Infiltrator

by Bob Blink

  "All right," Garcia relented. "I'm certain the Colonel will have a lot to say about this, but see what you can learn. Let's just hope this guy doesn't go ballistic on you and try to contact security. If he does, dart him," he instructed Mark.

  Mark nodded as he, Steph and Glen gathered together and headed off toward the tech that was making all the noise. Garcia and the rest of the group moved away, continuing their search of the remaining portions of the facility that hadn't been crossed off of their map of the place.

  They tried to approach without frightening the man, but he still jumped noticeably when Steph asked, "Having problems?"

  "Who the hell are you?" he asked when he calmed down and spotted the three of them. "What are you doing in here? For that matter, how did you even get in? This is a controlled area and no one is supposed to be in here unescorted, especially at this time of the night."

  Mark could tell the man was checking them out as he talked, attempting to decide if they were some kind of threat. They had put away the alien weapons, and had left their handguns out of sight for just that reason.

  "Homeland Security," Steph said, displaying the badge she'd mentioned earlier so the man could see. "You have a problem," she added.

  "You're telling me," the man replied, then realized she meant something else.

  "Problem?"

  "Someone is using this facility for a transmission center for terrorist activity." What the hell, she thought. Johnson had thought them terrorists. It was the theme of the times.

  "Impossible," the man said. Then realizing what was going on, he asked. "If you're Homeland Security, how come I didn't know you would be coming through, and why at this time of night?"

  "You think the best way to apprehend a cell of terrorists is to announce a raid to the entire company, and then come tramping through with half your management in tow?" Steph asked scornfully.

  "Well, maybe not, but this seems highly irregular."

  "Most of what we do is a bit irregular," Mark said, playing on Steph's theme. "Just who are you."

  "I'm Karl West," the man replied. "I'm the chief engineer for this place.

  "Where would someone place equipment to tap into the external phone system?" Glen asked.

  Karl looked at him.

  "Nowhere, or anywhere. There's a lot of places one could put something like that. It's a big place. But how would they get it in here. We have at least reasonable security."

  "We got in," Steph reminded him. "We've seen a small work crew, and that guy in the large maintenance area."

  "You mean Jeff. Yeah, he's a bit of an odd bird. He's the facility Maintenance Supervisor. Sort of expanded the responsibility of his position. A few years back when we were switching the plant away from coal, he brought in a cot and some other stuff so he could stay overnight in case he needed to bring in support people. When his wife died two years ago, he essentially moved in here. Doesn't leave often, at least not for long. Really knows the plant though."

  Steph found this bit of history interesting, and not inconsistent with some other things relating to the timing of the alien presence, but she shifted back to the man in front of her.

  "Just what are you doing."

  "Chasing ghosts," Karl said. "You wouldn't understand."

  "Try me," Steph countered. "Electrical Engineer. Graduated Cal Tech in California."

  The man looked at Steph with renewed respect.

  "Okay then. Periodically over the past year or so, I have been getting some weird disturbances in the plant. There's a corresponding loss of power. Not a lot, and frankly it doesn't matter a lot because we are no longer distributing power so the capacity of the generators isn't being challenged, but it shouldn't be there. It bothers me, because I can't explain it, and I can't track down the source. It appears to be almost random, sometimes seemingly coming in from the outside."

  "What kind of disturbances?" Steph asked.

  "Power generation is pretty simple, especially when the output is being kept local," Karl explained. "I expected a steady 60 cycle output with certain constraints of the voltage and total current being generated. A certain level of harmonics can be expected as well, especially in equipment as old as this. But I'm getting bursts of frequencies that shouldn't exist, and the voltage is moving out of spec, often rapidly, and then shifting back. The total power correspondingly drops a few percent, and I can't sense where it is going."

  "It happened again today, didn't it?" Steph asked, taking a shot in the dark.

  "Yeah, how'd you know?"

  "Why else would you be here?" she replied, but shot a glance toward Glen and Mark.

  "I have a feeling there are other signals to be measured, but I don't have the gear to sense them. I'd like a measure of the electromagnetic fields in the generators, but I haven't been able to get authorization for the equipment. This place is not a money producing facility, and we are expected to go with what we have."

  "Can you show me the signals you have recorded?" Steph asked.

  "Of course. I have everything recorded. You can see that they are consistent over the past year and a half. The best I can explain it is it is as if the resistivity of the transmission lines is suddenly changing, or that someone is trying to stuff something down the line that wasn't meant to go there."

  "Transmission lines aren't like pipes," Steph said, earning a harsh glare from the engineer.

  "Sorry," she said. "Can I see those signals? I just might be able to get you some gear to help, maybe in exchange for your keeping silent about our visit here. If your management learns of our investigation, any chance of our finding our bad guys is likely lost."

  Chapter 47

  "I'm not certain I would have authorized revealing yourselves if I'd been asked," Colonel Jones said when they were completing the mission debrief. "But it appears to have worked out well, so I guess that's one where I'd have made the wrong call. But why is this guy willing to keep your presence in the facility secret? and isn't he a bit young to be the Chief Engineer of a place like that."

