Delphi Envoy (Delphi in Space Book 14), page 23
“Okay, which one do you want to start with?” Catie asked.
“I want to start with Eli,” ADI said.
“Not the leader?”
“More calibration,” ADI said. “The more subjects I interview, the better my results. We don’t want to contaminate our best candidate before I have the routine perfected.”
“You’re the boss.”
“I like that,” ADI cooed.
◆ ◆ ◆
It was four hours before ADI was finished with the interrogation. Catie had been checking in every hour to see if she was done.
“Cer Catie, I’m finished,” ADI announced.
Morgan could tell from Catie’s face that ADI had pinged her with the news.
“Okay, what did we learn?” Catie asked. “And include Morgan.”
“That they are not nice people,” ADI said.
“Besides that!”
“They were hired through a third party; the only thing they knew was they were to grab the AI in the utility room and that the protesters were going to create a distraction.”
“Why were they so late if they were counting on the protesters creating a distraction?”
“They had assumed that the protesters would at least breach our barrier. Cer Morgan’s trick with soap messed up their timing.”
“Can you backtrace the contract?”
“I may be able to if you get the relay installed. I’m working on it now, but it’s slow.”
“I’ll talk with Rhino tomorrow.”
◆ ◆ ◆
ADI and Samantha had set up the preliminary talks with Thorea for the evening. Catie groaned as she dressed up in her princess uniform. She thought that getting dressed up might be worth it since she would get to meet the leader of a new civilization.
“Sam, are we ready?” Catie asked as she started the call.
“It’s your show,” Samantha said. “I’m just here for backup.”
“Thanks a lot. ADI, we’re ready.”
ADI took care of the preliminaries of getting the Thorean minister on the call then cued Catie to let her know the minister was on. Of course, his face came up on the display at the same time. Catie struggled to keep from gasping at his appearance.
“Cer Catie, Cer Sam, I’ve blocked your videos; let me know when you’re ready,” ADI messaged.
“Oh, thanks,” Catie messaged, “and very funny springing that on us.”
“I have to get my shots in whenever the opportunity arises,” ADI said.
Catie was still coming to grips with the way the minister looked. He was mostly humanoid, or probably all humanoid, but his face was shaped like an upside-down pear. This made him look remarkably like the sci-fi bad guys in the old movies. His eyes were a bit bigger than she was used to, but other than that, the nose, mouth, ears, and eyes were all located where one would expect them. Catie wasn’t sure if all of them were bald, but Minister Terasulf sure was.
“I’m ready.”
“Minister Terasulf, I’m Princess Catherine of the Delphi League; thank you for taking our call.”
“We are happy to talk with you,” the minister said; the Comm was doing a good job of translating his voice. Catie was happy that ADI hadn’t decided to play any more games and make his voice sound creepy. “We were excited to learn about your jump gates and look forward to discussing how we might engage in trade.”
“We’re happy to hear that. We are currently working with a civilization called Aperanje to discuss their joining the League. You’re the next planet we plan to visit. I understand that you also have a colony planet.”
“We do. We were fortunate to have a star close by that had a habitable planet. It is only two light-years away.”
“That is fortunate. I assume that means that you are able to engage in trade with them.”
“We are, but it is limited. We mostly share knowledge; we traded with Paraxea for several quantum relays, so we’re able to maintain a close relationship but other than that, we don’t ship much between our systems.”
“That sounds intriguing. We are anxious to learn from you. But for now, we want to make the arrangements for our visit. That is, if you’re still interested in hosting us,” Catie said.
“We are definitely interested in hosting you. We would like to know what to expect. Some of our people are worried about a foreign military entering our system.”
“We are not coming as a military mission. We will be arriving in one of our scout ships; it’s rather small, just the right size to accommodate the delegates. I’ll transmit the specs for the ship now.” Catie messaged ADI to go ahead and send the basic specs for the Aventurier.
“Ah, that eases my fears,” the minister said as he examined the specs. “When can we expect you?”
“We need a few weeks to finish up here; then, it will take four weeks to travel to your planet.”
“I see. It would be fortuitous if you were able to arrive in nine weeks. We celebrate our expansion to the stars during that week. Having you arrive then would be an excellent way to start our discussions.”
Samantha messaged Catie, “You should commit. You can’t stay on Aperanje forever; this gives you a reason to set a departure date.”
“We will make every effort to make that date. I’ll instruct our captain to plan the voyage, so we arrive in your system on the 4th of June. That would put us at your planet around the 18th.”
“Excellent. We look forward to seeing you then.”
“Is there any additional information we need to share before our visit?” Catie asked.
“No, the Paraxean foreign minister sent us a detailed brief when he made the preliminary arrangements for your visit.”
“Very well. We’ll let you return to your business. We look forward to meeting you in person.” With that, Catie closed the connection to Thorea.
