Heavier Than Air

by T. E. Vario (t_e_vario@yahoo. com)

  Sara closed the door on the room containing Menard and Jaques and spoke to Largos. “We’d better let them sleep tomorrow morning. They all seem exhausted.”

  Largos nodded. “You are right. We need the information desperately, but we will have to wait until they have recovered. It looks to me that the private Menard has adopted the boy.”

  “Yes Sir, I saw the same thing. I suspect that we can let Hirotomi and Clawson go back to their stations after a brief interview. From what little he said tonight, the squad leader Kauf appears intelligent and can give us the mission briefing. I’m guessing that we will need Menard to stay with Jaques during the boy’s interviews.”

  “I agree Sara. I can do the interviews with Hirotomi, Clawson, and Kauf. Why don’t you concentrate on the boy and Menard. I’ll get some briefing papers to you tomorrow morning so that you have an idea what type of information we are looking for. Perhaps you and I should retire at this point.”

  “Yes Sir, I could use the sleep. Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight Sara.”

  As Sara was falling asleep her semi-concious mind realized that she was starting to get used to her fat boss. She almost hoped that her electronic trap did not point to him as the leak.

  * * *

  Sara woke early the next morning. She was tired, but too excited to sleep. Before breakfast she went to her office and check on her projects. The decryption programs were still running on both servers, and had gone through about one tenth of the possible secret combinations. None of the combinations tried so far had unscrambled the eight-character sequence back to the original eight spaces, so she just let the programs continue to run.

  Checking her own workstation she found that the backup process had worked. Tucked away on her workstation was the little snooping program. No red dot showed on her screen, because she had not written any data to a chip. Since the snooping program had been installed correctly on her machine, then it would have gotten to the other 149 as well. Now she just had to wait for someone to use their workstation to write secret data to a chip.

  Sara did not know how frequently the spy was transmitting information, but it probably was not every day. They would probably wait until they had either something urgent, or were near to filling up the chip’s capacity before making a drop. There was no way to tell how long this might be.

  Then it hit her. The presence of the four squad members and the boy inside Section 12 was highly unusual, and would be known to everyone in the compound by noon at the latest. The guards in the main hallway would give it away at breakfast. The spy would not know what information these men might have, but their presence alone would be worth reporting. Sara bet that the spy would not wait past this evening to write the message onto the chip and make the drop. She was getting close.

  Sara checked that the squad members were still asleep, and then went back to her office. Her normal work had not stopped, and she had five images to clean up. She decided that she was close enough to catching the spy that she should let her dad – her fatherly spymaster – know the situation. After cleaning up the first image, she embedded a message:

  HAVE SET TRAP. EXPECT LOCAL SITUATION TO DRIVE ACTION WITHIN THE NEXT FOURTYEIGHT HOURS. WILL REPORT ON OUTCOME. END OF MESSAGE.

  She finished up the remaining photos and packaged them for transmission. Two of the pictures appeared to be of the remains of ancient electrical power generation plants. They were the type that were driven by nuclear fission, stemming from the age when radioactive isotopes could be found near the surface of the earth. That was many centuries ago, but the earth-covered remains of the power plants were still plainly visible in the photographs. The note attached to the original transmission said that they had lost two planes before finally getting these pictures. Someone wanted this information very badly.

  * * *

  Largos knocked and walked into her office with a folder in his hands. He shut the door, but remained standing. Sara was caught off-guard, but realized that none of the traces of her embedding the message into the image were visible. Her heart-rate would take a minute to get back to normal.

  “How is the decryption coming.”

  “Right on schedule Sir. About one tenth of the possible combinations have already been tried. No hits so far.”

  “Very good. Here is the material I promised you, with background about the boy and what we know about his father and the facility where his father may have worked. It is sketchy, but it is the best we have. Please treat this with the utmost secrecy, and return it to me as soon as you have read it.”

  “Yes Sir, I will read it immediately.”

  “I will send for you as soon as the boy and private Menard have breakfasted.” Largos left her office.

  The mention of breakfast reminded Sara that she had missed hers. Too bad, she had some reading to do.

  The file was about one half inch thick, and contained a mixture of documented facts from before the Gengon took over, to unconfirmed rumors since then. The facts were straightforward. Jaques’s parents had been microbiologists. The met in graduate school, and found a job working for the same company which manufactured medicines using reprogrammed bacteria in the manufacturing process. The bacteria and various forms of yeast were modified so that in addition to their normal life processes, they had genes to manufacture the chemical elements of the medicine. The chemicals were then removed from the soup the bacteria swam in, purified, and converted into powders and tablets for consumption. The parents had lived in a modest home near the factory, and had two children. Jaques was the eldest and Cilvette was his younger sister.

  Shortly after the Gengon took control of the mechanics of government, they began the process of nationalizing industry. The pharmaceutical factory was one of the first to be nationalized, and promptly became a secret facility. Security fences were erected around the complex, guards stationed at all times, and a general military atmosphere imposed.

