by James Cox
"That's a long way to go, even for someone guilty as hades. If she is she'll know the CA can still extradite, and will."
Garry shrugged.
"The operative question," she continued, "is what to do."
"So do we track it," asked Garry, "It's outside your jurisdiction, the entire case is cold-sevened, you've excluded most of their evidence anyway and you do have a cease order from the CA."
"Truth. Was she in trouble?"
"You know what I do, Lorna. I can think of a dozen possibilities."
"So can I." Gallaway considered her options. "I say we go. I'll pay the usual plus bonus whether we get her back or not."
Garry nodded and smiled. Gallaway began composing the hand-offs and contingencies she'd need if this took longer than two weeks.
"I'd like to go with you," she said, "I can afford some time off."
"This isn't a vacation, Lorna," said Garry, frowning now, "That's what you need and we both know it."
"You're probably right," said Gallaway. Trust Garry not to object to her presence but her excessive work habits. "But I want to hear it. Preferably straight from her."
Garry nodded. "Slib. Will you at least let me make the arrangements?"
Chapter 10. Facing Problems
Robin left the startport on Landsrey's Refuge flanked by Robert and Carl. Despite Robert's words to the contrary it felt just as wondrous this time as before. She had her keycard and the three of them wore floppy hats purchased at highly-inflated prices. The vendor assured them the hats were the current height of fashion on the planet.
"We have a cabin," said Robert, "Close to the ocean but not enough so to be expensive."
"Plus a hover," added Carl, "Shall we?"
After a single glance at the map he got at the rental agency Carl began driving the streets as though he'd lived his life on them. As he did Robin studied the map and the landmarks.
"Learn it," said Carl, "Major landmarks, major streets, minor landmarks and minor streets. You don't need to know every single alleyway but you should be able to locate yourself quickly anywhere in the city. Without stopping at a comm booth."
Robin felt some apprehension at this. "Why? I mean, why here? You didn't make me do this on Secore."
"We have more ground to cover," he replied, "You may also be operating on your own. Most of what we traced on Secore was close to the starport. Just from the data you pulled there's stuff scattered all over the planet here."
Robin's apprehension increased. "What if something happens? Complications."
"Later."
Robin spent little time unpacking. She soon discovered the cabin's T-alpha connection, a wall-sized holovee and an impressive collection of games and movies. Her brief tour ended with Robert and Carl, both sitting at the dining table and wearing serious expressions.
"Here," said Carl as he handed her another map, "This is the local area around this cabin. This you do need to learn down to the alleyways. Everything. If you need to leave in a hurry you don't want to get caught and you plus-plus don't want to stop for directions. You should also learn at least five different routes to the starport, with and without needing transportation. Memorize a dozen points on each route where you can get off the street quickly and where you can stay a while without rousing suspicion."
He handed her another map and keycard. "This is your safe point. It's rented for a week longer than this cabin. If the flop hits the flinger this is where we'll meet you. Keep the key with you at all times. Learn at least four routes from here to there. If something does happen don't go into the room immediately. There are several restaurants and cafes around it. Stay at one of them and observe the place before you go inside. Change faces along the way."
Robert handed her several mundane items: a chrono, a necklace and a small case.
"This," he said of the chrono, "is a locator. It doesn't emit actively but we can trace it if necessary." The case turned into a pocket organizer with room for an ID, keycards, datacards, money, 'sticks and a small comm. "Nothing fancy here. Take the square root of 1337 and divide by two for a secure channel to me. Divide by four for one to Carl. Seven gives a secure three-way.
"If you're in deep trouble and can't comm, break the necklace. That's the emergency signal. Don't use it unless you need us ten minutes ago with blasters firing. Finally, if the necklace or chrono warm up and start vibrating drop what you're doing and vanish. Ditch the gear fast then lose yourself in the crowd, wander around for a few hours at random and make your way to the safe point. If one of us doesn't contact you within five days hit the emergency locker and go home."
"But... what if you need help?" Robin's voice sounded far weaker than she wanted.
"If we don't make contact," said Carl matter-of-factly, "we're probably dead. Don't, and I mean do not, try to find us or find out. Go back to Echo Bend and lose yourself there."
Robin knew she paled but she nodded anyway.
***
Robin sat across a counter from a man, nervous but not showing it. He read the forms Robert filled out critically, making notes on his datapad as he did.
"You want a standard streaming server," he asked.
"Yes sir. We're producing our own music and we want to publish it reliably. Your company came highly recommended for consistent service even with high traffic."
"That's part of our guarantee," smiled the man, "So the traffic will be that hot?"
"Umm... No," she said, "Not yet!"
The man's smile widened. "Plus-plus cryonic! In that case you'll want our deluxe commerce package. That's the full range of credit transactions, non-release of merchandise until payment is confirmed, fully configurable sales, specials and coupons, sales trending and tracking..."
"Excuse me, sir," interrupted Robin, "Right now your standard package will do perfectly. We'd rather spend our money on extra storage."
