Heavier Than Air

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

  Captain Giovanni spoke up. “You are completely right Largos. We did manage to get those two compromised employees that Hanna fingered out of your station, but there could be others. We had best keep this to the four of us until we can do some planning. Largos and I will need to inform our direct supervisors, but I hope to limit it to that. I don’t trust all of the brass to keep a secret of this magnitude. Too much temptation to try to show off, even at that level.”

  “Another question for you Sara,” said Chad. “If I gave you a message, could you encrypt it so that it looked like a genuine Gengon message?”

  “Absolutely. There is no way to tell who sent these messages. The Gengon could have used other techniques to digitally sign the information, but they do seem to have bothered. I’m guessing that it was so important for them to use the same technique from all sorts of devices, including little handheld communicators, that they opted for the simplest solution.”

  “I’ve been thinking along the same lines Lieutenant,” Largos said with a characteristic mopping of his damp forehead. “At the right moment, selected misinformation could be a powerful tool. Right now we have a simpler problem. We have considerable Gengon message traffic coming in, and we need to start reading it. I wonder Captain if we might borrow the Lieutenant DeForrest’s services for a few days to help Sara sort through all of the information we already have. That way I would not need to bring anyone else in on our new abilities.”

  “Sounds good to me. Is it all right with you Lieutenant?”

  Chad did his best not to smile. Working with Sara would be great. “That would be fine, although I may need for you to assign that pilferage case to another agent.”

  “Consider it done Lieutenant.”

  Largos leveraged himself out of the chair. “Sara, I’m going to have two or three spare workstations moved into this room. Let’s use this room as the nerve center, and keep all of the decrypted information within these four walls.”

  “Right Sir, we’ll get to work immediately.” Sara gave Chad a brief smile.

  * * *

  Heinrich Largos went back to his office. He instructed an aid to get three workstations installed in the conference room immediately. He considered posting a guard at the door, but it would be a red flag that something important was going on. Best to keep things quiet. Looking at his watch he realized that he was late in connecting with Major Walters in Outpost Base. Largos unlocked his secure console and got to work. He already had a message from Walters.

  ONE OF OUR PILOTS BAILED NEAR PEAK T12 AND RECAPTURED THE WEATHER STATION WITH ASSISTANCE FROM TWO ADOLESENTS. PILOT CONFIRMS THAT WEATHER DATA WAS COMPROMISED. TOTAL OF EIGHT SOLDIERS WITH NO ID WERE KILLED IN TWO ACTIONS, ALL SUSPECTED TO BE GENGON. ONE WAS CARRYING TWO YELLOW PAINTED CYLINDERS ROUGHLY FOUR INCHES IN DIAMETER AND 12 INCHES LONG WITH A COMPLEX NOZZLE AT ONE END. ANOTHER SOLDIER HAD A MAP SHOWING AN OVERLAND PATH TO CAMP WILLIAMS.

  WAS THIS PILOT ERIC YOUNG?

  AFFIRMATIVE, PILOT WAS WOUNDED BUT IS OK.

  Lagos had some good news to tell Sara. First he needed to fill Walters in on the events of yesterday, but would not inform him about the ability to break the enemy’s codes, at least not yet.

  UNCOVERED A MOLE AT THIS END. INTERROGATION REVEALED TWO OTHER COMPROMISED EMPLOYEES. WE ARE BACKTRACKING THE INFORMATION FLOW, BUT IT APPEARS THAT THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE DIRTY BOMB WAS DISINFORMATION THAT WAS FED INTO THE SYSTEM BY THE MOLE. CAN YOU PROVIDE DATES OF THE PAST AND FUTURE FALSE WEATHER INFORMATION PLAN FOR US TO ANALYSE.

  WILL NEED TO CHECK WITH T12 STATION TO SEE IF THEY HAVE THE GENGON INSTRUCTIONS. WILL REVERT ON NEXT TRANSMISSION.

  SECTION 12 WILL LOOK INTO THE ISSUE OF THE GAS CYLINDERS AND LET YOU KNOW WHAT WE FIND.

