In the Shadow of the Starships

Chapter 3 Hard Decisions

With a yawn, I crawled out of bed and staggered over to the caffa maker. It took me three tries to hit the brew button. With my most important task of the morning accomplished, I shuffled into the bathroom. Mornings were not designed to start before noon.

After a bathroom break and a quick wash of my hair under the sink tap, I was more than ready for my cup of caffa. It wasn't as good as real coffee, but it was locally grown, had similar levels of caffeine, and was much more affordable.

My trip back to the kitchen was less zombie-like, but still involved a lot of shuffling and sleepy blinks. The first long sip of the luxuriously smooth liquid made me think I might actually be able to handle the day ahead of me.

I lifted a hand to cover a yawn and blinked at the not-quite-pitch-black screen on my bracelet. Reaching up with my other hand, I tentatively tapped the display, which lit up to regular brightness. It was on. But that meant...

"Good morning, Jennisa!" a far too enthusiastic voice greeted me. "I promise I didn't touch the implant link until you touched the bracelet display. Guess what I did while you were sleeping!"

People this chipper in the morning should be throttled, especially since I hadn't finished the entire pot of caffa yet.

He quickly defended himself. "How was I supposed to know you were on your first cup? I didn't turn your computer webcam on because I was trying to be good. Oh, guess what I did!"

This guy was just as excitable as a kid, and if I had to guess, I wouldn't be able to distract him into silence until he'd told his story. I just hoped he hadn't hacked into something and left a cyber trail back to my residence.

With a groan, I plopped down on a rickety kitchen chair. "What did you do?"

My computer screen turned on as various applications opened up.

"I found three of those bad people you were looking for yesterday! I submitted all the documentation to the Enforcement groups just like you did last night! Your work is so fascinating! Oh, and I found and completed two coding job requests! I didn't want it to look suspicious, so I opened my own accounts and funneled the payments through five different sites to keep them from being traced. My alias supposedly bought a big painting from you to explain the transfer. It was so fun, almost like I was playing a spy game! I even tweaked your website and everything in case someone checks! If someone orders one of those funky paintings, I can send them a digital file!"

"Huh?" I asked aloud. Either I really needed to finish my cup of caffa to process that fast-paced jabbering or he had just managed more in one night than I normally did in a week.

With a shake of my head, I dragged myself over to my computer chair. I had to blink more than a few times before the black smudges on the bright screen came into focus.

Three file folders showed quite the amassed pile of evidence; photos, IP addresses, physical addresses, and even the fake license one of the criminals was using. One was a notorious serial killer. I knew there was quite a reward for him; he'd eluded everyone for almost five years while still running amok. Yet, the AI had somehow managed to locate him in one night. There was so much information here that if the Enforcement officers didn't catch him, I'd have to inquire if they'd found their way out of the detachment without using a map.

"I used my accounts when submitting it, just to help protect you in case of a leak, but I'll transfer all the astrogold over to you when they send it!"

Two more windows popped up with invoices and receipts. Wait, that account number looked like— I grabbed the computer mouse and quickly opened my bank account. My jaw slowly sagged open.