The small figure then seemed to note something and pointed with interest at Perin’s hands, and at the tube he held there. It then turned and gestured toward the drawer and the still humming tube resting on the drawer shelf. It then repeated the gesture, from the drawer to Perin’s tube, from Perin’s tube to the drawer.
Oh my father! Perin thought, so this is another AI! The small figure kept repeating the same gesture and with obvious growing frustration so Perin climbed from the floor and walked to the bed head, stopping there to look at the tube on the drawer which was still humming and glowing. He wondered what he should do and then looked at the tube in his own hands, then down again at the small figure. And then an idea formed in his mind, a gem of an idea, a small victory that could be the first of others. If he was quick, could it be done? His thumb nervously stroked the button on his tube and his eyes drank in the small avatar before him. And then he did it, he pressed the button and the light began to blink.
In a flash the avatar seemed to dissolve, quickly becoming hazy and then like a mist being sucked into a hole it flew toward his tube in an action so fast it shocked him. He dropped the tube again as if it was suddenly hot and the tube on the drawer began to buzz more loudly now, building to a high pitched screech before it seemed to die. Scrabbling for his tube Perin thumbed the button again and the light duly stopped flashing. He cradled it in both hands, his heart again pounding as if it wanted to jump out of his chest and he closed his eyes trying to calm himself while breathing slowly and deeply. Just as he felt he had regained some control he heard a sound, the swish of the door opening and as his eyes flicked open his heart went cold.
It was the android Ham, and he looked very, very angry.
Thrown by Ham from the door of the elevator Perin tumbled into control, coming to rest at Regan's feet. Charlotte looked shocked at the brutality of the throw but not Jared, he looked impressed. Regan glanced down at Perin then back up to Ham.
"I take it you consider he's been a bad boy?"
Ham extended his arm to her and in the palm she could see two small vial like tubes, similar in size but with differences that indicated quite different manufacture. She raised her eyebrows questioningly.
Ham had a slightly disappointed look. "Firstly Regan, I must apologize; we did know he carried things when we picked him up but I didn't check what they were. It seems he carried a processor all that time but for what purpose I have no idea. Also our search of Leith's cabin was remiss. Our stowaway was there all the time in a small drawer for hiding valuables."
"Damn, I'm sorry Regan." Charlotte apologized. "We searched everything we knew about in that room, honest."
"I know Charlie, it's a big ship with a lot of hiding places, you couldn't have known. That doesn't explain how you didn't know, Lucas?"
Lucas sighed. "Regan you know what an embarrassment these blanks have been to me. I've been bested by a better Mind and it's galling to say the least; I apologize too."
Regan turned her attention back to Ham. "Well, we have them now, what are your thoughts Ham?"
"I think our friend Perin might have the answers Regan, and with your permission I will torture the truth out of him; it won't take long."
Perin shrank away and looked desperately at Regan for support.
"Ham, we are not torturing anyone, period. However, perhaps you could show Perin how we displace rubbish into vacuum; that might be helpful."
Ham smiled wickedly, and in an obscenely short time had the STEIN Interceptor on screen, just off the Fair Passage's bow. Regan was startled that he could bring the Interceptor so quickly and briefly wondered whether the idea of displacement was even her own. Before she could pursue the thought Ham was hoisting Perin from the floor and throwing him into a chair to face the screen. He then drew a cross on the floor using gestures of his hand.
"Perhaps you could watch this space closely, young Perin."
On the cross in front of Perin a shimmering bubble appeared, and with a pop a small barrel materialized. Perin shrunk back into the chair.
"Now, keep your eyes on the barrel, and when it disappears kindly shift your eyes quickly to the large screen."
Perin looked and when with a shimmer, the barrel began to dissolve he did indeed shift to the screen, just in time to see it appear in vacuum and spectacularly explode with globules of fluid spreading widely.
Regan smiled at the theatrical nature of it all.
