Project Aura

by Bob Mayer

  That didn't make sense to Cesar, but he was thankful nonetheless. "Who do you think they were? I thought Bright Gate was destroyed."

  "Somebody might have escaped from Bright Gate," Valika said.

  "But don't they need equipment? Like Souris does?"

  "I don't know," she said. She remembered the helicopters they had spotted departing the Bright Gate site and told Cesar about them.

  "We leave now," Cesar ordered. "We’ll meet the ship on its way here."

  *****

  Dalton had never known such despair and isolation as he felt now. He didn't even have the pain from his body to let him know he was alive. He had consciousness, barely, but for all he knew, he might indeed be dead.

  He saw nothing but featureless gray all around. He felt nothing, heard nothing. There was no link to Sybyl, no indication of Barnes or Jackson.

  He had no mouth to speak with. He had no idea if he was still in the virtual plane near Saba, or if the explosion had sent him elsewhere.

  A part of him simply wanted to let go. He was sure that if he gave up the tight grip he had on his thoughts, he would simply fade away into nothingness.

  Dalton held on to the core of his being even tighter.

  *****

  "Are they alive?" Mentor asked, staring at the three bodies suspended in their isolation tubes. The machines continued to function, slowly sending breathing fluid to them.

  "The bodies are," Dr. Hammond said. "But we've lost contact with the psyches."

  "What happened?"

  "I don't know. Sybyl recorded a surge on the virtual plane. What caused it is anyone's guess."

  "Can you bring them back?"

  "Not without a connection," Hammond said. "They're like the other bodies, the ones we rescued. Still alive but no one home."

  Mentor slapped his hand on the top of the computer. "Goddamn it!"

  "I'll keep trying," Hammond vowed.

  *****

  Linda McFairn had never liked enclosed spaces. The massive opening on the side of Cheyenne Mountain that led down to Space Command wouldn't be considered small, but it was enclosed, especially as the car taking her passed by the huge steel door that would be closed if the site were ever attacked. She clutched her briefcase tighter as the car descended into the mountain.

  Ostensibly she was here on an unannounced inspection. Given that Space Command was one of the nerve centers for national defense, the Deputy Director of the NSA doing such a thing was not unprecedented.

  A one-star general was waiting for her just outside the inner vault door where the car came to a halt. He opened the door before she had a chance to reach for it,

  "Welcome to Space Command, Deputy Director McFairn. I'm General Mitchell."

  McFairn shook the offered hand. "General."

  He indicated they head through the large inner door. "What can I do for you?"

  "Given all the flap over the loss of secrets from Los Alamos," McFairn said, "I'm making these inspections to check internal security of computer systems. I need access to one of the terminals that connects to your mainframe."

  "Certainly, ma’am."

  *****

  Souris was peering out of the helicopter that Cesar had arranged to pick her up at the Colorado Springs airport where the Lear had landed. They had flown around Cheyenne Mountain and were now hovering over the west side of the mountain. She was seated in the front right seat, the pilot in the front left. The aura transmitter took up the entire back of the helicopter along with the batteries to give it power.

  She closed her eyes briefly, remembering the image she had been sent, then opened them. "There." She pointed at a narrow gap between two rock spurs. "Closer," she ordered the pilot.

  As he edged in toward the mountain, she reached behind her and drew out the leads and began placing them on her head, the movements habit. The pilot glanced at her quizzically but said nothing. He’d flown numerous flights initiated by a thick envelope of cash and knew better than to open his mouth.

  "Hold here," Souris finally said when they were about fifty meters from the opening.

  She closed her eyes, then turned on the transmitter. Immediately she could sense the psychic shield inside the mountain guarding Space Command. But that wasn't her objective. She passed out of her body, her mind floating down on the psychic plane.

  *****

  McFairn flipped open her metal briefcase. She was in General Mitchell's own office, the door locked shut. She always appreciated the military mindset where rank was all that mattered. She outranked the general and he was quite aware of that.

  It was impossible to hack into the computers in Cheyenne Mountain from the outside, but doing it from the inside was another matter. She connected leads from the computer inside the briefcase to the general's terminal. Even with access to the mainframe, she didn't have the code to enter the part of the master computer that stored National Command Authority codes. But because the NSA had devised the ‘lock’ it also had a way to invent a key.

  She knew the unlock code, like all other NCA codes, changed constantly on a rotating basis that was also part of the code. Thus, to break in, she would have to find both the base code and change code, and then combine them

  McFairn's computer had a sniffer program and found the ‘door’ and then began running through thousands of code combinations per second, looking for the right one. All she could do was sit back and wait.

  *****

  Souris found Sybyl without much trouble, the computer giving off a strong signal on the virtual plane as Dr. Hammond searched to contact the lost team members. Since the Ranch wasn't shielded, Souris was able to slide into it on the virtual plane and into Sybyl unnoticed. Because Sybyl had been hooked to the power line from Cheyenne Mountain, it was the one weak point in the virtual shield that surrounded the base.

