“Then we can always have them start sleeping on a bed of nails or something.”
Chapter 27
Seeing that everything was under control in the cargo area, Maker spent a few more minutes discussing logistical issues with Adames before departing. As expected, the NCO was completely on top of things, even going so far as to assign quarters to everyone, including the civilians. (All except Browing, that is, who had already staked his claim in that regard.) Maker now understood why Planck had seemingly known where he was going earlier.
Upon leaving the cargo hold, Maker decided that he and Erlen should pick up where they’d previously left off and resume their tour. Thus, they spent the next hour continuing to explore the vessel (except for the cabins that had been assigned and were now occupied). Along the way, they occasionally bumped into other members of their unit, whom Maker would always engage in casual (but brief) conversation. By the time they finished, Maker had a firm idea of where everything on the ship was located, and was able to confirm that it all matched the blueprint of the ship he’d been given.
The last place they visited was the stateroom that Adames had designated for Skullcap. Like all the others, it was far nicer than it needed to be for its intended purpose, and Maker found himself bristling at the thought of the Vacra leader receiving such preferential treatment. Deciding to leave before his anger got too much to bear, Maker and Erlen quickly headed for the exit and back to their own cabin.
Once in their quarters, Maker attempted to get some work done by going to the office and working on a duty roster. Truth be told, however, it was just another task that Adames had already taken care of; all that was really left for Maker to do was review and formally sign off on the job assignments and shifts. However, he had only just begun looking at the document when a chime indicated that someone was at his door.
Already at his monitor, it only took a few seconds for Maker to bring up an image of the area outside his door, where he saw Edison Wayne waiting. Suddenly eager to speak with the young Marine, Maker hurried to the door and ushered him inside.
“Thanks, el-tee,” Wayne said as he walked into the cabin. “Is this a bad time?”
“No,” Maker answered. “You’re actually saving me from dealing with some paperwork. Did you need something?”
“As a matter of fact, I do,” Wayne replied with a nod. “Going on the assumption that I’d be the person primarily in charge of engineering, I was giving everything a once-over and detected a problem with the thrusters.”
“The thrusters?”
“Yeah, but it’s probably easier if I just show you,” Wayne stated. “You got time for a quick walk outside?”
“Of course,” Maker assured him. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 28
“Okay,” Wayne began, “the ship’s bugged. Top to bottom, port to starboard, stem to stern.”
“How sophisticated? Maker asked.
“There were actually two types of devices: one that I’d consider advanced, and another that was extremely complex, practically avant-garde. However, neither appears to incorporate anything visual – just auditory.”
Maker frowned. He and Wayne were currently outside the Nova, on the pretext of checking the thrusters. The information being conveyed to him was exactly what he’d been afraid of when – back at the warehouse – he’d given Wayne the task of checking their new ship for listening devices once it arrived. The young Marine was a tech genius, so Maker had been sure he’d be able to locate any bugs, and his confidence had been rewarded.
“Just to be clear,” Wayne went on, “I didn’t go to every room on the ship. That would have taken too long and aroused suspicion if anyone was paying attention. Instead, I used sampling, going to various areas of the Nova and checking them out. That’s how I confirmed that the ship was bugged.”
“And then I suppose you extrapolated based on the sampling,” Maker chimed in, “and concluded there were bugs all over.”
“Actually, I took it a step further,” Wayne said with a grin. “Without getting into the science too much, all electronics generate an electromagnetic field. After determining that there were listening devices present, I spent a little time getting my hands dirty trying to identify their EMF. Once I knew what it looked like, I jury-rigged a scanner with a broad footprint and conducted a sweep. End result was that I detected bugs everywhere – practically an infestation.”
“So they’ve got people listening to every word we say on the Nova,” Maker concluded.
“Well, probably not people, per se. I suspect everything’s being fed to an AI, which is probably programmed to listen for and respond to certain trigger words.”
“And how close would that AI have to be to pick up a signal?”
Wayne ruminated for a moment and then said, “I think it would have to be in relatively close proximity – as close as one of the ships at the space station here or in the general vicinity.”
Maker mentally chewed on this for a moment, then asked a question that had started buzzing around in his brain.
“You mentioned there were two types of bugs,” he said. “What’s the purpose of that?”
“At a guess, I’d say it’s simple misdirection,” Wayne responded. “Basically, I think whoever planted them wanted us to find the less-sophisticated listening devices. They were certainly easier to locate than the others.”
“Of course,” Maker uttered, nodding. “After finding the first set of bugs, we’d be convinced that confidentiality had been restored, and wouldn’t bother with looking for the other devices.”
“Makes sense.”
“So what’s the solution?”
“Well, I could round them all up, but then whoever put them there would know that we were on to them.”
Maker shook his head. “No. I’d prefer that they keep thinking they’ve outsmarted us.”
“In that case, I should at least collect the lower-grade listening devices. As I said, I think we’re supposed to find them, so whoever’s listening will be suspicious if we leave them in place.”