"Now Perin - if you could please stand and move on to the cross."
Jared laughed out loud but Charlotte couldn't stand it. "Regan, you're not going to let him . . . surely not!"
Out of Perin’s sight Regan winked pointedly at her.
"Perin." Ham stepped to his chair and hauled him up by the collar, lifting him into the air and dropping him on the spot. "Now, are you going to answer our questions, or . . ." He gestured to the screen where he had stilled the image of the exploding barrel.
"Yes, yes, I never intended to keep secrets," he blurted, "I never even knew about that . . . that, thing."
"So how did you find it?" Charlotte asked.
"I was . . ." his voiced trailed away.
"Yes . . .?" Regan prompted.
"I was playing with . . . my message . . . for the Rexis leadership."
[He's hiding something Regan.] Ham subbed.
[You think?]
[Look at him, he's a sniveling weasel.]
"What is this message you speak of, Perin, and how did you come upon this?" Ham held up the more advanced of the two objects.
Perin was plainly uncomfortable and kept looking up at the image on screen. "Can I please sit down, I will tell you everything."
Regan let the request hang in the air a moment and then nodded to the chair. Perin wasted no time stumbling gratefully away from the mark on the floor and falling into it. He took a moment to recover his composure and they waited.
"My Uncle Maynard, a senior senate member, gave me a special message to convey to the delegation from Rexis. I'm not sure of the detail but I understand it was a proposal for peace, a plan to move forward together, something that the current leadership of Regis would not have supported and it is stored in that data processor I was carrying. It was a pleasant burden to carry, even though if it had been discovered by the leadership of my delegation I would likely have been tried for treason. It was a message full of promise and hope, but with the loss of the ship it came to nothing. I took it out in my room, contemplating what to do with it and I accidentally activated its wireless signal. The signal must have been received by that device, but it was not my intention. A small drawer opened from the wall and the device was resting on the shelf. It activated in some way and then I heard sounds, a voice I think, but in a language I didn't understand. Of course I couldn't respond and I quickly switched off my own signal. I was panicked about what I'd done."
Perin stopped at that point, whether to gather his thoughts or because he was distressed it was hard to tell but nevertheless Regan prompted him to continue.
"I was backed against the wall, as far as I could get from the device when suddenly it started to hum, and then a man appeared, a small man, or at least an image of a man, and it talked to me but I couldn't understand a word. It seemed to gesture to my device, and then to its own, and then to mine again. I guessed it wanted me to activate my device again and I don't know why, but I did, and then the man turned to a mist that seemed to flow toward my device and then his device seemed to go dead." Perin stopped at that point and then looked at Ham. "And then you were at the door looking angry . . ." He hesitated as if considering a terrible thought. "I thought I was dead!"
"You very nearly were." Ham added.
"You say you couldn't understand anything?" Regan asked, "And yet you were able to communicate obviously."
"By sign language only . . . I guessed he wanted me to activate my device again, that's all."
"Can you remember anything of the words he spoke?"
"Only a sound, I think it was a name."
He had all their attention now and the focus unnerved him. "I didn't intend any of this."
Regan tried to smile. "No, of course not, now think Perin, what was the sound - and how do you know it was a name?"
"Because he pointed to himself as he said the word, just as I had done in giving my name like this." He demonstrated, pointing to his chest and saying, "Perin."
"So what did he say was his name, Perin?"
"I'm not sure but he pointed to himself and said something like, Rrrrubusss."
"I knew it!" A passive observer until now, Hilary suddenly burst into triumphant life. "Ha ha, there you go Charlie; I win the bet, ta daaa!"
Regan ignored the interjection, her attention being more on Ham's response and she watched as he slowly placed the two devices on the console. Then he stood there looking at them with clear and obvious malice.
Ham turned to Perin. "You say he appeared to transfer to your device - a device which holds a message?"
Perin looked confused. "Transfer - what do you mean? I can only say it appeared the image I could see dissolved and flew to my device like a mist, and then the other device went cold."
