XXXVII - Secrets

Though very groggy, Elbe raised his head from the pillow. What was that noise? A pounding on the door! It continued, increasing in intensity. Someone must want something pretty badly. Must be an emergency of some sort. What could it be?!

His heart racing from the sudden awakening, Elbe jumped out of bed and headed for the door. How long had he been asleep? He glanced at a lighted clock. A couple of hours. What was going on?! In the dark, he stubbed his toe on a leg of the kitchen table. "Ow!!" he yelped. He continued hopping to the door. He turned two locks and opened it.

Councilman Casio's fist whiffed the air. He practically stumbled inside as the door swung inward.

"What's the matter, Elbe!?" Casio erupted excitedly, barging into the room. "Don't you ever answer your phone?! I must have rung it twenty times before I came over here!"

"It doesn't always work, sir," Elbe answered apologetically. "I think it's the bell mechanism or something. I'm sorry; I don't know much about phones."

"You can break into Nexus," Casio began incredulously, "supposedly, this state's most secure computer system, but you can't fix your phone?! What kind of sense does that make?!" Casio hastily waved off the answer forming on Elbe's lips. "Never mind that! I need you to hop onto your computer keyboard and get some information for me, so let's go!"

"Go where, sir?" he asked innocently.

"Back to the office, Elbe!! You know the place?!! Where your computer kingdom is!!"

"We don't have to go there, sir. I have a terminal and modem here. My computer at the office is always on, so I can access it from this room."

"Well then let's get at it!" Casio exclaimed, motioning the young man on. "Good Nome," he muttered, following Elbe, "Nexus can be broken into by a computer hacker from his apartment. No wonder the state financial system is in such a mess."

Elbe led him to a computer at one end of the small apartment. Computer books and manuals were stacked everywhere, most on the floor, some on a table. Elbe sat down in front of the terminal. Casio pulled up a chair beside him.

"How come you don't turn this thing off?" Casio asked, pointing at the bright screen.

"People can call into my computer anytime and leave messages on my bulletin board," he explained.

"Where do you put the stickpins?"

"Sir?"

"I thought you said your phone didn't work," Casio remarked, ignoring his own question and Elbe's subsequent query.

"Two separate numbers, sir. The computer answers when somebody calls it. I can't hear my phone ring because the bell doesn't always work."

"I'm glad we cleared that up," Casio commented dryly. "We wouldn't want people answering phones when computers can do it, now, would we?"

"So what do you need, sir?"

"Quartz Lok. Councilwoman. I want to know who she is. I want to know where she came from. I want to know whose womb bore the woman!"

"She's an orphan, sir. That could be difficult."

"Would I pound on your door near the crack of dawn if this were easy, Elbe?!" Casio exclaimed in exasperation. "Now start punching away there," he added, pointing to the keyboard. "Hawk's life could depend on the answer to this question!"

Elbe began typing. "What could this have to with Councilman Kamon?"

"Maybe nothing," Casio answered. "Maybe everything."

Though puzzled, Elbe's fingers flew across the keyboard. Councilman Casio's answer made little sense. But then, his answers were frequently obtuse.

Several minutes passed. The only sound in the room was Elbe's tapping on the keyboard. Casio saw Elbe enter software systems. Passwords were requested. Elbe's fingers provided them. The young man seemed to be having no trouble.

"Quartz Lok's file is sealed," Elbe finally announced. He pointed to his monitor. "See?"

"I see a yellow mark next to her name," Casio answered. "So what?"

"That means the file is sealed," Elbe explained. "It's private; confidential."

"Open it, Elbe," Casio stated firmly.

Elbe hesitated. "It's against the law, sir."

"Either open the file, Elbe, or get out of the chair and give me the commands and I'll type them in!"

"No, I'll do it, sir." Elbe was uncomfortable. He did not wish to refuse the commands of the Councilman, but neither did he wish to do anything illegal. He tapped in the required commands, then added, "If you did it, both of us would be breaking the law. It's my computer; it's my log on name."

