Psion Delta (38 page)

Chuckles
came from the crowd, but they did nothing to help Sammy’s nerves.

“I’ve
never spoken before in front of anyone except a couple of judges, and—and—and
for some reason I’m more nervous now than I was then. So . . . I want to say
one thing. When Byron recruited me, and I accepted his deal, I stood alongside
Brickert, Natalia, Kawai, and Jeffie. Together, we swore an oath. And that’s
the thing that—that,” Sammy searched his mind for the right words, “propels me.
I want to be here with my friends. But I am a servant of the people, not my
friends. My life is not my own. It belongs to the people. I choose to give my
mind, my strength, and my heart to the service of the government, so long as
the government serves the interest of the people. I choose justice to be my
strength. While I look forward to rekindling my friendships in a few years, and
right now that seems like an eternity, I know that I’m doing the right thing by
saying goodbye. I’ll survive, I hope. And if not, my life will still be given
for the service of my people and protecting their rights and liberties. And,
well, I guess that’s not such a bad way to die. Thank you.”

* * *
* *

Seconds
after the ceremony ended, Commander Byron’s com began to buzz. Not wanting to
appear tacky during the ceremony, he had stowed the device in his pocket.
Quickly, he fished it out, and put it on.

“Byron
here.”

“Good
afternoon, Commander. This is Khani Nguyen at Tensai Research—”

“Hello,
Khani. How can I help you?”

“Our
team has finished the project we discussed on our last visit in July. If you
have some time today, you are welcome to come down and see the results.”

Commander
Byron glanced around at the crowd, searching for Samuel in it. “Can you send
the data to me?”

“Yes,
I suppose I could, but who is going to explain to you what it means? I hadn’t
heard about your Ph.D. in computer analytics or—”

“I
will be there as soon as possible. Thank you.”

“You’re—”

Byron
ended the call and went directly to General Wu, who was chatting with
Commanders Havelbert and Zahn. After relaying the information, he pushed
through the crowd toward Samuel. Byron had to reach in between several Betas to
tap Samuel’s shoulder.

“Just
a sec, guys,” Samuel said when he saw Byron.

“I
have to leave on some urgent business,” the commander told his former pupil. “I
doubt I can make it back for any of your celebration, so I wanted to tell you
congratulations. And that you gave a wonderful speech.”

Samuel
stepped out from his friends and hugged the commander. It took Byron off guard
for a moment, but then he hugged him back. “Thanks for your words, sir.”

Byron
patted Samuel on the back. “You earned them. Enjoy your party.”

“I
will.”

“I
look forward to working with you again.”

Byron
hurried to the roof and took his personal cruiser to Alpha headquarters,
landing on the roof of the TRC. It wasn’t as difficult to find Khani’s office
the second time. However, her workspace was much more crowded today with other
members of the team gathered around computer monitors and holo-screens.

“Good
afternoon again, Commander. We’re discussing the findings of the tunnel
flooder. That’s the nickname we’ve given to the program we designed to track
all the movement of Commander Wrobel within the system. Please join us.”

Commander
Byron realized he was in over his head when the team began explaining their
theories using words he had never heard before. He glanced at the clock and
sighed. “How about we start with what you
know
, and please explain it to
me as simply as possible.”

One
of the team members started to speak, but Khani cut him off. “We’ve traced use
of the tunnel back almost two years. That is an enormous amount of time that
the CAG had to undermine our systems. We estimate—”

Half
of her team immediately cut her off with fresh arguments.

“—I
estimate,” she raised her voice to say, “that there is a very good chance that
NWG may have to completely wipe itself clean and start over. We can do some
data transfers for essential programs and failsafes, but even those will have
to be thoroughly screened before being reinserted into our fields of operation.
The level of infiltration we’ve found is—”

“Scary
as the pits of hell themselves,” one man inserted.

“Theologically
speaking, yes,” Khani conceded. “We have footprints of Wrobel accessing
virtually every minor and major database and program. Even stuff he wasn’t
allowed access to. And if he was in here, there’s a very good chance—”

“We
already know it, Khani, just tell him.”

“It’s
almost certain that this has still been going on even after Wrobel’s capture.
We can’t pinpoint the last dates that the tunnels were used exactly, because we
have to analyze more of the footprints the tunnels leave behind, but I’d say
with ninety-seven, maybe even ninety-eight percent certainty that CAG cyber
operatives have been using the tunnels in the last three months. Possibly even
the last three
days
.”

“Can
they still access them now?”

“Not
without us immediately knowing about it. And at that point we can shut down the
tunnel and try to back trace it.”

Commander
Byron leaned back in his chair and locked his fingers. “Okay. Start from the
most secure places we know they’ve accessed and move down the list.”

* * *
* *

The
party was underway at Beta headquarters. As Sammy had predicted, most of the
rumors were false. No one had alcohol, though several Betas seemed to be drunk
by the way they were acting with all the caffeine in their bloodstreams. The
Alphas had only stayed for an hour or so, then politely bowed out. Major
Tawhiri did not celebrate with them, although he did announce that for one
night the cameras were off, the curfew alarm was silent, and they were free to
have a responsible, but enjoyable party so long as they completed full schedules
the next day. That received cheers from everyone. Anna told Sammy before she
left that he would be picked up in the late morning to relocate permanently
into his new Alpha living unit.

For
one last night Sammy enjoyed the music, tasted all the food, and played any
games with his friends that they wanted. Every Beta stayed up. It was too rare
an opportunity to miss. Most of them solemnly swore to pull an all-nighter,
even if they had to crawl through the motions like zombies the next day. Kobe
upped the ante by declaring the first Beta to fall asleep got a pie in the
face. Then he stared down poor Gabriel and said, “My bet is on YOU!”

