Chapter Three

“Okay, Saffia. You’ve found someone for me. Tell me.”

Lize was, once again, in control of herself. She had repaired her make-up and her hair and was sitting, calm and composed behind her desk, sipping a cup of coffee.

“Well, I pulled up a list of Private Detectives. There aren’t many - it’s not a profession that pays well or is particularly necessary. And most of those that are around are not exactly what you could call reliable or trustworthy. I don’t really know why anyone would ever go to one of them in the first place...” She paused, realising that it wasn’t just ‘anyone’ who was going to ‘one of them’.

“Er... but, I filtered out all of those who appeared the least useful to us. This left me with a four possibilities. I thought it would be sensible to start with the person who is closest to us and work out through the person in Baghdad and then to the person in Saint Leninsburg and finally the one in Tokyoto.”

She handed a data crystal to Lize.

“Kem Logan. Aged 34. Born in Town Tower, NovoCastria, lived there his entire life. He started out as a Private Investigator ten years ago and has been really rather successful, with a sixty eight percent success rate for his cases. Most other Private Detectives have success rates no greater than the high fifties. Whilst he has been investigated by the police on several occasions, they have never been able to find anything. He is either completely clean or very good at covering his tracks. I would suggest the latter. Although he is one of the best, I would suggest extreme caution when dealing with him. If you have to deal with him at all.”

“What do you mean?” Lize said, sharply.

“I don’t think that going to a Private Investigator is necessarily the right idea. I mean, have you thought about the possibility that your father is actually right?” Saffia said this carefully, but she knew that it had to be said. If she didn’t then nobody else would. Now that she had calmed down again, Saffia thought that this was the best time to say something before things went too far.

“I know,” Lize said softly, “I’ve been desperately trying to think of another way, but I can’t. I’ve got to try to find out what happened and there’s no way I can use normal channels. So, I have to go this way. Contact him, tell him to come and see me.”

“Okay.”

***

Kem went through into the back office. Despite his resolutely old-fashioned appearance, the equipment he used was state of the art. One of the advantages of having an info-tech dealer like Juh as his best friend. Julia was only the most obvious example of this. He pressed a sensor pad on the desk and a cube of multi-coloured static flickered into life, floating above the desk.

“Channel 98,” he said. “News headlines.”

“Headlines for Thursday the twenty eighth of March, twenty six thirty one... A report was leaked yesterday from the offices of Executive Carr about the apparent destruction of the New Argo colony ship... Three bodies were discovered in the Hyde Park Green Area yesterday evening¼ The Employment Committee announced yesterday that their target of 23% employment was exceeded by 2% last year.”

Suddenly, the com-net buzzed. The news programme faded and was replaced by Julia’s face.

“Kem, there is a call for you. It seems to be fairly important.”

“Thanks, Julia.”

The screen cleared again and was replaced by the blank-eyed, bald head of a drone – the sort used by members of the Exec as a form of security. Drones were criminals whose personalities had been wiped and imprinted with a near-robotic devotion to duty. This time the drone was female, although rumour had it that they were sterilised and all sexual characteristics were removed, as well as having their brains wiped clean. Kem didn’t think that the rumour had much chance of being proven or otherwise, drones held as much sexual attraction as a bad accident.

“Please hold for an incoming call from Executive Lize Carr,” the drone said.

***

The picture fuzzed and then cleared to show the face of a blonde-haired woman in her late thirties, wearing a smart, grey dress and jacket. This was not Lize Carr.

“I am Saffia Chance, Executive Carr’s Personal Assistant,” she said. “Will you be available for consultation this morning? She wishes to speak with you about a potential commission.”

“Certainly, Ms. Chance, of course I will,” Kem was trying to sound calm and authoritative, but knew he was failing miserably. His excited nervousness was too much to hide completely. “May I ask what the job would involve?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t talk about it over an insecure line. Can you be here at eleven ‘o’ clock?”

It took a moment for Kem to interpret the question. He realised that he had been expecting Carr to come to his office, which was foolish – no member of the Executive would consider leaving their offices if they didn’t have to.

“Yes, of course, fine. I look forward to seeing you,” he said, too quickly, trying to cover his confusion.

“Good, I shall make sure the drone at reception is aware of your arrival. Until later, Mr. Logan.”

The screen went blank and was immediately replaced by Julia staring at him. She had, of course, been listening in.

“That’s quite something,” she said, demonstrating her talent for understatement.

“Tell me about it,” Kem replied.