  ROGER, OUTPOST BASE OUT.

  Largos went next door and found Sara and Chad setting up the room.

  “I’ve got some exceptional news for you Sara. Your brother got to a weather station and transmitted. He was injured, but he’s OK.”

  “YES!” Sara clenched her fists pounded the table. “What were his injuries?”

  “I did not get that information, but it did not sound serious.” Lagos went on and explained the information about the cylinders, the path on the map to Camp Williams, the falsified weather data, and the uniformed but unidentified troops.

  “Cylinders of that size could be poison gas,” commented Chad. We have a pile of messages here to decrypt. Why don’t we see if we can connect any of them to some sort of poison attack.

  “You two proceed. I must find out how Hanna slipped through our screening process. Let me know the moment you find anything interesting.” Largos left the conference room.

  “What a relief knowing that Eric is OK. I guess he is still not out of danger, but this is sure better than not knowing a thing.”

  “The faster we figure out what the Gengon are doing, the faster we can get your brother home. Let’s get to work.”

  They got the two workstations set up next to each other so that each could see the other’s screen. They had over 2000 files to decrypt, which were not organized in any way, since they had not been readable until this morning. Working in parallel they first decrypted every file, and then started organizing them into categories as they read the text. It was slow work.

  By mid-afternoon some patterns started to emerge. They only had a tiny fraction of all the messages being sent, and many of the messages were useless out of context. However, a few of the messages seemed to connect with information they already had. There was no mention of “cylinders”, but the word “canister” came up, along with “dispersion.” Those words seemed to be associated with messages collected in the area near Trintney, and frequently had reference to the “brewery.”

  Sara was feeling tired, but something was nagging at the back of her mind. “I’ve got to take a quick break to clear my head. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  “OK, I’ll keep after it.” Chad smiled at her and went back to work.

  Sara did another stroll around the grounds at Section 12. The ravens were not breaking nuts today, which was a shame. She felt like a little kid, out to look at the birds.

  “That’s it!” Sara’s subconscious had connected two pieces. A little kid. The orphan Jaques that Menard had brought in was from the town of Trintney. His parents had worked there, and both were scientists.

  Sara went down to the sleeping quarters and looked for Jaques. She found Jaques and Menard in the mess hall playing chess.

  “Hi Sara. Menard came over to play chess with me.”

  “That’s one of my favorite games Jaques. Hi Menard. Great to see you here.”

  “Thanks. Jaques is my new little brother, so I like to come by.”

  “Do you mind if I take Jaques for about 30 minutes? I need his help.”

  “That’s fine. I’ve got to get back to base anyway. I’ll see you tomorrow Jaques if I get a free hour.”

  “See you big brother!”

  Sara took the boy to the conference room and introduced him to Chad. Chad was more than a bit surprised to see a small boy being brought in on maximum-security issue, but did not say anything.

  “Jaques, I remember you telling me that your parents worked in a factory before you escaped. Did you ever hear them talk about cylinders or canisters?”

  “I don’t think so. What is a cylinder?”

  “It is a metal tube about this big around, and this long.” Sara was gesturing to show the approximate size.

  Jaques thought a moment. “Would it be yellow?”

  “YES! Where have you seen such a thing.”

  “I told you that my school was across the street from the factory where my parents worked. I used to watch the men at the factory when I was bored in class. I saw a wagon loaded with a bunch of those yellow tubes come to the factory. A blanket in the wagon covered them up, but I saw them as the men carry them into the building.”

  “That is so helpful Jaques. A couple of more questions. Did your parents ever mentio
n any of these words…” Sara read off a list of all of the common poison gasses. Jaques did not recognize anything except cyanide, and he thought that was from school.

  Chad had a question for the boy. “Do you remember a place called the ‘brewery’?”

  “Sure. That is what everyone called the factory where my parents worked. I don’t know why, but that was the old name of the place.”

  “Jaques, you have been a great help. I need to ask you not to share what we have been talking about with anyone else, not even your big brother Menard. Is that OK?” Sara was holding the boy’s hands as she spoke.

