Main Core Workroom
Tolly brought up screens, while Haz checked their supply of tiles.
“Mentor,” Tocohl said abruptly, her voice sharper than usual, “there was an intruder inside the unchecked systems files.”
Tolly looked ’round from the instrument panel.
“Catch ’em?” he asked, keeping his voice casual.
“I captured the probe,” she admitted, “but it is a generic tool, nothing to identify it.”
“Did the probe’s operator learn anything?”
“Its operator clearly learned that someone is watching, since their tool was confiscated.”
“That means they’ll be more careful the next time,” Tolly said.
“There will not be a next time,” Tocohl snapped.
“What’re you gonna do?”
“I am going to speak to them, and offer a lesson in manners.”
“Good. Them who?”
“The ship that just came in.”
“Bechimo, right? Clan Korval ship. By way of being kin, aren’t they?”
“Perhaps,” Tocohl didn’t sound mollified. “That is no excuse for rudeness.”
“Can’t argue with that. Do you need me for backup or any such?”
There was a pause, as if Tocohl were surprised by the question.
“No, Mentor. I merely wanted to—alert you to the situation.”
“’Preciate that,” he said solemnly. “Let me know how it turns out.”
“Of course.”
Silence followed, somehow empty. Tolly sighed. Hazenthull cleared her throat.
He turned to look at her.
“If you’re gonna scold me for manipulating her,” he began, but Haz held up a big hand.
“You teach her to depend upon her own skills in battle,” she said, with a half-smile. “That is not a course I am prepared to argue.”
He grinned.
“Glad to hear it. What’ve you got?”
“We are going to need more tiles.”
Tolly frowned.
“Been busier than we knew,” he said.
“I will go to the faristo room and make a withdrawal,” Haz said, moving over to the corner where they stored the sled.
“Right. Gimme a minute to get us sorted here, and I’ll come with you,” he said, and turned back to the screen.
The lift stopped, and Jen Sin exited, holding the door open so that Theo and her security team could step into the hall.
“We have been busy cleaning systems and moving them to the new environment provided by Seignur Veeoni,” Jen Sin said, as they walked toward the main workroom. “The process is painstaking, but we have hope that a completely new core, with clean housings, and updated applications, will be accomplished within a Standard.”
“So long?” murmured Stost.
Jen Sin looked up at him.
“Current knowledgeable staff include Seignur Veeoni, the designer and principle architect of the new system. Tolly Jones assists her, his expertise as a mentor qualifying him. Of course our mutual cousin Tocohl is at the center of the project.”
Theo tipped her head.
“Val Con sent me files,” she said, “and I saw Tocohl noted there, as Jeeves’s daughter. Our timelines ran against each other, though, and we haven’t met.”
“We may rectify that immediately,” Jen Sin said, and raised his voice slightly.
“Cousin Tocohl, here is Theo Waitley, sister to Val Con yos’Phelium. She would greet you as kin.”
“Cousin Theo,” Tocohl’s voice came from the grid in the wall. It was not one of the upgraded speakers, so the beauty of her voice was not on full display. Theo stopped, and turned to face the grid.
“Hello,” she said. “Am I addressing Tinsori Light?”
“You are not,” Tocohl said composedly. “The intelligence known as Tinsori Light has died. I am Tocohl Lorlin Clan Korval through Line yos’Phelium, fulfilling the duties of Station. I also assist Seignur Veeoni and Mentor Jones with cleaning and upgrading systems, as Cousin Jen Sin was describing.”
“It has been our experience,” Chernak said, slowly, “that the Great Works of the Enemy are clever, at hiding as at everything else.”
“We are being very careful,” Tocohl said. “Nothing questionable is moved to the new environment. This makes the work go even more slowly, but we do not want any part of Tinsori Light’s intelligence to inform the new station.”
“I’m glad to hear so much care is being taken,” Theo said. “I recently had a discussion with a hero from the Old Universe—Aberthaz Ferry. He’d spent a lot of his time hunting Tinsori Light with the intention of destroying it. He said it was among the Enemy’s Greatest Works.”
“Yes,” Tocohl said. “Tinsori Light was very dangerous, as Cousin Jen Sin knows well, having been on-station so long. I repeat the information that our cleaning protocols are stringent, and our technicians extraordinarily gifted.”
“Yes, I’m certain they are,” Theo said, her tone perhaps not quite as conciliatory as her words.
“I have,” Stost said, “a question for Tocohl Lorlin.”
“Ask.”
“You say that the old Tinsori Light is dead. Has the hardware that was inhabited by that intelligence been destroyed?”
“The tile-and-rack systems were largely destroyed by Mentor Jones. The original core has been sealed and cut off from all station systems,” Tocohl said.
“You see the effects of our lack of manpower,” Jen Sin murmured. “We have taken what precautions we may, and we do not hold our safety cheap—”
“But there’s only so much the people in place can do,” Theo interrupted briskly, and nodded her head, Terran-style. “That’s why we’re here. Extra hands. More expertise. Why don’t we—which is to say, my crew and me—take on clearing the old core out? We’ll make it our first priority.”
It was, Jen Sin thought, prudent. Extra prudent, but not, given what Tinsori Light had been, and had been capable of doing, a misdirection of energies.
Jen Sin looked up at the Stronglines.
“The old core is quite…compact, to the point that Mentor Jones, who is not a large Terran, had difficulty moving in the aisles.”
“Right,” Theo said, grinning as she followed his gaze. “We’ve got remotes. Also crew comes in a variety of sizes. We’ll plan it out and get it done. Before that, though, I’d like to talk to your experts—Mentor Jones, and Seignur Veeoni.”
“Certainly. Cousin Tocohl, do you know where they are?”
“Mentor Jones is in the faristo room, with Hazenthull. Seignur Veeoni has returned to the assembly room.”
Jen Sin met Theo’s gaze.
“It is chancy to interrupt Seignur Veeoni at her work, though it can be done for good cause. If she fails to deem our cause good, she will merely be rude.”
“Seignur Veeoni it is,” Theo said agreeably, falling into step next to him once more. “The files Val Con sent said that she’s Uncle’s sister.”
“That is correct.”
“I used to do courier work for her brother,” Theo said, as if it were the most reasonable thing imaginable. Which, for Theo, grown to adulthood out-clan and Terran, it might well be. A pilot must fly, after all, and courier work paid well.
“Perhaps she will not be so very rude, then,” he offered.
Theo glanced at him.
“Or maybe she will.”
“Or maybe she will,” he agreed. “Put thus, it becomes our duty to investigate the situation.”
Theo grinned again. “For posterity.”
“Precisely,” he said, lips twitching.