by K. Makansi
“I’ve already accessed the correct pattern. Put your eye to the scanner.”
I obey, and there’s a flash of green light. I hold my breath. It beeps. “Access granted,” comes the low voice of the elevator operator.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I sigh.
“You’re welcome,” she whispers back to me.
At the top, I get off the elevator and wind my way through the twisting hallways and finally to the entrance to Mother’s lab. It’s no secret, I’ve been in here a few times, but never unsupervised, and certainly never without her permission. Here is my real test—a simultaneous palm print and exhalation scan followed by the verbal recitation of a nine-digit code. I’ve seen my mother place her hand on the panel and breathe into the small spherical opening a hundred times, but without her here, we’ll have to improvise. Demeter says she’s accessed the chemical breath imprint, my mother’s unique metabolic phenotype, but we have to have a palm print to scan.
“What do I do, Deme?”
“Put on your electromagnetic glove and set it to the lowest level of charge.”
I pull on my glove and ask, “Okay, next?”
“Place your palm on the optical scanner. I don’t want it to read an actual palm print, but it needs to read an electrical signal or it won’t let you in.”
“But what about the breathprint?
“As long as you don’t breathe anywhere near the panel, I can enter your mother’s chemical code. It will try to read your breathprint if you exhale at all. And don’t move until I tell you.” I press my palm firmly to the glass plate, and hold my breath. I wait for the panel to activate, and when it announces “Scan in progress” on the screen, I turn away just in case.
I hear a beep.
“You’re in, Vale.”
Once inside, security is minimal. I stand at the computer interface and watch as the hologram in the center of the room springs to life. The computer asks for voice recognition, but I quickly override that and instruct it to respond only to typing. Any sound I make could be recorded, and my vocal pattern will certainly give me away. Even if they eventually realize that someone broke into the lab, my hope is that they’ll never realize it was me. I log onto the manual C-Link system and set up an old-fashioned chat box in which I can type instructions to Demeter separately, so she can help me as we search.
I start by opening up the documents from the investigation into the Academy attack. I skim through them. There’s a series of profiles of the students who died, and my heart stops briefly at Tai Alexander’s page. There’s something cold and stark about seeing all the details of her life on this page—name, date of birth, research focus, academic ranking, there’s even a photo of her from a year or so before she died—completed by a large black stamp at the bottom of the page that says “DECEASED”.
As Eli was the only survivor and witness to the event, I read his committee testimony first. The transcript indicates that very few people were present: A panel of five Sector Investigators, a Questioner, Brinn Alexander—Remy and Tai’s mother—and Evander Sun-Zi, the Director of Agricultural Farm Production. “The Dragon.” There wasn’t even a Recorder—apparently the video was recorded digitally and then the whole thing was transcribed later. They really didn’t want word to get out.
The testimonial document comes with a note: “Accessible only by Corine Orleán and Evander Sun-Zi unless given special permissions. Attempts to access files without permission will result in database monitoring and possible revocation of access.”
Valerian: So that’s why you wouldn’t let me access these files while we were at my flat.
Demeter: Correct.
Valerian: Why is Evander included in those permissions? Why was he at the hearing?
Demeter: We’ll find out.
Questioner: Good evening, Elijah. Could you introduce yourself to the court?
ET: My name is Elijah Tawfiq, and I was a research and teaching assistant for Professor Aran Hawthorne of the SRI. You can call me Eli.
Q: What are you doing these days, Eli?
ET: These days? A lot of sitting on my ass and talking to shrinks.
Panel Reprimands Elijah Tawfiq for Lack of Decency
Q: What were you studying with Professor Hawthorne?
ET: Primarily, we were working on building new genetic codes for a number of the vegetables the OAC produces at the Farms.
Q: Where were you on the day of Fall 23, Sector Annum 102 at around one in the afternoon?
ET: I was at the SRI, sitting in on an Advanced Biogenomics class with Hawthorne. As his teaching assistant I had to attend his classes so that I would be able to help the students if they needed it.
Q: How many other people were there in the classroom?
ET: There were seven students. Including Professor Hawthorne and myself there were nine of us total.
Q: What happened during the class?
ET: Well, I had woken up late that morning, and hadn’t had time to take my morning shit—
Panel Reprimands Elijah Tawfiq for Misconduct
ET: Sorry about that, folks, but, well, anyway. I had to take care of my morning business, so I had excused myself from class for a few minutes.
Q: What happened when you—err—exited the bathroom?
ET: I headed back to the classroom. I opened the door and saw everyone in there, dead. Hawthorne’s body was at the center of the room, and a man dressed in black, a with a bloody knife in one hand and a Bolt in the other was staring at Tai Alexander’s—
Q: Go on, Eli.
ET: He had clearly just killed her. I couldn’t see her face, but she was slumped under the desk and she wasn’t moving. He was just staring at her.
Q: What did the man look like?
ET: Like I said, he was dressed in all black, including a cap, so I couldn’t tell what color his hair was. It looked like he was wearing some sort of mask, but that he’d pulled it up, and I could see his face. He had brown eyes and a long, narrow nose. Rounded chin.
