by Gian Bordin
Later in the day, she spent time reading in the poetry book that had the name of her mother written inside. She knew the first one by heart. Her mother had often recited it. She also searched through her parents’ mementos. There was a video-cube with short scenes: her parents’ wedding — her mother’s face was glowing with happiness; shots in the mountains; swimming in a lake; her mother reading on the veranda of a house, briefly showing also its outside. She intended to watch those again and again.
When Atun wanted to shift her father’s clothes into the adjacent cabin, she stopped him. She wanted them to share her parents’ cabin. It felt right to have him close at night, and he needed little persuasion.
Over the following days they explored the official log entries of her parents. She learned that her father was a researcher with UniCom, the company that according to Atun had developed the HST system and still ran it as a monopoly. It was one of the most powerful companies in the Galactic Federation. The request to take samples of Aros’ ring had been a last-minute addition on their return trip from a mission testing the extension of the HST network to Santori, and it specified that samples should be sought over the width of the ring.
"I’m still puzzled why there’s no official record of that mission, even if it failed, in fact, particularly since it failed," commented Atun. "It’s essential information for further explorations. If I had known that two previous missions had failed, I would have been much more cautious."
"Maybe it was meant to be that way, or you would never have come to rescue me," she said, smiling.
"It was you who rescued me, more than once." After a moment, he continued: "I can’t shake off the feeling that there was something fishy about the whole thing. Why would they send a communications researcher to do mineral exploration?"
"My mother was a chemist and going to Aros meant only a small detour for them."
"Possible. I guess we’ll never find out. There may be nobody around who even remembers anything about that mission. Look, there are three archives, one labeled Zoshan —"
"— that is my mother’s first name."
"The second, labeled Takash —"
"— my father —"
"— and the third, a huge one, called research, all three of which need a password for access. I presume the first two are personal files of your parents, the third probably contains records on the research projects they were working on at that time. Did they ever talk about that?"
"I know that they were working on some revolutionary mode of instant communication. I think this is how they met."
"Instant communication? What do you mean by ‘instant’?"
"No time delay."
"Seems impossible. HST has cut the time delay by a factor of 12854. It may be possible to do even better. But there will always be a time delay. The farther the distance, the longer the delay. It’s a basic law of physics."
"Maybe if you get access to these archives, you will find out."
"But what could be the password? Do you have any guesses?"
She thought a while about that. She doubted that they would have used some significant date or name in their lives. That would have been too evident, too easy to crack. So what else could they have used? In a sudden flash of inspiration she exclaimed: "Whispers."
"What?"
"Try ‘whispers’, the title of the first poem in that poetry book."
"You think so?"
"It is a poem that both my parents loved and often recited."
He called up the archive Zoshan and entered ‘whispers’. It opened and revealed several directories with names like ‘reflections’, ‘to do’, ‘diary’, and so on.
"I’ll leave those for you to explore," he said, briefly glancing at her.
She was touched by his sensitivity. "Thank you, Atun."
He tried the same on Takash. It too opened, listing personal files. The third refused to open.
Before Atun could say a word, she said: "Try the whole title ‘whispers in the wind’. He entered all four words with hyphens in between and it opened, showing two directories, the first entitled ‘instantcom’ with subdirectories ‘instantcom principles’, ‘instantcom theory’, ‘instantcom implementation’, ‘work remaining’. The second was labeled ‘HST research’.
"Wow, you were right. He was working on something he called instant communications. Is it OK if I look at these?"
"Yes. I would like to do this with you. I want to learn what my father did."
He opened the first one. For the next hour they slowly read through the principles files, discussing things they did not understand on first reading. She quickly caught on that her father’s invention centered around the ability of empaths to sense other people’s emotions, done under hypnoses and combined with technology for translating the empathic perceptions into two-dimensional screen images and sound — a sort of technological telepathy with a brain-AI system interface.
"From what you told me about current communication technology, I gather this has not been implemented, or has it?" she said.
"No, this is the first time I’ve heard of anything like this. This has huge implications," replied Atun. "Do you mind if we quickly look at the ‘work remaining’ files, just to see how far your father got?"
"No. I’m curious too."
That subdirectory had only four short files: ‘Build prototypes’, ‘Train matching mediums’, ‘Test runs’, and the last ‘Launch instantcom’ only contained three question marks.
"The work was ready for implementation… Why hasn’t it been done?" he questioned.
"Because he had not yet had the opportunity to convince UniCom. Is that the reason?"
"I don’t know… Why only questions marks in ‘Launch instantcom’, as if he had not yet made up his mind about that?" Atun frowned.
"Could he have wanted to do it himself?"
"You mean create his own company?"
She nodded.
"He couldn’t do that. Any inventions made while he was working for UniCom would be the property of the company, not his."