  Souris followed the power line into the complex and then into Space Command's mainframe. The ‘door’ blocking the way into the code section was easy to find, and she began to weave her way through the electronic logjam.

  Then she noticed the program running through combinations also trying to get through.

  *****

  It took six combinations to get through the door, and the computer had uncovered five. McFairn edged forward on the seat waiting for the last one to be decoded.

  *****

  Souris was in. It didn't take her long to figure out the unlock code.

  A second later the sniffer program broke through and had it also.

  Souris had no idea who was running the program, but she reacted anyway. Inside Space Command's computer, she triggered the emergency alert, putting the base on DefCon Four footing.

  *****

  McFairn has just pulled out the thumb drive with the unlock code when an alarm stridently sounded. For a second she thought she’d been caught, and then she realized what was happening. DefCon Four had been triggered. She ran to the door and down the corridor.

  The massive blast door was swinging shut, locking her inside.

  *****

  Souris had found manipulating the mainframe from inside exhilarating. As soon as the base was secure, she disabled the program to allow it to stand down from the alert footing. Then she disabled the secure communications trunk line on her way out, completely cutting off Space Command from the rest of the world.

  *****

  The cool breeze on his cheek. Dalton focused on remembering that feeling from the moment he’d scattered Marie's ashes.

  He felt it again. The gray gave way slightly with a tinge of red. Then it was gone.

  Dalton concentrated. There was something, someone close by. He felt the breeze once more. He reached out to it.

  *****

  “I’ve got something" Hammond announced.

  "What?" Mentor was hovering over her shoulder.

  “I’m boosting power," Hammond said.

  *****

  Dalton felt the connection, grabbed on to it like a drowning man to a lifeline. As he raced b
ack toward the Ranch, there was a presence next to him doing the same thing.

  He couldn't spare the energy to reach out to it, to find out who or what it was.

  Then he was inside his frozen body, his mind still with access to the virtual plane. He felt the power come back into him from Sybyl.

  "Dalton and Jackson are back," Hammond said. "I'm bringing them out."

  "What about Barnes?" Mentor asked.

  "Nothing."

  *****

  On her way out Souris paused inside of Sybyl, contemplating the changes that had been made since she left Bright Gate. She saw what Jenkins had done, the modifications to the computer and the programming.

  *****

  As the connections with Sybyl grew stronger, Dalton could sense Jackson. He was on the virtual plane inside of the Ranch, watching as Hammond began the process of bringing his body back. He knew he'd have to go back into his body shortly, but he wanted one last chance to figure out what had happened.

  “Are you all right?" he asked Jackson as he searched the virtual plane for the third member of their team.

  "I think so."

  "Where's Barnes?"

  "I don't know-" There was a pause, then her voice came back. "Someone else is here. In Sybyl."

  Dalton immediately picked up the presence she was referring to. "Hold!" he sent to Hammond, but the link through Sybyl wasn't strong enough. He could feel the virtual world slipping away from him. With a desperate effort he ‘lunged’ toward the foreign body. His virtual essence careened into the other and he was overwhelmed with a flurry of images and emotions; shining through it all like a beacon was the fact that whoever or whatever the presence was, it had just come from out of Space Command's mainframe and had the unlock code for the MILSTAR retransmitter.

  As that startling piece of information resounded in Dalton's consciousness, the virtual world faded away and he was back in his own body.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  The helicopter carrying Valika and Cesar landed on the rear deck of the Gagarin. They quickly off-loaded and were met by Tanya Zenata. Cesar wasted no time on pleasantries.

  "Have the modifications been completed?" he demanded.

  "Yes, sir," Zenata responded.

  "The computer?" he asked.

  "We're putting it on-line as per Professor Souris's instructions. She left it programmed. All that is needed is for someone to initiate the program."

  Cesar smacked his hands together. "Excellent."

  He headed forward, leaving Valika and Zenata.

  "What is going on?" Zenata asked. "What does he have planned?"

  Valika had a weapons case in each hand. "It is best for you not to know."

  *****

  Souris was back in her body, inside the helicopter, but she was still connected to Aura. A quick systems check told her power was very low and she would have to shut it down soon, but she was still relishing the contact she had made with the Psychic Warrior in the other computer. She had felt the man's essence, an experience unlike anything she had ever encountered before. Reluctantly, she returned to the real plane and shut down Aura.

  "To the airport," she ordered the pilot.

  *****

  "What happened?" McFairn demanded.

  General Mitchell was at the back of the main control room for Space Command, trying to make sense of the various reports his people were giving him.

  "Something got into the computer," Mitchell said. "We're off-line and sealed in."

  "'Something'? Like what?"

  A young officer ran up and gave the general an iPad. McFairn waited impatiently as the general read.

  "We don't know," Mitchell finally said, sparing her a moment before going back to the information.

  McFairn felt a trickle of sweat go down the center of her back "What did it access other than the DefCon Four alert and knocking your mainframe off-line?"

  "Damn," Mitchell swore as he scrolled. "It got into the DefCon Four codes."

  For a moment McFairn thought she had been found out, but she realized it was worse than that.

  "Which exact codes?"