He got his comp-pad and downloaded all the information he had on Lize Carr onto it. He would read up on her as he went. This was the job that could finally make his name. A member of the Executive Committee, especially one who was currently in the public eye, wanting him for a job. And he was amazed that he actually spoke to a real person. He had never heard of someone being employed as a Personal Assistant. The closest it ever came to that was when some of the more wealthy types, like Juh, used a drone for simple clerical work. But, for any contact with other people, it was always an AI. For a start, it was more efficient. An AI would be able to remember lists and dates and information that a human would have to write down, or use an AI to remember. Using a human interface just to make an appointment was... well, Kem wasn’t sure if it was arrogance, if Carr was trying to show off her power, or if she just didn’t think about it. This was going to be interesting whatever the outcome.

“I’ll be back as soon as possible, Julia,” he said. “Wish me luck.”

“All I have!”

Chapter Four

Kem half walked, half ran to the nearest v-tram. Checking the map on his comp-pad, he worked out where he needed to be. This was going to be a costly journey. The higher you rode, the more it cost to get to the next level. Getting all the way to the Executive level was hideously expensive. He really should have asked for travelling expenses. He usually did. Forgetting to ask showed how surprised he had been at being contacted by an Executive. Executives and their ‘Personal Assistants’ probably never even thought about paying for travel. Well, he would just have to add it to the expenses at the end of the day. Always assuming he got the job, of course.

The v-tram arrived and he punched in his desired destination then inserted his ident-card. The AI paused for a couple of seconds as it accessed his records to check his credit and his security ratings. A two second delay meant that extremely stringent checks were being made on him. He wasn’t surprised; after all, he was going from a sub-level to the top of the Arcology.

He sat down and pulled out his computer pad again and began to read about Lize Carr.

Lize CARR: EXECUTIVE DRESS

Good Morning! 7/5/26

Lize Carr is a bright, vivacious and attractive thirty seven year old. Her age and gender come as something of a surprise when you consider her choice of career. Lize Carr is the latest member of the Executive Committee, replacing the now-retired Philip Johnson as member for the European Region. Lize is one of only three female members of the Executive Committee and by far the youngest.

“Actually,” she told us. “I’m the second youngest person ever to be elected to the Executive. Only Chief Executive Bateman was younger when he started.”

Mention of her step-father brings us nicely on to another question. How useful was it having a Chief Executive as a relative?

“Well, obviously, he gave me a lot of advice and I worked in his offices for a while. Of course, I’m very grateful to him for the advice he gave me but, I don’t think that it really gave me any experience that I wouldn’t have been able to get some other way.”

What was the best piece of advice that he gave you?

Lize looks thoughtful for a moment and then laughs. “Never let the press ask you a question that you aren’t fully prepared for. I didn’t expect you to ask me that.”

This wasn’t really telling Kem anything useful. He had never had reason to investigate the Executive, so he hadn’t really bothered to work up any files on them. All he had was the usual publicity fluff that was readily available from the news-tapers and the net. None of it was going to be able to answer his major question. What did she want him for? All of her problems would be quickly dealt with by some super-secret police department. None of the blurb mentioned anything which he even imagined would impinge on his job. Maybe she had a secret lover she wanted following before she committed herself. Except, she undoubtedly had all the information she needed on anyone, including Kem. As far as he could see, probably the most useful thing he could do for her would be to find a missing pet. As long as it wasn’t anything too exotic. Like the job he had looking for a gen-mod Alsatian. The owner had forgotten to mention that the modifications included heightened strength and aggression for the illegal dog fights he entered. Kem gently rubbed the long, sinuous scar on his left arm.

Kem was annoyed by his nervousness about the coming interview – after all, she was just another person.

The higher the v-tram rose, the emptier it got. It reached a point roughly two-thirds of the way up the tower and Kem suddenly noticed that he was the only occupant. It slid smoothly to a halt and the doors opened. The v-tram AI spoke up, saying that the v-tram had now reached its destination and would he be so kind as to disembark?

He walked out of the v-tram and into one of the most luxurious places he had ever been. The carpeting was thick and soft, the chairs well padded. He was tempted to set up home here in the v-tram terminus, but didn’t get a chance to consider it because the doors of a second v-tram, serving the uppermost levels of the Arcology, slid open.

Looking around him at the other people boarding, Kem realised how totally out of place he looked. All of the people who boarded the v-tram were obviously extremely well off. The clothes they wore were stylishly simple and they just reeked of money. It was about the only thing they did smell of, most seemed to be completely without any odour – either natural or artificial. Now Kem knew he was in trouble. He still had another forty floors to go before he reached the top. What was it going to be like up there?

Kem slid into a seat and looked around him, grinning nervously at anyone with whom he made eye contact. A few eyed him disdainfully but most simply ignored him. Maybe he could get through this without seeming like a complete idiot. Although, he admitted to himself, it wasn’t very likely and grinning at everyone who came within three metres wasn’t helping.