  From this point forward the information became sketchy. Alliance agents did their best to keep track of the amounts of various raw materials that were shipped into the facility, and the number of trucks leaving. There were also several messages about the disappearance of two scientists, who Sara now knew had been Jaques’s parents. Several copies of papers the couple had written on bioengineering were included being, but these were highly technical and Sara put them aside for the time.

  Although not stated explicitly in the file, the concern was obvious. The Gengon had at their disposal a manufacturing facility that could be converted into production of biological weapons. There was no direct evidence that such a change had been made, but the threat was there. She needed evidence, but all they had was an eleven-year-old boy.

  Sara re-read the file, did her best to understand the technical papers, and then returned the file to Heinrich Largos. By this time the squad and Jaques were eating a very late breakfast. Sara decided to join them in the mess hall.

  * * *

  “I hope you are feeling rested this morning.” Largos was addressing the group in the mess hall. “To minimize the time we take from you, we will be splitting up into three groups. Mr. Clauson and Hirotomi, please follow my aid Ms. Southern to debrief room A. Mr. Menard and Jaques, please go with Sara to the main meeting room. Mr. Kauf, please come with me to my office. Any questions?”

  “How long will we be staying here Sir?” asked Clauson.

  “Just enough time for us to write down what you may have learned on the mission that is important to us. I can’t say exactly, but we will do this as quickly as possible.”

  “Sir, something I forgot last night is that I took some paper’s from Jaques’s house as we left. They are still in my pack.” Mark Kauf had realized the error shortly after he awoke.

  “No problem, I’ll have a guard fetch them at once. Thank you for remembering. Any other questions?” There were none.

  “Very well, let’s get started.”

  Sara introduced herself to Menard and Jaques again and led them to a l
arge meeting room. The occupied three chairs at the end of the long table. Sara was sure that the room was bugged. She just hoped it was not the spy who was listening.

  “Shall we speak in French?” she asked once they got settled.

  “Please. I’m tired of speaking English all day, and I’m sure Jaques would prefer it. Right Jaques.”

  “French is easier for me, but I guess I need to learn English too.”

  “OK, French it is. My real interest is to understand what work your parents did. I think their work may have been part of the reason they were killed. Do you mind talking about your parents Jaques?

  “It’s OK.”

  “Fine. Tell me what you know about the work your parents were doing before you moved to the cabin in the mountains.”

  “Papa and Momma both worked in a factory that made medicine. The factory was across the street from my school.”

  “Right. Do you remember a fence being put up around the factory?”

  “Oh yes. We could see the workers from my classroom. Papa was not happy about the fence. He got a new boss who wanted the fence and who did not like Papa.”

  “Do you remember the bosses name?”

  Jaques thought a moment. “I can’t remember.”

  “OK, let me know if the name comes to you. Tell me about how you and your family moved to the mountains.”

  “Papa was very worried about the factory. I’m not sure why, but I know he thought we lived much too close. Papa brought home a man late one night after we went to bed. I was awake and listed to some of their talking. Papa was going to pay the man a lot of money to have the man help us move.”

  “Did you ever see the man, or hear his name?”

  “Not that night, but two nights later he came back with horses and we took everything we could carry in our bags. The man’s name was Henry Silva.”

  “Tell me about the journey.”

  “We had to walk because the horses and mules were carrying food and equipment. We walked for many days. I don’t know how many, because I was too tired. We finally got to our cabin and could sleep.”

  “How long were you there for?”

  “I did not count the days, but maybe 20 days. It was nice there, and Papa had fun chopping wood and building fires. I got to help, and he taught me how to shoot a rife.” Jaques was crying now, but he did not stop speaking.

  “Did you get any warning that the men were coming?”

  “I don’t think so. They found Papa first and lead him back to the cabin. Papa had his hands over his head, and they were pointing guns at him. They tied up Papa and Mama in chairs in front of the house and started hitting them. They made us watch.”

  “Do you know why they were hitting your parents?”

  “They kept asking about a man called Fieldman. They thought my parents knew where he was. Papa and Mama kept yelling that they did not know anything about Fieldman, but they kept hitting them.”

  “Then what happened.”

  “The boss soldier grabbed my sister and held her in front of my parents. The boss told them that if they did not tell them about Fieldman they would shoot my sister. My parents were crying. The boss took out a pistol and shot Stephine in the head.”

  Tears were pouring down the child’s cheaks. Menard put his arm around Jaques and held him. Sara felt terrible forcing the boy to remember this horrific experience, but she had to do it.

  Menard spoke up. “This must have been just before we showed up. We could see his sister lying in front of the parents. The parents were in bad shape. We spread out and attacked the men as quickly as we could, but not quickly enough to save them. Jaques got away by surprising them and running into the woods. That’s what started the firefight.”

  “Did you hear any of what the men were saying?”

