"We’ll need background on the victim that can only be provided by Mr. Journey.” Sanna’s complexion darkened and the scowl lines deepened, his face seeming to cave in on itself. The next words jerked their way out of his reluctant mouth. "Besides his personal knowledge of the victim, he’s executor of the victim’s will.”
Matt expressed his surprise to Edones through raised eyebrows. This was another reason Matt wanted to get out from under the thumb of Athens Point LEF: They were controlling his incoming messages. When would they have told him this? In their own sweet time, they might have allowed him to process Nestor’s estate. He wondered why they were so paranoid, so controlling, and he tried not to think about the package titled CUSTOMS sitting on his ship. Graft in the customs departments might be indicative of more corruption within Athens Point.
"Mr. Journey can remain available for questions over MilNet. He’ll also leave you signed access to view the will,” Edones said.
Matt shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He wasn’t thrilled about letting them see Nestor’s will.
"What about Mr. Journey’s ship?” asked Captain Sanna.
Perhaps they were more worried about depriving the station of income than the application of justice. Sanna didn’t want to be responsible for losing the fees charged for ship resources and docking.
"I’ll be—” Matt stopped when he heard the emergency alarm from Edones’s ear bug. It was one of those rare alarms that was audible to everyone near the receiver. It demanded immediate attention and was designed to be rude, to stop conversations.
Edones sat upright while he pressed behind his ear to turn off the alarm. Everyone in the room looked at him as he listened to the message. A frown slowly developed on his face. Anything that could get a reaction from Edones had to be serious. Edones’s uniform seemed crisper, the decorations and blue edges more distinct. His rank weighed ominously upon his shoulders.
"There’s problems on Karthage Point,” Edones said. "Explosions. There’s been decompression.”
There was a moment of silent shock in the room. Habitats were engineered to withstand storage compartments blowing out; perhaps they hadn’t loaded their hazardous material correctly?
"An accident?” Captain Sanna asked.
"No accident. Sabotage,” Edones said.
Matt’s mouth opened in surprise. An attack on a habitat violated the Phaistos Protocol, which had established wartime codes of conduct and had been a Minoan condition for mankind entering space. Edones seemed concerned. Matt’s stomach tightened with a jerk. Ari’s aboard Karthage.
"How’d explosives get aboard, with all our sniffers?” asked Stephanson, causing Matt to jump. He’d forgotten the quiet man seated over in the corner. The inspector had a point: No one could carry explosives near street bazaars or restaurants or other public places, much less use public transportation. The ubiquitous ComNet nodes also had sensors that were extremely effective at ferreting out explosives.
"Initial reports suggest the charges were attached to the outside of the station.” Edones gave Captain Sanna a level look. "Within a few minutes, you’ll be going to heightened security here on Athens Point as a precaution. Civilian habitats could be at risk until we find the perpetrators.”
"But—”
"I must leave immediately for Karthage, and I’ll need all my personnel,” Edones continued, ruthlessly overriding Sanna. "This necessitates taking Mr. Journey with me, on an AFCAW cruiser, which certainly meets your security requirements. Mr. Journey will sign over any access you need before departing.”
Both Matt and Sanna raised their voices to chorus their protest. Matt was furious; he didn’t want to give Sanna unlimited or unattended access to all of Nestor’s records. Sanna still wanted Matt to stay.
Edones stood up and cut them off with an abrupt motion.
"Mr. Journey, Athens Point LEF can get anything they want, given the time to request specific warrants. Captain Sanna, do you really want the expense and trouble of protecting Mr. Journey from whom-ever and whatever?”
Matt’s objections died in his throat; he swallowed hard. Edones face was unyielding, his shoulders square and purposeful. His rank and decorations glittered. Perhaps this was what Ari referred to as "command presence.” Edones looked imposing, while being both trustworthy and dangerous. Matt’s gut clenched with resistance; he wasn’t about to be suckered in by Edones’s personality. So, he’s got an imposing aura that he can pull out of his ass, I’ll give him that.
