The Significant (49 page)

      
“Of course I did,” Isa said, glaring
playfully. “I’m not a child. I can admit that I was wrong.”

      
“Did you accept her apology?” Paul asked.
“You can be honest with me.”

      
“I told her if she treated me like that
again I would call her out on her bullshit.”

      
Paul laughed, looking at Isa.

      
“She’s a good match for you.”

      
“Yes, I think so,” Isa said, glancing
briefly at Kailynn with a smile.

      
“We were just finishing up our visit,”
Paul said. “I hope that you’re not here with bad news…”

      
“Afraid we are,” Rayal said, showing him
the removable drive in his hand.

      
“Back to work, then, Isa.”

      
“What are you doing for the rest of the
afternoon?” Isa asked as the doctor stood.

      
“I have an academic paper to finish,”
Paul said with a heavy sigh. “Doctors are supposed to continue publishing, you
know.”

      
“I know,” Isa chuckled. “I’ve read
everything you’ve published.”

      
“What about Michael? His last paper was
incredible. I find the genetic reset topic in Elite descendants fascinating.”

      
“I haven’t gotten to that one yet,” Isa
admitted.

      
“I’m telling on you,” Paul teased. “He’ll
be crushed.”

      
“I think he’ll understand,” Isa said
playfully. “He published that less than six months ago. I’ve been busy.”

      
“You have,” Paul agreed. “But you should
read it. Both your doctors are rather brilliant, if you don’t mind my saying
so.”

      
“How much of that is due to your Elite
fathers?” Isa challenged with a smile.

      
“If you had
read
Michael’s last paper, you would realize that we do not owe
them much,” Paul said with a playful glare. “You have some required reading to
do, it would seem.”

      
Isa laughed, standing as Tiana jumped off
the couch and trotted to Paul’s side, sitting obediently. Kailynn was surprised
to find herself upset to have the dog move away. She glanced between Isa and
Paul before walking to the dog, crouching next to her while the two continued
their conversation.

      
“I appreciate you coming to see me here,
Paul,” Isa said. “Things are getting a little hectic. I can’t be at home all
the time.”

      
“I understand,” Paul assured. “If you
need me, any time, day or night, you can call. You should know that by now.”

      
“I just hate disturbing you,” Isa
chuckled nervously.

      
“You’ll never disturb me,” Paul said
sincerely. “You are very important to me, Isa. I want to make sure you are
well.”

      
“You are far too good to me. Thank you.”

      
She glanced at Kailynn, who was petting
the dog and smiling. Tiana was clearly enjoying the attention. Paul also
glanced down and chuckled.

      
“She really likes you,” he repeated.

      
“She’s beautiful,” Kailynn complimented.

      
“Thank you. Perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad
idea for Isa to have one from the next litter.”

      
“I shall have to think about it,” Isa
said. “I do love her, and I love Rio, as well.”

      
Kailynn assumed that was Remus’ dog.

      
“Think about it,” Paul said. “She’s due
for another heat soon, so I’ll have pups to train, if you want one.”

      
“I’ll consider it,” Isa assured, her
smile widening when she saw the way Kailynn’s face lit up.

      
“Good,” Paul said. “Well, we’ll be going
now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

      
“Thank you again.”

      
“Kailynn, it was very nice to see you.
Rayal, you as well.”

      
“Paul.” Rayal nodded back.

      
“Come, Tiana,” he said, motioning to the
dog with his hand.

      
As Paul left the office, the dog trotted
along beside him.

      
“I cannot believe that he’s so good-looking,”
Kailynn said, looking at Isa with an exasperated sigh. Isa chuckled.

      
“I know,” she agreed. “He is
exceptionally attractive.”

      
“Thank you, for making me feel
self-conscious,” Rayal teased.

      
“He makes Remus self-conscious, too,” Isa
laughed. She looked between the two. “This is an unexpected surprise, but you
said you bring bad news.”

      
“A drone crashed in Trid,” Rayal said,
holding up the drive once more. “We brought it in for analysis. It was a router
drone.”

      
“A router drone?” Isa repeated, taking
the drive and moving to the NCB chair. “That makes no sense. Those are
obsolete. They were obsolete thirty years ago.”

      
“I know,” Rayal said. “We ran all the
tests on it, and it’s not altered. It’s a standard router droid.”

      
“And no viruses?” Isa pressed, plugging
the drive into the back of the NCB chair and extending a screen to look at the
data.

      
“None.”

      
“What about the coding?”

      
“Encrypted, but when we started
decryption, it was in English.”

      
“Well, Dover has no reason to spy on us,
and we sure as hell aren’t spying on ourselves,” Isa murmured, scanning through
the information. “Router drone…” she repeated, shaking her head, “and there
were no files on it? No transmissions?”

      
“None that we could find,” Rayal said,
shaking his head.

      
“What about a manufacture number?”

      
“Scratched off,” Kailynn answered.

      
Isa’s eyebrows furrowed together.

