Expert Assistance

  The accessories in the rooms were just as boring as the decor. Consoles and equipment in the work spaces were gray, tan, metallic silver, metallic black, or beige. The furniture appeared to be wood-shaded plastic, except for the table in the executive meeting room which appeared to be real wood. There was a bit more coloring in the personal living quarters, but the choices and styles seemed unimaginative to Jake.

  All that’s missing, he thought, are old-fashioned particleboard cubicles.

  “Did you find out where the staff works?” he asked.

  “Yes, in that control room, apparently on some sort of rotational schedule. The staff seems to divide their work time between there and the various external operations.”

  “Doesn’t sound like a good use of their time.”

  “It isn’t.”

  An idea popped into Jake’s head. “You think Maxis might be doing that intentionally? Keeping some there and some out to prevent them from spending too much time together?”

  “For what purpose?”

  “You know, to keep them from making plans behind his back.”

  “Oh, I see. I hadn’t considered that possibility.”

  “It makes sense, in a dictatorial kind of way.”

  “Yes, it does. I see that the Rosens were again correct in hiring us.”

  “Me. You don’t use credits, remember?”

  “Shall I continue? Thank you. The second level is indeed devoted to living quarters for the forepersons, the cafeteria, child care and education, and a sickbay. Levels three through five are for workers’ living quarters.”

  Odin again provided security-cam images of the rooms and corridors in question. The larger rooms all had the same corporate decor that the official rooms on the first level had, except that there was no wood and more plastic. The sample living space shown was about a third smaller than the spaces given to the executives. Only the child care center and the school rooms had any signs of real life and color, and that came more from manufactured images than from children’s drawings. Even the corridors in the dome seemed cramped and dull.

  “Which brings us to level six and the mystery rooms the Rosens mentioned.”

  “Correct. The smaller room next to the vehicle boarding area is a reserve control room with elevator access to all levels. The only times it appears to be manned is during boarding, and when repairs have to be conducted on equipment in main control.

  “The larger room next to boarding, and adjacent to reserve control, is a large robot repair shop. This shop has very sophisticated machinery for diagnostics and repair, all automated. Records indicate that if a guardbot requires major repairs, only Thorne and one senior staff person will supervise the work in this shop. Records also indicate that only Maxis and Thorne have the appropriate clearance to enter this room.”

  “Interesting.” Jake rubbed his chin. “Any way you can thwart that?”

  “Not without their cooperation. The security program uses a combination of retina, thumbprint, DNA, and full-body scans to make identification. Furthermore, the program cannot accept modifications in its code without making an actual scan of the coder, which of course is either Maxis or Thorne.”

  “You can’t even spoof it?”

  “No. Which is quite interesting, since most of the other systems, including those which control the refinery and the gold and silver storage units, do not have security blocks so severe as in this repair shop. Maxis must believe that guardbot control is his one weak spot.”

  “That, or he doesn’t care who swipes the gold so long as he stays in charge. Anything else on level six, Odin?”

  “Yes. On the opposite side of the boarding area is the food and water processing plant. It appears to be fully automated. There are some systems in this area that I have yet to identify completely. I wish to confirm the information before making any statements.”

  “Okay.” Odd, Jake thought. Odin wouldn’t hedge like that. “So that’s the main dome. Were you able to confirm the existence of the other domes?”

  “I was. Allow me to show you.”

  Odin changed the screen from the dome display to a surface map. The dome was placed in the center of the map and colored green. Surrounding it at a distance and mainly to its north and east were yellow blobs. Over each blob was a red dot. Three blue dots appeared close to the dome, while a purple one appeared well beyond the dome.

  “The yellow areas are the veins presently being exploited. The red dots indicated the mine entrances. The blue dot one kilometer west of the dome is the reclamation plant. The blue dot two kilometers south is the supply dome and transfer pad. The last blue dot, two kilometers northeast, is the mineral processing plant.”

  “And that purple one?”

  “A small security dome, not staffed. The computer and transmitter that relay orders to the guardbots is located here.”

  Odin followed the map with images taken from the ship while in orbit. Oddly enough, or perhaps not, these places looked much more interesting than the rooms in the main dome. The plants were steel boxes and cylinders of various sizes that shared walls or were connected by dark blue tubing. The transit pad was concrete white with black scorch marks and signs of chipping. The supply dome was a massive light blue and gray warehouse with white doors. The vehicles trudging around the facilities were all bright yellow, and everything was linked to each other and the main dome by ribbons of black.

  After looking at the images and the map for a few minutes Jake noticed how far the tiny security dome was from everything else. “That dome seems awfully far away to keep control,” he said.

  “In point of fact, contact between it, main control, and reserve control is maintained through wireless communications. Distance does not matter.”

  “Hm. Could we blast it from space, or bomb it, to take the actual facility out of action?”

  “Such attacks would not be effective. I was able to uncover the security protocols for these systems. If contact is lost between the dome and the guardbots, either through interference or because the facility is damaged or destroyed, the guardbots will immediately alert main control. At that point one of two actions will occur. Either a software backup system will take control, or the guardbots will be operated with some manual control.”

