“Yes, well one of the new settlements under that program is in a very unusual location. Its name is also, shall we say, inpolitick in the current climate in Russia. New Romanovka. “Bohai tapped a folder on the desk before he threw it to Li. “You never asked for this before, but considering what you’re facing I thought it rude if nothing else not to give you all the information I had available on the individuals involved.”
The folder was titled ‘Boris’ and Li quickly started flipping through the voluminous data. When he reached a section dating to World War Two, he found something that confirmed Boris was who they were looking for.
Soviet Wartime records showing a codename ‘Ghost Bear’. It seems that Boris had been responsible for disrupting David’s influence over the Weres, whoever David was. He followed that to the footnote. ‘David, supposedly a brother of Peter, supposed child of Michael.’
It seemed that the UnknownWorld was not as unknown as the Sacred Clan or, supposedly, Peter and Michael would have preferred.
“Where did you get this information, Bohai? If I didn’t like you, this information would be a death sentence, one that I would have to carry out immediately. “Li said in tones that showed his seriousness. “To keep my leaders happy I will have to find someone to kill for this information being available to you. Tell me.”
“The intelligence directorate has always collected myths and legends. It’s better to have a collection of them on hand in case they turn out to be true after all. I merely pieced together what was out there. So there is no one you need to kill, Li. You did not have access to the information, and I pieced together what you might be asking about.” He pointed at the folder, “Few in the directorate would risk writing a report like that. To rely on myths and legend, then transpose it across known facts, that is too far outside the box for the directorate’s leaders to find acceptable. This report was written on a private computer that has never been connected to the Internet. You do not have to worry about others seeing it. And I will still be useful to you.”
Li ignored that and quickly moved forward, grasping Bohai by the neck. As he did, he felt the barrel of a shotgun pressed against his belly. “Let go or a load of silver shot will be where your chest is now. I told you I do my research. If I didn’t believe we could come to an understanding, I wouldn’t have turned up for this meeting. I believe we can. I even may have a way for you to infiltrate Clan members into Siberia. What they do from there is up to you and your leaders. But if I have to kill you then a lot of wasted effort has gone into this. And if you kill me you’ll never get that information. I believe we are in what is classically called a ‘stand-off,’ old friend.”
Li started to tighten his grip on Bohai’s neck. He felt the man’s hand twitching and thought better of it. A double load of silver from any shotgun shell would probably be lethal.
That would leave two dead, one with a strange reaction to silver and a report on a third, in which there was a claim he was sensitive to silver. Oh, and a were-creature. That was not something he could leave the possibility of getting out there.
Especially in these circumstances.
Bohai looked into Li’s face and grinned when he saw the flicker of consequences flow through his eyes. He could afford to be cocky now. Once Li let him go, Bohai backed off and moved around the table in the room, keeping the shotgun pointed at Li. “Not to be rude, but I don’t like being choked. I was sure that you’d come round to the potential issues for you, though.”
Bohai shifted unconsciously. How fast Li moved had shaken him. He’d barely managed to get the sawn-off shotgun out and up in time.
“Now, I have made various arrangements that should aid you. Any attack I can arrange on an ally of the so-called Queen would be welcomed, I am sure.” Bohai said, a sober expression on his face. In his head, he added, ‘What I have arranged will be even more appreciated. Arranging a situation where we have two enemies hurting each other, even at the possible cost of some of the covert routes to supply these people weapons, will almost certainly give me a promotion.’
Bohai snorted, “I would suggest you don’t go after the civilian population, however. The… woman seems to have an extreme reaction whenever people do that. But, that is your choice. I wouldn’t want her any hotter on my trail than necessary.”
Li nodded to Bohai. Internally he sneered.
If there were Holy Objects or technology there, it wouldn’t matter what they did. She would be chasing them down relentlessly.
Fortunately, they had a plan for that. Unfortunately, it could only be used once. A one-use teleportation device keyed to his bloodline. And the object he stole would be his family’s from then on, increasing their prestige within The Sacred Clan. The teleportation device was not similar to any other technology the Clan had uncovered so far.
The two other samples, the one that had been used first, and the one that they had tried to deconstruct so they could replicate it, had given off massive energy bursts when they activated. But the first one had transported everything in it’s immediate vicinity to where the devices had been originally found.
That was why his family had moved their ancestral home to where they had discovered the items.
Li considered this plan worth the risk, assuming he could get the Council of Elders to support it.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Inside the Faraday Cage, Beast Caves, Russia
Janna was pacing. Boris knew it was because she didn’t like the idea of Boris going inside the Faraday cage. The AI, EI, KI (Kurtherian intelligence) or whatever it might be would have him in its power. She was worried that it might be able to do more than simply talk to one of them.
She’d gone so far as to discuss it with TOM and ADAM. Their interim solution had been to supply a device that would transmit a Kurtherian to Russian and a Kurtherian to English dictionary for the computer and have her place it in the Faraday cage overnight before Gyada and Boris went in.
So, she had it done.
However, she still paced with worry. Neither TOM nor ADAM could tell her in any detail the abilities this computer might have. It was, to them, a blank book. A complete unknown.
They had placed the era of the ship to somewhere between three and five thousand years ago. Starships are an expensive proposition, though. Many continued to be used for as long as a millennium after the technology involved in the building was out of date. After all, they still worked, and generally speaking were still safe to use.
At least as safe anything operating in as dangerous a region as space could be.
Shen’s examination of the computer, the speeds that it obviously processed at, and the simple fact that it had been used to assist in reconstructing species DNA, all pointed to it being far more powerful than a standard computer of those eras could be expected to be. It was something that had been custom-built by whoever had flown the ship, or perhaps one of the crewmembers.
That left it a Complete Fucking Unknown. Janna had worked in intelligence, she hated dealing with CFUs. Her job had been to make sure that there was nothing out there that was a CFU. And now she was forced to put someone she was fast coming to consider a friend as well as the first true love of her life in a cage with one.
This did not make her a happy camper, to say the least.
She was almost more frustrated with Boris’ insistence that he was the right choice to go in. Surely, with her experience as an intelligence asset, she was the more appropriate choice. But nothing could move Boris on his insistence that it was not the case this time.
If it was a full AI, then they needed someone with leadership responsibilities to communicate with it. Although she had some of those responsibilities, as Boris put it, the buck stopped with him.