SHIAM Conspiracy- Book 1 (5 page)

“We don’t have a fragging clue,” Vennhim
said. “You saw the security vids of the checkpoints and elevator.
There were no signs of anything unusual going on in any part of the
building that night. Not a single alarm. Nothing. And our RAAID
unit got the same results as yours...zip!”

Vennhim’s admission lacked any trace of
embarrassment. Zak studied him a moment without comment. Something
was off. Vennhim was almost casual in the way he admitted that his
team had not only failed so utterly at preventing the theft, but
had also failed to figure out how it happened. This offhanded
manner was out of character for an egotist like Vennhim. He was a
control freak and didn’t like being out maneuvered by anyone. Zak
would have expected the man to show more frustration and resentment
at being outwitted.

“Both your physical and paranormal security
is first rate.” Zak didn’t mean it as a compliment, it was merely a
fact. “A cockroach couldn’t get into this building without being
detected or setting off some kind of an alarm. You think it was an
inside job?”

“Inside job?” Vennhim laughed. “Normally I
would, but who? The metal heads make up ninety-five percent of the
work force inside this building, including the entire security
staff with the exception of myself. The other five percent are a
mixture of Aragne and Dwarves, all with high level background
checks and low level security clearances that wouldn’t take them
anywhere near this area.”

“It had to be magic.” The security guard,
Jonas, had been silently following them around as Zak checked out
the various areas of the building. He now spoke up, excitement in
his voice at the chance to participate. “It is the only logical
explanation for the lack of evidence.”

“We’ve already been through this,” Vennhim
said. He turned toward Zak, addressing his words to him rather than
the SHIAM. “We’ve found no trace of magic when we checked and you
found nothing just now.”

Zak switched on the small RAAID unit he held
in his hand and began moving around the room once again as he
considered the possibilities. The scientific name for the device he
held was Residual Atmospheric Atomic Ionization Detector, RAAID for
short. It did exactly what the name implied; it detected residual
ionized atomic particles in the atmosphere.

Magic was about altering the perceived
reality, either by creating illusion or by actually changing the
physical world in some way. Regardless which method was used, it
involved the reorganization of subatomic particles. The energy
generated during this process inevitably caused the ionization of
the atoms in the surrounding atmosphere.

“You would expect to find at least some trace
of ionization,” Vennhim continued. “I mean, think about the level
of magic it would have taken to blow past our security without
setting off a single alarm.”

“A deionization device could have been used
in order to cover it up,” Jonas suggested.

“Those gadgets are restricted and they are
mega expensive, not to mention difficult to use.” Vennhim stood in
the middle of the room, pivoting with Zak’s movement as he scanned
the room.

Zak couldn’t decide who was more annoying,
Vennhim or the SHIAM. “You don’t think this theft was pulled off by
a major player?”

“I didn’t say that,” Vennhim said. “But we’re
most likely talking either a foreign government agency or organized
crime if they are toting that kind of equipment.”

“You’re forgetting about the Corporations.
There are plenty of organizations out there that would just love to
have some of that SHIAM technology.”

Vennhim ignored the comment. “How many
wizards are there who have the level of skill it would have taken
to do this?”

“Well, I still can’t say for sure magic was
used. I’m not getting any readings.”

“You are an Elf, Mr. Harris,” Jonas said as
he followed Zak around the room for the second time. “Do you,
yourself, detect any traces of magic?”

“Half-Elf!” Zak said, snapping off the RAAID
unit in frustration. His natural ability to detect magic had failed
to pick up anything concrete as well. Except he had picked up
something...intangible...that he could almost, but not quite sense.
Or was it simply his logic drawing unsubstantiated conclusions?
Magic had almost certainly been used. Otherwise, how could the
thieves possibly have pulled this off?

They were now standing back in the kitchen
area. Out of curiosity, Zak walked over to the food processor
sitting on the counter and brought up the menu. Everything for a
well-rounded diet was there on the list, which included a variety
of meats, vegetables and fruit. There was even a separate menu for
deserts and snacks. Opening the refrigerator next to the counter,
he found milk, eggs and mayo among the contents. Shaking his head
in amazement, he stopped taking inventory. The fridge was better
stocked than his own.

