Chapter 345 - Far Future Ch. 55 – A Black Night is Coming (1/2)

I reviewed the data being sent to me from the bare bones. Kyler Merschoen, son of a high-ranking executive in the Bitte Conglomerate, was suspected of Corruption. Investigate and eliminate if true.

His mother was a low-ranking Mentat, and with their money, would have had connections. Going to the psis was asking for trouble.

I had put the Goldilocks to data-crunching, dredging up his past, and especially his social media exposure.

He had rated high for psionics, and was aggressively pursued by several corps during his finishing years. He hadn't taken a position with one, nor had he joined the Mentats, and with the family income, there was no rush on such a thing. His grades were good, gene-ratings and tests high...

And his social life for the last year was virtually non-existent, and had been falling rapidly for three years before that.

Time had concentrated around that point, and cross-referencing with other accounts and him in the background of his social circle, looking for ties and connections.

He had been seen frequently in the company of Jandice Baiuer, a Wendlerton graduate who had been administered the Emperor's Justice one day after my birthday, and who had killed two Juris while it happened, and thirty-two innocent and not-so-innocent people before a Coronal Squire cut her down.

They had moved in the same circles, and were never specifically tied together. But a little statistical analysis put the probability of them being at so many different affairs at the same time randomly as highly unlikely.

Then it was looking into his spending patterns and activities of his family, both of which were raising red flags. The family and their servants were spending far less money on social outings, eating out, and the like, and their social media presence had been slowly and discretely withdrawn. Not just the family, everyone... guards, maids, butler, driver... and a few family members of those servants seemed to have vanished, with only desultory reports and follow-ups, as if the families weren't interested in finding out what happened.

Uh HUH. I knew from personal experience that right now, if one of my girls vanished, I was going to be hell on wheels finding out what happened. Of course, I had the muscle and power to do so. Stopping someone from doing so also required muscle and power.

Kyler was not looking so good. Not being seen in public for six months was a bad sign. Oh, there were inevitable excuses... research, traveling, and so forth, but there was no accompanying documentation to support either activity, anywhere.

A timeline of what photos there were of him had revealed an increasingly gaunt and driven appearance, hidden with makeup, and then suddenly he had looked the same as nearly a year prior, as if it had all been a bout of sickness or something.

That usually indicated shapechanging.

I didn't think this was a dop infiltration, especially with the mother there. Infiltrating the Mentats was extremely unwise for a dop, and she had been attending regular meetings and undertaking a few special jobs, but only the bare minimum. She was a Six, and had been stuck at the First Ceiling for some time, unable to muster the willpower to push past into the ranks of the elite. It wasn't just a questions of Stats there... being a Seven meant being more than human, and your mind and soul changed as you stepped into the ranks of superhumans.

Also, I had True Sight all the time now, so dops were as obvious to me as if they were wearing neon signs. I hadn't seen any in passing for some time, but the girls were all raring to get to Eight and go dop hunting for extra cash. They'd probably withdrawn to Underspire and the crowds there, but dops hated living in less than optimal conditions, and certainly holding down a laborious job.

Hmm, I should have the girls start attending high-class art performances and showings. Dops loved showing off their false faces at those...

But, the signs for Kyler and his family were not good here.

The tram came to a stop, and I rose and stepped out, to the audible relief of many of the passengers and their sneering mouths. They were ants, I ignored them, and they realized that was what I thought of them, making their faces even more unpleasant. I was going to save their lives and they were looking down on me, when I made more creds a year then they did.

The homes on a spiretop were all very expensive, and the open lawns were worth even more. Most of the homes were actually below ground/roof, like everyone else, and naturally those at the perimeter with a view were worth the most. Open lawns for strolling, trees on boulevards, ponds, some rolling hills for effect, stands of trees and flowers... this was about atmosphere and being able to walk around and enjoy yourself. Private slices of this cost a fortune and a half, and most were community areas, where not-quite top-tier folks pooled money and influence to have some space shared between them.

I had the Goldilocks searching for possible effects on their immediate neighbors and the community board.

Mmm, the last two association meetings had been postponed...

I had the feeling this was going to get violent. Then it was going to get big. Then I was going to get blamed.

The amount of electronic traffic coming out of these homes was about a quarter of what should be going on...

The community was naturally gated, but that didn't normally deter me. When I waved my Band at it, and the Class IV Warrant didn't open them, that raised all kinds of alarm bells.

”My Queen, I'm about to enter the target's community atop Lawnspire, and their gate isn't acknowledging the warrant. That's all kinds of illegal, right?”

”If you're rich enough, they might let you get away with it... if the subject isn't inside the area. Given that your target is, that is quite a warning sign. I will send out a Juris alert in case they want to shoot you for breaking and entering.”

Which Juris would be happy to do up here.