Free Xenotech Queen's Gambit: A Novel of the Galactic Free Trade Association (Xenotech Support Book 2) by Dave Schroeder Page B

idea,” I said. “Let’s take a look at the recordings from the executive floor’s elevator lobby for a few days before the problems started.”
    There was a knock on the door to the security monitoring room. It was Vic holding a large, resealable plastic bag filled with a kilo of raw hamburger in one hand and a small pill bottle marked with the MF&P logo in the other.
    “Mistress Marigold said you wanted these, Mr. Buckston,” he said. “I hope you know why, ’cause I can’t figure it out.”
    “Call me Jack,” I said. “We could use another set of eyes. Want to help?”
    “I’d be glad to,” said Vic, “but my shift just ended.”
    Vic and I both looked at Venna for her approval.
    “Stay on the clock, Vic,” said Venna with a smile. “I’m authorizing you for overtime. I have a feeling we’re both going to learn something.”
    “Great,” said Vic, finding a seat in front of a bank of monitors. “Now I can find out why you wanted the meat and pills.”
    “Not quite yet,” I said to Vic, then turned to Venna. “Please put the recordings on high speed playback on three screens. We can each take a day. Queue it up to begin after the place clears out at night, say seven or eight o’clock.”
    “Will do,” said Venna. “What are we looking for?”
    “You’ll know it when you see it,” I said. “Call out if you notice anything unusual.”
    I checked the wastebasket next to the desk where I was working and confirmed that it had several plastic liners inside for the convenience of the janitorial staff. I removed the second liner down and flattened it out on the desk.
    Keeping half an eye on the screen I was supposed to be watching, I opened the kilo of hamburger and separated it into nine approximately quarter pound balls on the plastic liner.
    I was comfortable with the metric system—and the galmet system, for that matter—but a quarter of a pound still sounded more natural to me than a tenth of a kilo when it came to burgers.
    Then I opened the bottle of fast-acting Lethe and pushed a pill deep into each ball. I surveyed my handiwork, saw that it was good, and put the balls back in the plastic bag. I finished by tossing the liner in the trash.
    I hadn’t been paying much attention to the recordings flashing by on my monitor, so I was pleased when Vic spotted something.
    “Look!” he said, freezing the frame on Dree and the executive floor’s elevator lobby.
    “What did you find?” said Venna, leaning in, her beard tentacles now relaxed and writhing naturally.
    I smiled. Vic had found what I’d been expecting. He’d frozen the screen just as two of Dree’s mature clones had broken off from her roots and moved toward the elevator. It was clear that several more were ready to separate soon.
    “Who knew the juvenile form was mobile?” I said, musing.
    Vic played the recording forward in slow motion. We saw several three-foot mini-Dree clones assemble in front of the elevator.
    “Switch angles,” I said to Venna.
    She switched to the same time stamp on a camera observing the elevator doors. Seven of nine junior versions of Dree formed a plant pyramid and collectively pushed the up button. Then they boarded the elevator and disappeared.
    “I’m going to wash my hands, then head up to the seventh floor,” I said. “Please clear that level of all employees so the mini-Dree clones won’t be afraid to come out.”
    “Right away,” said Venna.
    “And Vic?” I said. “Use your eagle eyes and track where the other two clones went.”
    “Will do.”
    I took the bag of hamburger, hit the washroom for some soap and water, then rode up to the top floor from the basement. Venna followed me on the security cameras and opened the security door to the seventh floor as I approached it. I walked down the access corridor until I got to the Balaam’s Asters zone, since that looked like where several of them were hiding. Then I took seven of the nine balls of hamburger with the Lethe inside and