John Scalzi - The Android's Dream

"This is the one from the store, right?" Creek asked. "The one the gecko man left."

Robin nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

Creek turned the pen around in his hands, and then started taking it apart. After a minute he snapped off the clip and turned it over. "Shit," he said.

"What is it?" Robin asked.

"Bug," Creek said. "They've been tracking us since we left the mall." He dropped the clip and stomped on it with his foot, twisting it into the floor of the train. "We need to get away. Far away."

"Fuck!" Archie pounded the table his computer was on.

This attracted Acuna from the next room. "That better not be what I think it is," he said.

"Creek found the pen," Archie said. "It's not my fault."

"I don't care whose fault it was," Acuna said. "You need to find him, now."

Archie glowered at the screen and from the last coordinates of the pen guessed where Creek and the sheep lady would be in the Metro system. The two of them were approaching L'Enfant Plaza; they were on the Blue Line train but L'Enfant Plaza served every line in the city except the Red and Gray lines. If they got off their train there, who knows where they'd end up.

Got off their train.

"I've got it," Archie said. He closed the track window on the pen and opened up a command line.

"Got what?" Acuna asked.

"My dad was an electrical systems engineer for the DC Metro," Archie said. "Five years ago, the entire electrical system got a refit, and my dad hired me freelance to help with the code. Part of the electrical system deals with managing the power to the trains—"

"Skip the technical shit," Acuna said. "Get to the point. Quick."

"The Metro trains are maglev—magnetic levitation," Archie said. "Each train used to get full power for its magnets no matter what, but that got too expensive. The retrofit allowed each train to use only as much power as it needs to run, based on the gross weight of the train. The amount of power allotted to each train adjusts in real time."

"So?" Acuna said.

"So, every time someone gets on a train or off a train, the amount of power sent to the train increases or decreases by an amount that's in a direct relationship to the weight of those people." Archie looked over to Acuna, whose face was a dangerous shade of blank. He decided to make it even simpler. "If we can guess how much the two of them weigh, we might be able to guess if they've gotten off their train and where they might be going."

Acuna's eyebrows shot up; he got it. "You'll need to get into the Metro's system," he said.

Archie had turned back to his computer. "Dad had a back door into the system he let me use while I was freelancing," he said. "I'm guessing after he retired no one bothered to close it."

Fifteen seconds later "Nope, they didn't. We're in," Archie said. "You saw the two of them, right? How much would you guess they weighed?"

"I don't know," Acuna said. "Both of them seemed pretty fit."

"How tall were they?" Archie asked.

"He was about my height," Acuna said. "I'm about five ten. She was a few inches shorter, I'd guess."

"About five six, then, let's say," Archie said. "So let's say he's about 180 and she's 120, so that's 300 pounds, which is about 136 kilos." Archie punched up a calculator on his computer screen and pounded in some numbers, and then pointed at the resulting number. "All right, if the train they got in was empty, that's how much energy would need to be fed to the train to compensate for their additional weight when they got on. So we're looking for something in that neighborhood."

Archie opened up another window. "Okay, here's a list of the Blue Line trains currently in operation. Click this here, and now we have them arranged by when they stopped at the Arlington Mall station. Disregard the trains going out from DC, we have four trains that stopped at the station in the time window we're looking for." Archie selected each of the trains; four new windows opened up. Archie selected the "Power Management" option for each; each window became a spiky chart.

"No," Archie said, closing one chart. "No," he said again a few seconds later, closing the next chart. "Yes!" he said to the third one, and blew up the chart to maximum size. "Look here," Archie said, pointing to the graph. "Power goes down because people are stepping off the train, then you get some noise because people are stepping off and on simultaneously. But here"—Archie pointed to a small uptick—"is a power boost that's right near what we're looking for, for about 136 kilos. That's assuming they stepped on the train together, as opposed to one fatso."

"That's swell," Acuna said, and Archie realized that of the many things Acuna might be, "patient" was never going to be one of them. "Now tell me if they're still on the goddamn train."

Archie pulled up a real-time chart of the train's power management, which showed the train's last five minutes of power usage. "Looks like the train just left L'Enfant," Archie said. "Lots of people getting on and off the train, but none looks like the 136-kilo power spike or drop. I'm guessing they're still on the train."

"You're guessing," Acuna said.

"Mr. Acuna," Archie said. "I'm doing the best I can. I can't help that he busted the tracking pen. But short of the tracking pen or getting a feed from the Metro cameras, this is as good as it gets."

Acuna stared at Archie just long enough for Archie to wonder if he was going to smack him again. Then, by God, Acuna actually smiled. "Fair enough," he said. "Keep your eye on the graph, Archie. don't let them get away. Let me know as soon as you think they've gotten off the train." He clapped his hand on Archie's shoulder as he turned to go. Archie realized Acuna had actually called him by his given name.

"Ben—may I call you Ben?" Narf-win-Getag asked, settling down in his chair.

"By all means, Mr. Ambassador," Ben Javna said. Being of inferior rank to the ambassador, Javna had remained standing and had moved out in front of his desk. Staying behind the desk would have been considered a breach of etiquette.

"Thank you," Narf-win-Getag said. "I know my people have a reputation for being socially standoffish, but in private we can be just as relaxed as any sentient being. I even encourage my secretary to call me 'Narf when we are doing private business."

"And does she, Mr. Ambassador?" Javna asked.

"Oh, of course she doesn't," Narf-win-Getag said. "She wouldn't dare. But it's nice of me to offer, don't you think?"

"And how may I be of service to you this evening, Mr. Ambassador," Javna said.

"Secretary Soram came and visited me just now to deliver the good news that you've found our lost sheep," Narf-win-Getag said.

"Did he, now," Javna said, as neutrally as possible.

"Yes," Narf-win-Getag said. "Although I'm led to understand that our sheep in question isn't a sheep at all but a young human with our sheep DNA encoded in hers. Curious. Ben, may I trouble you for something to drink?"

"Of course, Mr. Ambassador," Javna said.

"Eighteen-year-old Glenlivet, if you have any," Narf-win-Getag said. "I love its bouquet."

"I believe Secretary Heffer may have some in his bar," Javna said, and opened his door to have Barbara get a glass.

"Excellent. Normally, you understand, I would go to Secretary Heffer to chat about this, but seeing as he is out of town at the moment, and given the time constraint we're under, it makes sense to talk to you."

"I appreciate that, Mr. Ambassador," Javna said.

"Good, good," Narf-win-Getag said. "So, anyway, Ben. I'll be happy to take her off your hands now."

"You mean the girl, Mr. Ambassador?" Javna asked. Barbara slipped her hand through the door to deliver the drink; Javna took it.