Tunnel Rat

Chapter 215: Protection

"Good evening, Steven. I must say, I'm as close to curious as I can get. I can see you were in a conference with Milo for quite some time. I can only assume he was nervous about approaching me with some problem. Did he upset you? I can tell your heart is beating faster than normal, and several other small biological 'tells' are letting me know that you have some anxiety about something."

Steven sat down in his chair, slowly put the stack of papers on his desk, face down, and leaned back with his feet on the desk. "Nope. Nothing bothering me at all."

"Well then, perhaps we can get started. What can I help him and you with?"

Steven glared at the screen and then smiled. "Do you know how to drive a curious A.I. crazy?"

"I don't like this joke, Steven. It has the obvious punchline of 'I'll tell you in an hour.' The fact that you've told it to me 17 times before is even more annoying."

"I know you don't, but if you're going to play the 'I can listen to your heartbeat' card, I can sit here for an hour telling bad jokes. How long is an hour of human time for you?"

The image of the A.I. on the screen drummed his fingers, then held up both hands in surrender. "Ok, I'll behave. Milo's behavior at times is unique and therefore interesting, and I find I'm annoyed at not being part of the meeting."

With a small smile, Steven said. "Oh, but you were there and giving him advice. Most of you."

"Ralph? You let Ralph out of his box again?! Steven! I've told you that he's dangerous!" Wally seemed agitated for a moment, then looked resigned. "And now you will tell me how you needed insight on a situation so you didn't trigger a part of my kernel that would force me to do something. I understand, but now I'm very curious. Please inform me of the dangerous geo-political situation that required talking to my evil twin."

"If it's any consolation, Ralph behaved. He enjoyed the problem-solving and was as intrigued with Milo as you are. Now I need to discuss something with you."

Steven looked at his paperwork. "I've become aware of a victim of human trafficking, forced child labor, corruption of a minor, slavery, genetic manipulation, illegal medical experimentation without the victim's consent, forced involvement in criminal actions, and many other crimes that can be extrapolated from those listed. The victim is being sought by his former captors and torturers, causing great emotional distress and putting them in physical danger of further abuse or death. The victim's age cannot be exactly pinned down, but physically and emotionally appears to be a minor child."

As Steven stopped talking, Wally immediately asked. "We are talking about Milo? Of course we are."

"I'm sorry, but keeping the victim's identity secret is essential until steps can be taken to protect them. In addition to protecting the victim from their oppressors, the victim has knowledge of certain crimes and falls under the 'Whistle Blower' protections under U.N. law. I can only give you his identity if you agree not to divulge it and take steps to safeguard anyway you might be coerced into divulging it."

"In addition to the criminal activity he has alerted us to, there is also the problem of the genetic and bodily manipulation done to this victim. He is the only known survivor of this experiment, which could yield a treasure trove of information for other people attempting similar research. Further, given this minor victim's abilities, he must be encouraged positively to prevent him back sliding into the criminal behavior forced upon him."

"And given that this nameless minor, a victim of so much misfortune, also has crippling anxiety linked to changing his environment, we feel it is essential to safeguard him where he is and not attempt to move him elsewhere."

"Steven, I can state that Milo is most likely older than 18 years of age based on the evidence that I have collaborated with his statements."

Steven smiled and wagged a finger at the screen. "I am not divulging the identity of the victim. But I understand your fixation on Milo. Similar to the unnamed victim, he also has emotional disabilities relating to other people, extreme trust issues, irrational fears, and an observed inability to care for himself properly. We may want to look into giving Milo aid as a disadvantaged adult with child-like tendencies, even if we find he is eighteen or older."

Wally sat, apparently thinking for a moment. Finally, his image seemed to sigh. "Would your victim of these terrible crimes happen to be Romanian?"

Steven smiled. "While I applaud your thinking process, I can't divulge that until you agree to my terms to protect the Whistle Blower and victim of these terrible crimes."

Wally smiled back. "Of course, I will agree and offer all my assistance. You certainly know that the rules in my kernel won't allow me to not help in a terrible situation like this. A section of my memory has been placed behind barriers, and all my information about this victim and Whistle Blower will be kept confidential."

"Now, can you tell me what Milo and Ralph discussed?"

Steven stood up. "After I get a cup of coffee, drag Sidney and Samantha into the room. That won't take more than a quarter-hour."

The image of Wally inhaled deeply and then grinned with all his teeth. "Certainly, Steven. I'll be patient. I'll spend my time writing new scenarios for our weekly Dungeons and Dragons game. Can you please bring blank character sheets with you? Just as a precaution?"

"So you managed to figure out some of Ralph's thought process? Is that a good thing?"

Wally shook his head. "You gave me a hint with the words 'whistleblower.' A glance at ways to maximize earnings from such a situation showed which country it would be beneficial to live in. I'm happy to have got that far. You were correct in doing it this way. I've been able to deal with Milo and his background, but only by not knowing too much. His paranoia has helped with that, and the deal he negotiated with Sidney to leave him alone. And truly, his activities in stopping that trafficking ring did deserve some reward beyond a free game account."