"We can do that too," he said, "Everything seems to be in order here." He checked his chrono. "We should have the site and server up this afternoon. As soon as you're ready we'll open it. We'll advertise it on our main site and we'll feature it for the first week. You can purchase extra exposure whenever you want. It'll take effect as soon as payment clears and instantly if you keep a positive credit balance here." He scribed a card with the site address, username and password. "Here's your access. My contact information is there too," here he winked, "and you're welcome to use our facilities any time you want to make adjustments. No charge for that and we have a wide selection of pre-configured sites and skins. If you don't like those you can create your own. We also offer professional site design at very reasonable rates!"
"Thank you, sir. I'll see what I can do first."
"Excellent. Thank you for choosing us!"
Robin shook the man's hand and walked away. Why Robert wanted a music server she didn't know but by virtue of Thomas, Rimmie and the twins she knew how to request and configure one. She suspected he wanted it as a stable remote site but any type of server core would work for that. Thoughts of her friends brought a brief pang but she didn't have time for it.
Safely ensconced in a customer carrel Robin set about building her site. She assembled her main page along with several linked ones. Robert had a specific list of standard modules and services he wanted so she added those too. She included a limited chat host with fixed channels and she increased the required adpush feed by a small amount. It grated her to do that but the cross-links would have reduced security and having more of them meant more easy bounce sites. She did find some nice skins and peels so she configured them into her site. Once she had the theme adjusted to her satisfaction she uploaded a spool of Robert's -awful! - music. He also had some custom modules so she installed them too, along with a few of her own. As soon as she finished she submitted the data to the queue along with her account number. The return message estimated the site would go online by early afternoon.
"Polar," said Robert, examining the newly-launched site and listening to his own noise.
&
nbsp; "What were those extra modules of yours," she asked.
"Later, luv. I'm not giving away all of my secrets," he winked.
***
Robin settled into the datamart, slid her card into the terminal, booted to her bandit chip and jacked in her portable. Even after two weeks of doing this she felt nervous. As soon as she had a secure pipe she fired connections to several music sites including Robert's. She checked the song of the day and the featured selection and winced. The latter was her least favorite. The combination did tell her where to find Robert, though, and soon she had a secure chat open to him.
'J: Hey, lady! Ready for some action?'
'T: Say the word. Hot and tight here.'
Robert forked her several connections which she connected to her own machine. Some of the music sites showed heavy traffic so she cut those connections; the others she expanded into full tunnels with the slowest pair upgraded to spirals. When she finished that Robert had them both nice, wide pipes primed for their main objectives. Robin shook her head at what he planned but given some finesse it should work.
Robert started a slow burn into the local Rugger site. He queried their public data openly but slipped a trio of acid probes underneath them. That roused several dogz but, since they didn't attack immediately Robert latched a swarm of code leeches on them. Robin connected a solid tunnel to the Federation Central News Agency and sent some bland queries. She killed four adpushes before they could deploy and gritted her teeth at the two she had to allow. She did reduce their priority to the minimum required to maintain, all the while shaping a plastic blast for the wallz she saw there. She had an unanchored throbbing needle ready; while the connection stabilized she anchored it to Robert's main tunnel.
'T: Ready, ready. Connections stable and holding.'
Robert detached one of the connections he sent her and began strengthening his end of it. For no reason other than spite Robin merged the torpid adpushes into that tunnel, still holding them back but ready to release.
'J: Now!'
Robin detonated the plastic blast and it decimated the FCN wallz. She smothered the area with rotten fish and fired probes into the busiest nodes she saw.
Robert, meanwhile, fired her needle into the Rugger site. Neither of them cared what it actually hit; Robin fused all of her probes into it. That done she shoved the meld away from her terminal and waited for the chaos. Robert, who had a spiral tunnel into a local bank, let the FCN probes hit the Rugger site, which responded with snap-traces and probes of its own. While the two sets of dogz fought each other he began throwing files her way. She caught them, grabbed a few of her own and swatted the few dogz that tried to trace them.
When the bank connection closed and the CA began probing the area Robin collapsed her tunnels, powered down her terminal and left the datamart. She walked past Carl who idly read a newsmod and didn't acknowledge her. She entered a public fresher, un-changed her appearance, waited fifteen minutes and left.
"Complications," asked Carl, nodding toward the blue hovers swarming the datamart.
"Nak plus-plus," she said, just now starting to sweat. She slipped her arm under his casually. "Can we stop at another datamart?"
"Why?" Though he appeared relaxed Robin heard differently.
"I did some thinking. Unless you two have been grabbing data and not sharing you have a major wager uncovered."
"Yes?"
"If Everett is here," Robin shuddered inwardly at that thought, "he'll probably have a burner with him. Someone like... me." She felt Carl's eyes heavy on her. "W-we need to check disappearances. Most of the data will be public information. I put together a query yesterday. It... it shouldn't take too long to run. We can..."
Robin stopped talking as Carl stopped walking. He absently pulled her in front of a nearby display window. He scratched his chin, ostensibly looking at the merchandise. After a minute or two he guided her to an open-air cafe.
"Tell me what you're thinking," he said, taking her hand, "Try to smile at me while you're doing it."
She managed both. Though he smiled back warmly she saw the machinery working behind his eyes.
"Order nibblers and drinks," he said, "I'll be back."