  “Not really. We did not have much time to listen. Jaques’s escape forced us into action because one of the soldiers was sent to catch him and ran right into Clawson. The weird thing was that the first thing the greens did was to shoot the parents. They did that before even returning fire.”

  “Were you able to question any of the soldiers?”

  “No ma’am. We only took one alive. Before we could question him he pulled a pistol. I shot his head off before he could do any more damage.”

  Sara nodded. She did not realize that Menard was being literal about the man losing most of his head.

  “Anything on the men’s bodies?”

  “That was also weird. They had no ID of any kind. No pictures of girlfriends, nothing.”

  Sara flipped to a page in her notebook.

  “Jaques, one last thing before we break. I’m going to read a list of words to you. Tell me if you recognize any of these. They are all words your father or mother might have used about the factory. OK?”

  Jaques was still crying, but nodded.

  “Cholera, Yellow Fever, Botulism, Salmonella, Typhus, Influenza, Plague, Hemorrhagic Fever.”

  “Wait, that last one. Say it again.”

  “Hemorrhagic Fever, or Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever.”

  “I think I heard Papa and Mama talking about that one night. I was supposed to be asleep, but I couldn’t, so I sat in the hallway listening to them talking. I remember it because I did not know what it meant. I asked them about it in the morning and they looked very scared. They asked me to never say the words again because it was too dangerous. That was just before the man came to the house.”

  “Thank you Jaques. Let me just go through the rest of the list.”

  Clarrisa went through every disease on the list, but Hemorrhagic Fever was the only one Jaques recognized.

  “OK, that’s enough for now. Let me take you back to sleeping quarters so that you can rest up for lunch.”

  Jaques had stopped crying, but was clearly shaken. Sara was grateful that Menard was providing support. She found herself squeezing Menard’s shoulder with her right hand in mute support of his help as she left them.

  * * *

  Back in Largo’s office, Sara made her report.

  “I got several interesting pieces of information Sir. One is that the name of the man who helped the family escape is Henry Silva. The second name is Fieldman. The men tortuing Jaques’s parents were trying to get information about Fieldman. I don’t know if it is a first or last name.”

  “Oswald Fieldman. He was a famous viroligist who vanished shortly after the coup.”

  “Yes Sir, that checks with another alarming detail. The boy recognized just one disease from a list I read to him. It was Hemorrhagic Fever. Hemorrhagic Fever is viral.”

  “Good God.” Largo’s face was white. He was staring at the wall.

  Sara paused for a moment, and then continued.

  “Just one last piece of information caught my eye. Apparently the soldiers that attached Jaques’s family had absolutely no identification, although they were in uniform.”

  “Um. Right… I learned the same thing from corporal Kauf. Kauf also recovered a series of personal documents from the family’s cabin, which I’ve just started going through.”

  “What is it Sir?”

  “I’m just trying to put the pieces together. This just does not fit with the other intelligence that we have received recently. I tend to believe the boy, but I just can’t make the sums work. Speaking of sums, any chance your programs might have cracked the combination yet?”

  Sara was about to answer when she had a flash of inspiration.

  “I can check from your workstation if you don’t mind my using it for a moment.”

  “Certainly, let me just get my bulk out of your way.”

  Largos stepped aside and let Sara sit in front of his workstation. She knew that if Largos was the spy he would have used the chip long before this moment. She looked at the lower-right corner of his screen. No red dot.

  Sara must have been stunned, because she did not immediately move or use the keyboard to log in. She just sat there.

  Largos broke the spell. “Looking for s
omething, such as a red dot for example?”

  Sara swung around in the chair. “You knew? You were the one following my tracks on the backup server?”

  “Yes, it was me. I felt I needed to be careful, as I had trusted you with the most critical project in the whole section after only two weeks on the job. When I saw that you were modifying the backup scripts, my first reaction was that you Sara were the spy. However, when I saw what you had done, I quickly realized that you were also trying to catch someone. I must say that your method was much more clever than my feeble attempts at catching someone in the act.”

  “So you suspected a spy also, Sir?”

  “Yes, for several months now. Not so much because I thought we were losing information, but because I began to suspect the information we were receiving. What made you suspicious Sara?”

  “My father enlisted me. Apparently they have evidence of information flow both directions, and strongly suspect that Section 12 is the source of the problem. I’m sorry I had to check on you too Sir, but I had no way of knowing who to trust.”

  “No apologies necessary. In fact, your resourcefulness is remarkable. I gather from your code that you suspect the information is going out on some sort of physical media, such as a small solid-state device.”

  “Correct.” Sara’s heart rate was just starting to return to normal after the shock of Largos having tracked her electronic footprints. “ I’m guessing it is a single chip, probably disguised as something the size of a paperclip or smaller. We should be able to catch the spy, or spies, now by simply looking at all of the workstation monitors.”

  “Let me get the security in place before we move in. I don’t want anyone leaving their office until we have checked every workstation. Right now you and I are the only ones who know about the red pixel, so I think we should be the ones to check. No reason to give away this little trick, is there?”