Regan's Reach 4: Avarice (8 page)

Pushing her feelings aside, numbly she asked,
"And the other change you want is?"

"I need some privacy Mom, if Ham is
going to be with me, then I want my own Ham."

"I'm sorry," and she looked at
the beautiful man, "what does that even mean?"

Ham didn't avoid her look. "Regan,
Jared has discussed this with me, and I think we can make this work. He wants
me to split. One version with him, still constantly updating but with a cyber
wall so that some private areas are screened off, even from  . . ." and he
hesitated, struggling for the right way to put it, "well, screened off
from me. In time, his me will grow with him, while still being linked to us,
like a brother perhaps."

Regan looked at him strangely. "And
you're comfortable with this?"

"I think so, I guess time will
tell."

She shook her head, coming to grips with
the idea. "So we'll have two of you, two Ham's, but slightly
different?"

"Yes and no Mom," Jared explained
excitedly, "my version will be named Mori."

Ham looked off to the side suspiciously.

"Mori?" she asked.

"Yes, Ham told me all about him, it’s
short for Moriarty, he was a brilliant character in books in the early
twentieth century."

Regan turned to Ham slowly. "Moriarty,
really? I take it that was your choice? Did you tell Jared he was a bad guy, a
criminal?"

Ham shrugged and raised his hands in
surrender. "He was a brilliant mind, what can I say?"

"You couldn't have chosen
Sherlock?"

He just looked at her in disgust,
"Come on - Sherlock? - really? Do I look like a Sherlock?"

It was over and she knew it, there would be
no more discussion. She walked to Jared and hugged him, hard. "So then,
when will the operation be?"

Ham's excitement was obvious. "I have
Leah organized for tomorrow morning. Everything is in place and I see no reason
to delay. The sooner we do it the sooner we can get underway to Rigel."

Regan chewed at her lip nervously.
"Well, I guess we agree on at least that one thing, tomorrow it is
then."

* * *

Medlab, The STEIN Traveler, just off Hillary Station

The hours before the operation had passed
quickly. Jared looked up from the gurney and reached for Regan's hand to
squeeze it. "Don't worry Mom, Ham's the best, and you're the living proof."

She squeezed back and summoned a tight smile.
"See you on the other side babe . . . I love you."

He held on to her hand for a few seconds,
and his gaze held her eyes. "You too."And then he lay back as she
stepped away from him. Leah came to her then, already garbed and ready and they
hugged.

"Don't worry babe, he'll be fine, you
know that, and Ham is the best. Regan, you have your fleet crew meeting coming
up, focus on that for now, we've got things covered here."

Regan nodded, "You'll sub me if
anything . . ."

"Of course, I'll keep you in touch
throughout."

One look back and then Regan walked from
the room, her mind already shifting to the afternoon meeting. The senior crew
from the three vessels would all be present, and it was an opportunity for her
to connect with them, to stir the troops. With long established practice she
switched her mind off to the operation, suspending belief about the risks and
shelving the issue for the moment. A determined look settled on her face and
with just a thought command she displaced back to Hillary Station.

* * *

Hillary Station

Regan enjoyed the activity buzzing around
her as she walked up the pipe toward the conference room. The corridors seemed
much busier these days, with chattering groups moving from room to room,
heading for the various meeting or research rooms, cafes and restaurants, gyms
and recreation groups. And when schools closed they would be filled with
running children heading for apartments or play groups, all able to do so
safely in an environment where they knew their benevolent Mind, Hilary, much
more than an AI would always monitoring everything. She knew if she bothered to
listen in, many in this corridor would be chatting with Hilary via wireless
devices and there would be literally thousands of such conversations going on
throughout the station. At any one time the gracious lady would be handling
everything from special requests, to emergencies to simple friendly banter.
Hilary was simply amazing. Somehow, in the midst of all that she always had
time for Regan, and like the best assistant in the universe, she always kept
her informed.

[Regan, sorry to interrupt you but something
has happened you need to be informed about before your meeting; I need you in Control.]

The tone of the subbed communication made
Regan pause in her step and for a moment the person following close behind
thought they were going to run into her. In reaction that woman's hand came up
to brace on Regan's shoulder . . . but she was already gone, snatched away by
Hilary and the woman stumbled forward before regaining her balance. She looked
around, embarrassed then continued on her way.

The snatch was so unexpected even Regan
stumbled on her emergence in the Hillary Control room; a startled half clad
Leah already there, pulling up her suit. She and Marin, he dressed in sweaty
gym gear, looked equally shocked; clearly this meeting came as a surprise to
everyone. They exchanged concerned looks before all turned by habit to the
large screen.

Floating across the face of the screen they
could see a body, wracked in a tortured pose, fingers rigid in that final half
clench as if they were clawing at nothing, and it was tumbling slowly. Mouths
agape they stared in fascinated horror as it slowly turned to face them, a male
hardly recognizable due to the awful grimace and drifting across the hull of a
ship. They could see ship markings; it was the leased ship Fair Passage.

Ham spun his command chair around to face
them. "You are looking at the 'ex' Commander Tyrian Juno, from Reubus."

"TJ . . . are you sure it's him?"
Regan stumbled forward to her chair.

"What happened?" Leah asked.

Marin's eyes were locked on the tumbling
figure, looking for something . . . injury?

Ham too looked back at the images. "We
don't know what happened, but we know for sure it's the Commander."

"How can there not be a record of what
happened?" Regan asked. "Have you checked with the ship AI?"

