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CHAPTER TWENTY



“Investigator, Agent.” Captain Elifritz greeted them with curt nods as they entered Defender-Prime’s bridge. “Good to see the two of you are well. Heard you had some excitement while we were out.”

“You could say that,” Isaac replied. “The League protest got a little rambunctious.”

“So I’ve been told.” He shook his head with a slim smile. “We leave the hangar for a few hours, and look what happens.”

“Do you have the background files for us?”

“I do. If you’ll follow me.”

Elifritz led them down the chronoport’s central corridor to a side door. He palmed the door open and ducked into a cramped office with a desk jutting out of the wall and two chairs bolted to the floor. One wall was covered with service medals and abstract pictures of Peacekeepers grouped together in front of what might have been earlier versions of the chronoport.

Isaac found his eye drawn to a second, smaller set of pictures close to the desk. They featured Elifritz alongside a tall, attractive woman with a playful glint in her eyes. One of the pictures showed them walking across a red desert in white pressure suits while others were in more earthlike settings, often around a wide variety of animals.

“Let me unlock the access for you,” Elifritz said, “then I’ll get out of your way.”

“You’ve been to Mars?” Isaac asked conversationally.

“I was stationed there for a while. That’s where I met my wife Michelle.”

“Your wife is Martian?”

“She is. You sound surprised.”

“Maybe a little. I understand Earth and Mars don’t get along over there.”

“I know we form a rather unlikely couple. The Peacekeeper and the Martian. I met her while stationed in the Solis Planum.”

“Our biggest base on the planet,” Susan filled in.

“Ah.”

“I was suffering from a bad case of homesickness,” Elifritz continue, “so I thought a trip to the zoo might help. Michelle was working there as a veterinarian.” He smiled with warm remembrance. “She’s always loved being around animals.”

He pressed his hand against a closed-circuit interface on the desk, and a folder appeared in the space above it. The translator in Isaac’s wetware interpreted the title as:

DEPARTMENT OF TEMPORAL INVESTIGATION

CITIZEN BACKGROUND ANALYSIS

ELENA SAKO

“You can use my office as long as you like.” Elifritz sidestepped back into the corridor and gestured inside. “Please make yourselves at home. Let me know if there’s anything you need.”

“Are we allowed to take copies of the files with us?” Isaac asked.

“Absolutely. As an investigator, you can take the files and use them however you like. I only asked you to come here because I didn’t want to transmit something like this over an unsecured, foreign infostructure.”

“I see your point. We should be good for now.”

Susan slid in first and sat down in the chair opposite the desk, which left the captain’s chair for Isaac. He dropped into it and spread the file headers in the space between them.

“Where do you want to start?” Susan asked.

“Not sure.” Isaac perused the headers. “Do you see a summary?”

“Here.” Susan highlighted a subfolder, then created a copy of her own.

Isaac opened the subfolder and began reading.

* * *

“It certainly sounds like the DTI thought Sako might have been radicalized.” Isaac took a sip from his latest cup of coffee. “They performed a lot of background interviews. Around five times what they held for most of the other players.”

“That by itself isn’t noteworthy,” Susan explained. “Anyone not from Earth gets extra scrutiny, and that goes double for Lunarians and Martians. That said, they didn’t find anything.”

“Not anything conclusive,” Isaac stressed. “But we already knew that. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be here.”

“Still, the interview list is quite extensive,” Susan admitted. “They interviewed her parents, numerous friends and classmates going back to grade school, former coworkers and bosses, gaming sponsors, and so on.”

“Have you come across what she did before going pro?”

“Let me see…” Susan frowned. “Social studies teacher for two years, straight out of college. Both years were spent in Block F9 High, Tycho Crater City.”

“Something jump out at you?”

“Only that I’ve heard of the block before. It’s called the Niner Slums. And it became the Niner Slums after the Niner Riots. It’s not a nice place to live.”

“That would explain the quick career change, though it’s an odd leap from teacher to gamer.” Isaac grouped the interviews by area. “Seems the DTI focused a lot of their attention on both the F9 high school and her time at Tycho State University, where she earned her degree.”

“Makes sense if we’re worried she might have been radicalized.”

“By terrorists?”

“Or their sympathizers.”

“Hmm.” Isaac found a tab titled “Radicalization Analysis” and opened it. “Sako has a radicalization quotient of 3.7. What’s that mean?”

“It’s the lower end of what’s considered safe. Three point seven out of ten. It measures the risk of radicalization against the Admin based on a person’s known associations and actions.” Susan opened the same summary. “In her case, it means she associated with radicalized people, both in college and during her first job, but there were no signs she adopted any of those views.”

“Exposure but not acceptance?” Isaac summarized.

“That’s what they concluded.”

“And by exposure, we’re talking extreme views like violently supporting Lunar independence, right?”

“Yeah. Stuff like that.”

“What about her family?”