"Cold?"
"The lights went out and it stopped buzzing."
Ham stared at the older of the two objects, the one clearly from Regis, and then at Regan. "So it appears that bastard Reubus might actually be in there. He could be in both and we can't be sure without checking. The question is why? Perhaps he hoped Perin would be a Trojan horse that would carry him to the planet?"
"He would be taking a chance." Regan replied, "I think we should assume he copied himself in there to increase his chances of success. In any case, I should go in and confront him."
Ham shook his head. "No way Regan - I should confront him, there must be a reason he has done this and he fears me. He'll explain things to me, one way or the other and I'd rather you weren't there. I want to know the truth."
Something about Perin’s manner as he followed the exchange caught Charlotte's attention and she jerked upright.
"Regan." She suddenly interrupted. "I've been watching Perin, he's up to something."
The focus shifted back to the young man, all eyes turning his way; he couldn't understand what Charlotte had said but he looked startled at the attention. "What? What did she say about me?"
Charlotte ignored the translation Hilary was relaying and simply explained to Regan. "I saw his eyes light up as you were discussing accessing your device - why was he excited?"
Regan turned slowly back to Perin, fixing him with a glare that made him reach behind to the chair for support. "It seems you would like Ham to access your device, am I correct? Now why might that be the case Perin?"
He looked around wildly, desperately searching for support but found none. "I - I meant nothing . . ." he began to protest but already Ham was on him, wrenching him from the chair in one powerful motion and dumping him on the crosshairs. Then he stepped back, crossed his arms, lowered his head and closed his eyes as if concentrating and about to take some action. It happened so quickly everyone was stunned and Regan hardly had time to call out before Perin himself halted things with a scream of panic.
"It has a virus! . . . The device holds a virus!" then he collapsed, whimpering, to the floor.
Regan and Ham exchanged anxious looks and backed away from the vials.
Ham looked at her accusingly, "You see Regan, and you were so quick to want to go in there? You just don't think sometimes, anything could have happened to you."
"Me! Don't tell me you weren't ready to go in; you know you were and I'm not the only rash one here."
"Guys, guys," Charlotte interrupted the squabble, "let's just be glad no one went in, whatever that means anyway." She looked uncomfortably at the tubes resting on the console and then stepped away herself creating distance of her own; nothing about a virus sounded good. "The question is, what do we do with these things now, I mean, if you're right one of them holds this Reubus character doesn't it, and he's most likely a murderer?"
Jared stepped to the chair and picked up the tubes, examining them carefully. "Reubus could be in both of them," he said, "we just don't know. And if he has copied to the one with the virus then that Reubus is possibly dead, but we can't know that for certain either."
"Jared," Regan barked, "don't you dare go in there."
"I have no intention of doing that Mother." Instead he clasped his hands together, the two processors squeezed tightly between them. There was a sudden flash - and a loud crack of electrical energy - and then he dropped the tubes, still smoldering, to the floor. Just as quickly a shimmer appeared over them and the objects disappeared as Ham displaced them to vacuum. Jared smiled at Regan. "Mother, you never ask the enemy why they did it, that just gives them time and opportunity to escape, and you never restrain or leave them in case they also escape, and you never leave them for a delayed death with a bomb and a timer for the same reason, and finally. . .", he turned and looked at Ham with a big smile on his face.
Ham laughed, ". . . A shot to the back is just as effective as a shot to the front." He filled in the last part with a huge smile of his own. "You have learned well grasshopper, I'm proud of you."
Regan screwed up her face in frustration. "You two and your ideas - I don't know; now how do we find out what Reubus was up to?"
"We go to Gliese and kick it out of him Regan, just as soon as we get this job done." Ham was enthusiastic. "We can jump there any time, after all."
