The Pattern Ship (The Pattern Universe)

by Roote, Tobias

  “We need a plan before we act. At the moment WE have the element of surprise. We need to use that to draw them out.”

  “Zeke is right, Mr President. I detect an 80% probability of at least one other senior member of government or defence involved in this rebellion.”

  Zeke turned to Frank, wondering if he had picked up on the pro-active response from Pod. He hadn’t, he was distracted by the events taking place. Zeke began to worry about Pod. He knew it was irrational as the A.I. was not giving out any outward signs for concern, but knowing how A.I.’s could pick up on body language and chemistry he tried hard to disguise his worries.

  “Okay, we need to plan things out a bit and we don’t actually know who to trust in this. So, I propose we consider a way of pulling all the pieces together before 8am on Tuesday and I’m going to presume Eastern Standard time, Frank.”

  “OK, Zeke, but how on earth are we going to stop a rebellion with just the two of us?” queried the President unbelievingly.

  Zeke really had no idea! He looked at Pod just waiting for it to turn around and include itself in the mix. That would just about freak me out, Zeke thought.

  - 20 -

  MONDAY 05:40hrs.

  It was a grey old morning outside the sealed windows of the Pentagon. The open space normally off into the distance was eerily reduced by the morning mist.

  ‘Schaeff’ was unable to sit, he paced backwards and forwards. All rebel units had been ordered into position. None had reported any problems, yet he still worried. If he lost this gamble he would be tried for treason and probably shot. If he won, it meant power like never before in the history of the USA. It was a big game, the biggest he had played and the stakes were high.

  He knew all the risks, everyone involved did. He had at last three men in each unit who knew and agreed with their objectives. They had been cultivated, promoted and positioned with this in mind. To reconnect the USA with its Military heart; to resume operations against enemy forces which now sat laughing at them from the installed security of their own personal and citywide shields. Impervious to any clandestine, or overt efforts to unseat them.

  Far from making the USA a major force in the world this freedom of technology agreement had cost the USA its position as world leader. They now just sat in a row along with every other two bit third world country. The American people bridled at that. Schaeffer absolutely simmered with incandescent fury. Wait until he wrested control from that appeasing quisling in the White House.

  They had supporters everywhere. It would only take the overthrow of the present administration to put everything back the way it was. The application of the over-ride codes would be perfectly timed to allow them to swoop in and take apart those smiley-faced little terrorist controlled pariah states that had been handed a ‘get out of jail free’ card by the new technology.

  There would be nothing that anyone could do. The Security council might bridle and wring their hands, but they would know that despite their perceived security, the USA still held the aces. They would fall into line as soon as they realised that, at the click of a button their perceived security was just a façade.

  General Schaeffer was optimistic. The plan they had was a simple one. Disarm the city shield, selectively over-ride the personal shields of all the necessary ‘identified’ individuals, remove them permanently if necessary. Then replace them with his own people. Within a few hours it would be business as usual.

  Then slowly but surely, the slide of power pulled back over to control of the people by those who knew best. People like him!

  Schaeffer laughed. Ferris thought he was going to be the new President, but he was a real dumb-ass! The only reason he had been promoted at all was because he had been involved in the small group of goggle-boxes that had been instrumental in securing the new technology. Ferris had his uses, but he would be removed at the most expedient moment and that might well be five minutes after the coup was successfully concluded.

  Looking at his watch, he realised time was now pressing. The clock was ticking and they needed to get a lot done between now and zero hour. He decided to walk down to the Main office, he needed to update the Chief. It would soon be time for them to move onto Washington. The inauguration was their excuse for the trip, nobody there would be any the wiser.

  ***

  TUESDAY 09:00hrs.

  “Pod, I have a really bad feeling about all this I want you to do something for me. I don’t want to have to ask you later as things are going to get hectic, but this is what I want you to do.” Zeke outlined his concern and a way of dealing with it.

  He then left it to Pod to manage. It was a trick they had been playing with using a partial D-Field, but not jumping. It could enable you to see and be there, but without substance. The timing would be paramount. A second too fast and the moment would be lost, a second too slow and it would all be in vain. It was not something that could be sustained for more than a few seconds as there would be degradation.

  They had so far managed to identify all of the officers that were part of the conspiracy on the ground. They still had one unidentified party near the top that they couldn’t trace. There had been no electronic contact during the whole period of Pod’s monitoring. Pod was convinced it was someone close to the President, but nobody fitted the bill and they were running out of time.

  Zeke had told the President not to trust anyone. That even his best friend could be the other party. Garner obviously laughed it off, but accepted that he didn’t know anyone as well as he perhaps should. He had certainly received a few surprises since electing to run for a second term. He trusted Zeke and that was about as far as it went.

  Zeke had decided that he was going to take out Ferris. He was the linchpin, he had the codes, it was Ferris handling the shield technology and the Tractor beams.

