|
|
|
|
Fledgling
...A Liaden Universe® Adventure
by
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
...the story of Theo Waitley and how she came to have a "kind of complicated" problem to lay before the delm of Korval.
==============================================================
Chapter Twenty One
The trail was not yet cold, which argued for lax
oversight or lack of oversight. Surely a novice such as Theo could not
have been trying to hide her tracks and just as surely the tracks that
were there were ...
Well.
The tracks that were there were elegant, in a
research sense. The search had been more than a random mucking about.
There was some wit to it. And the results of that search... had been
Theo's unscheduled visit.
Jen Sar leaned back against the unruly seat, wishing
that someone, somewhere, would find a way to make secondary seating in
academic offices something other than instruments of torture.
“I have,” Ella said seriously, “left the device off
line since my search brought up items I'd never heard of. I began to
wonder if it was finding cites, or creating them on the fly.”
Jen Sar nodded, glancing up into her serious face and answering without irony.
“It is a notion one might worthily follow up on, if
the research was about the in depth capabilities of the system. At this
point, I think, we need to know if the system is actively aware that it
is being looked at and inspected rather than used. It is
possible, of course, that the designer had a limited enough world view
to assume that simple security would suffice on safe Delgado.”
“Must you?” Ella's exasperation was subdued.
He bowed lightly.
“Let me illustrate. You know somewhat about Theo's
visit to my house after light's out. I wonder if you know – or if
her mother knows, for that matter – of the highlight of her visit to
buy a rug?”
Ella shrugged expressively.
“ I thought not.”
“You see a very clear search here, do you not?
And do you know what prompted Kamele's daughter to looks for places
that cameras were not? Why, because on safe Delgado, she was accosted
on a bus by young men with an antipathy to those living in the Wall.”
She shrugged one shoulder this time.
“There are always such. Whatever is wrong with a
world will always be blamed on the academics by those who assume that
studying it means you know how to fix it.”
“Excellent point! Now,” Jen Sar said showing
the steps of Theo's search... “Now we see her searching for places
cameras do not look. It is an unusual pattern for one so used to trying
to fit in. But these fellows on a bus demonstrated their clear
belief that they knew how to outwit the camera, and thus violate
'safety'.
“And being her mother's child, when challenged, she
grew. She understood that her needs were not always congruent
with the needs of general safety. She also learned how to circumvent
the automatic controls on a jitney for her visit...”
“She what?” Ella sputtered. “But that's an offense, isn't it?”
Jen Sar laughed. “Did you think she'd walked?”
He laughed more gently.
“I haven't looked up those regulations, by the way,
but I was careful to move the jitney later. Understand me,
though. Theo has enemies but they have misjudged her and they have
misjudged her allies, because they think Kamele is their enemy and Theo
a weapon against her and the department.”
“But why should Kamele be their enemy, or the
department? We are a college, not a military force! They have
misjudged what it is we do....”
“Perhaps,” the senior said, then mused on “Misjudged....”.
Ella put hand to face, then sipped some of the fresh coffee.
Jen Sar tapped meaningfully on Theo's book...
“Now, we shall move from being misjudged to being
misunderstood. This is in support of our long range goal, mind
you, as well as support of Theo.”
Ella grimaced.
“Forgive me, Jen Sar, but the way between this today
and the tomorrow you outline is somewhat cloudy to me yet. And I...”
“All the better,” he said definitively closing the
book. “That means we envision the goal and are are not fettered to any
particular road to arrive there. Our opponents, however have long
ago committed to the road and now find themselves detoured. I
propose to give them a clearly marked map.”
***
“Theo, you needn't wonder if am in, I'm right here.”
Theo spotted Kamele before she'd finished speaking,
but what caught her attention the most was that tone, not to mention
the sudden hurry in her walk.
“You didn't tell me you were going out, so I wasn't
sure.” Theo was feeling defensive, but her mother was helping her feel
that way. “We need to talk to you. Win Ton would like ...
Kamele was looking past her, pointedly, ahving stopped on the far side of the door from them.
“Pilot, how kind of you to escort Theo.”
Out of the side of her vision Theo saw Win Ton bow slowly, with some special meaning.
“Professor Waitley, I enjoy Theo's company and her
kindness in permitting me to attend her... oh, excuse me!”
Theo turned to see what had drawn Win Ton's
attention; he was looking at the bottom of the stateroom door with
extreme interest, in fact he was going for his bag as he knelt.
Theo saw him glance up quickly --
“Please,” he said to her, “watch where this goes if it escapes me...”
Theo expected him to pull forth a bowli ball, but
instead he pulled out some kind of a clear tubular container, and had
the lid off it in a jiffy and ..
“What do you have?”
Theo almost jumped at the question. Kamele
stood beside her now, with both of them peering at the edge of the door
where it locked into the floor gaskets. Win Ton's back and head
were mostly in their way but there was something brownish, nearly the
colors of the floor, moving now up the frame...
