Talosian Chronicles 5: Raptor Squadron (29 page)

Alan grinned. "Let's be sure to ask her when we find her. What's her name and how old was she?"

"You believe the sabotage was done by a ghost?" Andreya replied. "Chelsea Irons was thirteen years old at the time of her death."

"I don't think Miss Irons is actually a ghost. I think something happened to her during the attack on Talos and she got a new identity. Using facial recognition, compare Miss Irons to the wounded Talos survivors. Specifically, those listed as new arrivals the day of the attack that might have lost a portion of their right arm," Alan suggested as they arrived at the base medical center. "I'll go get Olivia since she knows me. I doubt you'll need to, but keep your eyes open. Make sure the team doesn't let anyone out of their sight, not even for bathroom breaks. I'm pretty sure Miss Irons doesn't want to hurt anyone, but I don't want her to escape, either."

"You think she's a member of the team?" Andreya asked.

"She is either a research assistant or very close to one of the team members; it's the easiest way to get access to the lab and data files," Alan replied. "We have to remember she's really only fourteen years old. She's probably been passing herself off as an adult, though."

Andreya chuckled. "I found her, she's been using the name Heather Kinds. She's living with one of the computer systems research assistants. She came with the team as a sort of vacation. She's been working as a data analyst in the administration section of Phoenix Base."

"Okay, hang on a sec, I'm at the clinic," he said. When he arrived, he saw a very pregnant Olivia in one of the more comfortable chairs waiting for him. A uniformed security person was standing near her. Alan showed his ID and relieved the security agent, thanking her for her time.

As the guard left, Olivia held out her hand so Alan could help her stand up. "Okay, Hotshot, just what the hell is going on?"

Alan grinned at her. "I'll tell you once we get you out to the car. Are you sure you shouldn't be in a hover chair?"

"I'm pregnant, not crippled! I'll be fine just as soon as little Peter decides to arrive," Olivia replied.

Alan gave her a look of mock surprise. "Really? Wasn't it a 'little peter' that got you into this situation in the first place?"

Olivia burst out laughing and slapped his shoulder. "You and Tom are horrible! He said the exact same thing! Dad fell out of his chair he was laughing so hard!"

Alan led her back toward the exit while she calmed down. "But really, what's with all the security stuff? Did something happen?"

"You could say that. The drone project has been tampered with. Your original prototype was fine the way it was but the person that tampered with it changed a bunch of things to make it fail. Andreya discovered the issue when I asked her to give us a hand coming up with a testing schedule," Alan replied.

"Who's Andreya?" Olivia asked.

"I am Doctor," Andreya replied as she opened the vehicle door for the woman. "I'm the tactical AI for the Raptor
Poseidon
; Colonel Carlson's ship. It's an honor to meet you."

"Let's get you back to the lab. Andreya can tell you all about it while we go," Alan replied.

When they returned to the lab, Olivia was upset, but had it under control.  "Please don't say anything to anyone else about what you were told. As far as the rest of the team is concerned, the identity of the saboteur is still unknown," Alan asked.

Olivia nodded. "I won't say anything. What are you going to do with her once you catch her?"

Alan shrugged. "I don't know what'll happen to her. She broke a ton of laws and security restrictions. Normally, she would be executed for treason and espionage. She is a minor that has been successfully posing as an adult. In our current society, that is not as easy as it used to be. Because of that, I could only speculate as to what her punishment may end up being. Thankfully, stuff like this is rare in the extreme."

"I think execution might be a little harsh; I mean, yes she did mass with stuff that could have hurt folks, but it didn't, and it's obvious that hadn't been her intent. I can even understand her actions to some degree if she believes we stole her ideas. To tell you the truth, she isn't wrong. The idea for the drone is based on her original suggestion. However, we believed her to be dead so she wasn't included in the design phase. Unfortunately, there is no place in the documentation to list whose concept the project is based on. However, I did reference Chelsea in several places in the introduction of the research proposal. I made sure her name will always be associated with the project. I had intended it to be a memorial to her and her father," Olivia explained.

