That was fast
10am today, the Feds showed up at BioSoft.

I wonder what the judge thought when he signed the search warrant. The thing that really surprised me was that it wasn't one of those mysterious Patriot Act warrants of dubious constiutionality; if you can't think of a way that the technology used for terrorism, then you are sadly lacking in imagination. It merely gave the FBI agents who came to BioSoft the authority to search any computer Dmitri Gubanov or Carter Drummond had access to for evidence of trafficking in the buying and selling of human beings, kidnapping, and "use of unknown technology to violate immigration laws". My first instinct was to tell the agents to go to town, but I called Mr. K anyway. He, naturally, went ballistic.

After a LOUD ten-minute "discussion" in his office, during which time the agents had started disconnecting computers, my phone rang and Mr. Kraft summoned me to the office. "Michelle... is this insanity these apes are spewing true? Are they really investigating Dmitri and Carter because they were involved in brain-swapping?"

I took a deep breath. "Yes sir, although brain-swapping isn't the right term. The brains stay in the heads, but the information..."

"Yes, they told us that - a combination of the nanotech project Dmitri was working on and Erik's brain-mapping project. But it's absurd! You can't be a man!"

"I'm not, but I remember being one, and my personality isn't the result of Michelle Garber's experiences. It's very real."

He just started staring open-mouthed, and then put some steel in his back. "If my company has facillitated this in any way, I want to know. Do what you have to."

The agents left, and I was about to when he told me to stay behind for a minute. "You never said anything."

"I didn't know who I could trust. I still don't." I felt a little ashamed to say that, but it was the truth. "I was trying to work under the radar."

"And you're done with under-the-radar now?"

"Well, it's not just me any more. There are others. And maybe if Dmitri hadn't killed Car--Mikhail, I would have kept quiet, but once the police got involved, it was waaaaay out of my control."

"Yeah." There was an awkward pause. "So, you used to be a programmer."

"It's been a while."

"Well, without Carter and Dmitri, we're falling behind. I may have to put you to work."

I told him I didn't know how much good I'd be, having gotten so out of practice. He chuckled, said that must apply to a lot of my life, and told me to go tell Maureen what was going on. I said I would, but not everything. He said he understood, and I went out into the maelstrom.

It was crazy. Carter's and Dmitri's machines were the only ones being packed up, but everyone's was being searched, and they were asking Maureen what was going on. I made the announcement that "Carter" and Dmitri had been involved in some illegal activities which they may have furthered from the office; the FBI was investigating. They seemed to accept it, but not many were too happy.

Kate and Jen decided to hang around my desk since they couldn't get much work done until the network was back up. They asked how "Sam" was doing, whether I knew anything more about all this. I felt bad not telling them everything, but Carter's really not ready for this to come out to people he knew. Eventually, the agents left and everyone got back to business, although it was tense and nothing worked quite right.

Carter seemed to take the news pretty well when I told him about it after work; I think he's starting to get past the point where everything is just incomprehensible and he wants somebody to pay for what they did to him - Korpin being dead and Dmitri being in prison isn't nearly enough. I can't say I really blame him.

-Marta
- posted 9:55 PM - - (archive use only)