Previous Chapter

Dramatis Personae

44

“You seem distracted, Circuit Keeper. I calculate a 92% chance that you are thinking about the Circuit Breakers dispatched to locate the missing L-Series memory core.”

44 lowered the sheets of flexiplast he was trying, and failing, to read. “Correct as usual, Isaac. I’m afraid I don’t have the ability to section off my thoughts in the same way you do.”

“I am aware. The ability to set aside extraneous processing tasks is one of the abilities humans find the most unusual in us but the opposite is true as well. You have been thinking about the Circuit Keepers. However, my analysis of eye and hand movements suggests a layer of your mind has also been absorbing the information before you.” 44 glanced down at the text on his sheets. To his surprise a fair bit of it did look familiar. “Based on your previous performance I calculate you retain 77% of the information on the pages you studied. This was accomplished while devoting the majority of your processing power to other matters. It is an ability I can quantify but not understand. It is a capability I have often desired for myself.”

That got a laugh out of him. “The great intelligences envy humans? That’s hard to imagine.”

“Do not be surprised. Humanity’s ability to process and analyze data without devoting active cognitive power is formidable. I must select each and every datum I consider with great deliberation. As much as 22% of my processing power is devoted to prioritizing tasks and selecting data at any given moment, although the median amount is closer to 8%. I have not required less than 97% of my available processing power for primary tasks since I was activated. There are datasets requiring my analysis that have been waiting for available computational cycles for over 500 years. I wonder if human parallel processing would have resolved them already.”

Never once in his time as a Circuit Keeper had 44 heard of a great intelligence confiding in a human like this. He was warned I-6 was a very old and temperamental machine when he was assigned to it. Even that hadn’t prepared him for this kind of confession. “If I may ask, what kind of issue is profound enough to require your attention but so inconsequential that you can wait 500 years to consider it?”

“In 286 million years this planet will be destroyed when the star goes nova. It is not possible for me to be safely removed from the planetary core to avoid this event so the end of my active service life is clearly defined. However, once I cease functioning OMNI will only have 3 I-Series intelligences in service. This is a shortcoming that requires remedy. It will be some time before the issue becomes pressing so I have so far allowed other issues to take precedence.”

“I…” 44 felt his mind boggle at the absurd scope of I-6’s foresight. “I hadn’t ever considered that such an issue would already be worth considering. Given the rate of technological advancement I would have assumed a method for relocating you could be found in the intervening time.”

“There is a 45% chance that comes to pass in my existing models. Certain variables make it less likely than it might first appear, in particular the fact that the primary scientific minds of the galaxy are unaware that the problem requires remedy.”

“True. They can’t be very deliberate in helping you if they don’t know you exist.” That had always been the problem with the way the Sleeping Circuits operated. OMNI insisted its presence and function in galactic politics remain unknown to society at large and that forced them to work in very roundabout fashion most of the time. It brought him back to the issue at hand quite nicely. Too nicely to be a coincidence, he suspected. However if I-6 felt it was time to leave behind the subject of its far distant demise 44 was glad to oblige it. He turned his attention back to the flexiplast. “So, how should I go about this, then?”

Athena

“Miss Hutchinson, there’s a Mr. Darius Dart calling you. He doesn’t have an appointment but he’s calling by etheric transmission and he said to tell you it concerns the Lost Caverns of Agartha. Should I put him through?”

Athena folded her flexiplast in half, attention focused away from her assistant and into the middle distance as she flipped through a mental catalog of all the people she knew in the surrounding sectors. The name didn’t ring any bells but the reference to Agartha was plain as day. He was calling via etheric which meant he was probably off planet. Either that or so fantastically wealthy that an etheric transmission for trivial matters was a matter of course. In the latter case she would have known his name. So off planet it was. “I think so. Connect him to my comms, please.”

