Body Blank - Chapter 1 - Gambit

Body Blank

Gambit

         Lao Penak raised an eyebrow as he watched his employer Droth Transk place a  cigar sized silver case next to his thigh.  “Do you really need that many?”
         “My dear Mr. Penak I may never have the chance to … observe the Minister's environment again.  I intend to have eyes in place for well into the future.”
         Droth tapped the cigar shaped case twice.  A hole the size of a needle point opened in the end of the case.  A tiny translucent thread began snaking  its way across the limousine's seat toward Droth's leg.
         Lao focused intently on the thread he knew to be a string of hexapod surveillance drones. He could detect no distinct  appendages.  However, it was the movement of thousands of legs in unison that made the thread shimmer as it traversed Droth's leg. 
         “I know the spiders can't be detected by our equipment but still.  That many devices in one place seems risky with the surveillance afforded to the Minister.”
         “Lao, the Operations Director artificial intelligence  programmed them for a time delay deployment.  They'll be completely powered off until they've been in proximity to my skin for 20 minutes.  None of our own equipment can detect them in that mode.  And Minister Winston buys most of his intelligence gear from Transk Enterprises.”
         Lao continued to watch as the line of drones slipped down  to the cuff of Droth's slacks.  The line disappeared as it rounded the underside of the pant cuff. 
         The limousine AI interrupted, “Mr. Transk we will be at the palace in 2 minutes.”
         Droth's hand almost grazed the line of marching hexapods as he made a sweeping gesture.  He traced the line between the case and shoe twice more.  “Girls, girls hurry up!”

         To Lao's astonishment, three new threads erupted from the pinhole in the case.  Even the speed of the drones was increased.  The increase made  the light refraction through Droth's clothing more noticeable.  The pulsing trails of silvery glitter completed the trek down the length of Droth's leg and disappeared. 
         “That's just creepy.  But very clever programming.  I wouldn't have guessed an AI that small could understand 'hurry'.”
         “Never underestimate OD. He's even better than myself at anticipating the system requirements.”
         The sensation of motion stopped as the massive white tube that was the company limousine came to a stop.  Two plain-clothes security guards approached the car as Droth handed the empty silver case to Lao and mentally set a 20-minute timer.  His seat and the adjacent section of the vehicle skin separated and opened laterally into the noonday sun.  The reclining position of the seat gradually shifted to bring Droth into full standing position as the base, what had been the floor in the limo, touched the sidewalk.
         As the side of the limousine reassembled itself Droth glanced at the weapons sported by his new escorts.  The guns were attached to the clothing mid thigh on the right leg of both guards.  A black metal hand-grip was mated to twin gleaming silver barrels.  One barrel appeared to be a simple metal shaft.  The other had a lens covering the bore.  He recognized the design immediately as 'robot only' issue.  The power source for the plasma and laser modes of this gun would fill a small backpack.  Or fit inside the leg of a security bot.  During weapon discharge, the metal grip could reach 200 degrees as the close proximity power cells relayed raw energy to the receiver.  That temperature wasn't practical for human use.  But such a design was efficient and deadly when wielded by a robot.
         The gray suited androids escorted Droth up the long walk way one in front one behind.  His interest was piqued as he noted the life like detail on the skin pigmentation and hair color variations.  Many in the public eye selected security appliances with more obvious armor or speed enhancements making fully human appearance impractical.  He wondered if these units included more specific knowledge than a typical guard system would.  The variety in the oriental style garden they were walking through presented an option to satisfy his curiosity.
         He made eye contract with the guard following him.  “These flowers are impressive.  Do you know much about the flora?”
         “I do sir.  However, please continue to the entrance Mr. Transk.  The Minister is waiting.”
         He mused aloud to himself.  “Extra environmental  situational knowledge uploaded, unless it's lying about knowing the flowers.”  Droth raised an eyebrow at that thought.  “Deception parameters, I'll have to think about that.”
