Chimera

Twenty-Two

Coren leaned against the wall and gently kneaded his neck and shoulder. The pain was growing worse; on top of his lack of sleep, he wondered if he could manage what he intended to do. He pulled his comm out and stared at the keypad, trying to think. He still lacked necessary information.

He tapped in Kelvy Torans' code. He almost gave up just as she finally answered.

"Kelvy, it's Coren."

"Please tell me you're near my apartment," she said brightly.

"Actually, no. I'm sorry to bother you so late-"

"I wasn't sleeping, anyway. Something it sounds like you should be doing. Are you all right?"

"Just tired. Long hours. I'm never letting Rega run for office again."

She laughed. "In that case, I suppose you're calling to see if I have that information you wanted."

"Do you?"

"As a matter of fact…hold on a moment…"

Coren listened to indistinct noises for a few seconds. Then:

"Okay, we have lots of good stuff," Kelvy said. "Once I started looking into this, I found all kinds of things I can use, so I suppose I owe you part of my commission. Captras Biomed: bought by the Hunter Group. It wasn't exactly a voluntary sale; Myler Towne and his faction actually tried to block it. He nearly lost the chairmanship over it. Now, Hunter bought it through one of its subsidiaries-Kysler Diversified-who also bought that research lab you mentioned, Nova Levis. One very interesting detail I found was that Towne's mother was on the original shareholders board of Nova Levis; she's since deceased. What makes a lot of this interesting is in the dispersal of the company assets. A good portion of the research documentation went to Captras Biomed, which was a small start-up back then, and later was bought out by Imbitek. It was Alda Mikels' first acquisition upon becoming a board member of Imbitek."

"Mikels was an original shareholder of Nova Levis."

"Very good. Indeed he was. As was Rega Looms. In fact, there was a bidding war over Captras between Looms and Mikels."

"Why would Rega have wanted it?"

"You'd have to ask him. Very uncharacteristic of him." Coren mentally added it to the list of things he intended to ask Rega. "All right, so Myler Towne got rid of Captras, but he didn't want Hunter to have it. Why not?"

"Alda Mikels is-was-a board member of Kysler Diversified."

"Is there any other connection between Kysler and Imbitek?"

"Kysler once made an offer to acquire controlling ownership of Imbitek, but it failed."

"And when did Mikels buy into Kysler?"

"About two years after that attempt."

"So Mikels bought the company that bought Nova Levis's research material, and now is trying to reacquire that material through a competitor to his own company."

"My guess? This is insurance, in case Mikels can't defeat Towne in a shareholder vote."

"Was Captras that lucrative?"

"As a percentage of Imbitek?" Kelvy replied. "It performed a few points better than most Imbitek holdings, but not spectacularly so. However, the Hunter Group owns a number of other biomed companies on Settler colonies. Recently, they consolidated some of them under Kysler management. Add what Captras could bring to the fold, you have a very large and progressive biotech industry with established markets on several worlds. What all those companies lacked till now was a licensed vendor on Earth. Captras gives them that."

"So that's what made you so happy."

"I'm already moving on Kysler stock."

"Assuming Mikels loses to Towne, he has a ready-made position with this new company."

"New company? What new company?"

"At a guess, he'll call it Nova Levis," Coren said.

"Maybe…which brings up another thing. Nova Levis was not unprofitable. There was no reason for it to shut down."

"I thought it had been under suspicion in a police investigation. "

Kelvy made a harsh sound. "Companies get investigated all the time, they don't close up shop and sell their assets over it. Often such an investigation benefits them. When they're cleared of any charges, it's like getting a recommendation from the police. Their market value rises. "

"Nova Levis…?"

"Increased in value. The investigation did not shut it down. A year afterward, the board began buying up out standing shares. It took six months for them to gain the necessary control to sell, over the loud protests of a number of shareholders."

"What happened to the rest of the shares?"

"Over time Kysler bought them all out. Even after Nova Levis ceased to be a corporate entity, Kysler paid options and bought off the last few until no outstanding stock remained. But now here's the thing. When Captras Biomed sold to Kysler, it did so through a blind. At least a dozen former Nova Levis shareholders made up that blind, all of whom were shareholders in Imbitek, all of whom sold their shares in Imbitek and bought shares in Kysler."

"So they bought their own company."

"In essence. "

"One thing…what was the primary focus of Nova Levis?"

"Ah, now that took some digging. You know me, I'm not the most tech-literate. Primarily, they were doing research and development on chronic inorganic infectious syndromes."

Coren wrestled with the term for a few moment. "What?"

Kelvy chuckled. "My words exactly. I'm not sure exactly what they are, but I get the impression that these are diseases caused by allergic reactions to certain technologies-old nanotech, specifically. You don't hear about them much anymore because we pretty much beat them, but once in a while some poor child is born with a dysfunction that's basically untreatable."

