Pete had pulled this kind of shit before. Buy a bunch of stuff and call it something different on the official records to hide it. Guns became guidance-system parts, flash bombs were power cables—the receipts were rarely detailed enough for it to be difficult to fudge them, and if the seller was complicit, the process was seamless. Or buy stuff and then resell it on the black market and use the funds to buy what you actually wanted, or make a direct trade for it if that worked better. Sometimes you lost a little money that way, but you were probably more than making up for it somewhere else.
And as long as an auditor didn’t stroll in wanting to see all those power cables you ordered—which they wouldn’t, because there weren’t enough of them to cover every small business in the universe—nobody would have the slightest clue what you were up to.
Apparently, when a whole planet was getting audited, things went a little differently. Simultaneous raids at multiple locations differently, if Eva was picking up what her mother was putting down.
“I am at a loss to explain the situation, Administrator,” Damaal said finally. “But my Watchers will engage in a thorough investigation to determine—”
“No need, Prime,” Regina interrupted, raising a hand. “My agents are also investigating the other . . . omitted facilities we located, here and in multiple star systems. I’ll have a comprehensive inventory of their contents before the end of the cycle.” She made a circular motion with her forefinger. “This facility as well, now that we’ve managed to lower all the shields.”
Eva snickered. This was worse than the time her mom found her stash of sex toys and berated her for not only wasting hard-earned money on poor-quality products, but also failing to properly store them.
Damaal’s posture stiffened, and she seemed to gain a few centimeters of height. “Regulations do not permit you to observe portions of facilities that are designated as containing vital trade secrets, Administrator.”
Regina nodded. “You’re absolutely right, Prime. Unfortunately for you, since these facilities weren’t designated as such, I’m legally permitted to search them. In fact, you might say I’m legally obligated to do so, especially if I suspect criminal wrongdoing.” Her eyes widened for a moment as her smile brightened to near-blinding levels.
That was the end of that, then. As soon as BOFA figured out what Damaal had been up to here, it was all going to be shut down. At least the resistance would get part of what they wanted out of this whole shitshow; no more Pod Pals being constructed or distributed, especially if . . . coño carajo.
Especially if Regina and her agents found the evidence of Proarkhe technology being used here. BOFA didn’t play around with that, not even slightly—hell, they’d shut down Sue and Josh’s entire home planet and relocated everyone to another world because of a Proarkhe ruins discovery. Anyone who could be proven to be complicit in the intentional use of such tech would be going to prison for a very long time.
Eva stole a glance at Josh, who was apparently having a similar conversation with himself, and had turned as red as a ripe pitanga. Damaal was still suppressing her psychic emanations, so her large black eyes revealed nothing, even as her tail continued to twitch.
“And what of those of us who are not involved in this?” Sapri asked. Eva rolled her eyes and wished she could kick him from where she stood.
Regina raised an eyebrow. “Intraplanetary politics are beyond the scope of BOFA concerns, except inasmuch as they might impact related investigations,” she replied, as if reciting from a manual. “You clearly knew what was happening here and failed to report it to the proper authorities, which arguably makes you complicit.”
“We were trying to stop it!” Sapri said, emanating indignation.
“Stop it, or use it for political gain?” Regina asked coolly.
Both, Eva thought. Fucking politics. They were like those two-headed snake things from Snerth whose fanged mouths were also assholes.
Regina’s gaze swept over Eva and Sue, and if she recognized them, she said nothing. “That said, I’m inclined to consider you all witnesses rather than accessories, assuming you cooperate with us.”
Sapri’s emanation became more thoughtful, despite its edge of dismay. The other resistance members had similar reactions, though Damaal and the Watchers were still showing absolutely no emotion whatsoever.
It was a good offer, frankly. Nice and tidy. Might bring down a substantial part of the existing regime, depending on what evidence they unearthed, which could help the rebels in other ways as well.
Except Eva didn’t have time to be holed up in a BOFA witness-protection program for however long it took to finish the investigation, and she sure as hell wasn’t interested in showing up in any courts if it came to that. She suspected Nara was having similar thoughts, given that it was tough to get paid as a merc when you were cooling your heels instead of working. Maybe her contracts included clauses for such situations—a daily rate or something—but that didn’t guarantee the payments would keep finding their way to her account if her employers were similarly tied up.
And Josh getting arrested meant she wouldn’t get paid, so Eva had to get him out of here, too.
Naturally, just as Eva was wrangling her brain into formulating a plan, one of the BOFA agents strolled up to Regina holding a large, lidded container. He opened it and showed her the contents, which made Regina’s frown deepen as her eyebrows furrowed.
“Bueno,” she said. “That certainly complicates things. They’re using these to power their little animal machines?”
The agent nodded, and Regina glanced at the small crowd of Pod Pals that Mala had already released. There were at least a dozen, and who knew how many more still in their capsules behind them.
“We’ll have to find out how many have already been distributed,” Regina said. “Get these loaded onto the ship immediately and prepare the planet for quarantine.”
Apparently, that was the cue for the shit to hit the air filters, because everyone started to move at once.
Josh made a strangled sound, then ran for a door in the side of the cliff.
“Restrain him,” Regina said. An agent immediately produced an isosphere and raced after Josh. Eva groaned. Now how was she going to get him out of here, much less off-planet?
Damaal and the Watchers took this opportunity to run for the edge of the platform. Presumably they were all wearing antigrav belts and could handle a jump, especially if there were transports on lower levels to get them away entirely. The BOFA agents rushed to catch them, pulling out more isospheres for the purpose.
Nara busted open her restraints—a feat Eva would never have thought possible, but then again, the xana had basically put standard cuffs on a mech—and took off running, in the direction of the cliff.
“Where are you going?” Jei called after her, but Nara ignored him and the other equally dismayed resistance fighters. The wounded expression on Jei’s face gave Eva a brief pang of empathy, but if Jei didn’t know who Nara was by now, that was his problem.
Mala must have managed to find an option to open all the capsules at once, because Pod Pals flashed into being all over the platform, the crowd of a dozen quickly expanding into fifty or more. There were furry quadrupeds and carapaced flyers and smooth-skinned bipeds and all sorts of other forms that Eva had never seen and couldn’t find the words to describe. They didn’t move, just waited for commands that were unlikely to come since their controllers were busy trying to escape along with everyone else.