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CHAPTER 2
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It was twelve o'clock at night, and Shandra was still poring over her computer. She knew she'd have dark circles under her eyes tomorrow, but she had to finish what she was doing. While she could have set the program to automatic mode and gone to sleep, she preferred to take care of everything herself. After all, paranoia had kept her from being tracked and caught yet. Especially since today, unusually, she wasn't working for hire, but for herself.
The computer beeped softly. The following text appeared on the screen:
FEDERATION DATA BANK
BRANCH NO. 123005HTS
SPECIALIZATION: Institutional Data
SPECIFICATION: 123/234/12F
HEADQUARTERS: Korin (Mar VII System, Moon)
STATUS: Restricted (Access Level: 6)
WARNING: LOG OUT!!!
"What else," Sha muttered to herself. Her hands hovered over the old-style palette keyboard for a moment, as if it were some strange instrument before a concert, then dropped. She posed as the administrator of the link. She had been monitoring transmissions from this bank for a month now, and finally, yesterday, she had managed to intercept the signature and password file of one of the administrators.
"Let me see what you have for me."
She switched to search. She entered: ADOPTION DOCUMENTS.
WARNING!—the computer shrieked—"PASSWORD PROTECTED DATA."
She opened the prepared file with the passwords and entered the appropriate ones. The system, convinced she was dealing with someone familiar and with the appropriate credentials, calmed down. Shandra clicked the SEARCH icon again. She entered:
YEAR: 120-224-550/1
NAME: KILPATTRICK
The computer graciously informed her that the data was loading. A program of her own design, running in parallel, was counting down the seconds. It seemed to her that—as usual—time was passing much faster than it should have. In a small window in the corner of the screen, it displayed information about the number of people currently logged in, searching for any signatures she had indicated, such as the administrator she was impersonating. Another program, running on a different computer, separate from the one she was working on, was distracting virtual police units, wreaking havoc and confusion in the files of a certain corporation that had recently stepped—unwittingly, of course—on the toes of a certain "masterOF empire."
"Come on, sweetie," she encouraged.
FOUND "KILPATTRICK" (132)
DISPLAY: random >> MARIA KILPATTRICK ( JM Marsh
Children's Home , Inder, Downstar system, EVENT: coming of age) >>MORE>> >> "HEART ON A HAND" FOUNDATION (president: ADRIEN KILPATTRICK, EVENT: death) >>MORE>>
> ANNA, JOSHUA, SEVERIN KILPATTRICK
(siblings, INCIDENT: adopted,
CLASSIFIED)
>>MORE>>
>> DAVID, SUZANA KILPATTRICK (
adoptive parents, INCIDENT: adoption,
CLASSIFIED)
>>MORE>>
>> MOLFRED, KAIME, KASTILIUS KILPATTRICK
(foster family, INCIDENT: adoption,
CLASSIFIED)
Next Page >>
Shandra felt a sinking feeling in her stomach when she saw the parents' names on the first list, even though she knew perfectly well she'd find them there. Today's search was just one of many she'd conducted over the past six years.
She selected the appropriate option and spent the next half hour cracking through security. Three times, some AI-2 virtual cop had approached her dangerously, but her tracking program always warned her in time. In the end, she sent the cop to hell. Those slivers of code, scattered almost aimlessly across the Net, were irritating but harmless if anyone knew how to deal with them. They were merely artificial creations, following a specific procedure, and there were so many of them that the absence of one or two wouldn't surprise or interest anyone. The real danger came only from class ten and above, who learned and sent regular reports to the family server. And the worst were those from the IGPD Computer Crimes Unit, living, intelligent, and material beings—humans, Perlesians, and Plizmics—connected to the network via internal neural implants, literally living their lives for their work.
Fortunately, Shandra had made sure they had something to do in advance. Her perfectly written virus had been leading them by the nose for several minutes, and the situation showed no signs of changing.
She smiled to herself at the thought.
