The Blood-Stained Stars: Shadow Puppets – Part I
6 June YC 127
Immuri was stationed at Hyasyoda Corporation Refinery in Hatakani, just eight jumps away from Harerget. Aura plotted a route and we started the usual warp-and-jump routine. As soon as we jumped from Unel to Tennen, something has almost imperceptibly changed, like a tension that I was not aware of suddenly went away. I held my breath, trying to comprehend the sensation. The seconds ticked away, the gate cloak expired, but I was still floating in the pod goo, mesmerised by the unusual feeling. Then Aura’s concerned voice broke my reverie.
“Hey, Cap, are you OK?”
“Um… Do you feel it?” I asked.
“Feel what?”
“The change. Something’s changed after the last jump.”
“Well, a lot of things have changed: the star, the constellation, the region, the empire…”
“Wait,” I interrupted her, “did you say ’empire’?”
“Yep, we are now officially in Caldari space.”
“That’s it! Now I know what I felt – I felt I was… home.”
“Home?” Aura asked, wrinkling her brow. “Do you mean you were born here, in Tennen?”
“No, I mean the State. I am back in the State which is my home.”
“A-a-and,” Aura drawled, “you somehow ‘felt’ it. Are you sure it was not the sight of that huge Caldari-designed star gate that made you all gooey?”
“No, I am not sentimental about it. It just feels… comfortable. Like putting on an old pair of shoes which fit you perfectly.”
“Hmm… It’s not the first time we leave and come back to the State – we had many expeditions to Anoikis, for example. Didn’t you have such a feeling after them?”
I thought for a moment, then shook my head, “No, Anoikis was different. To continue the analogy with shoes, staying in Federation is like wearing a new shiny pair which does not fit me well – it chafes just a little, you feel sore but you choose to ignore the ache. In Anoikis, it was like I was barefooted or, for that matter, naked. I guess, it’s the social aspect which makes the difference. I went to Anoikis to work and hardly ever met anyone there; quite the opposite – I tried to avoid everyone as they represented a potential danger. In Gallente space, I spent a lot of time among people whose culture was different, to say nothing about the fact that our empires have a lot of bad blood between them. So I had to adapt, but the change in my behaviour and habits had not lasted long enough to become natural. There were still pressure points which are now gone!”
Aura was not impressed by my calceological metaphors.
“I still think it’s the star gate,” was her verdict. Then she asked in a business-like tone, “Warp drive active?”
The Citadel region – Caldari Border Zone constellation
Hatakani system – Planet VI – Moon4
Hyasyoda Corporation Refinery Station
After slick, rounded shapes of CreoDron station, the no-nonsense angular contours of Hyasyoda Refinery were a feast for the eyes. I requested a docking permission and enjoyed the views while Kaukokärki was being dragged into the station by a tractor beam.
Hyasyoda Corporation Refinery Station
“Hey, Aura,” I said when we were finally docked, “are you finished with the datacore?”
Silence. Aura’s projection remained frozen, as it usually happened when she appropriated all computing resources for one of her research projects.
I chuckled and said loudly, “Hmm… don’t know what’s wrong with her. Probably should try the ancient turn off/turn on trick. Maybe it’ll help.”
The hologram flickered and Aura said in a strained voice, “Give me just two minutes, I need to finish a decryption run.”
Two minutes weren’t a problem, as I still needed to take a shower and dress before presenting myself to Immuri. Ten minutes later I was in the cargo hold and pulled on the cable which connected the datacore to the ship network. It didn’t budge. There was a security lock which prevented disconnection to avoid disrupting a data transfer.
I made a grimace, “Aura?”
She appeared on a local screen with an apologetic smile, “Oh, you took more than two minutes so I thought I could run another analysis job on the core.”
I sighed, “How long?”
“Just 8 minutes and 15 seconds.”
“Alright.”
I took my datapad and checked the location of Immuri’s office. Then I found a crossword and discovered that I forgot a Napanii word for traditional Achura embroidery. I cheated by looking it up on GalNet. Then I got bored by the crossword and started browsing the local bar directory. When I reached letter Q, I heard a soft click and the cable popped out of the datacore.
Aura’s face appeared on the screen, “You can have it, Cap.”
“How did you go with it?” I asked curiously.