         Then he wonders about the time.  He mentally queried the timer he had set when leaving the limo.  Within his mind's ear, he heard the response,'17 minutes'.
         The trio stepped onto the polished pink and black marble steps marking the palace entrance.    He recognized the single Zentinel series security android at the entrance.  This design made no attempt to conceal that it was not in fact human.  Human like hair, flesh, eyes would not be found on the Zentinel bot.  Semi transparent gold colored plastic insets covered banks of sensors and weapons in the head, torso and leg skeletal structures.  The skeleton itself was a precise framework of honeycombed yellow steel alloy.  This particular model was female.  It had the more delicate, rounded facial templates installed.  He knew this and the voice would be the only external attempts to make socialization with real humans more natural. 
         A gentle female voice dismissed the escorting guards.  “That will be all gentlemen.  I will take Mr. Transk to the Minister.”
         The escorts stepped down and took positions at either end of the marble stairs.  Droth turned his gaze forward to the Zentinel unit.
         “My name is Beatrice, Mr. Transk.  Please follow me to the library.”
         “Yes of course, lead the way.” 
         Beatrice walked in front of Droth as they left the entryway and came to the Grand Hall.  A hallway 100 meters long opened before them.  Stark white stone floors and walls at first gave it a sterile feel.  However, this was contrasted by tree-sized pillars along the walls every few meters.  The pillars stretching 40 meters to the apex of the vaulted ceiling.           He noted that each of the columns were of dissimilar material. As for the design each column was a perfect cylinder.  The shape of the supports top and bottom was a simple hemisphere.  These extended half a meter from the edge of each column.  Even from a distance Droth could see that the supports were inlaid with intricate engraved images. 
         First on display were spires of pristine green, red and blue natural marble.  He started to pass the first and could see that the top edge closest to the  column was bordered with the likenesses of former heads of state.  In fact they were the presidents from his home nation state of Hartland.  Droth noted it contained the entire presidential historical record.  Below the presidential borders of each column followed historical personages,  events, monuments.  Depictions of natural disasters were at the lower level.  The lowest border of the stonework detailed the nation's battles. 
         As he drew close to the center of the column he activated a proximity sensor.  The border scheme was dissolved and a large triangle shaped image seemed to roll over the top of the previous items that had been displayed from the top to the bottom of the support capitol.  The transformation caused Droth to pause.  As he looked at the center of the triangle it seemed he was looking down into the middle of a metropolis.  He guessed the altitude to be approximately 300 meters above ground level.  He smiled as he noted that as he moved the image adjusted to show him more of the city.  It was as if he was looking through a portal onto a real world below.  He moved to the left of the image and peered to his right to view the far end of the city.  He could make out a line of water front buildings clinging to the Eastern shoreline.  Looking down he saw several huge merchant ships just off shore.  In the image all motion was stopped.  But he could see the effect of the drive-screws churning the ocean water into sprays of white foam and mist.           Looking up, at his perceived eye level he saw a sky filled with airships.  Massive tubes and saucer shapes  dotted the sky randomly.  The largest ship was a massive ellipsoid form nearly a kilometer in length.  He could see the circular Hartland flag covering the entire center of the top and bottom surfaces of the vessel.  The mid morning sun's reflection off the chrome, blue and yellow national colors was almost blinding from his relative position.  He remembered how he had loved that majestic ship as a boy.  Then the reality of the image hit him.
         “The MiTang.  This is, the day.  That day.  Perfectly frozen in time.”
         Beatrice having already stopped her advance swiveled her head 180 degrees to face Droth directly.  It noted the history of the pillar Droth was examining.  “Oh yes.  The Minister is quite impressed with the realism of the Hartland column Mr. Transk.”
