confounding tangle of companies,
and,” he lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “is a most despicable
person.” He returned to his normal voice. “At first, I thought one of her
companies mined the flake. I’d been working at turning the flake into crystals
for a couple of years before I learned that she gets it from the Kardish and
sells it to us. We pay for the flake by giving the Kardish a portion of the
crystals we make. Then Crystal Fab makes its money by selling the rest of them
on the open market.” He looked over at the mirror and spoke to it in a loud
voice. “The Union knows all about this. It’s in our annual reports.”
“Dr. Sheldon. Please look at me when you speak. Would you explain
what you meant by them not keeping everything?”
“Years back, when we finally achieved some success and
started manufacturing the original first-gen crystals, we shipped a hundred of
them to an address Victoria provided. Well, a few months later, we bought a
batch of flake from Victoria’s company, but it was somehow different. It wasn’t
a significant difference, but the properties of the flake had changed ever so slightly.
After investigating, we discovered that the flake had tiny impurities that had been
introduced from our own manufacturing process. It turns out they had ground up
the first-gen crystals and sold the flake back to us.”
“And…” said Bonnie, encouraging him to speak.
“And they did the same with the two-gen crystals. They
ground them up and sold the flake back to us. By then we knew we were dealing
with the Kardish, but Victoria and her companies remained involved. We kept
hearing that the Kardish were upset with the limited capability of the crystals
and expected more and better. Over time and with a lot of effort, we built up
enough credibility, because they gave me a thick packet of information that let
us move on to the three-gen design.”
“So tell me about Victoria,” Bonnie asked. “How is it she
has these connections with the Kardish?”
“I can only speculate. I don’t really know,” Sheldon said.
“Please. Speculate for me.”
“I think she’s one of them,” he said, looking over at the
mirror. “I think Victoria Wellstone is a Kardish.” He tried to sit up, but his
restraints stopped him. “And she hints that they’ll blow up the world if they
don’t get the new crystal.”
* * *
Sheldon’s interrogation lasted
another two hours as Bonnie took him through a long list of questions. Sheldon,
believing he had just been mutilated and determined not to lose any more body
parts, remained forthcoming and consistent.
When they decided he was milked dry, Bonnie let him sleep
for a few hours. Then she explained the gravity of his situation with great
clarity.
“Dr. Sheldon, from the viewpoint of the Union, you are the
greatest traitor in the history of humanity. You’ve consorted with an alien
invader. You’ve withheld information critical to the security of the planet.
This was vital information that our leaders needed to know about when you
learned it. You waited almost two decades to tell us, and then only under
extreme duress. The entire planet may be at risk because of your unconscionable
decisions and greedy behavior.”
Sheldon was so physically and emotionally drained that he
didn’t even try to defend himself. When her words registered with him, he
realized at last that his kidnapping was a Union-organized activity; he was in
a government facility, and he had been dragged off the street and mutilated by legal
authority.
With the bandages in place, he couldn’t know that the
mutilation had been staged. He would never learn that Sid’s “crazy” accomplice was
his DSA partner, Jack, who had dressed for the part. During Sheldon’s toe
removal, Jack had created a realistic noise by pressing the spinning blade of
the cutting tool against a piece of leather he had placed at the base of the
chair. At the moment he’d started cutting the
and,” he lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “is a most despicable
person.” He returned to his normal voice. “At first, I thought one of her
companies mined the flake. I’d been working at turning the flake into crystals
for a couple of years before I learned that she gets it from the Kardish and
sells it to us. We pay for the flake by giving the Kardish a portion of the
crystals we make. Then Crystal Fab makes its money by selling the rest of them
on the open market.” He looked over at the mirror and spoke to it in a loud
voice. “The Union knows all about this. It’s in our annual reports.”
“Dr. Sheldon. Please look at me when you speak. Would you explain
what you meant by them not keeping everything?”
“Years back, when we finally achieved some success and
started manufacturing the original first-gen crystals, we shipped a hundred of
them to an address Victoria provided. Well, a few months later, we bought a
batch of flake from Victoria’s company, but it was somehow different. It wasn’t
a significant difference, but the properties of the flake had changed ever so slightly.
After investigating, we discovered that the flake had tiny impurities that had been
introduced from our own manufacturing process. It turns out they had ground up
the first-gen crystals and sold the flake back to us.”
“And…” said Bonnie, encouraging him to speak.
“And they did the same with the two-gen crystals. They
ground them up and sold the flake back to us. By then we knew we were dealing
with the Kardish, but Victoria and her companies remained involved. We kept
hearing that the Kardish were upset with the limited capability of the crystals
and expected more and better. Over time and with a lot of effort, we built up
enough credibility, because they gave me a thick packet of information that let
us move on to the three-gen design.”
“So tell me about Victoria,” Bonnie asked. “How is it she
has these connections with the Kardish?”
“I can only speculate. I don’t really know,” Sheldon said.
“Please. Speculate for me.”
“I think she’s one of them,” he said, looking over at the
mirror. “I think Victoria Wellstone is a Kardish.” He tried to sit up, but his
restraints stopped him. “And she hints that they’ll blow up the world if they
don’t get the new crystal.”
* * *
Sheldon’s interrogation lasted
another two hours as Bonnie took him through a long list of questions. Sheldon,
believing he had just been mutilated and determined not to lose any more body
parts, remained forthcoming and consistent.
When they decided he was milked dry, Bonnie let him sleep
for a few hours. Then she explained the gravity of his situation with great
clarity.
“Dr. Sheldon, from the viewpoint of the Union, you are the
greatest traitor in the history of humanity. You’ve consorted with an alien
invader. You’ve withheld information critical to the security of the planet.
This was vital information that our leaders needed to know about when you
learned it. You waited almost two decades to tell us, and then only under
extreme duress. The entire planet may be at risk because of your unconscionable
decisions and greedy behavior.”
Sheldon was so physically and emotionally drained that he
didn’t even try to defend himself. When her words registered with him, he
realized at last that his kidnapping was a Union-organized activity; he was in
a government facility, and he had been dragged off the street and mutilated by legal
authority.
With the bandages in place, he couldn’t know that the
mutilation had been staged. He would never learn that Sid’s “crazy” accomplice was
his DSA partner, Jack, who had dressed for the part. During Sheldon’s toe
removal, Jack had created a realistic noise by pressing the spinning blade of
the cutting tool against a piece of leather he had placed at the base of the
chair. At the moment he’d started cutting the
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