On the High Frontier

4. Trick or Trap (part 3/6)

Char is smiling with anticipation. He walks slowly towards her checking something on his dPad. "So what are you doing here?"

Why is he so cock-sure? "Officer Fergussen, I'm a senior operations technician standing in a power distribution core unit. Surely the question is what are you and the VE doing here?"

He takes a long look at her and the Chloe costume. "That doesn't really look like your normal working outfit, or are they branching out at the Bureau?"

"You may not have noticed, but it's Halloween out there. I was having a quiet evening when I noticed a popped hatch on what should have been a sealed access closet. I found a material transit tube with the guards and safeties removed. When I came through, I emerged in that storeroom behind me." She nods towards the door she came in through.

Char indicates for a couple of his troops to check the room. "Of course your immediate reaction to an open transit tube was to have a joy ride. Why does this not surprise me?"

Nuts, how much is she going to have to tell him? "As I entered the access room I saw a young girl going down the tube. I decided to follow both to ensure she was alright and prevent her from causing problems down here. These facilities are CRIT-2."

"I am well aware of that, thank you." Sounds like this is not the first time he's had that particular conversation recently. "This just gets better and better. And where is this elusive young waif now?"

"Well presumably she went off in a direction other than the one you came from." She makes a show of looking round. "If I were her I would make my way towards the control suite." She points at the sign on the wall.

Char looks at her appraisingly. He comes to a decision. "If I believed your mythical kid existed, I would be worried. Do you have any idea what's going on here?" It was Kimiko's turn to be confused. "Do you not keep up with the FACs. We have a group of fugitives holed up in this unit." Oh, she hadn't realised that's here. "If anyone had gone that way they'd have run straight into trouble. But from previous experience I'm inclined to doubt they exist."

"Look, check the surveillance, she'll be on it."

"You really don't know what's happening do you. The fugitives are ex-colleagues of yours and associates of your rogue administrator. They have control of the facility and have locked the surveillance against external access. That's why we haven't stormed them." Hopefully that and the fact that a stray discharge could black out a significant portion of P2, or worse. "We picked you up on acoustics and came down here thinking we'd caught some of them away from their sanctuary."

The pair of troopers come back out the storeroom and give Char a thumbs up. "At least I can thank you for solving the problem of how they got in here." He refers to the dPad again. "I see that you've already been investigated and cleared of association with the rogue elements, though I may have to put in a report querying that. In the meantime I'll have to ask you to leave."

There's nothing else for it, she'll have to tell him everything. "Look, I was following the girl. She's a 15 year old from my block and she'd run away to go to the party in Prime. When I confronted her she bolted down here."

"You just don't know when to give up do you. In that case you should know her name."

"Ueno Sachi, but she ..."

"Uh uh uh." Char shushes her as he checks the registry and Location Services, just as she did. "I'm afraid you'll have to do better than that. That may be someone you know but her link is at home. And when do teenagers go anywhere without their tech?" It's really annoying to hear her own arguments coming back at her.

"When they're doing something they aren't meant to?"

"Didn't anyone tell you it's best to keep your lies simple. Look, I don't know what you want in here but if you don't leave now I will have you charged with interfering in VE business and wasting VE time. Is that clear?" He glares at her. "And don't try calling your mother. Yes, it's in the file. That doesn't cut any ice with me."