Cloaked

by Ell Leigh Clarke

  “Very good,” the client confirmed. “I’ll wait to hear.”

  “Yes, sir. Of course, sir,” Max replied.

  And then the line went dead.

  Max realized he’d been holding his breath, and slowly encouraged himself to exhale. He stood up, returned the ball to its little stand on a shelf, and then headed out into the control room, slowly regaining his nerve.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Staðall University, Von’s Office

  Are you sure this is right?

  You know, for someone who is so damn smart you have a shitty sense of direction.

  Well it’s a good job I have a know-it-all AI in my head then, isn’t it.

  Yes, it is, rather. Turn left here.

  Molly put on the brakes, jarring her ankle in her slightly heeled boots.

  A bit of warning, Oz.

  Ok, next turn is to the right… the next corridor you go down.

  Ok. We got this.

  …

  …

  …

  Now where?

  Seriously? You still don’t recognize this?

  Would I be asking you if I did?

  Molly, it’s the third door on the left.

  Ok, well how was I supposed to know?

  You have been here before.

  Once. And I don’t remember routes and places until I’ve done it at least five or six times.

  Molly could feel her head vibrating with Oz’s laughter. She grabbed the sides of her head to see if she could stop it, or at least stop her teeth from rattling. It made no difference. As she suspected.

  She knocked on the door.

  Pack it in Oz. Gotta talk with the Prof.

  The vibration subsided.

  “Come in,” Von called from behind the door.

  Molly opened the door and poked her head around. “Greetings,” she ventured.

  Von ushered her in, and offered her the seat in front of her desk. It was a small office. Just large enough for a desk and two chairs, and a storage server which probably housed her entire library and research. It was no longer prudent to rely solely on the ether-cloud, particularly since the collapse of ‘79.

  “May I offer you some tea?” Von asked, gesturing towards the replicator.

  Molly grinned. “Oh, yes. That would be great. Thank you.”

  Von selected the tea program and put a cup beneath it.

  Molly watched the tea being dripped into the cup. “So how’s the course going?” she asked.

  Von’s expression was brimming with excitement. “It’s going incredibly well,” she started, chattering like an enthused child reporting on her day at school. “Obviously we’re only a week in at this point, but the students are responding fantastically. In fact, we have more students trying to subscribe all the time as word gets around about what we’re doing.”

  Molly grinned enthusiastically. Von handed her the mug of hot tea, and placed another mug under the machine for herself.

  She poked at the program she wanted and turned back to Molly. “I’m thinking we’re going to have to increase our capacity. Or at least run the course again.

  Molly hugged her warm tea-mug. “That’s wonderful. And yes, we must,” she agreed. “I think we should probably start working on that now. Perhaps get the support of the Dean behind us and lock it into the academic schedule.”

  Von nodded excitedly. “Yes. I’m sure he’ll agree to it. I mean, it’s good for the university and once the post-course evaluations are in they’d be mad not to.”

  Von took her freshly replicated tea and sat down at her desk.

  Molly leaned forward, her mug balanced with one hand on her knee. “So, talk me through what needs to be done to make this happen…”

  Von flicked into business mode. “I think the first thing is to lock in a meeting with the Dean. Maybe even request an opportunity to address the board at their next meeting which should be coming up fairly soon.”

  Molly made a note on her holo. “Ok. Great. I’ll get in touch with him.”

  Von had an intensity behind her eyes. “Good. Then we need to put our case together…” she added.

  Molly made another note. “You know,” she said after a moment, “it would be worth talking to each of the board members in turn. Separately. Before we get into the room. So that they understand what we’re proposing and we have them on side individually.”

  Von clicked her fingers. “You’re right!” she agreed quickly. She started making a note on her holo. “Let me take that one. I know most of them already, and some of us go way back.”

  Molly grinned. “Excellent. This is working out well…”

  The two continued plotting and planning for several hours and by the time they were done they had what they thought was a solid action plan.

  You know Oz, Molly said in her head as she navigated her way back through the corridors to rendez-vous with her pod, this may just work.

  You know Mollz, I think it might!

  Molly stepped out into the Estarian evening. The Sark had gone down hours ago leaving a coolness on the air. She took a deep cleansing breath, and looked out at the various old buildings of the university, feeling nostalgic for her misspent youth in academia.

