Defiant (an Ell Donsaii story #9) (18 page)

Will shrugged again, “The newsies are speculating that she left instructions for it to do so with her AI before her meeting with you.”

“Oh, come on, she couldn’t have had
any
idea I intended to arrest her!” Stockton swept the room again with her gaze, “Anyone have any
reasonable
ideas?” Stockton turned to focus her attention back on Will, “Besides the likely possibility that the Secret Service has
completely
failed in my assignment to hold that dainty little redheaded bitch in a cell and
not
to let anyone to talk to her?”

Will clenched his jaw on a number of retorts, but said nothing.

Stockton turned back to Stenner and said, “I want your office to investigate this. When they find out
who
let Donsaii talk, throw the book at them!”

***

Raul Stenner looked up from his desk when his assistant poked his head in. “Have you got us an investigative team lined up?” Personally Raul thought that Donsaii had gotten the word out through some technological trick. Technology was her thing after all, but he knew he’d better carry out the investigation that Stockton had ordered no matter what his suspicions were.

However, his assistant shook his head, “Sorry, boss. Still working on that, but I thought I’d better let you know we have a lawyer named Arthur Jenkins filing for Donsaii’s release.”

“You’re shittin’ me! Who’s paying him?”

“I don’t know, but whoever it is, they’re rich. This guy must have a veritable army of legal assistants churning out paper on his behalf.”

“Well we’ll just drag our feet ‘til they all get tired.”

“Not sure that’s a good idea. Jenkins is all over the news using the star-power of his client to bring attention to the case. Public opinion could go south pretty fast over the people’s expectations regarding the ‘right to a speedy trial.’ He’s beating that drum pretty hard.”

“Christ…” Stenner sighed, closing his eyes and massaging his temples.

***

Roger’s AI said, “You have a call from Ell Donsaii.”

Elated to think that Ell must have been released, Roger said, “Put her through! Ell how are you? When did you get out?”

With a quiet tone, Ell said, “They haven’t let me out, Roger. I just wanted to talk to you about keeping things going at D5R while I’m gone.”

“Dammit!” there was a moment’s pause, “How are you able to call me?”

“Using the ports you imbedded for me.”

“Oh, yeah,” Roger said, sounding a little embarrassed. “Is that why it sounds like you might be whispering?”

“Yeah,” Ell chuckled, “I’ve got my head under my blankets right now, trying to keep them from knowing what I’m doing.”

“Aw man, this sucks! Any word on when you’ll get out?”

“Well my legal team thinks that it’ll be hard for them to keep holding me without bail. On the other hand the President
really
doesn’t like me, she might just stand up to the heat for quite a while… Which brings me to the reason for this call.”

“What’s up?”

“Well, even though I can communicate with you at present we have to consider the possibility that I might not be able to do so in the future. So, I’m appointing you acting CEO until my return. Wilson Daster will manage the financial issues and communicate with the investors but you’ll be in operational charge. I’d still like to have you talk things over with me if you can before you make any major decisions, but we need someone on the ground there, ready to run things if I’m not.”

“Jeez, Ell!” Roger said on a long exhalation, “I don’t really feel like I know
anything
about running a company.”

Ell giggled, “Neither do I Rog’, I just kinda make it up as I go along. But the investors really give us a lot of leeway. They aren’t interested in fast profits. They figure if we just keep pushing out cool new technology, the money issues will take care of themselves in the long run.”

Roger snorted, “I’m not sure we can push out new technology without our pet genius ‘in residence.’”

“Don’t sell yourself short, and especially don’t sell your team short. You’ve got great people working with you. Keep holding our regular D5R team meetings in my absence. Send me AV recordings of the meetings. Don’t forget I’ll still be here thinking,” Ell laughed, “I don’t have much else to do. We might not be able to have all that many real time conversations, but you send me messages about what’s happening and I’ll send you back some suggestions and ideas.”

“Don’t you think we should have a CEO with business education and experience?”

