A Chronetic Memory (The Chronography Records Book 1) (24 page)

She pulled out her worktablet to show him. She had summarized the files Anders had given her, not wanting to reveal the names of legitimate donors and investors. The kids clustered around to look too, but quickly moved away at the masses of figures. Only Joph stuck it out; Dani could have predicted that, based on his fascination with numbers.

Joph whistled. “That is a lot of extra funding! Must be almost half of the total.”

Detective Rayes nodded. “I’m not nearly as quick at the totals as you are, Joph. But it’s a large percentage, pretty clearly. And the institute has no official accounting for these amounts, you say, Dani?”

“Nothing published. And I found out something else.” She hesitated, gathering her thoughts, then continued, “I personally know of two instances where people are being threatened with something unless they keep silent about something going on in the company. One of them is the friend who got this information for me.”

“So he won’t testify, if it comes to that?” asked the detective.

“No, I don’t think so. He looked pretty scared.”

“You said two instances,” said Ronny. “Has anyone threatened you?”

“No, not me. If anyone had, I’d know who it was, and I could testify.”

Jazz sat forward abruptly, and the chair whirred to keep up. “I’m assuming the blackmailer’s material comes from what we talked about? Using objects and chronography searches to dig up dirt?”

“We’re pretty sure that’s the case.”

“Is there a record of scans? Can you match the deposits to objects and get a clue that way?”

Dani shook her head. “There are too many scans going on daily. And the demands for money may come weeks after the initial scan. The blackmailer would have to have a second scan done—we call those investigative scans, when we’re doing them for historical purposes—and once the specific time frame was established, he’d have to convert the chronetic information into a VAO hologram—oh!”

She was vaguely aware of puzzled looks on the faces of all the club members except for Shard, whose face reflected Dani’s own look of dawning realization. He spoke up for the first time. “You use another machine for that step, don’t you?”

“Yes! And there is only one of those.”

“Are there records of what that machine has been used on?” asked Lora.

“There are! I can look those up and find out which objects were scanned for periods within the last twenty or thirty years. That could definitely help. And I could look at the dates and times they were converted to VAO holograms and match those with the…” she trailed off, thinking about dates and data.

“Is there any way you could get some names from that?” Detective Rayes was intrigued. “If so, I can get warrants to see if I can find withdrawals to match the unidentified contributions in your data.” He winked. “Might as well be the one person in this room who won’t be arrested for something. Although I’m not sure they would let me arrest myself anyway!”

Dani smiled, then frowned as she considered his request. “It’s possible. It would take a lot of work. After I get the list of objects—which will take a while, just from the volumes of data I’ll have to go through—I’ll have to look at each one and view the parts before and after to see if I can see any people who might have done something in the part I can’t see that they’d pay to hide. It’s going to be a hit-or-miss thing.”

“Will people have a record of what you have done?” asked Shard.

“They could get one, but they’d have to be specifically interested in the scanner I usually use, and go look at the records for that scanner. I think I’ll be okay.” Unless they are already watching me, she thought. And they might be, since they got to Anders. She decided not to think about that. “I have a certain amount of leeway about sharing things outside of the institute, because I’m a sort of ambassador to the public.”

“You need anyone to help you go through data?” Joph waved his hand in an if-so-I-volunteer type of gesture.

Dani gnawed on her lip, considering. “I don’t think that would be revealing anything secret. I could send you the activity list from the VAO converter and show you what numbers are important. Let’s swap connexions.”

“You’ll need mine too,” the detective said.

While they did the swap, Lora moved over next to Joph. “I’ll help you, when you get the data. We can get together Monday or Tuesday afternoon, after exams are over for the day,” Lora said.

“Monday works best for me. I’ve got a study group Tuesday afternoon.”

“Okay, I’ll try to get that to you by noon on Monday.” Dani made a note on her worktablet to remind herself.

“We’ll send back a filtered list, as far as we get, by Monday evening.” Lora was already taking charge, and Joph didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Thanks.” Dani swept the group with her glance. “I really appreciate all of you. You got me started in the right direction.”

WALLACE HOME, Lower Queen Anne, Seattle, WA. 1200, Saturday, June 10, 2215.

Dani sidestepped the slidewalk, lifting the laden branches of the lilacs to walk around the right side of the house to the Wallace’s back yard. By next week, the purple profusion of blooms would be over. She sniffed appreciatively as she spotted Kat and Marak sitting at their patio table and waved to them.

“Thanks for inviting me!”

“Hi, Dani! How was your morning?” asked Kat. “Do you want some iced tea?”

“Yes, thanks. It was good. I met with a group of high schoolers in a political action club. They’re concerned about the privacy invasions, and they’re going to help me go through the data. Don’t worry,” she added, seeing their expressions. She could tell that Marak, in particular, was envisioning all kinds of legal difficulties for her. “I won’t give them anything that will get them—or me—in trouble.”

“How can you be sure?” Marak pulled out a chair for her to join them.

“It’ll just be a sample printout from one of our machines, something I’m allowed to do for presentations. I have a lot of leeway for things like that. Besides, now that I don’t have Anders working on the data for me, they’ll be a big help.”

“So what do you expect to find, exactly?” Kat poured tea into three tall glasses filled with ice cubes and sat down.

Dani explained about the date matching, and the possibility of the detective tracking down the victims and using their testimony to reach the blackmailers.

“This is amazing, Dani,” said Kat. “We’ve demonstrated outside that big building for years, and never really had a chance at making a difference like this.”

“There was never a clear indication of wrongdoing,” said Marak. “You only had the possibility of it before, babe.”

