The Geneva Factor Read online

  The Geneva Factor

  Jacob Allen

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Jacob Allen

  Copyright © 2015

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.

  For Buck…

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1

  Walking down the sterile, white corridor leading towards Central Core, the only sounds were the oxygen reclamation system and the click of his boots on the plasmetal surface. Where had the time gone? He stepped off the shuttle a year ago hopeful that this would be the fresh start he needed. Some fresh start.

  “Shake it off,” he muttered to himself. “Remember why you’re here.” Tranquility Base may not have been exactly what he expected, but at least the pay was out of this world…literally. Humanity’s first off-world colony was a sprawling complex near the old Apollo 11 and Surveyor 5 landing sites.

  Reaching Central, he passed his hand over the palm scanner, simultaneously clearing him for access to the core and recording his entry. Privacy was one thing he did miss about home. You couldn’t go anywhere or do anything on the base without some kind of record. It took some of the excitement out of being the only cop in 400,000 kilometers. Except he wasn’t a cop anymore. Head of Security for the first permanent off-world human colony. Now THAT would look good on a resume!

  “Luke, looks like you’re right on time. Trying to make a good impression?”

  “You know me, always trying to impress. How’s the little one doing?” Some serious conflicts with Director Corradi’s previous aide had reminded him that all those people skills he let burn away as he left Earth were going to be just as important here as they had been when we was lobbying for this job.

  “He’s growing like a weed and is getting into EVERYTHING. Best part of my day is coming home and seeing him scramble towards me on those little legs.”

  “That’s great Stef. Good for you.”

  “You really ought to try out kids, my friend. They’d be good for you.”

  “No, I don’t think so. I can barely keep plants alive!” Heat rising in Luke’s face let him know that he needed to change the subject quickly away from family. Way too much baggage in that department for him to deal with just at that moment. “What kind of mood is she in?”

  “Hard to read. Best description I can think of is ‘distracted’.”

  Before Luke could dig into that comment for more intel, the panel on Stef’s workstation lit up. “Looks like she’s ready for you.”

  Corradi was not Luke’s biggest fan. In her mind, the demands of base security were subservient to the overall goals of the installation. Efficiency, profit, revenue. Those were the measures the Director used to determine the value of any part of base operations. Security was overhead. The chances of a real security breach this far from Earth were small, but even minor infractions could lead to serious consequences and Luke took his job seriously.

  “Agent Morris, welcome. Please take a seat.” Corradi’s workstation allowed her to monitor every facet of base operations through an array of semi-transparent screens which layered logistical, financial, people resource, life support systems and energy data in a shifting array of patterns driven by sophisticated and proprietary models. For the infrequent visitor—and there were few, none of them casual—the Director’s office was not built for comfort, or warmth, or to imply in any way that you were welcome to stay. That was ok, Luke had no plans to overstay his welcome. In and out, that was the plan.

  “As you are well aware, company policy requires me to conduct a formal audit and review of the efficiency and productivity performance of departments on the one year anniversary of a significant change in personnel. I’ve had my Chief of Staff conduct a thorough review of the performance of Internal Security and will be inviting Mr. Blankenship to join us shortly because there are a number of items that are very concerning to me.”

  So much for the plan.

  “We’ve identified no less than 23 instances over the past year where your actions have led to the detention of key operational resources. We’ve tied those detentions directly to a net loss of 0.27% of revenue. We will be reviewing, in depth, each of these 23 cases to determine if your services will continued to be required.”

  “Director Corradi, when I took this assignment it was made clear to me that company policy indicates that Security is independent…”

  “I wouldn’t suggest you quote policy to me Agent Morris. We’ve had this discussion before. My responsibility is to ensure that this base remains profitable. I am the Company here. I determine policy. Now, shall we get to it? I’ve sent the amended case report files to your tablink with Mr. Blankenship’s notes and commentary. We’ll begin with Case 58367: Arrest and Detention for Public Intoxication.”

  One cup of coffee. He never had only one cup of coffee in the morning. Today had not been the best day to break that rule. Pulling open his tablink he navigated to the Records portal. The technology here was one of the best parts of the job. Tranquility’s quantum architecture provided a virtually instantaneous response to data inquiries.

  Not this time. The report wasn’t pulling up. There was just the spinning wheel telling him the system was working on his request. A system lag was theoretically possible, even with the compute power here at Tranquility, it just wasn’t very likely. His stomach knotted. Something was not right here. His eyes drifted up from the tablink to find Corradi staring at him expectantly, steel blue eyes exuding impatience, if not outright irritation.

  He was saved a moment later when the compad lit up. She looked down at it like it was a very small cockroach that needed to be crushed. Very similar to the look she had just been giving him in fact. “Yes?” Disapproval dripped from her voice.