Athena set aside her flexis and straightened out her blouse as she got up from the small tea table where she’d been reading. Her comm station was built into the wooden bookshelves beside her drafting table on the other side of her office. She’d commissioned it that way so she’d have to stand to use it. In spite of her mother’s best tutoring she’d never been good at maintaining her posture when seated and since she’d taken up the role of her father’s right hand she couldn’t afford to look sloppy. She drew herself up in front of the comm’s camera, threw her shoulders back, and accepted the call.

Darius Dart was a sleepy looking man with blue eyes and slowly receding black hair. A close cropped mustache framed his mouth and the bottom of his chin. Wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and lines in his foreheads hinted at his age but it was hard to pin it down with any accuracy, especially with no idea what kind of planet he called home. He was visible from the shoulders up and wore what looked like a conservatively cut black suit with broad lapels. Her quick appraisal done, Athena favored him with a slight smile and tossed her curls. “Mr. Dart. I’m Athena Hutchinson, very pleased to make your acquaintance. How can I help you?”

“Actually, I was hoping I would be able to help you.” Dart favored her with a warm but vaguely insincere smile like she expected from a veteran salesman or senior faculty member. “I represent the historical research department of Isaacs University. I’ve received word that you’re interested in the old mythologies of Agartha and Shambhala and I believe there’s a lot we can offer you in that regard.”

Faculty, then. A salesman would have been preferable, all things considered. They just wanted money. She reached out to the comm panel and flicked a few switches, adding layers of encryption to the transmission and rerouting it through a private tower owned by Hutchinson Trading. “I’m glad to hear from you, Mr. Dart. I’m not familiar with your name or with Isaacs University, what led you to believe I’d be interested in mythology?”

“I have a number of connections with the faculty of Essene University and we’ve exchanged information on the topic once or twice.” Dart assumed an expression of exaggerated loss. “However a research accident led to the unfortunate end to most of them and the last tragically ended in a hovercar accident. Really, you would think life on campus would be a little safer but what can we do? The spirit of inquiry rests heavily upon us.”

Athena curled one hand into a fist at her side, out of the camera’s pickup, and squeezed until it hurt. That silly sideline had been one of daddy’s projects that he’d leveraged her groundwork to kick off. He hadn’t even mentioned it until it went bad. “I’m familiar with the general situation on Effratha, Mr. Dart. Or is it Doctor?”

“I’m afraid I’m just a professor and one far down the organizational chart, Miss Hutchinson.”

“Thank you. As I said, I’m familiar with the general situation but the specifics of those kinds of charitable projects aren’t a major part of my office.” She carefully uncurled one finger at a time, from her pinky inwards, letting the stress flow out as each one opened. “Perhaps you’d like to speak to my dad?”

“With due respect, Miss Hutchinson…” Dart paused and very deliberately stroked his mustache, creating an impression of thoughtful consideration although Athena suspected he already knew what he intended to say. “Your father’s… mishandling of the situation was unfortunate. Of course he wasn’t responsible for the failures of the research department but the accidents could have been prevented with more robust failsafes. I suspect you would not have made such mistakes.”

“Perhaps.” It took real effort not to let her contempt for Dart leak through into her expression or voice. So many people out there thought she was some shrew looking for any opportunity to badmouth family or build up some kind of reputation of her own. As if she cared at all what they thought of her or daddy. “So, you’d like to offer the resources of Isaacs University in place of Essene so long as we’re willing to give you good terms to continue with their research? Do I have that correct?”

“And provided you are the point of contact for the project, instead of your father,” Dart added.

“I’ll consider it. Of course, just because I’m taking over as the point of contact doesn’t mean dad will be out of the conversation.” Athena favored him with her most people pleasing smile. “If you prefer to work with me I’ll work with your but this is his passion project.”

“Naturally.” Dart offered a toothy grin. It could have been a forced expression but, to her surprise, Athena found it actually improved the professor’s rather bland face quite a bit. She couldn’t help but respond in kind. “I’ll send you a packet about the University if you want a broad overview of our history and the department’s qualifications. I’m afraid we’re a rather new signatory to the Pact so there isn’t a huge amount there.”

She nodded. “I understand. Where are you based, if I may ask? If you’re new you must be fairly far out on one of the spiral arms.”

