Star Harbor Nights

A trio of slugs shot forth from between the twin rails of the gun-like projector with a barely audible hum and a woosh, sailing through the air at Allison at a speed just barely below that of sound. Allison couldn't suppress a cringe at the sight, but her telekinetic shield stopped the bullets in mid-air... the first two as they would have whizzed past her ear, the third just before it would have slammed into her collarbone.

"Hold still, please," Thoth said, pressing a button on his small handheld device to adjust the legs of the railgun's tripod. "I'm trying to cut across your kinetic shield just over your shoulder, not through it."

"What's it matter, if I can stop the bullets before they hit me?" Allison asked.

"If we knew for a fact you could stop the bullets, it wouldn't be a test," Thoth said. "Now please hold still... I generally only shoot little girls in the head on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I hate having my schedule thrown off."

"I'm trying," Allison said, though she was still visibly wobbling in the air. "It's just so hard to keep myself steady in this suit."

She didn't mention that it was hard to restrain her involuntary reaction to flinch when somebody fired an experimental weapon at the general vicinity of her head.

"Is something wrong with your psychokinetic field?" Thoth asked, suddenly concerned with more than the test.

"No, nothing like that... it just takes some getting used to this added strength," Allison said. "I feel light as a feather... but every time I try to adjust my position a little bit, I end up going way off course."

"That could be a problem, in the field," Thoth said, frowning slightly.

"I'll get used to it," she insisted. "I managed to correct my thought shield so I don't have you spilling over into my mind pretty quickly."

"True, but you don't want to underestimate the impact of using unfamiliar equipment in combat situations," Thoth said. "Maybe you should practice with the armor suit for an hour or so each day until you're acclimated, instead of wearing it full time right away.

"Point of interest?" Allison said. "In the field, I'm not going to be trying to stay perfectly still to avoid spoiling the bad guys' aim."

"No, but a certain level of precision control is still desirable," Thoth said. "That will come only with time and practice. I think we're done testing, for now."

"Are you sure?" Allison asked jokingly, even as she landed and allowed her mental field to slightly relax. "You've barely been shooting things at me for an hour now."

"Fifty seven minutes," Thoth said. "Statistically, that's just long enough for Amphitrite to get bored enough to have wandered into the galley and either made something delicious or washed every dish in sight."

"Diabolical," Allison said. "If only you'd use your incredible intellect for good instead of evil..."

"Hey, guys, you still going at it?" Amy's voice rang out from the catwalk crossing the top of the cavern.

"No, we just finished," Allison answered.

"Cool... oh, I fried up a batch of crab cakes and did a few dishes," Amy called out, holding a large, towel-draped plate up over the railing. After a short pause, she added, "I hope that's okay."

"Well, actually, it was my turn to do the dishes on the chore rotation," Thoth replied. "But I forgive you."

"Did you ask him yet?" Amy asked Allison.

"No, but if you'll get your sweet butt down here, I will," Allison called back.

"Catch me if you can, minha gatinha!" Amy cried, vaulting one handed over the railing, the other holding the laden plate perfectly level through the maneuver. Allison barely had time to react, visualizing invisible psychokinetic energy forming like cupped hands beneath the plummeting mutant. She didn't stop her hard, but directed the mental construct downward slowly so that Amy had a soft "landing" on it before floating gently down the rest of the way to the floor level, laughing all the way.

"You're a brat," Allison scolded her, for the split second of heart-stopping fear she'd experienced when she'd seen Amy making the leap.

"You get to fly all the time... I just wanted to see what it felt like," Amy countered. "Besides, I wouldn't have been more than bruised... probably."

"That's still no reason to endanger the crab cakes," Allison said. With an airy wave, she sent the towel flying off the plate, and drew one of the hot golden cakes into her beckoning hand. It was too hot to eat, but a moment's concentration fixed that, and she took an experimental bite. "Good, but not as spicy as usual."

"Yeah, well, the Kitchen of the Gods is sadly lacking in some necessities," Amy said defensively. "And didn't anybody ever tell you not to talk with your mouth full?"

"That's not what you said last night," Allison teased.

"I don't even know what that means," Amy said, scowling.

"That's not what you said last night," Allison repeated, in exactly the same tone of voice, which prompted Amy to throw a crab cake at her. It bounced off an invisible wall six inches from her face, and was deftly caught by Thoth's gloved hand.

"Ladies, if you're done with the verbal pillow fighting, I believe you had something you wanted to discuss with me?" Thoth reminded them. "Something touching on the Aces?"