  "Whoever did this got the unlock code for something in MILSTAR." Mitchell frowned. "Why would someone want that?"

  McFaim knew exactly why someone would want that, and the pieces fell into place: the Ring experimenting using a satellite as a retransmitter and now stealing the unlock code. They were going to appropriate the system and use it in conjunction with Aura.

  "How long will it take to get the computer back online and get communication with the outside world?" McFairn demanded.

  General Mitchell shook his head. "We don't know. We hope in a couple of hours, but this is unprecedented."

  McFairn checked her watch. A couple of hours. By then CS-MILSTAR would be deployed.

  "What about the shuttle?" she asked. "If we're off-line, who has ground base control?"

  "Houston," Mitchell said.

  "I need an outside line," McFairn said. "ASAP."

  "We're doing the best we can," Mitchell said.

  "Do better."

  *****

  "If the code has been compromised, we can't take any chances," Dalton said. "We stop both: HAARP and the Mithrans."

  "How?" Jackson asked as she tossed aside the towel she had been using to wipe fluid off her face. "The Ring's got some sort of weapon they can use against us as Psychic Warriors. We just learned that the hard way."

  "And HAARP is shielded on the virtual plane," Mentor noted. "We have no influence with Washington. We're helpless."

  Dalton had been considering the problems as he was warmed up and brought out of the isolation tank. "How long until the CS-MILSTAR satellite is on-line?" he asked Mentor.

  "Two hours, five minutes."

  "They were leaving Saba," Dalton said. "And the psyche I ran into..." He paused as he mentally searched through the various images he had picked up. "Naldo said something about a ship. I saw a ship in the psyche I ran into. A large one. With big satellite dishes taking up most of the deck space."

  Mentor was already at a computer, typing. "Fortunately we're not locked up like Space Command. We tap into the commo trunk going both ways, but we're outside the complex, not under control of their mainframe, so we still have an outside link." He continued typing, then paused. "Here it is. The Gagarin. It's Russian. According to the CIA, it's currently located about two hundred miles from Saba."

  Dalton nodded as he peered over Mentor's shoulder at the image on the screen. "That's it. That's what I saw."

  Hammond was also looking. "They could use that as a mobile HAARP-type platform. Those dishes would be perfect"

  "We know where the Ring is now," Dalton said, "and we know where HAARP is."

  "In opposite directions from here," Jackson noted.

  "And what about Barnes?" Hammond threw in. The body of the third member of their PW team floated in its isolation tank. "He's out there somewhere, but I can't reach him."

  "Keep trying," Dalton said.

  "I will."

  "I'll take care of the ship." Dalton turned to Jackson. "You've got HAARP."

  "How?" Jackson asked.

  "We don't have time to get there any other way than via virtual jumps," Dalton said.

  "But--" Jackson began.

  Dalton halted her by holding up his hand and turning to Mentor. "You said we're tapped into Space Command's commo. Can we order the shuttle to abort the mission?"

  "No. We don't have the proper authorization codes."

  "What do we have codes for?" Dalton asked.

  Mentor frowned. "What do you mean?"

  "This thing was founded as an alternate command post for the President for God's sake," Dalton said, slapping the side of the computer. "We've got to at least have access to all National Command Authority functions, even if we don't have the authorizations, right?"

  Mentor shook his head. "We don't have any control. The President would bring his own authorizations here."

  "Then we hav
e to get some help that doesn't require authorization, right?"

  "What kind of help?" Mentor asked.

  "We have access to both normal MILSTAR communications channels and GPS, right?" Dalton pressed.

  Mentor was thoughtful. "Yes."

  Dalton grabbed a chair and indicated for Jackson to pull one close. "I have a plan if we can find the right pieces to play."

  *****

  Souris transferred from the helicopter to Cesar's Lear at Colorado Springs. As the plane accelerated down the runway, she contacted the Gagarin via SATPhone.

  "Yes?" Cesar answered on the first ring.

  "I have the code."

  "Give it to me."

  Souris rattled off the letters and numbers.

  "I've got it," Cesar acknowledged.

  "I’ll be there in six hours," Souris said.

  "It will be over by then," Cesar said.

  "I know." A smile crossed Souris's face. "I know." She had her laptop on her knees and was typing in what she had learned about the Psychic Warrior program. Aura no longer interested her, nor did Cesar. She cut the connection.

  *****

  McFairn stood in front of the large stainless steel vault door. Her pulse was racing and she forced herself to slow her breathing before she fainted from hyperventilation. A part of her was almost grateful that she couldn't send the code to Boreas. But that part was overwhelmed by the knowledge that the code had been stolen; regardless of how much she agreed with Boreas, she knew that she would rather be on his side than whoever his enemy was.

  *****

  Dalton felt the embryonic fluid around his feet, then legs as he climbed into his isolation tube. The process was as brutal as all the previous ones, but his focus was on the upcoming mission. They had found the right piece for Jackson to use in Alaska, but hadn't been able to find him anything near the Gagarin. He was going in on his own and hoping he could come up with something once he was on the ship. At least it wasn't virtually shielded.