A Letter from Home

January 27

I have been grounded here several days. A tropical atoll on a distant world. Tracking the three men who first salvaged the Colchester.

Mercedes Celestalis had been aware of the location of the survey ship. When I refused to deal with her on the matter, she may have hired these men. The information we received from Ardra's drone indicated that two items were removed from the Colchester before we arrived. I wanted to know what those items were and where they were now.

I had my suspicions, of course. The information in the drone helped a great deal. From the context, one can surmise that Ardra referred to the Audrey clones as the Zahir. Further, she stated that the Aleph (and Alpha Constant) were stolen from the survey ship.

The Colonel believed that Audrey's remains had been in the Colchester.

I conclude:

Aleph = Audrey's remains.
Zahir = Audrey's clones.

If I could reacquire her remains, it could give us leverage.

It was hot when I arrived. The air was heavy with humidity making breathing uncomfortable. Skin was wet to the touch. Paper warped and buckled.

But by the late afternoon on that first day the wind picked up. It cleared the air and turned the waves an angry, icy blue. The temperature dropped and I had to wrapped myself in blankets once the sun went down.

Within days the persistent wind had removed enough sand from the beach to expose sharp rocks beneath. Conditions were appalling. The hut was dark and drafty. If I ventured outside, seeking some glimmer of the tropical sun, I had to resort to heaping chairs and crates into a make shift shelter.

By the end of the week, the wind finally calmed. And as if the passing of the storm had permitted contact with the outside world, I received a message from Ceasar.

It was his interview with Constance Zdychava, the guardian of the two missing girls. While it contained information very useful to my investigation, it made me feel...homesick.

I travelled a lot, but this was a new feeling for me.

I didn't like it.

I took a second look at the data screen. My fingertips resting lightly on his name.

-----

Private message from Ceasar Otsuka:

"You're gonna wanna see this. Constance Zdychava came to see me today. She worked on the original Ardra project and is guardian to the girls who were kidnapped from Paquin. Hope to see you soon."

Recording begins.

[Time stamp 08:51]

A woman's voice: "Chief Otsuka I presume?"

Ceasar's voice: "Hello, Ms. Zdychava. Yes. Would you like to come into my office?"

"Yes I would," she replied, "I apologize that it has taken me so long to get here. I am stationed in deep space and there are no regular transports."

"I spent 15 years in the UAP military," answered Ceasar, "I understand completely."

"15 years. You were in the war?" asked the woman.

Ceasar nodded.

Constance Zdychava replied, "Tragique affaire."

"Very," agreed Ceasar, "Luckily, Paquin was neutral during the war so it was never attacked."

"Beaucoup de chance."

"I still saw too much."

"You are native to Paquin?" asked Ms. Zdychava.

"I am," answered Ceasar, "I grew up in a small farming community over the mountains from Spinwheel. So when I left the military, I came back here."

"The conflict did not come here, so you went to the conflict," prompted the woman.

Ceasar continued, "I'd already been in for a few years when it started. Didn't have much of a choice at that point."

"You are pro-active, oui?"

"I try to be."

"Has there been any progress on the kidnapping investigation?" Ms. Zdychava asked.

"Not as of yet," replied Ceasar, "We haven't found evidence of a struggle and no records at the school. There was very little trace evidence in the room."

"I have received no ransom demands," admitted the woman.

"We have brought in federal support as well," Ceasar elaborated, "It seems like they've been taken offworld, so they could be anywhere in the UAP."

Constance Zdychava looked away, "This is supposed to be a safe planet. A safe school, secured. The children have been here for 9 years, since my transfer to Heinlein."

"I can't speak to the school," began Ceasar, "But this is a safe planet over all. Very little violent crime. However...as a trading world, there is more than a little information, smuggling and intrigue making its way through."

"Intrigues involving kidnapping of minors from boarding schools?" she asked.

"When they have a connection to Ardra, yes," he replied.

"Ardra is here?"

"No, she is not," replied Ceasar, "But records have been found of the genetic relationship one of the girls has with her."

Constance Zdychava was dismissive, "Ardra is a machine, it has no genetics. It is an Auto Regressive Derivative Research Algorithm."

"And the machine was based on a living person, the personality."

Ms. Zdychava countered the point, "Millions of children play immersive video games with neural interfaces. It does not grant the program genetics."

"No, but these particular girls have a genetic relationship to the family that created Ardra."

