He had read up all he could on the device, but the project was highly classified and his access limited. It had been enough, however, to convince him he needed to know more.

Oh, of course, it wasn’t the first alien device the Imperium had found—not by far—but the reports about the cave had brought some ancient memories back to the surface.

Zax leaned back in the chair and drummed his fingers against the desk as he considered his options.

He hadn’t been on Xovu very long and it bothered him having to leave at such an early stage, but he could see no other way. This was a matter he could entrust to nobody else. He had to see it for himself. Of course, if all went well, he’d be back within twenty-four hours and, hopefully, no one would notice he was gone. He’d have to cover his tracks, too. He suspected those questors were still watching him like hawks, though they had not bothered him again since the attempt on his life.

Had they seen him talking with that man at the Lux Nova? If they identified and questioned him, it could lead to an awkward situation. Perhaps he should have removed this Rodger fellow while he could.

He sighed. No point worrying about that now. What was done was done. All he could do was move forward—and he had better do so quickly.

“No way around it,” he muttered as he lifted his arm and tapped on his wristpad.

Once his flight was booked—under a fake name, of course, he had plenty of those—he packed a bag and set up a ‘do not disturb’ warning on his room.

As he was about to open his portable gateway, he felt a tingle in his head and cursed.

He considered ignoring the call, but finally decided against it. Setting his bag down, he sat back at his desk and pressed two fingers against his temple.

The face of a bulky middle-aged man appeared, floating against his retina. The fellow immediately started speaking.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“Senator! We are under attack!”

Willen was one of his agents appointed to the security of Apanax Incorporated. Zax had hired him after he’d helped stop the arson attacks against Zintra’s company. Granted, it had not been too hard, since the goon had previously been tasked with starting those same fires, but the senator believed in rewarding loyalty.

“Calm down, Willen, and tell me what happened.”

“Well, it’s like this, sir. We’ve been getting these small spikes in the past week or so, but none of us thought much of it at first, and—”

“Spikes?”

“In the AI system, sir. A display shows all of its activity as a graph, makes it easier to monitor. It’s not unusual to get spikes, but they became more frequent and more, well, alarming. I believe—”

“You believe? Damn it, man! Do you have proof or not?”

The other grimaced. “Only a gut feeling, sir, if I’m honest. But it’s an educated one.”

“Explain yourself.”

“I’ve been working with AIs for a long time, sir, and I’m quite familiar with these types of graphs. In all my years, every single time I’ve seen activity like this, it meant an attack was underway.”

Zax cursed.

“Alright. So you’re saying the Apanax AI system is compromised?”

Willen hesitated. “Not necessarily, senator. It depends on the nature of the attack, and I don’t have enough data to—”

“To make an educated guess?”

The other grinned. “Something like that, sir.”

Zax grunted. “And what does your gut tell you is going on?”

“I think someone is fishing for information and trying to do it as discretely as possible. I mean, they’ve been at it for a while, doing their best not to raise any alarms.”

“So, not a brute force attack.” Zax mused. “Silver lining, I suppose. Alright. Can you handle this?”

“That’s why I’m calling, sir. I’m going to need help.”

“What kind of help?”

“Specialized crew. People who know what they’re doing when it comes to AIs and attacks of this sort.”

“Fine. Budget is not an issue. Get the best guys you can. I want this handled fast. And keep me posted on your progress.”

“Of course. Thank you, sir.”

The man’s face vanished and Zax stared at the wall, a frown on his face.

Apanax was a simple food processing company. Who would want to spy on them and why?

Grunting, he stood, grabbed his bag, and opened the gateway. Stepping through, he arrived in a bathroom stall at the Ussan spaceport.

He could have gone directly to his destination and saved himself some trouble, but he needed time to think. Even more so now.

Zax activated a vision scrambler, exited the bathroom, and went looking for his flight.

In a few hours, he would be on Assalin.