“So, this thing eats regular food and it
cooks as well?” He still found it difficult to believe. It made him
feel violated as a sentient being somehow. “If it can consume
garbage, why cook the food? Why not just eat it raw?”

“Contrary to what you may think, we do have
the ability to taste,” Dr. Rose replied. “We cook to enhance the
experience of eating.”

“Is that right!” Zak turned away from the
refrigerator and scanned the loft again. “Why aren’t there any
security cameras in the living quarters?”

“We wanted to allow Derek as much privacy as
we could in his home environment.”

“Wasn’t that thoughtful.”

“Would
you
like to be constantly on
display, Mr. Harris?” Dr. Rose said angrily.

“I’m not a machine...a potentially psychotic
machine,” Zak said.

“Derek is not dangerous!” Dr. Rose added more
softly, “He is not some sort of monster. This is not his
fault!”

Zak didn’t reply. After a pause, he said, “I
can see where Grimrok wanted this kept quiet. The world government
would be on him in a heartbeat. Removing the SCE is against the
Android Containment Act
. Grimrok could lose his business
over this.”

“That’s why you’re here, to see to it that
doesn’t happen,” Vennhim said.

T
he trip from Zak’s Slough Street loft to
the cab waiting at the curb left him dryer than his earlier dash to
the Grimrok building had. The torrent of rain had slowed to a
drizzle, although heavy black clouds still hung over the city. In
the early evening the lower edges of the dark mass took on an ugly
dirty brown with the reflection of city lights. Strobes of
lightning still flashed across the darkness and a steady rumble of
thunder promised the foul weather would soon return. A kaleidoscope
of color danced across the wet pavement of the street, illuminated
from neon signs on the buildings across the street. Zak opened the
rear door of the cab and climbed in.

A blast of what was known as circuit music
assailed him when he opened the door to the cab. He was pleased to
find a Human driver behind the wheel. The taxi companies had begun
replacing their cabbies with SHIAM units. The fact that the
androids required no rest breaks and never considered strike action
for better pay was just too appealing for these companies to pass
up.

As he settled into the back seat, Zak got a
better look at the cabbie in the dome light of the car. His first
impression was that this Human driver was not as preferable as he
had first thought. If bizarre was the flagship of youth, this kid
sailed on it. His dirty brown hair hung in tight curls around the
crown of his head, while the sides had been shaved smooth. Peach
fuzz took the place of a beard, and he had been pierced and fitted
with rings in just about every conceivable area of his face. He
wore a bright purple shirt with a lemon yellow scarf loosely
wrapped around his neck. Zak didn’t even pretend to understand
current subculture fashion trends, but he knew enough to identify
the kid as a
circuit head
. The kid was swaying in his seat
to the ear-splitting rhythm of electro music that played on the
cab’s comm unit, his head bobbing on his shoulders like some
animated figurine. Without missing a head-bob, the kid looked into
the rear view mirror and turned the comm down just enough for his
shout to be heard.

“So dude...where to?”

“South side,” Zak answered. “Underworld.”

“Oh, hey man.” The kid turned the music down
further, shaking his head emphatically. “I don’t go down into the
Zone after dark. And I sure don’t go nowhere near Underworld!”

Everything south of Krune Street was known as
the Zone by the locals. It was where the poor and the destitute
were forced to settle. It was also where the predators of the city
migrated. It was a dangerous place, especially after dark.

“You are a cab driver, aren’t you?”

“Hey man, I value my skin and any holes get
put in it, I like it to be voluntary. Get somebody else to drive
you.”

The kid turned and looked at Zak. He wore his
fear of the Zone openly, but the dilated pupils of his eyes weren’t
entirely from being frightened. Recreational drugs.