"I am the executor of the Aurotharius Estate and the legal guardian to the Aurotharius children," said the woman, "15 years now. You have evidence that this program is active? That project was shut down ages ago."

"Yes," replied Ceasar, "Most of the evidence is with Major Siamendes of the UAP."

"Très troublant."

Ceasar continued, "The project was shut down, but Ardra has stayed 'alive'."

"I was not notified of this."

"It's not something that has been publicized," he explained.

"I was an advisor to that project," said the woman.

"You...were?"

Constance Zdychava continued, "If a part of the project has been reactivated and is outside of containment, we should have been notified."

"Have you talked with the Major about this?" asked Ceasar.

"I do not know of this Major," Ms. Zdychava replied, "I need to speak with Lt. MacMoragh. He was liaison to the project." She closed her eyes. "Wait. Focus. Prioritize..."

"This is a bit above his paygrade..." remarked Ceasar.

"I don't know what to do," admitted the woman, "15 years..."

"This is part of a case that has gone well beyond Paquin," Ceasar stated.

Ms. Zdychava began to explain, "Ardra and Hal were field tested here almost 20 years ago. Relatively simple automated ship that combed the magnetosphere of Heinlein for antimatter..."

"It's doing a lot more than that now," remarked Ceasar.

"....When the solar wind impacts the magentosphere, antiparticles are created and are trapped at the poles," she added, "I was told that there were no drones in the field. It must have uploaded and distributed on its own."

"Which is pretty much what the Major has thought."

"Nous sommes damnés. Nous sommes condamnés," declared the woman.

"You definitely need to talk to the Major about this," said Ceasar, "She's seen evidence of Ardra as far away as Mu Draconis. She and I both believe that Ardra may have had something to do with the kidnapping."

"Where else has Ardra been?"

Ceasar listed off places throughout the system, "Hale's Moon, Bihar, Weisshorn. Even some connections to Zenobia at this point."

"Well, the project was based out of Avalon, so that is not surprising," commented the woman. "Hale's is remote. Mu Draconis."

Ceasar continued, "There's been rumors that Ardra has taken control of some of the rogue and independent artificial lifeforms on Hale's."

"That is most strange."

"More than strange," replied Ceasar, "It has a ship a kilometer long."

"Les navigateurs de la Guilde."

"Beg pardon?"

"Arrogant bâtards."

"You know of a connection," prompted Ceasar, "The Guild isn't UAP."

"No...," she replied, "I mean, yes, you are correct, they are not. The Navigator's Guild was one of the parties interested in the Ardra and Hal projects."

"Do you think they may have helped modify the programming?" asked Ceasar.

"The usual suspects, Blue Sun, Umbrella, Iskellan, Corsone, The Guild. They got a copy from someone." Ms. Zdychava's voice descended into a whisper. "Hal is a systems management program, nothing special. Not even a true AI, what they call and expert system. Ardra was a data mining program."

"She's used the data," observed Ceasar.

"It would seek out other programs and extract data. Get them to cooperate to leverage its program. It would get the other programs to use their spare server resources to search for data. The Guild must have set it loose. Arrogant bas_tards."

"It may not be the Guild doing it," Ceasar suggested, "She has grown. Would they have any reason to download into a genetic construct named Lilybell on Hale's?"

"That would be the drone crawler," explained the woman, "It downloads a program into the other system." She whispered again, "That system located data for it."

"That sounds like Ardra," said Ceasar, "Not the Guild."

"The Guild probably did not use it for that purpose," she agreed, "But they were probably the ones who set it loose. But you're right. I can't be sure. Too little information to reach a conclusion. It was not a true AI. This sounds too self-motivated."

"The operative word here is 'was'," added Ceasar.

"Yes. I can't be too quick to jump to conclusions. I feel no closer to figuring out what to do about the girls."

"I think it'll take solving the larger mystery. You need to talk with Major Pepper Siamendes."

"Who is that?" asked the woman.

"She's the one in charge of the case," explained Ceasar, "And the one who's gathered the most information so far. She is based here on-world, but has to travel a lot." A slightly pained look crossed his face

"I see."

"I can com her," he said, "and let her know what we've talked about. She has direct access to sources I don't."

"I am based here when I am not at station," replied Ms. Zdychava, "Yes, have her contact me."

Recording ends.

[Time stamp 09:51]