“This explains a lot,” he finally said, his voice quiet. “Any clue what that signal your mic picked up from her datapad is?”
“We’re only hearing it because my own datapad is converting it to a frequency audible to the human ear,” Amanda explained. “It’s the trigger that’s waking her up, but she would not hear it, not consciously at least.”
Kendrick nodded, the shock over Heather’s betrayal passing quickly. “People can be subconsciously aware of frequencies that they can’t consciously hear,” Kendrick observed. “That kinda shit’s been used by the media for years to manipulate people. You think it’s something like that?”
“I’m trying to decode it,” Amanda explained. “I suspect she’s done something to the Ai as well; no way it would have missed this unless she’d sabotaged it. I’ll let you know as soon as I have something, but in the meantime …”
“In the meantime, we’re being followed,” Kendrick finished. “You don’t secretly activate a transponder that was disconnected to avoid being tracked unless you’re signaling someone.”
“Agreed. What do you want to do about Heather?”
“Interrogate her for starters,” Kendrick replied. “After that, she goes right into stasis. Will you confront her with me? We’ll round up Ronan, just in case.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Heather was quite pleased. She had recalibrated Selene’s engines, enabling greater efficiency, without sacrificing any power. Her computations had proven correct, saving Selene precious fuel. Her enthusiasm was somewhat dampened, however, by the fact that after a week of regular sweeps, no hidden agents had turned up and nothing more had happened since Lena’s incapacitation. Heather was at her wit’s end trying to find whatever else the saboteur had done. Her only consolation was that Selene’s Ai hadn’t been unable to find it either.
To take her mind off things, she had been playing chess with Cyrus, Mun and the captain on occasion. On that front, she was doing very well. Heather was still proving to be a challenge to the supremely intelligent Cyrus, with whom the captain had partnered her; the two traded victories constantly, neither one able to consistently beat the other. While Kendrick was still a challenge, she was now beating him more often than not.
Mun, on the other hand, had not lost a step from his time in a coma. In fact, he had been playing regularly and proved to be better than both herself and Cyrus. Heather had known Mun for over a year and still called him by his last name most of the time, which bothered her, though she had a hard time thinking of him as being a ‘Kang.’ Mun was very gentle and easygoing, while the name Kang seemed to be more fitting on someone like Cyrus or Ronan. I suppose I should ask him which he prefers, she thought.
Heather decided that a cup of coffee and a sandwich was in order, and that she would go to the mess to enjoy them. She sent a message to Mun asking him to join her in fifteen minutes, as she planned to simply rest for a few minutes. The engineer had just sent the message when she felt suddenly faint. She tried to grab a hold of something, but her hand slid off of the console and she felt herself losing consciousness as she floated in the weightless engine room. She was conscious for a brief moment, unable to move. She heard as if through ether, Cyrus calling her name, alarm in his voice, right before losing consciousness.
Fiona and Terri were shocked to see Cyrus come through the door carrying an unconscious Heather. The big merc hurried the limp girl over to a table and laid her gently upon it. Fiona ran to Heather’s side, fearing the worst.
“Cyrus, what’s going on?”
“She fainted in the engine room, no indication as to why,” he said. “Thankfully, there’s no gravity in engineering, so she didn’t have to worry about breaking anything in a fall.”
“Thank Heaven for that,” Fiona began examining Heather, looking for signs of trauma. She tapped her communicator, saying, “Captain, to the Med Bay. Heather’s down!”
“I’m on my way,” came his reply. “Just leaving engineering with Keyes and Ronan.”
“Keyes and Ronan?” Fiona was momentarily taken aback by that. “Why bring them?”
“Because Heather’s our saboteur,” Kendrick replied.
Cyrus’ eyes went wide, his face showing shock and surprise for the first time since Fiona had met him. “That can’t be, Captain.”
“I’ll explain when I get there. Royce out.”
“Let’s focus on Heather,” Fiona said to the big merc.
