To Touch the Stars (Founding of the Federation Book 2)

by Chris Hechtl

  But to his surprise politicians became involved before the raid could be launched. They ordered the FBI to leave the organization alone, which seemed monumentally unfair to Descartes. The FBI logged a protest with the administration but then resorted to monitoring them for further terrorist activities as they built up their case. In the confusion Descartes relocated to Canada and out of the FBI's jurisdiction.

  Chapter 29

  Icarus remained within the Proxima star system for a month as she crossed the system before she took the 0.2 light year jump to Alpha Centauri. When she exited hyperspace three and a half days later, they found nothing but radio transmissions from the probes left in the system. “I don't know why we're here. It's just a ghost system now; they've long gone,” Isley said.

  “They should rename the ship the Flying Dutchman,” Mathew said. She glowered at the engineering mate. He hunched his shoulders. “Just saying.”

  “We have to cover all bases,” Chief Roak said. “The drive could have been disabled; they could have found out about the virus and decided to stay here …” he shrugged.

  “But they didn't,” Mathew said.

  “No. No they didn't,” Isley said softly. “I'm going to have to tell Hannah and her dad,” she said, closing her eyes in pain in sympathy. She heard Chief Roak mumble something then pat her on the arm.

  “Come on, we've got work to do. We've got to finish the search, then we're going to check our own systems before we head home.”

  “Aye aye, ma'am,” Isley and Mathew said in unison as they swung into action.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Aurelia nodded to Hannah as she came home. “You beat me here?”

  “Slow day at the clinic,” Hannah replied, not looking up from the coloring project she was working on with Yorrick.

  “Did you hear the news about Biogen?”

  “What news?” A familiar male voice asked, coming into the room. He paused to see Yorrick look up with delight. He flashed a smile then went back to his coloring, trying to hide it from his father. Aurelia looked over his shoulder and then nodded. His hand eye coordination was getting much better.

  “Biogen had been creating some chimeran pets to get around the laws groundside. They were very popular, but there was a scandal a couple of years ago. I think you know about that,” she said, looking first to Jack then to Hannah.

  Hannah cocked her head, pursing her lips as she searched her memory. Finally she nodded, frowning. She did indeed remember. Biogen was one of the leaders in genetic engineering, at least publicly. They had created a lot of popular pets as well as treatments for various diseases and genetic disorders. They'd also pioneered many projects to resurrect extinct or near extinct species, developing methods to allow them to have a larger gene pool from a small one. But a few years ago a few nasty incidents had made it to the press. They had been pulled quickly, but the meme lingered in the blogs. The quick retractions had attracted the eyes of the watchdogs and conspiracy nuts, she thought.

  “I'm guessing there is more to the recall rumor than they wanted to be made public?” Jack asked.

  “Oh, definitely,” Doctor Lagroose said as she kissed her husband in hello. “Dinner will be ready in a few minutes,” she warned. He nodded.

  “The feral issue,” Jack said. “What are we having?” he asked.

  “Pizza. The kids insisted,” Aurelia said, rolling her eyes. He caught her look and snorted. His eyes cut to Hannah. Aurelia cocked her head and then shrugged minisculely. He frowned slightly but nodded.

  “Apparently it was bigger than the public knew,” Jack said, taking a seat and pulling his shoes off. He wiggled his toes as Aurelia wrinkled her nose at him. He ignored her look of distaste; he was tired of wearing the damn things.

  “And you know more?” Hannah asked, looking up.

  Jack nodded. “They took a monkey, some sort of breed,” he frowned to Aurelia.

  “Capuchin monkey plus a half a dozen others I believe. The genetic code is so tangled,” she shook her head in disgust. “Plus some artificial genes and even parrot genes thrown in. I'm surprised they didn't just use a blender,” she said, clearly disgusted.

  “But they got the results they had intended. At least superficially,” Jack said. Aurelia nodded grudgingly.