"Why her father?" Alan asked.

"He designed the muscle fibers used to make the drones move. I'm sure you've seen standard assembly robots in use on Earth, right?" Olivia asked.

When Alan nodded, she continued. "They are very precise in their movements and somewhat jerky. For what they do, they need to be precise. So the motors and actuators use in them are perfect for that application. However, we needed a more fluid form of motion while still retaining precision. These muscles were the answer. I wouldn't be surprised if Andreya didn't have them in her android body."

Andreya smiled. "No, my body is almost as human as yours is. I can even get pregnant if I wanted. This body is a bio-genetic construct. However, that is still somewhat of a secret. I can tell those I trust, but it's not common knowledge."

"Thank you, I won't tell anyone, but if I may, can I call on you from time to time to learn more?" Olivia asked.

"Sure, but I hope you understand I might be too busy to answer right away. Alan tends to keep me pretty busy," Andreya replied.

Alan nodded toward the door into the lab. "Come on, let's join the others." He paused. "Just so you know, Heather is in there; she was called in as part of the protection order."

"Thanks for the warning. How are you going to handle this?" Olivia asked.

Alan shrugged. "That'll depend mostly on Miss Irons and how she'll react to learning the full knowledge of her actions. Either way, we will be arresting her. What happens then will depend mostly on her."

When Tom saw Olivia he all but ran to her to make sure she was alright. She smiled at him and gave him a quick kiss. Alan caught Heir Doctor Schmidt smiling at the pair, but he quickly changed his expression when he realized Alan had seen him.

"Okay can I ask everyone to gather over here so we can figure this out?" Alan called, pulling the project team together. He saw Heather looked a little nervous, but stuck by her friend. Lissa had gotten one of the other team members and made sure they were close to the girl.

When the team had gathered around and found places to sit, Alan began. "Earlier today, I asked an AI to assist us in planning out a test schedule for the drones. In order to ensure all the benchmarks were being met, she had to have access to the project data. As this was a specialized military AI, she has abilities and access levels that the civilian AI, like Mathias at Phoenix Base simply don't have. I'm telling you this because she found several problems that prove beyond doubt that this project has been sabotaged." Alan had to stop then as the group began talking and whispering to each other.

"Stay with me here folks, I'm getting there; we've learned a great deal about what's happened and what's going on. I'll explain everything, so please just be patient," Alan said loudly to be overheard. When the group quieted back down, he continued.

"Thank you. Now, the reason you were not getting the aide you should have been getting from Mathias is due to a special block placed on the data container. This block made it so a normal AI would ignore it. If asked, the AI in question would deny even being able to locate the container. Creating and placing this block took someone with the specialized knowledge of AI systems that is still restricted to selected individuals. Just keep that in mind for now and we'll come back to it later.

"Now, once that block was in place, it gave the saboteurs the ability to modify almost anything they wanted within the container of the project. The AI I asked to assist us found several places where these modifications have been made. Keep in mind that the part of the project you were working with in the lab itself could not have been modified because you would have caught that right away, so the modification could only be made to the production platen
after
it was sent to the base assembly bays. We believe the modifications were input while the project was still in the lab, but did not take effect until the data left the lab systems. If you will all remember, the two FROG drones I tested for you performed very well. That was because they were built in the lab, using your own assembly bays. The design platen did not leave the lab, so the modifications did not affect those prototypes.

"Some of the modifications were frustrating, but relatively harmless; altering the composition of the alloy used to form the frame to make it much weaker, rewriting control protocols so the systems would function erratically and other relatively harmless alterations that would do little more than discredit the project and the people that designed it - namely all of you. While all of these modifications were malicious, time, and resource consuming, not to mention the delay in getting this system out to our troops as soon as possible, there was one modification that was potentially lethal and could have proved fatal to an operator. The feedback system used for controlling the drone itself. The way it was modified would kill the operator if the drone would have taken damage to the head of the torso.

