The lift was old. It took ten-seconds to rise up to the seventy-third level. Rachel wondered when they would upgrade to one of the new Air Route business delivery shoots. It would reduce the travel time to less than a second. Nobody would have to stand in the lobby pressing buttons and waiting anymore.
When the doors slid open, Vice President Daniel Walsh was standing near the doors with a wide smile across his face. 'Rachel!' he said. 'So good of you to drop by. I've been wondering when you would come and see us.'
'Shame your receptionist didn't know who I was,' Rachel said. 'She didn't seem to know much at all.'
'Sorry about that. She's new. The previous receptionist got tired of answering questions all day. She decided to change career. Come in, let me get you a drink.'
'I'm fine thanks,' Rachel said.
'How about you?' Daniel said, gesturing to Rocker's lopsided expression and unfocussed eyes.
'She's fine too,' Rachel said.
Daniel nodded and smiled, but his eyes lingered on Rocker as he walked back to his desk. 'It was a terrible thing that happened to your father, Rachel. I was really sorry to hear about it.'
'So was I,' Rachel said.
'Did you find out who was responsible?'
'Maybe. Maybe not. The investigation is still ongoing.'
'Well, you seem to be taking it very well. You must be as tough as your father told me you were. He was so proud of you, Rachel. He really was.'
Rachel said nothing. Numbness filled the place where her heart should be.
'We should set up a meeting sometime,' Daniel said. 'When you are ready. I know the legal guys are still working their way through all this mess, but at some point they'll straighten it all out, and you'll be the new owner of Mekinet News. It's a big responsibility. There are many decisions to be made. Like I told you before, I'm more than happy to take over as CEO in your father's absence.'
'I'll think about it,' Rachel said.
Daniel frowned. His eyes narrowed but his smile remained in place.
'I'm not here about that,' Rachel said. 'Not yet. That will all come later.'
Daniel nodded and stared at her, raising his eyebrows in a question.
'I'm here with Commander Rocker to continue with the investigation.'
'Not more questions? I thought we'd been through all this. We answered just about every question I can think of.'
'Commander Rocker needs full access to your systems. She will be taking over the investigation. You can consider this to be an audit.'
The colour drained from Daniel's face. 'An audit? You don't have the right to run audits. We've been very reasonable, answering so many questions, but this is a business, not part of... whatever you think it is.'
'You said it yourself. Soon I'll be the owner of this company. When that happens, one of two things will happen. Either I'll sit down to discuss the future of the organisation with the helpful Vice President who has assisted me in carrying out a full audit, or I'll be firing the obstructive bastard who delayed the audit and hiring someone else to take his place. It's time to choose which side of the fence you want to be on, Daniel Walsh.'
Daniel stared at Rachel in horror. His whole body seemed to be repulsed by her presence. His true self was finally shining through.
'Go think about it,' Rachel said. 'We'll need your office for a couple of hours. Go get yourself some tea and take a long walk.'
'But I have meetings. I'm meeting clients in five minutes.'
'Fine. Go meet them. Just don't do it here.'
Daniel raised one hand to the side of his head. 'This isn't right,' he said. 'I worked for your father. You shouldn't be treating me like this.'
'You work for me now. Go take a walk.' Rachel took Daniel's elbow in her hand and escorted him to the lift.
He glanced down at her hand on his elbow and opened his mouth. Rachel led him gently inside and pressed the button for the ground floor.
'When you see that receptionist, tell her she's fired,' Rachel said.
Daniel stared back with blank eyes as the lift doors closed.
'Let's get started,' Rachel said, turning to Rocker.
'I'm almost done.' Rocker said.
'What?'
'I have access to ninety-three percent of the interfaces in this building. Another few minutes and I'll have the rest.'
'How many interfaces is that?'
'Six thousand four hundred and nineteen so far.'
'So many? What do they all do?'
'A large amount of those are mundane. There are two hundred and fifteen class W6 droids.'
'What are they?'
Rocker's eyes remained fixed on the floor, but she raised one arm and pointed at a small black hemisphere that clung to the outside of the window. It's tiny back legs washed the glass with a constant circular motion as it crawled across the window.
Rachel raised one eyebrow. 'I hope the other interfaces get us access to more useful information.'
'They should do,' Rocker said. 'I've already recovered visual logs for the entire building. The security here is appalling. I don't think I'll need any access codes. The building's information systems are falling into my hands one by one. Your father wasn't big on cleaning up old data was he?'
'How do you mean?'
'There are still visual logs in the system from the day the building was first opened after construction. Your father looked a lot younger back then. Quite handsome.'
Rachel gave Rocker a sidelong glance. 'That's my father you're talking about.'
'Sorry.'
Rachel shook her head. 'Maybe the old logs will be useful. Have you found anything more recent?'
'I've located the Sphynx-II controller rack. It's still here. It's damaged though.'
'Time for me to apologise,' Rachel said. 'I may have used a Taser on it.'
'That's a terrible thing to do to an antique.'
'Antique?'
'We use Sphynx-V systems now, Rachel.'
'What about the net-feed droids? The ones that Trent sent to Havers Compound?'
'They're not here. I'd guess most of them were shot down around Havers Compound. I haven't located where the rest of them are yet, but I'd say they are low priority.'
'Why?'
'They don't have long-term persistence. They transmit live data to a Drop Ranger, and that relays it straight back to the Sphynx-II controller rack. Probably we will need the Drop Ranger to fill in any blanks caused by the damage to the Sphynx-II systems.'
'Do we have it?'
'Just checking... Yes, the Drop Ranger was recovered after the battle. It's being held in Tower Two's storage silos, but I don't think they realise what it is. It's been archived with a bunch of broken droids.'
'Okay. Let me know when you're done,' Rachel said. Looking out of the window, she could just make out one of the reconnaissance drones hovering above an adjacent office building. 'Is that drone looking at me?'
'Yes, it is. Would you like to see its images?'
Rachel shook her head.
Rocker walked over to Daniel's desk and spun his console around. She typed a couple of commands on the projected keypad, and Rachel appeared on the display, standing in the window with the sun warming her complexion.
'I look old,' Rachel said.
'Happens to us all,' Rocker said. She punched some more keys and the screen went blank.