SHIAM Conspiracy- Book 1 (14 page)

“Is it possible that the technology was not
the reason it was taken?” Megan spoke up.

“Very good, Ms. Teranika.” Vennhim’s sarcasm
was obvious. “Your train has just arrived at my stop. And we have a
lead that supports that premise. If EAST Group is involved, I doubt
their intent was to clone the little guy.”

“EAST Group would not...” Megan broke off
what she was going to say.

“
Would not
what?” Vennhim asked.
“Would not break the law? Would not take property that didn’t
belong to them? You do watch the news, don’t you, Ms.
Teranika?”

Zak decided it was time to put a stop to this
confrontation. “Ok, put me in touch with your assets so I can
verify.”

“For frag sakes, Zak! You know I can’t do
that. If I gave these guys up to you, I’d lose them for future
needs.”

“You expect to have future needs?” Zak asked
with a smirk. “What future needs would that be? You’re in the
private sector now, aren’t you?”

“Have it your way,” Vennhim said in disgust
as he leaned back heavily into his chair. “Since you aren’t about
to accept my help, I don’t know why I should even give you this,
but there’s more.”

“And what’s that?

“They had help. The Dhoraz were
involved.”

Zak showed no reaction to the news, but there
was a pull in his gut at the mention of the Orkensha terrorist
group.

Vennhim sighed his frustration. “You can take
the information or leave it, I don’t much care which. Now, since
you don’t want my help, you won’t mind excusing me so I can get
some work done.”

V
ennhim assigned the SHIAM security guard,
Jonas, to escort Zak and Megan during their investigation of the
Grimrok building. As they made their way through the corridors
Megan decided to become talkative.

“You already suspected that EAST Group was
involved.”

“Yep, I did.”

“Do you believe that Orks are also
involved?”

“Maybe.”

“You do not like that guy, Vennhim, very
much.”

“No, I don’t.”

“What did he do to make you dislike him
so?”

“He was born.”

“Is he the reason why you left ASID?”

“Part of it.”

“What else?”

Zak stopped and looked at her, but didn’t
respond right away. Her Elvish features stood out like blemishes to
him, but surprisingly, they did nothing to detract from how
beautiful she looked. An unwanted attraction pulled at him again, a
desire to become close to her. Simply a pheromone reaction, he told
himself. But in spite of trying to convince himself of that, he
couldn’t help feel that there was something more going on between
them than he wanted to admit. Something he didn’t like at all. The
pull he felt toward her was magnetic, almost hypnotically
irrational. It made him feel uneasy and he never liked feeling
uneasy. Then there was the guilt and the sick feeling in his gut
when he thought of who she was...

No! This was not the time or place for this.
He brought himself back to her question and said simply, “I reached
a point where there was a limit to what I was willing to do, even
for my country.”

She looked up at him with something that
resembled surprise. And something else. Approval, or respect maybe.
Whatever it was, he knew it was undeserved. And it only put him in
a worse mood. He turned and continued down the corridor in
silence.

. . .

“This is the gateway that links the Grimrok
network to Comm Net,” Jonas explained. “Mr. Grimrok has a passion
for vintage automobiles and chose to have the data packets resemble
the antiquated automobiles that operated on the internal combustion
engines back before the development of anti-gravity vehicles. Those
checkpoints at the entrance have been designed to resemble the old
border checkpoints that existed between countries at the time of
the ground cars. These checkpoints are actually part of the Grimrok
network firewall.”

Since Zak had already inspected the network
on his last visit, he assumed that the tour guide monologue Jonas
was providing was for Megan’s benefit. He did have to admit,
though, the virtual rendering was pretty impressive.

They stood at the entrance of a huge tunnel
on a raised sidewalk looking out over what appeared to be a
multi-lane expressway that ran into the tunnel. The network was
busy with bumper-to-bumper traffic entering the Grimrok building.
Each data packet resembled something you’d find at an antique car
show. Most were representative of the makes and models from late
4900 to early 5000, but a few Zak recognized as dating back as far
as 4830.