“Sam, doesn’t he look like the … alien from that movie Paul?”
“Yes, he does. I’m glad that ADI had the foresight to block our video until we had a chance to absorb his appearance.”
“You’re welcome,” ADI said.
“Yes, thank you, ADI,” Catie said, adding a private ‘I won’t forget.’
◆ ◆ ◆
“Rhino, thanks for coming. How’s your head?” Catie asked as she opened the door for him.
“It’s better. Did you learn anything from your interrogation of those thieves?”
“Just that they were hired to come in and steal the gear we have in the utility shed. I wonder how anyone knew about the gear.”
“Doesn’t everyone in the compound know?”
“Not really, just the security team and a few engineers who set it up.”
“But people talk.”
“Apparently, too much.”
“Is this what you wanted to talk about?”
“No, I wanted an economics lesson on how things work on Aperanje.”
“I’m not sure how I can help. I’ve been out of circulation for thirty years, and I wasn’t really that up on economics when I was here.”
“What I want to know is about things that aren’t necessarily in textbooks. How the rich hold onto their wealth, things like that.”
“Oh. Well, I think Aperanje is much like Earth. Wealth is concentrated among the few. We have old families that control a significant percentage of our more valuable real estate, as well as many of our major industries. They do whatever it takes to keep control within the family. And like Earth, we have new upstarts that start up new businesses, usually based on new technology.”
“Do the wealthy families send their children into politics? How do they influence government policies?”
“One way to guarantee you lose an election is to show ties to wealthy people. We Aperanjens really believe that the rich already have too much influence.”
“Does that work?”
“Not really. They don’t become politicians, but they discreetly fund a lot of the campaigns. That allows them to influence who gets elected and, of course, what policies get backed.”
“How do they hold onto their wealth?”
“It takes money to make money. They control most of the banks, so they have a lot of influence on who the banks loan money to. It’s always easier to get startup money if you’re from the right family.”
“What about these bonds? I don’t completely understand how the government funds things that way. On Earth, the bonds are issued at a fixed interest rate, and they’re discounted based on the current economic outlook. It sounds like you do that differently here.”
“Some of our government bonds are like that. But big projects issue fifty- or one-hundred-year bonds. The bonds are heavily discounted based on the perceived viability of the project. The bondholders then make their money back getting taxes enacted, setting tolls on roads, or setting the price of electricity, things based on the improvements their bond funded.”
“That sounds like it’s fraught with opportunities for abuse.”
“Not really; the government maintains a share of the business, so they can track what is happening. If the tolls are too high, people go around, and the taxes have to be passed by the local authority.”
“How were they going to make their money back on the colony mission?”
“By exploiting the technology developed for the mission and during it. They would set a licensing fee for the technology or use it in their business. They’ve made some of the money back, but not what they were expecting since the mission was cut short.”
“So that explains the fighting over the reparations.”
“Right, the more they get from that, the more money they can make.”
“But don’t they just make the bond value back?”
“Sure, but if you’re already exploiting the technology, you’ve got a leg up on everyone else when control of the licensing reverts to the government. And of course, it’s always better to make your money back in twenty years instead of fifty.”
“Does the government have programs or policies to try and distribute the wealth more equitably?”
“There’s always debates on improving education in disadvantaged regions. The government does some things, but it’s expensive and hard to measure. We have charities that do the same thing. In fact, Solan is the product of one of those charities.”
“He is? I assumed he came from a wealthy family. He’s pretty polished.”
“He is polished but from a poor family. He’s from the western continent. He won a scholarship from the McArvarly Trust. It selects ten or so students every year and provides support for their education and some help to their families while they go to school. If they have good enough grades, then it pays for them to go to any university they get admitted to.”
“Finish school. How old are they when they win the scholarship?”
“Ten or eleven years of age. When you start your sixth year of formal schooling, the government administers a bunch of aptitude tests. If the parents sign off, the results are shared with the various charities that offer scholarships. The McArvarly Trust always picks their students from that list. They tend to do well. The trust has a record of their university graduates being in the top one percent of their graduating class. A pretty big percentage become wunderkinds, eventually taking over big companies.”
“How does that work? It takes a lot of money to take over a company. Does the trust help?”
“Nope. They have to do it on their own. As far as anyone knows or can tell, the trust doesn’t do anything once they finish university. That is, except paying for a master’s or Ph.D. if they go on.”
“So, how do they do it?”
“They work their way up to one of the top jobs. Eventually, the current management makes a big mistake, and the board switches allegiance to the new guy.”
“What about the former Royal family? Are they major players?”
“Oh, the Augustinians. Not publicly. They’re amazingly quiet. You never hear about the children until they select a new head of the family.”
“Explain that.”
“When the current head of the family dies or decides to retire, the family selects a new head. It’s always someone nobody has heard about. He or she steps up and takes the reins. It’s amazing how competent they are given that nobody has ever heard of them before.”