"I’ll leave this situation in the capable hands of Master Sergeant Alex Joyce. We’ll be disconnecting from Athens Point within two hours, with or without Mr. Journey. However, I think that you’ll soon be too busy to worry about him.”
Edones walked out.
Alarms and messages suddenly began besieging Captain Sanna. Recalls of off-duty personnel started automatically. Stephanson left quickly and now Captain Sanna seemed happy to sign custody of Matt over to the man with the light blue stripes who assisted Edones.
"We need to collect the remotes you disabled earlier.” Matt noticed that Joyce avoided naming the Minoans directly.
Joyce kept an iron grip on Matt’s elbow. He steered Matt quickly through the hive of activity within Athens Point LEF, and out to the street. The "street” was merely a wide, busy corridor with a high ceiling, but Matt sighed in relief at the feeling of freedom.
"What should I call you? Alex? Er—Joyce?”
"You don’t know much about the military, do you, son?” Joyce frowned, but dropped his hold on Matt’s elbow.
Matt balked at being called "son,” but thought twice before criticizing the hulking man. Initially, Joyce had looked slim, only because he was tall and well proportioned. Once Matt was walking close beside him, he proved to be massive. He looked as if he could snap Matt like a dried noodle, and his serious demeanor and quiet aura of competency were intimidating.
"No, sir, I haven’t had much contact with the military.”
"Don’t call me sir.” Joyce seemed about to add something, but paused. His face looked as though it might crack into a smile, but that was obviously too painful and his serious expression returned. "Just call me Sergeant Joyce,” he finished.
"Okay, Sarge.”
"Sergeant Joyce.” The warning came out in a growl.
Matt held back the "Yes, sir” with effort.
"Is this where you have the remotes hidden?” Joyce asked, glancing left and right as they approached the storage roundabout.
"Uh . . .” Matt wondered whether the hefty sergeant was going to rudely follow him into storage.
"You don’t think I’ll leave you alone, after the colonel charged me with your safety?” Joyce asked.
Matt couldn’t do anything but gesture resignation. As they unlocked the remotes and put them into Matt’s bag, he was thinking furiously. He had to have access to his data, as well as Nestor’s AI, but both were locked down tight on the Aether’s Touch.
"I have to get to my ship,” Matt said as they exited storage.
"No time. The Bright Crescent is starting emergency disconnection and they’ll wait for no one.” Joyce had a firm grip on Matt’s arm again and pulled him in the wrong direction.
"Look, I’m paying for life support that I won’t need. I can’t afford this.”
Joyce didn’t look convinced by Matt’s financial anguish, so Matt changed his argument.
"It’ll only take a moment to put the ship into storage mode. I also have to create an access door to my data. Remember, the colonel agreed to help investigate Nestor’s murder, and for my side of the bargain, I’ll need that back door for assigning leases to suitable companies.”
The ring of truth, even partial truth, is always perceptible. Joyce relented. "Do it fast, because if we miss boarding . . .” His voice deepened into that scary growl again.
"Yeah, yeah.” Matt threw propriety, and safety, out the door. He turned and ran. Joyce followed, but in his gait, Matt heard the awkwardness that the planet-born couldn’t
hide under artificial gravity. Matt hid a smile.
Joyce stuck close to him after they boarded Aether’s Touch and Matt wondered how he was going to enable Nestor’s possibly illegal AI. He decided to use text input rather than spoken commands. Sometimes speech was too slow; perhaps Joyce wouldn’t follow his commands.
Matt’s fingers stopped the purchase of life support from Athens Point and started putting systems into hibernation. He set up a secure channel with identity interrogation so he could access information on Aether’s Touch. At the tail end, his fingers flying, he activated the AI for querying.
"What’d you do?” Joyce asked suspiciously. "That’s not a normal access command.”
"I activated a search agent. You don’t expect me to use some pathetically outmoded search engine to evaluate these proposals, do you?” Once again, Matt hoped the partial truth would work. Edones’s comment regarding Nestor’s activities made him more anxious about the legality of this AI.