         “It is most impressive.  Reconstructed from satellite records I'm sure.”  Looking with purpose, he now shifted to the right of the portal and looked to his left.  Toward the West end of the city he saw what he expected, an embryonic flash-cloud.  The domed shape typical of a fusion weapon was just becoming noticeable.  Its light seemed to raise a challenge to the Sun rising at the opposite edge of the city.  The plume was only a few hundred meters in diameter. The weapon had detonated only a faction of a second earlier. 
         “Does it move forward, in time?”
         “No Mr. Transk.  The Senate committee overseeing the architecture thought that seeing the city terminated would have been, controversial.
         “To be sure.  And of no service to the nation that died that day.”  After pausing once more to view the intact MiTang, he continued down the line of marble spires.
         The scheme was essentially the same for red and blue columns.  However, they lacked major battles or any form of portal recreation.
         Next was the mottled white and green of the onyx pillar.  An interesting contrast after the marble fixtures.  Of more interest were the three Sea-Stone columns that followed it.
         The surfaces of the green, orange and blue columns seemed alive with the movement of tiny breaths of light.  Droth stopped at the twinkling blue column for closer inspection.
         Again, Beatrice noticed his interest and searched for information.  “These are standard industrial columns with a Sea-Stone veneer.  Sea-Stone is actually the dried secretions from the Giant Ankaraz snail.  Properly hardened its strength is similar to bronze.“
         “Interesting trivia my dear.  But these samples haven't been hardened have they?”
         If a bot could look curious Droth was sure Beatrice would have.  The Zentinel merely remained silent for an instant longer as it queried the global tables for more information.
         “You see if this had been hardened we wouldn't be seeing the waves of light cascading randomly around the column.”
         Finally Beatrice responded.  “Correct.  The luminous display of the bio-molecular network would not be possible.  The hardening processes breaks the cohesion between the sub-layers of the secretions.”
         “Just so my dear.”
         “We must continue to the library Mr. Transk.”
         “Yes of course.”
         The pair walked passed a series of gemstone columns: diamond, emerald, ruby.
         While passing the dark green emerald pillar Droth smiled  and extended a hand to caress it.  “Simuloid gemstone.  I've not seen it done on this scale before.  These take time to cure properly. With this quantity I'm guessing this took some time.”
         Beatrice's head swiveled to face him again but its body continued walking forward.  “Actually the planning of the palace took considerably longer than its construction.  Production time for these pillars was a mere ten days.”  After sharing this information its head returned to the forward position.
         “Interesting indeed.  Getting architects from the nation states to agree on a single design must have been challenging.”           He made another mental query for the time when the drones would be dropping into their new home.  He 'heard' the silent response, '9 minutes'. 
         Beatrice's head again swiveled to face him.  “The Minister is on a tight schedule Mr. Transk.  But he should be able to join you within that time.”
         Droth was taken aback and scolded himself silently, “It heard my implant response!  I'm going to have to become more familiar with the signal processing capabilities available to Zentinels when I get back.”
         He breathed a sigh of relief when Beatrice extended her arm directing him to enter a massive ebony wood doorway.  He entered and noted a small table and two chairs at the far end of the room.  The circular library had walls demarcated with stone pillar facades every meter or so.  They appeared to mimic the material and order apparent in the Grand Hall.  A single shelf ran the perimeter of the room at waist level.  Scroll work set off the thick ebony wood of the shelf against the books themselves. These appeared ancient and available only for display purposes.  Each book was protected by a form fitting glass like case.
         Beatrice stepped just inside the room behind him.  “May I bring you some refreshment while you wait Mr. Transk?”
         He could use some coffee to calm his nerves.  However, he was already concerned that the optics and scanners available to Beatrice could pick up on his friends.  He didn't want to add the optics of a maid bot to the mix.  “No thank you dear I'm quite alright.”
         “As you wish.  The table has access disks if you wish to read or view anything at all while you wait.”
         He was relieved to spot the ornate area rug underneath the table and chairs.  Fully one thousand hexapods would be detaching themselves and seeking refuge in their new home in another few minutes.  Dropping into carpeting of any kind would be preferable to dispersal on a hard floor in front of a security bot.
