Breach Hall
“She ain’t gonna thank us for this,” Tolly muttered, glaring at the locked door at the end of the hall.
“We are station security,” Haz said from behind him. “We have been apprised of a situation which potentially threatens the integrity of the station. It is our duty to investigate such reports.”
“Still,” Tolly said, easing his back against the side wall. Haz was leaning against the wall opposite, not making any real effort to hide the large fact of herself.
“Station,” Tolly said. “Security access to Core Aux Room Three, please.”
The blue light went out. Tolly put his hand on the plate. The door opened.
Seignur Veeoni looked up from her screen with a frown.
Behind her, Anj Formyne was reclined on a diagnostic couch, eyes closed, breathing nice and even. Next to the couch was something that looked like a cranium—a little smaller than the standard. There were wires linking it to the crystal net on Formyne’s head.
Tolly sighed.
“What’s going on?”
“A matter of Balance,” Seignur Veeoni told him. “Why are you here, Mentor?”
“I’m here because Haz ’n’ me are station security, and we got a credible danger call.”
“Ah.” Seignur Veeoni frowned. “I told Tech Bell that I was in no danger, nor was the station in danger from me.”
“Yeah, well, she ain’t known you very long. Give ’er some time to work in, right?”
“Indeed. I am looking forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Delia Bell.”
“She feels the same. Now, like I was sayin’—what’s going on?”
“This is an experimental design, based on the cranium download system that you are of course very familiar with, coupled with some interesting advances in data crystal technology that my sibling Andreth has been pursuing as a hobby.”
She waved her hand toward the woman on the diagnostic couch.
“What I believe I am doing is, utilizing a crystal net that has been sensitized to Director Formyne, downloading her memory into a backup. This idea is not original with me—again, we have Andreth to thank, as he successfully downloaded the personality and mind of a badly damaged human into a cranium.”
She sighed.
“Sadly, integrity could not be maintained in the typical cranium environment. However, that set Andreth—who is, as you will note, enthusiastic—on the quest for craniums of a smaller capacity, yet more tightly structured, which might support a human intelligence—possibly for years.”
“You’re downloading Formyne’s memories,” Tolly said, frowning. “Even if you get ’em, what makes you think you can read ’em?”
Seignur Veeoni smiled.
“There you have hit upon the knot at the center of my plan! I admit that I am far into theoretical territory with this, but I cannot know if the access difficulties are insurmountable until I attempt to surmount them.”
“Right. And what happens to Formyne after she’s finished contributing her memories to science?”
“Sharing her memories, Mentor. I am not a thief.”
Tolly sighed.
“When the process here is completed,” Seignur Veeoni said, “Director Formyne will go back to her ship, and she will leave the station. She may be a little muddled in her memories, because I quite appreciate that we do not wish her to return. But that’s simply a matter of programming the diagnostic couch.”
“She keeping her beads when she goes?” Tolly asked.
“I don’t think that would be wise, do you, Mentor?”
“Just checking.”
Tolly glanced over his shoulder and met Haz’s eye. She lifted one large shoulder. Right.
He looked back to Seignur Veeoni.
“Since it looks like everything’s in hand here, we’ll be going. In the future, if you do need Security, just say ‘security’ or ‘urgent security’ and Station’ll send us on the run.”
“Thank you, Mentor, that is most helpful. Please lock the door when you leave.”