  Pod’s here! Oz alerted her as it descended just off to her right. Molly sighed, and walked over to it, hopping in.

  Staðall University, Radcliff’s office

  “Yes, send him in please Amy.”

  The door to his office opened up and philanthropist Raj Ghettie stepped into the room. Amy hurried behind him and grabbed the door handle to close the door behind him again as he strode in to greet the aging Dean.

  Radcliff stood up at his desk. “What a pleasant surprise!” he exclaimed, his artificial enthusiasm and charm oozing from his carefully maintained skin.

  “Likewise,” Ghettie responded, bowing slightly, before placing his hand on the chair that he had sat on before.

  The Dean waved his hand, inviting the gentleman to sit. Which he did.

  “I’ll get straight to the point,” Ghettie began. “Our board of trustees have got wind of your new course. Something about interplanetary negotiations. Now on the surface this sounds like a worthy course, but based on what we know of it’s content, and indeed the professor, it’s something that we’d rather wasn’t taught at an institution that we support.”

  Ghettie held Radcliff’s gaze firmly.

  There was a long silence as an addled Radcliff scrambled to figure out how to handle the request. He shuffled forward in his seat. “Erm… if I might ask,” he began, “what is it that is disagreeable to your board?”

  Ghettie drew in a deep breath and pushed himself back into the chair he occupied. “Well, to begin with, the professor in question has unusual methods of negotiation and manipulation. Plus her politics aren’t to our liking. She made some moves back when she was consulting that were not in the favor of the Ogg clans and we would not like to see that kind of person poisoning the minds of the next generation. In fact, it’s in direct violation of everything we agreed to when we started donating resources to this institution.”

  He paused, allowing the information to sink in for the Dean. Then, as if rehearsed a superficial smile grew over his lips. He sat forward just enough to convey friendliness without sacrificing any power in the situation, and added, “I’m sure you understand our position.”

  The Dean shifted in his seat, feeling like cornered prey. “Yes. Yes. Of course,” he replied amicably. “So, you’d like for me to put a stop to the new course continuing?” he clarified.

  “We would,” Ghettie confirmed, closing his eyes briefly as he spoke. “And of course, if this were to happen we’d have no problem to continue funding the institution.”

  Though still bewildered by the sudden demand, Radcliff now understood perfectly what he was being told. He made a decision on the spot. “Well of course,” he said brightly, “I’d be pleased to look into this and make sure we keep our curriculum within acceptable bounds.”r />
  He stood, forcing Raj through social convention to get to his feet too.

  “Very good,” Ghettie agreed, a fraction taken aback by the sharp dismissal. “I’ll report back to the group and we will continue ‘business as usual’ as they say.”

  Radcliff bowed slightly as a farewell, and Ghettie returned the gesture and headed out.

  The door closed behind him, and Dean Alfred Radcliff settled back into his chair. He pulled up the course enrollment and attendance statistics and sighed, weighing the implications of what he’d agreed to do.

  Aboard the Flutningsaðili, Floor 2

  Brock stepped out of the steaming kitchen, following Maya into the much quieter corridor. “So what do you think?” he asked, wiping his hands.

  Maya crinkled her nose and tipped her head to one side. “I don’t think she knows anything specific, but what she is aware of might help us piece something useful together,” Maya confided, finishing up their conversation about Jayne.

  Brock nodded distracted, glancing up and down the corridor. “Good. Any idea where to start looking for our forced guests?”

  Maya shook her head. “Not a clue. Jack and I found a chamber of stasis units, but there were hundreds. No way we could search all of those without getting caught.”

  Brock pursed his lips. “May have to… Seems like a logical place.”

  Maya sighed. “Yea. Would it surprise you that I’ve only just realized that…” She rolled her eyes at herself. “I was just suspicious about how many units there were, and what this ship had also been used for in the past.”

  Brock folded his arms, his chest bouncing up and down in quiet amusement.

  “TALLUS!” A voice shouted from just inside the kitchen.

  Brock stepped-back and glanced into the kitchen. “Yeah. Coming!” he called back in through the door before turning back to Maya. “I gotta go…”

  There was a clang and a thud. And then more kitchen noise.