         Relief was short lived as he realized that he hadn't been overtly scanned for surveillance devices at the entrance.  A bead of sweat ran down his back as the realization sank in.  Beatrice's scanning equipment would be directed toward him after the hibernating drones awoke.
         He whispered to himself while making his way to the table. “I hope OD counted on that one.”  He was a little unnerved by the prospect of a Zentinel in the room at this point.  It was a long shot but he decided to try and get a temporary reprieve.           “Perhaps my dear I will have something to drink after all.  Some coffee please.  Two naturals and a cream if you please.”
         Beatrice made no motion whatsoever but replied, “It will be here in a few moments Mr. Transk.” 
         Impatient and nervous Droth wished he could query the timer again but dared not.  He estimated release in another five minutes. 
         Droth knew that Beatrice was able to ascertain staff movements, monitor communications and run continuous electro magnetic and optical scans.  “Any idea when Minister Winston will be joining us?” 
         Beatrice noted the termination of the Minister's current outside communication.  “Soon, in fact he should be heading this way now Mr. Transk.”
         'Meow' was the only introduction Droth had to the maid bot bringing his coffee.  A calico cat came around the corner of the library door. It was slightly larger than a real cat and  walking on hind legs that looked a bit stocky for a cat.  It carried a gilded cup and saucer in its over-sized right paw.  The cat appeared to ignore him and walked directly to the table.  Setting the steaming cup carefully down on the table next to the wooden library disks.  It then turned to Droth and made a backwards wave of its paw toward the closest green leather bound chair.  “Meooooow.”
         The smell of fresh North Mountain coffee filled his senses as Droth sat down.  As he picked up the steaming cup, the corner of his eye caught someone  entering the library at a brisk pace.  It was tall man in his late fifties.  Droth turned to face him.  He noted the Minister's pepper gray side burns and Sea-Blue eyes.  The calm blue of the man's eyes seemed penetrating somehow.  Droth shook off the feeling and muttered to himself,  “At least 'he' can't read the drone timer.”
         “Hey, I'll have one of those too Samantha.”  He extended his hand to Droth as he made his way towards the remaining empty  chair.  “Mr. Transk.  I’m glad you could make it.”
         Samantha's black, yellow and white fur ruffled slightly as  the cat scuttled away on all four feet towards the door. The Minister took his seat.
         “Well its not every day I’m asked to meet the World Minister. I’m honored Minister Winston.”
         “Don’t mention it.  You have a fair measure of influence on a global scale yourself.  In fact, that is what precipitated this meeting.  I’ll get right to the point Droth, if I may call you that?”
         “Droth is fine sir, please continue.”  He felt another drop of sweat move down the crease of his back as he guessed the drones would be powering up any second.
         “The Senate will be reviewing Transk Enterprises’ planetary holdings soon.  It is expected the Anti-monopoly Panel will take some actions to diversify your company.”
         The Minister moved his hand to the table and tapped one of several coin sized wooden disks.  A hologram appeared at Droth's eye level.  It was a letter page sized representation of beige parchment.  The scribed typeface heading indicated it was the meeting agenda for the Senate Anti-monopoly Panel.  The date indicated it was scheduled for next week.
         “You'll notice item number one is Transk Enterprises.”
         Despite the imminent deployment of drones, the hologram focused Droth's attention.  While rude perhaps, he met the Minister's eyes unflinchingly.
         The Minister continued.  “Transk has become so vast during the last decade it now touches almost every facet of the global economy.  Agriculture, space travel, weapons and AI development not to mention pharmaceuticals and medical technology in general.  Not even the Plague Law guidelines can provide justification for the scope encompassed by your company Droth.”
         Internally Droth was nonplussed. He had known action by the panel was a possibility for some time.  However, his sources never indicated any government action would be forth coming.  His mind was racing as he dropped his gaze to the floor. 