“She isn’t injured, Doctor,” Cyrus observed, “but she’s comatose for no apparent reason.”
Before she could answer, the door opened and Kendrick and Ronan entered the Med Bay.
“Where’s Amanda?” Terri asked when Kendrick arrived without her.
“On the bridge at her post,” the captain explained. “I figured if Heather was down, Ronan would be sufficient. I need you in engineering, Terri. Just keep an eye on things. I know you’re not an engineer, but if any of the warning systems start making noise or light up, message me immediately.”
“Yes, sir,” Terri said, exiting the Med Bay.
Fiona brought up the scanners and began looking for any clue as to what might have happened to a girl as young and healthy as Heather. Then she saw it.
“What’s this?” Fiona asked aloud.
Ronan looked at the scanner’s readout over Fiona’s shoulder.
“It looks like a … port of some kind,” he remarked. “I didn’t think she had one.”
It was hidden behind Heather’s right ear behind a flap of skin, invisible without scanners; or without knowing where to look. Kendrick and Cyrus both looked at the port, trying to figure out what it was. Unlike Kendrick’s data port, this one looked entirely organic in nature, having no inner box like an android, or Kendrick.
“No idea,” Kendrick finally remarked. “Wish mine was that compact.”
“It’s not a data port,” Cyrus observed. “Not in the conventional sense, anyway.”
“I know exactly what it is,” said Fiona. “It’s like those soldiers from Lorgen’s ship.”
The captain nodded and was silent for a long moment. “Cyrus, what we’re about to tell you does not leave this room. Selene, seal the Med Bay.”
“MedBay sealed,” said the Ai.
“All right, Captain,” Cyrus said. “The Med Bay is sealed. Explain.”
“It’s a hookup for programming,” Fiona explained. “Our … guests in cryo-stasis each have one.”
“Programming?” asked Ronan dubiously. “You mean like brainwashing?”
“No; this is much more thorough,” replied the doctor. “Years ago, if you wanted to ‘program’ a person, you had to go through a very long and complicated process; brainwashing, as you say, Father. Drugs were used to facilitate the process. With modern advances and human/computer interface technology, however, they actually grow people with this type of interface already wired in. It cannot be retrofitted, not at this stage anyway. All blanks have them … and Heather, apparently. The port is connected to the appropriate parts of the brain and they can simply program her as they see fit.” Fiona paused to catch her breath before continuing, the lengthy technical analysis was more taxing than regular conversation.
“Eventually, espionage organizations commissioned its use to provide them with programmable operatives who could be given knowledge that would normally take years to assimilate. It also enabled them to provide a cover so real that the operative themselves believed it. Usually, there was some kind of trigger that would initiate the operative’s true self to emerge and do the job he or she had been tasked with.” She leaned against the table and exhaled, her shoulders slumping. “This … is the legacy of my work … this … perversion.”
“So … Heather … is a spy?” Cyrus could scarcely believe it.
“Not in the conventional sense,” Fiona explained. “Normally, agents take years to train, so they typically aren’t as young as Heather. But with this kind of technology, they could wipe her mind and create in her the necessar
y skills in order to embed her wherever she was needed, complete with memories of how she got those skills. She could be a spy and not even realize it; she would be completely unaware of any ulterior motive, though none of that explains her comatose state.”
“That explains what Amanda found,” Kendrick noted. “Seems some signal from her datapad was waking her up at night. Amanda caught it; turns out, Heather was turning on the transponder at night and her communications with an unknown recipient revealed her to be behind Lena’s incapacitation.”
“You indicated that you have some ‘guests’ in cryo,” Cyrus noted. “Care to elaborate?”
“Lorgen had a platoon of soldiers,” Kendrick stated. “They’re vat grown super soldiers; Lena killed a lot of them when she ran in the old platform and brought three of the bodies back to show Fiona and me.”
“I doubt their corpses will be helpful in learning what happened to Heather,” Cyrus said dismissively.