At
about 0200, Sammy announced that he had to go downstairs and get some more
party supplies. In reality, he had stashed over twenty presents in his dorm
room, one for each Beta. He’d bought them using the stipend money he’d
collected after returning to headquarters. Six months worth of stipends was a
lot of cash to burn. Now that he was going to be getting paid as an Alpha, he
could easily afford the presents. He carried half the gifts up the stairs, then
returned to get the other half.

As
soon as he’d gathered up the second batch, his com rang. He’d left it on his
bed when getting changed for the ceremony. Dropping his armload, he hurried
over and grabbed it. The caller ID said Commander Byron.

“Hello?”

“Hello,
Sammy.” The voice did not belong to the commander (who very rarely called him
Sammy), nor any other member of command as far as Sammy could tell. It was a
low voice, but not terribly low, and not menacing, either. It reminded Sammy
more of his father’s voice when he was on the phone with his mother: soft and
patient.

“Who
is this?”

“Are
you alone?” the man asked. “It is imperative that you are alone at this
moment.”

“Yeah,
I am.” The voice had a powerful quality to it, which made Sammy feel compelled
to listen and obey. Its persuasiveness reminded him of Byron. “Who is this?”

“I
need you to listen to what I’m saying, please. If you follow my instructions
perfectly, I can enable you to commandeer a stealth cruiser on the top of your
building. You will need to do this in order to come to where I am currently
located. Is this understood?”

“Yes—wait!”
Again Sammy caught himself wanting to agree before thinking his decision through.
“Who is this? Why do I—”

“Please,
Sammy. I will explain everything. I wish for you to come to Orlando and meet
me.”

“Who
are you? Why do you want to meet me?”

“Look
in your screen. I am sending you a live video feed.”

Sammy’s
holo-screen appeared. It took his eyes a moment to focus. He saw Katie
Carpenter dressed in the uniform of the Thirteens, but she wasn’t staring at
the camera. She was staring at three hostages bound on the cement floor of a
large underground garage. Two of them looked into the camera while the third
hostage’s head was covered by a cloth sack. A sedan and a long black limousine
were behind them. Sammy looked closely at the two hostages whose faces he could
see.

Why
do they look—? My parents. Those are my parents.

Instantly
logic kicked in. “This is fake. Those are holograms. That’s a lie!”

“It’s
not a lie, Sammy.”

Katie
ripped the tape off the mouth of Sammy’s father. “Don’t listen to them, Sammy!
Don’t listen to a word—” Then the tape went back on. Sammy could not mistake
the sound of his own father’s voice.

“I
think you wish to hear your mother as well?” the man asked.

“Yes.”

“Sammy,
turn off your com now!” his mother screamed.

Katie
retaped his mother’s mouth and fired her gun into Sammy’s mother’s leg.

The
tape muffled his mother’s screams as Sammy’s mouth hung open, a cry caught in
his throat as he watched blood pour from the wound. His mother’s blood from his
mother’s own leg.
How? I don’t believe it.
It has to be fake.
It
has to be.
He didn’t see how it could be anything else, but the emotions he
felt—rage, terror, and utter confusion—were very real. “How can—how? I don’t
know. Who are you?”

The
camera moved from Katie and Sammy’s parents to the man holding the camera. He
had long black hair and wore it in braids. His skin was dark, but not black. He
wore very large glasses and smiled in a friendly way at Sammy, showing off a
sliver of whitish teeth. Most importantly, Sammy knew him.

“Mr.
Nemosio?”

“Hello
again, Sammy. It’s been . . . what? Over two years?”

Sammy
knew this man because they had been neighbors in Johannesburg for several
months. Right up until his parents had died and Sammy had been placed in a
foster home. He’d borrowed a lawn mower from him. It was as if his entire world
had been flipped in a manner of minutes, and all he could do was hang on to his
sanity.

“Sammy,
I faked your parents’ deaths. They’re here. They’ve been here for the last
several months. I will explain everything to you. But if you want to see them,
you’ll have to do as I say with perfect execution. Are you ready to agree, or
do I need Katie to shoot your mother again? Perhaps somewhere more vital this
time.”

The
camera moved back to Katie, who was now bandaging up Sammy’s mother’s leg.
Blood dripped steadily from the wound and soaked the bandages. His mom’s head
rested on his dad’s chest while he whispered soothing words to her. How many
times had Sammy seen his father do that for his mother? Their mannerisms which
Sammy remembered so well were too perfect to be fabricated from someone’s
imagination.

“I
can’t. I don’t believe you.” He remembered the scent of his parents’ blood in
their house in Johannesburg. He remembered stepping through the pools of it,
leaving tracks. Their deaths hadn’t been faked. The details were too vivid. He
knew what he knew. “I’m hanging up.”

“There’s
one more thing you should see,” Mr. Nemosio told him. He nodded to Katie.

Katie
pulled the cloth sack off the third hostage. This person Sammy also recognized
right away. It was Stripe.

He
wasn’t wearing his normal suit, nor did he have his glasses on. His face hadn’t
melted from the creams the way Sammy had always pictured it. He looked healthy,
but terrified. Seeing the fear in his tormentor’s eyes gave Sammy no small
amount of pleasure.

This
can’t be real.
But it looked real. He had no idea what to
think anymore.

“It’s
real,” Nemosio said as though he could read Sammy’s mind. Then he lowered his
voice. “Come meet me. I will give you your parents. And more importantly, I
will give him to you.”

The
decision seemed recklessly dumb, but something in the man’s voice compelled
Sammy to agree.
Katie and Stripe in the same place.
If they really were
there, he might have the opportunity to do what he’d been preparing himself for
since May. All his hard work in the sims these last three months would pay off.