  Maya’s face dropped. “Grr. I need your help though.”

  Brock looked amused. “Moi? But I’m just a lowly kitchen hand.”

  Maya slapped his arm. “I’m serious. I need a way to narrow the search. We need kidnapped victims and drilling equipment, remember.”

  Brock glanced back at the door, taking a step towards it. Then he looked off into the distance, thinking. “Ok. So the hostages are going to be somewhere no one goes. Except, they’ll need feeding. So someone has got to be visiting them. You’re into the cameras already?”

  Maya nodded.

  “Ok,” he said, thinking. A look of frustration passed across his face. “Oz could cross reference this so easily…”

  For a moment they both felt the absence of Molly and Oz.

  Brock’s brow creased up. “What about key card access? You could set up a search for where key cards are being accessed where no one else is.”

  Maya clicked her fingers. “Right. So I create a distribution of key card access and then look at the places that are only being accessed by say less than a handful of people.”

  The voice came from the kitchen again.“Tallus! You mother fucker. Get your ass in here…”

  Brock shook his head at the disembodied voice, and then waved a hand. He pushed his butt against the door and took one step into the kitchen. “Ok, sis. I got to go. Good luck!”

  Maya waved as Brock disappeared back into the kitchen yelling profanities back at whoever his work colleague was.

  Dammit, she thought to herself.

  This undercover thing wasn’t turning out to be quite as fun as she thought it was going to be. She missed her friends…

  Staðall University

  Von glanced excitedly over at Molly as they made their way across the quad. “I managed to have a conversation with about nine of the fourteen board members.

  “That’s great!” Molly exclaimed. “Were they all on board?”

  “Mostly,” Von confirmed. “I mean, some had their reservations about whether it fit with traditional academia and so on, but in principle they all liked what we were doing.” She hesitated. “But then, some of them even admitted they were a little jealous of the buzz and the results we were getting with the students and course reviews.”

  Molly was partly taking it in. “Ok, sounds like a great start. Let’s get in there and seal the deal,” she added, smiling.

  Von led the way into the building and down the corridor to where the meeting was being held. “Just in here,” she said, opening a door, and stepping in as fifteen pairs of eyes turned to look at them.

  “Ah, good. They’re here!” exclaimed Dean Radcliff as the two women entered the room. “We’re ready for your presentation if you’re ready to get going straight away?”

  Molly looked over at Von awkwardly, put on the spot. “Yes, of course,” she said, caught a little off-guard.

  Von nodded to her reassuringly, and showed her to a seat on the long side of the conference table nearest the door. Von herself then took the only other empty seat next to her. She made the necessary introductions and then handed it over to Molly.

  Molly stood up and presented from the end of the room, using the holoscreens and charts and student clips that she and Von had spent hours assembling the night before.

  She went slowly and carefully, laying out her idea and supporting evidence as carefully and methodically as any trial lawyer. She diligently maintained eye contact with each member of the group, ensuring that they were following and on board.

  When she was done she stopped talking and surveyed the room. Her eyes were met with looks that were attentive, but blank. She tuned in trying to read the room emotionally.

  There was something going on that she couldn’t put her finger on.

  It wasn’t that there wasn’t support for what she was proposing, but it was as if the support she should have was being stifled somehow. And yet, she couldn’t tell how.

  She raised her eyes to the end of the table where Radcliff was sitting back in his chair, his hands steepled in front of him. “Thank you Ms. Bates,” he said, unsteepling his hands and leaning forward.

  “As is customary on all proposals brought before the board we will now take a vote on how to proceed,” he continued. “Those in favor of the proposal will raise their hands.”

  Two people at the table raised their hands.

  Radcliff looked strangely satisfied. “Those against?”

  Most of the rest of the hands went up.

  Molly couldn’t understand what had gone wrong. She scanned the faces of those present, some of whom had averted their gaze since raising their hand and declaring themselves to be against her. There was an awkward shuffling in the silence.

  Then Radcliff spoke again. “The nays have it. Apologies Ms. Bates. It seems that your proposal is just not what we’re looking for here at Staðall University. I wish you luck with your future endeavors.”