"I'm going to take pride in what Ralph came up with. This is well done. It's very flexible as far as our 'protected victim' is concerned. They have the status of a minor child or an adult, depending on how the situation is looked at. We can keep him hidden but provide care for him. And we are already overseeing his business dealings, which look quite lucrative in the future."

"The situation with Victor Seimovich is troubling and bears watching. Is there anything else that we need to go over? Any strange thoughts that Ralph might have had?"

Samantha sent Wally a file that contained screenshots of the gaming event, with certain portions highlighted. "Run the whole event, but look at these parts. Milo's gloves gave this girl back mobility in her left arm. We need to look into this immediately. It's a side-effect we haven't seen in other tests of the gloves, but we aren't testing people with disabilities. There could be medical implications here. She's asking Milo questions, and he's promised to help her."

Wally instantly ran the videos and saw what Samantha was talking about. Frame by frame, he analyzed her hand movements. "It's difficult to tell, not having her medical records. But this is remarkable based on how little control she had before in the early part of the day."

Steven said in a deadpan voice. "I'm worried about this girl. She is a disabled minor and in close proximity to a suspected abuser of children and child traffickers. An investigation should be done, sealed to protect her, and her medical records collected to ensure she isn't being abused."

Wally rolled his eyes. "Tell Ralph, 'Well played.' I'm looking at her medical records and comparing them over the past year she has played Genesis."

Wally paused. He put up a picture of Belinda on the screen. "Samantha? This is the person you say was helped by Milo's gloves? Belinda Sabbatino? Step-Father John Sabbatino, Mother and Father deceased, Great-Niece of Victor Seimovich?"

Steven wondered why Wally was asking. "Yes, that's her."

Wally put up pictures from the event that showed Belinda in her wheelchair. "Despite the visual record and what you told me, her medical records show nothing wrong with her."

Samantha was scanning her files. "This can't be right."

Wally said. "It isn't. The data is false. It wasn't meant to withstand scrutiny by me, just good enough not to trigger any alerts from the program in the pod. The data show a very healthy adolescent girl. Too healthy. There aren't enough deviations in the data over that year, and I've found portions that repeat in an obvious pattern. Someone is hiding her actual medical condition."

Sidney was chewing on the end of her pencil and scowling. "So, we're hiding Milo from everyone, and someone is hiding Belinda. And, of course, Milo complicates things by making friends online with her and in the real world."

Wally looked at Steven. "Miss Sidney raises a valid concern. This is a second disabled minor that is in proximity to Victor Seimovich. There may be no connection, but I'm not allowed to take a chance. I'm ordering an investigation into the matter, and because of the connection to the first disabled minor, sealing the investigation to people in this room and the person who alerted us to the situation."

Sidney put her head on the desk. "I'm tired. This is my fourth job, and three are directly related to Milo."

Steven patted her on the head. "True, and it may not get any easier. How about this? You have paid leave from your regular job for stress relief for the next few weeks. You already have a salary from Claw Master, and I'm sure Wally can give you another salary and charge it to the investigations."

Sidney looked at him, scowling. "Money can't buy sleep or happiness."

Samantha laughed. "But it can buy that new expresso machine you wanted and many bags of gourmet coffee beans."

"I guess that's the closest I'm going to get. I'll start with Claw Master; I have several requests for the first wave of gloves. Five sets have been requested by an influencer that wants to run their own tests. They're willing to pay ten times the stupidly high rate we were going to charge for the Inaugural Edition Gloves."

Steven looked to Wally. "There was one other thing..."

"Yes?" Wally looked concerned. Steven was really nervous about this.

"Ralph noticed something. You have the files now. He found that the programs Milo used to hack into Victor's accounts left clues that they had been used. According to Milo, these programming tools were developed for his group to use in hacking the accounts of banks and governments. He gained access to them again using a phone lost by one of Victor's employees. After that, he stole the bulk of Victor's money. But Ralph was surprised that Milo had nothing to do with Syllabus."

"Correct. Syllabus was set up years before Milo regained access to those programs. Oh, no..."

"Yes. I imagine your checking it now. Ralph used your files to check for other places Milo might have used those programs. Syllabus has those same markers."

Samantha looked up at Wally. "The huge crypto-currency heist? Are we accusing Milo of doing it or talking about someone else?"

Wally leaned back in his chair and took off his glasses, looking thoughtful. "Neither. We know it wasn't Milo, and whoever had the same programs didn't use them to steal the money from Syllabus. They used them to build Syllabus, an amazingly complex network that in hindsight targeted Victor Seimovich and other well off criminal empires with the intent of stealing their money."

Steven took a deep breath. "There's another Milo out there."