Realm Wars

Chapter 7

It's not that Dash wanted to be fired. On the contrary, she quite enjoyed her mundane life here on Hestia. Nothing exciting ever happened at the Cube--well aside from today's incident. The basement was a quiet place where she was left to her own devices. Most of the colonists and clones were simple people and the tons were... well, tons. Granted the dating pool was a bit dry. But for the most part that kept her from getting involved in messy entanglements. All and all, this was just the kind of job she'd always wanted. Safe and secure. But whenever Buzz got involved, she always ended up riding the snarky train into the station. She really couldn't help it. He just knew how to throttle her engines.

As Dash shut down the interface, she could hear cheers from the personnel behind her. She cringed. Dash wasn't one for big crowds. After finishing up at the control panel, she lowered her virtual vizard and examined the sea of people. Several salvagers trudged out of the tunnels, visibly exhausted. Medical teams rushed to check their vitals and hand out food and water. Perhaps she could sneak out without Buzz noticing. If the executor knew where she was heading, he would almost definitely disapprove. The wormhole stood next to another employee, sipping on what appeared to be yet another soft drink. Now was her chance. She turned to the admin-drone. "Mother, go inform the executor that everything is finished here."

"Acknowledged." The hoverton spun around and fluttered toward the executor.

Perfect.

She weaved through the sea of response personnel, keeping to the edge of the crowd.

From the corner of her eye Dash noticed a husky man heading toward her. Griff, the Chief Security Officer. So much for being inconspicuous.

"That was incredible. The tons worked for hours and couldn't do a damn thing. What's your name, young lady?" He extended his hand for a handshake.

Dash hesitated. The burly man snatched her hand before she could think of an excuse not to shake it. His firm grip nearly crushed her palm.

"Dash," she replied through gritted teeth.

"The medical team reported no casualties. They say the salvagers will be just fine."

He released her hand.

Dash shook it out, then massaged it. "Good to hear."

"Someone with your talents shouldn't be wasting away as a Cube technician."

She shrugged. "It's steady work and the pay is decent."

He nodded.

"You know, the job's done. You can take your mask off now."

Dash inched back. She knew he meant well, but the chief was a little pushy. "I'm uh..." she activated her utility cuff, "...still reviewing—"

"See, I told you. Our best technician. Worth every penny." Buzz interrupted. Dash had never been so happy to see the gangly man in her whole life. He slurped on an Astaro-Cola as he approached. The hoverton fluttered beside him.

Buzz was such a ton. But at least he distracted the chief's attention away from her mask. Now that they were both here, maybe she could take advantage of the situation.

She faced Griff.
"Chief, this incident was caused by a virus."

Griff glanced at Buzz. "A virus?"

"I've never seen anything like it before. It appears to be contained to a subset of folders. But I'd like to investigate a bit further. Seems to have originated from a malfunctioning trash-ton. The logs say that the ton came from Dig Site Six earlier this morning. If you don't mind, I'd like to take the machine offline and run some tests. And tomorrow I'd like to go to Six and examine those servers."

The chief nodded. "I'll—"

One of the security crew cut him off. "Chief, we got a bit of a problem."

"What is it?"

"The Director requested a status report on the incident."

"How did he catch wind of this so quickly?"

The man shrugged. "My guess would be that consultant, Dr. Nightingale."

Griff cursed under his breath, then turned to Dash and released a heavy sigh. "The fun never ends here." The security chief handed her his holopad. "Whatever you need, just make sure this event is contained. We don't want another lockdown. But be careful. Like I said, Six has become a bit of a ghost town ever since the wigs cut back our funding." He glanced over his shoulder. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go explain all of this to the Director."

Dash nodded and took the holopad, then Chief Griff left.

Buzz skulked toward her, sifting his drink and glaring at her. "Dash, the consummate hero."

Dash ignored the comment and tucked the holopad under her arm. "I think that virus may be connected to the anomalies I found in the server farm. Tomorrow, I'm going to dig site six to check it out."

Buzz shook his head. "You will do no such thing."

"But you heard Chief—"

He held up a hand. "This falls outside the scope of our contract. If the colonists want us to investigate further then they'll need to renegotiate the terms."

Dash raised her visor. "Buzz, this is more than just an automaton malfunction. I'm not sure if this is anomalous activity or industrial espionage. But lives are at stake, including yours." Dash leaned in and lowered her voice. "I think somebody may have introduced malicious code into our system."

The Executor scoffed. "For what purpose? To steal a bunch of ancient rocks? There's nothing of value on this planet."

Dash put her hands on her hips. "Maybe not, but you saw what happened today. Could you imagine if one of the main facilities went on lockdown? Or worse, headquarters?"

Buzz narrowed his eyes but did not respond. Instead, he stirred the straw of his drink.

She gestured toward the crowd of people beside them.

"This is a security matter that involves the whole colony. We are required by law to investigate."

Buzz paused. No doubt he was calculating a way to twist some obscure policy into his argument. "Fine." He nodded at the hoverton. "The admin-drone will accompany you."

Dash and Mother faced each other.

The machine tilted its camcorder-shaped face. "Query: Does the executor wish for this unit to ensure that Dash completes the annual training slides?"

Buzz pointed his drink at Dash. "You will track her billable hours." Despite his skulking figure, the man's chest seemed to puff out slightly.

"Acknowledged," Mother focused its red optical lens on Dash. "There is always time for one more task."

"I'm fully capable of tracking my own hours."

"You're also fully capable of answering your holo-com, right?"

Dash pursed her lips. Several retorts came to mind, but none that she dared to say out loud.

He gestured at the admin-drone, "The ton goes with you."

Sun spit. What a snot sniffing, machine mucking, aft shaft.

Buzz pushed his coke-bottle glasses back to the top of his beak and took another sip from his straw.

How did she end up with this wormhole for a supervisor? Dash imagined shoving the drink directly down his gangly throat. She didn't have to put up with this. She was the top technician in the company. "You know, I heard that Excelsior doesn't even track hours. They pay their employees based on performance. I wonder what that's like?"

"Well, that's funny because I didn't think they hired people with your type of," he paused, "background." But who knows, maybe they'd make an exception in your case?"

My background? Vac' you Buzznard.

Why couldn't he get locked down in the mucking tunnels? Or eaten by a pantra? She frowned. As much as she hated to admit it, the executor was right. Dash couldn't quit. Dath Corp was the only business in the quadrant that would hire someone with a past like hers. Dash gave a pursed smile then marched toward the exit.