set foot in this building before.”

“Maybe that’s why you set off the alarm,” Leila said.

“This girl is smart, and honestly, I don’t think anybody in the school I attended was as pretty,” thought Danielle. She also noticed that Leila’s face was open, and when she talked she looked you straight in the eye. “I don’t think she would be very good at deception. She really doesn’t know why security stopped her,” Leila decided. So she placed a mental wager with herself, betting that Leila’s interrogation would confirm that suspicion. “If she doesn’t know, then why would someone go to such trouble to steal her test?” She let that thought play around in her head and then asked, “Was there anything special that happened at school yesterday?”

Leila looked down at the floor and said, “We took our administrative placement test yesterday.”

Danielle could tell there was something wrong. She said, “I took mine before I left to transfer here. That was a long test, wasn’t it?”

“Yes. And I don’t think I did very well.”

“Why not?”

“Well, I didn’t get much sleep the night before, and I was exhausted when I took it.”

“What’s your quantitative point average?”

“Before the test it was 99.6.”

“Holy mother of pearl,” Danielle thought. She had never heard of a point average that high. She graduated with a 96.4, and she was number two in her class. “This girl is more than smart. If that point average is correct, she’s brilliant,” Danielle realized.

“Wow! You’re smart. You probably did better than you think.”

“No, I’m pretty certain I didn’t. I’m concerned that after the bad grade on this test all my other scores will be questioned.”

“Well, let’s hope for the best. I’m new here and I’d appreciate it if after all this is over you would show me around.”

Leila’s face brightened and she smiled at Danielle and said, “I’ll be glad to. See me during our lunch break and I’ll start introducing you to everyone.”

“Thanks Leila, I really appreciate it,” Danielle said, and then pressed a small black button on her communicator band.

John Sinclair felt his communicator vibrate and leaned over and said quietly to Colonel Ortiz, “She’s got something. Go take her out of the office to an interrogation room.”

Colonel Ortiz turned and went inside the building to the office where they were being held. He opened the door, pointed at Danielle, and said, “You’re not on the student roster. What are you doing here?”

“I’m a new student, sir. I’m transferring here because my parents were moved here for a new job. This is my first day.” Colonel Ortiz was doing an excellent job of looking extremely suspicious. He gave absolutely no clue that he knew her, and his tone of voice was saying that he didn’t believe her.

“What’s your name?”

“Danielle Ashford.”

Colonel Ortiz looked at a small screen he held, looked up at Danielle, and then looked back down at his screen and said, “Miss Ashford, I am going to take you to an interrogation room where there will be a truth field. I recommend you answer all questions honestly. The interrogator will know if you don’t.”

“Yes sir,” Danielle said meekly and got up and followed Colonel Ortiz out of the room. She glanced at Leila on the way out and shrugged her shoulders.

As soon as they were in the hall, Colonel Ortiz placed her hands in a containment field behind her back, which held her hands together, and walked her up the hall through all the students that were standing in the corridor.

Danielle kept saying, “Hey, I’m a new student here. This is my first day. I don’t deserve to be treated this way.” The students in the hall didn’t recognize her and felt bad for her.

Once they entered the interrogation room, Colonel Ortiz removed the containment field from her hands and said, “What’s up?”

Danielle smiled and said, “Boy, you’re tough, Colonel.”

“Call me Eddie.”

“I know why our Superman took the test.”

Colonel Ortiz said, “You never cease to amaze me. I didn’t think we’d ever have an answer for that.”

“I think he did it because he cares a lot for the girl.”

“What?”

“I don’t think she even knows it’s missing. Matter of fact, I’ll make a five credit wager with you she not only doesn’t know it’s missing but won’t have a clue as to who took it.”

“I just look stupid. After last night, there’s no way I’ll make a wager with you. Tell me why you say that.”

“Leila Barber is the girl whose test was taken. She told me, a complete stranger, that she knows she did poorly on the test because she didn’t have any sleep the night before. Eddie, she has a 99.6 quantitative point average.”

Colonel Ortiz whistled and said, “Is that possible?”

“Call the front office and ask.”

He picked up his communicator and said, “John, check the school records for a Leila Barber’s quantitative point average.”

