Regan's Reach 4: Avarice (38 page)

"Can it really be true?"

"It is true Perin, she is everything I
have told you, and you must take this message to your people if they are to
thrive."

He shook his head doubtfully. "But how
can I know for sure?"

Regan now looked confused. "Know what
Ham? What is he talking about?"

Ham looked at her hopefully, wind milling
his hands in appeal. "You need to do the thing, you know -" and he
waved again, " - the thing!"

"I'm not doing that, what's this all
about?"

"Regan, think about it. His whole
society sees artificial intelligence, technology and especially highly
developed Minds as something threatening and evil. They see a Mind as the
antithesis of all that is good, something that is not remotely natural, which
is what they worship. You are the proof that the natural and the technological
can come together. Show him. He'll take the message to his people along with
the truth about Maynard. Trust me, it's the only way."

Charlotte could see Regan was grinding her
teeth as she stared at her android partner, weighing up his words. It was continually
a mystery to her, listening to Ham and Regan talk, and most of the time having
no idea what they were on about, and then she saw a shimmer developing from the
side of Regan's body, a shimmer that took form as an avatar that then seemed to
slide apart from her to stand beside them.

"Oh - my - god!" Charlotte
exclaimed.

Perin dropped to his knees. "This
isn't some trick?"

"Does it look like a trick you fooool?"
Ham admonished him.

Regan's avatar walked forward and reached
to rest the avatar hand over Perin's shoulder, an experience he found so moving
he burst into tears.

"I will not let you down M'lady. I
won't let you down; my uncle will pay for his crimes and I will do what I can
to advance your cause on the planet. This I promise you, it may not happen
immediately but the people are ready for change, of that I am sure. With your
support we will certainly win them."

The avatar then walked back and merged
smoothly again so that only the one Regan remained. She turned, smiling to an
amazed Charlotte.

"Well Charlie, you've just about seen
it all now and I know Hilary will inform you about any other stuff you need to
know. Now, I'm going to leave you and I won't see you again in person for a
while, probably not until you see me next on Hillary Station. My avatar and android
forms will remain here and they are me too, if you know what I mean?"
Charlotte's blank look spoke otherwise. "Look, My copy remaining here will
handle the diplomatic stuff but I want you Charlie to handle the fleet. I'm
making you overall Commander and I've already informed Lucas and Rubik of that
fact. You will have all the resources of the fleet at your disposal and Hilary
to work with in getting the job done. Do you accept?"

"Oh my god, do I accept? Yes!"

"Excellent, I thought you would. Now,
we are going to be taking the Behemoth to Regis to sort the problems there first
and the ship should be back in only a week or so. Until then oversee the
settlement of your colonists, and when that's done I guess it will be time to
go back and collect the next intake from Earth."

To her delight Charlotte was speechless and
Regan smiled, turning next to Perin. "Perin, follow me, we'll catch a
shuttle across to the Behemoth and then we'll be off. You have only a day to
plan what you're going to say and how you will do it so you'd better get it
right. I'm sure Ham will help you, he's always been a great director of fantasy
epics."

With a nod to Charlotte and the smiling
Hilary, they were gone.

* * *

Fifino Orbital, Gliese 667C

The Regan and Ham that remained in the
Gliese system had not been idle. Busy as they had been however one part of
Regan's mind was fixated on the new relational dynamics with Marin and Leah. As
she watched the pair talk a fresh insight came to her and Regan found herself
alert to their body language and positioning in the saucer control. Having
noticed a pattern it took only a second for her to separate one part of her
consciousness and review all of their movements covering the last hour's
discussion. She tracked where the four of them had stood, where they walked and
sat. And it was painful to notice Marin and Leah constantly drawn toward each
other as if by some gravitational force despite it being plain they were trying
to be discreet. That they were so obviously trying to hide things only made
viewing the process worse and she quickly banished the visual to concentrate on
the planning.

Quietly she reveled in the android body she
had worn across from Dahlia Orbital. A glance across at Ham, also inhabiting
one of the latest models distracted her from the personal ache she felt and a
surge of confidence passed through her that they would get the job done. Even
without Marin and Leah she felt confident Ham and she were a private army of
virtually unstoppable force. But that wasn't really an option. If the support
of this system’s people and Minds was to be won then this extraction of the
Styles family would need to be carried out without force and done legally. She
turned her attention back to the discussion.

"We need to know where they are in the
compound." Leah was saying.

"We're certain all three are still in
there," Marin added, "but so far the information Ham has been able to
get out doesn't include anything about Ruben."

"Ham - are you able to identify the
location of Aaron's room accurately?" Regan asked.

"Yes, he's still being housed with
Moriah."

"So we only need to get Ruben together
with them."

Marin looked doubtful. "Babe, we don't
even know where he is, we can't communicate with them and clearly Leith wants
to keep them apart anyway."

"True, but let's imagine we could get
them together, Ham, could we displace them right out of there?"

"Not from here babe, we're pressed up
against the hull of the Orbital but the compound is too far inside to reach
with a field bubble."

"But what if we made a portable
displacer, something we could transport within the Orbital, maybe even right up
to the walls of the fortress so to speak; could that be done?" She was
excited now, a plan forming in her mind.

"I guess so - yes, in theory it could
be done. I'd need help from Tihan to gather the materials and as Orbital Mind
he'd need to turn a blind eye to the energy signature as we transported it through
the corridors, otherwise with the power required it would set off alarms
throughout the area. But, to answer your question, yes it can be done."

