Pop Travel by Tara Tyler Read Free Book Online Page B

first-timers. Some people get all worked up, can’t handle the process, and toss their cookies before transmission. They have to shut down the whole platform, if they make it that far.” He grinned as he explained. “Once, someone got sick in his dock when he arrived. I bet that was a nice surprise for the receiving nurse.” He stifled a laugh.
    Great. That would be me.
    “Yeah.” Cooper faked a smile. “I meant, have there been any glitches with the arrivals. Any travelers who didn’t come through?”
    “Oh. Nope. Not that I know of.”
    “Could anyone arrive and sneak past Security? Or maybe switch their destination at the last minute and go somewhere else?”
    “I doubt it. It would be impossible to change the codes at the transmission docks with the handprint ID linked to their destination. And no one is sneaking past Security. You can see how many cameras we have. This isn’t even all of them. The platform cams have their own special room in the back. Only three guards have clearance high enough to monitor those. But if a receiving platform wasn’t expecting an arrival, it could be in use. There’s a safety alert that won’t let two people be received at the same time, or else there’d be a big mess.”
    “And there’s been no problem like that? No messes?”
    “No. Not here. The dock codes are uncrackable. Someone would have to know a specific one to be able to transmit here. The technicians don’t even know the codes. They just monitor the handscans linked to the travelers’ tickets and the computers take care of sending travelers to the right destination.”
    “I see,” Cooper answered. He had a hard time swallowing such naïve trust. Leaving his life in the diodes of a computer made him even more wary of it. “Well, the lady I’m looking for is Dolores Engle, scheduled to arrive here at the ATC on May 10. Do you have records of her arrival? Is there any way I could see footage from that day?”
    “No way. That’s totally classified, man. Sorry. I don’t have that kind of clearance,” Gordy answered and scanned his screens, squinting as if he’d caught someone up to no good.
    Gordy’s quick, cutting response seemed out of character to Cooper, especially after all the friendly banter. His brow creased as he wracked his brain for a backup plan. Until his request fell flat, Cooper hadn’t realized how much he took for granted Gordy’s help.
    “Oh. I hoped you might be able to help me. Who does have clearance that might be able to help?”
    Gordy turned to Cooper and grinned.
    “I’m just playin’ with ya, man!” He gave Cooper a punch in the arm. Good old Gordy. “Hold on. Let me take a look. I don’t have access to the platforms but I can check the causeway and public areas.”
    He used his inset desk CC to search for the recorded arrival of Cooper’s traveler.
    “Hunh! May 10 doesn’t seem to be in here.”
    “What does that mean? You only keep records for certain days?”
    “No, no. I think I know what happened. Let me check with Joel.” He called over to a paunchy, balding guy with light blue, framed glasses. “Hey, Joel. Do you remember if May 10 was one of our federal audit days?”
    Joel rolled his chair out from his desk and adjusted his glasses.
    “Uh. May 10. Yeah. That sounds like one of the dates. I’ll look.”
    “Federal audit days? What’s that?” Cooper asked.
    “Here it is. May 10.” Joel adjusted his glasses again. “Oh, the Feds come in once a month or so. Like a surprise inspection. They take some recordings and interview some of the employees. They call it random sampling, to watch for anything suspicious and keep up with our procedures. The Video Monitor Safety Act passed after the ATC revamped the whole travelport for pop travel. We made a deal with the government guys not to be connected to the Qnet in the interest of national security. Surprise federal audits are their way of keeping tabs on us.” Joel spouted with an air of authority, like