“Let me see.” Susan shifted her current sheet aside and expanded the interview page for Sako’s parents. “No siblings; just her two parents. The agents conducted a single interview with each parent then moved on. Guess they didn’t see much point in a deeper look. Her mother works in the Department of Energy, so that might have contributed. It’s a low-tier analyst position, but her reviews are solid.”

Isaac swiped through the radicalization subfolders and saw headers for “Media Consumption Analysis,” “Socialization Analysis,” and “Private Message Analysis,” among others.

“The DTI went through her private mail?” Isaac asked, surprised and a little disgusted.

“Yep.”

“Is this normal?”

“For Lunarians it is.”

Isaac shook his head and closed the radicalization tab. It contained a wealth of information on Sako, but he suspected he’d come to the same conclusions as the DTI agents, that Sako had been exposed to radical points of view but had shown no signs of adopting them. Perhaps the information in those interviews would prove useful later, but right now he lacked the key to deciphering them in a new way.

Instead, he opened Sako’s history as a professional gamer.

“Says here, Sako got her start as a gamer in local Legions of Patriots tournaments while she still worked as a social studies teacher. Isn’t that the game you used to play competitively?”

“It is,” Susan replied. “How’d she do?”

“Rocky at first, but the victories ramped up quickly. Her team decimated the competition during the regional qualifier for something called the Lunar Patriot Cup.”

“Oh, nice. That’s a big one. How’d they do at it?”

“They pulled a major upset and won first place. After that, she quit her teaching job.”

“Makes sense. The prize money from the Cup would make her teacher salary look like a rounding error. Anything else?”

“Nothing that stands out to me. After that, we’ve got a breakdown of her three years as a pro. Some ups and downs, but part of that can be tied to her play style. She’s not afraid to experiment. All in all, she’s made quite the name for herself.”

“Here’s something interesting.” Susan leaned toward him and turned a spreadsheet around.

“What do you have?”

“Her finances.”

“What’s an ‘Escudo’? Admin currency?”

“Yeah. Our equivalent of SysGov Esteem. Often abbreviated as something-E. Like kilo-E or giga-E.”

“Got it,” Isaac said, nodding. “What caught your eye?”

“Check out these entries here.” Susan highlighted several rows. “She’s been giving a lot of money to three charities, especially in the last year.”

“‘Mothers of Luna,’” Isaac read, “‘Tycho Rebirth,’ and the ‘Heller Foundation.’”

“All three are involved in Block F9 revitalization projects.”

“Which makes sense, given her professional success and her previous work in the slum.”

“Yes, but where it gets interesting is with the Heller Foundation, named after Debra Anne Heller, a former principal at the same school Sako taught at. She started up the foundation last year, and Sako has been a huge benefactor.”

“Heller quit to form the charity?”

“No. She was fired. For distributing what amounts to Free Luna propaganda.”

“Does Heller have a criminal record?”

“Umm.” Susan opened a linked page. “She participated in the Niner Riots and was arrested for property damage and theft. That was over twenty years ago, and her record has been clean since.”

“How many people were involved in that riot?”

“About half a million.”

“Hmm.” Isaac rubbed his chin. “Interesting, though hardly conclusive. You could just as easily say Sako donated the money because she knows and trusts Heller from the school.”

“True,” Susan admitted. “And the agents performing Sako’s background check thought the same. From what I’ve read, they dug through the money transfers but couldn’t find any ties to illegal activity. If the Heller Foundation is a front for Free Luna or one of the other terror groups, its true nature has been well concealed.”

But.” Isaac raised a finger. “This does fit my theory.”

“It’s still a house of cards.”

“I know.”

“Next steps?”

“Confront Sako directly. We’ll ask her some hard questions and see how she reacts.”

“Before we head out, why don’t we talk to the captain again?” Susan suggested.

“What for?”

“He and his crew have been transporting key people back and forth in the lead-up to the finals.” She shrugged. “Wouldn’t hurt to ask if he noticed anything unusual.”

“Good thinking. I’ll give him a call.”

* * *

“You wished to speak with me?” Elifritz said, sliding through the door to his office.

“We did,” Isaac said. “Can you give us an overview of Defender-Prime’s recent activities?”

“Sure, though I imagine you know most of it already.” Elifritz took off his peaked cap and smoothed out his hair. “This chronoport and its crew have been allocated to the Million Handshake Initiative for the foreseeable future, and as such, our responsibilities involve transporting citizens from both universes back and forth as needed. We haven’t been assigned a typical DTI mission in months.

“At the moment, we’re supporting the Weltall Tournament with transportation for players and other key personnel, such as ActionStream employees and representatives from a few other SysGov companies. Other software publishers, mostly. We shuttled the SysGov citizens—again players and company employees—to the Byrgius qualifier, provided in-universe transportation for their tour of the Admin, and brought them back along with our own players.”