So, he sat back and stared vacantly at the v-tram screens that were showing a mixture of public information films, news bulletins and adverts. He wasn’t really concentrating on the images flickering in front of his eyes, instead he was worrying about whether he should have changed his suit – this one wasn’t his best - whether he was going to get the commission, what he would do afterwards, whether he was being set up by someone and Lize Carr didn’t really want to see him. He realised that he was showing definite signs of neurosis, so he started to worry about that instead. He was getting into his worrying to such an extent that he didn’t realise the screen had started to show a news bulletin. Suddenly, he became aware of a report saying something about that New Argo thing.

“...the following statement has just been released by Executive Carr: ‘the Executive Committee wish to apologise to the families of the crew and passengers of the New Argo for the speculation that has been flying around for the last few hours. We share your pain. An investigation has been launched to find out from where the leak originated and We will not rest until that person is discovered. We shall, of course, keep all citizens informed of the progress of both investigations...’ Executive Carr refused to answer any questions put to her.”

Kem sat up, sharply, and swore, drawing sharp glances from his fellow passengers

He was going to have to find out who leaked the information? It has to be that. It couldn’t be anything else. She mustn’t trust anyone in her offices any more, so she wants an outsider, someone who couldn’t have done it, to investigate. If that was what it was, it was going to be a big job.

***

The v-tram slowed and came to a halt. The rest of the passengers stood and filed out of the door. Kem waited for everyone else to leave before following them. Ahead of him, people were standing in a queue, swiping their passes under the watchful eye of a huge, muscular, male gen-mod drone, holding a Screamer - its bell-shaped muzzle pointed half way between the ground and the queue. The drone was watching everyone as they came out of the v-tram and, when it spotted him, pointed and beckoned.

“Mr Logan, your h-tram is waiting, if you would go straight through,” it said.

Everyone who was waiting in the queue turned to stare at him. He smiled, nervously at them and went through the door.

The door turned out to be the entry of the h-tram, but it was unlike any h-tram he had ever seen. It was designed for a single occupant, and was laid out like a comfortable office, with a large chair and a desk and a personal computer link. Kem was startled by a chime that came from a hidden speaker.

“Good afternoon, Mr Logan. Welcome aboard. Please state your required destination.”

“What? Oh. Right. I’m here to see Executive Lize Carr,” he said.

“The offices of Executive Carr. Thank you. Please relax, the journey will take approximately fourteen minutes. Would you like any refreshments?”

“No. No thank you.”

“If you need anything during your journey, please do not hesitate to ask, Mr Logan.”

“Thanks.”

He sat down and swung the chair around, looking out of the window. It was only then that he realised that he was on the move. The h-tram had moved off completely silently and smoothly. Kem had a sudden thought.

“Excuse me?” he said to the air around him, being totally unsure of where the pickups were.

“How can I help you, Mr Logan?” the voice said.

“You know who I am?”

“Of course, Mr Logan. Your identity was programmed into me.”

“So, you knew where I was going to before you asked?”

“Yes, Mr Logan, I did. However, it has been determined that passengers are put more at ease if they are welcomed and offered courtesy rather than merely being moved to their destination.”

“Oh. Thank you,” Kem said.

“My pleasure, Mr Logan. If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to ask.”

Kem slumped in the chair and closed his eyes. If Lize Carr’s motive for getting him up here was to make him totally paranoid, she was doing a brilliant job of it.

***

After a while, there was another gentle ping.

“Mr Logan, you will be arriving at your destination in approximately thirty seconds. Executive Carr has been informed of your arrival and you will be met at the station. I hope your journey was a comfortable one and I look forward to transporting you again in the future. Please remember to take all of your belongings with you.”

“Thanks,” Kem said.

The h-tram stopped and the doors slid open. Standing on the platform was another drone, a female this time, but still muscular. The platform itself was sparsely furnished, with a single red couch and no identifying name plate on the wall. The only decoration was an oil painting of Lize Carr. Kem realised that this was actually her h-tram station, not just the nearest stop to her offices.

“Mr Logan,” the drone said. “Please may I see your ident-card?”

Kem held out his card, the drone examined minutely and then returned it.

“This way, please, Mr Logan.”

Kem was realising something else; everyone up here was ridiculously polite. He was almost certain that this would only last as long as he was in favour with Carr. If he was going to annoy her, he had best wait until he got back on to ground level. He was willing to bet that if he did piss her off, her aids would become even more polite. Possibly even fatally so.

The drone led him to a door where it paused and leant over to look into a retinal scanner. After a moment it stood up again and the door ahead of them slid open.

Kem walked through the door into a large, airy, open-plan office. He could see several people sitting behind desks or moving to and fro around the room.

“If you would press your thumb on to the signing in pad, please, I will have someone guide you to see Executive Carr.”

Kem did so and then, instead of sitting down and waiting, he stood and watched what was going on. On the whole, it appeared to be fairly ordinary secretarial work, writing memos and letters, filing reports and answering incoming calls. However, he really didn’t recognise the machines they were using to do this work.

