by Frank Carey
"The plague?"
"The plague, if there was one, was back on the Sokuhl home world. Why send them off across the universe when the cure was back on the home world? None of this makes sense. And how does this artifact, this realmoria Sage sent Dr. Minty to find, fit into all this?"
There was a knock at the door. "Come!" Alex said.
The door opened and Dr. Orsi walked in with his medical pack in hand. "What's up, Alex? Hey, Bryntana!"
"Doc," Bryntana replied as she got up and fixed him a drink. "Not too early, is it?"
"Naw," Doc replied. "So, what can I do for you, Alex?"
He briefed the elf on the happenings of the last day. "Doc, I want you to look at this scan data Kel recorded and sent through the gate. We've got hi-res Sokuhl and Basili physioscans which I want you to compare to standard Sokuhl data."
"What about the Basili?"
"Dr. Hardy scanned himself for comparison. It's included in the data burst."
"What are you looking for?"
Alex explained about the genetic modifications made by the ship's computer. "Bryntana and I think there's something fishy going on."
Orsi typed a command into the desk terminal. A window filled with genetic information opened and filled the screen. Orsi looked at it and whistled. "This is not good."
"What do you see?" Bryntana asked.
Doc zoomed in on a section of Basili genetic code. "This is from the colonists." He brought up another window. "This is Kel's"
"Doc, in lay-elve's terms," Bryntana asked.
"The colonists DNA shows repaired damage, damage which is characteristic of a biological weapon. In other words, and please remember this is at first blush, some or all of the original colonists were suffering from exposure to a mutagenic agent which the ship's computer repaired--in all of the colonists whether they needed it or not."
"Let me guess. The mutagen targeted flight systems such as the tail and wings?"
"Don't know. I'll have to do a detailed analysis of Kel's DNA. Perhaps we could get data from Sokuhl..."
"No. Do not contact Sokuhl under any circumstance, not until I can talk to Patriarch Hardy."
"Copy that. One more thing to keep in mind. Back in their war mongering days, the Sokuhl usually contracted out their weapons work."
"What are you saying?" Bryntana asked.
"This stinks of Cora."
"Cora, Doc? But they helped found the League," Alex pointed out. "They have signed numerous treaties banning the use of biological weapons."
"You're talking recent history. You're an elf, so you know how meddlesome we can be. Some counterculture historians I know on Ventos Prime are convinced the Corans were armpit deep in the chemical and biological warfare game back in the day before they, the Sokuhl, and the other advanced races formed the League. I wouldn't put a nefarious deed or two past our little medical geniuses."
"Cora... Something about Cora... It'll come to me. Is there a way to check?"
"Not from this data. I would need a sample of the original mutagen to compare it to the repaired DNA and Kel's."
"The mutagen which disappeared thousands of years ago," Bryntana noted.
"Yes, there is that. Doc, how well do you know Ambassador Irithyl's sister, Dr. Aymar-Scott?"
"Not well, but we have some mutual friends, Why?"
"She's a historian with a reputation for poking around when the situation calls for non-diplomatic means."
"You mean she sneaks around? Yeah, I heard that about her. I've also heard that she is one tough lady, as is her wife."
"I hear they are both on Alyson attending the Historical Conference."
"Want me to arrange an introduction?"
"If you could."
"Sure. Hell, I went to med school with her sister-in-law, Queen Losira. That should give me some street cred. Give me a minute." He walked out into the corridor while pulling his commlink out and opening it."
"Brother, are you actually going to ask the sister of the Prince of Ventos Prime to dig into Sokuhl history?"
"Yes. You've known me all our lives, and in all that time, when have you known me to leave a stone unturned?"
There was a knock at the door. "Come," Alex said.
The door opened and Felicity walked in followed by an elf woman and Doc Orsi. "Alex, Dr. Tannith Aymar-Scott is here as you requested."
Alex walked around his desk and shook her hand. "Dr. Aymar-Scott, it is an honor to meet you. This is my sister, Bryntana."
