Chapter 10 #3
Gus used her access as Titan’s administrator to infiltrate all the places she could think of, uploading the file into each system before placing it behind a firewall only accessible via Tuann technology. As her last insurance policy, she used Tuann to name the file.
A gift, traveler.
That should do it. Humans would assume the file had been mislabeled. They might try to delete it but would soon find out how impossible that was. Only an administrator could take down something they’d added to the system.
Finished, Gus sat back and eyed her work. She’d done about all she could do. Now it was up to Baran and the rest.
Pushing aside her worries, Gus switched focus, accessing the video clip Kyle had sent her.
It wasn’t long before she was forced to give up in frustration.
Kyle was right. There was nothing there.
With the angle of the video, she couldn’t even read lips to get an idea of what was being discussed.
And once the subjects left the bar, they quickly disappeared from surveillance, leading Gus to believe they possessed a certain familiarity with the deck’s blind spots.
Such foresight was to be expected from her siblings. Even Baran, since his synth armor likely possessed some type of technology that detected when he was being surveilled.
The humans, however.
They would have to be familiar with the station. Either residents or frequent visitors.
Except a search using Titan’s facial-recognition software failed to yield any clues as to their identities.
It was frustrating.
More importantly, it was suspicious.
Like someone had gone into the system and deleted the relevant data.
“Impossible,” Gus murmured.
Titan’s administrator and its lieutenants were the only ones with that sort of capability. She knew she hadn’t done it.
Her lieutenants though.
There was a thought.
Gus considered it for a moment before she shook her head. She didn’t want to go down that path just yet. Paranoia was all well and good until it had you jumping at shadows.
Still, Gus checked in with her lieutenants. Most of them were where they were supposed to be, carrying out their assignments.
There was only one anomaly.
“Brooks,” Gus whispered, wondering what that man was up to now.
From the very beginning, the former space marine had been something of a wild card.
He was one of the few who’d seen her true face.
Though he didn’t know she was also Titan’s administrator and Belladonna’s creator.
Like Kyle, he was under the mistaken impression that she was a cog in her alter ego’s organization. Much like them.
If he ever had doubts as to her identity, he was smart enough to keep them to himself.
He was the second lieutenant she’d recruited and by far the most problematic. Headstrong to an obnoxious degree with a tendency to wander off on his own.
Gus had to give it to him though. His instincts proved right more often than not. More than once, he’d uncovered issues that could have jeopardized the safety of either herself or her residents. It had bought him a small measure of leeway.
She wondered if that was why he was hanging out in Cat Three. The same bar her siblings and Baran had been sighted in.
Curious and curiouser.
He could be on the trail of something, Gus thought, deciding to play devil’s advocate. Maybe he’d caught wind of the same thing she had and was even now tracking down the culprits. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Or maybe he’d joined the ranks of her enemies.
Gus rubbed her forehead, not liking that thought. She didn’t believe it either. In his own way, Brooks was as loyal as they came.
Sitting here questioning things wasn’t going to give her an answer, however.
To that end, Gus shot him a message requesting an update and explanation as to why he was not where he was supposed to be before rising.
She was giving him a chance to allay her suspicions. It was more than she gave most.
The computer shut off as soon as she was no longer in front of it. A safety measure that the former administrator had set up and Gus continued.
Letting herself out of the office, Gus made sure the door was sealed behind her even as she sunk deep in thought. Preoccupied by the problems in front of her and their possible solutions.
Perhaps that’s why she didn’t notice the stillness that gripped the tree’s hollow. It wasn’t until she was halfway across the mossy surface that her brain finally caught up with her body and she started paying attention to what the station was telling her.
An intruder.
Here, in the safest place on Titan. A place that existed on no schematic and that not a single soul other than her knew existed.
Gus froze, even as her gaze darted around the hollow in search of that feeling’s source, finding it a second later as a person stepped out from the crevasse between two trunks.
That’s why she hadn’t sensed him before, she realized. The tree’s energy had concealed his presence.
“Hello, Pityrodia Augustensis.” Ryan smiled mildly at her. “I’ve been looking for you.”