Q: What happened next?
ET: I guess he heard me, because he looked up, and grinned at me. Then he walked over to me and put the Bolt up to my head and said “You’re late to the party. Too bad you had to miss out on all the fun. Lucky for you, there’s an after party right here.”
Q: Was he speaking English clearly?
ET: Yes. He did not have an Outsider accent or dialect.
Q: What did you do?
ET: I just stood there. Seriously, I just stood there. What the fuck was I supposed to do?
Panel Reprimands Elijah Tawfiq for Misconduct
Q: Then what happened, Elijah?
ET: He pulled the trigger on the Bolt.
Q: What happened then?
ET: Well, much to my relief, I didn’t die. He pulled the trigger and nothing happened. He pulled it away from my head and was just looking at it. Anyway, I was just standing there, shell-shocked, when he started laughing. He put it to my head and fired again. When it still didn’t blow, I figured the charge must have been malfunctioning. I lunged for it, but he was too fast.
Q: What happened then?
ET: He pulled the Bolt away and pushed me up against the wall. He had his forearm against my throat and was suffocating me. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t do anything but just look at him.
Q: What did he do next?
ET: Well, let’s see. He put the gun up to his own head. He stared me in the eyes. He said, “A word to the wise, kid. Never get on Corine Orleán’s bad side.”
Panel makes Motion to Strike testimony from formal record on the grounds of Defamation and Biased Testimony.
So stricken.
ET: “Biased Testimony?” Are you fucking joking? That’s what he said! Why the fuck are you striking that from the record?
Panel makes Motion to Strike statement from formal record and Reprimands Elijah Tawfiq for Speaking Out Of Turn and for Foul Language
[Witness stands and turns to leave.]
ET: No fuck
ing kidding. Okay, I’m out. Don’t even think for a second I’m going to sit here and tell you what happened the day that eight people were murdered in cold blood if you’re going to call your only surviving witness “biased”, and if you don’t like the way I fucking talk, then fuck you, too.
[Guards are called in to restrain witness. Witness begins to fight and yell. He is issued a calming sedative and instructed to continue his testimony.]
Questioner: Can you tell us what happened after the attacker put the gun to his own head?
ET: Sure. He pulled the trigger. I guess the capacitor worked this time. All I have to say about that is this: I’ve been led to understand that brains were considered quite a delicacy in the old world, but let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, they not all they cracked up to be.
Uproar in the Panel.
Panel calls for Questioner to continue.
Q: Elijah, could you describe more precisely what happened when the soldier pulled the trigger?
ET: Why sure, Questioner. The man’s head exploded. I was spattered with blood, bone, and brains so thick it made my eyes sting. I guess a side effect of that was that I turned and vomited all over that man’s mostly headless body. If brains aren’t tasty goin’ down, they sure aren’t tasty coming back up either.
Q: What happened then, Elijah?
ET: I collapsed. I crawled over to Tai’s side and the last thing I remember is running my hands over her eyes to close them. I passed out cold.
I lean back in my mother’s chair and stare at the stricken testimony over and over again.
Valerian: Why does his testimony still appear in the formal record if it’s been stricken?
Demeter: It was stricken from the record that was used for evidence in the panel’s judgment of the case. But the full court transcripts are required to have records of everything spoken and said in the court. Additionally, your mother has specially requested a full copy of the transcripts for her personal records.
Why did they strike his testimony? Why didn’t they take Eli’s words at least at face value, biased and traumatized though they might have been? I consider the circumstances and try to think through his testimony rationally. Eli was probably in shock after witnessing everything. His memories could have been affected, or invented. He was probably looking for someone to blame the attack on, someone to direct his anger towards. He could have invented that line about Madam Orleán just to try to pin it on someone. But then, why is my mother interested enough in the case to request a full copy for her own records? Is she just worried about clearing her name?
Or maybe the man really did say it. Just because he didn’t talk like an Outsider doesn’t mean he wasn’t one. Lots of Outsiders have joined the Sector, assimilated, and picked up our dialects and accent. He could have been one of them, trying to pin the blame on someone within the Sector, like my mother, so that the Outsider tribes would be spared retaliation.
But that doesn’t explain why the panel was so insistent on keeping that line off the official records. If they were making the argument that the Outsiders were trying to pin the attack on my mother, why not leave the line in? Unless they were under orders to keep it off the record … And why was Evander Sun-Zi present? I know that he and my mother work closely together, but I didn’t know he had anything to do with the investigation into the massacre.
There are no clear answers, so I keep looking. I pull up the Watchmen’s investigation overview and timeline.
Fall 23, Sector Annum 102, 13h00 – Sector Watchmen and Military called to scene of multiple-victim murder. One survivor found identified as Elijah Tawfiq. Nine dead including presumed shooter. All victims identified except presumed shooter. Survivor Tawfiq being held in custody and will be considered possible suspect or collaborator.
Fall 23, SA 102, 17h00 – Tawfiq being questioned by investigators.