Bryntana reached over and shook Tannith's hand. "Sorry about trying to kill your brother. It was a work-thing."
"Not a problem. And I'm sorry he felt the need to snap your wrist with his tail," she said as she gave Alex the eye. "Please, everyone, call me Tannith. Doc Orsi explained what is happening with Kel on Arctillus. What can I do to help?"
"Find out what the plark this realmoria is. I... Shit!"
"Brother! What's wrong?"
"According to the computer, there is only one reference for the word 'realmoria' in the entire League. It's Coran for 'vapor dispersal system.' Computer. Usage statistics for Coran term 'realmoria.'"
"Working... Realmoria is a technical term used by Coran industrial-military complex up to the time of the formation of the League. Usage abruptly stopped just after the signing of Treaties of League Formation."
The room went silent with shock. "Jenna, can you confirm?" Bryntana asked.
"Give me a minute... Confirmed A quick hack of the Coran Master Database shows several pre-League weapons systems using the realmoria. I think I'm going to be sick."
"We have to tell Zor..." Bryntana said.
"Tell him what?" Tannith asked. "A plark-load of supposition? No, we need to be smart. According to my brother, smuggler's rule number thirty-three is, "If your enemy is smart, you have to be smarter. Alex, you control the entry point to Arctillus, correct?"
"Yes. I've had my people set charges to blow it to hell if anyone tries to gain unauthorized access to the gate. We moved the statues and art beforehand, of course."
"Then you've bought us time."
"What about Kel and Sheila?" Jenna asked.
"They may have to live out their days on a planet a hundred and fifty thousand light-years from here, but they will be alive."
"She's right, my friend. Until we know if this realmoria has a mutagenic package, we can't let it back into the League, at least not until we know its effects on modern lifeforms. Tannith, I need you and Doc to somehow find out what this stuff is and how it got to Arctillus."
"We're on it," Tannith said while Doc nodded.
"Bryntana, I need you to find out how Sage figures into all of this and what he knows. I need to know what is so damn important about this realmoria."
"Copy that," she replied.
"You three need anything, let me know and we'll get it for you. The clock is ticking."
They nodded and walked out of the office, leaving Alex and Felicity to stare at the data on the screen.
###
Doc and Tannith walked into the dimly lit computer room and sat down in front of a large monitor. Tannith activated the system while Orsi opened a notebook they had brought with them from Tannith's hotel room.
"What is all this?" Orsi asked, pointing to the notebook.
"Hacker codes my brother and niece gave me in case I needed to access a computer system on the sly."
"What, no hacker ball?"
"These are codes contained in a hacker ball. I can use them without the direct neural interface the HaB requires. The damn things give me headaches."
Orsi pulled his medscanner out of its pocket and ran it around Tannith's head. "Stop it. I'm fine."
"Right. OK, Doctor, I concur. What are we going to hack?"
"We're going to take a look inside the Coran Master Database via the public InterWeb. I want to do a holographic search for the term 'Realmoria' using Lucien's codes. You see, if I go in and just search using my MD access codes, the system may flag me as a hostile
. Lucien's codes will mask my presence by looking for data fragments and assembling them into a single chunk of data, bypassing detection."
"You've done this before, I take it."
"Yeah. Being a historian isn't always about going to a library and reading through some dusty tome."
She typed something into terminal and a splash screen appeared.
"Cora Secure Archives - Authorized personnel only," Orsi read off the screen as his tail nervously switched from one side to the other. In contrast, Tannith's tip moved slightly, non-plussed. She typed in one of her brother's codes.
Nothing happened, so she typed in another. This time, the screen changed to a menu.
"Welcome, Dr. Stenga. What may I do for you today?"
"Stenga?" Orsi whispered.
Tannith smiled as she pulled up Dr. Stenga's profile. "Nalu Stenga, MD. Dead for the last fifty years."
"Wonderful," Orsi said as Tannith continued typing.
"Ah, Here we are, the secure archive section," Using another code, she moved inside and began searches for the word 'realmoria.'"
