by Tal Turing
She did not reply, swatting a strand of her short black hair away from her pale cheeks. He knew her predicament and his question was rhetorical. Still, she had not known him to intentionally mock her. So he had a reason.
“I am less than pleased, not that it matters to anyone,” she huffed.
“I understand, especially given the treatment which would follow, one designed to strengthen your relationship with your child's father,” he spoke, his face a cold, emotionless, mask. He had paused to gauge her reaction to his words and she looked back at him with disgust. The man was a megalomaniac, obviously. He somehow believed he had the power to modify human emotions just as he claimed he could induce pregnancies effortlessly. She didn't believe a word of it, but she shuddered to think how he would try to make it happen.
He continued. “I think I could help you avoid all that, we could end your pregnancy and inform your sponsor that the child was lost and we have discontinued your treatment. He would be out of the picture...”
“How could that happen?” she asked hollowly. She had no faith that he was trying to help her in any way.
“We are developing a manipulator that aggressively repairs damaged human cells, and you happen to satisfy the entrance criteria for the first human trials. I would need you only to...”
“What the hell is a manipulator?”
The Doctor smiled as if he had just seen a poodle jump through a window.
“A manipulator is a term specific to my area of expertise, it would take years just to...”
“It doesn't matter, I can make no choice where none is given. Do what you want, but don't pretend that I have any say. Anything you do is without my consent. You can go to hell, corper!”
Pol Gente
“Why are you here?” Pol asked, looking thoughtfully at the ceiling as he stroked his short white beard, as if his answers would more likely come from the stars than from the visitors before him.
“Did you not hear me, Sir? I said we have proof now, from a source placed inside the Domes, proof that they have kidnapped some of our own, you have to...”
Pol closed his eyes and shook his head. “No, no, no. Be specific, who exactly are you accusing? The word 'corper' is too broad to be of any use, it's like saying 'someone'.”
“Transom, Transom Industries, they are behind this,” the young man replied indignantly.
“Transom?” Pol spoke the word with distaste. “That's hard to believe. It's not that they are beyond committing any horrendous deed which suits their needs, but they are much too large for a small crime like this and have too much to lose. You are aware that they are one of the largest corporate employers of our people and purchasers of our goods?”
“So you fear the loss of corper business? Now I am the one who cannot believe...”
“Be quiet,” Pol spoke with the authority of a grandfather. “I am telling you that it is you who would never move against them. You would lose too much of your precious lifestyle. I still don't understand why you have come to me. Everyone knows I have long advocated that the villages negotiate as one entity but you would have none of it, preferring to negotiate your own treaties, each trying to get preferential treatment from those crazy corpers and their drive to be bigger and better than those in the other Joyas.”
“Precisely why we have come to you, Mr. Gente, you are known and respected among all the villages, even those on valley's rim. They will listen to you and, as you say, this is a cause dear to your own heart, you would not run from it now?”
“My wife is tired of my politics, I cannot help you.”
“They are kidnapping girls, Mr. Gente, you were a teacher, does it not infuriate you? Village girls! Imagine what they must be doing with them!”
Pol Gente sighed. He had not taught in over 20 years. He grew tired of his students, especially the girls, attending only infrequently, eventually stopping altogether. And the reason had nothing to do with greedy corpers, it was because their parents, like the village elders, placed no value in that education of their young, especially the females.
“I make no promises. But tell me what you know...”
The Gala
Introduction
Once a year, the service titan known as Transom Industries holds a public banquet and dance for their many officers, customers and prospective clients. While not the most powerful or prestigious company among Las Joyas, nobody disputed Transom's uncanny reach into every aspect of the corporate world and every walk of life, from corper to villager to asset. For many, even those who held the Domes with contempt, it was not an event to miss.
Edwyrd
Ed slipped into the security monitoring station, careful to duck just inside the room, his fingers moving carefully within his AI glove, watching as each operation launched successfully, he stood like a zombie until he could, finally, look at the security officer present in the chamber.
“The guest list for this damn thing keeps growing, I hate this time of year,” Ed sighed.
The man smiled.
“Not much of a dancer are you sir?”
“I just don't like people that much,” Ed muttered walking into the room and sliding into a separate station. “How is it going? Any problems?”
“Not so far, or I would have already notified you. The count for the night is at one hundred thirty-six guests, forty-five of which reside at Transom House, the rest come from the outside including a staff count of eleven. It is only the outside guest count which keeps increasing, up by ten percent this morning alone.”
“You validated the outside staff and we have sources and necessity?”
“Yes, it's all documented.”
“Good, let's lock the guest list now, no exceptions. You'll run the team from up here, but keep me updated. Now I have get dressed, I actually have to attend this thing.”
“Got it. Don't worry, Deputy.”
But he was worried. It was too many people, with agendas and opinions which were too different on a night when suspicious behavior was more the rule than the exception. It was hell for a security guy.