"How long - to get the thing built I
mean?"

"Probably a period at most, say ten
days, that's with Marin and Leah helping to gather what we need, but can we
afford for them to be seen?"

"No one knows us here Ham," Marin
said, "only the Orbital mind would be likely to notice and if you have him
on side, well, what's the problem?"

"Even if Ham can build a displacer,
and even if we can get it outside it still doesn't solve the problem of getting
Ruben together with them." Leah chipped in. "We simply can't take
them out without that boy."

"I think I can handle that part, leave
it with me." Regan said with a confident look.

"What are you going to do babe?"
Marin asked.

"I'll just go in and talk to Aaron of
course." And she smiled mischievously.

Of course it was impossible to eliminate
risk; Ham's limited data on the compound was also historical. The delivery
automatons only passed in and out once per day unless making an urgent courier
delivery, however on each occasion Ham had step by step confirmed and mapped a
good deal of the interior. He was now almost certain he knew the location of
the night rooms for Aaron and Moriah and he assured Regan he could provide coordinates
that would also be almost perfect. She glared at his typically noncommittal
assurance but accepted it as it was certainly accurate enough for what she had
in mind; provided Aaron hadn't been moved since the last report.

They waited until midnight and then jumped
from the Saucer in a short deadly accurate hop right into the bedroom of Aaron
and Moriah. Materializing together in the centre of the room Ham couldn't
resist cyber punching Regan's shoulder at the accuracy of his floor plan.
"Doubter!" He whispered.

The room being small, they emerged near to
the bed and they could see the couple sleeping, spooned together, both looking
drawn and haggard.

Regan leaned over and whispered to the softly
snoring man. "Aaron - Aaron, it's me Regan."

He shuffled but didn't respond.

"Aaron – Aaron." She called a
little louder, and then noticed Moriah's arm creeping toward a button on the
wall. "DON’T!" She hissed loudly and the arm was pulled sharply back
under the sheet. The action woke Aaron with a start and he sat up, pulling the
sheet away as he did so. Moriah, exposed now, looked wide eyed and guiltily at
the pair who were standing there shimmering in the darkness.

Aaron rubbed his eyes furiously, "My
god Regan - and Ham, how did you find us?"

"Don't worry about that Aaron; it's
not important, are you all right?"

"Yes, yes I'm - ," and then he
looked sideways at Moriah, "we're both fine, but they won't let us see
Ruben and it's been days and days, is he all right?"

"I'm sorry my friend, we don't know
yet but I do have a plan to get you all out; the question I need to ask is - is
that what you want?"

"Of course I want out but . . ." He
let the words hang as he looked sideways at Moriah.

Regan sighed and sat at the foot of the
bed; she could see Moriah was frightened.

"Moriah, there's no need to be
concerned; babe, what is it that you want, I mean are you really happy with
everything that's happened here?"

The Coran beauty shuffled uncomfortably.
"I'm sure this is all just a misunderstanding Regan, Leith will be looking
after Ruben and if Aaron wasn't so stubborn none of this would have happened."

"It's not about being stubborn."
Aaron interjected.

"Never mind that," Regan
continued, "Moriah, you haven't really answered my question; are you
comfortable with what Leith has done, separating you from Ruben?"

At this tears welled in Moriah's eyes.
"No, no of course I'm not happy. We don't know where he is or if he's all right
. . . I just wanted for Aaron to get what he deserves from his work, for Ruben
too, and now . . . now it's all gone wrong." She began to sob with grief
as Aaron held her.

Regan stretched out her arm to hover a hand
over Moriah's knee; her concern was obvious. "Babe, I can understand how you
feel, the thought of Jared being taken from me or being hurt by someone is
unthinkable, and I've done some unthinkable things because of that. But Moriah,
this man Leith is not who you think he is, he may be your cousin but he's also
an agent of others; we think some pretty unscrupulous others."

"There is no doubt about it," Ham
added quickly, "Leith was an agent for the old Coran Emperor, and he
played a key part in the takeover of Dahlia so that alone makes him a criminal
in my eyes, and now he's still acting for dubious bosses. The man's a slug, and
he's not interested in Aaron or you; he may even be a killer."

Regan raised a hand to stay him. "Yes,
thank you Ham, some of that is not particularly helpful, I'm sure no one is
going to be killed here."

"Are you willing to take that chance?
I'm not."

Aaron had already heard enough. "What
do you want us to do Regan? I want to get out of here, no question, but not
without Ruben - or Moriah." He hugged her tightly.

"Moriah." Regan appealed to her.
"We can't do anything without your support too. If my plan is going to
work, you have to play along."

Moriah hesitated before answering.
"You can get us all out safe?"

"I think so, in fact I'm sure
so."

"And you will look after Aaron and his
breakthroughs, make sure he'll get what he deserves?"

Again Regan sighed. "Moriah, I thought
we already were looking after both Aaron, and you. But yes, let us get you out
of here and I promise we will sit down and discuss your concerns; I'm sure we
can resolve them."

Moriah looked relieved. "Then yes, but
first please just get Ruben out, even if you can't save us."

Regan looked much happier. "Babe, I'm
sure we will get you all out, it could take us a week or so to get everything
together but we will do it and in the meantime there are some things you need
to do to help.

Aaron groaned with relief. "Anything
Regan, we just want to get out with Ruben."

"Okay, now this is the plan, and it all
starts with you Aaron; you need to agree to give them everything they want -
provided . . ."