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The next morning Rick had Tim take him down to the tech labs. Rick had never been in the tech labs. As an investigator he had used them a lot but was never allowed to go into the lab itself. Now he was curious.
It was odd but not surprising that the tech labs were in the basement of the building. And went down four floors. Rick didn’t know what all the labs were for, but it didn’t matter at the moment. All he was interested in was the forensics science division. That area was on the third floor down from ground level.
As they entered the lab a short balding man came up to Tim and Rick. “Dr. Johnson,” said Tim. “I’d like to introduce you to Director Thompson. He is the new head of the Legal Division.
Johnson stretched out his hand and Rick took it. At first there was a look of sheer terror, then it melted into a smile.
Rick was starting to get used to this treatment. People greeted him with fear, then realized that he was just a normal person. Rick guessed that most Directors looked down on the population with distain. He would try to change that if he could. “Nice to meet you Dr. Johnson.”
Johnson’s smile grew even wider. He said as he let go of Rick’s hand, “Let me show you around the lab.”
“Dr. Johnson,” said Rick. “I don’t mean to be rude, but we are short on time. I need to see what you found out about debris from the destroyed labs.”
“Right, then follow me.”
As Johnson led them through the lab, Rick began to realize just how large this place was. They passed cubicles next to machines of unknown purposes next to more cubicles next to more machines. Over and over again. Rick was glad that he had a guide. He was worried that he would get lost if he was by himself.
“This is the spectrograph department,” said Johnson.
Rick looked over at Tim who said, “This is where they are analyzing the debris.”
Johnson continued. “We have two of our very best people on the job. This way.”
They went down two more intersections and turned right into a cubicle. As Rick followed Johnson into the cubicle he saw two relatively young men sitting at their desk turned to each other talking. One was short and skinny neatly dressed and clean shaven. The other was more interesting by far. He was tall slightly overweight wearing a t-shirt and shorts. His head was shaved on the sides but was long on top. His face and head had hair that stuck out in strange angles. The overall impression was that he had just gotten out of bed.
“This,” said Johnson, “is Peter and Justin.” He pointed to each as he said their names. He turned to the two young men. “This is Director Thompson.”
At once Peter jumped out of his chair as if he was caught doing something wrong. Justin on the other hand looked up in mild interest.
Rick looked at Justin and said, “Son you have a problem with authority.”
Justin Looked up. “What authority would that be?”
“You do know I’m your boss?” Rick liked him at once. He was not afraid of a title. To Rick that was a refreshing change.
“Yeah, yeah you can say that.”
“Well,” said Rick with a grin on his face. “I have a problem with authority too. Show me what you got.”
“That’s what we were discussing when you came up.” Justin twisted in his chair and hit a button on the computer. “First off that,” he pointed to the graphics on the screen. “Is an energy wave. Yet, it’s not like any energy wave I’ve ever seen before.”
“What?” Rick was shocked at this revelation. “Is it some kind of new weapon?”
“Well, yes and no. This wave has all the hallmarks of a standard energy-based weapon, but this dip here,” Justin pointed to the part of the wave that went far below normal. “I’ve only seen that one time before.”
“When was that?” Rick was sure that Justin was the most intelligent one in the room. For some reason he couldn’t explain Rick felt that Justin was on the right track.
“Well, my colleagues think I’m nuts for bringing this up. It came from a paper that was published. It was an experiment having to do with black holes. The theory was that the time distortion caused by a black hole would modify the energy wave and make it stronger. Well, the theory was wrong, but it did leave these dips in the wavelength. Just like we see here.”
“Let me ask you this,” said Rick. “Can we compare the experiment to the debris and back track it to find out who fired on the labs?”
Without a word Justin turned and started rapidly typing. Rick watched as the screen split and another energy wave appeared.
“Okay, what am I looking at?”
Justin took a deep breath and said, “Okay let me start at the beginning. Every ship has a unique energy signature.”
“Like a fingerprint,” said Rick.
“Good example. Now, look at these six points.” Just tapped on the keyboard and six red dots appeared. “These six points will be common to every Wilson ship.” On the screen a third energy signature appeared. He moved the second to overlay the third. The dots lined up just like he said it would.
“How is it that all Wilson ships have the same dots in the same place?” asked Rick.
“Because Wilson use the crystals from the Banda mines. Those crystals are used as a focusing lens for the energy-based weapons.”
“So,” said Rick. “Because the crystals all came from the same place the dots are all the same.”