To their left the highway divided into
separate lanes. Small white structures resembling the old border
checkpoints Jonas had mentioned were positioned next to each of the
lanes. Those virtual vehicles seeking to gain entrance to the
Grimrok network were required to stop at one of the checkpoints
while a simulated border guard checked the identity and destination
of the data packet.

Occasionally one of the virtual vehicles
would be turned away. But the vast majority of them were allowed to
pass through, their colorful running lights creating a
polychromatic stream as the data packets flowed into the interior
of the Grimrok network.

On the far side of the tunnel a stream of
outbound traffic ran counter-flow to the data stream running into
the network, each virtual vehicle stopping at a similar checkpoint
before it was either turned back or allowed to pass through the
gates and onto the public data lanes of Comm Net.

“The streaming lights are really beautiful!”
Megan commented.

“I designed the light arrays for the vehicles
myself,” Jonas said proudly.

“Good job,” Megan complimented.

Jonas beamed like a schoolboy and then grew
thoughtful. He turned to Megan and said, “You are not like most
Elves, Ms. Teranika.”

“In what way?”

“According to comm newscasts I have seen,
Elves do not approve of SHIAM,” Jonas said. “But you have shown no
indication of disapproval or resentment towards us.”

“Not all Elves are so closed minded,” Megan
said to him. “Give it time. Things will change.”

Zak rolled his eyes with impatience. “Can we
get on with this?”

“Yes, of course.”

He turned to Megan. “Can you sense
anything?”

“There is something here,” Megan answered.
She stood facing the traffic, her eyes now closed as she focused
her Elvish senses.

“What is it?” Zak had to concede to the fact
that Megan had an advantage when it came to being able to detect
magic. Humans were able to learn sorcery. Some Humans even had a
talent for it. But the Elves possessed a natural affinity with the
paranormal that went far beyond anything any Human could ever
experience. Zak’s Human side seemed to have filtered much of that
affinity out of his genetic makeup. Even when he was able to sense
what the Elves called Li’Ethreal, the experience seemed much more
mundane to him than what the Elves claimed to experience.

“Well, what is it!” Megan’s lack of response
was irritating.

“I do not know,” she said finally. “It is
very weak.”

“Can’t you pick up anything at all...the type
of spell, how it was used, a signature...anything?”

Megan hesitated before responding. “I am not
certain. It is all too fuzzy. The echoes are not clear.”

“What do you mean?”

“You do not sense it.” It was a statement not
a question. The surprise in her expression irritated him even
more.

“No.”

“But you are Elf.”

“Half Elf.” For the first time in a long
time, he felt a trace of embarrassment over his limited Elvish
abilities. For some illogical reason a part of him regretted not
living up to Megan’s expectations. Then he caught himself. What the
frag was he feeling sorry for! He immediately substituted
indifference. “What did you mean by,
it’s fuzzy
?”

“Sorcery is a construct of reality,” Megan
explained patiently. “When magic is used in this world, it creates
ripples throughout Li’Ethreal, what Humans call the astral
planes.”

“I know what Li’Ethreal is!”

“Oh, I was not certain you did.” Megan looked
at him in a noncommittal way before continuing. “We call this the
ethereal echo
. It acts like an encoded radio signal,
although it is not. It is actually...”

“I didn’t ask for a lesson in magic,” Zak
said impatiently. “Get to the point!”

She gave him a hard look. “Like I said, it is
all rather fuzzy. It seems there was more than one sorcerer
involved. I think they were Orkensha, but I cannot be certain.”

“Frag, so the Orks are involved!” Zak
muttered.

“I said, I cannot be certain.”

Zak’s hatred for the Orks flared in spite of
Megan’s uncertainty, but he did his best to push it aside. He had
been trained to remain objective and not to jump to conclusions.
And even if Orks were involved, it still didn’t mean that the
Orkensha government or the Dhoraz were involved. It was quite
common for Ork sorcerers to hire themselves out to any low life
with the money to pay them.

He still couldn’t rule out industrial
espionage. There were plenty of corporations - both foreign and
domestic - that would sell their souls to be able to grab the SHIAM
technology from Grimrok. It was only a matter of time before one of
them actually attempted to do just that.