“Doesn’t the family get involved in politics, charity, or other big events?”
“Not that anyone knows of. In fact, nobody knows about any members of the family except the couple who’s the head of the family and the retired, or widowed parent.”
“What about their children?”
“A complete mystery. I guess they live in the family compound. Maybe they sneak out and party once in a while, but you never see or hear of them.”
“Don’t they go out and get jobs or do something?”
“Not that we know of. Other than the new head of the family, you never see any of the children. Maybe they only have the one.”
“I can see how that would work today when you can do everything remotely, but how would they be able to gain the necessary skills and experience one hundred years ago?”
“Who knows?”
“I have one other favor to ask. It’s a big one, so feel free to say no.”
“Go ahead and ask,” Rhino said. He winced a bit, wondering how much he really owed the Delphi people.
“As you know, we don’t have access to the Aperanjen internet. Our Comms can make calls here, but they can’t access any sites.”
“I guess I can understand that.”
“Well, with all that’s going on, we’d like to be able to access it. We need to do some research to figure out what’s behind all the political games, as well as investigate the murder of Ambassador Graznev.”
“And you don’t want to ask the government. Can’t you hack into the wireless network here?”
“It’s pretty secure,” Catie said, not mentioning that they already had, but they didn’t have enough bandwidth for ADI and Aventurier to do the research they needed to do.
“So, what’s the favor?”
“We have links that can be attached to one of the telecom towers here. It would give us the access we need.”
“But you can’t go undercover and get much done.”
“No, my people would kind of stick out. We could try to get someone to pass, but it would be pretty hard. Do you have someone who could do it for us?”
“Would my people have access to it and the information you gather?” Rhino asked.
“Alright,” Catie thought, “I’ve won the battle; now we just need to agree on terms.”
“We can give you access. And you could query ADI for any information you wanted, but we wouldn’t want to give you blanket access to our research.”
“I can live with that. Wolf is extremely capable at such things, much better than I am obviously,” Rhino said, referring to his encounter earlier in the week. “In fact, that’s why I brought her on the mission. She’s been gathering intel since we’ve been here. I assume you already know that from the calibration.”
“We didn’t know that. I told you all the information from your people would be kept confidential. Thank you for volunteering her. Will you let her know?”
“Doing it right now.”
“Thanks. Agent Blair will handle the details.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Wolf went through the hotel to get outside of the embassy, but unlike Rhino, she exited through the back entrance dressed as one of the cleaning crew. She carried a backpack with a change of clothes, actually three different sets if she mixed and matched them. She made a quick stop in a café where she bought a coffee, changed clothes, and left through the back. Her next stop was a small restaurant where she had a meal, waiting for it to get dark. Once it was dark, she paid, stopped in the restroom, and changed again. She had a hard time believing that Rhino didn’t take similar precautions; she assumed he wouldn’t make such a mistake again. Nothing like a solid beating to get your attention.
After leaving the restaurant, ADI guided Wolf to the telecom tower that she wanted her to tap. With a flashlight in her mouth and instructions from ADI in her HUD, it only took Wolf five minutes to install the relay. Now ADI had ten-gigabit access to the Aperanjen internet.
It only took ADI an hour to identify a pattern with the tweets and social media posts. A pattern that showed that a significant percentage of the posts were coming from multiple sources but were closely coordinated; all the posts showed similar wording and were timed to maximize their impact. Each source responded to one of the others at a carefully spaced interval to maximize exposure and to keep the controversy boiling.
Chapter 19
Sticky Wicket
On May 1st, the major powers on Earth announced that all counties had now joined the United Federation of Earth. The U.N. was disbanded, and its facilities were taken over by the new federation.
Marc, Blake, and Kal immediately asked for an update from Admiral Michaels and Admiral Dorathea Campbell, the head of Delphi Intelligence. Admiral Michaels brought Yvette along to provide additional insight.
“Cers,” Marc began, “This announcement was a bit earlier than we had been led to expect. Can you explain?”
Admiral Michaels looked at Admiral Campbell, assuming she would want to take the lead.
“Based on our intelligence, the members of the G20 quietly started to inform all the other nations that they would only be trading with members of the new federation. This started around a week after they announced the formation of the federation. The threats were made head-of-state to head-of-state so it was kept quiet. As the deadline approached about two weeks ago, we all saw the flood of countries moving to join the federation. That prompted the few holdouts to move.”
“Okay, I can see how they made that work. Now what’s next?” Marc asked.
Admiral Michaels sighed then started his report. “There is still a lot of infighting about how to organize the defense forces. They are fighting to decide which government will host the headquarters. It really comes down to the U.S., Britain, or China, with Britain being the compromise choice being pushed by the other countries. Within that argument is the real prize, as some see it, the ability to assume control of all Delphi Defense assets on the planet.”