  "I think we got lucky there," Mark said. "He's young, smart, and not particularly interested in things non-Engineering. He took the position when the previous Chief Engineer died last summer. I believe he knows someone in management, and it gives him an income, and them more time to find someone suitable when he graduates. This job is supporting his way through graduate school, and he clearly hasn't paid much attention to the news of late. The three of us have been featured regularly, at least Glen and I, Steph probably less so, and he didn't bat an eye when he saw us. His mind is on the problem at hand, and he wants answers. Like many engineering types, he is driven that way. Our badges were official, he didn't see how many of us there were, and we offered him something he can't get anywhere else."

  "Test equipment," the Colonel said uncertainly.

  "And my help," Steph added happily.

  "I think he's attracted to Steph," Mark added, earning a pained look from Glen.

  "Why are we bothering to follow up on that promise? Between yourselves and the rest of Major Garcia's team, you pretty much saw everything that was to be seen, and found nothing. One has to suppose the telephone gear might be there somewhere, but in your own words, it would take weeks to find, and that's not what we really care about anyway. As for aliens, you found nothing. If they were hidden away there, something should have surfaced."

  "He's uncovered another anomaly, at the very place our only leads say the aliens have been, or at least are operating out of," Steph replied. "I don't think we should walk away because our first look around failed to yield results. Besides, all the discussion of power grids last night brought something else back to mind. The building where our original meetings took place was adjacent to a power substation. So was the doctor's office where we were attacked. I can't recall some of the other locations where we've had encounters, but I can't help wondering if there might be a connection."

  "I think we might have more questions for our friend Johnson," Mark su
ggested.

  The Colonel shook his head.

  "Dr. Thompson informed me last night while you were in the facility that Johnson was found dead in his cell, most likely from the combined effects of the trauma he suffered when captured and the drugs we gave him. Some of them are known to have serious side effects even on an otherwise healthy individual, and Johnson had taken quite a blow to the head."

  "Crap!" Glen cursed.

  "So we send him the test equipment on your list, then what?" the Colonel asked, moving on from the loss of their only source of information.

  "Karl can get it in, we've already discussed how it should be shipped so it won't raise particular concerns. The place gets deliveries frequently, and the people in receiving only check it off and route it to whoever ordered what arrives. Karl will set things up, most likely with my help. He does most of this testing at night. Apparently management isn't interested and believes he has more important tasks, although Karl is quick to point out the place has almost run itself for years. Then he monitors for the signals he believes should be present, or will be present once another event occurs."

  "An event that apparently is random, unpredictable, and not all that frequent," the Colonel pointed out. "How long do you expect to spend at this?"

  "Two nights," Steph replied, earning her a questioning glance.

  "One night of monitoring to see if anything is there, which I doubt. Then we shake things up a bit. Karl isn't aware of this part of the plan, but on the second night we sneak in a large force of Major Garcia's Marines, and we go after the Maintenance Supervisor's den. While there might not be any aliens present, Johnson made it clear there are a number of clones housed there. With a properly planned raid, we can hopefully trigger the network again, and if this place is important to the alien's plan, maybe force a showing."

  "And if that fails?" the Colonel asked.

  Stephanie shrugged.

  "Then we've wasted some time, and either our suspicions are wrong, or the program Fred came up to pinpoint the location of the data is flawed. But we owe it a try. Three things suggest this is the most promising site we've been at. The anomalies Karl has been chasing, Fred's data, and the truth serum answers we got out of Johnson all point that this might be the place we finally encounter these creatures. If we do, regardless of the outcome, we'll have the proof we need to bring this all out in the open so it can be pursued properly."

  "Chuck?" the Colonel asked, turning toward his old friend who'd been mostly silent during the discussion.

  "I believe we should try," he said simply.

  After a short pause, the Colonel nodded.

  "Okay then, but a couple of conditions. I assume you four expect to be there again, and without any restraints on your own nodes so that you can fire the weapons if need be. From what Johnson said, some, if not all of these clones are based on your original group, so there are likely copies of each of you there, maybe more than one. You need to be appropriately dressed, with your appearance altered sufficiently there can be no mistaking which of you is one of us, and which are clones to be targeted."

  It took two days to get everything installed, which included a number of sensors close to the area occupied by the Maintenance Supervisor, and supposedly some unidentified number of the alien's clones. Steph had to work carefully and as opportunity presented itself to instrument that area, and while it wasn't as well done as she'd have liked, they would get data if anything showed. Steph was there alone with Karl that first night. The support team was nearby, inside and around the facility, but care was taken so that Karl didn't know that. Not surprisingly, no signals were detected that night. For Karl it was a disappointment, but for Steph it was a null test. Now they'd see if their actions could induce something to happen.

  The engagement planned for the second night would be tricky. Killing the clones would be easy enough. They almost helped one eliminate them. The problem was, they didn't want them dead. They wanted them stirred up in order to make them use whatever link they had to report trouble and hopefully cause the aliens to be revealed.

