World of Fire (Dev Harmer 01) by James Lovegrove Read Free Book Online Page B

infiltrators and spies. Not easy, but if you push the right buttons hard enough...”
    Dev studied the man. If Thorne was Polis+, a digital sentience housed in a flesh casing and trying to pass for human, then he was doing a superb job. More likely he was just what he appeared to be. A very cool customer, too.
    “You can go,” Dev said.
    “Oh, thank you, my lord,” the miner drawled. “Too kind. Tell the chief of police I’ll see her in court.”
    There was only one other detainee who caught Dev’s attention. He was a young unemployed man who, according to Kahlo, was a confirmed user and dealer of illegal homemade pharmaceuticals, and such a frequent offender that they were thinking of installing a revolving door at police headquarters especially for him.
    His glazed, watery eyes, with their hugely dilated pupils, gave away little. He was off his face on some sort of psychoactive substance, probably one of the customised opiate alkaloids or partial dopamine agonists he synthesised on a printer in his apartment. His responses were slow and puzzled.
    Of course, if you were a Polis+ infiltrator and wanted to pass the Uncanny Valley test, you could do worse than pose as a dull-witted junkie.
    Dev spent quarter of an hour with the dopehead – his name was Franz Glazkov – before concluding that it was hopeless carrying on. The kid kept drifting off mid-sentence, or else simply repeated Dev’s questions back at him. Drug use had turned his brain into a kind of echo chamber, where sounds reverberated meaninglessly.
    Doubts remained, however, even after Dev had dismissed him.
    “I’m going to follow Glazkov, see where he goes and what he gets up to,” he told Kahlo. “I’d like you to release him from custody first and let the other detainees stew a little longer.”
    “He’s just a junkie. Knowing him, he’ll head off somewhere to score or deal, one or the other. Waste of your time.”
    “Let me be the judge of that.”
    “Fine.” Kahlo shrugged. “Me, I’m off to the rail network HQ. I’ve managed to get through at last to the controllers.”
    “They worked out what happened?”
    “No clue as yet. All they can tell me is that it was some kind of mass systemic failure. They lost all power to the mainframe, the backups didn’t kick in, and they were impotent for about ten minutes, not to mention incommunicado. Blind, deaf and dumb. Couldn’t do a thing, not even activate a complete network shutdown. It happened twice. Once around the time of the first crash, and again when the shuttle came after us.”
    “Have them check for an externally transmitted virus.”
    “As in a Polis Plus virus?”
    “Could be. Just have them run a Polisware scan. They might not have thought of that. They can download the software off the ISS central office hub if they haven’t got their own.”
    “Okay,” said Kahlo, “but only because I think it’s a good idea. Don’t get the impression I’m taking orders from you, Lieutenant Harmer.”
    “Ahhh. ‘Lieutenant.’ You’ve been doing some homework on me, captain. I’m flattered.”
    “Don’t be. I’m thorough, that’s all. Lieutenant Dev Harmer of the Ninth Extrasolar Engineers. You were a sapper. Speciality: neutralising and demolishing Polis Plus hardware in the field, mainly mechs. Served all nine and a half years of the Frontier War. Started out as a private, rose rapidly as you racked up the combat hours until you were leading your own platoon. Highly decorated.” Narrowing her eyes a smidgeon, she added, “Also, a veteran of the Battle of Leather Hill – or should I say a ‘survivor’?”
    Dev deflected that last statement as quickly as possible. “Yes, well, before my head swells too large, I should point out that I’m not in the army any more, so strictly speaking I’m not a lieutenant now, and none of those other facts are pertinent. Also, the police hierarchy and the military hierarchy aren’t compatible, so you don’t outrank