by Sky Corbelli
Chapter 19
Circles Within Circles
“My first clue was the Hughes family, specifically, Sarah Hughes.” Ezra's brain tried to process what was going on. Sarah had given it away?
“By all accounts, she was an apt student, and, while not brilliant, more than capable of inheriting the Hughes family Legacy. I looked into the details of her disinheritance, and, with some digging...” Kirsten took another deep breath, then blurted out, “I found that she had shared Legacy secrets with a grunt.”
“Oh?” Ezra said, voice cracking. He was still at a loss at how this had led her to the Guild.
Miss O'Donnell nodded, warming to her subject. “I was able to find the Department of Ordinances report on the occurrence and uncover the identity of the grunt with whom she shared her family's secrets: a Mr. Robert Ralson, one of the assistants at their lab.” A holographic display of a young man with a rough looking face and well trimmed red hair jumped to life from one of Kirsten's terminals.
Ezra had never seen the man before, but he nodded, as if he had some idea what she was talking about.
Kirsten moved the image off to a corner of the display. “He seems to have inexplicably vanished some time in the last few months. I was, however, able to find this picture of a slightly older Mr. Ralson at the University Plaza just before the event known as the University Statue Caper.” It certainly looked like the same man, even though his face was partially obscured and his hair was longer and pulled back into a tail, but what was this leading to? Ezra's gaze followed to where Kirsten's finger was pointing to a person in the background and... oh god. “Ah, I see you recognized him too. It actually took me a good deal longer, he appears to have lost some weight since then.”
In the background of the picture was Sebastian, distinctive tattoos clearly visible. “At first the tattoo threw me off, but I replayed the recording of our meeting in the study. I had the foresight to increase the room's temperature, trying to make them uncomfortable to give us an advantage in negotiations.” Kirsten played the recording, speeding it up to a certain point, where Sebastian wiped his face. “There!” She froze the frame and magnified it. Just as his hand passed over his face, the hologram that was hiding his tattoo vanished, reappearing an instant later... but an instant that was caught by the house's surveillance. “I was able to map out the tattoo and it matches the one on this man's face.” She returned to the image of Sebastian.
“That's, um... I-I'm, impressed.”
Kirsten flashed him a dazzling smile and continued. “Using that as a starting point, I searched for any images or video feeds from Guild of Sundry events over the last few years.” More pictures of Sebastian in various states of disguise flashed by, intermingled with those of this mysterious Ralson person. The images finally came to a stop on a still frame of a small, brightly smiling girl in pink panties stepping off a shuttle on what must have been the Day of Pants-less Shuttles. It was Gal.
“I know you may not want to hear this...” Kirsten began.
“Th-that could have been, I mean,” Ezra swallowed, trying to think of something, anything. “A lot of people joined in on that event by the end of the day. She was probably just using the shuttles and thought it looked like fun!”
Kirsten shook her head slowly then returned her eyes, brimming with compassion, back to him. “That was my first thought too. But the time stamp on the image places it within two minutes of the generally agreed upon beginning of the event.” She took a step toward him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I know this might be hard for you to hear right now, but I think I know what's going on.”
Ezra looked back at her, stricken. This was all his fault. He should have seen this coming. Kirsten always saw through everything. Secret colony of pet tarantulas? Exterminated. Artificially induced stomach flu? Never had a chance. Wormhole hopping to hide from a first date with Mitzi Parnasus? Caught before his second jump. He should have told the Guild that they would need to kill him, because Kirsten always found out everything.
“I believe that Miss Doe, if that's even her name, is an agent for the Guild of Sundry.” Oh god. “I believe she was sent to pick you up, most probably through a quick and hard seduction, to make you more compliant.” Kirsten saw through it all. “And I believe that the ultimate goal in all of this is...” Here it comes; put on a brave face, Ezra. “...the defamation and humiliation of the Hawkins family.”
What?
“It was all very simple, once I put the pieces together. They set you up to take the blame for several incidents on Founder's Day in order to establish you as irresponsible and reckless. You probably helped them with this more than was absolutely necessary, but I am willing to admit that you may not have been completely at fault. Miss Doe insinuates herself into your life, introducing you to several other members of the Guild along with Sarah Hughes. They make you an offer that seems too good to be true with the ultimate goal of stealing the Hawkins Legacy of wormhole technology or, at the very least, moving it into the public's hands by showing the last surviving heir to the family to be unfit.” Kirsten nodded, eyes closed, as she paced back and forth.
“I, uh...”
“It all makes sense, Ezra, if you just take the time to think about it.” Kirsten began ticking off points on her fingers. “You'll be too distracted by Miss Doe to take necessary precautions. In fact, they may even be attempting to have you get a child with her or Miss Hughes, so that when you are declared unfit the entire Legacy falls into their hands.” Ezra blinked. Kirsten actually thought about that as a logical possibility? “They have you build them wormhole generators that they can then use to cause mass havoc, then neatly lay the blame on you. Mr. Matanane was probably meant as a distraction for me, trying to cover their sloppy back trail, but,” Kirsten smiled ruefully, “they made a miscalculation there.”
