Sitting at his desk, Alain went through her file again. His instincts told him Franz Hopper was a piece to this puzzle somehow. Tomorrow he was going to talk to some students at Kadic, then maybe the Ishiyama's because they were close enough to meet in person. Until then, all he could do was look at her file and think. Then his computer binged from an email.

Looking at the screen he saw one new message so opened it and saw it was from a Dr. Alfhild Hallman. Opening the message he read it aloud to himself.

"Inspector, no one by that name has ever worked for, or in collaboration with this institute. I apologize if this is not what you were hoping for. But I do remember a Dr. Hopper, but from a very long time ago. A woman named Hopper, probably unrelated but if it helps, she worked at the now defunct Frontier Technologies."

Alain wrote a reply, thanking the doctor for responding at all and looked at Aelita's file. On his notes for Franz Hopper he wrote Frontier Technologies and placed question marks. It was probably unrelated, but a lead was a lead.

After he finished the notes he looked at he drawer and placed his hand on the handle. This time he didn't even pull the handle before he started to chant.

"Slyvie...Slyvie...Slyvie..." Alain chanted and let the handle go.

Alain sat in a chair next to the office of Jean-Pierre Delmas, waiting for the Head Master to arrive. He was already late as it was. Alain looked at his watch and groaned before he heard a nagging girl.

"Daddy, I need it," the girl said as she rounded the corner, making demands from her father.

"Not now Elizabeth, we'll talk about it after class, preferably after midterms when you prove you've earned it," the man said and the girl stomped off. Delmas saw Alain, and shook his hand before inviting him into his office where they sat across from one another.

"Sorry for my lack of punctuality, my daughter wants my wallet again," Mr. Delmas said and Alain returned a faint smile as they stepped into his office.

"What can I help you with Inspector, Beaumont was it?" Mr. Delmas asked as he sat at his desk, "Does this regard the disappearances, or Ms. Stones?"

"Both," Alain said, "I think they might be related. I'm trying to build a pattern of life for them, particularily Aelita. What do you know about her?"

"As a student, she was brilliant. Top five percent in her class, and I've heard she was quite the deejay too. Outside of class, I know little about her, just that she was friends with the missing children. When I found out she was here under a fraudulent ID, I had no idea how to respond. Mr. Della Robbia was apparently her cousin. I have no idea where her tuition was coming from either."

"Does the name Franz Hopper mean anything to you?" Alain asked.

"Yes, he was a former teacher here, even before I was head master," Mr. Delmas answered, "Is he involved?"

"I'm not sure yet," Alain said and Mr. Delmas looked at him, thinking.

"Ask Suzanne Hertz, she's been here longer than I have, she might remember him," Mr. Delmas said Alain wrote her name down.

"I also need to talk to some of the students. You can shadow me if you want, I understand the school is a business, and parents may not want an Inspector badgering their children."

"My secretary can assist you in that. Do remember, if they do not want to talk to you," Mr. Delmas said and Alain nodded and left the office while the secretary followed to make sure none of the interviews were harassing toward the students

After interviewing twelve students, he concluded Aelita and Jeremie were a couple, but not much beyond that. The group spent time with other students, and were well thought of. Sometimes, the group left and no one knew where they went. This happened often enough for a genuine conspiracy to go around the student body.

"Yeah, they'd be gone for hours at a time. No one knew where they went," Amelia Solovieff answered when asked if she heard about them constantly vanishing.

"I know Jeremie was dating Aelita, what about the others? Any relationships Amelia?"

"It's Milly, and Odd's dated pretty much every girl in his grade. Ulrich, Yumi, and William, that's a nasty little triangle there."

"How so."

"Ulrich likes Yumi, Yumi likes Ulrich, both are cowards. William shows up, he likes Yumi, and he isn't a coward. I guess they worked it out eventually, cause William hung out with both, but the animosity was pretty thick."

"Thank you," Alain said and started to walk before Milly stopped him.

"Is Aelita okay?" Milly asked.

"She's doing better," was all he said before he walked away.

Figuring he wasn't getting any further with the students whose stories and opinions were consistent, he decided to go find Suzanne Hertz. Walking into the science department he found her at her desk, grading papers. He softly knocked on the door, making her turn her head and place her pen on the stack of quizes in front of her.

"Beaumont?" Mrs. Hertz asked and Alain nodded and walked into her class room, stealing a chair from one of the work tables and sitting on it next to her. They shook hands and she took off her glasses.

"How may I help you?" Mrs. Hertz asked.

"I'm here to ask you about a man named Franz Hopper," Alain said and she made a look of genuine surprise.

"Franz Hopper, I haven't heard that name in years. What about him?"

"Anything."

"He disappeared in 1994, that was when I was a physics teacher. When he left I took over his job, which was only temporary, but I'm still here."

"Family?"

"Not that I was aware of."

"According to what I dug up, he had a daughter, named Aelita," Alain said and Mrs. Hertz seemed shocked again.

"That's a strange coincidence," Mrs. Hertz said.

"It might not be. I think Ms. Stones stole her identity, and her friends used it to fraudulently enroll her here."

"Oh my," Mrs. Hertz said, "I wish I could be of more help, but he was just a quiet, and rather unremarkable man."