"Yeah," Allison said. "We were kind of hoping you might have been included in the Department's analysis of whatever it was that made them go all Invasion-of-the-Body-Snatchers."

"And that you could tell us what you'd found," Amy added.

"Well, girls," Thoth began slowly. "You know that even if I were involved in something like that, it would be a serious breach of the law, and even more, of the personal bond of trust that exists between public servants and private contractors like myself, for me to share any such information with you."

The crab cake yanked itself out of his hand.

"Oh, I'm just teasing you," Thoth said, grabbing it back. "The first thing you should know is that the Forbies actually tapped Dr. Jonathan Day and DELPHI, not me, to help them investigate the mind control. They turned over all the blood tests, brain scans, and everything else they did on the Aces to him as soon as the preliminary tests were over."

"That's crazy," Amy said. "I know Dr. Day's a genius, but he's got nothing on you in psychology, or toxicology, or anything like that."

"True," Thoth said. "My guess is other factors were in play."

"Why wouldn't they send it to the more qualified man?" Allison asked.

"Somebody's probably playing politics," Thoth said. He walked over to the desk-like computer console that stood a good deal back from the the floor-to-ceiling monitor array of the supercomputer, Isis. "You know the team's relationship with the United States government is shaky at best, whereas Jonathan's actually on the payroll. That, and an ex-patriate Egyptian doesn't exactly look like the most trustworthy ally at the moment. It hardly matters... as Amy said, toxicology is not one of Jonathan's specialties, and when he encounters something outside his field he does what any good professional would do: consult an expert. The files were waiting on my server when I got back in this morning."

"And?" Amy prompted.

"Some very unusual things turned up in the Aces' bloodwork," Thoth said. He moved his fingers over the keyboard... actually a motion-sensitive grid with no moving parts... and a series of files filled the screen, lists of chemical names and three dimensional images of molecules. "Things that defied classification or categorization. Worse, it seemed like the chemical 'cocktail' was designed to degrade over time, breaking itself down into inert components. Without having actual physical access to samples, I couldn't tell much more at a glance than the 4B lab on the mainland could. Working backwards from the lab results, though, I was able to construct a computer simulation of the anomalous substances and perform my own virtual tests."

He worked as he spoke, and portions of the chemical names broke off and reattached themselves, making a smaller list of much longer names. The molecular images similarly broke apart and recombined, forming more complex arrangements among themselves.

Allison knew nothing of molecular chemistry, but she felt there was something menacing about the largest and most complex molecule, something wrong about its shape. It looked ugly and vaguely tumor-like. If she didn't know better, she'd say something about it was impossible or offensive to reason.

She shivered, but said nothing.

"This is, more or less, what was in the cocktail in its active state. The main components that were identified included a powerful tranquilizer and a form of neural inhibitor," Thoth continued. "The government lab was able to identify those, but couldn't figure out what was making the Aces get up and move. The fact is, this particular mixture should have made it impossible for them to be walking around under their own power, to say nothing of fighting."

"They weren't exactly under their own power, though," Allison pointed out.

"True enough," Thoth allowed. "But I mean, it should have still been their own muscles that were doing the pushing and pulling, in response to signals from their inhibited neurons. With the Aces essentially being physically and mentally asleep, something else had to be filling the gap."

"I assume from the self-satisfied tone that you know what that is," Amy said.

"Not quite. The remaining components just seemed to be an unusual assortment of proteins. They don't appear to serve any purpose, singularly or together, but they're far too precisely chosen to be random," Thoth said. He stroked a single key and the main molecule, the one that had unsettled Allison, glowed and enlarged. "However, I did recognize a certain distinct signature, of sorts, in some parts of this structure. I fed the data into Isis, without any mention of my hypothesis, and she came up with the same result: there's only one person in the database who's been known to produce anything remotely similar."

"Who?" Allison asked.

Thoth glance at Amy, who let out a string of words Allison had never heard before. Her meaning was crystal clear.

"Look, just do it," she said in English. "I already know where this is going."

Thoth flicked his hand over the console and everything vanished, replaced with a file  The left margin was taken up by multiple headshots and rotating full-body views of a woman in a black jester's costume and multiple disguises. The body detailed her aliases, abilities, rap sheet, contacts and affiliations, history, and personality profile. Despite the mammoth screen, each section ended with the words "File truncated."

"Rhyme, AKA Myra A. Henderson, AKA Mary Anne Rhodes, AKA Andrea H. Myerson, AKA... well, the list goes on. Diane Crief? Huh. Looks like she's switched up her M.O. this time around," Thoth said. "Specialties include neurochemistry, psychoactive and toxic substances, and Atlantean alchemy. Last known address: the Howard P. Dunwich Asylum in Nebula City, Kansas. Leaving aside the other evidence, a paralytic poison that makes its victims get up and move would appeal to her sense of, ah, humor."