  “Sure. I know you guys work on secret stuff and that I can’t tell anyone. It’s OK.”

  “I think we are done Jaques. I’ll walk you down to your room.”

  Sara saw Jaques back to his quarters, and then went back up to Chad.

  “I think we have the outline of what the Gengon have been planning,” said Sara once the door was closed. “I’m guessing those cylinders contain some sort of bio-weapon that they cooked up in the old pharmaceutical plant in Trintney where Jaques’s parents lived. The squad that Eric bumbled into was hand-carrying the weapons all the way here. Incredible.”

  “I agree,” said Chad. “What’s more, I think all of the information about the dirty bomb, the takeover of the weather stations, and the air-ambush work was all intended to take our attention away from the real threat. I can’t prove that right now, but I’ll be we can put together a pretty persuasive story once we get all of this message traffic organized.”

  “OK, but we’d better tell Largos what we already have.”

  * * *

  Once Sara and Chad were finished briefing Heinrich Largos, they went back to the conference room.

  “I’ve got an idea Chad. I’ve got a little matter to discuss with my Great Aunt. She lives just off base. Why don’t you take a break and come with me? I’m sure we can talk her out of a little home cooking, and it will do us good to get out of this room for an hour."

  “Pretty serious to be introducing me to your family Sara.” Chad was smiling.

  “You don’t know how serious I can get.”

  Sara leaned forward and kissed Chad on the cheek. Chad was surprised, but then put his arms around her and pulled Sara close for a real kiss. They kissed once and then had a very long second kiss. Sara could feel herself melt, and felt Chad’s more obvious interest right through the front of his pants.

  Sara put a finger to Chad’s lips. “I’m thinking that we might put off going to my Aunt for a little bit. Why don’t you come down to my quarters?”

  Chad kissed her again, and then they quietly walked down to Sara’s room. They did not make it to her Aunt’s unit quite a bit later that evening.

  * * *

  Aunt Rebecca was delighted to see them, and seemed particularly pleased that Sara had a very presentable man in tow. As they concluded dinner, Sara asked her Great Aunt for a favor.

  “Forgive me for asking this Aunt Rebecca, and you can turn me down flat if you don’t like the idea.”

  “Go ahead child, I don’t scare easily.”

  “One of the squads came across an eleven year old boy. Gengon solders were in the process of killing his family when he escaped. The squad was not able to save his parents or his sister, but did bring Jaques home with them a few days ago. One of the squad members, named Menard, seems to be very attached to the boy, and has been looking after him. However, Jaques needs a normal life, and should be going to school instead of hanging around the base.”

  “Let me guess, you’d like me to take him in.” Aunt Rebecca was smiling.

  “That’s right. I was hoping you might look after him, at least until he settles in.”

  “Bring the boy by and I’ll have a look at him. If he is a good person, I would be delighted to have him around. It is pretty lonely bumping around this big house with no one else around.”

  Sara gave her aunt a big hug. “I know you will like Jaques. I’ll bring him by sometime tomorrow to meet you.”

  “Off with you two. I can tell you have work to do. I can do the washing up.”

  “Nice to meet you Aunt Rebecca. And thanks for the wonderful cooking.” Chad shook her hand.

  “And I look forward to seeing more of you Chad.”

  Rebecca knew her aunt well enough to know what that meant. Chad had Aunt Rebecca’s seal of approval.

  Eric, Claude, Anne-Marie and the Bineshes were having lunch on the porch in front of the mountain cabin. Kami Binesh seemed to have recovered from the ordeal of being bound and threatened with death for several days. She was now busy cooking up a storm. They had the rations from the four men they had killed on the mountaintop, plus those that Claude and Anne-Marie had packed in, and the remaining foodstuffs from Henry’s last trip up the mountain with his mule train. It was an odd assortment of ingredients, but she just viewed it as a culinary challenge.

  “This is delicious.” Eric was eating some sort of vegetarian stew wrapped up in flat bread. “What do you call it?”