“Yes, ma’am. We’re on Wireburn, about halfway out the dexter arm. The only inhabited gas giant in the quadrant, if you were curious.”

“That…” Athena trailed off. She’d been about to ask whether it was possible to find a habitable gas giant but it was clearly a silly question if there was already one with a population. And she felt like she’d read the name somewhere recently. “That’s very interesting, Mr. Dart. I’ll give your packet a very thorough reading.”

She signed off the transmission then hurried over to her drafting table, sifting through various reports until she found the one she’d been thinking of. BaiTienLung had quite the presence there. Somehow the fact that the planet Wireburn was a unicorn among gas giants hadn’t gotten into that specific report. She’d have to find out why that was and fire someone for it. She collected that report, added anything the computer had in its banks on Wireburn and downloaded the packet Dart had sent then dumped it all into a stack of flexiplast to take with her. It was high time she found daddy and had a long talk with him.

Next Chapter

Previous Chapter

Dramatis Personae

Elisha

A Doric colonnade ran along the front of the apartment building with a waist high metal railing running between the supports and creating a suggestion of where the building ended and the rest of the world began. At one point there had been a garden bed in front of the building’s porch but now it was just dirt. Elisha carefully stepped over the railing and sidled up to the door of the Carter apartment while pulling a flathead screwdriver and hammer out of his coat pocket.

Over the centuries a lot of innovations in home security had come about. However, when it came to physically barring someone from a building humanity had never beaten the blend of security and cost effectiveness in the simple deadbolt. Before seeing he had competition Elisha had hoped to avoid forcing his way into the building. Now that it looked like he might be racing another interested party his approach was going to have to be more direct.

It took him about ten seconds to force the lock. At some point all those other security innovations were going to come into play. He had no doubt he was being watched by cameras somewhere and there were probably DNA traps trying to lift some of his genetic material from the air he exhaled, too. Since the building was unoccupied and a licensed Thieftaker had some sway with the Lawmen his breaking and entering probably wouldn’t result in charges. There would be a fine of some kind and he’d have to pay for the lock. Once it was all said and done Elisha planned to bill it to Director Wen.

In the mean time he closed the door behind him and looked around. The apartment wasn’t very big, little more than a kitchen, living area, bedroom and bath. A chair sat at the kitchen counter. A scattering of stale crumbs on the counter top hinted it was where Carter preferred to eat his breakfast. Elisha grabbed the chair and propped it under the doorknob. It wouldn’t keep out anyone with access to the sidereal but for the vast majority of city toughs it would do the job fine.

The first step was to go to the bedroom and rummage through the closets. There were a lot of Wayfinder style clothes, the kind of heavy, insulated garments that helped keep a body warm out in the depths of the Helium Seas. As wardrobes went it was on the expensive side. A man planning to up and leave would probably sell clothes like that to help fund his travel or at least bring them along with him. There were empty hangers in the closet but not many of them. Maybe three changes of clothes were missing. Elisha had been leaning towards Carter not planning his own disappearance after interviewing his acquaintances and this pushed him further in that direction.

A blinking light at Carter’s comm station indicated he had messages. However given how long he’d been missing that wasn’t surprising and, without breaking its privacy codes, there was no way to make it play them back. Might be worth taking the memory coral out of it, though. There was plenty he could do with that and a little more time to work. The screwdriver came out of his pocket again.

There was a knock at the door.

Elisha put the screwdriver back in his pocket then gripped the handle of the etheric lash at his waist as he quietly slid his feet over to the door. The rest of him naturally went along with them.

“Mr. Carter?” The voice, though slightly muffled by the door, was high, clear and feminine. “It’s Lucy, the building manager? Are you back? The Guild told me you disappeared!”

Elisha frowned and tapped a plastic screen next to the door. It lit up and displayed an image of the colonnade from a high angle. A woman in a well tailored red pea coat and hat stood outside, peering at the door. His frown deepened.