When one of the secretaries got up, Kem went over to his desk. He was amazed by what he saw. He thought that he had state of the art hardware, but his stuff looked like a child’s toy compared to what was in front of him. Not even Juh had anything like this sort of hardware. He sat and started to examine the computer. He now knew what he wanted for his next birthday! It was beautiful – even from his initial cursory examination he saw that it had perfect 3-D visual imaging and a more intelligent AI interface, it made Julia seem almost primitive – it was quite happy to explain its specs to him, but wouldn’t go any further, explaining that he wasn’t authorised to see any of the work it kept in memory. Suddenly, a gentle cough came from behind him. He span around, a guilty look crossing his face.

“Hi, sorry, I was just looking, that’s quite a piece of machinery you have there.”

It wasn’t the secretary, it was Saffia Chance, looking at him imperiously.

“Mr Logan, good morning,” she said, coldly. “Our guests usually prefer to entertain themselves with a cup of coffee. However.... if you will follow me, I will take you to see Executive Carr.”

She turned and walked away, not even bothering to check to see if Kem was following her. Kem shivered. He got the feeling that she didn’t like him. Or perhaps she didn’t like what he represented?

The secretary whose place Kem had usurped was standing next to him.

“That’s Saffia the Dragon. You really don’t want to get on her bad side,” he said.

“Thanks. I’ll remember that,” said Kem, standing up and hurrying after her.

Chapter Five

Walking down the wide corridor, past closed doors on both sides, Kem tried to judge his surroundings. Where was he? If he could look down, what would he see below? Which part of NovoCastria? He was damned if he could work it out.

The door ahead of him opened silently. Suddenly, Kem felt as if he were walking towards his execution. He could see Lize Carr sitting at a desk at the far end of a long room. The walls were burgundy, the floor made from a highly polished dark wood, that Kem thought wouldn’t be artificial – a subtle sign of her wealth and power. The desk was huge, made from a wood that was even darker than the floor – it was nearly black. The top of the desk was almost entirely empty, with the exception of a small computer console set into the red leather covering it.

The walls had several paintings on it. Kem thought he recognised some of them, although art appreciation was not one of his strong points. One or two had to be by Klimt, another looked to be a McKean and at least three were Jefferson’s. One wall held a book-case that was filled with real paper books. The office had the quiet, calm atmosphere of a museum.

Kem strode down the length of the room, trying to put forward an air of confidence that he definitely did not feel within himself. Lize watched him with an appraising look on her face then, when he had nearly reached the desk, stood and came round to the front, proffering her hand. She wore a black dress, a silver brooch pinned to her breast. Her boyish, brunette hair was slicked back and she was wearing minimal amounts of make up – just mascara and lip gloss. She was wearing glasses – an interesting quirk, when corrective procedures were so simple. Her appearance was simple and yet extremely striking.

“Mr Logan,” she said.

Kem was getting worried by the number of people starting a sentence with the words ‘Mr Logan’.

“Executive Carr,” he replied. “It is good to meet you.”

“I am glad that you could make it at such short notice. Please, sit down. Would you like tea or coffee?”

“Oh, tea please. White, no sugar.”

Lize murmured into her intercom and then sat down in her large, burgundy leather chair.

“You will be interested in knowing why I wanted to see you,” she said, as the drinks arrived.

“I assume that you want me to investigate where the leak came from,” Kem replied.

“No,” she said. “I know exactly who leaked it. I did. If I hadn’t no-one would have found about it. No, what I want you to do is find out who sabotaged the New Argo.”

Kem, who was taking a sip of his tea, nearly choked.

“Pardon? I mean, thank you for your confidence in my abilities, but surely that’s a job for the police. I mean, you, of all people should realise that. Anyway, you said that it was being investigated.”

“At the same time as I said that I wouldn’t rest until I discovered who it was who leaked the information, you mean? There is going to be no official investigation. The Executive Committee has decided that it’s pointless. They say too much time has passed for anything of any use to be discovered. After all, it’s been nearly five years since the signal was sent and thirty since the ship left.”

“What do you mean? What signal? All I know about this is seeing the news headlines this morning and hearing the press release.”

“You know what the New Argo is?”

“The news said it was a colony ship, but that doesn’t mean a lot to me.”

“It’s a spaceship taking a group of people to planet Gamma Six, to colonise it.”

“And you want me to investigate what destroyed this it?” Kem asked, bemused.

“Yes, I do.”

“I think I have to agree with the Executive Committee. Any information is going to be so deeply buried now that digging it up will take more than a little bit of skill. Anyway, aren’t you going against the will of the Committee by asking me to do this?”

“Any member of the Committee may, if he or she desires, use external resources as a private citizen. I am choosing to exercise that right.” Lize was starting to get annoyed with this cross-examination.

“Okay. So, why me? There are several private investigators in NovoCastria, never mind the rest of the world.”