  “I have not thought up a name for it yet, but I’m glad you like it.” Nothing pleased Kami more than having her cooking complemented.

  Dog barked several times. Claude sprang up, grabbed his rifle, and ran over to the ledge where Dog was standing. Dog made so little noise that any barking was a sure sign of trouble. Claude immediately saw the source of concern. A mule train was about 1000 feet lower, working its way up the mountain.

  “It looks like your supply man is coming. There is a mule train below us, working its way up the switchbacks.”

  Shahkar Binesh looked puzzled. “Henry is not due for another week. I wonder why he is early? I guess we will find out when he arrives.”

  Eric started feeling uneasy. “How regular have Henry’s trips been in the past Shahkar?”

  “He’s been coming to us for many years, and always has been here within a day or two of the schedule. He aims to be here on the 17th of each month, which is next week.”

  “Claude, why don’t we go take a look before Henry gets all the way to the top?” Eric had slung his machinegun over his shoulder.

  “My sister can take a position in the bush on the approach path as a second line of defense. Shahkar – have you used a gun before?”

  “I went through military training many years ago. I can manage.”

  “OK, it’s probably nothing, but I don’t want to be surprised.”

  Anne-Marie took up a position that overlooked the last leg of the trail before it turned into the clearing that held the cabin. Dog hopped up with her and took his own spotting position. Eric and Claude made their way down the slope, staying in cover and avoiding the path. They took up positions on either side of a switchback, well hidden, but with a clear view of two legs of the trail.

  It took 45 minutes for the Henry and his mule train to reach their position. Henry was at the lead, pulling on one end of a rope that was connected to the entire chain of animals. The mules were heavily burdened with large sacks over their backs, but did not appear to have any difficulty climbing on the shallow slope of the trail. Henry also a horse near him that was saddled and only carrying a light load. The animals kicked up a cloud of dust as they passed, which hung in the air and then gradually rose up the slope, filtering dusty sunlight amongst the pine trees.

  Eric let the mule train pass. Everything seemed in order. He stood up and looked for Claude. Claude remained invisible. Eric thought about walking down to Claude’s position, but decided to wait. Claude had a better view down the face of the mountain, and might have seen something.

  After about ten minutes Claude left his position and walked over the Eric. “Something is wrong. I let that man Henry see me, and he made a motion with his head towards the back of the mule train, but then pretended that he had not seen me. I thought that some men might be following the animals, but I don’t see anything.”

  “If there is someone down there, we should be able to see them better from the ledge by the c
abin. Let’s get back up there and set up a watch.” Eric started back up the path.

  They took the path back up to one turn before the cabin, staying as close to the mountainside as they could to stay out of sight from below. Dog ran down the path to greet Claude, but the dog had his teeth bared and was making low growling sounds.

  “Something’s very wrong,” Claude whispered. “Let’s approach the cabin from the back side of the mountain and make sure everything is OK.”

  Eric nodded. They left the path and climbed over the rocks to the northeast side of the mountain. There was some cover from rocks and a few pine trees, but much of the ground was open. Once they were in position Eric and Claude climbed up the last 100 feet so that they could peak over the edge of the clear area. Dog stayed next to Claude and was quiet, but still showing his teeth.

  Everything looked OK. Anne-Marie had come out from her position and was walking over to Henry the mule driver who was talking nervously with Shahkar and Kami. Eric was ready to join them, but looked over to Claude for a signal. Eric held out an open hand. Wait. Dog was still showing signs of agitation. What was going on?

  A moment later it was clear. Three pairs of boots appeared on the far side of the animals and ran forward. They had been hiding under blankets on the mules. In a second the men were a few feet from Anne-Marie, and held her at gunpoint. They took Anne-Marie’s rifle and Shakar’s machine gun. One of the men then slammed the butt of his rifle against Shakar’s head, sending him sprawling on the ground. Kami shrieked and then bent down to tend to her husband.

  Eric looked over to Claude. Neither of them had a clear shot. Claude motioned to Eric with his left hand. Eric was to approach from the mule train while Claude came around from behind the cabin.