Making the Grade (Omnia Online Series Book 2) (22 page)

“It’s going to be a long night, how about a cup of carf.” asked Drake.

“Sweetened or unsweetened?” replied the voice.

Drake had only drunk carf once before, and it had been a rough unsweetened drink that helped him wake up after a nap.

“Let’s try sweetened,” replied Drake.

After his drink had appeared, Drake took a seat.

The coach made a couple more stops to pick people up on the way to the Governor’s, but since Drake didn’t know any of the people, he kept to himself.

The carf was much better, and Drake suspected that the sweetener was only partly the reason; the flavor was smoother, less bitter.

The Governor’s residence was more a walled estate than a mansion.  After passing a high outer wall, the coach arrived at an enormous house.  Drake had no preconception about what to expect, so the lack of a pillared and stone edifice was not a surprise.  The mansion just looked like a huge home.

However, when Drake entered the main hall that made up the center of the building he was impressed.  The interior looked like an old cathedral, but instead of a high vaulted ceiling held up by heavy stone pillars, the pillars were thin things that seemed like they should be overwhelmed by the weight of the high roof.

This appeared to be where the people gathered before heading in for dinner.

Drake estimated that there were over a hundred people already waiting in the chamber.

After a moment, Drake spotted a heavyset man, who he recognized as the Governor, approaching.

“It’s so good of you to make it to my dinner tonight Horatio; do you prefer to be called Horatio or Mr. Drake? My staff seemed uncertain.” asked the man.

“Thank you, Governor, most people just call me Drake, it’s simple, and I prefer the name.  So how is the night progressing so far, sir?” asked Drake, hoping to get the Governor talking about something safe and mundane at the start.

“Oh, very well, most of the town’s notable people are arriving, everyone seems quite relieved by the quick and almost painless outcome of what could have been a tragedy.” replied Governor Tamazi.

“Yes, painless except for the few that came in contact with the rogue A.I.,” replied Drake.

“Yes,” said the Governor “but I understand that no effort is being spared to bring everything back to order.”

“Speaking of order, before we could get a message off that the A.I. had been destroyed, an Imperial Navy Battlecruiser had been dispatched with an Imperial Representative to ‘deal with the matter.'  One shudders to imagine what might have happened if you hadn’t taken care of it first.” continued the Governor.

“But it would be helpful if you could be around in a week when the Battlecruiser comes out of hyper.  For appearance sake it would help if you still held the position of marshal, to lend weight to any testimony you might be called to give.  What do you say, to another week, you won’t have any duties, just wait for the people to calm down.” asked the Governor.

Drake thought of how to word his request, “I can see how giving the appearance of stability and being in complete control must be of paramount concern for you, sir.  I would hate to see all your effort wasted, though…”

The Governor looked sharply at Drake for a moment as if gauging a threat.

Drake waved his hand and continued, “Please don’t get me wrong, Governor.  I can stick around for a few weeks, and the title of marshal is not such a great weight.  I just wonder how an investigator might see those poor people that have had their lives torn apart by this.  Would it not show the local government in a better light if we could do all we can to help those personally affected to recover?  Just think of how it would look if the media were talking about how you, the Governor, was making sure the victims of the rogue A.I. were being properly cared for, just as the Battlecruiser drops out of hyper…  I think it would give just the right kind of impression to the representative of the Imperium,” said Drake.

The Governor continued to look at Drake for a moment, “Hmpf, clever, I’ll think about your suggestion.  Thanks for staying in place for a few more days too.  Well I’m going to have to talk to a few other guests, let me know if you have any other pressing needs.” said the man.

Drake thought about a few other things, but decided that he’d pressed his luck far enough for the night.

As the Governor moved on, he spotted another man in the crowd that he recently met.

Mikaj stood apart from the flow of people greeting one another, like an island in a stream.  Drake wasn’t sure if that was because people knew him or didn’t know him.  The Elf had an uninviting demeanor, which might have been enough to explain the distance people kept from him.

When Drake approached Mikaj, he thought the Elf’s face might have changed from its stern countenance for just a second, but it was too short a time for Drake to be sure.

“Hello again, Mr. Drake.” said the Dark Elf.

Drake suspected it would always be ‘Mr. Drake’ from this man.

“Hello, Mr. Ryuu.  I’m a bit surprised to see you here.  Didn’t you say that you were new to the planet?” asked Drake.

“Yes, but word of my presence brought me an invitation.  While I don’t usually like public events, this one might prove to be amusing considering the actors.”

“I didn’t know there was a play, I just came for the dinner.”

“All the galaxy is a stage, Mr. Drake, and the actors of note are the Governor whom you were just talking to, and the local Colonel of Militia.  A word of advice, stay clear of the Colonel, he might be connected to those people we were talking about who we don’t consider friends.”

It took Drake a minute to parse the sentence enough for understanding.

