Chapter 44
Inspector Wanda walks into his office an hour later wearing her usual gray uniform jumpsuit, clutching a silver mug.
“What was so important you had to drag me all the way over here at this hour?” Her long blonde hair is in a neat bun atop her head, and she looks strikingly youthful without her normal full face of makeup.
“I’m not tired, so don’t even ask. It’s called makeup for a reason,” Inspector Wanda says, evidently having noticed him assessing her.
“I wouldn’t dare,” he says.
Sable chuckles, and when Wanda’s eyes land on her, they go wide.
The clock in the bottom corner of his largest screen displays the ticking time bomb that is the clock. 00:03. He gestures to the chair across from him, next to Sable. “You should probably sit down for this.”
“We have a lead on the robbery and the people bringing the reincarnates back,” Sable says.
Inspector Wanda’s brows rise, but she doesn’t speak.
“We would like to make a deal with you in exchange,” Res6 says.
Wanda takes out her tablet and sets it on the desk between them. She opens an app called Privacy Screen. “This will simultaneously record and encrypt our conversation. I can’t promise you any deals until I know what we’re dealing with.”
He and Sable share a glance.
“Neither of us is behind the reincarnates,” he says.
“I’m aware.” The inspector gestures for them to get on with it.
He takes a steadying breath. “As a part of our Consumer Product Safety protocols, we ran a few experiments with the goal of making sure our premium product could never accidentally create a reincarnate.”
Inspector Wanda rolls her eyes. “No need for a sales pitch. Get on to the part where you tell me you have a room of people from pre-2050 somewhere in this building.”
Sable laughs. “You will be relieved to hear—”
Res6 clears his throat, not feeling nearly as jovial. “There’s only one. We mistakenly brought a woman back to see if it was possible. For prevention purposes.”
Sable leans forward. “He’s in love with her.”
The inspector glances between them. “One of you better start making some sense.”
He takes a deep breath. “The reincarnate, Electra, was abducted yesterday at 16:30 from a simulation chamber in A Quadrant. I was able to obtain surveillance footage before the assailants scrambled the video. Within a few hours, I received these images and a list of demands with a link to upload them, along with a timeline.” Res6 pauses, giving the inspector a few moments to study the images and scan through the list. “We have a clear image of one of the men responsible. We know his name, where he works, and we have a vague understanding of his history. We have reason to believe he is one of the men behind the robberies, and we have a hypothesis about what they’re doing with the DNA they stole.
It’s possible my lead scientist, Lextr, who I fired weeks ago for leeching company assets, is working with them. ”
“You mentioned a timeline. How long do we have?”
He toggles to the threatening message.
“08:00,” she observes. “And I presume you want me to grant her legal personhood, ID and everything in exchange for his information.”
Res6 nods.
Inspector Wanda turns to Sable. “Where do you fit in?”
“I know I’m being investigated because you think I can somehow lead you back to these people. I want you to call off your tail and leave me alone.” Sable glances at him. “Res6 didn’t tell me. I guessed.”
“Considering the breadth of our current situation, that is a big ask.” The inspector shakes her head as she studies the other woman.
She turns to Res6. “I told you to ease into this relationship, but considering what I’ve just learned, I assume an ID for your girlfriend led you to cross paths sooner than anticipated. ”
That isn’t why, but it’s better Inspector Wanda believes that than know the truth—that Sable bribed him to create blanks to turn into GROW in place of the reincarnates they’re shielding. Reincarnates who are now roaming MSP with fake IDs.
Res6 blanches. He wonders if Sable is feeling the same tension, but she shows no signs of anything but calm. What would it take to crack her cool demeanor?
Sable shrugs. “I can’t say I know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re lucky that identity crime doesn’t fall under my division. I am, however, deeply concerned about public safety. Considering the more pressing issues I’m dealing with and your potential usefulness, I might be willing to keep my knowledge of IdenTECH to myself.”
There’s a barely perceptible crack in Sable’s voice as she says, “In exchange for?”
“I haven’t decided yet, but when I do, you’ll be the first to know. For now, I can commit my resources to help bring your reincarnate to safety. But tell me why I shouldn’t seclude your reincarnate with the others. They are illegal. What makes her special? Or you, for that matter?”
This is what he was afraid of. His throat is tight as he says, “They’re people just like you and me, Inspector.
It’s not their fault they ended up in the future.
It is unfair that they’re being treated as if they’re the ones who’ve committed the crime.
They all deserve to be granted citizenship, given medical care, and integrated into our society.
Our goal should be stopping more from being created, not punishing those who are already here. ”
Sable nods. “What he’s saying is consistent with the protocols in the Respectful and Considerate Conduct Manual. NHOS should treat them as newly born citizens. In a way, they are.”
Inspector Wanda’s eyes narrow. “You’re suggesting that in housing them like we have, we’ve violated the RCCM guidelines?”
That’s exactly what he thinks. He glances at Sable, afraid to answer honestly and upset the inspector, making things worse for Electra.
Sable doesn’t hesitate. “Yes. It seems you’re in violation.
You’re managing them according to objective reality, when the RCCM clearly states that subjective experience trumps that when taking into consideration the well-being of NHOS citizens.
I studied Electra’s scans. All the markers you would expect with intact long-term memories are there.
Her body is new, but in her brain it’s as if she made a time jump. ”
The silence drags on as Wanda considers.
Finally, she says, “I’ll have to loop in one of my team members who has a relationship with the Department of Human Affairs for the issue of personhood, but I feel confident we can make that happen.
As for the rest of it, we are all working in the best interest of the citizens of MSP. Are we not?”
Res6 nods eagerly. “We are.”
Thank Zorg for Sable and her quick, analytical mind.
He’s going to get a real ID for Electra—now they just have to get her home.
