Jeffrey Carver - Eternity's End

“Oh, really,” Harriet said dryly.

“I’m afraid I don’t quite follow,” said the Narseil.

“Well,” said Peter, “since the data in Rufus’s implants was a direct memory feed from McGinnis, a lot of it isn’t necessarily in verbal form. Some of it’s visual, some of it’s sound and smell and touch; some of it’s pure emotion. To be valid in court, it must be read and interpreted by a certified intermediary.”

“One of your people?”

Peter shook his head. “We hire the Kell, who make this something of a specialty. I’ve brought one in from the city of Port Huron.”

“On the other side of the continent.”

“Right. She’s not well known here, but she’s one of the best.” Peter paused to survey the setup. “If everyone’s ready, I’ll go get her.” Peter disappeared into another room, while Harriet and Dendridan waited uncomfortably.

“Irv here’s the one who found Rufus, at the McGinnis place,” Norman said, nodding. Norman was a large man who seemed comfortable around the dog. Irv, on the other hand, was skinny and nervous looking. Harriet remembered Peter saying that Irv was afraid of dogs. Apparently he had gotten over his fear; he paused to scratch Rufus’s head as he made some adjustments to the hookup.

“Everyone,” said Peter, returning with the blue-robed Kell, “may I introduce the interpreter who will be assisting us today? This is Counselor Corellay. She is certified for Level-3 implant reading and Level-2 telepathic extraction.”

Counselor Corellay was just over a meter tall, with silken grey fur and a hamster-like face. Her eyes were black with bright silver dots slightly off-center. She nodded to the observers and then walked, with a rippling gait, across the room to the dog. She touched Rufus on the head and murmured to him for a moment. Then she turned. “Are we ready to begin?”

“Quadrocam?” Peter asked Irv.

“Ready.”

“Sensory feed? Data storage?”

“Ready.”

Peter nodded to the Kell. “You may begin your certification.” Corellay bent to examine the wiring attached to the dog. As she made her inspection, Peter explained to the Narseil, “We’ve made test tracings, but this will be the first court-certified reading. I’ll ask you and Harriet to sign off as witnesses.” Dendridan agreed, and Peter produced a small retinal scanner-recorder into which the two of them would make their attestations.

When Corellay was satisfied, she adjusted her own collar, which looked a bit like a cervical brace glinting with opticom processors. She stepped to the center of the room, in front of the white screen. Drawing a lightwand out of her robe, she faced Peter and the others. “Begin recording. This is Counselor Corellay of Kell, licensed to the courts of Faber Eridani in Port Huron. Here begins my translation of memory-data presently stored in the cortical implants of Mr. Robert McGinnis’s dog, Rufus…”

The formal preface went on for a while. Suddenly Corellay’s voice deepened. She raised the lightwand. “ This is the record of Robert McGinnis. I may have only minutes left in which to live.” She waved the lightwand in a sudden blur in front of the screen. A sketch appeared in midair, first in black and white, then color. Harriet marveled at the speed of the rendering while focusing on the image: a room with flames licking through the walls and a bank of consoles glowing. Robert McGinnis appeared in the foreground, his face contorted with pain.

Corellay’s voice changed to her own. “This is how Robert McGinnis looks to me as he uploads. He is fighting for his life. The flames are in his mind only; but he expects their physical presence soon.” Corellay’s voice dropped again; she sounded startlingly like McGinnis, even to the cadence and inflection.

“What will follow is a list of crimes that I hereby attest have been committed by Kyber agents and certain representatives of the RiggerGuild and the Spacing Authority over the past thirty years. I have compiled this record in deliberate isolation from my implants, which have otherwise prevented me from coming forward. It is my hope that this record will now be used to bring the guilty to justice.” Corellay paused a moment, then waved the wand rapidly in the air. A holoimage took shape, surrounding her as though she were standing in a cavern. Faces appeared in the blur of the wand, flickering with streaks of light that flashed onto Corellay’s face. The Kell winced in pain. Suddenly she gestured urgently to Harriet and Dendridan to step forward, into the image.

The Narseil looked unsure, but Harriet grasped his elbow and propelled him forward. As she stepped into the hologram, Harriet’s breath went out; she felt as if she’d been punched. She gasped in fear and looked around wildly for an instant. Threatening faces glared from the walls of the holographic image, and Harriet felt a sudden wash of fear of what would happen if she revealed the truths that she knew. Who were these people? Some had implants on the sides of their heads; others didn’t. The faces were indistinct; her feelings of vulnerability and fear were so powerful it was difficult to focus on the images. The Corellay/McGinnis voice was rapidly running down a long list of dates, and coercive threats, and instructions he had been given for undercover activities. The instructions ranged from espionage to destruction of evidence to creation of false navigational data for use by riggers. He could not always successfully resist…

After a moment, the images began to spin, until they were gathered into a whirlpool. As Harriet watched, stunned, they drained down into a holographic box on the floor.

Corellay’s voice sounded like her own again. “Those details have been stored in the permanent record. Step out now, please.”

With a sigh of relief, Harriet and Dendridan moved back to a safe distance. Harriet could see that Dendridan was confused about their role in this. “We were just witnessing McGinnis’s emotional responses to the physical details embedded in the recording,” Harriet whispered to the Narseil. “That becomes part of the testimony, and it can be used to support the claim of intimidation via implant—which is criminal assault under Faber Eridani law.”

McGinnis’s voice returned.

“It was not just Kyber agents behind these actions, I am convinced—but the Spacing Authority itself. And the RiggerGuild—betraying its charge to protect the life and liberty of riggers, by sending its members into areas of known pirate activity…”

Harriet felt a knot tightening in her stomach as she watched Corellay’s hand speed up to a blur again. A long written list of ships scrolled down the middle of the holo. Was the L.A . one of them? Bobby? It was scrolling too fast to read. The list funneled down into the data storage and vanished.

“The Guild,” Corellay/McGinnis continued, “has collaborated with a raider organization known as Carlotta. It was Carlotta who salvaged me when I was shipwrecked in the Sargasso, and Carlotta who put these accursed implants into me…” The Kell interpreter spun a new hologram, this time of McGinnis’s face twisted with pain as shiny implants appeared in his temples. “It was Carlotta who planted me on Faber Eridani as one of their agents. It is Carlotta who preys upon ships and their crews near the edges of Golen Space, sometimes using the lost ship Impris as a lure.” Harriet shut her eyes, suddenly feeling physically ill. Through the rushing of blood in her head, she thought, This is exactly what I need. Finally . But the thought gave her no pleasure.

“…and it is Carlotta who for years has been wielding her influence over the Guild of Riggers and the Spacing Authority of Faber Eridani.” The image changed to a sketch of RiggerGuild headquarters on the left, and Spacing Authority headquarters, on the right. McGinnis’s voice softened. “I don’t accuse all who work for these organizations—or even the majority. Most employees probably know nothing of the crimes, many of which were carried out through intermediaries. One of those intermediaries is the paramilitary organization that tried to control me. Its name is Centrist Strength.”