“Okay, say we do that. How do we deal with the others?”
“Well, I can hijack their programming and make them listen on a different frequency range,” Wayne noted.
Maker simply gave him a blank look, then stated, “It would be great if you could say that again, but in English this time.”
“Sure,” Wayne said, chuckling. “Human speech, just like human hearing, occurs within a certain range on the Hertz scale, which is used to measure audio frequency. Basically, humans don’t speak higher than a certain frequency on one end, or lower than a certain frequency on the other.”
As he spoke, be put his left and right hands out, palms facing each other, like he was holding an invisible block of wood between them.
“In other words,” Wayne continued, “all of our speech occurs within this limited range, and that’s the spectrum that the bugs are focused on.”
“Ahh,” Maker said, finally getting it. “So you’re saying you can take control and make them listen to a different frequency band – kind of like forcing them to switch from one radio station to another.”
“Pretty much.”
“What will they hear, then?”
Wayne shrugged. “Don’t know, but it won’t be human voices. However, that will leave us with the same problem. Whoever put them there will know that we’re on to them.”
“Hmmm,” Maker droned. “Let’s say we do as you suggested and get them to monitor a different frequency range. Can we broadcast something into that range for them to pick up?”
“Sure. That’s not a problem.”
“Then let’s do that – maybe loop the same conversation over and over so that this AI you mentioned has something continuous to listen to.”
“Sorry, el-tee,” Wayne snickered, “but you’ve been watching too many holo-movies. The AIs we’re dealing with are smarter than that. Anything they hear is probably getting compared to prior conversations, and if
they hear the exact same thing from the exact same person over and over again, it’s going to raise a red flag.”
“Maybe that’s the answer,” Maker said. “A movie.”
Wayne suddenly looked perplexed. “Huh?”
“Maybe we just broadcast a string of movies at the right frequency and let them pick up on that.”
“It’s not a terrible idea, but it won’t work.”
“Why not?” Maker asked.
“Because, as I mentioned, these bugs are all over the ship. If the AI they’re broadcasting to starts hearing the same people having the same conversation simultaneously in different parts of the ship, it’s going to realize something’s off.”
Maker groaned in frustration and wiped his face with his hand.
“This is too much,” he finally muttered. “Suddenly, I don’t care if whoever’s listening knows that we’re aware of the bugs. Just shut them down and get them off my ship.”
“Shut them down?” Wayne echoed.
“Yes,” Maker confirmed. “Cut power to them, yank the wiring out, whatever you have to do. Just turn them off and throw them out.”
“Hmmm,” Wayne droned, scratching his temple. “That actually gives me an idea.”
He then laid out to Maker the thought that had just occurred to him.
Chapter 29
It was a little rough around the edges and needed a bit of fleshing out, but overall Wayne had the rudiments of a good plan. More to the point, implementing his idea would also provide an opportunity to actualize some thoughts Maker had regarding Skullcap. In fact, he shared those thoughts with Wayne and gave him the job of effectuating them, along with authorizing the younger man to recruit whomever he needed to complete the task.
Satisfied now that he had actually made some forward progress, Maker returned to his quarters and, going straight to the office, began outlining on paper some additional thoughts he had regarding the mission. In fact, he became so engrossed that he didn’t realize that a significant amount of time had passed until Erlen padded into the room and growled softly.
“Sorry,” Maker apologized, recognizing immediately what the Niotan’s issue was. “The time got away from me. Can you wait an hour?”
Erlen’s response was something between a purr and a groan.
“Fair enough,” Maker said. He then turned on the ship’s PA system and began speaking. “Attention all. This is Lieutenant Maker. I’m sure you are all still getting settled in, but I just wanted to take a moment to express my personal thanks to each of you for agreeing to be part of this mission. As you can tell, we’ve been granted use of a fine new ship for this undertaking, so I was hoping that those of you who are available would join me and Erlen for an inaugural dinner in the formal dining room of our new home in half an hour. That is all.”
Maker switched the PA off and turned to Erlen. “We eat in thirty minutes. Happy now?”
In response, the Niotan turned and stalked from the room.
Chapter 30
Dinner turned out to be a fun time for all. After getting off the PA system, Maker had logged in to the automated galley and told the system to auto-select a meal that could be prepared and ready to serve in half an hour. Thus, by the time everyone began arriving in the dining room thirty minutes later, everything was ready.
There was an automated serving unit that could operate as a waiter of sorts, but it was faster to simply have everyone file through the galley and help themselves. The meal itself consisted of a salad, what appeared to be roast beef, garlic bread, and pie for dessert. After getting their food, everyone retreated to the formal dining room, each taking a seat at an elegant, rectangular table that could actually seat sixteen.
Surprisingly, the cuisine was rather tasty – far from the bland foodstuffs Maker had grown accustomed to. Like the dining room itself (which was populated by fine furniture, beautifully decorated, and accentuated by a chandelier), this was further evidence that the Nova was indeed a ship built to impress on all fronts. Even Erlen, who ate his meal in a corner of the room, made a sound that Maker interpreted as a high vote of approval in regard to the fare.
