57 Book 4 - Chapter 115 (1/2)
Book One is live on Amazon. If you have a copy or KU please leave a review it will really help the story get noticed.
.
.
Attendance at Fortescue Military Academy M1 Y:2142
Inter-Academy Round 2 Fortescue Points: 193, Rank: 6, PR: 0.4825
Tier 3 Daedo M-Rank: 140
Term: 3, Round: 3
Daedalus Operating Capital: +1,600,000 bitcreds
”It's time,” Mace informed Daedo who nodded. She put them online and opened a VR chat room with her parents. Daedo was visible, they all knew he was listening, so Mace decided to drop the pretence.
”Ameline,” her Mother said emotionally.
”Mother,” Mace replied.
”I see his avatar,” Adele acknowledged Daedo but not by name.
”Is Father here?” Mace asked.
Her Mother shook her head, ”No. But a team leader from the organisation is.” And with the pseudo introduction, a man appeared. His image was that of a generic mannequin from the VR program.
”I'm Agent 4020,” he said by way of introduction, ”You can simply call me Agent.” His voice made him sound young. Not their age, but to their ears, he was in his early twenties at most.
”Cadets, I am here to open a dialogue with you so we can avert a tragedy,” he said dramatically. ”We do not wish anyone harm. We only want to protect our planet from intruders.”
”If we answer your questions here will you guarantee Daedo's safety and freedom?” Mace asked.
”Yes,” Agent 4020 replied.
In the virtual world Mace brought up and a table and two chairs for Daedo and the Agent to sit across from one another. She then stood behind Daedo.
”I hope we can talk after,” her Mother said before she blinked out.
Myrmidon: I'm monitoring out here.
Daedo: I know. Thanks.
His AI must have picked up on the wording that Mace's Mother used and thought to reassure Daedo. Myrmidon's initiative had grown over time. It was only small things that were hard to notice on a daily basis because they spent so much time together. But the message struck Daedo and reminded him how far Myrmidon had come in just a few years.
”Very well Mr Daedo, can we begin?” The Agent asked.
”Daedo is fine. It's my academy designation. Mr Daedo is my Father,” Daedo replied.
”You're a stickler for precision? This is a good trait,” the Agent observed.
”Don't bother with people handling skills. Ask your questions,” Daedo replied.
The Agent seemed unworried, ”Did you know of - or communicate with Nader, or Master Nader, in any fashion before entering the Academy?”
”To my knowledge no,” Daedo replied.
”What do you mean by, to your knowledge?” The Agent asked.
”That I may have communicated with an unknown person that was Master Nader, but I was unaware that this person was Master Nader,” Daedo replied.
The Agent paused for a moment before continuing.
”Do you have any backups or memories of this communication?” The Agent asked.
”You are misinterpreting what I said. There is no particular communication with an unknown person that I had in mind, but while I was playing CyberMech or selling blueprints in my SpaceBuild shop, I corresponded with many unknown individuals. It is possible one of those was Master Nader. I cannot rule it out.”
The Agent sighed regretting his praise of Daedo's precision.
”Did you enter the Fortescue Academy with intent to be placed in Master Nader's House and squad zero?”
”No, I did not,” Daedo replied.
The Agent paused for a moment. He was probably sorting through lines of questioning.
”When did you know Master Nader was an alien?” The agent jumped ahead.
”Never,” Daedo replied.
”Did you ever suspect she was an alien?” The Agent asked.
”Yes,” Daedo replied.
”Good. We're getting somewhere. Now Daedo, can you recall the incident when you first suspected she was an alien?”
”When I first saw her,” Daedo replied.
”The very first day?” The Agent asked.
”Yes, during our orientation,” Daedo replied.
The agent's avatar shuffled some invisible documents and again reviewed his line of questioning. ”When did you confirm she was an alien?” He asked.
”Never,” Daedo replied.
”When did you confirm she was not an alien,” the agent asked.
”When my AI scanned her vitals with my bodysuit sensors,” Daedo lied because as he knew it was possible that the alien conscious took over a human body.
The answer stumped the agent. He went dark for five minutes. Before coming back with a quick followup question.
”You suspected and ruled out she was an alien on the first day?”
”Yes,” Daedo replied.
”One moment,” the agent said.
He was gone another five minutes before returning.
”Did Master Nader ever act in a way that made you suspect that she was an alien or was not from Earth after the first day?'
”No,” Daedo lied.
”You need to tell the truth Cadet Daedo, we know you spent hours with Master Nader alone, what were you doing?” The agent asked.
”Training. She was reviewing tactical operations, leadership activities, academic activities and people management.” Daedo replied.
”She spent considerable more time with you than any other cadet, and she had over twelve hundred in her care,” the agent said.
Daedo was silent.
The agent nodded, ”Can you explain that?” He asked.
”I was leader of Thoth squad zero, Thoth Middle Academy House captain and Inter Academy team captain. The other tutors in the Academy were not up to Master Nader's standard, so she took on responsibility for all my roles inside the Academy.”
The agent went dark again.
He finally came back with another question. ”Did Master Nader influence you to act in a certain way?”
”Yes,” Daedo replied.
”Contrary to your instincts?”
”No,” he answered.
”Did she give you information that no person on Earth could have possessed?”
”No,” Daedo saw through the obvious trick question, waiting for a deeper game from the Agent.
”When she nullified the hybrid Spybot,” the agent stated, ”That was a technology that only alien technology could detect. This event didn't pique your curiosity?”
”I am not an expert in that technology,” Daedo stated.
”But you're a genius, you should have known something wasn't right. What did you think when this event occurred?”
”That someone had put a Spybot inside me and it was probably Mace,” Daedo stated.
The agent paused again, it was the only action that indicated that Daedo was frustrating him and his support team, which Daedo expected he conversed with when he went dark.
”Cadet,” the agent began again, ”You need to be honest with us with all your answers otherwise we cannot abide by the verbal agreement.”
Daedo was quiet. He only responded to direct questions.
”Ahm,” the agent recognised that Daedo was not going to respond to his accusation after a minute, ”When Master Ustinov died suddenly how did you react?”
Daedo recognised that other than their last conversation in the gym, which Mace isolated, that the organisation could have a recording of every other conversation between the pair.
”I suspected Master Nader was complicit,” Daedo replied.
”Yet you did not report that fact to anyone,” the agent stated.
Daedo was silent.