Fall 25 – Psychological evaluation of Tawfiq returned. Indicates trauma from incident but otherwise normal psychological state with no mental or social disorders. Tawfiq displaying early symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder but evidence is inconclusive that the symptoms will be permanent. DNA evidence found on Bolt indicating that presumed shooter, as yet unidentified, was in fact the perpetrator.
Fall 27 – Tawfiq cleared of suspect status. Sources indicate he had no military or arms training, was very close with victim number one (assumed primary target Aran Hawthorne), and was involved romantically with one of the victims, Tai Alexander. Highly unlikely collaborator.
Fall 27 – Presumed shooter identified as possible Outsider based on shoulder tattoos. Autopsy and medical analysis shows shooter had large quantities of potent psychotropics and physical augmentation drugs in his bloodstream and muscle deposits. Was likely preparing for this mission for an extended period of time. No DNA records exist in Sector population database for presumed shooter, making it highly likely that he was born and raised outside of Sector control.
Fall 28 – Preparing press release to brief the public. Preparing to field questions on possible Outsider involvement and planned military action against Outsider tribes.
F. 35 – Tawfiq requested additional interview, which has just concluded. Indicated that Corine Orleán, OAC researcher and wife of Chancellor Philip Orleán, was possibly involved in the crime. Tawfiq claims shooter made statement linking Madam Orleán to crime immediately prior to suicide. Opening investigation into Corine Orleán’s possible involvement in the crime.
F. 36 – Photographic evidence found on Sector security cameras indicating that shooter, as yet unidentified, visited OAC headquarters on Fall 20. However, travel records and witness testimony indicate that Corine Orleán was visiting Seed Bank 1 on same date. Meeting between the two unlikely.
F. 37 – Department closed investigation into Corine Orleán as possible collaborator with shooter.
F. 40 – Shooter determined likely participant in Outsider terrorist strike. All records on investigation will be copied to General Falke Aulion of Sector Defense Forces. SDF will now be taking over responsibilities for retaliation against Outsiders. Watchmen investigation closed.
Department closed investigation into Corine Orleán … apparently without any given reason, and only two days after Eli requested a special meeting to tell them what he heard from the shooter. What led to that decision? Maybe they simply didn’t find any evidence to support his claim. I close my eyes and hope desperately that’s what happened. Other possibilities flood my mind—bribery, threats, blackmail, targeted against the Watchmen to keep them from continuing the investigation. When I open my eyes, Demeter has displayed a new message for me to read.
Demeter: Remember, you came to your mother’s computer for a reason.
Valerian: Yeah, because you told me to. What are you talking about?
Demeter: You’re not restricted to viewing the files in the OAC and Sector Informational Databases.
Valerian: Are you suggesting I browse through my mother’s personal files?
Demeter: There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth—not starting, and not going all the way.
Hesitantly, nauseated at the idea of this gross breach of privacy, I type in a search for Hawthorne under “Messages.” An old correspondence pops up from her courriel archives, and I open it and read the string of messages quickly. There are only five in the correspondence.
12 Fall, SA 102, 15h32
Madam Orleán,
I have a research matter of great import that I would like to discuss with you at your earliest availability. Through fortuitous circumstances, I have happened upon a remnant of the old world that could be incredibly beneficial to the OAC and could change the future of the Sector. I am very close to being able to completely unlock this information and would like to share it with you, so that we can discuss its great potential.
Respectfully yours,
Aran Hawthorne
Associate Professor, Biogenomics
Sector Research Institute
12
Fall, SA 102, 16h51
Aran,
What a pleasure to hear from you. It’s been too long since we discussed our research together. You have certainly piqued my curiosity as to the nature of this discovery, and I am particularly intrigued by how you came upon this apparently powerful old world technology.
I would be more than happy to meet with you as soon as possible. Would you be willing and able to meet next week, 18 Fall, at 9h00? You may visit me in my office, and please, bring whatever information with you that will help to explain your discovery.
Your friend,
Corine Orleán
Director, R&D
Okarian Agricultural Consortium
13 Fall, SA 102, 7h57
Madam Orleán,
It would be my honor to meet you then, and I will be sure to have prepared a comprehensive outline of the work I’ve done. I should hint, with a wink, that the information isn’t precisely a technology—in fact, it’s something that could be much more powerful. I hope that holds your interest!
Respectfully yours,
Aran Hawthorne
Associate Professor, Biogenomics
Sector Research Institute
18 Fall, SA 102, 18h28
Aran,
I have spent much of the day reflecting on the poor outcome of our meeting this morning. I wanted to send you a note of reconciliation. I am incredibly impressed by the research you and your assistant Elijah have been doing, and I am thrilled that you have chosen to include me in your considerations as we decide how to proceed with this information. That said, however, I regret that we do not agree on how the OAC and the Sector might best use this powerful tool. I would like to meet with you again at your earliest convenience, so that we might discuss more amicably how to proceed.
I also politely request, as your superior and supervisor, that you send me the DNA you have been attempting to decode, along with the information about the key you claim to have found.
Your friend,
Corine Orleán
Director, R&D