  Zeke knew Ferris had been implanted with the Ferrazite and had the reports back from the scientists which didn’t gel with his awareness of the metals effects. Zeke thought Ferris was involved in manipulating the results and Pod had confirmed there was something going on. The stored content of Ferrazine was too high for the dose he was supposed to be on. Their secret weapon was always knowing what was going on and stepping aside from Ferris’ efforts to neutralise them.

  At the right moment, Pod would unlock the shield at the fortress so he could get in. The nanobots would provide the access regardless of any coding changes that had been made. Zeke knew Ferris would need to be properly neutralised at the same time everything else was going down, so that he couldn’t run to a fall-back plan. The only time they had so far was 08:00 hrs. They had to assume that was zero hour for disabling of the shield in Washington.

  Pod was struggling with the overload of information and the need to be in multiple places at once. Nonetheless it had prepared everything that Zeke had ordered done. It was now a matter of precise timing. It worried however, that Zeke was underestimating the Fortress security. He hadn’t told Zeke everything, but Pod believed he could neutralise everything given sufficient time.

  Pod had detected the look in Zeke’s eyes when he told him about using the contaminated Alacite, but Zeke didn’t know that the contamination had effected Pod in more than just increased power and speed. Something in the mutated alloy had bonded Pod to Zeke. It was why Pod referred to Zeke as its Maker, because to Pod, he was.

  If Zeke demanded of Pod to reduce itself back to a ‘three’ it probably would, such was the strength of the bond.

  That was why Pod had decided this information should be buried unless specifically requested. It was quickly comprehending one of the first rules of sentience. The need for self preservation.

  ***

  Without the mass of Secret Service agents that used to surround the President the whole effect of arriving anywhere had toned down to an almost non-event in the last few years as the confidence in the shield technology meant that everyone was safe, even from an automatic round fired at point blank range.

  There had been some
instances where a shield kept too close to the body had, under fire, caused bruising. These instances were extremely rare and most people who incurred them were happy that was all they had suffered.

  The Agents no longer had to be prepared to ‘stop a bullet’ for the President, although the possibility still existed in the event of catastrophic shield failure.

  So when President Garner arrived in Washington it was a low key event even as he headed for the White House. Garner got to stay there tonight as he feted the outgoing staff and loyal followers. Ginny was alongside him in the limousine, looking beautiful as they stepped out to applause and cheers from the party members, staff and friends.

  All of the senators were here, it was a time for celebration. Many of them had ridden in on his ticket and had done well as a result. They had much to thank Garner for so they would be generous this night, if none other. He knew that tomorrow they would be welcoming the new President in and it would all begin again, but without him.

  His good friend Jefferson was right there to help him out and led the applause as he stepped up the elegant steps back into the White House. Garner smiled and waved at everyone, pleased to be back if only for a fond farewell. He had missed the power and splendour. He would not miss its intrigue and plotting.

  The party was well received and despite the concerns about the next morning Garner managed to appear relaxed and happy. He looked around his friends and wondered which one of them was going to be the one that stabbed him come morning. He thought he knew a little of how Caesar must have felt before Brutus pressed home the blade.

  Most, if not all were wearing their personal shields, scaled down to the minimum so that it didn’t cause unnecessary jostling within the confined space. The deluxe versions could pattern the skin so closely that you felt only a slight tension as you went to shake hands. Any threat detected in body chemical changes or unusual pheromone activity would put the shield on alert and ready to protect its wearer. As a result there were very few secret service people in evidence, or indeed, necessary.

  Garner thought hard about taking his friend JJ aside and warning him about the threat, but he respected Zeke and held fast to their plan knowing that all contingencies if not taken care of, were at least anticipated. Tomorrow they would know who was, and who wasn’t and hopefully they would manage to deal with the attempted coup bloodlessly.

  His Personal Aide from the newly forming Space Council was the last to leave. Thursday, the day after tomorrow, he officially took up his position as interim President of the Representatives of the Global Space Council. He felt the challenge was worthy of his effort. He hoped fervently that he would live through tomorrow so that he could be there.

  He had confidence in Zeke and the Artificially Intelligent companion called Pod.

  Strange relationship that one! Garner noted absently that Pod seemed attached to Zeke, and the feeling appeared to be reciprocated. He wondered if Zeke was aware of the bond forming there, he doubted it. Garner had come to terms with having a conversation with a computer, but it still made him feel like he was dealing with one of his reptilian Senators such was the intelligence and awareness of these machines.

  He thought more about Zeke Callaghan. The man never seemed to be looking out for himself and most of the time was seemingly unaware of the respect he had earned in the halls of power this last five years while gathering nothing for himself. Never seeking fame and popularity; he nevertheless received it everywhere while remaining blissfully ignorant.

  Garner had noticed that the Pod was becoming more aware. He hadn’t said anything to Zeke when the A.I. began acting pro-actively the other night, but it had come as a complete surprise to Zeke, he noted. There was definitely something happening. Still, that’s for another day he thought. First there was tomorrow.

