Pa'an

Due to the short notice, Jag’s private jet was not available and he was forced to fly business class on a commercial jet. He was not usually a garrulous man, but he thought he recognized the face of the man in the seat beside him. That man was reading a briefing document bearing the US Congressional Seal.

“I hope you don’t mind if I notice that you are with Congress.” Jag turned in his seat and waited for the man to put down his document.

“Sax Hornsby, Senator from Vermont. You have a trace of accent. German, perhaps?”

“Austrian, but I just assumed an executive position in Boston. I’m the new CEO of Ultradata.”

“The AI outfit? Don’t know much about them, but I remember reading something about Ultradata. Some scandal about sabotage?”

“We lost our primary asset, a very special AI, just yesterday. I’m on my way to face the music.”

“Hell of a thing. If I remember, wasn’t your AI the one that filed a raft of patents with an ET called Zovoarc or Zovo, or something like that? That really shook up the patent office!”

Jag lifted an eyebrow at the mention of Zovo. That was a name he had heard before.

“The very one, but that was before my employment there. Those patents are pretty controversial.”

“Hmm. I know something about that, and if I may, the problem is political, not technical. No one was supposed to know anything about the ET. They’re still making believe it was a hoax.” Sax leaned over and whispered, “Presidential directive.”

“And denial is a river,” said Jag. Sax pulled a long face at the bad pun.

“Denial is becoming a way of life. I presume you read about the International Atomic Energy inspector that was murdered? The guy had radium burns around his neck and they are claiming it was an occupational hazard.”

“What guy? I haven’t heard about that.”

“I have it here. This is just a public briefing document, not classified. The man was Victor Zimmer. Here is his picture.” Sax opened the briefing document and handed it across to Jag.

Jag, glanced at the picture and did a double take. “Mein Gott,” he thought to himself, “This man looks like an older version of me.” To Sax he said, “Terrible things happen. Do you mind if I read a paragraph or two?”

“Go ahead.” He tapped the paper in Jag’s hands, “That is a country that is not supposed to have any fissile material. More denial.”

Jag scanned the paper quickly and noted the involvement of jihadis in the murder. He went back and read it carefully, memorizing details. At the end he handed it back to Sax, dug out a business card from his jacket pocket and passed it to Sax. Sax reciprocated. Jag carefully pocketed the card with the Congressional seal. Sax watched his jaw muscles work as Jag clenched his jaws, but neither man said anything further. Both men suspected that some ghost had just been roused from a long sleep.

*****

The sky blue Bentley Arnage met Jag at the Geneva airport and drove him out to the Promenade du Lac. A man he did not know was piloting the runabout. Mentor frequently changed his people to prevent anyone from getting too familiar. The exception was Ogu, who was darkly present aboard the power yacht. “No dog this time, Mr. Kunstler?” “No dog, Ogu. I would not put you to the trouble of finding another gunny sack.” Ogu did not smile but simply said, “Wise, Mr. Kunstler. Mentor will be with you in a moment.”

The old man was wheeled out onto the aft deck. As the sliding glass doors to the salon were closing, Jag heard a girlish laugh and caught a glimpse of a shapely retreating back in a very brief bathing suit. The old goat must have had another monkey gland treatment.

“Greetings Mentor. I have my report ready.”

“Don’t bother, Jaeger, I have my sources, you know. Congratulations on a job well and efficiently done. They will blame it on the jihadis now. You have eliminated a threat to our plans, and gained another measure of our trust in the process. Ogu, please ask Kat to bring our refreshments.”

Kat, when she arrived, was the most stunning girl Jag had ever seen, body, face and manner. Kat smiled at Jag but positively beamed at Mentor. The performance disturbed Jag on a very fundamental level. Was she “trained” or just hired? He knew what the Order was capable of doing. Hell, he had experienced some of it first hand.

Kat wheeled out pastries, bread, paté and a chilled white wine, Chateau Yquem. She settled gracefully into a deck chair between Jag and Mentor and spread paté for them both. Jag found it impossible not to watch, until he caught Mentor studying him.

“Kat, this is Jaeger. You do not need to know his last name, but you do need to know he is one of our high level people.” Kat’s smile for Jag got brighter.

