“I do. Please watch this recording made a few minutes ago.” She nodded at Karnex. “Play it.”
Reaching up, he pressed a node in his throat and a holographic image of Silas started playing. The entire conversation where he’d admitted to trying to kill her was on display.
“Hey! That’s not right—that’s a lie!” Silas shouted but the Chairman made an angry gesture at him.
“If you please, Dr. Drex—you and I both know that holograms can’t be faked. Dr. Virelle, please have your Cyborg rewind the holo—I need to see what I missed.”
So Silas had to stand there, fuming, as the entire conversation played out again. When it was over, Corinne turned to the Chairman.
“He also admitted to me that he used a kill chip on C-17—a Cybernetic Unit that was Linked to my good friend and protégé, Isla Farrington. After her Cyborg killed her, Drex leveraged her death to take my job.”
“My!” The Chairman’s eyes widened again. He looked at Silas with distaste. “There is no excuse for such reprehensible behavior.”
“It’s all lies!” Silas whined again, but it was clear the Chairman didn’t believe him.
“Dr. Drex, you are going to be brought up on charges of treason against the Company as well as murder and attempted murder and whatever else we can think of,” he snapped. He turned to Corinne. “Please have him locked in the brig until I can send some agents to take care of him.”
“I will.” Corinne nodded.
“Very well then.” The Chairman rubbed his hands together. “Now for you, my dear Dr. Virelle. Are you prepared to take his place and accept the generous bonus we have for you?”
Corinne took a deep breath—here was where things got tricky.
“Actually, I’m not,” she said carefully. “In fact, in lieu of the bonus, I’d like to be allowed out of my contract.”
“You would?” The Chairman’s eyebrows shot up. “Have you received a better offer from a competing Company?”
“No.” She shook her head. “But Karnex—I mean K-lx—thinks we can find the Kindred Mother Ship. I’d like to take him with me and go search for it.”
The Chairman frowned.
“So…you want to quit your job and go looking for a lost alien civilization?”
What she wanted was to get away from the station, the Company, and greedy, stupid humans in general, Corinne thought. What she wanted was to get away from a place where the people in charge might decide to decommission Karnex and take him apart to study him any time they chose.
But of course she couldn’t say any of that.
“Yes—if we can find the Kindred Mother Ship, think of all the new technology I can bring back to the Company,” she said brightly.
“Oh, well…” The Chairman frowned and tapped his chin thoughtfully with one long finger.
Corinne waited, her breath clenched tight, for his answer.
At last, he nodded.
“Well, that is certainly a unique proposition, Dr. Virelle. Do you really think you can find them?”
“I do.” Corinne nodded firmly. “My Kindred Cyborg thinks they haven’t gone as far as we believed they had. All I need is one of the station’s long-range hoppers with a replicator.”
“And you want to take the new Cyborg, K-L-1-X with you?” he asked.
“If I find the Kindred Mother Ship, I’ll need him with me in order to be granted entry,” Corinne said quickly. “I’ll send back regular reports,” she added.
“Well…” At last the Chairman nodded. “Very good. I’m going to personally authorize your use of a hopper. And please let us know how it goes.”
“Of course.” Corinne nodded, trying to contain her joy. “Thank you, Chairman.”
“Thank you, Dr. Virelle.” He cleared his throat. “Did you know that we’re on the verge of making a whole new Cybernetic prototype, thanks to your findings?”