After an hour of fruitless searches, they got a hit. "Bingo," Tannith said. I think I found the actual project files... Dammit!"
"What's wrong?"
"It's encrypted at a level I've never seen before. This one is beyond me..."
"Doctors, may I give it a try?"
Startled, Tannith and Orsi swung around only to find Captain Mike in his power suit sitting behind them. Then Tannith saw 'Bob' stenciled on the left breast of the suit. "Bob? Is that you?"
"Yes, Doctor Aymar. I am here to help Kylie and Jenna deal with the situation. Perhaps I could be of assistance."
"Bob? You're the AI who helped Ambassador Lucien with entry into the Alue universe, aren't you?" Doc Orsi asked.
"Yep. Back then, he was Harmon Aymar and I lived in a big glass sphere filled with pastoral images of sheep and dragons. Look at me now, I'm a space ranger!" he said as he gently placed his gauntleted hand on the screen. "Hmmmm. A 2048-bit encryption using three languages rotating in a counter clockwise sequence."
"Tannith, did you understand one word he just said?" Orsi asked.
Tannith shook her head. "Bob, can you decrypt..." she started to ask.
"Done. I've taken the liberty of putting a copy into secure storage on the server and sending a copy to Alex. Now, should we open it and see what surprises are inside?"
"I'm not worthy," Orsi said.
"Neither am I," Tannith added. "Bob, just out of curiosity, how long would it have taken one of our supercomputers to crack that encryption?"
Bob tilted his helmeted head to the ceiling and thought. "About as long as it will take Alyson's sun to go nova naturally, give or take a billion years."
"Well, we're lucky, then, to have you. Thanks, Bob,"
"Not a problem. That's why I'm here."
Tannith activated a larger auxiliary screen and opened the file on it while it raised from the desktop. There were written journals, computer records, video files, and audio files. They dove into the arduous task of digesting the information. "Stop!" Orsi said as he read a page from a lab notebook. "Those bastards. How dare they call themselves doctors?"
"What is it?" Bob asked while leaning in next to Doc.
"A cure for a disease. It seems to work at the genetic level. Damn complicated. Literally, it would latch onto specific sites on the subjects DNA and rewrite it. Unfortunately, the part about what the modifications did to the subject is missing."
"This is interesting," Tannith said while bringing up a news report on the screen. "It's a report about a plague that hit Sokuhl. Twelve million dead. Odd, they were all from one city, some place called... It was called Nest."
Doc looked at Tannith. "You don't think..."
Computer. Full scan of Sokuhl cultural database. Reference: City named Nest."
"No reference found."
Bob remained silent as he crushed a stray metal coffee cup in his hand. Finished with the cup, he started to curse in an ancient language.
Letting the AI vent, Tannith brought up a video recording. "The woman in this video is the project's lead scientist. Her name is Doctor Scarlett Rufous."
"That’s odd," Orsi said as he stared at the good doctor. “She’s half-humanoid, but this scene was filmed well before the Sokuhl met any of the humanoid species.”
“What about the other half?”
“I don’t know. Something reptilian, but definitely not Sokuhl or Basili. Note the lack of wings and the shape of the ears…”
"Red!" Bob said quietly.
"Red? You mean the woman on Arctillus?" Orsi asked as he turned to the AI, but Bob was gone, leaving the room as silently as he had entered.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The town, like all prefabricated settlements, came with a variety of amenities designed to allow the townsfolk to rest and relax during their off time. One of these amenities was a shooting range designed for use with any weapon ranging from a slingshot through high-powered blasters. Today, the structure was being tested with lightning bolts.
Kylie and Jenna ran up to the range building and found several heavily armed colonists nervously watching the building as it shook and rattled.
"Quint, what the hell is going on?" Kylie asked the big Katalan woman.
"Bob happened. He stormed in, kicked us out, then the building started to shake. I though you AI types were into the Zen-calm thing."
"Oh, he ain't calm," Charlie, Quint's husband noted. "The lightning strike sensors are going off-scale. I don't know what weapon he's using, but I’m surprised the structure is still standing."