  ***

  WEDNESDAY 07:00hrs..

  Sergeant Mendez of unit Delta knew his orders.

  He was absolutely clear on what his team had to achieve. He led his small four man team down the dark tunnel. As expected, he met no resistance.

  They were underground, at a secret location but outside the City’s shield where there was no current threat level. So, whilst the shields were up, they were at the lowest setting. Traffic could enter and exit, provided it was using the correct access sequences codes.

  He needed to be on station by 07:45hrs. They had plenty of time.

  All around the city of Washington, other small teams were carrying out parallel tasks. They all had one single objective. When the shields failed they were to ensure they could not be reset. Their mandate was to kill as few as necessary. The intention was to remove the senior management, but leave the workforce intact.

  He had no ruck with the civilians, or even the small military attachment that would be on hand. If they shot first, he would take them out. He was easy about it. A good soldier followed the orders of his Commanding Officer. His was to take and hold Shield Station No.8. The security teams inside had no idea their personal shields would fail at the same time. They would be unable to reset them and were therefore at risk. Whereas his team’s shields were secure.

  After travelling through dimly lit corridors for just over thirty minutes, Mendez judged they were approximately five minutes from objective A, the external shield, when suddenly everything went black. He couldn’t see a thing.

  Mendez stopped dead. He was confused because there was nothing he was aware of down here that could detect them. Yet, it was instantly pitch black and it wasn’t just that the lights had gone out, it had just gone deadly black. The absence of any light at all was suddenly terrifying.

  He lost his bearings, so assuming his men were in front of him, he called out quietly to them ordering them to a halt.

  When he got no answer, he fumbled for his torch. Switching it on he pointed it to where his men should have been waiting for him. Nothing! They weren’t there.

  What he saw was empty space, lots of empty space and rocks, there were all types of rock.

  Switching the torch from one angle to another changing the from left to right all he could see were a lot of those things you read about in Geographic magazines; stalagmites and stalactites were literally everywhere.

  Just out of reach from his torch beam he detected a roof above him, perhaps several hundred feet up.

  He pressed his mike against his throat, “Delta One to Delta Team, come in.”

  Nothing, no answer not even static. He repeated his command across the airwaves, but got no reply.

  He was now totally lost.

  He decided to Swing back the way he had come he wondering how he had turned off the wrong way while his team had obviously continued onward.

  He was still walking back when he heard a shot. It echoed around the cave.

  He couldn’t detect the direction of origin.

  Al he could tell was it was coming from a long way from him and it sounded like a rifle.

  He switched off his torch and waited for some directional indication.

  When he heard no more shots he felt disinclined to try shooting himself. Instead, he decided he was totally lost so sat down to wait for further noises to direct him to the rest of his Unit.

  He was baffled, there were no access points to caves on his plans....

  ***

  WEDNESDAY 07:55hrs

  The Supervisor at Shield Station No. 8 detected the moment when the shields went down.

  They just dropped leaving the generators humming excitedly with power with no outlet to expend it on.

  He called out to the Engineers that were even now running to their stations.

  “We have Shields down!” he shouted excitedly.

  He pressed the alarm next to the control panel he maintained. The haunting klaxon reverberated through the underground tunnel network bringing the guard detail to full alert, their personal shields switched to full on and glowed in the dark, reflecting the red flashing light of the Alarm. Then suddenly they went off too and the soldiers instead of forming
their guard positions stood around taking their shield emitters out trying to turn them off and on again to reset. They must have worked, for within another few minutes, they all resumed their previous activities.

  Taking station at both entrance and exit to the tunnel, they fanned out and prepared for intruders. No other reason could be given for a shield drop like that. It only occurred on over-ride or fail and the power generators were still on-line, so somebody had hit the over-ride codes. They had no warning of any tests or exercises so could only surmise it was not a drill, and so the Squad leader acted accordingly.

  The supervisor was on the phone talking to Central Command.

  “No, there was no warning!”

  “Yes, the power is still running.”

  “No, there had been no blips in output.”

  “What? All other stations are having the same issues?”

  “Yes, we will power down and reset all shields.”

  “Time to completion approximately fifteen minutes.”

  He frantically waved to the engineers giving them the signal to reboot the shield generators. As they carried out his orders so the generators, one by one, whined down in pitch until eventually with a deep groan they stopped. The silence after many hours of their pitched whine was thunderous. His ears rang.

  The additional crew of support Engineers arrived. Running passed the armed guard, they put themselves onto the free stations taking command of their respective modules and within thirty seconds all the checks were done and the command was given to restart the generators.

  One by one, they burst back into life and began building up speed to enable them to generate the power needed.

  It would take a while to emit sufficient force to create the fields necessary to enable the shield to expand over the city once more. They prayed that in the meantime no calamity had beset the city from whatever had forced the shields to disarm. They would know soon enough, they decided.

  The Supervisor was on the phone again.