Finally, the security measures released, and Sha was able to download the files she wanted. She leaned back in her chair, watching the red bar adorned with the flashing "LOADING..." sign. As usual, it crawled terribly, almost excruciatingly slowly, but that was normal for this type of connection. Leaving aside the limitations of the node on Beta, containing thirty-three metacrystals, only one of which was Class III, or the corporate nodes on Celeborn V's moons, which, while qualitatively superior, were also more carefully guarded (every transmission above a certain threshold was logged, and although Sha had learned over the years to bypass some of the corporate security measures, she could never achieve a transfer speed that fully satisfied her), the conditions on the planet effectively prevented Celeborn IV from fully integrating into the Federation of Worlds' computer life. The main reason for this was the abundant deposits of Class V telecommunications crystals in the north of the planet's larger, inhabited continent. These effectively disrupted all systems operating on Class V and IV telecommunications crystals, making "terrestrial" communication extremely difficult. While a complete set of aligned crystals two classes higher would have solved the interference problem, a planet with such a short history simply couldn't afford to deploy such systems across the entire continent: a telecommunications system typically consisted of a small number of higher-class elements, augmented by lower-class elements. In Celeborn's case, using a Class V wouldn't have been possible; even using a Class IV would have been risky, and Class III and higher were rare and expensive. As a result, the Celeborians were forced to invest in more unreliable satellites and outdated fiber optics—the curse of planets with even a trace of metacrystal deposits. As a result, the standard of communication on the planet was abysmal. Shandra was lucky, anyway. Sartre I, the planetary capital where she had the privilege of living, housed the largest communications relay on Celeborn IV, the only one with third-class crystals, thanks to which the connection time with the node on Beta (the larger of Celeborn IV's moons) or with one of the corporate nodes went from pathetically slow to simply agonizing.
Shandra stretched in her armchair, reaching for the mug of tea that had long since cooled on the table nearby.
97… 98… 99… 100%
No. Finally.
She logged out hastily—the experience of the past few years had taught her that every extra second spent where she wasn't wanted was asking for disaster—and was just about to start reviewing the data she'd been waiting for so impatiently when she saw a glint of light on the glass. She looked out the one-way transparent window.
Yes. His Lordship Daile had deigned to return.
She tilted her head to get a better look as he got out of the car. Xiarra Portana, model 108F. Damn showoff.
He finally clambered out (though "crawling" and "Kristian Daile" shouldn't appear in the same sentence, Sha tek thought) and closed the door. The car, pre-programmed, drove itself into the garage, and Daile could enter the house. But not before he glanced up at Shandra's window, which made her involuntarily recoil. As if he could see right through it!
Sha stepped away from the window and shuddered. Instead of returning immediately to the computer and the data waiting for her, she paused at the air vent and listened. Since birth, or at least as long as she could remember, her hearing had been incredibly acute. She closed her eyes and imagined Daile walking down the hallway. Then down the stairs. The hallway again. Two steps. No, three. She hears him swipe a card through the lock, followed by the metallic click of the mechanism. Opens the door. Closes it…? Silence. No, not closes it. The door remains open. She turns on the computer monitor. Then she leaves and goes to the next room, to the on-duty office. She talks to one of the employees. Sha forgets his name. Kail…? Deel…? Something like that. She tells him to go home.
Hmmm, that's interesting. Could it be that after a whole day away, he just doesn't want to get some sleep? It's strange that she'd send her subordinate home, especially since she clearly wants to get rid of him.
Sha has completely forgotten her information.
Kail, or maybe Deel, has finally left. Kristian is left alone in the sleeping house. Or so he thinks, Sha thought. And she smiled. Maybe she'll finally be able to see what Daile's game is. Maybe this time she'll finally catch him… at something. It's incredible how unlucky she's been so far, for the past six years. She'd known from the start that something was off with Daile—she'd tried to look him up, but she'd discovered he didn't exist in any "reliable" database. Sure, he had a driver's license, ID, birth certificate, some typical-looking bank accounts, and apparently, he even had a mother somewhere. But other than that, nothing. No speeding tickets, no notes in his school records, no vacation photos, no friends, no enemies—just an ordinary, everyday citizen. Nothing alarming, except a few well-disguised gaps in his resume. Knowledgeable data scientists, and Sha was undoubtedly one of them, called such people "bureaucratically absent." Just like the individual known as Krystian Daile, they were there, yet as if they weren't.
As quietly as she could, Sharnda opened the door and slipped out into the hallway. She tiptoed past her parents' bedroom and down the stairs. Efficiently, quickly, and silently, she made her way to the back of the house, to the ground floor, where Daile's room and the security station were.
Kristian was at home. A bluish, flickering light seeped through the slightly ajar door. And voices.
"...but it'll be hard, you know that.
" "...you'll do it well... ...remember..."
A soft laugh.
"If you think that's all I'm good for..."
"No, but it helps. And considering...
Who the hell was he talking to?! Did she just imagine that Kail or Gail had left? But no, it couldn't have been the security guard; he was a man and had a low, vibrating voice. That voice was melodic. And feminine.
"...so when...?" the mysterious woman spoke again.
"Tomorrow, when the Kilpatricks take the kids. I'll have time."
Sha stepped a little closer. She was sweating and trying not to breathe. The woman's voice was clear now.
"How long?
" "They'll go to the amusement park. Three or four hours.
" "Are you kidding, is that all?" the woman seemed both amused and irritated.
"Enough.