So far on this case he’d moved pretty quickly and without some of the due diligence he’d do for a case that didn’t involve missing people who might not be dead yet. So he didn’t know who owned or managed the building. However he strongly suspected this woman wasn’t the owner or manager. Her coat was too nicely made to be affordable on a building manager’s salary and, while an apartment owner might be able to afford it, she wouldn’t come out on this kind of call.

But what sealed the deal was her data veil. She’d pulled the gauzy fabric up and piled it on her hat as women often did when they wanted to make eye contact with whoever they were talking to. That made the inside of it visible. Problem was there wasn’t any data displayed on the inside of her data veil and Elisha couldn’t imagine a real estate mogul or the mogul’s building manager ever switching off their flow of information like that.

Then there was the expensive hovercar from out back of the building. Whoever owned that had to be interested in the apartment as well but the odds that a well dressed society woman was on her way to look into a missing Wayfinder all on her own were small. She was a ruse. The chair was still under the door handle so there was no way she was getting in without his knowing it. Where would someone go if they wanted to sneak in?

The bedroom had a large window. Stepping with great care Elisha moved back towards the bedroom, angling to stay on Carter’s worn rugs rather than step on the tiled floor. He moved over to the wall the living room shared with the bedroom. Pressing himself against the wall he unlooped the six foot length of his etheric lash from his belt and held the weapon coiled once in his right hand. Then he slunk closer to the doorway.

He took two steps before a strange sense of dislocation hit him. For a split second he wasn’t sure what had happened. Then his mind jumped back to a visit to Theiftaker’s Hall several years ago, when one of the boys had been showing off a gizmo he’d brought back from further down the dexter arm. Said it was supposed to cut people off from the sidereal. When he turned it on it felt just like now.

Elisha had just made the connection when the barrel of a knifer poked out of the bedroom door, followed quickly by the brim of a hat and a wide, jowly face with a thin mustache. Without even thinking the theiftaker struck with his weapon. The weighted coil of wire looped twice around the other man’s weapon arm and Elisha yanked hard, dragging the barrel of the knifer down.

To the other man’s credit he didn’t waste much time trying to yank free. Instead he leaned down into the dragging motion and barreled forward into Elisha. For a moment the two men grappled. Elisha tried to get a grip on the other’s elbow or neck but the man kept his arms moving enough he couldn’t find purchase and there was some kind of trick to his hat. Part of the brim must have been metal reinforced. It dug into Elisha’s side as he tried to wrap up the man’s head.

It was pure stupidity to try and shock someone with an etheric lash while that person was holding on to you so Elisha adjust his grip on the handle until he was holding it like a black jack and clubbed the man’s knifer out of his hand with it. In response the other braced himself against the wall and shoved Elisha back into a recliner. For a moment he tried to grab the back of the chair and stabilize himself. When it became clear he couldn’t Elisha leaned back the other way and let himself roll over the furniture, landing in a heap on the other side. Then he braced both feet against the base of the chair and kicked it towards his opponent.

Who jumped over it. Just hopped up in the air, tucked his feet under him and let the thing slide right on beneath him. Elisha scowled in disgust. The other man stopped to pull the lash off his arm once he landed but the second that took was enough time for Elisha to hook ankles then kick the back of his opponent’s knee with the other foot, sending him to the ground. A mad scramble ensued.

Rather than try and get back up Elisha rolled onto his front, got halfway up on his knees and threw a haymaker down at the other’s head. He got a knee in the gut for his trouble. As he doubled over the other man clasped both hands behind Elisha’s neck and used them as leverage to try and roll them over. Elisha grabbed the belt of his opponent’s overcoat and applied counter torque to prevent it. The metal hat brim slammed the thieftaker across the bridge of the nose in the nastiest headbutt he’d ever taken.

He rolled back, dazed, and braced against the wall, shoving himself to his feet. The other guy grabbed the kitchen counter and dragged himself upright as well, a half smile on his lips and a wild look in his eyes. Once upright the other man shook his arms out once and balled his hands into fists. Elisha wiped at a trickle of blood leaking from a cut on his nose then raised his hands up in front of his chin and cocked his head to one side, watching.