With a practiced air Win Ton suddenly flicked something with the lid and pressed the tube closed.
“I'm not postiive Professor Waitley. But see if you see any more, could you point them out?”
He showed them the tube: within was an insect ... or maybe not.
Theo ventured, “It doesn't look quite right, does
it? I've seen lots of bugs but that one, isn't really an ant or a
beetle.” She touched the tube gently. “And it looks hurt or something.”
Her mother leaned in front of Theo, looking very closely at the tube.
“I think it's changing color in front of our eyes.”
Win Ton stood, suddenly pocketing the tube and leaning close to Theo so he could whisper to her mother.
“Perhaps we should take it out of the hall. Are you sure there are no more?”
Theo looked around the door seal, to the ceiling, along the edging that ran the length of the hall...
“I don't see anything,” she said, noticing how
rapidly Win Ton sealed the bag and it's suddenly visible bowli ball.
Her mother agreed with her.
“Nothing more.”
“Good,” he said, and by then Kamele had her key out, and caused the door to open.
Her mother waved her through, and she went, but when
she turned she saw Win Ton, half-in the room, pausing to inspect door
and gaskets.
“This is odd,” he said, peering into the container as the door sealed behind Kamele. “Very odd.”
***
“Should we report an infestation to the ship,”
Kamele asked, staring at the tube, “or does that require multiple
sightings?”
Win Tin glanced away from tube and directly at her.
“If I had found this elsewhere, simply sitting or
walking randomly on a wall or table, or... it might have been a
curiosity. I would still likely have ... taken it for a specimen, since
these are rarely seen. However, finding it.... working, as indeed
it may still be working, I'm made far more curious. As to it
being an infestation, that would be an extreme. As to reporting
it --”
He held the tube out to her.
“Look closely. Theo has very good reactions, very good.”
Amazing Theo thought Kamele as she received the tube, which was lighter than she'd expected. She held it level close to her face.
About length of a finger joint, the thing was
testing the tube's seal. It then turned and... ran! .. .at the other
end of the tube until it ran right into it. Stopped by the end of the
tube, the thing tried to climb the sides...
“Looks like autonomous action, doesn't it?” came Win
Ton's voice through her attention mist. “And for all we know it's
recording, what we say, or what it sees of us. Or it may need to
establish a location before functioning.”
She turned the tube slightly an the thing adjusted itself in reaction.
“Try putting your finger directly under it. Leave it for a few seconds.”
Kamele did that, and the thing adjusted itself
again, now almost hunkering down or melting...no! It was slowly
changing color to match her finger's skin tone.
“But it isn't a bug!”
Kamele was startled by Theo, who was beside her
suddenly. “It looks like it's alive, but it doesn't quite move that
way!”
“May I have it back, please? We'll et it rest
and see if it walks more lifelike on a flat surface later.”
Now he reached int his bag and withdrew another object, a larger metallic green tube.
Kamele handed the tube toward him, but allowed Theo to take it as he fumbled and found... a small bag.
“What are you carrying in there, a laboratory?”
Win Ton laughed gently.
“I am carrying a sampling kit, which I am required
to do at all times by my Captain, since I failed to carry one when I
should have on another occasion. I am also carrying this – a ball he
handed to Theo -- “which we shall need to discuss shortly, and
some ration bars, and candy, which I always do.”
He bowed to Theo, taking the tube gently from her
hands and smiling at her in a nearly kinly way that made Kamele a bit
nervous. He put the clear tube within the metallic, and popped them
both within the small bag, which he sealed, and pressed against his
wrist timepiece....
“There.” he said. Looking to her and to Theo with
a triumphant grin. “I shall check in on my capture later, and
give you a report if you like.”
“What do you think it is?”
“I'm not sure, Professor. I know what it is not, and
what it is not is part of a biologic infestation. What it might be? It
might be a ship's tool, though I doubt it.”
Kamele caught motion on the edge of her vision. Theo
was lightly moving the ball in her hands, fidgeting with it the way she
might have moved a stuff-toy about – or a cat! -- when she was a child.
“Yes, well, I would like to learn more about this as
time permits. But I gather that's not why I am afforded a visit to my
stateroom.”
“No, ma'am, it's not,” the Liaden agreed, bowing
again. “I find that I should perhaps be offering some apologies,” he
said, glancing at Theo.
Kamele felt an inner voice crowing oh now what! as Theo began tossing the silly ball back and forth between her hands rather nervously.
“Oh,” she said brightly. “Perhaps we should sit
down, then,” she suggested, trying to keep Hafley's not well
intentioned She could be doing anything with that Liaden! at bay.