But there was another angle as well. Vennhim
had come close when he suggested that the thieves may have broken
into Grimrok simply to see what they could find. While Zak thought
this scenario unlikely, SHIAM technology was not the only
tantalizing prize Grimrok held.

“Could the SHIAM theft have been a diversion
to cover up the theft of something else, like weapons
technology?”

“We have conducted a thorough investigation,”
Jonas said to him. “There is nothing else missing and there is no
sign of any access to any other areas within the building.”

“How can you be so certain there was no
access to any other area?” Zak asked the SHIAM. “Your security team
didn’t even know there was a break-in until you noticed the SHIAM
was missing. If it wasn’t for the unit being gone, nobody would
have even noticed the break-in.”

Jonas looked perplexed, but said nothing.

“The Orks would find your weapons technology
far more interesting than an android.” The temptation to lay this
on the Orks, even without conclusive evidence, was nearly
irresistible for him.

“You cannot assume that Orks were involved,”
Megan said. “I told you, I cannot be certain. These echoes were
deliberately distorted, making them impossible to interpret with
any certainty. They seem to be Orkensha, but at the same time
something does not feel right.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Megan ignored his question. Concentrating
again, she made an attempt to discover something more about the
sorcery. After some time she gave up. “No, it is simply too
distorted.”

“That’s not a big help,” Zak mumbled. He had
not intended for Megan to hear the comment, but Elves have a keen
sense of hearing.

“I am sorry I cannot pull answers out of thin
air!” Megan’s face contorted with anger.

“Look, I didn’t mean anything personal by
it.”

“There is one other thing,” Megan said,
clearly attempting to calm herself. “These traces I am detecting...
I think they were deliberate.”

“What?”

“The traces of
ethereal echoes
, I
think they were deliberately left to be found.”

“What makes you say that?”

“It was very cleverly done,” Megan said. “At
first, I did not notice it, but the echoes seem to have been
modified somehow. Normally the ethereal echo gradually
deteriorates. Even with the use of strong sorcery they fade with
time. The more they degrade, the more difficult it is to pick out
any details about the particular sorcery. These traces here seem to
have some sort of echo booster attached. They seem to send out
periodic bursts, almost like beacons. They remain just strong
enough to be detected, but too weak to gain any definite
information. I am nearly positive this was no accident. Someone
wanted the ethereal echoes to be found.”

“Why would the thieves do that?” Jonas
asked.

“A good question,” Zak said thoughtfully. “A
very good question.”

“
D
o you hate everyone, or just everyone
you do not approve of?”

“What are you talking about, I don’t hate
anyone!”

“Well, you were certainly rude to Jonas. You
seem to have a hate-on for Mr. Vennhim. And you have already made
it clear how you feel about Elves.”

“The metal head isn’t even alive,” Zak said
defensively. “I have no feelings one way or another about it.
Vennhim...is a personal matter.”

“And what of Elves?”

“I don’t hate Elves. Not really. It’s a long
story.”

The rain was coming down hard and Megan was
forced to drive at ground level. Even though she claimed she had
slowed down for the weather conditions, Zak felt she was still
driving too fast. He remained a nervous passenger as he looked out
past the swishing strokes of the wiper blades.

“Would you slow down!”

“I have slowed down.”

“Not enough! You’re still going too fast for
conditions.”

Megan’s response was to accelerate. Not a
lot. Just enough to let Zak notice the change in speed. When he
looked over at her and saw the antagonizing grin on her face, he
decided not to comment. Instead he sat silently brooding. Of all
the Elves in the world, why did this girl have to be Michavelli
Teranika’s daughter?

“Well?” She said glancing over at him.

“Well, what?”

“What is it you have against Elves?”

“I told you, it’s a long story.” He was not
happy with the way she made him feel. Off balance...and confused.
He had always demanded control over himself in any situation. Since
she had come along a few short hours ago, that control was already
wavering. She had come into his life like floodwaters through a
broken dam. And what really bothered him was that he was showing
signs that he might enjoy the swim.