"You’ll have access to Heraclitus and Democritus. We’re not primitive—hey, we’ve got to go.” The time on the wall diverted Joyce.
"I’m done. Let me grab my things.” Luckily, he kept an overnight kit packed.
Matt glanced reluctantly backward at the Aether’s Touch after final lockdown. He was paying fees for security and insurance, but even so, he didn’t like leaving her unattended. He rarely left the station where she docked. Now he didn’t know when he’d be back.
He followed Joyce. They had to change levels and run through the corridors to get to the Bright Crescent in time. The loadmaster had closed cargo and equipment holds and was about to close the passenger air locks. He waved them through frantically.
"No problem. Like I said.” Matt was panting from the run.
"You’re late, Mr. Journey. Another minute and we’d have left you on Athens Point,” said Edones’s voice, reverberating inside the small air lock.
Joyce gave Matt a sour look.
The Minoan emissary would arrive in two hours, giving Captain Rayiz enough time to question State Prince Parmet. Rayiz allowed Ariane to watch remotely, but she couldn’t have input to the session. On the other hand, she could relax in her quarters as she watched the interview in real time. She sipped hot Hellas Kaffi that she had grabbed from the mess hall, which happened to be conveniently between squadron ops and her cabin.
"At least I’m getting something good from this interview,” she muttered. She tried not to yawn as she concentrated on the dreary small conference room where Rayiz was taking Parmet’s statement.
Parmet, under his diplomatic status, was allowed to bring any necessary support personnel with him for his "interview.” He brought Dr. Istaga, manifestly as interpreter, and Nathaniel Wolf Kim. Kim’s role was supposedly as legal and diplomatic counsel.
On Rayiz’s side, a major assigned to the AFCAW Judge Advocates Office ensured that he didn’t overstep his bounds. Rayiz was familiar with Autonomist privacy laws, but diplomats received specialized protection and Legal was there to make sure he didn’t make a mistake.
Ariane noted with approval that the room didn’t have any tables. The Terrans were in chairs that provided Captain Rayiz with a view of their entire bodies, to send the message that their private somaural messages could eventually be translated. Rayiz was also seated, while Legal stood alertly in the corner of the room.
The Terrans seated themselves. Dr. Istaga gestured at the time, prominently displayed on the wall and showing the countdown to the arrival of the Minoan emissary.
"The state prince has expressed concern about meeting so close to arrival of the Minoans,” Istaga said. "He’s also concerned that we stay within the bounds of the treaty, per the section on treatment of inspectors.”
"We have the treaty liaison officer observing, just in case,” Rayiz said, waving his arm in a general acknowledgment of MilNet nodes.
Ariane saw that Legal was nodding; Rayiz was apparently required to notify the Terrans that she was watching.
"Ah, then I would assume that Major Kedros is unharmed,” Istaga said with a smile. Parmet’s face was unreadable. Kim scowled, but that seemed to be his normal expression.
"She’s uninjured, but will require medical evaluation,” Rayiz responded stiffly. "I must notify you that all standard recording is being performed, but this interview will not be publicly released until the end of the classification period.”
"And when would that be?” Istaga asked politely.
"The classification period will depend upon what we discuss. If operational weapon deployment points aren’t mentioned, then it’ll be classified based upon our investigation of the explosion.” Rayiz didn’t speculate. He started the interview by stating purpose and attendees for the record.
"First, we’ll ask the state prince to state his reasons for being in the male locker room in section eight-D.”
Rayiz used common Greek and addressed Istaga, who turned and repeated the question in an English-like patois that sounded like what had developed on the Mars colonies.
Both State Prince Isrid and Nathaniel Wolf Kim looked earnestly at Istaga while he was translating. Parmet responded in the same language, which seemed heavily associated with hand gestures.