“You’re here, somebody else isn’t,” Zak said.
He looked at the ID plate on the dashboard. It read Kam Shower and
included an exceptionally bad photo of the kid. “Look, Kam, I’m not
asking you to cruise the place. In and out...just drop me off. You
take me there and I won’t mention to your boss that you’re getting
stoned on the job.” He fished in his coat pocket and pulled out a
credit voucher. “Here’s an extra fifty for the trouble.”

Kam reached for the voucher and Zak pulled it
back. “Underworld?”

“Aw, man...I told ya I don’t want to go
there.” He looked at the credit voucher Zak was holding out, his
face twisted in indecision. Finally, the cash won out. He reached
back and swiped the voucher out of Zak’s hand, clicked the meter on
and the dome light went out as they pulled away from the curb.
“What the frag. Ya only live once, right? But dude, anything
happens and you pay my med expenses!”

“Take the high way,” Zak said. “I’m in a
hurry. And keep the comm down to a gentle roar!”

“Whatever you say, man.”

With the pause in the storm, the ban against
multi-level driving had been lifted for the time being. Kam pulled
away from the curb, shifted the anti-grav into a higher setting and
the cab made a smooth ascent to a height of two hundred meters
above the street and levelled off. He turned south on River Side
Drive. This was the main north-south artery of Sol Kappur, running
parallel to the Serpent River. With the break in the weather and
lift in the upper level ban, traffic was a steady stream of
headlights on all levels. Residents, most likely attempting to
shrug off claustrophobic anxiety from the bad weather, were heading
out on the town tonight.

They were travelling well above the four and
five story buildings that dominated the neighborhood. As the cab
travelled south, it provided Zak with a panoramic view of what many
people called
the city with a split personality
. Sol Kappur
proper glittered in stylized patterns of light, which gave no hint
of the neglect that actually existed on the east side of the
Serpent River. The skyline on this side of the river was low level,
no buildings over ten stories, and by day its dingy depressed
personality was exposed for all to see. Sol Kappur West, as the
inhabitants who lived on the west side of the Serpent River so
quaintly named their section of the city, was a dramatically
different story. Downtown not only reached up to the sky in rich
luster, but many of the buildings disappeared into the haze of
cloud, ranging over six-hundred meters tall. This is where the
mega-corporations chose to build their lavish offices, Grimrok
among them. These huge giants of the metropolitan area were
surrounded by lavish estates in the outer areas. Even though Sol
Kappur and Sol Kappur West were technically two segments of the
same city, they had come to exist pretty much independently of each
other.

Lights from the far side of the river seemed
a thousand times more dazzling in the darkness. Gazing off into
what seemed like a spectacular wall of luminance, Zak’s mind
drifted back to the Grimrok theft. Whoever pulled it off had to
have had a good deal of clout behind them. It wasn’t only the level
of sorcery that almost certainly had been involved or the skill
that was needed in disguising the entire operation. In order to
learn about the SHIAM prototype in the first place, and then to
plan the break-in and execute the operation without a hitch would
have needed top notch intel and shrewd planning. Vennhim’s
suggestion of a foreign government agency or organized crime being
involved was certainly plausible.

But Zak couldn’t rule out the possibility of
corporate espionage. There were several corporations attempting to
develop android technology in order to compete with Grimrok for the
market. And none of them had even come close to developing anything
as sophisticated as the SHIAM. And it wasn’t only Aragne
corporations who wanted a piece of the pie. Grimrok refused to
export to foreign markets, not even to the Dwarven nations. In
spite of being Dwarf, Grimrok knew where the butter for his bread
came from. The fact that the SHIAM were exclusively Aragne
technology didn’t sit well with many of the other countries around
the world of Amaco Loch.

Zak had never been involved in a case this
completely sealed up and lacking of clues, even during his time
with ASID. There was always at least some small hint of a clue. He
had found no physical evidence. A virtual tour of Grimrok’s
internal network had turned up nothing in cyberspace as well. The
only single solitary thing Zak had come up with so far was one
transient hint of magic he had sensed. But it had been neither
sufficiently tangible nor distinctive enough for him to even be
certain that he’d actually sensed it.