“Well, if we were running a business, yes. But our investors think of this as a technological research facility. They’re willing to bet they can make money with major advances in invented technology rather than sharp business practices. So far they’ve been right.”

Roger exhaled, “OK, hopefully if I screw it up, they’ll just bust me back to physicist, not fire me.”

Ell laughed, “Try not to worry too much. Running the place is like herding cats, true, but fortunately most of the cats we’ve got want to go in pretty cool directions.”

***

Ell contacted Art Jenkins, “Hey Art, how go the pleas you’ve been submitting on my behalf? Are you going to be able to get me out of this hole?”

“Dr. Donsaii…”

“Ell, please.”

“Sorry, Ell… I feel terrible about them having you in solitary. I’ve been protesting it as cruel and unusual, but our legal system is pretty good at dragging things out. I am confident that eventually I should get enough traction to get you out on bail, but it could be weeks still, the way these things work.”

“OK, keep doing what you can. Hire any help you need?”

“Are you sure? I’m already spending money like it’s water.”

“Yeah,” Ell laughed, “My freedom is pretty important to me. Spend what you need, I won’t be broke for quite a while yet.”

***

President Stockton turned to Stenner, her Attorney General. “Raul, how’s Donsaii doing? Any sign she’s gonna break down and turn that stuff over? Then we could just let her go and defuse all this heat her lawyers have brought.”

“Well, I don’t know. She apparently spends a lot of her time doing some of her amazing dances in her little cell. She looks like she’s happily dancing to music even though she doesn’t have any audio gear. But she also lies on her bunk with the blankets pulled up over her head much of the time. That often means an inmate is depressed… a lot of them go crazy in solitary confinement you know?”

“I don’t give a damn whether she goes off the deep end. All she needs to do to get out of there is turn that ET stuff over.”

“Aren’t you a little concerned about what she published about the committee?”

“What do you mean?” Stockton said dangerously.

“That a lot of the people on that committee… are dishonest and… well, not very qualified. The opposition is having a field day and calling for a full investigation into all the members of the committee. They’re even hinting that criminal charges may be forthcoming.”

Stockton narrowed her eyes, “That’s not for them
or
her to decide. That’s a Congressional decision. Congress made it; she needs to live with it.”

Stenner shrugged unhappily, “Another issue is that huge crowds have shown up to protest outside the holding facility we’ve got Donsaii in. They’re giving you a lot of bad press.”

“I’m tough enough to take some bad press in order to do the right thing.”

“That’s not all; she’s got an entire cadre of lawyers making filings on her behalf.”

Stockton frowned, “I thought we were court martialing her for disobeying a direct order? Doesn’t she have to use a military lawyer?”

“Well, no. She can hire a civilian lawyer for a military case if she has the funds, which she apparently does. And those lawyers are claiming that your order had nothing to do with…” Stenner looked up as he recited from memory, “‘with accomplishing a military mission, or safeguarding or promoting the morale, discipline and usefulness of members of a command.’ Honestly,
we’d
probably be better off trying it in civilian court.” He sighed, “And they’re claiming it was an illegal order for her to turn her private property over to the government. The fifth amendment says, ‘nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.’”

“
Compensate
her for it.”

“She says it’s worth a hundred trillion dollars.”

“Bullshit!
Reasonable
compensation.”

“And they’re submitting
habeas corpus
filings demanding her right to have her imprisonment reviewed by a judge.”

“Goddammit Stenner, stop quoting the law at me. You’re
my
Attorney General. You’re supposed to figure out how we can get around this legal crap, not to tell me what a problem it is!”

Stenner took a deep breath, “Edith, it
is
a problem. By law we are going to
have
to let her have her imprisonment reviewed, and if that happens in an open courtroom, her hot shot lawyers and personal charisma are going to result in even
more
bad press.”

“What if we declare her a danger to the country? Then hold her under executive authority to protect the people… Move her somewhere else so they won’t have a place to protest.”

Stenner frowned, “Like Guantanamo?”

Stockton’s eyebrows went up, “Yeah! Great idea. Like Guantanamo. Like a terrorist.”