"UPDs…"

"That's one term, yes. Do you know something about this?"

"No, not really. I've just heard about it-I don't know what it is. How many children?"

"It varies. Between ten and a hundred a year. Most of them don't live very long. Quarantine is about the only thing to do."

Coren thought about that. "You said we beat them. How?"

"That would take a little more research than I thought you wanted." She paused. "What do you think?"

"I think…dinner at Rhiomay's and a foot massage afterward."

"That good? I hope you don't stop at the feet."

Coren grunted. "How long have you known me?"

"Not long enough, Coren, love. Not nearly long enough."

"Thanks, Kelvy, this has been a great help. Um…by the way, have you ever heard of something called a 'decompiler'?"

"Sure. Curiously enough, given what we've been talking about, they're a class molecular reagent. Nanotech, used mainly for terraforming on colonies."

Coren blinked. "You knew that off the top of your head?"

"I didn't two days ago. It's one of Captras Biomed's main exports. They're banned on Earth."

"I see. Well. This definitely extends things to the calves and thighs, too."

Kelvy laughed languorously. "Can't wait. Call me when you're done doing whatever it is you're doing. I'm dying to hear the details. "

"No doubt. Talk to you soon."

Coren broke the connection and pocketed the comm.

All the lists began to make sense now. Shareholders. Follow the credits. Coren had always relied on the money trail to tell him which way to turn, who to look at. This one was nearly a maze, an ouroboros swallowing its own tail.

Rega…how deeply into all this are you…?

One or two questions remained, besides the big one. Who had killed Nyom? And why?

Coren Lanra shuddered, from weariness and despair.

Nyom…

The Hunter Group owned the warehouses. They owned Kysler Diversified, which now owned Nova Levis. Apparently they also owned the colony Nova Levis-or Cassus Thole, whichever name it went by. Alda Mikels owned a good piece of that.

Coren rubbed his eyes and looked down the avenue to the innocuous entrance at the T-crossing. Myler Towne lived behind that door. Coren fished a pill from another pocket and popped it into his mouth. He had waited till he knew what he wanted from Towne before taking the stim. Now he was ready. He waited for the clarity and temporary strength and the illusion of rested power.

It came like a coolness over his skin, a slight increase in hearing sensitivity, and an internal rush in his muscles. He pushed away from the wall and started down the street. Towne wore a deep green dressing gown and sat in an enormous wingbacked chair that he still managed to dwarf.

Del Socras stood within arm's length of Coren. He had supervised a very thorough search of Coren before bringing him to see Towne. Coren felt uneasy without any weapons.

"Unusual hour for you, Mr. Lanra," Towne said. "Or maybe not. It is for me, certainly. "

"Sorry if this is inconvenient for you," Coren said. "But I think we need to talk. "

"I agree. Have you given my proposal further consideration?"

"Some. I'm afraid I have to turn you down for the most part."

Towne raised his eyebrows. " 'The most part'? Intriguing choice of words."

"I find that I've done work for you in the course of doing my job. I need to know a few things, though, to be sure."

"Are you suggesting I owe you compensation?"

"I may send you a bill. But for now, let's just see how much what I've done is worth to you."

Towne waved his hand as if to say "continue" and eased further back in his chair.

"Alda Mikels is trying to oust you from the chairmanship of Imbitek. He may also be trying to kill you, but he's certainly trying to frighten you."

Towne frowned and glanced at Socras. Coren felt the bodyguard's presence fade. When he glanced back, Socras was gone.

"How did you arrive at this conclusion?"

"Circuitously. Someone killed Rega Looms' daughter. I'm trying to find out who."

"Do you think Mikels is involved in that?"

"Directly? No. But it was his people."

"And who are they?"

"I don't have names…yet. But they all work for the Hunter Group, in one way or another. So does Mikels."

Towne steepled his fingers below his chin and stared at Coren for a long time. "You are either very diligent or very lucky, Mr. Lanra. The Hunter Group wants to buy Imbitek. I've no doubt Alda is behind the attempt. Even for them, we're a bit too large and perhaps too dangerous."

"Who are they?"

"On Earth? They own shipping companies and warehouses, that's about it. Off Earth, however, they are one of the largest consortiums in the Settlers' worlds. Fewer rules, more places to move things when the law tries to compensate for the newness of the colonies. They own a little of every kind of industry. No one worried about it two or three centuries ago, before Terrans began to go out to space once more, and only Spacers existed away from the homeworld. It's fairly brutal business out there now. Mind you, I don't quite understand why Hunter wants us-they own comparable firms on several worlds. Maybe it was a prize for Alda."

