Chapter 21 - Turbulence

“There you are. Got a moment?” Annee asked as she entered the cockpit.
Marr was at her seat interacting with a complex set of screens. It was near the end of her watch. The launch had progressed without a hitch. The rig was now in orbit doing the countdown to the first traverse.
“Sure,” Marr replied.
“I did some further research into the situation with the girls we picked up in Maple Tower. I searched our copies of the Earth ID databases we use for verifying passenger proposals. I can’t find records of these girls. It is like they never existed. The proposals we received ahead of collecting them in Maple Tower appeared legitimate. It doesn’t add up.”
“That is interesting. I have also been looking into this.”
“Really, did you find the same thing?”
“Actually, I’ve taken a different approach. Purely by chance.”
“How so?”
“Well, I was doing some study of the safety protocols and how the relays work. Dukk pointed me towards the technical documentation. As you know, when we arrive into a system we broadcast details to help in the event that we run in to trouble. We share our transponder ID, rig type, flight plan, load classification and number of persons on board. The relay shares this information with relays in other systems, along our flight path. It is used to help mount rescues if that is needed. You may also know that some of the more sophisticated and modern relays also have scanning technology. These scanners are used to verify the broadcast information. It helps prevent piracy and trafficking. The information is stored and accessed by the authorities. Things generally go bad for any vessel that tries to share false information. So, within the relay is a complete history of flight plans and passenger numbers for all vessels that pass through a system.”
“Yes, I know all that. But the data is encrypted and tightly secured. How does that help us?”
“So, buried deep in the technical documentation, I came across a back door.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I discovered that the relay has a debug capability. It is used for support and upgrades. Good practice suggests the debug capabilities would be disabled when not needed. However, my experience is that debug capabilities are rarely turned off as turning them back on requires physically visiting the satellites. That is usually too much hassle and expensive. So, I prepared a debug packet, with bogus transponder details and put it on the broadcast. The relay responded. I then prepared a new debug packet with the transponder ID from the broken down cruiser.”
“What happened?”
“The relay shared the last entry. I then put null values in the date range keys and the relay dumped all the records it held on the cruiser.”
“Wow! All of it?”
“Yep, I have a complete history of the cruiser’s movements. It goes back years.”
“Anything interesting in that data?”
“Yes, a couple of things. Firstly, it is clear that Mayfield is it’s home. It comes and goes often, mostly to others systems in the Atesoughton cluster. The data shows it usually has seven or eight persons on board. Which makes sense as I looked up the specs and it is configured for eight people. However, every so often, typically every three months it makes one or two return trips to Earth. On these occasions it has four people on board for the outward and eight for the return journey. It has been doing this for years. The exact same configuration. Never more than four towards Earth and always eight coming back.”
“I guess the pattern is a little strange. But it could be explained by the four passengers returning to Earth some other way. Like the four engineers we have on board right now?”
“Yes, I figured that too. So I also then checked our copy of the Earth designation and ID gateway records. The cruiser doesn’t show up in the records at times that match the relay data. There is no record of it landing or departing.”
“Perhaps the cruiser changes course after leaving the Mayfield system?”
“And gets the additional four passengers from somewhere else?”
“I guess.”
“Or, perhaps it does go to Earth, but bypasses the citadel ID gateways somehow. It then could pick up four passengers and return without records appearing in the databases.”
“The passengers would be untraceable.”
“They would.”
“And even if someone noticed them gone, they wouldn’t know where to start looking.”
“True.”
“Assuming this is the only rig doing this, that would make eight girls every few months. Untraceable! Hidden!”
“There is something else,” Marr said quietly.
“What?”
“The last entry for the broken cruiser.”
“What about it?”
“The data suggests it departed the Mayfield system earlier today. It looks to be just under twelve hours ahead of us. I guess it got fixed and then followed us into Mayfield. It can’t have been on the ground long. Just enough to refuel.”
“What does the data say about the destination and number of people on board?”
“Earth. Four persons.”
Annee looked up and out into space. Marr did the same.

(to be continued...)

[Rule of Twelve, Double Take, Chapter 21 - Turbulence (Passage 1 of 5)]

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