“Well, Cyrus,” said Fiona, “that’s what I’m hoping you can help me find out. Can you make an interface that can connect to her port? And if so, can you discern the programming that they have used?”
The large man paused, considering the question. While he was a brilliant man with an extensive background in programming and robotics, this was not something that he was trained for.
“Not with the materials on hand,” he said finally. “This is a bio-organic interface and the construction of such a thing would be more suited to your talents, Doctor, than to mine. Whether or not I can construct it is moot, however.”
“Why’s that?” Kendrick asked.
“Because it involves programming the brain,” Cyrus explained. “Certainly, I could learn the skills; Fiona could too, but that takes time and resources that a crippled ship in space, cut off from com buoys and being pursued by the U.S. government, doesn’t have. Knowing who installed the port and programmed her is a top priority, even more important than waking her up.”
“Cyrus,” scolded the Ronan, aghast at the situation. “She’s your friend! How can you say such a thing?”
“Father,” offered Cyrus, “you know that I have become protective with regards to Heather. She is merely a child. But the cruel reality is that our lives are on the line, hers included, and if we knew who planted her here, it would give us some idea of how to prepare for the eventuality of encountering them.”
Kendrick nodded. “She was put on this ship for a reason, and it ain’t ‘cause the U.P.A. thought it might be nice if a musician could have a perky engineer on his star liner. Now, having said that, she is our friend and a living being. Helping her is the top priority; that girl has been with us from the start, and she’s been our friend and shipmate. It’s also worth mentioning that without Heather, we have no engineer.”
“Thankfully, I have the basic skills,” declared Cyrus. “And I have spent considerable time in your engine room. I can do what we need.”
“Do it,” ordered Kendrick. “I’ll make whatever resources you need accessible to you. Fiona, do what you can for Heather, but I want her restrained.”
“Restrained?” Fiona was puzzled. “Ken, she’s down for the count.”
“And if this programming wakes her up and starts her on whatever mission she’s been tasked with, then she won’t be,” he explained. “If that’s the case, I want her restrained. We’ve got our jobs. Let’s get to it.”
Amanda Keyes knew that something was wrong. Nobody had filled her in yet, nor had they filled in Mun, but something was definitely wrong. Right before they went to confront Heather, Cyrus had called the captain, asking him to get to the Med Bay immediately. Since then, the Captain had not responded to any communication and there was nobody in engineering whatsoever. Royce finally did return to the bridge by the afternoon and to say that he looked concerned was an understatement.
“Captain? Everything … okay?” she asked.
He was silent for a few moments, seeming to weigh his words, but finally said, “Amanda, you already know some of the details, but …” then he turned to his gunner. “Kang, I guess now’s as good a time as any to bring you up to speed. Heather is our saboteur. She’s been up at night reactivating our transponder, and has probably done things to the ship to facilitate our capture.”
“No way!” Mun looked as though someone had told him his puppy had been hit by a car.
“Amanda investigated the random transponder reactivation and turned it up,” Kendrick explained. “Turns out, her datapad was signaling her at night, emitting some kind of ultrasonic signal.” Then he shifted so as to address both of them. “Heather went comatose this morning for no apparent reason. Fiona discovered that Heather has a bio-synthetic programming port behind her right ear. Looks like she’s been programmed by some agency.” He looked at Amanda. “Wouldn’t be your old crowd, would it?”
“The Alliance does use that tech,” Amanda confessed. “But if they’re behind Heather, I was never informed. Given that I was on point in going after Doctor Keane, I would have been informed if such a resource were available to me. Unless some other unit was behind it, I seriously doubt the U.P.A. is responsible.”
“Just to be clear,” replied Royce, “I believe you. But I had to ask.”
“So … she wouldn’t know … would she?” asked Mun. “Heather, that is. I mean, she’s innocent, isn’t she?”
“She’d have no idea,” Amanda explained. “An alternate personality is activated by the signal. She’s done something, but we don’t know what and she waited until we crossed the threshold to do it, then conked out once it was too late for us to do anything about it.”
