Value of a Name: Part 3
17 Sep 2016Cartlidge1000
“What do you mean she isn’t one of yours?” I hurriedly typed into my comms panel after finally calming myself down. I had returned to the station serving as the base of operations for the system’s security force, only moments after they had finished identifying the slaves we had recovered and transporting them back to their homes.“We mean there’s no record of her. Until you showed up we were certain we had rescued all the missing persons that had been reported recently. The slaver’s logs listed 142 slaves. 99 men, 40 women, and three kids. We managed to contact some of the nearby systems and account for every single one, but there’s no record of the woman you described.”
I sighed, leaning back in my chair. The cyborg we were arguing about sat quietly in the chair to my left, eyes darting about, as if to absorb every detail of the station she could. As it turned out, she was the only one of the group to have been turned into a living AI.
“Alright fine. Is there anything else peculiar in the ship’s logs? Like maybe a reference to the cyborg or something?”
“Well, the transaction that was supposed to take place offered a surprisingly low amount of credits, but compensated with an advance payment.”
It was unusual for what seemed to be a disorganized smuggling run, but not particularly strange. “How is advanced credits relevant?”
“I didn’t say advanced credits. In fact, all that was listed was ‘A taste of the final product.’ We didn’t have any idea what it meant until now.”
I caught on as quickly as they did. Given that it was extremely unlikely that she did this to herself willingly, a “taste” meant that the transaction’s buyer, likely a corporation of pirate group, planned on augmenting the others.
“So do you have the identity of the buyer?” I asked.
“We have a name, but given the nature of the situation it could very well be an alias.”
“I figured. Do you mind if I take up the investigation?”
“Not at all. Honestly since we’re on the border of Alliance space it would’ve been difficult to lobby the Assembly for assistance, so we didn’t have the resources to look any further, but if you want to we won’t stop you. I am transferring you the related files now.”
Not a moment after I had finished reading did my ship AI speak up, notifying me of the received message containing the files. Naturally it was an incomprehensible mess of notes, names, and reports.
“Well… at least their thorough” I mumbled to myself, forgetting that I now had an audience. “Um… don’t worry, we’ll find your home.”
“I… have no home” she replied bluntly, face expressionless. It almost sounded as if she had been programmed to say that. The thought sent a chill down my spine.
“Well… either way we’re going to be here awhile. It’s going to take some time for me to sift through these files.
Suddenly she perked up, looking back at me. “Would you like my help?” she asked.
“Uhhhh… Sure?” I figured it couldn’t hurt, so I sent the files to the terminal in front of her. She immediately got to work, clicking on files only to scroll through them before moving on. Was she even looking at them? Or… could she really read that fast?
“The alias the security service found is the Custodian.”
“Cute. I’ll check for any reports” I replied, pulling out my datapad to check, “find anything on their whereabouts?”
“No, but I found the original transaction’s drop-off point in an encrypted message.”
“Oh? Then we’ll check there” I concluded, handing her the datapad. If she could find all of that in the stew of information that had been the security service’s files then I was sure she would find this “Custodian” by the time we reached the next system.
[part 3]