“How pleased I am, Mr. Jaeger. May I pour you some of this excellent wine?” Her voice purred in a breathy contralto.

“Jaeger, can we be sure that Aura will not be, um, resurrected?” Jaeger looked at Kat with a question. In answer, Mentor said, “Kat will not be concerned with our business here. You may proceed.”

“Resurrecting an AI personality is an unsolved problem in computer science. I checked that out before we arranged the party. However, I must put up a good show of trying to bring her back. Will that be a problem?”

“Only if it succeeds, my young friend. And the patents that she filed?”

“They default to Ultradata, of course, unless some ET comes down to claim them.” Jaeger laughed at his own joke. Mentor did not.

“An event that seems unlikely, we presume.”

“I think my secretary, Elexi, may have been introduced to the ET by the AI,” Jag mentioned in passing. Mentor blinked, and filed that datum away quite carefully.

“What else do you have to report?” Mentor asked.

“We are making progress with our critical contacts in the US. But do you know anything about a Senator Saxton Hornsby?”

“He is not one of us. Why do you ask?”

“I met him on the plane on the way here. He mentioned the patents ran afoul of a Presidential Directive.”

“That was our arrangement, yes. It should also, by some stroke of great luck, remove the ET, if there really is one, from the patent picture.”

Jag took a sip of the marvelous wine and waited for the long finish. He held out the glass to Kat and she refilled it. Mentor continued to study him like a bug under a microscope.

“Perhaps there is one more thing. Hornsby mentioned a fellow named Victor Zimmer. What can you tell me about him?”

Mentor stopped chewing and gave Jag a sharp look. “Kat, perhaps we are no longer in need of refreshment.” Kat took the hint and got up, graceful as any feline, and swayed through the glass doors. Jag and Mentor were now alone on the aft deck.

“Tell me Jaeger, what do you remember of your early childhood?”

“Well, I was raised by Yosef and Gertrude Kunstler after I left the orphanage. Of course then you came along in time for my private school and university education. But you know all that.”

“And you have never been curious about your biological origins? You have the means to find out.”

“A little, but there have always been distractions – education, training, and then assignments. They always came first and there was so little time to pursue other things.”

“That was deliberate, of course. But one day you might wake up and find that your curiosity must be satisfied. That would be an undesirable distraction from your goals with the Order. We want you to function as a contributor with your full participation, not as an automaton. That’s why we have not submitted you to the conditioning, like our Kat.”

“Kat? I thought so.”

“She is yours if you are inclined, and I think you are.”

“But she smiled at you, Mentor.”

“In spite of rumors, I don’t take monkey gland treatments seriously, Jaeger, and I’m an old man. My pleasures are more, um, abstract.”

“I never, I uh, please forgive..”

“Shut up, Jaeger and listen to me. It’s time you knew who you are. Victor Zimmer was your father.” Mentor watched Jag’s eyes widen just a bit and the line of his mouth grow taught. That was all Jag let him see.

Mentor went on to explain that Victor Zimmer’s wife had refused to follow him when he joined the IAE. Because he was in a useful and critical position, he was introduced to the lovely Marta, who left him and took their three year old son with her. The Order knew that this son had a strong genetic pedigree and assigned him a Mentor to raise him. So far he had met their every expectation.

“Where is Marta?”

“You don’t need to know that. She has served. Leave her to live her life.”

“Why was my father, Victor, why was he killed?”

“The jihadis wanted to make a point. He was an inconvenience to them. That is the way things are. It is no use to concern yourself other than to take a lesson: Those with the power to act must act without getting mired down in various considerations. Your father had too many considerations, and someone else acted first. Do you understand?”

“I understand, Mentor, but he was my father!”

“’Was’ is the operative word. You are Jaeger Kunstler, not Zimmer, and we have given you the power to act on our behalf. Use it and drop all the considerations!”

There was silence for long while.

“I see you have managed to get along without the dog, Jaeger. That is progress.”

With that, Ogu appeared, as if on cue, and wheeled Mentor away. Kat came back out and took Jaeger’s arm. He needed some solace. Kat was convenient and willing.

Training never stopped.