"We're not breaking the law, Elbe! I'm not here, and you're still in bed asleep, understand?"

"I should lie, sir?"

"I'm telling you not to answer questions that aren't asked! Is that a little more acceptable to you, Elbe?!"

"Yes, sir."

"Swell," Casio said, watching the screens on the monitor continue to change.

Another minute passed. Elbe's eyes suddenly opened wide in amazement. "Chief Councilwoman Mavox Pro is Quartz Lok's mother?!" He was incredulous. "But the chief councilwoman's not married; never has been." He turned to Casio. "Is this possible, sir?"

"I believe these records," Casio stated. "And frankly, I'm not surprised. Yesterday, I would have been, but not today." He saw the puzzled expression on Elbe's face but Casio chose not to elaborate. "I'll explain it to you later, Elbe. But now, let's try for the grand prize," he said, rubbing his palms together in excited anticipation. "What's behind door number two?...Who's the father?"

Elbe returned his attention to the computer. He scrolled through a few screens. He became absorbed with the search again. "This is most odd," he spoke almost to himself. "Ordinarily, the father would be listed right after the mother." Something on the screen caught his eye. His eyebrows raised in surprise. He stopped. "We won't be able to find the name of the father. I'm sorry, sir."

"No!" Casio exclaimed. "I don't want to hear 'I'm sorry'! Why can't you find the name of the father?"

"Because it's a religiously sealed file," Elbe explained. He pointed to the screen. "Do you see those red characters?" D199 appeared in bright red letters. "This file was sealed by the Delphi herself! And not the current Delphi! D199! That's two Delphis before this one! Mopor Sup was her name before she assumed the title of the Delphi. It's highly unusual, almost unheard of, for a birth file to be sealed in this manner. I can't even imagine why it might have been done."

"Don't give me explanations, Elbe!" Casio replied. "Just open it!"

"I can't sir!" Elbe protested. "The balance of the file isn't even on this network! It's on a system maintained by a select few at the Domus."

"Can you get into that other system?!" Casio demanded.

Elbe hesitated.

"That's a 'yes'!" Casio concluded. "Now do it! At least try!"

"Only a handful of people at the Domus have access to a file such as this one," Elbe explained, still troubled by Casio's order. "It--it could be considered sacrilegious to open a file that has been sealed by a Delphi."

"So we'll go to temple services tomorrow, Elbe!" Casio argued. "But please, just try to open the file!"

"I've been into systems such as Nexus, sir; I admit that," Elbe continued to wrestle with this moral dilemma. "But..."

Casio placed his hand on Elbe's shoulder. His tone was consoling. "Elbe, Hawk needs us now. He needs you now. His life may very well depend upon what we find here. Will we help him or not?"

There was a moment of indecision. Then Elbe took a deep breath. "I'll do it, sir." He began tapping on the keyboard again. "There's no guarantee I will be successful, though. The Domus network is intended to be very secure. It's extremely sophisticated. I created an algorithm to search for possible passwords on the networks serving the Capitol, but I've never tried it on this one. The builders of the networks have tendencies; I honestly don't believe they realize that. The algorithm takes into account those tendencies, thus making the search for a password far more efficient. But the Domus network..." His voice trailed off as he became engrossed in his work.

For half an hour, Elbe labored. He frowned, he pursed his lips, he shifted in his chair, but he remained relentless in his pursuit. Casio said nothing; he simply watched. He did not wish to break Elbe's concentration.

Finally, a look of wonderment came to Elbe's face. "I'm in!" he exclaimed. He seemed awestruck himself, as if someone else had performed the feat.

Casio nodded. "Good job, Elbe!" he said. "Just keep going," he urged him on. "Remember what we're looking for."

Moments later, Elbe's fingers stopped darting across the keyboard. He stared in fixation at the screen, stunned, unable to believe the message shining back at him.

Casio was peering at the same display. He smiled broadly. "Grand prize, Elbe," he uttered quietly.

END OF CHAPTER