         He noticed what appeared to be a tiny stream of sand begin to hit the top of his left black dress shoe and spill onto the floor.  With some effort he controlled his expression of relief as he saw the 'sand' quickly dissolving into the ornate designs of the surrounding carpet.  Ensuring the table was obstructing the Minister's view of his leg and shoe he regained some measure of focus.
         “I have been busy the past few years.  But only for the betterment of all Medina. And I see your dilemma Daniels.”
         Minister Daniels Winston lifted an eyebrow at the use of his first name and the shift of responsibility.  “My dilemma?”
         Beatrice detected a slight increase in electro magnetic noise around the floor near Droth but its optics could not confirm the presence of anything from this distance.  It moved silently toward the table.  It also noticed the increase in the humans' heart rates and vocal volume.  This was almost concurrent with the EM spike.  Could these biologics be generating EM noise?  Instantly it searched the global tables and found a correlation between biologic and electro magnetic energies.  But not at the same frequencies it had detected.  The robot moved closer to the table but even as it approached the EM noise was dispersing and becoming difficult to localize.
         “My company provides the only cure for Plague infection.  And with 34% of Medina’s population infected and dying even my monopoly can be overlooked easily, by most.  I’m sure you want to be spared along with the other privileged few that can afford replication treatment.  But you can’t afford to be seen as an aristocrat and gain a fourth term as Minister.”
         Unnoticed Samantha entered the room with another cup of steaming coffee.  It held up the saucer matching the level of Minister Daniels right hand. “Meow.”
         This was a welcome break for the Minister.  He hadn't expected an aggressive counter attack from Droth.  Daniels looked at the cat and accepted the cup.  “Thanks Sam.”
         He let out a long slow breath while imbibing a sip of the steaming aromatic liquid. He mused to himself.  “Tables turned on me by a planetary CEO.  Should have seen that coming.”  His inflection was decidedly amused when he addressed Droth again.  “Sounds like you are about to accuse me of extortion.”
         Droth turned his attention to the success of his little minions.  He watched Beatrice pace around the table.  It had obviously detected something amiss but it was having trouble finding a cause. 
         Emboldened he decided to provide a relief valve for the conversation.  Strategically it was a better move than cornering a head of state. 
         “Let me be blunt Daniels, Minister Winston.  You called me here to pressure me into providing you with a matched body using the Senate Anti-monopoly Panel as your leverage.  That really is unnecessary.  Your DNA pattern has been my top priority search ever since I was informed that you were infected.  I’m happy to inform you that a match has been found.  However, you’ll need to extend some of the Plague Law elements to address where I found your match.”
         Daniels pulled the golden cup away from his lips with a puzzled looked on his face.  “Where … my match was found?”
         Beatrice noticed Samantha turning to leave.  It accessed the secure palace network and silently requested the cat aid it in looking for something.  The cat's vision sensors would now be directly accessible by the Zentinel while it searched for the source of EM noise.  However, by this time spike had almost completely blended in with the ambient signals present.
         Droth noticed that Beatrice had enlisted the cat's help in finding his spies.  Samantha was now on all four legs closely examining the carpet under the table.  He doubted even close scrutiny could detect the drones once dispersed.
         “My company, under Plague Law guidelines, is allowed to DNA test and match anyone on the planet.  It is allowed to use deceased resources from anywhere on Medina.”
         “Yes, you and other companies can use near dead or brain dead,infection free, bodies for transplants or testing.”
         Beatrice and Samantha extended their search to the walls and bookshelf.  Clearly, they hadn't found any of the drones.  Droth suppressed a smirk as he responded.
         “The scope of this allowance needs to be expanded to cover all discovered planets.”
         The Minister was incredulous.  “You want to harvest dead bodies from the discovered worlds?”