There was a pause, and then John said, “You’re not going to believe this. It’s 99.6. This is one smart cookie.”

“Okay, so what happened, Danielle?”

“I think someone who cares a lot for Leila heard her tell someone about how poorly she did on the test. You know that these test results are used for future job placement, and the results will play a large role in what kind of life she’s going to have. Leila even thinks that this poor grade will cause all her other scores to be questioned. The only way to prevent the test result from hurting her future was to prevent it being graded. Eddie, I just met her and I wanted to steal the test myself. Our Superman has a heart.”

At that moment the display screen on the wall came on and they saw Inspector Connor, who said, “I understand you have some information, Miss Ash.”

“Yes sir,” Danielle replied, and then she explained what she had uncovered.

“That makes sense,” Esa said, “but what makes you think that she doesn’t know who took it?”

“Because I don’t think our Superman is stupid.”

Esa furrowed his brow for a moment and then said, “Go on, Miss Ash.”

“Think about it. What do you think would happen today if the attack didn’t take place last night? Sergeant Garcia told me he was arranging for his security department to bring in a truth field and question everyone involved. Of course that was before the attack at the wall, our connecting it to the theft of the test booklet, and his uncovering the temperature data. Our Superman had no possible way of anticipating the attack on him or the use of the climate system to prove he was there. Without the attack, wouldn’t we have just concluded that the climate system fluctuated? That would have been easier to accept than our Superman. It’s only by combining the two events that we were able to uncover his existence. But he knew that the missing test booklet would be investigated fully. He wouldn’t have run this risk if there was any way that Leila Barber could be implicated or him connected to it. Couple that with the fact that I don’t think there’s a deceptive bone in this girl’s entire body, and I think it becomes clear that she knows nothing about it.”

Inspector Connor was quiet for a few moments and then said, “I’m inclined to believe you, however, I’m still going to go through the interrogation process in the hope that the pressure will cause someone to crack. I have a profile team working on what our Superman is like. This information will help them. Is there anything else, Miss Ash?”

“Yes sir. I would like for the test administrator to have Leila retake the test immediately.”

Inspector Connor and Colonel Ortiz were both taken aback by this request.

“And why would we do that?”

“Inspector Connor, I just spent less than five minutes with this young woman and came away highly impressed. I sincerely believe she knows nothing about what happened and is innocent of any wrongdoing. I also believe that she did poorly on the original test, which would not properly measure the talents she has to offer our society. She was taken with me by security as soon as she stepped off her floater and went through the security portal. She doesn’t know what’s going on. I think it would be in everyone’s best interests to have her retake the test before she comes out of the room and discovers that her test booklet was stolen. If she scores like I think she will, there will be three of you fighting to have her on your staffs. I’ve run across two women that highly impressed me in the last twenty-four hours. Julie was the first, Leila was the second. There’s also one other reason. If she retakes the test, then our Superman will think he was successful and just might let her know he did it. I think it’s a long shot, but we have to take whatever shots we can.”

Inspector Connor was shaking his head and smiling. “When all this is over, Miss Ash, I’m going to have to thank our Superman for our finding you. Colonel Ortiz, have the test administrator give Miss Barber another test immediately. Better do it quickly; I understand it takes a long time. Miss Ash, keep up the good work,” he said. Then the screen went dark.

Colonel Ortiz was on his communicator setting up the test while Danielle sat in a chair and thought about how Superman must feel about Leila Barber to have done what he did. She felt pretty certain that Superman and his feelings were unknown to Leila. She remembered back to the ninth level when she loved James Spincer. He was so wonderful, charming, and graceful, and great to look at besides. She never told him how she felt. At that age, she looked like a twig with a big head stuck on top. She knew that he could never be interested in her. So she would just sit in class and dream of what it would be like to be James’s girl. Danielle’s brief contact with Leila made it easy for her to see how someone could be too shy to approach her. She knew that beauty and brains can be intimidating, and she said to herself, “Usually beauty attracts men, but once they discover your brains, they leave skid marks trying to get away. Most women eventually learn to hide their intelligence. I don’t think Leila could do that. Superman is smart. He’s not intimidated by her brilliance, just her beauty.”