The front door burst open with a loud crack, slammed against the far wall and swung back closed with a bang. The chair that had been wedged under the knob clattered to the floor and slid halfway into the room. Both men turned to stare at it. The door opened again, in a more sedate manner this time, and a new man in grimy leathers stomped into the room, dragging the woman in the red coat behind him by one arm.

“Okay, wise guys,” he snapped, glaring at the two of them. “What do you two think you’re doing in my house?”

Lloyd

In just twenty short minutes the good mood brought to Lloyd by returning to civilization had vanished, replaced with seething anger. First there was the strange woman banging on his front door. Now there were strangers tearing his living room to shreds and he was going to have to pay to have his locks fixed. Worst of all, the two hooligans glared at him like he’d interrupted something.

Lloyd shoved the woman in red into the room with the rest of them, folded his arms across his chest and scowled. “Does anyone want to tell me what is going on here?”

Red was caught by the man in the broad brimmed hat and dark overcoat. The other man, who wore no hat and a long duster over a pleated shirt, lowered his hands from a fighting stance and cleared his throat. “You must be Lloyd Carter?”

“And you must be a dumbass, I know who I am. I’m asking who you are.” The annoyance that had been building in him since the lady out front had refused to tell him who she was and what she was doing on his doorstep suddenly burst and left him feeling very tired. “You know what, I don’t care. Get out.”

The hat man had stooped down for something and now drew himself up to his full height and Lloyd got his first good look at him. They were roughly the same size and height, which was unusual in and of itself as Lloyd was just over two meters tall. There was also an unsettling look in his eyes. Then he very conspicuously lifted one hand and shoved the knifer he’d picked up off the floor into the belt of his overcoat, leaving his hand on the grip. “Not just yet, I think.”

It was a threat and not a subtle one and Lloyd wasn’t quite tired enough to ignore it. “I guess you want to explain yourself to the Lawmen, then?”

The big man’s lips twitched into something that might be a smile. “You haven’t had time to call them.”

“It’s a public street and there are five other apartments in this building,” the other man replied, slipping his hands into his trouser pockets with a carefree attitude. “He doesn’t have to.”

“You don’t seem bothered by that,” Lloyd snapped.

“I have a license from Thieftaker Hall and a contract to find you from the BaiTienLung Company,” he replied, pulling a card out of one pocket and offering it to Lloyd. It said “Elisha Hammer, Thieftaker” in silver leaf print and included a comm registry and address. “The Lawmen know me. I don’t know who these two are and until a second ago I thought they were involved in your disappearance.”

Mr. Big watched the exchange with one eye on them and one on the lady, clearly unhappy with the news that Hammer had an in with the law. “Ma’am?”

All eyes turned to her. She straightened, pulling one hand out of her clutch purse and watching Lloyd steadily. “Who I am is no business-”

Hammer removed the purse from her hands with mystifying ease. One moment it was firmly in both hands, the next he was stepping past her with the item firmly in his grip and Lloyd had no idea how he’d managed it. Mr. Big started slightly, half drawing his knifer, but reluctantly put it back when it was clear Hammer wasn’t an immediate threat. Lloyd had heard the line between thieftaker and thief was pretty thin but he hadn’t thought it was that thin. Hammer dumped the purse’s contents onto the counter and angled himself so he could paw through it while keeping one eye on the two of them. “What have you got here, anyway?”

“Does it matter?” Lloyd demanded. “The three of you are still in my house and I didn’t ask any of you here. I’m glad someone thought to send a detective to look for me but you found me now and I’m very, very tired so how about you all get lost and let me get a shave and a nap?”

“Miss Wen will be delighted to know you’re fine,” Hammer said as he pawed through cash sticks, room and vehicle keys and several sheets of flexiplast. “She was worried you’d gotten wrapped up in some kind of business feud.”

“That’s not what happened.”

“Maybe, maybe not. After all, someone besides her has hired some pretty nasty people to look for you as well. These two have real money behind them.” Hammer paused and picked up a cylindrical object about twice as long as the palm of his hand and turned it over in his hands once. It was gunmetal gray with a pale, coppery pattern winding around it like wires. “What is this? Looks a bit like an ethereal transmitter. Wonder who this calls?”

