‘My, you have let yourself go! Very Beta Chic!’
Crap joke, but it made me laugh. We held hands while we sat down. An official told us we weren’t to talk to each other, so we just squeezed each other’s hand instead and wondered what lay in store for us.
As we were called in to the hearing, we faced a panel of seven individuals all seated behind a long table on a raised dais. Cameras were set up in the corners to record the interview, but no people were seated in the audience chambers. I also noticed there were no chairs for us. I raised my eyebrow at Ramin, who just giggled. I decided to take the skin graft. If my sardonic twitch of the eyebrow was going to simply make people laugh, I would have to fix that. However, Ramin laughing was just the stiffener I needed as we stood and faced the panel.
Director Ranai al-Cavifi sat in the middle of seven officials. The director was head of the Civil Agency and was in overall charge of the township of Greater Alexandria. She was responsible for the daily welfare of 10 million citizens and was a very popular leader. This was her third term in office. Mostly I respected the woman, but this was the first time I had ever met her. Sitting on either side of her I recognised Chancellor Asha Giovanetti, Head of Security and Chancellor Soliman Alvarez, Head of the Q Facility. The other faces were unfamiliar, and not introduced.
The director stood up and cleared her voice to open the hearing. Halfway through her opening address, I cut her off.
‘Is your seat comfortable?’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘I asked if your seat was comfortable, Director. Only ours aren’t. Yesterday we came through a Q Field at high speed. I sustained splice injuries in the line of service, and Ramin here held his friend as he died. I witnessed my best friend die in front of me and was forced to leave her body behind. Despite all this, we retrieved the artefact in once piece and without any damage whatsoever to the inanimate object. So I ask again. Is your chair comfortable, and does your water taste nice?’
The proceedings were delayed for a few moments as two chairs and a pitcher of water were brought in.
Director al-Cavifi looked at me coldly and asked if I was happy for her to proceed. I nodded.
The questioning went back and forth as we were cross-examined. The panel appeared unhappy with every step of our retrieval. It was hard not to take this personally.
‘Explain how QC Flint died.’
‘I don’t understand myself. Clio —’
‘This is a formal investigation, so please refer to their titles. QC will suffice instead of Quantum Curator.’
I bit my lip. Everything about this was being engineered to make us feel uncomfortable. Someone was clearly being lined up for the chop, and I had a feeling that someone was me.
‘Apologies. QC Clio Masoud aimed her gun at QC Paul Flint as he charged towards me. But laser fire should have only stunned him. Not killed him.’
‘Are you sure of that?’
‘Completely.’
‘Only, we did an autopsy on QC Flint, and he was shot with a bullet, not a laser.’
I paused and thought it through.
‘I saw Ramin, sorry, QC Gamal, running towards QC Flint, his laser drawn, but by his side. I then saw QC Masoud raise her weapon and point it at QC Flint, who then fell to the ground. There were men running up from the riverbank. I could hear shots. It is my analysis that Clio shot Paul, thereby saving my life.’
‘Please, QC Salah — Neith — I understand this is difficult for you, and we are sympathetic to your situation, but we need you to remain formal.’
She smiled at me, and for the first time I sensed a bit of human warmth coming from her. Maybe I had misread the situation? Maybe I wasn’t for the chop? Gratefully, I nodded my head in acknowledgement, and she proceeded.
‘Was it possible that QC Flint was shot by the men on the riverbank? The night was dark, the situation was heightened. It would have been easy to confuse the trajectory of two similar shots.’
Relived, I felt some tension leave my shoulders. I had been worrying about that point. I could understand Clio halting Paul, but not killing him.
‘Yes, Director al-Cavifi. That could be an acceptable interpretation.’
The questioning continued.
‘When you were in Charles Bradshaw’s house you said you heard the two Betas refer to a “scary woman” who seemed to be running the show?’
‘Yes.’
‘And, do you have any idea who this may have been?’
‘No.’
‘Did you get the impression that this female was Alpha or Beta?’
‘Alpha.’
‘Because?’
‘Because whoever was running the show was constantly one step ahead of us. I didn’t think a Beta team would have been capable of outfoxing us. Unless Beta Earth knows about Alpha’s existence? I was under the impression that they don’t?’ I watched as the panel smiled dismissively and continued. ‘I now know the other team were ahead of us because QC Flint was feeding them information. QC Flint has never visited that timeline, so he wouldn’t have been unable to have established Beta connections. Therefore, this female was Alpha.’
‘Well, you see our problem with that then?’
‘No.’ Well I did, but I was going to make them spell it out because frankly, I didn’t like where they were going with it and I wanted to challenge them about it directly.
‘There were only two Alpha
