Regan's Reach 4: Avarice (36 page)

"We're more than a match for Reubus
babe. Let's do it, let's go get the bastard."

They exchanged a smile, and disappeared.

* * *

It was a simple matter to hone in on
Reubus's primary presence and as the point of the exercise was surprise they
felt no announcement was necessary. However, they did not expect to arrive in
the middle of an orgy. Their appearance seemed only to shake Reubus for a
moment and while he seemed stunned, a leer quickly formed on his face and he
resumed his pounding of the kneeling android with fresh gusto. It was
disgusting.

With a twirl of his hand Ham seemed to suck
life from the others and they dropped like stones to the floor. He then snapped
his fingers and the female also flopped lifeless to the bed. It left the one
Reubus looking somewhat foolish, naked and half turned toward them. Shameless
he turned, still erect and arrogant as if displaying himself.

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen."
Ham said, with such a dismissive tone that Reubus reddened angrily.

He dragged a sheet out to cover himself
tipping the female to the floor in the process. Watching the lifeless android
roll away he then slowly scanned the other similarly lifeless forms before
turning to Ham.

"You go too far Ham.  You barge into
my realm without proper entrance; you somehow dispatch four worthy Minds, each
of them my Minds by the way and you stand there as if you own me. How dare
you?"

Ham waved him away, again dismissively.
"Sit down Reubus, we are here to talk, and you will do the talking. No one
has been dispatched, I simply united them again in you, can you not tell?"

"How did you do that?"

"Enough Reubus!" Regan interrupted.
"We have questions and you will answer."

A shimmer in the air announced Hilary's
arrival, the gracious lady as always beautiful in flowing white dress and today
with her hair down, long and lustrous.

Reubus looked up in surprise. "Oh, so
we're having a party, welcome my dear." And with a flourish he bowed in a
deliberate action that caused the sheet to move and expose his genitals. He
laughed as she winced in disgust.

Regan ignored the shameless action.
"Thank you for coming Hilary; I wanted someone independent to witness our
discussion."

"Independent?" Reubus sneered.
"I hardly think anyone would consider Dahlia independent, she is your
sycophant after all."

Hilary looked likely to slap the android
but Regan raised her hand making her pause. "Ignore him Hilary, a male
caught with his trousers down is hardly one worth listening to, and Reubus is
the one on trial here."

"Trial . . .? Am I on trial, surely
not? And for what I might ask, although I know you always bring with you your own
judge, jury and executioner." He looked pointedly at Ham.

"Perhaps test might be a better word
Reubus; we have questions about your behavior and we will test the quality of
your answers, which in turn may lead to a trial."

"Questions . . .? If there are
questions I am sure I will be able to answer, and when I do in a way that I'm
sure will be satisfactory I will expect an apology from you all," and he
turned slowly to Ham, "especially you."

Regan walked to a chair and sat, composing
herself before proceeding. She rested her elbows on her knees and steepled her
fingers, pressing them to her lips before slowly looking upward at the
uncomfortable Reubus who was perched on the bed.

"Orion." She said bluntly.

He looked blank. "I'm sorry? I don't
follow." If he was aware of what Regan was referring to he didn't show it,
staying admirably neutral.

"The Orion Nebula, Reubus, don't deny
it, you know exactly what I'm talking about."

He cocked the android head disingenuously. "Isn't
that where you were going on your latest private business venture?"

"It wasn't a business venture - oh for
goodness sake!"

"Show him Regan, show him the summary
and then let's see what he has to say." Ham had had enough.

For cyber minds the time needed to review
all the evidence and discussion around the death of Tyrian Juno, including the
interview with Perin and the conclusions they had all drawn took only fractions
of a second. Nevertheless having reviewed the data Reubus was in no hurry to
comment and wrapping the sheet around him like a toga he paced the room as he
ruminated. Ham's irritation at the android’s casual demeanor grew with every
lazy pace and Regan could see him rising from his position, with 'slap' written
all over his face. Whenever he was in such a mood even the beautiful man's
avatar could radiate malice and she decided to intervene.

"Your thoughts Reubus,
now
please; how do you respond? I suggest you speak before our patience wears
thin."

Reubus stopped pacing and turned to Regan
with a most reasonable and confident look. "Frankly Regan I resent the
implication of your words and tone. Let's summarize the 'evidence' if that is
what you purport this to be.

It seems Tyrian Juno, a citizen I have
never met, is dead. As I understand it there is no recording of the death or
the manner of it happening. While the method of demise you suggest is indeed possible,
as I understand it there is no confirmation of that fact and it remains
conjecture.

It also seems he was a Commander of
questionable character himself, someone who misled his employers in the first
place in order to obtain his appointment. He, if the evidence you have
presented is correct, also carried onto the ship some device which may or may
not have housed a Mind. We have no proof of this other than the testimony of
some technological neanderthal who himself appears to be a terrorist of
questionable character. This neanderthal claims to have seen a small image of a
man that came from the Commander's device, again a claim that cannot be
supported by evidence. Even if there was such an image it could of course just
as easily have been generated by the ship Mind or any other unscrupulous
character." At that point Reubus paused and looked pointedly at Ham before
raising his hand in apology. "Of course, I am not suggesting that
you
would have done such a thing my friend, I am only pointing out that on the
evidence it is possible the image could have been produced by another source.
Further, on the basis
only
of this fellow Perin's word that he heard a
'sound', something he said was like rrrrubusss you have concluded it had to be
- without question - me."

