Indah didn’t reply. I figured it was about 40/60 between “it will take over the station and kill us all” and “this isn’t the worst idea I ever heard.” Then she said, “Only five minutes?”
“I’m fast,” I said. “If the dock surveillance system is hacked, then everything on the Port Authority systems could be compromised.”
Indah said, “You don’t have to spell it out quite so pointedly, I understand the consequences. But we have data protection on the security systems—”
Data protection, right. Guess what provides your data protection—another security system. I had to make her understand. “And that’s what everybody says. When I walked onto TranRollinHyfa and walked out with Dr. Mensah, that’s exactly what they said.”
（I know, very dramatic and also inaccurate. Dr. Mensah walked out barefoot and I limped out leaning on Ratthi and Gurathin. But you see my point.）
Indah’s mouth twisted in skepticism. Okay, fine then. I said, “Are the systems in the Security Station offices monitored for breach attempts?”
Her brow furrowed. “Yes.”
I’d chosen the StationSec office because it had a nested set of high security systems not connected to the Port Authority, so a demonstration there was unlikely to alert our hostile. I had several options to go with, having been in the systems and rummaged around a little when Mensah had first brought me here, before I stupidly promised not to touch anything. I decided on something showy.
I took control of the visual and audio displays in the main work space. Through the open door, we heard the humans in there make startled noises. Indah glared at me. “What did you—”
I put a camera view up on a display surface. In the main office area, the three-dimensional station safety map was now showing episode 256 of The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, the scene 32.3 minutes in when the solicitor, her bodyguard, and the personnel supervisor are having a relationship argument that is abruptly cut off when a raider ship crashes into the shuttle bay.
Tifany, Aylen, and the others getting ready for the search stared at it in bafflement. “What the balls?” somebody said.
Indah’s face was … interesting. She gestured to the display surface. “How are you getting this view of the room? There’s no camera in there.”
I could have used a drone’s camera, but this way made for a better demonstration. “It’s Farid’s vest cam,” I told her.
Indah grimaced. “You’ve made your point. Fix the screen,” she said. “And check the systems for hacking.”
Chapter Six
AFTER ALL THAT, IT took me six minutes to find out the dock surveillance system had not been hacked.
I didn’t find anything. No aberrations in the logs, no anomalous deletions, no foreign code, no traces at all.
So, that’s just great.
There had to be something I was missing. Or maybe I’m just a robot with enough human neural tissue jammed in my head to make me stupid who should have stayed with the company, guarding contract labor and staring at walls.
Fortunately Indah and Tural had followed the others out to the main office to get their gear for the search, and I could have an emotion on my face in relative private.
I’d decided to stay, but I really wanted to leave.
I’d been so sure I was right.
I went out into the main office and told Indah, “There’s no hack. The surveillance system was clear.”
I was braced for something, I had no idea what. But the fleeting look of disappointment that crossed Indah’s face wasn’t it. She grimaced, and used the feed to revoke my system access.
Aylen came in from the other room, pulling on a deflection vest. “The off shift volunteered to come in early,” she said. “And Supervisor Gamila is helping with coordination.”
“Good, take all of them.” Indah glanced at me. “And SecUnit.”
Well, fine.
* * *
An evidence team was still searching the Lalow and Indah sent them an order via the feed that they might be looking for “signs of body disposal.” One theory was that the refugees had been killed in the docks by the Lalow’s crew and the remains somehow smuggled back into their ship.
（I know, if they could do that to ten refugees why didn’t they do that to Lutran? But sometimes you have to look into every possibility, even the dumb ones.）
The Lalow search team had already found evidence that the refugees really had been aboard long enough to get here from a point near the BreharWallHan mining field: the ship’s recycler stats showed waste and water conversion from at least fifteen humans for the duration of the trip, and the ship’s stores had a suspiciously large amount of bedding and food, plus games for pre-adolescents.