“But you campaigned on shutting Guantanamo down!”

“I campaigned on stopping maltreatment of the prisoners there. Not on letting any terrorists out of that hole.”

“I’ll remind you that solitary confinement
is
considered torture by many.”

Stockton snorted, “Not by me.” She shrugged, “Personally, I don’t care if Gitmo
does
torture terrorists, but I’m willing to go along with my overly sentimental supporters on that one.”

“And I’ll also remind you that this nation awarded Donsaii the Medal of Honor for her actions
against
terrorists. She’s immensely popular—sending her to Guantanamo would be a highly polarizing move.”

Stockton leaned forward, “Let me put it this way,
I
consider Donsaii’s retention of the one ended ports, and the ability to contact aliens to herself alone, to
be
an act of terrorism. I don’t intend to torture her, but I do intend to keep her somewhere where she can’t be a danger to this country. No one needs to know where we’re keeping her.”

Stenner sighed, “That could be a hard secret to keep.” At Stockton’s indrawn breath, he quickly put his hands up and said, “OK, OK. I’ll work on moving her and trying to come up with legal justification for it.”

Stockton leaned back, “What did we find searching her place and D5R?”

“Warrants have been issued. Supposed to happen tomorrow. What are you hoping they’ll find?”

Stockton drew her head back in surprise, then spoke as if to an idiot child, “Her AI with the plans for one ended ports. One ended ports themselves.
All
the records of her interactions with the Teecees and the connections to any other systems she’s got her little rockets visiting.”

***

Washington D.C.—Ell Donsaii continues to be held incommunicado, apparently in a Federal holding facility here in D.C. Despite her supposed incommunicado status, word has gotten out and the facility reputed to be holding her has been surrounded by protestors. Numerous requests to interview her have been denied and the government refuses to confirm or deny her location. President Stockton called her a “menace to public safety” earlier today. Legal experts have speculated that this may be the beginning of an effort to remove her disposition from judicial review…

Ell said, “Allan, call Shan… Hey hubby, I’ve got some news.”

Shan came on, “From the lack of joy in your voice, it doesn’t sound like the news is that you’re being released?”

“Well, no. But maybe there
should
be some joy in my voice… I’ve missed my period.”

“What! Oh my God!” Shan paused a moment, “So, you’re pregnant? For sure? I have to admit, I don’t know how regular your periods are.”

“They’ve always been pretty regular. I suppose gettin’ thrown in the slammer might have stressed me enough to make me skip one but I’ve been feeling a little nauseated too.”

“So are you going to have them test you?”

“Well, I was hoping you’d send me a test strip. You know, one of those things you pee on?”

“Oh, through your port?”

“Yeah, I’d rather keep it our little secret for now.”

“OK, I’m heading out to the drugstore right now.”

Thirty minutes later Shan had delivered the test strip through the port to Ell and then, mind spinning, sat waiting for the result.

“Shan?”

“Yes?”

“I’m pregnant.”

“Oh my God!” Shan threw himself back in his chair. Sounding agonized, “What are we going to do?”

“Have a baby?”

“Well, yes, of course. But I hadn’t exactly pictured our baby being born in the slammer!”

“Yeah,” Ell said sadly, “neither had I.”

“Are we doing absolutely everything we can to get you out?”

“Well… I
could
just leave. But I wanted to
try
to let the legal system work like it should. I’d much rather be free because the system freed me, instead of free, but a fugitive.”

“Just leave? What the hell do you mean?”

“Escape. I can think of several ways to do it. I’ll bet you could too, if you were in here with me and gave it some thought.”

“Are you saying you
do
want me to come up there?”

“No, no, I just meant, if you were
in
my situation you’d be able to see ways to get out of here yourself.”

“If you did escape, where would you go? I mean, I sure hope it’s somewhere I can join you!”

“Well, not much point in escaping to the USA. Too many digital records. It would be almost impossible to establish a new identity here without government help. I’d need to go to a country where they still depend on paper records, establish an identity there, then immigrate back here if that seemed like the best option.”