“They... wha?” Ezra hadn't quite worked his way up to coherence yet, but he was getting there.
Kirsten gave him a level look. “He's not my type.” Then, continuing to pace, “I have to admit, it was a rather well prepared scheme. I'm impressed that the Hughes family would go so far as to even dis-inherit their own daughter to set this up... but at the same time, it's nice to be pitted against worthy opponents.” A feral grin flashed over Kirsten's features. “I was, however, able to win us a little leeway that I think we can work with, so long as you do exactly as I say. While the contract detailed how long the project was to last in total, it did not specify any rate at which it would be completed. Nor did they impose any contingencies when I insisted that the Hawkins family be awarded the money at set intervals, to defray costs.” She stopped pacing in front of Ezra, reaching out and grasping both of his arms, staring directly into his eyes. “Ezra, I need you to drag your feet on this. Waste as much time as possible while we collect from the Hughes family and this dummy corporation they've created. I'll work out something, I promise. We'll get through this.” She gave his arms a squeeze, a hopeful little smile on her face.
She's actually having fun, Ezra thought dazedly.
“Ezra? I'm also going to need you to behave as if you don't know about any of this. I know that it will be difficult for you, that you may think you have some feelings for the girl, or feel betrayed by her... but I'll help you in every way I can.” She peered up at him, eyes bright and concerned. “Do you think you can do that? I need to know how you feel about all of this.”
“I feel...” Ezra hesitated. She hadn't figured it out. There as too much at risk, he couldn't let her take control of the situation. Maybe, just maybe... “I feel surprised that you put it all together.”
Kirsten O'Donnell gave him a confused look.
He sighed and turned back to his workspace, keeping what he was typing on his display private. “I came to pretty much that same conclusion when they approached me with the contract offer.” He needed to find a copy of that contract... there! Now, an image of a skiff unloading something in front of a restaurant... “I looked around for anything I could fin
d about JaM Products,” he hurriedly put images together. It didn't need to be good enough for a rigorous inspection, just for a second. “...and I found these.” The doctored images flashed across his display. A transport skiff with a JaM logo on it. “Just before the Great Waffle Switch.” A man with a briefcase, the JaM image superimposed on it, walking to a shuttle monitoring station. “The Day of Pants-less Shuttles.” A skiff partially off screen, half of the JaM logo on it as well. “The University Statue Caper.”
Kirsten took in the images, eyes widening. “Of course,” she whispered, “why didn't I think of that angle?”
Ezra nodded grimly. “They appear to have been present in some capacity at nearly every Guild of Sundry event for years, surfacing and then vanishing into the shadows.”
“I don't understand,” a bit of the usual edge crept back into Kirsten's voice. “Why did you go along with it if you knew?”
“I decided that this was an opportunity. The Hughes family had tipped their hand, as had the Guild. With a little planning, I could catch them all in one fell swoop.” Ezra smiled at Kirsten, all teeth, nearly a snarl. “While I build them what they've asked for, I'll keep the real controls for it right here in my lab.”
He could almost hear the wheels in Kirsten's head turning, putting it together. “That way they can't do anything without your say so,” she gasped. “You'll have them completely locked down, all the while having them pay you to do it and gaining the family a powerful resource in Hughes Legacy wormhole generators. They would last forever...” She gazed at Ezra in wonder. “Why didn't you tell me about this?”
“Well Miss O'Donnell,” he paused, glancing away. Have to time this just right... he swept his gaze back to her, eyes hooded. “I didn't know if I could trust you.”
“Oh Ezra,” she breathed, eyes beginning to mist over with tears. No, wait, I didn't mean to make her cry! Does my trust really mean that much to her? Um, um, how can I take it back without making it sound like I'm taking it back?
A broad smile split Kirsten's face as she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him a fierce hug. Ezra froze, panicked and confused. What... what's going on?
“I never imagined that... I didn't think that you'd ever take an interest in the Legacy, that you were too naïve or didn't care about anything but your silly wormholes.” She sniffled, laughing a little, face buried in his shoulder. He tentatively reached down to pat her back, too shocked to do anything else.
“And now with this, it's just... you're so...” She broke the embrace, taking a step back and cupping his face in her hands. Her cheeks were flushed prettily, eyes sparkling as she beamed up at him. “Devious!” She made the word sound happy and bubbly.
“I, uh... thanks?” Now he was blushing; his stupid body had realized that fierce Kirsten hugs felt very nice. It added a lot to the general confusion.
She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Still smiling at him for all she was worth, nodding. “I'll go draw up some statements so we can make their humiliation as public as possible.” Her eyes brimmed with tears again and she gave him another quick hug, crushing herself to him. “Oh Ezra, you've made me so happy.” She sniffed and brushed a tear out of her eye as she walked back to the door, turning to smile fondly at him before she left. “Will that be all, Mr. Hawkins?” Ezra nodded stiffly.
“Yes, good.” He croaked to a now empty room. Some detached part of his mind noted that this was probably some sort of sensory overload and began making notes as to his threshold for handling vast and sudden emotional shifts. It also petitioned his rational mind to cease and desist attempting to be too clever by half. It was a shame his rational mind still wasn't working.