"Thank you for your time," Alain said, shook her hand, and left her to grade papers.

As he entered the hallway his phone rang, he saw a number instead of a name and answered.

"Inspector Beaumont, this is Giles Melo, you called in reference to Frontier Technologies earlier?" Giles asked.

"Yes, about a former employee, last name Hopper," Alain said and leaned against the locker.

"Anthea?" Giles asked.

"Spell it for me," Alain said and wrote down her name, "Anything about her?"

"She left the company in the early eighties for a big juicy government job."

"Did you personally know her?"

"Of course, I hired her personally. I went to her wedding too," Giles answered.

"What was her name before Hopper, her maiden name?" Alain asked.

"Inspector, her maiden name was Hopper," Giles answered and Alain found that strange.

"Did she have a brother named Franz, or any relation to a Franz Hopper?"

"Never heard of him," Giles said and Alain thought for a moment.

"What was her husband's name?"

"Schaeffer, I can't remember his first name for the life of me, I only met him a few times. We stayed in touch for a few years, after she left, but the last thing I got was a Christmas card years ago."

"Thank you," Alain said and hung up, leaning against the locker again.

"Anthea Schaeffer," Alain said to himself, wondering if it was worth it or not to investigate her. A lead was lead, so he decided he would, but he was going to put it on the back burner for now.

"Dead ends, everywhere," Alain said to himself and looked at his phone. This was becoming so frustrating he wanted to throw it. His phone rang again. It was a number and not a name.

"Inspector, it's Dr. Sentry," Dr. Sentry said, "I mentioned Franz Hopper."

"What happened?"

"A bomb went off, worse than Jeremie. I actually had to sedate her," Dr. Sentry said and Alain was quiet. Who was Franz Hopper to her?

"Inspector, her reaction was like survivors guilt. But more importantly, he might have been her father."

"What?"

"She was screaming for her father to not do it, and he was going to die if he did. Franz Hopper might be another victim."

Just when this investigation was starting to at least not make less sense, it took another turn.

Odd navigated the net alone, directly toward the replika William had plotted on his scanner for him. When did William learn computers this fluently when no one was looking? Whenever he did, they were glad he found the time to learn what Jeremie spent months trying to teach them.

Odd arrived at the replika and sunk lower to get beneath it and tether himself to it. When he was connected he noticed his nav skid had forty-three percent power left, so decided he'd charge it while it was here. The replika recharged his skid so he delayed on activating he self destruct order.

Leaning back he watched the power rise and blinked, noticing something out of the corner of his eye. His radar, he could have sworn he saw a bleep on it. Shrugging it off he looked at the tether, then at his power again. it was at forty-nine percent. Sighing, he swore he saw it again

"Something is out there," Odd said, flipping a few switches and get his torpedo's ready, "Come out, come out where ever you are."

Looking at his radar he saw the bleep appear again and turned right to see a kongre looking straight at him. Odd looked around and saw two swimming out of site again around the side of the replika. Soon his radar was going crazy, he counted seven, and those were just the ones in range. Odd looked at his power, fifty-seven percent.

"Good enough," Odd said and started the self destruct upload, which the screen said would take thirty seconds, "Oh come on."

Suddeny his Nav skid was hit by a laser fired from a kongre.

"You little..." Odd complained before his skid rocked again from another hit.

Odd turned the skid and fired at the group of konrge, hit one dead on and destroying another one in the blast. Firing that torpedo set off the hive because his radar erupted into a siren of warning. Fifteen seconds.

Odd was hit again and he fired back, destroying several before several swam around the replika and vanished again. Odd was hit again from the other side, "Oh come on!" Five seconds.

Odd pointed the skid toward the replika Ulrich and William were on and waited.

"Three...two...one...disengage!" Odd shouted as the tether came off and Odd was full speed away from the blast range. He saw lasers shooting pass his skid as he rolled left and right to be a harder target. Odd turned his skid one hundred and eighty, saw at least twenty behind him, fired and whipped it around again. In the first minute he wasn't a kilometer away.

"Move, move, move!" Odd shouted, bobbing and weaving away from his pursuers who relentlessly fired at him, "Of course I have the slowest skid!"

Odd flipped a few switches and set his torpedo on a delay. He fired it in front of him and it detonated when he passed it. Five of kongres were destroyed and the blast damaged the skid but pushed him faster. Two minutes and he was ahead of the blast radius.

The nav skid was hit by another laser, and Odd looked at his points and saw he couldn't take a beating like this anymore. Thirty seconds till detonation. The kongres on his radar were backing off and scattering. That was either very good or very bad. Ten seconds.

"Make it, make it, make it!" Odd shouted as he felt the Nav skid shake. He still had a few hundred meters to get out of blast range. Odd watched his radar as chunks of the replika came shooting toward him. He dodged the chunks front and back before the skid was hit and he almost lost control, the hit sending him grinding against another piece.

"Come on!" Odd shouted, turning away and getting passed the safe distance, and home free. Odd turned the skid and saw a sea of debris behind. Breathing deep he laughed and shouted in victory before turning his skid and regrouping with the others

Hopefully, chapters 5-6 in by the end of the week.