Inspector Wanda is proving to be exceptionally reasonable.
He toggles to the man’s dossier. “His identifier is G-Eliot-MSP-00098754. Three years ago his location code changed from PRS to MSP. That’s around the same time he began his employment in the product development division as a lab tech for ManuMATE. ”
She gives him an incredulous look. “Conveniently, one of your biggest competitors.”
“Not convenient at all. The problem being isolated to GROW would be my preference. The last thing I want is for a competitor to draw scrutiny to my creation and give NHOS a reason to revoke our licensing.”
“Then we’d better solve this case quickly.” She takes her tablet off the desk. “Send me the latest images you have of Electra and Lextr. I want to see if I can get a surveillance trace on their latest whereabouts.”
Res6 complies, nervously tapping his foot. “What are we going to do about the ransom?”
“I have a friend who can falsify the data enough to fool them. Should we move on that?” Sable asks.
Inspector Wanda doesn’t look up. “What about Lextr? If he’s working with them, won’t he realize it’s fake?”
“I don’t want to risk it. I’ll just send the real documents.”
“Hold on.” Sable stands, turning to face the back of the room.
“Hey. Can you embed some code in a decoy file package that contaminates the data after a set period?” She pauses, listening with her m-volt.
“Okay. What about preventing its being copied?” She’s nodding now.
“Oh, that’s even better.” She turns back around.
“He says he can corrupt the data remotely. As long as the system is connected to the network.”
“Do it,” Inspector Wanda instructs.
“You can expect the files within the next hour.” Sable turns to him, pointing at his system. “Clock’s racing.”
“I found them,” Inspector Wanda says. A second later, he gets a request to cast to his system.
Wordlessly he approves it, and a map with two pinpoints appears on the large particle pane that is his north window.
“V Quadrant? That seems random,” Sable says.
“At least we know they aren’t at ManuMATE’s headquarters,” Res6 points out.
Inspector Wanda selects the first image, and a video pulls up showing the interior of a SAT garage.
It shows Electra being dragged out of a SAT and roughly set on her feet by a man wearing an operational ID Scramble-Tech visor.
She stumbles, throwing an arm out for balance, like she isn’t fully in control of her motor functions.
When the man with the broken visor steps out of the vehicle, he roughly grabs her arm, but not to steady her.
He jerks her violently forward, and Res6 is certain she’ll have marks on her arms from the bruising grip.
He grips the arms of his chair as a wave of fury washes over him.
She’s in danger because of him and his stupid company. The irony isn’t lost on him. Only a month ago, she’d said those words to him. Considering their circumstances, he couldn’t agree more.
“Easy, tiger,” Sable says, eyeing the death grip he has on his chair.
“We’re going to get her back unharmed.” Inspector Wanda says. “We need to focus in order to do that.” She flips to another video, this time of Lextr being approached in a dusty hallway in Y Quadrant from behind by two men wearing full-face respirators—indoors.
“I guess in Y Quadrant they don’t care about being inconspicuous?” Sable asks.
She gets her answer when they dart forward.
Lextr must hear them because he spins, wearing a comically shocked expression.
The nearest man’s arm shoots forward. The camera doesn’t pick up the rest of his action, but Lextr wobbles, and it’s clear they drugged him.
The other man places a bag over his head before they drag him into a room.
They walk out a few minutes later, wheeling a table, presumably with Lextr’s limp body lying covered atop it.
“How are they going to get him to V Quadrant without drawing suspicion?” he asks.
Sable scoffs. “It’s Y Quadrant.” As if that means anything to him.
Inspector Wanda chuckles. “My team calls it the Y ask, Y tell quadrant.”
“For instance, Y Quadrant is the location of the boxing club,” Sable fills in.
His eyes widen, and he nods to the NHOS inspector, who only seems to take issue with some illegal dealings.
Sable only shrugs. “She already knows. Besides, Wanda and I are friends now. Right, Wanda?”
Wanda frowns. “I already have a FRIENDS group.”
Sable waves her off. “No such thing as optimal balance. Res6 and I just became friends, and neither of us have exploded.”
Wanda ignores her. “The point is, some rules are more important than others. For instance, the illegal fighting ring wasn’t a concern for public safety until we learned of a possible instance of coercion. Now there is an active investigation.”
“See! You’re warning me so I don’t get caught—just like a friend would do!” Sable cries. “It is uncanny how incredibly likable I am.”
“You’re definitely something,” Res6 agrees. A little frightening, if he had to put a word to it. “So what do we do now that we’ve isolated their location down to a building in V Quadrant?”
“I’ll have my team start reviewing the footage. I want to know what they’re up to. With that, I want to move forward with sending the ransom demands and see if we can get them to release her as promised.”
“But we know where they are,” Sable says.
“True,” Wanda says, covering a yawn with her hand. “But if this is larger, this lead might be the break we need to take the entire operation down. I need to be strategic about this.”
“What about Lextr?” He feels a stab of guilt over assuming his long-term employee had anything to do with Electra’s abduction, even if the man had no qualms about decommissioning her. Was firing him too rash? From this vantage point, it feels too rash. Shit. “Can’t we demand his release, too?”
“Electra’s life is the one at risk. I’m guessing they know he helped you bring Electra back, so they won’t kill him. They abducted him for a reason.” Wanda picks his device up off the desk. “I need full permissions.”
Electra is gone, and he has no control. He’s spent his life thriving on control. Now he’s going to have to give up more? His stomach twists painfully. “Why?”
“Once we get the files from Sable’s friend, my team will handle the information transmission along with all correspondence.” He must look like he’s about to argue because she says, “You want her to live, right?”
He nods, rubbing his tired eyes, and thinks the command: Time Check. 3:18.
She gives him a tight smile, approving of his answer. “Then let the experts do their jobs.”