Regan's Reach 4: Avarice (33 page)

Siebel seemed unfazed and more confident
now, even happy. "Sir, I have never been comfortable with the existence of
such a threat. My life's work has been developing poor replacements for that
which already exists on Rexis. For working in my field I am considered a
pariah, even in my own family, I have no love for those who would keep us
backward, nor for those who would destroy the likes of you. This is the only
processor holding the genovirus, other than the device Premier Maynard holds,
the one I told you about."

"And how can you be sure of
that?"

"Because he insisted I prepare it for
him myself. No one other than me has accessed this mainframe for
generations."

"And why did Maynard want a . .
."

"Ham."
Brian's voice came through clearly and interrupted the question.
"We
have the Premier and his wife, but he claims not to have any virus weapon.
Short of torture I don't know what else we can do, what shall I do with him?"

[Bring him here, I'm sending you our
location now.] Ham concentrated for a second then turned his attention back to
Siebel. "I do hope you are telling the truth." He then turned to the
mainframe pondering his options, especially as it would be too risky to
transfer himself in there to search the data.
I must trust him . . . I have
no choice.

Stepping forward Ham placed both hands on
the box and concentrated. His palms began to smolder and the distinctive smell
of burning filled the air. Flashes of electric sparks and crackles were
followed by a small explosion from within the mainframe and still he didn't
stop, continuing until the surface of the box began to bend and buckle with the
heat. Finally he stepped away and raised blackened hands to examine them.

The acrid smoke and smell produced made
Siebel gag violently so he crouched low as the clean air systems struggled to
cope. He could see the mainframe seemed to have melted and shrunk to around two
thirds of its normal size and could only imagine the state of the circuitry
within it. Sliding back against the wall he stayed there, sitting with legs splayed
in front and eyes alternating between the smoldering hands and the melted
mainframe. He quietly marveled at the power he had seen unleashed and it left
him speechless; and for the first time since meeting the android he felt
frightened. He decided to say no more and simply wait.

Time seemed to drag slowly while Siebel
watched as the android appeared to be processing data, but about what he
couldn't tell. It fascinated him and finally curiosity overcame his fears.

"Excuse me sir, I can see you are
processing, may I ask what?"

Ham gave him a wry smile. "We androids
have this thing we do a lot, the processing you refer to, except we have a highly
technical term for it; we call it thinking." He then closed his eyes again
dismissively and returned to his thoughts.

"Thinking about what?"

Ham raised one eyebrow to look sideways at
Siebel. "Oh - this irritation and that, and what I might do about
them." His implication was clear.

"Oh . . ." Siebel slumped back
down nervously.

Noises from the corridor drew his eyes
there just as Maynard entered the room, imperious as always and not at all
cowed by the armed soldiers who followed him in. Last to enter was his wife
Delia, who looked more angry than frightened.

Ham also turned and saw that Maynard had
stopped just inside the doorway, with the man scanning him from head to toe. If
he was shocked or frightened the Premier didn't show it, which somewhat
irritated Ham who pulled himself up to his full seven foot stature, making an
intimidating presence that towered over everyone in the room. He then started
toward the acting Premier prompting Delia to step protectively to her husband's
side and grasp his arm tightly. She glared at Ham as if he were a monster and
seemed about to say something; but instead it was Maynard who spoke first.

"So, we finally meet the object of our
fears."

He didn't seem at all afraid and in fact
appeared almost cocky. Ham decided not to respond and watched with satisfaction
as Maynard's eyes drifted from him to the burnt out mainframe and then rested
on Siebel, still slumped on the floor.

"You are a traitor Siebel, why did you
bring this monster here?"

Ham didn't wait for Siebel to reply.
"You are as nothing to me Maynard; you are not the true Premier here, and
in fact I suspect you may be a murderer. You know why we have come and you know
why we are in this room." Ham gestured at the mainframe. "You can see
it is gone, your precious weapon destroyed; however I understand you have a
copy. I want it Maynard, and as with all of these things there is a hard way
and an easy way to comply; I hope you will choose the latter."

Maynard's face was disturbing in its unwavering
arrogant expression. It was the look of a man who knew something, a man with a
secret.

"I will not bargain with a machine,"
he replied, "and I have nothing to say except this . . .

. . . you are too late."

* * *

The Fair Passage approaching Rexis orbit

"Leith . . . answer me . . . is
that you?"

Young Perin almost collapsed in panic at
the sound of the voice. It was speaking in a language he didn't recognize and without
knowing what was said he had no idea how to respond. He simply shuffled as far
away from the small drawer as he could while glancing nervously down to the
tube in his own hand, checking it over and over to ensure it was no longer
blinking.

Finally he had pushed back to the wall and
could go no further. He simply stared at the small unit resting on the drawer
and breathed deeply, trying to calm himself while he waited for something to
happen.

 "Leith, is that you? I don't want
to access the system just yet; answer me, is that you?"

Perin considered what to do as clearly
someone was trying to communicate via the unit; should he say something? He
decided to speak.

"Who are you, who am I speaking
to?"

No answer was forthcoming and Perin waited
on the assumption that whoever was behind the voice was considering a response.
He didn't have to wait long. The small tube began to hum quietly, a sound he
recognized, like that of an electronic device powering up and then suddenly a
shimmer appeared between them, a haze in the air that rapidly took shape. He
found himself confronted by a small male figure dressed in robes that seemed
quite formal but nothing familiar to him and from nowhere he recognized. The
figure looked familiar but not of any race or family he could place. The size
of the image also made height difficult to estimate, or did this image reflect his
real height?