  “I assume that also at that point there would be some sort of lockdown of everyone in the dome.”

  “I was unable to find any such plans, but your assumption is reasonable.”

  “So how are we supposed to knock out those bots? Blast them one by one? That could get messy, especially if they’re equipped with self-defense programming.”

  “I agree. Perhaps this is not the time to attempt to solve such a problem.”

  “Yeah, I guess so.” Jake let out a breath. “Well, at least this won’t be a complete walk in the park. We’ll have to do some real work. Speaking of work, Odin, what does Maxis do while everyone else is slaving away to make him rich?”

  “Not much, it seems. I didn’t dig deep into his schedule, but from what I did gather he workload is extremely light. There are daily meetings with his staff, the occasional visit to workers, calls to various persons off-world, and very little else.”

  “I see. You are saving all the data you collect, true?”

  “Of course.”

  “Good. We may need to use these tidbits to get public support for this revolt.”

  “In that case, Jake, I have another such ‘tidbit’ for you. I uncovered why Antioch Two is the personal property of Sordius Maxis.”

  Jake leaned back in his seat. “Is this a good story?”

  “I believe it will appeal to all your baser emotions.”

  “Tell me the whole sordid story.”

  “First, you must understand that I’ve compiled this chain of events from several sources, not simply from the planetary archives. You might say that I have assembled pieces of a puzzle. Although not all the pieces are present, there were more than enough to make a coherent picture.”

  As he na
rrated the tale, Odin displayed a series of images on the screen as he spoke. First were photos of the man Jake saw in one of the paintings in the executive meeting room. After that was an employment record, several news-net stories, and a corporate planetary report on the mineral wealth of Antioch Two.

  The painting in the executive room portrayed an imperious and imposing older man. Flecks of gray shaded his dark hair, and grim intelligence radiated from his dark blue eyes. The news images showed a slightly younger and much less imposing person. His clothes seemed to hang off him just a bit. His face was mild, his body average, and his style spoke of a man scraping by. Jake had no trouble guessing that this was the founder of the current Maxis family of scoundrels.

  “This chain of events goes back to Maxis’ grandfather His name was Morgan Maxi,” Odin said, pronouncing the name as ‘max-eye.’ “Maxi was a senior mineral geologist with Interstellar Resources Management. At the time he arrived on Antioch Two, he was under investigation by four planetary governments for taking bribes in exchange for altering reports. Some alterations were in favor of his employer, while others would have been in the favor of property owners. Apart from an increasing scale of bribes, there was no other pattern to the alterations.”

  “So bribery is an inheritance of the family?” Jake asked. “Interesting. Continue.”

  “I was able to locate Maxi’s report to IRM on the mineral wealth of Antioch Two. It does not in any way conform to the facts as we know them. Maxi grossly underestimated the exploitation potential of the planet, and in turn overestimated the planetary trends towards biological evolution. Maxi had all the proper equipment when making his survey, and records indicate that it was working normally.”

  “So any oversight on his part was clearly intentional?”

  “The evidence suggests precisely that.”

  “Maxi was being investigated. I take it he avoided being indicted or convicted?”

  “He did. IRM arranged for his early retirement in exchange for his testimony against the accused local officials. He was not the main target of the probe, but a target of opportunity. The various planetary prosecutors at the time all believed that with Maxi retired, he was unlikely to further violate the law.”

  Jake smiled. “Let me guess. They were so off they were in orbit.”

  “They were proved wrong, yes. Shortly after Maxi testified, IRM decided not to exercise its option to colonize Antioch Two. Ownership was therefore placed on the open market. The highest bid, and indeed the only bid, came from a private firm, Maxwell and Morgan. This firm consisted of Maxi and his twenty-three-year-old son.”

  “Surprise, surprise.”

  “For the next five years they recruited workers. These workers were presented with a complicated employee contract with two extremely unpleasant stipulations. First, any costs of child care and youth education are deducted from parents’ pay. This has had the effect of severely limited family size to two children, with forepersons able to afford three. Second, there is a nondisclosure clause written so broadly that resigning from employment is considered a contract violation.”

  “I’ll bet children are held to that clause once they’re old enough.”

  “With the consequences to themselves and their parents fully explained.”

  “Well, that explains a lot. So how did ‘Maxi’ become ‘Maxis?’”

  “With Morgan’s son. He was given the first name ‘Darius.’”

  “So who was Maxwell?”

  “‘Maxwell’ was his middle name.”

  “No doubt used to cover up the funny business.”

  “Probably true. At any rate, I found records on Antioch Two of punishments being doled out for mispronouncing both Darius’ first and last name. Obviously this was a sensitive matter to him. After his father died he had the ‘s’ added, perhaps because of this.”

  Odin showed images of Darius that were probably buried in the planetary archive. Whereas the painting in the meeting room showed a middle-aged man with dark brown hair and a confident demeanor, the images spoke of a nervous fellow desperate for respect. Most of the images were of Darius yelling, waiting, or standing uncomfortably at some event.

