Star Law: A Marshal Cole Series

Chapter 25 (c)

Doctor Kripisov was on the warpath when the group returned to the security office. She practically led Cole and Volks away by the ear to the clinic for mandatory shuteye. Cutler also took some rack time once he was briefed on the Goroshenko situation. It was decided again to rotate people through rest cycles with less than three days left to the planetary system. This is when the ship would slow and just outside the belt release attached exterior cargo containers for the asteroid mining teams.

Deputy Jay Champion was tasked with finding Goroshenko and following him without revealing it. The captain authorized a special security certificate and nanite cloud was released through a vent into the cabin. Together the nanotechnology bugs would bind together to form a continuously operating video feed from the cabin. The bugs would blend into the wall camouflaging themselves and be invisible to the naked eye.

There was some risk that the bugs could be detected.Skilled operators could sweep for and then disable them using a directed electromagnetic pulse. Champion was unsure of what sort of man Goroshenko was and if he was that cautious. Still, this was the best that could be done. The assignment was to surveil and not approach. A continuous video feed to security was set up and it remained to be seen what the next step would be.

Champion walked down the corridor and ducked his head into one of the rooms where Boz, Miguel and Tilston-Horn sat with a number of datapadds spread across a table.

"The video feed is now set up and on your big screen ," said Champion. He tapped a wall control panel and a split screen view of Goroshenkos's cabin was seen. "He's still not there and we have not located him on regular security footage. I'll update if he turns up on any other video feed."

"Thank you, Deputy Chief," said Boz to Champion. "It will be up to us to come up with a capture and hold plan for such individuals if and when it is needed."

Champion grunted and left the room leaving the three to observe the video of the empty cabin.

"So how do we capture either Goroshenko or Orion if we do find them?" Miguel asked.

Richard Tilston-Horn's brow furrowed and he pulled out a datapadd and searched out Faraday cages. He put the information up on one of the wall screens. Immediately Boz's light lit up.

"You are thinking that electric fields play a role in apportation?" Boz questioned.

"It's a theory," said Horn. "I have my doubt on a human being creating a warp bubble and moving from place to place. The energy needed, the problems of navigation – it is all just a bit too much to overcome."

"But you are thinking about some sort of electrical field, quantum entanglement?" Boz asked.

"Yes," said Horn. "Something that transports human atoms but that allows for some sort of conscious control over the process. No good if you end up materializing outside of the ship, yes?"

"Or inside a bulkhead," added Miguel. "I still don't know how a Faraday cage can help."

"If we assume that psi isn't magic then there has to be science behind it," said Horn. "Keeping that in mind, we form a hypothesis of how these psi powers occur and this forms the basis of our response to it."

"We don't have much time to experiment given our time, constraints," said Boz.

"No, we don't," answered Horn. "It's a bit of a crapshoot. The Faraday cage is our roll of the dice. But it isn't like we can place them all over the ship. We have to pick our battle."

"Pardon?" questioned Miguel with confusion.

"It means we have to place one where it has the greatest chance of having someone enter it," said Horn.

"Oh, why didn't you say that?" said Miguel. "I think I know of the right place."

"I believe I can find all the materials for a cage,"stated Boz. "I presume that it should not look like a cage when we build it so as to not raise suspicions in those we wish to catch."

"You presume right," replied Horn. "Also, the smaller the circle of who knows what we're building, the better."

"The Marshal has impressed upon me that we may be vulnerable to intelligence breaches," said Boz, his eyes flashing.

"And not just systems hacking," Horn said. "It's possible that our own thoughts will betray us. And if that is the case, we might even try some disinformation to help our cause."

"The fact that I don't know what the heck we're building should pretty much confuse anyone reading my mind," said Miguel with a grin.

"And I don't have a mind to read," said Boz. "Well, not in the organic sense anyway."

Horn and Boz chuckled at that. It was always difficult to read the android at the best of times but it almost appeared to be that he was developing a sense of humour. The three left the confines of the security office to build their device in private without so much as a by your leave.