Jo Clayton - The Burning Ground

This wasn’t going to be an easy collaboration. She and Autumn Rose just didn’t like each’other. Two primas trying to work in harness? I suppose that’s some of it. Oy! that means I’m a prima. She smiled at the thought, felt a surge of interest/annoyance, looked up and saw the exec staring at her.

His eyes shifted, and he went back to watching Autumn Rose without a change in expression.

“If we’re obstructed in the job we were hired to do, we will so inform the Directors and withdraw. The retainer deposited will be claimed as recompense for our effort and irritation.” Autumn Rose let a smile soften the predatory angles of her face. “However, at the moment all this is hypothetical. There are several points that need clarification-points that don’t impinge upon your security except peripherally. You said individuals returning to ships in the Tie-Down were discreetly checked by the OverSec of Marrat’s Market and pronounced clean, but you gave no details. We would like a listing of all ships out of the Tie-Down during the theft window and just after, along with a list and image of every life-form on them. Also, as much data as you have about those life-forms. It would be better if we could have a listing of all ships for the three weeks centering about the event, but the Market being what it is, the OverSec would probably howl and deny, citing confidentiality of customers. We understand that. If possible, we would like to view the original flakes and make our own extracts. You could arrange that?”

Shadith watched him relax. Interesting. Digby was right. Rose is perfect for this part of the business. She’s used to handling these types, he said, she knows the body language and can talk the talk. As for you, Shadow, every time his eyes pass by you, his nerves are going to twinge. You look like you should be sucking your thumb and hauling dolls about. Now now, I admit that you’ve put on a little age and may I say it sits well on you, but you’re not the standard model, are you?

“That will take a while to arrange, but it will certainly be possible. In the meantime, is there anything else?”

“Yes. You can have one of your ops walk us through the actual procedures of getting in and out of the other building and guide us over the route the thief must have taken. Hm. That might not be clear. I don’t mean on comsynth, but the actual route, out there in the building.”

“Why? Comsynth can give you far more data than you’d get just looking at walls.”

“We prefer to have a variety of sources and as many primary impressions as time and circumstances allow.”

Prehanet stood. “I’ll take you myself; that way there won’t be difficulties about what you’re to see. My aide can deal with OverSec.”

Prehanet waved a hand at the shield that enclosed the large asteroid, pulled the hand around in a wide curve to take in the transfer tubes that led to the other asteroids that made up the Market. “As you see, this is a closed environment which can be separated from the other nodes at an instant’s notice, one of the benefits of operating at Marrat’s Market, along with a certain docility in the workforce and the opportunity to maintain control over the product until we’re paid for it-though we are careful to guarantee our clients anonymity as well as safety and quality products. We have a quiet but considerable reputation in the realm of pharmaceuticals and the mechanisms by which they are delivered. I should tell you that it was my advice to the Directors to write off the stolen articles and replace them as quickly as possible. It’s my opinion that this is a one-off operation, so we don’t have to bother ourselves with notions of repetition.” He turned. “The lab building.”

The lab’s facade was a trapezoid two stories tall, with a modified holoa playing across it, a field of sunflowers blowing in a gentle wind, swaying against a deep blue sky; the entrance was concealed until someone on the slidewalk was within arm’s reach of it. Behind them, the administration building where Prehanet had his office was a more conventional four-story structure of matte black stone and black glass windows; the kephalos that controlled both buildings was buried in the bedstone of the asteroid beneath Admin.

“Ordinarily, clients are not permitted in this area except when taking delivery; I doubt any of those involved discussed the arrangements with outsiders.”

“YOu can never be sure,” Rose murmured. “People do the most idiotic things. You might like to know that Digby echoed what you said when he spoke to the Director who hired us. That it would be a difficult, perhaps impossible, and certainly expensive business to locate the thief, and the possibility of recovering what was stolen is somewhat remote. There was one item the Director was very… mmm… anxious to reclaim.”

“Yes, well, we won’t discuss that out here.” Prehanet stepped onto the slideway. “We don’t issue passes to the labs. Unless someone is with me or with a designated op, they have been deepscanned and a template made. Every individual who presents himself has to match one of those templates, otherwise the door won’t open. Anyone out of his, her or its area or off the designated route to a workstation will trigger first a vocalized warning, then an alarm every time he or she passes a checkpoint without proper authorization. So this cannot be a matter of someone working here.”

“No doubt you occasionally have a false alarms when someone’s strayed.”

“One or two every few months. Mostly the more independent workers cause them,, lab techs on a looser rein than the contract labor. They seldom do so twice. We have a few prima donnas..” He stepped from the slidewalk, took Rose’s arm to help her into the entrance alcove. Shadith he left to hop down on her own. “… who are at present too valuable to discipline,” he finished. “They are always causing trouble. No alarms any time during the theft window, however. Stand there, please. A moment.” He waved Shadith back. “If you’ll wait. We’ll set your temporary template next. May I remind both of you that the template is wiped the moment you leave the building. This is a one-time pass-through.”

The corridor they stepped into was provided with demiholoas of sunflowers mixed with other scenes to give a sense of airiness and expansiveness at first glance, though Shadith wondered what seeing the same thing for months if not years could do to the perceptions of the people working down here. A slidewalk ran down the center, but the exec ignored it and led them to the right, his boots silent on the springy flooring.

“The storage space for the ananiles is in the first sub-floor. There’s a lock on the door, but that’s more to keep down pilferage than for any actual security reasons. The ampoules are packed in numbered, standardized lots, sealed in ceolplas wrapping. Inventory control is very strict and we have almost no leakage.” He stopped at the mouth to the dropshaft, frowned as Shadith tapped his arm. “What is it?”

“Are dropshafts the only method of moving from floor to floor?”

“You have a problem?” He eased back so her hand fell away.

“No.” She gave him one of her most ingenuous smiles. “The Director didn’t include a schematic for this building in the packet he passed to Digby, so I was just wondering if there were alternate routes. You know, like emergency ladders if the power goes for some reason.”

“I see. There is such a ladder. The doors are locked, however, and those locks will only open if the power fails. Any attempt to interfere with any lock will activate alarms and send security ‘hots to that location. Even if there are no alarms, the kephalos checks the locks periodically. They were, of course, also checked the moment the thefts were discovered, found untouched and intact. Hm. There’s also the cleaner’s lift, but that is limited to one specific female and her cleaning ‘hots. There are no other routes.”