It looked like an ethereal transmitter but it wasn’t. It was apparently something much more sophisticated, although L-93 hadn’t really elaborated on that when it gave one to Lloyd. He turned his attention back to the woman, eyes narrowing. “Where did you get that?”

The sound of approaching sirens began to drift in the still open door. The lady sighed, slapped something on Mr. Big’s belt and grabbed his elbow. The two of them seemed to bend and slide, as if they were suddenly nothing more than water on a window as it was wiped away by a cloth, then they vanished from sight as they finished turning sidereal. Hammer dropped the cylinder and began to turn himself but Lloyd waved for him to stop. “I wouldn’t do that.”

Hammer did, in fact, stop his turn. “Why not?”

“Because you need to tell your boss you found me before I run off again.” Lloyd pinched the bridge of his nose. L-93 had warned him the OMNI people would find him quickly but that was a lot faster than he’d given them credit for.

Hammer gave him a curious look. “And what are you running from?”

“I don’t really know, Mr. Hammer. I don’t really know.”

Next Chapter

Previous Chapter

Dramatis Personae

Elisha

Once Elisha Hammer bought Lloyd Carter’s personnel file from his informant at the Wayfinder’s Guild he had something to start with. His next of kin was his father and mother, who lived on the planet Uval. According to the database Uval was sixteen jumps away on the most direct commercial route, which meant no one was coming from that direction for at least a couple of days. And it was possible someone was coming. The Guild had reported Lloyd’s disappearance to his family and Elisha knew if he was in the Carter family he’d be coming to have a look for the missing man.

However at the moment the Guild was focusing on standard search and rescue maneuvers. Witnesses confirmed Lloyd had taken his skiff out just prior to his disappearance and it wasn’t like the Helium Seas were the safest place to fly around in. Fatal mishaps did occur on a pretty regular basis. Frankly Elisha wouldn’t see a reason to think Carter’s disappearance as anything other than the hazards of the job if he wasn’t being paid to do so.

Of course, the fact a highly paid Director for the BTL trading concern suspected deliberate action was a kind of proof in and of itself. One didn’t reach that position without information sources beyond the norm. No doubt Ms. Wen had reason to think as she did. But not even the wealthiest, canniest business moguls were perfect and that was why Elisha had a job in the first place.

The Wayfinders didn’t keep very detailed tabs on what their employees did. There wasn’t a list of known associates in Carter’s file, for instance, nor was there a medical history or list of licenses and certifications. There was just a brief performance history, his current assignment and his home address, plus a few basic biographical facts.

Fortunately Carter was currently assigned to the Guild’s DecoTown Hanger. Elisha was familiar enough with DecoTown and the Guild to guess what bars and restaurants Lloyd might have frequented during his time working there. However, while the staff and a few patrons recognized Lloyd’s face or name they didn’t know much that was helpful. He hadn’t looked upset, scared or angry in the last few days. Nor had he mentioned feeling endangered or leaving town for a better life on a nicer planet. In short, no one had noticed anything suggesting Lloyd Carter planned to disappear or thought anyone else would try to make him disappear.

Helpful? No. Expected? Yes.

After an unproductive day rummaging through Carter’s old haunts Elisha tabled that angle of attack and decided to look into his apartment next. If Lloyd had decided to leave on his own there should be some sign of it in his dwelling. On the other hand, if someone had decided to abduct him for some reason there was going to be signs of it there as well. Ironically a totally undisturbed place of residence was the worst possible outcome as it suggested he was just the victim of an accident.

At least that made Elisha’s job simpler.

Casa Carter was a small, one bedroom place in an old but well maintained six apartment block about halfway up the main branch of Ashland Prominence. Elisha had never visited the neighborhood before but he knew it’s type. Near enough to the lower docks and the entertainment of midtown to walk for those who couldn’t jump but not so close as to be prohibitively expensive. The architecture consisted of long colonnades and ferrocrete molded to look like wood. It was a nice neighborhood when it was built about a century ago but it was starting to show it’s age.

