Trickster. Part 9

"Harenn," Kendi warned. "The Children have rules about this kind of thing. We don't torture people."

"I am not a Child," Harenn pointed out.

"But you work for us and you do have to operate by our rules," Kendi said.

"Thank you," Todd sighed. But his eyes never left the needle. His face was pale, and a thin sheen of sweat had broken out on his face. Phobic? Certainly seemed to be.

"However, Mr. Todd," Kendi continued, "Harenn is the only one qualified to administer interrogatives. If, in her considered opinion, the best way to give one to you is by a needle, I can't say I'm qualified to counter what she says."

Harenn touched the hypodermic to Todd's arm and he jumped as if she had touched him with a hot iron. "For subjects who aren't cooperative," she said, "the needle is unfortunately the best method of delivery. It ensures the drug gets into the bloodstream instead of pooling beneath the skin."

"I'll talk!" Todd shouted. "Just get that thing away from me."

"Who do you work for?" Kendi repeated. "Keep in mind that we're going to check what you say, and Harenn won't be happy if you're caught in a lie."

Todd licked his lips. "I work for Silent Acquisitions."

Lucia raised her eyebrows and Kendi clenched a fist. Silent Acquisitions was a megacorporation that dealt in Silence in all its forms--communication, research, genegineering, and slaves. They were known galaxy-wide as being worse than ruthless. Kendi and Ara had between them stolen away more than a dozen slaves from them and their subsidiaries over the years, and he had no doubt that both of them were high on the corp's most wanted list, though Ara was now beyond such considerations.

"What do you do for them?" Kendi said.

"I'm a scout for the Collection."

"And what's the Collection?"

Todd s.h.i.+fted nervously on the bed. "Look, if anyone finds out I'm talking to you, I'm dead meat, all right? I've already told you enough to earn me five years in the corp's waste pits."

"And you have kept silent about enough to earn you five stabs with my knife," Harenn growled.

"You may as well keep on going," Kendi said, taking on the part of good cop to Harenn's bad. "You've gone this far, and we're going to get it out of you either way with the drugs. We won't tell anyone where we got the information. What's the Collection?"

Todd hesitated. "I have your word you'll keep where you found out to yourself?"

"Absolutely," Kendi said, tapping his amulet and raising his right hand. "I swear by Irfan herself."

Still Todd hesitated. Kendi suppressed an urge to wrap his hands around the man's neck and throttle the information out of him. Finally Todd cleared his throat.

"After the Despair," he said, "functioning Silent suddenly became really rare and valuable, right? Everyone at Silent Acquisitions is pretty worried about that. I mean, the few Silent we have left will die eventually, and we won't have anything at all. Silent Acquisitions will eventually disappear."

"SA has people working on that problem," Todd said, "but until they solve it, the company need a short-term solution, and that's the Collection. Right now, SA will go pretty far to get its hands on new Silent. We need Dream access and genetic material and all that to stay afloat while we look for a solution."

"Genetic material," Kendi repeated, barely keeping the distaste for this man out of his voice. "Right. So?"

"So the company decided we have to be a little more . . . aggressive."

"Don't be cute," Kendi told him. "Be specific. What do you mean by aggressive? Kidnapping? Murder? Theft? What?"

"All of the above," Todd said. "Once I find functional Silent, the acquisition team is authorized to use whatever methods necessary to acquire them. The team takes them back to SA station for indoctrination. The goal is to make them into loyal workers for Silent Acquisitions."

"Brainwas.h.i.+ng?" Lucia said.

"Hey, I never hurt anyone, I swear. I'm not part of any of the acquisition or indoctrination teams. I just scout out potential personnel."

Harenn made a low, cold sound in her throat and Kendi was seized with sudden fury at Todd. Forgetting his role as good cop, he grabbed the front of Todd's s.h.i.+rt and shook him once. "Did you 'scout out' my brother and sister?"

"I don't know," Todd squeaked. "Who are they?"

"They were both enslaved by DrimCom," Kendi snarled, twisting Todd's collar. "Was it your Collection that took them away?"

"I can't . . . breathe," Todd choked. "I can't . . . "

"Ken," Ben said from the corner. "His lips are turning blue."

Kendi released Todd so fast the man fell backward onto the examination bed. Ben pursed his lips. Todd sucked in great gulps of air and ma.s.saged his throat.