Too many things had happened at once, if he could just get through the next twenty-four hours, then he would have time to really figure out what was going on inside his own house.
Annabelle
Ann slipped into the black dress, her short sandy hair splashing against the silky fabric while she hunted for an appropriate necklace. Her eye flipped up toward the man, he seemed uncomfortable.
“At your age I would think you would have seen enough women dress to not be put off by it...” she smiled as she turned back to her task.
“You'd think, but it's always the blondes that get me though,” Ryk complained.
“Is that so?” Ann smiled in the mirror. “But I think we will make a convincing pair so I am in Miriam's debt for loaning you out to me.”
“Tell me about the face readers again. I don't get it, corpers all have AI implants, I thought they track each other with those?”
“That works fine,” Ann nodded as she stepped into a heel, “if you want to track a corper, but my friend isn't one of those. She's one of us, she may not even carry a handheld. And even in Techview, plenty of villagers have business in the domes, so they needed a way to track them as well.
Enter the face reader. Did you see? There are two in this hallway alone and one in the elevator as well. Those are not just cameras, they analyze each face and compile a unique signature which is entered into a tracking database. That way, they can track the movements of each person as they move by each reader.”
“But that is only useful if your friend did business with the corpers.”
“Yes, and she did but the church is not within any corporate facility, but perhaps she took lunch at Transom House or visited one of their many offices. We learned that she may have visited a corper facility - Transom Reproductive Services.”
“And if she did?”
“If she did,” Ann continued as she took his arm, “then her face is identi
fied within their system, and they can track where ever else she has popped up within their remarkably large array of buildings and offices. Transom Industries is known for that.”
“And you will get your Transom friend to help you find out?” Ryk asked as they walked.
“What friend?”
“The one I met the other day? The waitress?”
Ann shook her head, sadly.
“No, I am afraid we can't rely on her. She is trapped in her own cage and I don't want to make her life any worse than it already is...”
“It's always a sad story. To think that Miriam had become such a slave...”
“Yes, but she, somehow, escaped. Your niece is certainly resourceful, I just wish she would be more candid with us. But she did tell me that she knew someone who could help us with the face readers.”
Miriam
Miriam felt guilty avoiding Uncle Ryk and Ann, but she didn't want them to see her like this. She felt awful and she was sure it showed.
She watched as they hailed a cab and left for the Gala. She enjoyed a brief moment of happiness as she speculated that they were beginning to enjoy each others company more than they had said. She forced herself to imagine her child, Petyr's and her child, being cared for and pampered by the couple, the closest thing it might ever have to grandparents or an extended family. That pleased the Bugs of course, just as she had intended.
“So, if we help them, they will be even more loyal to us. And we want that, right?” she reasoned to them. The Bugs were harsh but they were predictable and single minded of purpose. “Ann needs help from someone in Transom and although I can't help her, I know someone who can, someone who is under our control. So I should do it right?”
With a new sense of purpose, Miriam returned to her room and tried to ignore the absence of any sign that Petyr had been there. She showered and dressed for the party, choosing a silky, white party frock and red heels.
She twirled in front of the mirror. As Petyr would not accompany her, she would go with Donnie who, for reasons of his own, had declined to bring any of his many female friends.
“So, you are happy with our progress?” Miriam asked struggling to keep any sign of worry or desperation out of her voice. The faster Donnie was completely sold, the sooner her task would be complete and she could be with the Doctor and the Bugs would ease off her.
“I am,” Donnie sighed as the auto-taxi moved across the grounds, toward the large mansion which was Transom House. “Brad has always been a little too eager to please for my taste, but certainly he has gone beyond what anyone could ever expect, he has given us everything we asked for, he even let me do...that thing we discussed. So I am convinced...I just get the feeling that he resents it all. Is that right? Is he just a slave to the formula, does he understand what has happened?”
Wow. That was a great question, Miriam thought to herself. Did she understand it? Certainly she accepted it but did she really understand what had changed and what had not?. But she did not hesitate in her response and quickly reassured their sponsor.
“You are probably noticing a reaction to his own confusion. He knows that his emotions, his passions have changed, but he doesn't know why. It is probably difficult for him to focus on mundane things and that might be frustrating. But, he genuinely wants to please...”
Just not you, she added to herself. Ann's need had turned out to be convenient for Miriam as well. Brad was dying to do something for her, no doubt to appease his own Bugs, so she would ask him to help Ann. If he were caught, everyone would believe that it was his inner 'do-gooder' trying to help a nice couple locate their lost friend. It was perfect - a win for everyone. Even Brad.
“Brad doesn't matter now,” Donnie continued as they neared the mansion. “I have a new target in mind, an experienced adept in the intricacies of Transom procedures, the first real use of the Doctor's treatment. If that succeeds, then you have our full backing.”