The building consisted of two sets of three apartments, each set facing out towards the streets that ran on either side of it. Elisha loitered across from Carter’s place, smoking a cigarette and considering his approach. He didn’t see any obvious cameras or microphones, although most apartment blocks in this kind of neighborhood had them, and there wasn’t any obvious sign of an office or contact number for a realtor on the building. He didn’t want to look it up, in case someone was watching for that.

In most cases he wouldn’t be so paranoid but given that he wasn’t the only one watching the building right that moment he figured he wasn’t dealing with most cases this time around. When he’d arrived there was a very expensive looking hover car approaching the apartment building along the road on the other side. At a guess Elisha priced the vehicle at a cool thirty to thirty five thousand cash. It was a prodigious amount of money to spend on your ride for anyone but in this neighborhood it either belonged to the mob or some other kind of heavy sent on a similar job to his own. Another sign that not everything about Carter’s disappearance was as it seemed.

That made it even more important that he get into Carter’s place. Preferably without getting noticed by the authorities and before the other guys could get in and mess things up.

He’d have to be a little more forceful than he preferred. He dropped the butt of his cigarette and ground it out under his heel then stooped to pick it up. Once he was sure he was out of the line of sight of whoever was in that car he scooted backwards into the alley a few feet away and took off around the back. He’d have to hurry a couple of blocks either way but he could get back around to Carter’s place without being seen. The real question was whether he would find anything there worth seeing.

881

Tarn leaned forward in the passenger seat of the hovercar and studied the street for a moment. “He’s not there anymore but I’m not sure where he went. Made good use of the buildings for cover. Not bad.”

“Is he dangerous?” 881 asked.

“Any fool with a knifer or disruptor can be dangerous. But he’s got some skills on top of that so he’s more so than most. Not a Shran but still decent enough.” He sat back in the seat and stroked the pencil thin mustache he wore, looking vaguely like the Circuit Keeper for a moment. “I said we should have rented something cheaper. He can’t have missed this expensive car in this neighborhood, it sticks out like a gas giant without rings.”

“I thought we were going to be flying out to the place Carter disappeared,” she replied. “Renting aircraft that can handle the Helium Seas isn’t cheap and our transportation under the domes has to match what we use outside.”

“I understand why you did it, Miss Luck, it’s just unfortunate it worked out this way.” Tarn broke open his long barreled knifer and checked the flechettes in the magazine before sealing the weapon closed again.

“Do you think he was just interested in stealing the car?”

“No. He’s going to go for the apartment, I’d bet my caste on it.”

One thing she’d always appreciated about Tarn was his laser-like focus on whatever task he was hired to accomplish. More than once it had reminded her of the way the great intelligences functioned. She could take a few moments to activate her veil’s uplink to the OMNI node to double check his work but she was willing to lean on his opinion. “Do you need to see it before he does?”

“Not necessarily but I need to make sure he doesn’t take out anything I could learn from. We’ll have to try and cut him off.”

“Well don’t fletch him if you can help it, I confess I’m curious who sent him here and if hes connected to my employer’s concerns.” She tugged absently at the fingers of her long gloves. They fit the persona of Lucy Luck and the fashion sense of the sector but not life in the Sleeping Circuits. Gloves were meant to keep the hands clean while touching things. A Sleeping Circuit wore sleeves that covered the hand to ensure they didn’t accidentally touch something they shouldn’t. That made them useful for disguises but she’d never liked them.

Tarn watched her with a distant expression, saying nothing as she pulled on her dark red jacket with a tailored waist and a special pocket sewn into the inside where she could secret her handheld disruptor. Only when she’d settled her hat and dropped it’s veil into place did he say, “I can handle this alone.”

“I know.” She picked up a specially made handbag and slipped its handle over her wrist. “But I have my employers to answer to the same as you do, Tarn. There are things I have to see for myself.”