"But didn’t the first file we read say that he discovered the concept while he was still at the Academy of Science on Palo? … Retrieve that file again."
Atun brought it up.
"Here it is." She pointed to the second paragraph in the entry. "He started working on it two years before he joined UniCom. So it could well be possible that most of the work had been completed before. Would it then still be the property of UniCom?"
"Not unless his work contract contained a specific clause along those lines which I doubt he would have accepted without securing a substantial share in the company … at least equal to the current controlling shareholders."
"So it is possible that he intended to do it himself. My father was a very independent person."
"And your mother may have been rich enough to finance the whole venture," remarked Atun. He remained silent for almost a minute, glancing at her several times. "Yuen-mong, I fear this whole thing could have much more ominous implications. If UniCom had any inkling that your father had made this discovery and did not want to give it to them, I think they could well have sent him to Aros to disappear forever."
She felt the blood drain from her face. "Why?"
"Because this technology would have made HST obsolete, wiping in one blow the huge profits UniCom makes from it. The only way to prevent that was either to get hold of the invention, or to kill your father or make him disappear before he could implement it … and they succeeded."
"You mean people would kill to suppress new inventions?"
"It has been done many times."
It felt like an icy hand were closing around her heart. She staggered out of her seat, folding her arms tightly over her chest, and closed her eyes to fight the urge to vomit. He got up too.
"Are you sick?"
She nodded. She needed somebody to hold her, to offer comfort. She stepped forward, and he folded his arms around her.
"Oh, Yu
en-mong, I’m so sorry."
She sensed his sincerity and got strength from his embrace. After a while she said: "They have not succeeded. I will do it for my father. My mother and my father will be revenged." Her voice was hard and icy. She was determined, no matter what the cost. The person or persons responsible had to belong to those who had controlled UniCom at that time. If they were still alive, she was going to find them.
"Yuen-mong, they’ll kill you too. You don’t know what you’re up against."
"It cannot be worse than surviving the ever present dangers on Aros." She was not afraid of death. Throughout her short life it had been a daily companion, just waiting for its moment, for the slightest mistake or inattention. "I will beat treacherous evil with cunning stealth. Will you help me?"
"They’re full of cunning and stealth too and they’ve all the power and all the credits behind them. Yuen-mong, don’t do it! They’ll kill you. They’ve no scruples. I know that world. I’ve lived in it."
Her look was fierce and dangerous, like when she held all the males of the savages in check. "That is why you will help me. We cannot get the power, but we can get the wealth. I will play the naive savage that you rescued. They will not see or suspect a threat until it is too late."
"Yuen-mong, please, listen to me."
"Atun, if you do not help me, I will do it alone." She sensed his internal struggle. "Atun, trust me."
"Yuen-mong, I’m afraid for you. I love you. How can you hope to defeat such ruthless power and wealth?"
"They have never come up against a determined opponent. They have always had it easy. Not this time, and I have a weapon they don’t know. I can read their emotions. Often, it is like reading their mind. I ask you again, will you help me?"
"Will I lose you if I don’t?"
"No. I have chosen you as my mate and will stay with you as long as you want me." She could sense him yielding.
"Oh, Yuen-mong. If I can’t dissuade you, I’ve no choice but to help you."
"To the bitter end, if it has to be that way?"
"Yes," he murmured, hugging her.
"And now, we must plan." She let go of him. "It is now even more important that I gain control over my mother’s wealth as quickly as possible. And we need to find out what is involved in realizing my father’s invention. How much it will cost and how long it will take. Our next moves will depend on both wealth and cost."
"The whole thing also has to be done in complete secrecy or else we’re as sure as dead."
"Could we not camouflage it behind some other scheme?"
"Such as?"
"I don’t know. You come from that world. Can you not think of something?"
He pondered this for a few seconds and then said: "We could hint that we intend to return to Aros and need special equipment for that."
"Yes, Atun, yes. You know that one day I really would like to do that. I love Aros."
"I know that. Since we bring quite a bit of gold back from there, people will think that we want to exploit that resource."
"So, we have to drop hints to that effect."
"Just selling the gold, will do the trick. People will put two and two together. It may be better if they think that we’re trying to hide that fact."
"Are you giving me a lesson in deviousness?"
He grinned and then said: "And we also have to remove all traces of your father’s research from the ship’s AI system. They may try to raid our ship or hack into our systems when we are communicating."
"Put father’s files on a memory cube? Hidden between video sections and then delete them from the system? Is that what you mean?"
"Yes, something along that line. But deleting them is not good enough. As long as they have not been overwritten several times, traces of them might remain. The best thing would be to install a completely new control system with all new memory and destroy the old one."