“It is about time, Donnie. The Doctor expects me to impress you and this 'Brad' has been far too easy. When do I meet the new subject?”
“I will be working with her myself, I want to see how this works on someone I know well. But I will introduce you this evening.”
“I look forward to it,” Miriam said happily and tried to ignore his use of the feminine.
Dinner and Donnie
It was only thirty minutes before the start of the banquet when Cynnamon received an assignment, still working for Hospitality Services, but she would be escorting some corporate VIPs. At least it would be the perfect opportunity to test out the new device which she had named 'LilAI'.
Cynnamon hurried back to her room to prepare for the gala. She tied her hair up in a bun and carefully wrapped the LilAI around it, giving the sensor array an obstructed view of the world around her and the jeweled creatures were less obvious among her black tresses than they would be hanging across her chest. She had a matching gold patterned dress and a pair of black heels which would provide an excuse for any awkwardness in her movements inflicted by the disorienting AI.
It was as she adjusting the gold lines of the array in her hair that she received a message from Donyden Cabb, Senior Officer, Strategy and Corporate Relations, Humantis Corporation - Donnie. She had not heard from him in almost ten years. The wind never blows lest a storm should follow, she thought to herself as she read his note.
Cynnamon! I just heard you were in town and begged to have you at our table tonight. I can not wait to see you again! Truly yours, Donnie Cabb
Donnie had been her boyfriend, so many years ago. Many people had assumed she had dumped him upon receiving the Techview assignment but in reality he had been one of the few people who understood.
Donyden Cabb had been a brash and ambitious young officer-in-training and had taught her to take advantage of every opportunity. It was his idea for her to study the Sponsorship laws, to fully understand the ramifications of her legal status, to look for advantages and to understand the disadvantages. It was that outlook which had attracted her to him even before his good looks and the stability and protection that came with having a corper boyfriend. He had been her first physical relationship and she realized that they were compatible on many levels. She had no reason to want to break that relationship.
But when the Techview assignment came, she wanted it, just as any officer would have wanted it. It was a chance to live in the First City, to learn from the best, even if they wanted to train her as a hospie. Donnie was not threatened at all, he told her it was the right thing for her to do. If only her other friends and acquaintances had taken it as well. She had assumed, had hoped the two would remain good friends.
But they did not. Things became strange after she left. He would send her a message, every once in a while, asking how she was and if she was being a 'good girl'. She was pleased with the attention, at first, but when she realized that 'good girl' was a code for asking if she was celibate, she stopped writing him back and he didn't write her further. Now, suddenly, after almost ten years, he had reached out to her again and he already sounded like the same person she had known.
Entering the banquet hall with LilAI was like diving into a pool, her ears were filled with sounds and voices, her eyes trying to take in an entire room at once. And the AI added to the confusion, throwing call outs at her, pointing out the locations of people she knew, or knew of, or didn't know at all and isolating and highlighting conversations which mentioned some familiar name or word.
She had already located Patron and Edwyrd while she was still far from them, they were seated on the North end of the hall. She was closing in on their location, when Donnie found her, but not unawares.
He approached her from the back side and she did not give any indication that she saw him except to stop and ready herself. The boy she had known was now a man with the same boyish face. His dress was fashionable and expensive, his hair golden curls, his face chiseled with the same blue eyes. His expression was confident as he reached out and tapped her sho
ulder.
“Cynnamon, darling!” he began, his face breaking into a smile as she turned back toward him, a manufactured look of surprise on her face.
“Donnie!” she smiled politely and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. He easily turned his head in a partially successful attempt to make the gesture more intimate. She pulled back but he remained nonplussed.
“I have a seat for you! Some old friends and some new friends are waiting!” and with that he took her wrist and guided her through the maze of people and tables. She was actually glad to be led as it gave her some excuse to be unsteady.
Donnie took her to a table and introduced her all around, not that she needed it. It was a mixture of Humantis and Transom officers and they seemed to know each other and were happily chatting. On one side were the Transom officers: Barrett, Steve and Brad Harilla. On the other side was Donnie and a stunning young woman. It was Miriam. Yet another surprise. Cyn couldn't help remembering madness being described as continual surprises. She was beginning to feel that way.
Donnie introduced Cyn and offered her his chair, the one near Miriam but she gave Brad a warm smile and sat near him instead. She didn't like the idea of being forced onto the Humantis side and Brad had always been the easiest person to get along with, even before. He was one who had promised to accept her report but never showed up. She was interested to know why.
“Well, hello again Bradley,” Cyn smiled, “I never see you around Transom House after that first day...”
Brad smiled weakly and responded, making small talk, but what surprised Cynnamon was how uncomfortable he appeared, almost guilty. Had he spoken with Ed? She did not let him off the hook and asked him question after question even as Donnie looked for an excuse to grab her attention back.
