Yuen-Mong's Revenge (52 page)

     
She was hardly back in her own office when her desk comunit
signaled an urgent call from Syd Twan.

     
"Yuen-mong, I just heard the horrible news of the crash. I only called
to let you know that I’m on my way to be with you … to comfort you."

 
     
"Hello Syd. What crash?"

 
     
"The crash of the shuttle at the Soro space port."

 
     
"Oh that."

 
     
"How can you be so detached? There were no survivors. Atun —"

 
     
"What about him?"

 
     
"He was in it. Haven’t you heard?"

 
     
"I have just spoken to him on instantcom less than fifteen minutes
ago. I guess that by now he has set down again at Soro."

 
     
There was silence for several seconds.

     
"Syd, are you still there?"

 
     
"Yes … yes … so he is still alive. Why was I then told that he and
your domestic were in that shuttle?"

 
     
The voice gave a hint of consternation, or was it disappointment?
Might Syd have anything to do with it?
she wondered.
Could he have
used Pat to get rid of the man he saw as his rival?

     
"No, Atun and Anouk are both fine. And Anouk is not my domestic
anymore, but the person in charge of medium training. But who told you
that they died in that shuttle accident?"

 
     
"Ah, mh, I guess they called all the directors after the crash."

 
     
"They? Who?"

 
     
"I don’t know. I guess somebody on your staff. I was at a meeting and
only got the message right now."

 
     
"There was a crash of an unmanned UniCom shuttle that was sent to
Soro."

 
     
"Unmanned you say?"

 
     
"Yes, Syd. You worried about nothing."

 
     
A moment of silence and then he said: "I’m glad it was a false alarm.
It would have been rather disastrous at this point in time to lose Atun. I
was rather upset when I was told. That is why I called you right away.
Look Yuen-mong. I’m still shaken. Could I see you for a drink in, say,
twenty minutes, to calm my nerves?"

 
     
"Thanks, Syd, but I’m sorry, I have a few more things to do tonight
before leaving."

 
     
"Please, Yuen-mong. Say yes … for me?"

 
     
She hesitated for a moment. Should she go, pursue her suspicions and
try to probe his mind, but then she decided against it. "Sorry, Syd.
Another time."

 
     
"You know that I’m terribly disappointed. I really have a need to see
you. I also have some important good news for you that I want to tell you
in person."

 
     
"That Pat will be moving out of my house next week?"

 
     
"You already know." He sounded disappointed. "What a pity, I
wanted to be the first to tell you. Please, see me anyway."

 
     
"Not tonight, Syd… Look, Chen Young is calling. Bye, Syd, take
care."

 
     
She answered the second call, and her grandfather’s face appeared on
her desk comunit. He too seemed upset.

     
"Good evening, grandfather. What I surprise."

 
     
"Yuen-mong, what happened this afternoon? First, Pat called me out
of a Foundation meeting to tell me that Atun and your medium got killed
when one of our air shuttles crashed and then a few minutes ago he
bitterly complained to me that you set him up and then made him the
laughing stock in front of a lot of junior people."

 
     
"The short answers are that Atun and Anouk were not in that shuttle
and that Pat made a fool of himself without my help."

 
     
"He said that he saw them take off in that shuttle."

 
     
"Yes, they did, but I had a premonition that something was not right
and ordered them to land and get out after a few minutes in the air, which
they did. Atun sent the shuttle on its programmed course and then took
an air shuttle taxi to Soro. Pat later came to my office with the news the
UniCom shuttle had crashed and that there were no survivors. He offered
to cancel the demonstration, and I said I would make an announcement
myself about the incident. He must have gone against my clear instructions by broadcasting everywhere that the shuttle had crashed with Atun.
Then he had the audacity to interrupt the demonstration and call it a
fake."

 
     
"Why didn’t you tell Pat that Atun was not in the shuttle that crashed?
Wasn’t that setting him up?"

 
     
"It could be seen in this light. However, I told him twice that I would
make an announcement about the crash myself."

 
     
"But you knew he would not keep quiet."

 
     
"Tell me, grandfather, when you were CEO and you gave clear instructions to a subordinate, did you even entertain the possibility that he
would go against them?"

 
     
He remained silent for a while, a faint smile on his face.

     
"No, you did not. So why should I?"

 
     
"You now made him an even greater enemy."

 
     
"Do you want to know what made me call Atun to abandon the
shuttle?" He nodded. "First, it was Pat who approached Atun, that he
should take a UniCom shuttle to Soro. You said yourself he was my
enemy, but his hatred is not just for me. It is also for Atun and especially
Anouk. So I wondered why he would want to do Atun a favor? Then he
came in person to the roof, as if to make sure they actually boarded the
shuttle. His excuse was to tell Atun that it was already programmed to set
him down next to Vishnu. Why would he do this himself, rather than let
the mechanic tell? I suddenly felt that something was wrong."