If he understood the Elf, the Colonel was connected in some way to the pirates and slavers involved in Sartina’s abduction.  If that were true, he might not be able to stay clear for long.

“Why the warning, Mr. Ryuu?” asked Drake.

“Until you deliver that data-cube, I have an interest in your health,” responded the Dark Elf.  “Now it looks like the word is being passed to enter the dining hall.”

As Drake looked around, he noticed that people were starting to move to the west side of the room to where a double door opened in on a set of large dining tables.

While Drake was distracted, the Elf slipped away.

Drake wondered if Mikaj might have come to this gathering just to give Drake this warning.

For the rest of the night, Drake ate, talked and listened, trying to get a better understanding of this world while keeping those thoughts to himself.  It ended up being a long few hours, and Drake left as soon as he decently could.  He was glad at his earlier choice in drinking carf, since Mikaj’s warning had him on guard the whole night.

Drake was relieved when he finally made his escape and returned to the Guild Hall, then once in his room, he logged out of Omnia.

After entering his virtual home, Kevin was glad to put the dinner behind him and looked for something else to focus his attention on, so he asked Samantha for an update on his contract’s payout.

“Yes, Kevin, the Guild disbursed both the Governor’s and the rancher’s funds, minus the guild’s five percent fee and the government’s ten percent tax.” replied Samantha.

“And the payout for the A.I.?” asked Kevin.

“Such things are unusual; even with the messages having been sent by quantum messaging it will take time for any reward to be decided on.  It’s a matter that will likely be presented to the Empress herself.  I would guess there will be a delay of anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.” she replied.

“Do you have any idea how that A.I. came to be out there in the forest, to begin with?” asked Kevin.

“I have some ideas and a few guesses.  First, do you remember what the last of the A.I’s followers called it?” asked Samantha.

“The Great Arthur?  Something like that anyway,” said Kevin.

“’The Great Arhat,’ after the battle I looked the name up.  There was an A.I. war about 1800 years ago, and the A.I. central to the war took on the title ‘The Great Arhat,’ it is believed that its designer named it Arhat, and it took on the title as it took over control.  That war ended with the last known location of the A.I. being bombed, it was always assumed that the A.I. was destroyed in the battle.” said Samantha.

“You said the ship was old, too,” Kevin recalled.

“Yes, it was at least 1500 years old, and of a design that didn’t have an onboard fusion plant.” Samantha continued.

“I believe that the A.I. knew that the war was going against it.  That it attempted to flee and something happened in its escape that caused it to crash land on this remote planet.  Since there were no sources of power, Arhat was stranded,” said Samantha.

“While we are still waiting for the investigation of the ship to finish up, I believe that the prospectors discovered the ship and decided to go in and see if they could find anything of value.  While doing so, they woke the A.I., and it managed to first trap them than force them into a medical pod for conditioning.” Samantha concluded.

“Poor bastards.” said Kevin.

“Yes, the people that are brought in from that area will have a long way to go to recover.  My reading about cases like this suggests that they will never be the same as they were before.  It’s much worse than post-traumatic stress disorder,” replied Samantha.

“What about the ship, is there any point in trying to claim it?” asked Kevin.

“Not in this case, I have a feeling the local government and the Imperium are going to want to sift through the ship for any information they can get out of the old wreck.  And since you were working for the local government at the time, I doubt you would have a chance,” replied Samantha.

“That’s fine, I’m just curious if there was anything worthwhile on the old wreck…  Let’s move on then, can you tell me how much money were we paid after all the deductions?” asked Kevin.

“The rancher’s paid 3,100 credits and the 600 credits for expenses and the government kicked in their 12,000 credits.  So after deductions, we added 13,345 credits to our account,” replied Samantha. “That brings our account up to 17,860 credits.”

“Good, we should have the money now to fit out High Jinx, and maybe Fiona’s half share will be enough to cover her basic kit, like buying a ships suit,” said Kevin.

“Speaking of Fiona, I’m still not sure that I like the thought of taking her into danger at such a young age,” said Kevin.

“Do you remember how her family seemed relieved when we told them that we were taking Fiona on as an apprentice crew person?” asked Samantha.

“Yes,” said Kevin.

“It’s a part of their culture to be considered responsible at an early age, but it’s another part of their culture to repay debts.  By taking Fiona on, we’re allowing them to resolve two problems.  To Karurians, she was past due to start making her own way in life, and their family has repaid its life debt to you at the same time.  Try not to let your cultural background make you feel guilty about their cultural necessities,” said Samantha.

“Ok, I guess most of my feelings come from a fear of how other people will look at me putting her in harm’s way.  I’ll just have to deal with it,” said Kevin.

“Now we should deal with sending a message to Aggressive Solutions.  I hope you have some way to contact them, Sam?” asked Kevin.