“I know, and I have mixed feelings about that. I never wanted there to be wrongdoing. I wanted to prevent that.” Kat was such an idealist, and Dani loved her for it. Loved them both. But then she remembered that whatever difference they made wouldn’t be a real one, if they got Jored back. It would only apply to the altered timestream.

“I hate to point it out, but remember what you said, Marak?” asked Dani. “If our timestream fix works, none of us will remember anything that we’ve done.”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” he answered. “What if you stayed in the observation box while it was happening? Wouldn’t that mean you’d remember all this? That’s why you remembered before, right?”

Dani considered that. “I’d be missing the memories from these last few days, and the transition might not be as smooth as it was this time. Well, not smooth exactly,” she added, remembering her meltdown when she found out about Jored. “But at least I was among friends. I’m not sure what it would be like if I’m at the institute.”

“That’s risky,” said Marak.

Wasn’t it a risk worth taking, though? She could think pretty well on her feet. She’d dealt with the hostility at the high school. Why not try it? “On the other hand,” she said, “it may be, when the timestream gets restored, that I will have done all of this there, too. This whole investigation, talking with you, working with Anders, scheduling a meeting with the high school kids, started before the switch. Events tend to match up. Lexil says a lot of the disturbances repair themselves. I could ask him what he thinks.”

“Who’s Lexil?” Kat asked.

“He works with Dr. Seebak.”

“Dr. Seebak?” Kat was startled. “How do you know him? Just a few days ago, you had no idea he was still working in chronography.”

“Yes, well.” Dani stopped, embarrassed. Oops. She had forgotten to fill Kat in on those details. “Remember the moonlit walk and the secret lab?”

“Oh! But how did you meet them?”

“It turns out that that Dr. Seebak and Lexil have a device that can spot disturbances in the timestream. Jored’s disappearance showed up as a big one, and everything I did because of it left a trail they could see. Lexil tracked me down. Found me outside your house that night.”

“And took you to their lab?”

Dani nodded.

A funny look crossed Kat’s face. “You didn’t walk in the moonlight with Dr. Seebak, did you?”

“No! Lexil walked me to the tube station.” Dani laughed at Kat’s expression. “It was a nice walk.”

“Sounds like it.” Kat kept her tone very neutral, but Dani knew she’d be wanting more details later.

She steered the topic back on track. “The work they are doing is groundbreaking. It’s what I thought chronography would be, when I started my studies. They can see the timestream disturbances, and if the timestream is going to be restored, it will be Lexil who has figured out how to make it happen.”

“When would that be?” Marak asked.

“I don’t know. He said he’d let me know. Could be hours. Could be weeks or months. He’s got some testing to do. We’ll only have one chance at it, so it has to work the first time.”

Marak nodded. “So back to the memory issue. If Lexil thinks it would be safe for you to stay in the box, we’ll have to arm you with facts and evidence that will convince the rest of the world in that timestream. Either that, or the knowledge of where to find that evidence so you can build a case there too.”

“That would be good,” said Kat. “Even if we—the other we—have been helping you in that timestream, even if you have some evidence gathered there, and Anders and the West Seattle kids are helping, we may have some facts from here that you wouldn’t have been able to get there.”

“I think passing that along is vital,” said Marak. He grinned. “It’s what my other self would want.”

Kat snickered at his expression. “All this talking about convincing ourselves is getting kind of weird.”

“Oh, hey! I talk myself into things all the time. Cheesecake, another baked potato, a night out with my wife…”

“You have to talk yourself into a night out with me? I’m hurt.”

“She didn’t see the pattern, I guess.” Marak winked at Dani. “These are all good things, babe.”

“Speaking of baked potatoes,” Kat said, “our dinner should be about done now, shouldn’t it?”

Marak hopped up and opened the barbecue with a flourish. “Perfect! Nice timing! I knew it was a good idea when I talked myself into marrying you.”

Kat started throwing potholders at him.

“Hey! Watch it! The barbecue’s open! You want to burn something?”

Dani laughed. “You two need to get off the patio. Take it over there. I’ll get the burgers off the grill.”

Marak took her up on her offer and zoomed around the side of the house. In a few seconds, he came back, dragging a hose with a spray nozzle. “I warn you! This thing is on!”

Kat raised her hands in a gesture of surrender. “I yield,” she said, then muttered so only Dani could hear, “for now.”

Dani cleared her throat and, in an exaggeratedly bright tone of voice, said to no one in particular, “Hey, what about these hamburgers? They look great! And look! The condiments are already on the table. It must be dinner time!”

Marak and Kat laughed, put down their playful weapons, and sat down with Dani at the table.

“Please pass the mustard,” Kat asked Dani, “and tell me all about this Lexil guy while you’re at it.”

SEEBAK LABORATORY, Vashon Island, WA. 1000, Sunday, June 11, 2215.

“Found my way here all by myself this time,” Dani said, with just a trace of smugness.

“We can’t have that. Now we’re going to have to erase your memory,” Lexil teased. “Secret lab, you know.”

“Okay, but can it wait till after I find my way home? I’d be really puzzled if I suddenly woke up here, with no idea why.”

“Yeah, that’s reasonable, I guess.” He stepped aside to let her enter the lab. “Doc! We have a visitor!”

Dr. Seebak’s head emerged from a workstation. “Oh, hi, Dani! What brings you here today?”

Dani considered. What actually had brought her here? Most of what she had to ask them about or share with them could have been done over a connexion. It was mostly whim that had urged her to board the tube car this morning and make the trip to the island. She realized, with a start, that the main reason she had come had a lot to do with the smiling young man who had opened the door at her approach. “It must be your magnetic personalities,” she said.

With a disbelieving chuckle, Dr. Seebak suggested, “Probably more like the magnetic science research we do here. But you are always welcome.”