“That’s right. As each Corporation that builds ships has their own supply of crystals,” he pulled up another energy signature. The six points didn’t match.
“What Corp is that from?”
“Rossom. I’ve spent all night doing that comparison and none of the corporations have that configuration.”
“So, someone has discovered a new crystal mine?”
“That is one possibility,” said Justin. “But what bothers me the most is the distortion field.”
“Why is that?” Rick could start to see how this was fitting together.
“Because the evidence of distortion is on every piece of debris we have so far. We only know about this because of the black hole experiments. Yet there are no black holes anywhere near the labs that were destroyed. That means that whoever fired on the stations had to bring the black hole with them.”
“I don’t understand,” said Rick.
“This is where my co-workers think I’m nuts, but...”
“But what?”
“That means they are using a quantum singularity as a power source.”
Johnson stepped up and said, “As far as we know that tech is decades away. We have done some research in that area, but nothing that could produce a ship.”
Rick let Johnson finish then said, “I see.” It was his way of acknowledging what Jonson said without taking him seriously. He then turned back to Justin and said, “Do you think it is a possibility given the evidence?”
Justin thought for a moment and said, “Look at the facts. We have evidence of a time distortion field in eight locations. Of these locations there is nothing that would create that phenomenon naturally. Add to that we have no information on the attacking ship. We don’t know where it came from or who made it. We don’t even know who it was that attacked the labs without leaving a trace. Given what we know and what we don’t know, I would have to say that it is at least a good possibility.”
Rick noticed Johnson giving Justin a dirty look out of the corner of his eye. “I have one final question. How long would it take to build a ship like you described if you had the resources of all the corporations?”
“Six months to a year, max.”
“Thank you. Keep me updated on your progress.” Then he turned to Johnson. “We need to get back. Can you show us the way out?”
Johnson led the way back without a word. Rick got the feeling that Johnson was upset with Justin for speaking his mind and contradicting his boss in front of company. As they got to the lift Rick turned to Johnson and said, “Thank you. It has been very interesting.”
Rick and Tim got into the lift and as soon as the doors closed and it started to go up Rick said, “I want you to promote Justin.”
“Rick, I going to have to say no.”
Rick couldn’t believe what he just heard. “Excuse me?”
“Yes I saw exactly what you just saw. But you need to understand two things. One; Justin is in it for the science of it all. He has no desire or abilities as an administrator. I know I’ve tried to promote him. He simply refuses to be promoted.”
“And the other thing?”
“That Johnson is an administrator. He keeps the labs organized and up to date. While he may be a scientist at heart, what he really wants is for his people to make innovations so that he can take credit for it.”
“Honestly,” said Rick. “Is that the kind of man we want in charge?”
“Unfortunately, yes. He has managed to press out five times more tech than all of five previous administrators put together. Yes we know he had an attitude problem, but he is good at his job. I asked you not to make changes. Johnson is the right man for his job. Nobody’s perfect. We tolerate him because he gets the job done.”
“I see,” said Rick. “Then can you do me a favor?”
“What’s that?”
“Make sure that Justin gets a 10,000 credit bones.”
Tim said with a smile, “That I can do.”
The lift doors opened, and Rick went to the conference room before continuing the conversation. “Now I can see why I put you in charge,” said Rick with a smile. “By the way, I need to get a hold of Bannic.”
“May I ask why?”
“I’m thinking that he might be able to find Collier.” The confused look on Tim’s face told Rick that he couldn’t put two and two together. “Because Bannic can follow a money trail no matter where it leads. I think he has a better understanding of finance than anyone in the galaxy.”
“Wouldn’t Collier just leave the money behind?” Tim asked.
“In my experience, I would have to say no. The CEO once told me that people with power will do anything to keep that power. If I’m right there is only one way for Collier to regain power.”
“The rebellion.”
“Exactly,” said Rick. “The rebellion. To do that he needs money. Collier has also been in charge of R and D for years. He was in a position of bringing technologies to the point of breakthrough and killing the project before it could happen. Then turning it over to his people to finish the project. If that is the case then he has been stockpiling money for years. So the question comes to, where is it?”
“That’s why you were asking Justin those questions.”
“Yes it was, everything points to Collier. If he has some kind of new tech we need to know about it. Wars cost money and I’m sure Bannic can find it.”
“Alright, I’ll contact Bannic and see if he is willing to help.” Tim paused a moment. “Does he have the right to refuse?”
Rick nodded his head as he said, “Of course he does. But you tell him that I need him and I’m sure that will be enough to convince him.”