"Aye," Vasili, a Storen, said while looking at his scanner. "I don't know how he did it, but he's got a cruiser in there, according to these readings."
"Has anyone talked to him?" Jenna asked.
"Really?" Charlie said. "Did I mention lightning bolts?"
Jenna looked at Kylie. "Everyone, we'll take care of this. Keep everyone away until we come out."
"Jenna, Alex will have our heads if you and Ms. Kylie are vaporized."
"We'll be fine," she answered.
"We will?" Kylie commented. "Remember that volcano..."
Jenna hissed and gave a slight shake of her head.
"Sorry, my bad."
"Let's go."
They walked in and found Bob holding a lightning bolt-shaped staff in his hand. It was aimed at the far wall were several charred divots were missing. He wasn't wearing his Space Command suit. He was human, wearing Jeans, torn sweatshirt, and a three-day beard.
He fired another bolt from the staff as they walked up to him.
"Nice shootin’ there, Tex. I think it's dead," Kylie noted.
"Mnemy," he said using her ancient name. "How did Clio and the rest of our kids turn out so well?"
"Excuse me?"
"It must be your influence because I suck as a father."
"Bob, what's wrong?" Jenna asked as she gently took the staff from him.
"It's Red. I think she's responsible for killing twelve million Basili."
"What did you just say?" Kylie whispered.
He explained about what Tannith and Doc Orsi found. "While your daughters ushered the Olympians into a better life, my daughter was killing millions of innocents." He grabbed the staff and fired off a barrage of bolts against the wall. Somehow, the building remained standing.
"Stop it!" Jenna said. "You've had almost a hundred children and most turned out OK. Are you sure Red actually killed all those people?"
"She developed the mutagenic agent..."
"But did she field it? Did she know what it was being used for? Is it the substance that killed all those Basili, or is she being blamed for something she didn't do?" Kylie asked.
"I... I don't know."
"Then we need to find out before you sling any more bolts, OK?" Kylie asked.
He smiled. "OK. Sorry about the walls."
"It's all good. They were designed for easy replacement, J
enna explained. "Some of the colonists have rather large weapons they like to shoot in their off-time. I'll just assign some of the maintenance bots to replace the damaged sections."
"Thanks. I'm so embarrassed."
"Don't be. Why don't you put your suit back on, then we can adjourn to the virtual world to talk more about this. Jenna and I have some questions."
The human disappeared, replaced by the Captain Mike suit. The three then walked out of the facility while the colonists applauded. As he walked by her, Quint handed him a small trophy while patting him on his arm. The trophy said 'Biggest Gun." He looked at her. "Quint, I'll cherish this. Thank you," he said, getting the Katalan all choked up.
The three walked over to the garage and plugged their suits in to recharge before returning to the virtual world of the Alyson InterWeb. They materialized inside an ancient Olympian villa where servants waited with goblets of wine. The three sat on a large circular couch and sipped their wine before Kylie asked, "Bob, tell us about Red."
"Where do I start? It was after Leto and I broke up that I realized I needed a break, so I created a gate between the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud..."
"Wait a minute. You become mortal if you leave this galaxy," Jenna pointed out.
"I know. I was rather depressed. This Immortality thing just wasn't working out. Anyway, I found myself on a planet called Arctillus, populated by two races of reptoids..."
"Humanoid, right?" Kylie asked.
"One was. I fell in love with their leader. She gave birth to Red and we raised her."
"How the hell did she end up in this galaxy?"
"She had a falling out with her mother and me. She used the gate to return to this galaxy. Her mother blamed me and ordered me to leave. I spent centuries looking for Red, but to no avail. Then, I found her in this galaxy; in a century ship heading who the hell knows where. She begged me to help her reprogram the ship's computer to repair damage the colonists sustained on the trip. I did, then she asked me to help her get back home."
"Bob, you didn't," Jenna said.
He nodded. "I rifted them to Arctillus. Hey, the titans were asleep, and I would have done anything to fix things up between us."