  “I take it you gained a sample?” Hannah asked diplomatically. “Since you know so much about their genetic makeup?”

  Aurelia smiled indulgently. “Spies and counter spies have been around the business world forever my dear. Buying someone else's product and then reverse engineering it to see how it ticks is just good business practice.”

  “Self-defense. You can learn a lot, and you can see if they stole something from you in the process,” Jack said, double teaming her. Hannah nodded.

  “Apparently they had been shooting for something like a “Furbee” whatever that is,” Aurelia replied. Hannah wrinkled her nose. “Think small, furry, cuddly, cute, and has long ears and hands. The perfect pet for girls since it is like a baby. Smart enough to be interactive too. They can dress them up …” she shook her head. “They had a whole thing going on with them according to our Intel people. Designer pet food, games, clothes, the works,” she said.

  “Sometimes it never ceases to amaze me how perverse people can be. We fail to stop to see if we should do something before we just go ahead and do it,” Hannah said. She felt like slapping herself when she saw her boss freeze.

  “ … true,” Jack said, glancing at his wife. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he'd ask when little ears weren't listening.

  “I'm waiting on a call from Doctor Irons actually,” Aurelia said. “She's been tasked with cleaning up the mess since she's in Earth orbit. I asked her to keep me in the loop.”

  “What happened?” Hannah asked.

  “A fire at their lab. A lot was lost,” Jack answered. A lot more than that had happened but he wasn't ready to go into further detail. “But a few of the animals escaped into the station proper, so the station authorities became involved. Biogen's lab was rented space on one of the bigger stations so once the animals endangered people, the company no longer had jurisdiction,” he said. He caught Aurelia's wince out of the corner of his eye. “There was also an inadvertent release of their classified records. We got a copy; we're not sure who released them or why. We're sifting through it now, but we don't know how legitimate they are or if they are something else,” he said as his son held up an elaborate picture of a Cretaceous scene he'd drawn and colored. “They could have been planted,” he warned as he took the picture.

  “You did good!” he finally said, ruffling the boy's hair. Yorrick beamed at him and then started to point out various features in the image.

  Aurelia nodded as Hannah turned her attention to her. Then she froze again when she got an alert ping through her implants. “That's her,” she said.

  “Are you going to take it in here or …” Jack frowned.

  “In the office if you don't mind,” she said waving a hand. He nodded graciously. She smiled her thanks and retreated.

  When the door closed behind her, she accessed the communications link and then tagged it to the office wall. After a moment Amelia's image appeared. “So? Report,” she said. Amelia didn't say anything but data began to flow into her inbox. She pulled it up, skimming the brief while she waited for a response.

  “Nice to see you too, Doc,” Amelia replied after sixteen minutes. Aurelia scowled. “We're still getting a handle on the situation. It doesn't look good for Biogen.”

  “The target?” she flipped through the notes.

  “A Mogwi 2.0,” Amelia replied. “Part of their first line that was put on hold. Apparently the rumors are true; he is fully sapient. Fully sapient, problem solving, communications to a degree …” she shook her head. “I know they hadn't intended that. They wanted him to interact with kids, to remember and do things, but not that. Not on that level apparently.”

  “That explains the gremlins,” Aurelia murmured, rubbing her jaw.
“They got bored when they grew up. We assumed it was a change like a raccoon or other animal, when they hit puberty they became vicious. Apparently it is more than that?”

  “Yes,” Amelia replied a while later. “And yes, before you ask, we have a genetic sample.”

  “Okay. Good girl.”

  “Boss, this is dangerous stuff. Tampering with nature to this degree is just begging for trouble. Look what happened to Biogen! They are already committing Sepuku with some of their people, practically throwing them to the wolves! If we get involved further, it could get ugly,” she warned. Her eyes closed as she inhaled and then exhaled a cleansing breath. “God, I hope we haven't done something like that or worse,” she said. Finally she opened her eyes.