Ariane almost laughed at the awkward dance played out before her. Everyone in the room knew that both Isrid and Kim spoke common Greek. Everyone also knew the Mars patois allowed for somaural subtleties and direction, and that AFCAW would analyze the recordings for subtext later.
"SP Parmet says that he was lured there by an anonymous message, which autoshredded,” Istaga said.
Ariane pressed her lips together. A third party had to be involved. If the Terrans had sent the message about Icelos to Ariane, then they already knew her background. In that case, SP Parmet had been waiting to kill her as well as Icelos, but that scenario no longer made sense. He had plenty of opportunity to kill her while they were in the air lock, particularly when she passed out. He could easily have made it look accidental, given the disruption of MilNet nodes and other distractions, such as explosive decompression of part of the habitat.
No, Parmet doesn’t want to kill me. At least, not yet. And, hopefully, that meant he didn’t know her identity.
"Even if the message was specially encoded or personal, we should have a record of it being delivered.” Rayiz looked as though he was picking his words carefully. "We don’t. And our network, contrary to Commercial Common Net, doesn’t allow anonymous messages.”
"Nevertheless, he says it was anonymous and that it shredded as soon as he tried to save it.” Istaga’s voice was silky.
"What were the contents? Why does he say he was lured?”
Rayiz’s question provoked more discussion between Parmet and Istaga.
"He prefers to not discuss the contents. They were personal.”
At that answer, Rayiz turned to look at the major from Legal, who shook his head. Ariane sighed as she interpreted their unspoken conversation. As long as Parmet claimed that the contents were personal, he was protected by an obscure intersection of diplomatic and privacy protection laws. The Terrans had done their homework when it came to CAW legal code.
Rayiz couldn’t obtain anything more of interest from SP Parmet. The SP had a good memory for details and his story matched Ariane’s from the point when she revived him. He even recalled the floating message perfectly, word for word.
Parmet’s testimony made hers all the more believable, and vice versa. Rayiz had been skeptical about the messages. Ariane told him the contents of the original message plus the mocking messages in section 8D, even though they intimated that the saboteur’s motives involved her in some way. The only point she left out was her knowledge of Icelos’s background.
Over the years, she’d come to realize the power that truth held when it came to simplifying the world. So she took the chance of exposing her identity to Karthage SF in the hope they’d find the perpetrators faster—operating under the assumption that Icelos’s murder and the explosion were th
e work of the assassins she was hunting.
The important, and unsubstantiated, part of Ariane’s interview had been her insistence that the gym door was sabotaged physically.
"We’ll see whether we find enough debris. I’ve talked to the structural engineers, and to check the manual disablement for that door, we’ll need the entire bulkhead,” Rayiz had said, probably hoping she’d been mistaken. However, he couldn’t wish away the obvious: Someone had taken control of many protected environmental systems on Karthage, possibly from a remote location. That was frightening enough.
Parmet’s interview ended and Ariane’s view port closed. She soon had to greet the Minoan emissary and she still hadn’t had time to get a report off to Owen. She checked her dress uniform, back and front, using node views. Her uniform looked trim and professional, but she doubted the Minoan emissary would care. She took a deep breath. She was bone tired and about to do what no human should have to do: interface with an alien species. For all her personal efforts to see the Minoans as Gaian-based species, she still couldn’t suppress the shivers and strangeness she felt when around a Minoan.
"Major Kedros, report to docking air lock six-alpha-delta to meet inbound visitors,” her ear bug announced.
She squared her shoulders and left her cabin.
CHAPTER 13
There’s controversy regarding the origin of modern Minoans, but let’s first dispense with net-think inferences that they’re descended from the Minoan civilization on pre-Terran Earth. The original Minoans were a shining beacon of civilization that dragged us out of the bronze age, but they vanished during the Unenlightened Century in post-Alexandrian times. Archaeologists can’t explain their disappearance, but they can puncture the net-think theory of Atlantian Intervention (background laughter). Now consider the end of the twentieth century, when we make first contact with a species that uses strikingly similar symbology to the original Minoans. . . .
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