Mark Tiedemann - Chimera

"Infant abduction case involving several prominent families. Ree Wenithal primary investigator. Eighteen month investigation culminating in sixty-two percent recoveries and the closing of eight orphanages and four bioremedial research laboratories. "

"How does Nova Levis figure in?"

"R and D facility which came under investigation relative to Ree Wenithal's investigation. Laboratory cleared of any charges."

Cleared…but the name scared Wenithal just the same…

"Collate the particulars: names of families, the children involved, witness lists, and other sources."

"Yes, sir. Do you wish to audit Ambassador Burgess's message?"

"Not yet. Alert me two hours from now."

"Yes, sir."

He rubbed his face and eyes as if to massage away the fatigue.

He felt incompetent. Things had gotten away from him already. It had happened before, but he never got used to it. So much of police work relied on chance and luck-the rest was a question of tenacity. Coren had a good track record of wearing a case down until he solved it. But that took time, and right now he did not have that luxury. He needed to know now.

He had lost Jeta Fromm. That was his one chance of finding out about that strange robot quickly enough to find Nyom's killers before the murders went public. The more time passed, the less likely he could wrap this up before the news broke.

Going to Brun Damik had been a gamble. Not a bad one, Coren thought, considering the rearrangement of shipping schedules out of his office for Petrabor. And Damik did know something. But instead of the answer that would have made Coren's life easier, he led him to Ree Wenithal. In truth, despite the curious fact that Damik had called Wenithal first after Coren's visit, Coren would have walked away from Wenithal as a useless lead.

Except for Wenithal's reaction to the name Nova Levis. But now Coren knew that Nova Levis was the name of a research lab. How did that relate to the colony? And what did kidnapping have to do with it?

"Desk, display data package received from Sipha Palen."

The screen came up. A menu scrolled across it. Coren read through the choices-autopsy, crime scene, material forensics-and touched the icon over crime scene.

The screen showed the cargo bin. Coren hesitated, then accessed the internal view.

Bodies stacked in couches crowding the walls…

He reached for the screen and accesssed the image of the dead Brethe dealer, then gazed at it thoughtfully. "Desk, I want a search for all manufacturers of prosthetic devices. Find a match for the hand pattern found on the woman's shoulder, and the type of prosthetic capable of doing this kind of damage."

"Yes, sir."

"End," he said. The screen went blank. "I'll go over it later."

"Yes, sir."

He scooped up his sandwich and went into his private space. He was tired and hungry and the painblock had worn off sometime in the last hour. It would do no good to rush into anything as unexpected as this.

The images of Nyom still covered the table. He gathered them up and placed them back in the carton. He sat down then, and finished eating.

He woke up with a stiff neck on top of the bruises. He swallowed another painblock and went to his desk.

"Good morning, sir," the Desk said. "Analysis and collation on the provided data completed. Do you wish a summary?"

"In a moment. I need coffee right now." He switched his samovar on. The machine hummed gently to life. Dark, steaming liquid filled a cup below the spigot. Coren breathed in the steam. "Any more messages?"

"None. Do you wish to review those in the queue?"

"Play Ambassador Burgess's."

Coren heard the flatscreen scroll up from the desktop, but he stood by the samovar, eyes closed, sipping his coffee.

"Mr. Lanra, I would like to apologize for any abruptness I may have exhibited with you yesterday. It has come to my attention that our interests may intersect. I would appreciate another opportunity to talk about it. I'll be in my office the rest of the day. "

Coren opened his eyes. "Hm. I wonder what I disturbed. Connect to Ambassador Burgess."

"Yes, sir."

A few seconds later a crisp male voice said, "Ambassador Burgess's office, how may I help you?"

Coren went to the desk. On the flatscreen he saw the face of Burgess's aide, Hofton. "Coren Lanra. I'm returning the Ambassador's call."

"Of course. Wait one moment while I put you through."

The screen went pale gray, then Ariel Burgess appeared. Her eyes looked slightly puffy; perhaps she had gotten as little sleep as he.

"Ambassador Burgess."

"Mr. Lanra, thank you for returning my call so promptly."

"I admit I'm puzzled at this turnaround."

"No more than I am. Perhaps between the two of us we can make sense of some of it. Would you care to meet with us again?"

"When?"

"As soon as convenient for you."

"Right now, frankly, nothing is convenient. How about-" he glanced at the time chop "-ten. That'll give me a chance to clean up a little. "

"That would be excellent. Here?"

"Certainly. I know the way."

She almost smiled at that. "Till then, Mr. Lanra."

The screen blanked.

"Desk, give me a summary of the analysis on the data I gave you. "

"Specify order."

"Um…" He rubbed his eyes, remembering. "Update on Yuri Pocivil?"

"No further progress."

"Improvo Shipping. "

"Improvo Shipping and Storage is a subsidiary owned outright by the Hunter Group. It has been in operation for thirty-eight years with ninety-two facilities within Sol System and fifty-one facilities located on various Settler worlds. The Hunter Group itself is an offworld company, headquarters on Cassus Thole."

"Really. How many employees within this system?"

"Six hundred seventy-two thousand."

"How many of those are immigrant?"

"Two thousand seven hundred."

"How many of those are natives of Cassus Thole?"

"Eleven hundred twenty-two."

"Uh-huh. Interesting. No list of board members?"

"No such list available at this time."

"Continue search, see if you can find one. Also, I want a list of all Hunter Group holdings. Next, the data from Wenithal's case file."

"The last case he worked on was a major kidnapping ring. It developed from an investigation into a single instance which led him to uncover a global operation with offworld connections. Infants were being sold through various vendors-primarily orphanages and child hospice centers-to offworld buyers."

Coren's interest spiked. "Go on. That sounds familiar. What's in the case file?"

"The record obtained from the public police database contains categorized tables, names cross-referenced in hierarchical tabulations according to assigned probabilities."

"Sounds like his interview and suspect lists."

"Correct. Three hundred seventy-nine names listed, all time-indexed over an eleven-year period beginning twenty-nine years ago, ending eighteen years ago. Of those with current public record files available, two hundred and ninety are deceased-"

"Stop. Two hundred and ninety dead?"

"Correct. "

"Pattern analysis. Common factors?"

"One hundred thirty fatalities occurred within an eight month period. Ninety-seven died of age-related factors. Eighty-three died as the result of fatal accident. Sixty-eight died as the result of fatal interaction-"

"You mean homicide."

"That is a legal definition not applicable in all instances. "

"They were killed by other people. "

"With certain qualifications, yes. "

"Continue."

"Thirty-nine died of causes unverifiable due to inaccessibility of data."

"Explain."

"Deceased were offworld at the time of death. There were irregularities in subsequent reporting."