  It had been several decades since Antioch Two had been bought, Jake noticed. Morgan was unlikely to be still alive, and since Sordius was clearly in control, Darius had to be in retirement. Jake idly wondered if Sordius was ripping off his father.

  He shook his head. No, his dad’s probably living his own good life off his own ill-gotten gains.

  Which leads to an obvious question. “Where the Hell did Darius come up with the name ‘Sordius’ for his son?”

  “Originally Sordius’ first name was ‘Tiberius.’ It was changed when he turned seventeen. There are traces of a search of the names and biographies of old Roman emperors made just before that point.”

  “Venture any conclusions, Odin?”

  “Absolutely not. You may speculate if you like.”

  “Okay.” Jake took several seconds to think. “I suppose he didn’t find any names right. If he took a good emperor he’d be compared to him. A name of a bad one would remind everyone of their situation. I guess he tried coming up with his own Roman-sounding name, and ‘Sordius’ sounded good.”

  “Your reasoning seems logical.”

  “Is that all the dirt? Or does Sordius have any other skeletons in his closet?”

  “I have no more gossip for you, Jake. I do have additional facts. Facts that should further encourage the Rosens. The, shall we say, management of the planet’s mines is not producing peak output. According to my estimates, production has not been at peak efficiency for at least four decades.”

  “Maxis’ iron rule isn’t producing results? Odin, I’m shocked.”

  “Your sarcasm is most appropriate. I take it you’ve been reading again.”

  Jake smiled blandly. “Long before we met, I knew enough history to know that dictatorships are rarely efficient. Apart from their other faults, of course.”

  “Then you will also not be surprised to learn that the amount of minerals removed from the planet does not correlate to the amount sold.”

  “What? Maxis is hoarding gold and silver?”

  “There may be some of that. I cannot say for certain, since there does not appear to be any place on the planet to store minerals, much less to form them into blocks, bricks, bars, or the like. I think is it much more reasonable to conclude that this error is due to outdated refining equipment. Indeed, much of the machinery is at least two decades old. Any modernization carried out has been to the mining machinery and the guardbots.”

  “Let me guess; everything else is secondhand, bought cheap on the resale market, or held together with the proverbial duct tape and chewing gum?”

  “Correct.”

  “Doesn’t Maxis understand any of this?”

  “I cannot answer that question, Jake.”

  “No, I was wondering if his staff have bothered to point out any of this.”

  “Again, I cannot say. I could attempt to access the minutes of the executive meetings. Perhaps someone has brought up these shortcomings.”

  “Perhaps someone has, and he isn’t happy about not being listened to.”

  “And possibly turned against Maxis,” Odin added. “Clever thinking.”

  “Thank you. It seems we’ve got some motivation beyond greed and sympathy. The Rosens and their people need our help to maximize output. Accountant logic in service of a rebellion.” Jake shook his head. “What is the universe coming to?”

  “I would not even hazard a reply, Jake.”

  “You’re too stuck up, Odin. You need to occasionally get down in the dirt with the rest of us.”

  “I think not. I have been analyzing the transmissions from the device we planted in the executive lavatory. The ‘dirt,’ as you put it, is not place for any sentient being, organic or artificial.”

  “What, those bugs are paying off? Show me.”

  “If I must.”

&nb
sp; Odin put on the screen in front of Jake a log of entrances and exits of the senior staff to the bathroom, and the conversations that were recorded. The most interesting thing Jake found was that conversations were few and far between. It might have simply been an anomaly for the period, but it appeared that few of Maxis’ lackeys went to the john in pairs or groups.

  Unfortunately, those that did had very little interesting to say to each other. The log entries has such scintillating titles as “Evvie’s Concert,” “Family Boasts,” “Personal Investment Advice,” and the always-political “Interpersonal Sexual Relations.” Essentially, Maxis and his cronies were just as shallow and gossip-obsessed as any other group of corporate hacks. If there was any behind-the-scenes talk of a more incendiary nature, it was going on elsewhere, Jake concluded.

  “Or it could be that Maxis’ senior staff fear being overheard there,” Odin suggested. “That is a typical human response to absolute authority.”

  “Your scans didn’t locate any bugs before I teleported down.”

  “True.”

  “Have you found purchase orders for concealed recording devices?”

  “No.”

  “So, while his staff might be fearful, it could just as well be true that they’re just as shallow as the next business suit.”

  “In that case, Jake, I must ask, is this a revolution or a management change?”

  Jake smiled. “Every revolution is a change of management, when you get right down to it.”

  “That is quite a cynical statement.”

  “Cynical, yes. But I don’t hear you disputing it’s accuracy.”

  The room was silent for a moment. “Why, Odin, it seems that prolonged exposure to me is rubbing off on you. Maybe I’m not the only one benefitting from our little partnership after all.”

  ***

  The next day Evvie returned to the ship to start her new career as a revolutionary. Before taking them to Antioch Two, Jake had her sit down next to him on the couch. “I think you need to know why this revolution is important to those people,” he told her.

  “Well, isn’t that obvious? They need to be free?”

  “Yes, well, that’s true. There are more solid reasons for doing this. The situation is a little more complicated that just an evil ruler oppressing his people.”

  “Complicated?”