Mun looked puzzled. “Threshold?”
“The point where we’ve used up too much fuel to return to Mars,” Kendrick explained. We were fully committed to our present course before she acted.”
“You think she’s still in there?” Mun was desperate.
“Maybe,” Kendrick replied. “Go to her, Kang. Tell Fiona I sent you. Talk to her, play chess, whatever. I’ll handle any gunner duties if the need arises … which would actually be a welcome circumstance.”
“Thank you, sir!” Mun had clearly been wanting to go, but was waiting for Kendrick’s approval. Keyes wondered why the gunner did not simply ask, as it was clear that Royce would have said yes.
After Mun had left, she asked, “Do you really believe she might still be in there?”
“Not a clue,” he said, laughing mirthlessly. “Cyrus is standing in for Heather in engineering while Fiona cares for her, but it doesn’t look good; if things really go south, we could all be dead.”
“Captain, that’s been a possibility for some time,” Keyes chided.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “I know, but I think it goes without saying that you should make the most of any downtime with Terri that you have. We’re on auto-pilot, so I can handle communications and gunnery duty if you want to spend some time with her.”
Amanda nodded, appreciative of the gesture. As she left the bridge, she mused that after all was said and done, she may yet die in space. She smiled in spite of it; Amanda had finally made things right with Terri. This time, she could die with no regrets.
Chapter 15
Rock and a Hard Place
The retro rockets fired, slowing the ship. Kendrick knew that Heather’s sabotage was manifesting now. Selene’s Ai avatar appeared above Kendrick’s console. She was about to speak, then suddenly, her speech garbled and shut down. Heather’s betrayal was now complete. The Selene was dead in space.
“It’s happening now,” Kendrick announced with resignation, speaking ship-wide over the intercom. “Cyrus, get to the Med Bay and check in on Fiona and Heather. Make sure Heather didn’t reactivate or something.”
The intercom crackled to life and Fiona’s voice filled the bridge. “Ken, Cyrus is already here. We’re all right, but the Med Bay doors are sealed.”
“Heather’s work, no doubt,” the captain sighed. “Mister Mun, check the bridge doors.”
Kang unbuckled and complied, floating to the doors and trying them. “Sealed, sir. Are they supposed to be?”
“No, they are not.”
“You can’t override it, Captain?” the gunner asked, desperation in his voice.
He looked at Kang incredulously. “With no computer?”
Before the gunner could reply, all power went out.
“Oh shit!” Keyes exclaimed. “We still have life support, don’t we?”
“Wouldn’t count on it,” Royce said. “So get your breather on.” Kendrick went into the maintenance panel and cut power to the magnetic seals, opening the bridge doors manually. “Mag-boots are just outside, past the server room. Get ‘em on and follow me. We’re about to be boarded.”
Cyrus could feel the spin of the pod slowing. He was glad to be on hand in the Med Bay at the time, as there was nothing he could have done from engineering to stop the sabotage and Fiona would need his help.
“That can’t be good,” Fiona said with resignation.
“Breathers,” Cyrus said. “Before life support goes, we need to get them on, both us and Heather.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” said Fiona, putting on a breather, then putting one on the unconscious Heather. “We need to get the Med Bay unsealed.”
Cyrus went to the door, and located the manual controls. He tried to open it, but it was magnetically sealed. His muscles bulged momentarily as he strove against it, but to no avail.
“The ship must be selectively powering up certain systems,” he announced. He then located the maintenance panel in the floor and opened it, revealing the conduit that led to the door. He opened up the sheathing and located the appropriate wires, disabling the power to the electromagnets, enabling him to open the door. As the spin decayed, things began to float, including Cyrus. Fiona, however, remained stuck to the floor.
“Be prepared,” Cyrus warned. “They’ll board us wearing mag-boots.”
No Safe Harbor: The Silver Liner Page 19