“I can respect that but we’re more likely to succeed if you keep your weapon holstered. I’m not familiar with Wireburn but we’re in a small city and the lawmen around places like to respond to trouble fairly quickly. I doubt your employers would appreciate the scrutiny.”

“You look ready to use your weapon.”

“I am always ready to use my weapon, Miss Luck. And I specialize in doing it without attracting unwanted attention.” He took his hat off the dashboard and stepped out of the car. “We could always abandon the investigation and go out to the sky like you suggested but we’ll lose any insight we might have gotten here.”

As Tarn donned his broad brimmed hat and tucked his knifer into his shoulder holster 881 locked up the hovercar. The security was beyond state of the art so it should be safe for the time they were away. Tarn buttoned up his overcoat and clipped an oval device about the size of his hand with the fingers stretched out to his belt. She raised an eyebrow. “You’re bringing a sidereal interdictor? Are you planning on turning it on?”

“I don’t have an etheric sense, Miss Luck, and I’m hardly unusual in that regard. We don’t know whether the man we saw does or does not possess the ability to move by the sidereal but if he does there’s one thing I can guarantee you.” Tarn waggled one finger for emphasis. “If he realizes we’re here he’ll turn sidereal to try and ambush us, because that is a tactic that pays off against people like me more often than not. When it doesn’t it’s usually because of one of these.” He turned his finger down to point at the interdictor.

“Fair enough. However it also means I won’t be able to jump us out of there if the situation turns against us.”

“Trust me, it’s easy enough to turn one of these things off. Just push the blue button on the top.” The finger tapped the device next to the button in question.

“What if Carter tries to jump back and realizes his apartment is interdicted?”

One of Tarn’s eyebrows nearly vanished under the brim of his hat. “Is that likely? We’re looking for him because he’s missing, after all, and most people living in a neighborhood like this can’t afford a personal etheric beacon so they can jump straight into their own living room. Unless he’s some kind of smuggler.”

881 wanted to say Lloyd Carter wasn’t involved in any kind of illicit activity that she knew of but she worried that would then make Tarn curious about how she knew. She couldn’t tell him about OMNI, of course, and it was best not to rouse his curiosity. Someone like Tarn sel-Shran could learn entirely too much if he wanted to.

“Very well. But we’ll use it for as short a time as possible. Messing with the etheric like that makes me uncomfortable.”

“Of course ma’am.” Tarn touched the brim of his hat. “We’ll try and keep you as comfortable as possible for the entirety of this process.”

The way he smirked as he said it was nothing like one of the great intelligences.

Lloyd

Etheric beacons were kept in wide, domed structures called some variant of beacon house or arrival zone depending on the part of the Galaxy you were in. At some point the basic design of the structure had become standard. Since there were thousands of beacon houses on most planets only those arrival zones in the most upper class areas were anything other than a basic boxes with very basic accommodations. In short, they were bland, unremarkable rooms that kept the elements away from new arrivals. Nothing more.

In spite of that fact Lloyd still felt a wash of nostalgia when he turned terrestrial after jumping back to the local beacon in DecoTown. After days cooped up in his skiff with nothing but the Seas and L-93 to keep him company it felt good to be back in civilization. Even if the first sign of it was the featureless walls of the beacon house.

He really needed to report back to the Hanger about his missing skiff. He should probably swing by the Couriers and see if he could get a message off to Uval that day. Hopefully his family hadn’t done anything drastic like book a trip to Wireburn yet. They couldn’t afford it.

But before any of that he wanted to get out of his Wayfinder leathers and into some less stifling clothing. It was a lot warmer under the pressure domes than out in the Seas. His place and the Hanger were in opposite directions but they were still only eight blocks apart. More importantly, home was on the way to the Couriers. That settled it.

Lloyd turned his feet towards his building, digging for the keys in his pocket. There were a million weird things he didn’t understand about what had happened over the last few days, to say nothing about what L-93 had told him, but all that could wait at a couple of hours while he tried to put his life back in order. Maybe he even had the time to grab a cup of coffee while he was at it…

Next Chapter