  “Pardon the interruption Director, but there is an urgent matter requiring Agent Morris’ attention in SciLab4.” Stef was a brave man.

  “I’m sure you’re aware that I’m not to be interrupted. In fact, I know you’re aware because I personally marked my agenda this morning indicating that I was not to be disturbed.”

  “Yes ma’am, I am aware of that. I don’t believe this can wait. From the reports that are coming in, it appears that there’s been a death in SciLab4.” That got Luke’s full attention.

  “That’s preposterous. There’s nothing in that lab that should be hazardous to human life.”

  “I can patch you through directly to Mr. Blankenship, he’s already on site and insisting that Agent Morris come down to the scene to process it after he finishes.” Not good. The Chief of Staff had a whole different agenda when it came to crime scenes. An unexplained death could mean a lot of things, including a homicide and Luke needed to start forensics immediately. No, he needed to remember how to DO forensics, and then he could start them.

  “I see. Very well then. Agent Morris will be on his way momentarily.” She shut down the compad and glared at Luke, as if he had somehow orchestrated a murder simply to spite her. “I’ll expect you to complete your investigation into whatever this is quickly so we can return to the question of the overall productivity of your Division. You may go.”

  Chapter 2

  It was worse than he thought. As he approached the SciLab, Luke watched no less than five people from the Chief of Staff’s executive team move in and out of the area. Total contamination. Crime Scene Investigation 101 said to isolate the scene and ensure that only trained personnel had access so that evidence could be collected and catalogued. Luckily, contamination could be mitigated. The principles of investigation didn’t change even in the face of a bunch of amateurs. Not that Luke had that much more experience. Regardless, it all came back to observation and deduction. Scanning the scene, he mentally recorded every detail. He could play it back later and as he did his mind would process out the contamination.

  “Mr. Blankenship, I’ll need your team to clear the area and remain separated and isolated so that I can interview them after I work the scene and collect forensics.”

  Looking up from the science workstation, the Chief of Staff closed it down. “They’ll clear the area after I’m certain that company intellectual property is secured. We have to be sure that we reach a profitable ROI on the research going on in this lab. You can hold off your little scavenger hunt until I’m satisfied.”

  It was going to be like that, was it? Luke made a tactical decision not to fight it. The surveillance on the base was beyond state-of-the-art and access to SciLab4 was highly restricted. If someone had killed the scientist then they weren’t going far. There was nowhere for them to go.

  In the meanwhile, there was a lot for Luke to do as he continued to mentally catalogue the scene and the ongoing contamination from Blankenship’s people. Pulling up the surveillance interface he tagged relevant logs with a security lock. In addition to restricting access that would ensure that the files couldn’t be deleted or archived until he lifted the tag. It would also notify him if anyone attempted to access the files. Thankfully,
the system seemed to have recovered from whatever had been causing the slowdown. He would have to look into whatever had been causing such an extreme drag on system resources. That was a problem for another day.

  Satisfied that any electronic evidence was secured, he accessed transit logs for the next 48 hours. Time was on his side. A convoy of supply carriers was scheduled to arrive beginning later in the day, but there were no outgoing transports on the docket for at least two days. With any luck, he’d have this wrapped up long before then. Even better, he wouldn’t need to issue a Security Transit Hold. Corradi would go ballistic if he tried that. The lifeblood of the Tranquility Base installation was a constant flow of incoming supplies and outgoing strip-mined and processed materials. The transit schedule was expertly orchestrated to ensure just-in-time delivery of supplies to keep things running on base, along with a consistent flow of product back to earth. You didn’t disturb the schedule.

  He signaled MedLab to send a recovery team as the activity in the room began winding down. Most of them were simply standing outside the hatch to the SciLab by this point. One of the staffers walked over to the Chief of Staff, leaning over to tell him something. Whatever he said, satisfied Blankenship.

  “Morris, the scene is yours. We’ve secured the Doctor’s research. Now figure out what the hell happened here.”

  Finally.

  A rush of excited energy surged through his system as he walked into the SciLab, although he’d never admit that to anyone. This wasn’t keeping drunken maintenance workers in check, and it certainly wasn’t one of the cybercrime investigations that landed him this job in the first place. This was old-school police work. It was also be his first murder investigation. Motive, means, and opportunity. Murder or cybercrime, it was no different. Everything came back to those three factors. Deep down, he hoped maybe this was a murder.

  Walking over to the body, he was surprised that someone in that condition had been assigned to the moon base. Sure, it wasn’t like this was the 20th century where people reached a certain age and stopped working to enter retirement. Medical advances had done some amazing things to eliminate a lot of the chronic issues associated with aging, allowing people to continue pursuing both vocations and occupations well into their 90’s. However, the stresses of a moon launch could still do a number on a person and he had never seen someone as aged as this doctor assigned to the base.