"Prep him, Harenn," Kendi said. "I want him c.o.ked to the gills and ready to talk fluidly and easily by the time I get back. I'm going for a walk. Maybe in the Dream."

"With great pleasure, Father," Harenn said, raising her hypodermic.

"You said no needles if I talked," Todd cried, trying to push himself away. His back was already against the wall, however, and he had nowhere to go.

"Dermospray, Harenn," Kendi said over his shoulder as he left the medical bay. "But use whatever drug you like."

The doors snapped shut behind him, cutting off Todd's protest. Kendi started to stride away but halted when a familiar voice called out behind him. Ben put a hand on Kendi's shoulder.

"Not right now, Ben," Kendi said tightly. "I'm too p.i.s.sed off to be rational."

"I was scared you'd let Harenn torture him," Ben admitted. "I'm glad you're better than that."

"Have to set an example, right?" Kendi almost snarled. He turned and abruptly strode up the hallway. "He's filth, Ben. He bred his own kids for slavery and arranged for Utang and Martina to be kidnapped, but I'm supposed to be nice to him."

"You're getting what you want," Ben pointed out. "That's all that matters."

"That's what Ara always said."

"Actually I think it's a quote from Irfan's writings," Ben said. "In any case, it's true. We'll find out what he knows and we'll find your brother and sister."

"I know where they are," Kendi growled. "They're being held by one of the most ruthless megacorps in the galaxy in what I imagine is one of the highest security areas of one of the biggest stations in human s.p.a.ce. The trouble won't be finding them. The trouble will be getting them out."

"You're going to take on Silent Acquisitions?" Ben asked.

"I have a choice?"

Ben paused. "I'm not sure whether to talk you out of it or egg you on," he said finally.

"Doesn't matter," Kendi told him. "I'm doing it. I just need some time to come up with a plan."

CHAPTER FOUR.

"I can't be a religious icon. I make too many mistakes."

--Irfan Qasad

"The Collection has three department heads and one manager," Todd said dreamily. "The manager's name is Edsard Roon. He answers directly to the Board at Silent Acquisitions. Board and room, I think. I wanted a pony in my room when I was little, but--"

"Who are the three department heads for the Collection?" Kendi interrupted.

"Rafille Mallory is Chief of Security. I've only talked to her once. Once upon a time there lived three--"

"Who else is a department head?"

"Elena Papagos-Faye is Chief of Information Services, which means she does the computer stuff. Do you think she could get me a deal on--"

"Who else?" Kendi asked with a mental sigh. The problem with hypnoral, besides the fact that it was d.a.m.ned expensive, was that it tended to unhook the brain-to-mouth filter. The person didn't so much babble as flit from one subject to another, and it was a challenge to keep Todd on topic. On the other hand, hypnoral had no side-effects and was easy to use.

Todd was currently lying on the medical bay bed, arms at his sides, eyes on the white ceiling. His pupils were wide and dark, and a medical monitor strip clung to his forehead. Harenn stood nearby, one eye on Todd himself and the other on the data pad that tracked his vital signs. Ben sat in a chair at the foot of Todd's bed. The lights overhead were harsh and white.

"Ken Jeung heads up Research," Todd said. "He's the last department head. Jeung's a doctor, and he's doing genetic and medical stuff, but I don't know exactly what. There's a lot I don't know. I don't know how many elephants there are on Earth or how much the slavers sold my children for or--"

"What's the computer security like?" Ben interrupted.

"Solid. You can only access Collection computers on the Collection's private network. The network is isolated from the rest of the station. I have access, but only at a basic level. The higher up you go, the tighter security gets. Only the department heads can access the high-level functions, and those are guarded by prints and keys. Did you ever notice that prints prints and and prince prince are p.r.o.nounced the same even though they're spelled--" are p.r.o.nounced the same even though they're spelled--"

"Quiet, Todd," Kendi ordered, and Todd fell silent. "What's the matter, Ben? You can hack this, right? We need high-level computer access to pull this off."

Ben's head was in his hands. "It's an isolated key-and-print system. We're screwed."

"What is a key-and-print system?" Harenn asked.

"It's a system where you need two things to get access--an authorized thumbprint and a matching key. You scan the thumb and slot the key. If you try to get access with only one of them, the system shuts down and shouts for help. If you have the wrong key or print, the system shuts down shouts for help. Key-and-print systems are absolutely impossible to hack unless you have world-cla.s.s hacking programs, the kind of stuff a major government might have. I don't have anything remotely close to that kind of power." This last he said with a kind of horrified awe.