"The ship AI . . . has a name Regan,
his name is Lucas." Ham's tone admonished her. "You of all people
should know Lucas is not just a low level AI, he is as much a member of crew as
any other and yes, of course I've checked. He opened to me without question and
we've reviewed all his vid-feeds from everywhere on ship; there's
nothing."

"How did he die?" Marin was still
following the body.

Ham glanced casually at the screen. "A
deficit of air perhaps?"

Hilary interrupted them. "The recording
we are viewing is taken from the perspective of the Ascendant which is
alongside, hence our view of the Fair Passage hull. Regarding the cause of
death we have recovered the body and there is no evidence of injury that we can
see. Tests will be carried out soon to see if there was anything in his blood,
however it appears he may have been ejected into vacuum, possibly through a
refuse ejector tube."

"Ham, what does Lucas say about this?"
Regan turned to him.

"He's embarrassed, believe me. This shouldn't
happen with a Mind - we are everywhere, all the time and to not have any record
of what happened is deeply disturbing to him. Vid-feeds from the refuse area
were somehow turned off briefly and he doesn't know how or why. It was only on
reviewing the refuse exit itself that Lucas identified a body and asked for a
feed from the Ascendant. He's as shocked as we are."

"What does Lucas say about TJ's state
of mind, Ham?" Leah asked.

"You think it may be suicide?"
Regan was shocked.

"Well, he did lose his Dahlian wife
seven months ago. He seemed to be fine to me as we went through the crew
selection but it's a factor and I haven't seen him for weeks."

Ham was stretched back, clearly
communicating with someone, probably Lucas, and so they waited for his input.

"Hmm, Lucas doesn't know him that well;
it seems TJ was a last minute appointment of the shipping line when we leased
the ship. He now wonders whether Juno took the appointment to give himself a
break following the death of the wife and I guess it is a possibility. Lucas apparently
didn't communicate much with TJ on a personal level and he doesn't think anyone
else did either. Let's not forget the entire crew other than the Commander is
from this Solar System after all, and they've only been aboard Fair Passage a
month. TJ has been spending a lot of time with the colonists helping them
settle in and he focused more on the staff relations than the ship Mind. Lucas
didn't worry that he was neglected, that suited him actually."

The sight of the tumbling body was both mesmerizing
and disturbing; Regan had had enough. "It's time to move on Hilary; please
take those images off screen. I take it you are already making arrangements for
a funeral?" She slumped back into her chair without waiting for an answer.

A moments silence followed with everyone
lost in their own thoughts. Finally Regan pushed herself up and focused on the Fair
Passage, the image of the huge liner dominating the screen with the Ascendant
just visible in the background.

"Guys, we have a meeting in an hour, it's
supposed to be a getting to know you time that will now be dominated by this
news. So we all need to be on deck, circulating and with something positive to
share. There's no time to get morose or introspective about this, it looks like
a suicide but of course we'll check. Our other problem is we've now only got twelve
days to appoint a replacement - any ideas?"

"One of us could do it?" Marin
suggested.

"Babe, it's not our skill," Leah
countered, "none of us have the patience to deal with the crew issues, let
alone the twelve hundred colonists on that vessel."

"Regan," Hilary interrupted,
"if I may speak, it might be useful to talk to Mary, I think she may have
a suggestion."

Regan cocked her head in surprise. "Mary?
I take it you have some thoughts on this too, Hilary?"

"I do, but it would be good if you
talked with Mary first, shall I set up a meeting?"

"Yes, yes of course and we'd better
get down for the crew meeting, could you pop us down there please."

"Errr, and Hilary," Leah glanced
at Regan apologetically, "could you pop me back to the Medlab
please."

Regan swung to her. "Oh shit . . . of
course, Jared, what's happening down there?"

Ham quickly raised a hand, "Everything
is going fine Regan, I'm operating even as we speak and I didn't need Leah for
the moment but yes, there is some cleaning up to do, we should get back there
now . . ." already his form was beginning to fade but not before Regan just
caught his final words, "I do have a lot on . . . and oh, I've had to make
some executiv . . ." and he was gone.

Regan cringed . . .
executive decisions!

*  *  *

The Stein Family Compound, Hillary Station

Mary was talking with the US office, as always
busy with the responsibilities of STEIN CEO, a role that she thrived on. She
loved the action, the deals and the profit returns while Kevin worked the
international circuit as head of the International Space Coalition.

There would be no hurrying Mary, Regan knew
from experience she moved at her own pace, so instead she took a seat to wait.
As an old friend and colleague Mary was one of the few who didn't jump when
Regan entered a room and she loved that about her, she was a great sister-in-law.
Making herself comfortable she reclined on the couch, closed her eyes and used
the time to review the earlier meeting in quadruple time. At times she imagined
her left brain processor must be buzzing away frantically and she could almost
hear it. She chuckled at the thought.

The meeting had gone well, with just the
senior crew present, all of them good men and women. They mixed well together and
the camaraderie was evident from the moment of the first arrivals. Only the
crew from the Fair Passage looked in any way stressed and that was
understandable; they arrived last and immediately the mood had become somber
with the death of the Commander on everyone's minds. Conversations changed with
the shift in mood and everyone began to focus on the risks in space. It took a
few drinks and good food before the atmosphere started to lift.

Commander Rubik of the Ascendant had proved
a revelation. Personally Regan would have dropped him after the battle seven
years earlier but Ham seemed to have confidence in him and that confidence had
been rewarded. The man seemed positive and optimistic and was a great
encourager of the Ascendant senior crew who were mostly Coran like himself. Humans
and Dahlians made up the balance of his own crew complement and all were
experienced operators they trusted.