“Yes, what message would you like sent. If it’s short enough we could send it by a quantum message service,” replied Samantha.

“Just let them know that we now know who the data-cube belongs to, and we might be able to trade it for information about Sidonia’s sister, Sartina’s location.” said Kevin.

“That’s not what you told Mikaj,” replied Samantha. 

“I know, but that was more about respect.  I have the feeling that these people are a lot like some of the crime families on Earth.  Respect is sometimes worth more than money, of course even there, it’s cultural.  Still, I’m 95% sure we will get the information that we need once we turn over the data-cube.” said Kevin.

“What if it’s the 5% you’re not sure of, and Mikaj isn’t able to provide us an answer?” asked Samantha.

“Then I tell Sidonia that the deal fell through and manage the fallout.” replied Kevin.

“Well, I think the excitement is over for a few weeks.  What do you say Samantha?” asked Kevin.

“Yes, I think we can start putting the trouble with the rogue A.I. behind us, but you did just get a curious message,” said Samantha.

“A reply from Aggressive Solutions already?” asked Kevin.

“No, a message from your own world, Kevin.” she replied.

“Last Sunday you asked me to send information about Kinzigur’s research and experiments to several universities.  When I did this, I used several proxy services, in countries that have strong rules regarding privacy.  Therefore, I am confident our tracks were covered, but I did leave a way for people to contact us.  I told them that we would receive any message left for Kinzigur on any of the busiest 10 Facebook pages.”

“The idea is that millions of people visit some pages, so we would be just one person reading those pages.”

“The problem is, we received a message asking for help from Professor Dorian Rikhard of Stanford University.  I picked him as a recipient since Stanford University is a leader in math and physics research and Professor Rikhard is a well-respected researcher in particle physics.  His area of research includes general relativity, quantum field theory, string theory, and quantum gravity.  While his expertise is not a perfect match for Kinzigur, his research has come closer than almost anyone else on Earth to discovering Kinzigur’s Supra-Space.”

“He has asked for a meeting, or some way to ask a few questions, and said he could offer an honorarium,” said Samantha.

“Did he say what he wanted help with? I am just starting to understand some of the theory. I doubt that I could answer and in-depth and detailed physics question.  Not well enough to describe Supra-Spacial theory.” asked Kevin.

“While using Facebook as a message drop seems a good way to stay hidden, it is a poor way to communicate complex information.  So all we have is a request for an explanation,” said Samantha.

Kevin was not an expert in computers or the internet, but what little he knew suggested that if data could be sent to him, then his location could be found.

“I don’t think I can contact this professor, unless Intelecom has a way to hide our trail?” asked Kevin.

“No, any data path would be followed back to Intelecom at this point.  This is something I am not permitted to allow,” replied Samantha.

“Let me see if I have this straight.  A professor, who I don’t know, wants help and is offering money for my time.  However, both the money and communications could be tracked back to me.  Which could be a problem, since Intelecom doesn’t want any connection to this release of information, and I have one of their game pods?” asked Kevin.

“Well, the only way to make that happen would be in person then.  I would have to leave the pod and go somewhere else to make a meeting, or just leave it alone,” said Kevin.

Even as Kevin considered his options, the temptation grew.  He had plenty of game credits but in real life?  He was cash strapped, he had just enough money to make it through the end of the Alpha testing, then he would have to get a real job or somehow trade Omnia money for cash.  The thought of trading a few minutes of talking for some quick cash was appealing.

Kevin then thought of other ways he could make money by sharing Earth or Omnia culture.  If he was a musician, he could learn some old ‘Omnia’ music, and sell some recordings.  The same would be true for art and other forms of entertainment, Kevin was sure there were ways of making money.  But his talents were not in art and entertainment, nor was he motivated to learn. 

His childhood efforts to learn any form of music floundered on his lack of rhythm.  And he had similar experiences with art and acting.

If Kevin were going to make real money off what he was learning in Omnia, it would be through developing something people could use, through his training in engineering and the new skills he was learning.

So this offer of money for help understanding Kinzigur’s research was tempting.

“Samantha, let's game out some ways of giving this professor what he wants and staying nameless, in the training room.  Then maybe after my flight test on Monday, I can take a day or two out of the pod to make a meeting,” said Kevin.

“As you wish, Kevin, but I don’t like the idea of you going out there alone.  I’ll modify your phone’s software and upgrade your phone service, so I can be with you in case you need me,” said Samantha.

“Sounds like a good idea, add that to the training.  Was there anything else to do tonight?” asked Kevin.

In a flash, Samantha disappeared and reappeared next to him holding a bottle of champagne, wearing her cat ears, and nothing else but the smile that Kevin love so much.

“I think it’s time to celebrate, to making credits and helping the helpless… and to my hero,” said Samantha, as she drew Kevin into a warm furry embrace.

To be continued.