Needless to say, Maker’s team was thoroughly taken with their new abode, and the many amenities were the source of much lively conversation during dinner.
“I could get used to this,” Wayne announced at one point during dinner, causing Adames to give Maker a pointed I-told-you-so stare.
Adding to the mood was the fact that Browing had brought two bottles of wine, which were quickly consumed.
Finally, everyone was incredibly excited about getting the items on their wish lists. For instance, Loyola couldn’t stop raving about the advanced prototype of a new sniper rifle that she received, and Fierce practically gushed about the cutting-edge medical equipment that had been delivered for the sick bay.
All in all, despite occasional outbursts professing a yen for the high life, the meal – and more so the camaraderie – was thoroughly enjoyable, and it was with a fair amount of regret that it came to an end and everyone decided to turn in.
***
“This is a nice surprise,” Chantrey said as she meandered down one of the hallways of the Nova.
“What?” asked Maker, strolling along next to her, with Erlen by his side.
“You offering to walk me back to my room after dinner. After not seeing me all day and barely speaking to me while we ate, I was starting to think you’d lost interest.”
Maker chuckled. “Well, you’ll be happy to know that I actually saw you a couple of times today on the ship’s AV system.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes,” he replied truthfully. He had indeed glimpsed her several times on the monitor, but had assumed that she – like everyone else – was trying to get settled in and didn’t need any unnecessary distractions.
“As to the limited conversation during dinner,” he continued, “I think everyone was participating in multiple conversations as we ate, so I’ll admit my attention was divided. However, I think you still got the lion’s share of it.”
Chantrey smiled at this, but didn’t immediately comment. A moment later, she asked, “So, is that what dinner will be like every night from now on? The whole crew chowing together?”
Maker shook his head. “Unlikely. After the mission is underway, we’ll always need at least one person on duty, but will probably operate two-man teams. That said, tonight was kind of fun, so I may initiate a round robin thing in terms of dinner – let a different person pick the meal five days out of the week.”
“And on the other two days?”
“Stand down – let people do their own thing. So if they still want to have dinner together, great. If not, there’s no obligation.”
“Well, even though I like the rest of your team, it’s nice to know we’ll still be able to have dinner alone every once in a while.”
Erlen let out an inquisitive rumble.
“Semi-alone,” Chantrey corrected, smiling. “Anyway, here we are.”
Looking around, Maker suddenly realized that they were at the entrance to one of the staterooms. The door slid open; glancing inside, he realized that Chantrey had been assigned one of the more opulent cabins.
“Thanks again for walking me to my door,” Chantrey said. She then gave him a quick kiss before stepping inside the cabin. “Have a good night.”
Maker’s eyebrows went up. “So, you’re not going to invite me in?”
“I would, but I’m sure you’re tired. Plus, you’ve got to get Erlen back. I’m certain he’d rather spend his first night on the Nova in his own cabin.”
“First of all, I’m not that tired,” Maker insisted. “Second, Erlen’s presence has never been an impediment to anything in the past. Finally, he knows his way back and the system is keyed to his biometrics, so the door will open for him.”
Chantrey seem to consider for a moment, then shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry, but I think we should just call it a night. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She gave the two of them a quick wave, then stepped back; a second later, the door closed.
Erlen made an odd sound that was something like a cross between a hiss and a chirp.
“I know,” Maker muttered with a nod. “Not how I expected the night to end either.”
The two of them turned and began heading back toward their own quarters. However, they hadn’t gone more than a step before Maker heard the familiar sound of a door opening behind them. Turning, he saw Chantrey’s door standing open, but this time the interior of the cabin was completely dark.
As he watched, a dainty hand slid from the darkness into the light, palm up. The forefinger on the hand suddenly curled quickly three times in a come-hither gesture.
Grinning broadly, Maker headed towards the open doorway, casually muttering over his shoulder, “Don’t wait up.”
Chapter 31
The bulk of the next morning was spent running diagnostics on the Nova’s various systems: weapons, shields, engines, etc. Taking his place on the bridge, Maker oversaw the various tests and analyses. Technically, he didn’t have authority over the three civilians, but he put them to work anyway alongside the members of his team. (His theory was that – whatever happened on this upcoming mission – they were all in it together, so everyone needed to pull their weight.)
It took a little time as the results trickled in, but around noon he got the final word regarding the ship’s condition: all systems had checked out.
“All right,” Maker said. “Let’s take this baby for a spin around the block. Any objections?”
Other than Fierce (who rarely left the medical bay), everyone else was on the bridge. From all indications, no one was opposed to a little joyride.
Maker smiled. “Sergeant Diviana?”
“Yes, sir?” responded Diviana, who was manning the comm.
“Please let the space station know that we’ll be going out for a little jaunt, with plans to return shortly,” Maker stated.
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