"But wouldn’t that be suspicious? Is it not better to leave the old system, including my parent’s personal files and all research files that have nothing to do with father’s invention? Then any search will only confirm what we will tell them if we are ever questioned, namely that we only know of what is left. We can even offer them to download it."
He smiled. "You catch on fast."
"Aros teaches you to be a quick learner. And that thing about erasing all traces, that is your job."
"Yes, I know."
She felt his temporary rise in emotions. "Atun, Atun. This was not a nasty reference to what you once said. I really meant your expertise."
"Am I that easy to read?"
"Yes. Do you mind if I do?"
"I did initially, but now I know I can’t deceive you and this has been freeing. I can be myself, through and through."
She caressed his cheek. It felt rough again. "I am glad I am your woman."
"And I’m glad that you’re willing to share your life with me."
She responded to his smile. "Do we still stop over on Old Earth?"
"I should say so. Although they’re not connected to HST, they get regular updates of all important events in the Galactic Federation, and I guess the status of all credit balances. We can also update our ship’s navigation atlas there to get the current port procedures for Andromatis."
"So no change of course… Another thing, Atun. I feel like being in a cage. I need exercise. Making love is not enough." He grinned. "I need to run. Could you show me how to operate that machine in the storeroom? What did you call it?"
"A treadmill. I’ll show you. In fact, I should do something to keep up my Aros fitness, too."
* * *
Two days later, while Yuen-mong did her one hour of running, Atun was reflecting again on how to implement of instantcom. The technology looked deceptively simple, consisting mainly of a set of dual translators, converting the brain waves of both the sender and recipient into images and sound interpreted by an AI system. Any skilled electronics engineer should be able to construct them. He could probably do it himself if he beefed up his own electronics skills in that direction. It would not take him more than six months to acquire the necessary technological knowhow.
Satisfied with his conclusions, he began browsing through an old Galactic Foundation Families news update, waiting for Yuen-mong to get off the treadmill. He had never bothered with that in his former life — his first twenty-five years before Aros. The experiences on Aros and living with Yuen-mong had made much of it irrelevant. He could not imagine returning to it and even if he did, it would not be the same. His priorities had all changed.
Although twenty years old, the news items and gossip from various parts of the Galaxy were amusing. He almost skipped over the item on extending the HST network to Santori, but the name Scardan caught his eyes. Wasn’t that the name of Yuen-mong’s father? So, he started reading. It reported that this link had been made possible by a radical breakthrough made in the UniCom long distance research section under the direction of Dr. Takash Scardan. It is her father. How exciting — I must tell her. He read on. There was a brief description of other scientific contributions made by Dr. Scardan. The report ended with a short note that Dr. Scardan had recently married Dr. Zoshan Shen, the only daughter of Chen Young, board chairman of UniCom. It hit him like lightening. Yuen-mong the granddaughter of Chen Young, one of the most powerful and wealthy men in the Galactic Federation? And he had made love to her … violated the covenant followed by Galactic Foundation members that their daughters and sons entered arranged marriages pure or else they would be stricken from the family tree. Pearls of cold sweat appeared on his forehead. What had they done?
He heard Yuen-mong enter the flight deck. His first reaction was to hide that article from her. He would have to prepare her carefully for this.
"Atun, tell me why you are upset."
How silly of him trying to hide anything from her. She probably already knew that something was wrong before she entered the flight deck. She did not need to see his face. "Here, read this," was the
only thing he managed to say at that moment, shifting away a bit to make it easier for her to see. She leaned on his left shoulder. It felt comforting.
"How interesting. This is about my father… Where does this come from?"
"It’s from a Galactic Foundation Families news update, twenty years old."
"Galactic Foundation Families — what are they?"
"It’s an exclusive order of the most powerful families in the Galactic Federation."
"Did my father belong to that?"
"Probably not, but your mother. Read to the end."
When she was finished, she asked: "Is it this that upset you? Why? I don’t understand."
"Your mother never told you about their covenant rules for marriage?"
"Oh, she mentioned a tradition that in her family marriages were usually arranged to cement old ties and create new ones between different families. She also said she married my father against the wishes of her own father. But tell me, Atun, what has upset you. Surely not that my mother belonged to this order?"
He explained to her the rules of marriage and the implications to go against them. "You’ve now ruined all your chances to marry into one of the other powerful families."
"Oh, Atun," she said laughing, "I chose you. You are my mate. You cannot seriously see me be bound by such rules. I make my own decisions, rules or no rules — or what did you call it?"
"Covenants."
"Covenants or no covenants. Don’t you know me better?"
"But you may be stricken from the family tree."
"So what? I was not on it in the first place, and I don’t want to belong to something that forces me to follow the decisions of others — at least not as long as I have a choice. Maybe my mother has already been stricken off since she went against her father’s choice."
"I don’t think so. They would not have reported on her husband’s achievements."