***
Professor Jen Sar Kiladi leaned discreetly against
one of the extremely rare stone walls within the Wall, sipping tea from
his own cup. On the wall were metallic plaques commemorating events and
people from the early days of the Wall; some few pre-dated the Wall
itself and had been brought from the remains of the original, burnt out
campus.
The wall being just inside Open Cafeteria Three
meant it was one of the few places one might expect to see all levels
of students and all levels of faculty at the same place. True, faculty
didn't always take their meals here, but it was written that they ought to take a meal here every ten day.
He watched. Quietly, he watched, his cane tucked
behind him as if in support – but actually to disguise it from those
many eyes he wished not to notice it at the moment.
By tradition, a full professor might sit anywhere. A
department head, dean, or Board member could do the same and claim some
minor precedence...
That, of course, was the start of hierarchical
shenanigans, for the corollary was that students or those lower on the
food chain must not join a table with a full professor without
permission or invite. Associate professors and other instructional
types had a leg up, of course, and it was bad form for a professor to
sit at a table with others in order claim it and dismiss them to less
exalted company.
Professor Jen Sar Kiladi had the honor of being a
full professor and, in effect, his own department head. He could sit
anywhere.
He stood still, yet, counting tables and even chairs.
That was the north wall. Seventeen
tables in from the North Wall, three aisles in from the East... why
yes. There was a ceramic clad column there, and ... hah! A
table being scrupulously cleaned by a member of support staff sat tight
against the column, it's five chairs all tall-backed and fabric covered.
He sighed. Theo did good work. Her
research ... well. He'd been able to duplicate the research without
call on the strange program, but it had taken quite a bit of work, and
Ella's assistance to do it in a timely fashion.
The chimes of seven-bells-none rang through the hall
and were echoed from countless books and mumus, prompting some to leave
and some to change tables, some to rush the now-open breakfast line and
some to leisurely pursue a beverage.
The pair of them walked in front of him without
noticing, but that didn't much surprise him. They had heads bent
together, as if communing, or more likely, plotting, which also didn't
surprise him. They marched through the students heedlessly, their
goal apparent very early on.
Ah. Well. Time then, as the pair waited
impatiently for the support staff to pick something up from the floor,
and nod nearly as low as a bow, before backing away.
That was interesting. Perhaps he'd need to include
support staff in the next round of fact-checking he did. He knew the
schedule; identifying an individual might not be too hard for an old
scout....
They piled their books and a jacket on the table to claim it, and wandered away toward the lines.
It was work of but a moment to move toward the north
wall, and he used the column as shield, so that in the unlikely event
his quarry looked away from their hunt for food they'd not notice him.
And there.
No one being seated, he took the extremely
comfortable chair at the head of the table, and carefully laid his cane
on the table to the left of him, where it would block the two chairs on
that side.
Mug at right hand, he was all smiles and even half-rose in greeting when they returned.
“Ah, Lystra Mason. Roni. What a
comfortable, secluded table you have discovered. Will you join me?”
==============================================================
Subscriptions for Fledgling are now closed.
Thank you all for your interest and support,
and please enjoy
Saltation
==============================================================
Fledgling Podcast
Due entirely to the goodwill of the good folks at Fireheart Foundry , each new Fledgling chapter is also being podcast. You may subscribe to the Fledgling podcast through iTunes, Google Reader, or directly through your email by going here and clicking on the Get Fledgling Podcast delivered by email link.
Fireheart Foundry are also responsible for creating the podcast of our ground breaking appearance at the Second Life Library a few months ago.
Things you should know
Fledgling in serialized format is a draft. This
means it may bear little or no resemblance to a final published novel,
should there ever be one. It may be perfect, word for word (though
experience tells us this is not the way the smart money should bet). What we are providing is a rare opportunity to observe the writing process.
We don't know how many chapters there will be. We're free-form writers,
and while we do have a working outline, it is (1) vague, and (2)
subject to change without notice.
What are the rules?
What you can do:
1. Read the posted chapters free of charge
2. Link to this page or any internal page. (Here are a few icons)
3. Pass the word among your friends
4. Print the chapters out for your own ease of reading
5. Discuss the work in the Fledgling Live Journal community
6. Donate
What you can't do:
1. Copy the work and sell it. Fledgling is copyright by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. In addition, Liaden
Universe® is a registered trademark. That means the universe, the
characters, the story and the right to sell it belong to Sharon Lee and
Steve Miller.
Who are we?
Sharon Lee
and Steve Miller are the authors of a dozen collaborative science
fiction novels, and many short stories, largely set in the Liaden
Universe®. For more information about Lee and Miller and their work,
drop by the Liaden Universe® website.
Base page created December 1, 2006 by Sharon Lee
Chapter updated July 9, 2007
second technical revision posted July 9, 2007
Updated March 15, 2008, 11:56 a.m. EDT
copyright © 2006-2007 by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
|
|
| |