  Aurelia glanced at Amelia's image and pursed her lips. She didn't say anything though. Amelia shrugged such considerations off after a difficult moment. Clearly her boss wasn't going to admit to anything. She was starting to regret taking the special investigation assignment.

  “So, you have it though?” Aurelia finally asked. She waited eight frustrating minutes for her answer, watching Amelia's still image. At least it was better than watching the girl read or do her nails she thought. And while she waited she could go over the material.

  “What I can of it. Designer pets aren't my thing, I keep telling people I'm not a vet,” Amelia said sixteen minutes later. “But I remember a bit of what Hannah said and I remember some of the classes I took. I don't know what possessed you to volunteer me to be an independent investigator with the station's authorities, boss. I'm unbiased in their eyes but still! I hardly know what I am doing, and I am definitely the world's worst spy,” she warned.

  “Just help them clean up the mess. Keep your eyes open. Record everything. Get genetic samples whenever you can. Tag and bag them,” Aurelia ordered. “Get them refrigerated and then priority mail me the package. I'll send you the codes to do it,” she ordered.

  “Will do,” Amelia sighed after a long moment. She nodded. “It's a circus here with the media vultures starting to do wheels over our heads. Some are poking into everything and everywhere. The questions they ask!” She complained, shaking her head.

  “Just be honest. You don't approve of what Biogen was doing. The investigation is still ongoing and point out you can't comment further if they back you into a corner.” She frowned and did a search of the records. She found the one she wanted, the one of “Gizmo.” Apparently he was now considered a ward of the state. That told her something was definitely up. There were tags about his intelligence level. She whistled softly. Apparently they had really gone the extra mile in engineering his brain. She wasn't sure why.

  Amelia nodded a moment later. “Will do boss.”

  “Get me more about this Gizmo if you can. Talk with his handlers. Not owners, foster parents?” She asked, frowning. After a moment she shrugged such thoughts off.

  “Will do,” Amelia replied as Aurelia cut the circuit. “Apparently over and out since I lost your signal,” she said signing off.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Jack monitored the conversation through his implants. The delivery of the pizzas distracted him however, but not quite enough. He frowned thoughtfully. Apparently his wife was up to some mischief by placing Miss Irons in as some sort of spy. He called up Amelia's record and then shook his head. She was a chatterbox, so a natural spy she was definitely not. He frowned suddenly as a thought struck him. Which might be what his wife had intended, a chatterbox was no one's idea of a spy, so she might skate under Biogen's counter intelligence radar. He nodded as his son assembled a plate of pizza for him, then dusted it with Parmesan cheese.

  “Thanks,” he murmured.

  “Pizza's here!” Yorrick bellowed over his shoulder, making sure he had his plate and drink and was making his way away from the food by the time he'd alerted the others. Jack snorted. The boy was a scamp, smart enough to get out of the stampede that followed.

  “Going to eat, Hannah?” Jack asked as he got some napkins and tossed a couple to Yorrick and his siblings. “Nice to see you kids,” he said to the other two.

  “Hi, Dad,” Zack said in passing, bending to eat a slice of pie and practically eating his fingers in the process. “I'm starving,” he mumbled as he chewed, turning about. “Where's mom?”

  “On a call,” Jack replied. “Which is about to end,” he said. He went over to the door just as she disconnected. “Honey, dinner,” he said.

  “Coming!” Aurelia replied from within.

  The incident reminded Jack of something else he'd forgotten. One thing or another had stopped him from confronting his wife about the kids. As he turned to eat, he watched them under the guise of socializing. The event with Biogen and her interest in this Gizmo had finally reminded him he needed to clear the air with her. He made a note on his to do list then got back to eating before their hungry teenager gobbled it all.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Prometheus's construction rate sped up as the work crews hit their stride but then hit a snag and slowed back down again when a series of mishaps with the nanofactories stalled the production of force emitters for a long agonizing week. Just about everyone walked on eggshells, champing at the bit to get back to the schedule.

