On the High Frontier

5. Nothing Special (part 4/10)

She forwards the message to James who puts it up on one of the big monitors. The pictures don't look any better there. "How did he?"

James leans forward to examine the images on his system. "I think that might be the Cyrellian lab. But there's something off. The images are badly artifacted." At the larger scale the flatness of the detail and fuzziness of the edges are obvious. "I think this is reconstructed data."

She thinks back.  "If it's Cyrellian I span out a compromise mesh to scramble surveillance. I was rushed so it mightn't have completely wiped any hardened systems."

James looks hard at Kimiko. "I wonder, what if we were wrong about that. What if it wasn't an attempt to get you. Maybe they were trying to get a look at a sheath in action. An energy lab would have all kinds of sensors." He starts pulling up other information. Sayoko's recordings from that night appear. A couple of the devices are highlit. "Yeah, that's the same geometry." An image freezes and zooms in. "And look at that. A Matheson multi-spectral surveillance  imager, not your normal laboratory gear." It looks out of place. "They overstore image data to allow reorientation, refocussing, and detail enhancement." A short flurry of transforms bring up a new but familiar view. "Yup, the images are from that. Your scrambler probably didn't hit the data hard enough to remove all structure. With enough processing power and time it must have been recoverable."

On reflection there were other things from that night that niggled Kimiko. "You know, those auto turrets should have been too fast for me to avoid. They were why I used Sayoko." She really didn't enjoy thinking about that night. "Once I did get out the lab they were serious about taking me out; those were military stun launchers.  Who uses  those for site security?"

James' brow furrows for a moment. "DandeFyre had sight of Rho-Ohki during your daring antennacide. Up close the sheaths have a very distinct energy signature, though it's very local due to T/S distortion. They might theorise a high energy discharge would be effective. You'd need to be in Noriko to survive several of those unscathed."

Fee looks over from the couch where she has collapsed with a coffee. "They probably thought you were cornered. I can't imagine they expected something like that overload. It looked spectacular from where I was." She takes another mouthful of coffee. "If Kervin was involved is that why he came after me."

James looks up thoughtfully. "It's possible. Just remember I don't believe Ferris realises I know he's Kervin. It's an edge."

Fee looks at them. "I'm feeling a bit like wheels on a void craft here. Anything useful I can do?"

"You could deal with your secret admirer." Another message from Char has arrived. If he doesn't hear something he may get awkward. "James, can Fee have an untraceable link?"

"Sure." He points to a station in the middle of the room. Kimiko forwards the messages as Fee walks over. There is a bounce in her step.

Next problem. "We need to find out what Ferris wants. I'll need a secure environment to contact him, preferably isolated."

James straightens and stretches his back. "Well, we could load your system dump into an emulator. With proper virtualisation nothing else would be at risk, and we can monitor for subversion. You'll have to recut your home systems keys anyway." James leans back and opens a small cabinet on his desk. The remote token interface is already showing Sayoko before she sees the earrings in his hand. Chloe is also in the box. It amuses Kimiko he has changed the codes to names, but he is very sensitive about any mention of the Space Girls. "I've installed a full emulation layer on Sayoko. It has enough power to run your entire base home array." He pulls the tokens back as she reaches out. "You know the rules." She reaches into her bag and gives him Noriko's comb in exchange.