“I did a little investigation of my own and came to the conclusion that you’re probably the best one available at the moment. Obviously, if you feel that someone else may be better suited to my needs, then I shall speak to them instead.”

Kem felt as if his opportunity may be slipping away.

“No. The other lot couldn’t find their collective arses with a map and a torch, never mind follow up a serious investigation. I’m not saying that I’m not interested. I just think that you might be wasting your money and it might be more sensible for you to go along with the rest of the Committee.”

“Perhaps I should, Mr Logan. However, I have never been particularly rational when it comes to the New Argo and its colonisation attempt.”

Lize paused, feeling herself about to lose control again. She would not let herself, not this time. It was too important. She had to be strong. She could cry later.

“Even if nothing comes of it, I need to know that at least I tried. So. Will you accept the commission?”

Kem sat in his chair and looked at her. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t touch this job with a drone-controlled waldo. It was obviously futile and his employer seemed to have a lot of emotional baggage attached to it. But on the other hand, he needed some money and he could really charge a mint for it. And you never knew what he might discover. And if no one else was going to look into it, it made sense for someone who had the skills to do it. Someone like him.

“Yes, I’ll take it. I want to point out, however, that I have a clause in my contracts that states that if, at any point, it seems to be a futile endeavour, I am allowed to back out. I never continue working on pointless jobs, it would be a waste of both time and money for the pair of us. Obviously, if that were to be the case, I would pass over any findings I may have made over to you, to do with as you wish. I would also be willing to recommend someone to take over, if that was what you wanted to do.”

Lize smiled gently.

“You sound as if you are expecting failure, Mr Logan. Surely that is not the sort of mind-set you want when you are about to start a new investigation?”

“I am just letting you know what’s what. As I said, I’m not in the habit of trying to keep my clients paying for a job when I am of the opinion that it isn’t worth it. And I have to admit, I don’t think that I’m going to get very far. However, I don’t think that anyone else will do any better and some of my... colleagues aren’t so honest about the amount of work they do.”

“Thank you for being so open with me, Mr Logan. How much is this honesty going to cost me?”

“Please, call me Kem. I hate Mr Logan. And it will cost you five hundred Euro-dollars a day, plus expenses.”

“That sounds entirely unreasonable, considering your usual charge is three hundred a day.”

Kem coloured a little at this.

“True. However, I’m also not in the habit of trying to discover what happened to a spaceship million of miles away. This is well outside my usual area of expertise. So, I think a rise in my prices is justified.”

“I suppose you have a point. However, a two-thirds rise is still rather a lot. How about four hundred a day?”

“Plus expenses?”

“Plus expenses.”

“Thank you for being so understanding, Executive Carr. I assure you that I will do my utmost to find out everything I can. Can I just ask why you think it was sabotage? Are you certain that it wasn’t system failure of any sort?”

“Absolutely positive, Mr... Kem. Every system had triple redundancies built into it. The chance of simultaneous systems failure damaging the ship so much that the AI couldn’t transmit a complete distress signal is virtually zero.”

“But there is still a chance?”

“There is always a chance. There is also a chance that a meteor hit it. Hell, there is a chance that a giant space dragon appeared from a space anomaly and swallowed it whole. I think that I’d be more willing to place my bet on sabotage”

“Okay, I’ll get on to it immediately. I’ll get a contract drawn up immediately and sent to you. You can expect weekly progress reports, unless I find anything, in which case, I’ll contact you immediately, of course. I will need you to give me information all the that you have on the New Argo and Gamma Six.”

“Of course, Kem. Just let me know what you need. And thank you for accepting the commission.”

“My pleasure, Executive Carr.”

They shook hands again and Lize buzzed Saffia to have her show Kem back to the station.

Kem remained calm until he stepped on to the h-tram. Then, he allowed a huge grin to cross his face.

“Fucking hell,” he said to himself, “this is going to be one hell of a job.”

Chapter Six

Kem sat at his desk, mentally preparing himself for the legwork. In reality, most of his investigations, especially in the early parts, were conducted from behind his desk, with very little movement. Which was why he needed all of the state-of-the-art equipment. Although, now he had seen what was used by the Exec’s staff, he realised that he wasn’t as cutting edge as he had always assumed. Still, it gave him something to aim towards. Maybe he could make some sort of a deal with Carr – ask for some of that gear in part payment. Except it was probably so expensive, that he’d end up owing her money.