  Stirring them up was also relatively easy, but the risks of getting a lot of people killed were something to be considered. They wanted them stirred up, but also wanted to limit their access to the deadly alien weapons one had to presume they had at hand. That meant they had to be in a position to put down any that became a threat, hopefully leaving one active and reporting on the surprise assault. They also wanted to retrieve as many of the alien weapons as possible. Knowing each weapon had a limited power pack, a larger number might be important if the weapons proved the best way to engage this enemy.

  Karl wouldn't be informed ahead of time what was planned. He would be expecting a second night of monitoring for stray electromagnetic signals until he realized what kind of fighting force had slipped into the building.

  "Steph, who are all these people?" Karl asked, when Major Garcia and his men approached after covertly entering the building by the same route they had used that first night.

  "Friends of mine," Steph said, feeling bad that Karl realized he'd been betrayed, but not exactly why or how.

  "I'm stupid," he said. "You are not who you claim, are you?"

  "Actually, some of us are, but this is more complicated than that. There are some people hiding down here, and we have to root them out. In the process, I believe it is highly likely that you might see some of the signals you have been looking for. You and I will stay here and monitor the equipment. I should warn you, that there is a very real element of danger in what is going to happen, and if you want you can wait outside. If I tell you we have to go, you drop everything and follow me, or you'll likely die here. Is that understood?"

  "No," Karl answered honestly. "But if you think we might actually see what I've been searching for all this time, I'll be damned if I'm leaving. If you can stay, so can I."

  Steph nodded.

  "I guess we're ready," she told Garcia. "I assume Fred is on line with Burrows, who will let us know if we have the desired traffic?"

  "Fred's ready," Mark replied. "Not happy, but in place and watching."

  "Let's move," Garcia said, directing the last of his men toward their target area. Most were already in place, and had detected thermal signatures of nine individuals inside the area which marked the Maintenance Supervisor's domain.

  The plan was to take the man out of the engagement early. They couldn't know if he was a clone or not without the benefit of a scan, and they'd give him the benefit of doubt until that could be performed. The general consensus was that he had to be a clone, or he wouldn't have been hiding the group inside the facility.

  The first suppressed shots took surprised clones in shoulders and thighs, targets that would hurt, but which wouldn't take them out of action or trigger their destruction. The Maintenance Director was down and out as planned. Surprised clones reached for weapons, visible in the dim light via the special light enhancing optics on the weapons the men carried. Two targeted Marines, and had to be shot to prevent loss of personnel, the headshots taking out the clones and preserving the valuable alien guns.

  "Fred reports lots of activity," Burrows reported. There could be little doubt this group was at least one source of the signals they had been monitoring.

  The clones were firing wildly now, and there was little choice but to eliminate the majority of them. Soon there was only one remaining, weapon in hand, but hiding behind a pillar where he couldn't be shot.

  "Look at that!" Karl almost shouted excitedly. His monitors were showing all manner of EM patterns, some unlike anything he'd ever seen before. They seemed dynamic, with rapidly changing patterns and field strengths that defied anything that seemed reasonable. All were coming from down the hall where the shooting was concentrated.

  "Major, we have signals. We don't know what they mean, but you should be seeing something," Steph warned. She hoped that Glen was keeping his head down. This could get messy.

  Garcia was about to reply that they ha
d seen nothing, when six new clones suddenly appeared out of nowhere, each armed with the deadly alien weapons. All were firing into areas where his troops were hiding. He knew he was losing people, but before he could shout out orders, shots starting pummeling the new clones. One after another they simply flared and vanished. Heaving a sigh of relief, he thought they might have weathered the storm when something new appeared.

  "What is hell is that?" someone shouted.

  A bright glowing somewhat ill-defined ball of light appeared near where the last batch of clones had been targeted. Then another, and another. Soon there were five of the strange glowing masses floating head high above the floor. The men wasted no time and sent round after round into the strange objects, but to no avail. Their bullets flashed as they struck the surface of the balls of pulsing light, but otherwise appeared to have no effect.

  Jessie fired her blaster, the one that Johnson had carried, at the first of the objects, and was rewarded with a rapid shift in the object's color, and then its sudden disappearance.

  "The alien guns work," she shouted into the net, alerting Glen and Mark to her success. Both began targeting the objects, hoping the charges in the small weapons held out.

  The marines continued to fire as well, but their shots were wasted. Bullets weren't going to help against this strange target. Jessie was shooting instinctively, taking out one after another of the glowing orbs almost as fast as they could appear. Unfortunately, she was a bit too close to the strange objects, and while targeting another that had just materialized, she was struck from behind by a jagged bolt of light from one of the things she hadn't spotted. The single bolt was enough, and after a fraction of a second outlined in bright white light, she simply vanished. She was there, and then she wasn't.

  "Jess!" Mark screamed and blasted the object that had struck her. It vanished as the beam did its work, but that didn't bring Jessie back.