“97.491%”
“That’s not good.”
“It is not. However, scenario trees, by their very nature, have a large margin of error. That’s why, when we arrived at this spaceport, I accessed the public transport logs. I learned that eleven days ago a flight to Raritan was cancelled. I believe that’s the flight Professor Roanna and the rest of our team were scheduled on. But they never made it.”
“Something happened to them,” I said.
“Exactly. The Mayir.”
“Do you think that’s what your message is about?” I asked.
“I have no way of knowing.”
“Can’t you access the message?”
“I was not instructed to access the message. I was instructed to convey it. To the Marlington University security department.”
“I understand, but is there anything preventing you from accessing the message?”
TenSix paused for a moment. “It’s complicated.”
“What do you mean?”
“Certain conditions would have to be met as part of my autonomous actions protocol.”
“Like what?”
“Like if I was unable to fulfill the command to deliver the message through conventional means, or if I had to utilize a proxy, or if my lack of access was directly responsible for harm to my owner, extended team, Marlington University, or—”
“Okay, I get it. So you couldn’t just tell me the message so I could get it to the right people at Marlington?”
“You are an unaffiliated agent with no permissions in this matter.”
I could tell this was going nowhere. Still, I was curious how much TenSix’s owner, Professor Griffin, knew or suspected what was going on. Clearly she deployed TenSix for a reason.
“Let’s get back to Kira,” I said. “Maybe she got lucky with finding a classified site.”
We wound our way back through the passenger terminal, but didn’t get far.
“Danger!” TenSix abruptly slammed into my leg.
“Hey! That hurt!”
“Get back here.” He ushered me into a narrow space between two boarded-up storefronts.
“What’s going on?” I whispered.
“Quiet.”
I soon saw the source of his alarm and my heart leapt. Two Mayir security officers were dragging Kira through the terminal!
15
My first instinct was to attack the Mayir and try to forcibly free Kira, but I quickly realized that it would be a suicide mission. My judder knife was no match for their K-70 Slingers or their H-P carbines or even their ceramlar body armor.
The only thing I could think of was to follow them as unobtrusively as possible—to see where they took Kira.
It was difficult because of how sparsely-populated the terminal was, but TenSix’s scanners allowed us to stay back pretty far and still not lose them.
The Mayir shoved Kira out through the main terminal entrance to where one of their patrol vehicles was waiting. They loaded her in the back of the vehicle, which looked like an Orfielli hauler modified as a prisoner transport vehicle.
I frantically looked around the street for some kind of public transportation. Just as the Orfielli pulled away, I managed to flag down a guy on a beat-up taxi sled.
“Where to?” the driver asked as I leapt aboard clutching TenSix.
“Follow that hauler,” I said, pointing at the Mayir prisoner transport. “Don’t lose them. My friend’s in there. Hurry!”
“Cool your jets, mataba. We’re not going to lose ’em. It don’t matter, anyway. They take ’em all to the same place: the Shitdrop.”
“The what?”
“Official name’s the Ganga Kos Metro Detention Center, but it looks like a big brown turd, so everyone just calls it the Shitdrop. Besides, if you get hauled down there, your ass is definitely in some deep shit. What’d your buddy do?”
“I have no idea. I came back from getting us drinks and they had grabbed her.”
“Woman, huh? She an unlicensed prostitute?”
“No, she’s not a prostitute. She’s a botanist.”
“Offworlder?”
“Yeah, why?”
“That’s worse than being a prostitute. In the Rudd’s eyes, at least.”
“Who’s the Rudd?”
“You must be an offworlder, too. Ruddies are Mayir. On account of their predilection for those loud red uniforms. Lǐjiě?”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“Shitdrop, coming up on your left,” the driver said.
The detention center did kind of resemble a turd—a five-story turd. It looked like the architects were going for some kind of modernist statement, with an organic form that did look like a raindrop, although colored a feces-brown.
“Yeah, used to be a museum—before the Rudds took over. I used to go there when I was a kid.”
“That looks pretty big to be a detention center.”
“Lot of folks detained these days. Mostly non-humans. But a fair number of humans, too. Those that ran afoul of the authorities.”
“How long do they keep them for?”
“Got me. I’ve never heard of anyone being released.”
That wasn’t good.
As we drew closer to the detention center, I instructed the driver to park a block away. There were way too many Mayir security goons loitering around the entrance.
“Thanks for your help,” I said. “TenSix, be sure to tip well.”
“You got a bot paying for you?” the driver asked in surprise.
“I lost my Aura.”
“Well, if you need a temporary replacement—unlocked, of course—I might know a guy.”
“Yeah, I might.”
“I’ll send the info to your bot.”
“Thanks.”
As TenSix and I exited the sled, the driver called after us, “Good luck with your friend. You’re going to need it.”
I wasn’t sure that all the luck in the galaxy would be enough to get Kira free. But I had to do something.
“Let’s check the perimeter,” I told TenSix.
We started to walk around the blob-like detention center. It took up an entire city block, maybe 75 meters on a side.
“You see any windows?” I asked.
“No. Not true windows, but I do sense a lot of mimetic panels. Probably to preserve the artwork when this structure was a museum.”
“Panels won’t help us. We need a way in.”
We continued to walk, trying not to be too obvious in our surveillance. The streets surrounding the detention center were filled with shuttered shops and other commercial buildings. I was looking for an attorney’s office or bail bond office or something, but there was nothing remotely connected to the justice system.
“We are being watched,” TenSix said. “This building has an extensive network of security sensors.”
“You’re right. We can’t help Kira if we get locked up too.”
We veered off onto
