Just Another Day In Inplacement
“Got a good one for you!”
“Why is it, Annis, that when you say ‘good one’, I hear ‘utter wire-and-tape job’?”
“Couldn’t say, boss. Anyway, today’s case here-and-now one-thirteen. An infugee from the Republic – one of their scientists who wanted to defect, looks like. He managed to piece together some good-enough brain-scanning equipment out of repurposed lab equipment, then programmed it to rip him and mail him to us in a few thousand steganographically-concealed parts, scrubbing as it went. ExSec picked him out of the stream and shuffled him over here.”
“That’s routine. Don’t make me wait for the good part.”
“Well, it looks like their firewalls are a little bit better than he thought they were. They detected the transmission and cut it off in midstream. We have about half of his mind-state. The other half’s still at the sending point.”
“Okay. Well, call –”
“And the Vonnie ambassador is pounding the table demanding that we send back our half.”
“Hah. If you ever find one to beat this, remind me to go on leave and stick you with the coordinator’s job.” He rubbed his temples. “Right. Get me whoever found this over at ExSec, State and Outlands, the Curia, whoever’s senior on-shift at Instantiations, and a stiff drink.”