"He got them Captras Biomed. "

Towne sighed and dropped his hands. "You are very well informed. That's disappointing. I spent a lot of money trying to keep that news from spreading."

"Why did you want to get rid of Captras in the first place?"

"No real applications. I'm trying to consolidate Imbitek, streamline the company, get us back to our base product. Most of the things Captras produces have no use here-they're all exports."

"There's money in that."

"There was money in it for Alda, he had the connections. We've been running into higher and higher losses."

"Hunter?" Coren asked.

"It's my opinion that Hunter is the legitimate face of the pirate consortiums. Alda has been doing business with them for years, perhaps decades. Alda wants the chair back, but I won't give it to him. I have the shareholders on my side."

"But he has Hunter."

"Exactly. So I thought, just to irritate him and give us a better position in the field, it would be smart to get rid of our albatrosses. I set up a sale for the company with what I had thought was an independent group of investors. Too late I found out that Hunter was backing them." He shrugged. "I still got my price, Imbitek shares increased in value, and the last poll among shareholders showed a higher degree of confidence in my leadership."

"So now he's trying to kill you."

"It appears that way." Towne narrowed his eyes. "What did Nyom Looms have to do with all this?"

"She was running baleys. "

Towne's face went slack. "I see. That's unfortunate."

"You hired a data troll to find some minutes of old board meetings Mikels chaired. She was threatened when she started looking, so she planned to leave Earth. The group of baleys she intended going with was murdered-including Nyom."

"Then I can only say that she was collateral damage. I can't imagine anyone would want to kill her. Not anyone involved in all this."

"No? Did you know Rega Looms was an initial investor in Nova Levis?"

Another shock registered on Towne's face. "No, I did not. I know almost nothing about Nova Levis."

"But you know which one I'm talking about. "

Towne shrugged. "The colony holds no interest for me."

"It's interesting that you don't have more concern for Nova Levis, though. Your mother was also a primary shareholder."

"So? That doesn't mean I was ever privy to the company's workings."

"The company's material became Captras Biomed."

Towne pursed his lips. "A little knowledge…The minutes I hired the troll to find concerned exactly that transaction. I know what products Captras started out with, but there was more to Nova Levis than that, and those records were missing by the time I joined Imbitek. Captras was Alda's pet project, and apparently it has returned to its owner."

"The minutes?"

"Concerned several topics of a clandestine nature, but none of them Nova Levis. Quite a bit concerned Hunter."

"Oh? What connection was that?"

"Weapons, apparently. Hunter deals in arms among the colonies."

Coren nodded. "And now they have a very good bioweapons company. "

"They already had one."

"Decompilers. "

"You saw the results of one such misapplication the other day." Towne heaved himself out of his chair. "So. Are you working for me now or not?"

"I'm working for myself at the moment. When I've finished, maybe we can talk. "

"Good. What changed your mind about Mr. Looms?"

"I don't take well to being lied to," Coren said.

"I see. Then, with that in mind, let me tell you this: One of Imbitek's many…subsidiary interests…is in baleys. I learned upon assuming the chairmanship that we-plus two or three other firms-run illicit trade through a variety of avenues. Nothing direct, purely through ancillary personnel, many of whom do not even know they work for us. I've been looking into shutting all this down, but not fast enough. Alda's people have been attacking several of our illicit ventures, including the baley running. In the last ten months we've lost eighteen shipments of baleys. We recovered three of them. They were all dead."

He stepped closer to Coren. "Your Mr. Looms' daughter was apparently using one of our egresses. The murderers were attacking me, Mr. Lanra." He blinked furiously. "I'm…sorry."

For a few seconds, Coren felt something like pity for Towne. He believed that the man truly was sorry. "I appreciate your honesty, Mr. Towne."

"One more thing, then. I didn't acquire those minutes through the data troll I hired-she never returned to me with the requested information. I used another source to obtain them. I have no idea where that troll went."

"Her name was Jeta Fromm."

"Yes."

"How long ago did you hire her?"

"Almost four months ago."

Coren nodded. "That's useful to know, too."

"I hope we can do business soon, Mr. Lanra." Coren walked away from the warren, hands in his pockets, unsatisfied. He knew more now, but, though it made sense on the surface, he felt he still did not know enough.

Where did Nyom's brother come into all this?

He stopped across from a walkway access and looked around at the nearly-deserted plaza. Third shift would be ending soon and people would be filling the moving walks and the corridors and their way home or to work.

His comm chirped.

"Lanra."

"Ariel, Coren. Where are you?"

"Um…"

"You need to come here. Things have changed. Your friend Palen is no longer in charge, and the TBI have assumed command of the investigation on Kopernik. Derec's in detention."

Coren sighed. "I need sleep. Do you think that can be arranged?"

"As long as you do it quickly."

"I'll do what I can. I'll be there soon. "