Ridiculous. But he couldn’t deny wishing that such a thing could be.
He cast the thought aside. He needed full alertness to get through what lay ahead.
They were in the intelnet of the main outpost now, somewhere deep in the technical libraries. The stream was carrying them through musty-smelling caverns of data, where Legroeder would certainly have gotten lost on his own, and even Deutsch could easily enough have done so. He’d caught Legroeder’s mental image of a subterranean stream, exploring the roots of a mountain range, and it was true enough. They were flowing through deep passageways, sniffing and tasting the waters as they went. Deutsch wasn’t quite sure where they were going, but he trusted his instincts as he took them from the technical library into the general stacks.
They were no longer alone in the network; others were moving through the datastores on business of their own. None took note of them, and Deutsch did his best to veer quietly away from any that drew too close. He scanned the branch indices: …maintenance, personnel, planning, production, shipping… But what about the ones they really wanted, such as armament, fleet operations, chains of command…?
But were those the ones he really wanted?
Move on, move on. Somewhere in here, he felt sure, he would find better information, maybe even a thread leading to the rumored Kyber underground…
Legroeder struggled to cope with the massive flow of information.
// We are sorting… categorizing… setting priorities… //
Yes, but what about his own control? They were flying past vast tracts of information, and he was caught between the risk of detection and the danger of missing data useful to the Narseil.
Deutsch seemed to be steering them upward through the layers, moving through one library after another. Legroeder felt a sudden fear that Deutsch was leading him straight into the hands of the enemy, or at least taking him in so deep he could never hope to get out by himself.
As if sensing his unease, Deutsch spoke, softly. (Are you getting a look here? Some of this might be worth a scan.)
Legroeder moved in for a closer inspection. Deutsch had found stacks of archived planning sessions; Legroeder paused for a microsecond, perusing them. (Look at all this talk about expanding the settlement.) He thumbed and riffled a moment. (More like building a goddamn empire.)
(True enough…)
Legroeder zipped up a packet and sent it downlink to Cantha.
(Let’s keep moving,) said Deutsch.
The earlier image persisted: they were moving upward through the roots of the mountains, searching for sunlight. Shadowy shapes were all around, the repositories of data. But far above were splinters of light that suggested change. Maybe more than change, maybe access to the indices that would let Deutsch run his sweeps. Legroeder held his breath, trying to remain inconspicuous.
There was a sudden flash of light—and then a series of light beams fanning past. Before he could react, Legroeder felt a breathless rush, as though he’d taken a deep lungful of oxygen. He realized dizzily that he had just absorbed a burst of data; his augments were madly trying to interpret.
(Sweep working… we’re getting somewhere now,) Deutsch said.
More and more splinters of light were breaking through the ceiling. Deutsch’s sweep was darting among them. But Legroeder’s own implants were signaling for his attention: a sharp aroma of peppermint stung his senses until he allowed a window to open…
// Tracking a thread… multiple references to Impris found… //
(Impris?) Legroeder echoed. (Freem’n, wait—!)
Deutsch was a beat behind Legroeder in recognizing the reference. He turned in surprise. (What’s that about Impris?) He caught the data streaming from Legroeder’s implants. (Yes, I see it now. How did I miss that?)
He quickly ran his sweeps up the splinter of light that Legroeder had found, and saw a thread that electrified him. (Take a look at this, Legroeder! It’s not just Impris. Do you remember asking me about a Kyber underground? Here it is! In the same stream!)
(Not really,) said Legroeder.
(It’s right here.) This was perfect, Deutsch thought; it seemed too good to be true.
And usually, he realized an instant after he started up the thread, when something seemed too good to be true…
Kyber underground? And Impris in the same thread? Legroeder sent a flash summary back to Cantha and flew up the thread after Deutsch.
A fraction of a second later, it occurred to him that perhaps there could be more to this than met the eye. Why would a connection to these two things be linked? Was the underground concerned with Impris? Or was it a…
A new sound came up suddenly in the back of his head—a wiry, nervous sound like a buzz underwater. It came first from one direction, then another, and suddenly grew to a hollow gonging that filled the space all around them. (What the hell is that?)
(It’s an alarm,) Deutsch answered. (We may have tripped something. We’d better back off. Fast.)
Legroeder cursed and hurried after the ghostly, retreating Deutsch. He felt a sudden, terrible suspicion. Had Deutsch triggered the alarm on purpose? Was this all a setup?
Deutsch’s voice echoed, (If we don’t get out of here, they’ll be down on us in no time.) Deutsch peered back at him. (What’s wrong?)
For a heartbeat, Legroeder was frozen with doubt and indecision. Could he trust Deutsch, or should he flee? But where could he—?
(Legroeder, MOVE!)
That snapped him out of it. (Coming!) Legroeder fired himself down the thread after Deutsch—his friend, yes?—trying to outrun the buzz of the alarm. Whatever his doubts or fears, they were in this together.
Endless picoseconds later, they were back in the smoky room where they had started, in the docking station’s intelnet subsystem. It still smelled oily and metallic, but the bass rhythm was more subdued now, and overlying it was a kind of harmonica sound. A persistent and growing harmonica sound. It made Legroeder increasingly uneasy. (Freem’n, did we do that? I’ve got a bad feeling—)
He shut up when he realized that Deutsch was already scanning all connections into and out of the smoke-filled room. Legroeder could see little rays of light shooting this way and that through the data-matrix, as Deutsch unleashed his inner search machines, trying to localize the alarm. Trying to stay out of Deutsch’s way, Legroeder conferred with his implants.
// We have stored data to 13% of our capacity, which we are currently analyzing. We believe the sounds you have identified are indeed alarm transmissions, possibly with autonomic blocking attachments. There may be danger. We recommend attending to your personal safety. //
(Meaning what? Should I get out of the intelnet?)
// Quickly, if possible. //
Legroeder hissed his breath out into the sudden chill of the data-matrix. Deutsch sensed it and turned. (What is it?)