"Is that real-time?" Allison asked, pointing to the bottom right hand corner of the screen. It showed a grainy black-and-white image of the archvillainess, in full-body restraints, talking to two women. One was wearing a police uniform. The other had the look of a cop, but was wearing plain clothes.

"Yes," Thoth said. "Straight from Dunwich's own closed circuit cameras. I could get audio, too, but only for a five minute window before it would trip an alarm."

"You can't beat their security system?" Allison asked, surprised.

"I designed it to be unbeatable," Thoth said. "Any hole I punch into it could be discovered and used by others."

"So, the break-out on the news..." Amy said. "Could it be related?"

"That seems too recent," Allison said.

"She didn't whip up something this complex, fly out to California, implant the control system in the Aces, then fly back to Nebula in time to get herself caught again," Thoth said. "No, I don't think this is entirely her handiwork. Though it's got some of her signatures, some parts of it are just too... utilatarian. I think she'd find it ugly, clumsy. Let's not forget that she approaches science as an art, not a... science. Something like this would probably offend her."

"Could be an old project of hers that somebody else took and modified," Allison said. "If so, she might be ticked off enough about it being misused to help us, if only to get back at the thieves."

"Could be... but if she saw a chance to make sure both sides came out worse, she'd take it," Thoth said. "And chances are she'd see a chance."

"It's a lead," Allison insisted.

"It is," Thoth said. "But it's not the only one."

"Alright, so... what in the mix definitely was not Rhyme's handiwork?" Allison asked. "And for that matter, if it was chemicals in the bloodstream, then why was I able to short the whole thing out with lightning?

"The answer to both would be the master control system," Thoth said. "A tiny chip, like an RFID tag but bigger, was implanted near the surface of the skin at the base of each Ace's neck, with reservoirs of the chemical cocktail implanted all along the spine. The chip relied on conventional electronics to send and receive information, which it translated to biochemical signals, effectively turning the chemicals in the bloodstream into a second nervous system. Without the signals from that chip, the molecules break down and the neural inhibitor, which has a very short half-life, wears off suddenly, resulting in shock, pain, and disorientation."

"Are any of the Aces awake yet?" Allison asked.

"They're being held in seclusion until the Department decides they're not dangerous, but my understanding is that they're all awake and recovering from the effects of the drugs," Thoth said. "Dr. Day is recommending they be released into a civilian hospital for the remainder of their recuperation, but in case that's denied we could probably still get you in to see them by filing an application under the Extra-Normal Investigations Act."

"I don't much relish the idea of asking the friendly man from the government to sign my permission slip," Allison said. "But I definitely want a chance to apologize for roughing them up so badly."

"And hearing first hand what else they know about your case won't hurt, either," Thoth said, which took Allison slightly aback. She had been sure that now that the situation had been brought to the attention of such luminaries as Dr. Jonathan Day and Thoth, it would have been snatched out of her hands. Misunderstanding the look on her face, Thoth added, "Of course, the Aces may consider it their case as well, but until they're back in fighting form, you're going to be doing the leg work. Have you given any thought as to your next move?"

"I think Rhyme is the strongest lead," Allison said. "Somebody should talk to her."

"I agree," Thoth said. "I'll contact the Wisdom Twins and see what they can pry out of her."

"I thought this was my case."

"It is," Thoth said. "But Rhyme will refuse to talk to anybody unless it's face to face... that gives her more opportunity for mischief, psychological damage, or even escape."

"I could go to Nebula City," Allison said. "For something this big. It's not like I don't have some money, and plenty of time off due."

"It's not that," Thoth said. "If it came down to it, we'd arrange transport for you... but you're not used to dealing with anybody..."

"In Rhyme's league?"

"Honey, there is nobody in Rhyme's league," Amy said. "I don't care what her origin story says, she was born wrong... she's the reason I wasn't allowed in the Amazons' valley by myself."

"If you did meet her, you'd have to spend all your time on your guard, and that would hamper you," Thoth said. "And it would have to be in a dampened room."

"She's psycho, not psychic," Allison said.

"No, but you can't imagine how many different ways she could use your own telepathy against you," Thoth said. "Trust me... and the Wisdom sisters. They've got the most experience dealing with Rhyme."

"Yeah, a whole lifetime of it," Amy said darkly.

"But in the meantime, you don't have to be idle," Thoth said. "So, what else would you do?"