         “Don’t worry about starting a galactic war.  We can replace any bodies with near duplicates and provide regrown cellular samples to pass any DNA testing the local establishments may examine.  So far the new worlds have been nearly a century behind most of Medina technologies.”
         Droth could see the Minister was still in a state of shock at the suggestion as he pressed on.  “Your match was found on HRE97, Earth as the locals call it.  I have agents in place now obtaining the body as we speak.”
         “Now?”
         “If you are to avoid Plague Death you have little time or choice Daniels.  Matching DNA patterns with sufficient similarities to avoid complications is against the odds even with entire planets to choose from.  I need you to support the expansion of scope in the law ... now.”
         For a long moment, the Minister sipped his coffee.  He wasn't a hero but neither did he consider himself corrupt or self-serving.  Taking this path would make him both, at least in his own eyes.  Droth could read his prey now with utter transparency.  Daniels was ready to commit but he needed that one last bit of leverage.
         “Speaking as a Medinan I consider you a great asset.  During your last three terms of office the general prosperity and peace of the planet has been dramatically increased.  The first generation of Medinans in three hundred years has known no war to speak of.  Only those choosing not to work have lived in poverty.  Your political opponents can only attack you on the basis of the plague and the mystery of its genius is no fault of your own.”
         “Kind words. It doesn't matter how the plague came about or how much good I've done or how powerful your company is.  Nothing may be able to stop the dissolution of our culture within the next generation.”
         “If it's any consolation I've had the DNA markers for your immediate family added to my watch list.”
         “What?  My wife and daughter aren't infected.”
         “And I hope they never are Minister.  But I wanted to ensure myself that your loved ones had a measure of hope should that ever change.  I can have the resources, if identified, put in stasis.”
         “Provided the expansion to law is in place of course?”
         “The odds of finding a match for anyone on Medina increase almost linearly for each world we can catalog.”
         Droth could read a subtle change in the Minister's body language as he put the golden cup of coffee down on the table.  The Minister tapped the wooden disk and the holographic agenda disappeared.  Droth had called it.  Preservation of his family was the element necessary to sway him.
         The Minister remarked in an almost placid tone, “Regardless of my personal support I didn't make up the Anti-monopoly Panel agenda Droth.”
         “I've not been kept abreast of late on the Panel's activities.  But I have some influence with one or two members.  I think they will return with a vote of support for my global activities, both current and proposed.”
         Droth could tell no further discussion was necessary and simply stated his requirements.  “My staff will transmit the precise language that needs to be in the amendment this morning.  Please express to the Senate the need to keep the changes intact to expedite aid to Medina at large.”
         “Yes of course.  Thank you Droth.  If you don't mind Beatrice can see you out.”
         “Indeed sir.”
         Beatrice had given up the search for the source of the temporary EM spike and was already at the door waiting for Droth.  “I'll see you out Mr. Transk.”
         The walk back to the limousine was uneventful with the periodic exception of Beatrice swiveling her head to gaze directly at Droth.  As if watching for some other conundrum to present itself on the way out.
         As the vehicle's seat frame slid Droth back into seating position he addressed Lao even before the door panel was back in place.
         “I expect the scope change within a week but let's not wait any longer on the Daniels match.  We’ve been using Earth bodies for some time now anyway.  Pick up the pace on this one.  Also, add the DNA markers for his wife and daughter to the watch list now.”
         “Very well.  But for the Minister's match.  We usually arrange a traffic accident requiring some prep time.”
         “Just pick him up.  Make it look like suicide or whatever.”
         “That doesn’t really match his profile.  The report says he is quite stable and motivated.  It even goes so far to say 'devout in faith'.  Not a practical suicide candidate if we don't want an investigation.”
         “You know the situation.  I trust you to come up with something that fits.  But we need the resource here this week.  I want the Minister in his new clothes as soon as possible.”
         Lao mentally reviewed the steps necessary to get the match here within seven days and muttered to himself.  “How to kill a happy CEO in 24 hours?”