Heather stuck her hand in the air. "Uh, excuse me Sir, but if there was only that one modification that was potentially lethal, is it possible the person simply made a mistake and had not intended to harm the operators?"

Alan sighed and slowly nodded. "Yes Chelsea, we believe that part was simply a mistake you made and wasn't intentional." He waited for her to realize he had called her by her real name and accused her of sabotaging the project. "Miss Irons, I don't think you understood the consequences of your actions here are grounds to be charged with treason not only under Terran law, but in the Alliance as well. Treason during time of war is punishable by execution."

"Wait, Heather, what's he talking about?" the woman beside her asked, turning to her friend.

The girl looked down as tears formed in her eyes. "Heather Kinds was killed in the attack at Talos. My family and I were helping the newbies get to the shelters when we got hit. My family was killed along with Heather. I lost my arm that had my ID chip in it. I guess Heather's purse landed on me or something, because when I came to, I had a cybernetic arm and people were calling me Heather instead of Chelsea." She sniffed and wiped tears from her face. "I was in a bit of shock because of my folks dying. Heather had been an adult, so I just kept my mouth shut for the time being. I fully intended to have it corrected later.

"But then I heard about how our ideas had been stolen by another scientist I couldn't stand to just sit back and let credit for my dad's ideas go to someone else. I've had some experience with programming, so I put myself in a position where I could do something about it." She looked up and directly at Alan. "Colonel, no one was supposed to get hurt, I swear. I only wanted to kill the project for my dad."

Again Alan nodded his understanding. "I kind of figured it was something like that. Unfortunately, the laws you have broken here are pretty serious and I still have to arrest you. You're going to be charged with multiple crimes, because this was a military project; espionage and treason will be included in that list. At this moment, Admiral Williams is being briefed on your crimes and the status of this project. AI Mathias has been taken off-line to make sure no further tampering has been done to him either by you or as a result of your initial actions. Further, three military grade AI from Raptor teams like us will be going through every line of data and code in the computer systems of the base to make sure nothing else was damaged or affected. As a result, Admiral Williams will most likely have to place the entire sector on alert." He paused and just looked at the girl. "Chelsea, what you didn't know was that your revenge plot was for nothing. Olivia, could you please read the introduction you wrote in your proposal for this project?"

"Certainly Colonel," Olivia replied and opened it on one of the terminals. It the introduction, Olivia not only credited Jeremy Irons as the ultimate creator of the muscles fibers used in the drones, she also mentioned Chelsea's own work in the programming of the at-the-time theoretical machine. When she finished. She looked at the crying girl. "Both you and your father are listed as primary sources, and your proposal paper is referenced in several places. I would like to add that your father's work is living on, and not just here. His work has been accepted by several medical researchers for use in articulated replacement limbs for patients that cannot have their limbs regrown. There will be a whole new generation of cybernetics based mostly on his work."

"I've been such an idiot. I should have known! I was so used to his work being stolen by others before we joined, all I saw was the same thing happening again here. I'm sorry just isn't good enough, but for now, that's all I can say," Chelsea replied through her tears.

Doctor Schmidt stood and walked over to the girl. "It is the very brightest that make the biggest mistakes, Ja? Keep in touch if you are allowed. This project is your papa's legacy; we will make sure you are kept aware of its progress and make you both proud."

Alan was convinced Chelsea did not intend harm. She was also very sorry for what she had done. Before they took her away, she made sure to point out all the areas where she had made alterations, so the original program could be restored. When Andreya asked her how she got the AI block in place and exactly how it had been constructed, young Chelsea asked about self-incrimination.

"I hacked some security cameras and learned some AI coding from a man that was studying it. He was a really good programmer, I think his name was Bill," the girl replied. "AI code is really different than what I'm used to."