"No system is unbreakable," Kendi said, trying to hold on to optimism. "I think Lucia can make an artificial thumb from a latent print. That won't be hard. What are the keys like?"

"Each one looks like a small cylinder about the size of your little finger," Ben said. "It contains a chip with rotating, one-use algorithms that are keyed to one person's unique thumbprint. The thumbprint provides the key to the chip's algorithm. Print and key together create the access code for the computer." He ran a hand through his hair. "But it gets worse."

"How?" Kendi asked.

"Todd said the system is isolated. It isn't connected to the SA Station's network, which means that even we somehow got a synthetic thumb and a key, I wouldn't be able to do anything with them unless I got into the Collection itself and accessed a Collection computer."

Kendi tried to keep his heart from sinking. "Well, we need high-level computer access so we'll have get our hands on the keys. We'll worry about actual access later." He turned back to Todd. "Tell me about the keys."

"They go everywhere," Todd said. "I screwed Elena Papagos-Faye--or maybe she screwed me--and she told me her key stays with her all the time. The department heads have to report a missing key and that means all four of them have to get new keys and the system is physically shut down until that's taken care of. If they ever take their key off, they have to hide it someplace secure. I know because Elena took hers off before we got into bed and she hid it somewhere but I never saw where. She was a real monster in the sack. She made me kneel between her--"

"Shut up, Todd," Kendi ordered.

"Perhaps we should have him recount his adventure in detail," Harenn said. "It could prove useful as fodder for blackmail."

"Later," Kendi said. "Ben, can the keys be copied?"

Ben thought about that. "Maybe. But it would involve getting our hands on each key long enough to copy it. And if any of the four department heads suspected something, they'll shut the system down and get new keys."

Harenn tapped her data pad. "The hypnoral is wearing off. If you have more questions, you should ask them now before we give him new memories."

"I don't have any at the moment," Kendi said. He leaned closer to Isaac Todd. The harsh smell of hypnoral hung about him. "Todd, when you wake up, you will remember taking a long nap, and nothing more. You will not remember talking to us here and you will not remember answering any questions. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Todd replied languidly.

"You will, however, remember having a terrifying nightmare that froze your very soul," Harenn put in. "The nightmare will involve a hospital bed and many needles. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

Kendi reached down and closed Todd's eyes. Almost immediately, the man began to snore. Ben turned to Harenn. "Was that necessary?" he asked.

"No," was all Harenn said.

The Poltergeist Poltergeist popped out of slips.p.a.ce, and Lucia dePaolo said a small prayer of thanks to Irfan as she always did upon a successful exit. Less than a second later, her flight board was cluttered with long slices of flas.h.i.+ng text and urgent messages ordering her to come no closer to SA Station without agreeing to the terms in the attached contract. In the captain's chair, Father Kendi puffed out his cheeks and activated his data pad. Lucia sent over a copy of the contract and the pad beeped in acknowledgment. Father Kendi tapped the tiny computer, ordering it to compare the current contract with the one in the monastery database. popped out of slips.p.a.ce, and Lucia dePaolo said a small prayer of thanks to Irfan as she always did upon a successful exit. Less than a second later, her flight board was cluttered with long slices of flas.h.i.+ng text and urgent messages ordering her to come no closer to SA Station without agreeing to the terms in the attached contract. In the captain's chair, Father Kendi puffed out his cheeks and activated his data pad. Lucia sent over a copy of the contract and the pad beeped in acknowledgment. Father Kendi tapped the tiny computer, ordering it to compare the current contract with the one in the monastery database.

"They haven't substantially altered the stupid thing since the last time I was here," he mused. "I was hoping they'd have dropped the whole issue, what with the Despair and all."

"No such luck," Gretchen said from her own station.

Father Kendi shook his head. "They're still expecting us to hand over fifty percent of everything we earn while on the station and a controlling interest in the s.h.i.+p. And then there's that DNA clause. 'Party of the first part agrees to a.s.sign to the party of the second part all rights to the party of the first part's DNA and first work derived therefrom.' They have to be the only corporation around that literally wants you to sign over your firstborn child. Do they honestly think anyone's going to fall for it?"

"Enough people must," Gretchen replied, "since they keep asking."

"Well, at least it means the database's strike list is still valid. You have it, Lucia?"

"Yes, Father."