      
“That doesn’t make sense…” she repeated.
“If it was unaltered, and it was launched for the purpose of routing something
here, then it would have had to originate from somewhere on the planet.” She
glanced over the information on the screen again. “Looking at the Specs, its
range is only forty kilometers.”

      
“Are there any facilities in the
immediate area that would be testing with these drones?” Rayal asked. “Kailynn
said that those crash a few times a year for the last few years in Trid.”

      
“Why haven’t those shown up on our scans,
but this one did?”

      
“I don’t know,” Rayal said, shaking his
head. “I’m just as confused.”

      
“This is worrisome,” Isa said, turning to
look at them. “All eyes of the Alliance are one us now. The news of Maki’s
death has caused a lot of concern among the members. They are already
considering calling for a meeting to discuss the future of our relations.”

      
“And Caroie?” Rayal asked.

      
“Unfortunately, hostage negotiations have
ceased. I sent an ambassador three days ago to see what happened, but no one is
responding to any transmissions from any planets in the Alliance. We should
know more when they land in two weeks.”

      
“Obviously we have not released
information on this drone,” Rayal said. “But it seems relatively harmless to
me. My question is from where it originated.”

      
“There should be a tracking device on
it.”

      
“We looked for it,” Kailynn said, shaking
her head. “It was either removed or destroyed when it crashed.”

      
“Were it any other type of drone, I would
be worried,” Rayal added. “But those are harmless.”

      
“They are on their own,” Isa agreed. “But
it had to come from somewhere with a purpose, as it was emitting some sort of
signal to show up on our scans. No tracking device and the manufacture number
scratched off…those are red flags.”

      
“Do you think those in the Crescent
Alliance would be worried about a router drone crash?” Rayal asked.

      
“I don’t know,” Isa admitted, running a
hand through her hair, frustrated. “For all I know, it’s a distraction. But the
Alliance is very tense right now, and everyone is waiting for Gihron and the
Ninth Circle. We can all feel a war approaching, and fast.”

      
“Gihron wouldn’t send a router drone,
wouldn’t they?” Kailynn asked.

      
“It wouldn’t survive entering the
atmosphere,” Isa said, shaking her head. “And I don’t think there are any ships
from the Ninth Circle that have come to the planet recently.”

      
“Well, the entire Alliance is nervous,
maybe one of those planets that ignored Caroie’s cry had some Gihrons stowed on
board when they came here and they’re using the router drones from here.”

      
“It’s possible,” Rayal said.

      
“I need information on every ship that
has been docked near Anon in the last four months. Even if these drones have
been crashing in Trid for a while, this is the one that was picked up on our
sensors. Something was different.”

      
“Very well,” Rayal said with a nod. “I’ll
also look into all manufacturers of router drones and see if there is anyone
who has purchased old models recently.”

      
“Don’t extend that search off-planet
until you have determined that there was no one on-planet who sold router
drones,” Isa advised. “The Alliance is nervous. We don’t need them to think
we’re spying on them. “

      
“Understood. What about—”

      
A shrill beep from Isa’s NCB chair caused
them all to jump and turn to the machine. The ring around the top of the chair
was pulsing with a yellow color.

      
“Emergency Transmission. Origin
Unidentified,” the mechanical voice of the chair recited.

      
Isa immediately hit a few buttons on the
back of the chair and then pushed her left ring finger to the ring of the
chair.

      
“Display in privacy mode on back screen.”

      
The chair turned slowly in the middle of
the room as Isa walked over to her desk and pressed one button on the corner.

      
“Broadcasting emergency transmission from
an unknown location to entire building. Be advised. Remain in privacy mode.
Remus, come to my office.”

      
Kailynn turned to the chair when it
stopped moving and watched the large screen extend over the back of the chair.

      
Isa pressed her finger to the ring once
more.

      
“Receive Transmission.”

      
The screen immediately flickered to life.

      
Isa stood next to Kailynn, who was
confused about what she was seeing.

      
There were four men in black clothes
standing in the frame, though their faces were not visible on the screen.
Seated in front of them were four children, appearing to be about ten years
old. They looked related, with the same face shape and structure, even though
their eyes and hair were different colors. They did not appear to be afraid,
merely confused, as they sat with their arms bound tightly, folded in front of
them, their hands covered in cloth.

      
It took Kailynn several long moments to
realize she was witnessing the unfolding of a hostage situation.

      
“Tiao Syndicate,” a voice started.

      
“Voice modulator,” Isa said immediately.
She walked over to the desk and picked up a small metal band, clipping it
around her wrist as she turned back to the screen.

      
“We demand a dismantling of Venus and the
Elites of the Syndicate,” the man continued. “These terms are non-negotiable.”

      
“Anders,” Isa said, speaking into the
wristband, “trace this transmission.”

      
“Understood,” the voice said through the
wristband.

      
“Hana,” Isa said, “contact the Elite
Academy immediately. Four missing prototypes in Generation 132. Have them
conduct a trace for the prototypes but do not move in until I give the word.”