She finished a 'stick and started the nibblers when he returned. He handed her a list and a sheaf of currency.
"There's an Erin's two blocks over," he said, "Buy what's on the list. When you finish that grab the warez like the ones I listed at the bottom. I don't know what's available here but you should. Meet me outside the north entrance in one hour. Do not jack in and launch your query."
"Umm... Slib."
Robin made the purchases quickly if not willingly. Erin's had everything on the list but the warez and she had most of those already. As she perused the list she got an idea of what Carl planned and she didn't like it at all. She made it to the entrance with time to spare.
"Any problems," asked Carl. He carried a small package.
"No. Will you tell me..."
"Later. Let's find someplace private."
Carl's private place turned into a motel with hourly rates. He paid in cash with his arm around her waist. When they walked into their room she understood why he wanted restaurant-grade cleansers! The room didn't smell clean and Robin didn't want to touch the bed until she used them.
"Change quickly," said Carl, "I'll do your hair afterward."
Robin stepped into the fresher, sprayed it down with sanitizer and stood on a towel while she changed. When she emerged Carl had already changed.
"Pyro plus-plus, alpha-vix."
Robin tried not to wince at Carl's appearance. He now had glowing yellow and green streaks in his hair and they clashed with his equally-loud orange and blue striped shirt and fuchsia trousers. His lips and eyebrows also glowed. He handed her the glitstick and started striping her hair.
"Polarity," she said without conviction, "can we leave now?"
"Not yet. You need to add a few touches and I need my warez."
When Robin handed him the chips she saw what he'd bought. He now had a terminal of his own, complete with a dex.
"Heaven's flames! Are you a burner too?"
"Not a particularly good one but you'll probably need help. I can also catch files and correlate data."
As Robin watched Carl configure his box she suspected he could do galaxies more than just that.
After a short ride on a crowded hoverbus they arrived at a club. Robin didn't like the location or the noise leaking out the door. She tried not to frown when they walked in. Holoclouds formed in the corners and drifted to cover the ceiling. The room was smoky, cramped and hot from the crowd packed into the place, some of them dressed conservatively or in sloppychic, but most of whom were ZoneHeads. All of these sat around small tables with 'sticks and terminals.
Robin looked at the machines contemptuously. All of them had artmods: holographic etchings on flat surfaces or light-strings sparkling around the edges. Or both. Some even had plastic sculpting attached to make them look like dragons, flutterwings, flowers or starships. Carl sat at a table and jacked in, motioning Robin to the seat across. A small stage against one wall held three Zoners with their instruments, now blessedly silent.
"REALITY!" The lady on the stage shouted this announcement and she and her two companions turned to their instruments. All the terminals and displays around the room lit up with the twisting, amorphous holographic shapes that accompanied the noise Robin couldn't call music. After two more songs, "FREEDOM!" and "EVIL VIRTUE!" the three left the stage for an intermission. Robin sipped at her overpriced wine and tried to ignore the fog that bubbled out of the glass.
"Absolutely pyro," she said flatly, "I suppose you have a reason for this."
"Hit our site," said Carl, "Connect to my terminal. Wait."
Robin did so. Carl finished his foggy ale and ordered another. Robin had just lit a 'stick when something caught her eye. Robert, his most mischievous grin in place and himself ZoneHeaded, sat at the table beside them. He winked at
her.
"Easier this way," said Carl, "Plenty of access and lots of folks around to absorb the blame for any misdeeds."
Robin turned her attention to her terminal. She had a chat request from Robert and soon all three had their terminals meshed.
'J: Lead the way, lady. We'll grab files and swat the dogz for you.'
Robin felt a thrill at this! For once Robert and Carl followed her plan. She sharpened her warez, connected to the CA site and started her queries.
"That's a lot of data, no blather," said Robert.
"Truth and plenty," affirmed Carl.
The three of them now sat in their cabin over a nice meal courtesy of Robert. Robin felt much better with her ZoneHead appearance gone, even though it did make an excellent disguise.
"It is," said Robin, "but necessary. This is only the publicly accessible information.
"Assuming the earliest possible date Everett could be here," she continued, "these are the disappearances filed. I also grabbed what the CA had concerning i-jacking, data theft or anything related. I have base heuristics built to discover which people have family or friends who might miss them or raise a vapor." She swallowed a lump in her throat at that. "W-within those parameters we should be able to narrow down the list. Once we have them we'll need to go deep on the CA."
"Good idea," said Carl, powering up his machine, "Shall we?"
***
Lorna Gallaway sipped her drink and tried to enjoy the view. Landsrey's Refuge boasted a decent tourist trade and with many good reasons, all of them wasted on her. She wanted to help Garry and she had, a little, but mostly she waited for his messages. She suspected he wanted her to relax and enjoy herself but he simply did not understand her drive. She re-reviewed all the details she had on the Macy case, still uncertain of her former client.
Ordinarily Garry messaged at least once every day or so but now he had gone without for almost seven. Now this. After all that time without communication he sent a single terse message with a meet point. Gallaway waited with ill patience.
"Signora Gallaway?"
She started at the voice. It came from a moderately handsome man dressed well and smiling warmly at her.
