The Vandal's Shadow Read online

sundial. It began cleaning the surface, I think. Then something came bounding out of the bushes, fast." Cai moved to the side of the crate she had opened and pointed to it. Kask saw the metal and plastic of a robot in a stowed configuration. "This thing. It runs like a leopard, a quadruped built for power and speed. It has a long, flexible neck--about two meters--with a sensory pod on top. I jumped out of the way, because it seemed to be heading for the sundial. It shined a bright light on the bio-bot, and then there was a brighter flash, and loud crack, as if a bolt of lightning jumped between them."

  "Between the two robots."

  "Yes, it was so bright, I almost closed my eyes. But I didn't, and I saw the bio-bot turn to soup, and splatter on the sundial right there. At that point I ran into the trees. I was afraid the running bot would get me next. I kept going until I realized it wasn't following me. Then I called the police immediately."

  "So you were the one who made the original call."

  Cai nodded. "Yes. I admit I did so out of fear. When it seemed safe, I tried to make my way out of the park, but the police found me. And you know the rest."

  "Why didn't you say all this before when we talked?"

  "At that point, I considered myself to be still under contract. I didn't like the way he went about it, surprising me like that, but I figured he probably never meant to hurt me, and I still wanted my full payment. So I had to protect him, and maintain my cover story."

  "And you are a photographer, of a sort. So you received the rest of your payment?"

  Cai nodded.

  "So now it's okay to give him up?"

  "It's not like that. I didn't know I would be involved in something like this. He set me up to be a prime suspect, and I'm not going down for it."

  "Why do you always say 'he'? Are you sure it's a male?"

  "No, we communicated with text. I'm not sure of anything, except ..." She pointed to part of the robot in the container, a cylindrical attachment to the head. "That's the weapon. That's the thing that tore up the Pendant bot."

  Kask squatted and shone a light on it. Then he stood and dialed Hakihea on his arm. "Sheriff, you'd better get down here now."

  "Right, on my way," Hakihea replied.

  Kask hung up and looked at Cai. "Just stay where you are for now, Ms. Cai." He kept an eye on her, and a couple minutes later heard the elevator door opening and echoing through the storage bay. Hakihea and a guard were preceded by a business-suited man with a pointy face and slick hair.

  "Neither of you are where you are supposed to be," the man said. He looked at the open crate and Cai's former stomach contents, then deepened his frown. "What is the meaning of this?"

  "Ms. Cai here is just returning your weapon to you, which was used in a murder," Kask said.

  "Now just a minute!" Cai said. "I'm not returning it. I'm confirming that it is in Helping Hand's possession."

  "What murder?" the man asked.

  "There is no murder, Mr. Vice President," Hakihea said. "My colleague misspoke. We're actually investigating a very serious and unusual vandalism case."

  "You are supposed to be on Floor Two Thirty-Five for a job interview," the man said to Cai.

  "At this time of night?" Kask said. "Did I mention this is also an industrial espionage case?"

  The man's features softened. "Well, in any case, that thing couldn't have done any harm." He pointed to the open crate. "It's a prototype."

  "I see the weapon right there," Cai indicated to the boxy cylinder on the robot.

  "That's a paper mock-up," the Vice President said. "You're free to remove it and inspect it, if you want."

  Kask pulled the box off the robot and unfolded it to reveal an empty interior. "What about the robot itself?"

  "It would work if it had a motherboard and batteries installed."

  "Do you have any fully functional versions?"

  "I'm ... not sure. If so, it would probably be in this storage, or another. That model was designed a few years ago for GU's peacekeeping force. It's not in active development any more."

  "So any robots of this type would be under the control of GU government computers," Kask said.

  "No. GU canceled the project when it was still in development. We never shipped any units to them."

  "Well, according to Ms. Cai here, one of them was running around Wellington tonight. How did it get out there?"

  "I have no idea. I can only assume it was stolen. The company certainly never released any."

  "Let me ask you Mr. VP--after your spies were fired from Pendant, did they come back to work here?" Kask asked.

  "Yes."

  "All of them?"

  "Yes, all of them. Except one. A Doctor ... Meyer, I think his name is."

  "Why, what happened to him?"

  The Vice President shrugged. "I assumed he fled the city, afraid of legal action. But he really had nothing to worry about. This kind of thing happens from time to time. We both spy on each other, and everyone knows that's the way the game is played."

