Chapter 266: "You knew? How did you know?"
It was 4:30 A.M. eastern US time when Sydney began pounding repeatedly on the door to Steven and Samantha's apartment. She'd sent emails and called his phone, with no answer. In an actual emergency, Wally could wake them up immediately, but she couldn't involve Wally in this. Security was alerted by the noise and looked to see who was launching an assault on the apartment. Seeing that it was Sydney with a cart loaded with three pots of coffee and several mugs, they turned off the alert. Steven getting woken up in the middle of the night happened often enough that this wasn't unusual.
After Steven checked a monitor to see who was battering down his door with their fists, he sighed and let her in. Bedtime for Steven had been three hours earlier. Steven had given the interns a surprise and let them see footage of the new expansion to GENESIS: Wildlands of the Fae. None of them had heard even a whisper that the Fae Realms were opening up to players, so excitement had run high when they saw the footage of some of the areas the beta testers had traveled through: a huge fair, the court of the High King, and snippets of a crazy Boss Fight. Steven knew that if you wanted to leak information to the gaming community, showing secrets to interns would spread the news faster than the speed of light. And while it had been fun, he was regretting it now as Sydney pushed a cart into his apartment, talking very fast without a pause between sentences.
"Grab a large. I brought three different brews, but I forget what they are; I've had a lot today, and it's all starting to blur. And you should probably have two at once and double-fist them because I think you're going to need them because Milo called for you and is talking really fast and is in a weird place that looks like Frankenstein's junkyard and he's not hiding his face like he normally does and he thanked me a lot. AND HE'S FREAKING ME OUT! But once someone gives you enough coffee to fill a full-sized freezer, you try to keep him happy. So drink!"
Steven took a deep breath, thankful Sydney couldn't drink and talk simultaneously, and took two large mugs of coffee. One was very delicate, with hints of cherry and chocolate. The other was rocket fuel that burned down his throat. He was okay with both. The rocket fuel went down first, and he sipped the lighter brew to recover.
"Start over, and answer in short sentences. Milo called?"
"Yes, Milo called and is waiting to talk to you. Now. Very urgent."
"Right. And he was upset? Yelling?"
"No! Focused. Like he knew what I was going to say before I said it. Huge eyes, mostly dilated."
Steven drank the rest of the rocket fuel and yelled at his bedroom. "Samantha? We're going to need you. You have better empathy than I do, and Sydney is about to explode."
Almost before he finished speaking, Samantha walked out of the bedroom, dressed, showered, and looking far better than the other two. "I knew that as soon as she started pounding on the door that something was up. Let's use the screen in this room; no sense going to an office." One click of the remote, and Milo was on the screen. The background did indeed look strange. The metal walls had machinery mounted everywhere, with data cables and power supply cords running from servers to screens and then to parts unknown. Milo sat cross-legged on top of a metal data storage case and sipping from a 32 oz. water bottle. He was wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Sleep is for the Weak" emblazoned across the front. A half-eaten bowl of food cubes and a cheese rind were on the floor in front of the case.
"Hello, Milo, what can I do for you?"
"We have a problem, Steven. And when I say 'We,' I mean you, I, Wally, and Claw Master. I have information on a very delicate situation that we need to solve, and I'm not sure if we can bring it to the usual people because I'm not sure of what their reaction would be. This involves genetic manipulation on pre-birth humans and the possibility of human trafficking."
The three humans in the room looked at each other, suddenly very uncomfortable. Steven took a deep breath. "Ah, you know? I'm sorry, Milo. Wally just told us recently, and I've meant to discuss it with you."
Milo froze. "You knew? How did you know?"
"There have been dozens of attempts to hack into Claw Master. Wally traced the signal and got a quick view of them before they fled."
"Done. Tell me more about what you have discovered about Belinda Sabbatino/Seimovich. I'm looking at the medical scans being done now. Is she in a pod?"
Milo smiled slightly. "No. I made her an entire suit based on the technology in my gloves. As I'd hoped, she is able to coordinate her nerve impulses better and regain mobility in her entire body. The suit also scans in the same way as a Mk7 pod. That's what is sending you the data. I'm sending you the schematics for her suit. It might be something Rhebus would be interested in using. Claw Master can apply for patents, and then I agree to pass them on to Rhebus as part of our ongoing collaboration."
The A.I. put the schematics on the screen for the others to see. "Very nice, Milo. I think they will be very interested in having a full-body version of your gloves. And it's modular, which is even better. But back to Belinda, you mentioned kidnapping attempts; we need to neutralize those first."
"That's why I called. I want a meeting set up at the Tech Conference in Geneva with representatives from Claw Master and Rhebus to hammer out all the details of the plans for the habitat. Announcements can be made there, and I'm sure that will spur interest from other companies. I also want Manpower there. John Sabbatino and his entire staff. We bring them on board with the offer to handle all the maintenance of patients and workers in the pods and anything else we can throw at them. But the pace of the meetings needs to be slow. Delay things. Set up sightseeing tours, anything that keeps them in Geneva for two weeks. They need to be out of the way so I can focus on Victor."
Everyone nodded. Kidnapping and Victor had been an obvious connection. Wally was slowly smiling. "So you want John to take Belinda to Geneva to keep her safe and let her see the city? A good plan. Security at the conference will be very tight already, and I will make requests to increase it."
"No. I want John out of the way so he doesn't notice Belinda is already gone." He casually sipped his water, waiting to see their reaction.
Wally was calm; the others were concerned, except for Sydney, who was confused and trying to catch up. The A.I. looked at Milo. "Am I to understand that the young lady, having enough mobility to leave her domicile, has chosen to avoid being the victim of a crime by visiting a friend? That seems reasonable. However, her father will become upset at the situation. How do you plan to avoid him finding out that she is missing and staying with a friend?"
"We aren't telling him where I'm at." Belinda stepped into view and sat next to Milo. She was wearing a shirt identical to Milo over the Claw Master suit that enclosed her entire body except for her face.
"Hi, I'm Belinda Seimovich. Milo has told me all about you. I didn't believe him at first. Did he really send Sydney a thousand pounds of coffee?"
Sydney's eyes lit up. "He did! It's awesome. All kinds! I spent half my yearly salary on a liquid nitrogen-cooled Coffee Vault from Tessladyne. It holds the beans at -150 degrees Fahrenheit, manages the complete inventory, and can defrost and grind a pound of beans in ten minutes! I love it. Want to see pictures of it?"
Wally interrupted. "We should keep focused on the problem at hand, but I'd love to see the pictures later. Can you explain how your father won't worry about you, Belinda?"
"Sure. For the next thirty days, Eric Kresthammer will be my temporary legal guardian. He knows I'm staying with a friend and has approved of the idea. The papers will be in front of a judge at 8:00 a.m. and are already signed by my father. Erik will also be working to get everyone who works for my father on planes to Geneva this morning. We need them out of the way so that Victor can try to kidnap me."
Steven joined Sydney in confusion. "But you're gone."
"Not as far as dear Uncle Victor knows. He thinks I'm drugged and unconscious in a pod and being loaded onto a plane. That was the plan all along. He's also leaving the country with all of his people. Eric will run Manpower until everyone returns, buying us the time to keep me out of everyone's greedy hands. Even my damned doctors were going to kidnap me!"
"Really? That seems to be a departure from the Hippocratic oath. Where are those doctors now? Looking for you?"
Belinda smirked, then started giggling. "Sorry. I can't keep a straight face like Milo does. You see..."