  Looking over the body there was nothing that indicated foul play. Why was he being called in for this? As far as Luke could tell, the scientist could have just died of old age. Perhaps the medical exam would tell him more. He ran an embedded DNA scan with his tablink interface, comparing the record with that of the victim’s face. The scan identified the victim as one Dr. Milton Dyne. Strange, it must have been an old picture. That was very unusual, the ID scans were typically updated every year. This picture looked as if it had been taken at least 30 years before.

  He dug into the file. Area of specialization…classified. Current research…classified. Length of tenure…classified. About all that wasn’t classified was the good doctor’s name and photograph. He couldn’t even find a date of birth. He was surprised the company would even release the fact that the guy WAS a doctor.

  Deep down though, Luke wasn’t too surprised. The company liked to compartmentalize information. Since this was ostensibly an open criminal investigation he entered his badge ID and passcode. A Security ID opened a lot of electronic doors.

  Not this door. Apparently they meant it this time. Fortunately, he had other keys...“Security Classification Override Level Blue. Morris, Luke. Badge ID 53-zed-291-alpha.” He loved the vocal interface on these tablinks.

  “Verifying…Access Denied.”

  Now that was surprising. It took a lot to restrict Security access to records and he’d not encountered that kind of lock since coming to the base. Not even Corradi’s file was classified above level Blue. The moment he had that thought, his screen lit up with an incoming call. It was Corradi. “Think of the devil and she appears,” he muttered to himself as he braced himself to answer. “Yes, Director.”

  “Agent Morris, I don’t know what you’re about down there but I’ve just received an alert that you’re trying to access restricted files.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’m just trying to get some background on the victim.”

  “I’m not sure what background you need. Mr. Blankenship has briefed me on the situation and says this should be a simple matter of reviewing the relevant security footage to determine what actually occurred”

  “Yes, I expect that’s true, but I still need to be sure to do a thorough investigation to be sure there’s not some kind of security threat. I need to know what Dyne was working on so that I can rule it out as a potential source of whatever killed him. He wasn’t involved in any kind of biological research, was he?”

  “Look, I don’t like the optics of having an open investigation on my base. It does not reflect well on this operation nor on your performance. I want this resolved as quickly as possible. I want this done today. The victim’s background is not relevant and is beyond your pay grade. Go. Review the footage. Close out the investigation. Are we clear?”

  “Crystal.”

  Corradi closed the line, leaving Luke’s mind racing. He had barely made that records request and she was on the line immediately. Not only that, but Blankenship had already reported back to her. Why so much interest in this case? Efficiency was one thing, but she seemed to know what was happening before he did!

  Chapter 3

  Walking over to the computer workstation, Luke hoped that he would find some indication about the nature of the research being done. If there was some kind of biological agent at work he needed to give the Medteam a heads up, quarantine the lab, and probably himself to be safe. He hoped that he was right and this was just a matter of simple old age. But then, why had Corradi been so insistent that he would find the answers on the security footage?

  Accessing the workstation, Luke found that the scientist’s files were pretty well wiped-out. That’s what Blankenship must have been doing when he arrived. Fortunately, Luke knew a hell of a lot more about these systems than Blankenship. There were always digital footprints to follow. He transferred the core of the system to his office and was about to shut it down when he noticed a personal file folder that hadn’t been caught up in the Chief of Staff’s purge of the memory files. He opened it up and immediately saw why. Picture files like these would never register as sensitive data and fell outside the normal protocols. Strictly speaking, Dyne shouldn’t have been keeping these files on the lab workstation at all.

  Opening the first picture, Luke was confronted with the image of a much younger Dr. Dyne. A Milton Dyne that was a good 30 years younger than the one that was on the floor across the lab. Peering closely at the photo, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He turned around to confirm what he thought. It had been taken right there in the science lab. How was that possible, this base hadn’t even been built 30 years ago when that picture must have been taken! He looked at the date code on the photo. Three days ago. The picture was three days old. Well, there was no way this guy could have aged 30 years in three days, he decided that the photo must simply have been doctored.

  “What have we got, Morris?” the arrival of the Medteam tore his attention away from the screen. He looked up to see the base’s chief medical officer, Dr. Sarah Monroe, and two of her assistants in the entry. At least someone knew not to disturb a crime scene. If that’s what this was. Luke still wasn’t sure that any kind of crime had actually been committed here.

  “You have one dead body. DNA scan says his name was Milton Dyne. We need to determine cause of death ASAP.”

  Doctor Monroe motioned her team to follow her over to the body. Kneeling down, she scrutinized the corpse. “I don’t see any obvious signs of trauma…wait a second, who did you say this was?”

  “Milton Dyne.”

  “Well that’s not possible. I’m going to have to re-run your scan.” She motioned to one of her assistants to begin a complete field analysis. “Milton Dyne was in my office last week and this is not him. Milton Dyne is 45 years old.”