Her concern was obvious as she thought about the implications. "Now I'm really worried about the guys in Gliese, what's Reubus up to Ham?" She shook her head in disbelief. "I still can't believe he would actually kill someone, just to get to Orion, but if he did and he's capable of killing here what does that mean for Marin and Leah? If they get in his way with Aaron, will he try to dispatch them too?"
"Don't worry about them babe, they're quite capable of looking after themselves and remember, I'm there with them."
"As am I," Hilary added, "and Regan, I'm not surprised at this, Reubus wants your position and those business interests at home just aren't enough for him; he's decided if he can't have you as a partner, he'll supplant you. Regan, he wants everything."
"Well he's not going to get it!" She dropped into the nearest chair to think and they knew enough not to interrupt. It took only a minute and then a look of clarity came to her.
"This is what we're going to do. Charlie, you can begin plans for disembarking your colonists now along with the other vessels as soon as we're in orbit. That should be in about two days so take charge of that please, with Hilary's support. I understand there are welcoming celebrations planned so we will all stay for those. But as soon as the celebrations are over here, we'll leave for Gliese in the STEIN Traveler. With Marin and Leah there I'm concerned what Reubus may try to do. We can't give him the leverage of holding our precious friends."
[Ham, you and I should also do a quick jump to Gliese before the ceremonies, just to check things out. We can gather intelligence.]
"Mom?" Jared asked "I want to go with you to Gliese."
"I think we can accommodate that Jared my boy, and how are those hands?"
Jared held up blackened palms and gave a tight smile that was more a wince. Regan shook her head. "Come with me then, let's sort out those burns and please remember, you are not an android."
"Err, Regan?" Charlotte asked. "What about me?"
Regan stopped and smiled, reaching up a hand to touch Charlotte's hair. "Charlotte, you have been absolutely fantastic, I'm going to need you to stay here in Orion until the colonists are settled, I have great plans for you . . . and how attached are you to that hair?" She laughed at Charlotte’s expression then turned to Hilary. "Darl, maybe you could make the special offer to Charlie, I think you know what I mean; but right now I need to look after Jared." And with that Regan started for the elevator doors, Jared in tow.
Hilary broke into a huge smile and eerily reached out an extend
ed avatar arm to pat Charlotte’s head. "Leave Charlie to me Regan, I know she isn't too concerned about appearances."
"I'm not?" Charlotte swatted through the arm. "And what on earth are you talking about?"
"Oh don't worry sweetie," Hilary laughed, "we're just playing with your head."
As the elevator doors closed Charlotte could hear Regan burst out laughing.
* * *
The Medlab on The Behemoth
Charlotte didn't need much persuading, she was a convert now and the heady rush of life in 'the team' was addictive. Anything that could enhance the experience she wanted and following only the briefest of explanations she agreed to Hilary's proposal. After all, as Hilary explained, the neural web procedure was well proven now on billions of humanoids in Gliese, and Leah also had one. When she had asked whether Jared and Regan had a neural web Hilary explained that they operated somewhat differently and left it at that. Charlotte didn't press, and anyway the procedure proposed for her meant she could be on her feet in two days for the welcoming and the 'web' thingy could continue to do its integration while she worked apparently; all good. She had made her way across to the Behemoth without delay and gave the operation hardly a thought until she lay back on the gurney in the Medlab; then finally nerves set in. She did feel the small prick in her arm from the slender appendage stretching up from the floor but she never got to see the arm that jabbed her. And neither did she hear the conversation between Ham and Hilary that followed.
"Hilary, I heard her talking to you, Charlie distinctly said how disappointed she was that you wouldn't be with her in the same way in future; you know she wants you there."
"Yes Ham, but that doesn't mean . . ."
"Imagine how pleased she will be when she realizes she doesn't have to be apart from you. And a tiny processor is such a simple inclusion, merely an add-on, she'll be delighted."
"I'm not so sure about that Ham, you do tend to just bowl ahead with these things."
Regan's Reach 4: Avarice Page 25