Aura made a wobbling gesture with her hand, “I managed to reverse engineer the code on the core. It looks like it was written by a crazy god but there is method in its madness. The problem is I can’t interpret the code without knowing the inputs. According to Dr Castille’s notes, the microcontroller was a part of a semi-autonomous weapon system. It was largely controlled by a CPU but could also make some independent decisions based on the sensor data. There were obviously inbound connections from sensors but we don’t know what kind of instruments they were. You see, we only retrieved bits and pieces of the corrupted drone with torn cables sticking out of them. To fully understand the meaning of each input we need to know what those cables were connected to.”
“Hmm… It’s all very interesting for drone buffs, but the question that I have is where that datacore came from.”
Aura snorted, “I haven’t seen any copyright notices on it.”
“Well, I mean, at a high level – was it produced by humans?”
“Maybe.”
“By drones?”
“Maybe.”
I sighed, “You aren’t helping. I better take the core to Immuri. I hope he’ll be able to shed light on its origin.”
“Maybe,” Aura giggled and disappeared from the screen.
I loaded the datacore onto a suspensor cart and pushed it toward the exit.
I knocked on Immuri’s door and yelled, “Delivery!”
“Come in,” was a muffled reply.
“It’s too large. I can’t push it through the doorway.”
There was a sound of a crash and of hurried steps inside the office, and a few seconds later an athletic young man with a Mohican haircut peeked out of the door.
He looked at the datacore in bewilderment and asked, “What’s this?”
I shrugged my shoulders, “Dunno, guv. I am just a courier.”
“Hmm, alright. Do I have to sign a receipt?”
“No need, guv,” I replied and then whispered conspiratorially, “Mademoiselle Xarasier has complete trust in my delivery service.”
Immuri glanced at me in confusion, then did a double take. The penny dropped.
“Oh,” he said, “you must be Captain Korff.”
“Call me Vlad,” I replied shaking his hand.
“Please come in. We better talk inside,” said Immuri and led the way into his office.
He offered me a guest chair and said, “Pardon me, I need to make some arrangements… um… concerning the datacore.”
I nodded, and Immuri activated a privacy screen and called someone on his commlink. After the conversation was over, he switched off the screen and turned to me.
“Welcome to Hyasyoda station, Vlad, and thanks for delivering this datacore. I really hope it will help us solve the problem with our drones.”
“To be honest, Mr Asaka…”
“Just Immuri,” said the agent quickly.
“…Immuri, I didn’t bring the datacore to solve your problem. I came here because Delphine thought you could solve my problem.”
“And your problem is?”
I gave him a summary of the Damsel incident.
Immuri nodded, “I see. You know, Vlad, I think our interests are aligned. I will need to study the datacore anyway. If I find anything that points to its origin, I’ll definitely let you know.”
At that moment Immuri’s commlink started vibrating. He apologised and took the call, raising a privacy screen again. I, in the meantime, checked messages on my datapad. Having finished the call, Immuri drummed his fingers on the table with a concerned expression on his face.
“Problems?” I asked sweetly.
The agent started, “What? Oh, no. Nothing serious. It’s just that there will be a slight delay in our investigation.”
“Can I help to expedite it?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
I smiled, reached into my pocket and produced the small datacore that Delphine tried to hide on Kaukokärki. Then I put it on the table and with a flick of a finger sent it spinning toward Immuri.
“Will this help?” I asked.
Immuri caught the datacore and looked at me in astonishment, “Is it what I think it is?”
I nodded, “Yep. As I said, happy to be a courier but I very much dislike when people play cloak-and-dagger games on my ship. Talking of which…”
I took my datapad and showed the agent a photo on its screen. It showed a strained face of a man in a technician overalls who was rummaging inside the hatch where Delphine initially placed the datacore. Aura sent me his photo while I was talking to the agent, adding a rolled eyes emoji.
“Tell this guy,” I said, “that those conduits are fine, and he better check the third railgun power supply. The voltage is suboptimal there and affects the turret tracking speed which is not great to start with, railguns being railguns.”
Immuri nodded in dumbfounded silence.
I stood up and said, “Well, if there is nothing else that I can help you with…”
The agent suddenly broke out of his stupor and raised a hand, “Actually, there is one thing… If you are not too tired after your trip from the Federation…”
I smiled and sat back into the chair, “I am all ears.”