"I don't know. Well... I suppose I could look for companies or individuals that would have access to the specific drugs in the cocktail," Allison said, not mentioning that she had no idea how such a thing could be accomplished with her own limited resources. "Or see if any other heroes have gone rogue without explanation lately... or just dropped off the radar."

"Good ideas," Thoth said. Thoth paged back to the screen with the chemical notations and highlighted one of the cocktail components. Its chemical notation was replaced with a trade name. "You may want to start here: Lysenkol, the neural inhibiter. It was originally a product of the U.S.S.R.'s super soldier program, where it had some success. A number of companies in the States have been researching its use in the practice of medicine, but it's also been used as a chemical weapon and a crowd pacifier by repressive governments, so it's strictly controlled. It's also only produced in Russia."

"So, we should look for suspicious companies that have been importing it," Allison said.

"You mean you should," Thoth said. He cleared the screen and pulled up a simple query box. "This is your case, Allison, and you should learn how to use the Isis system, anyway."

Allison wanted to say something to indicate that she was honored or that she wouldn't let him down, but in the end, the best she could do without sounding corny was "Thanks."

"It's no problem," Thoth said. "And so you don't feel like I'm watching over your shoulder, I think I'll go join my wife in the solarium."

"...after you help me clean up the kitchen," Amy said. "I did your dishes, so it's only fair you do mine."

"Curses," Thoth said. "Foiled again."

"Stick to heroics," Amy said. "An evil mastermind you are not."

Isis, the distributed supercomputer network, was a little bit like a search engine for everything. She could type in any question, in plain everyday English, and Isis would search its own extensive databases for an answer. If it couldn't find one, it would look for a computer system that did and "borrow" the information needed. Thoth had told her it was two generations ahead of the most advanced systems the U.S. government had... and this was only because he'd allowed an older version of his set up to fall into Department 4B's hands when he found their previous systems too slow to respond to Isis's surreptitious queries.

So far in one hour alone, with access to this fantastic system for gathering and processing information, she'd learned that there were 8.95015977 x 10²⁷ hectares in a square light year... that the Secretary of the Interior cheated on his golf scores, his wife, and his taxes... the gross national product of Namibia was 2.6 billion dollars... and that Dock Shadow's secret identity was none of her business.

She told herself that she was getting to know the system, testing its limits and learning better ways to formulate her questions. After all, it wasn't like the thing came with a user manual. She'd long since run out of ways to phrase questions relating to companies that purchased Lysenkol. Isis performed its duties wonderfully, but she had no idea what to do with the list it returned. Thoth would certainly spot some detail in one of the medical labs and pharmaceutical companies that would provide a vital clue, but she wasn't Thoth, and she didn't want to go running back to him so soon.

The other path of inquiry wasn't proving much easier. How was she to peg down what would constitute a "mysterious disappearance" among costumed adventurers who tended to appear and disappear without much fanfare anyway? She had just decided to break for another query about satellite surveillance pictures of Johnny Depp when she heard footsteps on the catwalk.

"Hey, girl," Allison said a little too loudly as Amy walked down the stairs. She erased the illicit search and quickly typed in a more legitimate query without thinking. "Just working the Aces case through the ol' system here."

"Still? You're a stronger woman than I am," Amy said. "The first time I got left alone with the Isis console, I tried to ask it the Dock Shadow's real name."

"And it told you it was none of your business," Allison said. It was all the admission she needed to make.

"Yes," Amy said. "And this is Thoth's own personal set-up, too... I used to wonder how the system knew it wasn't him asking."

"Let me guess... biometric scanners?" Allison asked. "Or maybe it can read fingerprints off the keys."

"That's what I thought," Amy said. "But, no. When I got up the courage to ask him later, he told me it didn't need any external information to know I wasn't him."

"So, how did it know?"

"Because he wouldn't have had to ask that question," Amy said.

"Oh," Allison asked. "Because he already knows, or because he knows Isis can't tell him?"

"He said that was none of my business," Amy said.

"Oh! It's done searching," Allison said, really noticing the screen for the first time since Amy had come back down.

"Anything interesting?" Amy asked.

"Yeah... this is odd," Allison said. "I was looking for heroes who've gone missing or companies that work with Lysenkol... but somehow I, uh, got distracted and typed in a search for Lysenkol that's gone missing. It looks like a couple palettes of the stuff disappeared from a shipping warehouse here in town about a month ago. They were coming in from a Russian cargo ship, destined for a Midwestern company called... oh, I don't believe this! This has got to be a front for something."

"What makes you say that?" Amy asked.

"It's called The Dummy Corporation."