“Why didn’t the SysGov citizens use a Gordian TTV?” Isaac asked.

“I can’t be certain,” Elifritz emphasized, fitting his cap back on. “I wasn’t party to those talks, but it’s my understanding the DTI offered to handle all transport requirements for the event, and our offer was accepted by your government.”

“Makes sense,” Susan added. “Fostering cooperation is the main point of this tournament, after all.” She frowned ever so slightly. “Even if it’s gone a bit off course.”

“You mentioned other SysGov companies. Which ones?”

“Oh, let me think.” Elifritz looked up. “Titan Omni, Abstract Artists Agency, Checksum Error, YesWeStillMakeShmups, Drake Gaming. A few others, all of them software publishers and competitors of ActionStream’s. I can get you the full list of companies and representatives, if you like.”

“Please do.”

Elifritz nodded. He opened a virtual interface, searched through it for a file, and copied it over to Isaac.

“Thank you. What were their visits to the Admin for?”

“Negotiations with DOS. That’s our Department of Software, which ActionStream worked with to secure their publications rights. So far, ActionStream is the only company to have locked in a distribution contract. The rest are working toward the same.”

“Are any of these companies at the tournament?”

“Some.” Elifritz opened another sheet. “Both Wyverian Gaming and Titan Omni are in attendance. We’re scheduled to take a few of their people back with us after the tournament.”

“Have passengers from those companies caused you trouble or acted in an unusual way?”

“No, sir.” Elifritz shook his head. “Nothing of the sort.”

“What about the SysGov players?”

“No complaints there.”

“The Admin players?”

“Same. No issues.”

“What about the ActionStream reps?”

“They…” Elifritz grimaced and let out a slow sigh. “No, there were no problems on my ship.”

“Captain?” Isaac raised an eyebrow. “I’m detecting some hesitancy there.”

“I know. But it’s also accurate to say there were no problems.”

“Yes. ‘On your ship,’” Isaac repeated. “Were there problems elsewhere?”

Elifritz shuffled from one foot to the other. The man didn’t strike Isaac as nervous so much as uncomfortable.

Is this it? he thought, excitement building despite his calm exterior. Have we stumbled upon the key to this case? Are we about to crack it wide open?

“I would rather not cast aspersions where I have no business doing so,” Elifritz said finally.

“I understand and appreciate that,” Isaac said, choosing his words carefully, “but if you have information that might be relevant to our case, then I really need you to tell us about it.”

“But that’s just it. I don’t know anything. I simply heard a rumor. A rather ugly one at that.”

“Captain, you have my word this rumor—whatever it is—will be treated as such. We deal with facts in Themis Division. And while rumors can sometimes lead to facts, anything you heard will need to be verified.”

This must be one juicy rumor if it’s making him this uncomfortable! he thought excitedly. Come on, Captain! Out with it!

“Very well.” Elifritz straightened. “The rumor involves Sven Kohlberg from ActionStream.”

“Yes?” Isaac prompted, even more curious upon hearing the name.

“You see, we weren’t just transporting him. He brought along a great deal of cargo for one man. Over five hundred kilograms in total, which we delivered to his temporary residence at Byrgius University.”

“What was the additional cargo?”

“They were…” Elifritz sighed and shook his head.

“Yes, Captain?”

“They were sex synthoids!”

Isaac’s excitement deflated like a balloon farting out the last of its air.

“Oh. That.”

“Yes! That!” Elifritz continued, his discomfort with the topic boiling over. “And not just him! He met with DOS reps and college faculty and who knows who else during the qualifier where—as the rumor goes—everyone partook, if you catch my meaning.”

“Yes, I believe I do,” Isaac replied dully.

“I apologize, sir, but I hope you can see why I was hesitant to share this. Surely, this can’t be true. He must have brought those synthoids for another purpose.”

“I don’t know. Seems to me the rumor mill hit its mark this time.”

“What?” Elifritz regarded Isaac and his unsurprised expression, then noted the same face on Susan. “Wait a second. You two knew about this?”

“We came across his synthoid harem earlier,” Susan sighed with a shake of her head.

“Is something like that legal over here?” Elifritz asked with a disgusted expression.

“If you have the right permits, it is,” Isaac replied simply. “Any other juicy rumors? Or just the one?”

“Just the one, thankfully.”

“What about weird activity on your ship? Anything to share?”

“No, sir. All our trips were uneventful, and none of our passengers caused us problems.”

“Then I believe we’re done here. Thank you for your time, Captain.”

“No trouble at all.”

Elifritz left, and the door closed behind him.

“Off to interview Sako again?” Susan asked.

Isaac yawned into his fist, then rubbed one of his eyes with his palm.

“Or perhaps the hotel first?”

“Hotel. We can talk to Sako in the morning.”

“It is morning.”

“After breakfast, then,” Isaac corrected. “At least let me catch a few winks first.”


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