The first thing he needed was more information on the New Argo. What would he need from Carr? She had said that he could have anything he needed and that opened up huge possibilities to him. But initially, he had to narrow it down to what he definitely needed. There would be no point in asking her for information that was readily available through normal channels. The technical specifications for the New Argo would be useful and were undoubtedly locked up somewhere, victim of the usual paranoid psyche of the Executive Committee – never tell anyone anything if you could avoid it. Instead, fill up their minds with crap that looks like information but is as about as useful as a chocolate heat shield. Did anyone REALLY care what Nelson Jones’ – chief medical officer of the New Argo – favourite song was (‘Do It With A Gun’ by Skin Thieves); it wasn’t as if he was going to receive any Christmas presents from any of his fans. But what people never really noticed, unless they were really looking, was the lack of detailed information. There were any number of cut-away diagrams of the New Argo, showing the crew quarters and the freezer pods – but never any design diagrams. There were literally hundreds of speculative essays on what the colonists first few years on Gamma Six would be like but nothing that would pinpoint the planet itself, except for the fact that it orbited a star about five light years away. So, Kem needed to dig. And having a rebel member of the Executive Committee on his side could only be useful.

Still, he couldn’t rely on her, she might start to wonder what it was he was doing to earn his pay. So, he had Julia send out info-miners – micro-coded copies of her personality – into the net, to see what they could dig up. Then, he sent an e-mail to Carr, including a copy of the contract and a list of the sort of information he already had and what he thought he might need.

***

An AI suddenly discovered that a certain set of criteria, programmed into it several years ago, had just been met. Criteria that meant that it was allowed to interrupt its owners work.

“Sir?” it said, “I have something here that may interest you.”

“What is it?” the owner asked.

“I have intercepted a mail to Executive Carr. She has employed a private detective to look into the New Argo incident.”

“Ah. Has she?”

“Yes sir.”

“This is not good. Activate Barnes. I may have a job for him.”

“Very good sir.”

***

“Julia, get Sammy for me, please,” Kem said.

“Sammy? You aren’t going to tell him what you’re doing are you? You know what he’s like. He’ll try and use it to clamber up the ladder.”

“No, Julia. I’m not going to tell him anything. I’m going to get some information from him.”

“Okay, Kem. If you’re sure...”

“Yes, Julia,” Kem said, sighing heavily. “I’m sure.”

The picture faded to black and a dialling tone sounded. It buzzed a couple of times before it was answered. Kem could hear what was being said without the picture showing.

“Hi, Samuel Johnson, NovoCastria Journal. How can I help? Oh, hi Julia. Kem got something for me?”

“He wants to speak to you, Samuel,” Julia said.

“I’m always willing to speak to a friend, you know that, Julia.”

“Yes,” Julia sounded unsure about that statement. “I’ll put him on.”

The screen immediately went from blank to showing Samuel’s face. He did not look especially happy to see Kem. Samuel looked down his nose at Kem and snorted deeply, setting his jowls wobbling. As always, his hair and clothing were immaculate. Kem had eaten with him once before and his habit of examining all the cutlery minutely to check it’s cleanliness and then re-aligning it all constantly to make sure that it was all positioned perfectly almost drove Kem insane. He was also unsure how Samuel had managed to get so fat, considering it had taken him twenty minutes and twelve re-thinks to choose his meal.

“Doc, hi. How are you?” Kem asked, breezily.

Samuel gritted his teeth.

“I keep telling you, Kem, it’s Samuel. Not Doc or Sammy or Sam or anything. Samuel. What do you want? Do you have anything interesting for me?”

“Sorry, not this time. I’m between jobs at the moment,” Kem knew that if he didn’t lie through his teeth, Samuel would pump him for information until he got something.

Samuel tutted gently. That was another of his habits that set Kem’s teeth on edge.

“I don’t know, Kem. Are you sure you’re in the right line of work? You never seem to have a job anymore.”

“I’m just going through a quiet patch. It gets like this at the same time every year for some reason, you know. Anyway, I’ve got a favour to ask of you.”

Samuel sighed.

“When will I stop paying for that Hamilton kidnapping?”

“Hey, come on. You got an exclusive on that. It must have earned you thousands!”

“All right. Go on then. What would you like to know?”

Kem paused.

“Well, you know this whole thing with the New Argo?”

“No, what?” Samuel said sarcastically. “Has something happened?”

“I’m after any information you can dig up for me on the New Argo and the whole Gamma Six colonisation project. Especially on anyone who was against it.”

Samuel looked at him appraisingly.

“Do you know something? Tell me, please.”

“I promise, Samuel. I don’t know anything. It’s purely personal. I’m just mulling a few things over.”

“Well... okay. I’ll see what I can find for you. But only because it’s quiet here as well. But you have to promise if you find out anything, I get first refusal on the story!”

“As always, Doc. Thanks very much. I’ll speak to you soon.”

Kem cut the connection, just as Samuel was swearing at him. Kem knew it wasn’t really a good idea to bait people who you were asking for information, but it was just too easy with Samuel.

Chapter Seven

The information from Lize soon started to come in. Technical specifications for everything from the flight systems to the freezer pods to the door controls. Astronomical and geological data on the planet. This was going to take Kem forever to wade through and just looking at the circuit diagrams and program listings was making his head spin. He wasn’t an engineer, by any stretch of the imagination. He realised how foolish he was to even think that he would be able to make anything of this information, never mind being able to rule out possible areas of investigation based on it.