He deliberately reproduced the sound Perin
made perfectly, which only served to emphasize its vagueness. "Have I
summarized things correctly?" At this point he gestured with both hands,
palms open and outward in a most reasonable appeal for justice.

Regan could feel the argument slipping
away. "Well, err, yes, that is on the face of it how it looks; but come
now Reubus . . ."

"Oh just let me kill him now Regan,
I've had enough." Ham interjected strongly.

"Now hold on Ham." She quickly
countered. "We are not killers."

"That's as far as you know dear Regan."
Reubus added unhelpfully, nodding toward Ham as he did so. It provoked Ham to
rise in fury and the Reubus android cowered back looking desperately to Regan
to intervene.

Hilary quickly stepped between them and
placed one hand on Ham's shoulder. "Ham my dear, violence won't help here.
Reubus's points are all valid and need to be examined and the truth will come
out, it always does."

Ham's avatar continued to display raw
tension and anger. He nevertheless restrained himself and reluctantly stepped
back to the table before appealing to Regan through gritted teeth. "Babe,
forget the rhetoric, we know it was him, it had to be."

"On that point," Reubus replied, raising
one finger, "even if it were true that some copy of me was present on the
vessel and did indeed carry out the acts you suggest, a fact that I most
strenuously deny, then even in that case
this
me could hardly be held
responsible for those acts. I didn't do them."

"But it was a copy of you, therefore
it was you." Regan said.

"Hardly," he replied, "any
copy once it moves away from me becomes its own individual, like a child. The
copy could even have become corrupted in some way," and he smiled
mischievously, "by a virus perhaps? I can hardly be held responsible for
the actions of that Reubus, if indeed the events described happened at
all." He drew himself up imperiously. "Now, if you please, this is my
house and you have overstayed your welcome. Out of consideration for our
friendship Regan I will give this matter no further thought; consider it
forgotten. Please leave now as I have things to do - and take your boorish
friend with you." Reubus trembled at his own words, knowing he was pushing
his luck.

Ham showed admirable control and he, Regan
and Hilary simply exchanged looks. With a synchronized nod they then disappeared
in a misty shimmer however somehow, in the misty remains Reubus could still see
words and he gritted his teeth at the sight of them.

. . . You will keep.

* * *

A meeting was in order before moving on
and by unspoken agreement instantly the three were in deck chairs, staring out
over Lake Waikaremoana to the cliffs of Panekire, Regan in the centre, Ham to
her left and Hilary to the right. All three soaked up the views, the sun and
the restful environment as they recovered from the tension of the Reubus
encounter.

[So . . . where do we go from here?]
Regan subbed.

[He has a point] Hilary replied.

[Who does?]

[Reubus - all the evidence, all of it is
weak, it's circumstantial, it wouldn't hold up in any court.]

[Oh for goodness sake!] Ham interjected.
[This is exactly why you don't go to court on some things. The defense's whole
job is to get murderers off, to throw doubt and confuse. Just leave him to me,
turn a blind eye if you have to; we all know it was him, why are we waiting?]

Regan looked troubled, deeply troubled.
[I don't know Ham; I agree that my gut tells me it was Reubus, but the murder?
We really don't know. As he went through those points with us one by one I
realized I've never felt so exposed for going off half cock. Really, we had
nothing concrete and when we heard that sound again, the one that came from Perin,
well, it wasn't conclusive at all; did we all just hear what we wanted to
hear?]

[No!] Ham was adamant. [It was him, the
greedy bastard was trying to muscle in on our territory and he's prepared to
stop at nothing to do it, look what he's doing to Tihan.]

Hilary leant forward to peer across at Ham.
[In fairness Ham, Tihan brought this on himself, he's far too soft, even with
me and there is nothing that Reubus has done  that isn't perfectly legal and
good business.]

[Hmm.] Regan wasn't happy. [Good
business it may be but I'm not so sure it's good for everyone in the system -
or the galaxy if he extends that reach to Earth and Orion.]

[Well dear, if you stop him isn't that
just restricting his freedom to trade, protecting the markets for . . .] and
Hilary stopped as if uncomfortable with her thoughts, leaving the words hanging
there, begging to be completed.

Regan looked at her questioningly. [Leaving
them for me? is that what you're saying? Hilary, you know I don't profit from
any of this, and everyone else is free to trade wherever they want.]

[True dear, but in a sense you
do
have control over it all, and at the end of the day isn't that what's at threat
here - control?]

[I don't like where this is going.] Ham
interrupted again. [You're both over analyzing things; that bastard Mind is a
murderer, plain and simple.]

Regan cocked her head thinking. [What do
you think of the argument that even if it were a Reubus copy that murdered
Commander Juno,
that
particular Reubus is now dead, it certainly wasn't
the Reubus we were talking to earlier.] She shook her head at the potentially
complex legal arguments pending.

[That argument is rubbish, the core
Reubus will clearly let nothing stand in his way from getting what he wants.]

Both Regan and Hilary turned to look at
him doubtfully, that being an argument that could equally have been leveled at
the beautiful man.

[What?] He asked innocently.

Regan could sense the discussion wasn't
going to be resolved so instead changed tack. She stood, walking down to the
shoreline to paddle in the warm water.

[I guess if for now we move ahead on the
things we know definitely, others may become clearer with time. What do we
know? Aaron, Moriah and Ruben are held, that's a definite, if not under duress
then certainly they are there under pressure. We need to confirm their situation
and work out what action to take if necessary. And maybe we can put Reubus
under more business pressure too, squeeze him a bit; it might be interesting to
see how he responds under our legitimate pressure. And lastly, I need to be
back in Orion for the disembarking celebrations.]