And . . . is this even a man at all?  

The small figure seemed to be studying him
and to his shock it began to walk forward, gesturing at something. It took Perin
a minute to realize what was happening, what the figure was referring to but
eventually he clicked. The figure was pointing at him, and in a questioning
way.

Perin tapped his finger to his chest.
"Perin . . . Perin." he repeated.

The small man repeated Perin’s name quite
clearly and bowed, then he did the same and tapped his fingers to his own chest
and spoke, it was just sound to Perin and it was repeated several times. It
wasn't anything he recognized but nevertheless he attempted to say it as best
he could.

" . . . Rrrruubus."

The small figure nodded enthusiastically.

"Rrrubuss." Perin made the sound
again and the figure laughed in delight and slapped his thighs.

The small figure then seemed to note
something and pointed with interest at Perin’s hands, and at the tube he held
there. It then turned and gestured toward the drawer and the still humming tube
resting on the drawer shelf. It then repeated the gesture, from the drawer to Perin’s
tube, from Perin’s tube to the drawer.

Oh my father!
Perin thought,
so this is another AI!
The small figure kept
repeating the same gesture and with obvious growing frustration so Perin
climbed from the floor and walked to the bed head, stopping there to look at
the tube on the drawer which was still humming and glowing. He wondered what he
should do and then looked at the tube in his own hands, then down again at the
small figure. And then an idea formed in his mind, a gem of an idea, a small
victory that could be the first of others. If he was quick, could it be done?
His thumb nervously stroked the button on his tube and his eyes drank in the
small avatar before him. And then he did it, he pressed the button and the
light began to blink.

In a flash the avatar seemed to dissolve,
quickly becoming hazy and then like a mist being sucked into a hole it flew
toward his tube in an action so fast it shocked him. He dropped the tube again
as if it was suddenly hot and the tube on the drawer began to buzz more loudly now,
building to a high pitched screech before it seemed to die. Scrabbling for his
tube Perin thumbed the button again and the light duly stopped flashing. He
cradled it in both hands, his heart again pounding as if it wanted to jump out
of his chest and he closed his eyes trying to calm himself while breathing
slowly and deeply. Just as he felt he had regained some control he heard a
sound, the swish of the door opening and as his eyes flicked open his heart
went cold.

It was the android Ham, and he looked very,
very angry.

Thrown by Ham from the door of the elevator
Perin tumbled into control, coming to rest at Regan's feet. Charlotte looked
shocked at the brutality of the throw but not Jared, he looked impressed. Regan
glanced down at Perin then back up to Ham.

"I take it you consider he's been a
bad boy?"

Ham extended his arm to her and in the palm
she could see two small vial like tubes, similar in size but with differences
that indicated quite different manufacture. She raised her eyebrows
questioningly.

Ham had a slightly disappointed look. "Firstly
Regan, I must apologize; we did know he carried things when we picked him up but
I didn't check what they were. It seems he carried a processor all that time
but for what purpose I have no idea. Also our search of Leith's cabin was
remiss. Our stowaway was there all the time in a small drawer for hiding
valuables."

"Damn, I'm sorry Regan."
Charlotte apologized. "We searched everything we knew about in that room,
honest."

"I know Charlie, it's a big ship with
a lot of hiding places, you couldn't have known. That doesn't explain how you
didn't know, Lucas?"

Lucas sighed. "Regan you know what an
embarrassment these blanks have been to me. I've been bested by a better Mind
and it's galling to say the least; I apologize too."

Regan turned her attention back to Ham.
"Well, we have them now, what are your thoughts Ham?"

"I think our friend Perin might have
the answers Regan, and with your permission I will torture the truth out of
him; it won't take long."

Perin shrank away and looked desperately at
Regan for support.

"Ham, we are not torturing anyone,
period. However, perhaps you could show Perin how we displace rubbish into
vacuum; that might be helpful."

Ham smiled wickedly, and in an obscenely short
time had the STEIN Interceptor on screen, just off the Fair Passage's bow.
Regan was startled that he could bring the Interceptor so quickly and briefly
wondered whether the idea of displacement was even her own. Before she could
pursue the thought Ham was hoisting Perin from the floor and throwing him into
a chair to face the screen. He then drew a cross on the floor using gestures of
his hand.

"Perhaps you could watch this space
closely, young Perin."

On the cross in front of Perin a shimmering
bubble appeared, and with a pop a small barrel materialized. Perin shrunk back
into the chair.

"Now, keep your eyes on the barrel,
and when it disappears kindly shift your eyes quickly to the large
screen."

Perin looked and when with a shimmer, the
barrel began to dissolve he did indeed shift to the screen, just in time to see
it appear in vacuum and spectacularly explode with globules of fluid spreading
widely.

Regan smiled at the theatrical nature of it
all.

"Now Perin - if you could please stand
and move on to the cross."

Jared laughed out loud but Charlotte
couldn't stand it. "Regan, you're not going to let him . . . surely
not!"

Out of Perin’s sight Regan winked pointedly
at her.

"Perin." Ham stepped to his chair
and hauled him up by the collar, lifting him into the air and dropping him on
the spot. "Now, are you going to answer our questions, or . . ." He
gestured to the screen where he had stilled the image of the exploding barrel.