  They only had enough stock for a couple of days of construction, which was a problem. Foreman and ship architects attempted to reschedule work or reset their priorities to work around the problem but that was no easy task. Sometimes things had to be built in a precise order for a reason. When the various blocks started running out of material, they started going idle. The powers that be had them shift to hastily arranged training, first aid, and other seminars and watched morale plummet.

  Annoyance and then impatience at the situation began to permeate the air and then trickle down the chain of command. A few heads rolled in the nanofactory department, including a couple new coders. No one knew why, most assumed they'd gotten cute or had screwed up rather spectacularly.

  When production got back on track, it took them a while to get production stores restockpiled and then they swung into action once more.

  Only a handful of people in the coding and security department as well as Jack and a few of the board knew that the entire event had been an act of sabotage.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  When Jack was finished dealing with the nanofactory crisis, he returned his attention to things he'd long held off. He ordered an independent check of the genetic samples of each of the kids, then had Athena unlock Aurelia's notes on them. “You are not going to like what you find. Down this road is only misery and heartache,” Athena warned as she brought the files up into a buffer. She displayed them on his tablet and wall screen but blurred the text out.

  “Sometimes you have to face the pain to get to the truth. Hiding it from me isn't helping me. Me or the kids,” Jack replied coldly. “I want to know for sure. Did she tamper with my children?”

  “You do realize this is a violation of doctor patient privilege?” Athena pointed out to him.

  “Two wrongs don't make a right, Athena. I am a parent too. I have a right to know if they have been tampered with,” he snarled at her. “I have every right to be informed.”

  “Very well,” Athena replied as she opened the files for him. The text solidified. Her metaphor module “kicked in, 'a case of locking the barn door after the horses have escaped” came to her attention as she watched his thermal image increase in temperature. She calculated his reaction to such a statement and then decided her best course of action was to withhold it and remain silent. She did not wish to become a target of his growing rage.

  He scanned the files, flicking an impatient finger to scroll back to their conception. He didn't understand the medical techno speak but he found his wife's fingerprints all over the files. What he found confirmed his worst fears.

  “Where is she?” he demanded coldly when he finished perusing the files.

  “By she, I am inferring you mean your wife. Doctor Lagroose is at home. She is gettin
g your children off to school,” Athena told him, voice going mechanical. He got up and left the room without a word.

  When he came in, she was tidying up with the staff. He shot the bonobo's a look then jerked his head to the door. They got the hint from his body posture and took off fast. He waited until they were gone before he confronted her.

  She smiled at him when she came out of the bedroom, picking at her hair with her fingers. “You forget something, honey?” She asked.

  “I overlooked something. I've corrected it,” he said tightly, eyes flashing. She took in his look and body language and froze. Alarm bells began to ring in her mind. “Something I've turned a blind eye too for far too long,” he snarled, fists clenching.

  “What's wrong?” She asked.

  “You lied to me,” he said looking at her.

  “Lied?” Her voice quavered a bit. She had no idea what he was talking about.

  “You gave me your word. No human experiments. No tampering with …” He pointed to the wall screen then used his implants to send the children's genetic profiles to the screen. She turned and stared at them. “Do you deny it?” He demanded.

  “I …” she put a hand over her heart, feeling light headed. This wasn't going at all the way she'd planned. She stared, off balance. She realized she'd never had a plan as she searched her mind. She'd thought he'd overlook it, just … just not notice. She'd hoped, she realized. With a pang she realized she'd been wrong. Wrong about how he'd react to it.

  “You are taking this the wrong way, honey. Let's sit down and …” He brushed her hands off angrily, stepping back. Her eyes widened in concern. For the first time, she was very much afraid of his presence. He was a force of nature, wrath made flesh.

  “You promised me … damn it, gal! Look at me!” He bellowed. She flinched then looked at him. He had rarely ever raised his voice to her. Never had she felt so afraid of him. “You promised me you wouldn't tamper with our children!”