<The current temperature is -2ºC. Attire index A, a severe cold wave is coming and will last until tomorrow morning>
London—by the time Echika and her group arrived at the Novae Robotics Inc. building, the blanket of night had overtaken the sky, and snow had started to fall. It was eight PM, and the technological ward was appropriately silent for the time.
“Snow in London is almost as unusual as us getting visitors at this time of day.”
Department Head Angus greeted them without even trying to mask his nervousness. Totoki had called earlier, telling him she needed to “talk to Steve about Farasha Island.” To Angus, this was all very much a bolt from the blue.
“I’m sorry for reaching out to you on such short notice,” Totoki said, giving a formal apology. “Like I told you over the phone, this is urgent. I can’t give you any details, however. It’s classified case information.”
“Yes, I understand. I woke Steve up already. Come this way.”
Angus hurried down the deserted corridor. He had no way of knowing that Totoki was on suspension, of course. Echika and Harold followed him with fast steps. Through a conference call being conducted over the Your Forma, Echika heard Fokine report in.
“Chief Totoki, I’m patrolling the area around Novae’s building, but nothing’s out of the ordinary for now.”
“Stay focused,” Totoki whispered back. “We had to take off our isolation units for a long period of time to hold this call, so the Alliance might be trying to discover our GPS data.”
After dropping them off at the building, Fokine had taken the share car and started patrolling around the vicinity. There was no sign of anything suspicious at the time, but they had to be careful.
“By the way, Chief Totoki.” Angus turned to her. “What about Harold’s maintenance? Do we do it after your talk with Steve?”
“We can have the talk without Harold present, so run it in tandem. We ended up forcing him to Brain Dive, which made his processing power drop severely. The sooner you do it, the better.”
“Department Head Angus, please, do as much as you’re able.”
As Harold spoke, his handsome features were an expressionless mask. It was an act—he was selling the story that the Brain Dive had heightened his malfunction so greatly that he’d been stripped of the processing power to express emotion. Everyone besides Echika was convinced.
“Of course.” Angus jerked his head in a grave nod. “Don’t worry, I’ll do everything I can.”
Either way, Harold needed to stall Angus for as long as possible. Echika thought back to their conversation during the drive to London—Totoki had suggested that they infiltrate the Alliance meeting. Echika thought this was a brilliant idea, but the part about asking Steve for help was something she hadn’t expected.
“Chief Totoki, I know that’s the plan, but why turn to Steve?”
Their share car left the terrace house in Borehamwood and followed a long three-lane highway to London. As they sailed by, the lights of the roadside lamps caressed the roof of their car in set intervals. Totoki answered Echika’s question from the passenger’s seat.
“He’s got skills and knowledge as a modeler, right? To get into the Alliance’s meeting, we’ll need to tweak the user data of Greg’s Your Forma, but most importantly, we’ll need a holo-model of him.”
“I see.” Harold understood on the spot. “Yes, my brother did make a holo-model of Investigator Hieda back then.”
Echika finally remembered—they were talking about the sensory crime incident. Under Elias Taylor’s instructions, Steve had created a holo-model of Echika in secret. It was made for a projector, but it was incredibly detailed and accurate, to the point where anyone would be convinced it was really her.
Yes, Steve would be able to produce the holo-model they needed in a short period of time.
“How do we explain this to Department Head Angus?” Fokine asked, while holding the steering wheel. “Since we don’t know who might be working for the Alliance in the bureau, we need to make sure he doesn’t start asking questions…”
“We’ll just tell him it’s for an urgent investigation.” Totoki looked over at Harold. “I’m sorry, Lucraft, but we’ll be taking advantage of your maintenance. So long as Department Head Angus is occupied with you, he won’t be looking at us.”
“I’ll try to make it last as long as possible, then.”
“And if he actually ends up fixing your malfunction, all the better.” There was a hint of regret and sympathy in Totoki’s emotionless mask of a face. “Anyway… Let’s hurry. I’m worried, what with only Lin and Wood watching over Greg.”
They had to get into that meeting, no matter the means. This was their one chance to get insight into the true nature of the Alliance, and they couldn’t let it slip away.
Echika’s thoughts returned to the present. They arrived at the technological building’s lounge. It was lined with sofas with simple designs, and there were counters for light meals. The window offered a view of London’s nighttime scenery, with specks of snow falling over the Regent’s Canal beneath them. The place was empty, save for a lone Amicus sitting on a sofa.
“—I’m glad to see you haven’t changed, Investigator Hieda.”
Steve Howell Wheatstone. His face, the spitting image of his younger brother Harold’s face, greeted her with the same sour expression she remembered. The only thing that was different this time was that he extended his hand toward her. Surprised, she grasped it and shook hands with him.
“Um, thanks for playing along with us. I know it was all very sudden.”
“Department Head Angus instructed me to. And besides, I’m not entirely unrelated to this.”
She let go of his hand, which was as cold as an Amicus’s hand ever was. The thought manipulation system was originally developed by Elias Taylor, who Steve had once worked under. On Farasha Island, Echika had worked with him to expose the existence of the Alliance. But Steve’s goal was to resolve the issue of Taylor’s stolen legacy, and the fact that they’d failed to get any evidence meant the whole matter had ended inconclusively, in his eyes.
“Steve, I’m Totoki. We’ve met a few times during your questioning?”
“I remember, yes.”
Steve briefly greeted Totoki and shifted his gaze to Harold. The two Amicus exchanged a wordless nod. They’d always been relatively indifferent toward each other, so this was as much of a greeting either would give the other.
“All right, Harold, let’s get you to the maintenance room.” Angus gently tapped Harold’s back. “Investigator Hieda, you supervised Steve once before, so I’m sure you’ll be fine… But if anything happens, you can activate the thermal sensor on the back of his neck to shut him down.”
Echika nodded and asked, “How long will the maintenance last?”
“Two hours should be enough. Even if it drags, I’ll try to wrap it up before the date changes.”
Given the preparations they needed, they didn’t have much time.
Angus and Harold left the lounge, leaving behind Echika and Totoki, who exchanged glances. According to the Your Forma, it was already eight thirty PM. They only had an hour and a half until the meeting.
“Steve,” Totoki said coldly. “I’ll cut to the chase. What I’m about to tell you has to be kept secret from Department Head Angus until you have my permission to tell him. It’s about the Alliance.”
“Understood.” The look in Steve’s eyes changed slightly. “Has your investigation made any headway?”
Totoki explained the situation to him. Steve listened carefully. Following the Farasha Island incident, the Electrocrime Investigations Bureau had questioned him several times. It was through Steve’s cooperation that they were able to narrow down the list of suspects to the investors that had died in this case. To this end, they’d assumed the chances of him refusing to help them was quite low.
“If the bureau requires it, I will gladly make your holo-model.”
And as they’d hoped, the Amicus instantly consented, after hearing Totoki’s explanation.
“Thank you. You understanding the situation so quickly is a huge help.”
“Let’s be quick about this. Do you have any reference materials for Greg’s appearance?”
“We took some photos of him earlier. We have voice data for him, too.” Totoki took out a USB stick from her jacket pocket and handed it over to Steve. “Also, we need you to figure out where the participants of the meeting are logging in from.”
“I’ll try, but I can’t work here. Can we move to the office?”
“No, we can’t afford to leave traces of our activity on Novae Robotics Inc. computers. We have our own devices, so we’ll get them ready now.”