  "What was Dr. Meyer's field of expertise?"

  "Uh, robot-human interfaces, I think. How people control robots, basically."

  Kask nodded.

  "I wish he hadn't run away, though. Brilliant man. He invented a new tool for precisely controlling robots remotely."

  "Called?"

  "Oh ... let me see. A long name, like, 'Direct Optical Projection Controller Interface' or something."

  Kask looked at Hakihea. "And there it is."

  "There what is?" Hakihea asked.

  "The final clue. Let's go." Kask headed for the elevator.

  Hakihea looked back and forth between the Vice President and the still-kneeling Cai for a moment, then rushed after him. "How do you know that's the last clue?"

  "I think what happened is fairly obvious now, but we still need to test the theory." They got into the elevator and Kask pushed a button.

  "I thought you don't make theories."

  "I usually don't, until the evidence becomes overwhelming."

  "Well, the evidence has been overwhelming for a while now. We have to arrest whoever is responsible in Helping Hand."

  "No. Helping Hand was not responsible."

  "What?" The elevator opened, and they exited onto the floor they had originally come from. "You can't be serious. They have motive, means, opportunity. They even tried to sabotage Pendant before, and nearly succeeded." They wove their way through the narrow passages.

  "Indeed, they could very easily have been the perpetrators. But they weren't."

  "No one else involved has a motive."

  "Do not exaggerate the importance of motive. It doesn't matter why he did it. Only that he did do it. But I suspect his motives were much the same as Helping Hand's."

  "Who?"

  "Brett Fearson."

  "Huh? He's a Pendant researcher."

  "Yes, but not in Organics Division. He has everything to lose that Helping Hand does, if bio-bots become the new standard of robotics. I need you to determine Fearson's current location. Check the public face recog cams." Hakihea began typing on his arm-comp as they walked.

  They reached the docking bay, which was empty of guards now. Their transporter remained where they had left it.

  "I show him arriving at his apartment building a few minutes ago," Hakihea announced.

  "Then that's where we go next." Kask opened the door and had one foot in the transporter. Then he stopped and turned to Hakihea. "Does Fearson use the public rails, or does he have his own air vehicle?"

  "Let me see ...." Hakihea tapped on his arm. "There's a record of him buying a quad-copter about five years ago. Why?"

  Kask looked down, then at Hakihea. "I think we should call up an air vehicle to take to his place."

  Hakihea sighed. "Okay ...." He called the nearest police station and put in a request. Five minutes later, an unmanned quad-copter with yellow and orange police markings landed in the bay. They boarded the small craft, and Hakihea took the controls.

  They l
ifted off the floor and flew out into the forest of pale spires.

  4:43 AM >

  Fearson's building was a twisted ribbon of glass on the edge of the city. It brightened from black to blue in the dawn twilight. Hakihea landed their copter on a platform at Fearson's floor, but the opposite side from his suite. They debarked and entered the floor's lobby.

  "I must say, I didn't expect this approach from you, Detective," Hakihea commented. The lobby and hallway were lined with stainless steel tiles and inlaid with bright mosaics of Mesozoic Era plants. "You claim your method is to gather facts only, and now we find ourselves on a wild tangent based on your intuition."

  Kask took his fedora off as they walked down the hall. "Intuition is not mysticism. It is the perception of unarticulated facts whose relations have been approximately calculated by the subconscious. So I have a reasonable hypothesis. And we're about to test it." Kask stopped in front of a door. Hakihea nodded, and Kask pressed the door-chime.

  Less than a minute later, Fearson opened the door. "Oh! Hello again. What can I do for you?" He still wore his lab coat.

  "May we come in? We'd like to ask you a few questions. It won't take but a minute or two," Kask said.

  "Sure! Come on in!" Fearson smiled and held the door open. His apartment was clean and largely devoid of personal affects.

  "Sorry to bother you at this odd time," Kask said, "but we're very close to closing our case, and we just need to finish it. We think you could help us clear up a couple muddled bits." A picture window in the back showed a clear view of Wellington Harbour. In front of the window was a bar with various tea leaf containers and coffee mugs. In front of the bar were some lounging chairs, and a coffee table and closet door to the left.

  Fearson sat on