" "You said it yourself it would be hard. And I might add, dangerous."
"I know. If it weren't for that, you would have taken someone else.
" "Undoubtedly. But be careful. I wouldn't want to lose my right arm..."
The conversation abruptly ended, and the light went out. Before Shandra could grasp what that meant, the door flew open, and she found herself face to face with Kristian Daile. Or rather, with his bare feet, because the sudden movement threw her off balance and she fell hard to the floor.
"Well, well, well, who do we have here?" Daile muttered, his tone amused, yet laced with a hint of irritation.
Shandra struggled to recover from the fall. Her head had hit the wall and she was now feeling a slight dizziness. Finally, she managed to get to her knees.
"You're going to kneel before me? How sweet," he sneered.
Shandra gritted her teeth. She wouldn't explain herself to him. She wasn't the one having late-night chats with immaterial women through connections that shouldn't exist. She stared straight ahead and immediately regretted it. Her eyes were exactly level with Daile's hips. His pants were undone. Damn pervert.
He offered her a hand. She ignored it and stood up on her own, leaning against the wall. She felt dizzy again. He steadied her. She jerked away and almost landed on the floor again.
"You could at least put on a shirt," she snapped.
"Your outfit isn't exactly a model of decency either," he pointed out. Sha blushed. She'd forgotten she'd changed into a nightgown made of the wool of Keleborian long-haired antelope, long, incredibly soft to the touch, almost transparent.
"Besides," he continued in the same calm, slightly amused tone, "it's none of your business what I wear in my room after hours. I could even parade around naked, and you wouldn't have a say in the matter."
Sha blushed deeper. She remembered the one and only time she'd seen him without clothes—a few months ago, the bathroom lock had broken, and she'd accidentally walked in while he was showering. She'd stood transfixed, staring, while he, tall, slender, and wet, simply finished showering and asked her to hand him a towel. She'd gotten a good look at him then, and she had absolutely no desire to repeat the experience.
Not at all.
"After hours, too! You sent that Geel, or whatever his name is, away. Which means you're still at work. And you shouldn't be dressed like that!
God," she thought, "he just did something that might even be cheating, and instead of addressing it, she'd latched onto his outfit! Get back on track, girl," she admonished herself.
"Who were you talking to?" she lashed out.
"With your aunt. But that shouldn't be your concern."
"Ooh! You have an aunt? Really?" And you haven't mentioned this to anyone yet?
"Just because I haven't mentioned it to you doesn't mean I haven't mentioned it to anyone."
"And where does this aunt live? Far away? I'd love to meet someone who'll admit you're part of his family.
" "On Marrayar.
She's a good defender, the bastard. But not those numbers with her.
" "And how exactly did you talk to her? A real-time transmission from Marrayar? Intergalactic? From this house? From THIS planet? Do you have an illegal Class I metacrystal array or something?
" "And what if I do?" He stopped feigning amusement. "So what are you going to do? Tell the Controllers about me? Just be careful, because if they come for me, I might let slip what you have in that little room of yours with the mirrored glass. Do you think they'll be happy when they find out a teenager is tapping into the planetary link using an unregistered Class III communications crystal?"
Shandra's mouth dropped open.
"H-how do you know…
" "Did something happen?"
Her father appeared on the stairs.
"Some noises woke me up.
" "It's just like me," Sha hissed.
"What do you mean, honey?"
Sha opened her mouth to tell David everything, but Kristian beat her to it.
"Oh, she just heard me talking to my aunt.
" "Your... aunt...
" "Yes, exactly. The one who lives on Marrayar.
" "Ah... That... I forget her name...
" "Ella."
David blinked and looked at Daile intently.
"Oh. Ella.
" "Exactly."
Sha stopped understanding. At the same time, she felt the intensity of the glances in the air increasing.
"Dad, what the hell..."
"Sha, how many times do I have to tell you not to swear? Gosh, it's cold in here! There's a terrible draft. You'll catch a cold in that shirt. You better go back to bed.
" "But Dad...
" "Come on, come on, no more talking."
David gently steered her in the right direction. She started forward, dazed. Before she reached the stairs, she heard the door to Kristian's room close.
"But Dad, he definitely wasn't talking to his aunt..."
David sighed.
"Shandra," he said seriously, looking into her eyes, "even if he wasn't talking to his aunt, so what? Everyone has a right to a little privacy, even Kris.
" "Privacy!
" "Shandra! Enough!
" Sha fell silent and meekly allowed herself to be led to the bedroom door. Her father kissed her goodnight on the cheek, as if to erase the echo of his harsh words and apologize for what he couldn't tell her, and left. Sha closed the door behind her.
She wanted to cry.
To be continued.
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