"Denton, this is completely unacceptable. I can't work in these kinds of conditions."

Denton leaned back, sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. "Tanner, this is what we've got to work with. We're not on Proxima b, and you know that."

"That's obvious."

"Listen, our hosts have no obligation to provide you with the same resources that you have at home. Considering you're only on this trip in the first place because of my insistence, I'd appreciate a little less whining."

A short silence followed before Tanner answered. "Fine. Just be aware, the investigation will likely take longer because processing evidence will take longer."

"That's fine. Even if that does happen, it wouldn't be your fault, ok? You work with what you have, and we'll see where it takes us. Now, can we get to work, please?"

"Ok, yes, of course. I'm sending you the information about the transmission we intercepted back home to your terminal. You should see it any second."

Denton grunted as he looked around his temporary office. It wasn't much larger than a cleaning closet. Or, so it felt. There was a desk with a computer terminal, a chair and the usual holocom device for a more personal call experience. At that very moment, a digital recreation of Tanner's head was visible a few inches above his desk. A couple of chairs on the other side of the desk completed the sparse furnishings of his temporary home. Although his office back home on Proxima b wasn't luxurious, at least it was spacious. 

Leah had made some vague promises about it being temporary while they moved people around, but Denton wasn't so sure. He had nodded and said thank you, determined to focus on the case and not the circumstances. There was enough complaining from Tanner about bandwidth limitations and other technicalities that he had little understanding of. The size of his office was unimportant anyway, as long as he had the tools he needed to get the job done. Whining wasn't one of those, and he would have thought an AI like Tanner would understand that.

Moments later, an icon flashed on his screen. All the case files opened up immediately after he tapped on it, covering his screen with information.

"Alright, I've got it. Let's focus on the transmission."

"Right, the diplomatic transmission. It was intercepted, as you know, just before the final event of the Olympics."

"The Descent."

"Yes, exactly."

"So how does this intercept lead us back to Gabi?"

"That's the tricky part. All diplomatic messages, like the one intercepted, are carried on the ships that travel between the solar systems. They're created in their home system, encrypted and packaged up before they are transported securely through space to the destination system. There, upon arrival, they are transmitted to the final destination in that solar system, wherever it may be."

Denton leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers on the table. "So, they're not live?"

"Definitely not."

"Huh," Denton said and paused for a second before he continued. "Believe it or not, I didn't know that."

"It makes little difference for the investigation. Our goal is to find the source of the transmission here on Earth."

"Wait a second, Tanner, don't say that. It could actually matter. For example, the person that created the message could conceivably also have traveled to Proxima b together with the message and been present during the Descent."

"That is possible, I agree, but what would be the point? If someone is traveling to the same destination as the message at the same time, why send the message in the first place? Tracing it back to the source would be much harder if a message like that is sent locally without the source signatures and metadata."

"Terrorism isn't always logical, Tanner. The perps are often driven by irrational thinking. But, that's a discussion for another day. I'm not saying it happened, I'm just saying we need to keep our options open. For all we know, it could even have been Gabi."

"Except for the fact that she had been embedded with the team for a long time."

"Ok, yes, there is that," Denton conceded. "But technically, possible."

"Absolutely."

"So in theory, it is even possible that the person responsible for the message is actually on Proxima b right now and not even here on Earth."

"Yes but to know that we first have to find out who the source of the message is."

"So we're back to the message," Denton said and sighed.

"Yes. Fortunately, I've been processing the metadata of the message, and there are clues that may lead us in the right direction."

Denton leaned forward, towards the hovering head of Tanner. "Tell me more."

"Unfortunately, we're going to need the help of Commander Connor for this one."

"Leah? You're kidding."

"I'm afraid not. The data indicates a surface location, but the information means little to me. We need her help to identify the exact location. I also can't come with you to the surface, as you might remember."

Denton sighed. He had known the time would come when he would need to seek the assistance of his liaison, he had just hoped it would take a bit longer before that moment would arrive.

"I'll give her a call." Denton disconnected the call and quickly dialed the number Leah had given her. Moments later, her face appeared above the desk.

"That didn't take long," she said with a smug grin on her face. "How can I help?"

Denton rolled his eyes and bit his tongue before he said anything rude. "Tanner has found a clue to the source of the message we intercepted, but we're going to need your help deciphering what it means from a Terran perspective."

"Alright, I'll be right there."

"Oh no, that's not necessary. I can..." Denton tried to protest, but it was pointless. Leah had already terminated the call. He sighed. He dialed Tanner back.

"That was quick," Tanner said, a smirk on his face.

"Don't want to talk about it," Denton said. "Before she gets here, what can you tell me about the source location?"

"I can do better than that. I can show you." Tanner's face disappeared and was replaced by a rotating three-dimensional projection of Earth. The projection changed as Tanner zoomed into an area in the northern hemisphere. The magnification stopped at street level, hovering above a house with a red marker flashing right above it.

"Where's this?"

"Unfortunately, I only have the geographical terrain data. I haven't been able to populate the names of cities and continents yet. Connectivity errors to the appropriate database, they say. Regardless, this is the location, this is where the message originated."

"That's impossible," a voice from the door said.

Denton looked up to find Leah standing in the door, intently staring at the hovering image of Earth. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Leah sat down in one of the chairs opposite Denton and nodded towards the flashing icon. "Messages don't originate there, especially not diplomatic ones."

"Look, I'm no expert on Earth..."

"Obviously," Leah interjected.

"But Tanner is certain this is where the message originated."

"Then he's wrong."

"Tanner is an AI. He's never wrong," Denton said as he stood up and leaned forward across the desk, his cheeks flushed.

The image of Earth was replaced by Tanner's head. "Ok, so maybe I can clarify my point of view? Leah could be right in the sense that the message itself wasn't composed at this location. However, the viral payload that affected the Descent most certainly was created at this location."

"What's the Descent?" Leah asked.

"I'll explain in more detail later," Denton said. "In short, it's a sporting event that was sabotaged by someone at this location. But, that's beside the point right now. What can you tell us about that location?"

"It's an area long considered condemned by the local government. Many of the buildings are old and crumbling, yet many of the residents have remained, refusing to move out. The local governor long ago decided that it wasn't worth policing and moved most law enforcement out of there, hoping that by doing so, the population would follow. Instead, it turned into a place where does that have something to hide and those that just want to distance themselves from civilization went to, well, hide."

"Sounds like the perfect place for someone that wants to cause trouble."

"It is but this would be the first time sabotage of interplanetary caliber has come out of this area. There's plenty of individuals in this area that would create anything you ask for, at a price, but most of them wouldn't be stupid enough to do what you're describing."

"Ok, so what's the next step? Obviously, we need to go down there and investigate further. You have some sort of shuttle we can take, right? When can we leave?"

"Kind of," Leah said and hesitated. "It's not quite that simple though."

"Why not?"

"We can't just land a shuttle in the middle of this area. The locals don't care much for law enforcement or military like I just mentioned. Landing close to the building would require a large military force just to secure the area, and it would likely scare off the person we're trying to find."

"Ok so what do we do?"

"We need to go native," Leah said with a smile and stood up. "Follow me."

~~~

Looks like Denton and Tanner are hot on the trail here. What do you think going "native" means?