After examining the information for a while, he knew he was totally out of his depth. Even the introduction to the paper on the modified Ramjet that powered the New Argo contained words with more syllables than he was comfortable with. He couldn’t even pronounce half of them. He needed to talk to Juh. He was great at this stuff. Being an information merchant meant that Juh had to keep up to date with technology. That meant that he could speak technical jargon. On top of that, Juh was a certified genius level intellect. He read technical manuals for fun. And he was handsome and had a beautiful wife and could drink Kem under the table. Kem often wondered why he was such good friends with the bastard.

“Julia, I need to speak to Juh, please” he said.

“Okay, Kem.”

The screen went blank. Once again Kem heard the dialling tone. It was answered almost immediately and the Info-tech logo appeared. There was a digital squeal as Julia spoke to George, Juh’s AI.

The screen went blank again as he was put on hold and Kem idly doodled whilst he was waiting. When it next lit up, Juh’s wide, mahogany coloured, expressive face was grinning out at him.

“Kem!” he said loudly. Juh was the sort of person whose volume control was set far too high. Everything came out at a near-bellow. “Damn fine session last night!”

“You’re telling me. I felt like shit this morning.”

“Really?” Juh’s grin widened even further. “I felt fine.”

“You always do. It’s that African blood you’ve got. Having ancestors who stalked lions on the Serengeti has hardened you!”

Juh laughed.

“What do you mean ancestors? I did it last year!”

“I meant in real life and for their whole lives. Not in Simlex for a couple of days.”

“Ah, I see,” Juh’s face darkened for a moment, then brightened up. “It couldn’t be just that you are a total wimp, of course.”

“Perish the thought!” Kem replied, laughing.

Kem paused and his face turned serious.

“Look, Juh. I need a favour. I’ve got a new job and it looks like I’m going to need your services. It’s really important. I mean REALLY important. I think that it’s pretty much outside anything you’ll have done before.”

Juh looked very interested.

“Sounds good. Come over and we’ll discuss it. Bring a bottle of wine. Stay for dinner.”

“Sure thing. See you soon.”

The screen went blank. Kem hurriedly copied all of the data he had received onto a blank data crystal.

“Julia, I’m going to see Juh. I doubt I’ll be back today, patch any important calls through to Juh.”

“You mean, the usual procedure for when you visit Juh?”

“Well... yes. Okay, I’m sorry, Julia. I know I don’t have to tell you every time, but it’s just a habit.”

“I know, Kem. Okay, have fun. Oh. Tomorrow, make sure everything is zipped and buttoned. Okay?”

Kem laughed.

“Okay,” he said. “See you tomorrow.”

Juh’s office and home was several stories up. Kem suspected that, if he wanted to, he could live even higher. But Kem couldn’t see Juh up there. There were too many differences between Juh’s effusive personality and the quiet, aloof atmosphere that he had encountered that morning. Everything about Juh was big and bright and brash. His office had bright orange walls and lime green carpets.

Angela was waiting for him in the reception. She was everything that Juh was not. She was very short – just over one and a half metres tall and she had very pale, freckled skin and very long, red hair that she usually kept in a French plait. She was wearing a mid-thigh length emerald green dress that almost exactly matched the colour of her eyes. She reached up and kissed Kem on the cheek.

“Angela!” Kem said, “Congratulations!”

“Thank you, Kem. Trust you two to turn my pregnancy into an excuse to completely rat arsed”, she said. “Not that you needed an excuse,”

“Hey! That’s unfair! We don’t always end up drunk!”

“When you two get together you’re worse than a couple of teenagers,” she said. “Juh said to go straight in. I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah. See you.”

Kem gave Angela another kiss and then walked through into Juh’s office.

***

Juh’s office was very similar to the reception area. If anything, it was even brighter. One wall consisted of a huge picture screen that showed something different every time Kem visited. And considering he was here at least once a week and had been for the last five or six years, that was quite a range. Currently, it was showing a romanticised view of a meteor field, rocks glittering in the shafts of sunlight and distant spaceships zooming around. Shelves on the other walls showed off some of Juh’s passion for technology. He spent large amounts of time and money collecting and renovating antique machinery; his pride and joy, which he kept in a locked behind a steel-glass door, was a ‘prime example of late twentieth century computer architecture’. Whenever Kem looked at the beige coloured keyboard he wondered how anyone could do anything with this Acorn BBC-B Personal Computer. Thirty-two kilobytes wasn’t enough to make him a cup of tea never mind do any useful work, although Juh had told him, frankly unbelievable, stories about entire government departments being run on 64K and sharing capacity with the department next door.