 
     
"Are you implying that Pat had something to do with the crash? This
is a very serious accusation."

 
     
"Grandfather, the thought has occurred to me, but I have no proof, and
I also have difficulties believing that Pat would be that foolish. It was a
feeling of doom at that moment that made me call Atun … fortunately."

 
     
"Yuen-mong, I don’t want a feud between you and him. You are too
precious. I will talk to him. Explain to him how you saw the situation.
Maybe he will understand and learn something from it."

 
     
"That is kind of you. Make him also aware that orders from the CEO
are orders, even if they come from a female cousin."

 
     
He broke into a smile. "I see, you intend to run a tight ship."

 
     
"I would not be your granddaughter if I did not."

* * *

Yuen-mong dismissed Mrs. Oddell shortly after that call. When she heard
the air shuttle approach, she went to meet Atun and Anouk on the roof
platform. They had a rather emotional reunion. She hugged both
repeatedly. They locked the equipment in Atun’s office and went to a
close-by restaurant for dinner. Afterward, while Anouk took a taxi to her
apartment, she and Atun returned to her office.

     
As agreed during the meal, Atun first inspected both their offices for
possible surveillance devices. He found listening chips in each. Using
equipment he had borrowed earlier from the research lab, he checked
whether their video phones were also tapped and sure they were.

     
"I suggest we do nothing about it," suggested Atun.

     
"I disagree. This is different from bugging our apartments. There we
wanted to deceive them. Now, if I do nothing
I will
only earn their disrespect. I must take the bull by the horn. I want to make it absolutely
clear to everybody that I am the boss and I will not tolerate this. They
will either respect or fear me, as the savaged did on Aros. It is their
choice. But I also want to find out who is behind it."

 
     
"You’re the boss," he replied smilingly. "Shall I call security to open
offices of possible suspects?"

 
     
She nodded. Ten minutes later, in the presence of the UniCom security guard in charge of the night shift, they gained access to Ko Young’s
office. It did not take long before they found a recording device in the
bottom drawer of his desk. A quick check revealed that Atun’s last words
spoken in her office was the last item recorded. They found nothing in
Kim Deng’s or in Xi Deng’s offices, nor the ones of Hak and Ron Deng,
Pat Young, or Dan Shaw. However, Cor Deng had recordings from
Atun’s office.

     
Next, they went to the comunit exchange. Closely supervised by Atun,
the maintenance technician was ordered to check for listening taps on
both their desk comunits. It did not escape her that the man was horribly
frightened, and she instantly knew that he was lying when he reported
that there were none. She looked at Atun, barely shaking her head.

     
"Let me check something," Atun said, taking control of the AI system
the technician had used. The man moved aside reluctantly. Atun called
up the diagram for the links to their comunits. "What is this? And this?"
He pointed to two connections shown.

     
"Oh, they’re inactive links that should’ve been removed a long time
ago."

 
     
"I ask you again," said Yuen-mong, "and you better tell me the truth
or you will not have a job Monday morning."

 
     
The man avoided her gaze, wringing his hands.

     
"Speak."

 
     
"They are illegal listening taps," he murmured.

     
"Who ordered you to install these taps?" asked Atun.

     
"I’ll lose my job if I tell."

 
     
"No, you won’t, but you will if you don’t," she said sharply.

     
After a short struggle, he replied: "Cor Deng. You promised, ma’am."

 
     
"I did and I will. Let me know immediately if anything happens. Now
remove those links. And not a word to anyone of this or you are fired."

 
     
They watched while he did it.

     
Back in her office Atun checked the movements of the air shuttle that
had crashed. The last person who had used it the day before was again
Cor Deng. It did not show where he went, but he was out for all of the
afternoon. The shuttle was then serviced during the night shift by a
technician.

     
"Can you find his name?"

 
     
Atun checked the service record. "Jack Hart."

 
     
"Where does he live?"

 
     
"You intend to visit him?"

 
     
"Yes."

 
     
He went to the personnel files. "UniCom IC 14, that’s where Anouk’s
mother lives." He noted down the address and contact number. "Look, it
says here that he started his annual vacation this morning."

 
     
"Interesting coincidence."

 
     
"Let’s call and find out if he’s at home." Atun entered the code, while
at the same time disabling video transmission. His hand was already
reaching for the cancel button, when an old woman’s voice answered.

     
"Is Jack there?"

 
     
"Who’s that? What d’you want?"