Juh was sitting behind his desk – a bizarre glass and stainless steel construction that could sprout pieces of hardware from artfully hidden compartments.

“So, Kem, What’s this REALLY important job you’ve got that?” he said, mimicking Kem’s earlier comment, but at a much louder volume.

“Would you believe me if I told you that I met Lize Carr this morning?” Kem said.

“Yeah, right. And I’m expecting Nicholas Bateman for a breakfast meeting tomorrow morning.”

“No, I did. I met her and she’s given me a job,” Kem said.

“What? Really? Shit.” Juh was impressed. He almost never swore. “What’s the job?”

Kem paused. For the first time, he wondered whether or not it was a good idea to tell anybody else. After all, Carr wouldn’t want the fact that she had hired him to get out. However, this was Juh and Kem knew that he could count on Juh with his life. Literally.

“She wants me to find out who sabotaged the New Argo,” he said.

Juh paused and stared at him for a few seconds. Then he burst into laughter. His booming laugh shook his body so much that he fell of his chair and lay helplessly on the floor.

“That... that is so good!” he gasped. “You almost had me believing you. Sabotaged the New Argo! Oh God, that’s funny.”

Calmly, Kem went around to Juh’s side of the desk and called up a crystal-slot from the desk. He connected his pad to it, downloaded a file and switched it to the wall screen. The asteroid belt faded and was replaced by a letter.

Dear Mr. Logan,

Here, as requested, are the files on the New Argo and on the planet Gamma Six. Also enclosed is a copy of the contract signed by Executive Carr. She hopes that they will prove useful to you and will allow you to come to some speedy conclusions

Yours sincerely,

Saffia Chance.

Juh stopped laughing and got up from the floor. Kem got out of his chair and went back around to the other side. Juh called up a screen and a keyboard on the desk and moved the letter to it. After a minute or so of typing and muttering to himself, he looked up at Kem who was sitting, trying desperately not to look smug.

“Okay, the authentication code checks out. This letter is real. How the hell did you pull this one off?” He said. This was the first time that Kem had ever heard his voice drop to a whisper. It was weird.

“I didn’t. She called me,” Kem said. “She said that the Executive Committee had vetoed investigating it and she wanted to know who did it.”

“She thinks it’s sabotage then?”

“Yeah. She was very insistent. Refused to consider any other possibilities.”

“Really? You’d better be careful about what you find out then. If you come up with anything that suggests it wasn’t sabotage she might get annoyed.”

“Are you saying that I should fake my investigation?” Kem sounded shocked.

“Not at all. Just be careful the way you phrase anything that might annoy her.”

“Thanks, that’s a big help!”

“No problems,” Juh chose to ignore the sarcasm. “What was it you wanted me for?”

“She sent me all these files, with a lot of tech. I’d like to you take a look at them and see if you can make anything of them.”

“Okay. Can I keep copies?”

“Sure, as long as they’re secure and no-one else gets hold of it. I think this stuff is still fairly classified.”

“Hey, you know me! I keep all my information under heavy encryption. It only gets out to people who pay the right money. And believe me, this won’t be for sale. You know, you really don’t need to ask me to do that.”

“I know. I’m sorry, I’m just feeling a little stressed by this job. This could really make my name. I don’t want to do anything to screw it up.”

“You’ll be fine. Now go and annoy Angela for a while. Let me glance at the files. I’ll tell you how long it’s going to take to get anything useful out of them over dinner.”

“Thanks, Juh. You’re a good friend,” Kem said.

“The best. And don’t you forget it.”

Kem stood up.

“See you, later.”

But Juh was already off on another planet, playing with his computers and his information. Kem smiled gently and walked out of the door.

***

Mr. Barnes was not a big man. He was actually very average. He was about average height and about average build. He wouldn’t stand out in a crowd, especially as he wore average clothes and spoke with an average tone of voice – never too loud and never too soft. However, his eyes gave him away. They were small and set a long way apart. His pupils seemed to take up most of the eyeball, with only a thin ring of piercing blue around them and a hint of the whiteness around that. They were not friendly eyes.

He walked into an office and sat down in front of a desk. The man on the other side of the desk regarded Mr Barnes impassively. Behind the man, a picture window looked out over the central atrium of one of the towers, a view that gave most people severe vertigo, but added to the man’s personal sense of power. He could look out and know that the movement he could vaguely see half a mile below him was a mass of humanity. If he wanted, he could zoom in on anyone of them and know everything there was to know about that person. If he wanted, he could then have that person erased. Not only would the person not exist, but all records relating to him or her would be expunged. That person would, as far as all the important tests were concerned, never have existed. That some members of ‘society’ claimed to remember such-and-such an individual was not important. Society was not important, except inasmuch as it gave him power.

“There was a job for me?” Mr Barnes said, in his impassive voice.

“Executive Carr had launched an investigatio